Annual Tennessee AIAA section awards recognize 'best of the best'

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  The local American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Tennessee Section held their 2009 awards luncheon Tuesday at the Arnold Lakeside Center. 

Awards presented included the Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold Award, a Billy J. Griffith Award, two Special Awards and an AIAA Section Booster Award. Recognition of local achievements is part of AIAA's mission to address the professional needs and interests of the past, current and future aerospace workforce and to advance the state of aerospace science, engineering, technology, operations and policy to benefit global society. 

The General Arnold Award, the most prestigious award offered by the section, was given to Arnold Engineering Development Center's (AEDC) Dr. Doug Garrard for his recent work in support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Falcon Combined-Cycle Engine Technology (FaCET) test program at the center's Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit. 

This year's Billy J. Griffith award was presented to a team made up of propulsion integration experts and system modelers from AEDC and the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) at Edwards AFB for use of the Integrated Test and Evaluation Methodology to develop solutions for T-38C Talon (the Air Force's supersonic jet trainer aircraft) Propulsion Modernization Program challenges. 

Awardees included Cassy Anthony and Eric Hansen from AFFTC, and Brian Binkley, Mark Chappell, Milt Davis Jr., Derick Daniel, Andrew Jackson, Lt. Brad King, Alan Hale, Andrew Hughes, Kevin Holst, Dr. Don Malloy, Jean Paul Mihigo, Gary Meuer, Stan Powell, J. Mitchell Routh, Fred Shope, Stephen Savelle, Jim Sirbaugh and Anthony Watts of AEDC. 

The Billy J. Griffith Engineering Analysis Award is given to an individual or group who performs outstanding work which integrates modeling and simulation with ground- and flight-testing under the Integrated Test and Evaluation paradigm.
Joshua Batterson and Eric Jacob, two UTSI students, received appreciation awards from the AIAA national office for co-organizing the AIAA Southeastern Region Student Conference held in Huntsville, Ala., last April. 

Martha Simmons, an engineer with Aerospace Testing Alliance's Technology & Analysis Branch, was presented with a Special Award for organizing and coordinating the 2008 AIAA Tennessee Sections Award ceremony and for serving as Awards Chair for several years. 

Professor Trevor Moeller, with the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI), received a Special Award for his contributions as a world-class expert in the area of plasma physics and electric propulsion. Moeller delivered the keynote address at the International Conference on Magneto-hydrodynamics held in Japan last month.
In 2007, one of Moeller's plasma physics papers received the "Best Propulsion Paper Award" by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Propulsion Technical Committee. 

Additionally, he has been selected as the technical chair for the upcoming AIAA Plasmadynamics and Laser Conference in Chicago next year. 

Dr. Joseph Wehrmeyer, an engineer with Aerospace Testing Alliance's Technology and Analysis Branch, was recognized with the AIAA Booster Award for his work in organizing a section luncheon meeting last spring on "Race Car Aerodynamics" that attracted more than 100 participants and for other support to the section throughout the year. The Booster Award is given to the individual who provides the most support to the section throughout the year.