AIAA to Present Prestigious Awards at 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum and 2025 ASCEND Written 25 June 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 25, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the recipients of technical and management excellence awards to be presented on 22 July during the 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum and 2025 ASCEND in Las Vegas.

“We are thrilled to celebrate these exceptional individuals who have advanced the aerospace sector,” said AIAA CEO Clay Mowry. “Chosen by their peers, these remarkable professionals exemplify the highest standards of our industry. Their dedicated work consistently drives progress in aerospace innovation.”

Registration for both events is open now. Journalists can request a Press Pass online. For more information about the AIAA Honors and Awards program, contact Patricia A. Carr at [email protected].

2025 AIAA Aerospace Excellence Award
The award acknowledges one or more recent and unique group achievements in the aerospace community that are paving the way for the future of aerospace and inspiring our youth to pursue careers in aerospace.

• SpaceX
  Nick Cummings, Senior Director of Government Systems Advanced Development
  (Accepting on behalf of SpaceX)
  For demonstrating controlled landings of the Starship Super Heavy booster by catching it with arms on the launch tower and accelerating the development of the space economy through this fully reusable launch vehicle.

2025 AIAA Aeroacoustics Award
This award is presented for an outstanding technical or scientific achievement resulting from an individual’s contribution to the field of aircraft community noise reduction.

• Anastasios “Tasos” Lyrintzis
  Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  For seminal contributions to aeroacoustics, including the introduction of surface integral methods for the extension of CFD results to the far-field.

2025 AIAA Aerodynamics Award
This award is presented for meritorious achievement in the field of applied aerodynamics, recognizing notable contributions in the development, application, and evaluation of aerodynamic concepts and methods.

• Richard A. Wahls
  NASA Headquarters
  For outstanding leadership and technical contributions advancing high-confidence computational and experimental aerodynamic tools for prediction and analysis of airplane configurations and technologies.

2025 AIAA Aircraft Design Award
This award is presented to an individual or team for an original concept or career contributions leading to a significant advancement in aircraft design or design technology.

• Isabelle Bloy, Thierry Diez, and Ahmet Kiryaman
  A321XLR Team Airbus
  For contributions to the Airbus A321XLR, a narrowbody aircraft opening long-haul services to airlines, successfully launched in 2019 with an entry into service in 2024.

2025 AIAA Fluid Dynamics Award
This award is presented for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the behavior of liquids and gases in motion as related to need in aeronautics and astronautics.

• Ari Glezer
  Georgia Institute of Technology
  For groundbreaking contributions to fundamental understanding, application, and invention of actuation strategies for active flow control.

2025 AIAA Ground Testing Award
This award is presented for outstanding achievement in the development or effective utilization of technology, procedures, facilities, or modeling techniques for flight simulation, space simulation, propulsion testing, aerodynamic testing, or other ground testing associated with aeronautics and astronautics.

• Nicole L. Key
  Purdue University
  For outstanding contributions to the rigorous testing of advanced high-speed compressor and fan technologies, with application of state-of-the-art diagnostic methods.

2025 AIAA Hap Arnold Award for Excellence in Aeronautical Program Management
This award is presented to an individual for outstanding contributions in the management of a significant aeronautical or aeronautical related program or project.

• Richard A. Rezabek
  Lockheed Martin (retired)
  For outstanding leadership and management of the X-35 throughout the technically innovative, challenging, safe, and successful design, development, and flight test.

2025 AIAA Losey Atmospheric Sciences Award
This award is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the atmospheric sciences as applied to the advancement of aeronautics and astronautics.

• Philippe Villedieu
  ONERA
  For distinguished contributions to the advancement of aeronautics through research, leadership, and teaching in the atmospheric science of ice crystal and supercooled liquid icing.

2025 AIAA Plasmadynamics and Lasers Award
This award is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of the physical properties and dynamical behavior of matter in the plasma state and lasers as related to aeronautics and astronautics.

• Mark A. Cappelli
  Stanford University
  For impactful computational and experimental research in plasma flow control, plasma assisted combustion, spacecraft electric propulsion, laser diagnostics, and the mentoring of future aerospace leaders.

2025 AIAA Thermophysics Award
This award is presented for an outstanding singular or sustained technical or scientific contribution by an individual in thermophysics, specifically as related to the study and application of the properties and mechanisms involved in thermal energy transfer and the study of environmental effects on such properties and mechanisms.

• Deborah Ann Levin
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  In recognition of her pioneering work into deriving new thermo-physical insights into complex, multiscale high-speed flows using particle kinetic simulation approaches.

2025 AIAA von Braun Award for Excellence in Space Program Management
This award gives national recognition to an individual(s) for outstanding contributions in the management of a significant space or space-related program or project.

• Thomas H. Zurbuchen
  ETH Zurich
  For exemplary leadership of NASA’s science program and its successful civilization-scale science missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope, Mars 2020, and Parker Solar Probe.

Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X/Twitter.