The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) named the winners of its 2012 Charles Stark Draper and Bernard M. Gordon Prizes yesterday, honoring the pioneers of the LCD and those who architected Harvey Mudd College’s engineering design curriculum, respectively.
According to the NAE, the Draper Prize — honoring “those engineers whose accomplishment has had a significant impact on society by improving the quality of life, providing the ability to live freely and comfortably, and/or permitting the access to information” — went to George H. Heilmeier, Wolfgang Helfrich, Martin Shadt, and T. Peter Brody “for their efforts in the engineering of the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) that is utilized in billions of consumer devices” today.
From the NAE announcement:
George H. Heilmeier’s role in the development of LCD technology changed the face of watches, computer monitors, calculators, cellular phones, and televisions and affected the style and functionality of more than 3 billion devices worldwide.
Wolfgang Helfrich co-discovered the “Twisted Nematic (TN) Effect,” used in the displays of laptop computers, mobile phones, television sets, and hundreds of other industrial and commercial products.
Martin Schadt explored the electro-optical behavior of twisted liquid-crystals, leading to expanded marketability and practicality of liquid crystal display technology.
T. Peter Brody’s “Active Matrix Drive (AM)” opened the way to generate a dense array of thin-film transistors on the glassy covers utilized in LCDs.
And for the Gordon Prize:
For their leadership, creativity, and energy in creating and disseminating innovations in undergraduate engineering design education to develop engineering leaders, Clive L. Dym, M. Mack Gilkeson, and J. Richard Phillips have been awarded this year’s Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. The Prize is given annually to the engineering educator(s) whose work uses new modalities and experiments in education to develop effective engineering leaders.
Clive L. Dym’s efforts to change the core engineering curriculum at Harvey Mudd College and to develop the Mudd Design Workshops have improved his institution’s and others’ ability to teach engineering leadership.
M. Mack Gilkeson co-created and co-founded Harvey Mudd College’s Clinic program. This hands-on approach to teaching engineering students has earned the respect of the education community and inspired similar programs in institutions around the globe.
J. Richard Phillips served as Director of Harvey Mudd College’s Engineering Clinic for 17 of the program’s 48 years. He helped transition the program from a capstone project to an integral part of Harvey Mudd’s other academic programs and to institutions worldwide.
To learn more — and see the call for 2013 nominations — check out the NAE’s awards website.
(Contributed by Erwin Gianchandani, CCC Director)
