Six new Distinguished Alumni as well as the College of Engineering's top students were honored at the 50th Annual Student and Alumni Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 12 at the iHotel and Conference Center in Champaign.
Complete Bios on All Distinguished Alumni
Distinguished Alumni
Gregory Chesson (MS, 1975, PhD, 1977, Computer Science -- For outstanding technical contributions to early UNIX operating systems and to the design and development of high-performance and wirelss computer networks
Martin Eberhard (BS 1982, MS 1984, Electicial Engineering) -- For entrepreneurship and pioneering contributions to electric vehicles
W. Kent Fuchs (MS 1982, PhD 1985, Electrical Engineering) -- For recognition of technical contributions to fault diagnosis and the design of dependable computer systems, and for academic leadership in engineering education and research
Frank Lederman (MS 1972, Physics, PhD 1975 Theoretical & Experimental Physics) -- For innovative management of corporate research by developing methods to move technology rapidly to the marketplace
David Mortara (MS 1963, Physics) -- For pioneering contributions to the development of innovative electrocardiography technologies that have revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.
KR Sridhar (MS 1984, Nuclear Engineering, PhD 1990, Mechanical Engineering) -- For his visionary and indelible impact on clean energy production and tremendous entrepreneurial success
Student Winners
William R. Schowalter Award (for leadership, creativity, encouragement of others, and dedication to the College) -- Bentic Sebastian
Andrea J. Culumber Award (leadership skills as well as personal qualities such as enthusiasm, creativity, and kindness) -- Asha E. Kirchhoff
H.L. Wakeland Undergraduate Leadership Award (recognizes a junior or senior who has demonstrated outstandsing leadership and maintained a 3.0 grade-point average) -- Connie H. Kim
Stanley H. Pierce Award (Recognition of efforts to develop empathetic student-faculty cooperation) -- Akash A. Shah (Student winner), Gregory S. Elliott (Faculty winner)
C.S. Larson Transfer Student Award -- Kye W. Draper
Henry Ford II Scholar Award (Presented by the Ford Motor Company to an undergraduate student with a 4.0 grade-point average who intends to pursue graduate studies) -- Raymond A. Yeh