Pleased to announce that the awards will be presented at three venues:
Los Angeles, CA • West Palm Beach, FL • Huntsville, AL
Sheraton Universal Hotel
Universal City, California
Saturday, February 22, 2025
Reception: 5:00 PM
Dinner & Award Ceremony: 6:00 PM
Raymond F. Kravis Center
West Palm Beach, Florida
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Reception & Award Ceremony: 6:00 PM
Location TBD
Huntsville, Alabama
Details TBD
Banquet History
Future Technology Leader Award
With this award, the Engineers’ Council recognizes early career professionals who have achieved significant accomplishments in a particular area of engineering activity within the first five years of their career. The effort being recognized may be for technical excellence and leadership during contract fulfillment, product development, or within academia as an engineering educator, or purely for the internal operation of the nominating or sponsoring organization. Candidates may receive one award in this category during their career. The work cited may be for a solely individual effort or for work which is part of a larger group activity. Nomination or award in this category does not preclude the individual from being named on a related Distinguished Engineering Project Award.
If selected, the recipient will be presented the award at the upcoming Engineers’ Council Honors and Awards Banquet. Both the recipient and nominator are expected to attend as the guests of the nominating or sponsoring organization.
Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award
With this award, the Engineers’ Council recognizes individuals who have achieved significant accomplishments in a particular area of engineering activity within the past year. The effort being recognized may be for academic research, contract fulfillment, product development or purely for the internal operation of the nominating or sponsoring organization. Candidates may receive multiple awards in this category during their careers, but never more than once for the same technical effort. The work cited may be for a solely individual effort or for work which is part of a larger group activity. Nomination or award in this category does not preclude the individual from being named on a related Distinguished Engineering Project Award.
If selected, the recipient will be presented the award at the upcoming Engineers’ Council Honors and Awards Banquet. Both the recipient and nominator are expected to attend as the guests of the nominating or sponsoring organization.
Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award
With this award, the Engineers’ Council recognizes individuals who are outstanding in professional qualities and have a top reputation for engineering accomplishments and leadership. Candidates should be senior staff members in a position of leadership and mentorship, with responsibility for a significant amount of both personnel and budget. Candidates for this award are typically in, but not limited to, the position of director, vice president, chief engineer or equivalent. Important criteria for this nomination include both the individual’s entire career and civic contributions. No individual may receive this award more than once.
If selected, the recipient will be presented the award at the upcoming Engineers’ Council Honors and Awards Banquet. Both the recipient and nominator are expected to attend as the guests of the nominating or sponsoring organization.
Distinguished Engineering Educator Award
With this award, the Engineers’ Council recognizes individuals who are outstanding in professional qualities and have a top reputation for engineering education, mentorship and leadership. Candidates for this award are typically, but not limited to, senior university faculty. Candidates should either be individuals who contribute significantly to students’ academic and extracurricular engineering fulfillment and enrichment or scholars who have made significant contributions to academic or industrial research. Important criteria for this nomination include both the individual’s entire career and civic contributions. No individual may receive this award more than once.
If selected, the recipient will be presented the award at the upcoming Engineers’ Council Honors and Awards Banquet. Both the recipient and nominator are expected to attend as the guests of the nominating or sponsoring organization.
Outstanding STEM Educator Award
The Outstanding STEM Educator Award honors individuals who have devoted themselves to K through 12 education in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. These selfless individuals inspire and mentor young students to open their minds to the wonders of the universe and encourage them down a path of exploration and complex problem solving.
This award is presented to teachers working at K-12 institutions as well as individuals working in industry or at university in activities that directly influence K-12 STEM education. The Outstanding STEM Educator Award is unique in that candidates are typically nominated by an industrial or university sponsor that wishes to further honor the candidate by supporting their attendance at the honors and awards banquet. This award was created to allow The Engineers’ Council as well as our numerous benefactors to demonstrate our profound gratitude for the teachers who inspired us and so many other students before and those yet to come.
Both the recipient and nominator are expected to attend as the guests of the nominating or sponsoring organization.
