John A. Tichy, Professor and former Head of the Department, has been a member of the faculty since 1976. He is an ASME fellow, an STLE fellow (the national tribology society), a past chairman of the ASME Tribology Division, and the former Technical Editor of the ASME Journal of Tribology. Tichy has been awarded several honors including the ASME Mayo D Hersey Award (lifetime achievement in tribology), an Honorary Doctorate in France (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, the STLE International Prize (highest honor of the Society), and twice the ASME Best Paper in Tribology. John Tichy is also listed in the Who's Who in Rock & Roll (1996) and the Rolling Stone Encyclopaedia of Rock & Roll (1998) for his work as singer, songwriter and guitarist in the 1960s and 70s with Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen.