February 13, 2009

Engineering Education to honor outstanding alumni

Purdue University created the Department (now School) of Engineering Education in 2004, combining the Division of Interdisciplinary Engineering and the Department of Freshman Engineering and adding a doctoral program in engineering education. 

This year, for the first time, the school will present the Engineering Education Outstanding Alumni Award, a continuation of the Outstanding Interdisciplinary Engineering Award given out before 2004. Going forward, the new award will recognize alumni who have interdisciplinary engineering, multidisciplinary engineering or engineering education degrees.

The award will be presented Wednesday (Feb. 18) in a ceremony in the East-West Faculty Lounge of Purdue Memorial Union.

"This award is given to alumni who have achieved singular accomplishments in their fields, whose successful careers are models for our students and whose achievements set an example for all the school's alumni," said Kamyar Haghighi, head of the School of Engineering Education.

"This year's honorees have displayed the ingenuity and pursuit of excellence that epitomize the Purdue engineer."

The 2009 recipients are:

Harold M. Aberman, BSE '85. He is global scientific program director for Synthes, a medical device company, and president of Applied Biological Concepts. At Synthes, he ensures the scientific integrity of research proposals received and that externally funded research meets company guidelines. He also mentors young investigators in orthopedics, neurology, toxicology, biomechanics and clinical research. Aberman co-founded Applied Biological Concepts, which develops and licenses sports medicine technology. He lives in Malvern, Pa.

Brian E. Farley, BSE '79. He is president and CEO of VNUS Medical Technologies, which develops devices to treat venous reflux disease, the underlying cause of varicose veins. The company, of which Farley was the first employee, pioneered minimally invasive treatment. Its products have been used on more than 400,000 patients in 40 countries. In addition to sitting on the board of VNUS, he is a director of Entellus Medical, a Minneapolis-based medical device company, and a director of the American College of Phlebology Foundation. He lives in Los Altos, Calif.

Gary C. Horlacher, BSE '89. He is flight director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Horlacher is one of four new flight directors named last May, charged with leading manned space fights from Mission Control at the space center in Houston. He has supported 75 space shuttle missions since 1989 through work with various space-related companies. Horlacher joined NASA in 2006. As a flight director, he will have overall responsibility for managing and carrying out shuttle flights and International Space Station expeditions. He lives in Clear Lake, Texas.

Robert F. Sharpe Jr., BSE '74. He is president of commercial foods and executive vice president of external affairs for ConAgra Foods. After work with RJR Nabisco, PepsiCo and financial public relations firm Brunswick Group, Sharpe joined ConAgra in 2005 as executive vice president, legal and external affairs. Last year, he also was named president of commercial foods, which accounts for 40 percent of the company's revenue. He also serves on the board of Ameriprise Financial. He lives in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

Mary Spiess Smith, BSE '74. She is senior vice president and director of parking consulting for Walker Parking Consultants. Since joining Walker in 1975, she has been involved in all phases of planning and design for parking projects ranging up to 40,000 spaces (a project in Dubai). Among her areas of expertise are pedestrian and vehicular circulation, wayfinding and flow capacity in mega-parking complexes, impact of changing vehicle sizes, and accessible parking. She lives in Zionsville, Ind.

Writer: Judith Barra Austin, (765) 494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu

Source: Kamyar Haghighi, (765) 494-3884, haghighi@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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