1960s
Hunton Energy, a subsidiary of the Hunton Group, whose chairman and CEO is Richard O. Hunton (ME ’60), signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2007 to develop and operate a synthetic natural gas (SNG) plant adjacent to the Dow Chemical Company’s Oyster Creek Facility on the Texas Gulf Coast. The Hunton Energy facility will produce SNG and will use steam turbines to produce additional power from its by-product steam. Processes will capture 100 percent of the CO2 emissions from the facility for use in enhancing oil recovery.

Walter A. King (ME ’61) was elected a distinguished member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

1970s
David M. Shelton Jr. (EE ’71) is a senior associate with Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern, an architectural and engineering design firm in Virginia. He is an electrical engineer in the Roanoke Buildings Division of the firm and has more than 36 years of experience in the architectural-engineering industry.

Richard C. Benson (ME ’74) is the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering at Virginia Tech. This is the first endowed dean position at Virginia Tech and will provide discretionary funds for use in developing academic programs. Dean Benson’s research area is in the mechanics of highly flexible structures. 

Charles A. Creswell (ChE ’75) is vice president of project management at WEBBER/SMITH Associates Inc., a multidiscipline planning, engineering and construction management firm that specializes in serving the needs of the food industry.

Martin T. Kokus (Engr Physics ’75) is a visiting instructor in physics at Potomac State College of West Virginia University. He formerly owned a consulting business specializing in recycling and solid waste management and holds two U.S. patents, one of which is for a line of backpacking equipment that he markets. He is a former contributing editor for “Cycles” magazine, an editor of several science books and a member of the editorial board for “Frontier Perspectives.” He has lectured on gravitation and geology in earthquake prediction and on redshift quantization and alternative theories of gravity, cosmology and fundamental particles. 

Deborah L. Pearce (Applied Math ’78) was elected president of the Rochester School for the Deaf board of directors. She holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and is CEO of LeaJames Inc. She has held executive and leadership positions with Otis Elevator Co., United Technologies, General Electric and IBM. She is married to William Sheeran, president of LeaJames Inc.

Thomas E. Byrne (Nuc, ChE ’79, Law ’84) is co-inventor on a patent for Aranesp, a topselling drug issued by Amgen.

1980s
Jack B. Hicks (ME ’79, ’80), an attorney in the law firm of Womble Carlyle, has joined the Elon University School of Law as an adjunct professor.

Christopher M. Stone (CE ’80) is a Fellow
of the American Society of Civil Engineers
and president of Clark Nexsen, an architecture
and engineering firm. He has 27 years of
experience in the design and management of
public, private, educational and commercial
projects and has been involved in more than
400 construction projects.

Mark F. Wolfe (EE ’80) is deputy director of the Special Operations Directorate at Essex/Windermere Corp., a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. 

David B. Miller (EE ’81) is group vice president at DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies.

James T. Moore Jr. (CE ’83) and his wife, Heather, welcomed the arrival of their second daughter, Olivia Taylor, in June 2007.

George W. Morrow Jr. (ChE ’83) is director of flight projects at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Scott A. Griffith (EE ’84) is vice president of engineering at Comarco Wireless Technologies. He lives in San Clemente, Calif., with his wife, Chrissy, and their four children. Mr. Griffith coaches local youth basketball.

John W. Via III (ChE ’84) was recently promoted to vice president, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical Operations, at Alcon and has global responsibility for all of Alcon’s pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. He is also an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University, where he teaches graduate courses in engineering management and production and operations management. 

Brian Morgan (Aero ’89) assumed command of the U.S. Navy’s VAW-117 squadron in November 2007. He is headquartered at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, Calif. 

Michael T. Bowersox (SE ’98, Darden ’07) and Liza D. Bowersox (Col ’98) welcomed their second daughter, Claire Marie, in June 2007. Their first daughter, Grace Elizabeth, was born in October 2005. Mr. Bowersox works for Humana Inc. The family lives in Louisville, Ky.

Zachary D. Connelly (CS ’98) married Kaitlin Miller Habig in July 2007. Mr. Connelly works for CGI Federal and the couple resides in Cincinnati.

David B. Hirko (EE ’98) and Elizabeth Donahue Hirko (Col ’98) welcomed their first child, John Patrick, in April 2007. The family resides in Arlington, Va.

Jeffrey D. Lee (CS ’98) received a master of theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in May. He is associate pastor of small groups at Maple Valley Presbyterian Church in Maple Valley, Wash., where he resides with his wife, Laurie Jacks Lee (Col ’97), and their daughters, Cambria Louise and Avery Ruth. 

James B. Furrow (ME ’97, ME/ Aero ’03) and Catherine E.P. Furrow (Nurs ’99) welcomed twins Elizabeth Clare and Rebekah Charlotte, born in July 2007. Mr. Furrow is a mechanical engineer with the Joint Warfare Analysis Center in Dahlgren, Va. The family resides in Fredericksburg, Va.

Gregory S. Haydasz (SE ’99) and Megan Poyhonen Haydasz (Col ’99) welcomed their first child and daughter, Paige Avery, in June 2007. The family resides in Arlington, Va.

