Five Armour College of Engineering Alumni Among 2015 IIT Alumni Award Winners
Five Armour College of Engineering Alumni were announced among the winners of the 2015 Alumni Awards. Overall thirteen Illinois Institute of Technology Alumni and two civic leaders were honored at the 2015 Alumni Awards luncheon and ceremony on April 24. The tradition of awarding alumni who have shown dedication to IIT through service and support or to their field through hard work and outstanding contributions began in 1946. The Armour College Alumni who were awarded in 2015 were:
Collens Merit Award
Awarded to an individual nominated by the staff and/or faculty who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to the future of IIT through philanthropic contributions paired with involvement in his or her gift.
Madhavan K. Nayar (M.S. IE ’68) - Nayar is the founder of Infogix, Inc. (formerly Unitech Systems), a multimillion-dollar company that is a pioneer in the field of information integrity software. From its founding in 1982 until 2012, when he sold the company to a private equity firm, Nayar led the company to global status, developing a portfolio of software products and services to monitor, detect, and prevent information errors in business processes such as billing, payroll, and accounts receivable. In nominating Nayar for the award, C. Robert Carlson, dean of IIT School of Applied Technology (SAT), cites Nayar’s leadership of the school’s Board of Overseers, where he has instilled a culture of philanthropic support among board members and made strategic decisions that will have a long-term impact.
Professional Achievement Awards
The Professional Achievement Award recognizes outstanding achievement in any professional field. This award honors alumni whose achievements in their fields have brought distinction to themselves as well as credit to the university.
Bhakta B. Rath (Ph.D. MET ’63) - Rath has been head of the Materials Science and Component Technology Directorate, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) since 1986 and in this role supervises the work of nearly 800 scientists, covering the entire spectrum of materials science and engineering. He has held several positions spanning more than five decades, including serving as head of the Materials Science Division, NRL. He also was a senior research scientist at Bain Laboratory, in Pittsburgh, and McDonnell Douglas Research Lab, in St. Louis. In addition, Rath has served as an educator at Washington State University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Maryland.
Andrew M. Hascall (ME ’92) - Captain Hascall currently serves as Installations and Logistics director for Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona. His service includes a tenure as Assistant Public Works Officer, Naval Station Norfolk; executive assistant to the Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic; United States Naval Mobile Construction Battalion SEVEN, assisting in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina; and making operational deployments to Kuwait and Okinawa, Japan. He was also congressional liaison to the congressional appropriations committees for all matters related to the Navy and Marine Corps construction programs. In 2010 he was selected to lead all military construction projects in Northern Italy, including the single largest military construction project the U.S. Army has ever built in Italy—a $300 million-plus, 145-acre, twenty-first-century military installation that was delivered on time and under budget. The project won him international acclaim.
Outstanding Young Alumnus Awards
Awarded to an individual age 40 or younger who has advanced rapidly over the course of his or her career and has displayed significant achievement in the areas of leadership and professional success.
Michael J. Sekerak (ME ’99) - Sekerak is a highly accomplished aerospace engineer, with a background in flight systems engineering, research, and military combat. He is currently a research and systems engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he is a core member of the design and test team for a new magnetically shielded Hall Effect Thruster (HET) for the Asteroid Redirect Mission. Sekerak is a recognized expert in HETs and his groundbreaking research led to new methods of thruster characterizations that have already been adopted by the Air Force, according to Alec Gallimore, Sekerak’s Ph.D. thesis advisor at the University of Michigan. Previously, Sekerak was an aerospace and propulsion engineer with the Missile Systems group at Sandia National Laboratories. He also served as an Armored Cavalry Officer in the Army, including one combat tour in Iraq and the Missile Correlation Center in Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center. Major Sekerak continues to serve in the Air Force Reserves at the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award is bestowed posthumously on an individual who has recently passed away and who, during his or her life, achieved personal success, made an outstanding contribution to his or her chosen field of endeavor, and achieved recognition by his or her colleagues.
Lois Graham (M.S. ME ’49, Ph.D. ’59) - Graham began her career at IIT as a teaching assistant and, in 1949, became the first female faculty member in the Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE). In 1975 she was awarded full professorship. In addition to being a fellow and life member of the Society of Women Engineers, she was the founder and director of the Women in Science and Engineering Program, director of the Education and Experience in Engineering Center, and director of the Minorities in Engineering Program.
