COLLEGE STATION - Dr. L.S. "Skip" Fletcher, Regents Professor and holder of the Thomas A. Dietz Memorial Professorship in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, will receive the 2002 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Medal, the society’s highest form of recognition. Fletcher is also director for aerospace at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The medal is given annually for "eminently distinguished engineering achievement." Fletcher, the first Texas A&M faculty member to win the award, will receive his medal at the 2002 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress in New Orleans in November. Fletcher came to Texas A&M in 1980 and has held a variety of positions at the university, including associate dean of the Dwight Look College of Engineering and the Halliburton Professor of Mechanical Engineering. From 1985-88, Fletcher also was associate director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), the engineering research agency of Texas and a member of The Texas A&M University System. For more than 10 years, beginning in 1988, Fletcher was the education coordinator in the TEES Offshore Technology Research Center. Before coming to Texas A&M, Fletcher was professor and chairman of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia, and previously was professor of aerospace engineering and associate dean at Rutgers University. A registered professional engineer in Arizona, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, England and Australia, Fletcher has written more than 200 journal and conference papers and six books, and holds five patents. Fletcher is a Fellow of ASME; the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology; the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); the American Astronautical Society (AAS); and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He has been honored numerous times by ASME, ASEE and AIAA. Fletcher received a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M, a masters degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from Arizona State University. 8/23/02 NR 1081
