HONORS & AWARDS COMMITTEE
WILLIAM T. COUSINS, CHAIR
William Cousins, Ph.D., is the Principal for Aerodynamic Technology Consulting LLC, a firm specializing in Turbomachinery, Thermal-Fluid Systems, and Education.
Previously, Dr. Cousins was a Fellow at the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), where he recently retired. He provided leadership in project execution, technical direction, identification of strategic opportunities, leveraging of external relationships, and staff technical guidance and mentoring.
Cousins earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, where he also served as a faculty member for six years.
He started his industry career in 1985 with Garrett Turbine Engine Company (now Honeywell – Engines and Systems) in the area of compression system design and operability, and then spent ten years at Pratt and Whitney in the Performance Systems and Analysis Group. As a Senior Fellow Discipline Lead, he moved from Pratt and Whitney to UTRC in 2011 to support ongoing programs in axial and centrifugal compressor technology and was the principal investigator on many industrial and governmental programs.
He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a Life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Cousins served on the Board of Governors of the ASME, and held many leadership positions in the ASME and in the International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI).
He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers, received numerous awards for his work, and holds multiple U.S. and international patents in the areas of compression system aerodynamics and flow control.
AIRCRAFT ENGINE TECHNOLOGY AWARD COMMITTEE
WILFRIED VISSER, CHAIR
Wilfried Visser is a private consultant with 30 years of experience in aircraft propulsion, gas turbine and energy technology.
He worked at NLR National Aerospace Laboratory for 18 years on aero engine design and aircraft propulsion system performance analysis and simulation. Since 1999 he has been working as a part-time lecturer at Delft University.
He has developed the GSP Gas turbine Simulation Program (www.gspteam.com), a flexible object-oriented modelling tool for both aero engines and industrial gas turbines, that is well recognized and used in the gas turbine community. At MTT Micro Turbine Technology, he has led the development of a 3kW micro turbine for Combined Heat and Power applications.
His current work focuses on the design and development of gas turbines running on renewable fuels, condition monitoring systems and advanced system modelling and simulation tools.
Presently he is the past chair of the ASME IGTI Aircraft Engine Committee.
INDUSTRIAL GAS TURBINE TECHNOLOGY AWARD COMMITTEE
JOHN GÜLEN, CHAIR
Dr. John Gülen, ASME Fellow, a Senior Principal Engineer in Bechtel's Infrastructure unit, is an internationally recognized expert in steam and gas turbine combined cycle systems and thermal power plant engineering with numerous patents and publications to his credit. Dr. Gülen's contributions include development of heat balance software at Thermoflow, design, optimization, and testing of combined cycle systems with FB and H class gas turbines at General Electric and technical assessment of novel power generation technologies at Bechtel.
He was named a Bechtel Fellow in 2018.
Dr. Gülen received his PhD degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a licensed professional engineer.