Melinda Tourangeau receives the John M. Clifford Award for the Advancement of the Electromagnetic Domain at the AOC 58th Annual Symposium and Convention, Washington, D.C., November 30, 2021. Standing beside her is Mr. Glenn “Powder” Carlson, president of the AOC (left), and Sir Robert Andrews, Chair of the AOC Awards Committee for 2021.
Mrs. Tourangeau’s career began in 1984 as an Air Force ROTC scholarship recipient to Georgia Tech to study lasers and electro-optics to prepare her to work on President Reagan’s Star Wars program. In 1989, she was assigned to WRDC, WPAFB, OH (now AFRL) to work in the Laser/EO Laboratory on research. In 1991, she transitioned to Air Force Institute of Technology to obtain her Masters in Electro-Optics and Semiconductor Physics. Her Master’s thesis (1992) was on a Russian Spatial Light Modulator called a PRIZ, which was theorized to have a predictable current and electric field response to the moving targets in a stationary scene (e.g., tanks moving along a road), depending on how the crystal was cleaved and which facet of the crystal was illuminated. In 1994, she transitioned to Active Reserves and took a full-time position with Raytheon Missile Systems Division to work on several IR guided missile projects. She obtained a patent for this work, No: 6,072,889. In 1996, she took a unique position in wireless cellular software solutions and sales with Bell Atlantic Mobile for three years. At that time, she wasn’t aware this experience would become essential to her work later in promoting the importance of the electromagnetic spectrum as a battlespace. At that same time, she transitioned to Sun Microsystems where she was in put charge of the Solaris Operating System and several desktop servers and StorEdge solutions. Her experience at Sun contributed greatly to her understanding of networked systems which has become vital to promoting EMS knowledge and awareness. She finished her MBA in High Technology and Innovation in 2000. At this same time, she obtained a Provisional Patent Application: Diffusive-Noise-Reduced Photodiode/Focal Plane Array – Issued September 15, 2003, No. 60/502,931. In 2004, Melinda joined BAE Systems to work on their pioneering ROIC/microbolometer camera cores for IR applications such as Thermal Weapon Site (TWS). Her career at BAE remained for nine years managing several key EW and EMSO programs such as D-CREW, FA-18 Antenna pods, and one assignment in EW sustainment (464A, ALR-69, ALQ-161). In 2015, Melinda co-founded Warrior Support Solutions, LLC, a small business dedicated to providing premier subject matter expertise in EW and EMSO. In 2019, Mrs. Tourangeau co-founded the RVJ Institute, Inc. a not-for-profit center of excellence/research institute dedicated to promoting Excellence in the EME and assisting the DoD in achieving Freedom of Action in the EMS. She is currently serving as the Executive Director and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the RVJ Institute.
Melinda’s dedication to the AOC began in 2010 when she took over engineering management of EW operational and test systems at BAE Systems and began attending Dixie Crow and the AOC International shows. In 2013 Melinda joined the Kitty Hawk chapter as the social chair. Melinda started the annual outings for the Dayton Dragons and took over the annual Holiday Party planning and execution. In 2014, Melinda volunteered to serve as Award Committee Chair for Group VI Awards. In 2014, Steve and Melinda took on a membership drive campaign with the US Army QUAD-A organization. They manned a booth at Quad-A for AOC and generated new members. Steve and Melinda proposed a “membership swap” between the two organizations. In 2015, Steve and Melinda rejuvenated the Granite State Roost Chapter, and Melinda took on the role of social chair from 2015-2018 and took the position again in 2021. Most recently, Melinda was elected as Secretary of GSR in 2021. She ran for Northeast Regional Director in 2020. For three AOC International symposiums (2016, 2017, 2018), Melinda provided valuable support to the burgeoning STEM program, helping with planning, programming, and manning the booths at the symposium. In 2018, Melinda provided valuable input to the symposium planning committee on the formulation of the Small Business Alley, a keen and unique opportunity for small businesses to afford and obtain a booth on the exhibit floor at the annual symposium. In September 2020, Melinda participated in virtual Dixie Crow Lunch & Learn, giving a presentation on Assessment of U.S. EMSO Plans & Activities.
