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2002-R105 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jeanne Khouestani 2/4/02 |
NOAA News Releases 2002 NOAA Home Page NOAA Public Affairs |
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NAMED JUNIOR OFFICER OF THE YEAR Lt. John K. Longenecker, NOAA Corps, of Annville, Pa., has been named Junior Officer of the Year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Association of Commissioned Officers. Longenecker serves in the Hydrographic Surveys Division, part of NOAA's National Ocean Service. Longenecker, a pilot, was commended for his exceptional service in successfully leading a number of demanding and overlapping projects in the past year, including a temporary assignment with NASA that involved aircraft flights over the World Trade Center following the terrorist attack. He assisted with delineating thermal hot spots and providing maps and data to the WTC emergency response teams. Longenecker is an expert in Light Detection Ranging (LIDAR) technology, which is used aboard aircraft to survey both land topography and seafloor bathymetry. He was instrumental in obtaining research and survey data as well as updating many of NOAA's nautical charts with great time and cost efficiency in fragile coral reef areas and areas too rocky to survey by water craft. These efforts, as well as numerous others in the past year, have proven Longenecker to be an exceptionally talented officer and worthy of recognition. Longenecker, a native of Annville, Pa., is the son of the late Kenneth Longenecker and Barbara Longenecker, who still resides there. He currently lives in Silver Spring, Md. He graduated from Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., in 1991 and holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering. Longenecker was commissioned into the NOAA Corps in 1992. After his first assignment, aboard the NOAA fisheries research ship Oregon II, he undertook flight training and became a Twin Otter pilot with NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center in Tampa, Fla. He is currently assigned as field manager of LIDAR Surveys for the National Ocean Service. The NOAA Corps is the smallest
of the nation's seven uniformed services. NOAA Corps officers–all
scientists or engineers–operate and manage the agency's
fleet of research ships and aircraft, and serve as operational
experts across all divisions of NOAA. |
