Distinguished professionals to receive multidisciplinary recognition at AAES awards banquet

Reston, Va. — The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) will be recognizing seven professionals for their considerable contributions to engineering at an awards banquet Apr. 18, 2016, at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, D.C.

The 2016 award recipients are as follows:

National Engineering Award – Sarah A. Rajala, Ph.D., Dean, College of Engineering, Iowa State University, was selected for her outstanding leadership at the institutional as well as at national and international levels impacting multiple engineering societies, her innovations in engineering education and assessment, and her tireless efforts to promote diversity in engineering.  

John Fritz Medal – H. Vincent Poor, Ph.D., NAE, Dean, School of Engineering & Applied Science, Princeton University, was selected for outstanding contributions to the fields of modern communications and signal processing through their development, application and dissemination.  

Kenneth Andrew Roe Award – Brajendra Mishra, Ph.D., Kenneth G. Merriam Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Director of the Metal Processing Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, was selected for his inclusive and consistent leadership of the science and engineering community toward accomplishing meaningful goals through collaboration at the personal and organizational levels.

Norm Augustine Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Communications – Raymond Paul Giroux, Senior Engineer, Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., was selected for his ability to effectively capture the public’s attention and to engage the engineering profession in understanding how mega engineering projects such as the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge, and Panama Canal are truly engineering miracles.

Joan Hodges Queneau Palladium Medal – Wendi Goldsmith, Ph.D., P.G., Director, Center for Urban Watershed Renewal, was selected for championing science-based practices for resilient facility and infrastructure design and construction using interdisciplinary solutions to integrate ecosystem services, with a broad history of facilitating creative and successful collaboration between engineers, environmental scientists and sustainability policy advocates.

AAES Engineering Journalism Award – Jessica M. Morrison, Ph.D., Associate Editor, Chemical & Engineering News, was selected for helping the public better appreciate the critical role played by engineers in her online story “How Engineers Use Ground Freezing to Build Bigger, Safer and Deeper,” which appeared in NOVA (PBS/WGBH) on October 30, 2013. 

AAES Chair’s Award – Betty Shanahan, former Executive Director, Society of Women Engineers, was selected for unwavering commitment to the engineering profession; for driving initiatives that impact the image, recruitment, participation, leadership and recognition of women in the profession; and for promoting collaborations among engineering societies.

“Our awards program is an opportunity to collaboratively recognize greatness in engineering achievement across disciplines,” said Alyse R. Stofer, AAES Chair. “I’m looking forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our distinguished award recipients.”

Nominations were submitted by AAES Member Societies and reviewed by the AAES Awards Committee, chaired by the immediate past chair of AAES. Visit https://www.aaes.org/awards to view the award descriptions.

AAES is a multidisciplinary organization of engineering societies dedicated to advancing the engineering profession’s impact on the public good. AAES’ mission is “to serve as one voice for the U.S. engineering profession.” For more information on AAES, visit https://www.aaes.org.