Aerospace Engineering Professor to Receive SAE International Education Award
MELBOURNE, FLA. — Daniel Kirk, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Florida Institute of Technology, is among four aerospace engineering educators
to receive the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) International’s Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award. All will be honored during the SAE 2009 AeroTech
Congress and Exposition in Seattle, Wash., Nov. 10-12, 2009.
In conjunction with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Kirk and his students are developing improved thermal-fluids models for launch vehicles and spacecraft,
including low-gravity propellant slosh dynamics experiments and prediction.
A recipient of numerous teaching awards, Kirk serves as the faculty advisor for Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. He also participates
in committees for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Kirk holds a doctoral degree in propulsion and energy conversion from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He resides in Melbourne, Fla.
Other recipients are Robert Hyers, associate professor in the mechanical and industrial engineering department, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Janet
Brelin-Fornari, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Kettering University in Flint, Mich.; and Craig Woolsey, associate professor in the
aerospace and ocean engineering department at Virginia Tech.
The Teetor Award, established in 1953, recognizes outstanding engineering educators and offers them the opportunity to meet and exchange views with
practicing engineers in their fields. The award honors the late Ralph R. Teetor, 1936 SAE President, who believed that engineering educators are the most
effective link between engineering students and their future careers.
This award is funded through the SAE Foundation. In addition to supporting the awards, recognition and scholarship programs of SAE International, the SAE
Foundation develops and funds programs and incentives that foster student interest in engineering, scientific and technical education.
For more information about SAE International’s Ralph R. Educational Teetor Award, contact pr@sae.org.
