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School of Engineering to honor 8 at Distinguished Alumni Award event on Oct. 25

August 21, 2018 - By Kim Delker

The University of New Mexico School of Engineering is recognizing the accomplishments of eight of its alumni during its Distinguished Alumni Award event Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m.

The event is being held at the Embassy Suites, 1000 Woodward Place NE, Albuquerque. Tickets can be purchased here. Those interested in sponsorship or ad space opportunities should contact Courtney Holmes at courtg@unm.edu.

 The 2018 honorees are:

• John A. Lopez, a graduate of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Lopez, of Albuquerque, received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from UNM in 1970. He is program manager at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute.

• Richard Morales, a graduate of the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. Morales received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UNM in 1985 and his master's degree in structural engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. He is the director for engineering at L.B. Foster construction products in Atlanta.

• Aleksandra Faust, a graduate of the Department of Computer Science. Faust earned her Ph.D. in computer science from UNM in 2014. She earned an associate’s certificate in project management from George Washington University, a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Belgrade and a master’s in computer science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She currently works at Google in Palo Alto, Calif., as a machine learning and robotics scientist.

• Barbara Brockett, a graduate of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Brockett, of Glendale, Ariz., is a member of the aerospace engineering leadership team at Honeywell, where she is the executive sponsor of Honeywell Engineering Diversity and Inclusion Programs. She received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UNM in 1983.

• Kenneth R. Prestwich, a graduate of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prestwich, of Albuquerque, received his master’s in electrical engineering from UNM in 1964 and his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Idaho in 1962. He worked in pulsed power for many years at Sandia National Laboratories and also owned his own consulting firm. 

• Charles B. Watkins, Jr., a graduate of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Watkins received both his master’s and Ph.D. from UNM in mechanical engineering in 1966 and 1970, respectively, and his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Howard University in 1964. He is professor of mechanical engineering at the Grove School of Engineering at The City College of The City University of New York.

• DeBow Freed, a graduate of the Department of Nuclear Engineering. Freed received his Ph.D. from UNM in nuclear engineering in 1966. He also earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy in 1946 and a master’s degree from the University of Kansas in 1961. He is a former president of Monmouth College, Ohio Northern University, and the University of Findlay.

The Young Alumni Award will be presented to Jake  Hollowell, a graduate of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2008. Hollowell is an associate chief engineer at Vencore in Fairfax, Va.

The keynote speaker will be Gary Tonjes, president of Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc.

Tickets are $75 per person or $1,000 per premier table (seats 8). For more information contact Courtney Holmes at 505-277-0664 or courtg@unm.edu or visit https://secure.touchnet.com/C21597_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=210

 

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