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CUE 2006

The College of Engineering and Applied Science honored four distinguished alumni with the 2006 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award. From left to right are Jim Tighe, Subrata Chakrabarti, Kumiyo Nakakoji, and Alan Weimer.

Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards

Subrata Chakrabarti (MS MechEngr '64, PhD '68) — Private Practice
Subrata Chakrabarti is a renowned researcher and practitioner in fluids engineering, whose pioneering work in offshore mechanics has had a significant effect on the understanding of wave forces on marine structures.

After earning his master's and PhD degrees at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Chakrabarti joined the Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. where he was noted for his theoretical and experimental research on the open-bottom offshore storage tank Khazzan and for his work with the U.S. Navy on the hydrodynamics of submarines. He was named director of the marine research division in 1979.

In 1996, he founded the Plainfield, IL-based company, Offshore Structure Analysis, which analyzes and tests innovative structures for government and industry use. He has consulted on many projects worldwide, including the design of the concrete piers for the newly constructed Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Chakrabarti has taught many professional seminars and short courses on offshore structure dynamics and has been a guest lecturer and visiting professor at leading universities around the world.  In 2005, he joined the University of Illinois at Chicago as a professor with joint appointments in the departments of civil and materials engineering, and mechanical and industrial engineering.

Kumiyo Nakakoji (MS CompSci '90, PhD '93) — Education
Kumiyo Nakakoji is a highly regarded educator and one of a select number of researchers in the world who study how information technologies can be deployed to support creative knowledge work at both the individual and group levels. She is considered a pioneer in Japan, bringing together the computer and cognitive sciences for a new generation of students.

Nakakoji received her master's and PhD degrees at CU-Boulder, and began her academic career as the cognitive sciences chair at the Graduate School of Information Science, Nara Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Tokyo. She is now a full professor with the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, and a senior researcher with SRA Key Technology Laboratory, Inc.

She maintains strong ties with the University of Colorado as an ambassador between the Japanese and American professional communities. She is an active liaison credited with influencing researchers to reexamine how to address research issues, formulate models and approaches, and communicate research outcomes in international settings.

She serves as a member of many doctoral review committees in Japan, as well as the University of Colorado, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Oulu, Finland.

Jim Tighe (AeroEngr '97) — Industry & Commerce
Jim Tighe is already recognized as a powerhouse of innovation in the aerospace design industry less than 10 years after graduation.

While a student at CU-Boulder, Tighe worked as a computer programmer and research assistant at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, winning the NIST Young Scientist Award in 1997. That same year he earned his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering sciences and began work as a stability and control engineer designing commercial aircraft for Boeing.

Tighe then went to work for famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, as an aerodynamicist and design engineer. There, he combined engineering, science, and creative genius as a team member on SpaceShipOne, the space-plane that won the $10 million Ansari X-Prize in 2004.

Competing against 25 teams, SpaceShipOne soared into history as the first privately funded, manned vehicle to escape Earth's atmosphere and cross into the boundaries of space. In 2005, readers of Design News voted Tighe Engineer of the Year for his contributions as the driving force behind the aerodynamics of SpaceShipOne, and Tighe donated his $20,000 prize to CU-Boulder's Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences to support senior design projects.

Alan Weimer (MS ChemEngr '78, PhD '80) — Research & Invention
Al Weimer has achieved a remarkable record of world-class research and invention in chemical engineering over more than two-and-a-half decades working in industrial and academic positions.

After receiving his master's and PhD degrees in chemical engineering at CU-Boulder, he began his career with Dow Chemical Co., where he worked for 16 years as a research scientist and engineer before returning to CU-Boulder as a professor in 1996.

He holds 21 patents and is recognized for having co-invented the rapid carbothermal reduction process, which supplies most of the world with tungsten carbide powders used to fabricate micro-drills and other cutting tools. He also is the global coordinator for the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy, which is working to split water using concentrated sunlight.

Weimer has received many awards for his work, including the U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen Program R&D Award and R&D Magazine's R&D 100 Award with Steve George in 2004 for the development of a technology used to control the surface properties of nanoparticles. This innovative technology has applications in such areas as medical diagnostics, drug delivery, and smart sensors, and led to the formation of a start-up company, ALD NanoSolutions.