CUE Home >> Alumni and Development >> Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards

CUE 2004

ALUMNI AWARDS
Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards

The 2004 DEAA recipients are from left to right, (front row) Lucinda Sanders, Stein Sture, Enid Ablowitz, (back row) Vern Norviel, Lori Clarke, Marshall Silver, and Gregg Jacobs.

The College of Engineering and Applied Science honored seven distinguished alumni and friends of the college with the 2004 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award. Dean Robert H. Davis presented the awards at the 39th annual Engineering Awards Banquet on April 16.

Enid M. Ablowitz, vice president and director of advancement for the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, was recognized in the Special category for her work as fund- and friend-raiser while serving as the college's director of engineering development and then assistant dean for advancement, from 1989 to 2001. Her impact on the college can be seen in more than $100 million in gifts creating scholarships, fellowships, professorships, endowed chairs, the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory, and the Discovery Learning Center. She also helped to cultivate the $250 million gift—at the time the largest gift ever to a public university—to create the CU Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities.

Lori A. Clarke (PhD CompSci '76), professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts, was recognized in the Research and Invention category for her innovative research in software engineering. Clarke has been recognized by the Association for Computing Machinery, which elected her Fellow in 1998, and by the University of Massachusetts, which awarded her its Chancellor's Distinguished Faculty Award in 1991. She is also active in professional service with the Computing Research Association Board of Directors, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the National Science Foundation Computer and Computation Research Advisory Board.

Gregg A. Jacobs (AeroEngr '86, PhD '91), head of the Naval Research Laboratory's Ocean Modeling and Prediction Branch at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, was recognized in the Research and Invention category as a world expert in the use of satellite altimeter data for modeling and monitoring ocean circulation. He heads the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Altimeter Operational Algorithm team, and his research on the decadel impact of El-Nino was awarded the Naval Research Laboratory's 75th Anniversary Award. He has two patents related to his research in ocean model and forecast systems.

Vern Norviel (ChemEngr '81) lead attorney of the Patents and Innovations Counseling Group at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, Calif., was recognized in the Industry and Commerce category as one of the country's top intellectual property attorneys and high-tech corporate leaders. In 1996, he was named senior vice president and general counsel of Affymetrix, a biotechnology company that pioneered the "DNA chip" technology. He then played a role in and joined a spinout of Affymetrix, Perlegen Sciences, before joining the law firm where he now works. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the college's Engineering Advisory Council.

Lucinda M. Sanders (MS CompSci '78) executive in residence for CU's Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) initiative, was recognized in the Industry and Commerce category for her outstanding technical and management contributions to the computer science industry, as well as her extensive service to CU and other organizations. She led a successful career with AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and then Avaya Inc., from which she retired as vice president for research and development in 2001. She holds four patents in communications software and was a recipient of the prestigious Bell Labs Fellow award in 1996.

Marshall L. Silver (CivEngr '65) chief technical adviser for natural disaster risk reduction for the United Nations Development Program in Hanoi, Vietnam, was recognized in the Government Service category for his contributions in both education and international service in civil engineering. He was a professor of civil engineering at the University of Illinois, Chicago for 25 years, and later served as chief technical adviser for the United Nations Development Program in India and Pakistan in the areas of geomechanics, civil engineering, materials testing, and quality control of construction. He is a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Stein Sture (CivEngr '71, MS '73, PhD '76) associate dean for research in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, was recognized in the Education category as an outstanding educator in the field of civil engineering. Originally from Norway, Sture spent three years on the faculty at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, before returning to CU-Boulder in 1980. He has served the college in various capacities from professor to department chair to associate dean. He is an active member of 13 professional and scientific societies and a Fellow of both the American Society of Civil Engineers and the U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics.