Engineers honored for outstanding achievements

ORLANDO, Fla. — ASME commemorated its 125th-year anniversary here while also honoring the accomplishments of individuals who have demonstrated a lifetime of achievements and outstanding service to the profession.

Robert E. Uhrig was the recipient of the ASME Medal for his contributions to the power field.

At a 90-minute Honors Assembly ceremony filled with references to ASME's noteworthy legacy, 10 top honorees, including the president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co. and a former White House chief of staff, received awards.

The Honors Assembly is a yearly event in which ASME awards engineers and scientists who have contributed to advancing the engineering profession through research, corporate and academic leadership, advocacy, and dedicated service to the goals and programs of ASME.

Recipients of this year's awards:

James J. Padilla, president and CEO of Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich., received the 2005 M. Eugene Merchant Manufacturing Medal for his role in improving manufacturing efficiency. At Ford, Padilla was instrumental in implementing lean manufacturing throughout the automotive company's assembly operations and also played a major role in creating the world's most environmentally sustainable auto plant.

John H. Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor who served as White House chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991, was awarded Honorary Membership in ASME for his sustained efforts in promoting the role of engineers in public policy decision-making. Sununu, who graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, also has been a strong proponent of engineering education.

 

Ford Motor Co.'s James J. Padilla received the 2005 M. Eugene Merchant Manufacturing Medal for his role in improving manufacturing efficiency.

The other recipients of Honorary Membership for 2005 were Sia Nemat-Nasser, who has published more than 430 papers and articles on applied mechanics and other subjects, and Charles O. Velzy, president of ASME during 1989-1990 and an expert and leading authority on waste management, particularly the control of emissions from waste-to-energy facilities.

The ASME Medal was presented to Robert E. Uhrig, who has made significant contributions to the power field while holding high-level positions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the Florida Power and Light Co., among other organizations.

Robert H. Liebeck, a leader in the field of aeronautics who currently manages the blended-wing body subsonic program at the Boeing Co., was the recipient of the 2005 Spirit of St. Louis Medal.

James D. Walker of Southwest Research Institute, who has developed computational models for analyzing the impact of various projectiles on surfaces, was awarded the 2005 ASME Holley Medal.

James H. Turner, Jr., a leading advocate for technical codes and standards, was presented with the the 2005 Melvin R. Green Codes and Standards Medal at the Honors Assembly.

Kathleen M. Bader was the recipient of the 2005 Henry Laurence Gantt Medal for leadership in corporate management. A former member of the executive management team at Dow Chemical Co., Bader is the president and chief executive officer of NatureWorks LLC, which develops and markets a family of environmentally friendly polymers used in packaging.

James H. Turner, a leading advocate for technical codes and standards, and Joseph Bordogna, a professor of engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and active supporter of workplace diversity, are the recipients of, respectively, the 2005 Melvin R. Green Codes and Standards Medal, and the 2005 ASME Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc. Medal.

The 2005 ASME Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc. Medal was bestowed upon Joseph Bordogna, professor of engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and an active supporter of workplace diversity.

In addition to the 10 honorees listed above, there were numerous other winners of various awards. A full listing can be found at www.asme.org/
honors/
citations.html.

Additionally, 108 other ASME members were conferred the Fellow grade of membership during 2004-2005, recognizing outstanding engineering achievements. A full listing can be found at www.asme.org/member/fellow/citations.html.

 

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