Rebecca H. Sparling

Rebecca "Becky" Hall Sparling, P.E. (née Hall; June 7, 1910 – 1996) was an American materials engineer and registered mechanical engineer in the manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace industries from the 1930s to the late 1960s, who had "established a nation-wide reputation as a metallurgist". Non-destructive test methods became ubiquitous as an important time and money-saver for expensive prototypes.

Sparling also wrote 14 of the 16 chapters of the 1943–1944 revised edition of the American Malleable Iron handbook for the Malleable Founders' Society. It became a reference book for those working on iron castings. She retired from General Dynamics.

Career Beyond her daily work, Sparling participated in abstracting and standardizing the key properties and tests required of various structural materials. These properties could be tuned to optimize the overall performance and reliability of any product made from that material across the aerospace industry.'''

She also presented over 100 technical talks at American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Society for Non-destructive Testing, American Society for Metals (now known as ASM International), Society of Women Engineers, the U.S. Air Force, and Vanderbilt University. She started at the American Cast Iron Pipe Co. in Birmingham, Alabama, which helped her gain experience working with metal alloys.

In her role, Sparling recommended materials and certain design specifications. One key accomplishment was establishing the effects of manufacturing variables on high-temperature metals, such as S-816 and N-155. As a Design Specialist and Staff Consultant on process and reliability, Sparling also became the head of an Army Mission Command project.

Her work at the Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant also included selecting and developing materials for use, developing radioactive and other innovative test techniques, and strategic long-term forecasting on materials requirements for missiles and other special ordnance weapons for the United States Navy.

When nominating Sparling for the Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award, Sparling's nominator stated that “Sparling…enjoys the well-earned respect and acceptance of engineers, both men and women, throughout the world.” She served on the Advisory Committee for East Los Angeles College in 1962. In 1963–64, Sparling served on the state-wide informal Advisory Committee on Technical Education for the California Dept. of Education.

In 1964, Sparling was invited to share her engineering experiences with students at the first ever International Conference of Women and Scientists in New York, which is still held to this day. The conference chair, Ruth Shafer, told her in a letter: "How lucky we are to have you on the team." Dy-Chek was first developed at Northrop by Sparling and her team around 1948 because she was "concerned about cracks forming on turbine blades" of the jet engines she was testing.

Except for two chapters on pattern design and malleable casting design, Sparling wrote the entire manuscript of American Malleable Iron – A Handbook, published by the Malleable Founders' Society, from 1942 to 1944. Sparling wrote 14 chapters on malleable iron, its properties, recommendations to users of malleable iron castings, the manufacture and metallurgy of malleable iron, applications, specifications, and more. Her license number was 8475.

1948 onwards: “Who's Who in the West” Featured as Rebecca Hall Smith, then as Sparling, Marquis 1957: Achievement Award, Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Sparling received the award in appreciation of "her outstanding contributions to engineering and her leadership in encouraging women to become engineers.” 1972: Fellow, American Society for Metals (now known as ASM International) 1975: Fellow, Institute for the Advancement of Engineering 1978: Engineering Merit Award, Orange County Engineering Council He was an associate professor of business, from 1971 retiring in 2001, and the Director of the Computer Center at the Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Philanthropy SWE received a bequest in the amount of $68,593 from the Rebecca Sparling estate in 1998, two years after she died.

Memberships American Society for Non-Destructive Testing, 1947–1983 1954–56, National Technical Committee 1962–66, National Papers Committee American Society for Metals, 1936–42; 1946–75 Delegate, 2nd World Metallurgical Congress, 1957 National Castings Committee, 1958–59 Society of Automotive Engineers, 1946–68 Aero Materials Spec, 1949–50 National Aircraft Activity, 1950–52 National EMI Committee, 1967 American Society for Testing Materials Technical Program Committee, 1956 ASTM/ASME Aircraft Panel Committee on Effect of Temp. on the Property of Metals, 1949–50 American Institute of Metallurgical Engineers, 1934–42 Secretary, First Detroit Section, 1936–37 Society of Women Engineers National Scholarship Chairman, 1957–58 and Committee Member 1976 Association Technique de Fonderie, 1934–37