Every year, Penn State honors about a dozen individuals from the various departments within the College of Engineering with the Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award. The highest honor conferred by the college, the OEA Award recognizes graduates who have reached exceptional levels of professional achievement.

This years recipients are:

Robert E. Jepsen Jr. - Mr. Jepsen is a 1978 graduate of Mechanical Engineering. Mr. Jepsen is currently the Project Executive of Operations Support and Best Practices at ExxonMobil Corporation. "Mr. Jepsen has held a number of executive positions worldwide within ExxonMobil. In 2001, Mr. Jepsen transferred to Fairfax, VA as Executive Manager of the Plant Operating Information System Project. In that position, he was involved in implementing computing software to optimize display and access to plant operating parameters worldwide. Under his management, the project exceeded all its goals and led to Mr. Jepsen’s current assignment. Since 2004, Mr. Jepsen has held the title of Project Executive over the Global Oil Movements Project. This project is a multi-million dollar, world-wide investment by ExxonMobil in the management of oil movement for profitability. He has been a Penn State donor since 1983, which is just five years after he graduated with a BSME from Penn State. He and his family established the Jepsen Family Trustee Scholarship in 2004."

Richard R. Etling - Mr. Etling is a 1978 graduate of Nuclear Engineering. Mr. Etlilng is currently the Vice President of Nuclear Fuel Strategy at Westinghouse Electric Company. After graduating from Penn State Etling accepted a position with Virginia Power and played a key role in the start up of the North Anna nuclear plant in Louisa County, Virginia. As a reactor engineer, he was responsible for startup testing and reactor operations support. "The North Anna units remain in operation and today generate 1,786 megawatts — enough electricity to power 450,000 homes. Etling then joined Westinghouse Electric Company and soon accepted an assignment as manager of the company’s Fluid Systems organization. He oversaw the company’s response to a challenging industry issue relative to Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) bypass elimination. As manager of Fluid Systems, Rick was responsible for oversight of the development of a technical solution to address those issues. The Westinghouse solution was implemented successfully at plants throughout the world. Rick was key in establishing Westinghouse’s market approach for this product, which captured significant market share."