Two NUWC Division Newport Employees Win 2024 American Society of Naval Engineers Awards
Two Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport engineers have won American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) awards for 2024. Michael Connelly, technical project manager for the Undersea Warfare Platforms and Payload Integration Department, is the winner of the Frank C. Jones Award, and Dr. Thomas Ramotowski, a senior chemist for the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department, is the winner of the Solberg Award.
The Frank C. Jones Award recognizes naval engineering professionals who have substantially and significantly contributed to their agency’s intermediate and/or depot-level ship maintenance and/or alteration programs. Connelly, a resident of Wakefield, Rhode Island, is the technical project who also serves as the supervisor for the In-Service Engineering Agent and Technical Direction Agent team for the Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tube (SVTT) program, has more than 20 years of experience as technical project manager for Project Management Office Mark 32 SVTT.
Connelly is responsible for overall SVTT task execution under multiple program offices and fleet customers, including providing technical support, engineering assessment and resolution of system problems with technical guidance, assessment of system operational issues, hardware, documentation, and operating requirements. Through his efforts, Connelly has ensured the success of the SVTT program for the fleet.
The Solberg Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to naval engineering through personal research during the past three years. Ramotowski, a resident of Tiverton, Rhode Island, is Division Newport’s subject matter expert for applied marine materials technology including corrosion prevention, accelerated life testing, adhesion, specialty coatings, polymers, and hardware reliability in the marine environment.
He is the lead engineer for polymer passive materials and polymer active materials under the NAVSEA Surface Ship Sonar Technical Warrant and serves as Division Newport’s representative to the NAVSEA Warfare Centers Materials Community of Interest. His 38-year career is marked with evidence that the research he conducted has transcended from theoretical to practical.
