Negron named 2012 STEM Professional of the Year from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer

  • Published
  • By Marcia L. Graeff
  • AFRL/XPPD
Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio --  Mr. Ricardo Negron, Chief of the Domestic Partnering Branch in the Plans and Programs Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has received the Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Professional of the Year award for 2012 from The Federal Laboratory Consortium  for Technology Transfer.

Mr. Negron was recognized for his tireless work on STEM education in southwest Ohio. Appointed AFRL's STEM coordinator, Mr. Negron is on the boards, as an ex officio member, of the Dayton Regional STEM Center and the Dayton Regional STEM School. Mr. Negron played an integral role in the development of both DRSC and DRSS where he served on the grant writing team. Today, Mr. Negron helps develop their success strategies. Additionally he serves as the "go to" person when representatives from other states want information on how to establish a STEM education environment in their communities.

"I knew what STEM could be here at WPAFB and I saw in Rick a passion for STEM. I wasn't wrong; under his leadership, Rick has piloted STEM to its ever-enlarging footprint, exceeding even my vision of what was possible," stated Mr. Joe Sciabica, Senior Executive Officer, Executive Director, AFRL.

A native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Negron has a distinguished 26-year civilian career as an engineer with the United States Air Force, stationed at WPAFB. During his tenure, he has been the Lead Engineer on many of the USAF's premier projects including the F-16 and C-17 programs, Action Officer for the Sensors Directorate, and Chief of the Domestic Partnering Branch.

Mr. Negron holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, a Master's of Science in Electro-Optics from the University of Dayton, and a Master's Certificate in Business Leadership from the University of Dayton.

AFRL is the Air Force's only organization wholly dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace forces. The FLC was organized in 1974 and formally chartered by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 to promote and strengthen technology transfer nationwide. Today, more than 250 federal laboratories and centers and their parent departments and agencies are FLC members. Technology Transfer is the intentional sharing of knowledge, expertise, equipment and other resources for application to military and non military systems. The goal of Technology Transfer is to promote the use of Department of Defense technologies in commercial applications, dual-use commercial and military applications, or for uniquely military-only applications.