Alumni News

American Inventors Win $50,000 [read more]

Alumnus Wins Service Award

Roland M. Toups (BSME 1960, MSME 1961) received the 2004 Dean Griffin Community Service Award at the Annual Gold and White Honors Banquet at the Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta. Mr. Toups is chairman and chief executive officer of Turner Industries, one of the nation's largest providers of industrial services. He is also serving as Chairman of the Board of Regents for Higher Education in the State of Louisiana.

His civic and community service includes: the Louisiana Chemical Industry Alliance, the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Rotary Club, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health Systems, Country Club of Louisiana, and the Baton Rouge Country Club. Prior to this award, Mr. Toups received, among others, the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice, the Golden Deeds Award as Outstanding Citizen of the Year and Volunteer Activist of Baton Rouge. He and his wife, Kathryn, have two children and six grandchildren.

Dickerson Named Honorary Alumnus

Dr. Steve Dickerson was named a 2005 honorary alumnus for his longtime service to Georgia Tech by the Alumni Association. Dickerson is a Georgia Tech professor emeritus who is currently serving the Alumni Association as a trustee.

He launched his career at Tech in 1965 as an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering. Although he retired in 1996, his research continues in the field of high-performance, computer-controlled motion devices for manufacturing and serviced sector automation.

Dickerson was named a 2004 fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and is the recipient of the Inventors Club of America New Technology Award and the Atlanta Business and Technology Alliance Most Innovative Technology Award. He holds patents for such innovations as a precision apparatus with nonrigid, imprecise structure and the method for operating it and an image data reading and processing tool.

He earned his bachelor's degree at the Illinois Institute of Technology, his master's at the University of California at Berkeley, and his doctorate at MIT.

At Tech, he is a member of the Phoenix Club and the Presidents' Council. He established the F. R. Dickerson University Club Fund and regularly contributes to the Machine Vision Fund within the School of Mechanical Engineering.

College of Engineering Awards

Sonya Summerour Clemmons (BME 1994) was inducted into the Georgia Tech Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni. Dr. Clemmons is Director of Business Development of MediVas LLC in San Diego, California.

Arnold L. Goldberg (BME 1950) was inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame. He is president of Flexible Assembly Services and Test Inc. in Woodstock, Georgia.

Carribeth Bair Ramey (BME 1998), Senior Product Development Engineer at Proxima Therapeutics Inc. in Alpharetta, Georgia, was inducted into the Georgia Tech Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni.

Roberto R. Roy (BME 1969, MSIM 1971), President of RM Engineering, became a Georgia Tech Distinguished Engineering Alumnus.

Joseph LeConte Smith Jr. (BME 1952, MSME 1953), Samuel C. Collins Senior Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, was inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame.

Roland M. Toups (BME 1960, MSME 1961) was inducted into the Georgia Tech Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.

McKenney's Wins Inaugural Award

The Briarean Society, Georgia Tech's cooperative honorary society, inaugurated the Co-op Employer of the Year recognition in April 2005, presenting the award to McKenney's Inc., mechanical contractors and engineers.

Briarean Society President Jessica Hailperin (BSME 2005) made the award to John McKenney, IE 90, president of the firm, who also worked as a co-op student for the company during his college days at Tech. Three generations of fathers and sons have run McKenney's since its founding in 1943 by the late John M. McKenney. [Woodruff School Professor Yogendra Joshi is holder of the John M. McKenney-Warren D. Shiver Distinguished Chair in Building Mechanical Systems.] Dave McKenney (Phys 1960, IE 1964) is chairman and CEO of the firm.

Hailperin said students created the award to recognize those companies that manage exceptional programs in hiring Tech co-op students. Co-op students nominated employers for the award.

McKenney's currently has 19 Tech co-op students working for the company and has hired more than 450 co-op students since 1976. Mechanical engineers are the largest group of co-op employees. Many former co-op students are now full-time employees of the company.

Zeigler Outstanding Educator Plaque is Unveiled

The Woodruff School unveiled The Jack M. Zeigler (BME 1948) Woodruff School Outstanding Educator Award plaque in the atrium of the MRDC Building. The award was created in 1999 to honor members of the Woodruff School's academic faculty who epitomize outstanding educators. Past winners are: Drs. William Black, Said Abdel-Khalik, Farrokh Mistree, Robert Fulton, James Hartley, and David McDowell.

The wording on the plaque reads: Mr. Zeigler received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1948 after interrupting his education with three and one-half years of service in the U.S. Army. He is the retired president and owner of Fabrication Engineering Service Company, Inc., a made-to-order fabrication business for process engineering equipment. He was a registered professional engineer in five states, and a lifetime member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Welding Society. In 1994 Mr. Zeigler was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Woodruff School, and in 1999 he was inducted into the College of Engineering Alumni Hall of Fame.