Trine alum receives DOD medal for anti-missile system work

CRANE, Ind. — A Trine University alumnus has been granted one of the highest civilian honors by the Department of Defense (DOD) for his work on an anti-missile defense system for warships.

Alex Ray, who graduated from Trine in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, is chief engineer in the Maritime Electromagnetic Warfare Systems Division at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Crane Division.

The DOD recently honored Alex with the Civilian Service Achievement Medal (CSAM), given to “civilian personnel who are to be recognized for a sustained performance or a specific achievement of a superlative nature.”

The medal is the fifth-highest designation a civilian can receive from the DOD.

Alex was honored for his work in bringing together various groups and stakeholders to improve upon the AN/SLQ-32, the primary electromagnetic warfare suite for US Navy surface ships.

Hidden gem

Alex became aware of NSWC Crane at a Trine University career fair during the spring semester of his senior year in 2015. He was drawn to Crane by his interest in helping those who serve in the armed forces.

“They interviewed me on the spot, and some weeks later I was offered a job and accepted,” he said. “I had no knowledge of Crane and their mission prior to seeing their booth at that career fair. It is truly a hidden gem for Indiana, though we are becoming more well-known.”

He has worked in engineering, project management and management roles in the Maritime Electromagnetic Warfare Systems Division at Crane. The division supports the full lifecycle of electromagnetic warfare systems for surface ships, with the primary mission being defending ships from missile threats.

“I enjoy the people I work with,” he said. “They are a group of true patriots who work hard every day to support our sailors who defend us all. I also enjoy being able to use my technical skills to help the sailors, and I always enjoy any time I get a chance to interact with them directly.”

Improving reliability

He began working on the AN/SLQ-32 early in his career at Crane, beginning with the AN/SLQ-32(V)6, which was undergoing field testing about that time.

The AN/SLQ-32(V)6 had several reliability and supportability issues.

“While this system brought updated technology, many of the system components were performing well below their expected reliability, leading to far more failures than anticipated,” Alex said.

Charged with addressing those reliability challenges, Alex brought together teams from Navy Program Offices, other Warfare Centers, industry and internally at Crane to review the failure data and understand what parts were having the biggest impact on the overall system.

He then worked with industry partners and Crane’s internal engineering team to redesign components that were causing issues.

“Modernizing the fleet is a process that typically takes a very long time to complete,” he said. “I worked to consolidate all of our engineering improvements onto a single carrier strike group, which served as a much faster way to validate the changes, and this effort was largely successful.”

Alex said he was very grateful and humbled to be recognized with the medal.

“This was a team effort, and so many others deserve recognition for the effort they contributed to making this effort a success,” he said.

He also appreciates his education and experience at Trine, which he said gave him an incredible foundation for his work and graduate studies.

“As an alumnus, it has been great to see Trine continue to thrive,” he said.