Lakehurst employees receive NAWCAD Commander’s Award

Published Dec. 12, 2014
By Elyse Fetherman
Naval Air Systems Command Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst teams and team members received awards during the 14th annual NAWCAD Commander's Award ceremony hosted at Naval Air Systems Command Headquarters in Patuxent River, Maryland, and presented via video teleconference to NAVAIR's Lakehurst, Orlando and Jacksonville sites Dec. 10, 2014.

"These awards embody the ability of our workforce to problem solve," said Rear Adm. Dean Peters, commander, NAWCAD, during his opening remarks. He was joined by Capt. Patrick Herring, vice commander, NAWCAD, and Tony Cifone, NAVAIR deputy assistant commander for research and engineering, in the presentation of the NAWCAD Commander's awards, NAWCAD Innovation awards and the NAWCAD Patent of the Year award in Patuxent River.

Lakehurst's Mauricio Borrero, Program Management Director and site integrator for NAVAIR at Lakehurst, presented the awards to Lakehurst's winners during the VTC.

During the ceremony, he presented the NAWCAD Commander's team award to the Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System Phase IV Development team and team lead, John Zirkel. Lakehurst's Support Equipment and Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment Department also had participants on the following winning teams: the Joint High Speed Vessel Aviation Fuel System team, the Joint Strike Fighter F-35C Arresting Hook Re-Design team and the RQ-21A Blackjack Integrated Test team.

In addition, Lakehurst's Hydraulic Manifold Additive Manufacturing team and team lead, John Schmelzle, the SE and ALRE Department Additive Manufacturing and Model Based Design Initiative lead, were recognized with the NAWCAD Innovation award in the technical category. Schmelzle attended in person and his team was recognized by Borrero at Lakehurst. The Hydraulic Manifold Additive Manufacturing team tied with Patuxent River's Avionics Local Area Network Node Utilizing Wavelength Conversion team in the technical category.

"It is important that the excellence of our Lakehurst teams is recognized," said Borrero in an interview following the ceremony. He said that the NAWCAD Commander's awards are the "premier NAWCAD award" and "to be able to have so many winners is great."