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2012 Oregon Stater Engineering Awards
College of Engineering
Oregon State University
11
Academy of Distinguished Engineers
R
od Ballard began his career as a
geotechnical civil engineer with the
United States Bureau of Reclamation
(USBR) in Denver, Colo., working in the
Embankment Dam Design Section. In
1982, USBR sent Ballard to Oklahoma
State University to pursue a master’s degree in civil/geo-
technical engineering. “The knowledge I received while at
Oregon State resulted in graduating at the top of my class
from Oklahoma State graduate school,” says Ballard.
In 1989, Ballard founded Construction Testing &
Engineering, Inc., a company that provides construction
quality control, geotechnical, and civil engineering ser-
vices in California. In 1998, Rod and his wife Kim founded
a second company called QC Southwest Inc., which pro-
vides engineering support services specific to airports and
power plants.
Ballard is most proud of a significant impact his techni-
cal work provided to the City of San Diego. “In 1998, while
performing geotechnical engineering investigations for
high-rise structures in downtown San Diego, I discovered
that the default site soil profile being used by the city was
overly conservative,” says Ballard.
“The ensuing reduced seismic loading saved millions of
dollars in high-rise construction in the city after 1999.”
Rodney Ballard
BS Civil Engineering ’78
Vice President, Construction Testing & Engineering, Inc.
Vice President/Principal Engineer, QC Southwest Inc.
San Diego County, Calif.
W
hile many engineers graduate to
successful careers in the private
sector, a select few continue on in
research and teaching. Such is the case
with Richard Braatz, who left Oregon
State to pursue graduate studies and
research at the California Institute of Technology, where he
eventually earned master’s and doctoral degrees.
“Oregon State’s curriculum provided me strong foun-
dations in chemistry and engineering,” says Braatz.
“This propelled me to excel in my graduate programs
at Cal Tech and on to a research and teaching career at
University of Illinois and then MIT.”
Braatz’s research involves the modeling, design, and
control of manufacturing processes and products that
arise in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and related indus-
tries. His contributions to crystallization process control
and systems engineering in the pharmaceutical industry
have been recognized around the country; however, he
says his greatest personal achievement remains teaching.
“The most significant impact a professor can have is
well-trained graduates,” says Braatz. “My impact is mea-
sured by 1,000 students who have learned chemical reac-
tion engineering, process control, and related topics, and
over 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows whom
I have supervised and mentored.”
Richard D. Braatz
BS Chemical Engineering ’88
Edwin R. Gilliland Professor of Chemical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
|
Cambridge, Mass.
J
ohn Barton joined Intel in 1982 as a
software engineer and has participated
in a computing revolution during his
30-year career.
“Being on the teams that brought
more computing power into an average
person’s pocket than was available on the entire OSU
campus when I was in school has brought revolutions in
virtually all human activity,” says Barton.
At Intel today, Barton’s group performs post-silicon
validation and verification for Intel platforms, and works
directly with customers and third parties to ensure that
key products and technologies meet high quality standards.
“At Oregon State, I was exposed to a huge breadth of
knowledge while inside and outside the classroom,” says
Barton. “What I didn’t realize until later in my career
was that I had also been taught by OSU to quickly distill
problems and identify the essential facts on which a high-
quality decision would hinge.”
While the technical side of computer science has been
his passion, Barton is also proud of the recognition that
has come to Oregon’s Silicon Forest. “As a 50-year resi-
dent of this state, I am pleased to be part of the team that
ensures Oregon remains a vital technology center for this
ongoing revolution.”
John D. Barton
BS Computer Science Engineering ’80
Vice President, Architecture Group
General Manager, Platform Validation Engineering
Intel Corporation | Hillsboro, Ore.
M
ike Gann paired his engineering
education at Oregon State University
with an MBA from the University of
Oregon to bring science and technology to
bear for the greater human good.
As director of Intel’s forward-thinking
World Ahead Healthcare Program, Gann is responsible for
developing global business strategies and partnerships to
improve health care access, quality, and cost in some of the
world’s poorest countries.
“My education gave me a solid foundation to pursue career
paths in process engineering, business consulting, technical
marketing, and sales management,” says Gann. “OSU also
provided me with more than just an engineering degree,
but rather a well-rounded education incorporating essential
skills in team-based problem solving, communications,
and leadership.”
After brief stints at Oracle and Chevron corporations,
Gann joined Intel as the director for High Performance
Computing and Life Sciences. His current position, however,
places him in a global arena, where Intel is committed to
bringing low-cost health care to those in need.
“We’ve made a commitment to help governments train
one million front-line health care workers by 2015 through
the use of information and communication technologies,”
says Gann. “We are confident that better trained health care
workers will lead to better health for women and children in
underserved regions.”
Mike Gann
BS Chemical Engineering ’89
Director, World Ahead Healthcare Program
Intel Corporation
|
Folsom, Calif.
O
regon National Guard Brigadier
General Julie Bentz, who received
an ROTC commission from Oregon State
University, has risen to the top of her field
as director of Strategic Capabilities Policy
with the National Security Staff at the
White House.
Bentz is the former civil support team science officer at
the National Guard Bureau and director for response
operations with the Homeland Security Council. She has
been an integral part of advising the country on nuclear
defense strategies and implications during the tumultuous
times since Sept. 11, 2001, including last year’s nuclear
disaster in Japan.
“During the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power plant
crisis, I joined fellow members of the National Security Staff
to work with experts to develop new guidance for ‘how safe
is safe’, ‘how clean is clean’, and ‘waste disposition’ that is
being considered for late-phase recovery protective action
guidelines,” says Bentz.
When Bentz was promoted to brigadier general last June,
she became the first woman to achieve this level of success
in the Oregon National Guard. After graduating fromOregon
State, she earned master’s and doctoral degrees in nuclear
engineering from the University of Columbia-Missouri and an
additional master’s degree in national security strategy from
the National War College in Washington, D.C.
Julie A. Bentz
BA General Science ’86
Director, Strategic Capabilities Policy
National Security Staff, The White House
|
Washington, D.C.
K
atherine Hammack spent the first three
decades of her career in the private
sector as an energy and sustainability
consultant. More recently, she was a leader
in climate change and sustainability services
at Ernst & Young, and is a founding member
of the U.S. Green Building Council in Washington, D.C.
Hammack’s life changed dramatically on June 28, 2010,
when President Barack Obama appointed her as Assistant
Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment.
“I have policy and oversight for small forward operating
bases in Afghanistan to large permanent bases in Texas,”
says Hammack. “These are cities in which our soldiers and
families live and work. With over 15 million acres of land and
almost one billion square feet of buildings, my engineering
and sustainability education enables me to ensure that the
Army appropriately stewards our nation’s resources.”
After graduating from Oregon State, Hammack earned
an MBA in marketing from the University of Hartford.
“Oregon State gave me the foundation to work in a collab-
orative team environment,” says Hammack. “Teams made
up of individuals from different backgrounds, cultures,
and interests opened my eyes to alternatives. The more
diverse the team, the better the decisions.”
Katherine Dellett
Hammack
BS Mechanical Engineering ’81
Assistant Secretary of the Army Installations,
Energy and Environment
Department of Defense, United States Army
|
Washington, D.C