FOUNDATIONS
College honors outstanding alumni
The Distinguished Engineering Alumnus award honors alumni whose accomplishments further their field and reflect favorably on the university.
(From left to right:) Distinguished Engineering Alumnus award winners Johnny F. Norris Jr., Dr. John W. Palmour and B. D. Rodgers
The College named Johnny F. Norris, Jr., president and chief executive officer of Fuel Tech, Inc; Dr. John W. Palmour, chief technology officer of advanced devices for Cree, Inc.; and B.D. Rodgers, chairman of Rodgers Builders, Inc. as its Distinguished Engineering Alumnus award winners for 2009.
The awards were presented by Dean Louis A. Martin-Vega at a banquet held Jan. 28 on NC State’s Centennial Campus. The award honors alumni whose accomplishments further their field and reflect favorably on the university.
Norris graduated from NC State in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering. After serving a decade in the U.S. Air Force, he advanced rapidly to top executive positions with several organizations, including Duke Energy, before joining Fuel Tech. Under his leadership, Fuel Tech experienced record-setting growth in revenue and profit in 2006 and 2007. He has also mentored NC State students, provided summer internships and been a generous supporter of the College.
Palmour received his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in materials science and engineering from NC State in 1982 and 1988, respectively. He co-founded what became Cree, a leading LED lighting company that now has 4,000 employees worldwide. With NC State, he has helped drive research collaborations with faculty and students and endowed the Hayne Palmour III Scholarship in honor of his father, a longtime NC State ceramic engineering professor.
Rodgers received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from NC
State in 1949. Beginning in 1963, he built Rodgers Builders into a highly successful
construction company that was named the 2007 Carolinas AGC “Best of the
Best in the Carolinas Construction Industry.” His support for NC State
includes endowing the B.D. and Patricia Rodgers Scholarship and the Rodgers
Builders Student Travel Fund for the Department of Civil, Construction, and
Environmental Engineering. 