HALL OF FAME

2021Hall of Fame

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

CHRISTINE ALTENDORF

Dr. Christine Altendorf grew up in Oklahoma City, enrolled at Oklahoma State University in the fall of 1981 and graduated with her Bachelor of Science in agricultural engineering in 1985, along with a Master of Science in the same subject in 1987. After her master’s degree, Altendorf started a full-time staff position with the School of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) as a research engineer and decided to pursue her doctoral degree on the side.

After receiving her doctorate in 1993, Altendorf realized she had a passion for applied engineering and started her federal government career in the Hydrology and Hydraulics Branch of the Tulsa District Corps of Engineers in April 1994. She became a professional engineer in civil engineering that same year.

Altendorf currently serves as the chief of engineering and construction for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Washington, D.C. In this role, she oversees a workforce of more than 9,000 engineers and technicians along with a portfolio of civil and military projects totaling over $60 billion. She interacts extensively with top leaders within the Department of Defense and other government agencies as well as those working in the private sector of engineering and construction. She makes regular appearances on Capitol Hill and communicates frequently with various professional and advocacy groups. She has worked for the Army for over 27 years, 21 of which were with the Corps.

Altendorf became a member of the prestigious Senior Executive Service (SES) in 2009. The SES focuses on executive leadership; these individuals serve just below presidential appointees and represent a key link between political appointees and civil service employees. Only about 0.35% of the federal workforce achieves SES status.

At about the same time she assumed her current position, Altendorf was recognized with the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award. This is the highest annual award for career SES members and recognizes “sustained extraordinary accomplishment.”

Her career has some truly remarkable signature accomplishments that merit additional mention. The Folsom Dam project, which she inherited when she was new to the Sacramento District, had significant constructability and cost issues with pressure from Congress and headquarters to solve the problem. She worked with the Bureau of Reclamation, USACE and Congress to turn the project around and get the $1 billion Folsom Joint Federal Project authorized and constructed.

She led Task Force Restore Iraqi Oil (TF-RIO) in 2004, working to get oil flowing from northern Iraq to the south to allow for economic stability and nation building for the country. In 2011, she led the Joint Program Integration Office in Kabul, Afghanistan, focused on building electrical grid systems, roadways, dams and infrastructure for the Afghan Army and police.

Because of her program management and communication skills, she was asked to be the first director of the Army’s Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Program, which was outside of her normal realm of assignments. “Being an engineer allows you so many opportunities — and that is the true value of the degree,” Altendorf said. “You can choose to stay in design or construction engineering or research — where you turn ideas into practical solutions. You can move to management and focus on inspiring and leading people, projects and programs.

“But the basis of all of this is that through our engineering degrees, we were taught to think, assume, imagine and ultimately solve hard problems and create an innovative future.”

LELAND BLANK

Dr. Leland Blank graduated from Oklahoma State University with his Master of Science in 1968 and his doctoral degree in 1970. Since leaving the School of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) at OSU, Blank has built a stellar career spanning multiple universities around the globe. Some of Blank’s biggest accomplishments include being a leader in international higher education development and co-author of two current and leading engineering textbooks in engineering economy. Both textbooks are published by McGraw Hill, with the first textbook on its eighth edition, and the second textbook on its third edition. He has served as the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) president, as well as interim provost, chief academic officer and dean of engineering at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He was also the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI of multiple educational and research projects. Blank was a distinguished military graduate from ROTC and a recipient of the Army commendation medal.

Blank has also received the Frank and Lillian Gilbreth award in 2018, a pinnacle in IISE. The Gilbreth award is the highest and most esteemed honor in the field of industrial engineering, which recognizes those who have distinguished themselves through contributions to the welfare of mankind in the field. He was awarded the IISE Wellington Award for long-term contributions to the field of engineering economy, as well.

Blank has provided leadership at several levels at Texas A&M University, where he was department head, assistant dean and assistant provost for continuous improvement. Within the Texas A&M University system, his leadership includes several directorships and the key role of assistant deputy chancellor for planning. His industrial experience includes employment with Southwestern Bell Telephone, Public Service Board of San Antonio and General Telephone Company (now Verizon).

Blank is also the author of over 100 publications — textbooks, journal articles, conference proceedings and keynote papers. His professional focus has been engineering economics, statistics, decision support, strategic planning and managing complex systems. Though the number of his publications is noteworthy, it is not the volume of Blank’s work that makes him an exceptional contributor to Industrial and Systems Engineering, but rather his impact. Blank has always been forward thinking and his publications reflect his ability to challenge the status quo and move the finish line.

