Experimental Techniques September/October 2001, Vol. 25, No. 5
History of the sem Honors and Awards
Program
by C. E. Taylor, SEM Historian
This
article will discuss in chronological order the various SESA/SEM honors and
awards.
Honorary
Membership
Early versions of the SESA Constitution said in part, “An
Honorary Member shall be an individual of widely recognized eminence in some
field in which the Society has interest, who is elected for life by unanimous
secret ballot of the Executive Committee ....”. It further provided that, “The number of Honorary Members at any
given time shall not exceed the larger of ten or one half of one percent of the
Individual Membership”.
In
1953, when the Society was nearly ten years old, Frank Tatnall was made its
first Honorary Member. Three years
later Miklos Hetenyi was elected as the second Honorary Member. In another three years Max Frocht was
made the third Honorary Member in 1959. Nine years later, in 1968, Hans Meier
and Bill Murray were elected as Honorary Members. (Someone pointed out that Bill
had been the Honorary President since 1961, but had not officially been made an
Honorary Member, a situation that was quickly remedied.) In 1969, Dan Drucker
and Milt Leven were elected to Honorary Membership, bringing the total up to
seven. After the deaths of two and the election of five more, the SESA/SEM first
reached its quota of ten Honorary Members in 1984, thirty-one years after the
honor was established. Since 1984
the SEM has quickly elected a new
member as soon as one of the Honorary Members dies.
The
William M. Murray Lectureship
In 1952 a proposal was made to create a
prestige lecture and to name it the William M. Murray Lecture. The idea was so appropriate and timely
that it was enthusiastically implemented by the Executive Committee. After all, Bill Murray had been one of
the four founding members, was the Society’s first president, and served as
Secretary Treasurer for seventeen years.
He was a modest, gracious, and friendly person who had guided the new
Society through its infant years. Next to Honorary Membership, the William M.
Murray Lectureship would be considered to be the Society’s highest honor.
Appropriately,
Bill Murray was the first Murray Lecturer.
He was followed by Stephen Timoshenko, Miklos Hetenyi, Arthur Ruge, an
impressive list of distinguished engineers and scientists. The Murray Lecture continues to be the
highlight of each annual meeting.
The
Beginning of the SESA Awards Program
In 1967, as the Society started
looking forward to its 25th Anniversary, the time seemed right for it to expand
its Honors program. A committee
consisting of Clyde Work (chairman), Dan Drucker, and Milt Leven (at that time,
one future president and two past presidents) was appointed and charged with the
responsibility of designing a comprehensive Awards Program. The committee quickly responded and recommended that
four new awards be created. Their
report appeared in 1968 SESA President Fred Bailey’s feature, “the
president’s corner” and
appeared in Experimental Mechanics, February 1968, pp. 34N and 35N. It is reproduced in the following:
“As
a part of the Silver Anniversary celebration to be held during 1968 in
connection with the Albany and San Francisco meetings, several new honors and
awards will be initiated.
The new awards, announced at the Chicago meeting, will feature a Founder
Award to the four individuals primarily responsible for establishment of SESA -
M. Hetenyi, C. Lipson, R. D. Mindlin and W. M. Murray - and a number of other
awards for services to the Society and for distinguished contributions in the
field of experimental mechanics. These awards will be presented for the first
time in 1968 and, except for the Founder Award, will be awarded annually in the
future.
“One
of the important new awards will be to the local section chosen to be the
‘Section of the Year.’ An appropriate banner for display at local section meetings will be awarded at the banquet held annually
in connection with the Spring Meeting of the Society. The winner will be chosen
from two sections nominated by the Local Sections Committee on the basis of
information supplied by the section officers. Judging will be based on factors
which show evidence of section vitality, such as section programs, special
projects, participation in section activities, members contributing to the
Society through papers and services as national officers and on committees. The banner will serve as a traveling
trophy and move each May to the new winning section. It will carry the names and
dates of winners of preceding years.
“Three
of the new awards will be distinguished by bearing the names of three eminent
members of the Society - M. Hetenyi, M. M. Frocht and F. G. Tatnall.
“The
Hetenyi Award - the paper of the year award - will be for the outstanding
paper presented at the two national meetings of the Society or accepted for
publication during a given year.
Nominations will be made by the Papers and applications Committees based
on manuscripts received during the twelve months prior to June 30 each year. The
manuscript of the Murray Lecture will not be eligible for consideration.
