Alumni Award Winners

Wassim M. Haddad received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Florida Tech in 1983, 1984, and 1987.

From 1987 to 1994, he served as a consultant for the Structural Controls Group of the Government Aerospace Systems Division, Harris Corporation in Melbourne, FL. In 1988, Dr. Haddad joined the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department faculty at Florida Tech, where he founded and developed the Systems and Control Option within the graduate program. Since 1994 he has been with the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech; he holds the rank of Professor, the David Lewis Chair in Dynamical Systems and Control, and Chair of Flight Mechanics and Control Discipline. He also has a joint professor appointment with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is the Co-Founder, Chairman of Board, and Chief Scientific Advisor of Autonomous Healthcare, Inc.

Dr. Haddad has made numerous contributions to the development of nonlinear control theory and its application to aerospace, electrical, and biomedical engineering. His transdisciplinary research in dynamical systems and control is documented un over 680 archival journal and conference publications and eight books in the areas of science, mathematics, medicine, and engineering. Dr. Haddad os an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow, a member of the Academy of Nonlinear Sciences, an IEEE Fellow, an AAIA Fellow, and the recipient of the AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award.

Dr. Beltran is currently the Head of Biology at BridgeBio Pharma, Oncology Therapeutics in the Bay Area, California. Pedro and his team of experienced drug hunters are dedicated to developing novel therapeutics to target RAS, the most frequently mutated human oncogene found in ~35% of all human cancers.

Pedro received a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Florida Tech and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center under the mentorship of Isaiah J. Fidler, DVM, Ph.D. He was awarded a Lois Pope Fellowship for post-doctoral work in Neuroscience at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami.

Pedro has a long track record of dedication to discovering novel medicines to treat serious illnesses. Prior to BridgeBio Pharma, Pedro led the Biology Team at UNITY Biotechnology, a company dedicated to preventing, halting, and reversing diseases of aging. His team's work was published in Cell Metabolism and resulted in the identification of UBX1375, currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for vascular eye diseases.

Pedro started his career as a Scientist at Amgen, Inc., where he led multiple Drug Discovery Research programs focused on oncology, including Imlygica for Melanoma and ganitumab for pancreatic cancer. As Executive Director of Discovery Research at Amgen, he led a large team of Scientists and helped progress more than ten development candidates into the clinic.

Pedro believes in a robust industry-academic partnership in the drug developing process and has strongly supported productive collaborations with leading academic groups in oncology and aging. Pedro has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts and abstracts. He has been an invited speaker in multiple national and international conferences and holds patents describing novel ways to treat malignant disease.

Outside the laboratory, Pedro tries to influence his two beautiful daughters, Sofia and Valeria, into becoming valued members of the world community and visiting home (Lima, Peru) with his wife, Vanessa

Don Woodruff, DBIA is a Design Build Professional and the president of Woodruff Construction, LLC, with offices in Ames, Iowa City, Waterloo/Cedar Falls, and Fort Dodge, Iowa. He has enjoyed over 30 years of service and leadership with the company. Don earned his bachelor of science in civil engineering from Florida Tech, as well as a master of construction management and an MBA, both from Washington University in St. Louis.

Woodruff currently serves as Master Builders of Iowa Chairman of the Board and is a member of the Florida Tech Construction Advisory Board and the Florida Tech Civil Engineering Advisory Committee. In addition, he is a part of the Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, Fort Dodge REC Foundation Board, Iowa Lean Consortium, CIRAS Advisory Board, Construction Financial Management Association, EFP Investment Club, University of Iowa Business College of Health Business Leadership Council, the Mid-Iowa Growth Partnership, and the City of Fort Dodge Board of Appeals.

Don has been married to his wife Michelle for 29 years and together they have four children and one grandchild. In his leisure time, he enjoys sailing, hot air ballooning, and brewing his own beer at home. Woodruff also coaches basketball and has been an active Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America, winning Scoutmaster of the Year in 2006. Don received the Outstanding Service Award from the Florida Tech College of Engineering.

