The Distinguished Scientist Award is given to an individual or to a research team of two or more individuals who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of hypervelocity science.
The process for selection is based on a list of candidates generated by members of the Board of Directors and from the previous Awards Committee. The Chairman also solicits input from the HVIS membership at large through a formal mailing or through the HVIS Newsletter. The list of candidates is determined at least one year before the award is made. A nomination is comprised of a formal letter of nomination and supporting information about the candidate.
Once the list of candidates is determined, the Committee goes through several rounds of voting to identify the winner. Past committees have used different approaches, but generally the criteria for selection includes:
- Technical recognition
- Importance of work
- Scope of work
- Current work
- Service to the HVIS Society
The recipient(s) for the Distinguished Science Award is selected at least three months prior to the HVIS meeting in order to give the recipient sufficient time to prepare an acceptance keynote speech to be given at the upcoming Symposium. Once the award recipient(s) has been determined, the Chairman notifies the President of the Society. The President will obtain a concurrence from the Board and then notify the award recipient(s) formally in writing.
The award consists of a plaque citing the accomplishments of the award recipient(s) and a monetary remuneration set by the Board of Directors. The recipient(s) also becomes an Honorary Member of the Society, i.e., a lifetime member with all the privileges and responsibilities of a regular member except that dues are waived.
Distinguished Scientist Award Recipients
The award is given for sustained leadership, innovation and technical excellence in hypervelocity research. Each award recipient is also recognized for their specific contributions to the field.
- Alexander C. Charters (General Research Corporation), 1989
- Aeroballistic range design
- Spark photography
- Projectile aerodynamics
- Two-stage light-gas gun technology
- Hypervelocity impact
- Terminal ballistics
- Alois J. Stilp and Volker Hohler (Ernst-Mach-Institut), 1992
- Hypervelocity launch techniques
- Two-stage light-gas gun technology
- Sabot technology
- Penetration mechanics
- Hypervelocity impact
- Dynamic response of materials
- James R. Asay (Sandia National Laboratories), 1994
- Time-resolved shock-wave diagnostics
- Strength of materials at high pressures
- Shock release techniques
- High-pressure solid-liquid phase boundaries
- Kinetics of melting and vaporization
- Burton G. Cour-Palais (NASA-JSC), 1996
- Hypervelocity impact
- Meteoroid and orbital debris threat environment
- Meteoroid and orbital debris shielding
- Engineering design equations for shielding
- Developer of the multi-shock shield concept
- Hallock F. Swift (Physics Applications, Inc.), 1998
- Aeroballistic range design
- High-speed photography
- Aeroballistic range design
- High-speed instrumentation
- Two-stage light-gas gun technology
- Hypervelocity impact
- Debris cloud dynamics
- Charles E. Anderson, Jr. (Southwest Research Institute), 2000
- Penetration mechanics
- Numerical simulations of penetration
- Modeling dynamic material response
- Terminal ballistics
- Dennis L. Orphal (International Research Associates, Inc.), 2003
- Penetration mechanics
- Fundamental studies in hypervelocity impact
- Innovative hypervelocity projectile concepts
- Reverse ballistics experimentation
- Cratering dynamics
- Lalit C. Chhabildas (Sandia National Laboratories), 2005
- Experimental shock physics
- High-pressure dynamic response of materials
- Three-stage hypervelocity launcher
- Shock-induced vaporization
- Isentropic and multi-axial loading techniques
- Gordon R. Johnson (Southwest Research Institute), 2007
- Large distortion, explicit, nonlinear finite element code development
- Lagrangian meshless methods
- Development of computational material constitutive models
- Dynamic material response
- Armor/anti-armor applications
- Peter H. Schultz (Brown University), 2010
- Solar system impact cratering
- Atmospheric effects on impact cratering and ejecta
- Oblique hypervelocity impacts
- Impact flash spectroscopy
- Particle-image velocimetry of ejecta
- Electromagnetic properties of hypervelocity impact
- Andrew J. Piekutowski (University of Dayton Research Institute), 2012
- Two-stage light-gas gun experimentation
- Debris cloud dynamics
- Imaging of debris clouds
- Experimental penetration mechanics
- Three-stage light gas gun development
- William P. Schonberg (Missouri University of Science and Technology), 2015
- Micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact protection and analysis
- Spacecraft vulnerability and survivability
- Composite material response to hypervelocity impact
- Hypervelocity impact physics
