KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

The Arnold Community Council recently held its Arnold Community Council Banquet where it inducted the 2023 AEDC Fellows.

This year’s AEDC Fellows were Martha Ann Simmons, who was selected as a Lifetime Achievement Fellow and Norman Smith, who selected as a Craft Fellow. The announcement of their inductions were made by the 2023 AEDC Fellows selection committee in June. With their inductions, they became the 116^th and 117^th AEDC Fellows inducted, respectively, since the program’s inception in 1989.

The AEDC Lifetime Achievement Fellow are reserved for candidates who must have personally have made notable and valuable lifetime contributions to AEDC in any area relevant to the AEDC mission. The AEDC Craft Fellow recognizes exceptional craftsmen who possess the ability to identify customer requirements and respond with sustained technical innovations, working effectively and efficiently as part of technical teams and have dedicated their careers to the success of AEDC’s mission.

AEDC Fellows are selected for their disproportionately positive impact on the United States aerospace industry. While AEDC has a unique and powerful influence on Department of Defense (DoD) weapon systems, AEDC’s Fellows have a legacy of positive influence not only on DoD, but also sister organizations such as NASA, the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security and Transportation, as well as academia and the aerospace industry.

Simmons was is a retired manager and subject matter expert with QuantiTech Inc., now Axient Corp., AEDC Technology Group. She was honored for her 42-year career at AEDC where she made notable and valuable lifetime contributions to the nation’s aerospace capabilities in many areas relevant to the AEDC mission. She worked within and influenced all sections of the AEDC Technology Branch: Instrumentation and Diagnostics, Modeling and Simulation, Facility Test Techniques and Foreign Technology, and her leadership responsibilities included oversight of technology product development and transition, subject matter expert and principal investigator for projects.

Smith is an aerospace precision machinist leadman in the AEDC Model Shop, and has been working in the Model Shop’s precision machine shop since 2003. Smith’s involvement in the Model Shop include facilitating cutting edge research, development, test and evaluation efforts. Along with being a key leader at the Model Shop, Smith works closely with engineers and designers across AEDC to fabricate a multitude of highly complex parts including test and facility items, and has performed delicate machining operations to fabricate complex parts for aircraft models and missiles and facility infrastructure.

In attendance were Jacobs, an international technical professional services firm that provides engineering, technical, professional and construction services to companies, organizations and government agencies like NASA. Mark Walter, Senior Vice President of Advanced Engineering, Research & Operations at Jacobs, said Jacobs congratulated the AEDC Fellows for their contributions.

“We are of our long association with AEDC and proud of our AEDC Fellows, recognized for their remarkable contributions to the aerospace field,” Walter said. “Our Jacobs team would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our thanks and appreciation to these distinguished trailblazers for their service in defense of our nation.”

Established in 1989, the AEDC Fellows program recognizes Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) personnel who have made substantial and exceptionally distinguished contributions to the nation’s aerospace capabilities. AEDC includes all ground test facilities at Arnold AFB and all AEDC remote operating locations.

Since the inception of the Fellows program, more than 100 individuals (Technical Fellows, Craft Fellows, Lifetime Achievement Fellows and Honorary Fellows) have been inducted as AEDC Fellows.

Due to changed government rules and regulations in 2016 on awards to non-government employees ACC assumed responsibility for continuing the AEDC Fellows program.