Gretchen is a dynamic IT professional with over 20 years of experience guiding major communications organizations to meet and exceed corporate goals. She has a successful track record of creating and leading high-performing teams through significant change while achieving or exceeding financial targets. Gretchen is currently a VP in the IT organization at Charter Communications. Under Gretchen’s leadership, her team is working to smoothly integrate and support communication systems like email, messaging, identity management, file services, and collaboration tools. Gretchen consistently drives continuous improvement into her programs and processes; this has enabled her to manage large portfolios of highly impactful technical projects. Gretchen’s teams pride themselves on adhering to best practices and promoting overall operational excellence. Prior to Charter, Gretchen has held leadership positions at Bright House, Cbeyond Communications, Premiere Technologies, and Verizon.

Outside of work, Gretchen is actively involved in her community and has held leadership roles in a number of organizations. She is currently a board member for the Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT) Midwest Chapter. Gretchen has also lead the Careers in Action program for the Women in Technology Leadership (WIT) Foundations. She is a former board member and committee chair for the East Atlanta Kids Club, a non-profit organization that provides mentoring and enrichment activities for 7 to 17-year-old disadvantaged kids. She is an active volunteer for WICT and the MS Society. Gretchen is a member of the parish at Ascension Church.

Mojy Chian is currently chief executive officer and chairman of Silicon Cloud International. He has a rich blend of private and public company senior executive management experience, business acumen, customer relationships and hands-on technical experience in integrated circuits product design, software development, process technology, design infrastructure and wafer manufacturing. He has provided consulting services for new business development, strategy for adjacent markets, system-on-a-chip development strategy in leading-edge process technologies, and engineering and business modeling to Qualcomm and CSR.

From 2009 to 2012, Mojy was senior vice president of design enablement at GlobalFoundries. In that capacity, he was responsible for all design, design services, design infrastructure functions and customer tapeout operations.

He was also the head of the transformation office, overseeing all company transformational initiatives. He was vice president of technology development at Altera Corporation from 2006 to 2009, managing all development, infrastructure and manufacturing aspects of silicon process technologies. 

Previously, Mojy served as senior vice president of engineering and core technology at Mindspeed Technologies. He was responsible for all engineering disciplines for several product lines and for all central engineering and common technology activities. Mojy has earned a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering, as well as an M.S. in applied mathematics—all from Florida Tech.

Trent Smith is currently the project manager for NASA’s in-orbit gardens on ISS Veggie and works for the ISS Program at Kennedy Space Center with the goal of maximizing ISS science in the orbiting laboratory. He received both his B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from Florida Tech. After graduating with honors with his Bachelor of Science degree, he worked in polymer chemistry developing new materials with professor Gordon Nelson while earning his master’s degree.

Trent has enjoyed an extended career at NASA. He started his work there as a polymer chemist, later going on to serve as a part of the Commercial Crew Program where he worked to get NASA astronauts back into space on U.S.-led space systems. Trent was also a NASA detailee and technical advisor to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. He also worked as the vehicle processing engineer for Ares I-X, providing technical and operational leadership for the Launch Vehicle Processing Directorate. He served as the transition project lead for Kennedy Space Center facilities for the transition and retirement of the space shuttle program. He also led the team that decommissioned and retired MLP1, as well as safed and transferred Pad B to the Constellation Program while still safely launching shuttles from Pad A.

Trent has received several awards during his 15-year career at NASA, including a Spaceflight Awareness Award, a KSC Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Leadership, two NASA Superior Accomplishment Awards for Leadership, R&D100 Award, NASA’s Commercial Invention of the Year Award, Silver Achievement Medal, Exceptional Service Medal and more than 18 Space Act Awards for inventions and innovations. Smith also has 10 patents granted or pending and has authored two book chapters and more than 18 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and government reports.

Dr. Steven Atkin is a distinguished engineer and the chief globalization architect at IBM and is responsible for establishing the globalization strategy for IBM. Steven has been working on globalization issues at IBM for over 20 years and is focused on improving the global user experience of IBM’s solutions by addressing the needs of IBM’s diverse worldwide client base. Steven’s recent focus has been on the acceleration of cloud-based innovations—with an emphasis on interoperability and cloud-based service solutions. Steven has a long history of contributions in advancing development and testing methodologies for software globalization, maturing the globalization support of computer programming languages, and readying the deployment of cloud and cognitive solutions for a global market.

