1995 AWARDS WINNERS/FINALISTS:

AUTOMOTIVE & TRANSPORTATION

Rudolf Gunnerman, president of A-55 Limited Partnership in Reno, NV, for the development of an alternative fuel known as A-55 (for aqueous 55 percent). Because this fuel is made of 55% water, an engine runs cooler and pollutes much less -- and it costs about half the price of gasoline. Caterpillar Inc., in Peoria, IL, has formed a joint venture with Gunnerman citing the A-55 as one of the most promising developments in the clean fuel race.

Pierre Couture, physicist at Hydro-Quebec in Longueuil, Quebec, for the development of the Couture Powertrain. This prototype electric propulsion system, developed at Technologies M4 (a subsidiary of Hydro-Quebec) can run in an all-electric mode for 40 miles or as a conventional car when it uses its small engine. When it's in an electric mode, the only parts that move are the four wheels -- each containing an inverted motor. This makes the car more efficient because there are no mechanical losses due to transmissions, drive trains, or other shafts.

** WINNER **
Francois Castaing, vice president of vehicle engineering at Chrysler Corp., in Auburn Hills, MI, and David Eisenhaure, president and CEO of SatCon Technology Corp., in Cambridge, MA, for the development of the Patriot Hybrid Project. In most electric vehicles, energy is lost while braking or accelerating. By using a mechanical storage contraption, called a flywheel, energy can be stored and released for later use. As a car slows down, the flywheel accelerates to recover the lost power, and vice versa. Chrysler is using this technology to build a hybrid racecar, called the Patriot.

Grant Farrand, vice president for safety compliance at Starcraft Automotive Corp. in Goshen, IN, for the development of the Integrated Belting System. This innovative "true seat belt" is similar to a shoulder harness but goes through the back of the seat and anchors at the base, sandwiching the passenger between the belts. This technology proves to be an alternative to reinforcing seat backs with steel rods to keep them from collapsing during dangerous and unfortunately common, rear impacts.

Stanley Olszewski, supervisor at Ford Motor Co., in Dearborn, MI, for the development of the V-6 Duratec engine for the Contour/Mondeo/Mystique World Cars. The engine is made from an aluminum casting process that keeps the car lightweight. Platinum-tipped spark plugs, and other technologies usually only available to the luxury market, allow the engine to go 100,000 miles between tune-ups.


AVIATION & AEROSPACE

Joseph L. Rose, professor at Penn State University in University Park, PA, for the development of a hand-held ultrasonic probe to inspect aircraft. Visual inspection of an aircraft body can be difficult because corrosion and cracks are sometimes hidden by layers of paint. By pressing the probe against the body of a plane, corrosion can be easily detected. A transmitter at one end of the probe sends waves to a receiver at the other end. A flat wave signals that corrosion may be disturbing the path from transmitter to receiver. The probe is supported by the FAA and received "excellent results" when tested on Boeing 737's.

David Nussbaum, program manager at Westinghouse Norden Systems in Norwalk, CT, for the development of the Airport Surface Detection Equipment system that tracks and displays an airport's aircraft and vehicle traffic on runways and taxiways. This ground mapping radar can even be used in heavy rain or snow; it's currently being installed in more than 30 airports. A corollary system, called Airport Movement Area Safety, issues visual and voice alarms to the air traffic controller when the traffic appears to be on a collision course. (In 1993 alone there were 187 runway incursions.)

Bill Weist, senior staff engineer at Allied Signal in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for the development of the RDR-4B weather avoidance/predictive wind shear radar. Bursts of windshear can plummet a plane in seconds. This radar system detects shear in enough time to give a pilot at least 10 seconds of warning. Certified by the FAA and highly accurate (the system was designed so that it wouldn't produce a single false alarm out of 10,000 encounters), this system is being installed on Continental Airlines jets. Most U.S. airliners are expected to follow suit by 1996.

** WINNER **
Pedro Rustan, colonel, U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C., for the Clementine lunar probe spacecraft. Most spacecrafts are expensive and take decades to develop. Clementine was created in only 22 months, for the relatively inexpensive price tag of $55 million. This mission integrated 23 items of technology in one lightweight spacecraft (under 500 lbs.). Last May, Clementine mapped the moon and gathered nearly 2 million images. Its revolutionary design and accelerated production schedule will blaze a trail for spacecrafts of the future.

Leonard Weinstein, senior research scientist at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, for the development of an in-flight flow visualization technique. This process allows shock waves and turbulence from flying aircraft to be photographed and studied, enabling aircraft designers to better understand how their designs work at high, super-sonic speeds.


