alumni in the news

Have you made the news lately? Awards, publications, start-ups, significant appointments? We really want to hear from you! Please send an e-mail to engineering-alumni@stanford.edu giving us the pertinent details of your accomplishments and adventures.

Be sure to provide us with the following information about yourself:

To keep things current, we will refresh the news monthly. We may forward your information to other school or university outlets. However, your submittal will only be used for Stanford University purposes.

September 2011

John X.J. Zhang (PhD ?04 Electrical Engineering), is one of 85 of the nation?s brightest young engineers to be selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering?s (NAE) 17th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium, which will be held September 19?21 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.The symposium will examine additive manufacturing, engineering sustainable buildings, neuroprosthetics, and semantic processing.

More information about Frontiers of Engineering is available at www.naefrontiers.org.

June 2011

John X.J. Zhang (PhD ?04 Electrical Engineering), Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at UT Austin and Ting Shen (PhD ?04 Management Science and Engineering), CEO and Co-founder, NanoLite Systems, Inc. have been doing some amazing work using simple blood tests to diagnose breast cancer at early stages. They are part of a team of researchers in academia and industry that have developed a disposable microchip the size of two thumbnails that costs about $5 and is capable of capturing as few as five cancer cells among millions of cells circulating in a person's blood. For more information please link to these articles:

April 2011

Anthony (Tony) Kahn (BS ’86 Mechanical Engineering) was elected to the Board of Directors for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and recently elected Chair of the Board of AISES. The mission of AISES is to substantially increase the representation of American Indian and Alaskan Natives in engineering, science and other related technology disciplines. AISES has 3000 members, with about half being students (college, high school) and the other half being professionals. AISES annually awards about $300,000 in scholarships to college/university students. Major events that are sponsored by AISES include: a national conference & career fair, regional student conferences, a college student leadership conference, the National American Indian Science & Engineering Fair, and the National Native American Science Bowl. AISES national quarterly magazine is the Winds of Change, for which Tony is an Ex Officio member of the board of directors. He is also a Sequoyah Fellow for AISES.

Tony co-founded the AISES student chapter at Stanford in 1983, and co-founded for the Phoenix AISES Professional Chapter in 1999.

See AISES website for more information: www.aises.org
http://www.aises.org/AboutUs/People/BoardofDirectors

Professionally, Tony works for Arizona Public Service Company (APS) as a Project Engineer and has worked for APS for the past 21 years in the Fossil Generation Engineering department where they perform the engineering & project management for the capital improvement projects at the APS fossil power plants.

December 2010

Mark Coggins (MS ’88 Computer Science) published his fifth crime novel, The Big Wake-Up, which envisions an altered version of the bizarre history of the peripatetic remains of Argentina’s most famous first lady, Eva Perón. Rather than resting in the Duarte family tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, the book posits that the body in La Recoleta is a duplicate and that Eva’s specially embalmed corpse has been secretly buried in the San Francisco Bay Area under a false name. The book won the Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) in the crime fiction category. website: http://www.bleakhousebooks.com/frontlist/BigWakeUp.html

November 2010

Celeste Volz Ford (MS ’80 Aeronautics & Astronautics) founder and CEO of Stellar Solutions Inc., has been selected for the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. According to the article featured in the Silicon Valley Business Journal, “Ford joins the high-caliber ranks of previous inductees, including Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the computer mouse; John L. Hennessy, president of Stanford University; Intel Corp. co-founders Robert N. Noyce and Gordon E. Moore; and William R. Hewlett and David Packard, co-founders of Hewlett-Packard Co.” The distinction is bestowed on engineers and technical leaders in Silicon Valley who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and have made significant contributions to the field.

October 2010

John M. (Jack) Sullivan, P.E., P.S. (MS '65 Civil Engineering), professional engineer and professional surveyor, was awarded the American Society of Civil Engineers “Civil Government Award” at the society’s annual meeting in Kansas City, MO in October 2009.

The award states: “In recognition of his accomplishments, vision and leadership as a Santa Fe County Commissioner from 2001 through 2008 that resulted in enhanced City and County cooperation, greater policy-making transparency, and environmental stewardship.” Jack defeated a one-term incumbent and was then re-elected. New Mexico county elected officials are limited to two terms. He served twice as the Chairman of the five-member commission.