“The
M. M. Frocht Award will be for achievements in education in experimental
mechanics. Nominations from the membership should emphasize achievements through
writings, such as books and papers, and other educational endeavors. The record
of students of the nominees who have distinguished themselves in the field of
experimental mechanics will also be an important consideration.
“The
F. G. Tatnall Award will recognize extended, noteworthy service to the
Society. The recipient will be selected from nominees submitted by members of
the Executive Committee on the basis of length and quality of service through
Committee activities both in and out of official elective and appointive
positions in the SESA, at the local and national levels.
The
Distinguished Contribution Award
In 1973 this was renamed the B. J.
Lazan Award
“Another
award to be initiated during the Silver Anniversary celebration will be the Distinguished Contribution
Award. It will be for original contributions to the technology of experimental
mechanics. It will honor the inventor, discoverer or developer of a new device
or method which represents a significant advance in experimental mechanics. For example, Sir David Brewster would
have been a logical candidate for this award about a century and a half ago for
his discovery of the photoelastic effect. Unfortunately, the Committee will have
to bypass several important early contributions, such as Brewster’s, in an
effort to recognize current developments.
There is some question whether Sir David could be present at the San
Francisco meeting to receive the award, anyway. Nominations for the
Distinguished Contribution Award will be received from the general membership of
the Society following a form printed in the Journal (see page 35N).
“In
the case of the latter three awards, although announced as being given annually,
it is intended that the standards for selection of the recipients will be very
high. Therefore, it is expected that, some years, the award may be deferred
rather than make an award for contribution which might not receive universal
acclaim.
“Two
other categories of continuing honors will be initiated in 1968. Silver
Certificates in recognition of 25 years’ membership in the Society will be
awarded to about fifty individuals.
Past presidents of the Society will be honored in recognition of their
service to the SESA. Both of these awards will be continued in subsequent years
to honor those who complete their 25 years of individual membership or their
service as presidents.
“The
William M. Murray Lectureship, initiated in 1952 will, of course, be continued
as a high point in each year’s program.
“The
Honorary Membership established in the constitution will remain the highest
honor of SESA. Plans for the new awards were developed by an Ad Hoc Committee
made up of two past presidents- D.C. Drucker and M.M. Leven with one Executive
Committee member, C.E. Work - serving as chairman, as an outgrowth of
suggestions and prior studies by the Silver Anniversary Committee, Executive Committee, earlier awards
committees, and other interested individuals.
“To
administer the program, the Ad Hoc Committee has recommended a Standing
Committee on Honors to be appointed, with the rotating membership consisting of
two past presidents at least five years out of office, one or two members of the
current Executive Committee, and one or two other appropriate members. Appointments to the Honors Committee
will be made by the president of the Society, with the approval of the Executive
Committee.
“Plans
for the Silver Anniversary celebration include presentation of the Founder
Award, the Section of the Year Award, and the Past President Award at the Spring
Meeting to be held in Albany, May 7-10, 1968.
“The
M. Hetenyi Award, the M. M. Frocht Award, the F. G. Tatnall Award and the
Distinguished Contribution Award will be presented, along with the Silver
Certificates and W. M. Murray Lectureship for 1968, at the Silver Anniversary
finale in San Francisco, October 29 - November 1.”
CLYDE
E. WORK, Chairman, Committee on Honors and Awards.
Since
the awards program came into existence “during my watch”, I will add some comments to reflect the
rationale behind the awards and the Executive Committee discussions that took
place prior to its adoption. In particular, the F.G. Tatnall Award is given “on
the basis of length and quality of service through Committee activities both in
and out of official elective and appointive positions in the SESA, at the local
and national levels.” Those few
words don’t adequately reflect the intent of the Committee on Honors and Awards
and of the 1967 SESA Executive Committee.
The Tatnall Award was created to honor people who had served the Society
long and well , but for one reason or another would not be likely to receive one
of the other newly created awards, including the Past President Award. In the discussions of the Executive
Committee the names of Frank Tatnall, Clarence Smith, and Ferdi Stern were
frequent examples of people who’s work should be recognized. By 1967 those people were no longer
writing papers for the Experimental Mechanics (Hetenyi Award), were not
professors (Frocht Award), or conducting basic research (Outstanding
Contribution/Lazan Award), yet their contributions and service to the Society
were valuable beyond measure.
Many
of us who have had the privilege of serving as SESA/SEM President consider that
a very high SEM honor indeed, perhaps the highest. Normally one becomes President after
many years of activity as a committee member, committee chairperson, Executive
Board member, etc. Service leading up to and during the presidency is properly
recognized by the Past President Award.
It was not intended that Tatnall Award be given for the same
service.
The
previous material is probably of more historical interest than current
importance
The
Evolution of the SESA/SEM Awards Program
Having written the preceding
sections which describe the details of the Honors Program as it was conceived by
Clyde Work’s committee and approved by the 1967 Executive Committee, I now
hasten to emphasize that members of the Committee on Honors and Awards, and
especially those of us on the Executive Committee, did not have a good crystal
ball with which to look into the future.
Thus, it was desirable and necessary that the Honors Program should change
and grow as the Society’s interests and activities change. Here are some of the changes and
additions:
F.
G. Tatnall Award Very
predictably, the first three recipients of this award were Frank Tatnall,
Clarence Smith and Ferdi Stern, the very type of people for whom the award was
created. The problem is that people
like Frank, Clarence and Ferdi don’t come along every year. In spite of the caveat that the awards
not need to be given every year, it was generally believed that the Society has
been blessed with many hard working members who should be rewarded. The primary
candidates for the Tatnall Awards still remain those who have served the Society
long and well and have not been otherwise recognized. Past Presidents have been viable
candidates, but for them, service after their presidencies, is weighted
much more heavily than service
before their election (for which they have already been recognized).
R. E. Peterson Award
At the 1962 Spring
Meeting the Society first experimented with simultaneous sessions. In addition to the “Technical Papers
Session” there was a “Practical Applications Session”. The experiment was an
immediate success and simultaneous sessions became the normal mode at semiannual
meetings. By the late 1960s the
typical meeting format had two research sessions and one application session
scheduled simultaneously during each time segment. Generally, written papers were not
required for the applications session although they were strongly
encouraged. Starting in May 1963
papers clearly labeled as “Practical Applications” (later just “Applications”)
started to appear in Experimental Mechanics. These were very popular with the general
Society membership, but were difficult to obtain. The experts who would readily agree to
make a presentation at an Practical Applications Session were much less inclined
to write a paper for publication.
An Applications Committee was established to help generate more
applications papers and to perform the same functions for applications papers
that the Papers Committee performs for research papers. In 1970 an award was
established for the best applications paper to occur in Experimental
Mechanics. It was
created to encourage and reward authors of
applications papers. Since
there were than less than half as many applications papers as there were research papers, it was to be given biannually. In 1973 the award was renamed the R. E.
Peterson Award to honor
Rudolph Earl Peterson who was the SESA President 1948-49. He was the former Manager of the
Mechanics Department, Westinghouse Research Laboratories, and a very highly
respected member of the international mechanics community. The selection system
changed in 1983 when the monthly
magazine Experimental
Techniques was inaugurated. (In 1990 Experimental Techniques became
bimonthly).
B.J.
Lazan Award In 1973 the
Distinguished Contribution Award was renamed to become the B. J. Lazan
Award and the criteria
remain unchanged. The name was
changed to honor Dr. Benjamin J. Lazan who was the SESA President in
1959-60. Ben Lazan provided
outstanding leadership during a formative time in the Society’s history when a
paid Society Headquarters staff was established, and plans for the monthly
magazine Experimental Mechanics
were made. Dr. Lazan was a
leader in the fields of dynamic testing, vibration, material damping and
fatigue.
Creation
of the SESA Fellows Grade of Membership
The next major addition to the
honors program occurred in 1975 when SESA Executive Committee created the grade of SESA Fellow and the SESA Constitution was revised to
include the following description of the new grade of membership: “...Section 3
(c) A fellow shall be an individual
who is distinguished in some field in which the Society has interest, who has
been a Regular or Life Member of the Society for at least ten years, and whose
contributions to the Society and the technical community have justified this
honor. Election to Fellow shall be
by two-thirds majority vote of the Committee of Fellows and subsequent
affirmation by majority vote of the Executive Board. Individual Members elected to Honorary
Membership grade are automatically Fellows...”
To
implement the program, Fellows shall be elected by a two-thirds vote of the
Executive Committee from candidates recommended by the Honors Committee. After as many as 15 Fellows have been
named, a Committee of Fellows shall be established who will screen all
nominations submitted and, by two-thirds vote, elect future Fellows subject to
confirmation by the Executive Committee.
The
bylaws also state that no more than 0.1 percent of the full members of the
Society as of January 1 that year shall be elected as Fellows in that year,
except that Honorary Members shall be made Fellows upon establishment of the
program. Ten Fellows, in addition
to the Honorary Members, may be elected in each of the first two years.
