Distinguished Scientist Award

Formal letters of nomination are now invited for the Distinguished Scientist Award. Award candidates may be nominated by anyone who has been involved in hypervelocity impact science and engineering, not just Society members. In preparing the letter of nomination, nominators should:

  • Include supporting information about the candidate
  • Address the candidate's technical recognition within the community
  • Highlight the importance of their work and its contribution to hypervelocity science
  • Describe the nominated individual's personal contribution and service to the technical field of hypervelocity impact

The Awards Committee would like to see the widest participation from the scientific community in nominating a Distinguished Scientist whose contributions reflect the talents of researchers around the world.

Nominations must be received no later than March 1, 2022. Questions about the award should be directed to the committee chair, Joshua Miller.

The process for selection is based on a list of candidates generated by members of the Board of Directors and from the previous Awards Committee. The Chairman also solicits input from the HVIS membership at large through a formal mailing or through the HVIS Newsletter. The list of candidates is determined at least one year before the award is made. A nomination is comprised of a formal letter of nomination and supporting information about the candidate.

Once the list of candidates is determined, the Committee goes through several rounds of voting to identify the winner. Past committees have used different approaches, but generally the criteria for selection includes:

  • Technical recognition
  • Importance of work
  • Scope of work
  • Current work
  • Service to the HVIS Society

The recipient(s) for the Distinguished Science Award is selected at least three months prior to the HVIS meeting in order to give the recipient sufficient time to prepare an acceptance keynote speech to be given at the upcoming Symposium. Once the award recipient(s) has been determined, the Chairman notifies the President of the Society. The President will obtain a concurrence from the Board and then notify the award recipient(s) formally in writing.

The award consists of a plaque citing the accomplishments of the award recipient(s) and a monetary remuneration set by the Board of Directors. The recipient(s) also becomes an Honorary Member of the Society, i.e., a lifetime member with all the privileges and responsibilities of a regular member except that dues are waived.

Distinguished Scientist Award Recipients

The award is given for sustained leadership, innovation and technical excellence in hypervelocity research. Each award recipient is also recognized for their specific contributions to the field.

Alexander C. Charters (General Research Corporation), 1989

  • Aeroballistic range design
  • Spark photography
  • Projectile aerodynamics
  • Two-stage light-gas gun technology
  • Hypervelocity impact
  • Terminal ballistics

Alois J. Stilp and Volker Hohler (Ernst-Mach-Institut), 1992

  • Hypervelocity launch techniques
  • Two-stage light-gas gun technology
  • Sabot technology
  • Penetration mechanics
  • Hypervelocity impact
  • Dynamic response of materials

James R. Asay (Sandia National Laboratories), 1994

  • Time-resolved shock-wave diagnostics
  • Strength of materials at high pressures
  • Shock release techniques
  • High-pressure solid-liquid phase boundaries
  • Kinetics of melting and vaporization

Burton G. Cour-Palais (NASA-JSC), 1996

  • Hypervelocity impact
  • Meteoroid and orbital debris threat environment
  • Meteoroid and orbital debris shielding
  • Engineering design equations for shielding
  • Developer of the multi-shock shield concept

Hallock F. Swift (Physics Applications, Inc.), 1998

  • Aeroballistic range design
  • High-speed photography
  • High-speed instrumentation
  • Two-stage light-gas gun technology
  • Hypervelocity impact
  • Debris cloud dynamics

Charles E. Anderson, Jr. (Southwest Research Institute), 2000

  • Penetration mechanics
  • Numerical simulations of penetration
  • Modeling dynamic material response
  • Terminal ballistics

Dennis L. Orphal (International Research Associates, Inc.), 2003

  • Penetration mechanics
  • Fundamental studies in hypervelocity impact
  • Innovative hypervelocity projectile concepts
  • Reverse ballistics experimentation
  • Cratering dynamics

Lalit C. Chhabildas (Sandia National Laboratories), 2005

  • Experimental shock physics
  • High-pressure dynamic response of materials
  • Three-stage hypervelocity launcher
  • Shock-induced vaporization
  • Isentropic and multi-axial loading techniques

Gordon R. Johnson (Southwest Research Institute), 2007

  • Large distortion, explicit, nonlinear finite element code development
  • Lagrangian meshless methods
  • Development of computational material constitutive models
  • Dynamic material response
  • Armor/anti-armor applications

Peter H. Schultz (Brown University), 2010

  • Solar system impact cratering
  • Atmospheric effects on impact cratering and ejecta
  • Oblique hypervelocity impacts
  • Impact flash spectroscopy
  • Particle-image velocimetry of ejecta
  • Electromagnetic properties of hypervelocity impact

Andrew J. Piekutowski (University of Dayton Research Institute), 2012

  • Two-stage light-gas gun experimentation
  • Debris cloud dynamics
  • Imaging of debris clouds
  • Experimental penetration mechanics
  • Three-stage light gas gun development

William P. Schonberg (Missouri University of Science and Technology), 2015

  • Micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact protection and analysis
  • Spacecraft vulnerability and survivability
  • Composite material response to hypervelocity impact
  • Hypervelocity impact physics

David A. Crawford (Sandia National Laboratories), 2017

  • Electrostatic and magnetic properties of hypervelocity impact
  • Shock physics analysis tool development and state-of-the-art simulations
  • Shock physics stewardship/training/mentoring/collaboration
  • Large planetary impact simulations
  • Shoemaker-Levy 9 predictions and post-impact analysis

Dennis E. Grady (Applied Research Associates), 2019

  • Theoretical description of shock wave structure
  • Development of dynamic failure experimental techniques and measurement
  • Dynamic failure and fragmentation modeling
  • Dynamic response of brittle materials
  • Phase transformation modeling
  • Analytic description of shock wave propagation in porous materials