Areas of Achievement

Year	Name	Area of Achievement
2023	David Miller	Election to the National Academy of Engineering "For contributions in control technology for space-based telescope design, and leadership in cross-agency guidance of space technology."
2023	Shouleh Nikzad	American Astronomical Society’s Joseph Weber Award on Astronomical Instrumentation "For her pioneering contributions pushing the boundaries of ultraviolet/visible photon-counting charge-coupled devices, her sustained infusion of related technologies across multiple fields, her diligent engineering leadership, and her consistent and attentive mentoring of early-career instrumentation researchers."
2022	Erik M. Conway	American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow "Election as a Fellow honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues."
2022	Babette Christelle Tchonang	EuroGOOS Kostas Nittis Medal "Awarded annually to early-career marine scientists for outstanding contributions to the operational oceanography and broader ocean observing fields."
2022	JPL's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team	National Space Society (NSS) Awards "recognize those individuals and teams whose accomplishments have helped to open the space frontier, and who have made significant contributions in different fields of endeavor to develop a spacefaring civilization that will establish communities beyond the Earth."
2022	Ingenuity Mars Helicopter	IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology Award Award honors "exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions that have made a lasting impact on technology, society, and the engineering profession."
2022	Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Team	Vertical Flight Society Howard Hughes Award "in recognition of an outstanding improvement in fundamental helicopter technology brought to fruition in the previous 18 months, is the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Team for accomplishing the first powered flight on another planet on April 19, 2021, with a 39.1 sec. flight of the 4-lb (1.8-kg)."
2022	NASA/JPL Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team	Robert J. Collier Trophy "... the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year."
2022	Dr. Dan Goebel	Stuhlinger Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion For his outstanding contributions to the development of Ion and Hall thruster technologies and dissemination of EP knowledge.
2022	Henry Garrett	AIAA James A. Van Allen Space Environments Award "...For a lifetime of contributions to the understanding of the interactions of spacecraft with the Earth’s magnetosphere and those of other planets.”
2022	Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team and MiMi Aung	National Air & Space Museum Collins Award for Current Achievement Awarded because they “...captured the attention of the public back on planet Earth and inspired everyone to imagine what could be next in planetary exploration.”
2022	Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Navigation Team	Royal Institute of Duke of Edinburgh Navigation Award “For innovative autonomous navigation enabling a series of successful Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flights in 2021."
2022	Perseverance Mars Rover	The Engineers Council Distinguished Engineering Project of the Year Achievement Award “…outstanding achievements in completing a mission of National and international significance...”
2021	Surendra Adhikari	American Geophysical Union John Wahr Early Career Award This honor is "presented annually and recognizes significant advances in geodetic science, technology, applications, observations, or theory."
2021	Yoseph Bar-Cohen	SPIE Smart Structures + Materials Founding Chair Award Awarded for for "visionary contributions to the Smart Structures community" involving Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices."
2021	Bobby Braun	National Space Society Space Pioneer Award The award's intent is "to recognize those who have made significant contributions in different fields of endeavor to develop a spacefaring civilization that will establish communities beyond the Earth."
2021	Center for Near-Earth Object Studies Team	National Space Club Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award For "...most outstanding contribution to the missile, aircraft, or space field." Sentry-II, NASA’s new asteroid monitoring system managed by the Center, and improves capabilities to assess the impact risk of asteroids that can come close to Earth."
2021	Nacer Chahat	IETE Dr. Sudhakar Rao Award Awarded "for demonstrating exceptional innovation and leadership in the development and engineering of novel spacecraft antenna technologies that enable a variety of current and future deep space and Earth science missions."
2021	Dawn Flight Team	International SpaceOps Award for Outstanding Achievement Dawn was awarded “for outstanding success in exploring two alien words, Ceres and Vesta, and overcoming the critical failures of reaction wheels.”
2021	Fred Y. Hadaegh	AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award Awarded for "Extraordinary contributions for advances in the theory, computation, and implementation of autonomous guidance, navigation, and control of single and distributed spacecraft systems."
2021	Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team	AIAA Space Systems Award Awarded “For the design and flight test validation of the first helicopter designed for flight at Mars.”
2021	Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team	Space Foundation John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration The annual Swigert Award recognizes extraordinary accomplishments by a company, space agency, or consortium of organizations in the realm of space exploration and discovery.
2021	Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team	National Space Club & Foundation Goddard Trophy For the team’s "exceptional service to this country and its space program." The trophy is the Club's highest honor.
2021	Rob Manning	National Space Society Space Pioneer Award The award's intent is "to recognize those who have made significant contributions in different fields of endeavor to develop a spacefaring civilization that will establish communities beyond the Earth."
2021	NASA/JPL Mars Ingenuity	Aviation Week Laureate Award "On April 19, 2021, NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory proved that powered flight on another planet is possible with the 39.1-sec. flight of the 4-lb. Ingenuity helicopter on Mars. And the little rotorcraft kept going—beyond the planned five flights—to begin survey missions for its companion Perseverance rover."
