Walter J. McCracken

Walter McCracken, Ph.D., deputy director of SRI International’s Marine Technology Program, is responsible for day-to-day operations at SRI St. Petersburg. He is a member of the Center for Maritime and Port Security at SRI, where he provides overall system design guidance for sensor and data integration.

His experience includes more than 20 years of technical program management in aerospace, defense, and medical companies with organizations such as General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Eagle Picher, and Boston Scientific. Programs varied from small product design and qualification contracts to $10M, multi-year space power development programs and to launching new product lines. His research and publications have been focused in the areas of ceramic corrosion, lithium-ion batteries, and other energy storing devices.

McCracken received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from General Motors Institute, and a M.S. and a Ph.D. in materials science from the University of Florida. He has also received an MBA from the University of South Florida.