Outstanding Mechanical Engineer Awards
Friday, October 23, 2026
6:00PM-9:00PM
The Convergence Center
101 Foundry Dr, West Lafayette, IN
Every year, the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University recognizes alumni who have demonstrated excellence in industry, academia, governmental service, or other endeavors related to mechanical engineering. Honorees have shown outstanding character and leadership and have accomplished great things. Since 1991, 354 of our alumni have been honored with the prestigious Outstanding Mechanical Engineer Award.
Congratulations to all our 2026 OME recipients for showing us the best that Mechanical Engineering has to offer!
Eckhard Groll
William E. and Florence E. Perry Head and Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering
N.K. Anand | David L. Blunck | Aine Denari | Fred Elbert | Dr. Daniel Finfer | Kuk Kim Frey | Kislaya Kunjan | Jeff Matthews | Mahi Rayasam
N.K. ANAND
Regents Professor & Marcus C. Easterling Chair Professor, J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University
PhD 1983
Dr. N. K. Anand is a distinguished academic leader and researcher currently serving as a Regents Professor and the Marcus C. Easterling Chair Professor in the J. Mike Walker ‘66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also holds an affiliate faculty position in Nuclear Engineering.
He earned his PhD from Purdue University in 1983 and began his career as a systems engineer at the Singer Company, where he pioneered the “linearized admittance” method for flow network simulation and developed real-time software for pressurized water reactors. Since joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1985, Dr. Anand has taught extensively in the thermal sciences and supervised the research of over 40 graduate students. His scholarly work, which includes over 145 technical articles and a coauthored textbook on finite element and finite volume techniques, is widely recognized for contributions to gas-cooled reactor thermohydraulics, reduced-order modeling, and physics-informed neural networks. His nuclear-specific research has spanned the design of aerosol sampling lines for Carlsbad waste storage site to the characterization of turbulent flows in pebble beds.
Beyond his research, Dr. Anand has held numerous pivotal leadership roles, including Executive Associate Dean, Interim Dean of Engineering, and Vice President and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. Notably, he was a key architect of the College of Engineering’s “25 by 25” growth plan. His career-long excellence has been honored with the ASME Harry Potter Gold Medal in 2020 and the ASME Edwin F. Church Medal in 2026, as well as induction into the Kansas State University Engineering Hall of Fame. He is a Fellow of ASME and a recipient of the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Administration.
DAVID L. BLUNCK
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, College of Engineering, Oregon State University
MSME 2008, PhD 2010
Dr. David Blunck is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University (OSU), the fifth largest undergraduate program (by enrollment) in the United States. He and his team of 50 academic professionals have overseen significant improvement in retention of first year students, expansion of student success initiatives, and accreditation of 14 programs. He is a professor in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, and formerly served as the Associate School Head for Undergraduate Programs. He established the Combustion, Ignition, Radiation, and Energy (CIRE) Laboratory and co-founded the Propulsion Laboratory. His research focuses on studying combustion processes for wildfire and propulsion applications and has ranged from studying smoldering combustion to detonations. He has been a principal investigator on over $13M in research funding and a lead investigator on over $9M.
Prior to joining OSU he was the lead investigator in fundamental combustor research at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and a graduate research assistant at Purdue University. During his time at AFRL, Dr. Blunck was the recipient of a Simpson Team Award and was nominated for a Presidential Early Career Award from the Propulsion Directorate. At Purdue University. Dr. Blunck conducted studies of infrared radiation emissions from exhaust plumes and flames. He received a Department of Homeland Security Fellowship, was named the Outstanding Graduate Student and received the Graduate Student Excellence Award. In 2015, he was named the AIAA Pacific Northwest Section Young Engineer of the Year and in 2016 he received an ONR Young Investigator Award for combustion research.
Dr. Blunck has authored over 130 peer-reviewed or conference publications, 2 book sections, and has provided 50 invited presentations. His research has been featured by National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and the National Public Radio.
AINE DENARI
Chief Executive Officer, Brunswick Corporation
MSME 1996
Áine Denari was recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of Brunswick Corporation, after serving as both Executive Vice President and President of Navico Group and Chief Technology Officer of Brunswick Corporation since 2024. Her Navico group responsibilities included leading numerous industry-leading brands that serve marine, RV, specialty vehicle and industrial markets. In her CTO role she was responsible for advancing Brunswick’s technology strategy, including ACES, boating intelligence, and maintaining Brunswick’s position of technology leadership in the marine industry.
Denari was previously President of Brunswick Boat Group from 2020 to 2024 where she had responsibility for the largest global boat portfolio in the recreational marine industry, which consists of 18 boat brands globally.
