Dr. John Suarez *12 was presented the U.S. Department of the Army Commander's Award for Civilian Service at an awards ceremony in Aberdeen, MD on October 13, 2016. He was recognized for his work in developing electronics for Army communication systems, and for his research in radio-frequency (RF) system design. He was also recognized for his active involvement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outreach and mentorship.
The Commander's Award for Civilian Service is the fourth-highest honorary award that is presented to Army civilian employees. Suarez is currently a senior research engineer for the U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command. He is a specialist in RF circuit design, and the design of electronics for optical systems.
Suarez received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton in 2012. His research was in RF photonics, and his dissertation explored the problem of co-site RF interference cancellation, and the use of wideband electro-optic devices to solve this challenging communications problem. While at Princeton, he conducted his Ph.D. studies under the direction of lightwave communications pioneer Paul Prucnal.