2006 Awards for Excellence Winners

The College of Engineering at North Carolina State University announced the 2006 Awards for Excellence at a recognition ceremony held March 15 in Mann Hall. Dr. Nino A. Masnari, dean of the College of Engineering, and Dr. Richard F. Keltie, associate dean for academic affairs, presented awards to Sandra Bailey, Richard Duckworth and Lisa Marshall.

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CoChairmen for Achieve! The Campaign for NC State

Thanks to the dedication of these College of Engineering supporters, Achieve! The Campaign for NC State is off to a solid start. This historic, university-wide, $1 billion fundraising effort will ensure our ability to transform lives for generations to come through truly innovative teaching, research, extension and public service.

• S. Frank Culberson (CHE ’60), president and CEO, Rimkus Consulting Group; Distinguished Engineering Alumnus 2002; member of the NC State Engineering Foundation Board of Directors.

• Fred N. Day IV, president and CEO, Progress Energy Carolinas; member of the NC State Engineering Foundation Board of Directors; proud parent of two NC State engineering graduates.

• Thomas R. McPherson Jr. (EE ’76, ’77), CEO, Cognio Corporation; Distinguished Engineering Alumnus 2004; advisory board member, Engineering Entrepreneurs' Program.

Ben L. Anderson

Ben Logan Anderson, a junior double majoring in computer engineering and electrical engineering, received the Faculty Senior Scholar award in the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University for 2003-04. While at NC State Anderson has received numerous awards, including the Amelia Mitta Scholarship, the Lockheed Martin Scholarship and the Navy ROTC award. He has been inducted into several honor societies, including the Armed Forces Communication and Engineering Association for Academic Excellence, Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key National Honor Society.

Ben is an active participant in military activities at NC State. Since 1993 he has worked full time for the United States Marine Corps as a nuclear, biological and chemical weapons defense instructor. In 1995 he published a 78-page book entitled, Individual Survival Measures for Marines and Sailors. Anderson is also a company commander in United States Navy ROTC at NC State.

After graduation, Anderson plans to attend the Navy’s Nuclear Power School and become certified as a naval engineer. He then hopes to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering. Ultimately he would like to become a professor at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

(Photo: Kathi McBlief)

2006 IEEE CSIDC Winners

The Computer Science Senior Design Team won the 2006 IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition. The win has the added honor of making NC State the only university to garner back-to-back wins in consecutive years and the only university in the United States to ever win the international competition. In addition, the NC State team won the Microsoft Software Engineering Award during the competition. The NC State team created “SunRay,” which uses ray-tracing combined with a numerical model of solar radiation to calculate UV exposure for an arbitrary 3-D model. Winners include team members Blake Lucas (not pictured), Eric Helms, Hunter Davis and Josiah Gore and team mentors Dr. Robert Fornaro, John Streicher and Margaret Heil.

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(Photo: Kathi McBlief)

Amanda Dixon

Dixion, winner of the 1998 NASA Robotics competition and accomplished violinist, works as an electrical engineer at Lord Corp. in Cary, N.C.

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(Photo: Roger Winstead)

Marcus B. Crotts

A loyal alumnus, Marcus Bowman Crotts has had a distinguished career as a mechanical engineer and has been a dedicated supporter of his profession. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University in 1953 and his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1956. In 2004 Theta Tau, the oldest and largest professional fraternity in engineering, honored Mr. Crotts for his outstanding service to the profession by inducting him into their 2003 Alumni Hall of Laureates, the highest prestige and honor achieved by their members.

A former president of the North Carolina Society of Engineers and the American Machine Tool Distributors Association, Mr. Crotts has been recognized as a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus by NC State and was named Engineer of the Year by the NC Society of Engineers. He has served as President of the NC State Alumni Association and as a member of its Board of Directors. He also has served on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Engineering Foundation, Inc.; as a member of the Engineering School Advisory Council; and as a trustee of NC State for which he received a Meritorious Service Award.

He is currently chairman of Crotts and Sanders Engineering Inc. and serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Manufacturing Engineering.