Blank continues to serve professionally through his membership on the Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, where he received his bachelor’s degree. Additionally, he is a board member and treasurer of The Cowboy Academy of the IEM department at OSU.

Blank advised current and future CEAT students to use all the resources they can while they are in school.

“Become involved in some sort of mentoring program through your academic department or an organization in which you are a member or officer,” he said. “Listening to and asking questions of several professionals currently in practice, who received an education and degree similar to your own, can be very useful as you decide on dimensions regarding your own career path.”

PREVIOUS HALL OF FAME RECIPIENTS

1954 Laurence L. Dresser 1955 Gerald W. McCullough 1956 Richard K. Lane 1957 Thomas M. Lumly Jr. 1958 Guy H. James 1959 Francis J. Wilson 1960 Morrison B. Cunningham 1961 Lloyd E. Elkins 1962 Don McBride 1963 B. Harris Bateman 1964 William W. Caudill 1965 Myron A. Wright 1966 Edwin G. Malzahn 1967 Eugene L. Miller 1968 David G. Murray 1969 Melvin A. Ellsworth 1970 Veldo H. Brewer 1971 Ralph M. Ball 1972 Richard O. Newman 1973 David B. Benham 1974 Carl G. Herrington 1975 James J. Kelly 1975 Gus L. Maciula 1976 Donald E. Adams 1976 James C. Phelps 1976 Fred H. Ramseur Jr. 1977 John S. Zink 1978 Sidney E. Scisson 1979 John L. Hatheway 1979 Eason H. Leonard 1979 Nicholas B. Mavris 1980 John B. Jones Jr. 1981 William J. Collins Jr. 1982 Floyd M. Bartlett 1982 Holmes H. McClure 1983 Bill N. Lacy 1983 George H. Lawrence 1984 Edward C. Joullian III 1984 Glenn E. Penisten 1985 Frank A. McPherson 1986 James E. Barnes 1986 Martin E. Fate Jr. 1987 Raymond A. Porter 1987 James D. Cobb

CARRIE JOHNSON

Carrie Johnson graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering as well as her Master of Architectural Engineering degree in 1988. She now serves as a principal of Wallace Design Collective — formerly Wallace Engineering Structural Consultants, Inc. — a national structural engineering, civil engineering and landscape architecture firm headquartered in Tulsa with offices in Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Denver and Atlanta. She is a licensed engineer in 43 states. Johnson currently serves as the chair of the Board of Directors for Wallace Design Collective.

Johnson is a past president of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA), a nonprofit organization formed to constantly improve the standard level of practice of the structural engineering profession. She has also served on a number of NCSEA committees. In 2016, Johnson was given the NCSEA Service Award. This award is presented to an individual who has worked for the betterment of the organization to a degree that is beyond the norm of volunteerism. It is given to someone who has made a clear and indisputable contribution to the organization and to the profession.

Johnson is an active member of the Oklahoma Structural Engineers Association (OSEA), served as president of OSEA in 2001 and 2009, and was the OSEA delegate to NCSEA for six years. She has also served numerous times as a juror for the OSU School of Architecture’s senior design projects; as an advisor for the School of Civil Engineering’s senior level steel course; and has been a mentor for high school students interested in engineering programs housed in OSU’s College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.

Johnson served as president of the Board of Directors of the Applied Technology Council (ATC) in 2019, a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to develop and promote state-of-the-art, user-friendly engineering resources and applications for use in mitigating the effects of natural and other hazards to the built environment. ATC’s publications on disaster recovery and assessment are used throughout the world. She also serves as chair of ATC’s strategic planning committee and is still on the board of directors today.

Johnson’s project work is concentrated in the retail industry where she has been instrumental in the development of multi-sited building prototypes. She has automated many in-house operational and administrative functions and, more importantly, has developed proprietary software programs to automate repetitive structural engineering tasks for clients’ building programs. She has led the company’s efforts to create the best experience possible for their clients and employees, called “One Wallace.” This has been a multi-year effort to provide training tools for employees, consistency between offices, and drawing and engineering standards.

“My most vivid memories are of long nights in the architecture building,” Johnson said as she reflected on her time at OSU. “I am privileged to work with many of the people I met at OSU and a lot of our clients are people who we all met during our time in college.”

