ME Alumni Updates

Brittany C. Blueitt, B.S. '06, has entered her first year at Harvard University Law School where she will study Intellectual Property Law. She was awarded a $30,000 Intellectual Property scholarship for law school from the American Intellectual Property Association, as well as a $3,000 civil rights scholarship from the Earl Warren Legal Training Program.

Robert Fishman, Ph.D. '80, mechanical engineering, will became the chief executive officer of Ausra, Inc., a developer of utility-scale solar thermal power technology. Fishman previously was executive vice president of Calpine Corporation.

Jessica Galie, B.S. '04, has been awarded a full tuition scholarship to the Masters Degree program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. For the past three years, Jessica has worked for GE Healthcare, first in Milwaukee as part of the Technical Leadership Program, and then in Boston with the Surgery division. She is currently on an educational leave of absence from GE to begin classes this fall at MIT, in addition to working on her Masters thesis in the BioInstrumentation Lab under the direction of Dr. Lynette Jones.

George Gellrich, B.S. '81, has become plant manager for Public Service Enterprise Group at their Salem, N.J., facility.

Richard Jackson, B.S. '70, has been elected senior vice president at Bechtel Corporation.

Kiwesa King-Yara, M.S. '92, has won the 2007 Professional Women in Construction Special Recognition Award. King-Yara is president and founder of Suretech Engineering.

Mary Lacey, B.S. '78, the only woman in the University of Maryland's undergraduate class of 1978 who majored in mechanical engineering, is leading the transformation of pay rules and labor/management relations that affect the Defense Department’s 740,000 civilian employees as Program Executive Officer (PEO). The implementation of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) is arguably one of DOD’s greatest internal challenges. Lacey is a member of the Senior Executive Service and three-decade DOD veteran.

John “Jack” Lesko, B.S. ’87, has been named special assistant to the vice president for research at Virginia Tech. Lesko is also a professor in the department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech.

Craig McSavaney, M.S. '90, has been named chief operating officer of IP Commerce, Inc., a software company.

Giuseppe Iorio, B.S. '01, currently working in Carderock Division's Structures and Materials department, and has recently developed Safety Watch, a watch-like device that aids in personal safety. Iorio is currently enrolled in the Professional Master of Engineering (ENPM) graduate program.

Eric Schade, B.S. ’92, was recently promoted to senior engineer by Constellation Energy, where he works for the Engineering Response Unit.

Vince Scheuerman, B.S. '99, recently released a rock music CD along with his band, Army of Me. The album 'Citizen' debuted under the Atlantic-Doghouse Records label. Scheuerman founded the band during his last year at the University of Maryland.

Laura Stubbs, Ph.D. '01, is a reservist who recently returned to active duty with the U.S. Navy.

Dirk D. Thomas, B.S. '82, has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Dewey Ballantine LLP and will co-chair the international law firm's intellectual property litigation group.

Derrick Treichler, B.S. '06, traveled to New Orleans in March of '06 and again to Gulfport in January '07 on Hurricane Katrina relief trips organized by the school of engineering's chapter of Tau Beta Pi. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland under the advisement of Ken Kiger.

Michael Weaker, B.S. '04, graduated from Maryland with undergraduate degrees in both mechanical engineering and fine art. After graduation he began working as an engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, where he helped design explorer robots for more than a year. This summer Weaker obtained an internship at GM's Design Center to create six new Chevrolet concept cars for the year 2012.

Over the past months we learned of the passing of alumni Mike Lyons (B.S. '91), Peter F. Vial (B.S. '43), and Ronald Keith Warner (B.S. '47 and M.S. '49).

Published November 9, 2007