APL’s Denevi, Armiger Earn Top Scientist, Engineer Honors from Maryland Academy of Sciences

The Maryland Academy of Sciences named the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory’s (APL) Brett Denevi and Robert Armiger Outstanding Young Scientist and Outstanding Young Engineer, respectively, during a ceremony Nov. 18 at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore.

The Outstanding Young Scientist award program was established in 1959 to recognize and celebrate extraordinary contributions of young Maryland scientists; the Outstanding Young Engineer award was established in 1988 to recognize contributions of engineers.

As a postdoc at Arizona State University and later a planetary geologist in APL’s Space Exploration Sector, Denevi was instrumental in helping to answer critical science questions posed by the MESSENGER mission to Mercury. She led research that showed Mercury has a volcanic crust, and developed maps of different geologic units that were used by the MESSENGER science team to address questions about Mercury’s composition and evolution of its interior.

While doing this research, she also planned MESSENGER observations of the innermost planet and led the effort to calibrate the images the Mercury-orbiting spacecraft sent back to Earth. Denevi holds key roles on two other active planetary missions as well, as a co-investigator on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and a participating scientist on the Dawn asteroid-study mission.

Learn more about Denevi’s work in this video.

Armiger, a biomechanical engineer in APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department, has devoted his professional career to developing systems that keep warfighters safe in extreme environments, and solutions that can restore quality of life following injury. He has led multiple efforts across the injury biomechanics domain, including a project to develop computational models for blast-injury prevention. He also led a team of mechanical modelers that studied blasts under vehicles, in an effort to develop a manikin that will help researchers assess and better protect warfighters from battlefield injuries.

Armiger also built upon the success of APL’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program as a principal investigator for a collaborative effort with the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Rehabilitation Hospital to conduct clinical evaluations of advanced prosthetics worn by injured service members and civilians.

Learn more about Armiger’s work in this video.

In addition to Denevi, three other APL staff members have won the OYS Award: Jason Benkoski (2014), Andrew Cheng (1984) and William Guier (1959). In addition to Armiger, one other APL staff member has won the OYE award: Morgana Trexler, in 2014.