Driven by his intense passion for the sciences, particularly electronics and electricity, John T. Tatum celebrates a 45-year long career in electric systems engineering. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in 1974, he served the U.S. Army Harry Diamond Laboratory, now known as the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, in Adelphi, Maryland, as an electronic systems engineer. Departing from this position in 2011, he has since become an electronic systems engineer for the SURVICE Engineering Company and the Defense Systems Information Analysis Center (DSIAC).
Revered by many for his expertise in radar, electronic warfare (EW) and directed energy weapons (DEWs), Mr. Tatum is sought after for his wealth of knowledge of high-power radio frequency/microwave (HPRF/M) weapons and their influence on electronic devices. Alongside his primary career responsibilities, he also teaches science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses to students in his spare time. During his career, he has taught short courses on HPRF/M weapons and their effects on electronics at directed energy conferences.
Likewise, Mr. Tatum has authored numerous papers within the areas of electromagnetic/RF effects (EM/RF) on electronic systems, methodologies for conducting EM effect experiments on electronic systems, DEW feasibility studies and mathematical/ computer models to compute the probability of failure of an electronic system to incident EM energy. Publishing four articles in the Defense Systems Information Analysis Center Journal, some of his articles include “High-Power Microwave Directed Energy Weapons: A Model and Simulation Toolbox,” “High Power RF/Microwave DEWs and their Effects,” “DEW Countermeasures: A Notional Example of Hardening a System Against HPM” and “Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon Design Tool.”
As a testament to his success, Mr. Tatum was honored with the Wilbur S. Hinman Award for Technical Team Achievement by the U.S. Army Harry Diamond Laboratory in 1988. Additionally, he was honored as a member of the Army Research Laboratory team, who won the award for the Army Top 10 Inventions of 2015. In 2004, he was selected as a fellow of the Directed Energy Professional Society.
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