Prior to joining Brunswick, Denari spent 25 years in a variety of executive positions within the automotive and industrial industries, as well as in leadership positions at major global consulting firms. From 2014 to 2020 she was Senior Vice President at ZF AG, a global automotive Tier 1 supplier, where she led the automated driving/advanced driver assistance systems business. Denari also worked in strategy consulting in Europe and the US with consulting firms McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company. She also spent time in various engineering and strategy roles with Ford Motor Company and Ingersoll Rand.
Outside of her role at Brunswick, Denari serves on the Board of Directors of Masco Corporation and is an NMMA Executive Board member. Denari holds an MBA from Northwestern University, completed the Stanford Executive Program, holds advanced engineering degrees from Purdue University and University of Detroit Mercy and received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from University College in Dublin in Ireland.
FRED ELBERT
Principal, Elbert Field Equipment Solutions, LLC
BSME 1984
Fred Elbert is currently the Principal of Elbert Field Equipment Solutions (EFES), a specialty project management and design engineering firm that serves multiple industries. Elbert provides high-level engineering consulting, failure analysis, and project/construction management for complex industrial systems.
Before launching his own business, Elbert worked as a Global Business Manager and Engineering Manager at GL & V USA Inc. where he led multimillion dollar equipment lines, oversaw end-to-end product lifecycles, and drove significant revenue growth, including tripling annual sales and achieving sustained 40% year-over-year service revenue increases. His technical contributions include published work on large machine component design and participation in the development of API/ASME Fitness-for-Service standards.
Elbert also served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers retiring as a Colonel. His military leadership included managing large-scale engineering organizations of up to 2,500 personnel, overseeing annual budgets exceeding $20 million, and directing hundreds of construction projects across the United States, Bosnia and Iraq. His service was recognized with the prestigious Bronze de Fleury Medal, the highest honor in the Engineer Regiment.
Fred Elbert earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1984. He often participates in the Purdue ME Alumni Mentorship Program.
DR. DANIEL FINFER
Innovation Manager, Sensing, Anglo-Teck
BSME 2002
Dr. Daniel Finfer is a technology innovator specializing in the development and deployment of sensing systems for critical minerals and energy. He earned his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and his master’s and doctorate from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Finfer has developed technologies now used in upstream oil and gas, open-pit mining, and minerals processing. His publications and patents in acoustics, industrial sensing, and mining technology have been cited more than 1,000 times and his inventions have helped create hundreds of millions of dollars in value across critical minerals operations in Latin America, Africa, and Europe.
Dr. Finfer previously worked in distributed fiber optic-based acoustic sensing at Silixa, where he led an offshore North Sea project resulting in the first 3D vertical seismic profile survey in producing wells. He also commercialized the award-winning FibreWrap™ slurry flow system for minerals processing. Since 2020, Dr. Finfer has worked in corporate innovation at Anglo Teck, a global critical minerals company and top-five copper producer, where he drives ore sensor innovation. He is currently overseeing implementation of a ruggedized, eye-safe hyperspectral laser system at a Tier 1 Brazilian iron ore mine. This system identifies contaminants and alerts heavy machinery during extraction, marking a breakthrough in selective, data-driven critical minerals production.
He has published over 60 conference papers and patents. In 2014, Dr. Finfer was awarded the Early Career Engineer Award by Deepwater Development and in 2025, the Exceptional Performance Award from Anglo American.
KUK KIM FREY
Chief Engineer, Rolls-Royce
MSME 1991, PhD 1996
Kuk Kim Frey was born in 1965 in South Korea. She immigrated to the United States in 1975. Her father was an autobody repairman who had a dream that his family would get the opportunity to live a better life.
She grew up in Laurel, Maryland and became interested in engineering while attending Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She attended Virginia Tech and earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1988. She also earned her master’s and PhD in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. During her time at Purdue, she worked with Professor Sandy Fleeter on experimental aeromechanics research. Frey has co-authored numerous publications and earned various awards for technical excellence from these publications.
In 1996, she started working as an Aeromechanics Technical Specialist at Rolls-Royce, a leading aircraft jet engine manufacturer in Indianapolis. Since then, she has held numerous roles in technical project management while increasing leadership across a variety of engine programs. In 2021, she became the Chief Engineer for the T56 product line. In 2024, she took over the Helicopter product line and the US Defense Operations design engineering team where she oversees product line safety, integrity, technical assurance, capability, and manages over 90 engineers.
She married Steve Frey in 1994, a fellow graduate of Purdue University who also worked at Rolls-Royce for 31 years. Together, they have two children, Nicole Martin, a Pediatric Resident at IU Health and Alex Frey, a Computer Programmer at Epic Systems.