COMPUTER HARDWARE & ELECTRONICS

** WINNER **
Hal J. Rosen, manager of novel optical studies at IBM Corp. in San Jose, CA, for the development of multilevel optical disks. In an ordinary optical disk, like a simple entertainment CD, a laser beam reads microscopic marks as the disk spins. Rosen and his colleagues stacked disks that didn't have the usual reflective coating, so the laser could be focused onto any surface within the stack. Multilevel CDs with the maximum of 10 or 20 layers have the capacity to hold hours of music, several movies, or entire libraries of information.

Paul C. Sheldon, vice president of research and innovation at Giddings & Lewis, Inc. in Fond Du Lac, WI, for the development of the Variax machining center. All machines -- from toasters to cars -- have parts created by metal cutting machines known as a machine tools. Since the 19th Century, machine tools have had limited mobility because they were restricted to straight line movements. The Variax takes a different approach by moving into a third dimension. A drill-like cutting tool is suspended in air and moves freely over and into the material being carved--all this while achieving unprecedented speed and precision.

Thomas H. Massie, president of SensAble Devices, Inc., and Kenneth Salisbury, principal research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, for the development of the Phantom virtual reality tactile stimulator. Virtual reality has reconstructed our ability to see and hear but, until now, has lacked the "feel" of virtual objects. By simply inserting a finger in a thimble connected to a motor that applies a force, a person can feel a "virtual" object such as a wall or a table.

Lambertus Hesselink, professor at Stanford University in Stanford, CA, for the development of a new type of holographic computer storage. Over the past few decades, many have tried to store digital data holographically but high noise levels interfered with lasers in the recording process and led to high rates of errors. Hesselink and his team of graduate students used an optical filter to block high-frequency noise and demonstrated a system that is faster than conventional magnetic storage systems (like hard disks), has a much greater capacity and is highly accurate.

Kazuo Imai, president of Personal Information Company, a division of Sony Electronics, Inc., in San Jose, CA, for the development of Magic Link, a one-pound personal communicator that integrates e- mail, fax, online services and more. The Magic Link communicator incorporates network software developed by Marc Porat, co-founder and chief executive officer of General Magic, Inc., in Sunnyvale, CA. Magic Cap easy to use software enables users to easily search for online information and add graphics, sounds and animations to their messages. AT&T's (Parsippany, NJ) PersonaLink Services make this technology accessible to millions of subscribers.


COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Oren Etzioni, assistant professor at the University of Washington, in Seattle, WA, for the development of the Internet Softbot. This "software robot" was created to help millions of first-time computer users find their way around the Internet. The softbot enables a user to state what he or she wants to accomplish and goes on to find the answers using a wide range of resources available on the Internet and the World Wide Web.

** WINNER **
Carrie Heeter, director of communication technology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, for the development of the Personal Communicator for the deaf. This program incorporates the American Sign Language and presents digital videos of about 1,000 signs. A student simply types a short phrase and a video of a woman signing the ASL translation appears on the screen. Hearing impaired students can "talk" by typing phrases and requesting the program to say them aloud.

Michael Ackerman and Donald Lindberg, project officers at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, MD, for the development of the Visible Human Project. This project utilized the body of a Texas man executed by lethal-injection for a complete catalog of CAT scans and x-rays before being frozen in gelatin and sliced into 1-millimeter slivers. Each sliver was then photographed and scanned into a computer. The result: a complete human database consisting of about 1,870 images. This project should simplify the study of human anatomy by providing a realistic reference guide to human physiology.

Michael Cohen and Dominic Massaro, psychologists at the University of California at Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, CA, for the development of the animated talking face. Until now, computer-generated faces looked more like a cartoon than an actual human. This technology presents a face that moves its lips, jaw and tongue in the way we do when we speak. The outside of the face can be made transparent so hearing-impaired students can see how to position the tongue, teeth and jaw correctly when forming words.

Tony DeRose, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, for the development of a 3D computer modeling program. In the past, 3D computer rendering involved tedious, time-consuming drawings. DeRose and his colleagues designed this software program enabling any object to be scanned and automatically transformed into a 3D computer model. This technology can be applied to reverse engineering by electronically storing excess inventories and physical templates of manufacturing equipment.


ENVIRONMENT

Harry Rajamannan, president and founder, Aqua Heat Technologies, Inc., in Minneapolis, MN, for the development of the Aqua Heat Soil Sterilizing System. Many farmers sterilize soil by using methyl bromide--a harmful ozone depleter that will be banned beginning in the year 2001. This alternative system kill insects and weeds by injecting boiling hot water into the ground, thereby eliminating the need for methyl bromide and other toxins.

Richard Slife, materials engineer at the United States Air Force, at Robins Air Force Base, GA, for the development of the Medium Pressure Water/Bicarbonate of Soda (MPW/BOSS) Stripping System. Planes need to be stripped of old paint before a new coat can be applied. The old paint-stripping method called for the use of harmful chemicals. This cost-effective method pressure-sprays one-half pound of baking soda and 3.2 gallons of water per minute to remove paint while eliminating 80 percent of the use of chemicals.

