Ron Broersma, a Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific information technology division chief engineer, received one of the Defense Department's top awards, the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) Hero Award for long-term sustained contributions. Broersma was presented the award Jan. 7 by SSC Pacific Commanding Officer Capt. Joe Beel and Executive Director Carmela Keeney.
Broersma, a 2010 winner of SSC Pacific’s prestigious Lauritsen-Bennett Award, and SPAWAR's enterprise network security manager, was chosen for the honor for his overall contribution to the science and technology (S&T) and test and evaluation (T&E) communities for the last five years. In a letter to the award’s nominating committee, Broersma was cited by HPCMP’s associate director for networking for his outstanding support for the organization through the Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN) program.
Broersma’s technical expertise and contributions to the DREN (where he has served as chief engineer for the past decade) were saluted as “second to none.” Broersma and his team successfully implemented a suite of carrier-grade support services, including state-of-the-art video teleconferencing, domain name service, Linux distribution repositories, and utilization statistics for
DREN customers. These services were installed in multiple enterprise-class data centers.
The HPCMP supports DoD objectives through research, development, test and evaluation. The HPCMP was initiated in 1992 in response to congressional direction to modernize DoD laboratories'
high performance computing capabilities. The HPCMP was assembled out of a collection of small high performance computing departments, each with a rich history of supercomputing experience
that had independently evolved within the Army, Air Force and Navy laboratories and test centers.
HPC tools are used to solve complicated and time-consuming problems. Researchers expand their toolkit to solve modern military and security problems using HPC hardware and software. Programs assess technical and management risks, such as performance, time, available resources, cost and schedule.
Through HPC solutions, programs gain knowledge to protect our military through new weapons systems, prepare U.S. aircraft for overseas deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assist long-term weather predictions to plan humanitarian and military operations throughout the world.
In addition to receiving the DoD award, Broersma was also recently honored as one of four recipients of the IPv6 Forum Internet Pioneer award. The IPv6 Forum is a worldwide consortium of
leading Internet service vendors, national research and education networks, and international Internet service providers.
The award recognizes significant achievement and hard work from individuals who excel in their efforts to support the mission of IPv6 deployment across world geographies for a cause greater than their own self interest.
The IPv6 Forum's mission is to promote the rapidly advancing technology of IPv6 by improving market and user awareness, creating a quality and secure next-generation Internet, and allowing
worldwide access to knowledge and technology.
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific provides the U.S. Navy and military with essential capabilities in the areas of command and control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR). SSC Pacific provides the full spectrum of
C4ISR capabilities from basic research and prototype development, to extensive test and evaluation services, through systems engineering and integration, to installation and life-cycle support of fielded systems.
Patric Petrie is a lead writer for SPAWARSYSCEN Pacific.