MechSE Alumni Awards
MechSE Distinguished Alumni Awards
Stephen Blakely
BSME 1969
Chief Technology Officer; Principal; and member of the board of directors, Neurovision Medical Products, Inc.
Stephen started his engineering career at McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing) through its co-op program with the University of Illinois. In the 1980s he joined Neurovision Medical Products in its infancy as a principal and Chief Technology Officer and helped grow it into a global leader in neuromonitoring technology and related nerve monitoring systems. He was involved in all phases of operations including the development of several new products.
Natasha Childs
BSME 1999
Senior Project Engineer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Natasha is a Senior Project Engineer in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Region II office in Atlanta, Georgia, with 24 years of experience in the nuclear industry. Since joining the NRC in 2008, she has played an instrumental role in various capacities, including Resident Inspector and Senior Project Engineer, contributing to the agency’s success in ensuring the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants across the southeastern U.S.
Patrick McAuliffe
BSME 1987,
MSME 1996 Southern Illinois University
Vice President of Engineering, ProDrive Global Brands
Patrick has built a distinguished career in engineering and product development across diverse industries, including power tools, analytical instrumentation, and safe access and storage solutions. Under his leadership at ProDrive Global Brands, a global leader in the professional construction, industrial, and automotive industries, the company's North American engineering function has been revitalized, driving significant advancements in new product development and value engineering.
The MechSE Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes our alumni who have established careers and have served in a professional and technical capacity to honor the department and the university. To date, nearly 200 of our deserving alumni have received this award. Any individual with a degree in Engineering Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering, or Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois, who is not a current MechSE faculty member or alumni board member, is eligible for nomination.
MechSE Outstanding Young Alumni Awards
Kenneth Cooley
BSME 2018
Director of Engineering, ATS Life Sciences Systems, Chicago
Kenneth is the Director of Engineering at ATS Life Sciences Systems, Chicago where he leads a cross-functional team of engineers in the design and development of custom automation equipment for the Life Sciences industry. Ken rose within the engineering department serving in the positions of Lead Mechanical Engineer, Engineering Team Lead and Engineering Manager before his current role of Director. Throughout his tenure, he has directly contributed to the success of the business by leading over $75M in programs for medical device assembly and lab automation.
James Delacenserie
BSME 2017
JD, Harvard Law School, 2021
Associate, Technology & IP Transactions, Kirkland and Ellis LLP, NYC
James is an associate attorney in the Technology & IP Transactions Practice Group in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on advising clients on technology, intellectual property (IP), and data privacy and security-related aspects of corporate transactions (including stock and asset purchases and sales, carve-outs, joint ventures, IP licensing, refinancing, and restructuring) across a variety of industries (including technology, software, manufacturing, media and entertainment, healthcare, consumer products, financial and business services, and real estate).
Shantanu Shahane
PhD ME 2019
Software Engineer, Google Research
Shantanu is a software engineer at Google Research. Following his PhD in 2019, he held a postdoctoral appointment at NCSA until 2022. At Google Research, Shantanu's work focuses on the intersection of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and machine learning. He has contributed to the development of a TensorFlow and JAX-based CFD software designed for meteorological flows, coupling machine learning approaches to enhance prediction accuracy and efficiency. Additionally, he has simulated city-wide traffic flows, encompassing interstates and urban arterials, utilizing navigation and map data from Google Maps.
The MechSE Outstanding Young Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have graduated from the department fewer than 10 years ago and who have embodied the department and university’s values in their professional careers.