William Roman, who graduated from the University of Rhode Island with bachelor’s degrees in electrical and biomedical engineering in 2009, received the third highest civilian service award from the Department of Navy at a ceremony on Oct. 18.

Roman, who is the lead engineer of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport’s Submarine Combat and Weapons Control Future Capabilities, was one of seven people to receive the meritorious civilian service award.

The citation recognized Roman’s contributions to the U.S. Navy Submarine Harpoon Demonstration Project from July 2017 to July 2018.

The encapsulated Harpoon missile was successfully launched at the 2018 Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), less than one year from when the project was initiated. Held every two years, RIMPAC is a multinational maritime exercise that takes place in and around the Hawaiian Islands.

“Roman’s professional vision and collaboration with multiple organizations, and his ability to lead across organizational boundaries, directly led to a clearly tangible result of the Harpoon missile impacting the intended target,” read the citation.

While a student at URI, Roman was involved in the student chapters of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He was the chairman of Eta Kappa Nu (electrical engineering honor society) and president of Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society).