Tribology and Lubrication Technology November 2011 : Page 19STLE remembers Dr. Wilfredo ‘Fred’ Morales This NASA scientist played a pivotal role in the space shuttle’s ‘Return to Flight’ program. S TLE fondly remembers a for-mer member, Dr. Wilfredo “Fred” Morales , who passed away on Sept. 2 in Cleveland following a lengthy illness. Fred was 58 years old. Fred worked as a chemical en-gineer for 33 years at NASA Glenn Research Center. He graduated with an associate’s degree in elec-tronics from Lorain County (Ohio) Community College and worked for Ford Motor Co. before joining the U.S. Air Force in 1975 where he did a two-year stint while earning a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Cleveland State University. At the time, Fred began work-ing for what was then NASA Lewis Research Center as a co-op student during his third year at Cleveland State. He later earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Toledo, as well as a doctorate in chemical en-gineering also from CSU. As a young kid growing up in Spanish Harlem, N.Y., Fred had a genuine love for science and as-pired to become a scientist. While at NASA, Fred was known as an expert in aerospace lubrication and tribology. He sought solutions for preventing lu-bricants on land vehicles from freezing on Mars and studied the operation of lubricated centrifuge rotor bearings on the International Space Station. In a recent article that was pub-lished in The Chronicle-Telegram , Fred’s son, Will, added, “He was an in-tegral member of the team of scientists WWW .S TLE. OR G Fred worked for 33 years at NASA where he was known as an expert in aerospace lubrication and tribology and was extremely dedicated to his research in the field of space exploration. and engineers from the NASA Glenn Research Center that played a pivotal role in NASA’s space shuttle ‘Return to Flight’ program. This was the major ef-fort undertaken by NASA to get the space shuttle flying again after the Co-lumbia shuttle crashed.” Fred took great pride in his profes-sion, which he showed by speaking to public school students about science and space exploration, as well as tutor-TRIB OL OG Y & L UBRIC A TION TE CHNOL OG Y ing Hispanic and underprivileged kids in chemistry, math and phys-ics. He also advised college stu-dents on possible careers in chem-ical engineering, too. During his career, Fred re-ceived several patents for his re-search and honors, including two NASA Honor Medals and the 2006 Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award Corp.’s Out-standing Technical Achievement in Government Award. In addi-tion, he wrote many articles that were published in numerous pub-lications. Fred joined STLE in 1994 and worked on the Gears and Gear Lu-brication, Synthetic Lubricants and Lubrication Fundamentals Technical Committees. He also was active on STLE’s Aerospace Council. Outside of work, Fred enjoyed reading, listening to music, watch-ing movies and jogging. He was also a black belt in Judo. His most treasured time was the time he spent with his family, especially his five grandchildren who re-ferred to him as “Pa.” Fred is survived by his wife of 38 years, Iris, along with his son, Will, and daughter, Julie, along with his mother, Aida, and two sisters, Eliza-beth and Evelyn. (Photo courtesy of NASA Glenn Research Center) Editor’s Note: Some information contained in this article came from The Chronicle-Tele-gram (Lorain County, Ohio). NO VEMBER 2 011 • 19 Publication List Using a screen reader? Click Here |
