WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering recently presented AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate with the inaugural SAMPE North America Organizational Excellence Award for their work in materials advancement and process engineering technologies.
The award recognizes the organization’s knowledge-sharing and collaborative contributions in advancing materials and processing innovation with SAMPE since 1944. This accomplishment honors industry, academia, and government agencies that are engaged in the advanced materials and processing community.
Nominees also exemplify, encourage and support SAMPE’s mission, in providing a global forum for information, education and professional fellowship for those who define the leading edge and application of materials and processes advancement.
AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate develops materials, processes, and advanced manufacturing technologies for aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, rockets, and ground-based systems and their structural, electronic and optical components.
The directorate spearheads a comprehensive research and development program with nearly 1,000 scientists and engineers operating over 300 laboratory modules. It has the capability to cover the entire lifecycle of aerospace materials for the nation – from discovery, processing, development and manufacturing, to sustainment of fielded systems.
This year, the directorate is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its inception. The directorate has been foundational for numerous materials advances and manufacturing technology growth for the last century, beginning as the Materials Branch at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, in 1917.
Air Force product centers, logistic centers, and operating commands rely on the directorate's expertise in materials, nondestructive inspection, systems support, and advanced manufacturing methods to solve system, expeditionary deployment, and operational challenges. It also has lasting partnerships and collaborations within industrial and academic communities around the globe.
"I was extremely proud that SAMPE chose to recognize our many contributions to the society during its 70 years through the commitment of our scientists and engineers to the Air Force and in turn to the aerospace materials and processes community,” said George Schmitt, the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate’s International Program Director. “This inaugural SAMPE Organizational Excellence Award is particularly fitting in our lab's 100th anniversary year."
“Technology advancements are derived from people working toward moving critical technology forward,” said Dr. Scott Beckwith, SAMPE Technical Director. “Throughout the past 100 years, the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate has and continues to share and contribute to SAMPE, and for this we are a stronger, better engineering society.”
This isn’t the first time the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate has received an award from SAMPE. Past awards include the Mort Kushner Lifetime Achievement Award, George Lubin Memorial Award, numerous SAMPE Fellows, international presidents and global president/global board-director members.
Schmitt accepted the award on behalf of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at the Advanced Materials and Processes Conference and Exhibition in Seattle, Washington.