Brewer Award

In memory of Given A. Brewer, Teledyne Engineering Services, Waltham, Massachuetts, established the Brewer Teledyne Award in 1989 (now called Brewer Award).

Mr. Brewer created Brewer Engineering Laboratories. As its director, Mr. Brewer carried out over 700 projects using experimental and theoretical techniques. His business was later sold to Teledyne and he became a consultant to the company. Mr. Brewer was a valued member of SEM and was active in both leadership and technical activities. The annual award will consist of an award plaque in the recipient's name.

The criteria for the award stipulates that it be given to "an outstanding practicing experimentalist" chosen by the Honors Committee. The award is intended as recognition of skill in the practical application of experimental mechanics techniques. A person whose primary affiliation is with a university would be eligible if substantial amounts of consulting work involved hands-on experimental analysis.  The first Brewer-Teledyne award was presented in June, 1989 to (Mrs.) Heidi Brewer in her husband's memory.

2013 G.A. Brewer Award:  Randy Mayes

After receiving his Master’s in ME, Randy Mayes went to work doing static and dynamic analysis using the Rourke handbook and NASTRAN.  The first time one of his analyses was compared against a hardware test, he over-predicted the static deflection by 50%, and he had no idea why.  Since then, many times he has invoked Psalm 102, “Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come to you.”  Randy has received help from many quarters; from Keith Miller and Tom Carne, his mentors in analysis and modal testing, from great techs like Patrick and Anthony, and many great colleagues in SEM.  After 28 years at Sandia Labs he still enjoys the challenge of testing to find answers in structural dynamics.