KISLAYA KUNJAN
Co-Founder and CEO, Cascade Metrix
MSME 2003
Kislaya Kunjan is a biomedical systems engineer and entrepreneur whose work represents significant advancement in the application of mechanical engineering to critical care medicine. As Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO of Cascade Metrix, he is leading the development of AutoPlexer™, a first-in-class, patient-connected platform for near continuous multiplex blood analysis in intensive care settings.
AutoPlexer™ addresses a fundamental and long-standing limitation in medicine that has remained unsolved despite decades of effort: the inability to monitor key biochemical parameters continuously without repeated blood draws and associated blood loss. By shifting from measurements spaced hours apart to minute-level trend visibility, this platform enables earlier detection and therapeutic intervention, representing a paradigm shift from intermittent diagnostics to continuous biochemical monitoring in critical care. This work builds directly on his graduate research at Purdue University where he developed an infrared spectroscopy-based glucose sensing system. This led to the formation of an early venture, Vista Biosciences, supported by a $250,000 Purdue University Technology Innovation Award.
He currently serves as Principal Investigator on a $2.5M National Institutes of Health SBIR Phase II Award, in collaboration with Purdue University that will advance AutoPlexer toward first-in-human clinical studies, regulatory clearance, and clinical deployment.
Dr. Kunjan is an inventor on multiple patents in automated blood micro-sampling and analysis and has authored several peer-reviewed publications spanning biomedical devices and health informatics.
He earned his master’s from Purdue University, an MBA from Cornell University and a PhD from Indiana University.
JEFF MATTHEWS
Vice President, Engineering, Cummins
MSME 1995
Jeff Matthews earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from The College of the Holy Cross and his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. While at Purdue, he did research in Farshid Sadeghi’s Tribology Lab.
After graduating, Matthews joined Cummins where he designed camshafts for on-highway trucks on the Injector and Valve Train Systems team. He later moved to a combustion role. After a few years, he took a leave of absence to pursue a PhD at MIT. After earning his degree, he returned to Cummins in 2004 and worked in the Research & Technology organization before moving to a management role in the High Horsepower Engineering team. In 2009, Matthews moved to the UK where he served as Technical Director of Cummins Generator Technologies. After a few years abroad, he moved back to the U.S. and held progressively more senior roles in the Power Generation Business Unit culminating with him being named Executive Director of Engineering.
In 2016, Matthews decided to join Polaris and served as Vice President of Powertrain Engineering, where he had responsibility for all engines and transmissions in Polaris snowmobiles and off-road vehicles, as well as Indian motorcycles. He also began serving on boards of local non-profits and delivered the keynote address at the 2023 SAE Small Powertrains and Energy Systems Technology Conference. In 2025, Matthews retired and left Polaris.
Three days into retirement, Cummins asked Matthews to become Vice President of Engineering. He is now responsible for 1,400 engineers and all engineering processes in support of a product line consisting of diesel and natural gas engines, alternators, electrical generator sets, cooling systems, and controls. He also serves as the Executive Sponsor for the Cummins Twin Cities United Way Campaign.
MAHI RAYASAM
Senior Vice President, Eli Lilly & Company
PhD 2007
Mahi Rayasam earned his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, his MBA from Northwestern University, and his PhD from Purdue University.
While at Purdue, Rayasam proposed foundational computational solvers for non-linear constrained optimization problems using scale-invariant hierarchical partition of unity methods. He published over 20 international journal and conference publications with 250 citations and was nominated for the Chorafas International Award for best PhD dissertation.
After graduating, Rayasam went to work at AMD where he was able to model and test cutting-edge technologies in semiconductor manufacturing and packaging. Collaborating with global teams, he contributed to the development of various CPU and GPU architectures. In 2010, he went to work at the Entertainment & Devices division at Microsoft where he led some of the pioneering consumer electronics products at the time including XBOX Kinect, Surface and Zune among others. He collaborated with global design and manufacturing and led multiple supplier teams. He left the company to get his MBA.
After earning his MBA, Rayasam went to work for McKinsey & Company where he founded and scaled their healthcare analytics practice, specializing in affordability and patient outcomes. He secured funding, refined product-market fit, optimized business model and financial arrangements, and grew to over 100 global companies. He served clients from Fortune 50 to startups.
In the last two years, Rayasam became Senior Vice President at Eli Lilly & Company. In this role, he builds AI-native products and services for global healthcare across cardio-metabolic health, oncology, neuroscience, and immunology. He works to accelerate AI product-platform-services capabilities across Lilly’s global teams to reach and serve 150 million global patients.