ISA salutes 2017 Fellows and Celebrating Excellence Award honorees

Summary

August 1, 2017—The International Society of Automation (ISA) is proud to announce those members elevated to the distinguished membership grade of Fellow and the Celebrating Excellence Award honorees for 2017, including Member’s Choice honorees chosen by their peers.

Elevation to the distinguished grade of ISA Fellow is granted to Senior Members in recognition of their exceptional engineering scientific contributions to the field of automation. ISA’s Celebrating Excellence Awards honor companies and individuals, both members and non-members, for significant contributions in leadership, technical innovation, and contributions to education that have advanced the profession. Award presentations will be made at the 55th Annual ISA Honors & Awards Gala on 29 October 2017 at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. 

2017 ISA Fellows Elevation to the distinguished grade of ISA Fellow is granted to ISA Senior Members in recognition of outstanding achievements in scientific or engineering fields as recognized by ISA peers.

Penny P. Chen, Ph.D. Communications Division Yokogawa Corp of America Mclean, Virginia, USA For innovation and leadership in industrial wireless as related to process automation and instrumentation

Gerald Combs, Ph.D. Analysis Division Retired (Siemens Industry) Kemp, Texas, USA For contributions to process analytical technologies for environmental monitoring

David L. Neal, PE Louisville Section Advanced Industrial Systems Inc. Harrods Creek, Kentucky, USA For contributions to the field of computer based programmable data acquisition and test systems

Brent Shumaker Power Industry Division Analysis & Measurement Services Corp. Knoxville, Tennessee, USA For development and implementation of online technologies to assess the health and remaining useful life of critical components in nuclear power plants

Iwan Van Beurden Chemical & Petroleum Industries Division Exida Sellersville, Pennsylvania, USA For development of probabilistic analysis safety verification data, methods, and tools used to improve the safety lifecycle in the process industries. 

2017 Celebrating Excellence Honors & Awards Program

Excellence in Leadership Recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to the industry and/or profession to advance automation

Judith F. Marks Siemens USA Washington D.C., USA For taking a leading role in STEM issues through apprenticeships to fill the skills shortage in manufacturing 

Excellence in Analytical Technical Innovation (Endowed by the ISA Analysis Division) Recognizes an individual who has played a critical role in the conception, design, and/or implementation of an innovative product, process, and/or service in the analytical technology field

Dale Harrison, Ph.D. VUV Analytics Cedar Park, TX USA For his contributions in the development of vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy instruments  

Excellence in Technical Innovation (Endowed by UOP, a Honeywell Company) Recognizes an individual who has played a critical role in the conception, design, and/or implementation of an innovative product, process, and/or service

Manikandan Pandiyan Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore, Karnataka, India In recognition for developing a portable real-time Electrocardiogram device for local on-chip data acquisition of health parameters and remote diagnosis

Excellence in Corporate Technical Innovation Recognizes the company whose contributions and innovations have enhanced social value

APERIO Systems Haifa, Israel For developing an innovative solution in recognizing and protecting Industrial Control Systems against data forgery

Excellence in Technical Presentation Recognizes the author(s) of the most outstanding paper, article, presentation, or document published and/or presented on behalf of ISA that introduces a new technology or explains an existing automation process

Cyrus Taft Taft Engineering Harriman, TN, USA   John Sorge Southern Company Birmingham, AL, USA Mircea Lupu  Emerson Process Management Pittsburgh, PA, USA Rick Kephart Emerson Process Management Pittsburgh, PA, USA  For paper, “Application of Model Predictive Control to Improve Steam Temperature Control on a Pulverized-Coal Unit,” presented at ISA’s 59th Power Industry Division Symposium

Excellence in Education Recognizes an individual who has developed and/or enhanced established educational programs to advance the automation profession in educational institutions

Chetan B. Bhatt  Government Engineering College Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India For developing university courses in India using the Automation Competency Model and developing Web-based Intelligent tutoring system for I&CT students

