As the School of Aerospace Engineering prepares to send off its next generation of high-achieving graduates at this week's commencement ceremonies, we are reminded of the legacy that precedes the Class of 2014.

At this spring's College of Engineering Alumni Awards, four AE alumni were honored for vision and achievements that had their roots right here on North Avenue.

We join the Institute in saluting them:

Receiving the highest honor, induction into the CoE Engineering Hall of Fame, were two men who almost needed no introduction: Dr. Don P. Giddens B.S. AE ’63; M.S. AE ’65; Ph.D. AE ’66 and Major General Carl McNair Jr., B.S. AE ’63; M.S AE ’63.

Don Giddens previously served at Georgia Tech as the chair of the School of Aerospace Engineering and as the dean of the College of Engineering. He retired from the latter position in 2011 but continues to conduct research in cardiovascular biomechanics as a part-time faculty member in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a past president of the American Society for Engineering Education, and has been named a Fellow in a number of prestigious organizations, including ASEE, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Heart Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

An engineering graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, Carl H. McNair, Jr. earned the rank of First Chief, U.S. Army Aviation Branch. Over the course of his storied career, he has held several high-ranking positions, including CG of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence and commandant of the Army Aviation School, Fort Rucker, Ala., He was one of the first 100 aviators to fly the Bell Helicopter prototype XV-15 tilt rotor,

and he logged more than 4000 hours over the the course of 32 years, including 1,500 in Vietnam, where he commanded both an Assault Helicopter Company and a Combat Aviation Battalion during both TET ‘68 and ‘69. His decorations include two Distinguished Service Medals, three Legion of Merits, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars with “V” for Valor, 52 Air Medals, and many allied decorations. After his Army retirement in 1987, he joined DynCorp, where he built a $500 million business unit and in 1996 joined the board of Air Methods Corporation.

Joining the CoE's Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni was Catherine Ferrie, M.S. AE ’95; Ph.D. AE ’98.  Ferrie was named senior vice president

of engineering for Bell Helicopter in August 2013 and is a member of Bell Helicopter’s Executive Leadership Team. In her current role, Ferrie leads the engineering organization and is responsible for providing strategic direction for designing, developing and integrating technologies for use in Bell Helicopter’s current and next-generation products. Previously, she was the vice president of Xworx and research, development, test and evaluation for Bell Helicopter. Ferrie is a recipient of the prestigious Francois Xavier Bagnoud Award, which is presented to an American Helicopter Society member under 30 who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of the rotorcraft industry. She is a member of the Expanding Your Horizons program, which is designed to encourage young women to pursue careers in science and engineering.

Inducted into CoE's Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni was Frédéric Villeneuve, M.S. AE ’03; Ph.D. AE ’07. Villeneuve has been with Siemens Energy for more than five years. He started as a probabilistic design engineer, developing and implementing gas turbine

technology portfolio evaluation methodologies conjointly with the Aerospace Systems Design Lab at Georgia Tech. In 2011, he took the role of team lead and was tasked with developing a new group focused on advanced methods for thermo-mechanical analysis. Villeneuve has since been a manager in the Gas Turbine Technology Department. He manages the Aerodynamics and Methods group and is the university liaison with Georgia Tech. He participates in the development of new technologies to improve the aerodynamics performance of the next generation of Siemens gas turbines.