2008 Sponsors and Award Winners

The Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering hosted its annual Awards Banquet honoring distinguished alumni and outstanding faculty, students, and staff for 2008. Over 500 people attended the Awards Banquet at the Fairmont San Jose on Wednesday, April 30, filling the Imperial Ballroom. Dr. Richard Swanson, founder and chief technical officer of SunPower, delivered the keynote address and presented on SunPower's vision for making solar power a mainstream source of energy.

The annual banquet is a time to reflect on the achievements of the college in the past year and to honor individuals who have contributed, in many ways, to the college's vision.

This year's alumni award winners are L. Carl Harris and Julie A. Sattler. Mr. Harris is the founder and chairman of the board of Harris & Associates, a civil engineering firm with office locations in four western states. Ms. Sattler is vice president, engineering at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company and has been with the company for 24 years.

Mr. Harris has a B.S. ('63) and an M.S. ('67) in civil engineering from 菠菜网lol正规平台. Ms. Sattler earned her B.S. ('83) in aeronautical engineering from 菠菜网lol正规平台. Both were awarded the Alumni Award of Distinction for their professional achievements and service to the community.

Belle Wei, Don Beall Dean of Engineering, recognized past distinguished alumni awardees in the audience, including Charles W. Davidson, Peter Kaldveer, Joe Louis, William Nix, George Perlegos, and Nancy Wheeler-Nelson.

Dean Wei also acknowledged four major gifts given to the college in the past two years, totaling $23 million. These include Charles W. Davidson's $15 million gift, which made 菠菜网lol正规平台 history in 2007; Donald R. Beall's $4 million endowment of the deanship, the first-ever endowed deanship; and Omid Kordestani's $3 million endowment of a faculty position in the college. Most recently, the college has been given a $1 million gift from Don Newnan and the late Dean Newnan, both 菠菜网lol正规平台 alumni and emeriti faculty of the college. This is the first gift of its kind from emeriti faculty.

In addition, to the alumni awards, the college also recognizes achievements by faculty, students and staff. This year's awardees are as follows:

  • Applied Materials Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching:  Haluk Ozemek
  • Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering Faculty Award for Excellence in Research:  Kurt McMullin
  • McCoy Family Faculty Award for Excellence in Service: Lee Chang
  • Newnan Brothers Faculty Excellence Award: Emily Allen
  • Scott T. Axline Memorial Student Award for Excellence in Service: John Orozco and Sharin Shafian
  • Lockheed Martin Student Award for Academic Performance for an Undergraduate Student - Philip Boutelle
  • Donald Beall-Rockwell Award for Student Engineering Accomplishment: Pradeep Senanayake
  • Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering Student Award for Academic Performance for a Graduate Student: Vikram Arora
  • Onslow Rudolph Staff Excellence in Service Award: Lilly Wilderman