Purdue ECE honors 2022 Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineers
The Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineer honored six alumni during the 30th annual Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer (OECE) awards ceremony. The OECE award was established by Purdue ECE in 1992 to honor the professional contributions of top graduates, and to thank them for the recognition their achievements bring to both Purdue and to the School.
The 2022 Class of OECEs includes:
George H. Goble (BSEE ’75) - George H. Goble is a true trailblazer in the field of computing, his accomplishments include creating the very first parallel processor by wiring two DEC VAX processors together; a precursor to TCP/IP called PNET; broadcasting one of the very first web “videos” of a solar eclipse.
Jennifer Graves (BSCEE ’86) - Jennifer Graves currently leads Graves Technologies and its subsidiaries as Chief Executive Officer & President. Graves Technologies, formerly known as GECO Inc. and co-founded by Graves in 1995, provides computer hardware, software and systems design for aerospace, industrial and commercial customers.
Charles Mok (BSEE ’85, MSEE ’87) - Charles Mok is a Visiting Scholar at the Global Digital Policy Incubator of the Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University. Mok served as an elected member of the Legislative Council in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for two terms from 2012 to 2020. As a lawmaker, he was a champion for tech related policies and legislations for privacy, open data, cybersecurity, innovation, fintech, as well as freedom of expression, human rights and democracy.
Jung-Min “Jerry” Park (PhD ECE ’03) - Dr. Jung-Min “Jerry” Park is an Executive Vice President and the CIO in the Mobile eXperience (MX) Division at Samsung Electronics. Park leads the B2B R&D Group within the Global Mobile B2B Team, where he oversees the development of B2B products, including business-centric smart phones, tablets, and notebook PCs. He also leads the development of Samsung Knox-branded software solutions and services for on premise as well as cloud-based B2B use cases.
Janet Y. Spears (MSEE ’88) - Janet Y. Spears currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Metta Fund, a private foundation dedicated to advancing the health and wellness of San Francisco’s aging population. An engineer by training, Spears enjoyed a 23-year career at AT&T, where her tenure had her traverse research and development as a Member of Technical Staff through leading complex sales solutions as Sales Vice President.
Shawn D. Williams (BSEE ’85) - Shawn D. Williams is a value creation focused Executive Chairman of the Board for privately held Covia Holdings, formerly public Covia Holdings Corporation (CVIA) and Tilley-Phoenix Group, a SK Capital portfolio company, Independent Board Director for Tetra Technologies, Inc. (TTI) and Kirby Corporation (KEX). Williams led business globally for two decades in Americas, Europe, and Asia across a broad sector of markets including Agriculture, Automotive, Coatings, Construction, Consumer, Energy, Health Care, Packaging, Personal Care, Polymers, and Retail.
Learn more about the 2022 OECE Class here.
Jeff Sanders, a member of the 2021 class of OECEs, was also honored at the ceremony after not being able to attend last year’s event. Sanders earned an MS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1972. He is currently President of UHU Technologies, a privately-owned engineering research and development company that designs products to detect and mitigate GPS spoofing and jamming.
Also recognized at the OECE awards ceremony were four Purdue ECE faculty award winners:
The ECEGSA Outstanding Mentor Award was presented to Prof. Chih-chun Wang. This honor recognizes a faculty member who does an outstanding job of mentoring their MS and Ph.D. students.
The Motorola Teaching Award was presented to Dr. Dimitrios Peroulis. The recipient is the faculty member receiving the highest number of votes from senior ECE students.
The Wilfred "Duke" Hesselberth Award for Teaching Excellence was presented to Santiago Torres Arias. The award recognizes teaching excellence. Winners are determined based upon course/instructor evaluations during the previous four semesters.
The 2022 Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Teacher Award was presented to James Davis. The annual award honors a junior faculty member who has excelled in teaching and inspiring students in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Photos from the event can be seen on our Flickr album.