Joseph DeSimone, chemist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, for the development of a process that makes plastics in carbon dioxide with soap. Current plastic manufacturing generates significant amounts of contaminated water, CFCs, and organic waste. This process uses only environmentally friendly ingredients. So far, DuPont and Hoechst-Celanese, among others, are helping fund DeSimone's work.

Lori Todd, environmental scientist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, for the development of a pollutant CAT-Scanner. By chemically CAT-scanning the environment, this system maps and fingerprints harmful chemicals being released into the air and points the finger at the culprit.

** WINNER **
Michael Ury, vice president of research and development at Fusion Lighting, Inc. in Rockville, MD, for the development of the Sulfur Light. Funded in part by the Department of Energy, this light is similar to sunlight but doesn't emit ultraviolet rays; it's similar to a conventional light bulb but doesn't have any wires or electrodes. By using a little bit of sulfur and lots of microwaves, this bulb can last at least 10,000 hours. So far, a single light pipe powered by two sulfur bulbs installed in the Energy Department has cut energy usage by 72 percent and is expected to save over $10,000 in electricity and maintenance costs this year.


SIGHT

Benjamin Britton, assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH, for the development of a Virtual Reality rendition of the Cave of Lascaux. The "real" cave has been closed to the public since 1963. The more than 100,000 visitors each year caused fear that the Paleolithic works of art would be damaged. This technology allows users to wander through the virtual Cave to see historic and important drawings, and paintings come to life through a head-mounted display.

Masamitsu Hattori and Kenji Shiba, engineers at Minolta Planetarium Co., Ltd. in Osaka, Japan, for the development of the Cosmoleap. This planetarium combines innovative software and optics to allow viewers to see what the sky looks like from any place in the world. Simply click a mouse or touch a screen and watch the solar system in action as it accurately positions itself above you on a 26-foot dome (traditional planetariums require a dome at least 49 feet in diameter).

Larry Hornbeck, engineer at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, for the development of the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD). This small mechanical microchip contains 442,000 mirrors that tilt to shine light into or away from an imaging lens. This technology is key for displaying digital TV transmissions. Products incorporating DMD are expected to start arriving sometime next year.

** WINNER **
Jack Feinberg, physicist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, for the development of Temporal Holograms, an alternative to x-rays for imaging inside the human body. This technology records images created by light, not x-rays. In the past, light rays scattered when dispersed and the image created was unrecognizable. By using ballistic light, the light rays travel in a straight path and emerge before any other light. The temporal hologram records the image created by the rays that arrive first.

George Hopper, engineer at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, for the development of the Nightsight Thermal Vision System. This system, developed in joint with Hughes Aircraft Company in Torrance, CA, allows police officers to see what's happening in the dark by detecting the heat given off by any person or object and displaying the image on a monitor. This unit is more compact and costs about 60 percent less than its military predecessors.


SOUND

Yasutoshi Kaneko, Rokurouta Mantani, and Kazuo Murakami at Yamaha Corporation in Hamamatsu, Japan, for the development of the Silent Series Piano. This piano looks, feels, and plays like a traditional piano but has an optional feature that allows the pianist --and the pianist only -- to hear what's being played. By wearing a pair of headphones and locking down the center pedal, the piano's sound is electronically reproduced and directed through the headphones; release the pedal, and regular piano sound returns.

Kevin Voecks, chief engineer at Snell Acoustics in Haverhill, MA, for the development of the RCS- 1000 Digital Room Correction System (DRS) speaker system. This system is installed by a technician who first comes to your home to test sounds in each seating location a listener may choose in a room. A microphone records tones emitted from your own audio system and relays it back to the DRS, which in turn adjusts itself to cancel out any distortion. By selecting a setting to account for the number of listeners, you can hear the effects of the original recording.

Arnold Klayman, director of advanced development at NuReality in Santa Ana, CA, for the development of Vivid 3D Sound Retrieval System, or SRS. This system is based on the idea that the brain perceives where sounds are coming from based on the direction and intensity of sound waves. By simply plugging this system into an amplifier, a microchip breaks the stereo signal down and modifies its frequencies. The result is a corrected signal that fills a room with 3D sound. Usually, stereo sound like this is created using three speakers; this system uses only two.

Marc Sutton, product manager at Berkeley Systems, Inc. in Berkeley, CA, for the development of outSPOKEN for Windows. This innovative technology allows the blind to hear what others see on a Windows screen. By clicking on an icon (using the keyboard), a user can listen to the computer read the label on the icon. Words and entire documents can also be read.

** WINNER **
Kenneth Jacob, chief engineer of acoustic research at Bose Corp. in Framingham, MA, for the development of Auditioner. This technology allows engineers and architects to listen to what a structure, like an auditorium or stadium, will sound like before it's even built. Knowing what the exact acoustics of a structure will be before it's built could eliminate costly investments in reconstruction.

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