U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) mechanical and aerospace engineer, Dr. Roger S. Cortesi, receives the Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award for outstanding meritorious civilian service and superior leadership and managerial acumen. His work has been instrumental in directing and fostering new and innovative technologies that have had significant operational impact on the warfighter.
As head of the Special Projects Group in the Tactical Electronic Warfare Division (TEWD) at NRL, Cortesi has distinguished himself through a series of innovative developments and deployments of the Transportable Electronic Warfare Module (TEWM) system. Since the initial development, Cortesi has led the use of TEWM as a CNO Speed to Fleet initiative.
TEWM was conceived, designed, built, and tested as a platform-independent payload applicable to both manned and unmanned assets. It provides a ruggedized, weatherproof, shock-mounted mobile system for the Navy to test various electronic warfare (EW) payloads and techniques with rapid vessel-to-vessel transfer capability.
Dr. Cortesi has led all of the tactical training, at sea and in theater, for the employment of the devices to all the ships that have received them to date, said Dr. Lawrence Schuette, director of research, Office of Naval Research. His efforts have been a critical step in ensuring the successful adoption of the technology and have provided the Navy with exceptional capability in a very rapid and innovative fashion.
Cortesi received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering and aerospace from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 2012. Cortesi joined NRL Tactical Electronic Warfare Division in 2007 after serving in the Navy as a submarine officer. In 2009, he became head of the Special Projects Group, TEWD, at NRL.