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Oregon State University
College of Engineering
2012 Oregon Stater Engineering Awards
Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers
Academy of Distinguished Engineers (continued)
R
ick Heath left Oregon State University
well equipped to tackle the complicated
facets of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
in the Tri-Cities area of Washington.
He started his professional journey at
Siemens Power Corporation as a fuel
management engineer with responsibility
for nuclear fuel assembly and core design for fuel contract
obligations.
“My degree fromOregon State proved to my future employer
that I could learn and learn well,” says Heath.
After a brief stint with Framatome ANP as a senior engi-
neer, Heath has spent the past decade with AREVA Federal
Services, a branch of AREVA North American that combines
capabilities, technologies, and resources frommultiple AREVA
companies to serve the United States Department of Energy
and its subcontractors in all phases of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Today, Heath directs business development efforts to
leverage AREVA’s global capabilities at the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation and other government facilities. He manages
relationships with communities, small businesses, and other
Hanford partners.
Heath also spends time serving his community as a
volunteer staff member at Skyland Ranch, a nonprofit, long-
term drug and alcohol recovery facility for men in Gold Bar,
Snohomish County, Wash.
Rick S. Heath
BS Nuclear Engineering ’91
BS Health Physics ’91
Director, Business Development
AREVA Federal Services
|
Kennewick, Wash.
D
erek Brice chose to major in
nuclear engineering at Oregon State
University after reading engineering
disciplines descriptions in the World Book
Encyclopedia. He was fascinated by the
potential of nuclear fusion to provide
electricity for centuries with little environmental impact.
After graduation, Brice worked at both of the commercial
nuclear power plants in the Northwest: Portland General
Electric’s Trojan Nuclear Plant and Energy Northwest’s
Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Wash.
“My engineering education at Oregon State taught me how
to solve problems in an organized and disciplined way,” says
Brice. He went on to earn a master’s degree in business and
technology management fromWashington State University
in 2002.
After earning his law degree from the University of
Southern California in 2005, Brice practiced patent litigation
with two prominent international firms in Los Angeles, Calif.,
and Houston, Texas.
Brice now works in the energy group at the law firm of
Balch & Bingham, where he is part of the team that supports
clients in nuclear licensing, commercial, and litigation mat-
ters, including the licensing of the first commercial reactor
approved for construction in the United States in more than
30 years.
Derek Brice
BS Nuclear Engineering ’95
MS Nuclear Engineering ’98
Attorney, Balch & Bingham, LLP
|
Birmingham, Ala.
R
on Khormaei has put his three
degrees from Oregon State University
to excellent use at the companies for
which he has worked and the public and
industrial consumers that benefit from the
resulting products. He has seven United
States patents and more than 30 publications under his belt.
From his initial research work with thin-film electrolumines-
cence displays to his leadership role in high speed advanced
printers, Khormaei’s ground-breaking research has provided
the imaging field with novel approaches and innovative
products with strong market impact.
Khormaei’s leadership and innovation at HP helped bring
about product growth of 300 percent in one division within
five years. His team introduced a new printer family, which is
more than five times faster than any previous similar inkjet
printers on the market. He is now at Lensbaby, the only United
States manufacturer of lenses for single-lens reflex cameras,
and the company is growing in revenue by 35 percent annually.
Khormaei has expanded his impact through management
consulting and as an adjunct professor.
“My Oregon State education had three key impacts on
my personal and professional growth,” says Khormaei. “It
provided a solid technical foundation; a chance to develop,
interact and deliver in teams; and lifelong friendships with
mentors and classmates.”
Ron Khormaei
B
y emphasizing environmental engi-
neering during his education, Stacy
Frost entered the newmillennium ready
to seize opportunities when he graduated
from Oregon State. “In my field, OSU is
recognized as a top-notch university and
being an alumnus has opened many doors,” says Frost.
Frost increased his chances of success by getting heavily
involved with the student chapter of the American Society of
Civil Engineers (ASCE). “After serving as vice president and
president of the OSU/ASCE student chapter, I became very
active in the organization at the state, regional, and national
level,” he says.
Frost believes that the most significant impact he can
have on his profession is to promote it. “I’m proud to be a
civil engineer and enthusiastic about increasing the public’s
awareness of the importance of the work that civil engineers
do,” he says. Because the nation’s infrastructure is aging,
Frost sees a great need for civil engineers, and he takes pride
in mentoring primary, secondary, and college-level students
about engineering.
After spending a decade at HDJ Design Group in
Vancouver, Frost recently joined Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc.,
as a senior engineer in business development and project
management.
Stacy J. Frost
BS Civil Engineering ’01
Senior Engineer
Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc.
|
Vancouver, Wash.
A
fter a lengthy career in Oregon’s
Silicon Forest, working for companies
such as Tektronix, Inc., Mentor Graphics
Corp., and Applied Materials, Inc.,
Leonard Weitman is finally seeing a little
more sunlight through the trees in his new
position with BendBroadband in Central Oregon.
After graduating from Oregon State, Weitman earned a
master’s degree in engineering management from Portland
State University. Now, as vice president of technical opera-
tions, Weitman manages 83 people in data center operations,
where his group implements design, construction, installa-
tion, maintenance, and delivery of high-speed broadband
services to customers.
“Oregon State provided me the skills and the confidence
to approach any problems, no matter how large. Repeatedly
throughout my career, I have been placed in situations where
people were not clear about the goals at hand nor their
accomplishment,” says Weitman. “In each case, I’ve been able
to sort through technical and human issues, provide clear
direction, and accomplish unexpected success, resulting in
greater profitability for my employer.”
Weitman is a published management engineer with a life-
long joy of helping others understand technical topics, which
he fulfilled as an instructor at Portland Community College
for 15 years.
Leonard Weitman
BS Industrial Engineering ’78
Vice President, Technical Operations
BendBroadband
|
Bend, Ore.
A
ndrew Hill, an Oregon State graduate
who also earned a master’s degree
in mechanical engineering from the
University of California at Berkeley, is
now a lead mechanical engineer at
Microsoft, where he collaborates closely
with industrial designers, researchers, electrical and soft-
ware engineers, and manufacturing partners around the
world to bring hardware devices to market.
“To me, product development is the perfect set of
problems — the interplay among business, technology,
and customers is endlessly fascinating,” says Hill. “The
dynamics of navigating through these problems with a
team is tremendously interesting and presents me with
new challenges every day.”
Hill continually draws on his experience with Oregon
State’s Industrial Assessment Center, where he helped pro-
vide energy, waste, and productivity assessments for small
and medium-sized firms. In post-graduate work, he spent
six years at Xerox Corporation as a mechanical designer
and systems engineer before joining Microsoft. “I have
been fortunate to work with innovative people on great
products while at Xerox and Microsoft,” says Hill. “The
products I have helped ship have done great things for cus-
tomers and their businesses, and that is pretty rewarding.”
Andrew Hill
BS Mechanical Engineering ’00
Lead Mechanical Engineer
Microsoft Corporation
|
Redmond, Wash.
BS Electrical Engineering ’88
MS Electrical Engineering ’89
PhD Electrical Engineering ’95
General Manager, Lensbaby, LLC
|
Portland, Ore.