NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION, CHINA LAKE, Calif. - Four Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division employees were inducted into the highly-regarded Naval Air Systems Command Fellows Program on Aug. 25 at China Lake and Point Mugu.

“You’ve demonstrated curiosity, continuous learning, and a lot of personal toughness,” said Garry Newton, NAVAIR deputy commander. “You all have had the commitment and courage to stick with problems that may at first feel impossible to solve, but you continued to work at it and you’ve shown that you can solve them.”

The Full Fellows inductees, who represent the top 0.75 percent of NAVAIR’s scientists and engineers, from NAWCWD are Bradley Coler of the Avionics, Sensors and E3 Warfare Department, Dr. Katia Estabridis of the Research Office, Gregory Glen of the Integrated Systems Evaluation, Experimentation and Test Department, and James Nelepovitz of the Weapons and Energetics Department. Estabridis was unable to attend the ceremony.

“I see [NAWCWD] starting to get back to our technical roots and taking smart, calculated risks to do things for the warfighter,” said Joan Johnson, NAWCWD executive director. “That’s really exciting and you’re going to be leading that. We’ve done a great job hiring talented scientists and engineers and you will be called upon to lead them as well. I know you do and will continue to do a great job for our next generation.”

The NAVAIR Fellows Program, established in 2000, holds three tiers spanning from Associate Fellow to Full Fellow and then to Esteemed Fellow. Associate Fellows are selected during odd-numbered years while Full Fellows are chosen during even-numbered years. The program is national in scope and is open to all NAVAIR engineers and scientists in any competency at any site.