Steve Ferdon, director of Global Engineering Technology in the Fuel Systems Business Unit at global power leader Cummins Inc., has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The award is presented to an individual who has made significant, commendable, and long-standing contributions to the promotion of CHTE, as well as the industry.
A member of CHTE since 2010, Ferdon has served as chair of its board of directors since 2012. His leadership at CHTE has contributed to mentoring the next generation of engineers, formalizing industrial membership governance of the board of directors, and sharing technical knowledge of heat treating applications with members.
Ferdon received the award at a formal ceremony recently during CHTE’s biannual meeting on the WPI campus. “I am surprised and humbled by this recognition from the CHTE membership,” he said. “Every year, I look forward to the spring and fall CHTE meetings, and the energizing collaboration with this unique group of talented, experienced, and highly practical technical leaders.”
According to Richard Sisson, George F. Fuller professor of Mechanical Engineering at WPI and technical director of CHTE, Ferdon has impacted the advancement of CHTE. “From a technical standpoint, he brings a broad perspective to the industry,” said Sisson. “Cummins works with an extensive network of heat treating service providers from all over the world, applying multiple processes for ferrous alloys, and Steve shares a great deal of what Cummins has learned with our industrial members.”
Sisson also noted Ferdon’s efforts to bring the next generation of engineers to the meetings where they can learn practical experience from industry leaders.
Ferdon received the Outstanding Materials Science Engineer Award from Purdue University's School of Materials Engineering in 1998 and is on the school’s advisory committee. He holds six patents and is a Licensed Professional Engineer, and a member of the AISI Bar Steel Fatigue Property Consortium Steering Committee. He began his career at Indiana-based Cummins in 1992 as a technical specialist in materials engineering.
About the Center for Heat Treating Excellence
CHTE is an academic-industry partnership headquartered on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. Built on the university’s strengths and focused on helping industry solve technical issues, the center provides a collaborative environment in which members, faculty, and students discuss challenges in the heat treating industry, specifically in the areas of thermal processing, induction tempering, gas quenching, alloy life extension, and additive manufacturing.
