Standing left to right are NOMWC UUV Platoon Officer in Charge Lt. Scott Parker; lead UUV operator for the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Unmanned Systems Asset Pool, Ana Ziegler; and Head of NSWC PCD Unmanned Systems Technology Branch, Phil Bernstein. Holding the REMUS UUV are two members of the NOMWC UUV Platoon. Parker and Bernstein present Ziegler an On-the-Spot Cash Award for outstanding support of the Fleet as the Navy UUV technical representative to NOMWC UUV Platoon during Exercise RIMPAC 2009.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), in concert with the Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center (NOMWC) Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) Platoon, presented Research Engineer Ana Ziegler an On-the-Spot cash award during a July 2009 training exercise.

“The award presented to Ziegler was for outstanding support of the Fleet as the U.S. Navy’s UUV technical representative to NOMWC UUV Platoon during exercises conducted throughout 2009,” said Head of NSWC PCD Unmanned Systems Technology Branch Phil Bernstein.

NOMWC UUV came to NSWC PCD July 2009 to train with the Office of Naval Research’s Remote Environmental Monitoring UnitS (REMUS). REMUS is used by the U.S. Navy for mine hunting and hydrographic surveys. These autonomous underwater robots have side-scan sonar and also carry a suite of sensors, which basically collects data to map the terrain of the ocean’s floor.

Ana began her career at NSWC PCD as a COOP student in 2006.
“She graduated Florida State University at the Panama City campus in electrical engineering and is now the lead UUV operator for the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Unmanned Systems Asset Pool, which is managed by NSWC PCD,” Bernstein said.

At the close of the July 2009 training, Lt. Scott Parker, Officer in Charge of NOMWC UUV Platoon and Bernstein, presented Ziegler the award.
Ziegler provided technical support and advanced ONR UUVs in support of Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2009 in the waters south of Hawaii and MINEX, a confined waters exercise, which was conducted at Honolulu HI.

Ziegler also served as technical lead in support of the Clear Horizon Exercise in Chinhae, ROK; the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force-Navy GUARD and PROTECT exercise in Sasebo, Japan and lastly in support of the Maritime Homeland Security, Limited Objective Experiment in Corpus Christi TX for exercises conducted in May 2009.

As a student at FSU Panama City, Ziegler never dreamed that her interest in robotics would take her so far.

“I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of the United States Navy mine hunting team,” Ziegler said.