NASHVILLE, Tenn –
Recognizing Excellence at DMC 2023: The Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Award
Established in 1999, the Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Awards (DMTAA) are sponsored by the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel (JDMTP), and are awarded annually to individuals from government, industry and/or academia that are most responsible for remarkable technical accomplishments in projects that advance the vision of the Department of Defense (DoD) Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program.
The DoD ManTech vision, as reflected in the DoD ManTech Five Year Strategic Plan, is to achieve a responsive, world-class manufacturing capability to affordably and rapidly meet warfighter needs throughout the defense system life cycle, within the Defense Industrial and Organic Base. The JDMTP expanded the DMTAA criteria in 2017 to encompass five individual categories: Technology Enabler, Cost Reduction, Rate or Safety Improvement, Enhancing Military Capability, Readiness Improvement, and Supply Chain Improvement. This has been the ongoing structure of the awards and is how teams submit their projects for consideration based on the category their project most closely relates to.
The JDMTP Principals had the pleasure to evaluate a total of nineteen submissions for this year’s awards. Nominees were evaluated based on three criteria: manufacturing technology achievement, transition/implementation outlook, and potential and/or realized benefits. JDMTP Chair, Neil Graf, as well as the other Principals representing Army, Navy, Airforce, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Defense Logistics Agency were very encouraged by the overall quality of the submissions and excited for the benefits to our Warfighters.
After much deliberation, the JDMTP selected a total of five individual awards across the categories that they felt best demonstrated outstanding performance in executing and delivering ManTech solutions to the DoD.
Awarded at the Defense Manufacturing Conference in Nashville, TN this December the JDMTP was honored to recognize the following projects as DMTAA recipients and honorable mentions:
Winners
- Category: Technology Enabler
- Organization: OSD ManTech
- Project Title: Automation of Fiber Amplifier Test Beds
- Team Members
- Tiffanie D'Alberto, Coherent Inc., Advanced Defense Solutions
- Benjamin Johnson, Coherent Inc., Advanced Defense Solutions
- Mitchell Underwood, Coherent Inc., Advanced Defense Solutions
- Mark Soliman, Coherent Inc., Advanced Defense Solutions
- Jenny Niles, Army RCCTO, Directed Energy Manufacturing & Industrial Base
- Joe Grobmyer, Army RCCTO, Directed Energy Manufacturing & Industrial Base
- Brock Owens, Radiance Technologies, Directed Energy Manufacturing & Industrial Base
- Kevin McDonald, Radiance Technologies, Directed Energy Manufacturing & Industrial Base
- Matt Moody, Radiance Technologies, Directed Energy Manufacturing & Industrial Base
- Category: Cost Reduction/Rate or Safety Improvement
- Organization: Navy ManTech
- Project Title: CH-53K Flexbeam Automation (A2739)
- Team Members
- Scott Bartlett, ONR NavalX, Sr Program Manager
- Becky Clements, PMA-261, Heavy Lift Helicopters Program Office, S&T Manager
- Stan Ng, NAVAIR, Polymers & Composites
- Kelsey Harrison, NAVAIR, Polymers & Composites
- Tommy Chen, NAVAIR, Airframe Technology
- Leslie Hill, Composites Manufacturing Technology Center (CMTC) Center of Excellence, Project Manager
- Maria Smerekanicz, Lockheed Martin - Sikorsky, Program Manager
- Al Trudeau, Lockheed Martin - Sikorsky, Lead Project Engineer
- Stephan Zweidler, Accudyne Systems, Program Manager
- Ira Lockwood, Accudyne Systems, Mechanical Systems Integration Engineer
- Category: Enhancing Military Capability
- Organization: OSD ManTech
- Project Title: Lightweight Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Unmanned Aerial Systems
- Team Members
- Kevin Cronin, Naval Research Laboratory – Chemistry Division, Alternative Energy Section (NRL)
- Dr. Benjamin Gould, (former) Naval Research Laboratory – Chemistry Division, Alternative Energy Section (NRL)
- Joseph Rodgers, Naval Research Laboratory – Tactical Electronic Warfare Division, Vehicle Research Section (NRL)
- Dr. Adam Jolley, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division – Propulsion and Power Engineering Department, Electric Power Systems S&T (NAWCAD)
- Michael Allen, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division – Propulsion and Power Engineering Department, Electric Power Systems S&T (NAWCAD)
- Timothy Klein, Northwest UAV
- Ethan Broten, Northwest UAV
- Andrew Spence, Northwest UAV
- Jon Bleakney, Northwest UAV
- Greg Stadeli, Northwest UAV
- Category: Readiness Improvement
- Organization: Air Force ManTech
- Project Title: Advanced Automation for Agile Aerospace Applications (A5)
- Team Members
- Jeff Kingsley, Air Force Research Laboratory – Materials & Manufacturing Directorate, Manufacturing and Industrial Technologies Division (AFRL/RXM)
- Steve Turek, Department of the Air Force Digital Transformation Office
- Rick Meyers, Air Force Research Laboratory – Materials & Manufacturing Directorate (AFRL/RX)
- Shane Groves, Air Force Material Command, WR-ALC/EN
- Gino Spinos, National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM)
- Sara Rogers, Southwest Research Institute (SWRI)
- Chris Zuver, The Boeing Company
- Category: Supply Chain Improvement
- Organization: DLA ManTech
- Project Title: Powerful Lightweight Lead Polymer Bipolar Batteries for Military Vehicles
- Team Members
- Mather Hutchens (DLA R&D)
- John Zwally (Army GVSC Engineer)
- Daniel Hernandez (Army GVSC Engineer)
- Maurizio Cunningham-Brown (UBC Founder CEO)
- Dr. Keith Ellis (UBC CTO)
- Malcolm Earp (UBC COO)
- Peter McElroy (JMH Group / UBC Government Programs Director)
For more information about the JDMTP, please visit
Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program > JDMTP (dodmantech.mil)