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2-15-08

Media Release

OSU Honors Outstanding Engineering Alumni

CORVALLIS – The College of Engineering at Oregon State University honored 37 of its most distinguished alumni today during the ninth annual Oregon Stater Awards, an event that recognizes OSU engineers and their career contributions to society.

The annual ceremony inducts OSU engineering alumni into three different groups based on the length of their careers and accomplishments: the Engineering Hall of Fame, the Academy of Distinguished Engineers and the Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers.

This year’s awardees are affiliated with both large and small companies, including Garmin, PG&E, Chevron, Framatome, Dow Chemical, Intel, and others, as well as major government agencies, the U.S. armed forces and major universities.

Among this year’s awardees are Terry Baker, winner of the coveted Heisman Trophy and a founding partner of the law firm Tonkon Torp; Paula Hammond, the first woman to serve as secretary of transportation for the state of Washington; Gerald Swiggert, who helped develop Kevlar Fiber for DuPont; Direk Lavansiri, the dean of Thailand’s premier school of engineering at Chulalongkorn University; Roger Gohrband, former director of corporate planning and business development at Dow Chemical; Richard Evans, CEO of Rio Tinto Alcan, one of the world’s largest aluminum producers; and Richard Stout, former president of the nuclear energy firm Framatome.

“The Oregon Stater Awards ceremony is our way of expressing our gratitude to our most exemplary alumni,” said Chris Bell, associate dean of the College of Engineering. “These men and women have done extraordinary things to improve the world, and this is our way of honoring who they are, the work they have done and their connection to Oregon State University.”

The annual awards banquet, held at the CH2M HILL Alumni Center on campus, was attended by more than 200 people. The event takes place every year near National Engineers Week, a week of national engineering events and celebration.

Below is the full listing of the 2008 Oregon Stater Awardees, with their current home towns:

Hall of Fame

Terry W. Baker, Portland, OR

Rodney M. Boucher, San Jose, CA

James C. de Broekert, Cupertino, CA

Richard B. Evans, Montreal, Canada

Michael R. Gaulke, Atherton, CA

Roger Gohrband, Midland, MI

Charles W. Lacey, Corona Del Mar, CA

Norman V. McKibben, Walla Walla, WA

Gregory L. Nesbitt, Eureka, CA

Michael A. Sharp, Portsmouth, RI

Richard B. Stout, Richland, WA

Gerald E. Swiggett, McLean, VA

Academy of Distinguished Engineers

Loren K. Brown, Palo Alto, CA

Alan G. Crouch, Portland, OR

Jay C. Eisenlohr, Portland, OR

Mohammed Faghri, East Greenwich, RI

Paula J. Hammond (Cavanaugh), Olympia, WA

Saeed A. Kazmi, Saratoga, CA

Kheng-Joo Khaw, Singapore

Direk Lavansiri, Bangkok, Thailand

John E. Macnab, Dallas, OR

Janet L. Redmond, Portland, OR

George D. Rose, Lutherville Timonium, MD

David G. Rynders, Germany

Randy L. Schussler, Plano, TX

Scott A. Stevenson, Houston, TX

Shane D. Wall, Portland, OR

Grant M. Yoshihara, Portland, OR

Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers

Jon J. Amack, West Linn, OR

Ryan A. Dow, New York, NY

Dan D. Euhus, Katy, TX

Bradley T. Hogan, Wilsonville, OR

Dawn Lesley, Eugene, OR

Jennifer A. Rosales, Portland, OR

Paul D. Stull, III, Portland, OR

Charla Triplett, Phoenix, AZ

Sanjay Vancheeswaran, Los Angeles, CA

Brian K. Wilson, Jr., Palo Alto, CA

Visit the OSU College of Engineering online.

About the OSU College of Engineering: The OSU College of Engineering is among the nation’s largest and most productive engineering programs. In the past six years, the College has more than doubled its research expenditures to $27.5 million by emphasizing highly collaborative research that solves global problems, spins out new companies, and produces opportunity for students through hands-on learning.

About Oregon State University: OSU is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land-, sea-, space- and sun-grant institution. OSU is also Oregon’s university designated in the Carnegie Foundation’s top tier for research institutions, garnering more than 60 percent of the total federal and private research funding in the Oregon University System. Its more than 19,700 students come from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. OSU programs touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty teach and conduct research on issues of national and global importance.