2021	Shouleh Nikzad	SPIE Aden and Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award This award is presented to recognize outstanding technical accomplishment in optics, electro-optics, photonic engineering, or imaging. The recipient(s) shall have contributed significantly to the advancement of one or more of these areas with specific demonstration(s) or application(s). Nikzad’s citation reads: "In recognition of your pioneering and sustained contributions to the development of ultraviolet instrument technologies especially imagers for space exploration and extension of their use in terrestrial applications."
2021	Shouleh Nikzad	SPIE Luminary SPIE celebrates the work of those who have "lit the way" for research in optics and photonics. In this case, for "detector technology for astrophysics."
2021	Michael Watkins & Michael Gross (with multiple co-recipients)	AIAA International Cooperation Award Awarded "for outstanding leadership of the international consortium in the planning and implementation of the successful Earth gravity missions."
2021	Aaron Yazzie	AISES Technical Excellence Award "The Technical Excellence nominee must have made a significant contribution to science, engineering, or technology by having designed, developed, managed, or assisted in the development of a product, service, system, or intellectual property."
2020	Donald Argus	GSA George P. Wollard Award The award is given annually in recognition of outstanding contributions to the interdisciplinary field of geophysics.
2020	Nacer Chahat	IEEE Outstanding Engineer of the Year Award (awarded by IEEE Region 6) Awarded "for innovation and leadership in developing antenna technologies for deep space, earth science, the recent Mars Ingenuity mission and Europa Lander."
2020	Cold Atom Laboratory Team	AIAA Space Science Award Awarded "for developing and delivering the highly innovative Cold Atom Laboratory to the ISS and for seminal scientific achievements."
2020	Charles Elachi	National Air and Space Museum Michael Collins Trophy, Lifetime Achievement Presented annually to "recognize both past and present achievements involving the management or execution of a scientific or technological project, a distinguished career of service in air and space technology, or a significant contribution in chronicling the history of air and space technology."
2020	ECOSTRESS	RNASA Stellar Award Winners "are selected based on which accomplishments hold the greatest promise for furthering future activities in space, the extent to which the nominee played a key role in the accomplishment, and the extent to which the nominee meets the goal of recognizing heroes of the American space program."
2020	Sona Hosseini	SPIE Early Career Achievement Award Awarded for "innovative optical design work on ultra-miniature spatial heterodyne spectrometers (SHS)."
2020	A. Scott Howe	AIAA Space Architecture Technical Committee Gordon Woodcock Award for Professional Excellence in Space Architecture This award was "created in honor of the late Gordon Woodcock" and is awarded for excellence in space architecture.
2020	InSight - Mars Cube One Joint Project Flight Teams	Space Foundation John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration The award is given annually to recognize the most significant accomplishment in advancing the exploration of space during the previous year.
2020	InSight Team	AIAA Space Systems Award Awarded for "excellence in development and operations of the InSight mission to Mars, the first mission to explore the deep interior of Mars."
2020	Andrew Klesh	AIAA Engineer of the Year Award Awarded to somebody who has made "a recent individual contribution in the application of scientific and mathematical principles leading to a significant accomplishment or event worthy of AIAA’s national or international recognition."
2020	Leslie Livesay	AAS Carl Sagan Memorial Award Awarded "for exceptional leadership of space missions that produced technological and scientific breakthroughs of major and lasting importance."
2020	Mars Cube One Mission	Aviation Week & Space Technology Laureate Award The award citation reads: "In the first demonstration of cubesats in deep space, the Mars Cube One mission relayed near-real-time telemetry of the entry, descent and landing of NASA’s Insight."
2020	MAVEN Flight Team	International Space Ops Award for Outstanding Achievement Awarded for "exceptional planning and execution of the MAVEN spacecraft orbit transition to support critical communications relay duties for upcoming Mars missions while enhancing MAVEN science return"
2020	Daniel J. McCleese	COSPAR William Nordberg Medal The "medal commemorates the work of the late William Nordberg and is awarded to a scientist who has made a distinguished contribution to the application of space science in a field covered by COSPAR."
2020	Miguel San Martin	American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics/National Academy of Engineering Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering Honored for his role in the Mars Science Laboratory entry, descent, and landing, and is delivering the lecture "From Airbags to Wheels: The Evolution of GN&C for Entry, Descent, and Landing."
2020	Helene L. Seroussi	AGU Cryosphere Early Career Award The award is "presented annually and recognizes significant early career contributions to cryospheric sciences and technology from honorees within 10 years of receiving their Ph.D."
2020	Rashmi Shah	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society's Gold Early Career Award Awarded to "promote, recognize and support young scientists and engineers within the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society who have demonstrated outstanding ability and promise for significant contributions in the future."
2020	Ashitey Trebi-Ollenu	Royal Aeronautical Society Silver Medal Awarded for his “major contribution to the successful development and delivery of the InSight Mars Mission Instrument Deployment System. This enabled the first robotic deployment by NASA of a seismometer on another planet."