Nathan D. Neckel (Engr Sci ’99) received his doctorate in biomedical engineering at the Catholic University of America in November 2007 and is now studying spinal cord regeneration as a post-doctoral fellow at Georgetown University. 

1990s
Gary A Kriebel (ME ’91) and his wife, Gretchen Blankenship (Col ’98), welcomed their second son, Devin Allen, in November 2007. Mr. Kriebel is owner of Voiceover Talent.

Stephen M. Lobbin (EE ’91) is a partner with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in the law firm’s Los Angeles office. His practice focuses on client counseling and litigation in intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks and copyrights.

Mission specialist Leland D. Melvin (MSE ’91) experienced his first “space walk” on February 11, 2008, as part of a team that delivered Europe’s first manned space lab to the International Space Station.

Andrew J. Newman (EE ’92) was the principal investigator on a Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab project that earned the R.W. Hart Prize for Excellence in Independent Research and Development in the development category. The Hart Prize honors R.W. Hart, former chairman of the Johns Hopkins University Research Center and assistant director for exploratory development.

Denise Russell Fleming (EE ’93) was recognized as a “Top 50 Under 50 of Top Young Corporate Executives” for 2007 by “Diversity MBA Magazine.” Ms. Fleming is the director of staff operations, reporting to the CEO of Sprint Nextel.

David G. Jacobowitz (EE ’95) was married to Ann C. Keller in July. Mr. Jacobowitz earned his master of public policy degree in May 2007 from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He plans to work on energy-related issues. The couple resides in Berkeley, Calif.

Andrew R. Parker (CE ’95, ’96) and Meredith N. Caskey (Col ’99, Law ’02) were married in September 2007. The couple resides in Washington, D.C., where Mr. Parker is a director at Tetra Tech Inc. 

Eric Anderson (Aero ’96) was featured in “Ad Astra,” the magazine of the National Space Society, in an article titled “The Top 20 Space Visionaries.” Mr. Anderson, who was voted among the top-40 college graduates in 1996, cofounded Space Adventures in 1998 and serves as president and CEO. Space Adventures offers a wide range of space-related activities, including observing rocket launches, flying high-altitude jets and touring space ports.

In 2005, Gregory H. Olsen (MSE ’71) became the second private individual to experience space exploration on a trip to the International Space Station arranged through Space Adventures.

Sarah S. Blair (CE ’96) married Mark S. Blair in September 2007. The couple lives in Atlanta, where they are both architects.

Jennifer Burns (CE ’96) married Sean Dell’Orto (Com ’96) in October 2007. Mr. Dell’Orto is the vice president and treasurer for Barcelo Crestline Corp., a lodging real estate ownership and management company. The couple resides in Arlington, Va.

Mark B. Gillespie (ME ’96) and his wife, Trixy, welcomed their first son, Connor William, in September 2007. The family lives in Tampa, Fla.

Patrick J. Taylor (ME ’93, ’97) and Maria Lynn Graceffa were married in May 2006. Mr. Taylor is a physicist with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. The couple resides in Vienna, Va.

2000s
Scott Tolchinsky (CS ’01) is an associate in the litigation group of the law firm of Fish & Richardson. His practice specializes in patent and intellectual property litigation.

Patrick M. Anstaett (MSE ’03) and his wife, Jennifer, announced the birth of their son, Marshall Benjamin, in May 2007.

Michael W. Brinn (SE ’03) married Devon Breithaupt (Col ’03) in October 2007. Mr. Brinn is an engineer with Northrop Grumman. They reside in Falls Church, Va.

Jessica L. Dunne (BME ’00, ’03) married Chris Washburn (Grad ’04) in December 2006. The couple lives in New Jersey, where Ms. Dunne is a scientist at a small biotechnology company.

Sarah J. Amelon (ME ’04) and Thomas L. Walls Jr. (SE ’03) were married in September 2007. The couple resides in Suffolk, Va.

Bryan M. Smouther (EE ’00; ME, SE ’04) and Erin E. Seney (Col ’00) were married in September. Ms. Seney is the niece of William C. Schmidt (Aero ’71, Law ’74). The couple resides in Galveston, Texas, where Mr. Smouther works as a systems engineer for the Boeing Company in Houston.

Sean M. Bias (EE ’01, SE ’05) and his wife, Mary, welcomed their first child, Tynan Scott, in November 2007. The family resides in Charlottesville, Va.

Christopher E. Rehorn (EE ’04, ’06) is an integrated circuit designer for Agilent Technologies. A high-speed SiGe bipolar transistor he designed was fabricated by ST Microelectronics.

Salman Syed (SE ’07) was recently named by “Consulting Magazine” as one of the top “30 Under Thirty” consultants nationally. Mr. Syed is an associate with Booz Allen Hamilton. In 2007, he was awarded the firm’s prestigious Professional Excellence Award, given to client teams in recognition of outstanding and innovative service on an assignment. 

We Apologize
The Engineering School wishes to acknowledge the contribution of David J. Van Petten, (Nuc/Applied Math ’77) for his contribution to the Engineering School during the 2006–2007 year. We apologize for the omission of his name in the 2006–2007 Honor Roll.