Good afternoon, fellow NOAA Corps officers,
Last week the FDA approved an Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations for children 6 months and older. This is a huge milestone in the fight against COVID-19. Almost all of us either have, or have close relationships with, families with children under 5 years old. These families now have the ability to ensure their families are protected against the virus, and that other higher-risk family members will benefit from the extra layer of protection. This gives me a greater peace of mind for all of our families, and I am optimistic that we, as a Nation, are one step closer to the return to normalcy. Getting your children vaccinated is an important decision that parents will have to make, and I urge every officer with children under 5 years of age to do the research and determine what will keep your family the safest.
In other health-related news, as many of you saw in the ACO and DC area NOAA Broadcast messages yesterday, there will be a Red Cross Blood drive in memory of Rear Adm. Rick Brennan’s life of service to others and our nation on August 3rd, 2022. The blood drive will be held at NOAA Headquarters in the 4th floor conference room of SSMC3 from 0900 - 1500. If you are in the DC area, and would like to donate blood, please visit the Blood Drive Appointment Link to schedule an appointment. There will be escorts available for any donors that are not able to access the facility, so NOAA Corps retirees are welcome to come and donate. If you are an active duty NOAA Corps Officer in the DC area, and would like to volunteer to staff the blood drive, please contact the Blood Drive Coordinator, CDR Ryan Wattam at ryan.wattam@noaa.gov. Even if you are not in the DC area, please consider donating blood if you are able and help to save a life!
Stay healthy,
CAPT Douglas MacIntyre, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
| 26 Jul 2022 | BOTC 140 begins |
| 03 Aug 2022 | Officer Assignment Board |
| LCDR Rebecca Shaw | 14 Jul 2022 |
| LT Alyssa Thompson | 31 Aug 2022 |
| CDR Nicole Manning | 01 Oct 2022 |
| LCDR Francisco Fuenmayor | 01 Oct 2022 |
| LT Ricardo Rodriguez Perez | 01 Oct 2022 |
| LTJG Hillary Fort | 31 Oct 2022 |
| LT Lydia Ames | 01 Nov 2022 |
| LT Jeffrey Douglas | 13 Nov 2022 |
Congratulations to the following officers selected for the 2021 Junior Officer of the Year, Engineering and Science awards.
Lieutenant Brianna Evancoe is awarded the 2021 NOAA Association of Commissioned Officers Junior Officer of the Year award for her outstanding performance as Operations Officer Marine Operations Center - Pacific Islands (OPS MOC-Pl). LT Evancoe streamlined high-value Inter-Agency Agreements (IAAs) with Navy Base Guam (NBG) and Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH). Specifically, $73k supported NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette (SE) in-ports at NBG, and $1.8M secured mission critical utilities at JBPHH. Chair for the Inouye Regional Center (IRC) Information Technology (IT) Working Group, LT Evacnoe presented the FY22 IT budget and IT upgrade proposals to the IRC Campus Management Board. As OPS MOC-PI, LT Evancoe excessed $1.9M in property and removed 3k lbs of scrap metal for platform storage. Additionally, with Navy buy-in, LT Evancoe replaced dangerously undersized fenders along the two MOC-PI piers. Finally, LT Evancoe forward deployed to Guam and provided on-site support for SE in-port logistics. LT Evancoe's consistent high performance, positive representation of NOAA Corps to our IRC and Navy partners, and her contributions to NOAA Marine Operations are why she is well-deserving of this coveted honor.
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) John "Drew" Stephens is awarded a 2021 NOAA Association of Commissioned Officers Science Award for his analytic contributions to the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Groundfish Assessment Program. LTJG Stephens identified 745 pockmarks in multibeam imagery 20-45 NM east of St. Lawrence Island consistent with methane seeps and correlated those pockmarks using archived CHIRP seismic data. Building upon this, LTJG Stephens has kicked-off ongoing fieldwork to assess the impacts of bottom trawling on carbon sequestration and release in marine sediments of the Bering Sea.
