2016 NASA Engineering and Safety Center Honor Awards

NESC Director’s Award

Norman F. Knight

In recognition of technical excellence and the consistent, professional pursuit of technical risks in the conduct of multiple NASA Engineering and Safety Center assessments

NESC Leadership Award

James R. Reeder

In recognition of outstanding technical leadership of the material property testing and analysis in support of the assessment and verification of the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Exploration Mission-1 heatshield

Larry W. Starritt

In recognition of outstanding technical leadership of the Frangible Joint Test Team for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Assessing Risks of Frangible Joint Designs Assessment

NESC Engineering Excellence Award

James R. Beaty

In recognition of engineering excellence in the feasibility, definition, objectives, performance prediction, and range safety for the Taurion/Sprint Flight Test Project

Shawn E. Brechbill

In recognition of engineering excellence for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Fracture and Reliability of Valve Bellows Assessment

David S. Dawicke

In recognition of engineering excellence in the innovative analysis of frangible joint behavior for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Assessing Risks of Frangible Joint Designs Assessment

Richard E. Dyke

In recognition of engineering excellence and leadership in the structural design, analysis, launch, and recovery of Taurion for the Taurion/Sprint Flight Test Project

Vinay K. Goyal

In recognition of engineering excellence in support to assess the integrity of the critical bond of Avcoat material on the Orion heatshield

Shant Kenderian

In recognition of engineering excellence leading to the development of a novel Non Destructive Evaluation technique that provides previously unobtainable full inspection of the critical Orion heatshield bondline

Reggie T. Kidd

In recognition of engineering excellence in design and integration of the Taurion and Sprint vehicles for the Taurion/Sprint Flight Test Project

Craig W. Ohlhorst

In recognition of engineering excellence in the innovative analysis of frangible joint behavior for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Assessing Risks of Frangible Joint Designs Assessment

James G. Ratcliffe

In recognition of engineering excellence leading to advancements in fracture mechanics testing and analysis of Avcoat material used in the Orion heatshield

Marvin E. Sellers

In recognition of engineering excellence in the integration and demonstration of an advanced unsteady pressure sensitive paint capability in NASA wind tunnels for launch vehicle buffet prediction

Kyongchan Song

In recognition of engineering excellence in the structural analyses support for multiple NASA Engineering and Safety Center assessments

Eugene K. Ungar

In recognition of engineering excellence in support of the SOFIA Project in developing a scientifically-based and practical methodology for the safe design of new science instruments

NESC Administrative Excellence Award

Wayne E. Branch

In recognition of exceptional information technology and system administration support to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center

Loren J. Plante

In recognition of exceptional program analyst support to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Management and Technical Support Office

NESC Group Achievement Award

Avcoat Non Destructive Evaluation Team

In recognition of outstanding contributions in the field of Non Destructive Evaluation for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center led bond verification plan for the Orion Avcoat thermal protection system (award accepted by Eric R. Burke on behalf of the team)

Launch Vehicle Buffet Verification Team

In recognition of excellence in defining, planning, and executing a test program to investigate innovative techniques for prediction of launch vehicle buffet environments (award accepted by James C. Ross on behalf of the team)

Multi-Stage Supersonic Target Missile Team

In recognition of outstanding contributions in the design, development, and successful flight test of the Taurion sounding rocket booster in support of the U.S. Navy multi-stage supersonic target missile (award accepted by Brian A. Davis on behalf of the team)

NASA Engineering and Safety Center Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Assessment Team

In recognition of outstanding contributions in the highly successful test of the 8-foot diameter composite shell (award accepted by Marc R. Schultz on behalf of the team)

Orion and Commercial Crew Window Wavefront Measurement Assessment Team

In recognition of outstanding contributions in the field of Non Destructive Evaluation for the Orion and Commercial Crew Window Wavefront Measurement Assessment (award accepted by Susan E. Danley on behalf of the team)

Spacecraft Occupant Protection Team

In recognition of development of tools and methods for crew injury prediction to ensure human-rated spacecraft are designed with the appropriate level of occupant protection (award accepted by Jeffrey T. Somers on behalf of the team)