Jack also has been named a Fellow of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

He continues to be active as President of Sullivan Design Group, Inc., a civil and environmental consulting engineering firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a position he has held for the past 33 years.

Herb Lindberg (PhD ?58 Mechanical Engineering) has retired and is now exploring almost any topic that interests him. He has shifted from writing technical papers and books filled with partial differential equations and their useful solutions (e.g., Dynamic Pulse Buckling, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987) to books that appeal to more general readers. Most recently, in February 2009, he published Wildflowers of Bridgeport, a 128-page book of high definition glossy photographs of wildflowers along the trails of the South Yuba River State Park in western Nevada County. The book?s emphasis is on beautiful pictures he took along the trails, which aid flower identification and in the creation of video slide shows, note cards, bookmarks, wall hangings and the like. The book gives the botanical taxonomy of each flower and its uses by the Maidu tribes who lived near the river valley for more than a thousand years. All of these materials are sold in the park visitor center, with profits used to enhance the park and pay for special events open to the public.

High resolution video slide shows and photo stories about the flowers and events are updated several times a year at http://syrpa.lindberglce.com/.

Herb hasn?t abandoned his engineering research entirely - a short book on dynamic buckling, which introduces the most important ideas in the full book mentioned above, is available free of charge at http://lindberglce.com/tech/buklbook.htm. In addition to this, examples he has been developing of ways to use the Internet to tell family histories, including an oral history going back a full century, are at: http://lindberglce.com/OldPhotos.htm

September 2010

Dr. Dan Arvizu (PhD ’82 Mechanical Engineering) was named the 2010 National Hispanic Scientist of the Year for his contribution to the research and development of renewable energy sources. Arvizu is the chief executive and director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.

Dimitris Theodorou (MS ’87 Computer Science) has been spending part of the summer life-coaching Silicon Valley executives in the French Alps, helping them to restructure their personal lives, to better handle pressure-cooker work environments, and cope with ADD and internet addiction through a combination of hiking, Jung/yoga, and meditation (and the discrete charm of French country life).

August 2010

Philip Chen (MS '69 Mechanical Engineering) recently published a novel, now available as a Kindle edition on Amazon. “Falling Star, a thriller, uncovers the truth about mysterious objects buried deep in the murky depths of the oceans and secret government attempts to uncover their real meaning. These objects wake up and start sending messages to outer space. Is this the prelude to the next horrifying stage in the human struggle to survive?” The principal character is described as a Stanford Engineering alumnus, and the novel features some descriptions of Stanford and the surrounding areas in the 1960s. Link here to learn more about Falling Star: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Star-The-Watchers-ebook/dp/B003YCPK4C

July 2010

Eren Atesmen (BS '99, MS ?01 Mechanical Engineering) and two other Stanford alumni, Beau Peelle (BS ?98 Biological Sciences) and Reggie Norris (AB ?98 English), have formed a startup company, Clean Energy Experts. Founded in 2009, the company focuses on the education and adoption of clean energy technologies by homeowners and businesses. Read about their story here: http://www.cleanenergyexperts.com/press-our_story.htm

April 2010

Charles M. Williams (MS '64 Computer Science), emeritus professor of computer information systems at Georgia State University, has written a book soon to be released by the University of New Mexico Press. Titled The Crash of TWA Flight 260, the book investigates the mysteries and controversies surrounding the crash on Febrary 19, 1955 in the mountains outside of Albuquerque. Charles was one of the first people on the scene. Read more at the University of New Mexico Press website: http://www.unmpress.com/Book.php?id=12299699254976

April 2009

Doug Malewicki (MS AA 1963) will be running 70 miles of trails in the Cleveland National Forest with 14,200' of climbs to celebrate his 70th birthday. He expects the run will take 3 days. He is raising money for some of his favorite charities. For details see "70at70" fundraiser: www.CaliforniaOldGoats.com/70at70Intro.htm

Donald McEligot (PhD ME) Received a Heat Transfer Memorial Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The Heat Transfer Memorial Award is bestowed on individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of heat transfer through teaching, research, practice and design, or a combination of such activities.

