Ranji Vaidyanathan Life-long contributions to the advancement of science and engineering of composite materials through support of student entrepreneurship, education of students to accept leadership roles in SAMPE and development and transition of composite technology to industry, resulting in tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.
Mr. James Mazza is a highly sought-after industry leader in adhesive bonding and repair technologies, contributing significantly to our materials and processes community. His expertise enabled implementation of repairs on critical military systems worldwide. In mentoring colleagues, future engineers, and SAMPE leaders, Jim is the embodiment of a SAMPE Fellow.
George Hansen is a pioneer in the development and application of advanced composite materials technologies. He is at the forefront of research and manufacturing in multifunctional composite systems for the most demanding of applications, including electromagnetic properties in otherwise non-conducting materials for shielding and electrical conductivity within composites.
Pete George is a Boeing Associate Technical Fellow Engineer and SAMPE Fellow with over 30 years of experience with composite material characterization, processing and application development. Pete has worked internally and collaboratively with academia and industry to advance knowledge and readiness for carbon fiber composites recycling. Pete is Boeings Designated Expert for Composites recycling. He has also contributed to the global M&P community through efforts in the areas of cure process modeling, moisture diffusion in composites, development of advanced radius filler technology, and sandwich structure processing technology. Pete has numerous SAMPE publications and chaired sessions for SAMPE and serves as a Student Mentor for the University of Washington school of Material Science and Engineering.
Arnt Offringa studied aerospace engineering at the University of Delft. He started his career in 1985 as a design engineer at Fokker Aircraft. In 1989 he joined Fokker Special Products and started a market oriented thermoplastics R&D effort. In 1991 an R&D department was created and in 1996 he became manager Engineering. In 2003 he became Director R&D of Fokker Aerostructures. As of 2019 he is GKN Aerospace’s Head of Technology for Thermoplastic Composites and responsible for the GKN Global Technology Center Netherlands. Arnt is a member of SAMPE Global and Past President of SAMPE Europe.
Prof. Dr. Frank Henning has been Managing Director of the Fraunhofer Project Centre for Composites Manufacturing in Ulsan, Korea and since 2011 of the Fraunhofer Project Center for Research in London, Ontario, Canada. Since 2010, Henning has been an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. In 2009, he was named Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) in Pfinztal, Germany, as well as Director of Fraunhofer FIL in Augsburg, Germany. In 2008, Henning was appointed Professor for Light-Weight Technologies at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany; and that same year, he was appointed CEO of the Fraunhofer innovation cluster KITe hyLITE – Karlsruhe Innovation Cluster for Hybrid Light-Weight Solutions. In 2005, Henning became Director of the Competence Centre for Automotive Light-Weight Solutions. In 2002 he was named Director of Polymer Engineering at Fraunhofer ICT. He has been Vice-President of SAMPE Germany e.V. since 1999 and is President since 2016. In the years 1997 to 2001, he was Group Leader for the composites team at Fraunhofer ICT. Henning holds a Ph.D. degree in Composites Engineering from the Universität Stuttgart in Germany earned in 2001. He earned his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the same university in 1996. He published numerous articles in refereed journals and owns patents in the field of polymer manufacturing. He was awarded multiple times for his achievements and introduced materials and technologies in industrial applications. He has more than 20 years of experience in polymer engineering with a special focus on composite processing.