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Warfare Center Employees Win National Defense Awards

William Blackburn and David Medeiros, employees at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), were recently honored.

William Blackburn and David Medeiros, employees at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, have been selected as winners of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Bronze Medal for 2013. 

The NDIA Bronze Medal is an annual award that recognizes outstanding individual achievements in science or engineering in the field of undersea warfare (USW).

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Blackburn is a computer scientist with 30 years of experience at NUWC that has focused on test and evaluation of USW weapons systems. He has built a reputation as NUWC’s expert for the Virginia Class Submarine program and is recognized as a dedicated and a skilled manager.

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Blackburn now serves as a customer advocate, responsible for understanding customer needs, ensuring customer satisfaction and providing solutions for any issues that arise with a customer. He manages the $100 million annual budget for the Virginia Class Submarine program, a large staff, and all the end-to-end facets of the submarine system.

A resident of Portsmouth, Blackburn holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Westfield State University in Westfield, MA, and a master’s degree in program management from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, CA. 

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Medeiros, an engineer who has worked at NUWC Newport for 24 years, leads a technical team that provides a comprehensive USW analysis foundation which supports the development of USW technological and operational directions for the Navy. 

His team of senior scientists and engineers conduct analyses in support of Navy USW decision makers across the entire spectrum -science and technology, research and development, acquisition, and Fleet operations..

Medeiros has been at the forefront of USW analysis and is widely sought for his expertise in this area. Current studies on weapon systems and unmanned undersea vehicles under his direction provide in-depth analysis to the highest levels of Navy leadership.

A resident of Mystic, CT, Medeiros holds a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a masters of science degree in ocean enginneering from the University of Connecticut.

Blackburn and Medeiros will be presented with the Bronze Medals during the NDIA Undersea Warfare Division Fall meeting September17-18 in Groton, CT. 


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