Venkataraman Rajaraman (MS EE 2001 ME) Venkat has recently promoted as CEO of Su-Kam Power Systems http://www.su-kam.com with effect from March 2009. Su-Kam is a leading power back-up and renewable energy solution provider from India. Venkat’s main focus in on new technologies for the power back-up industry including solar/wind hybrid converters, battery monitoring and control, telecom inverters, grid interactive inverters and smart grid applications. Venkat has over 20 years of experience in ASIC, SW, System design and Engineering Management.

March 2009

Chris Poland (MS CE 1974) Chairman and CEO of Degenkolb Engineers, was elected to become a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in an announcement made by the organization’s president last month.  Induction into the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions for an engineer.

Poland’s structural engineering career spans more than 30 years and began at Degenkolb Engineers.  A passionate seismic safety advocate, he currently presides as Chair of the Congressionally mandated Advisory Committee to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and is Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Structural Safety of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Facilities.  He was Chair of the 100th Anniversary Earthquake Conference in San Francisco in April 2006, which raised awareness on earthquake safety, preparedness and mitigation.  He shared the stage with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein in an internationally covered event that brought the nation to think proactively about earthquake danger.  He serves as the Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings Standards Committee, which recently completed both ASCE 31 and ASCE 41, both standards for the evaluation and rehabilitation of existing buildings that are used by engineers worldwide.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Urban Planning Association (SPUR) and recently, he helped author “The Disaster Resilient City” published by SPUR which defines the key steps the City needs to take to be disaster resilient.

Clara Shih (BS CS 2004, MS CS 2005) just finished writing The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff (Prentice Hall), about online social network technology and how it is changing human behavior and relationships, especially as they pertain to business. It's available now on Amazon and hits bookstores across the US on March 26. Shih built the first business application on Facebook and is currently the Director of Enterprise Social Networking Alliances and Products at salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM). She is a frequently invited speaker on social media to conferences including Web 2.0 Expo, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, and Software Business Online, and blogs at http://www.facebook.com/thefacebookera.

February 2009

Elita Ng (BS/MS MS&E 2002) founded and launched DealDivine http://www.DealDivine.com -- a shopping destination website that targets female bargainista's like herself. The site was recently mentioned in the Wall Street Journal's weekly Style column as one of the websites to find deals online.

January 2009

Linda Capuano (PhD MS&E 1988) was appointed Officer and Company Vice President of Emerging Technology at Marathon Oil Corporation in June 2008. Marathon's Emerging Technology organization provides focus on renewable and alternative fuels, energy efficiency, carbon intensity, and carbon capture and sequestration. It also provides strategic insight regarding emerging technologies across the energy landscape that will identify challenges facing Marathon's core business as well as new investment opportunities.

William G. Van Dorn (BS Engineering 1946) has just published a science history adventure entitled: Ivy-Mike the First Hydrogen Bomb, describing his involvement with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the testing of the first thermonuclear explosion at Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands, when late calculations showed that the explosion might blow the atoll apart and generate a dangerous tsunami. Mr. Van Dorn is also author of the best-selling Oceanography & Seamanship, (1974 & 1993, Cornell Maritime Press). See http://www.wgvandorn.com for details.

December 2008

Hy Tran (PhD ME 1993) led a team of metrologists in developing a silicon micromachined dimensional calibration artifact. This device won a 2008 R&D100 award from R&D Magazine.

November 2008

Eric Etz (BS EE 1990) is in his 18th year of flying fighters for the U.S. Navy, serving as the commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 113, an F/A-18C squadron based in Lemoore, CA. They are currently deployed with the USS Ronald Reagan in the North Arabian Sea, executing combat operations in support of coalition forces on the ground in Afghanistan. Here's a link to the squadron Web site: www.csfwp.navy.mil/vfa-113/.

David Stewart (MS CEE 1986) recently retired as a captain, Civil Engineer Corps, United States Navy, concluding more than 28 years of uniformed service. In September, he embarked on his "second career" with EMCOR Government Services, Arlington, VA. As director for Base Operations Support, he serves as the primary link for field project managers to the corporate support structure and is responsible for operational and financial performance of base operating support contracts throughout the eastern United States and in the Caribbean.

October 2008

Paul Hait (BS ME 1963) has a company that is taking off like a rocket. Check it out at www.usorganicmarketing.com/.

John Orr (MS EE 1970) was appointed provost at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Roger Riffenburgh (MS OR 1972) represented Stanford's congressional district as an alternate delegate on the California Delegation to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

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