JASON GOMEZ has been selected as the new chief technology officer of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport. Gomez, who has served as a civilian employee for the U.S. Navy for 28 years, graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering. While working for the Navy he earned a Master of Science and a doctorate in mechanical engineering at the University of Rhode Island.
What was your reaction to being selected chief technology officer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center? I was truly honored to be selected from such a strong group of deserving candidates. In this role, the CTO is responsible for developing enabling technologies for our fleet, and in the future, expanding our warfighters’ advantage over our ever-advancing adversaries. To do that, the CTO must continue to grow, support and focus our world-class research scientists and engineers who make it happen every day.
How did you get involved with developing technology for the Navy? My first assignment at NUWC Newport was to develop silencing technologies for underwater weapons, and I had no idea what I was doing. Through working with experts, I learned how to research problems, develop solutions and demonstrate their effectiveness. Over the first eight to nine years of my career, I worked on a number of basic and applied research efforts, completed my degrees and formed a foundation of technology-development experience that I continue to draw on today.
What have you been most proud of accomplishing during your tenure? I have been very lucky throughout my career to have co-workers who took the time to both teach and then provide me opportunities to learn on my own. As I started to direct larger technology-development programs, I tried to provide the same learning environment to younger engineers. It is great to see young scientists and engineers grow into leaders in their chosen paths.
What do you hope to achieve as CTO of NUWC Newport? In addition to developing and supporting our science and technology workforce, I hope to focus their research on advancing the products developed by our technical departments and increase the rate at which our technology solutions transition into fleet capability. I will also concentrate on growing the core technology areas that NUWC Newport was founded on, while expanding strategically into growth areas through targeted workforce development, partnering and collaboration.
Do you have any innovative technological methods or products that you plan on pursuing in your role as CTO? We need to create road maps that identify capability gaps and technology solutions for specific current and future mission areas and integrate them into our product line programs. The road maps will strategically focus our internal basic research investments and guide our external science and technology sponsor investments, while providing an established transition plan.
