May 2002

Tom Bitzer
Distinguished Service Award
May, 2002, Miami Florida

CMH-HDBK-17 is pleased to recognize Tom Bitzer for his distinguished service to CMH-HDBK-17, and to the composites community as a whole. Tom, in addition to other CMH-HDBK-17 technical contributions, was the initial leader of the MIL-HDBK-17 activity to revitalize the old MIL-HDBK-23 Sandwich Structures Handbook, which had been cancelled by the US DoD. Tom organized a new Working Group within CMH-HDBK-17, solicited participation, and organized the work to re-write and update the old MIL-HDBK-23 as a new volume of CMH-HDBK-17.   Tom then organized a change in leadership such that the work continued following his retirement, and the new CMH-HDBK-17 volume on Sandwich Structures is well on its way to publication.

Outside of CMH-HDBK-17, Tom supported ASTM core/sandwich test method standardization as well as SAE core material specification standardization - doing much of the work himself in addition to directing the efforts of others.

Tom's knowledge, experience, patience, and good humor are already sorely missed by all three standards activities, and none more so than CMH-HDBK-17.

Bruce Fink
Distinguished Service Award
May, 2002, Miami Florida

Military Handbook 17 is pleased to recognize Bruce Fink for his distinguished service to the Composite Materials Handbook and to the composites community in general.

Bruce became involved with the handbook in the fall of 1994. Very shortly, he was developing the original handbook website and supporting the Guidelines working group - working late into the evening with Sam Garbo and Joe Soderquist to organize minutes, agenda items, and reports. At his fourth meeting, Spring 1996, Bruce was named the Handbook Coordinator, responsible for day-to-day operations of the handbook and monitoring the Secretariat contract. As coordinator, Bruce encouraged development of procedures, further developing documentation and prioritization of Secretariat and coordination group activities. He also was constantly monitoring an often complex funding picture and promoting the Handbook to additional funding sources.

In the Fall of 1996, Bruce was named the first chair of the Building Block Approach task group, starting a new focused activity under the Guidelines working group. Upon Gary Hagnauer's resignation, Bruce replaced him as Composite Materials Handbook Chair and PMC Coordination Group chair. Bruce served in the dual role of Handbook Chair and Coordinator until December 2001.

We're happy that Bruce has plans to continue involvement with the handbook. 


Walt Rosen
Distinguished Service Award
May, 2002, Miami Florida

Walt's contributions to the handbook are intertwined with the success of the Secretariat program. Few people are aware of Walt's efforts to get the Secretariat contract off the ground, and to keep the program alive during periods between contracts, or when the contract was not funded. In addition, he directly contributed to technical aspects of early versions of the handbook. Walt's contribution to the failure theory section certainly cannot be forgotten, particularly for the rousing debate the section aroused. He has been active presenting the CMH-17 philosophy and goals at the highest levels within DoD. We also recognize the value of Walt's clear thinking, and well-articulated positions during the many discussions and debates that have defined the handbook.


John Adelmann
Distinguished Service Award
May, 2002, Miami Florida

CMH-HDBK-17 is pleased to recognize John Adelmann for his distinguished service to CMH-HDBK-17 as past-chairman of the Testing Working Group. John's contributions continue in his new role as Statistics Working Group Chair, but his extensive leadership of the Testing Working Group during a critical period of time is what motivates this particular award. John took over the reins of the Testing Working Group at a time when it was in need of direction, leadership, and energy. John's organizational skills are superb, and he led by example, personally authoring a number of handbook sections in Chapters 4, 6, and 7 of Volume 1, while encouraging the participation of a number of new members, and capturing their experience for CMH-HDBK-17. The sections of the handbook for which Testing Working Group is responsible, after the three handbook revisions covered by John's tenure, are the most current and most definitive reference works on the testing of composite materials. This in addition to John's other CMH-HDBK-17 achievements in Data Review, Guidelines, Statistics, and Building Block Working Groups.

At the same time, John was also active in Composite Materials Characterization, Inc, and SACMA. Both activities were important stepping-stones for composite standards and industry cooperation, and John coordinated all these activities with his work in CMH-HDBK-17 in an integrated manner to the betterment of all of those working in composites.


Donald Oplinger
Distinguished Service Award
May, 2002, Miami Florida

Military Handbook 17 is pleased to recognize Donald Oplinger for his meritorious service to the Polymeric Composites Handbook and to the composites community in general. Unfortunately this is a posthumous award as Donald passed away in June 2000.

Don's contributions to the PMC Handbook were numerous and reflect his thorough knowledge of composite joints and testing methods; technical fields in which he was active for more than thirty years.

He was the sole author of a chapter in Volume 3 on bonded joints and a major contributor to the bolted joints chapter, also in Volume 3. While writing the bonded joint chapter, he had a special distinction of working on an action item that was open for more than ten years.

When Don started work at the United States Army's Materials Laboratory in Watertown, MA, he immediately got involved in the Handbook not only by providing technical expertise but also by recruiting statistical experts to help in data reduction. His last major contribution, when he was at the Federal Aviation Agency, was to fund research in testing methods, the last being the combined loading compression (CLC) test method. This test method has become an ASTM standard and its description is in Volume 1 of the Handbook.

Don's Distinguished Servise plaque was award posthumously 


Han-Pin Kan
Distinguished Service Award
May, 2002, Miami Florida

Military Handbook 17 is pleased to recognize Han-Pin Kan for his meritorious service to the Polymeric Composites Handbook and to the composites community in general.

Han-Pin's contributions to the PMC Handbook were numerous and reflected his expertise in mechanics of composites including fatigue, damage tolerance, and statistics; technical fields in which he was active for more than thirty years.

He was the sole author of a section in Volume 3 on durability and a major contributor to the structural reliability chapter, also in Volume 3. The material in the Handbook was based on his research work that is still used and misused today in certification of composite aircraft structures such as scatter factors on load so as to reduce fatigue lifetimes testing.

Although his other contributions to the Handbook may not be as visible as they are buried in the collective enterprise that the Handbook represents, he did contribute valuable editing and discussion that has made this Handbook valuable to future users.