Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement Award

Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement Award

An AIAA Technical Award

Rev. 10/18/2006

1.  What is the Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement award?

Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement Award is an AIAA Technical Award named in honor of Otto C. Winzen, a pioneer of modern day ballooning. This award is established to recognize continued, outstanding contributions and achievements in the advancement of free flight balloon systems or related technologies. The award is presented biennially to individuals who have had extended involvement and who have contributed significantly to the advancement of balloon capabilities and technologies and the advancement of this aerospace vehicle as a platform for scientific, military, and commercial applications. Such advancements shall include, but are not necessarily limited to:

1)  Flight capabilities such as altitude, payload weight, durations, or reliability

2)  Technical understanding of balloon performance, structures, or materials

3)  Balloon operational technologies such as ground and flight systems

The recipient of the award is presented with a bronze medal, certificate, and rosette pin. This award is traditionally presented at the AIAA Balloon Technology Conference.

2.  Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement award custodian

The AIAA Balloon Systems Technical Committee (TC) is the responsible custodian within the AIAA organization to facilitate the reviews and selection recommendation for this award.

3.  Who is eligible to receive the award?

Any living person may be nominated for the award if the nominator believes the nominee has made significant contributions to balloon technology. The recipient will be selected based on the importance and significance of their achievement(s) or contribution(s) in relation to the overall advancement of ballooning. The nominee's length of service and skills in implementation and communication in the furtherance of ballooning will also be considered. The nominee may not be a current Balloon Systems Technical Committee member, and must not have been a member of the Balloon Systems Technical Committee for the past two years.

4.  What is the nomination procedure?

The on-line nomination system at www.aiaa.org is highly recommended. The system is self-explanatory and contains areas for all required documentation. The complete nomination package will include:

1. Completed AIAA Nomination Form – This includes a citation of the achievement(s) or contributions upon which the nomination is based. The proposed citation must reference specific technical contributions. Program management or distinguished careers in general do not fit the criteria for the award.
2. A one-page summary of accomplishments and activities that are the basis for the nomination.
3. A current complete resume of the nominee.
4. At least three and no more than five letters of endorsement must be submitted to support the nomination. At least three of those submitted must be from AIAA members in good standing. Signed letters of endorsement, attesting to the length of service, the degree of involvement, and the significance and impact of the nominee's contribution(s) to free flight ballooning, may be sent directly to AIAA Headquarters or accompany the nomination form. Endorsement letters must reach AIAA on or prior to the deadline date. Note - A nominator may not serve as one of the references.

Complete nominations are due to AIAA by February 1 of the award year. A selection committee made up of current Balloon TC members and other AIAA members selects a recipient from current nominations every other year per the procedures in the following section. Nominations are held for two subsequent award cycles as long as the nominee is eligible for the award.

5.  Award Structure and Selection Procedure

The coordination of the award process, selection committee makeup, selection procedure, and award criteria are covered in the subsections below.

A.  Role of the Award Coordinator

The Award Coordinator must be a current Balloon Systems Technical Committee member. The role of the Award Coordinator:

·  Solicit nominations from the community at large

·  Coordinate the processing of nominations with the AIAA Honors and Awards Liaison

·  Provides recommendations to the TC Chair for members of the selection committee. This committee will be appointed by the TC Chair.

·  Tabulate the result of the Selection Committee voting

·  Coordinate the presentation of the award at the AIAA Balloon Systems Technical Conference.

·  Maintain a permanent record of past recipients, citations, and other relevant historical information concerning the award

B.  The Selection Committee

The selection committee is made up of an odd number of AIAA members with a minimum of five persons from the following categories in order of priority:

·  The current Balloon Systems TC Chair

·  The current Balloon Systems TC Award Coordinator

·  Previous Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement award recipients

·  Current members of the Balloon Systems TC

·  Current AIAA members with relevant knowledge of related technical fields and/or the contributions of the nominees.

A majority of the selection committee members shall be TC members. The nominator, nominee, or references are not to be involved in any of the evaluation of the nominees or selection of the award winner.

C.  Recipient Selection Procedure

Nominations for this award are encouraged to be submitted and welcome at any time with the deadline for completed nominations to AIAA is February 1 of the award year. The award recipient must be selected from the list of nominees on record with AIAA three months prior to the presentation of the award at an AIAA conference containing the Balloon Technology sessions. To ensure that this is accomplished in a timely fashion, the following procedure is followed.

·  The Award Coordinator provides recommendations to the TC Chair for members of the selection committee four months before the award is to be presented.

·  The TC Chair appoints the selection committee

·  The Award Coordinator sends nomination packages to the Selection Committee members by e-mail.

·  Selection committee members may confer individually or in a group to discuss the significance of the contributions of the nominees. Discussion should focus on the material provided in the nomination package. Additional personal knowledge of the technical contributions by the committee members may also be shared among the committee members.

·  Committee members send their votes and associated scores to the award coordinator.

·  The award coordinator tabulates votes and provides them to the TC Chair.

·  The TC Chair will solicit a vote from the TC. Greater than 50% of the TC must vote (either at a TC meeting or via email vote) to accept the award recipient as recommended by the selection subcommittee.

·  No later than 90 days prior to presentation of technical award, the following will be submitted to the appropriate Technical Group Director for endorsement and to the AIAA Manager Honors & Awards Program:

§  Criteria used to select a recipient

§  Name of the recipient

§  A 25-word citation

·  Nominations of non-recipients will be held over for two award cycles for consideration of future awards.

D.  Award Criteria

The following criteria are to be followed in rating the nominees:

1. Significance of the specific technical contributions to the overall advancement of balloon capabilities and technologies and the advancement of this aerospace vehicle as a platform for scientific, military, and commercial applications. (20 points) The overall merit of these contributions is to be considered. These contributions may be of scientific merit, significant to the ballooning as a whole or to a specific area within ballooning, or of importance to the community as a whole. These contributions must be adequately documented in the supporting material in the nomination package and in the letters of endorsement. Such advancements shall include, but are not necessarily limited to:
2. Flight capabilities such as altitude, payload weight, durations, or reliability
3. Technical understanding of balloon performance, structures, or materials
4. Balloon operational technologies such as ground and flight systems
5. Other significant advancements
6. The nominee's length of service, sustained contributions, and skills in implementation and communication in the furtherance of ballooning. (5 points)
7. AIAA service – length of service and overall service to AIAA. (3 points)
8. Personal knowledge by the committee members of the technical contributions made by the nominee that are not included in the nomination package. (2 points)

Scores are to be compiled for each category by each member of the selection committee for each nominee and provided to the Award Coordinator. A maximum score of 30 points is possible. There minimum quantitative score associated with the award criteria above is 20 points. This scoring criteria is to ensure and maintain award technical and “audit trail” integrity. If the minimum score is not obtained by any nominee, then the award will not be given out during that particular award cycle.

6.  Award Presentation

Presentation of the Otto C. Winzen award will occur during the Balloon Systems technical conference.

O.C. Winzen Award Information Rev. 10-18-06