DAHLGREN, Va. (November 10, 2011)—Ten Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) employees were named calendar year 2010 Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Center awardees, NSWCDD announced Nov. 10.
The Warfare Center Awards, established in 2005, recognizes individuals, teams, and activities across the enterprise for their contributions of innovation and improvement in the areas of product quality, technical and business development, and change leadership. Recipients of these awards not only advance the mission and vision of the NAVSEA but reflect personal dedication and diligence to advancing technological and business capabilities in the 21st century.
NSWCDD's Debra Boline, Jessica Cox, Frank Dixon and Jerry Howle are part of a Warfare Center team - the Counter IED Network (NCKN) - that won the Collaboration award. They were recognized for sharing their knowledge and professional experience, assessing technical solutions, and helping to deliver technical capabilities to warfighters, both on land and at sea.
The Collaboration Award was established to honor groups who have made substantial contributions in promoting collaboration across the NAVSEA Warfare Centers to provide the highest quality, most effective product or service to the customer. This award emphasizes the benefits of innovative cross-Division teaming and promotes the value of collaboration across all levels and locales within NAVSEA.
As Naval Counter Improvised Explosive Devise Knowledge Network team members, Boline, Cox, Dixon and Howle collaborated on technologies to counter improvised explosive devices (C-IED). This Department of Defense and inter-agency team voluntarily participates in knowledge sharing and capability assessments that deliver viable technical solutions in response to real world C-IED and IED operations in theater. This team's accomplishments includes: hosting four major conferences; sharing the latest threats and technology advancements across government organizations; providing numerous detection, production, and countermeasures technologies; and populating a web-based counter IED technology matrix to enhance unique approaches, encourage community of interest collaboration, leverage technologies, and eliminate redundant efforts.
"This community of interest is truly a coalition of the dedicated and the willing," said Debra Boline, NCKN Chair. "It is the membership's enthusiastic participation and involvement that maintains and sustains the relevancy of the Naval CIED Knowledge Network."
NSWCDD's Scott Such, Doug Lowry and George Snider - members of a team spanning all NSWC and Naval Undersea Warfare Center divisions that also won the NAVSEA Warfare Center Collaboration Award - were recognized for creating a business environment based on communication and collaboration with the Marine Corps community of interest.
Such, Lowry and Snider were instrumental in improving communication with Marine Corps Systems Command leadership, developing approaches to meet Marine Corps emergent needs, and support the MCSC in their efforts to better utilize the capabilities of warfare center laboratories. Most notably, they helped transform the way the MCSC views and utilizes warfare center laboratories. Instead of individual labs responding to tasks and funding, customer requirements are now discussed in open forums with competition replaced by collaboration. As a result, the MCSC benefits from a consolidated support structure that is able to leverage unique capabilities provided by a diverse resource pool from all warfare center laboratories working collectively to answer the needs of our Marine Corps customers.
NSWCDD's Michael Abaie, Anthony Nicoletti, and Walter Dzula received the Transformation Award for their proactive efforts in support of the Joint Program Office for Chemical-Biological Defense for Collective Protection.
The NAVSEA Warfare Center Transformation and Change Agent Award was established to honor individuals and small groups who have demonstrated outstanding change leadership to the Warfare Center enterprise by developing, promoting, and executing policies, procedures, and actions that support transformation. This award emphasizes leading change across the NAVSEA enterprise and initiative that encompasses the broad scope of the Warfare Center alignment.
Abaie, Nicoletti, and Dzula's efforts resulted in continued collective protection operations with no delay or degradation of capabilities throughout a major reorganization in response to the White House's direction which focused more on medical initiatives. Their team expanded the ability to influence joint programs to ensure programs and equipment are designed to meet Navy maritime requirements and system employment concepts; increased personnel development opportunities that support NSWC mission related to CBR defense; increased collaboration with NSWC sister divisions to improve integration of efforts and capabilities for the fleet; and developed a new leadership role in the Medical Countermeasures Initiative for Advanced Development and Manufacturing of Biologics-Based Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense. This role will increase the agility of research, development, cost effectiveness and reliability of medical countermeasures to protect sailors, joint forces and the nation against naturally occurring infectious disease, accidental or deliberate use of CBR and nuclear threats.
The Warfare Center awards will be presented by a Warfare Center Board of Director member at a later date.