2022 NASA Engineering & Safety Center Honor Awards

NESC Director’s Award

Daniel L. Dietrich
In recognition of the development and advocacy of the technical rationale to assess the safety and effectiveness of breathing systems for pilots of tactical aircraft.

NESC Leadership Award

Yuan Chen
In recognition of outstanding leadership in the Electrical, Electronic, Electromechanical parts’ community and the development of recommendations on the use of commercial parts in NASA missions.

Nikolaus Gravenstein
In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in support of Verification of Testing Standard for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Partial Pressure in Extravehicular Activity Suits.

Elspeth M. Peterson
In recognition of outstanding leadership to the Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator Assessment Team in negotiating creative solutions and facility challenges.

Patrick A. Simpkins
In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in support of numerous NASA Engineering and Safety Center assessments to reduce risk to NASA’s most critical Human and Robotic Spaceflight Programs.

NESC Engineering Excellence Award

Kevin W. Dickens
In recognition of engineering excellence and sustained commitment to the NESC Propulsion Technical Discipline Team and NASA missions.

David S. Hafermalz
In recognition of engineering excellence and technical insight in the Orion digital acquisition unit testing in support of the Thermocouple Interference during High-speed Entry Assessment.

Christopher O. Johnston
In recognition of engineering excellence for developing the electromagnetic mechanism for the anomalous temperature behavior during the Thermocouple Interference during High-speed Entry Assessment.

Jing Li
In recognition of engineering excellence in support of the Verification of Testing Standard for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Partial Pressure in Extravehicular Activity Suits.

Ray P. Pitts
In recognition of engineering excellence in evaluating material defects in Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator modules and ensuring engineering rigor during failure mitigation testing.

Jason A. Vaughn
In recognition of engineering excellence in Kevlar lanyard testing in support of the Lucy Project Solar Array Anomaly Team.

James L. Walker
In recognition of engineering excellence in the development of new statistical methodologies for nondestructive evaluation of fracture critical flight hardware and the incorporation into NASA Standards.

NESC Group Achievement Award

Commercial ECLSS Design Deep-Dive Assessment Team
In recognition of significant contributions to the safety of life support, emergency, active thermal, and crew systems in preparation of Boeing CST-100’s first crewed flight. 
(award accepted by Grace A. Belancik on behalf of the team)

Filtration of Spaceflight Propulsion and Pressurant System Assessment Team
In recognition of outstanding dedication and engineering excellence in the development of a unified guide to spaceflight propulsion filtration.
(award accepted by Shawn E. Brechbill on behalf of the team)

Commercial Crew Program Ascent Stability Assessment Team
In recognition of outstanding technical achievement in establishing rigorous best practices for justifying deviations from Commercial Crew Program control system stability robustness margin guidelines.
(award accepted by Jing Pei on behalf of the team)

NASA COTS Guidance Assessment Team
For outstanding technical contributions to advance EEE parts engineering through the development of practices for the use of COTS parts in NASA missions.
(award accepted by Carlton S. Faller on behalf of the team)

Thruster Advancement for Low-temperature Operation in Space (TALOS) Project
In recognition of outstanding technical achievement in the evaluation of the TALOS Project’s Labview code used for ground tests of hypergolic thrusters.
(award accepted by Shane Cravens on behalf of the team)