Harry Charles has been named to head the Technical
Services Department at the
Applied Physics Laboratory after serving for seven
years as assistant department head for engineering.
His appointment was announced by Ruth Nimmo, APL
assistant director for operations, who called Charles an
"accomplished researcher and inventor [whose] combination
of experience and skills will serve the department and the
Laboratory very well in the future."
In his new position, Charles will oversee all aspects
of the department's three areas of operations —
engineering, design and fabrication — plus plant
services and information services.
Charles said he will work to streamline present
services and develop new ones, while continuing to keep
costs in line. "We want to build a highly skilled, diverse
work force with the flexibility needed to meet current and
future Laboratory requirements," he said.
After earning a doctorate in elec-trical engineering
from Johns Hopkins, Charles joined APL in 1972, working in
Engineering Facilities and then Technical Services, moving
to increasing levels of responsibility. He chairs both the
Lab's Engineering Board and the Principal Professional
Staff Selection Committee. He serves on the Lab's Science
and Technology Council, Software Engineering Steering
Committee and the Counterproliferation Business Area IRAD
Committee.
Author of more than 200 technical papers, Charles is a
fellow of the IEEE and of the International
Microelectronics and Packaging Society, which has presented
him with the Daniel C. Hughes and Special Life Member
awards. He holds six patents and has made more than 30
invention disclosures.
Charles developed curriculum for eight graduate-level
electrical engineering and applied physics courses in the
Whiting School of Engineering and serves as the Applied
Physics Program chair for the Whiting School's
Part-Time
Programs. Winner of an outstanding teaching award, he
has taught more than 1,300 students over the past 24
years.