Grand Fellows

In accordance to the article 7 of the constitution, the MIRCE Akademy  has been conferred the title of the Grand Fellow, the highest honour that the Akademy can bestow upon an individual,  to the following individuals:  

Nigel Mansell OBE
Polly Vacher MBE
Professor Arie Dubi
Professor Michael Pecht

 

 Nigel Ernest James Mansell OBE 

"For the unique contribution for the establishment and developent of the  Formula 1 Reliability and Effectiveness Centre of the MIRCE Akademy. at the Woodbury Park." 

 
1992 F1 and 1993 Indy World Champion Nigel Ernest James Mansell, OBE with wife Rosanne receiving Grand Fellowship of the MIRCE Akademy from its President Dr Knezevic.

 Successes in Brief:

Community Skills: Special Constable in the Isle of Man and in Devon (11 years service)

Hobbies: Golf (plays to a 3 handicap), tennis, squash

Technical Skill: Qualified pilot in aeroplanes and helicopters

Marital Status: Married to Rosanne with three children

Polly Mary Anne Vacher, Aviatrix

" For the unique, hands-on, contribution to the reaserch of the MIRCE-Mechanics, in the global operational environment. " 

 
Polly Vacher receiving Grand Fellowship of the MIRCE Akademy, from its President Dr Knezevic, at the end of her record breaking trip around the world, at Birmingham International Airport, UK, on 17 May 2001.

Date of birth: 13 January 1944.

Marital Status: Married with three (grown up) sons.

Professional:

• Qualified physiotherapist, trained Middlesex Hospital, London.
• Musical and singing training at Trinity College, London.
• Licentiate of Trinity College, London.
• Batchelor of Arts (Music), Open University
• Masters degree in Music Education, University of Reading
• UK Private Pilot's Licence, 1994.
• Australian Private Pilot's Licence, 1994.
• Australian Instrument Rating, 1995.
• UK Instrument Rating, 1997.
• UK Commercial Licence, 1999

• Physiotherapist, Middlesex Hospital, London 1963-65.
• Physiotherapist, St. George's Hospital, Tooting 1965-66.
• Physiotherapist, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford 1966-68.
• Music teacher, in school and private 1978-present.
• Director, Fregon Aviation Ltd., 1996-present.
• Fund raiser, "Royal International Air Tattoo Flying Scholarships for the Disabled (in memory of Sir Douglas Bader)", 1997-present.

Interests: Flying, skiing, tennis, music (especially giving concerts for charity), flying for the disabled, public speaking, Australia, fresh challenges.

From 1997 Polly has been one of five people, and the only woman, on the selection board for the "Royal International Air Tattoo Flying Scholarships for the Disabled."

Personal: Facing challenges has always been an essential driving force in her life. At the age of 45, she did a tandem skydive to raise money for charity. This changed the direction of her life. Polly just had to become a proficient skydiver. Polly did in 1990 and achieved 245 jumps by the time she gave it up as a hobby in favour of flying.

In 1994 Polly gained my UK Private Pilot's Licence, just before moving to Australia for 18 months because of my husband's work. Having held a flying licence for only a few months, Polly hired a light aircraft and flew with my husband around the circumference of Australia, up the middle to Ayres Rock and Alice Springs and back across the Simpson Desert. With little experience in flying, this in itself was a challenge.

In 1997 Polly flew solo in a single engine Piper Dakota across the North Atlantic. Together with her husband flew around the periphery of the United States and Canada. Then she flew on her own back across the Atlantic. Half way home the lights failed on my primary navigation instruments.

In 2001 Polly flew solo around the world in the same Piper Dakota. On 17^th May 2001, after 124 days of circumnavigating the globe through four continents, twenty countries and spending 232.45 hours in the pilot’s seat, Polly arrived, on schedule, at her starting point, Birmingham International Airport. The biggest challenge of this flight was the sixteen hour crossing from Hawaii to California. Nine of those hours were in darkness. Three hours from Santa Barbara she suffered an engine failure due to fuel starvation. Technical details about this trip could be found in the monograph "B2B".

In 2003, on 7th May, Polly set off on record breaking journey around the World via the Arctic and Antarctic. On 27th April 2004, having flown over 60,000 nautical miles, Polly entered into history of avion:

• The First woman to fly solo in single engine light aircarft over North Pole
• The First woman to fly solo in a single engine light arcraft in Antarctica
• The First Person to fly solo around the World via all seven Continents

All three world records have been achieved during "Voyage to the Ice", a project that started on 6^th May 2003 from Birmingham International Airport. She flew to the North and finished at the same place on 27 April 2004 arriving from the South East. In between Polly flew for 497 hours, landed at 106 locations in 20 countries. She covered the distance of 60,000 nautical miles. Technical details about this trip could be found in the monograph B2B/(A+A) published by the Akademy.

