TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa."An engineer here is just the second person from the Army to earn the 2011 John Slattery Professional Achievement Award. Dr. David Carey, chief of Tobyhanna Army Depot’s Engineering Design, Development and Manufacturing Division, earned the award for his contributions to Automated Test Equipment (ATE) technology and devotion to engineering education. The award was introduced in 1987.

The award honors the memory of John Slattery, an engineer and former chairman of the Modular Automated Test Equipment Users Group Control and Support Software Committee. Presented annually, it recognizes an individual who best characterizes Slattery’s contributions. Carey’s technical achievements alone establish a long list of qualifications.

Carey supervises five branches that contribute to Tobyhanna Army Depot’s engineering-based missions. His work has helped bring various systems to the depot, including the Versatile Depot Automated Test System, used to test different Air Force weapons systems and aircraft components. Workload on manufacturing these systems has increased 325 percent since Carey began overseeing operations last September.

Carey’s accomplishments extend far beyond the gates of the depot. He attributes much of his success to his work in academia.

“I think what clinched the award for me is not only what I do at Tobyhanna,” he said, “but also what I do outside the depot " I’m an educator.”

The criterion of the award emphasizes “enthusiasm and eagerness to offer and provide mentoring.” Carey created the Wilkes University Institute for Automated Test, a program that provides students the specific education and guidance necessary to become test engineers. Kevin Hurley, vice president of Advanced

Development, Support Systems Associates Inc., nominated Carey for the award and recognizes this as a fundamental building block to sculpt the “engineers of tomorrow.”

“Providing a curriculum that specifically addresses the requirements and needs of engineering as they relate to our test community is a major contribution to the future of our industry,” Hurley said.

Carey understands the importance of what he provides to others. “I use teaching as a way to leave a mark on the world,” he said. “Not my mark, but a mark on every individual that will go forward into the field.

“I have the opportunity to not only teach the best but also hire the best,” Carey added. “The legacy I leave behind will live on in my students here and elsewhere.”

Carey completed a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clarkson University earlier this year after five years of research. That same drive and motivation has helped move the depot forward in ATE support.

“His position on ATE modernization and the desire to establish the next paradigm from which the entire DoD can benefit is a clear indicator of his overall drive,” Hurley said. “Dr. Carey’s unwavering commitment to excellence is demonstrated through his constant progress in reaching the projected ATE modernization goal.”

Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Defense Department’s largest center for the repair, overhaul and fabrication of a wide variety of electronics systems and components, from tactical field radios to the ground terminals for the defense satellite communications network. Tobyhanna’s missions support all branches of the Armed Forces.

About 5,600 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command. Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., the command’s mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.