Collins Aerospace recognizes seven engineers for outstanding contributions to the company and the engineering profession

• Awards presented in conjunction with National Engineers Week

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Feb. 22, 2019) - Collins Aerospace has recognized seven employees as the company’s Engineers of the Year. The Engineer of the Year awards celebrate the innovative thinking and outstanding technical expertise of the company’s top engineers and highlights the significant impact their efforts have had on the company, the aerospace industry and the engineering profession in general.

One engineer was selected from each strategic business unit and the central engineering division. The recipients are:

• Stuart Byrne, Aerostructures
• Scott Wigen, Avionics
• Steven Poteet, Enterprise Engineering
• Travis Finlay, Interiors
• Bejan Maghsoodi, Mechanical Systems
• Jeanette Ling, Mission Systems
• Michael Maynard, Power & Controls

Byrne is a principal engineer based in Chula Vista, California and was recognized for his work on the Pratt & Whitney PW800 Flying Test Bed program, involving the development of Nacelle Inlet and Fan Cowl hardware in a record amount of time. Successful completion was a critical milestone to establish and validate engine performance in support of future business jet programs.

Wigen is a staff engineer that played a key role in helping Collins Aerospace set up a brand new additive facility in Burnsville, Minnesota. Once the facility was operational in March 2018, Wigen led a breakthrough innovation that will replace traditional assembly methods with new technology to create parts with superior repeatability and minimal safety concerns.

Poteet is a senior engineer based in Windsor Locks, Connecticut that coordinated the input of six businesses to establish one unified requirements matrix for Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) compliant coatings in support of the entire enterprise. Poteet also successfully achieved innovations in three advanced coating technology projects. Each of these projects are deemed to have potentially profound impact on to the future longevity and sustainability of the products to which these coating are to be applied.

Finlay, a design engineer with the research and development aircraft seating team based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was recognized for his role in ergonomic and comfort research for business and economy class products as well as his work on patents for product enhancements. As a result of his research, Collins Aerospace’s aircraft seating products continue to be a leader in the market in comfort.

Maghsoodi is a mechanical engineer based in Brea, California and was recognized for his leadership on the Pegasus® Rescue Hoist development program. The Pegasus Rescue Hoist is a next-generation rescue hoist that integrates technologies from across the company. As the lead design engineer and architect, Maghsoodi took this project from concept to a test unit that is currently outperforming the existing product family.

Ling is an image generation software architect based in Salt Lake City, Utah and was recognized for her leadership in the development of graphics rendering software that’s part of the Collins Aerospace Image Generation product line. She also designed a cloud-rendering solution with unprecedented remote processing performance, which is a key technology goal of the U.S. Army. This is a revolutionary approach in an industry that has traditionally relied on large, expensive and close-to-the-point-of-need computer systems.

Maynard is the associate director of the Heat Exchanger product line located in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. He is being recognized for his leadership in the development of novel heat exchanger designs that employ additive manufacturing technology. He and his team have already defined and built over a dozen novel heat exchanger concepts and logged eight invention disclosures that are enabling smaller and lighter products, which are important for advanced aerospace applications.