Torok Receives Alumni Honor

On April 12, Michael S. Torok, M.S. '85 and Ph.D. '89, aerospace engineering, received the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus award. Torok received the award at the Alumni Association's annual awards gala.

Torok is chief engineer for U.S. Marine Corps programs for heavy lift helicopters for Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. He is the recipient of many awards from the helicopter industry. He is already a member of the Department of Aerospace Engineering's Academy of Distinguished Alumni.

A passion for and vast experience in aviation has landed Michael Torok the role of chief engineer of U.S. Marine Corps programs for heavy lift helicopters for Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. The company designs, manufactures and services military and commercial helicopters, along with fixed-wing reconnaissance aircraft. Torok is responsible for a $3 billion program to develop the world's most advanced heavy lift helicopter to serve the U.S. Marine Corps for the next 50 years.

Torok received the U.S. Army Distinguished Rotorcraft Fellowship and the American Helicopter Society's (AHS) Vertical Flight Foundation Fellowship. As a young engineer, he won the AHS Francois Xavier Bagnoud award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to vertical flight technology by a member under 30, and later the Gruppo Agusta International Award, for international vertical flight cooperation, as part of the Sikorsky/USG/ZFL Individual Blade Control Team. A technical fellow of the AHS, Torok has authored technical papers and publications, and holds seven patents.

Published April 13, 2008