Distinguished Engineering Project Award
With this award, the Engineers’ Council recognizes 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. Individual subsystems or test and evaluation efforts which are integral to a much larger project may be nominated for separate awards. Nominations must include the name of a project leader designated to receive the award on behalf of the entire team and a list of participating team members. A team must consist of at least 3 individuals and typically does not exceed 15. Nominators should provide a thorough and detailed description of the technical effort and its significance and merits to facilitate the review and evaluation by the Honors and Awards Committee.
If selected, the project leader will receive the award and all listed team members will receive individual team member certificates at the upcoming Engineers’ Council Honors and Awards Banquet as well as all listed team members being cited in the souvenir program. The project leader, nominator and all listed team members are expected to attend as guests of the nominating or sponsoring organization. Nomination and selection for this award is made by the Engineers’ Council Board of Directors.
John J. Guarrera Engineering Educator Of The Year Award
Since 1982, the Engineering Educator of the Year Award has been given in recognition of significant achievements by the professor in the successful involvement of students in learning, research and in the application of science and mathematics to the solution of problems in engineering design or theory. Recognition of a top educator began in 1982, with the “Education Achievements Award”. In 1985, the top educator award was renamed the “Distinguished Education Achievements Award”, which became the “Distinguished Engineering Education Achievements Award” in 1987. At the National Engineers Week Banquet of 1991, the award became the “Engineering Educator of the Year Award”. This year, in honor of The Engineers’ Council founding member John J. Guarrera, this award bestowed upon the top educator has been named the John J. Guarrera Engineering Educator of the Year Award”.
William B. Johnson International Inter-professional Founders Award
In 1955 Bill Johnson was one of the founders of the San Fernando Valley Engineers’ Council. Bill had an untiring commitment to form and build the Council into a unified and effective body representing all facets of the engineering and scientific community. His standards and professional aura were to emulate perfection and elegance. He was laying the groundwork for the younger generation to participate and enjoy the future in leading and influencing the developing international engineering community. Bill was considered the backbone of the Council. He chose giving recognition to outstanding people as a means of providing a model of excellence. The William B. Johnson International Inter-professional Founders Memorial Award was established by the San Fernando Valley Engineers’ Council to perpetuate the image and memories of Bill, his leadership, methods, fortitude, standards, efforts, and achievements with compassion for others while focusing on bettering the engineering community. Selection of recipients for the memorial award reflect his image.
Engineering Project Of The Year Award
This award recognizes a public or private organization or consulting firm that during the past three (3) years has brought to fulfillment an engineering project of National or International significance which is deserving of special merit. Nominations must include the names and roles of Team Members to be recognized.
Recchia Omni Memorial Award - Engineer Of The Year
Since 1973, the Recchia Omni Memorial Award (Perpetual Trophy) has been presented to each Engineer of the Year. This beautiful, original trophy was conceived, designed, and produced by Peter Recchia, PE, SME, AIIE. Mr. Recchia was a dedicated supporter of the engineering community and when he passed away, the Omni Award was renamed in his honor. In 2002, the award was refurbished with a new walnut base and new engraved brass plates.
Nomination and selection for this award is made by the Engineers’ Council Board of Directors.
Brig. Gen. Charles E. Yeager International Aeronautical Achievements Award
Jack Northrop Spirit Of Innovation Award
The innovative visionary draftsman/engineer is a respected pioneer in aviation history who saw things that might be possible, could be possible and eventually were possible. Jack Northrop excelled as a designer both of conventional aircraft and of strikingly unusual concepts. He is associated with many design breakthroughs, ranging from the famous Lockheed Vega of the 1920s to his pet flying-wing project, the visionary concept of which finally proved its value in our present stealth aircraft designs. The Jack Northrop Spirit of Innovation Award commemorates the vision, perseverance and engineering prowess reminiscent of Jack Northrop, whose achievements and techniques broke the barriers of traditional aircraft design.
Nomination and selection for this award is made by the Engineers’ Council Board of Directors.
