The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has recognized Clarkson University professor Pier Marzocca with the Forest R. McFarland award.

The award recognizes individuals for their outstanding contributions to developing, collecting and distributing technical information of value to society through meetings, conferences and professional development programs.

Marzocca serves as the chair of the SAE’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Technical Committee, which focused on gathering and disseminating knowledge on unmanned aircraft.

“I was very pleased to hear that I was selected for this prestigious SAE Award,” Marzocca said. “We are all expecting that unmanned aircraft will play a significant role in our future, to support not only military operations, but also the growing number of civil applications, such as firefighting, agricultural observation and nonmilitary security operations, such as surveillance of pipelines.”

Established in 1979, the award is administered by the SAE Engineering Meetings Board and honors the late Forest R. McFarland, who was a member of the board.

Marzocca will receive a framed certificate at the upcoming SAE Aerotech 2013 Congress & Exhibition in Montreal. Thousands of the world’s top aerospace professionals gather at the SAE Aerotech Congress & Exhibition to prepare for future aerospace challenges and opportunities.

Marzocca received his Ph.D. in aeronautical and aerospace engineering from Politecnico di Torino in Italy. He is a deputy editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Science and associate editor of Journal of Aerospace Engineering and Journal of Thermal Stresses.

His research interest is in the field of aerospace and wind energy and he specializes in multi-physics modeling and characterization of advanced materials and structures, dealing with the interactions among advanced structures and fluids, and magnetic, electric and thermal fields.