3/31/2023
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The Grainger College of Engineering announced seven alumni as recipients of the 2023 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service. Recipients are selected annually and recognized for professional distinction through outstanding leadership, contributions to the field of engineering, creativity and entrepreneurship; as well as service to society, the professional community, and to the department, college or university.
From 3D technology to mixed reality, energy sustainability to national security, our distinguished alumni are global leaders in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. They are mentors, inventors and investors who have changed the world.
MechSE alumnus Eric Brown (BSME 1998, MSTAM 2001, PhD TAM 2003) is one of this year’s winners. He currently serves as a Senior Scientist in the Office of Experiment Science at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). He founded and served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dynamic Behavior of Materials. He has received awards for his technical achievements in physics and materials science from the ASC, Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE-NNSA), LANL, Materials Research Society, Society for Engineering Mechanics, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, and the University of Illinois. Brown was a 2020 recipient of the MechSE Distinguished Alumni Award.
“This is a tremendously humbling experience. I look at the people who have previously received this award and the things they have done and this is just really great,” Brown said, while calling out several of his mentors during his education at Illinois.
“Professor Nancy Sottos was an inspiration to me in how to mentor, how to do science, how to think in that academic way, and Professor Scott White, who unfortunately passed away, really taught me a lot about leadership.”
Brown also emphasized the “unexpected” importance of his education outside of the classroom and the lab. “The work we were doing on self-healing materials [at the time] really caught the notice of the public and it made me realize not only how much I enjoyed research and science and engineering but also the ability to communicate to people why science matters, going beyond the academics, was so profoundly impactful to my career and how I perceive things.”
This year’s other recipients of the 2023 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service include:
Steven Ashby (Computer Science - MS 1985, PhD 1988) is the Director of the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. A widely recognized leader in computational science and strong advocate for investing in and inspiring our next generation of talent, Dr. Ashby established The Ashby Prize in Computational Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, awarded to a multidisciplinary team of students for the innovative use of high-performance computing to address a problem of societal significance.
Ping Fu (Computer Science - MS 1990) is a venture and angel investor. She co-founded Geomagic, a leading U.S. software company that pioneers 3D technologies that fundamentally change the way products are designed and manufactured around the world. Her 2013 memoir “Bend, Not Break: Life in two worlds,” is a New York Times bestseller.
Sergio “Satch” Pecori (Civil and Environmental Engineering - BS 1973, MS 1974) is Chairman and CEO of Hanson Professional Services Inc. As part of Hanson’s involvement in the Springfield Rail Improvements Project in Springfield, Illinois, Mr. Pecori has led the development and implementation of the Grow Our Own Minority Participation Program, fostering minority students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM) careers.
Steve Sullivan (Electrical and Computer Engineering – MS 1991, PhD 1997) served most recently as Partner and General Manager at Microsoft. He is an inventor on more than 25 patents and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Steve has contributed to more than 70 films including the Star Wars prequels, Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers, Harry Potter and Minority Report, among many others.
Francesco Venneri (Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering - PhD 1988) is CEO and Founder of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation. His research achievements include advancements in the concept of deep burn for nuclear waste in HTGR units. Dr. Venneri is also a co-inventor of Fully Ceramic Microencapsulate (FCM) nuclear fuel and holds degrees in physics, mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering.
Carrie Zalewski (Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering - BS 2001) is Chair of the Illinois Commerce Commission and serves as an energy regulation attorney with an engineering background. Carrie is the founding Chair of NARUC’s Chari Council where she brings together Commission Chairs from all 50 states and regions and is a frequent speaker and lecturer in discussion in the energy and regulatory space.
The award recipients spoke about their Grainger Engineering experiences, lessons learned from their careers, and advice for current students at the college’s Chat with Alumni Award for Distinguished Service Recipients on March 31 as part of Engineering Open House activities.
They will be formally recognized at a Grainger awards dinner on April 1.