AFRL engineer receives Agency Engineer of the Year Award
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — The National Society of Professional Engineers recently held the Federal Engineer of the Year Award Agency-level competition.The award is sponsored by the Professional Engineers in Government which is an advocacy group of the NSPE. The distinction honors engineers employed by a federal agency that employs at least 50 engineers worldwide.
As a recipient of the agency-level award, Bob Ware of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will compete for the Federal Engineer of the Year Award, which is the organization’s highest level award.
Ware is a Principal Failure Analyst in the Systems Support Division of the AFRL. He supports U.S. Air Force safety investigations to identify the root cause of each failure, enabling him to advocate for the corrective actions which will prevent recurrence of each mishap.
In addition to his role as a safety investigator, Ware regularly supports routine materials and processing questions arising during current aircraft production. He actively supports the Mechanical Equipment Subsystems Integrity Program, as an avenue to transfer lessons learned to other Department of Defense, Air Force and commercial platforms.
Ware’s award nomination covers 30 years of contributions to determining root cause of incidences and lessons learned to prevent future incidences.
Within the last three years, Ware directly supported over 30 Air Force Safety Investigation Boards in which he determined the failure modes of mishap-related aerospace components, developed appropriate corrective actions and advocated for their use in an effort to mitigate safety critical issues endangering over 25,000 combat Airmen and the availability of key Air Force assets.
“My teammates and I consider it an honor to be entrusted with such an important mission,” said Ware. “I’m amazed by how many different ways engineers in the Air Force and across federal service contribute, and I am humbled to be recognized among them.”
Segrid Harris, Materials Integrity Branch Chief of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate nominated Ware and said, “Ware’s name immediately came to mind when I saw the nomination package.” “He’s a phenomenal engineer with a meticulous eye for detail.”
Ware, along with 31 other recipients from 13 agencies across the federal government, will compete for the NSPE Federal Engineer of the Year Award on Feb. 22, 2019, in Washington D.C.