Class Notes were compiled by the Arkansas Alumni Association from July 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024.
1970s
Lamar Pettus BSME’68, JD’74 of Fayetteville received the 2024 Veteran Award by U of A School of Law. Pettus received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1968 and his Juris Doctor, with honors, from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1974.
Michael W. Mourot BSCHE’76, MSCHE’77 of Lake Jackson, Texas, was a member of a team that won second place in faculty presentations at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Conference for “Adding Ph.D. Students to the Chemical Engineering Alumni Student Mentoring Program.”
1980s
Charles V. Stevens BSCHE’82 and his wife, Marion, of Springdale have joined the Deans Advisory Council for the University Libraries.
J. Robert Dean Jr. Esquire BSCHE’83, JD’88 of Stamford, Connecticut, was a member of a team that won second place in faculty presentations at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Conference for “Adding Ph.D. Students to the Chemical Engineering Alumni Student Mentoring Program.”
Alan Mantooth BSEE’85, MSEE,’86 of Fayetteville, received multiple awards in fall 2023, including the 2023 Harry A. Owen Jr. award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Power Electronics Society. He received the 2023 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Tau Beta Pi, the premier Engineering Honor Society. Mantooth also received the 2023 Business Advocate of the Year from the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.
Alan Mantooth BSEE’85, MSEE’86 of Fayetteville, as a member of the U of A Power Group, was recognized by the R&D 100 Awards, for the group’s innovations. Working with Ampaire Inc., an electrified aircraft company in southern California, U of A Power Group researchers designed the motor drive to power the electrical engine in a hybrid electric aircraft, focusing on electrical, mechanical, controls and communications.
Kent McAllister BSCHE’87 of Richmond, Texas, was a member of a team that won second place in faculty presentations at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Conference for “Adding Ph.D. Students to the Chemical Engineering Alumni Student Mentoring Program.”
Heather Leigh Walker BSCHE’89, MSCHE’93, PHD’96, teaching associate professor, was a member of a team that won second place in faculty presentations at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Conference for “Adding Ph.D. Students to the Chemical Engineering Alumni Student Mentoring Program.” Walker also won second place in the student poster competition with chemical engineering student for “A Teaching Plan for Introducing Engineering in 1st-2nd Grade Classrooms in Northwest Arkansas.”
1990s
Greg Nesmith BSCHE’90 of Springdale was a member of a team that won second place in faculty presentations at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Conference for “Adding Ph.D. Students to the Chemical Engineering Alumni Student Mentoring Program.”
2000s
Dearl David Peachee of Springdale is the 2023 College of Engineering Staff Employee of the Year.
Nhiem H. Cao BSCHE’01, MBA’11 is a 2023 recipient of the Graduate Entrepreneurial Fellowship led by the U of A’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Cao’s entrepreneurial focus is pursuing and evaluating new innovations in the medical industry.
Nihshanka Debroy BSCMP’05 of Lawrenceville, Georgia, authored Checkmate: a 1,500-Year-Old Mystery, a work of historical fiction. The book is a fictional account of the origins of chess in the midst of war. Christopher Edward Nelson BSBE’09, professor in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, received an Office of Nationally Competitive Awards Gold Medal.
2010s
Chris Patrick Farnell BSEE’10 MSEE’17 PHD’20 of Springdale, as a member of the U of A Power Group was recognized by the R&D 100 Awards, for the group’s innovations. Working with Ampaire Inc., an electrified aircraft company in southern California, U of A Power Group researchers designed the motor drive to power the electrical engine in a hybrid electric aircraft, focusing on electrical, mechanical, controls and communications.
Summer Rae Wilkie BSCE’12, youth coordinator for the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, received an Office of Nationally Competitive Awards Gold Medal.
Gage Greening BSBME’14 PHD’19 of Kansas City, Missouri, is a research associate in the Laboratory of Immunogenomics at the Children’s Mercy Research Institute.
Hieu Trung BuiBSIE’15 MSOM’17 MSIE’19 of Vietnam, competed in the Arkansas Bioinformatics Consortium 2024 Conference held Feb. 26-27 in Little Rock. Bui who was advised by Sandra Eksioglu, associate dean for research, received third place recognition in the Best Poster Award, Graduate Student category, for his poster titled, “Tackling Vaccine Hesitancy Via Analytical Models”.
Jian Zhang BSBME’15 of Russellville was awarded the National Institutes of Health Trailblazer R21 Award to study the critical role cellular contractility plays in both development and disease. The Trailblazer Award is an opportunity for new and early-stage investigators to pursue research programs at the interface of life sciences with engineering and physical sciences.
2020s
Tevari J. Barker BSIE’20 MSIE’22 of Texarkana, Texas, received the Richard H. Barchi prize at the 91st annual Symposium of the Military Operations Research Society for the paper he submitted along with a team including Eric Specking B.S.Cmp.’09, M.S.I.E.’13, Ph.D.’20, Ed Pohl and Greg Parnell.
Angellina R. Treat BSBME’20 of Springdale is a 2023 recipient of the Graduate Entrepreneurial Fellowship led by the U of A’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Her entrepreneurial focus is pursuing the commercialization of environmentally sustainable technologies, most particularly clean water and biofuels.
Katherine Alejandra Miranda Munoz BSBME’21 MSBME’22 of Fayetteville is a 2023 recipient of the Graduate Entrepreneurial Fellowship led by the U of A’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She will utilize the fellowship to pursue her passion: improving medical care for livestock.
Aubrey Lynn Schultz MSCHE’21, of Fayetteville and engineering librarian Jay McAllister won third place in student presentations at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Conference for “A Comparison of Coverage and Subject Areas in Compendex, Inspec, and Web of Science Core Collection for Use as an Engineering Database.”
Wei Du PHD’22, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received an award from the National Science Foundation in support of his research on SiGeSn-based heterostructures for intersubb and photonic materials for use in semiconductor manufacturing.
FRIENDS
Edwin Lopez Roman BSME’24 of Fayetteville was awarded 2023-24 Intern of the Year by Engineering Career Connections. This esteemed recognition is awarded to outstanding students who have demonstrated achievement and excellence within their internship or cooperative education and academic journey.
Corbin Russ BSME’24 of Gravette won first place for student papers as a team member of mechanical engineering students and assistant professor Han Hu at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Conference. Their paper was titled “Integration of Metal Additive Manufacturing Using Fused Deposition Modeling in Mechanical Engineering Education.