March 24, 2008 Kennedy Space Center has awarded Rede-Critique of Metairie, La., contract for Kennedy institutional support services. They will include non-technical administrative support such as technical training, clerical support, financial management support, personnel program activity, and employee development and training, as well as employee benefits, personnel action processing, procurement acquisition and administration support, business systems support, and records management.

March 24, 2008 Selected by NASA's Constellation Program, 5 space-related companies will receive contract awards for 210-day study to independently evaluate NASA's in-house design concept for lunar lander that will deliver 4 astronauts to surface of moon by 2020. Companies will also propose safety improvements and recommend industry-government partnering arrangements.

March 21, 2008 According to Rich Walker, AAMA president and CEO, Sigi Valentin will retire at the end of March 2008. Since he started as executive director in July of 2002, Valentin has been an advocate of both AAMA national and regional member interests in southeastern states. Valentin helped protect southeastern fenestration markets and paved the way for higher performing products through development of consensus code change proposals and testimony in support of these proposals on code floor.

March 21, 2008 NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale will present the keynote address to launch the Saint Louis Future Forum at the Saint Louis Science Center, celebrating the agency's 50th birthday. Focusing on how space exploration benefits Missouri's economy, the forum will feature astronaut Carl Walz providing an overview of the agency's plans to return to the moon and explore beyond. The event will also include a panel with Mark Wrighton, Gregg Maryniak, Daryl G. Pelc, Willem Bakker, and Tom Jones.

March 21, 2008 FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman announced a federal rule that requires 2-way communication systems to help train crews and passengers during emergency situations. Emergency evacuation and rescue access windows are required at all levels with passenger seating and all new passenger rail cars must be equipped with emergency roof access locations. The rule includes minimum requirements for inspection, testing, maintenance, and repair of these systems.

March 21, 2008 U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters announced that states will be directly eligible for federal funding to support intercity passenger rail service. The $30 million capital grant program is designed to support state efforts to improve intercity passenger rail service and requires a 50-50 funding match. Eligible projects include upgrading existing track, adding or lengthening passing tracks, improving track switches and signaling systems, and purchasing new rail cars.

March 21, 2008 U.S. DOT Secretary Mary E. Peters announced that the number of train accidents has declined for the 3rd consecutive year, down 13.7% in 2007. The number of highway-rail grade crossing incidents fell by 6.9% and grade crossing fatalities decreased by 8.1%, while trespass fatalities decreased by 6.2%. FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman said that the two leading causes of train accidents, human error and track, have declined 28.8% and 15.7%, respectively, since 2004.

March 20, 2008 According to Joseph Acker, President and CEO of SOCMA, association supports Congressman Albert Wynn's legislation to make chemical site security standards a permanent and enforceable law under jurisdiction of U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This legislation would eliminate sunset provisions to existing standards and, importantly, does not include highly impractical and controversial inherently safer technology provisions.

March 20, 2008 SAE International announced that 27 engineers and scientists from industry and academia now have the prestigious SAE International status of SAE Fellow. Each will receive the award during the Honors Convocation on Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at the SAE 2008 World Congress in Detroit. SAE Fellowship recognizes outstanding engineering and scientific accomplishments by an individual that have resulted in meaningful advances in automotive, aerospace, and commercial-vehicle technology.

March 20, 2008 SAE International announced that Mark Pflederer, VP of the Heavy Construction and Mining Division, Caterpillar, Inc., is the recipient of the Sid Olsen Engineering Manager Award. He was presented the award at the SAE Commercial Vehicle Congress & Exhibition in Rosemont, IL, in recognition of his management values and contributions to the industry. Established in 1995, the award recognizes an outstanding engineering manager in the off-highway industry.

March 20, 2008 SAE has awarded Kevin Cooper, President of CooperAero, Ltd., and Edzard Mercker, Managing Director of the Aerodynamics Division of aem-GmbH, with the Colwell Merit Award. They are being recognized for co-authoring the paper, A Two-Measurement Correction for the Effects of a Pressure Gradient on Automotive, Open-Jet, and Wind Tunnel Measurements. On April 15, 5-7:30 pm, they will be honored during the SAE 2008 World Congress Award Ceremony in Detroit.