1988 Choong-Shik Cho 1988 Robert M. Penn 1989 Wilfred P. Schmoe 1989 Neal A. McCaleb 1991 Jim E. Shamas 1991 J. Tinsley Oden 1991 David J. Tippeconnic 1992 W. Wayne Allen 1992 Robert M. Lawrence 1992 Wolter J. Fabrycky 1993 Jack P. Holman 1993 Keith E. Bailey 1993 Kenneth J. Richards 1994 Kerry S. Havner 1994 Donald R. Lehman 1995 Ted E. Davis 1995 D. Ray Booker 1995 Charles L. Hardt 1996 R. Gerald Bennett 1996 Marvin M. Johnson 1996 Jerry D. Homes 1997 H. E. Cobb Jr. 1997 J. N. Reddy 1997 Donald L. Wickens 1998 Ronald D. Wickens 1998 John E. Hershey 1999 Ronald L. Calsing 1999 John C. Mihm 1999 Heinz W. Schmitt 2000 Jim W. Bruza 2000 Sherman E. Smith 2000 Thomas W. Wallace 2000 Charles O. Heller 2001 B. N. Murali 2001 Duane Wilson 2001 Robert Braswell 2002 Donald W. Vanlandingham 2002 Frank W. Chitwood 2002 H. Edward Roberts 2003 Jim B. Surjaatmadja 2003 James R. Holland Jr. 2003 Kent E. Patterson 2004 J. D. “Denny” Carreker Jr. 2004 Steven D. Hofener

MATT PERRY

Dr. Matt Perry is an Oklahoma State University alumnus with three degrees in electrical engineering. He last graduated from OSU with his doctorate in 1991, where he focused on signal processing, system theory and mathematics. Perry has over 35 years of industry and academic experience, spanning three different areas: defense, semiconductors, and hyperscale hardware and software systems. He is currently the general manager of silicon and hardware systems for Microsoft’s Azure Hardware Division, where he is developing next generation data center silicon/hardware solutions with emphasis on artificial intelligence, computation and intelligent edge.

Perry has had an impact on many dimensions of the field. He was an accomplished researcher and published papers in signal processing, both working as an engineer and as an educator. Those skills served him well as he became an engineering product leader at Motorola, developing and shipping video conferencing chipsets.

When he moved to Advanced Micro Devices in 1995, he supplemented his combination of engineering and research skills with a move into corporate strategy. Perry managed AMD’s strategy with respect to Intel along with their technical and intellectual property strategies.

After AMD, Perry moved into a business entrepreneur role, serving as the CEO of three different startup companies (Transmeta, RPO and Montalvo). Transmeta had been a darling of Silicon Valley with their ambition of revolutionizing microprocessor architecture, but the competition proved too challenging, causing them to fall on hard times. Perry was brought in to chart a new course, which he did by shifting Transmeta to an IP licensing company. That move proved successful and Transmeta was able to license large portions of their portfolio for nine figures of revenue.

At RPO, he led successful technology development and financing rounds. He then led Montalvo to be one of the only companies successfully developing x86 microprocessors outside of Intel and AMD, and successfully sold the company to Sun Microsystems.

After the Sun Microsystems acquisition, Perry moved into the role of corporate executive, overseeing strategic partnerships, IP licensing and strategic plans for multiple server designs. In 2014, he moved to Microsoft, where he took on an even broader role, overseeing hardware partnerships and hardware-software codesign for the Windows business.

Perry commends his professors and the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology’s staff for providing him with the support he needed to graduate with his undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees at OSU.

“One of my proudest moments at OSU is when I completed my doctoral defense,” Perry said. “I will never forget standing in front of my major professor, Dr. Rao Yarlagadda, as he extended his hand to shake and said, ‘Congratulations Dr. Perry, you have passed,’ after years of work and research. I would not have been able to do it without the help of the Cowboy family.”

Perry reflected on his time at OSU, giving advice to current students.

“One of the most important lessons I learned from OSU is to branch out and try things outside of your comfort zone,” he said. “Without doing this, it is more challenging to grow and become the person you want to be. You may find a new passion or hobby, but going outside of your comfort zone and learning new things will open doors that you never knew were available.”

