58 NESC Honor Awards
NESC Honor Awards
Honoring Those Who Have Made Outstanding Contributions in 2020
NESC Honor Awards are given each year to NASA employees, industry representatives, and other stakeholders for their efforts and achievements in engineering, leadership, teamwork, and communication. These awards formally recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to the NESC mission, demonstrate engineering and technical excellence, and foster an open environment. NESC DIRECTOR’S AWARD:
Honors individuals for defending a technical position that conflicts with a Program or Organization’s initial or prevailing engineering perspectives and for taking personal initiative to foster clear and open communication and resolve controversial issues. David E. Williams - In recognition of his courage, strength, and persistence highlighting the technical risks associated with Commercial Crew Program fire suppression safety systems
NESC LEADERSHIP AWARD:
Honors individuals for sustained leadership excellence demonstrated by establishing a vision, developing and managing a plan, and building consensus to proactively resolve conflicts and achieve results. Bohdan Bejmuk - In recognition of continued exceptional technical leadership to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center in proactively reducing risk of NASA’s new Human Spaceflight Programs Matthew K. Chamberlain - In recognition of exemplary leadership in support of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center’s Main Parachute Extraction Ground Test for the Commercial Crew Program Julie Halverson - In recognition of outstanding leadership toward successful implementation of new maneuvers that enable previously unattainable science collection for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Thomas G. Ivanco - In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in the assessment of Ground Wind Loads and Wind Induced Oscillation for Commercial Crew Program launch vehicles Sarah E. Luna - In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in the development of the Agency’s Additive Manufacturing Standards for crewed spaceflight hardware Mark B. McClure - In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in the testing of propellants and combustible fluids
Stephen F. Peralta - In recognition of outstanding technical leadership resulting in an improved understanding of titanium/ nitrogen tetroxide ignition vulnerability Michael Watson - In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in support of numerous NASA Engineering and Safety Center assessments and the advancement of NASA’s systems engineering and integration capability Brian M. West - In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in the development of the Agency’s Additive Manufacturing Standards for crewed spaceflight hardware Sara R. Wilson - In recognition of outstanding technical leadership in guiding a dynamic team toward statistical engineering methods, demonstrating cost and schedule savings while achieving the key engineering goals
NESC ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE AWARD:
Honors individuals for making significant engineering contributions, developing innovative approaches, and ensuring appropriate levels of engineering rigor are applied to the resolution of technical issues in support of the NESC mission. James C. Akers - In recognition of engineering excellence and innovative implementation of experimental and operational modal analysis techniques in evaluating the Artemis Mobile Launcher William W. Benson - In recognition of engineering excellence for the alternate ascent flight control design development in support of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center’s Commercial Crew Program Ascent Stability Assessment Team Mark Balzer - In recognition of engineering excellence as the key troubleshooter on the USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN-78) Advanced Weapon Elevator for the United States Navy Robert Hall - In recognition of engineering excellence in providing the historical perspective and physics-based analysis to establish a standard for evaluation of launch vehicle ascent stability for commercial crew missions