- David A. Crawford (Sandia National Laboratories), 2017
- Electrostatic and magnetic properties of hypervelocity impact
- Shock physics analysis tool development and state-of-the-art simulations
- Shock physics stewardship/training/mentoring/collaboration
- Large planetary impact simulations
- Shoemaker-Levy 9 predictions and post-impact analysis
- Dennis E. Grady (Applied Research Associates), 2019
- Theoretical description of shock wave structure
- Development of dynamic failure experimental techniques and measurement
- Dynamic failure and fragmentation modeling
- Dynamic response of brittle materials
- Phase transformation modeling
- Analytic description of shock wave propagation in porous materials
- Eric L. Christiansen (NASA-JSC), 2022
- Key developer in meteoroid and orbital debris assessment tools for NASA and its partners
- Developed and received numerous patents for low-weight, high-performance meteoroid and orbital debris shields
- Performed as the meteoroid and orbital debris subject matter expert for numerous space programs like the Space Shuttle, ISS, Orion and an array of US commercial vehicles
- Developed and fostered coordinating relationships with the international committee to protect Space Shuttle, ISS and Artemis elements from orbital debris
- James D. Walker (Southwest Research Institute), 2024
- Penetration mechanics with wide-ranging applications
- Planetary defense and momentum enhancement
- 10+ km/s inhibited shaped charge launcher
- Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation
- Launch safety for New Horizons (to Pluto) RTG
Best Paper Award
The Best Paper Award is given to an individual(s) whose paper, presented at a Hypervelocity Impact Symposium and published in the proceedings, is ranked best. The criteria for selection includes:
- Originality
- Difficulty of research
- Importance of research
- Excellence of the written paper
Candidates for the award are nominated by Chairpersons preceding over upcoming Symposium technical sessions. Nominations are typically made at the manuscript review meeting held approximately four months prior to the Symposium. The nominations are presented to the Awards Committee who rank for final selection. The Society President is then notified for concurrence.
The recipient(s) for the Best Paper Award is announced at the upcoming Symposium.
The award consists of a plaque and a monetary remuneration.
Best Paper Award Recipients
- 1989: D. L. Orphal and R. R. Franzen, Penetration Mechanics and Performance of Continuous and Segmented Rods Against Confined Glass and Ceramic Targets
A. J. Piekutowski, A Simple Model for the Formation of Debris Clouds - 1992: C. E. Anderson, Jr., D. L. Littlefield, and J. D. Walker, Long-Rod Penetration, Target Resistance, and Hypervelocity Impact
D. A. Crawford and P. H. Schultz, The Production and Evolution of Impact Generated Magnetic Fields - 1994: D. A. Crawford, M. B. Boslough, T. G. Trucano, and A. C. Robinson, The Impact of Periodic Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter
- 1996: D. E. Grady and M. E. Kipp, Fragmentation Properties of Metals
- 1998: M. D. Furnish, L. C. Chhabildas, and W. D. Reinhart, Time-Resolved Particle Velocity Measurements at Impact Velocities of 10 km/s
- 2000: J. M. Dahl and P. H. Schultz, Measurement of Stress Wave Asymmetrics in Hypervelocity Projectile Impact Experiments
- 2003: T. J. Vogler, T. F. Thornhill, W. D. Reinhart, L. C. Chhabildas, D. E. Grady, L. T. Wilson, O. A. Hurricane, and A. Sunwoo, Fragmentation of Materials in Expanding Tube Experiments
- 2005: R. A. Clegg, D. M. White, W. Riedel, and W. Harwick, Hypervelocity impact damage prediction in composites: Part I—material model and characterisation
- 2007: C. S. Alexander, L. C. Chhabildas, W. D. Reinhart, and D. W. Templeton, Changes to the Shock Response of Fused Quartz Due to Glass Modification
- 2010: G. A. Shvestsov, A. D. Matrosov, S. V. Fedorov, A. V. Babkin, and S. V. Ladov, Effect of External Magnetic Fields on Shaped-Charge Operation
- 2012: W.C. Uhlig and C.R. Hummer, In-flight Conductivity and Temperature Measurements of Hypervelocity Projectiles
J.D. Walker, S. Chocron, D.D. Durda, D.J. Grosch, N. Movshovitz, D.C. Richardson, and E. Asphaug, Scale-Size Effect in Momentum Enhancement - 2015: D. A. Crawford, Computational Modeling of Electrostatic Charge and Fields Produced by Hypervelocity Impact
- 2017: Erkai Watson, Mark Gulde, Stefan Hiermaier, Fragment Tracking in Hypervelocity Impact Experiments
- 2019: D. Crawford, Simulations of Magnetic Fields Produced by Asteroid Impact: Possible Implications for Planetary Paleomagnetism
- 2022: A.J. Piekutowski and K.L. Poorman, Meeting the Challenges of Hypervelocity Impact Testing at 10 km/s
- 2024: G. J. Flynn, M. Strait, H. Willman, A. Rolling, T. Pytel, H. Wheeler-Cooney, R. J. Macke, and D. D. Durda, Hypervelocity Impact of Three L-type Ordinary Chondrites: a Test of the Variation of ß and Q*D with Target Porosity and Strength
