Alumni Awards and Recognition
2009 - Congratulations to Susan Schall, the recipient of the 2009 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award.
Susan Schall, Ph.D., President, SOS Consulting, LLC, a strategic process improvement consulting and training organization, has over 20 years experience delivering improved performance through strategic process improvement. Susan received a B.S. in Mathematics from the State University of New York, Fredonia, and a B.S. ('82), M.S. ('86), and Ph.D. ('88) in industrial engineering from Penn State University. She is also certified as a Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) by the American Society for Quality.
Susan has broad experience in engineering, statistical and business process improvement methodologies, including Lean Six Sigma, team-based problem-solving, quality management systems, operations assessment, and strategic planning. Prior to consulting, Susan held various engineering and leadership roles at RR Donnelley, GE Lighting, DuPont, and Eastman Kodak.
Susan is an active engineering alumnus of Penn State University, currently serving on the Industrial Engineering Industrial Professional Advisory Committee, and having previously served as president of the Penn State Engineering Society, and chair of the Women in Engineering Advisory Committee. In addition, Susan is an ABET fellow, the ABET Adjunct Training Director, and a senior member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and the American Society for Quality. Previously, Susan represented IIE on the ABET Board of Directors from 2005-08 and the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission from 1998-2003. Susan was also a member of the 2006 and 2008 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) Board of Examiners
2008 - Congratulations to Paul McConnaughey who recently received the 2008 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award. Paul is a 1960 graduate of Industrial Engineering and, after serving two years in the Navy, began his professional career with Alcoa in 1962. Paul's early years were spent in a variety of positions in the sales and marketing of Building Products in Pittsburgh, PA and Chicago, IL. He was then appointed Manager of Passenger Automotive Markets in Pittsburgh and, in 1982, became the Sales and Marketing Manager of Aerospace Marketing. In 1990, Paul moved to Frankfurt, Germany as the Managing Director of Industrial Chemicals European Region, an area encompassing Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India and Pakistan. Before retiring from Alcoa in 2001, he managed refineries in Germany, Texas, and Australia. Paul resides in Falmouth, MA and State College, PA.
2007 - Congratulations to Dr. Shiv Raman, a 1989 PSU doctoral student from our department, who was inducted into the Council of Fellows of IIE on Monday, May 28th in Nashville, Tennessee. He is currently the David Ross Boyd Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Raman has developed an international reputation in the areas of Manufacturing, Research and Education.
2007 - Congratulations to Jerry Goldress who was recently selected as the 2007 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus (OEA). Jerry received a B.S. in 1953 and a MS in 1954 in Industrial Engineering from Penn State and went on to have a successful IE career. The OEA award, presented by the College of Engineering, was created in 1966 to recognize alumni who have reached exceptional levels of professional achievement and to demonstrate the College's appreciation of their example, dedication, and loyalty. Jerry Goldress's success and achievements make him most deserving of this esteemed recognition.To learn more about Jerry and his success story, please see his brief bio.
2006 - Congratulations to Susan Sinclair who was recently selected as the 2006 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus. Susan is a 1993 Industrial Engineering Graduate and currently holds the position of vice president of manufacturing for Hershey Foods. As a young girl, Susan enjoyed math and science and wanted to get into an engineering field that was about people and processes. Influenced by her father, a chemist who was knowledgeable about the engineering field, Susan decided to get an industrial engineering degree from Penn State. During the summer of her junior year, she participated in an internship at The Hershey Company, thanks to an interview set up by Penn State. After graduation, she accepted an entry level engineering position at Hershey. Susan continued to work for Hershey, holding many supervisory positions including director of material control; director of the Enterprise Solution Center in Information Services; and manager/director of industrial engineering. She also spent a year working as a financial analyst. In 2002, Susan became vice president of operations planning and optimization. She developed and identified manufacturing optimization studies and cost savings, implemented supply chain efficiency and process redesign initiatives, and examined capacity utilization and bottleneck analysis. The following year she was named vice president of operations engineering. In this role she managed the packaging, processing, electrical, civil, and industrial engineering resources for Hershey, as well as the firm's capital program. In 2005, Susan became vice president of manufacturing. Responsible for nine manufacturing locations in the United States and Canada, she makes investment decisions, formulates cost reduction ideas, initiates performance improvement, establishes and tracks budgets, introduces new products, and compares and benchmarks the nine locations. Please join the IE department in congratulating Susan.