2019	Laura Barge	Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.
2019	Theirry Caillat	International Thermoelectric Society Outstanding Achievement Award The honor reflects "decades-long leadership and seminal contributions to the development of novel thermoelectric materials and devices for space power generation applications, and the understanding of thermoelectric material and device properties under extreme space conditions."
2019	Dawn Mission	Space Foundation John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration Awarded for revealing important information about the formation of the solar system.
2019	Charles Elachi	International Academy of Astronautics Theodore von Karman Award Awarded "for a lifetime of scientific and engineering leadership that enabled breathtaking advances in knowledge of Earth, Solar System and Universe. Synthetic aperture radar which he invented has been utilized for study of Earth and every major body in the Solar System. As Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he led the creation of 24 NASA space science missions, all with significant international participation. His nurturing of three generations of scientists and engineers has paved the way for decades of continuing advances in the space sciences."
2019	Jean-Pierre Fleurial	International Thermoelectric Society Outstanding Achievement Award The honor reflects "decades-long leadership and seminal contributions to the development of novel thermoelectric materials and devices for space power generation applications, and the understanding of thermoelectric material and device properties under extreme space conditions."
2019	Dan Goebel	AIAA Electric Propulsion Best Paper Award Given to the authors of the paper "High Power Demonstration of a 100 kW Nested Hall Thruster System"
2019	Insight Team	Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Proclamation A proclamation on behalf of the mission from L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
2019	April Jewell	SPIE Defense and Commercial Sensing Rising Researcher Award The Rising Researchers program is designed to recognize early career professionals who are conducting outstanding work in product development or research in the defense, commercial, and scientific sensing, imaging, optics, or related fields.
2019	MarCO Mission	Small Satellite Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Small Satellite Mission of the Year Award The award is given to a mission that has "demonstrated a significant improvement in the capability of small satellites."
2019	Shouleh Nikzad	IEEE Photonics Distinguished Lecturer Award 2019-2020 This award is "designed to honor excellent speakers who have made technical, industrial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field of photonics and to enhance the technical programs of the IEEE Photonics Society Chapters."
2019	John Reager	Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.
2019	Jonathan Sauder	Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.
2019	Benedikt Soja	EGU Geodesy Division's Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award Awarded for "for original research and contributions to the fields of very long baseline interferometry and terrestrial reference frames."
2019	Michael W. Werner	American Astronautical Society Carl Sagan Memorial Award Awarded "for scientific leadership of the Spitzer Space Telescope, which has fundamentally changed our understanding of the Universe through infrared observations of the Universe from the Solar System to the most distant galaxies."
2019	Edward C. Stone	The Shaw Prize in Astronomy Awarded for "for his leadership in the Voyager project, which has, over the past four decades, transformed our understanding of the four giant planets and the outer solar system, and has now begun to explore interstellar space."
2018	ASO Mission	San Joaquin River Restoration Program John W. Keys, III Awards Recipients were "recognized for their joint efforts at implementing new, 21st Century runoff forecasting tools for the San Joaquin Watershed."
2018	ASTERIA Mission	Small Satellite Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Small Satellite Mission of the Year Award The award is given to a mission that has "demonstrated a significant improvement in the capability of small satellites."
2018	Leon Alkalai	International Academy of Astronautics Engineering Sciences Award Awarded annually for "outstanding achievement in engineering science."
2018	Josette Bellan	AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award Awarded for "widely reaching, seminal and outstanding publications on bio-fuels, sprays and high pressure flows to meet future challenges of Aeronautics and Astronautics combustion systems."
2018	Bonnie J. Buratti	American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science's Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication Award for her "effective education and public outreach with a measured and demonstrably, high impact."
2018	Cassini Mission Team	The Space Foundation John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration The award is given annually to recognize the most significant accomplishment in advancing the exploration of space during the previous year.
2018	Nacer Chahat	Engineers' Council Future Technology Leader Award Awarded for "antenna innovations that are enabling for NASA missions and commercial enterprise operating in extreme thermal, radiation, high power and electrostatic discharge environments."
2018	Goutam Chattopadhyay	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Region 6 Outstanding Engineer of the Year Award for contributions to advanced instruments at terahertz frequencies for space applications.
2018	Richard Gross	AGU Ivan I. Mueller Award for Distinguished Service and Leadership (Geodesy Section) The award acknowledges Richard's “major achievements in service to and/or leadership within the field of geodesy.”
2018	Bin Guan	California Department of Water Resources Climate Science Service Award Awarded "for his tool that identifies atmospheric rivers in weather models."
2018	Sarath Gunapala	Military Sensing Symposia Levinstein Award Awarded for "outstanding technical and management contributions in the development of infrared focal plane arrays for the military sensing community and national defense under the Vital Infrared Sensor Technology Acceleration (VISTA) program."
2018	Sarath Gunapala	SPIE George W. Goddard Award Awarded for "exceptional achievements in the development of quantum structures based infrared detector and focal plane array technologies for aerospace applications."
