Ms. Windie Borodin, a computer scientist at the Naval Center For Space Technology at the Naval Research Laboratory, is the recipient of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award. She is recognized for her significant contributions as manager of the Midway Research Center (MRC) satellite calibration facility.
The award citation notes in part, As the manager of the Midway Research Center (MRC) satellite calibration facility from 2003 to the present, Borodin has provided extraordinary leadership and technical insight. Recognizing the largely untapped and underutilized resource the MRC embodied, Borodin has significantly expanded the capability, the mission, the customer, the budget and the personnel base at the MRC. As a result, the coordination of all national and DoD satellite on orbit calibration operations have saved tens of millions of dollars annually.
Borodin has worked at NRL since 1987. She is head of the Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) branch within the Space Systems Development Department. Borodin oversees and manages the activities of 45 scientists and engineers in the formulation of solutions to various C4I issues associated with space system development. The facilities under her management provide continuous calibration, ephemeris calculations and on-orbit support for 15 satellites.
At its inception, MRC supported a single, Navy-managed satellite program. Previously, post-launch testing of each satellite required a period of twelve months before it could become operational. Borodin's innovative steps reduced the calibration time of these satellites to a period of three months or less. The result was less replacement satellites being launched less frequently, thereby achieving significant cost savings. This dramatic increase in efficiency resulted in multiple satellite programs turning to the MRC for their orbit support.
Mr. Chris Dwyer, superintendent of the Space Systems Development Department at NRL, describes how under Borodin's management, her span of responsibility and control has expanded from the MRC to include field sites in twelve countries/territories around the world. A number of these sites are being upgraded under Borodin's leadership. Borodin has also significantly improved the overall reliability and availability of operational systems; improved the focus, selection and results of development efforts; and provided for a growth in quality and number of technical staff. Borodin's superb management skills and technical innovation have contributed significantly to the security of the U.S. as well as the free world, says Dwyer.
Borodin received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Queens College, North Carolina, a bachelor's degree in computer science, and a master's degree in software engineering from the University of Maryland.
Borodin's awards include: a Group Achievement Award, 1996; a Navy Unit Commendation Award, 1996; the Air Force Sentinel Award, 2002-2009; the DOD Top 5 Government Program's Award, 2005; the NRL Alan Berman Research Publication Award, 2006; and numerous outstanding performance and contribution awards. She also contributed of an article published in the Journal of the Optical Society of America (OSA), in 1985, and authored an article published in Crosswalk in 2005.