NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY PANAMA CITY -- A Panama City scientist was honored as a 2013 Top Scientist of the Year in a memo signed by the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisitions.
James Prater, a Panama City native, is a project manager of the Advanced Acoustic Sensor Program at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, leading efforts to develop algorithms used in the Small Synthetic Aperture Minehunter family of systems.
He received his award during a ceremony June 6 at the Pentagon. Prater worked as a contractor before becoming a federal civil servant six years ago as a scientist in the Littoral Acoustics and Target Physics Branch.