2018	Benjamin Hamlington	COSPAR Yakov B. Zeldovich Medal Awarded "to young scientists for excellence and achievements."
2018	Rosaly M. C. Lopes	AGU Ambassador Award Recognizes “outstanding contributions to one or more of the following area(s): societal impact, service to the Earth and space community, scientific leadership, and promotion of talent/career pool.”
2018	Wesley Traub	SPIE Fizeau Lifetime Achievement Award Awarded "for his broad and crucial contributions to the development of the field of Optical Interferometry during his career at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory."
2018	Bruce Tsurutani	COSPAR Space Science Award This award "honors a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to space science."
2018	Dawn Flight Team	AIAA Space Systems Award Awarded for "accomplishing a unique interplanetary mission to orbit and explore two alien worlds, Ceres and Vesta, displaying exceptional space engineering with a rich scientific return."
2017	Darmindra Arumugam	Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award The award cited his team’s development of the Precision Outdoor and Indoor Navigation and Tracking for Emergency Responders (POINTER), which uses magnetic fields instead of higher-frequency radio waves, such as those used in GPS, that are often blocked by building walls to track first responders.
2017	Nacer Chahat, Richard Hodges, Jonathan Sauder, Eva Peral and Yahya Rahmat-Samii	IEEE Antenna and Propagation Society’s Sergei A. Schelkunoff Best Journal Paper Award Given to the authors of the best paper published in the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation during the previous year, in this case for their paper on “CubeSat Deployable Ka-Band Mesh Reflector Antenna Development for Earth Science Missions.”
2017	Goutam Chattopadhyay	European Conference on Antennas and Propagation Best Paper Award in Antenna Design and Application Award for a paper entitled "Shared Aperture Metasurface Antennas for Multibeam Patterns"
2017	Dawn Flight Team	Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation Team Stellar Award Awarded for "outstanding achievement exploring some of the last uncharted worlds in the inner solar system in a unique mission that reveals new insights about the dawn of the solar system."
2017	Bethany L. Ehlmann	American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science's Harold C. Urey Prize Awarded "for outstanding achievement in planetary research by an early-career scientist for her work using spectroscopy to determine the mineralogy of Mars’s surface and the extent of the red planet’s previous habitability."
2017	Hook Hua	American Geophysical Union Charles S. Falkenberg Award The Charles S. Falkenberg Award is given annually to one honoree in “recognition of an early- to middle-career scientist who has contributed to the quality of life, economic opportunities and stewardship of the planet through the use of Earth science information and to the public awareness of the importance of understanding our planet.”
2017	Robert Mase	Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation Middle Career Stellar Award Awarded for "outstanding management of exceptionally successful projects exploring the solar system."
2017	Marc Rayman	Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation Late Career Stellar Award Awarded for "extraordinary and uniquely creative work to explore the solar system and open the frontiers of space to even more ambitious missions to follow."
2017	Graeme Stephens	Royal Meteorological Society Mason Gold Medal The Mason Gold Medal shall be awarded to a Fellow of the Society for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the fundamental processes that determine the variability and predictability of weather and climate.
2017	Peter Theisinger	National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievement The museum presents this trophy annually to recognize past and present accomplishments in the management or execution of a scientific or technological project, a distinguished career of service in air and space technology, or a significant contribution in chronicling the history of air and space technology.
2017	Duane Waliser	California Department of Water Resources Climate Science Service Award For "leading development of experimental forecasts of atmospheric storms at a subseasonal time scale, which would provide several weeks’ advance notice beyond the two-week period available from operational weather forecasts."
2017	Marc D. Rayman	National Space Club and Foundation Astronautics Engineer Award Awarded for "his leadership as Chief Engineer of the Dawn development program and flight mission to explore Vesta and Ceres. The technical accomplishment of the Dawn mission is, more than any other single individual, attributable to Dr. Rayman."
2016	David S. Bayard	Asian Journal of Control Best Paper Award Drs. Behcet Acikmese and David S. Bayard received this award for their paper titled Markov Chain Approach to Probabilistic Guidance for Swarms of Autonomous Agents.
2016	James Bernardini	Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. It recognizes researchers whose early career accomplishments show the greatest promise for strengthening America's leadership in science and technology and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions.
2016	James J. Bock	AAS Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation For his development of low noise “spider web” bolometers that enable a broad range of submillimeter and millimeter observations with ground-based, balloon-based, and space-based instruments, leading to critically important measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
2016	Dawn Mission Team	National Space Club and Foundation's Nelson P. Jackson Award The award is presented annually for a significant contribution to the missile, aircraft or space field.
2016	Charles Elachi	Aviation Week Laureate Award for Lifetime Achievement Awarded for guiding an amazing period of solar system exploration by robotic spacecraft and generating public enthusiasm for space science during his 45-year career.
2016	Charles Elachi	National Space Trophy from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation The award is given to an outstanding American who has made major contributions to our nation's space program.
2016	Eric Fielding	AGU Ivan I. Mueller Award Awarded for distinguished service and leadership.
2016	David Halpern	COSPAR Distinguished Service Medal In recognition of extraordinary services rendered to the organization and the international space research community.
