Army Greatest Inventions
Established by Army Materiel Command (AMC) in 2003, the Army Greatest Inventions (AGI) awards program recognizes new, innovative technological ideas and systems that improve readiness and positively impact warfighters. The Army's R&D community competes for the awards, which are selected by active-duty Soldiers who assess the nominees' importance and impact based on their field experiences.
Caiman EFP Armor Protection
In May 2011, Joint Program Office (JPO) MRAP dispatched an urgent request to TARDEC's Center for Systems Integration (CSI), seeking a solution to protect Soldiers from Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs), which can cause devastating damage and injury. Our engineers were honored with an AGI award for their development of an add-on armor kit that increased Soldier protection from these threats.
JPO MRAP formed the team that developed the kits, and CSI engineers worked with the TACOM LCMC's Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) and Rock Island Arsenal (RIA) to assemble the first kits and ship them to Iraq in a matter of a month. The team worked nearly around the clock -- including through the Fourth of July holiday and during a power outage -- to stay on schedule and deliver the solution to Soldiers in Iraq.
Army Suggestor of the Year
Kenneth Greene
TARDEC mechanical engineer Kenneth Greene was presented the Army Suggestor of the Year Award--Civilian during an April 2012 ceremony at the Pentagon. The award was presented by Under Secretary of the Army Dr. Joseph Westphal, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) Thomas Lamont and Director of the Army's Office of Business Transformation LTG William Grisoli. Greene was the only Army civilian to receive this honor.
Greene earned the recognition for proposing a modular frame that attaches to vehicles to support survivability technologies. In 2010, PM MRAP requested that Greene and his CSI colleagues fabricate an initial frame prototype. However, the original design would have required shipments in larger containers and allowed fewer items to be shipped at a time, incurring higher freight costs. Greene's improved construction design allowed the frame to be assembled with shorter tubes and for kits to be shipped in smaller shipping containers. The new design improved vehicle survivability and saved the Army an estimated $608,000 to date. PM MRAP ordered 800 kits for theater and the modular frame has since been integrated on several fielded vehicle systems.
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Awards
2013 Forest R. McFarland Award
Ravi Thyagarajan
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) honored TARDEC Analytics Engineer Dr. Ravi Thyagarajan with its Forest R. McFarland Award, which recognizes members for outstanding contributions to SAE. Specifically, Thyagarajan earned the award for his work with the SAE Engineering Meetings Board (EMB) in the planning, development and dissemination of technical information through technical meetings, conferences and professional development programs. The award, established in 1979, also acknowledges efforts to facilitate or enhance the interchange of technical information. Thyagarajan works with SAE's EMB Land and Sea Group.
At TARDEC, he focuses primarily on the development of crash-worthy and blast-worthy ground vehicles, with special emphasis on occupant kinematics and Soldier safety.
2012 Arch T. Colwell Cooperative Engineering Medal
SAE awarded TARDEC Senior Technical Expert for Modeling and Simulation Dr. David Lamb with the 2012 Arch T. Colwell Cooperative Engineering Medal. The award honors a unique and outstanding contribution over a period of time for the work of SAE technical committees in developing standards, specifications, technical reports and data through cooperative research. Lamb has served as Chairperson of SAE's Ground Vehicle Reliability Committee for the past four years. In that position, he is responsible for directing collaboration between committee members as they develop new standards that will lead to more reliable ground vehicles for the Army and commercial industry. As Chair, Lamb also serves as ex-officio on all Ground Vehicle Reliability subcommittees, as well as in a position on the Materials, Processes and Parts Council. Outside of SAE, Lamb often speaks with college students as they pursue engineering careers, in line with the Army's commitment to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Lamb also serves on two advisory boards at Oakland University in Rochester, MI.
Arch T. Colwell Merit Award
TARDEC's Dr. Amandeep Singh and Oakland University professor Dr. Zissimos Mourelatos received this SAE honor for their collaborative paper Time-Dependent Reliability Estimation for Dynamic Systems Using a Random Process Approach at the 2012 SAE World Congress in Detroit, MI. The paper was selected from the hundreds received annually by SAE. Papers are judged for their value in contributing to the existing knowledge base of mobility engineering and as an original contribution to the subject matter.
Crain's Detroit Business "20 in their 20s" List
Christopher Scott
Christopher Scott, a TARDEC engineer supporting the Robotic Systems Joint Program Office (RS JPO), was named to the Crain's Detroit Business "2012 Class of 20 in Their 20s" list. The publication highlights the brainpower and entrepreneurial talent of the Detroit area's young professionals and creative types. Crain's editors and reporters selected this year's winners from among more than 300 nominees in the metro Detroit readership area for its seventh annual list.
Scott leads the RS JPO's Working Integrated Product team that developed the controls section for the Unmanned Ground Vehicle Interoperability profile at the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command. The effort aims to standardize the controls and other systems in all future robotic ground vehicles used by the Army and U. S. Marine Corps. The armed forces have deployed more than 5,000 Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas; of those, more than 750 have been battle-damaged or destroyed since 2005 while Soldiers remained at safe stand-off distances.
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