January 31, 2007 – Reston, VA – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce that Professor Earl H. Dowell, William Holland Hall Professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, has been selected to receive the 2007 Walter J. and Angeline H. Crichlow Trust Prize.

The prize, presented by AIAA every four years for excellence in aerospace materials, structural design, structural analysis or structural dynamics, will be presented to Dowell during the awards luncheon of the AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, April 23-26, 2007, at the Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Dowell is being honored for pioneering contributions to aeroelasticity, structural dynamics and unsteady aerodynamics, which had an enormous influence on aerospace technology, and for contributions to education and public service in aerospace engineering. The award consists of a medal, a certificate of citation and a $100,000 honorarium.

"Professor Dowell's sterling accomplishments span both the technical and personal aspects of the aerospace profession," says AIAA President Roger Simpson. "His research endeavors led to major contribution to the flight safety of fighter aircraft and have also had a major impact on the design of both military and civilian aircraft. In addition, his influence on engineering education, both in the sense of developing a world-class program at Duke and mentoring countless students, will be long-lasting."

Since 1983, Dowell has been the William Holland Hall Professor, Mechanical Engineering, at Duke University. Prior to this he was a professor at Princeton University and assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Throughout his career, Dowell continued vibrant research activities and made outstanding and lasting seminal contributions providing solutions to some of the most important problems in aeroelasticity, unsteady aerodynamics and structural dynamics.

In addition to his research, Dowell made extraordinary contributions to engineering education especially as a former Dean of Engineering at Duke University, where he had major impact on not only the development of the school's unprecedented prominence but also on countless graduate students. Throughout his distinguished career, Dowell also participated generously with professional service and service on high-level advisory panels, including the Air Force and NASA.

Dowell is the principal author of the leading textbook in aeroelasticity, A Modern Course in Aeroelasticity, now in its fourth edition. He is also a co-author of the now classic Aeroelasticity of Plates and Shells and of the most recent Dynamics of Very High Dimensional Systems. Additionally, he is the author or co-author of over 250 technical papers.

Dowell's honors include AIAA Honorary Fellow, Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, past president of the American Academy of Mechanics, current service on the National Research Council, and others. His accomplishments have been recognized with the AIAA Theodore von Kármán Lectureship in Astronautics, AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award, and the American Academy of Mechanics Distinguished Service Award.

For more information about AIAA honors and awards program, contact Carol Stewart at 703/264-7623, carols@aiaa.org.

AIAA advances the state of aerospace science, engineering, and technological leadership. Headquartered in suburban Washington, D.C., the Institute serves over 35,000 members in 65 regional sections and 79 countries. AIAA membership is drawn from all levels of industry, academia, private research organizations, and government. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org .