Purdue News
Purdue News
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April 29, 2004 Distinguished engineering alumni honored at E-Week ceremonyWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue's College of Engineering honored 11 of its graduates by naming them Distinguished Engineering Alumni to wrap up the first E-Week celebration of the college's students. John A. Brighton, James S. Kahan, Emily M. Liggett, William Lyles, Hank Queen, Lloyd M. Robeson, Jerry L. Ross, Stephen S. Schwartz, Robert D. Shadley, John M. Storm and Chris G. Whipple were honored at an April 16 ceremony in Stewart Center's Fowler Hall. • John A. Brighton received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Purdue in mechanical engineering in 1959, 1960 and 1963, respectively. He worked extensively as a professor and administrator in engineering schools at universities including Penn State, Michigan State and the Georgia Institute of Technology. For eight years he was executive vice president and provost at Penn State. He currently serves as director of the National Science Foundation's Division of Engineering. • James S. Kahan, who received a bachelor's degree in 1969 in electrical engineering, has served as SBC Communications senior executive vice president of corporate development since 1996. In that role, he has helped spearhead some of the largest corporate mergers in American history, including the acquisitions of Cingular and AT&T Wireless. He also orchestrated joint ventures with Yahoo! and Echostar to solidify SBC's position in the broadband and video entertainment markets. • Emily M. Liggett, a native of Otterbein, Ind., received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Purdue in 1977. She has worked for DuPont, Raychem Corp. and other companies, and currently serves as president of Liggett Associates, a company she founded. Liggett also is a member of Purdue's Engineering Visiting Committee and the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Council. • William Lyles joined Lyles Diversified, his family's construction company, after receiving a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1955. Since he became president and CEO in 1965, the company has grown to include real estate, pipeline, utilities, concrete and mechanical construction. In 1987, he led the acquisition of Pelco, a closed-circuit television manufacturer, and since that venture, Lyles Diversified has grown to employ 1,400 workers and is the world's largest manufacturer of video surveillance equipment. Lyles also currently serves as the entrepreneur-in-residence at the business school of California State University in Fresno. • Hank Queen, who received a bachelor's degree from Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1974, currently serves as vice president of engineering and manufacturing at Boeing's Commercial Airplane Group. He began at Boeing as an engineer after his graduation and has worked in management and leadership roles in several of the company's divisions. In 2001 Queen was honored with an Outstanding Aerospace Engineering Award from Purdue. • Lloyd M. Robeson, who holds 92 patents, received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Purdue in 1964. From 1967-86, he was employed as a research scientist at Union Carbide Corp., where he worked in the commercialization of engineering polymers and specialized polymer blends. Since 1986 he has served as principal research associate for Air Products and Chemicals, the world's largest supplier of electronics materials and performance chemicals. In 2001 Robeson was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering. • Jerry L. Ross, a native of Crown Point, Ind., received both his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering in 1970 and 1972, respectively. After several years as an engineer and test pilot with the U.S. Air Force, Ross was selected by NASA to train as an astronaut. Since then, he has been in space a record seven times and holds the current records for U.S. spacewalks (nine) and time spent on spacewalks (58 hours and 18 minutes). He currently serves as chief vehicle integration test officer at NASA's Johnson Space Center. • Stephen S. Schwartz, the son of former Purdue engineering dean Richard Schwartz, earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 1981, 1982 and 1985, respectively, from Purdue's School of Electrical Engineering. In 1987 he joined Applied Materials, the world's largest manufacturer of wafer fabrication systems for the worldwide semiconductor industry and helped grow its annual revenues from $150 million to $10 billion. Schwartz currently serves as president, CEO and chairman of Asyst Technologies, an electronics manufacturer of semiconductor systems in Fremont, Calif. • Robert D. Shadley, a 32-year U.S. Army veteran, received both a bachelor's and master's degree in industrial engineering in 1965 and 1966, respectively. While in the Army, his achievements included serving as commander of the 801st Maintenance Battalion in the 101st Airborne Division and commanding general of the Army Ordnance Centers and Schools in Maryland. He also led forces responsible for logistics and supplies in many missions, including the establishment of the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Shadley has received several awards for his service, including the Bronze Star in 1971 and 1991 and the Distinguished Service Medal, the nation's highest peacetime Army award, in 2000. He currently serves as vice president of Army operations for Alliant Techsystems, an aerospace and defense company. • After graduating from Purdue in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in metallurgical engineering, John M. Storm began working for General Motors Corp., where he designed furnace innovations that saved the company more than $6 million annually. In 1986 he founded Contour Hardening in Indianapolis, and the company has since grown to more than $11 million in annual sales. Among the company's designs were lighter weight gears that were used in the winning car in the 1997 Indianapolis 500. Storm was named Indiana's Entrepreneur of the Year in 1996 and one of Purdue's Materials Engineering Outstanding Engineering Alumni in 1999, and he serves on the university's Materials Engineering Board of Advisors. • Chris G. Whipple received a bachelor's degree in engineering science in 1970. In the more than 30 years since, he has performed risk assessments and environment analyses, gauging the risks associated with energy production, fuel emissions and radioactive waste. He has chaired the International Atomic Energy Agency and the National Academy of Sciences Board on Radioactive Waste Management. Since 2000 Whipple has worked as a principal with Environ International and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2001. Writer: Matt Holsapple, (765) 494-2073, mholsapple@purdue.edu Source: Cindy Lawley, (765) 496-6929, lawley@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu Note to Journalists: More information about honorees, including photos, is available online.
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