Congratulations go to Drs. Marilyn Smith, associate professor, and Lakshmi N. Sankar, regents' professor and associate chair, in the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech for their recent awards from the American Helicopter Society (AHS), the Vertical Flight Technical Society.

Smith has been awarded the 2012 Agusta Westland International Fellowship Award by AHS as part of the HART II International Workshop team. This award recognizes the most significant contribution to international vertical flight cooperation by an individual or group. Other team members include Berend van der Wall, DLR; Joon Lim, U.S. Army, AFDD; and Jean Prieur, ONERA (Ret.). The Team opened up data on higher harmonic control of rotors to a large community, encouraging analysis. The analysis was a world wide effort leading to numerous achievements such as validation of solvers and a deep understanding of BVI mechanisms and their impact on rotor noise and vibrations.

Sankar was recognized as a Technical Fellow by AHS. Technical Fellow is granted to Society members whose career-based accomplishments towards the goals and objectives of the vertical flight industry constitute an outstanding technical achievement. He leads a research and education program focused on the modeling and simulation of unsteady viscous flow around aircraft, helicopters, horizontal axis wind turbines, and turbo-machinery components.

This prestigious program was initiated in 1944 and over the years has paid tribute to the outstanding leaders of the vertical flight industry. The Society's awards program recognizes extraordinary achievements and serves as a catalyst for stimulating technological advances in the vertical flight industry. The awards will be presented on May 2, 2012 during the AHS Awards Banquet to be held this year in Fort Worth, TX.