Engineering at Nebraska, Summer 2009

Feature

Class Notes

Bruce Dvorak, professor and associate chair with civil engineering, shared in the 2009 Samuel Arnold Greeley Award from the Environmental Water Resources Institute. He was recognized with co-authors of the paper, "Relative Impact on GAC Usage Rates of Operating Strategies for Treatment of Contaminated Groundwater," which appeared in the Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management's April 2008 issue.

Joe Benak, professor of civil engineering at the Omaha Campus, retired this spring after 41 years with the college.

Ronald Yoder, head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Biological Systems Engineering, was named to the 2009 class of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Fellows. ASABE cited Yoder for outstanding accomplishments as professor and department head at UNL and in his prior work at the University of Tennessee. Yoder also is associate director of agricultural water management at the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

1980s
Charles Burr, B.S. MSYM '85 and M.S. MSYM '86, lives in Holdrege and works as an extension educator in Phelps County and on a Center Pivot Water Conservation Project. He travels across the state delivering educational programs to center pivot irrigators to help them become more efficient with water application.

1990s
Allen Gehring, P.E., B.S. AGEN '92, is the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservation Engineer in Des Moines, Iowa. He and his wife, Julie (a '91 UNL grad) live in Urbandale with their two daughters.

Judd Stewart, B.S. MSYM '96, lives in Fairbury and has been a test engineer with Exmark for more than nine years.

Nathan Garret, B.S. BSEN '98, is a field engineer for the USDA-NRCS office in Grand Island. He and his wife have two children.

Tony Kaufman, B.S. BSEN '98, changed career focus as he exited Lean Six Sigma at 3M to become manager of the Medical Specialties Laboratory. This is an OEM business within 3M's Skin and Wound Care Division.

2000s
Krista Evans, B.S. BSEN '02, works for BrainLAB, Inc., as an Image Guided Surgery (IGS) Support Specialist and lives in St. Paul, Minn.

Bingguang Li, Ph.D. IMSE '02, was elected chairperson of Division of Information and Analysis, for the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business (AACSB Accredited) at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. He also received The 2008-2009 Byrd Award for Excellence in Teaching from Dean Randy Boxx of Byrd School of Business, May 2009 and The 2009 Wilkins Appreciation Award from the president of Shenandoah University in May 2009.

Jeremy Albin, B.S. BSEN '04, graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and is now doing his general surgery residency with Methodist Health Systems in Dallas, Texas.

Nicholas Willis, B.S. BSEN '04, is a water permit engineer for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Water Division, in North Little Rock. He married Dr. Amanda Price, a pediatrician, in July of 2008, and they honeymooned in Duluth, MN.

Tosin Adekoya, B.S. BSEN '06, lives in Aurora, Ill., and works as an Equity Analyst for Spot Trading LLC. He received his MBA in finance in St. Louis, and finds a lot of correlation between engineering and finance.

Nick Anderson, B.S. BSEN '06, is a student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

Tanner Augustin, B.S. BSEN '06, is a clinical specialist for Medtronic in Santa Rosa, Calif. He provides technical support to cardiologists in the operating room. He also routinely checks patients with implanted devices to ensure proper function.

Shannon Rose (Bates) Callahan, B.S. AGEN '06, moved to Charleston and works for the SC Department of Transportation Construction Department as an associate engineer.

Carrie (McMurray) Romero, B.S. BSEN '06, works for Olsson Associates in Omaha as an assistant engineer on projects including floodplain management, lake rehabilitation, and bridge scour analysis.

Kevin Tacke, B.S. AGEN '06, lives in Hesston, Kan., and works for AGCO Corporation as a design engineer for large square balers.

Brandon Wyant, B.S. AGEN '06, is a product engineer for Deere & Co. He recently moved to Lenexa, Kan. He works as part of an acquisitions team with the Frontier Equipment line.

Brad Salber, B.S., AGEN '07, is currently living in Chandler, Ariz., and working as a Field Test Engineer at the Case New Holland Arizona Proving Grounds.

Andrew Pettit, B.S. CNST '08, is an engineer with Kiewit Construction. Currently in Waco, Texas, he is working on building a power plant and is overseeing all of the concrete and rebar work at the construction site.

Adam Breitbarth, B.S. EE '09, was hired to work in Huntsville, Ala., for Boeing and in conjunction with NASA on the Ares Project.

Shane Cerney, MAE ‘09, lives in Omaha's Aksarben area and cycles to work at Leo A Daly Co. On the job, he's done fire protection engineering and some mechanical/HVAC engineering projects.

Samantha Cumper, B.S. MECH '09, entered the MD/PhD Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Josh Eiden, MAE '09, was hired as an electrical design engineer with Alvine Engineering.

Michael Fagan, MAE '09, began work with Specialized Engineering Solutions as an electrical engineer.

Erin Hammons, B.S. MECH '09, is pursuing graduate studies with the Space Management Program at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France.

Kate Hinsley, B.S. CHME '09, has joined ExxonMobil's oil refinery in Chalmette, La., as a chemical contact engineer.

Ryan Hulme, B.S. AGEN '09, was hired as a design engineer for the agricultural and industrial equipment department at Orthman Manufacturing, with headquarters in Lexington, Neb.