College Honors Esteemed Alumni

The supervisor of all Korean road projects and the Federal Aviation Administration’s chief scientific and technical advisor for environment were two of the elite alumni honored at this year’s Excellence in Engineering & Architecture Alumni Awards ceremony.

Sung-Hwan Kim is the 2012 recipient of the Benjamin G. Lamme Meritorious Achievement Medal, the college’s highest honor. As executive director of construction for the Korea Expressway Corporation, he supervises all Korean road projects, which total more than $3 billion in national expenditures each year. Kim oversaw construction of the Incheon Bridge. At more than 13 miles long, it is the longest bridge in Korea and the seventh-longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. He earned his PhD in 1994 and master’s degree in 1988 in civil engineering from Ohio State.

James I. Hileman, chief scientific and technical advisor for environment for the Federal Aviation Administration, received the Texnikoi Outstanding Achievement Award, one of the college’s premier awards. He leads research at the FAA to evaluate and lower aircraft noise, emission and energy use. Hileman is a previous director of the Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A three-time Ohio State alumnus, Hileman received his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD – all in mechanical engineering – in 1998, 2000 and 2004, respectively.

Justin Berger, a mechanical design engineer in refrigeration at GE, received the Alumni Imagination at Work Award. Berger played a starring role in GE’s advertising campaign to launch a new line of French door refrigerators, which he helped design. He can be seen in a national television commercial, as well as a series of webisodes at www.freshpedition.com. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2008 from Ohio State.

David B. Williams, dean of the College of Engineering, presented the medal and other awards at the ceremony.

“You are engineering the world, and making people’s lives better, through your work,” Williams said. “I want to thank all of you for helping us as we carry on the traditions and establish The Ohio State University College of Engineering as an eminent research and education institution.”

The twelve alumni who received 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awards in honor of their achievements in the field of engineering and architecture are:

• Constantine A. Balanis, PhD ’69, electrical engineering, is the Regents’ Professor of Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University where he has worked since 1983. He is the architect of the ASU ElectroMagnetic Anechoic Chamber and has also worked for NASA at the Langley Research Center in Virginia.
• Nancy C. Dawes, BS ’81, chemical engineering, is a research fellow at Procter & Gamble where she developed multiple new anti-aging products, including the best-selling Regenerist. She is known as one of the country’s foremost experts in the development of advanced skincare products.
• Eric D. Evans, BS ’83, MS ’85 and PhD ’88, electrical engineering, is director of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory and is a fellow of the IEEE and a member of the AIAA. Previously, he served as head of the MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory’s Air and Missile Defense Technology Division and also served as the leader of the Air Defense Techniques Group.
• Michael R. Fortin, MS ’87 and PhD ’91, computer and information science, is a distinguished engineer in the Windows Core Operating Systems Division at Microsoft. He began his career at Microsoft in 1997, where he worked on Windows 2000 doing development on tools to aid in improving system and application performance.
• Darrel P. Kohlhorst, BS ’70, aeronautical and astronautical engineering, is president and general manager of Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group, managing unit for Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He has established a reputation for reaching out to the community, winning praise for his interest in finding ways to make the national security site more familiar and accessible to the public.
• Vijay Kumar, MS ’85 and PhD ’87, mechanical engineering, is the UPS Foundation Professor and the deputy dean for education in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at University of Pennsylvania. He is known for his research in the control and coordination of multi-robot formations.
• In-Mo Lee, MS ’83, PhD ’86, civil engineering, is a professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at Korea University. He is a director of the Institute of Underground Space Technology at Korea University and is a full member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea.
• Robert A. Long, ’73, civil engineering, is a retired chief engineer for the Whitacre Engineering Company in Canton, Ohio. A project engineer at Whitacre for more than 36 years, he designed concrete structures using reinforced steel and post-tensioning steel cables, including the 2000 Ohio Stadium renovation, Cleveland Museum of Art and Cleveland Browns Stadium.
• Manu Mehta, ’80, MS ’82, electrical engineering, is president and CEO of Metabyte Inc., a top IT services company utilized by Fortune 500 and mid-market businesses worldwide. Metabyte is responsible for inventing DVR technology. Prior to founding Metabyte in ’93, Mehta worked for Texas Instruments
• Subodh Mhaisalkar, MS ’87 and PhD ’90, ceramic engineering, is a professor in the School of Materials Science & Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He also serves as the director of the Centre for Nanostructured Photosystems and co-director of the Energy Research Institute.
• Joseph A. Pobiner, BS ’76 political science and MS ’78, city and regional planning, is a master planning and urban design consultant who has influenced responsible planning in communities in 24 countries worldwide and 40 U.S. states since 1977. He has led many notable projects, including NFL stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings.
• Dandridge “Drew” White, BS ’83, architecture, is a founding partner of Axis Architecture + Interiors in Indianapolis. Focused on community, non-profit and commercial-based projects, his projects have studied the possibilities of adaption or addition to existing structures for new uses, and redesigning interior space and providing solutions for new construction.