• Junior Engineer of the Year - Scott A. Bullock

• Junior Scientist of the Year - Barbara Mayes

• Senior Engineer of the Year -  Lyle E. Stephens

• Senior Scientist of the Year - John Maas

• Lifetime Achievement Award - Charles R. Luther

• Society of the Year - Society of Women Engineers (SWE)

Junior Engineer of the Year:

Scott A. Bullock, P.E.

Mr. Bullock is employed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District as a Hydraulic Engineer. He has distinguished himself in many dangerous engineering assignments in Iraq and emergency Hurricane assistance in United States. As a construction management specialist for the 389th Engineer Combat Battalion, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for exceptionally meritorious service while serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Additionally, he is a recent recipient of the Superior Civilian Service Award for exceptionally meritorious service while serving as project engineer, Tikrit Area Office, North District in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During his tour of duty, he administered $23 million Dollars of construction projects in Iraq, brought clean water to 120,000 people for the first time, and administrated 15 Iraqi Quality Control Engineers.

Mr. Bullock has been an active member of the community including in teaching Junior Achievement, coaching the “Little Rocks” 5th and 6th grade football, volunteer honor guard, rifle squadron, and ball bearer for military funerals. In addition, he has attended monthly Society of American Military Engineers - University of Iowa Student Chapter and College Outreach meetings to discuss engineering - military or civilian, related questions students have.

Mr. Bullock is a member and actively involved with the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Rock Island Post since 1998. He is currently the Junior Vice President and Mentor Program Chairman. He has also been a member and actively involved with the Order of the Engineers, Link 177 - Rock Island District Corps of Engineers since 2002. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Valparaiso University along with being a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Iowa. He is a resident of Milan, IL.

Junior Scientist of the Year:

Barbara Mayes

Ms. Mayes is currently a Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Davenport, Iowa. She overcame a childhood fear of storms to become a recognized expert in climatology and severe weather. She has conducted national workshops for climate services; has participated in drought and severe weather studies; and is an accomplished author. She is passionately committed to the advancement of science.

Ms. Mayes is an accomplished author with numerous publications, including 14 with the American Meteorological Society (AMS).

Ms. Mayes has been active in the local community by conducting basic and advance spotter training at schools, civic groups, and fire departments along with being the local leader for CoCoRaHS, a volunteer community weather reporting program. In addition, she has been an assistant facilitator for the Bring Your Child to Work Day program.

Ms. Mayes is a member of the American Meteorological Society along with the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science, with a double major in Earth Science with a Meteorology concentration and Geography, and a Bachelor of Arts in English. She also has a Master of Science in Meteorology from Penn State University with her thesis: Modeling the extratropical transition of Hurricane Irene. She lives in Davenport and where she enjoys storm chasing, traveling, watching sports, and walking her dog.

Senior Engineer of the Year:

Lyle E. Stephens

Mr. Stephens is a Staff Engineer at the John Deere’s Technology and Innovation Center in Moline. With 30 years of service at John Deere, he is an accomplished engineer in the application of soil dynamics to seeding, tillage, and earthmoving equipment and more recently in the emerging area of biomass utilization. He holds five US and two foreign patents on seed planting technology. In addition to the many accomplishments at John Deere, he has providing outstanding leadership in his profession both locally as Section President and as the National President of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).

Mr. Stephens has been active in the community including participating in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) “A World in Motion” program with the Geneseo public schools.

Mr. Stephens has been a member the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) since 1971 and has held numerous offices at the National and local section level including: National President and VP, Chair of the Annual Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference and local Section Chair. He has four separate National Presidential Citations from ASABE including for outstanding service as Publications Director and for service to the society and leadership as chair of the ASABE Centennial Task Force to commemorate ASABE’s 100th Anniversary. He was named as the Fellow in ASABE in 1992. He holds degrees in BS and MS in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Illinois and a PHD in Ag Engineering from Purdue University. Mr. Stephens lives in Moline with his wife Jan and they have two grown children.

Senior Scientist of the Year:

John Haase

Mr. Haase is currently a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) Office in Davenport, Iowa where he is recognized for being a dedicated scientist in the field of meteorology, providing leadership, enthusiasm, and expertise to the staff. He shares his love of science with the media, his peers, and the public though outreach activities, presentations and technical papers.

