Rear Admiral Nevin Palmer Carr Jr. (born 17 November 1956) is a retired

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

admiral who served as

Chief of Naval Research The chief of naval research is the senior military officer in charge of scientific research in the United States Navy. The chief of naval research has a rank of rear admiral, and is in charge of the Office of Naval Research. The chief of naval ...

Biography

Carr graduated in 1979 from the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...

with a Bachelor of Science in

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and op ...

. He earned a Master of Science in operations research from the

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

in 1986, and attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. Carr spent much of his Navy career at sea in

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

s and

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s, on operations across the world. His shipboard tours included , , , and . He served in the Cruiser-Destroyer Group 8 staff embarked in the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, and the 2nd Fleet staff embarked in the command ship . He commanded the destroyer and the cruiser , winning

Battle E The Battle Effectiveness Award (formerly the Battle Efficiency Award, commonly known as the Battle "E"), is awarded annually to the small number of United States Navy ships, submarines, aviation, and other deployable combat coded units that win the ...

's and Golden Anchors in both tours. While in command of ''Cape St. George'', The ship participated in combat operations in support of

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

in the

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

and Central Command theaters. Ashore, Carr served in the

Office of the Secretary of Defense The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is a headquarters-level staff of the United States Department of Defense. It is the principal civilian staff element of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out au ...

, where he worked on the ''Arleigh Burke'', ''Ticonderoga'', and ''Seawolf'' programs, and several

Ballistic Missile Defense Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and also the destruction of attacking missiles. Conceived as a defense against nuclear weapon, nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic mi ...

programs. He later served in the

Office of the Chief of Naval Operations The structure of the United States Navy consists of four main bodies: the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the operating forces (described below), and the Shore Establishment. Office of the Chief of ...

as requirements officer for the Aegis Cruiser and Destroyer programs, and was executive assistant to the Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Following promotion to the flag rank of

rear admiral (lower half) A rear admiral in four of the uniformed services of the United States is one of two distinct ranks of commissioned officers; "rear admiral (lower half)," a one-star flag officer, and "rear admiral" (sometimes referred to as "rear admiral (upper ha ...

in 2006, he was assigned as deputy director of Surface Warfare for Combat Systems and Weapons, and later as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (International Programs) and director, Navy International Program Office. In December 2008, he became the 22nd chief of Naval Research, succeeding William E. Landay III, with additional duties as Director, Test and Evaluation and Technology Requirements. While in this position, Carr was in charge of the Navy's wide range of basic and applied research and development programs, a total of about $3 billion in spending. The initiative during his tenure ranged from next-generation advanced weapons such as

free-electron laser A free-electron laser (FEL) is a fourth generation light source producing extremely brilliant and short pulses of radiation. An FEL functions much as a laser but employs relativistic electrons as a active laser medium, gain medium instead of using ...

s and

railgun A railgun or rail gun, sometimes referred to as a rail cannon, is a linear motor device, typically designed as a ranged weapon, that uses Electromagnet, electromagnetic force to launch high-velocity Projectile, projectiles. The projectile norma ...

s to grants for

STEM education Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word responsib ...

programs. Carr retired from the U.S. Navy in 2012, handing over the post of Chief of Naval Research to Matthew L. Klunder. Immediately after retiring, he worked as a senior advisor for

McKinsey & Co McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey ...

, and was a distinguished visiting scholar at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. In October 2013, he took the position of vice president for Surface Readiness & Future Capability at

URS Corporation URS Corporation (formerly United Research Services) was an engineering, design, and construction firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, URS was a full-service, global organization with office ...

, a government contractor. In March 2014, he received the Singapore Defence Technology Distinguished Fellowship from the Singapore Ministry of Defence.

Personal

Carr is the son of Nevin Palmer Carr Sr. and Allison Beth (Sandless) Carr. The younger Carr married Ann Cary Nelms on 18 July 1981 in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Nevin 1956 births Living people United States Naval Academy alumni Military personnel from Rhode Island Naval Postgraduate School alumni Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Navy rear admirals