Vernon G. Price, a retiree from Stanford University, received the 2001 Richard F. Shea Distinguished Member Award of the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society in San Diego California on 10 November 2001. The presentation was made during a banquet for the NPSS Administration Committee in conjunction with the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference. The citation for the Shea Award was "In recognition and appreciation of tireless leadership in member recruitment and overall dedicated service to the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society".

After service in the US Navy during World War II, Vernon graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 1948 and then received his Master's degree in 1949. Both degrees are in Electrical Engineering from the University of Utah. In his first engineering job, he worked at the US Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego California in the field of underwater sound transducers. Then, in 1955, old friends invited him to join them in Palo Alto California where he moved and began work at the General Electric Microwave Laboratory. That company was included in Stanford University's Honors Cooperative Program and thus he was able to further his education in electrical engineering. At GE, Vernon became a manager of filter engineering. His group designed and fabricated high power microwave filters for use in radar installations where minimization of unwanted signals that interfered with TV broadcasts was a serious problem.

In 1962, the US Government approved funds to finance the construction of a large linear particle accelerator center at Stanford University. Vernon joined the team at Stanford that built the machine. Assigned in the Accelerator Fabrications Department, Vernon's group developed the rectangular waveguide system used in the particle accelerator. This work included design and fabrication of directional couplers, high power terminators, power splitters and combiners, etc. As each device was fabricated, it was tested at full power before installation into the accelerator. When construction permitted, the Price group became involved in the high power testing of complete sections of the accelerator in sequence starting at the injector end and proceeding to the final end of the machine

In 1965, as the accelerator was completed, Vernon was assigned to manage a group of people that operated the machine, including many who were involved in the early design and construction phase. This effort continued for twenty years when in 1985, he was given a new job as an individual contributor in controls work. First, this work was in Accelerator Physics and then in the SLAC Instrumentation and Controls Department. He retired from Stanford in 1990.

Vernon joined the Institute of Radio Engineers (later to be combined with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to become the present-day IEEE) in September 1952. He was encouraged to do so after an invitation by William Hewlett of Hewlett Packard Company. He became Chair of a newly formed chapter of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Group. He was a part of the organizing committee for one of the PGMTT conferences held in the Bay area and has been active in many IEEE Particle Accelerator Conferences. He was a member of the organizing committee for one of the PAC.

In the mid 1980's, he was persuaded to become involved in the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science activities, helping to establish chapters in the Oakland East Bay and the Silicon Valley sections. He served as a chapter officer in the Silicon Valley chapter for 5 years. With retirement from SLAC, he was invited to become a part of the NPSS AdCom to work with membership development and chapter formation. Assigned to man the 'IEEE' desk at each of the NPSS annual conferences, Vernon has succeeded in recruiting hundreds of new members of IEEE and NPSS over the past decade. Inspired by the membership people at IEEE Headquarters, Vernon has nominated over a dozen members to the 'senior' grade and continues to do so.

Vernon has a number of hobbies to occupy his time during retirement in addition to working in IEEE fields. He is registered as a Professional Engineer in California; he is a Life Senior member of IEEE, a private pilot, an amateur radio operator (W6RRK), builder of many home computers and an avid reader. He enjoys researching his ancestors and doing family history.

Vernon Price can be reached at 22151 Berkeley Court, Los Altos, CA 94024-7452; Phone: +1 408 737-0778; Fax: +1 408 737-0778; E-mail: v.price@ieee.org