Clarence L. “kelly” Johnson Memorial “skunk Works”
Clarence L. ” Kelly” Johnson’s achievements over almost six decades captured every major aviation design award and made him an aerospace legend. These achievements go back to the 1930s, but he may be best known for organizing the Lockheed Skunk Works in 1943. It started as a small unit of engineering and production specialists to hurriedly create, build and fly the World War II XP-80 jet prototype for the U.S. Air Force. It was the first of many of the world’s most advanced aircraft to be produced by the Skunk Works under his leadership. Kelly played a leading role in the design of more than forty aircraft including the P-38 Lighting the Constellation transport, the P2V Neptune anti-submarine patrol plane, the record setting F-104 Starfighter, the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and the SR-71 Blackbird. He received more than forty aircraft design and achievement awards and honors (several twice). Included are two Collier trophies, two Theodore von Karman Awards, the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, two Sylvanus Albert Reed Awards and the Daniel Guggenheim Medal. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson presented him the nation’s highest civilian honor the Medal of Freedom. President Ronald Reagan honored Kelly Johnson with the National Security Medal in 1983 and the National Medal of technology in 1988. Kelly was enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974. The Kelly Johnson Skunk Works Award is established to honor and to perpetuate his qualities, accomplishments. and standards as a model of excellence to be aspired to by future generations of engineers pioneering progress of the future.
Nomination and selection for this award is made by the Engineers’ Council Board of Directors.
Robert H. Goddard Space Propulsion Pioneer Award
Dr. Robert H. Goddard was a physicist of great insight who envisioned the exploration of space and had a genius for invention. In childhood, Robert Goddard was intrigued by the chemical energy of pyrotechnic devices, and dreamed of harnessing their energy to produce propulsive power. In 1912, Dr. Goddard developed the mathematical theory of rocket propulsion as a research fellow at Princeton University, and at Clark University in 1915, proved experimentally that rockets could produce thrust in a vacuum in order to dispel the doubts of a less enlightened scientific community. A modest researcher who eschewed the public eye, he moved his research to Roswell, New Mexico, in 1930, where he built and tested liquid propulsion rockets which successfully achieved high altitude flights and demonstrated fin-stabilized flight control, and filed dozens of related patents, including gyroscopic guidance systems and multistage rockets. Dr. Goddard’s developments spawned the rocket industry that put the first Americans into space and the first humans on the Moon, and his legacy lives today in those who followed his pioneering work.
Nomination and selection for this award is made by the Engineers’ Council Board of Directors.
Theodore Von Kármán Mission Excelence Award
After making significant contributions to the sciences of mechanics, structures, fluid dynamics, and aeronautics in his native Hungary and in Germany, Von Kármán immigrated to the United States in 1930 to lead the Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, which he had helped to design. Under his leadership, the laboratory was a vital resource to the emerging Southern California aerospace industry, thrusting Caltech to national pre-eminence. In 1933, Von Kármán founded the United States Institute of Aeronautical Sciences to continue his theoretical research on fluid mechanics and supersonic flight, and in 1944 he established the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech. The first person to receive the National Medal of Science, Von Kármán’s theoretical aerodynamics and work in rocket research has shaped both scientific and political history.
Nomination and selection for this award is made by the Engineers’ Council Board of Directors.
Boeing Engineering Leadership Award
The Boeing Engineering Leadership Award was developed to recognize those who continue the pioneering spirit of aerospace industry founders by applying and leading engineering excellence.
Those recognized have made major contributions to the field of engineering, leadership of engineering programs, or other significant contributions to the engineering profession while demonstrating an ability to inspire others to make significant and major engineering contributions. The award recipients consistently model and demonstrate the ideals expressed in The Boeing Engineering Code and exhibit outstanding engineering discipline and excellence and are recognized engineering leaders.
Quality Engineer Of The Year
With this award, the Engineers’ Council in collaboration with American Society for Quality ASQ recognizes individuals who have achieved significant career accomplishments in the field of quality engineering. The effort being recognized may be for academic research, contract fulfillment, product development or purely for the internal operation of the nominating or sponsoring organization. The candidate must have at least five years of experience in a role devoted primarily to quality engineering. The recipient may be awarded this honor only once in their career.
If selected, the recipient will be presented the award at the upcoming Engineers’ Council Honors and Awards Banquet. Both the recipient and nominator are expected to attend as the guests of the nominating or sponsoring organization
