past winners
2012 winners
Congratulations to the 2012 Laureate Winners!
* Winners are listed by calendar year in which the award was presented. They are judged on work done in the previous calendar year.
Previous Winners
AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION
| 2012 | The Boeing 787 Dreamliner Team, for combining advanced aerodynamics, new composite materials, and more-electric systems to bring the first new commercial jet of the century to market |
| 2011 | The X-51A Waverider Hypersonic Vehicle Team (X-51A Program Managers Charles F. Brink, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate, Wright Patterson Air Force Base; George Thum, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne; and Joseph Vogel, Boeing Phantom Works) |
| 2010 | Jeff Braun, director of the U.S. Air Force Alternative Fuels Certification Office |
| 2009 | Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan development team |
| 2008 | Robert Cowart, Project Engineer, Gulfstream Aerospace; Donald Howe, Staff Scientist, Technical Fellow, Gulfstream Aerospace; Leslie Molzahn, Flight Test Operations Engineer, NASA Dryden Research Center; Frank Simmons III, PhD, P.E., Gulfstream Aerospace; and James Smolka, Research Test Pilot, NASA Dryden Research Center |
| 2007 | Mark Lewis, Chief Scientist, U.S. Air Force |
| 2006 | Robert Lafontan, Senior VP for Engineering; Fernando Alonso, VP for Flight Test; Jaques Rosay, Chief Test Pilot and the entire A380 engineering and flight test team, Airbus |
| 2005 | Vincent Rausch, Program Manager and Randall Voland, Engine Developer, at NASA's Langley Research Center, |
| Anthony Castrogiovanni, President, ATK GASL and the X-43 Hyper-X scramjet. | |
| 2004 | Ken Hyde, Scott Crossfield, Kevin Kochersberger and Terry Queijo and other members of the Wright Experience |
| Noel Forgeard, Chief Executive, the Men and Women of Airbus | |
| 2003 | Kent Kresa, President/Chief Executive Officer, Northrop Grumman Corp. |
| Jean-Francois Bigay, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Eurocopter | |
| 2002 | Robert F. Faulkner |
| Joaquin H. Castro | |
| Curtis W. Berger | |
| Robert Mercier | |
| Fabrice Bregier | |
| Alan Garwood | |
| Mario di Donato | |
| 2001 | Mauricio Botelho |
| Boris Katorgin | |
| Vladimir Chvanov | |
| Lawrence Tanner | |
| Robert Ford | |
| John Karas | |
| 2000 | Moshe Keret |
| 1999 | Serge Dassault |
| 1998 | Jean Pierson |
| 1997 | Phil Condit |
| Alan Mulally | |
| Ronald Ostrowski | |
| Dale Hougardy | |
| 1996 | Ray Morgan |
| Bob Curtin | |
| 1995 | Charles H. Kaman |
| 1994 | Laurent Beaudoin |
| 1993 | Daniel M. Tellep |
| 1992 | Bernard Ziegler |
| Pierre Baud | |
| Jacques Troyes | |
| 1991 | Lt. Col. Felix Sanchez |
| 1990 | Jean-Luc Lagadere |
| Jean-Luis Gergorin | |
| Philippe Camus | |
| Ben Rich | |
| 1989 | Thomas V. Jones |
BUSINESS/GENERAL AVIATION
| 2012 | Preston Henne, SVP, Programs, Engineering and Test, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., for his role in designing, developing, and testing the Gulfstream 650 on-schedule, despite setbacks |
| 2011 | Randall Greene, chairman, president and CEO, Safe Flight Instrument Corp. |
| 2010 | Clayton Jones, chairman, president and CEO of Rockwell Collins |
| 2009 | General Dynamics and Gulfstream Aerospace |
| 2008 | Jack Pelton, Chairman, CEO and President, Cessna Aircraft Company |
| 2007 | Robert Agostino, Director of Flight Operations, Bombardier Business Aircraft |
| 2006 | John Rosanvallon, Preseident and CEO and Olivier Villa, Senior Vice President, Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. |
| 2005 | Ballistic Recovery Systems |
COMMERCIAL AIR TRANSPORT
| 2012 | John Borghetti, CEO, Virgin Australia, for leading one of the airline industry’s most dramatic transformations and cementing Virgin Australia as a major international player |
