10th Annual IEEE Awards Banquet A Smashing Success
Jean Shipos, a motivational speaker and trainer, kicked off the evening with an insightful story titled, “You Did Good.” Jean taught us that appreciation is a strong motivator and we all long to hear those three magical words, “You Did Good.” Since the banquet was devoted to showing appreciation and expressing thanks to outstanding achievers, her story set the stage for the rest of the evening of honoring engineers, researchers, and testers who we told “You Did Good”.
Mr. David Sparenberg followed Jean Shipos. He was recognized for his hard work in getting this effort off the ground. He talked about his dream of an Aviation Research Park being located next door to the Technical Center someday, and spoke about community and congressional support for this new venture and the benefits that it would bring. Joe Burns, Banquet Nomination Chair and Cathy Jaggard, Chair, IEEE presented Sparenberg with an award.
The Gold Award, a new award for engineers with 2-6 years experience, was presented to Tim Martin, of Titan Corporation. He supports the FAA R&D of satellite based navigation systems for civil aviation.
Martin develops software, assesses algorithms, and provides engineering support for the Global Positioning Satellite. He received specialized training at Ohio University on the GPS Anomalous Event Monitor, (GAEM) which was developed to characterize anomalous events in the GPS signal. Subsequently, he led the GAEM activity at the Technical Center.
Martin has installed and configured the GAEM at various locations to establish a spatial correlation between data sets. He also has assisted in the development of Terminal Area Path procedures that used differential GPS for guidance at Atlantic City (NJ), Memphis (TN), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
Other nominees for the Gold Awardincluded Ms. Ekta Singhal (left) who supports the NAS Information Management System (NIMS) deployment. Also nominated was Ms. Parul Singhal who designs, develops and implements software for the Weather and Radar Processor (WARP) system.
PACE Chair Rodney Guishard presented an Outstanding Test Award to Renee Nicole Frierson, who has conducted research that will reduce runway incursions. She conducted a research project to identify visual aid enhancement solutions that would reduce or eliminate inadvertent landings on taxiways. Renee also conducted an Automated Land and Hold Short Operation study evaluating 25 pilots’ reactions to a visual stimulus presented using a Boeing 737-800 simulator.
Others nominees included Jeffrey Livings, the Manager of Test and Evaluation for Surface Surveillance systems. Also nominated for test was Jill Miller, whoworks as a Trace Chemist / Test Engineer at the Transportation Security Lab.
Philip Holmer presented the Leadership Award to Dr.Robert Pappas. Pappas is the Program Manager of the FAA National Aging Aircraft Research Program at the Technical Center. He provides technical oversight on research programs encompassing a wide variety of technical disciplines related to aging aircraft. These disciplines include structural integrity, inspection systems, flight loads, rotorcraft safety, electrical and mechanical systems, and airworthiness of aircraft engines. As part of the overall program, The FAA Aging Aircraft Electrical Systems Research Program has yielded an understanding of how electrical systems age, and how aging affects the safe transmission of power and signals in an aircraft. This research has helped the FAA develop regulatory measures to improve the safety of aging electrical wiring. He was an organizer and Conference Chair for the ninth Joint FAA-NASA-DOD Aging Aircraft Conference.
Other nominees for the award included Holly Cyrus and John R. Frederick. Holly Cyrus has conducted research on Polyester and Polyurea marking materials and written two formal Technical Reports this year. The third nominee, John R. Frederick, has served as the Test Program Manager for the Enroute Air Traffic Control (ATC) Modernization Program, the multi-billion dollar program that will upgrade the hardware, software and software architecture for FAA ATC automation system.
Dr. Cathy Bigelow accepted an award for Stanislav Stoliarov from Philip Holmer, Program Chair. Stoliarov conducts research for the Fire Safety Research Branch. His research addresses knowledge gaps in the understanding of flammability of various materials. He seeks to bridge the gap between materials science and fire science by relating the chemical composition of condensed matter to its flammability. This knowledge guides the FAA’s search for lightweight, ultra fire resistant materials for a fireproof cabin. His research provides the scientific support for performance-based fire safety standards for aircraft cabin materials.
Also nominated for the Aviation Research award was Anatoliy Ivanov, the Senior Engineer on the FAA’s Unleaded Fuel Research Program. Vasudeva Kolli, whosework supports the Safer Skies Initiative in the Systems Approach for Safety Oversight (SASO) program, also was nominated.
Keynote Speaker Mike Greco reminded banquet attendees of the large job ahead of us in building the National Aerospace System for the future. He addressed the importance of our young engineers as the future of the Air Traffic System.
The Engineer of the Year 2006 award went to Dr. John G. Bakuckas, the Manager of Transport Airplane Structural Integrity Research for the FAA National Aging Aircraft Research Program. He has concluded structural evaluations and assessments for continued airworthiness of high-time operational aircraft in support of the issuance of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The objective of his research is to provide the data and procedures to verify aircraft fatigue damage assessments. A major FAA and NAARP goal is to understand the fatigue and fracture behavior of aging aircraft being operated beyond their design service goal. Dr. Bakuckas has established a Fellowship Program with Drexel University to provide an opportunity for Drexel graduate students to gain valuable real world experience at the FAA.
Also nominated for the award was Dr. Izydor Kawa, whoworked on the FAA Rigid and Flexible Iterative Elastic Layered Design computer program, which incorporates the most advanced techniques in pavement design. Michael A. Konyak, who has provided innovative capabilities for airspace simulations at the Tech Center, also was a nominee. As Senior Aeronautical Engineer for the FAA’s Target Generation Facility (TGF), he has provided numerous advancements to the ability of the FAA to simulate realistic aircraft interactive traffic in support of Human-in-the-Loop simulations for both R&D and T&E.
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