The Engineering Education Outstanding Alumni Award is presented to alumni/ae who have achieved singular accomplishments in their fields, whose successful careers are role models for our students, and whose achievements set an example for all the School’s alumni.

Our 2022 honorees are each an inspiration. They have distinguished themselves as engineers, educators, and entrepreneurs in fields of endeavor including government undersea warfare, engineering education, and acoustical solutions. In doing so, they have displayed the ingenuity and pursuit of excellence that epitomize the Purdue engineer.

We celebrated their many accomplishments on September 29, 2022 in the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering Kurz Atrium. (Link to video and photos below)

Meet Our Honorees

John Babb, 1980 IDE Ocean Engineering

John Babb is in his 41^st year at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center serving as a technical expert in all-things-torpedoes and submarines. He began there as a mechanical engineer and worked his way up the civilian ranks serving as a technical manager and customer advocate to Branch Head of Payload and Operations to his current role as Deputy Technical Director – Technical Excellence. 

In his over 40-year career journey, he has earned numerous honors including three notable awards. First, John was honored in 1997 as the recipient of the H.G. Bowen Award for Patentable Inventions of Significant Value to the Navy, and his patent is still used today.  In 2012, he received the National Defense Industrial Association Bronze Medal, Undersea Warfare Division. And in 2018, John was honored with the Department of the Navy Civilian Service Award, a distinction at one of the highest levels for the US Navy’s Civilian Awards. 

John earned his BSE IDE from Purdue with a concentration in Ocean Engineering. He continued his education at the University of Rhode Island earning two master’s degrees – Ocean Engineering and Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics. 

We are proud to have John serve on our Engineering Education Industrial Advisory Board and has also volunteered for many years with the Lion’s Club. In 2019, he was named district governor for his district, overseeing 48 clubs and raising over $500K in his district alone for causes such as eye research, health screenings, pediatric cancer, disaster relief and other charities. 

Tamara Moore, 2008 IDE and 2006 ENE PhD

Professor Tamara J. Moore is an internationally recognized scholar for her work on promoting engineering and engineering thinking learning in K-16 engineering, mathematics, and science classrooms through the paradigm of engineering design-based STEM integration. Her background in engineering, K-12 teaching, and K-16 engineering education research has allowed her to have a unique voice in the local, national, and worldwide discussion of the role engineering should play in pre-college education and the transition to higher education. 

The impact of Prof. Moore’s work is seen through the reach and recognition she has attained. Prof. Moore’s engineering design-based STEM integration curricula are implemented in 90+ school districts in Indiana and the 4 largest school districts in Minnesota. She has developed and implemented professional development opportunities for over 1500 teachers and faculty worldwide. For her work on STEM integration with teachers and students of underrepresented populations, Prof. Moore was awarded the 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and chosen for the Kavli Frontiers in Science – National Academy of Science. She was invited to attend the White House Summit on Next Generation Learning, as well as the White House Champions of Change for Computer Science Education. She presented her engagement work at the Next Generation STEM Learning for All, an NSF forum that kicked off President Obama’s Week on Education.

Prof. Moore’s curricular innovations for first-year students are used in most of the first-year engineering courses at Purdue, aiding over 3600 first-year students this year alone, and many are housed on nanoHUB for use beyond Purdue. Her work to translate the ENGR 131 and 132 to online during the pandemic not only won her the Office of the Provost’s Award for Exceptional Teaching and Instructional Support during the COVID-19 Pandemic, but also got her invited to participate with the provost’s committee on online education to aid instructors all over Purdue during the pandemic. Prof. Moore’s leadership as the Executive Director of INSPIRE has been featured in such outlets as Forbes and Smithsonian Magazine for her work on the Engineering Gift Guide for parents and the guide itself has reached all over the US and the world. In 2022, Prof. Moore was named a Purdue University Faculty Scholar, an award that demonstrates her trajectory towards academic distinction. 

Prof. Moore is a four-time graduate of Purdue, and two of those from the School of Engineering Education. She has the distinct honor of being our first PhD graduate in Engineering Education and also earned her BSE IDE. We are honored to have Prof. Moore here where it all began for her and to celebrate her accomplishments as both an alumna and faculty member in our school. And that is a first for us!