| 2011 | Jim French, chairman and CEO, Flybe |
| 2010 | Wolfgang Mayrhuber, CEO of Lufthansa |
| 2009 | Tony Fernandes |
| 2008 | John Byerly, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Transportation Affairs, and Daniel Calleja, Director, Air Transport Directorate, European Commission |
| 2007 | Capt. G.R. Gopinath, (Ret.), Managing Director, Air Deccan |
| 2006 | Jean-Cyril Spinetta, Chairman and CEO and Leo M. van Wijk, Vice Chairman, Air France/KLM |
| 2005 | David Neeleman, CEO, jetBlue Airways. |
| 2004 | Joe Leonard, Chairman and CEO, Air Tran Airways |
| 2003 | Cheong Chong Kong, Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Airlines |
| Michael O'Leary, Chief Executive Officer, Ryanair | |
| 2002 | Donald J. Carty, Robert Baker, and the Men and Women of American Airlines |
| 2001 | John H. Dasburg and the Men and Women of Northwest Airlines |
| 2000 | Sir Richard Branson |
| 1999 | James Strong |
| Peter Sutch | |
| 1998 | Richard T. Santulli |
| 1997 | Gordon Bethune |
| Christian Blanc | |
| 1996 | Nikolai Feodorovich Zobov |
| 1995 | Herman De Croo |
| 1994 | Alexander P. Pleshakov |
| Grigory A. Gurtovoy | |
| 1993 | Herbert D. Kelleher |
| 1992 | Ronald W. Allen |
| 1991 | Frederick W. Smith |
| 1990 | Lord King |
| Sir Colin Marshall | |
| 1989 | Robert L. Crandall |
DEFENSE/GOVERNMENT
| 2012 | The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Satellite Recovery Team, for rescuing the U.S. Air Force’s $2-billion AEHF satellite after its main propulsion subsystem failed |
| 2011 | U.S. Air Force Major General (ret.) Michael C. Kostelnik, assistant commissioner, Office of Air and Marine, U.S. Customs and Border Protection |
| 2010 | The U.S. Air Force's Project Liberty Team (Kim High, deputy director, USAF Big Safari Program; Lt. Gen. David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the Air Force; Robert Spivey, vice president of special programs, L-3 Communications; and Matthew Hallman, director of field operations, L-3 Communications) |
| 2009 | Project: VUIT-2 |
| 2008 | Capt. Randy Mahr, E-2D Program Manager |
| 2007 | Rear Admiral Guiseppe De Giorgi, Commander, Italian Maritime Forces |
| 2006 | U.S. Air Force and Georgia Air National Guard's 16th Airborne Command and Control Sqdn. |
| 2005 | U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody and U.S. Air Force Gen. John Handy, chief of Air Mobility Command and |
| U.S. Transportation Command. | |
| 2004 | Kimberly Tran, Boeing |
| Steve Griffin, Boeing | |
| 2003 | Vice Adm. Arthur K. Cebrowski, (U.S. Navy, Ret.), Director, Office of Force Transformation |
| 2002 | Gen. Lester Lyles |
| Col. Wayne Johnson | |
| Carl O. Johnson | |
| 2001 | John J. Hamre |
| 2000 | Gen. John Jumper |
| Lt. Gen. Michael Short | |
| 1999 | VXE-6, Navy Antarctic Development Squadron |
| 1998 | Larry D. McClain |
| Robert G. Myers | |
| 1997 | William Perry |
| 1996 | Mary Fackler Schiavo |
| 1995 | Alexander W. Riedy |
| 1994 | John B. Alexander |
| 1993 | Malcolm Rifkind |
| 1992 | Lt. Gen. Charles A. Horner |
| 1991 | Ambassador R. James Woolsey |
| 1990 | Hubert Curien |
| Paul H. Nitze | |
| Marshal Sergei Fedorovich Akhromeyev | |
| 1989 | Lord Carrington |
IT/ELECTRONICS
| 2012 | Swedish Air Force Team Members and the Danish Military, for successfully and quickly integrating Link 16 on the Saab JAS-39 Gripen in support of NATO operations over Libya |
| 2011 | The Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System Team (Program Managers Edward Griffin, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics; and Donald Swihart, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory) |