(Photo: submitted)

Dr. Joseph DeSimone

Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone may have broken the record for award recognition in a single year. In 2001-02 alone, he received the 2002 Wallace Carothers Award from the Delaware Section of the American Chemical Society, the 2001 Inventor of the Year Award from the Triangle Intellectual Property Law Association, the 2001 Governor's Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award for Micell Technologies, the 2001 O. Max Gardner Prize and the 2001 Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest. Also in 2001 he was named the Technology Entrepreneur of the Year for the Carolinas by Ernst & Young.

Dr. DeSimone is the William R. Kenan Jr. distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and chemical engineering at North Carolina State University and director of the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes. A leader in supercritical carbon dioxide research, he founded MiCELL Technologies in 1996 to develop its use as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional organic solvents in the dry cleaning and microelectronics industries. The following year he co-invented the MiCARE System, the first non-toxic, recyclable, carbon-dioxide-compatible dry cleaning product, which has been commercially successful. The achievements of this dedicated researcher reflect the talent and entrepreneurial spirit of many NC State professors.

(Photo: Darlene Taylor)

Edward P. Fitts

The College of Engineering has named the Department of Industrial Engineering in honor of a dedicated engineering alumnus, Edward P. Fitts, of Exton, Pa. The Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial Engineering is the first named academic department in the history of the university.

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(Photo: submitted)

Dr. John Hauser

The North Carolina State University Board of Trustees has awarded the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence to five faculty members in recognition of their outstanding careers at NC State. One of this year’s honorees is Dr. John R. Hauser, professor of electrical and computer engineering. The Holladay Medal is the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member by the trustees and the university.

Dr. Hauser has devoted 37 years of outstanding service in teaching, research and administration to NC State. He was named distinguished university professor in 1991. He and his team are noted for the development of the world's first monolithic cascade solar cell, a more efficient and powerful way to harness solar energy. He has made major research contributions in several fundamental areas of semiconductor materials and devices, and his results have been documented in two books and more than 150 refereed technical publications.

He was a principal member of a group involved in the founding of the Center for Advanced Electronic Materials Processing (AEMP), where he served as director from 1996 to 2000. In 2002, he won the Semiconductor Industry Association’s University Research Award for outstanding contributions to semiconductor technology. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). In 1982 he was named the first recipient of the R.J. Reynolds Industries Inc. Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Extension.

Dr. Hauser’s lifetime of achievements and the commitment behind those achievements bring him the respect and admiration of his colleagues and students alike.

(Photo: Ross Mehan, Electronic News)

Edward E. Hood

Engineering alumnus Edward E. Hood (BSNE ’52, MSNE ’53) has a long and distinguished record of service to North Carolina State University. In January 2004 the university recognized his service by awarding him the Watauga Medal, which is the highest nonacademic honor bestowed by NC State.

A retired executive officer and vice chairman of General Electric Co., Mr. Hood has served on the university’s Board of Trustees and is a current member of the executive committee of NC State’s Capital Campaign. Mr. Hood’s contributions to the university have included serving as director of the NC State Endowment Board, the NC State Development Board, the NC State Engineering Foundation Board and the NC State University Alumni Association Board. In 1989 he received a Distinguished Engineering Alumni award, and in 1994 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Mr. Hood and his wife, Kay, have established the Edward E. and Kay T. Hood Scholarship Endowment, the John T. Caldwell/Edward E. and Kay T. Hood Endowed Scholarship and the Edward E. and Kay T. Hood Graduate Fellowship.

(Photo: Roger Winstead)

Carol Holloman and Charles Hunt

The College of Engineering Awards for Excellence winners for 2003 are Carol Holloman, Department of Computer Science, and Charles Hunt, Information Technology & Engineering Computer Services (ITECS). The winners each received a plaque, a check for $250 and eight hours of compensatory time. Carol and Charles have demonstrated dedication and service to the College, and their achievement serves as an example for all to follow.

(Photo: Kathi McBlief)

Adam Kiker

Adam P. Kiker is a remarkable student. A senior in aerospace engineering, Kiker not only is a successful place kicker for the Wolfpack, but his GPA of 3.94 is the highest on the team.

Kiker sees nothing unusual about excelling in both athletics and academic studies. In fact, he believes athletics has complemented his academic endeavors. “I think athletics teaches you to overcome adversity,” Kiker said. “It teaches you to have goals and to achieve those goals. It has taught me as a kicker to perform under pressure, and being in the spotlight has given me confidence to express my ideas to professors. The coupling of athletics and scholarship has been great for me.”