In
accordance with the Constitution and wishes of the Executive Committee the
“Fellows Class of 1975” consisted of SESA members who had been elected as
Honorary Members on or before 1975.
The “Fellows Class of 1976” was elected by the Executive Committee. All subsequent Fellows were elected by
the Committee of Fellows and confirmed by the Executive Committee. The date of election is the date at
which the Fellows certificate are presented at an annual meeting. For example, the new fellows elected in
1994 by the Committee of Fellows, and later confirmed by the Executive Board,
were presented their Fellows certificates at the annual meeting in June 1995 and
become the “Class of 1995”.
D.R.
Harting Award This award was
originally called the E/T Outstanding Paper Award and dates back to 1981 when
Experimental Techniques was first published on a regular basis. In 1983, it was renamed the D. R. Harting Award
in recognition of Darrell’s considerable contributions to SEM as a member, as
its 1977-78 President, as a Fellow, and as an early proponent of Experimental Techniques. Darrell
passed away in 1996.
The
award, consisting of a plaque, is presented at the SEM’s Annual Conference. Candidates are nominated by
Experimental Techniques reviewers who cite papers they consider worthy of
”Outstanding Paper” status, and the final selection of the winner is made by the
Honors Committee.
Brewer
Award The Brewer Teledyne Award
(now called the Brewer Award) was established in 1989 in memory of Given A.
Brewer by Teledyne Engineering Services,
located in Waltham,
Massachusetts. Given Brewer
created the Brewer Engineering Laboratories and as its director, he carried out
over 700 projects using experimental and theoretical techniques. Given Brewer was a valued member of SEM
and was active in both leadership and technical activities.
The
annual award will consist of an award plaque in the recipient’s name. The criteria for the award stipulates
that it be given to “an outstanding practicing experimental stress analyst” and
is chosen by the Honors Committee.
The award is intended as recognition of skill in the application of
experimental mechanics techniques.
A person whose primary affiliation is with a university would be eligible
if substantial amount of consulting work involved hands-on experimental
analysis.
Felix
Zandman Award In May 1989, the
SEM Executive Board formally established the Felix Zandman Award. The award honors Dr. Zandman for his
extensive work with photoelastic
coatings and his support of SEM. The recipient receives an award plaque. Also, a donation is given in the
recipient’s name to the SEM Educational Foundation.
The
award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the
development of measurements or applications utilizing photoelastic coatings. The
selection is based upon the best paper published by SEM or any other recognized
journal which publishes photoelastic coatings papers. Alternatively, a person
who may not have published an outstanding paper, but has distinguished him or
herself in other ways in the use of photoelastic coatings may be nominated.
Student
Paper Competitions The Student Paper Competitions were
originated to encourage excellence in technical communication in the
experimental mechanics field. A regional paper competition was initiated in 1984
in a joint effort by Milwaukee’s Local Section and SEM’s Student Chapter of
Michigan Technological University. Since that time students from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Michigan Technological
University have participated in regional competition held each spring in
Milwaukee at one of the regular local section meetings.
The
first national competition was held during the 1991 SEM Annual Conference. The competition was sponsored by SEM’s
Milwaukee Local Section along with the SEM Local Sections Committee, Educational
Committee. Twelve students from
nine universities participated in that competition.
Students
from universities across the nation, and abroad traditionally participate in the
Student Competition at each SEM Annual Meeting. The competitions are now sponsored by
the SEM Education Foundation.
The
presentations are judged on the basis of technical content, organization of
material, effectiveness of delivery, adherence to allotted time and response to
questions.
D.J.
DeMichele Award This award, established in 1990 in honor of Dominick J.
DeMichele, recognizes an individual who has demonstrated “exemplary service and
support of promoting the science and educational aspects of modal analysis
technology.” This award is
presented at the annual International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC).
Dick
DeMichele was an Honorary Member of
SEM. He was active on numerous SEM
committees, including the Executive Board, and served as chair of two national
meetings. Dick was also the
past director of the International
Modal Analysis Conference and served as director for 13 annual IMACs.
From
1940 to 1979, Dick DeMichele worked as a mechanical engineer at the General
Electric Company in Schenectady, NY.
He received the coveted Charles E. Coffin Award, the company’s highest
award to its employees, for his contribution in the field of solid mechanics
(vibration, shock, stress-strain and acoustics). Dick DeMichele passed away in 2000,
shortly after being elected as an
Honorary Member of SEM.
C. E. Taylor Award This award was inaugurated in 2000 to be given biannually to a person who has made “contributions in optical stress analysis and for good citizenship in the SEM.”