Dr. Paul H. Carr commemorated 34 years of research and development leadership at the Hanscom AFB Officers Club on May 26, 1995. His Component Technology Branch developed SAW & MMIC devices used in electronics. These include DOD radar and communications systems as well as TV and cellular phones.
Dr. Carr, a Fellow of the IEEE, has authored 76 publications and 8 patents. He is listed in Who’s Who in America. Last year he is was Chairman of the Boston IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Chapter.
Father K. Gordon White, Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lowell and Chaplain, Order of St. Luke the Physician, commenced the luncheon with a prayer of thanksgiving.
After-luncheon-speaker, Andrew J. Slobodnik, Jr., an electronics engineer in Dr. Carr’s Branch since 1967, shared the following example of his positive leadership style. When a technical impasse developed in the Branch’s commitment to develop new technology for an AF system, Dr. Carr called a meeting to "brainstorm" possible solutions. One person said: "The problem is insoluble." Dr. Carr’s response was:
"Lets schedule a BREAKTHROUGH for next week."
This was a self-fulfilling prophesy. His Branch solved the problem and delivered the components.
Jose H. Silva of Bedford, an electronics technician in the Branch since 1959, said: "Dr. Carr’s faith, trust, and confidence in each Branch Member’s innate ability inspired me to attain much more than I ever thought possible."
Dr. Robert McGahan, Acting Director of the Rome Laboratory Electromagnetics and Reliability Directorate, read a letter from Dr. Allan Schell, Former Chief Scientist of the AF Material Command:
"I am deeply appreciative of your dedication, inspiration, and hard work as you built the surface acoustic wave group into a premier research team, and later did the same of millimeter wave devices."
Dr. Steven Mittleman, Acting Branch Chief, gave Dr. Carr a letter from Lt. General Charles E. Franklin, Commander of the Electronic Systems Center, that congratulated him on six awards and professional recognitions that included:
Dr. Carr summarized major world events and scientific milestones in his federal service from 1961 to 1995. (See Attached Table.) This started with service as an Army Lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps. His tour of duty was extended for one year when the USSR tried to force us out of Berlin. The Berlin Wall stopped the flight of East Germans to the West.
The Nobel-Prize-Winning discovery of the MASER and the LASER (Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation) 1960 motivated Dr. Carr’s early research on acoustic delay lines at microwave frequencies. Microwave acoustics "surfaced" with the discovery of the ultrasonic SAW (surface acoustic wave) interdigital transducer. This led to coded filters for high range-resolution radars and patents for a compact frequency synthesizer for secure communications. These advances resulted in Dr. Carr’s selection to present the 1973 AFCRL (AF Cambridge Research Laboratory) Loeser Memorial Lecture: Microwave Acoustics: Research to Applications.
Dr. Carr’s Branch started research on MMICs (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits) in the 1980s with the semiconductors gallium arsenide(GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP) (rather than silicon used in computers).
Skeptics said: "GaAs and InP are the materials of the future and always will be." Nick Jansen of M/A-COM Lowell, a major US supplier of GaAs said: "This is not true today. We are hiring new people to expand our GaAs technology."
Dr. Carr’s Branch has recently been involved with the development of the world’s highest frequency transistor at 213 GHz. It is a HEMT (High Electron Mobility Transistor) on InP.
The Nobel-Prize-winning-discovery of the high temperature cuprate superconductors in 1987 can result in better microwave filters. Dr. Carr’s Branch has recently received additional funds from the AF Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) to increase the power handling of these filters for transmitter applications in radar, communicatons, and cellular phones. This together with MMIC research resulted in his Branch’s selection as an AFOSR STAR team in Electromagnetic Components.
The pioneering research of Dr. Carr and other electronics researchers has produced the technical strength that contributed the demise of Communism as a world threat, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin wall.
"For all that has been: Thanks
For all that is yet to be:Yes"
Dag Hammarskjold