Mr. Haase has received 42 awards since 1993 at the National Weather Service. In addition to numerous awards for accurate forecasts, John was the recipient of a National Weather Service Bronze Medal award for outreach activities while at Aberdeen, SD; and he received two NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Outstanding Unit awards for exceptional service to the public during major flooding events while at Milwaukee, WI and Jackson, KY. He also received the Honorary Kentucky Colonel award (1984) from the Governor of the State of Kentucky for exceptional service to the public during major flooding while at Jackson, KY.

Mr. Haas has been active in the various communities he has lived including most recently in the Quad Cities. This includes being the NWS representative at safety/career fairs, providing science related educational information at spotter talks to law enforcement, fire departments, civic organizations, ham radio operators, and schools. He has presented the NWS at the Quad City Quality Learning Network meetings and shared expertise during radio, telephone, and television interviews including recently with WHBF TV Channel 4 on severe weather.

Our Senior Scientist of the Year is a member of the American Meteorological Society for the last 16 years. He holds a BS in Meteorology from Northern Illinois University and is a local graduate of Davenport West High School and currently resides in Davenport.

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Charles R. Luther

Charles R. Luther was presented the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding, life-long contributions to the Engineering and Science Profession and Service to the Quad Cities Community. This includes his work and energy with the Quad City and Engineering Council which has been selfless and inspirational.

Mr. Luther has been a long time member of the QCESC and is currently the Executive Director Emeritus. He is a longtime member and past president of the local chapter of the Instrument Society of America (ISA) and was the inspiration and driving force behind the annual ISA Instrument and Control Fair held in the Quad Cities. This fair attracted many professionals and provided significant funding for ISA. Mr. Luther is also a lifetime member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Mr. Luther was born in Watseka Minnesota in 1920, with his first airplane ride in a Stinson Reliant SR-9 in 1935. In 1940 he started classes at the University of Minnesota on the fast track to earn credits and take officers training in the Navy Air school. Since he was in the top 10% of his class, he was offered a position in the newly formed Marine Air Unit and like many of the “Greatest Generation” he entered Military during WWII as a Marine, and was soon flying combat missions across the Pacific Theater. He, and his crew were credited with sinking 14 Japanese Ships, and downing 3 Zero’s. Additionally, he knew and flew with Pappy Boyington and the famed Black Sheep squadron of the USMC.

Mr. Luther was in the Marines for 6 years and retired as a Captain in 1949. After leaving the service, he returned to finish his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1949. After graduation, he took a job with Iowa Illinois Gas and Electric, the for-runner of MidAmerican Energy, and moved to the Quad Cities, then known as the Tri-Cities.

Mr. Luther worked as an Electrical Engineer and Communications specialist for the next 36 years, until his retirement in 1985. In addition to his Engineering duties, and because Pilots were in short supply, he was often called on to shuttle planes and people across the IIGE service territory.; that is until his Supervisor laid down the law that Charles had been hired to be an Engineer and not a pilot.

In spite of that, his love for airplanes and flying has never wavered.

In 2000, Mr. Luther lost his beloved wife of 57 years, Betty Marie.

Mr. Luther is also very active in the community and local schools. For years he has helped with lighting, sound systems, and electronics for events at JFK and Assumption HS.

Charles R. Luther. Left  Receiving Award from Chris Hebel, QCESC President

 

Society of the Year Award:

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) – Quad Cities/Muscatine Section was selected as the 2006 QCESC Society of the Year. SWE was founded nationally in 1950 currently with nearly100 professional sections and 300 student sections. The local chapter was established in 2002 where they serve people in the Quad Cities and Muscatine areas with local membership of 28 and growing. Their mission is to stimulate their members to achieve their full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life and demonstrate the value of diversity.

The selection of SWE as the Society of Year was based on the excellent service it is providing its local members, its support of engineering and science in the local community, and the on-going support it has provided the Quad City Engineering and Science Council. This includes providing volunteers for the last four years for the Festival of Trees, coordinating volunteers for JA Job Shadow Day, providing judges for Invent Iowa, participating in Connecting Day (part of E-Week) by visiting middle schools talking about Engineering and donating money to support the Iowa State University Solar Car at Bald Eagles Day in Rock Island.

In 2006, they were given a National Award from their Society for the Best Print Newsletter for small sections.

Further information about SWE is available at it’s website @ http://www.swe.org/SWE/RegionH/Sections/Quad_Cities/

Angel Jacobs (Section Rep.) - Paula Raney (President) - Nancy Shell (Treasurer)