The Marion Rose Service Award was established by the HEART Society to recognize outstanding long-term involvement in, and service to, the Hardened Electronics and Radiation Technology Community, in celebration of Marion’s example.

Marion Rose (1940-2009) was a founding father and ardent supporter of the HEART society and annual conference from its inception. Marion served on the inaugural HEART Steering Committee as Treasurer, and in that role guided the fiduciary formation of HEART as the premier professional organization for radiation-hardened technology community. He was instrumental in every aspect of the HEART operation over three decades, including serving in several roles on the Steering Committee and the annual conference committees.
Marion’s career in radiation effects began in 1966, with his professional work spanning General Atomics, IRT, Maxwell Labs, and Physitron; finally rising to Principal Scientist at L-3 Jaycor in 1996, where he worked until weeks of his death. He is remembered for this expertise in Transient Radiation Effects on Electronics and neutron radiation effects; participating in all phases of nuclear weapon and natural radiation survivability programs, including environment definition, hardened design, verification and validation, hardness assurance, maintenance, and surveillance.
Throughout his long and productive career, and his service to HEART, Marion was a mentor and friend to many of those involved in the military and aeronautics community, including many still active within the HEART society. He served tirelessly, with a keen sense of community, wherever he was needed, without the desire for accolades or recognition. He stood ready and willing to give his wise counsel to others, always with a twinkle in his eye. He is greatly missed by the radiation effects community.
This award honors Marion’s commitment to community and service. The inaugural 2019 Award was presented to the Marion Rose family to commemorate his exemplary leadership, guidance, and inspiration.

Purpose of the Award:
To recognize individuals "For Service and Involvement in Hardened Electronics and Radiation Technology Community"

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2021 Award Winner

James J. Sheehy, Jr.
"In recognition of more than thirty years of leadership in radiation-hardened electronics, and for providing leadership and mentoring that transformed the HEART Conference, promoted the HEART Community, and continues to inspire the HEART Society"

Mr. Sheehy holds a B.S. in Production and Operations Management from Ohio State University, a M.S., in Computer Science from Kansas State University, and is a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College (now The Defense Acquisition University). Prior to entry into his civilian career, Mr. Sheehy served more than 22 years on active duty with the U. S. Army. While on active duty he served in numerous staff, leadership, and command positions in both combat and non-combat assignments.  He retired from active duty at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1988.

After leaving active military service, Mr. Sheehy has served in the capacity of Program Director, Senior Scientist/Engineer, and Program Manager for various corporations. He has more than 30 years hands-on and executive management experience in DoD R&D with emphasis on system/technology acquisition, system nuclear and space environment survivability, industrial base sustainment, radiation hardened and radiation survivable technology development, radiation-effects testing, and qualification of electronic components, subsystems, and systems for radiation environment applications.

Early-on, Mr. Sheehy participated in fielding experiments in support of the Disko Elm underground nuclear test.  These experiments were directed at determining the ability of emerging SOI-based electronics to function reliably during, and after, exposure to a nuclear event.  In addition, he has supported numerous radiation hardened technology development efforts, including:

• Principal Investigator for the development of a radiation hardened 12 bit, 5-25 MSPS, low power analog to digital converter (ADC) employing 0.7 m SOI processes.
• Principal Investigator for the development of a 1 Mbit radiation hardened electrically erasable, programmable, read-only memory (EEPROM) employing 0.8 m SONOS.
• Principal Investigator for the RAD Hard Microelectronics Program (RHPM) directed toward the accelerated development of a 0.15 m production capability of radiation hardened bulk CMOS.

As Principal Investigator for Electronics Hardening on the National Missile Defense (NMD) Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV).  His and his team’s responsibilities included: 

• Review of all on-board electronics to identify susceptibility to radiation environment effects and establish a list of candidate part-types for characterization testing.
• Execution of a radiation effects test characterization program covering 30+ semiconductor/opto-electronic part-types and components.  Testing included total ionizing dose, prompt dose, dose-rate upset, dose-rate survivability, dose-rate latch-up, neutron damage, neutron induced upset, and combined (neutron and ionizing dose) effects.
• Development of a qualification test program to include development of facility recommendations, test standards and methods, fixturing, and instrumentation, for qualification of electronic components at the part, subassembly, and subsystem level.
• Design, development and production of on-board circumvention and recovery control logic with the ability to operate-through high transient (x-ray and gamma-ray) dose-rate radiation environments.
 
Mr. Sheehy was a principal author of the Hardened Electronics Availability Problem (HEAP) study. The findings of this study helped give rise to the Department of Defense Radiation Hard (Electronics) Oversight Council (RHOC).  Mr. Sheehy is a former member of the RHOC Action Officer Working Group where he performed systems requirements analysis, technology roadmap development, budgetary analysis, and technology status reviews as part of the RHOC mission to stabilize radiation hardened electronics production capability within the national industrial base.

Mr. Sheehy has served in a variety of capacities as an active member of the HEART Community. These include: Heart Conference Finance Chair; Heart Steering Committee Member at Large; Heart Paper Reviewer; Conference Invited Speaker; Conference Speaker; Co-author on multiple HEART presentations/papers; Heart Conference Chairman; Session Chairman, and HEART Steering Committee Past Chairman.

As HEART Conference Chairman Mr. Sheehy established the use of on-site and off-site locations for the conduct of classified and ITAR sessions.  This had a dramatic impact on his and following HEART Conferences, resulting in reduced cost, enhanced convenience for conference attendees, and significant expansion of the venues available for future conferences.  This site-model is still in use today.

In 2009 Mr. Sheehy, along with three partners, founded Scientic, Inc. He retired as President/CEO of Scientic in 2016. He remains active as a member of Scientic’s Board of Directors.  He and his wife, Judy, have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.  They currently reside in Huntsville, AL.