Frank Herr, Ph.D.Head, Ocean Battlespace Sensing Department
Dr. Frank Herr is the head of ONR's Ocean Battlespace Sensing Department – one of six science and technology (S&T) departments at ONR. He has been in this position since 2001. The Ocean Battlespace Department is responsible for the Navy’s and Marine Corps’s S&T in ocean and meteorological science, undersea warfare, mine warfare, space technology, and marine mammals. It is comprised of two divisions and 14 programs spanning sensing, systems, and geophysical processes and prediction. The department also has built and cares for six oceanographic research vessels.
Ocean Battlespace Sensing is comprised of two senior executives, 39 professional scientists and engineers, four senior military officers, and 26 support staff. The department’s budget is $310million/yr. From 1996 to 2001, Herr was director, Sensing and Systems Division within ONR. His division’s work spanned undersea warfare, mine warfare, and space technology. The division’s budget was $140M/yr.
He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in August 1998 and current is the U.S. National Representative for the Maritime Systems Group of The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) coordinating technology among US, UK, CAN, AUS, and NZ.
Herr joined federal service in 1977 as a research chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) conducted research until 1982 when he joined ONR. He became the program manager for Remote Sensing in 1988. From 1992 to 1994, he served on the staff of Adm. Frank B. Kelso, chief of naval operations (CNO), as assistant for science and technology to the CNO Executive Panel, N00K.
He is a graduate of Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also holds a doctorate degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, Md. He was a National Research Council post-doctoral research associate, and has authored 22 scientific and technical publications.
Herr received the Department of the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award in 1994 and again in 2008. In 2005 he received a Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives. In 1981, he received the NRL Research Publication Award.