2016	Cathleen Jones, Tom Farr, & Zhen Liu	California Department of Water Resources Remote Sensing and Drought Science Service Award For work that these scientists have performed in developing new methodologies for monitoring land subsidence in response to [California's] multi-year drought.
2016	Andres Plazas Malagon	Fundacion Alejandro Angel Escobar Prize in the Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences Area For his work on 'Understanding of systematic errors for the use of weak gravitational lensing as a cosmological tool.'
2016	J.T. Reager	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration David Johnson Award Awarded for innovative application of Earth observation satellite data for operational purposes.
2016	Tracy van Houten	Society of Women Engineers Emerging Leader Award For outstanding technical leadership and expertise; for the ability to manage large, multidisciplinary teams; and for tireless efforts mentoring today's and tomorrow's women engineers.
2016	Yuan Wang	American Geophysical Union James R. Holton Award For his seminal contributions in elucidating the role of natural or man-made atmospheric particles in air quality, cloud physics and climate change.
2015	John Brophy	Ernst Stuhlinger Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion The medal is bestowed to persons who make outstanding contributions to the science, technology or development of electric propulsion.
2015	Nacer Chahat	Prix Bretagne Jeune ChercheurAward Awarded for his work in antenna, propagation and interaction for physical network type applications in wireless microwave and millimeter ranges.
2015	Bethany Ehlmann	American Geophysical Union James B. Macelwane Medal The medal is bestowed for significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding early career scientist.
2015	Matt Golombek	Geological Society of America G.K. Gilbert Award The award will be made for outstanding contributions to the solution of a fundamental problem(s) of planetary geology in its broadest sense, including planetary geology, geochemistry, mineralogy, petrology, and tectonics, geophysics, and the field of meteoritics.
2015	Gerard Holzmann	IEEE Harlan D. Mills Award For fundamental contributions to improving software quality, in particular through model-checking tools and coding standards, and for successfully transferring these contributions to practitioners developing mission-critical software.
2015	Kepler Mission Team	International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences Early Career Scientist Medal For outstanding endeavors in the fields of aerospace science and technology.
2015	Multi-Angle Rear Viewing Endoscopic Tool Team	Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer Outstanding Technology Development Award Recognizes the efforts of an FLC laboratory technology transfer professional (or team) who has demonstrated outstanding work transferring a technology in a manner significantly over and above what was called for in the normal course of their work.
2015	Peter Theisinger	American Astronautical Society’s Space Technology Award For leadership in advancing the United States’ planetary exploration capabilities, including its continuously evolving spacecraft reaching planetary bodies and roving across their surfaces; in the process directly enhancing human knowledge of both the solar system and Mars in particular.
2015	Yuan Wang	International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences Early Career Scientist Medal For outstanding contributions to the atmospheric sciences.
2015	Joshua Willis	American Meteorological Society’s Nicholas P. Fofonoff Award For creative research in determining the circulation and heat content of the ocean and their contribution to sea level change.
2015	Dawn Flight Team	National Aeronautic Association Robert J. Collier Trophy The award is presented annually for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year.
2014	Blaine Baggett	National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Current Achievement In recognition of a distinguished career bringing engineering and scientific achievements and education to the public's awareness and engagement.
2014	James J. Bock	SPIE George W. Goddard Award For his development of sensitive bolometer arrays for studies of distant, dusty galaxies and the cosmic microwave background radiation, leading to their use on the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) on the Herschel Space Observatory and the High Frequency Instrument (HFI) on the Planck Surveyor spacecraft.
2014	Douglas E. Bernard	Engineers' Council Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award For outstanding achievement leading to the successful design, development, and delivery of the JUNO Spacecraft, now on the way to Jupiter.
2014	Goutam Chattopadhyay	Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers Prof. S N Mitra Memorial Award For seminal contributions to the area of terahertz science and technology and its implementation in radiometers, spectrometers, ultra-high speed communications and astrophysics, planetary science and Earth science instruments.
2014	Max Coleman	Geological Society of London Prestwich Medal Awarded every three years to persons ‘who shall have done well for the advancement of the science of geology’.
2014	The Dawn Flight Team	National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Current Achievement The National Air and Space Museum presents this trophy annually to recognize both past and present achievements involving the management or execution of a scientific or technological project, a distinguished career of service in air and space technology, or a significant contribution in chronicling the history of air and space technology.
2014	James A. Donaldson	Engineers' Council Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award For exceptional initiative and contributions as the Avionics Chief Engineer of the Mars Science Laboratory.
2014	Charles Elachi	American Astronautical Society Lifetime Achievement Award For sustained and extraordinary contributions to America's space programs, including innovative planetary missions in support of unmanned exploration of the solar system.
2014	Christian Frankenberg	AGU James B. Macelwane Medal For significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding early career scientist.
2014	Carl S. Guernsey	Engineers' Council Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award In recognition of a distinguished career in space propulsion design and program management, culminating in the architecture of the Mars Science Laboratory propulsion system.
