CAMP PENDLETON, California -- The National Defense Industrial Association has named Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity’s Timothy D. McLean as the Marine Corps Civilian Tester of the Year.
McLean, a senior technical advisor within the Test and Certification Group, was recognized for leading MCTSSA’s implementation and employment of the Statistical Test and Analysis Tools methodology to tactical data link testing protocols conducted at MCTSSA. As a result of his efforts, there is now increased rigor, defensibility and confidence in the testing of Marine Corps command, control, communications and computer systems.
“It’s nice to get recognition for the significant testing we have been doing here at MCTSSA,” said McLean. “Bringing STAT to the forefront with design and analysis of experiments for testing tactical data links—engaging cutting-edge, original techniques and algorithms that no one else is using in the Marine Corps or Navy—has been exceptionally challenging and fulfilling.”
McLean has worked at MCTSSA for 12 years in various capacities during both his military and civilian careers. By introducing STAT to the various data link protocol testing, McLean incorporated advanced math techniques and statistics to ascertain whether or not sufficient testing has been done to prove whatever the testing was intended to demonstrate. These new techniques also measure the margin of error or accuracy of a given test result, thus addressing the concerns about how much testing is enough.
"The entire MCTSSA team is very proud of Tim’s impressive, ground-breaking accomplishments,” said Col. Benjamin Stinson, MCTSSA commanding officer. “He has introduced into the Marine Corps, and in fact the Department of Defense, the means to correctly and efficiently choose the right test case statistical combinations, so as to provide a significantly higher level of confidence in the testing results while reducing the total number of test cases. This helps the program manager with both cost and schedule to deliver warfighter capability. Tim's work has enhanced confidence in the accuracy of our data links testing results, and it actually makes testing easier.”
Each year, the National Defense Industrial Association recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the field with Tester of the Year awards in three categories: military, civilian and contractor.
As an arm of Marine Corps Systems Command, MCTSSA provides test and evaluation, engineering, and deployed technical support for Marine Corps and joint-service command, control, communication and computer systems throughout all acquisition life cycle phases.