The ARMD 2023 Associate Administrator Awards were presented to NASA employees, contractors, and students or interns who distinguished themselves, either individually or as part of a group, through their overall approach to their work and through results they achieved during the award year.
LEGEND: ARMD NASA CENTERS
ARC = Ames Research Center
AFRC = Armstrong Flight Research Center
GRC = Glenn Research Center
HQ = Headquarters
LaRC = Langley Research Center
Technology and Innovation
Honoree (Group)
ecoDemonstrator Emissions Flight and Ground Test Team
The ecoDemonstrator Emissions Flight and Ground Test team demonstrated remarkable performance and innovative technical achievement by making the first in-flight measurements of aircraft emissions and contrails formed by Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator 737-10 aircraft burning 100-percent sustainable aviation fuel. The data and results obtained as part of the team’s efforts are of high value to NASA, the international aeronautics research community, climate scientists, and industry.
Team Lead: Richard Moore, LaRC
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Honorable Mention (Group)
Unmanned Aerial Systems Pilot (UASP) Kit Development Team
The UASP Kit Development team has positioned NASA for a successful partnership in pursuit of technology-enhanced operations through its development of a prototype pilot kit to address specific air traffic awareness needs to supporting wildland firefighting. This kit represents a significant step towards enabling and achieving potentially game-changing drone operations in wildland fire management.
Team Lead: Lynne Martin/Joey Mercer, ARC
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Leadership and Management Excellence
Honoree
William Chan, ARC
William Chan’s effective leadership of the Air Traffic Management – eXploration project and mentoring excellence have enabled his team’s numerous achievements in delivering the first Advanced Air Mobility airspace services, creating the digital airspace platform for sustainable operations, initiating new research for more adaptive and intelligent airspace of the future, and more. His good leadership is also demonstrated through his calmness, inclusiveness, and a drive to achieve goals while maintaining camaraderie.
Program and Mission Support
Honoree
Julie Blackett, GRC
Julie Blackett, in her role supporting the Advanced Air Mobility Mission Integration Office, has made excellent contributions to the success of the mission. Her dedication, enthusiasm, and expertise have been exemplary, particularly during the past fiscal year as the Advanced Air Mobility project transitioned between programs.
Honoree (Group)
Remote Pilot Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Training Team
The Remote Pilot BVLOS Training team was essential to the successful, and more importantly, safe, accomplishment of BVLOS operations in the Langley Air Force Base Class D airspace. The nine-month effort resulted in the creation of a training program with several unique capabilities to properly train NASA drone pilots for BVLOS flight operations, which will continue to benefit BVLOS research for years to come.
Team Leads: Jacob Revesz, LaRC
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High Potentials
Honoree
Paul von Hardenberg, GRC
Paul von Hardenberg has made substantial progress in icing research for Advanced Air Mobility and developed a level of proficiency that allowed him to make significant contributions as an early career employee. Of particular note, his work supporting icing research for the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project and has gained important visibility within the greater community. Furthermore, he is highly engaged in outreach activities which shows his passion towards inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Strategic Partnerships
Honoree
Harry Belvin, LaRC
Harry Belvin has been the key driver of partnerships for NASA’s Hypersonic Technology project with the Department of Defense and industry. His innovative approach to the partnerships has enabled collaboration on dual use materials research and development to both improve the US’s defense posture and enable commercial access to space.
Honoree
Jeffrey Robinson, LaRC
Jeffrey Robinson’s leadership has impacted the future course of hypersonic vehicle design at NASA and at the national level with international effect. His work developing roadmaps and providing subject matter expertise has laid the plans for the development of hypersonic vehicles in a holistic approach using the assets of government, industry, and academia.
Pushing the Envelope
Honoree (Group)
X-57 Maxwell Team
The X-57 project has been foundational to NASA’s efforts to mature key electric aviation technologies. Work conducted as part of the project have both informed and lowered the risk exposure of subsequent NASA investments in electric aviation and propulsion efforts such as the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, Advanced Air Mobility efforts, and other electrified aircraft propulsion projects as part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership. The X-57 data collected to date and the many resulting technical reports continue to help industry overcome the many technical and certification barriers to accelerate electrified aviation.
Team Leads: Heather Maliska, AFRC
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ARMD Associate Administrator Award
