Awards

The below awards will be presented at the 25th Annual Systems & Mission Engineering Conference, held November 1 - 3, 2022 in Orlando, FL at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld. Nominations for these awards are now open.

Deadline for submissions: Friday, July 15, 2022. 

Lt Gen Thomas R. Ferguson, Jr., Systems Engineering Excellence Award

Presented annually, this award is given to both an individual and a group/team who demonstrate outstanding achievement in any of the following ways:

  1. Practical application of systems engineering principles,
  2. Promotion of robust systems engineering principles throughout the organization, or
  3. Effective systems engineering process development during the previous year.

The nominee’s systems engineering contributions should have demonstrably helped achieve significant cost savings due to new or enhanced processes, procedures, and/or concepts, increased mission capabilities, and substantially increased performance.

The National Defense Industrial Association’s Systems Engineering Excellence Awards were established in 2003 to honor the memory of Lt Gen Thomas R. Ferguson, Jr., USAF, whose leadership embodied the highest ideals in the development and deployment of defense systems.

To submit your nomination for the Ferguson Award, click here.

Walter Hollis Award for Lifetime Achievement in Defense Test and Evaluation

The Walter W. Hollis Award is presented annually in recognition of the lifetime contributions and achievement in the area of defense Test & Evaluation. The award is presented in the name of Walter W. Hollis who is recognized for his dedicated and long-standing service in the field of Test & Evaluation.

To submit your nomination for the Hollis Award, click here

The Arthur Stein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Live Fire Test and Evaluation

The Arthur Stein Award is presented biennially at the Live Fire Test & Evaluation Workshop in recognition of lifetime achievement in support of Live Fire Test & Evaluation.

Mr. Arthur Stein began his defense career during World War II, when he joined distinguished scientists and mathematicians from throughout the country to work at the Ballistics Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Maryland. He had a long and distinguished career in the private sector, most of which was spent in Buffalo, New York, working for Calspan. In semi-retirement, Mr. Stein worked as consultant for the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). It was there that he became involved with the new Joint Live Fire program, the Army-conducted Bradley Live Fire Test, and later the congressionally mandated LFT&E program. During those early years of LFT&E, he had a great influence on IDA analysts and on OSD’s Live Fire Test Office. He was a distinguished member of two blue-ribbon National Research Council panels to investigate LFT&E issues.

Mr. Stein was unusual not only for his distinguished career, but for staying intellectually young even until his death in 1995 at the age of 76. His work seemed to energize both him and those around him. He firmly believed in the importance of Live Fire Test & Evaluation, and wanted to pass on his interest and knowledge to the next generation

To submit your nomination for the Stein Award, click here

Tester of the Year Awards

Tester of the Year is comprised of (3) Awards PER Service. The (3) Awards are for Military Tester of the Year, Government Civilian Tester of the Year and Contractor Tester of the year and are presented to outstanding individuals in the field of Test & Evaluation. Tester of the Year will be handed out for the previous year at the current Conference (i.e. at the 2018 Conference, the 2017) Tester of the Years would be awarded).

The Tester of the Year awards are selected by the following three services; Army, Navy and Air Force.