2006 - Gregory Lucier, President and CEO of Invitrogen Corporation, has been named the recipient of the 2006 Penn State College of Engineering's World-Class Engineer Alumni Award. Established by the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education's advisory board, the award is intended to honor the achievements of a Penn State engineering graduate in the early or middle part of their career. Winners embody the traits of the "World-Class Engineer," including being aware of the world, solidly grounded, technically broad, versatile, effective in team operations, and effective in leadership roles. It is the goal of the College of Engineering for its graduates to learn and exhibit the attributes of the World-Class Engineer.
2005 - Susan Sinclair, a PSU IE alumni was recently voted President-Elect for the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Susan is currently the chair of the department's Industrial and Professional Advisory Board and has been active in the college at many levels. Of note, the current President of IIE is also a PSU alumni, Al Soyster.
2005 - The Industrial Engineering Department is pleased to announce that Mr. Edward M. Kasody was named the 2005 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus. Mr. Kasody graduated with a B.S. degree in industrial engineering in 1960. Upon graduation, Mr. Kasody joined Alcoa as an industrial engineer. Within three years he was appointed production engineer at a remelt facility, the first of many promotions he received as he advanced through the ranks over the next 24 years. During his long tenure with Alcoa, Mr. Kasody managed production and production control at plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana. Eventually, he was transferred to corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh where he served as production manager for engineered products, manager for production control for the entire company, and manager of manufacturing for flat-rolled products. In 1985, Mr. Kasody joined Superior Metal Products, Inc., as vice president of manufacturing and remained in that position for five years. In 1996, his career came full-circle when he was named president and CEO of American Trim, LLC, a $260 million joint venture formed by a partnership between Superior Metal Products and his former employer, Alcoa. After retiring in 2001, Mr. Kasody and his wife, Betty, returned to Centre County, settling in nearby Boalsburg. They have three children: Robert (EE '86; MS '88), Michael, and Patricia (LIB '89).
2004 - John J. Mikita was recently selected as the 2004 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus.
2004 - Shivakumar Raman, Ph.D., was recently named a David Ross Boyd Professor in The University of Oklahoma School of Industrial Engineering. The professorship, named in honor of the school's first president, was created to recognize faculty with superior teaching ability and demonstrated leadership and student guidance. Raman holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Penn State.
2004 - Harold Gehman, a 1965 industrial engineering graduate, was one of eight named by Penn State as a Distinguished Alumnus.The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor that Penn State bestows upon its alumni. It recognizes the achievements of outstanding alumni whose "personal lives, professional achievements, and community service exemplify the objectives of their Alma Mater." Gehman is the former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic. He retired in October 2000. In 1998, Gehman was named an Alumni Fellow and in 2001 he was named an Outstanding Engineering Alumnus. Of all Penn State alumni to have served in the military, he holds the distinction of being the highest ranking ever.
2003 - Peter Dal Pezzo (IE, '68) was the 2003 recipient of the Outstanding Engineering Alumnus (OEA) Award. This award, presented by the College of Engineering was created in 1966 to recognize alumni who have reached exceptional levels of professional achievement and to demonstrate the College's appreciation of their example, dedication, and loyalty.
2003 - Harold W. Gehman, Jr., Penn State engineering alumnus and former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, headed the investigation into the accident that led to the loss of the space shuttle Columbia.
2003 - Jeffrey P. Kharoufeh, Ph.D., received the Leslie M. Norton Teaching Excellence Award in the Graduate School of Engineering and Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology. The award recognizes the superior teaching ability of one faculty member within the School. Jeff is an Assistant Professor of Operations Research and received his Ph.D. from Penn State in 2001.
2002 - John M. Bergey (IE, 1956) was honored by the College of Engineering with a 2002 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award. Bergey is perhaps best known as the "father of the digital watch."
2001 - Adm. Harold W. Gehman, Jr. (IE, 1965), was honored as a 2001 Outstanding Engineering Alumni. Admiral Gehman, of Virginia Beach, Va., is the former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command and Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, of NATO.
2001 - Kenneth S. Moffitt (IE, 1955) was honored by the Alumni Association as a 2001 Alumni Fellow. The highest honor given, the Alumni Fellow Award recognizes alumni who are outstanding leaders in their field. Moffitt, who has endowed an IME undergraduate scholarship, also received the College of Engineering's Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award in 1995. He retired from Ingersoll-Rand Corporation, Rotary Drill Division, as vice president and general manager.