White Sands Missile Range Hall of Fame

Jim Scott was born in Lubbock, Texas, on Dec. 2, 1934. He attended New Mexico State University (NMSU) where he earned an electrical engineering degree in 1958.

During his time at NMSU, Scott was a “co-op” student – working at White Sands for six months then attending school for six months. After graduation he accepted a job at White Sands as an electronics engineer.

Soon after his arrival at WSMR, he served a six-month period on active duty as a second lieutenant at Fort Monmouth, N.J. On his return he worked a six-year professional development period with three different companies.

In 1964, Scott went to work for the Instrumentation Directorate where he managed the missile range Instrumentation Modernization Program.

In 1975, he moved to the National Range Directorate where he stayed until he retired from government service in 1990. Most of his time was in Operations where he participated in siting the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility on White Sands and developing the Pershing 2 launch facility near Mountain Home, Idaho. During his last year, Scott served as the Senior Civilian in National Range, providing technical leadership for WSMR’s largest organization.

During his time with National Range, Scott influenced how data was collected and processed, missile flight safety, resource management and day-to-day operations on range.

After retirement, Scott joined Cortez III as a program manager. There, and later with the NewTec team, he contributed his expertise to supporting White Sands in a time of budget constraints and personnel drawdowns.

Scott retired from NewTec in 2003 for a combined 51 years of service to White Sands. He resides in Alamogordo.