David C. Wisler to Receive the ASME R. Tom Sawyer Award

NEW YORK, June 1, 2012 – David C. Wisler, Ph.D., a resident of Fairfield, Ohio, will be honored by ASME.  He is being recognized for career-long innovative technical contributions to advance the performance of gas turbine engines; for national and international initiatives to encourage research collaboration between universities and industry; and for providing exemplary leadership and service to the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI).  He will receive ASME’s R. Tom Sawyer Award.

The award, established in 1972, is bestowed upon an individual who has made important contributions toward the advancement of the gas turbine industry and the ASME IGTI over a substantial period of time.  It will be presented to Dr. Wisler during the ASME TURBO EXPO 2012, which is being held in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 11 through 15.

Wisler is a renowned expert in turbomachinery aerodynamics technology.  During his distinguished 38-year career at GE Aviation, he conducted and managed advanced technology programs.  His work to improve airfoil shapes and understand the complex flow fields in the rotating components of gas turbine engines has been instrumental in reducing losses (reducing fuel burn) and improving performance.

In the decade before his retirement from GE Aviation in 2008, Wisler created and managed GE’s University Strategic Alliance Program, whose overall objective is to develop long-term, teaming relationships with key international universities to concentrate academic expertise on solving issues of fundamental importance to GE’s business needs.  He implemented and coordinated programs in the areas of turbine heat transfer, aeromechanics, acoustics, compressor aerodynamic technology, stall and surge, probabilistic preliminary design, materials, combustion, tribology, error-proofing, manufacturing, design for Six Sigma and computational fluid dynamics.

After retiring from GE, Wisler immediately joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s CDIO™ (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) Initiative to revitalize engineering education worldwide with the goal of producing engineers who are “ready to engineer” at graduation.

An ASME Fellow, Wisler is editor of the Journal of Turbomachinery. He served as ASME vice president (2003-06) and senior vice president (2006-10). A member of the International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) board of directors (1997-2003), he served as chair from 2001 to 2003.  He served as vice chair (1991-93) and chair (1993-95) of the IGTI Turbomachinery Committee, and was chair of the IGTI Technical Program for ASME TURBO EXPO 1995.  He was honored with the Society’s Melville Medal (1989, 1998 and 2003) and Gas Turbine Award (1990 and 1992), and the IGTI Aircraft Engine Technology Award (2004) and a number of Best Paper awards.

Wisler is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and an Honorary Member of the Gas Turbine Society of Japan.

Among his honors, Wisler received a Distinguished Alumni Award from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, in 2006.

Wisler earned three degrees in aerospace engineering: his bachelor’s degree at The Pennsylvania State University in 1963; his master’s degree at Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) in 1965; and his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1970.

About ASME: ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges.  Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society.  ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world.