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03-038
For Release: June 13, 2003

Sally V. Harrington
Media Relations Office
216/433-2037
Sally.V.Harrington{at}nasa.gov

NASA Glenn Awards

Glenn's workforce is a diverse mixture not only of people and
cultures but also of knowledge and skills. The recent presentation of
three awards- the Craftsmanship Award, the Steven V. Szabo Award, and
the Abe Silverstein Medal-recognized researchers, engineers and
craftsmen for their significant contributions to NASA's vision and
mission. 

The Craftsmanship Award honors a critical segment of Glenn's highly
skilled workforce-model makers, machinists, and electrical and
electronics technicians-who either fabricated a component or system
that required a high degree of skill and imagination; devised a
unique manufacturing process; or overcame job difficulties such as a
lack of information due to the highly technical and experimental
nature of the project. 

Nicholas Varaljay, of Strongsville, an electronics technician in the
Test Installations Division, is the 2003 Craftsmanship Award winner
for assembly/buildup of the first MEMS (micro electromechanical
systems) microwave cantilever switch at Glenn. His work is a
culmination of years of MEMS process development, which may
ultimately lead to an entirely new generation of solid-state,
microwave-based phased array antennas that transform the
communications industry. 

Robert Reminder, of Wellington, a mechanical engineering technician
in the Manufacturing Engineering Division, won the Craftsmanship
Award for manufacturing an advanced mold process to accurately
duplicate ice formation. Using advanced aerospace composite and
silicon molding, Reminder has painstakingly reproduced the large and
complex ice shapes critical to Glenn's cutting edge icing research
and aviation safety worldwide. 

The High Flow Jet Exit Rig Design Team won Glenn's most prestigious
engineering award honoring the memory of Steven V. Szabo, Jr., the
Center's director of Engineering from 1986 to 1993. The Szabo award
recognizes a current and specific contribution resulting in an
engineering application that significantly helped solve an important
or difficult problem. 

The team of three engineers from the Engineering Design and Analysis
Division: Robert Buehrle, of Medina; Paul Solano of Bainbridge
Township; and Paul Trimarchi of North Olmsted and two researchers:
Dr. James Bridges, Structures and Acoustics Division, of North
Olmsted, and John Wolter, Turbomachinery and Propulsion Systems
Division, of Berea, designed and developed an innovative jet engine
nozzle test rig. 

The rig, in combination with the Aeroacoustic Propulsion Laboratory's
true far-field acoustic measurement capabilities and Mach 0.35 free
jet, creates a testing environment unparalleled in government and
industry. Its design enables unprecedented internal acoustic
attenuation and allows for thrust and flow measurement within
+/- 0.25%, while accommodating the significant thermal expansion that
results from high test temperature gradients. 

Dr. Rafat Ansari, Microgravity Science Division, of Avon, was awarded
the Abe Silverstein Medal for developing a novel, patented fiber
optic probe for measuring nanometer-size particles suspended in
liquids using the Dynamic Light Scattering technique. The award
commemorates the long and fruitful career of Dr. Abe Silverstein, the
former Center Director from 1961 to 1969. 

This technique has been successfully applied to non-invasively detect
cataracts and other diseases of the eye at a much earlier stage than
possible by any current clinical or laboratory techniques.
Demonstrated success in clinical and laboratory settings, such as the
National Institute of Health and the Food and Drug Administration,
has enabled Ansari to expand the capabilities and scope of the probe
to applications in total health diagnostics using the eye as a
"window to the body." This technology is now being aimed at
monitoring astronauts remotely by using a helmet mounted device with
the World Wide Web. 

Ansari's work is an example of how NASA is working to improve life on
Earth through human spaceflight research.

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