Alfred J. McAllister Professor of Mechanical Engineering Steven Son, a courtesy professor in AAE, was selected as the "Research Award" winner by the College of Engineering.

Son was recognized during the Faculty Excellence Awards on April 23. 

Son is forging groundbreaking discoveries in the field of energetic materials and has a reputation as the top experimentalist in the world in the area of combustion and decomposition processes in condensed phase and novel energetic materials. He has made innovative contributions to the design of nanoenergetic materials with applications to a wide range of propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics often related to national defense or energy uses, including a high-performing alloy composite propellant that also minimizes environmental impact. Many of his peers consider it one of the greatest improvements in solid rocket propellant in more than 40 years.

Son’s research has resulted in 13 patents and patent applications, and his publications are cited more than 1,000 times per year. He has been the catalyst behind the emergence of Purdue University as the preeminent university in energetics research, and his current efforts on direct printing and additive manufacture of energetic materials is enabling production of an entirely new class of explosives and propellants with unique gradient and performance properties.