Jack Riegel Student Awards

The International Ballistics Society provides a Student Grants Program consisting of free conference registration and travel support to awarded students for attending the International Symposium on Ballistics. It aims at motivating PhD students attending the International Symposium on Ballistics, publishing and presenting their technical work, and interacting with technical experts and scientists from all over the world in all fields of ballistics. The award was renamed to Jack Riegel Student Award honoring Jack’s vast and magnificent contributions to the ballistics community in general and the International Ballistics Society in particular, especially as its Founding President in 2010. A tribute to Jack Riegel is located here.

Six students from Belgium, France, India, Russia, and South Africa were awarded for their scientific contributions that they presented at the 31st International Symposium on Ballistics in Hyderabad, India, in November 2019. This picture shows the students proudly presenting their certificate at the awards ceremony at Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad, India. 

A call for nominations for the Jack Riegel Student Awards for the 34th International Symposium on Ballistics held in Jacksonville, FL, USA, in May 2025, will be send out end of July 2024.

ELIGIBILITY: Students enrolled in an academic institution at the time of the conference and interested in ballistic phenomena are eligible for nomination to the Jack Riegel Student Awards. This program is aimed at graduate students or undergraduate students, while students who have already reached the PhD level prior to the conference may not eligible anymore.

AWARD PACKAGE: The grant consists of funding (up to $1000 of travel and hotel reimbursements plus free conference registration fee) to one (1) student from each of the following technical areas of the symposium: Interior Ballistics (IB), Launch Dynamics (LD), Exterior Ballistics (EB), Explosion Mechanics (EM), Terminal Ballistics and Impact Physics (TB), and Vulnerability (VB). This makes a maximum of six (6) Jack Riegel Student Awards for each conference.
  
HOW TO SUBMIT NOMINATIONS: The nomination must be submitted by the student's academic advisor and must include the full technical paper, the application form and CV of the student author including the student's academic background and record. Applicants should also note:

• The student is expected to be the first author of the paper.
• The student is expected to present the paper at the conference.

DUE DATE FOR NOMINATIONS: Applications will be due December 22nd, 2024 (due date extended to January 24th, 2025!): 

• Please send the paper via the conference submission procedure.
• Please send the application letter together with the CV by email.

Student Grant Awards selection will be based on a review of the full technical paper, the application form and CV by the ISB Student Committee. Winners will be informed prior to the conference.

Questions on the program may be directed to the student's committee chair.

