The George Mandel Memorial Award was established in 1989 by the Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division in memory of George Mandel, who passed away on July 16, 1989. George Mandel was a member of the aerospace industry library community for 30 years. At the time of his death in 1989, he was the Chief of the Technical Information Services Division at the NASA Lewis Research Center. He served as Chair of the Aerospace Division in 1977-78 and also as a project chair; Mandel was the driving force behind the compilation and publishing of the NASA N Numbers to DOD AD Numbers. This award was established to preserve the goals of the Aerospace Section and to keep alive George’s belief that participating in professional organizations is important for an individual’s growth and development.

Since 2003 the George Mandel Memorial Award has been co-sponsored by George Mandel’s son, Dr. David Mandel and the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics who together provide financial support to qualified Aerospace Section members so they may attend and/or participate in an SLA annual conference or educational program.

Qualifications

A nominee must be a current member in good standing of the Aerospace Section for at least one year.

Current members on the George Mandel Memorial Award selection committee are ineligible to nominate candidates or be nominated. In addition, past recipients of the award are generally ineligible for nomination, except in the event of momentous contributions.

The nomination of an individual or an applicant’s self-nomination should be based on at least one of the following criteria:

• Presented or will present a paper at the annual conference, served or will serve on the annual conference program planning committee, has or will be a speaker or panel member (but not a moderator) of a program at conference, and lead or led a continuing education segment at a conference.
• Become or be elected as chair of the section, an officer of the Engineering Division, or a member of any of the boards or committees of the SLA, or have participated actively in or contributed significantly to Aerospace Section activities.
• Made significant contributions to the profession through place of employment or publications.
• Received an award for outstanding service from his/her employer in the aerospace industry.

An application or nomination may be made to the chair of the awards committee, Barbara Williams at: barbaraw@mit.edu by January 17, 2012. Any section member may submit a nomination, and self-nominations are welcome, too.

Award Selection Committee

The 2011-2012 George Mandel Memorial Award Committee members are:

• Andrea Davis (Dudley Knox Library)
• Gale Harris (2011 Recipient of the George Mandel Memorial Award)
• Edna Paulson (NASA Center for AeroSpace Information)
• Adrianne Washburn (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
• Barbara Williams (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Procedures

Nominations must be received by January 17, 2012. Each nomination must include a brief justification of why the nominee is considered meritorious, and include the nominee’s current Curriculum vitae. Applicants will be notified of award status by January 30, 2012.

The winner must attend the Aerospace business meeting at the Annual SLA Conference on July 18, 2012, in Chicago, Illinois, to receive the award.

An announcement of the award winner will be placed in the Spring issue of Sci-Tech News as well as on the email lists of the Section and the Division.

Type of Award

A check for $1000 ($U.S.) is given to the recipient.

Presentation

The section Chair will present the George Mandel Memorial Award at the annual business meeting of the Aerospace Section. The recipient will be notified before the annual conference of the presentation.

Past Winners of the George Mandel Award are:

1991: Tom Pinelli (NASA – Langley)
1992: Phyllis Fischer (McDonnell Douglas Corp)
1993: not given
1994: Don Welch (Bell Helicopter)
1995: Sandy S. Moltz (General Electric)
1996: Stanley A. Elman
1997: No archive records
1998: No archive records
1999: No archive records
2000: Kathy Harkness (Boeing)
2001: No archive records
2002: Susan Winstanley (International Aviation)
2003: Corrine Campbell (Boeing)
2004: Margaret (Peggy) Carr
2005: Eileen Dorschner 2006: Janna Jantz (Lockheed Martin)
2007: Mary Crompton (Northrop Grumman)
2008: Kathy Nordhaus (Raytheon)
2009: Joan Dubis (Boeing)
2010: Diane Brenes (Boeing)
2011: Gale Harris (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)