Read more about this student achiever: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/innerviews/kiker.html

(Photo: Depatment of Athletics)

Dr. Sarah Rajala

Given her ancestry, it is no wonder Dr. Sarah A. Rajala is a pioneer among women. She is the granddaughter of William Lincoln Bakewell, the only American to take part in Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition. And like her grandfather, Dr. Rajala is no stranger to “firsts.”

In 1979 she became the first woman professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the first woman PhD faculty member in the College of Engineering at NC State.

In 1993 when she was appointed director of the Center for Advanced Computing and Communication, she became the first woman in the College to serve as a director of a research center.

In 1996 she was appointed associate dean of academic affairs, making her the first woman to hold any dean’s title in the College of Engineering.

In October 2002 she became the first woman to serve as associate dean of research and graduate programs in the College of Engineering.

As a woman in a male-dominated field, Dr. Rajala faced many challenges along the way.

Team "Aeropack"

Piloting a hang glider with paper wings, NC State University students won Energy Challenge '03 at Jockey's Ridge State Park, Kitty Hawk, on April 5. The competition was held as part of the anniversary of the Wright brothers 1903 flight. The winning team took home $15,000.

The NC State team “AeroPack” developed a novel paper that incorporated fine sawdust from the furniture industry to improve properties. They produced a sail meeting performance requirements without wasting energy or resources.

In addition, the team developed an outreach program for children in grades four through eight and sponsored a poster contest.

NC State team members were Trey Hathaway, chemical engineering; Josh D. McCall, chemical engineering; Sarah M. Mertens, aerospace engineering; Jody R. Moss, chemical engineering; Bryan K. Ransom, pulp and paper science; K. Brandon Teague, mechanical engineering; and Daphne S. Wang, chemical engineering. The faculty advisor was Dr. Richard J. Spontak, professor of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering. For more about this achievement, see http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/news_articles/KittyHawk.html.

(Photo: Dr. Richard Spontak)

Christopher D. Wickline

Christopher D. Wickline is a senior in aerospace engineering and a cadet in the Air Force Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (AFROTC) at North Carolina State University. Christopher recently became the first NC State AFROTC cadet to receive the Daedalian Colonel Charles W. Getchell Memorial Scholarship.

The $2,000 scholarship is made possible by a gift from the widow of Daedalian Founder Member Colonel Charles W. Getchell. The Order of the Daedalians honors as its Founder Members all WW I aviators who were commissioned as officers and rated as military pilots no later than the Armistice on November 11, 1918. In 1959 the Order established the Daedalian Foundation to support educational, scientific and charitable activities. The Daedalian Foundation awards only five Getchell scholarships each year to outstanding ROTC cadets.

Christopher received the award because of his academic achievements, teamwork and integrity. He gives special credit to the members of the flight unit he commanded last fall. Under his leadership, they won Honor Flight that semester. Christopher believes his team’s hard work helped him win the scholarship.

After graduation in May 2004, Wickline will obtain his private pilot license and then enter Air Force training. He hopes to go to Moody Air Force Base in Georgia so that he can be close to his wife, Jennifer, who is majoring in mechanical engineering and who plans to stay at NC State to attend graduate school.

(Photo: Kathi McBlief)

Robert G. Wright

Robert G. Wright (BSCE ’68), chairman of Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., a Raleigh-based engineering consulting firm, is president of the NC State Engineering Foundation Inc. (NCSEF) Board of Directors and a dedicated supporter of the College and NC State.

As president of the College’s NCSEF board, Wright has worked diligently to help the foundation provide the support necessary to maintain the high quality education expected and delivered by the College. A thoughtful leader and dedicated volunteer, he has increased board involvement, enhanced membership in the foundation and orchestrated an executive committee session to plan strategies for supporting the future of the College. In addition to his work with the foundation board, he serves on the College of Engineering Advisory Council, supports Wolfpack athletics and has hosted student recruiting events.

For more on what Wright has achieved for the College and NC State, see the full story at http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/innerviews/wright.html.

(Photo: C. J. Walker)