To support on going research in MIRCE-Mechanics during this world record breaking flight Polly actively participated in a Global Research project undertaken by the Akademy. She meticulously and patiently collected data related to the in-service conditions of the aircraft, environment and pilot during the entire project. In total she recorded over 20000 data elements that are now used as scientific evidence in many research projects undertaken by the Akademy. Also, as the direct result of Polly’s project the topics of Human Performance and Climatology have been incorporated into the Akademy’s Master and Doctoral Programmes.

In recognition of her ability to meticulously plan, prepare, train and deliver global flights  and willingness to be "our" flying experimental laboratory during them, the MIRCE Akademy has proudly created the science-based division, The Polly Vacher Lab, on 21 May 2007, the day when her latest challenge "Wings Around Britain" took off from Birmingham International Airport. 

In 2007 Polly has successfuly completed antoher Record breaking flight. This time was a flight around the UK landing at all of the airfields in the Jeppesen VFR Manual, between 21 May and 31 July 2007. The journey statistics: 221 Airfields visited, 158 flying hours, 19,000 nautical miles, 163 passengers, 96 disabled passengers. Dreadful weather!

Find out more by visiting the Wings Around the World Challenge Flight website: www.worldwings.org

 Professor Arie Dubi

"For the original development of the science-based, predictive, simulation method for Modelling In-service Reliability, Cost and Effectiveness" 

  
Professor Ari Dubi receiving Grand Fellowship of the MIRCE Akademy from its President Dr Knezevic on 5 December 2001.
 

Academic and Research Employment

Fields of Interest: Methodology of the Monte Carlo Methods. Transport Theory. Variance reduction methods. Transport Theory of neutral and Charged Particles. Reliability theory, Operational research and systems transport. Since 1984 extensive interest in Application of stochastic simulation in industrial high technology systems.

Professor Dubi is recipient of several international academic and professional awards.

  Professor Michael Pecht 

"For the development and application of the innovative methods for the reliability improvements of electronic systems."

 
Professor Pecht receiving the Grand Fellowship of the MIRCE Akademy from its President Dr Knezevic on 1 December 2005.

Ph.D. Engineering Mechanics, December 1982,
M.S. Engineering Mechanics, May 1979
M.S. Electrical Engineering, August 1978
B.S. Acoustics, May 1976

all from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.

Current  Employment

Full Professor and George E. Dieter Chair Professor at the University of Maryland
Founder and Director:  CALCE Electronic Products and Systems Center, a $5M a year center  sponsored by over 100 international companies and organizations from all sectors of the electronics industry. The Center is now recognized as the driving force behind the development and implementation of physics-of-failure approaches to reliability and life cycle prediction, as well as a world leader in accelerated testing, failure analysis, and electronic parts selection and management.
Chief Editor: Microelectronics Reliability, Elsevier

Honors and Awards

IEEE Fellow, “for effectiveness in leadership in the development and realization of an exemplary program and successful efforts to raise the level of engineering excellence and practice within and without the organization.”

ASME Fellow, “for promoting the art, science, and practice of mechanical engineering.”

The Royal Society, United Kingdom, Kan Tong Po Electrical Engineering Visiting Professorship Award at City University in Hong Kong (2002).

IEEE Standards Award for chairing and developing IEEE Standard Methodology for Reliability Prediction and Assessment for Electronic Systems and Equipment #1413 (2000).

IEEE Standards Award for chairing and developing IEEE Reliability Program Standard #1332 (2000).

3M Research Award for “research work in the electronics reliability area that has made significant contributions to the scientific understanding of material properties and their complex behavior” (1999).

ASME Electrical and Electronic Packaging Division (EEPD) Award “for outstanding contributions to the field of application of engineering mechanics to electronic packaging” (1999).

IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award, “for the development and realization of a cross disciplinary educational program in Computer Aided Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE)” (1999).

IMAPS: William D. Ashman Memorial Achievement Award (1997), “for his numerous contributions to academia and the electronics packaging industry.”

IEEE Reliability Society’s Annual Reliability Award (1996), “for his contributions to the IEEE Transactions on Reliability, his work with CALCE Center and his work on Reliability Standards.”

Faculty Achievement Award (April, 1996), “in recognition of outstanding contributions to industrial research enabled by the Technology Initiatives Program.”

American Society for Quality Control: Reliability Division, Austin Bonis Award for the Advancement of Reliability Education (1996) for outstanding achievement in the advancement of reliability education.

Institute of Environmental Sciences Reliability Test and Evaluation Award (1996), “for vital contribution to the development and promotion of physics-of-failure modeling and analysis as a valuable reliability design and test process in the government, commercial and academic communities.”

National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) certificate of “recognition of your significant contributions in the preparation and execution of the successful Second U.S. Microgravity Payload (USMP-2) Mission, launched on March 4, 1994.”

Int’l Electronic Packaging Society (IEPS) Educational Award “for excellence in research and education at the University of Maryland CALCE Center (1990)”