Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division employees were recognized for their innovative achievements and outstanding contributions during the command’s first NAWCWD Innovation Awards ceremony April 9 at China Lake.

Teammates from China Lake and Point Mugu were recognized in five categories and presented with awards designed and constructed by members of the Engineer and Scientist Development Program within one of NAWCWD’s Innovation LaunchPad maker space locations.

“This ceremony represents part of who we need to become as a culture,” said Joan Johnson, NAWCWD executive director, as she opened the event. “Every member of the NAWCWD family needs to wake up every morning with the same sense of urgency mentioned in the National Defense Strategy. These award recipients saw a problem or need, introduced and pursued a new idea, and demonstrated a willingness to push boundaries and fail along the way. You’re helping to build a culture that we need here at WD, but most importantly, you’re contributing to the needs of this command, the needs of the Navy, and the needs of the warfighter.”

Neal “Rudy” Rickner, chief operating officer of Makani Power and former F/A-18 pilot, served as the ceremony’s keynote speaker. Rickner shared how he applied the skills he learned in the Marine Corps to his job in Silicon Valley by doing less with more, understanding parameters and solving the hardest problems first.

“Follow the problem, not a solution,” he said. “Remember the warfighter you’re fighting and working for. Think about the problems that they’re up against and focus on that. Let that be your parameters, let that be your goalpost. With that mission and with that warfighter in mind, you’ll continue to innovate in the right way, take risks, deal with the ambiguity and do great things.”

The Innovation Leadership Award recognizes NAWCWD leaders who inspire innovation within their organization or team by creating an environment that fosters innovation, removes unnecessary barriers, empowers others, embraces appropriate risk and demonstrates a commitment to ongoing innovation. Edward Balcer was the recipient of this award for being instrumental in changing the cybersecurity culture through persistently and innovatively looking for ways to consolidate policies, procedures and guidance to create unified cybersecurity policies and processes across the Weapons and Energetics Department.

The Demonstration of Automated Primer Robocasting for Digital Assembly of ammuNition (DAPR DAN) Innovation Challenge Team received the Innovation in Technology Award. This award recognizes achievements in the development of new or enhanced materials, hardware, software, or tools that demonstrate an ability to deliver new capabilities that make U.S. naval forces more lethal.

The team members honored were Zachary Doorenbos, Jonathan Essel, Alicia Hughes and Matthew Kubik. In six months, the team successfully developed and tested a safer, automated process to load an F/A-18-gun system primer with a more environmentally-friendly and efficient nanoparticle ink previously developed at NAWCWD. Their data verified that this automated process matches the timing and pressure characteristics of legacy primers, while eliminating the need to handle hazardous and sensitive materials.

The Innovation Catalyst Award was given to theDigital Innovation Acceleration Team. This award

recognizes accomplishments of an individual or team who has made a significant impact to an organization by inspiring others to innovate or by directly supporting the innovative work of others. This is done by inspiring others to collaborate in creative ways that are feasible and impactful.

Team members were Matthew Denny, Anderson Esteril, Andrew Gatdula, Janis Harrison, Michael Hill, William Jinkins, Jesus Macaulay, Susan Marcellino, Edward Morkunas, Clark Newbold, Don Reynolds, Robert Sawin Jr, Christopher Siebert, Charlie Solomon and James Weeks Jr. The team is responsible for optimizing Naval Air System Command’s Digital Systems Architecture to provide models and infrastructure that empowers the workforce to rapidly generate new ideas, develop and deliver new capabilities as well as provide self-service tools to foster collaborative problem solving.

The Cyber Network Defense Team won the Innovation in Business Award, which recognizes achievements in new approaches used to improve performance, support decision making, provide meaningful insight to existing processes or change how NAWCWD is conducting business.

Team members were Vincent Atencio, Sara Becker, Joy Blanton, Christine Cooksey, Collette Coolidge, Mark Craig, Matthew Denny, Mary Delaney, Ryan Dixon, Brian Holm, David Hull, Danny Leonard, Christine Pellett, Josie Plumhof, Won Roach, Amber Veliz, Kyla Vigneault, Anthony Vitale and Phillip Wilson. The team was recognized for implementing a digital process for signing and completing the System Authorization Access Requirement – Navy form, which reduced the amount of time it typically takes for new hires to receive their common access cards and gain access to networked systems. 

The Innovation Inception Award, which recognizes individual or team contributions that are cross functional and potentially game changing because of a unique concept design, was given to the Quick Reaction Capability Office (QRCO) Test and Evaluation Team.

James Caruthers, Malin Crewse, Brian Havanich, Wesley Hoekman, Matthew Jensen and Ronald Swor were on the team. In less than two weeks from the time of notification, the QRCO test team designed, built, tested, documented and published a low-cost solution to address an improvised explosive device threat, using available items found in theater and from common retailers.

“You should be really proud of what you’ve accomplished,” said Rear Adm. Scott Dillon, as he closed the ceremony. “You will incrementally improve our organization, continuously refine our processes and move us toward more effective use of our systems to achieve the Navy’s national combat potential, which is what the chief of naval operations is asking all of us to do. It is hard to think of an effective, enduring way to do business in a more efficient fashion, but you all have figured out how to do just that and set a great example for the rest of us.”