Dr. Markus Graswald
Chair of Student Awards Committee


Previous Winners

International Symposium on Ballistics	Technical Area	Award Winner	Paper Title
27: Freiburg, Germany, Apr '13	Explosion Mechanics	No award
	Exterior Ballistics	Timo Sailaranta, Finland	Upwards Fired Bullet Terminal Velocity
	Interior Ballistics	Heath Martin, USA	Effect of initial temperature on the interior ballistics of a 120-mm mortar system
	Launch Dynamics	No award
	Terminal Ballistics & Impact Physics	Alon Weiss, Israel Roman Kositski, Israel	An Experimental Investigation of Deep Penetration into Polycarbonate Targets On the Crater Diameters in Metallic Plates Impacted by High Velocity Rods
	Vulnerability	Cyril Robbe, Belgium	An Hybrid Experimental/Numerical Method to Assess the Lethality of a Kinetic Energy Non-Lethal Weapon System
28: Atlanta, USA, Sep '14	Explosion Mechanics	Maria Jesus Perez-Martin, Spain Carey Price, USA	A novel method for measuring the dynamic fracture-initiation toughness under impulsive loadings Statistical method for determining governing properties of high-velocity polymer penetrations
	Exterior Ballistics	No award
	Interior Ballistics	Weitao Yang, China Jie Liu, China	Burning characteristics of microcellular combustible objects Study of nano-nitramine explosives: preparation, sensitivity and application
	Launch Dynamics	Mickael Zeidler, France	On the control of a 155 mm spin-stabilized projectile using the Coanda effect
	Terminal Ballistics & Impact Physics	Francisca Martinez, Spain	Influence of the fiber alignment in the ballistic performance of Dyneema non-woven fabrics
	Vulnerability	No award
29: Edinburgh, UK, May '16	Explosion Mechanics	Guo Wenqi, China	Investigation on the Melting and Composition Gradient of W-Cu Shaped Charge Jet During the Jet Formation and Penetration
	Exterior Ballistics	Vincent Condaminet, France	Identification of the Aerodynamic Coefficients of a Spin-Stabilized Projectile from Free Flight Data
	Interior Ballistics	Na Sun, China	Enrichment of Fluorinated Nano- TiO2 Composite on the Surface of Propellants
	Launch Dynamics	No award
	Terminal Ballistics & Impact Physics	Matthew Hudspeth, USA	The Effect of Projectile Nose Geometry on the Critical Velocity and Failure Mode of Yarns Subjected to Transverse Impact
	Vulnerability	Steffen Grobert, Germany	Experimental Investigations on Dynamic Back Face Deflection Caused by Ballistic Impact on Combat Helmets and the Effect to the Human Skull
30: Long Beach, USA, Sep '17	Explosion Mechanics	Xing Boyang, China	Influence of the Embedded Structure on the EFP Formation of the Compact Terminal Sensitive Projectile
	Exterior Ballistics	Lv Yipin, China	Coexisting Attractors in an Underwater Supercavitating Vehicle System
	Interior Ballistics	Sebastian Wurster, Germany	Solid Propellant Burn Rate Measurement in a Micro Closed Bomb
	Launch Dynamics	Lian-bo Li, China	Experimental Investigation on Ignition Characteristic of NEPE Propellant
	Terminal Ballistics & Impact Physics	Zherui Guo, USA	Multi-Scale Experiments on Soft Body Armors Under Projectile Normal Impact
	Vulnerability	Tom Stevenson, UK	The Effect of Clothing on Gunshot Wounds in Gelatine: The Naked Truth
31: Hyderabad, India, Nov '19	Explosion Mechanics	Bir Bahadur Sherpa, India	Interface study of explosive welded Al-Steel joint using ultrasonic phased array technique
	Exterior Ballistics	Guillaume Arnoult, France Veronique de Briey, Belgium	Aerodynamic Coefficient Reconstruction of a Controlled Spin Stabilized Projectile using Mono and Multi Fidelity Surrogate Models Influence of Crossing the Transonic Domain for Precision Ammunition
	Interior Ballistics	Pratyashee Changmai, India Zetu Jiba, South Africa	On the study of automated identification of firearms through associated striations Coating processes towards selective laser sintering of energetic material composites
	Launch Dynamics	No award
	Terminal Ballistics & Impact Physics	Tatiana Evgenievna Zavodova, Russia	Using of fluoropolymer materials to defeat lightly armored and easily vulnerable targets
	Vulnerability	No award
32: Reno, USA, May '22	Explosion Mechanics	Sebastian Göhler, Germany	Numerical and experimental investigations on behind armor effects by shaped charges
	Exterior Ballistics	No award
	Interior Ballistics	Mohamed Dhouibi, Tunisia	Quantification of the wear effects on the performance of small calibre guns
	Launch Dynamics	Abdelhafidh Moumen, Belgium	On the Quantitative Investigation of the Intermediate Ballistics: Velocity Measurement of the Muzzle Flow
	Terminal Ballistics & Impact Physics	No award
	Vulnerability	No award
33: Bruges, Belgium, Oct '23	Explosion Mechanics	Christopher Lange, Germany	Impact Thresholds for the Reactions of Metals
	Exterior Ballistics	Bernd Dutschke, France / Germany	Aerodynamic Characterization, Flight Analysis and Limit-Cycle Stability for Artillery Shells Fired with High Elevation
	Interior Ballistics	Enfa Fu, China	Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Solvent Dynamics inside Nitrocellulose-based Propellants During Drying Process
	Launch Dynamics	No award
	Terminal Ballistics & Impact Physics	Nicolas Reboul, France	Study of the interaction between shaped charge jets and ERA flying plates
	Vulnerability	Gabriela Boneva, UK	The Effects of Grazing Ballistic Impacts on Combat Helmets and Behind Helmet Blunt Trauma