Washington Award

Click here to see the pictures from 2011.

When and Where?

Engineers week will be February 20-26, 2011. The Washington Award Banquet will be Friday, February 25th, 2011 at the University Club of Chicago at 76 E. Monroe, Chicago. For more information, reservations, sponsorship information, contact the Western Society of Engineers at tim@wsechicago.org or at 630/ 724-9770, 241-0142 fax. To download a PDF of the invitation/registration form, click here.

Washington Award Commission

John W. Alvord, a past president of the Western Society of Engineers, in 1916 created an honorary award to recognize the “devoted, unselfish, and preeminent service in advancing human progress.” It was named the Washington Award as a reminder that the nation’s first president was an engineer. The elected commission of the award is made up of representatives from Western Society and six other engineering societies. It is conferred annually upon an engineer whose professional attainments have advanced the welfare of all peoples.

Previous Honorees

The Washington Award is one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious engineering awards in the country. The list of recipients speaks for itself. A few of the honorees include:

• Herbert Hoover, 1919
• Orville Wright, 1927
• Charles F. Kettering, 1936
• Henry Ford, 1944
• Lillian Moller Gilbreth, 1954
• H.G. Rickover, 1970
• Dixy Lee Ray, 1978
• Neil Armstrong, 1980
• Stephen D. Bechtel, 1985
• John H. Sununu, 1990
• Wilson Greatbatch, 1996
• Donna Lee Shirley, 2000
• Dan Bricklin, 2001
• Bob Frankston, 2001
• Eugene Cernan, 2003
• Nick Holonyak, 2004
• Robert S. Langer, 2005
• Henry Petroski, 2006
• Michael J. Brick, 2007
• Dean Kamen, 2008
• Clyde Baker, 2009
• Dr. Alvy Ray Smith, 2010
• Dr. Martin Jischke, 2011
• Martin Cooper, 2012

Administrator of Commission

The Western Society of Engineers, a multi-discipline engineering society serving engineers and firms that employ engineers in the Chicagoland area, administers the Washington Award. WSE was founded in 1869, when Chicago was the country’s western frontier.

The Western Society of Engineers is a multi-discipline engineering society, whose purpose is to actively encourage the development of engineering leaders and promote engineering excellence and innovation; educate the general public regarding the practice of engineering; recognize the achievements of the member engineers; and promote high professional and ethical standards.

About our 2011 Washington Award Recipient

Dr Martin C. Jischke: retired as Purdue University's 10th president in July 2007. A Chicago native, he received his bachelor's degree in physics with honors from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and earned his master's and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A prominent American higher-education administrator and advocate, he formerly was president of Iowa State University, chancellor of the University of Missouri-Rolla, and faculty member, director, dean and interim president at the University of Oklahoma.

In 2006, Dr. Jischke was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He has held numerous national leadership roles in service to colleges and universities. He has served as president of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture. 

Dr. Jischke is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is a recipient of the Centennial Medallion of the American Society for Engineering Education. The Illinois Institute of Technology, the National Agricultural University of Ukraine, Anderson University, and the University of Evansville have cited him with honorary doctoral degrees. He also has received the Illinois Institute of Technology Professional Achievement Award and the Ukraine Medal of Merit from that nation's president for outstanding service by a foreign national. He received the U.S. Department of Agriculture 2004 Justin Smith Morrill Award. In 2006, he was elected to the Indiana Academy, and received both the C. Peter Magrath Institute/WK Kellogg Foundation Engagement and Outreach Award and the Commission on Human Resources and Social Change Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.

He has served on numerous civic, state and corporate boards during his academic career. Additionally, he has been a science advisor and consultant to a range of state and federal agencies, government officials and corporations, including a term as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Transportation. He serves on the Board of Directors of Vectren Corporation, Wabash National Corporation, and Duke Realty. He is a Trustee of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Dr. Jischke is married to Patricia Fowler Jischke. They have two grown children.

For More information

Contact Tim Seeden at (630) 724-9770 or tim@wsechicago.org to purchase tickets and reserve your space. Or direct questions or ticket orders to: Chicagoland Engineers Week Committee, c/o Western Society of Engineers, 1111 Burlington Avenue, Suite. 102, Lisle, IL 60532-1290.

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