Best of the best in the Navy and Marine Corps engineering and scientific community were recognized June 29 in the Pentagon auditorium during the Dr. Delores M. Etter Top Engineers and Scientists Awards Ceremony.

The award is named after former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN (RDA), Dr. Delores M. Etter, who oversaw the ceremony alongside the current ASN (RDA), James Geurts. Dr. Etter and Secretary Geurts personally recognized 42 of the Department of the Navy (DoN) top engineers and scientists.

"Today, we recognize the scientists and engineers that envision the capabilities that give our military a technical edge," said Etter. "A strong military requires many things. It requires courageous men and women willing to make sacrifices, it requires training programs, and it requires capabilities that give our military the technological edge to deter or defeat."

During the ceremony, numerous citations to DoN awardees echoed Etter's praise for the special contributions and technical breakthroughs.

Secretary Geurts also highlighted the great accomplishment of the individuals during his remarks and the supporting team and families around them.

"The innovative talent in our nation is not only at Google or Facebook, the talent is sitting right here and at all the Navy's warfare centers and labs," said Geurts. "Today is a reflection of the top percent that is an incredible and important workforce for the Navy and one that will allow us to compete and win at a global scale. The citations and awards presented today is a great example of the solid foundation in our Navy to take on tomorrow's challenges."

Additionally, during the ceremony, beyond highlighting a number of significant technological contributions where Navy scientists and engineers are making a difference in national security, Etter expressed in her remarks a concern for tomorrow.

Dr. Etter said she was concerned about the shrinking number of innovators and the critical need to recruit the next generation of scientists and engineers. Etter said the number of young people in science and engineering jobs is shrinking and that everyone needs to help in attracting and mentoring the next generation that will have groundbreaking technical achievements like the ones recognized during the ceremony.

"Everyone can help fuel the search of America's youth," said Etter. "Encourage them to join the scientific and engineering community."

Dr. Etter and Secretary Geurts were full of compliments for these individuals and teams that represented the organic scientific and engineering community in the DoN. Listening to citations during the ceremony, one after another, it was clear that the 42 awardees were responsible for complex and in some cases quantum leaps in advancing the Navy's technological edge.

Both civilian and military scientists and engineers in the Department of Navy were eligible for these annual awards; they were nominated by their respective commands and all nominations were reviewed and scored by an executive panel. Fourteen awards were presented in the categories of Emergent Engineers (10 years of service), Emergent Scientists, Individual Engineers, Individual Scientists, and Engineers and Scientists working in a Group.

Awardees included:

EMERGENT ENGINEER INVESTIGATORS
DR. THOMAS J. WALLS (NRL)
Dr. Walls has been the Head of the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Systems Section at NRL since 2015.

DR. RICHARD ORDONEZ (SSC PAC)
Dr. Richard Ordonez leads the development of nanomaterial-based electromagnetic spectrum detectors at SSC Pacific.

DR. NICHOLAS JOHNSON (SSC PAC)
Dr. Johnson is in Information Operations Electronic Warfare at SSC PAC supporting various research efforts at Office of Naval Research on radar/electronic warfare.

EMERGENT SCIENTIST INVESTIGATORS

DR. JESSE BELDEN (NUWC NP)
Dr. Belden is a research scientist at NUWC Newport supporting the development of advanced technologies and modeling and simulation.

INDIVIDUAL ENGINEERS

DR. LINDA M. THOMAS (NRL)
Dr. Linda Thomas is a Senior Electronics Engineer at NRL and serves as the Chief Engineer for Free Space Optical (FSO) technology research and development in support of optical communications and optical propagation initiatives.

DR. TONY BUHR (NSWC DD)
Dr. Tony Buhr serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) for numerous Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) Defense projects and is the
Senior Biologist for the NSWC DD.

DR. NATHAN K. NALUAI (NAWC AD)
Dr. Naluai serves as technical lead for the ONR Next Generation Airborne Passive System (NGAPS) Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) program.

DR. DAVID F. RIVERA (NUWC NP)
Dr. Rivera works in the areas of antenna design, radio wave propagation and electronic materials at NUWC NP.

INDIVIDUAL SCIENTISTS

DR. REBECCA WILSON (NSWC IHEODTD)
Dr. Wilson works as a synthetic organic chemist at NSWC IHEODTD.

GROUP

BENTHIC MICROBIAL FUEL CELL (BMFC) TECHNOLOGIES TEAM (SSC PAC)
Teammates:
Dr. Yolanda Meriah Arias-Thode
Dr. Bart Chadwick
Dr. Alex Phipps
Greg Anderson
Dr. Lewis Hsu

INTEGRATION & INTEROPERABILITY (I&I) TEAM (NR&DE) COLLABORATION
Teammates:
Rebecca Evans, SCC LANT
Kenneth Kontras, SCC LANT
Leah Tuten, SCC LANT
Bethany Calabrese, SCC LANT
Zandria Dickens, SCC LANT
James "Jolly" Rogers, COTF
Matthew S. Cosner, NAWC AD
Matt Tobler, NAWC AD
Richard Medley, NUWC NP

Innovative Naval Prototype Nemesis Engineering Leadership Team Collaboration
Teammates:
Robert Taylor, SSC LANT
Andrew L. Stubbs, SSC LANT
Michael Pereira, SSC LANT
Gregory Freeland, SSC LANT
Justin Sellers, SSC LANT
Josh Nelson, NRL
Joe Muhitch, NUWC NP
James R. Gannon, NUWC NP
Waleed Barnawi, ONR

SEISMO-HYDROACOUSTIC DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM TEAM (NAVFAC EXWC)

Teammates:
Joshua Henson
David Wilkinson
James Meza
Ryan Seltzer
Dr. Kimo Zaiger

THEATRE ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE OFFSET PROJECT TEAM (NUWC NP)
Teammates:
Keith Wichowski
Peter Bodycoat
Dan Savaria
Zachary Sawyer
Patrick Ryll