Dr. Cranch received a BSc in Physics from the University of Bath in 1995 and a PhD in Applied Physics from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in 2001. After working at GEC-Marconi and the Defense Research and Evaluation Agency from 1997 to 2000 he joined the Naval Research Laboratory. He currently leads the Fiber Photonics section developing fiber optic and photonic sensing technology and devices for precision measurement. The group’s focus extends from basic research into novel sensing concepts through to applied research, prototyping and field trial. Application areas for the sensing technology include underwater surveillance and monitoring, structural health and environmental monitoring and experiments supporting explosion monitoring. Dr Cranch has published over 80 journal and conference publications with several invited talks. He has also written two book chapters and holds five patents. Dr Cranch is Division Editor (Optical Technology) for Applied Optics and has served as technical editor for the Journal of Sensors (’11-’14). He has served on the technical committee for the Optical Fiber Sensors conference (’07-’15), IEEE Sensors conference(’09-’13) and OSA Sensors conference(’10-’14). He received the Alan Berman Research publication award in 2015 for the development of fiber optic shock wave diagnostics.