News Release

Workforce achievements celebrated at NASA Marshall Center Awards ceremony

Grant and Award Announcement

NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center News Center

Today, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recognized its workforce for outstanding achievements and contributions to America's space program.

William Readdy, NASA associate administrator for the Office of Space Flight in Washington, joined Marshall Center Director David King at Marshall's annual NASA Honor Awards ceremony to salute more than 240 employees for special accomplishments during 2003.

Among those honored were two individuals who had previously received top-level awards at a NASA Headquarters ceremony. Lott W. Brantley Jr., group lead of the Advanced Optical Systems Development Ground in the Marshall Center's Science Directorate, received NASA's Distinguished Service Medal. The award, recognizing distinguished personal service, ability or courage that has substantially contributed to NASA's mission, is the highest honor NASA can bestow on a civil servant.

At the same ceremony, Douglas A. Towne of Lockheed-Martin Space Operations in Huntsville received NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal. The award is NASA's highest honor for a non-government individual whose accomplishments contributed substantially to the NASA mission.

Also recognized were three winners of the Presidential Rank Award – a prestigious honor given to a select group of senior federal executives who have provided exceptional service to the American people over an extended period of time. Dr. Martin Weisskopf, project scientist for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory at the Marshall Center, received a Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Senior Executives. Robert L. Sackheim, assistant center director and chief engineer for space propulsion, and Stephen Beale, director of procurement, each were honored with the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives for service at the Marshall Center. Each was honored earlier this year at a ceremony in Washington.

Additional awards presented at the Marshall event were seven NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals, given for notably outstanding leadership that has had a pronounced effect on NASA's technical or administrative programs. Recipients were Timothy A. Corn, deputy manager of the Facilities Engineering Department in the Center Operations Directorate; Biliyar N. Bhat, technical assistant to the director of Marshall's Engineering Directorate; Steven L. Luna, group lead of the Electrical Power Group in the Engineering Directorate; Paul A. Gilbert, manager of the Space Transportation and Integration Office in the Flight Projects Directorate; Joseph L. Randolph Jr., acting group lead for the Gravity Probe B Systems Engineering Office in the Science Directorate; Michael U. Rudolphi, manager of the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office; and Dennis A. Kross, former director of Marshall's Space Transportation Directorate and current Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Also presented at the Marshall Honor Awards ceremony were 16 Exceptional Service Medals; 17 Exceptional Achievement Medals; five Public Service Medals; 18 NASA Group Achievement Awards; three NASA Public Service Group Achievement Awards; 40 Marshall Director's Commendation Certificates; 39 Marshall Certificates of Appreciation; and 26 Marshall Group Achievement Awards.

The NASA Outstanding Scientific Achievement Medal, recognizing exceptional scientific contribution toward achieving the NASA mission, was awarded to Thomas L. Sever of the Marshall Center's Science Directorate.

NASA's Exceptional Service Medal, recognizing significant, sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creativity, was presented to the following Marshall employees: Cedrick G. Davis, Center Operations Directorate; Dominic A. Amatore, Customer and Employee Relations Directorate; David S. McGhee, Preston McGill, Jeffery Sparks and Toan T. Vu, Engineering Directorate; Billie Swinford, Equal Opportunity Office; Audrey D. Robinson, Office of Chief Counsel; George Earl Pendley, Procurement Office; Terry J. Hamm and Angelo M. Nowlin, Safety and Mission Assurance Office; James T. Hopper, Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Office; and Stephen D. Creech, Werner K. Dahm, Shawn Davis Fears and Joseph H. Ruf, Space Transportation Directorate.

The NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal recognizes significant, specific contributions to NASA's mission. This year's recipients were June E. Malone, Louis V. Nosenzo and Susan Whitfield, Customer and Employee Relations Directorate; William G. Jones, Fred D. Roe Jr., and Jimmy D. Sisco, Engineering Directorate; Kenneth L. Mitchell and Carmen Price, Flight Projects Directorate; Teresa A Batts, Procurement Office; Richard J. Blakeslee, Science Directorate; Peggy K. Geddings, Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Office; David A. Beaman and Thomas J. Williams, Space Shuttle Propulsion Office; and James W. McCarter, Timothy M. Sanders, and Cynthia L. Sprader, Space Transportation Directorate.

Marshall's Software of the Year Award was presented to James W. McCarter, author of MAVERIC-II, a new program designed to more rapidly create flight simulations for spacecraft and launch vehicles. It is now the primary flight simulation program for NASA.

Marshall's Inventor of the Year Award acknowledges employees with patented inventions that have realized commercial potential or contributed significantly to specific NASA programs. Jonathan Lee and Po-Shou Chen of the Engineering Directorate were honored for their invention called MSFC-398, a high-test aluminum-silicon alloy that displays dramatic strength at temperatures as high as 500 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Originally developed for the automotive industry, the alloy could possibly lower engine emissions and improve gas mileage in cars, boats and recreational vehicles.

Marshall's Technology Transfer Award recognizes excellence in applying NASA technology to commercial uses. Recipients were Jeff Finckenor, Anthony R. Kelley, Alok K. Majumdar and Mark V. Vaccaro, Engineering Directorate; Tim Horvath and Patrick Meyer, Flight Projects Directorate; Jerry L. Seemann, Office of Chief Counsel; and Mary E. Koelbl, Joe L. Leopard, Roger Moody and William Myers, Space Transportation Directorate.

Marshall Center's Research and Technology Award recognizes notable achievements in current technology development. Award recipients included Dean C. Alhorn, Jeri M. Briscoe, Thomas K. Delay, David A. Gwaltney, Timothy L. Huff, Anthony Bruce Hulcher, Anthony Kelley, Jody Minor, Michael L. Mitchell, William T. Powers and Luis Trevino, Engineering Directorate; Eva M. Ciszak, Kenneth Fernandez, Fred W. Leslie and Narayanan Ramachandrean, Science Directorate; and David J. Dorney, Space Transportation Directorate.

Seventeen employees received the Marshall Patent Award, recognizing NASA employees winning patents in 2003. Honorees were Fred Schramm, Customer and Employee Relations Directorate; Michael Book, Thomas Bryan, Richard Cloyd, Richard Howard, Nick Johnson, Jonathan Lee, Carolyn Russell and Kosta Varnavas, Engineering Directorate; David Hathaway, Ronald Koczar and Paul Meyer, Science Directorate; Melvin Bryant, Space Shuttle Propulsion Office; and Charles Johnson, James Martin and William Sims, Space Transportation Directorate.

###

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.