2012

Larry Chiang was born in China and grew up in Taiwan. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from National Chiao-Tung University, he earned a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1971 from Clemson University. He later came to Washington University in St. Louis and earned master's and doctoral degrees in control system science and engineering in 1973 and 1975, respectively. Early in his career at McDonnell Douglas, Dr. Chiang earned a master of business administration degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

In 1977, Dr. Chiang began his career in telecommunications at Bell Laboratories. He continued working with various companies (including Motorola, GTE Sprint and Nortel) before he returned to Taiwan in 1985.

As the vice president of sales and engineering of Siemens Telecommunications in Taiwan, Dr. Chiang participated in the digitalization for the incumbent operator's fixed network. He was promoted to executive vice president and established a joint venture with Fujitsu for its fiber optical products in 1992. As president of Siemens Telecommunication in 1995, Dr. Chiang participated in the design, delivery and commission of two GSM mobile networks.

Dr. Chiang retired in 2005 and became a senior advisor at Siemens Telecommunications. He also served as a consultant at China Venture Managements and as a board member of kbro Co. Ltd., a local cable company.

To show his appreciation of receiving research assistantships while attending graduate school at Washington University, he established an endowed scholarship and continues to provide scholarships for less fortunate students in China.

Today, Dr. Chiang works as a consultant for investment and a supervisor for a venture capital fund.

As a professional engineer, registered architect and president of William Tao & Associates, Richard Janis leads local, national and international projects. In 2005, Mr. Janis was engineer of record and LEED AP for Washington University in St. Louis' first LEED-accredited building, Earth & Planetary Sciences, and most recently engineered the School of Medicine's LEED Gold Data Center.

Mr. Janis earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri University of Science & Technology) in 1968. Upon graduation, he started his career and later decided to further his education at Washington University. Mr. Janis earned master's degrees in architecture and mechanical engineering in 1974. His thesis advisors were Bill Coad and Bill Tao, both of whom greatly influenced his career.

After graduation from Washington University, Mr. Janis went to work with William Tao & Associates, a practice devoted to energy- effective design of buildings. When Mr. Tao retired in 1989, Mr. Janis became CEO. The firm continued to maintain an industry leadership role in design, growing to include telecom/AV, civil, structural and architectural as well as mechanical and electrical engineering.

Mr. Janis has participated in many professional organizations over the years, including numerous speaking engagements for the American Institute of Architects and United States Green Building Council's Executive Committee, and he served as a past president of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) St. Louis chapter.

A senior lecturer for the School of Architecture, Mr. Janis has taught continually at Washington University since 1976. He also teaches a course, Sustainable Systems Design, as an adjunct instructor for the School of Engineering & Applied Science. One of his greatest accomplishments is coauthoring a book, Mechanical and Electrical Systems in Buildings, with Bill Tao, soon to be in its fifth edition.

Deepak Kantawala currently serves as a consultant to the Central Pollution Control Board, Government of India on the project to review water-quality criteria and standards for fresh, marine and ground waters of India.

As a consultant, he has handled various projects in the field of environmental engineering. He was involved in the design and commissioning of more than 100 industrial wastewater treatment plants for various industry subsectors, such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, pesticides, dyes and intermediates, fine chemicals, rubber chemicals, breweries, wineries, and dairy, for companies including NOCIL (Shell), Hoechst, Merck and Monsanto. He was also involved in the design and commissioning of a number of common effluent treatment plants for industrial estates and sewage treatment plants.

Dr. Kantawala earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Bombay in 1960, and then moved to the United States to attend Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned master's and doctor of science degrees in environmental and sanitary engineering in 1963 and 1966, respectively.

Dr. Kantawala was the recipient of Institution of Engineers (India) Environmental Engineering Design Award for the year 1989-90. In 2000, he was presented with the Chemtech Foundation Chemical Industry Stalwart Award.

He is a board-certified environmental engineering member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and has served in various capacities for the World Bank, World Health Organization, USAID and the Government of the Netherlands. Additionally, he is a member of the Water Environment Federation and Institution of Engineers (India), a life member of Indian Water Works Association and Indian Association of Environmental Management and president of the Indian Environmental Association.

Dr. Kantawala is a member of the Washington University International Advisory Committee for Asia and served as chairman of Research Council of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute of the Government of India for the period 1994-97.

Janice Karty joined McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company, MDAC (now Boeing), in 1985, as a research scientist after graduating from Washington University in St. Louis in 1978. She went on to earn master's and doctoral degrees from Rice University in 1981 and 1983, respectively.

Dr. Karty currently serves as a technical fellow within Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS). Since 2010, she has worked on Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) for products such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F-15 and the T-45 Training System.

During her 27-year career at Boeing, she has established a record of sustained technical excellence. Dr. Karty started as an entry-level researcher, developing computational software providing state-of-the-art electromagnetic analysis. She is actively involved in AIAA, IEEE and has presented more than 10 invited papers at national conferences.

Dr. Karty was elected to be a Boeing associate technical fellow in 2001, followed by her selection as technical fellow five years later. Boeing's Technical Fellowship is an association of engineers, scientists and researchers who promote the company's technical excellence and innovation and nurture the next generation of scientists and engineers. In accordance with these goals, Dr. Karty leads the Boeing Electromagnetics Mentoring Group.

In service to the St. Louis community and Washington University, Dr. Karty continues to present guest lectures on campus and serve as a local science fair judge. She also visits area high schools to advocate careers in math and science, the need for continuous learning and the value of advanced degrees offered by Washington University.