2014	The Kepler Team	National Space Club Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy Kepler has revolutionized exoplanet science and stellar astrophysics by expanding the galactic census of exoplanet candidates and fundamentally altering our understanding of our place in the galaxy. This honor is afforded Kepler in recognition of their significant contribution to U.S. leadership in the field of rocketry and astronautics.
2014	Steven W. Lee	Engineers' Council Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award For outstanding achievement in management and technical contributions to the successful delivery of the Mars Science Laboratory guidance, navigation and control subsystems.
2014	Robert M. Manning	Engineers' Council Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award For exceptional achievement as the Mars Science Laboratory chief engineer and for technical leadership during the design, development and delivery of the Fault Protection System.
2014	Shouleh Nikzad	Society for Brian Mapping and Therapeutics Pioneer in Medicine Award Presented to individuals who have significantly contributed to the scientific advancement in the fields of medicine and image guided therapy through a multidisciplinary approach. Their groundbreaking contributions have made development of state-of-the-art technology and scientific discovery a reality.
2014	Michael J. Sierchio	Engineers' Council Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award For exceptional achievement in the design, construction and testing of the Mars Science Laboratory avionics subsystem.
2014	Adam Stelzner	National Space Club Astronautics Engineer Award For his outstanding leadership in the design and development of the Mars Science Lab’s Entry, Descent and Landing system that successfully landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars on August 5, 2012.
2014	Edward C. Stone	Engineers' Council Leonardo DaVinci Award In honor of his many decades of service and scientific exploration as well as leadership of JPL.
2014	Jeffry W. Umland	Engineers' Council Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award For exceptional achievement as the Mars Science Laboratory chief mechanical systems engineer, resulting in the successful landing of the Curiosity rover.
2014	Voyager Team	Engineers' Council Distinguished Engineering Project Achievement Award For significant engineering achievement, careful stewardship and dedication, resulting in Voyager 1’s successful transition into interstellar space 35 years after launch.
2014	Sander Weinreb	AAS Joseph Weber Award In recognition of his seminal innovations that have helped define modern-day radio astronomy, including digital auto-correlation spectrometers and cryogenic low-noise amplifiers and mixers.
2014	Mike Werner	AIAA 2014 Space Science Award For outstanding science producing over 2,000 papers, 50,000+ hours of observation, and significant findings such as the first telescope to directly detect light from extrasolar planets.
2013	Dariush Divsalar	IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal For fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of channel codes that transformed deep space and other forms of wireless communications.
2013	Douglas C. Hofmann	Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers For his innovative research in metal-matrix composites for future NASA missions.
2013	Dawn Flight Team	2013 NASA Systems Engineering Excellence Award (Program and Project Category) For completing the design, build, test and validation of the Dawn operations system and successfully utilizing that system to operate the spacecraft with its solar electric ion propulsion system to accomplish the ambitious scientific goals of the Dawn mission at Vesta.
2013	Europa Habitability Mission Study Systems Engineering Team	2013 NASA Systems Engineering Excellence Award (Techniques and Methodologies Category) For developing infrastructure to support model-based engineering for space flight and applying those tools to build models of essential aspects of a proposed mission and project to explore Europa, including detailed models of three distinct architectural concepts for the EHM Flight System.
2013	Bethany Ehlmann	National Geographic Emerging Explorer Explorers are recognized for being "uniquely gifted and inspiring young adventurers, scientists, photographers, and storytellers - explorers who are already making a difference early in their careers."
2013	Sarath Gunapala	IEEE Photonics Society Aron Kressel Award For pioneering contributions to the development of quantum structures based infrared detectors and imaging focal plane arrays.
2013	Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Team	National Air and Space Museum Current Trophy for Current Achievement The National Air and Space Museum presents this trophy annually to recognize both past and present achievements involving the management or execution of a scientific or technological project, a distinguished career of service in air and space technology, or a significant contribution in chronicling the history of air and space technology.
2012	The Cassini-Huygens Flight Team	National Air and Space Museum Current Trophy for Current Achievement The National Air and Space Museum presents this trophy annually to recognize both past and present achievements involving the management or execution of a scientific or technological project, a distinguished career of service in air and space technology, or a significant contribution in chronicling the history of air and space technology.
2012	Ian Clark	2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Recognized for exceptional leadership and achievement in the pursuit of advanced entry, descent and landing technologies and techniques for space exploration missions.
2012	Dawn Flight Team	Engineers' Council Distinguished Engineering Project Achievement Award Awarded to “public or private organizations or consulting firms that during the past three years have brought to fulfillment engineering projects which, because of their scope or unique character, are outstanding and deserving of merit."
2012	Marc D. Rayman	Engineers' Council Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award Awarded for “exceptional contributions, leading to major new scientific discoveries, as the mission director of the Dawn Mission, the first to orbit the body Vesta in the main asteroid belt."
2011	Steve Chien	AIAA Intelligent Systems Award for 2011 Awarded for pioneering achievement in deploying AI-based planners on spacecraft to enable event detection and response, and sensorweb capabilities for earth-observing and planetary missions.
