The Samuel C. Collins Award is awarded to an individual who has given outstandingly of himself/herself in the identification and solution of cryogenic engineering problems and has subsequently demonstrated their concern for the cryogenic community with their dedicated and unselfish professional service and leadership to this community. This award is open to persons without regard to national origin.


The Samuel C. Collins Award will be presented to the recipient prior to the plenary presentation on Tuesday, July 20, 2021.


2021 Samuel C. Collins Award Recipient:

Jay Theilacker
Cryogenic Sector Head
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Batavia, IL


The Samuel C. Collins award will be presented at the 2021 Conference.

The Award consist of a metal on walnut plaque, a $2,500 honorarium, up to $1,000 to cover personal travel expenses to accept the award, free registration at the current and all future CEC conferences that they attend, and a copy of the CEC proceedings whether or not they attend.

The nominator is requested to submit a brief statement (no more than two pages) addressing why the nominee deserves the Collins Award, along with a complete resume and a list of publications, patents, etc. The nominator is encouraged to provide copies of significant publications, inventions and/or patents with the nomination package. At least two letters supporting the nomination are required.

After selection, CEC will notify the awardee but does not normally communicate with the other nominees.

The nomination deadline is March 29, 2021.

The nomination package should be sent to Peter Kittel by email.


Former recipients:

Samuel C. Collins 1965
Klaus D. Timmerhaus 1967
Edward F. Hamel 1973
Howard O. McMahon 1979
Joseph L. Smith 1983
Bascomb Birmingham and William E. Gifford 1991
Roger W. Boom 1993
Ronald W. Fast 1995
Ralph G. Scurlock 1999
Herbert Sixsmith 2001
Richard P. Reed 2003
Glen E. McIntosh 2005
William A. Little 2007
Ray Radebaugh 2009
Chaosheng Hong 2011
Peter Kittel 2013
Philippe Jean Lebrun 2015
Steven Van Sciver 2017
Venkata Rao Ganni 2019