During a gala event on May 2 at the Storrs campus, the School of Engineering honored 10 exceptional alumni and friends as 2013 inductees into the UConn Academy of Distinguished Engineers. Nearly 100 attendees helped to honor the new inductees, each of whom spoke of the profound influence of UConn Engineering in shaping their careers.
Paul Adams, Senior Vice President of Operations & Engineering at Pratt & Whitney, was presented the Distinguished Engineering Leadership Award for his enormous contributions in helping to nurture the partnership between UConn Engineering and Pratt & Whitney. Through his efforts, the UConn – Pratt & Whitney Center of Excellence in Aviation Systems and the recently announced Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center at UConn were established.
Distinguished Professional Achievement Awards were presented to:
Scott Beecher (B.S. ‘80) – Principal Software Engineer with Pratt & Whitney, providing development and certification process support on a range of engine control software. He developed the original software for PW6000 engines and is the official engineering rep to the FAA for the approval of safety critical airborne software.
Hsing-Yao Chen (Ph.D. ‘68) – Currently retired after a 45-year career as a pioneer with CBS Laboratories, Zenith, RCA Electronics, Zenith Electronics and Chunghwa Picture Tubes. At RCA, he designed the color CRT electron guns that became the world standard in television picture tubes. For this work, in 1983 RCA presented him its highest technology award, the David Sarnoff Award.
Somnath Deb (M.S. ’90; Ph.D. ‘94) – Co-founder of Qualtech Systems (QSI) and developer of a software program for testability analysis and life-cycle cost improvement that established QSI. An expert in multi-sensor, multi-target track initiation and maintenance using multiple heterogeneous sensors, he developed software that is used by the Boeing Company and Naval Surface Warfare Center.
Patrick J. O’Mara (M.S. ‘96) – Senior Transportation Engineer with STV Inc. He has been involved in the 34th Street Select Bus Service, Queensboro Bridge Bus Priority Study, PARK Smart Study and the JFK International Airport Access in New York City and the Arrigoni Bridge rehabilitation project in Connecticut.
John “Jack” Prior (B.S. ‘86) – Senior Director of BioProcess Engineering at boutique biotechnology pioneer Genzyme Corporation, Framingham, MA. Dr. Prior has been involved in the development of Genzyme’s commercial biopharmaceuticals for rare but devastating genetic disorders, a thyroid cancer detection marker, and therapies for patients experiencing acute rejection of transplanted kidneys.
Banavar Sridhar (M.S. ‘68; Ph.D. ‘73) – NASA Senior Scientist for Air Transportation System Studies at NASA’s Ames Research Center. His pioneering work in the application of singular perturbation theory to the real-time optimal guidance of missiles formed the basis for the guidance laws implemented in advanced missiles used on many U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy fighter aircraft.
Timothy T. Tylaska (B.S. ‘86; M.S. ‘89; Ph.D. ‘93) – Founder and CEO of Tylaska Marine Hardware, Mystic, CT. His patented, novel release mechanism and other products are used on every America’s Cup sailing yacht. He also constructed a multi-million dollar industrial park, Mystic Business Park, LLC to serve as an incubator for small start-up manufacturing businesses.
Sally A. Wallace (M.S. ‘91) – Vice President of the Operations, Power, Environment & Sustainment Systems Group at DRS Technologies, Inc., Bethesda, MD, where she is responsible for business operations and execution across the strategic business unit. Earlier in her career, VP and General Manager of the Power & Control Technologies unit, she grew the business, improved profitability and enhanced the competitiveness of the operation.
Joseph H. Yan (M.S. ‘93; Ph.D. ‘96) – Manager of Transmission Planning for Southern California Edison (SCE). During the 2000-01 melt-down of the California electricity markets, he was instrumental in discovering and reporting market structure problems and abuses, providing key analyses before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and courts.
