Nomination Period Now Open for SAE International Aerospace Engineering Awards

Every year, SAE International seeks to recognize the outstanding individuals for their commitment to the mobility industry. Among the nearly 60 professional awards offered by SAE International are honors for excellence in technical papers, powertrain innovation, environmental improvement, supreme leadership, and achievements related to motorsports, intelligent transportation systems, vehicle safety, and aerospace vehicle design and development.

More importantly, SAE International holds that the most satisfying way to recognize award-worthy individuals is through peer recognition. This type of recognition frequently spurs award recipients to even greater accomplishment, and with it, benefits for the recipient’s associates, employer, and the general public.

Consider a membership with SAE International

SAE International asks that you consider nominating your student, faculty, and professional peers for this year’s Aerospace Engineering Awards.

February 1, 2019 nomination deadline:

Honor an individual with disabilities, who through their technical achievements, innovation, leadership and inspiration, have contributed to the aerospace industry.

The recipient of this award will be a distinguished authority in the field of turbomachinery and/or engineering related to creating, enabling, or advancing applications of turbomachinery in power systems, on-highway, off-highway, aircraft, and/or spacecraft uses.

This award will honor the distinguished career of an individual or team who has made significant contributions in the innovative design and development of advanced aircraft and/or spacecraft. Key criteria is the technical value and originality of the contributions.

Recognize an individual or team for their unique and outstanding contributions to air transportation and/or to the work of the aerospace technical committees in developing aerospace standards, specifications, technical reports, and data through cooperative research.

Together, SAE International and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) honor an accomplished individual whose distinguished career has made a significant contribution in the field of civil air transportation. The recipient of this award will present a lecturer and author a technical paper primarily focused on the technical value and originality of their contributions as they have expanded civil air transportation.

An individual or team will be honored for their outstanding management accomplishment(s) which has resulted in superior aviation maintenance integrity of airline, fixed base, corporate, or military aircraft operations.

June 1, 2019 nomination deadline:

  • A4A/SAE Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Innovation Award

    This award recognizes a government and/or industry team that has developed and applied a technology, technique, process, or policy that advances inspection or test of civil/commercial aircraft structure, aircraft components, or aircraft systems. Improvements will be assessed as a function of process sensitivity, reliability, and cost effectiveness.

  • Rodica Baranescu Award for Technical & Leadership Excellence

    This award celebrates the successes of women in the engineering profession and recognizes their leadership and exceptional technical contributions to the aerospace, automotive, and commercial vehicle sectors.

For questions or assistance with an award or a nomination, please contact Nicol Lachimia, SAE International Awards Coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Publish with SAE International

SAE International is a global association committed to being the ultimate knowledge source for the engineering profession. By uniting over 127,000 engineers and technical experts, we drive knowledge and expertise across a broad spectrum of industries. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our charitable arm, the SAE Foundation, which helps fund programs like A World in Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™.

William Kucinski  is content editor at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group in Warrendale, Pa. Previously, he worked as a writer at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was responsible for writing the agency’s System Failure Case Studies. His interests include literally anything that has to do with space, past and present military aircraft, and propulsion technology.

Contact him regarding any article or collaboration ideas by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..