Dr. Hugh Thompson has more than a decade of experience creating methodologies that help organizations build demonstrably more secure systems. He joined Blue Coat in 2012, and was named CTO of Symantec after the acquisition of Blue Coat in August 2016. Thompson has co-authored three books, written more than 80 academic and industrial publications on security, and been interviewed by top news organizations including the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Financial Times, Washington Post and others. In 2006, Thompson was named one of the “Top 5 Most Influential Thinkers in IT Security” by SC Magazine and has, for the past several years, served as the program committee chairman for RSA Conference, guiding the technical content the world’s largest information security gathering. He also sits on the editorial board of IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine, and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York. Thompson holds a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Florida Institute of Technology.

Doug Schuler received his electrical engineering degree from Florida Institute of Technology in 1972 and an M.S. in management in 1991 from FIT’s Redstone Arsenal campus in Huntsville, Alabama. He started his career with Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. in Boston and currently works for Westinghouse Corp. in Canton, Massachusetts. as a senior controls engineer and computer control specialist. He previously worked for Chicago Bridge & Iron.

Schuler is currently a controls specialist on four AP1000 next-generation nuclear plants being constructed in China. He has been a lead engineer and project supervisor on five gas co-generation power projects in the U.S. and in Canada, a project engineer and lead on a gas refinery in Algeria for Sonatrach and one in Texas for Texaco. Part of his design involvement has been proposing Scada systems that remotely access offsite control rooms. He was an electrical controls engineer on five new nuclear projects designed and built in the U.S. and Taiwan and a design specialist working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission analyzing engineered safeguards systems for nine operating nuclear plants. He was also a team leader consulting for Ontario Hydro in Toronto, Canada, supporting an analysis of the state of the Pickering Station design configuration.

Schuler continues to be an active and supportive member of the FIT community. In 2013 he generously established the Douglas M. Schuler Endowment that funds an electrical and computing engineering scholarship. He is a member of the College of Engineering Advisory Committee, the secretary for the Greater Boston Alumni Chapter and is a current member of alumni board of directors. As an enthusiastic alumnus, he has invested in senior design projects and is a major donor to the Harris Student Design Center providing means for equipment, tooling and supplies. Schuler has also contributed to the New Boathouse Fund, Flight Test Engineering, A Day of Giving and much more.

Schuler grew up in New York City and chose FIT because of his interest in aerospace and FIT’s proximity to Kennedy Space Center. He lives in the Boston area. For fun he performs in a 40-piece wind ensemble community band and enjoys playing with a string quartet as the only clarinetist. He is an active general aviation commercial pilot and occasionally flies gliders in Vermont.

A native of Brevard County, Wadad Brooke Dubbelday graduated from Florida Tech in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in physics. She went on to earn her M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and applied physics from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), both of which she accomplished while working full time at the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific), where she has spent her entire 35-year career. In May 2016, Dubbelday was named SSC Pacific’s first chief distinguished scientist, along with being the senior scientific and technical manager for Science and Technology Forecasting, Assessment and Transition and the Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). She began her career at SSC Pacific researching circuit fabrication nanotechnology and has held increasingly responsible positions, both technical and managerial, ever since, with duties in such disparate fields as drug interdiction, transportation and logistics, homeland security, and naval intelligence. In her new role, she will lead strategic initiatives designed to maximize the Navy’s abilities in information warfare technology.

Dubbelday comes from a distinguished Florida Tech family: her father, Pieter Dubbelday, is retired from two decades of service as a professor of oceanography and physics, and her sister, the Hon. Catharina Dubbelday Haynes ’83, is a federal circuit judge in Dallas. Dubbelday and her husband, Jeffrey Ruthberg, have a teenage daughter. The family resides outside San Diego, where Dubbelday is active in competitive equestrian and dressage events.

Rear Adm. Johnathan White earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Oceanographic Technology from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1981 and holds a master's degree in Meteorology and Oceanography from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

After working at sea as a civilian oceanographer on board a seismic survey vessel, he was commissioned through Navy Officer Candidate School in 1983, and assigned as a surface warfare officer to USS John L. Hall (FFG 32) in Mayport, Florida.

