First Lieutenant Mark Mallory Receives Junior Military Engineer of the Year Award Published Aug. 29, 2007 By Materials & Manufacturing Directorate AFRL/ML WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- First Lieutenant Mark Mallory, a lead engineer at AFRL's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, received Air Force Materiel Command's Junior Military Engineer of 2006 Award. This award recognizes technical contributions to the sustainment, testing, and advancement of Air Force (AF) weapons systems. Lt Mallory was chosen for his hard work, expertise, and dedication to protecting the warfighter and using sound business skills to reduce unnecessary delays and spending. His selection is an example of AFRL's commitment to excellence in performance and aid to the warfighter and exemplifies the highest level of technical expertise, professionalism, and dedication. Lt Mallory received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the University of Toledo (Toledo, Ohio). Lt Mallory's strong leadership abilities have contributed to reductions in AF spending. After expressing concern with the commercial body armor that the AF was purchasing, he pushed for the armor to undergo additional testing in order to verify commercial company claims. His efforts prevented the AF from purchasing $4 million worth of armor that did not meet AF requirements. He then advocated for the creation of a new Department of Defense standard for body armor. Under Lt Mallory's leadership, the new standard will list the requirements that commercial armor must meet before it can be purchased by the AF, Army, Marines, or Navy. Lt Mallory also led an effort to identify issues with airfield-matting designs. His careful attention to the issue led to the consideration of several different airfield-matting designs, resulted in an overall cost savings of $65,000, and reduced the project work time by 5 months. He was responsible for deploying a new combat identification system into the field, and he also developed a new body armor inspection technique enabling simpler verification of the armor's integrity.