NAVSEA Declares Winners of 2013 CHENG Awards

The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) announced the winners of the 2013 Chief Engineer (CHENG) awards honoring excellence in engineering, science and technical authority, Dec. 5.

The CHENG awards are presented annually to recognize engineering, science and technical authority achievements and contributions to NAVSEA and the U.S. Navy

“The CHENG awards highlight NAVSEA’s commitment to technical excellence and innovation to support the warfighter,” said Rear Adm. Bryant Fuller, NAVSEA’s chief engineer. “The recipients of these awards show great leadership in their pursuit of outstanding achievement and unmatched dedication to their craft.”

Neal Antin and Sean Reed, NAVSEA headquarters; Ted Jung, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane; and John Macri, NSWC Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division; were named Engineers of the Year.

Antin is the creator of a commercial-off-the-shelf-based modular refrigeration system which replaces expensive and maintenance-intensive legacy shipboard refrigeration systems with a plug-and-play configuration of readily available components. The system reduces electrical consumption, weight, hazardous waste and maintenance.

Reed serves as systems integration manager for surface ship weapons. His accomplishments include identifying cost-avoidance opportunities in the NATO Sea Sparrow Missile System by effecting design changes that resulted in manpower reductions through a program’s lifecycle.

Jung is the technical director for electronic warfare in the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems, Above Water Sensors Directorate. He is responsible for developing and executing the technical strategic vision for all integrated warfare systems, including the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) and Decoy programs.

Macri developed a vacuum casting process that increases the number of units that can be cast simultaneously. This process reduced the cost of munitions for the warfighter including the cost of an MK 152 warhead by $100-per warhead and the MK 14 grenade by $50-per grenade.

NAVSEA also recognized Marion Butler, NSWC Carderock – Ship Systems Engineering Station as Scientist of the Year.

Butler serves as a mechanical engineer and developed and used models to predict the performance of in-line devices to reduce the acoustic signature originating from submarine fluid systems. As a result of this work, an invention disclosure was submitted and highlighted the design to be used to improve the acoustic characteristics of Navy submarines.

Trey Austin, NAVSEA headquarters is the Technical Authority of the Year winner and the remote minehunting systems team is the Technical Authority Team of the Year.

Austin serves as ship design manager and oversaw the detail design and construction of the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV). He contributed to the gathering of effective results during builder’s trials, acceptance trials and delivery for JHSV 1 and JHSV 2.

The remote minehunting systems (RMS) team contributed to the achievement of key milestones and system performance objectives for the RMS including technical expertise and an analytical approach during design review, failure reporting, analysis and corrective action systems (FRACAS), reliability modeling, value stream analysis and technology insertion data calls.
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Press Release, December 6, 2013; Image: NAVSEA