White joined the oceanography community in 1987. Since then, he has had operational shore assignments at Jacksonville, Florida.; Guam; Monterey, California; and Stuttgart, Germany, where his joint duty included Special Operations Command Europe, and strike plans officer for U.S. European Command during Operation Allied Force in Kosovo and Serbia. White commanded Naval Training Meteorology and Oceanography Facility, Pensacola, Florida, and was the 50th superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory.

White's sea tours as a naval oceanographer include commander, Cruiser Destroyer Group 12 where he completed deployments on board USS Saratoga (CV 60) and USS Wasp (LHD 1).

White was selected as a flag officer and honorary chief petty officer in 2009 and served as commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. He was promoted to the rank of rear admiral (upper half) in August 2012 as he assumed his duties as director, Task Force Climate Change, and Navy deputy to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Duane holds a B.S. degree in Zoology from the University of Rhode Island (1976) and M.S. (1982) & Ph.D. (1988) degrees in Marine Biology from Florida Institute of Technology.

Duane was instrumental in helping to secure U.S. EPA National Estuary Program designation for the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) in 1990. In September 2015, his career came full circle when he was named Executive Director of a new special district of the state of Florida (Indian River Lagoon Council) that will serve as the host of a reorganized IRL National Estuary Program. In this new role, Duane is working with federal, state and local government agencies, scientific research organizations, academic institutions, elected officials, industry and the general public. The goal is to develop a restoration strategy for one of the nation's most threatened estuarine ecosystems.

De Freese served as the first program director for the acclaimed Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (1991-1998). In that capacity, Duane spearheaded efforts to secure over $20 million in matching funds to acquire properties in the Indian River Lagoon Blueway, Atlantic Coastal Ridge Scrub and southern barrier island Maritime Hammock initiatives. From 1998-2008, Duane served as the first Vice President of Florida Research for Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. In 2008-2009, Dr. De Freese served a 1-year appointment with the Dean of the College of Sciences at University of Central Florida. He provided leadership at UCF to create a long-range vision and plan for an expanded UCF coastal & sea turtle research center to be located within the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in partnership with USFWS. That vision is being implemented today. His most recent appointment was as Senior Vice President of Science & Business Development at AquaFiber Technologies Corporation. As an AquaFiber senior executive, Duane provided leadership and oversight for all scientific and intellectual property activities associated with the company.

Duane currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Florida Ocean Alliance (Vice-Chair) and was appointed by Governor Rick Scott to serve on the CareerSource Florida Inc. Board of Directors. Duane just completed a two-year term as the President of the Florida Tech Alumni Association Board.

Dr. Mazurek holds a B.S. degree in ocean engineering and an M.S. degree in civil engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from the University of Connecticut. He was employed by General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division, where he provided submarine construction support, conducted engineering design and analysis associated with pressure hulls and other structures, and completed structural noise and vibration transmission reduction studies. He also taught for one year at Lafayette College just prior to joining the Coast Guard Academy's civil engineering faculty, where he has served for the past 24 years.

Dr. Mazurek's main area of research is in bridge engineering, having authored numerous papers on the subject. He has most recently collaborated with the Federal Railroad Administration to study improved methods for stress measurements of steel bridges. He has also studied vibration-based methods for detecting damage in bridges, ships, and towers. He has conducted structural forensics, investigating the collapses of several Coast Guard navigation and communication towers, as well as superstructure failures of submarines. He has studied risk assessment and building security issues, developing the rather unique undergraduate course entitled Structural Design for Extreme Events, which has blast-resistant design as the main emphasis. In 2005 he joined the Beer & Johnston engineering mechanics textbook team, and has since co-authored four editions of Engineering Mechanics: Statics, the first edition of Statics and Mechanics of Materials, and three editions of Mechanics of Materials.

Dr. Mazurek has served on several national technical committees, most notably being the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association's Committee for Steel Structures, for which he has been an active member since 1991 and is currently Chair of its Subcommittee for Coatings & Special Construction. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a member of the Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honor Society, and a founding member of Florida Tech's chapter of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. He was elected into the Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering in 2013, and was the 2014 recipient of both the Coast Guard Academy's Distinguished Faculty Award and its Center for Advanced Studies Excellence in Scholarship Award. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Tracey Bailey is the state director for Virginia Professional Educators (VPE), a nonprofit, professional association that serves Virginia's 100,000 teachers by working to improve public education through accountability and higher student achievement, and provides educators with professional support in the classroom.