| 2010 | Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems' Joint High-Power Solid-State Laser Phase 3 team members Jay Marmo, program manager, and Stuart McNaught, laser integration lead, as well as Mark Neice, director of the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense; and Brian Strickland, chief scientist at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command |
| 2009 | International Air Transport Association |
| 2008 | Capt. Karen D. Lee, Director of Flight Operations, UPS Airlines; Capt. Robert C. Hilb, Advanced Flight Systems Manager, UPS Airlines; and Paul Fontaine, Program Manager, Safe Flight 21, Federal Aviation Administration (1999 to 2005) |
| 2007 | Lt. Gen. Walter E. Buchanan III, (Ret.), U.S. Air Force |
| 2005 | Andrew K. Barrows, CEO, Nav3D Corp.; Steve Fulton, CTO, Naverus; Lars G.V. Lindberg, Presidetnt, Avtech; John Marris, President, Marinvent Corp. |
| 2004 | Brad Cornell, Boeing airplane systems engineer; Helene Serrand, Airbus senior navigation engineer; Mike Watson, Thales |
| operations support manager; Walter Dollman, manager of regulatory and industry affairs for Qantas; and Craig Roberts, Airservices | |
| Australia operations specialist. | |
| 2003 | William Brown, Chief Scientist of the Sensors Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory |
| William R. Boario, AFRL Retired | |
| Jack Walker, Veridia ERIM International Retired | |
| 2001 | Lawrence Fullerton |
| Capt. David A. Dunaway, U.S. Navy | |
| Donald A. Thole, Boeing | |
| Thomas A. Kennedy, Raytheon | |
| 2000 | Lt. Gen. Thomas Keck |
| Lawrence Mitchell | |
| Capt. Roger Arrowood | |
| 1999 | Eugene Joseph |
| 1998 | Francis Bernard |
| 1997 | Donald Bateman |
| 1996 | Olof Lundberg |
| 1995 | Brian O'Keeffe |
| 1994 | John R. Kreick |
| 1993 | Norman R. Augustine |
| 1992 | Gerard J. McNiff |
| Paul J. Coco | |
| Col. Harry H. Heimple | |
| 1991 | Thomas L. Phillips |
| 1990 | Cdr. George W. Hoover |
| 1989 | John H. Staehlin |
MRO
| 2012 | Patrick Doyle, Senior Manager, Hangar Maintenance (Avionics and Powerplants), FedEx Express, for his efforts to identify common causes of avionics failures |
| 2011 | Tim Sassenrath, director, Apache Worldwide Support, Boeing Co. |
| 2010 | Timothy Gray, director of the 526th Electronic Maintenance Squadron, "Generators" |
OPERATIONS
| 2009 | Operation BURNT FROST |
| 2008 | Officer Sarmad Aziz; Shuttle Lead Spacewalk Officer Dina Contella; Flight Director Derek Hassmann; and Astronaut Scott E. Parazynski |
| 2007 | Team of AC-130 Gunship Operations - Lt. Col. Ted Fordyce, Commander, 16th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron, U.S. Air Force; Lt. Col. Robert Monroe, Commander, 4th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron, U.S. Air Force |
| 2006 | The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Satellite and Information and Service |
| U.S. Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Sqdn | |
| U.S. Coast Guard Aviators | |
| Greg Withee | |
| Gary Davis, Director Systems Development, NOAA | |
| USAF Reserve Brig. Gen. Charles Ethredge | |
| USCG Capt. Mike Moore | |
| 2005 | Indian Air Force Wing Cdr. S.K. Sharma and Flight Lt. A.P. Dhanake |
| 2004 | Maj. Gilbert Thibault, First Officer Capt. Andrew Mercer, Flight Engineer, MCpl. Rob Vidito, SAR TSgt. Emilio |
| Dechantal, MCpl. Dave Cooper and Cpl. Scott Elliston 103 Rescue Squadron Canadian Forces | |
| 2003 | J. Stephen Fossett |
| 2002 | Hermis Moutardier |
| Cristina Jones | |
| 2001 | Lt. Dan Molthen |
| Lt. (jg) Craig Neubecker | |
| PO Darren Reeves | |
| PO Lorne Green | |
| 2000 | Lt. Col. Steve Laushine |
| 1999 | Australian Helimed Bell 412 Crew |
| HH-60J Jayhawk Crew, U.S. Coast Guard | |
| 1998 | Flight crews from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater and USAF Reserve 920th Rescue Group |
