Re: Medal Of Honor Mobile
Hedda Stachowiak
Willson and Jean Frchet, a world expert in polymers who retired last year after serving as the senior vice president for research, innovation and economic development at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), will receive the honor in recognition of their significant roles in the invention, development and commercialization of chemically amplified materials for micro- and nanofabrication.
The chemically amplified resist (CAR) materials created by Willson and Frchet are used in lithography to form the minute structures that make up today's semiconductor devices. These materials are now used to manufacture nearly all of the microprocessors and memory chips that enable electronic devices such as personal computers, mobile phones and motor vehicles.
When CAR materials were invented, the semiconductor industry was approaching a limit. The existing lithography process and the available resist materials being used in the fabrication process could not form the smaller images required to continue improving devices. The method of chemically amplifying resist materials developed by Willson and Frchet provided higher sensitivity, which improved production efficiency by reducing the photo irradiation time required for image formation and enabled the production of much smaller structures.
The Draper Prize was established and endowed in 1988 and is awarded biennially. Past winners can be found online, including Cockrell School professor John Goodenough, who received the prize in 2014. The 2020 Prize will be presented at a gala event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Feb. 19. For more information, visit the NAE website.
As part of the restructuring, the CBMU mission was revised, To deploy rapidly to provide follow-on operations, maintenance, repair and limited construction capabilities at advance-base shore facilities constructed by naval mobile construction battalions; provide Forward Operating Base facility and logistic support to designated Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Expeditionary Group command elements, and Naval Special Warfare squadrons; operate, maintain and repair shore facilities and utilities in support of forward deployed, ground-based fleet hospitals and execute construction readiness training projects at designated naval shore activities."
CBMU-303 has deployed to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait in support of Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield. In addition, CBMU-303 has distinguished itself in Seabee history by creating the Marvin Shields Memorial, located in Gardiner, Washington, in honor of the only Seabee to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
In November 2009, Naval Construction Force Support Unit 2 was decommissioned, and its components realigned to form two CBMU-303 Reserve detachments. The current CBMU-303 footprint includes one active detachment in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and three Reserve detachments located at Pearl Harbor, Port Hueneme, and San Diego, California.
Today CBMU-303 provides minor construction and maintenance support to Navy and Marine Corps installations throughout the Southwest Region and Hawaii, and regularly participates in major joint and fleet exercises such as Rim of the Pacific, Valiant Shield, Dawn Blitz, Pacific Blitz, and Foal Eagle in order to maintain readiness to deploy and execute its assigned major combat operation missions.