West Conshohocken, PA — ASTM International and the Society for Standards Professionals presented the 2015 Robert J. Painter Memorial Award for Meritorious Service to Jess Waller, Ph.D., polymer scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center White Sands Testing Facility in Las Cruces, N.M. The award is presented to a person who has contributed the most outstanding service in a given year in the field of standards.

ASTM Committee E07 on Nondestructive Testing noted Waller’s many contributions in leading the development of standards for composite materials and aerospace materials over the last year. An ASTM member since 1997, Waller also serves on Committees D20 on Plastics, D30 on Composite Materials, F42 on Additive Manufacturing Technologies and G04 on Compatibility and Sensitivity of Materials in Oxygen Enriched Atmospheres. He also a member of the ASTM Smart Manufacturing Advisory Committee (SMAC).

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Waller earned his Ph.D. in polymer science from the University of Akron. He joined the staff at the NASA Johnson Space Center White Sands Testing Facility in 1995 upon completing his graduate studies. His work at White Sands has focused on investigating the compatibility of plastics and elastomers in hypergolic and oxygen-enriched media, nondestructive evaluation, and composite overwrapped pressure vessels, and he has led numerous shuttle, ISS, site and NASA agency support projects.

Waller holds two patents and has authored or co-authored over 100 publications. He is also a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Society for Nondestructive Testing in addition to ASTM. He has received several NASA Group Achievement Awards, and recently won the 2015 NASA-JSC Power of One Gold Award, which recognizes NASA agency-wide impact for work on nondestructive evaluation of additive manufactured parts.