4/7/2015 Mike Koon, Engineering Communications Office
on Saturday, April 18, Engineering at Illinois honored six alumni with the Alumni Award For Distinguished Service. The Student & Alumni Awards Ceremony, that also honors some of the College’s top students, was held at the I Hotel and Conference Center.
Written by Mike Koon, Engineering Communications Office
Recipients are recognized for professional distinction through outstanding leadership, contributions to the field of engineering, creativity, and entrepreneurship; as well as service to society, the professional community and to the department, college, or university.
This year, Illinois will honor Mike Bragg (BS, 1976; MS, 1977, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering), Jon Khachaturian (BS, 1978, Civil Engineering Structures), Sidney Lu (BS, 1981, Mechanical Science and Engineering & Mathematics) Louis Mancini (BS, 1972, General Engineering), Brian Renwick (BS, 1973; MS 1975, Electrical Engineering), Andrew Yang (MS, 1986, Electrical Engineering), and Larry Ziemba (MS, 1977, Mechanical Engineering).
Mike Bragg is known as an international expert and consultant on the affect of ice accretion on aircraft aerodynamics and flight safety. He was a designer of the vortex generators for the Voyager aircraft, which performed the first unrefueled flight around the world. Bragg earned NASA’s Turning Goals Into Reality (TGIR) award to “revolutionize aviation” in both 2001 (AGATE Icing Research Team) and 2002 (Aircraft Alliance Project Team).
Currently the Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering at the the University of Washington, Bragg spent 23 years on the faculty and in the administration in Engineering at Illinois, serving as the head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, associate dean for research and administrative affairs, executive associate dean for academic affairs and interim dean for the College.
Jon Khachaturian is founder, president and CEO of Versabar, Inc., which has grown into a family of six companies engaged in heavy lifting engineering and field operations both on and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. He developed a multimillion-dollar piece of equipment called the Bottom Feeder that helped salvage many topsides, which were ripped off their jackets by the wind and waves of Hurricane Katrina and sank to the bottom of the gulf in 2005. Khachaturian holds 50 patents and was named of Engineering Record’s top 25 Newsmakers for his Bottom Feeder idea.
Khachaturian’s technical innovations have won numerous engineering honors, including two Spotlight on Technology awards from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the NOVA award from the Construction Innovation Forum, “Woefel’s Best Engineering Award” from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the 2009 GEOCA “Special Achievement in Mechanical Engineering” award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the John N. Crisp Award for “Engineering Excellence” from the University of New Orleans; and the 2011 “Silver Patent” award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Sidney Lu serves as the first chairman and CEO of Foxconn Interconnect Technology (FIT), a global partner for joint-design, joint-development, manufacturing, assembly, and after sales services to computer, communication, and consumer electronics leaders. With offices and manufacturing sites in Asia, Europe and the Americas, including one at the U of I Research Park, FIT is a global leader in the supply of precision components.
During his tenure, Lu has been instrumental in several facets and developments of the company, including the introduction of scientific analysis and total quality systems through engineering, product development, and manufacturing operation processes. Under his leadership, the connector group within Foxconn grew from a rating outside the top 50 to a corporation that has gained clear control of the computing related connector and cable space and now ranks among the top-four connector companies worldwide.
Louis Mancini retired in June of 2014 as Boeing’s Senior Vice President for Commercial Aviation, where he led the company’s customer support and after-market products and services for 12,000 airplanes worldwide. Mancini served as a high-ranking official at Boeing for 12 years, including a stint as Vice President for Maintenance Services. He managed the unit of Commercial Aviation Services responsible for airplane recovery services, component maintenance and Boeing subsidiaries Continental DataGraphics and AeroInfo Systems. In 2006, Overhaul and Maintenance magazine gave Mancini an outstanding achievement award for his work in improving Boeing’s response to urgent airlines issues.
Mancini’s influence goes beyond the corporate side. In 1994, he chaired the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) task force charged with streamlining airline operations and reducing costs. For his efforts, he received a Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) achievement award. In 1999, Mancini, a Royal Aeronautical Society Fellow, also received the “Nuts and Bolts” award for leadership in maintenance and engineering from the Air Transport Association.
Brian Renwick’s leadership, his strong belief in both nuclear safety and quality, and his competitive nature helped to establish Sargent & Lundy LLC as a leader in worldwide nuclear power design. Renwick served for 12 years as the Head of S&L’s Nuclear Power Group, retiring December 31, 2013. This Group consisted of more than 1,200 design engineers and other professionals in mechanical, electrical, structural, instrumentation and electronics, and operations and maintenance. This group grew under Renwick to serve 90 percent of the nuclear power plant operators in the U.S. and Canada. Internationally, S&L also serves nuclear clients in Europe, Asia, Central America, and the Middle East.
Andrew Yang has been one of the most influential people in the electronic design (EDA) automation industry for nearly three decades. He co-founded Apache Design Solutions in 2001, and served as the CEO from its inception. Apache provides low-power analysis and optimization solutions for high-performance, energy-efficient semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs). The company was ranked as one of the top 15 fastest growing software/IT companies in Silicon Valley in 2008, and one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America in 2009 by Deloitte’s Fast 50 and 500 programs. Apache’s low-power products have been adopted by 90 percent of the top 25 semiconductor companies in their signoff flow.
Yang is a visionary in both research and entrepreneurship. He was a tenured professor at the University of Washington from 1989-96 and was the university’s commencement speaker in 2012. He received the Science Foundation Young Investigator Award in 1991, Professor of the Year award in 1992, and Chair’s Circle of Excellence in 1998.
Larry Ziemba has 37 years in the oil and gas industry, during which he has continually taken on increasingly difficult and complex positions and has navigated the interwoven fabric of numerous company acquisitions, mergers, and divestures.
In 1991, he managed the acquisition of Shell’s Carson Refinery and subsequently integrated this asset into the Los Angeles operations. In 1997, Ziemba joined Tosco as they acquired Unocal’s downstream business. In 1999, he was named vice president of Tosco’s three San Francisco area refineries. In 2000, he was assigned to handle the acquisition and takeover of the Wood River (Illinois) Refinery.
Ziemba first joined Phillips Petroleum in 2001 after its acquisition of Tosco. Ziemba was in charge of handling the integration of refining operations during the merger. As a result of mergers with Phillips and Conoco, he was named the President of U.S. Refining at ConocoPhillips, a position he held from 2003-10, and subsequently served as the President of Global Refining at ConocoPhillips. Since the formation of Phillips 66 as an independent corporation in 2012, he has served as an Executive Vice President of Refining, Project Development and Procurement.