College of Engineering to welcome new Hall of Fame members for 2020
The Wayne State University College of Engineering will honor 10 prominent alumni at its Hall of Fame awards dinner on Thursday, Oct. 1 at a time and location to be announced**.
Andrew Hernandez, B.S. '84, and James B. King, B.S. '65, M.S. '67, comprise the Hall of Fame class of 2020 and will bring membership to 148 honorees since the Hall of Fame's inception in 1983. For the third consecutive year, the College of Engineering will also recognize distinguished engineers and computer scientists from each of its eight departments.
Hernandez is a principal electrical engineer for the U.S. and Americas operations at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, where he consults and oversees infrastructure and process design, safety, hazardous classifications, and other electrical subject matters. Before joining AstraZeneca in May 2011, he spent more than 28 years combined with General Motors and Delphi, where he developed a six-year preventive substation maintenance program that became the standard for both companies. In 2003, Hernandez became the Delphi corporate staff electrical engineer and helped to develop and roll out the company's electrical safety program at 49 U.S. sites and 15 sites throughout Mexico. Hernandez holds a bachelor's in electrical engineering from Wayne State and is a member of IEEE, the Industry Applications Society and the National Fire Protection Association.
King is president of his own consulting firm, which specializes in total quality management, business process re-engineering, design-to-cost and supply chain management, and business strategy deployment. He began his career at Ford Motor Company, joined Allegheny International in Pittsburgh as director of quality in 1984, and was a partner at Coopers and Lybrand (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers) from 1986-93. King has been a lead partner in major consulting engagements with Fortune 100 and smaller companies both domestic and abroad, was appointed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner, and authored the book Process Improvement Simplified - a How-to Book for Success in any Organization. He holds two degrees in electrical engineering from Wayne State and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.
The distinguished engineers and computer scientists include:
Rainer Hoffman, M.S. '84
Managing Partner, carhs GmbH
Colleen Hughes, B.S. '90, M.S. '93/94, Ph.D. '96
Senior Vice President, CDM Smith
Amir M. Azarmi, M.S. '82
Co-founder and Executive Vice President, Fairway Constructors, Inc.
Nestor Rychtyckyj, B.S. '80, M.S. '87, Ph.D. '01
Senior Analytics Scientist, Ford Motor Company
Mohamad Abdul-Hak, B.S. '99
Senior Manager of eMobility, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc.
Howard Finck*, B.S. '95
Sales Specialist and Consultant, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Donna Bell, M.S. '97, M.S. '11, Ph.D. '19
Director of Technology and Features, Strategy and Planning, Ford Motor Company
John Shinska, B.S. '88, M.S. '01
Global Chief Engineer for Body Systems/CAD, Ford Motor Company
Dean Farshad Fotouhi and the Engineering Alumni Association will welcome the honorees and their families - as well as colleagues, alumni and industry leaders - to the awards dinner, which begins at 6 p.m. Tickets to attend the event are $50 per person, with proceeds benefiting scholarships and student programs. Reservations can be made online.
*posthumous award
**An earlier version of this article specified another date and location for the Hall of Fame Awards Dinner. The event was postponed until the fall amid concerns regarding the spread of coronavirus.
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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.