John J. Montgomery Aerospace Medal
The John J. Montgomery Aerospace Medal recognizes outstanding contribution of an individual engineer who has researched, designed or developed (or any combination thereof) new technologies or equipment for the aerospace industry, i.e., propulsion, aerospace structure/materials, stability and control, etc. As a professional in industry, each recipient will have significantly contributed to aeronautics and astronautics, and the engineering community at large.
The individual will have demonstrated originality, forward-thinking, and a thirst for innovation. The individual will have helped to revolutionize the industry and open the door for greater progress in the field.
The John J. Montgomery Aerospace Medal established in 2023 by the Aerospace Division and operated as a division award until 2025 when it was elevated to a Society award.
2026 Recipient
Fuh-Gwo Yuan
Samuel P. Langley Distinguished Professor
NC State University
Achievement: Innovative computer vision and machine learning techniques for imaging barely-visible impact damage in composite structures in support of certification for structural health monitoring of aerospace structures.
Biography: Professor Yuan received his B.S. in Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. After receiving MS and Ph.D. from Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Yuan has been teaching at Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, USA. He worked at Boeing Co. and Air Force Research Laboratory. Since 2011, he has served as a Samuel P. Langley Distinguished Professor at National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), Hampton, Virginia. Prof. Yuan spent half of his career working at NASA Langley Research Center in the design and optimization of lightweight aerospace vehicles such as Boeing or Airbus commercial planes.
His research interests related to aerospace and defense industries include structural health monitoring/management (SHM), nondestructive evaluation (NDE), artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML), multi-functional materials and composite structures design, nano/meso scale sensors, advanced computing tools with smart sensors, damage prognosis, and energy harvesting. He has authored or co-authored close to 400 publications and has mentored over 100 individuals ranging from Ph.D. students to visiting scholars.
Prof. Yuan's transformative innovations in structural health monitoring (SHM) have been recognized through many national and international honors and awards. Recently, he received the 2025 Life Achievement Award in SHM and the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award in Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) from the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). In this SHM community, Yuan was also awarded the 2023 SHM Hans-Juergen Schmidt Award and the 2013 SHM Person of the Year Award. In 2023, he received R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University.
In addition to his research accomplishments, Yuan is a gifted educator beloved by all those he has advised over the years and his students have even spanned generations. He has had a father and son who both received their Ph.D. degrees under his advisory. Also, there is a family whose three brothers all have worked with him to earn the Ph.D. His dedication to training and advising many students who became civil servants at LaRC earned him a NASA Mentoring Award in 2018.
Prof. Yuan is a Fellow of three professional societies: the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and Royal Aeronautical Society (RaeS). He serves as Manager Editor of the International Journal of Sustainable Materials and Structural Systems as well as serves on an Associated Editor of two journals and five Editorial Boards.
Dedicated Service Award
In 1983, the ASME Board of Governors approved the establishment of the ASME Dedicated Service Award (DSA). It honors unusual dedicated voluntary service to the Society marked by outstanding performance, demonstrated effective leadership, prolonged and committed service, devotion, enthusiasm and faithfulness. The award may be presented to selected individuals who have served the Society for at least ten years in one or more of the following areas: Standards and Certification; Public Affairs & Outreach; Section Engagement; Technical & Engineering Communities; Student & Early Career Development; Board of Governors; ASME Foundation; and The ASME Auxiliary, Inc.
2026 Recipient
Erkan Oterkus
Faculty Member
Stony Brook University
Achievement: Professor Oterkus has provided exceptional leadership and service to ASME for 10+ years. He has made significant contributions to ASME activities as the General Chair of ASME SSDM Conference, ASME Europe Region Leader, and Member of ASME Section Engagement Council.
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ASME/Boeing Structures and Materials Award
The ASME Aerospace Division Structures and Materials Technical Committee has reviewed the papers published at the 2025 ASME Aerospace Structures, Structural Dynamics, Materials Conference. On the basis of originality and significance to the field, the paper titled "Probabilistic Physics-Guided Machine Learning with Missing Data: Applications in Additive Manufacturing" has been identified as the winner of the Boeing Structures and Materials Award.
Congratulations to the Authors:
Jie Chen, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Yongming Liu, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
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The Spirit of St. Louis Medal
The Spirit of St. Louis Medal is awarded for meritorious service in the advancement of aeronautics and astronautics. The medal was established in 1929 by Philip D. Ball, ASME Members, and Citizens of St. Louis, Missouri.
2026 Recipient
Azad Madni, Ph.D
University Professor
University of Southern California
Achievement: Pioneering contributions to model-based performance assessment of NASA Space Shuttle Navigation Filters, pivotal work in AI-Based planning and decision aiding of fighter aircraft aircrew, and visionary transformation and leadership in aerospace systems engineering education.
Biography: As lead GN&C engineer at Rockwell International on NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, he made key contributions to the shuttle navigation performance analysis and Kalman filter design: a) a cost-effective probabilistic model-based testing approach to verify navigation system performance; b) stochastic models of external navigation aids for use in navigation filter; c) Kalman filter trade studies for navigation system; and d) evaluation of IMU redundancy management techniques. For these innovations, he received the IEEE AESS Judith A. Resnik Space Award.
As EVP for R&D and CTO of Perceptronics, he pioneered AI advances for fighter aircraft tactical decision aiding on Navy-, DARPA-, and Northrop-sponsored research. His tactical decision aid was adopted by the Navy to teach F-14 aircrew air intercept operations. For these innovations, he received the IEEE AESS Pioneer Award.
As founder and Chief Technologist of Intelligent Systems Technology, Inc., he transformed system modeling from an open-loop deterministic approach into a storytelling-enabled closed-loop learning approach. For this innovation, he received the INCOSE Pioneer Award and IEEE AESS Industrial Innovation Award.
Present Responsibilities: As University Professor (highest academic rank), and Executive Director of USC’s Systems Architecting and Engineering aerospace program, he transformed the educational paradigm to become transdisciplinary. Currently expanding engineering to embrace concepts from AI, cognitive psychology, digital twinning and physics. For these successful innovations, he received the NAE’s Gordon Prize and the IEEE Simon Ramo Medal.
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Librescu Student Award and Librescu Poster Session
In addition to regular, invited, track keynote, and plenary talks delivered at ASME’s Annual Aerospace Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (SSDM), a new activity will be initiated as a poster session which will allow students from any level (BSc, MSc, and PhD) to present their research in the form of posters that will be held during the first day of the conference. A chair will be assigned to coordinate the organisation of the poster session by the SSDM Conference Chair Committee.
In addition, a student award will also be delivered to a student who is the lead author of the best poster. For the selection of the best poster, the chair of the poster session will setup a team of judges which will evaluate the posters based on design of the poster (25 points), content of the poster (25 points), student's presentation (25 points), and student's ability to answer questions of the judges (25 points). Each poster will be evaluated by two judges, and the final score will be calculated based on the average scores of the two judges. If there is a draw in the scores of the posters which receive top scores, multiple awards will be provided. The award will be in the form of a certificate which will be provided to the awarded student(s) at the award ceremony of the SSDM conference.
The poster session and award will be named as "Librescu Poster Session" and "Librescu Student Poster Award" for the memory of Prof. Liviu Librescu who has made significant contributions to the aerospace field throughout his distinguished academic career and his heroic action during the tragic event happened at Virginia Tech in 2007.
To participate you need to submit a poster submission by February 23rd.