WARRENDALE, Pa. – SAE International® announced the 2025 SAE International Award recipients at a ceremony held during WCX™- World Congress Experience in Detroit, Mich. Recognizing mobility industry professionals, educators and students, SAE Awards represent mobility’s highest honors. The Awards program is administered by SAE’s Board of Directors and supported by a distinguished group of volunteers.
Created in 1986, the SAE Medal of Honor annually recognizes an individual who has demonstrated unwavering loyalty to SAE International’s mission of advancing mobility solutions for the benefit of humanity. The 2025 SAE’s Medal of Honor recipient is Andy Jeffers. Andy’s career with General Motors has spanned more than 30 years, recently as Engineering Group Manager – Engine, Transmission, and Electrification Development, and the SAE International Relationship Manager. Throughout his leadership positions inside and outside of GM, Andy has made a direct and lasting impact on SAE and the mobility industry.
As a long-standing SAE member, Andy has served in countless roles including the SAE Board of Directors and Treasurer. He has also served as the SAE Indiana Section Nominating Committee Representative, Detroit Section Chair, Off-Highway and Powerplant Committee, Publications Board, and as an SAE Foundation Annual Giving Committee member. As a passionate supporter of STEM education, he initiated a Junior Solar Sprint program for middle schoolers through a joint venture between SAE, Argonne National Labs, and National Renewable Energy, and was instrumental in developing SAE’s award-winning A World In Motion® STEM education program.
Additional honors given that evening include:
- SAE International Award for Technical and Leadership Excellence honoring Rodica Baranescu – Michelle A. Gardner, Vice President, Global Hardware Systems & Integration, General Motors
- SAE International Award for Emerging Leadership in Mobility – Xin Yu, Senior Research Scientist, Aramco Americas: Aramco Research Center-Detroit
- SAE International Award for Influential Executive in Automotive honoring Henry Ford – Alexander (Sandy) Munro, Design Prophet, Munroe & Associates, Inc.
- SAE International Award for Outstanding Student Leadership in STEM honoring Max Rumbaugh – Anish Srivastava, Engineer, Altec Industries
- SAE International Award for Safety in Transportation honoring Arnold W. Siegel – Jesse Shijie Ruan, Professor, Tianjin University of Science and Technology
- SAE International Humanitarian Award honoring Arnold W. Siegel – Daniel E. Nicholson, Vice President, Strategic Technology Initiatives, General Motors (Retired)
- SAE International Award for Automotive Innovation honoring Edward N. Cole – Michael K. Anderson, VP of Global Electrification & Battery Systems, General Motors and Aneesh Kaliyanda – Manager, Mechanical Design Engineering, Tesla
- SAE International Award for Excellence in Innovation – Prof. Weiling Luan (Team Lead), Dr. Ying Chen, Prof. Shan-Tung Tu, Mr. Senming Wu, and Prof. Haofeng Chen
- SAE International Award for Outstanding Research in Mobility Fuels and Lubricants – Kazuo Yamamori (Team Lead), Satoshi Hirano, Yuta Uematsu, Noriya Ishizaki, Takashi Koyama, Takashi Suzuki, Shunsuke Mori, Toyota Motor Corporation, and Satoru Yoshida, ENEOS Corporation
- SAE John Johnson Award for Outstanding Research in Diesel Engines (Medal) – David Merrion, Merrion Expert Consulting, LLC
- SAE John Johnson Award for Outstanding Research in Diesel Engines (Paper) – Aravindh Babu Viswanathan (Team Lead), Research Engineer, Caterpillar, Brock Merritt, Steven Sommers, Praveen Kumar, Aramco Americas, and Yu Zhang, Cummins, Inc.
- SAE International Award for Outstanding Student Paper honoring Phil Myers – Ziming Zhou (Team Lead), Fengnian Zhao, David L.S. Hung – Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Qin Huang
- SAE International Award for Quality Leadership honoring Subir Chowdhury – Tony Francavilla, Vice President Global Quality, Supplier Quality and Operational Excellence, General Motors (Retired)
- SAE International Timken-Howard Simpson Automotive Transmission and Driveline Innovation Award – Peter Radecki (Team Lead), Staff Controls Engineer and Technical Specialist, Roberto Diaz and Andrew R. Scheich, General Motors
- SAE International Sustainable Aviation Award honoring Ramesh Agarwal – Richard A. Wahl, Sustainable Flight National Partnership Mission Integration Manager, NASA
- SAE International Award for Outstanding AWIM Volunteers honoring Bill Agnew – Eric Nagel, Engineering Group Manager – Hydrogen Fuel Cells, General Motors
- SAE International Educational Award honoring Ralph R. Teetor – Dr. Grace Gu, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley and Josh Siegel, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
SAE appreciates award support from Dr. Rodica Baranescu, Subir and Malini Chowdhury, Ford Motor Company, Dr. John H Johnson, Phil and Jean Myers, Max E. Rumbaugh, Jr., Arnold and Stephanie Siegel, Ralph R. Teetor, and The Timken Company.
Call for Spring Awards Nominations are currently open through May 31, 2025. Nominate a deserving colleague or yourself for one or more SAE Awards spanning four categories: Leadership, Innovation, SAE Service and STEM.
For additional details on SAE awards, visit: http://www.sae.org/awards.
About SAE International®
SAE International is a global organization committed to advancing mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity. By engaging nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers, we connect and educate mobility professionals to enable safe, clean, and accessible mobility solutions. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including award-winning programs like A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™. More at http://www.sae.org.
Source: SAE International