Roger Shively, 1984 IDE Acoustical Engineering

Roger Shively is a Co-founder and Principal of JJR Acoustics. He brings over 30 years of experience in engineering research and development and has expert knowledge in acoustical design and product development for audio and acoustic components. He has published 15 scientific papers in the areas of transducers, automotive audio, psychoacoustics, and computer modeling and holds U.S. and International Patents related to the design of advanced acoustic systems and applications. Roger has significant experience in product realization, as well as in launching new products at OEM manufacturers around the world. He received a B.S. of Acoustics from Purdue University and completed post-graduate work in Finite Element Analysis. 

Roger serves as the Co-Chair of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) Technical Committee for Automotive Audio, and as the Chairman of Automotive Audio Educational Pillar of the Audio Product Education Institute (APEI).  Most recently, he organized the 2022 AES International Automotive Audio Conference in Dearborn, Michigan as the Conference Chair. We were lucky enough to meet Roger last year while he visited campus to speak at a Special Acoustics Seminar for students pursuing an acoustical-related degree and eager to network with industry leaders like Roger.

Before co-founding JJR Acoustics in 2011, Roger worked as Chief Engineer of Acoustic Systems as well as functional manager for North American and Asian engineering product development teams in the Automotive Division of Harman International Industries Inc.

Event Digital Archive:

Recorded Awards Presentation and Panel Discussion

Event Flickr Album, photos by Ed Lausch Photography

Fall Celebration 

Staff, faculty, and students were also recognized at the event that took place on September 29, 2022. The following list of honorees were recognized for their outstanding contributions on behalf of the School of Engineering Education.

Richard W. McDowell Best Counselor Awards

The McDowell Award was established through the generosity of Richard W. McDowell following his long service to the First-Year Engineering Program at Purdue.  The award is exclusively for recognizing excellence in advising First-Year Engineering students.  For 2022, we recognized two exemplary academic advisors, Katy Panozzo and Christine Pekny. 

Katy Panozzo

Christine Pekny

Staff, Faculty, and Student Recognition

International Recognition

William Oakes 
2021 IFEES Duncan Fraser Award

2022 ASEE AWARDS

Phil Wankat
Lifetime Achievement Award

Virginia Womack
DuPont Minorities in Engineering Award

Joyce Main
Best Division Paper for Engineering Research Methods, Best Professional Interest Council II Paper, Best Overall 2022 ASEE Annual Conference Paper

Allison Godwin and Donna Riley
William H. Corcoran Award for Best Paper in the Chemical Engineering Education Journal in 2021

Yagmur Onder
Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Paper 

2022 SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY AWARDS

Kerrie Douglas
College of Engineering Engagement Award

Matt Ohland
College of Engineering Faculty Mentor Award

Joyce Main
ENE Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching

Gary McFall
Center for Instructional Excellence, Purdue Teaching Academy, Teaching Leadership Award Fellow

Audeen Fentiman and Isabel Jimenez
Students First Award

2022 GRADUATE PROGRAM RECOGNITION

Paul Leidig
ENE Graduate Teaching Award

Dayoung Kim and Cristián Vargas-Ordóñez
Magoon Excellence in Teaching Award

Aziz Dridi
College of Engineering Outstanding Service Scholarship

Athena Lin
ENE Graduate Program Service Award

Jacqueline Rohde
ENE Graduate Research Award

2022 UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM RECOGNITION

Rachel Gander
Outstanding Junior (MDE)  AND MDESS Officer

Mason Zhao
Outstanding Junior (MDE)

Claudia Johnson
Outstanding Service Award (IDES) AND MDESS President

Saya Ueki
Outstanding Sophomore (MDE) AND MDESS Officer

Aliyha Ahmad, Abhilash Chandra, Jade Lee, Vina Nguyen
MDESS Officers

FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING RECOGNITION

West Lafayette Smart City Challenge Finalists

Jeannete Aguilar and Sean Brophy, Mentors

TRAWS Team— Sid Gaur, Atharva Rao, Benjamin Murray and Tobias Bautista

LED Pathways Team— Talya Arpaci, Lonnie Schwartz and Sarah Wheeler