| 1997 | Lt. Col. Madan K.C. |
| 1996 | Brig. Gen. Martin Berndt |
| Lt. Col. Christopher J. Gunther | |
| Capt. Thomas O. Hanford | |
| 1995 | Richard DeMary |
| 1994 | Flight Crews of a Royal Air Force Westland Sea King and Sikorsky S-61N |
| 1993 | Capt. Stefan Rasmussen |
| Co-Pilot Ulf Cedermark | |
| 1992 | Flying Doctors of Mercy |
| 1991 | Gen. Hansford T. Johnson |
| 1990 | Capt. Alfred C. Haynes |
| First Officer William Records | |
| Second Officer Dudley Dvorak | |
| Dennis Fitch | |
| First Officer Madeline "Mimi" Tompkins | |
| 1989 | Capt. Robert Schornstheimer |
SPACE
| 2012 | Kepler Mission Team, for searching the Milky Way for Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars, leading to the discovery of 1,235 exoplanet candidates—68 of which are similar to Earth |
| 2011 | The Radar Imaging Commercialization Team (Vark Helfritz, managing director, Infoterra GmbH; John Hornsby, president, MDA Geospatial Services Inc.; and Marcello Maranesi, CEO, e-GEOS) |
| 2010 | International Space Station Program Managers Pierre Jean, Canadian Space Agency; Bernardo Patti, European Space Agency; Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; Alexey Krasnov, Roscosmos; and Michael Suffredini, NASA |
| 2009 | Elon Musk |
| 2008 | Yoshisada Takizawa, Selene Project Manager, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency |
| 2007 | Stardust Comet Sample Return Mission Team - Don Brownlee, Stardust Principal Investigator, Department of Astronomy, University of Washington; Tom Duxbury, Stardust Project Manager, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Peter Tsou, Stardust Deputy Project Investigator, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Joseph Vellinga, Stardust Program Manager, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. |
| 2006 | The Cassini/Huygens Spacecraft Team; Dennis Matson, Project Scientist, Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Project Scientist and Mission Manager, ESA |
| 2005 | The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cornell University and |
| Aerospace Industry Mars Exploration Rover team | |
| 2004 | Col. Yang Liwei, People's Liberation Army Air Force |
| 2003 | Ronald D. Dittemore, NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager |
| William H. Gerstenmaier, NASA Program Manager, International Space Station | |
| Russell D. Turner, President/Chief Executive Officer, United Space Alliance | |
| Joe Mills, Boeing Program Manager, International Space Station | |
| 2002 | Thomas Coughlin |
| Robert Farquhar | |
| Bobby Williams | |
| Joseph Veverka | |
| NEAR Mission Team | |
| 2001 | Michael Malin |
| Kenneth Edgett | |
| 2000 | Goddard Space Flight Center, Hubble Space Telescope Operations Team |
| 1999 | Daniel Goldin |
| 1998 | Anthony J. Spear |
| Brian K. Muirhead | |
| Rob Manning | |
| Richard Cook | |
| 1997 | Bary R. Bertiger |
| Kenneth M. Peterson | |
| Raymond J. Leopold | |
| 1996 | Alvin Seiff |
| John Casani | |
| William O'Neil | |
| 1995 | Col. Pedro L. Rustan Jr. |
| Paul Regeon | |
| 1994 | Hubble Space Telescope Service Team |
| 1993 | George Smoot |
| John Mather | |
| 1992 | Shuttle Mission 39 Military Team |
| Shuttle Mission 40 Spacelab Life Sciences Team | |
| 1991 | Kurt Heftman |
| David Wilkins | |
| 1990 | Edward Stone |
| 1989 | Rear Adm. Richard H. Truly |
WORKFORCE
| 2012 | Paul Graziani, Founder and CEO, Analytical Graphics Inc., for donating software licenses to educational institutions and encouraging students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math |
| 2011 | Rick Stephens, senior vice president, human resources and administration, Boeing Co. |
| 2010 | Ronald Sugar, Chairman Emeritus of Northrop Grumman |
PHILIP J. KLASS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
