Fumio Robert “Bob” Naka, Ph.D.

Fumio Robert “Bob” Naka, Ph.D., was born in San Francisco in 1923 to Japanese immigrant parents. He studied engineering at UCLA, but his studies were halted in 1942 when he and his family were imprisoned at the Manzanar Relocation Center for Japanese-American citizens . He was released nine months later and went on to attend University of Missouri, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He then earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and his doctorate in electron optics from Harvard University.

Naka joined MITRE in 1959 after eight years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and eventually became technical director of MITRE’s Applied Science Laboratories. In this role he was responsible for the overall direction of MITRE’s technical activities in the areas of control and sensor systems, including communications systems, electronic warfare, optics, radar systems, digital systems, and applied mathematics. Throughout his career at MITRE, he served as technical director of various departments, as chief scientist, and as head of the Research Council, predecessor to today’s Independent Research and Development Program. MITRE’s independent research has enabled many innovations and inventions that have aided the work program over the years.

He left MITRE in 1968 to direct a highly classified Air Force study to advance surveillance of objects in space; this work eventually became the Space-Based Infra-Red System (SBIRS). The following year he joined the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and later was appointed chief scientist of the Air Force.

Public Release #23-03271-7