ASNT Newsroom

The American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) announces the recipients of the ASNT Mentoring Award. Three recipients have been honored with the award, which recognizes individuals or organizations/groups in the Society who have shown consistent, outstanding efforts in fostering the careers of nondestructive testing (NDT) colleagues and who have set an example to foster a culture of mentoring within the Society. 

“Being a great mentor requires both skills and passion,” said ASNT Executive Director Neal J. Couture, CAE. “Mentoring is so important to the NDT field, and this year’s award winners exemplify a high caliber of support and commitment to their mentees and to future generations of NDT professionals.” 

Honored for their skill and dedication to supporting others in the field of nondestructive testing (NDT), the ASNT Mentoring award recipients are: 

1. Thomas N. Claytor

Thomas N. Claytor worked at Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory as a researcher in materials characterization and instrumentation development for NDE applications for 35 years. He is a lifetime member of ASNT and secretary of the Los Alamos Section of ASNT. He has published over 80 reports and five patents, as well as given papers at many conferences. He has mentored 34 graduate and undergraduate students and sponsored PhD research at three major universities. Claytor received mentoring commendations from both Siemens and NASA (2005 and 2007).

2. Nat Y. Faransso

Nat Y. Faransso is an ASNT NDT Level III and ACCP Level III in RT, MT, PT, UT, and VT, and is a CWI. He is an ASNT Past President (2002–2003), served on the ASNT Board (1996–2004), and served as Chair of the Board (2003–2004). Faransso is an ASNT Fellow (class of 1997) and ASME fellow. He has been a member of ASME Section V on NDE and all its subcommittees for more than 30 years. He is a member of ASTM Committee E07 and its NDE subcommittees. He is a recipient of various awards from ASNT, including the Lester/Mehl Honor Lecture (2014), and ASME. He has given multiple presentations at national and international conferences, published multiple articles in ASNT publications, and is an active participant in numerous ASNT publications.

3. Gregory A. Garcia

Gregory A. Garcia is an NDT Level III Engineer-Program Coordinator for EVRAZ North America in Pueblo, Colorado. Garcia is an ASNT NDT Level III in ET, MT, and UT and an ASNT Fellow. He is an ASNT Fellow (class of 2011) and is chair of the Engineering Council and of the Accreditation Committee. His other ASNT involvement includes serving on the Research Council, the Reliability Committee, as an active mentor for the ASNT mentoring program, and as a reviewer for Materials Evaluation and other ASNT publications. Garcia has also served as Director at Large (2016–2019) and is a Regional Director for Region 14. Garcia is a US Marine Corps veteran and has authored/co-authored over 50 publications. He is an active member of ASNT and AREMA Committee 4-Rail, where he is the vice chair of Committee 4, Subcommittee 8 Nondestructive Inspection of Rail. He volunteers as an advocate for the Youth Offender System and is the lead martial arts instructor for the Boys and Girls Club of Pueblo County.

About ASNT

Serving more than 22 000 members and certificate holders worldwide, ASNT, based in Columbus, Ohio, is the largest technical society for NDT professionals. ASNT certification and standards programs, publications, conferences, education, membership, and professional development programs are the foundation for expanding awareness of advancements in NDT. Governed by a volunteer group of officers and directors, ASNT is organized by councils representing interests relating to certification, engineering, research, education, and section operations.