March 20, 2008 SAE International's A World In Motion® (AWIM) program is partnering with Honeywell Transportation Systems to launch the Honeywell/SAE Student Automotive Design Challenge. Honeywell is pledging $40,000 to the SAE Foundation for 2008. This will be used to produce and ship learning materials to K-12 classrooms and to train teachers and Honeywell volunteer engineers to use the curriculum, which addresses physical science as well as mathematic and scientific concepts and skills.

March 20, 2008 Jie Chen, Amine Taleb-Bendiab, and Ben Wang of North American Lighting are recipients of SAE International's Colwell Merit Award. The 3 optical engineers will be honored during the SAE 2008 World Congress Award Ceremony on April 15, 5-7:30 pm, in Detroit. They are being recognized for co-authoring the paper, LED Flux Measurement Methods for Automotive Lighting, which provides the results of testing in which 3 different types of measurements for LED flux were compared.

March 20, 2008 The SAE 2008 World Congress marks its 75th anniversary in Detroit on April 14-17 at Cobo Center. It is hosted by Chrysler and chaired by Frank Klegon, Chrysler's Executive Vice President of Product Development. The theme of this year's event is A Climate for Change. Originally called the SAE Annual Meeting, the SAE 2008 World Congress relocated from New York City to Detroit in January 1933.

March 20, 2008 Jan B. Beck, a lead research scientist at X-L Synergy, and David C. Nemir, President of X-L Synergy, are recipients of SAE International's Colwell Merit Award. They are being recognized for co-authoring Arc Fault Detection through Model Reference Estimation, which presents an alternative approach to arc detection in arc fault circuit breakers. On November 11-13, 2008, they will be honored during the SAE Power Systems Conference in Bellevue, WA.

March 20, 2008 Jae Lew, Damrongrit Piyabongkarn, and John Grogg of Eaton Corporation are recipients of SAE International's Colwell Merit Award. The engineers are being recognized for co-authoring Minimizing Dynamic Rollover Propensity with Electronic Limited Slip Differentials. Presentation will be during the SAE 2008 World Congress Award Ceremony on April 15 in Detroit.

March 19, 2008 Bill Rhodes, Chairman, President, and CEO of AutoZone Inc., will address the 4th annual Executive Breakfast, sponsored by Ernst & Young, to be presented by the AASA at AAPEX on November 4 in Las Vegas, NV. Steve Handschuh, President and COO of AASA, will open the meeting by addressing the state of the aftermarket industry and AASA initiatives. Following Rhodes' keynote presentation, he and Handschuh will answer questions from the crowd.

March 19, 2008 The NMMA hired Sara Anghel as VP of Government Relations and Public Affairs for NMMA Canada. With experience in government, the private sector, and associations spanning 11 years, Anghel will lead industry representation and advocacy efforts in Canada by providing counsel, support, and strategic input to a range of policy and advocacy issues. She will be responsible for building relationships and interfacing with various industry executives and key stakeholders.

March 19, 2008 William A. Strauss, senior economist and economic advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, will present, "Will the U.S. and World Economy Shift Forward?", at the 2008 Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS) on May 20 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago, IL. He will discuss the state and the near-term outlook of the U.S. economy and will look further into the health of the automotive sector and the overall global economy.

March 19, 2008 Nearly 140 North American automotive aftermarket suppliers gathered in Orlando, FL, Feb. 29-March 1 for the AASA Vision Conference 2008. Keynote speakers included Darren Jackson of Advance Auto Parts, Inc.; Jeff Rachor of Pep Boys Auto; and Peter Marks of Robert Bosch, LLC. AASA also held the organizational meeting of its Technicians Advisory Council, and the conference also included 3 workgroup sessions as well as a discussion by Mike Hanley of the global marketplace and trends.