Triple Gator Engineer Robert Kemerait (BSEE ’60, MSEE ’66, PhD ’71) was recently honored in Cape Canaveral as he prepared to retire from a lifetime of engineering excellence. ECE Chair John Harris and Senior Director of Development Sarah Johnson were on hand for the festivities.
At his retirement, Dr. Kemerait was senior scientist at the Nuclear Treaty Monitoring Directorate at the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) at Patrick Air Force Base, located in Brevard County, Florida. His rich and varied career was summarized in the program provided at the retirement celebration:
Dr. Kemerait, a native of Madison, Ohio, entered active duty with the U.S. Army in 1954, working as communications chief in a combat engineering company for two years while stationed in occupied Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1957 and attended the University of Florida where he earned his degree in electrical engineering.
In his early positions, he worked on the Skybolt air-launched missile program as well as guidance and control for the Atlas weapons system, including operating the guidance and control console during two manned Mercury Atlas launches. He joined NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 1963 as a guidance and control specialist on the Atlas, Delta and Agena rockets, including the Agena target vehicle for the Gemini spacecraft, as well as with the Centaur vehicle.
He left NASA in 1969 to complete his Doctor of Philosophy in electrical engineering. For three years, Dr. Kemerait served as assistant professor of electrical engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses and directing graduate theses. He joined ENSCO Inc. in 1974 as an AFTAC contractor, developing a research group of more than 30 people. During his 21 years with the company he was promoted to division manager and vice president. His primary accomplishments were in event discrimination and tunnel detection with ground penetrating radar. Prior to his current assignment, Dr. Kemerait was chief scientist and vice president for Command Technologies Inc., building a group of 22 people specializing in international affairs, seismic system development, data collection and processing, and National Data Center support.
Please join the department in congratulating Dr. Robert C. Kemerait on the occasion of his retirement. We salute his lifelong commitment to engineering excellence.