HATS 2008 Professionals of the Year

HATS 2008 Professionals of the Year
September 9, 2008
Alabama Space and Rocket Center

The Huntsville Association of Technical Societies (HATS) honored 21 recipients at its third annual Professionals of the Year (POY) Awards Dinner on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center.

The Huntsville Association of Technical Societies was founded June 17, 1969, as a nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization comprised of technical and professional societies dedicated to the advancement of science and engineering. Its mission is to help coordinate the professional, educational, and civic activities of Member organizations and to promote common goals, particularly those that can best be performed by cooperative action. HATS sponsored technical and business exhibitions and symposia (TABES and TEAMS) during the period, 1985-2005. These served the local business and technical communities by providing a forum for displaying their products and talents to the international community. Since 1988, the HATS STEDTRAIN Seed Grant Program has provided 278 individual grants and over $286,000 to K-12 programs for learning activities, such as hands-on science projects. This year twenty-two HATS STEDTRAIN 2008-2009 Grant recipients were guests courtesy of donors. Each teacher gave a brief overview of the Grant projects.

Mr. Albert Joseph Fitzgerald received a HATS Service Award for his many years (20+) of service to HATS, its many Member organizations, and the Huntsville community.

Bill Wahlheim, HATS Past President and Board Advisor, Joe Fitzgerald,
HATS Past President, POY emcee, and twice POY recipient.

Jeet Gupta, Ph.D., HATS President, Joe Fitzgerald, HATS
Past President, POY emcee, and twice POY recipient.

This year 20 professionals were nominated and selected for the HATS POY Award by their Member organizations for outstanding contributions toward the mission of their awarding organization. Because the professional activities of these professionals have resulted in broad social, technological, and/or economical consequences benefiting the science and engineering community, it is fitting that their hard work has been recognized. Their extraordinary dedication, creativity, and leadership will be an inspiration to all.

The 2008 Professionals of the Year

Left to Right: Seated -- Vicki Kitchens, Society of Cost Estimating & Analysis (SCEA), Emily Hewitt,
HAL5 Society, Dr. Philomena Grodzka, Huntsville Association of Technical Societies (HATS)

Standing – Joseph (Joe)Fitzgerald, HATS Service Award, Melissa Snider, Von Braun Astronomical Society (VBAS), Nick Giordano, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Bob Darnall, National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), James Blanteno, System Safety Society (SSS), Dr. Frankie Stewart, Women in Defense (WID), David Hewitt, HAL5 Society, Bob Robinson, Institute of Electronic & Electrical Engineers (IEEE) POY and the 2008 Recipient of the HATS Joseph C. Moquin Award, Allen Green, Program Management Institute (PMI-NSC), Morton Archibald, Alabama Solar Association (ASA), Troy Daugette, Calhoun Community College - SpaceTEC, Staff Sergeant Robert Bryan Henderson, Association of the United States Army (AUSA), Ed Martin, American Helicopter Society (AHS), Mike Swensen, American Society for Quality (ASQ).

No Photo: Jim Marks, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) [Accepted by Nick Giordano] , Steve Kuffner, Army Space & Missile Defense Association (ASMDA), Kurt Weidenthal, Society Logistics Engineers (SOLE)[accepted by Bob Hardison], Don Sanders, Huntsville Aerospace Marketing Association (HAMA).

The 2008 Joseph C. Moquin Award, named for one of Huntsville’s most outstanding technical and business leaders throughout the past 50 years, was presented to Robert (Bob) Robinson of the Institute of Electronic & Electrical Engineers (IEEE) in recognition for his extraordinary technical contribution to the North Alabama technical community. This award is selected each year from among the Professional of the Year honorees.

Left to Right: Jeet Gupta, Ph.D., HATS President, William (Bill) Craig, Ph.D.,
the 2006 Recipient of the HATS Joseph C. Moquin Award, Robert (Bob) Robinson, IEEE POY
and the 2008 Recipient of the HATS Joseph C. Moquin Award.

The special guest speaker, Dave Christensen, Space Industry Historian & Space Exploration Pioneer, gave the slide presentation “The History of the US Space Program” and discussed his activities to document the many historical documents from individual and group sources.

Dave Christensen

2008 POY emcee, Jerry Hayes, WHNT-TV Channel 19 News Anchor

Click here for a copy of the script for the HATS 2008 Professionals of the Year Awards Banquet.

The POY08 Script is online. Video DVDs and photo CDs available.

Huntsville Association of Technical Societies (HATS)
www.hats.org
Email: poy hats.org

Photos and Video by Woody Williams