WARRENDALE, PA-Five mobility engineering professionals received the SAE International Lloyd L. Withrow Distinguished Speaker Award during the SAE 2011 World Congress in Detroit. The awards were given to Guofei Chen; Garrick J. Forkenbrock; Angelo Onorati; John P. Rugh and Thomas Wallner.

Originally established in 1984 as the SAE Distinguished Speaker Award, the award name was changed to the SAE Lloyd L. Withrow Distinguished Speaker Award in 1993 to honor the late Lloyd L. Withrow. The award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding presentation skills at SAE technical sessions.

Chen is a computer aided engineering applications specialist at the United States Steel Corporation's Automotive Center. He specializes in vehicle crash and durability analysis, structural design optimization, fracture modeling and manufacturing feasibility analysis. Chen earned his bachelor's degree in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Science and Technology of China and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Forkenbrock performs vehicle safety-related research at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Vehicle Research and Test Center. His primary research areas include light vehicle advanced technology, yaw and roll stability control systems, dynamic rollover resistance and braking performance, with an emphasis on developing objective test maneuvers and evaluation criteria. He earned a bachelor’s of science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa.

Onorati is a professor in the department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano. His research interests include fluid dynamic modeling of unsteady reacting flows in I.C. engine duct-systems and after-treatment devices; modeling of S.I. and C.I. engine combustion processes, and prediction of tailpipe noise and silencer modeling. He holds a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Energetics from the Politecnico di Milano.

Rugh works as a senior engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems. He is currently the task leader for the Vehicle Integrated Thermal Management project and the CoolCab truck idle reduction project at NREL. He holds a bachelor’s of science from Colorado State University as well as an masters from Purdue University, both in mechanical engineering.

Wallner is a research engineer and principal investigator at Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research where he is active in engine and combustion research with various fuels. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Michigan Technological University and a consultant for test cell design and layout for internal combustion engine research. He earned his master's degree and Ph.D. from Graz University.

SAE International is a global association of more than 128,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries. SAE International's core competencies are life-long learning and voluntary consensus standards development. SAE International's charitable arm is the SAE Foundation, which supports many programs, including A World in Motion and the Collegiate Design Series.