2011	David Diner	2011 Benjamin Y. H. Liu Award Recognizes outstanding contributions to aerosol instrumentation and experimental techniques that have significantly advanced the science and technology of aerosols.
2011	Charles Elachi	2011 Carl Sagan Memorial Award Awarded to individuals who demonstrate leadership in research or policies advancing exploration of the cosmos. Awarded by the AAS in cooperation with the Planetary Society.
2011	Charles Elachi	2011 General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award Awarded to outstanding individuals who have distinguished themselves through lifetime contributions to the welfare or betterment of humankind through exploration, development and use of space, or through use of space technology, information, themes or resources in academic, cultural, industrial or other pursuits of broad benefit to humanity. This is awarded by the Space Foundation.
2011	Josh Willis	AGU Ocean Sciences Early Career Award Awarded for "pioneering contributions integrating global satellite and in situ ocean data for understanding climate variability and change, as well as for his leadership in the satellite altimetry community."
2010	Moustafa Chahine	SPIE George W. Goddard Award Awarded in recognition of his exceptional achievement in optical science and instrumentation for aerospace and atmospheric research.
2010	Lee-Lueng Fu	2010 Committee on Space Research International Cooperation Medal Awarded once every two years to a scientist who has made a distinguished contribution to the application of space science and whose work has contributed significantly to the promotion of international scientific cooperation.
2010	Tim Liu	AMS Verner E. Suomi Award Awarded in recognition of his research in space-borne measurements of air-sea interactions and the water cycle, and for inspiring progress through interdisciplinary science team leadership.
2010	William Patzert	AUG Athelstan Spilhaus Award Awarded for enhancement of the public understanding of Earth and space science.
2010	Bruce Tsurutani	John A. Fleming Award Awarded for "original research and technical leadership in geomagnetism, atmospheric electricity, aeronomy, space physics, and related sciences."
2009	John Casani	National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement Award The National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding achievement in scientific or technological endeavors relating to air and space technology and exploration.
2009	Alice Le Gall	Gabrielle Sand, Dina, Frederic Fortuny Prize A prize honoring young doctors in the field of astronomy. This award is granted by the French Academy of Sciences
2009	John Prestage	IEEE Rabi Award Received for seminal work on the time variation of fundamental constants and outstanding contributions to trapped ion clocks.
2009	Paul Stella	AIAA Aerospace Power System Award Presented for a significant contribution in the broad field of aerospace power systems, specifically as related to the application of engineering sciences and systems engineering to the production, storage, distribution, and processing of aerospace power.
2009	Bruce Tsurutani	AGU Fleming Medal Bruce Tsurutani has made remarkable contributions to the study of plasma waves at Earth, planets, and comets; to space weather; to magnetotail dynamics; to collisionless shock physics; and to ionospheric perturbations resulting from flares and penetrating solar wind electric fields. But Bruce has taken each of these topics further to examine the consequences as they ripple through the highly connected Sun-Earth system...
2009	Joshua Willis	Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. It recognizes researchers whose early career accomplishments show the greatest promise for strengthening America's leadership in science and technology and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions.
2008	Paul Backes, Larry Matthies, Eric Baumgartner	IEEE Robotics and Automation Award For contributions to robotics enabling effective autonomous operations of science investigations under extreme conditions on the planet Mars.
2008	Brad Dalton	U.S. Department of Interior Cooperative Conservation Award Awarded for his work applying imaging spectroscopy to the Animas River Watershed in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.
2008	Jon Giorgini	Harold Masursky Award A specialist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Jon developed and implemented the on-line Horizons system that is used by the international scientific community to generate accurate ephemeris information for the 450,000 currently known objects in the solar system. This includes the sun, planets, their moons, asteroids, comets, and many spacecraft.
2008	Dr. Alfonso Saiz-Lopez	EGU Outstanding Young Scientist Award Dr. Alfonso Saiz-Lopez has been named the 2008 Outstanding Young Scientist Award by the European Geosciences Union. The Outstanding Young Scientist Award recognizes scientific achievements in any field of the Geosciences, made by a scientist who is under the age of 35. Alfonso is an NPP postdoc working in the Lab Studies and Modeling Group of the Earth Atmospheric Science Section.
2008	Dr. Christophe Sotin	EGU Runcorn Florensky Medal Dr. Christophe Sotin was awarded the 2008 EGU Runcorn Florensky Medal for "his outstanding work on the structure and internal dynamics of the Earth, Mars, and satellites of Giant planets, and his major contribution to several planetary space missions."
2008	Stardust Comet Sample Return Mission Team	National Air and Space Museum Current Trophy for Current Achievement The National Air and Space Museum presents this trophy annually to recognize both past and present achievements involving the management or execution of a scientific or technological project, a distinguished career of service in air and space technology, or a significant contribution in chronicling the history of air and space technology.
