Dr. Forrest J. "Jack" Agee, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is Director of Physics and Electronics, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, Va. He is responsible for the $80 million Air Force basic research program in physics and electronics, assuring the excellence and relevance of a broad research portfolio. His program encompasses hundreds of university grants and supports work of undergraduates and more than 300 graduate students. This work also supports basic research within the Air Force Research Laboratory, industry and overseas. The research includes novel space-craft engineering, semiconductor device research, nanotechnology, electronic sensors, polarimetry research, gravitometry, lasers, plasmas, high-power radio frequency sources, high-temperature superconductivity engineering, atomic and nuclear physics, space optics, and imaging and opto-electronics. Agee plans, coordinates and executes a research program conducted by scientists in academia, industry and Air Force laboratories. He was appointed to the SES in 1998.
Prior to beginning his career with the Air Force, Dr. Agee worked as a U.S. Navy physicist in acoustics related to silencing submarines. He also worked in low-temperature physics for the U.S. Army at Fort Belvoir, Va. In the 1970s, he joined the Harry Diamond Laboratory in Adelphi, Md. He handled many assignments of increasing scope and responsibility, initially in nuclear electromagnetic pulse hardening and testing for the Safeguard Anti-Ballistic Missile System and for Army tactical systems. As the Technical Director, he led a major, strategic, Defense Nuclear Agency Electromagnetic Pulse Test for the Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces. For three years he managed strategic command, control and communications programs at The BDM Corp., including the Airborne Command Post. In 1982 Dr. Agee became Director of the Aurora Radiation Test Facility that tested the Peacekeeper missile and other systems at the Harry Diamond Laboratory. In the Army's high-power microwaves program, Dr. Agee led research and development efforts in sources, and in 1990, became Director of the Army program. His efforts led to developing the AN/VLQ-9 and AN/VLQ-10 Shortstop electronic warfare systems during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The Shortstop System protected U.S. forces in Bosnia and now has seven versions, including two that are deployed in Iraq in a counter-IED role. Dr. Agee formed the Joint Directors of Laboratories Panel on Directed-Energy Weapons in 1990, and chaired the panel until 1993. That same year, he began his Air Force career in the Directed-Energy Program at Phillips Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., where he led the research program in high-power microwave sources.
Dr. Agee's principal fields of interest are in electrical engineering, pulsed power, microwave generation, electromagnetics and superconductivity. In physics, his interests include nuclear physics, plasma physics, semiconductor physics and lasers. He has written or co-written more than 200 publications and inventions in these areas.
EDUCATION
1963 Bachelor of Science in physics, high honors, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C.
1965 Master of Science degree in physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
1967 Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
CAREER CHRONOLOGY
1. 1963 - 1965, physicist in acoustics, U.S. Navy Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Md.
2. 1965 - 1965, mathematics instructor, Howard Payne College, Brownwood, Texas
3. 1965 - 1971, physicist in cryogenics, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratories, Fort Belvoir, Va.
4. 1971 - 1979, physicist and electronics engineer, Harry Diamond Laboratories, Adelphi, Md.
5. 1979 - 1982, Manager, The BDM Corp., McLean, Va.
6. 1982 - 1990, Director, Aurora Facility, Harry Diamond Laboratories, Adelphi, Md.
7. 1990 - 1993, Director, High Power Microwave Technical Management Office, Harry Diamond Laboratories, Adelphi, Md.
8. July 1993 - December 1993, Technical Director, Division Chief, Electromagnetic Sources Division, Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
9. December 1993 - October 1995, Chief, Electromagnetic Sources Division, Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
10. October 1995 - February 1998, Technical Director, High Energy Sources Division, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
11. February 1998 - present, Director of Physics and Electronics, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, Va.
AWARDS AND HONORS
1963 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
1967 Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
1967 Presidents and Visitors Research Prize, University of Virginia
1975 Army Research and Development Achievement Award
1985 Army Meritorious Civilian Service Medal
1987 Strategic Defense Initiative Laboratory Technical Achievement Award, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
1988 U.S. Senate Certificate of Recognition, Productivity Award Program
1989 Secretary of Defense Productivity Excellence Award
1994 Joint Logistics Commanders Certificate of Merit
2000 Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
2005 Life Achievement Award, Association of Old Crows
2006 Outstanding Civilian Career Service Award
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
2000 Speaker, "An Innovative Approach to Satellite Technology," NATO SET Symposium
2000 Speaker, Plenary page, "Review of Induced Gamma Emission Research and Recent Results - Implications for Further Research," Proceedings, International Conference on Lasers
2001 Joint U.S. patent, Power Enhancer for Solid State Switched Ultrawideband Array Transmitters
2001 U.S. patent, Ultra-Wide Band RF-Enhanced Chemotherapy for Cancer Treatment
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
American Physical Society
Association of Old Crows
Fellow, IEEE
Former member, Advisory Board to the Dean of Sciences, Clemson University
International Society for Optical Engineering
Former chairman, Joint Directors of Laboratories Technology Panel on Directed Energy Weapons
Former senior U.S. representative, NATO Research Study Group 1 on Military Applications of High-Power Microwaves
U.S. member, Secretariat, International Commission on Induced Gamma Emission
Former chair, Membership Committee, Plasma Sciences Applications Committee, IEEE
Former Elected member of Ex-Com, IEEE Plasma Sciences Applications Committee
Former Chair, Office of the Secretary of Defense Strategic Planning Group for Basic Research in Physics
Former Member at large, Board of Directors, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
PUBLICATIONS
1997 "Silicon Diodes in Avalanche Pulse Sharpening Applications," IEEE Transactions on Plasma
1998 "Ultra-Wideband Transmitter Research," IEEE Transactions on Plasma
1998 "Evolution of Pulse Shortening Research in Narrow Band, High-Power Microwave Sources," IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
1998 "High-Power, Repetitive-Stacked Blumlein Pulsers Commutated by a Single Switching Element," IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
2000 "Method for Detection of X-ray Triggered Decay of the 178m2 Hf Isomer Using a Multidetector Array," Proceedings, 9th Annual International Laser Physics Workshop
2001 Chapter, "HPM Sources: The DOD Perspective," High-Power Microwave Sources and Technologies, IEEE Press
(Current as of August 2006)