Herndon contractor employee receives Intelligence and National Security Alliance award

Herndon-based satellite company HawkEye 360 Inc. announced Wednesday that Darek Kawamoto, its principal engineer for algorithms, has been honored with the Edwin H. Land Industry Award by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA). Of the six honorees receiving INSA Achievement Awards this year, Kawamoto is the only Virginia contractor employee being honored.

The Edwin H. Land Industry Award recognizes early-to-mid-career contractors or non-government employees for their “excellent contributions to the intelligence, homeland security or national security community.”

Kawamoto is the inventor of two HawkEye 360 patents that convert radio frequency signals from space into geolocated signal data. Founded in 2015, HawkEye 360 offers three main products including its signal mapping product RFGeo, its survey product RFMosaic and its analytics product SEAker.

“We value him not just for his superb technical abilities but for his persistence, innovativeness and commitment to team success,” HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini said in a statement. “He is an incredible asset for HawkEye 360 and, as this award suggests, for the nation.”

The INSA will recognize this year’s honorees during a virtual event Wednesday. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Stacey Dixon will deliver the keynote address.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.