1423 Powhatan St., Suite 1
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone (703) 836-6727
Fax (703) 836-7491
Email: asnehq@navalengineers.org

 

ASNE is the leading professional engineering society for engineers, scientists and allied professionals who conceive, design, develop, test, construct, outfit, operate and maintain complex naval and maritime ships, submarines and aircraft and their associated systems and subsystems.  ASNE also serves the educators who train the professionals, researchers who develop related technology, and students who are preparing for the profession.  Society activities provide support for the U.S. Navy; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Army.

ASNE is the seventh oldest technical society in the United States.  It was founded in 1888 by a group of naval engineering pioneers, most of them officers of the U.S. Navy's Engineering Corps, who sought a unified approach to their profession in order to make the most of new advances in technology. The purposes of ASNE are:           

  • to advance the knowledge and practice of naval engineering in public and private applications and operations,
  • to enhance the professionalism and well-being of members, and
  • to promote naval engineering as a career field.

For 125 years, the Society’s objectives have been strengthened and preserved to meet the changing needs of a time-honored profession. Today ASNE conducts a variety of technical meetings and symposia, publishes the highly regarded Naval Engineers Journal and a number of other technical proceedings and publications, and fosters professional development and technical information exchange through technical committees, local section activities and cooperative efforts with government organizations and other professional societies.

The Society's annual meeting, ASNE Day, is typically held in February of each year in the Washington, DC, area. The meeting features major addresses by high level industry and government leaders and panel discussions by leading members of the profession.  It also includes presentation and discussion of technical papers on a variety of timely naval engineering topics, presentation of the Society's prestigious annual awards and a large exposition with government and industry exhibits covering the full spectrum of naval engineering technology. ASNE Day is highlighted by the Society’s annual Honors Gala, attended by hundreds of executives and senior managers from both government and industry.

Our website is designed to not only serve our members, but also to support scholars, students and others interested in the varied field of naval engineering.  We welcome your suggestions on ways we can improve your experience. 

Dr. R. Norris Keeler

Award: Gold Medal Award
Year: 1992
Recipient:
R. Norris Keeler, Ph.D.
Reason:
For significantly enhancing the strength of the Nation’s maritime power through innovative thinking, research acumen and engineering expertise leading to practical applications in the fleet and in related technical areas as set forth in the following:

Dr. R. Norris Keeler has made substantial contributions to the Navy in a variety of capacities, the most notable of which was as the first director of the Office of Naval Technology in 1975 in which he was responsible for managing and directing all of the Navy exploratory development programs.

In more recent times, Dr. Keeler has applied his extensive knowledge of physics and chemistry to make major contributions to the Navy’s submarine laser communications development program. He was personally responsible for defining the baseline system “Yankee Blue” that was deployed in 1988. He also perfected the concept of using atomic resonance filters to enable the system to function effectively in day, as well as, night operations.

Dr. Keeler continued to apply his physical optical expertise to the field of LIDAR for the purpose of locating and neutralizing antiship mines deployed by Iraq in the Persian Gulf. Since that time, Dr. Keeler has designed optical command actuated underwater systems to neutralize anti-ship mines. Field trials of his concept will be conducted in the near future.

Dr. Keeler has also continued to remain active in the area of high pressure physics wherein he is making significant contributions to the development of a unique high pressure, high temperature process for manufacturing industrial diamonds. Dr. Keeler is now working on ways of producing large synthetic pure single crystal diamonds which would find wide application in defense programs and across the industry.

Dr. Keeler embodies true scientific achievement in a myriad of areas through his role as a civilian engineer directly involved in contractor support of Navy systems engineering and research and development efforts. A distinguished scientist, reserve officer and business executive, Dr. Keeler blends all of these roles and his wide interests to provide innovation and technical achievement for the benefit of the Navy and the Nation. He is extremely well qualified and highly deserving of the American Society of Naval Engineers Gold Medal Award for 1992.