Dr. Karty has close family ties to Washington University, as three generations, including her father, son and brother, have also earned degrees. She lives in St. Louis with her husband, Dr. Bruce Baskir, and has three grown children, Eli, Rubin and Liza.

Dr. Milind Kulkarni serves as vice president and chief technology officer (CTO) of Solar Materials and Quantitative Silicon Research at MEMC Electronic Materials. In this role, he directs cross-functional research on polysilicon production, continuous Czochralski growth, directional solidification, wafering and cleaning processes, solar cell technology and modules production.

In 2005, Dr. Kulkarni became the youngest senior fellow in MEMC in record time (nine years). He conducted his research as a senior fellow, the highest technical recognition offered by MEMC, before becoming a vice president in 2009 and CTO in 2011.

Dr. Kulkarni's research interests span various fields of science and engineering relevant in the semiconductor and solar silicon processing industry, along with finance, operations and manufacturing management. His current research overlaps process technology and process engineering and interfaces strongly with manufacturing operations. Dr. Kulkarni developed unifying theories to describe polishing and decorating etchants, developed a novel silicon- etching process, explained the unique defect distributions near the periphery of defect engineered silicon crystals, and developed key mathematical tools and process insights to enable defect engineering of Czochralski silicon crystals. He has also guided significant proprietary improvements in the fluidized bed reactor and Siemens technologies to produce polysilicon, in the continuous Czochralski and directional solidification processes to produce crystalline silicon, and in novel wafering technologies to produce solar silicon wafers.

After he earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from University of Mumbai (UDCT), Dr. Kulkarni moved to the United States for graduate education. He earned a master's degree from Oregon State University and a doctoral degree from Washington University in St. Louis, both in chemical engineering; and later earned a master's degree in business administration from Washington University.

As the author of two book chapters, two award-winning journal papers and more than 60 journal publications, presentations and patent applications and as a co-editor of a conference proceedings volume, Dr. Kulkarni serves as a reviewer for various professional journals.

Jim McKelvey is an engineer, artist and entrepreneur. As an undergraduate engineer at Washington University in St. Louis, McKelvey authored two computer programming textbooks. Upon graduation he took a job with IBM and a side position as a teaching assistant in glassblowing.

In 1990, he co-founded Mira Digital Publishing, which is today a leader in electronic publishing for scientific conferences. In 2000, he co-founded Third Degree Glass Factory, which has grown into one of the most successful education centers in the world. He also wrote the No. 1 textbook for beginning glass studies.

In 2009, McKelvey co-founded Square, one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the U.S., which enables anyone to take credit card payments anywhere using their mobile device. McKelvey now sits on the board of directors of Square.

He and his wife, Anna, and son, Jimmy, travel extensively.

Jennifer Dionne is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University. Her research investigates metamaterials — engineered materials with optical and electrical properties not found in nature — for applications ranging from enhanced solar energy generation to subwavelength optical imaging and nanophotonic manipulation.

In 2010, Dr. Dionne served as a postdoctoral research fellow in chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, advised by Professor Paul Alivisatos.

Dr. Dionne earned a bachelor's of science degree in systems science & engineering and physics in 2003 from Washington University in St. Louis. She earned a doctoral degree in applied physics in 2009 from the California Institute of Technology, advised by Professor Harry Atwater.

The recipient of many young investigator achievements, she received the NSF CAREER Award (2012), AFOSR Young Investigator Award (2011), Technology Review Top Young Innovator Award (2011), Hellman Fellowship (2011), Terman Fellowship (2010), Clauser Prize for Best Caltech Thesis (2009) and MRS Gold Medal Graduate Student Award (2008). Dr. Dionne holds two patents, and her work has been featured in Science and Nature.

Outreach is a critical component of Dr. Dionne's role as an educator, and she is active both in the scientific and general communities. She aims to recruit the next generation of scientists and engineers through career day outreach programs, pre-major advising, authorship of a textbook Introduction to Solar Photonics and an organized science-as-art exhibit, "NanoArt: More than Meets the Eye."

Salvatore P. Sutera came to Washington University in St. Louis in 1968 to serve as the chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, a post he held for 25 years. Dr. Sutera was a key participant in the start-up of an undergraduate degree program in biomedical engineering.

He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from The Johns Hopkins University in 1954 and a master of science in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1955. He spent the following year as a Fulbright Fellow in Paris, France, conducting research in a French government laboratory.

Following a year with the DuPont Corporation in Delaware, Dr. Sutera returned to Caltech and earned a doctoral degree in 1960. From 1960 to 1968, he was a member of the engineering faculty at Brown University.

Early in his academic career, Dr. Sutera concentrated his research activities in the domains of biomechanics. He and his collaborators made many contributions to the understanding of blood flow in the mammalian microcirculation, flow-induced trauma to blood in artificial organs, and mechanical properties of the red blood cell in health and disease. His research programs won continuous sponsorship from the National Institutes of Health, and his publications include nearly 100 technical papers and two book chapters.

Dr. Sutera has been a dedicated Francophile for many years. In addition to a year in Paris as a student, he spent a semester as a visiting professor at the University of Paris in 1973. He has been an active member of the Alliance Française of St. Louis for more than 20 years and has served on the Board of Directors of St. Louis-Lyon Sister Cities Inc.

He and his wife, Celia, live in St. Louis, Mo. Their three adult daughters (Marie-Anne Woodruff, Annette Sutera and Michelle Ludwig) are all graduates of Washington University.