| 2012 | Pete Rustan, Former Director for Mission Support, U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, for pioneering numerous technical advances in space and aviation |
| 2011 | Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., retired president of the Aircraft Systems Group, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems |
| Abraham Karem, founder of Karem Aircraft Inc. | |
| 2010 | Richard W. Taylor, Boeing Designer and Test Pilot |
| 2009 | The Honorable Alan S. Boyd |
| 2008 | Mauricio Botelho, Chairman, Embraer. |
| 2007 | Dr. Edward C. Stone, David Morrisroe Professor of Physics and Vice Provost for Special Projects, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) |
| 2006 | Patty Wagstaff, Acrobatic Flying Champion |
| 2005 | Assad Kotaite, President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization. |
| William R. (Bob) Laidlaw, former head of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and Founder of Aerotest. | |
| 2004 | Keith Ferris, Aviation Artist |
| Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam | |
| 2003 | Fitzhugh Fulton, U.S. Air Force/NASA and Civilian Test Pilot |
| 2002 | Leonard Greene |
| Noel W. Hinners | |
| 2001 | Jean-Luc Lagardere |
| 2000 | Edmund F. Ball |
| 1999 | Paul MacCready |
| 1998 | John W. Young |
| A. Scott Crossfield | |
| 1997 | Capt. E. B. Jeppesen |
| 1996 | Richard H. Frost |
| 1995 | Albert L. Ueltschi |
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT
| 2003 | Steven Udvar-Hazy, Jack Dailey, Don Lopez and the men and women of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum |
AVIATION HEROISM
| 2012 | C-17 Globemaster III Aircrew Members of “Ice 68” from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., who performed a life-saving rescue of a government contractor from McMurdo Station, Antarctica |
| 2011 | Captain Daniel Aufdenblatten, Air Zermatt |
| Richard Lehner, Swiss mountain guide | |
| 2009 | U.S. Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk, HH-65 Dolphin, HC-130 Hercules rescue teams |
| 2008 | The British Royal Navy Sea King Helicopter Crew: Crew members include Lieutenant Commander Matt Shrimpton (RN), Royal Marine Captain Damien “Daisy” May, Lieutenant Tim Barker (RN), Petty Officer Aircrewman Julian “Bungi” Williams (RN), and Sergeant Mark White (RAF). |
| 2007 | USCG, Lcdr. Walter L. Horne, Lcdr. William R. Timmons, AMT3 Karl A. Schickle, and AST3 Jon E. Houlberg for a harrowing, life-saving HH-60J rescue, conducted March 14, 2006. |
"TOMORROW'S LEADER"
| 2012 | U.S. Naval Academy Cadet Cameron Thornberry |
| U.S. Coast Guard Academy Cadet Tyler Dewechter | |
| U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Dustin Hayhurst | |
| U.S. Military Academy at West Point Cadet Jack Scudder | |
| 2011 | U.S. Military Academy at West Point Cadet Matthew Craig Belanger; |
| U.S. Naval Academy Cadet Nicholas Connor Dunn; | |
| U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Gregory Eslinger; | |
| U.S. Coast Guard Academy Cadet Jordan Kellam | |
| 2008 | U. S. Naval Academy Midshipman 1/C John Hesling |
| U.S. Coast Guard Academy 1/C Joel Kurucar | |
| U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet First Class Joseph Robinson | |
| U.S. Military Academy CDT Christopher Westrom | |
| 2007 | U. S. Naval Academy Midshipmen 1/C Douglas Marsh |
| U.S. Coast Guard Academy 1/C Nathaniel L. Souleret | |
| U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet First Class Christopher A. Taylor | |
| U.S. Military Academy CDT Jeffrey Michael Rigney |
AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL TOMORROW'S LEADER SCHOLARSHIP
| 2007 | student Cristhian Godoy |
PERSON OF THE YEAR
| 2007 | Alan R. Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Company |