Mr. Bailey began as a physics and space sciences major at Florida Tech, and in his junior year was offered a teacher scholarship from the State of Florida. He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees at Florida Tech in science education with an emphasis on instructional technology. As a teacher at Satellite High School, Mr. Bailey won national recognition for his highly innovative science education programs. He developed Satellite High's first advanced placement (AP) program and introduced science research including molecular biology and DNA fingerprinting into the classroom. Within three years, the school's science research program was among the best in Florida, winning many national and international awards. Mr. Bailey was also a developer and author of Florida's state curriculum for instructional technology.

In part because of these successes, Mr. Bailey was named the 1993 National Teacher of the Year, among some 2.7 million teachers nationwide. He then served as the first director of the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center, later became the state coordinator for education reform programs in the Florida Department of Education, and then served as national director for the Association of American Educators (AAE). He is a member of the Florida Educators' Hall of Fame.

Throughout his career, Mr. Bailey has worked with education leaders nationwide to promote substantive education reform and an increased professionalism among teachers. Mr. Bailey has spoken to Congress on several occasions, and he is often invited to the White House to represent teachers on education reform issues.

Dr. Alavie received the BS, MS and PhD degrees from Florida Tech in electrical engineering with his PhD awarded in 1992. He then became a post-doc at the University of Toronto continuing the work on fiber-optic sensors that he started at Florida Tech.

Dr. Alavie has founded several companies related to fiber optic sensing and the medical field and is now the Executive Chairman of NOVX Systems Inc. and CEO of Qvella Corp. Tino Alavie is a repeat entrepreneur who has been directly or indirectly responsible for creating, managing, and growing seven technology startups in North America and Europe from start to financial exit. Dr. Alavie recently co-founded TimeWyse Corporation. TimeWyse is a new consumer facing App development company. The company’s first product kidQ helps parents with answers to their parenting questions from social to educational to health and time management. kidQ has already been launched on Apple’s App Store and has a 10,000 strong following after only a short period of time. TimeWyse will be adding more features to kidQ and will leverage its intellectual property.

Jonathan Zung, Ph.D. is Vice President and head of Global Development Operations (GDO) at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Princeton, NJ. Global Development Operations integrates all key functions involved in setting up and managing the conduct of clinical trials, site monitoring, data management and review across all therapeutic areas from phase II through registration. The organization consists of 1300+ staff at 19 centers and operates in over 45 countries. Jonathan joined Bristol-Myers Squibb in December 2001 as Executive Director, Project Management. Since joining BMS he has held positions of increasing responsibility, including head of Global Project Management. He was responsible for and led the integration of the $2.1 Billion Medarex acquisition in 2009.

Prior to Bristol-Myers Squibb, Jonathan was with Pfizer Global Research and Development in Groton, CT from 1991 through 2001. At Pfizer he held various positions, with increasing responsibility in the Analytical Research and Development (AR&D) Department and in the Global Project Management organization. While in AR&D he led a group of scientists that supported the development and registration of GeodonIM, along with new and novel dosage forms for the line of extension of approved Pfizer products (Zithromax, Zoloftand Zyrtec).

Jonathan received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia and his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida. He was named a member of The Florida Institute of Technology Board of Trustees in 2010. Jonathan is also chair of the Operations Committee for TransCelerate BioPharma.

Travis Proctor is the CEO of ndtArtemis. He founded Artemis IT, in 1995 while a sophomore at Florida Tech, and recently merged his company with netDirective Technology. Mr. Proctor graduated top of his class with a degree in computer science information systems. ndtArtemis currently employs 52 people and provides IT management and consulting services to clients throughout the Central Florida region from its offices in Melbourne.

Travis has always been interested in entrepreneurial activities and co-founded his first company, also providing computer support, while a junior in high school in his home community of Montrose, Colorado. In addition to his responsibilities with ndtArtemis, he has founded and manages two real estate investment companies that currently own and operate a variety of residential and commercial rental properties located in Florida and Colorado.

