News Release

Four NASA Marshall Space Flight Center employees honored by AIAA

Grant and Award Announcement

NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center News Center

Four employees of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have been recognized by the Alabama-Mississippi Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for their contributions to science, aerospace engineering and technical management.

Marshall Center team members Rex Geveden, Steven Noneman, Ronald Porter and Dr. Ann Whitaker were recently honored by the organization at an awards dinner in Huntsville. The AIAA – the world's largest professional society devoted to the advancement of aviation, space and defense, has more than 1,000 members in Alabama and Mississippi. The Alabama-Mississippi Section supports engineering scholarship and education programs and provides members professional development.

Geveden, deputy director of the Marshall Center, was presented the 2003-2004 Holger Toftoy Award. Named for the late U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Holger Toftoy, former deputy commanding general of the Army Ordnance Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, the award recognizes outstanding technical management by a section member in aeronautics and astronautics.

Noneman was honored by the AIAA with the 2003-2004 Martin Schilling Award, named for the Section's founding president, for making a major contribution to the growth, technical programs or administration of the chapter. Noneman is a flight systems engineer in the High Powered Propulsion Systems Office at Marshall, which pursues propulsion research and technology intended to dramatically improve access to space and long-range space missions.

Porter was presented the organization's 2003-2004 Aerospace Engineer of the Year Award for demonstrating extraordinary technical skill and leadership in aerospace engineering. Porter is lead project manager in Marshall's High Powered Propulsion Office for Project Prometheus – NASA's program to develop efficient vehicle propulsion for long-range Solar System exploration.

Whitaker, director of Marshall's Science Directorate, received the 2003-2004 Hermann Oberth Award. Named after the late German rocket pioneer known as the "father of space travel," the award recognizes outstanding individual scientific achievement or the promotion and advancement of astronautics, space and aeronautical sciences.

Whitaker's early career included work on the transport vehicle that carried Saturn rockets to the launch pad that helped send Americans to the Moon. She later developed and managed experiments for Space Shuttle flights and the Long Duration Exposure Facility -- a series of experiments to characterize environmental effects on materials in space. Whitaker's early research continues to support material selection for present-day space systems, including the Space Station.

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