Capt. Matthew J. Swiergosz, MSC USN
Head (Acting), Warfighter Performance Department

Capt. Swiergosz was appointed acting department head and military deputy of ONR’s Warfighter Performance Department in 2016, and director of the Warfighter Protection and Applications Division in 2015. As department head, he leads ONR’s broad research portfolio in human systems integration, bioengineered systems, and expeditionary and undersea medicine. He is also responsible for ensuring the safety and welfare of human subjects in Navy and Marine Corps research studies. As director of the Warfighter Protection and Applications Division, Capt. Swiergosz leads ONR’s biology and biomedicine portfolio and the department’s flagship applied research programs—the Force Health Protection and Capable Manpower pillars of the Future Naval Capabilities program.

Since his commission in the U.S. Navy in 1997, Capt. Swiergosz has served as a research psychologist and investigator at the Naval Medical Research Institute, Naval Medical Research Center, and Navy Experimental Diving Unit. He served as the officer-in-charge of the Human Performance Center Detachment at the Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Diving. During these tours, he conducted research in operational diving, mitigation of oxygen toxicity, test and evaluation of diving and medical equipment, and optimizing organizational performance in recruitment and training.

Capt. Swiergosz also served for three years at West Point as an associate professor in the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department, Engineering Psychology Program, where he taught introductory psychology; sensation, perception and psychophysics; biopsychology; and military seminars on officership.

Capt. Swiergosz was first assigned to ONR in 2008 as a program officer where he led the Undersea Medicine Program (a National Naval Responsibility), and created and led the Navy’s Noise Induced Hearing Loss Program. He was naval representative on the Department of Defense’s Joint Program Committees (JPC) for Military Operational Medicine (JPC-5), and Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine (JPC-8). He also served as the president of the Defense Technical Information Center User Council. Before his current ONR assignment, he was assistant inspector general for Command Climate Evaluation at the Office of the Naval Inspector General in support of Echelon II command inspections and Navy Region area visits.

Capt. Swiergosz received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s in experimental psychology from the University of Toledo, and his doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Nevada in Reno. His military awards include the Navy Meritorious Service Medal (3), Navy Commendation Medal (2), Navy Achievement Medal, and the Army Achievement Medal.