On Could 31, the U.S. Division of Protection’s chief expertise officer, Beneath Secretary of Protection for Analysis and Engineering Heidi Shyu, offered Eric Evans with the Division of Protection (DoD) Medal for Distinguished Public Service. This award is the very best honor given by the secretary of protection to personal residents for his or her vital service to the DoD. Evans was chosen for his management as director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory and as vice chair and chair of the Protection Science Board (DSB).
“I’ve gotten to know Eric nicely within the final three years, and I enormously respect his management, proactiveness, imaginative and prescient, mind, and humbleness,” Shyu acknowledged in her remarks through the Could 31 ceremony held on the laboratory. “Eric has a willingness and skill to confront and remedy essentially the most tough issues for nationwide safety. His distinguished public service will proceed to have invaluable impacts on the division and the nation for many years to return.”
Throughout his tenure in each roles over greater than a decade, Evans has cultivated relationships on the highest ranges inside the DoD. Since getting into his position as laboratory director in 2006, he has suggested eight protection secretaries and 7 deputy protection secretaries. Beneath his management, the laboratory delivered superior capabilities for nationwide safety in a broad vary of expertise areas, together with cybersecurity, house surveillance, biodefense, synthetic intelligence, laser communications, and quantum computing.
Evans ensured that the laboratory addressed not solely current DoD priorities, but in addition rising and future threats. He foresaw the necessity for and established three new technical divisions protecting Cyber Security and Information Sciences, Homeland Protection, and Biotechnology and Human Systems. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, he rapidly pivoted the laboratory to help the nationwide response. To make sure U.S. competitiveness in an ever-evolving protection panorama, he advocated for the modernization of main take a look at ranges, together with the Reagan Test Site for which the laboratory serves as scientific advisor, and secured funding for brand new state-of-the-art amenities such because the Compound Semiconductor Laboratory – Microsystem Integration Facility. He additionally strengthened ties with MIT campus on analysis collaborations to drive innovation and develop instructional alternatives for making ready the following technology of the DoD STEM workforce.
In parallel, Evans served on the DSB, the main board for offering science and expertise recommendation to DoD senior management. Evans served as DSB vice chair from 2014 to 2020 and chair since 2020. Through the years, Evans led or supported greater than 30 DSB research of direct significance to the DoD. Most notably, he initiated a brand new Strategic Choices Everlasting Subcommittee centered on figuring out techniques and expertise to arrange the nation for future protection wants.
“The medal is a superb and well-deserved recognition of Eric’s contributions to MIT and to nationwide safety,” mentioned Ian Waitz, MIT’s vice chairman for analysis.
As Evans steps down from his role as Lincoln Laboratory director on July 1, he’ll transition to a professor of observe appointment on the MIT campus and can proceed to strengthen ties between the Laboratory and MIT campus and work with DoD leaders.
