President Bush Names Win Phillips to National Medal of Science Committee (1/25/05)

NEW YORK — President George W. Bush has appointed Win Phillips, Ph.D., vice president for research at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and past president of ASME, to a three-year term as a member of the Committee on the National Medal of Science.

In 1959, Congress established the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor, to recognize individuals "deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical or engineering sciences." In 1980, Congress expanded this recognition to include the social and behavioral sciences.

Win Phillips

Phillips will serve on a committee of 12 scientists and engineers appointed by the president to evaluate nominees for the award. To date, the National Medal of Science has been awarded to 409 distinguished scientists and engineers whose careers spanned decades of research and development.

"It is a great honor to serve on this important committee that recognizes the careers of some of our nation's most outstanding scientists and engineers," said Phillips.

A fellow of ASME, Phillips currently serves as vice president of research at the University of Florida. He also served UF as dean of the College of Engineering.

A past president of ASME (1998-99), Phillips has received numerous awards and recognitions for his contributions to the engineering profession, including the 1999 Engineering Achievement Award, the National Engineering Award and he was named a fellow by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also a fellow and past president of the American Society of Engineering Education.

Phillips received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in 1963, and earned his master's and doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia, in 1966 and 1968, respectively.

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Comic Book Engineering: A New Way to Tell the Stories of Technology

ASME has launched a new comic strip series to introduce and educate young readers about the history and contributions of mechanical engineering. Each month throughout 2005, the Web-based "funnies" will feature entertaining short stories about amazing engineering accomplishments during the past 125 years since ASME was founded in 1880. The first edition of "Heroes of Engineering" is now available at http://anniversary.asme.org.

"The goal of the comics is to create a fun online medium that could teach young people about what engineers do and how, through their creative genius, they have made our world a better place to live," said Captain Vincent Wilczynski, Ph.D., vice president of ASME's Board on Pre-College Education and a professor of mechanical engineering at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

Wilczynski, along with Coast Guard petty officer and aspiring comics creator and artist, Ron Spellman, introduced the comic series to ASME as a voluntary outreach to young people during the Society's 125th anniversary year. "We hope that the colorful and fun-to-read comics will help inspire the next generation of engineers and inventors," said Wilczynski.

The first of 12 comics features the contributions of Robert Henry Thurston (1839-1903), an author and pioneer in mechanical engineering education. Thurston provided a means for students to bring the theories of engineering into practice by establishing the first mechanical engineering laboratory model, in 1875, at the Steven Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J. He also served as the first president of ASME (1880-1802).

The comic series will cover 12 decades of interesting and perhaps the not-so-well-known significant accomplishments in mechanical engineering. For example in February, learn about Michael Owens' patent of the automatic bottle making machine; in March, the development of the Wright Brothers wind tunnel, and in April, the story of Garrett Morgan, an African American inventor of the "inhalator," better know as the gas mask.

Reviewing each story for historical accuracy and rounding out the volunteer team responsible for writing and producing the monthly comics is J. Lawrence Lee, Ph.D., P.E., and Fellow of ASME. Lee is an engineer-historian at the Historic American Engineering Record, a branch of the US National Parks Service, and is a former chair of the ASME History and Heritage Committee.



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