2004 David Kyle 2004 Eddie M. Jones 2004 Neal E. Jones 2005 James Brooks Cummins 2005 Gordon E. Eubanks Jr. 2005 Behrokh Khoshnevis 2006 Sanjiv Sidhu 2006 James L. Vining 2006 Jack B. ReVelle 2006 Gary A. Pope 2007 Rand Elliott 2007 Michael Damore 2007 Leslie Priebe 2008 Ronald L. Hoffman 2008 Donald D. Humphreys 2008 Samir A. Lawrence 2008 Ronnie Morgan 2009 Charles Kridler 2009 Meemong Lee 2009 A. Joe Mitchell Jr. 2009 Sridhar Mitta 2009 Richard Weidner 2010 Ray O. Johnson 2010 Jerry Banks 2010 Juan Carlos Calderon 2011 Jeffrey Fisher 2011 Lakshmaiah Ponnala 2011 Enos Stover 2011 Paul Liao 2012 Wilson Shoffner 2012 Calvin Vogt 2012 Jerry Winchester 2012 Cassie Mitchell 2013 Kenneth E. Case 2013 Harvey B. Manbeck 2013 Rixio Medina 2013 Robert Schaefer 2013 Rick Webb 2014 Debbie Adams 2014 Alan Brunacini 2014 Harold Courson 2014 Decker Dawson 2014 Johann Demmel 2014 Jeff Hume

STAN STEPHENSON

Stan Stephenson graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2003 with a Master of Science in engineering and technology management (ETM). He is a registered professional engineer and certified reliability engineer. Stephenson has been with Halliburton since 1979 and is now a chief technical advisor for the company. Stephenson immediately leveraged his ETM education at OSU to win the 2003 CEO for a Day Competition with a written entry on how to make Halliburton a better, stronger, more profitable company. Following this, he developed a reliability program modeled after the U.S. Army’s Ultra-Reliability Program. He managed this program for several years before taking a role to optimize both the capital efficiency and operating efficiency of Halliburton’s production enhancement surface equipment.

Stephenson has 64 patented inventions, which vary drastically from one application to another. One invention uses artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms to maximize regional oil production. This production prediction and optimization system was highlighted in the Advanced Well Construction Technology Flagship in the 2000 Halliburton Annual report. The technology was awarded the Hart’s Oil and Gas World magazine’s Best New Technology for the Mid-Continent Area.

Stephenson was also one of a small team that brought Halliburton’s automated stimulation fleet into a reality in the 1980s. A few years later, the fleet became the first in the industry to be controlled remotely through satellite connection.

Stephenson did not limit himself to mechanical, electromechanical, software/firmware or reliability systems. In the area of chemical mixing, he identified and modeled the time, temperature and mechanical shear dependency of guar hydration. This was critical to the functioning of Halliburton’s gelling systems.

Stephenson’s expertise has been recognized by both his peers and management within Halliburton. He was voted by his peers as a senior member of the technical staff and was selected by management as one of the charter members of the Strategic Competitive Intelligence Network. He currently reviews about 8,000 patents a year for opportunities or threats to Halliburton’s technologies.

Stephenson’s latest activities involve the creation of methods to accurately predict equipment life and operating costs. He created equivalency-based models that contain lifecycle performances of all primary components of the equipment, enabling a very complicated reliability analysis system currently in use in Halliburton. His methods allow Halliburton to maximize the use of their complex high horsepower systems while minimizing failure costs. His depth of knowledge of this technology and other technologies make him the “go-to” individual in the company and in the industry. He has been an invited speaker and consultant on many of the technologies he developed.

“Good judgment comes from bad experiences,” Stephenson said when giving advice to CEAT students. “You have the authority to do anything for which you are willing to accept the consequences. Understand the half-life of your engineering discipline and plan for your continuing education accordingly. Most importantly, follow your passion so you won’t ‘work’ a day in your life.”

2014 David Timberlake 2014 Janet Weiss 2015 Jack Corgan 2015 Shrikant Joshi 2015 Ed Stokes 2015 Rao Surampalli 2016 Mark Brewer 2016 Ann Oglesby 2017 Legand Burge Jr. 2017 Jack Goertz 2017 John Klopp 2017 Gary Ridley 2017 Eric Woodroof 2018 Ali Fazel 2018 Brian C. Price 2018 Edward L. Shreve 2019 Jim Hasenbeck 2019 Rick Muncrief 2019 Charles Reimer 2019 Lyndon Taylor 2020 Mark Sutton 2020 Tom Britton 2020 Huan Nguyen 2020 Steve Searcy 2021 Stan Stephenson 2021 Matt Perry 2021 Christine Altendorf 2021 Carrie Johnson 2021 Leland Blank