2008	Dr. Michele Vallisneri	SIGRAV Prize Dr. Michele Vallisneri has been selected to receive the 2008 SIGRAV Prize. Two SIGRAV prizes are awarded every two years to Italian scientists younger than 35 years who have given relevant contributions to general relativity and gravitational physics. SIGRAV is the Italian Society of General Relativity and Gravitational Physics, which brings together members of the Italian scientific community interested in various aspects of general relativity (both classical and quantum) and gravitational physics.
2008	Dr. Joe Waters	COSPAR William Nordberg Medal Dr. Joe Waters will be awarded the 2008 COSPAR William Nordberg Medal for his "outstanding contributions to the application of space science" at the July 2008 COSPAR Scientific Assembly.
2008	Robert K. Wilson	International Space Ops Distinguished Service Medal Wilson was recognized for "outstanding dedication, leadership, operational excellence, innovation and sustained technical performance, significantly contributing to the success of NASA astronomy, physics, planetary and Earth-observing missions and the Spitzer Space Telescope."
2007	Max Bajracharya	NASA Inventions and Contributions Board Major Space Act Award Sub-pixel Fiducial Detection
2007	Daniel Helmick, Yang Cheng, Daniel Clouse, Max Bajracharya, Larry Matthies	Robotics Society of Japan, Best Paper Award For the paper, "Slip-compensated path following for planetary exploration rovers," Advanced Robotics, Vol.20, No.11, pp.1257-1280, October, 2006.
2007	Terry Huntsberger, Yang Cheng, Chris Leger	NASA Inventions and Contributions Board Major Space Act Award AUTOAPPROACH: System for Single Command Science Target Rendezvous
2007	Andrew Johnson, Yang Cheng, Reg Willson, Jay Goguen, Chris Leger, Miguel Sanmartin	NASA Group Achievement Award Development of the Descent Image Motion Estimation System (DIMES) for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission
2007	Larry Matthies	NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal Computer Vision Research and Mission Infusion
2007	Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu	IEEE Region 6 Outstanding Engineer award For exceptional technical leadership in diagnosing the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity robotic arm anomaly culminating in a successful resolution of the problem and continued use of the arm in extended mission operations. Also for exceptional service to the IEEE as a Guest Editor in organizing and publishing a special issue of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine on Mars Exploration Rovers, June 2006.
2007	Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu	Institution of Engineering and Technology Achievement Medal - Sir Monty Finniston Award for an outstanding technical contribution to an engineering project Mars Exploration Rovers extended mission operations and engineering.
2007	Edward Tunstel	NASA Equal Employment Opportunity Medal Robotics engineering in research and flight, and consistent support of Equal Opportunity Programs
2006	Dr. Olga Kalashnikova	Zeldovich Medal The Zeldovich Medals are conferred jointly by COSPAR and the Russian Academy of Sciences to young scientists (under 36 years old) for excellence and achievements. They honor the memory of the distinguished astrophysicist Academician Yakov B. Zeldovich. These awards consist of a medal and a certificate. Awards are given once every two years.
2006	Mark Maimone, Larry Matthies, et al.	ASPRS John I Davidson Award for Practical Papers Initial Results of Rover Localization and Topographic Mapping for the 2003 MER Mission
2006	Mars Exploration Rover Team	National Air and Space Museum Current Trophy for Current Achievement The National Air and Space Museum presents this trophy annually to recognize both past and present achievements involving the management or execution of a scientific or technological project, a distinguished career of service in air and space technology, or a significant contribution in chronicling the history of air and space technology.
2006	COBE Team	Gruber Cosmology Prize Winners The 2006 Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation is proudly presented to Dr. John Mather and the COBE team for their ground-breaking studies of the spectrum and spatial structure of the relic radiation from the Big Bang.
2006	Issa Nesnas, et al.	Center Best One NASA Peer Award CLARAty: Coupled Layer Architecture For Robotic Autonomy
2006	Guillermo Rodriguez	NASA Exceptional Service Medal Control and Modelling Using Spatial Operators for Multibody Dynamics
2006	Dr. Alfonso Saiz-Lopez	James R. Holton Junior Scientist Award Dr. Alfonso Saiz-Lopez has been awarded the fourth James A. Holton Junior Scientist Award of the AGU Atmospheric Sciences Section. This prestigious and highly competitive award is given to a young scientist who is no more than three years past the award of the Ph.D. degree.
2006	Dr. Zdenek Sekanina	Nusl Prize Zdenek Sekanina received the prestigious Nusl Prize for his life-long achievements in astronomy on August 15, 2006, in Prague. The Nusl Prize is the highest award granted by the Czech Astronomical Society (CAS) to prominent Czech researchers for their substantial contribution to the development of astronomy. It bears the name of an eminent Czech astronomer and former president of the Czech Astronomical Society Frantisek Nusl (1867-1951).
2006	Homayoun Seraji	World Automation Congress Lifetime Career Achievement Award In Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Multivariable Control Systems, Robotic Systems, and Space Applications
2002	Deep Space 1 Team	AIAA Space Systems Award Awarded for "the outstanding performance of the team during design, implementation, test, operations, and extended mission including space flight test of 12 important, high-risk technologies."

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