For Release: March 24, 2000 Jerry Berg Media Relations Department (256) 544-0034 Jerry.Berg@msfc.nasa.gov /centers/msfc/NEWSROOM/ RELEASE: 00-104

Click here for Photos

Marshall Center’s Assistant Director for Propulsion
Elected to National Academy of Engineering

Robert L. Sackheim, assistant director and chief engineer for Propulsion at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Sackheim, who oversees all current and advanced space propulsion activities for the Marshall Center — NASA’s primary center for propulsion systems research and development — was elected to the academy for his contributions to space and missile propulsion technology and programs. He joins only two others from Marshall — both former Marshall Center directors: Dr. Wernher von Braun, elected in 1967; and Dr. William Lucas, elected in 1978.

The National Academy of Engineering, founded in 1964 to provide engineering leadership, elected 78 U.S. engineers and eight foreign associates into its membership this year. Its membership totals 2,027 U.S. engineers and 157 foreign associates.

Sackheim, a native of New York City, came to Marshall in September 1999, after serving since 1993 as manager of the Propulsion Systems Center in the Space and

Technology Division of TRW Corp. in Redondo Beach, Calif. There, he was responsible for design, development and testing of new propulsion, high energy chemical lasers, combustion and fluid system products and materials technology.

Sackheim is a past chairman of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ (AIAA) Liquid Propulsion Technical Committee and the Los Angeles section of the AIAA. He has authored more than 120 technical papers and holds seven patents in spacecraft control and propulsion systems technology.

His awards and honors include the 1992 James C. Wyld Award for Outstanding Technical Contributions to the Field of Rocket Propulsion, as well as three NASA Group Achievement Awards. He is a fellow of the AIAA and recently received that organization’s Sustained Service Award. In 1997, he was elected to the International Academy of Astronautics and has served on two National Research Council committees as well as AIAA, Air Force and NASA advisory groups. He most recently served on three Mars independent assessment teams for NASA.

Achieving membership in the National Academy of Engineering is one of the highest distinctions for engineering professionals. Membership recognizes those who have made what the Academy refers to as "important contributions to engineering theory and practice, including significant contributions to the literature of engineering theory and practice," and those who have demonstrated "unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology."

Note to Editors / News Directors: For an interview with Robert L. Sackheim, or to obtain photos, media representatives may contact Jerry Berg of the Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034. For an electronic version of this release, digital images or more information, visit Marshall's News Center on the Web at:

/centers/msfc/NEWSROOM/

Members of the media: To receive Marshall releases by e-mail instead of fax, please e-mail judy.pettus@msfc.nasa.gov. Include the name of your media outlet, your title, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and the headline of this news release.