Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award
In 1938, Pi Tau Sigma (National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society) arranged with ASME for the joint award of the Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal. This medal is awarded for outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering to an engineer within ten years after graduation from the regular engineering course of a recognized college or university.
In 1944, the Charles Russ Richards Award was similarly established as a joint award of Pi Tau Sigma and ASME to recognize the outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering by graduating 20 years or more.
In 1973, Pi Tau Sigma and ASME entered into a new agreement which continued the existing awards and added the Gustus L. Larson Award to honor engineering graduates for outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering between ten and twenty years after graduation. Funding was provided from the ASME Ward S. and Editha Jacobs Fund.
The qualifications for the recipients of each of the three awards are identical except for the period of recognized achievements. In each case the recipient shall have received a baccalaureate degree from a regular engineering program of a recognized college or university and shall have attained outstanding achievement within the period stated for each award. Achievement shall be all or in part in any field, including industrial, educational, political, research, civic and artistic. The candidate'/s achievements will be examined for an application of basic engineering methods or principles.
The three awards are administered by a Joint Board of Award appointed by Pi Tau Sigma and ASME. The Chair is a Pi Tau Sigma appointee. The Board of Award provides forms and invites ASME Sections and other units to nominate for the awards. The Board of Award submits the names and records of the persons selected for the three awards to the ASME Committee on Honors for the formal selection of the recipients.
The Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award is presented to an engineering graduate who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering twenty years or more following graduation with a baccalaureate degree. The award is bestowed for overall outstanding achievement in the mechanical engineering field during the set period of time.
The award, established in 1944 by Pi Tau Sigma in coordination with ASME, honors Charles Russ Richards, founder of Pi Tau Sigma at the University of Illinois, former head of mechanical engineering and dean of engineering at the University of Illinois and later president of Lehigh University. He was a member of ASME and served on its Board of Governors.
| Form of Award: |
A $1,000 honorarium, a certificate, and a travel supplement not to exceed $750. |
| Limitation(s): | The nominee must be person who has received a baccalaureate degree in Mechanical Engineering or other related field in more than twenty calendar years from the year of the award presentation. |
| Administrative Responsibility: | Committee on Honors |
| Nomination Deadline: | February 15 |
| Nomination SentTo: | Special Awards Committee Chair |
| Special Award Committee Chair: | G. Ravichandran |
| Phone Number: | 626-395-4100 |
| E-mail: | ravi@caltech.edu |
| Awarded By: | Committee on Honors (COH) |
CHARLES RUSS RICHARDS MEMORIAL AWARD RECIPIENTS
| 1947 | Jacob P. Hartog | 1971 | Howard L. Harrison | 1995 | Junuthula N. Reddy |
| 1949 | Arthur M. Wahl | 1972 | Charles E. Jones | 1996 | Tsu-Wei Chou |
| 1950 | Burgess H. Jennings | 1973 | Ali A. Seireg | 1997 | Masayoshi Tomizuka |
| 1951 | J. Kenneth Salisbury | 1974 | Richard J. Grosh | 1998 | Hong Thomas Hahn |
| 1952 | Jess H. Davis | 1975 | Carl F. Zorowski | 1999 | Ephraim Suhir |
| 1953 | Thomas M. Lumly | 1976 | Ali S. Argon | 2000 | Bharat Bhushan |
| 1954 | Robert H. Hughes | 1977 | Hassan A. Hassan | 2001 | Adrian Bejan |
| 1955 | Sylvan Cromer | 1978 | John C. Chato | 2002 | Salvatore Torquato |
| 1956 | Everett M. Barber | 1979 | John H. Lienhard | 2003 | Roop L. Mahajan |
| 1957 | Wayne C. Edmister | 1980 | Albert I. King | 2005 | Warren R. DeVries |
| 1958 | Donald C. Burnham | 1981 | Shien-Ming Wu | 2006 | Ramesh K. Agarwal |
| 1959 | M. Eugene Merchant | 1982 | L. S. "Skip" Fletcher | 2007 | Ricahrd O. Buckius |
| 1960 | Ascher H. Shapiro | 1983 | Peter A. Engel | 2008 | Guruswami Ravichandran |
| 1961 | Harrison A. Storm, Jr. | 1984 | Ferdinand Freudenstein | 2009 | E. Daniel Hirleman |
| 1962 | Dudley D. Fuller | 1985 | Ephraim M. Sparrow | 2010 | Yonggang Huang |
| 1963 | George F. Carrier | 1986 | E. Kent Springer | 2011 | Huajian Gao |
| 1964 | Simon Ostrach | 1987 | Allen F. Rhodes | 2012 | Pol D. Spanos |
| 1965 | Leonard J. Koch | 1988 | Ward O. Winer | 2013 | A. Galip Ulsoy |
| 1966 | J. Lowen Shearer | 1989 | Ramesh K. Shah | 2014 | Suresh V. Garimella |
| 1967 | T. Cyril Noon | 1990 | Ranga Komanduri | 2015 | Xiang Zhang |
| 1968 | Bernard W. Shaffer | 1991 | Frederick F. Ling | 2016 | Kenneth E. Goodson |
| 1969 | Robert E. Uhrig | 1992 | John H. Staehlin | 2017 | Jian Cao |
| 1970 | Ralph G. Nevins | 1994 | C. Dan Mote, Jr. | 2018 | Kon-Well Wang |
| 2019 | Pradeep Sharma |