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2000s

• Amanda (Hudnall) Cole (IE '02) married Ben Cole on May 1, 2009. The couple resides in Cranberry Township, PA. (posted 9/16/2009)
• James M. Dolak (ME '05) was certified as a U.S. Patent and Trademark Agent in October 2008. He is currently enrolled in the patent law program at Duquense University and will graduate in May 2009. Before enrolling at Duquense, Dolak worked in the Penn State Intellectual Property Office. (posted 2/23/2009)
• Julie Arbuckle Finnegan (EE '00) and David W. Finnegan Jr.(EE '00) announce the birth of their son, Colin James, on Apr. 4, 2009. Julie is a senior manager with Accenture based in Philadelphia; David is a business consultant for CORE BTS in Exton, PA. They reside in West Chester, PA. While at Penn State, Julie was president of the Society of Women Engineers and received the 2000 Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Student Leadership Award; she currently serves on Penn State's Engineering Diversity Advisory Board. David participated in the Army ROTC at Penn State and went on to serve in the U.S. Army Signal Corps for six years. He completed tours in Afghanistan, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, and Iraq, as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (posted 6/22/09)
• Chrysostomos A. Nicopoulos (EE '03; PhD '07) received the European Design and Automation Association's 2008 Outstanding Dissertation Award for his dissertation titled "Network-on-Chip Architectures: A Holistic Design Exploration." A tenure-track lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Cyprus, Nicopoulos is involved in the research of packet-based networks-on-chip (NoC). He is particularly interested in the "golden" optimization quintet of area, power, performance, reliability, and process variation tolerance. He is currently exploring NoC router architectures for both CMPs and heterogeneous MPSoCs and is investigating emerging challenges in the field of communication-centric many-core computer architectures. (posted 1/28/2009)
• Kathryn "Katie" van Werkhoven (CE PhD '08) received the first place 2009 Ph.D. Dissertation Award in Natural Science and Engineering from the U.S. Universities Council for Water Resources in recognition of her dissertation titled "Evaluating Model Behavior for Hydrologic Forecasting in Gauged and Ungauged Watersheds." Van Werkhoven currently resides in Phoenix, AZ, with her husband and recently born son. (posted 4/30/09)

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1990s

• Bradford A. Bruno (ME '90; MS '00) has received SAE International's Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award. The award recognizes younger educators who are successfully preparing engineers to meet the challenges that face society. An associate professor of mechanical engineering at Union College, Bruno was previously a senior project engineer at International Paper, a postdoctoral fellow with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Orléans, France, and a postdoctoral fellow in the Turbulent Combustion Lab and graduate teaching fellow at Penn State. Currently he is on sabbatical and conducting research at General Electric Power Systems. Bruno teaches courses in thermodynamics, fluids, heat transfer, and thermal/fluid system design, as well as advising senior undergraduate research projects and conducting his own research in laser diagnostics in combustion systems. He is also faculty adviser for student chapters of ASME and SAE, past-president of Sigma Xi, and adviser for the Union College SAE Baja SAE team. (posted 8/23/2009)
• Iris Rivero (IE '96; M.S. '98; Ph.D. '02) has received the 2009 John G. Bollinger Outstanding Young Manufacturing Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Rivero is an associate professor of industrial engineering at Texas Tech University, where her research interests include nanomaterials, manufacturing processes, biomedical engineering, and nondestructive testing. One of her recent projects involved designing a mass production process to fabricate carbon nanotubes composites with repeatable properties. Rivero has served as a faculty fellow at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and has worked on projects funded by NASA, DOE, and SME. In addition to her research, Rivero teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in advanced manufacturing processes and nondestructive testing. She is the recipient of several other awards, including the Texas Tech Alumni Association's New Faculty Award in 2006. (posted 2/23/2009)

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1980s

• Susan O. Schall (IE '82; MS '86; PhD '88) has been appointed by James Turner, acting director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to the 2008 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The award, created by public law in 1987, is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. As an examiner, Schall is responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the award. The board is composed of approximately 500 leading experts selected from industry, professional and trade organizations, education and healthcare organizations, and government. (posted 5/22/2008)

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1970s

• Rick Bigelow (NUC E MS '76; MBA '80) is the prime contract manager for Shaw Nuclear in Charlotte, NC. Shaw is the architect engineer/constructor for the Vogtle 3 and 4 project in Georgia. In his spare time, Rick is continuing his patent law practice. He can be reached at rlbpatent@aol.com. (posted 8/3/09)
• Nicholas Godici (E MCH '72), former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) official and longtime patent professional, has been appointed by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to look at ways to strengthen the management structure of the USPTO and provide an up-to-date assessment of the challenges the office faces. Godici, hired by current Acting Under Secretary for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director John Doll at Locke's request, will work with USPTO officials to identify areas of concern and to assist in the transition to a new director. He will serve as a consultant for a period of up to 180 days. "I'm counting on Nick to use his decades of experience to help us strengthen the management of the USPTO and identify the areas most in need of attention by the new director," Locke said. (posted 7/23/09)
• Robert McGrath (E SCI '72) recently presented a seminar titled "The Present Status and Future Promise of Renewable and Efficient Energy Technologies" at Penn State's University Park campus. McGrath is deputy laboratory director for science and technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. He is a member of the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment advisory board. (posted 11/3/09)
• Joseph A. Sholtis Jr. (NucE '70) has been appointed a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council (NRC), Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Committee. Comprised of space program managers, space scientists, and space nuclear systems engineers from across the nation, the committee will review NASA's space use of RPSs, as well as future development of RPSs by both NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy. Sholtis has participated in every U.S. RPS-powered space mission since 1974, including Viking I and II, Lincoln Experimental Satellites 8 and 9, Voyager I and II, Galileo, Ulysses, Mars Pathfinder, Cassini, Mars Exploration Rover A and B, and Pluto-New Horizons. Each mission required characterization of radiological risk for the White House, in support of presidential launch approval. Sholtis is owner of and principal consultant for Sholtis Engineering & Safety Consulting in Tijeras, NM.

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1960s

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1950s

• Joseph F. Yurso (ME '52) has received the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) Harold E. Saunders Award, which is given in recognition of lifetime achievement in naval engineering. Yurso has spent more than 50 years dedicated to naval engineering. Currently the director of technical development for Q.E.D. Systems Incorporated of Virginia Beach, VA, Yurso began his career as a refrigeration and air conditioning engineer in the Bureau of Ships. Later as a commissioned officer, he completed 30 years in the U.S. Navy. His two command tours were as Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Groton, CT, and Commander Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, NH. In addition to his Penn State degree, Yurso holds a master of science in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He also completed a management program at Carnegie Mellon. Yurso is married with four children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. (posted 9/30/2009)

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