You don’t have to call him ‘Fellow,’ but …

Editor's Note: I cropped some woman out of this photo who The Weed had his arm around. He'll have some explaining to do later.

He’d never mention this, so I’ll write it someplace he’ll never look: Social media.

Last month, The Weed was honored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA for short) and named an Associate Fellow for the organization.

What is the AIAA you ask?

Well, as far as I can tell, it’s a group of engineers (Never call it a gaggle!) that gathers twice annually for conferences and spends a whole week away from family members stuck at home in the snow with two rambunctious dogs. For this reason, I have dubbed the group The Space Cowboys.

There is nothing Cowboy about The Space Cowboys. Nothing at all. That’s the delicious nature of the name. No chaps. No horses. No hats. No ropes. That I’ve seen.

Instead, at these conferences, thousands of engineers scatter to meeting rooms and talk in technical speak that can’t be real. In doing so, they also race around to be in those meeting rooms at precisely the correct time.

I’ve seen this in action at The Space Cowboys San Diego conference a few years ago. It’s amazing, kind of like watching frantic ants scurrying all over a hill. However, it’s also quite strange to the uninitiated. Fortunately, The Weed was there to hold my hand and reassure me. ‘This is normal. This is normal. Don’t freak out.’

So, back to The Weed and his Associate Fellowship.

What is an Associate Fellow you ask?  

As I understand it, and I really understand very little about The Space Cowboys, this means he is being recognized for accomplishing ‘pretty cool’ things in aerospace work.

AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher said it this way: “The AIAA Associate Fellows personify the innovation that drives our industry forward. The members of the Class of 2024 embody the ingenuity and commitment that are crucial for developing solutions to the complex questions raised across the aerospace community.”

(Now, if he could just answer the question: What should we eat for dinner tonight? Tangent. Sorry.)

During last month’s conference in Orlando, The Space Cowboys honored the new class of Fellows and enjoyed an evening celebration, where The Weed sat next to an Air Force colonel and traded barbs about college football teams. Colorado State vs. Air Force football. Serious stuff.

I have refused to call him Fellow because he’s got a pretty swell nickname already. However, yesterday, he came home from work and said: ‘I was called ‘Fellow’ today.’ He did this while sitting on the couch with a beer, looking more like ‘Odd Fellow’ then ‘Associate Fellow’ but with a decided punch of pride.

So, next time you see The Weed, you don’t have to call him ‘Fellow,’ but he really might, secretly, just a tiny bit, enjoy it.