‘alumni’
Engineering firm CEO named board chairman
Feb. 21, 2019—Rob Barrick (BE’74) has been named board chairman and senior principal of Smith Seckman Reid Inc., an employee-owned engineering design and facility consulting firm with 12 offices nationwide. His new post comes after serving 29 years as SSR’s president and CEO. The Nashville-based firm provides design and consulting services for transportation and water infrastructure projects...
Alumnus elected to the National Academy of Engineering
Feb. 8, 2019—John H. Koon, BE’67, MS’69, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the design of systems to treat chemically complex industrial wastewaters. Koon, P.E., is president of John H. Koon & Associates in Atlanta and professor of the practice of environmental engineering at Georgia Tech. Koon is a board certified...
Engineering alum is commander of Seabees, Naval Civil Engineer Corps Officers School
Jan. 22, 2019—In a change of command ceremony in Port Hueneme, California, Capt. Christopher M. Kurgan (BE’90) became commanding officer for the Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering and the Naval Civil Engineer Corps Officers School at Naval Base Ventura County. After assuming command in August 2018, Kurgan spoke of his plans to further innovation and the...
Civil engineering alumna named CEO of national trade association
Jan. 15, 2019—Audrey Copeland, PhD’07, has been named the next president and CEO of the National Asphalt Pavement Association. She will assume the new role at the NAPA 2019 annual meeting Jan. 20-23. NAPA is the only national trade association focused exclusively on the interests of asphalt pavement mix producers and paving contractors. During a transition period,...
General Motors names alumnus Mark Reuss company president
Jan. 7, 2019—Reuss will lead electric and driverless vehicle efforts Mark L. Reuss has been promoted to president of General Motors. Reuss will continue to lead the company’s ambitious plan to develop and bring to market electric and autonomous vehicles. He remains GM’s global product chief and head of Cadillac. Along with his new role, Reuss also...
Alumna with challenging job finds time to mentor teen girls
Jan. 2, 2019—Lynn Braunschweig is a project manager at maxon motor Aerospace Unit. She earned a BE degree in mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt in 2004, a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a MBA at Washington University in St. Louis. Braunschweig was interviewed by Paul Heney of Design World. Talk about the culture at your...
Decades after helping launch Vanderbilt’s first women’s swim team, Jan Hildebrandt dives into competitive swimming again
Nov. 29, 2018—A nationally competitive swimmer in her 60s, Jan Hildebrandt, BE’79, trains at Superior Athletic Club in Medford, Oregon. (FRIZZSTUDIO.COM) Jan Diner Hildebrandt retired from competitive swimming the day her senior season ended at Vanderbilt. Or so she thought. Nearly 40 years later, Hildebrandt, a 1979 electrical engineering and math graduate, found herself competing in the...
Company co-founded by BME alumnus launches design platform for custom fit products
Jun. 11, 2018—When it began, Standard Cyborg set out to make design of custom-fabricated orthotics and prosthetics easier and quicker – especially in parts of the world with limited medical resources, where the needs are often the highest. Cofounders Garrett Spiegel, BE ‘10, and Jeffrey Huber, a serial entrepreneur, did just that. Standard Cyborg’s software is used...