OSU College of Engineering Honors Distinguished Alumni at 2009 Oregon Stater Awards

Story Posted: Tue, Mar 24, 2009

CORVALLIS – The College of Engineering at Oregon State University honored 42 of its most distinguished alumni at the eleventh annual Oregon Stater Awards, held February, 20, 2009, an event that recognizes exceptional OSU engineers and their career accomplishments. The annual ceremony inducts OSU engineering alumni into three groups based on the length of their careers and contributions to society: the Engineering Hall of Fame, the Academy of Distinguished Engineers and the Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers. This year’s awardees are affiliated with both large and small companies, as well as major government agencies, the U.S. armed forces and international universities.

Among this year’s awardees are Darry Callahan, retired executive vice president of Power, Chemicals and Technology for Chevron Texaco Corp; Don Chambers, Chief of the Engineering and Construction Division, Portland, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Pat Connolly, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Williams Sonoma; Greg Merten, former General Manager of Hewlett Packard in Corvallis; Ajit Rode, co-founder of TriQuint Semiconductor,  Junku Yuh, president of Korea Aerospace University; and Jeff Ammon, former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. “When we started these awards 11 years ago, we couldn't imagine the diversity of achievement we would find among our most accomplished alumni and friends of the college,” said Chris Bell, associate dean of the College of Engineering. The annual awards banquet, held at the CH2M HILL Alumni Center on campus, was attended by nearly 300 people. The event takes place every year near National Engineers Week, a week of national engineering events and celebration. View the award citations and photos from the event at the Oregon Stater Website

2009 Awardees Hall of Fame Ron Arps-Stanford, CA Robert Bonney-Portland, OR Darry Callahan-San Rafael, CA Pat Connolly-Menlo Park, CA Frank Dudek-Solana Beach, CA Ramesh Malhotra-New Delhi, India Gregory Merten-Corvallis, OR Carroll Page-Seattle, WA Jean Watson-Hillsboro, OR Larry Watson-Hillsboro, OR Jackson Wong-Annandale, VA Junku Yuh- Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea Academy of Distinguished Engineers Jeff Ammon-Bremerton, WA Taymoor Arshi-Potomac, MD John Barneson-Trabuco Canyon, CA Cheryl Britton-Burien, WA Don Chambers-Banks, OR Lee Cheatham-Kenmore WA Jay Compton-Salem, OR Christopher Gesh-West Richland, WA Gayle Harley-Eugene, OR Dan Kavanaugh-Portland, OR Andy LaFrazia-Camas, WA Mark Madison-Mulino, OR William McHolick-Houston, TX Michael Miles-Portland, OR Mitch Nichols-Prospect, KY Mike Peery-Newcastle, CA Nivruti Rai-Phoenix, AZ Ajit Rode-Los Gatos, CA Darrell Teegarden-Lake Oswego, OR Suzanne Townsen-Vancouver, WA Howard Yang-Shanghai, China Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers Angie Cook- Livermore, CA Brian Davis- Saint Paul, MN Jeremy Ho- Shanghai, China Adam King- Los Gatos, CA Peter Koonce- Portland, OR Adi Kusma- Cupertion, CA Jason Smesrud- Portland, OR Seth Sproul- La Jolla, CA John Weisner- Wilsonville, OR