CDR Travis Wendt

Director, U.S. National Ice Center
Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Ice Center

Commander Travis Wendt is a native of Urbana, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering in 2003 and a Master of Science in aerospace engineering in 2005. He later received a commission from Officer Candidate School in November 2005.

After a medical disqualification from nuclear submarine duty in December 2006, CDR Wendt was redesignated as a Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) officer and transferred to the Fleet Weather Center in Norfolk, VA (FWC-N) in November 2007. During his four years at FWC-N, CDR Wendt served as the Maritime Operations Officer and Senior Watch Officer; he also qualified as a Command Duty Officer, Ship Routing Officer, and earned his Information Warfare Officer designation.

CDR Wendt transferred to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, CA in March of 2012 for graduate studies in meteorology and physical oceanography. By June 2014, he completed the Master of Science program with honors for research in tropical cyclone dynamics. CDR Wendt was concurrently selected for a 3-year program of doctoral studies at NPS, which he completed in September 2017 for research in machine learning and statistical postprocessing in numerical weather prediction.

CDR Wendt subsequently served as the ship’s METOC Officer for USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69) and as a Requirements Officer for the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System program with OPNAV N974B. He recently completed a tour as Fleet Oceanographer for Commander, U.S. Second Fleet in Norfolk, VA.

CDR Wendt currently serves as the Commanding Officer, Naval Ice Center, and the Director, U.S. National Ice Center.