Travis is an active member of the community and serves on several community and company boards. He was the 2008 Chairman of the Melbourne Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce representing over 30,000 employees in the Brevard Community. He is past chair of the entrepreneurial support organization, Founders Forum. In addition, Travis serves as a board member of Florida Tech, the Brevard Heart Foundation, the Brevard Achievement Center, the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, the Salvation Army, Junior Achievement, and MyRegion.org.

ndtArtemis has won numerous awards in its field for outstanding service and community support, and Travis has been selected as one of the top 4 leaders under 40 in Brevard County. He is active in his community and serves on several boards of charitable and educational organizations.

Mr. Mutchler has been working on the Hubble Space Telescope for over 22 years -- its entire mission. He was hired just two weeks before the launch of Hubble in 1990, and just a few months before completing his M.S. degree in space sciences at Florida Tech. Thanks to the proximity of FIT to the Kennedy Space Center, he was able to witness the launch of Hubble - and his own career - from the VIP site at Banana Creek.

He is a research and instrument scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He manages a group of 35 analysts and scientists, and he continues to make a range of contributions to the Hubble mission.

Mr. Mutchler is an expert on Hubble's cameras. He is a member of the Hubble Heritage team, which has produced many of the iconic images that Hubble is famous for. He also specializes in observations of Solar System objects, often in support of planetary missions such as New Horizons (en route to Pluto) and Dawn (currently exploring the Asteroid Belt). He is a member of a team that discovered several new moons of Pluto, including one last July. Asteroid "6815 Mutchler" was named in honor of his role in these discoveries. This work was featured as the cover story for the August 2006 edition of Florida Tech Today.

He is also involved in a range of educational outreach activities, which has recently included citizen science, tactile images with Braille captions, and the first-ever astronomical star party on the South Lawn of the White House.

Prof. Bagtzoglou earned his Diploma at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1985, his Master's of Science at Florida Tech in 1987, and his PhD at the University of California at Irvine, in 1990, all in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Water Resources. After his Ph.D., he worked for five years at the Southwest Research Institute funded by the US NRC. His academic career spans the University of Texas at San Antonio, Columbus University and, for the last nine-plus years, the University of Connecticut. At the UConn department of civil and environmental engineering, he has served as ENVE director, associate head of the department and department head. He has authored over 100 referred publications, directed numerous research projects, totaling over $6 million, and served as editor or associate editor for 10 journals. His extraordinary career accomplishments have been recognized through m ny prestigious appointments, honors and awards.

Mike Sole is vice president for state governmental affairs with Florida Power and Light. Prior to his joining FPL, Mike served as secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. During his tenure as secretary, he led Florida's initiative on climate change; helped lead the state's efforts in coordinating, preparing and protecting Florida from the largest man-made environmental disaster caused by the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

During his 19 years as an environmental manager, he has undertaken responsibilities ranging from marine turtle protection, beach preservation, wetland protection, petroleum cleanup and waste management.

Mr. Sole was a captain in the United States Marine Corps, serving our nation during the Gulf War. He received his Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from Florida Institute of Technology.

Dr. Sungjin Park is the president and CEO of The Vine Corporation, offering software solutions that improve the audio clarity of cell phones and other electronic devices. Each year approximately 10 million copies of Vine's clarity software are embedded in products manufactured by most of the mobile phone companies. His company is actively involved in philanthropic activities too. 

Prior to establishing Vine, he worked 10 years in the LG and Lotte electronics industry. He directed or co-directed major R&D projects in Israel, India, Russia, Switzerland, USA and elsewhere. He also taught at Florida Tech as a visiting assistant professor. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Florida Tech.

Award Alexis Loo received her bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1975. She retired from the U.S. Navy after 26 years of distinguished service as a Special Duty Cryptologist. She currently holds a position at a federal government agency and is co-owner and CEO of Blue Goose Charters since 1985.

Alexis has been a very strong supporter of Florida Tech throughout the years. She is a recruiter for her current employer and has significantly increased the number of Florida Tech graduates at her firm. She is the secretary of the alumni association's board of directors and is a long-standing member of the nominations/membership committee. She works closely with the university's career management services office and is regularly invited to speak to students in classes, information sessions and career fairs and to assist with résumé critiques and interview preparation. She also interfaces closely with the admissions volunteer coordinator for undergraduate admissions and represents Florida Tech at college fairs in her community and strongly endorses the alumni endorsement grants and visits grants.