Luis Leon
The Boeing Company
Luis Leon, The Boeing Company, has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 Industry Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of his many contributions to the aviation industry as a materials and process engineer, his technical expertise in metallurgical alloys and their processes, his numerous patents, and his leadership of multiple engineering professional organizations.
He has primarily worked in research, process and product development, and manufacturing and production fields within the Boeing Company. He participated in the design of the first close-coupled aluminum solution heat treatment facility that is used for heat treating precipitation hardening of aluminum alloys. This process was used to produce hardened aluminum components that were used to replace cracking skin components on the B-747 aircraft. He worked as a member of the engineering team that conducted initial design studies that led to the development of the B-787 aircraft. His knowledge of materials processing led to evaluation of alternatives to the current propulsion system major structure design. He oversaw the Propulsion Technology Portfolio composed of enterprise-wide projects. He was responsible for assessing the materials and processes for each project and determining which best met new and derivative aircraft needs. In this role, he provided leadership for applications designed using titanium matrix composites, ceramic matrix composites, polyimides, and high temperature material systems.
He has been an active member of ASM International and Puget Sound Engineering Council (PSEC). He developed the template for PSEC’s student mentor nights that are conducted annually at local universities and colleges to enable engineers of many disciplines to share their career experiences with the students.