Mr. James Waterman, a research physicist in the Optical Sciences Division of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), has been awarded the Henry Levinstein Award for his "outstanding management and leadership in the development of Large-format Focal Plane Arrays and Multi-color Focal Plane Arrays." The award was presented by the Military Sensing Symposium (MSS) Detector Specialty Group, on Infrared Detectors, at their February 2007 symposium.
The Levinstein award is given on an occasional basis by the MSS Detector Specialty Group in recognition of excellence and lifetime achievement in the technical management of infrared detector development. It is bestowed in honor and memory of Henry Levinstein, who was a professor at Syracuse University, working in the field of semiconductor physics relating to infrared detection. Professor Levinstein and his students, many of whom are currently leaders in the infrared sensing field, were responsible for seminal work in understanding semiconductor properties as they pertain to modern infrared photon detectors.
Mr. Waterman, of the Countermeasure Systems Section of the Applied Optics Branch, arrived at NRL in 1982. He served as section head of the Imaging Devices Section in the Electronics Science and Technology Division prior to moving to his current position in 2001. During his tenure at NRL, Mr. Waterman's research activities have included the Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) growth of infrared detector materials, infrared photodectector design, fabrication, performance modeling and characterization, radiation effects in infrared devices, and infrared imaging system development. His current work includes the development of two-color focal plane technology for tactical airborne missile warning sensors and imaging infrared sensors for shipboard applications.
Mr. Waterman has recently served as the technical manager for the Office of Naval Research's (ONR's), Advanced Focal Plane Array Manufacturing Technology program and principal investigator for ONR's Future Naval Capability programs for shipboard infrared search and track systems and shipboard anti-terrorist force protection infrared sensors. He is a technical advisor to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for infrared sensor technology for interceptor seekers. Mr. Waterman has served as program committee member and proceedings editor for the US Workshop on the Physics and Chemistry of II-VI Materials, on the Military Sensing Symposium Materials Meeting program committee, and as the Navy representative to the Advisory Group on Electron Devices Working Group C. He has been a keynote and invited speaker at a number of MSS, International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE), and DoD-sponsored conferences.
According to the nominating narrative for the award, "Mr. Waterman is a prominent leader in the government IR sensor community. He has championed and managed multi-spectral and large format focal plane array based sensor development for Navy and MDA applications since 1990. His efforts resulted in the successful transition of two-color FPA technology to sensor programs establishing two-color approach as Navy baseline for tactical missile-warning...at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, he is a group leader for the development of prototype integrated infrared systems for shipboard applications. In this role he oversees sensor modeling, design, integration, testing, detection, tracking, display software development, hardware implementation, and system field testing. His many technical contributions have ranged from novel infrared detector devices based on III-V semiconductor heterostructures to multi-spectral FPAs. He is also actively involved in managing MDA's programs in two-color FPA development for interceptor seekers. Mr. Waterman is a sought-after invited speaker at MSS and other conferences due to his technical depth and broad understanding of the military mission requirements and applications."
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