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Daniel Jessurun is awarded a 2021 NOAA Association of Commissioned Officers Science Award for technical acumen maintaining Remote-site Incubation (RSI) of endangered Central California Coast (CCC) Coho salmon eggs with consistently high survival rates. The mission success of NMFS in sustainable fisheries and managing protected resources was undoubtedly enhanced through LTJG Jessurun’s direct contribution operating and managing the RSI for the NMFS California Coastal Office.
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Julia Waldsmith is awarded a 2021 NOAA Association of Commissioned Officers Science Award for hypothesizing ecological zones of Elvers Bank in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary could be predicted by geological analysis of processed backscatter. LTJG Waldsmith helped prove geomorphological interpretation of depth data and backscatter imagery alone are not robust enough to predict seafloor ecology without ROV investigations. LTJG Waldsmith shared this determination at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall meeting as well as the THSOA US Hydro 2021 conference.
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Nathaniel Park is awarded a 2021 NOAA Association of Commissioned Officers Engineering Award for successful management and fabrication of multiple major design projects. LTJG Park designed a surgery platform for oversized sea turtles for the Marine Turtle Biology Assessment Program, a Protected Species Division Solar Battery Shed, a repurposed BlueROV2 to 3D model coral reefs, and various light modifications to the Drop Camera Instrument Package (DCIP) and Modular Optical Underwater Survey System (MOUSS) rigs used for bottomfish stock assessments.
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Samuel Umfress is awarded a 2021 NOAA Association of Commissioned Officers Engineering Award for recalculating sound speed profiles to aid in re-estimating the maximum depth of the Challenger Deep (the deepest known point of the seabed measured at the southern end of the Mariana Trench). LTJG Umfress also completed final efficacy tests of Hydroball, an unique, all in one, easy to use system that he cleared for navigational data collection field use. LTJG Umfress also diagnosed then solved NOAA Ship Nancy Foster's deep multibeam data acquisition issue which returned the ship to full sonar and mission functionality.
You are cordially invited to attend the virtual Change of Command ceremony for NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada on June 25, 2022.
The ceremony will be livestreamed from the deck of NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada in San Francisco Bay, CA. The livestream link is provided in the invite.
To view your invitation please click the link below.
If you are unable to click on the link please copy and paste the address into your web browser.
https://einvitations.afit.edu/inv/anim.cfm?i=669343&k=04674B0A7F54
If you have any questions, please contact ENS Tyler Hall at tyler.hall@noaa.gov or 541-867-8923.
The first wave of National Response Deployment Medals and Service Ribbon (NRDM/SR) hardware and certificates will be going out to officers shortly. CPC first had to create a new response service ribbon certificate through a graphic designer. Currently, CPC has ~1/2 of the deployment medal sets in stock for distribution to recipients. CPC will distribute the remaining sets to officers upon fulfilling the backorder with the manufacturer, who will also maintain a surplus for individual sales. This contract fulfillment is pending NOAA’s budget approval, to be determined. While awaiting CPC hardware and certificate distribution, all recipients have the award memo and nomination in their OPFs.
If you have any questions, please contact LCDR Stephen Moulton at stephen.f.moulton@noaa.gov.
CPC is still soliciting applications for the next BOTC 140 & 141 Junior Officer Sponsor and we have extended the submission deadline to 28 June. Please see the link below for a description of the program, and instructions for how to apply.
BOTC Junior Officer Sponsor Program Information.
Please submit your application package to LT Diane Perry at diane.m.perry@noaa.gov by COB June 28, 2022.
Reminder that the semiannual/annual reporting periods for LTJGs and ENSs is 31 Jan/31 July. With Officers having greater than 3 years of service only requiring an OER for the end of the 31 July reporting period.
Here are the upcoming milestone dates for OER submissions:
21 days before end of period Sunday, July 10, 2022: The Rated Officer sends their Supervisor a list of significant accomplishments during the period, any supporting documents, and the administrative data required to fill out Section 1 of the OER 56-6E form.
10 days after the end of the reporting period Wednesday, August 10, 2022. The Supervisor sections of the OER are completed and sent to the Reporting Officer.
30 days after the end of the reporting period Tuesday, August 30, 2022 the Reporting Officer sends the completed OER to oer.cpc@noaa.gov.
Contact oer.cpc@noaa.gov or chief.careermgmt.cpc@noaa.gov with any questions on how to best submit OERs.