We're proud to congratulate our founder, Tony Paulin, P.E., on receiving the ASME B31 Forever Medal for Excellence in Piping. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers presented the award at B31 Code Week 2026 in Phoenix.
The Forever Medal honors contributions that have had a lasting impact on the ASME B31 piping codes. Tony joins a distinguished group of past recipients that includes Everett Rodabaugh, William Koves, Charles Becht IV, Ron Haupt, Jimmy Meyer, and George Antaki.
Tony's path in piping research was shaped early by his mentor, E.C. Rodabaugh, one of the most influential figures in the field. Building on that foundation, Tony has spent decades advancing the industry through full-scale physical testing in PRG's Houston lab, backed by finite element analysis.
That work was published in ASME STP-PT-073 and in ASME B31J, for which Tony served as principal author. B31J's updated stress intensification factor (SIF) equations, flexibility factors, and sustained stress index (SSI) guidelines are the product of dozens of lab tests and thousands of NozzlePRO runs.
Pairing physical testing with analysis at this scale has given engineers more accurate, better-validated methods for evaluating piping components.
Work of this scope is never done alone. People like Chris Hinnant, William Lock, P.E., Glynn Woods, P.E., Dr. Delin Wang, Hans Bos, and many other dedicated engineers supported the effort for years, contributing their expertise and keeping the work on track.
The real measure of this work is its impact in practice. Engineers who use the B31 Codes every day now have better tools because of the research Tony and the team carried out.
We thank the ASME B31 Standards Committee for this recognition. Congratulations, Tony!