Rear Admiral Millard S. Firebaugh, USN (Ret.) graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961 and received a commission as an engineering duty officer in the Navy from MIT's contract NROTC program. Following duty on USS Mitscher (DL-2) he returned to MIT, graduating in 1966 with an SM in electrical engineering and a Naval Engineer degree. During this time he participated in the search for the remains of the USS Thresher (SSN-593). After qualifying as a salvage diver, he served as a ship superintendent at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard involved in the overhauls of nuclear submarines and the construction of the deep diving research submarine USS Dolphin (AGSS-555). He returned to MIT and received an Sc.D. in Ocean Engineering in 1972. Subsequently he supported the Navy's deep submergence assets at Submarine Development Group One and administered contracts for the construction of Los Angeles Class submarines at Electric Boat Corporation.

In 1979 Admiral Firebaugh began service in the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command in submarine design and naval architecture leading to selection as a program manager to initiate design and construction of the Seawolf Class submarines. After seeing the program through design and award of contracts to construct the first two ships of the class, he became Chief Engineer of the Naval Sea Systems Command, serving in that position until retirement from the Navy in 1995.

Since departing the Navy, he has been involved in various technical activities including the remediation of nuclear waste. He recently returned to the submarine business as Vice President-Advanced Development and Chief Engineer for Electric Boat Corporation. Admiral Firebaugh qualified in submarines as an engineering duty officer and holds the ASNE Gold Medal and the US Navy Distinguished Service Medal. He is a member of the Cosmos Club of Washington DC.

He and his wife Barbara live in Mystic, CT. He has a son and a daughter, both of whom are graduate students at MIT.