ST. LOUIS, Feb. 05, 2001 -- Two engineers from Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile Systems will receive the 2001 Black Engineer of the Year Award at a ceremony later this week.
They are Tonya Cunningham, a St. Louis software engineer who found a way to save resources in the building and testing of visual integrated display systems for aircraft simulators, and Alfred Awani, a Philadelphia engineer who played a crucial role in the development of the advanced RAH-66 Comanche helicopter.
Cunningham was named Most Promising Black Engineer, and Awani received his award for Outstanding Technical Contribution in Industry. Both are the only winners in their categories.
The Black Engineer of the Year Award recognizes the achievements of the country's most successful African-American engineers, scientists and technology leaders.
Cunningham and Awani will be honored Feb. 10 during a ceremony at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore, Md., following the 15th annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference at the Baltimore Convention Center.
The conference, one of the nation's premier technology events, presents awards in 20 categories. More than 7,000 participants are expected to attend the ceremony.
Cunningham joined Boeing in January 1997. She was the first African American and the first woman on the engineering team for the Visual Integrated Display System group in St. Louis. Student pilots, in simulators or training devices, use the surrounding images created by the team to practice air-combat techniques. Cunningham distinguished herself with the development of a tool that provides significant time and cost savings by allowing the display units to be built and tested without a cockpit. She also made major contributions to new documentation standards for the units, which optimize productivity in the group's software development program.
A native of Detroit, Mich., Cunningham received her bachelor's in electrical engineering from Western Michigan University in December 1996. She obtained her master's in computer science from Webster University in May 2000.
Awani joined Boeing in 1983 as an advanced configuration manager in the company's Research and Development organization. He served as project engineering manager on the LHX light attack helicopter program, responsible for the application of low-observable technology. After the LHX became the RAH-66 Comanche, Awani was named the program's military technology manager. In that role, he made an important contribution to the technical development and the proposal effort for the highly competitive program and helped Boeing to win the contract. After serving as system technology integration senior manager at the Boeing Sikorsky Joint Program Office, Awani was selected to participate in Boeing's Executive Development Program. The program is a full-time action learning experience that teaches participants to solve real-time business challenges.
In 1986, Awani was named Scientist of the Year by the Arizona Council of Black Engineers and Scientists. He has written two textbooks and has had numerous papers published.
Awani, of Wilmington, Del., received his doctorate in engineering from the University of Kansas in 1981; his master's in aerospace engineering and in management from Northrop University in 1977 and 1978, respectively; and his bachelor's in aeronautical engineering from the Aerospace Institute in Chicago in May 1975.
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