Melinda has participated in several prominent EMSO-related panel discussions ad podcasts, including: Hudson Institute, U.S. Navy-CRANE Technology Workshop, Host-Bryan Clark, March/June/November, 2021, NDU Eisenhower School Class of 2021 EW-EMSO Industry Study DV Day, May 25, 2021, Potomac Officers Club Future Battlefield Series: Achieving Dominance in the Digital Battlespace, <PotomacOfficersPanel>, Jan 26, 2021, Virtual/ON24, Armada EW Podcast, Tom Withington – Host, June 26, 2021, National Spectrum Consortium TechTalk: The Internet of Military Things (IoMT), June 23, 2021, and Association of Old Crows, Diamond Head Chapter, Indo-PACOM Symposium, EMSO Round Table – Round 2, October 2021.
Melinda’s other written accomplishments include co-authoring two NDAA taskers, one in response to the 115th Congress, 2d Session, H. R. 5515—3, Sec 255, requesting an assessment of US DoD EW Plans and Programs <2019NDAA>, and one in response to the 116th Congress, 2d Session, 116-236, 2021 NDAA, Section 54, asking for a plan to develop a joint electronic warfare training range <2021 NDAA>. In August and September 2018, Melinda co-authored two advocacy papers for the AOC, one on Compass Call <CompassCall> and one on US Army SIGINT <ArmySIGINT>. In addition, Melinda is published as follows:
Tourangeau, M. L. (2021). Managing the Electromagnetic Spectrum – A Large-Scale Collective Action Problem for the 21st Century, Joint Air Power Competency Center (JAPCC) Conference Read Ahead, Spring 2021. <ManagingtheEMS>
Clark, B., Walton, T., Tourangeau, M. L., Tourangeau, S. (2021). The Invisible Battlefield: A Technology Strategy for US Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority. Hudson Institute, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, Winter 2021. <The Invisible Battlefield>.
Tourangeau, M.L. (2018). Concepts, Collaborative, Coalition, and Culture: The New C4 for Electronic Warfare. Association of Old Crows-EW Europe Symposium and Convention, June 8, 2018.
In December 2020, Mr. Dave Adamy approached Mrs. Tourangeau to be a reviewer/evaluator for his fifth EW textbook, EW 105- Space EW. Melinda took on that assignment and provided 26 comments for this 236-page book. Her endorsement is displayed on the back cover.
Adamy, D. (2021). EW 105: Space Electronic Warfare. ARCTECH House Publishing, Boston, MA. ISBN: 9781630818340. <SpaceEW105>
Mr. Adamy logically captures the nexus of space and EW in this easy-to-use reference text. Whether you hail from the space domain or the EW profession, you will be empowered to follow the step-by-step instructions for identifying variables, populating equations and cranking out values to represent real situations. As we set our sights on maneuvering, operating and defending space, this text will stand up to the task, enabling the reader to boldly go into the final frontier.
— Melinda Tourangeau, Executive Director, RVJ Institute – Center of Excellence for EMSO
Figure 4 – M Tourangeau endorsement, Space EW
The inspiration for the RVJ Institute came from the counsel, passionate messaging and pioneering of Mr. John Clifford, OBE, who began purporting the importance of spectrum awareness early in his career and continued to brief on this important subject throughout his service to the EW community. It is fitting that Melinda has been bestowed this inaugural award given the roots of the RVJ Institute.
The RVJ Institute is stood up as a research center of excellence to produce scholarly sources for a legitimized scientific field of study of electromagnetic spectrum operations. The Institute’s vision is to mobilize a critical awareness campaign across the entire defense community on the vulnerabilities of spectrum as more and more military operations become dependent on it. The Institute’s mission is to see to it that the DoD achieves Freedom of Action in the EMS.
Figure 1 – The late John M. Clifford, OBE
What is probably most notable about Mrs. Tourangeau’s contributions in the past year is last October 2020 – during the COVID crisis – Melinda and Steve traveled to the Pentagon for a meeting with Mr. Dave Tremper, OUSD R&E Director and Executive Secretary of the EW EXCOM. In that meeting, Melinda explained the importance of EP features on every spectrum-dependent system. Following that meeting, Melinda authored a report on EP features, and explained mathematically how EMSO = EW + spectrum management, and how EP could be manifested throughout the Department without “violating” the EW portfolio. Following this interaction, Mr. Tremper has been on a crusade, speaking at every possible venue on the importance of EP features for the entire the EMS Enterprise. This campaign may singularly change the face of Freedom of Action in the EMS for the entire Department of Defense.
0 Comments