Hall of Fame
The Wayne State University College of Engineering Hall of Fame was founded in 1983 to recognize and honor distinguished alumni who, through their leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation, have made significant industrial, educational and societal contributions to the engineering and computer science professions. The Hall of Fame celebrates the rich history of the College of Engineering and provides exceptional standards by which Wayne State University engineering students can measure success.
Hall of Fame inductees
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Paul Sgriccia, 2010Civil and Environmental Engineering
Paul Sgriccia, MSCE'97,is the U.S. Waste Sector Leader for Golder Associates, an international ground engineering and environmental services consulting firm. Paul began his career in 1977 with Ford Motor Company's Environmental and Safety Engineering staff. He then joined City Management Corporation and was vice president of Engineering responsi...
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Tobenette Holtz, 2010Aeronautical Engineering
Tobenette Holtz, BSAeroE'59,is a retired manager with TRW Incorporated in San Bernardino, Calif., where she worked with clients on site in both the Los Angeles area and in New Mexico. Previously in her career, she was a project engineer and staff engineer at various other California-based aerospace companies, including the Aerospace Corporation,...
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Laxmi Bhuyan, 2010Electrical and Computer Engineering
Laxmi Bhuyan, PhDECE'82,is a distinguished professor and chairman of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of California at Riverside (UCR). Prior to joining UCR, he was a professor of computer science at Texas A&M University. Laxmi is a fellow of numerous professional organizations, including IEEE, the Associatio...
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Doug Szopo, 2010Industrial and Systems Engineering
Doug Szopo is the Executive Director of Global Product Planning and Strategy. He was appointed to this position in February 2007.
Prior to this assignment, Doug was the Executive Director of Product, Manufacturing and Business Office for the Americas. He was appointed to this position in March 2003. During his 40+ year career at Ford Mot...
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David R. McLellan, 2014Mechanical Engineering
BSME 1959 joined General Motors Proving Ground Noise and Vibration Lab after graduating from Wayne State. His early assignments included dynamics of cars, trucks and military tanks, and manager of the newly completed Vehicle Dynamics Test Area (Black Lake).
McLellan’s career took him to Chevrolet where he led the team that finished...
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Kenneth P. Kaufman, 2014Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
BSChE 1981 began his professional career at Dow Corning in 1981 as a process design engineer. His involvement in plant design and commissioning included the Barry, Wales expansion and led to various production leadership roles in Midland, Michigan. He held a business controller position prior to becoming product line manager and leading the revi...
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Shyam Veeramachineni, 2013Civil and Environmental Engineering
MSCE '95, is an expert on geotechnical engineering and construction materials testing services. He serves as executive vice president at Professional Service Industries (PSI), Inc., a leading independent engineering and testing firm. There, he is responsible for the overall management, profitability, growth and operation of PSI's I-35 Corridor i...
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Donald Smolenski, 2013Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
MSChE '79, PhDChE '90, worked for 33 years at General Motors R&D and Worldwide Facilities Group, primarily with engine oils and plant lubricants. Most notably, he co-invented the GM automatic engine oil life monitor, which has been installed on more than 25 million vehicles and is now standard on most in North America. It is estimated to hav...
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Randy Rogers, 2013Civil and Environmental Engineering
BSCE '80, MSCE '84, is a well-known expert in the field of water and wastewater treatment and has authored more than 30 papers and presentations related to such topics. He is senior vice president and chief operating officer for CDM Smith, currently based out of its Chicago Office. He is responsible for the operational performance of the company...
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Joseph Louvar, 2013Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
PhDChE '83, is an internationally recognized expert on chemical process safety. He is the author of many safety related publications, including the co-author of Chemical Process Safety: Fundamentals with Applications and Health and Environmental Risk Analysis: Fundamentals with Applications. Other publications include "Design for Overpressure an...
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Robert Brown, 2013Industrial and Systems Engineering
EMMP '95, was vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering at Ford Motor Company. He was the top safety officer and was responsible for the company's global sustainability strategy, policy and performance. Brown joined Ford in 1979 as a compliance engineer and has held a variety of leadership positions including environme...
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Dr. Akram Zahdeh, 2012Mechanical Engineering
PhDME ’90, is a GM fellow and manager of the Advanced Engine Analysis Group within the General Motors Advanced Power Train Division. An industry pioneer and innovator, he is known for his work in dramatically impacting GM engine applications through the origination and formulation of unique path-finding meshers and pr...
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Sandeep Johri, 2012Industrial and Systems Engineering
MSISE ’86, a senior technology executive with more than 20 years experience in large corporate and start-up environments, is currently chief operating officer at Appcelerator, the leading mobile company. He also serves as a venture advisor at the Mayfield Fund and as a member on the boards of Dhingana and Cenzic. His experience spans ...
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Dr. Matthew (Matt) Craig, 2012Biomedical Engineering
MSME ’99, PhDBME ’07, is the division chief of human injury research in the Office of Vehicle Crashworthiness Research at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. Department of Transportation. In this position, he is responsible for overseeing a wide range of motor vehicle crash injury-related research ra...
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Adriana Karaboutis, 2012Computer Science
BSCS '86, MSECE '86, is global chief information officer at Dell where she is responsible for continuing to drive Dell's IT organization evolution, from managing an efficient and innovative global information infrastructure, to creating innovative breakthroughs that provide technology advances for the company and its customers. Karaboutis previo...