Excellence in Enduring Service Recognizes dedicated volunteer service to the Society at the grassroots level. May be presented to multiple (up to five) honorees 

Kenneth Belteau Process Measurement and Control Division Spectra Energy Transmission LLC Kingwood, TX, USA For outstanding service and contributions to the Society and its members  M. Venkatram Maharashtra Section The Tata Electric Power Co. Airoli, Maharashtra, India For outstanding service and contributions to the Society and its members  Richard O. Williams Process Measurement and Control Division Cypress, TX, USA For outstanding service and contributions to the Society and its members

Division Excellence Recognizes an ISA division for development and/or execution of programs and/or services to advance the mission of the Society

The division will be revealed at the Gala. The top three nominees are:

Analysis Division For promotion of student participation at the 61st ISA Analytical Division Symposium through collaboration with local colleges that hold analyzer and instrumentation certificate programs

Food and Pharmaceutical Industries Division For organizing ISA Food and Pharmaceutical Industries Division Symposium in collaboration with the Ireland Section, and promoting society goals

Process Control and Measurement Division For collaboration with ChemPID, Safety, Pulp and Paper, Communication, and Education and Management divisions in organizing 2016 ISA Process Control and Safety Symposium

Section Excellence Recognizes an ISA section for development and/or execution of programs and/or services to advance the mission of the Society

The section will be revealed at the Gala. The top three nominees are: Bangalore Section For hosting the Food Safety Symposium, attended by automation experts to discuss technical solutions, and for organizing 8 technical presentations   Ireland Section   For hosting the third ISA International FPID Symposium in Ireland and conducting training courses on alarm management and security Texas Channel  For reactivating a student section, sponsoring student team's travel to the International Instrumentation Student games and adopting two FIRST^® robotics teams

Standards Excellence Recognizes an ISA standards committee member for exceptional efforts in organization, development and/or administration to further the development of ISA standards and for services to advance the mission of the Society

Nicholas P. Sands, CAP  ISA18.2  DuPont Newark, DE, USA  For years of dedication to ISA standards, and especially the development of ISA18.2 

Member’s Choice Award Honorees Member’s Choice candidates are nominated by the members and honorees are selected by vote of the members.

Division Leader of the Year Recognizes a division leader whose activities in the previous year, in an innovative way, have provided exceptional value to a division, or enhanced an existing conference and/or symposia, or contributed to the development of a new conference and/or symposia

Sohail Iftikhar  Chemical and Petroleum Industries Division  Honeywell Process Solutions Houston, TX, USA  

Section Leader of the Year Recognizes a section leader whose activities in the previous year, in an innovative way, provided exceptional value to a local section

Rajesh Rathi  Bangalore Section  Control Infotech Ltd. Bangalore, Karnataka, India  

Student Mentor of the Year Recognizes a member whose activities in the previous year have promoted and encouraged student involvement in automation programs

S. Vivekanandan South India Section  VIT University Vellore Thiruvannamalai, Tamilnadu, India  

Volunteer Leader of the Year Recognizes a member who in the previous year has demonstrated exceptional leadership of a task force, committee, or board at any level within the Society (section, division, district, department, executive) resulting in a specific positive outcome

Veena Hegde, Ph.D.  Bangalore Section BMS College of Engineering Bangalore, Karnataka, India

About ISA The International Society of Automation is a nonprofit professional association that sets the standard for those who apply engineering and technology to improve the management, safety, and cybersecurity of modern automation and control systems used across industry and critical infrastructure. Founded in 1945, ISA develops widely used global standards; certifies industry professionals; provides education and training; publishes books and technical articles; hosts conferences and exhibits; and provides networking and career development programs for its 40,000 members and 400,000 customers around the world. 

ISA owns Automation.com, a leading online publisher of automation-related content, and is the founding sponsor of The Automation Federation, an association of non-profit organizations serving as “The Voice of Automation.” Through a wholly owned subsidiary, ISA bridges the gap between standards and their implementation with the ISA Security Compliance Institute and the ISA Wireless Compliance Institute