Alumni
& Friends
ASHRAE elevated William F. McQuade, P.E., to the grade of Fellow at the Society's 2013 Winter Conference held in Dallas, TX Jan. 26-30.
Fellow ASHRAE is a membership grade that recognizes distinction in the arts and sciences of heating, ventilating, air conditioning or refrigeration and is earned through achievement as a researcher, designer, educator or engineering executive. Approximately 500 of ASHRAE's 50,000 members are Fellows.
McQuade is director of technology and innovation, chiller solutions, Johnson Controls, York, Pa.
Brianne Wilburne ('09 ME), project development engineer at Air Products and Chemicals, was profiled by the College of Engineering. Read the full text of "Proud to be a Penn Stater: Mechanical engineering alumna maintains ties with her alma mater, inspires future generations of engineers."
Wilburne, who was a leader in student groups like ASME and the Women in Engineering Program, keeps close ties with Penn State by participating as a board member in the Penn State Mechanical Engineering Alumni Society. She is currently working full time and working toward her MBA at Lehigh University.
James J. Tusar ('84 NucE), manager of Boiling Water Reactor Design, Nuclear Fuels, for Exelon Generation, recently received a Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Top Industry Practice (TIP) Award for his team's work with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy in the development of moisture carryover predictive software and operational strategy development to mitigate the amount of water carried in steam that drives the main turbine generator. Reducing moisture in the steam increases plant reliability and efficiency while reducing collective radiation exposure.
Tusar was also recognized for his role in development of a strategy to minimize the distortion of fuel channels, thereby reducing the amount of friction between moving control blades and the fuel channels. Part of the strategy uses the Global Nuclear Fuel core simulator software to estimate the probability of interference between the control blades and the fuel channels. The overall strategy has mitigated interference problems throughout Exelon Generation's BWR fleet, avoiding unplanned outages and saving the company approximately $6 million annually. Tusar has won a total of seven NEI TIP awards since 2003.
Tusar has a nuclear engineering degree from Penn State, a master's of environmental engineering from Drexel University (1989) and a professional engineer's license. He remains active with Penn State as part of Exelon Generation's Penn State Campus Team, an appointed member of the Penn State Breazeale Reactor Safeguards Committee and a member of the Penn State Nuclear Engineering Society, on which he serves as a mentor and member of the Service and Leadership Awards Committee.
Richard R. Etling ('78 NucE), vice president of strategy at Westinghouse Electric Co., recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with his daughter, also a Penn Stater, and flew the Penn State flag. Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano in Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa, at 19,341 feet above sea level. Click the photo at left to view larger.
Robert D. Parks ('85 ME), vice president of Daedalus Excel, Inc., won the Carnegie Science Award for Corporate Innovation for continuing the growth of his company, a product development firm. Daedalus works with technology companies to create innovative products and interfaces. A notable collaboration with Philips Home Healthcare resulted in a handheld device that uses painless microspectroscopy to measure newborns' bilirubin levels to test liver function.
The Carnegie Science Center established the Carnegie Science Awards program to recognize and promote outstanding science and technology achievements in western Pennsylvania. Celebrating its 16th year, the Carnegie Science Awards have honored the accomplishments of more than 300 individuals and organizations that have improved lives through their commitment and contributions in science and technology.
Dr. Gautam Kudva ('01g ME), Asian Process Development Manager at Corning Display Technologies, recently received the prestigious Science and Technology organization's Annual Development Excellence Award.
Click here to read the full press release issued by Corning, Incorporated.
On September 24, 2011, the Penn State Mechanical Engineering Society (PSMES) hosted a joint tailgate with American Society of Mechanical Engineers student society members before the Penn State football game versus Eastern Michigan.
Click here to view some pictures from the day.
Dr. Jeff Moore (BSME, MSME, and Ph.D.), Propulsion Systems Engineer for AMPAC In-Space Propulsion, was honored with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 2011 AIAA Young Professional Award at the Joint Propulsion Conference on August 3, 2011, in San Diego, Calif., for his exemplary work on high performance monopropellants.
Click here to read the press release from AMPAC-In-Space Propulsion.
Jennifer DiBellow Pruitt (B.S. ME '09), met her now-husband, Matthew Pruitt through a co-op program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in 2008.
Click here to read the whole story.
Francine Battaglia (Ph.D. ME '97), a resident of Blacksburg, Va. and associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named a fellow of ASME.
Click here to read the full press release.
Mark Wilson (BSAE '07), the 2007 Team Leader of the Formula SAE Team here at Penn State, appears in an article on Sikorsky Aircraft's X2 Coaxial Rotor Helicopter published in the November 2009 issue. Wilson is a member of the X2 team.
Click here to read "10 Most Brilliant Innovators of 2009: X2 Coaxial Rotor Helicopter.
Joseph F. Yurso (BSME '52) is the recipient of the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) Harold E. Saunders Award, which is given in recognition of lifetime achievement in naval engineering.
Click here to read the full press release.
Erica Nyman, a recent graduate of the Mechanical Engineering program, was interviewed for an article on the next generation of NASA employees, published by Popular Mechanics magazine in May 2009.
Click here to read "Is America's Space Administration Over-the-Hill? Next-Gen NASA."
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