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AUVSI Foundation
The AUVSI Foundation is a tax-exempt, 501(c)3 public charity that was established to support the AUVSI Student Competitions, among other activities. The goals of the Foundation are:
- To sponsor, promote and conduct charitable, educational and scientific activities designed to increase public awareness of unmanned systems technology.
- To promote public education in the field of unmanned systems technology through discussion groups, forums, panels and other programs.
- To provide grants to aid in the formal training and education of individuals in unmanned systems technology.
Contributions
Contributions to the AUVSI Foundation are tax-deductible. Contributions may be in the form of monetary donations, assets, stocks, bonds and other items of value.
2007 AUVSI Foundation Awards Program
The annual tradition continued in Washington, DC this August as four distinguished individuals were recognized for their contributions to AUVSI and the unmanned systems industry as a whole. Prior to the conference, members from around the world submitted numerous nominations in four award categories: Al Aube Outstanding Contributor Award, Member of the Year, Operations Award, and Pioneer Award. Descriptions of the four awards and a brief biography of each winner are below.
I. The Al Aube Outstanding Contributor Award recognizes an AUVSI member who plays a pivotal role in the advancement of unmanned vehicle systems and should be a leader in his/her industry, dedicated to the promotion of unmanned technologies.
Award Recipient - Eduardo Yakin is a physicist and President of Hydra Technologies, a 100% Mexican firm dedicated to the design and development of Mexican unmanned aerial systems. He is the founder of three other companies dedicated to R&D of technologies related to physical and document security. One of them, WernerPegasus, earned the Cardtech's coveted Larry Linden Award for Innovative Security in 2001.
A tireless promoter of UAS in civilian, law enforcement and military applications, he has been successful in gathering all the necessary forces to make the development and use of unmanned aerial systems a reality in Mexico. From the beginning of the design and development stage, Mr. Yakin has consistently invited universities to participate on this project. Student participation in the project includes undergraduates and individuals pursuing Masters and Doctoral degrees in Engineering and Physics, who bring their talent and expertise while, at the same time, are able to learn from this innovative endeavor.
Putting his personal security at risk under these circumstances, Mr. Yakin has been the main promoter of the benefits of UAS technology as a force multiplier and surveillance tool with multiple applications: protection of territorial waters, monitoring of illegal logging, power line supervision, drug field detection, contraband and illegal immigration. All these unlawful activities represent illicit profits totaling hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
II. The Pioneer Award distinguishes an AUVSI member or non-member whose innovative ideas and ground-breaking research have contributed to the development of outstanding unmanned vehicle systems.
Award Recipient - In just two decades, Mr. Al Nease has delivered to the U.S. Air Force a unique state-of-the-art robotic laboratory, several unmanned vehicles that are deployed worldwide and saving lives, a software architecture system adopted by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and recruitment of innovative ideas by aspiring engineers. Mr. Nease’s strategic leadership, program management, and close liaisons with the USAF have led to the success of his career and the efforts he proposed.
Mr. Nease's groundbreaking achievement in robotic platforms is the (ARTS). Responding to the USAF need to protect civil engineering and EOD personnel from hazardous situations, Mr. Nease constructed a team that developed the All-Purpose Remote Transport System (ARTS). It is a low-cost, survivable platform accomplishing both force protection and active range clearance activities worldwide.
Al Nease is innovative and a pioneer creating a visionary team that produces robotics that protect and enhance today's American soldier.
III. The Member of the Year Award recognizes an exceptionally dedicated AUVSI member who has demonstrated his/her commitment to advancing unmanned systems through the promotion of AUVSI’s member services to the unmanned systems community.
Award Recipient - Mr. Joe Brannan has provided significant service to AUVSI as a member with both public commitments and behind-the-scenes assistance. He served on AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America Committee for five years and as a Technical Chair for two years. He has provided expertise and dedication serving as the Safety Director/Air Operations for all four of the Biennial Unmanned Systems Demos. His knowledge of unmanned air systems and operations was vital to his role as AUVSI's Unmanned Systems Program Review Chair for Air Day in 2005 and assistance with Air Day in 2006. He demonstrated his dedication to AUVSI serving as a 2004-2007 member of the Board of Directors and has participated on the Nominating and Finance Committees. Joe also furthered AUVSI's membership goals by serving on the Seafarer Chapter BOD for a second term and as Chapter Secretary for two years. He also provided mentorship for the stand-up of the AUVSI D.C. Capitol Chapter.
Additionally, Mr. Brannan has served as the Competition Director for the Student Unmanned Air Systems (SUAS) Competition for each of the five years since the event was initiated. His outstanding leadership and technical expertise with UAVs has been vital to the success of this Competition. He led the efforts to increase the AUVSI Foundation prize funding for all of AUVSI's Competitions and has provided expertise to the establishment and operation of new Unmanned Competitions (Surface, Micro UAV, Canada and Australia.)
IV. The Operations Award distinguishes an AUVSI member or non-member directly involved in the testing, evaluation and/or operational deployment of unmanned vehicle systems.
Award Recipient - CW3 James Harris is a prominent UAS Officer who conducted Shadow operations in northern Iraq in 2005 with his platoon supporting highly trained SOCOM forces. During this time, his platoon received numerous awards including the privilege of wearing the 1st Ranger Battalion patch as a combat patch. This rare honor demonstrated the trust and respect that these esteemed combat units had for Chief Harris' platoon.
Having been with the DES less than a year, Chief Harris has already been promoted from CW2 to CW3, and from Deputy Director to Director of UAS DES. His visits to units have elicited a mixture of shock and awe – shock at his extensive knowledge and tough, disciplined approach to non-compliance, and awe at his helpfulness in getting the job done. Chief Harris' impressive achievements as an operator has resulted in all TUAS unit SOP's to use his cutting-edge tactics for tracking suspects, providing unique data to higher HQs, and monitoring maintenance and flight hours.
V. Pathfinder Chapter Best Paper Award
AUVSI’s Pathfinder Chapter, continuing the tradition of leading way, reviewed and selected the top three technical papers submitted to the Unmanned Systems North America 2007 conference. The following winners were selected:
Award Recipients
1st – Kevin Bollino & L. Ryan Lewis from Naval Postgraduate School, Optional Path Planning
2nd – Robert Nullmeyer, Lt. Col Robert Herz & Robert Leonik from Air Force Research Lab and CAE, Air Force Predator Mishap Trends
3rd – Marc Steinberg from Office of Naval Research, Human Interface and Autonomy
If you'd like more information on the AUVSI Foundation, please contact Angela Carr at carr@auvsi.org.
AUVSI's Career Center
The AUVSI Career Center is the leading employment resource for the Unmanned Systems industry, offering products and services for both job-seekers and employers. This unique forum will allow job-seekers to review potential employment opportunities from leading players in the industry, while providing employers the ability to search through resumes of qualified candidates from around the world.
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