UTEP Computer Science Alumnus Earns Top Navy Honors

August 06, 2015

Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

The University of Texas at El Paso Computer Science Alumnus George Moreno Pineda received the 2014 Research, Development and Acquisition Dr. Delores M. Etter Top Scientists and Engineers of the Year Award from the Assistant Secretary of The Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition at the Pentagon in June.

Established in 2006, the award is named for Dr. Delores M. Etter, a former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition and recognizes Navy civilian and military personnel for exceptional science and engineering achievements, along with their contribution to our national security.

"I am honored to receive recognition for my work on FMV-ONE," Moreno Pineda said. He attributes his success to his superiors and peers who have played a role in his development.

Moreno Pineda was selected for this award from amongst 35,000 scientists and engineers in the Department of the Navy for his work as the lead engineer for Full Motion Video Optical Navigation Exploitation (FMV-ONE) at Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) in 2014 while also working on his Master of Science in Systems Engineering at UTEP.

"We are proud of Mr. Moreno Pineda's extraordinary accomplishments and recognition," said Ann Quiroz Gates, Ph.D., department of computer science chair, "Indeed it is rewarding to see our students succeed and excel in their career, and it is a nice reminder of the quality of our students and faculty."

As lead engineer for FMV-ONE at MCSC, Moreno Pineda has lead the effort to explore, prototype, mature and transition a new application that will allow faster, accurate operation of full-motion video from unmanned aerial systems.

Moreno Pineda graduated from UTEP in 2014 with a Master of Science in Systems Engineering (MSSE). After graduating from the MSSE program with a 4.0 GPA, Moreno Pineda received the Outstanding Systems Engineering Graduate Student award and was selected as the graduate school's banner bearer for the Winter 2014 Commencement.

Funded through the Department of Defense's (DoD) Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship Program, Moreno-Pineda also received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, along with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from UTEP.

After completing his B.S. in Computer Science with a 4.0 GPA, Moreno Pineda received the Outstanding Senior Student in Computer Science award and the Academic Excellence Undergraduate Student in Mathematics award after completing his B.S. in Mathematics with a 4.0 GPA.