Congratulations to our outstanding Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering alumni who were recognized with the Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award (CEAAA), the Construction Engineering Outstanding and Emerging Leader Alumni Awards, and the Distinguished Engineering Alumni (DEA) Award. Our alumni have a long, proud history of excellence and this year’s awardees could not be more deserving of these recognitions.

2024 CEAAA Recipients

Civil Engineering at Purdue has a long history of educating outstanding engineers — and the Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award gives the school the opportunity to recognize the career accomplishments of some of our most influential graduates.

This year’s awardees are (from left): R. Keith Churchill (BSCE ’06), JoAnn Browning (PhD ’98), Robert Threlkeld (BSCE ’98, MSCE ’00), Derek Crider (BSCE ’78, MSCE ’80), Douglas M. Owen (BSCE ’80) and J. Carlos Santamarina (PhD ’87).

2024 DEA Recipients

Carlos Hernandez (BSCE ’76)
Board Member, Pacific Gas & Electric and Steward Health Care Systems

At the age of 8, Cuban-born Carlos Hernandez arrived in Florida as a political exile with his parents. He easily could’ve dwelled on the deck being stacked against him, but instead embraced the move as an opportunity. At Purdue, he flourished — and three years after receiving his degree, he earned a law degree from the University of Miami. His education set the stage for a 40-year career that spanned engineering, procurement, manufacturing and distribution with expertise in litigation, mergers and acquisitions, risk management, safety and environmental matters, real estate, non-merchandise procurement, corporate security, corporate governance and compliance.

Vasiliki Keramida (MSCE ’76, PhD ’79)
CEO, CTO and Founder, KERAMIDA Inc.

Less than a decade after earning her doctorate, Vasiliki Keramida established KERAMIDA Inc., an Indianapolis-based global engineering and consulting firm that offers worldwide strategy and implementation services in sustainability, greenhouse gases, energy, environment and health and safety compliance. KERAMIDA’s clients include many Fortune 500 companies, municipalities, state agencies, banking institutions and law practices. A nationally recognized authority on the investigation and remediation of contaminated sites, Keramida frequently is called upon to testify as an expert witness. She also holds two U.S. patents: one on the treatment of hazardous wastes and another on the destruction of hazardous vapors.

2024 Construction Engineering Alumni Award Recipients

From left - Rao S. Govindaraju (Bowen Engineering Head of Civil and Construction Engineering), Jeff Hagerman, Logan Cook, Augie Ziccarelli, and Theodore Weidner (Professor of Engineering Practice)

The Construction Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award was established to recognize the professional contributions and outstanding achievements of graduates from the Division of Construction Engineering and Management and to thank them for the recognition that their success brings to Purdue and the division.

This year’s awardees are Jeff Hagerman (CNE ’93) and Augie Ziccarelli (CNE ’81). Logan Cook (CNE ’10, MSCE ’12) and Ricky Grogan, Jr. (BSCNE ‘12) were recognized as emerging leaders.

Jeff Hagerman

Augie Ziccarelli

Logan Cook

Ricky Grogan, Jr.