Presenting this year is Eric Scandrett (BSME ‘25), who in his own words shared that graduating from Howard University with his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering is a moment he will cherish forever—a milestone that represents not only years of hard work, but also a journey filled with growth, discovery, and unforgettable experiences.
Category: Alumni, College of Engineering and Architecture, Mechanical Engineering
Howard University mechanical engineering alumna Aprille J. Ericsson (MEng ‘90; Ph.D. ‘95) has been nominated by United States President Joseph Biden to serve as the assistant secretary of defense for science and technology.
Howard University computer science assistant professor Anietie Andy, PhD (MSc ’09; PhD ’17), recently received a $500K grant from the National Institutes of Health Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) to build the Howard University Integrated Clinical Data Repository (CDR). Anietie Andy and Abiodun Otolorin, MD, MS, FAAFP, assistant professor of community and family medicine, were named PIs on the project in collaboration with MedStar Health.
Category: Alumni, Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Kimberly L. Jones, Ph.D. (BSCE '90) is the first African American in the EPA's 45-year history to be appointed as chair of the board that advises the nation’s top agency responsible for protecting the environment and human health.
Category: Alumni, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture
Howard University Architecture Professor Hazel R. Edwards, Ph.D. (B.Arch. ‘86) was selected as a 2023-2024 fellow of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. According to the Institute, a Radcliffe fellowship offers scholars in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts—as well as writers, journalists, and other distinguished professionals—a rare chance to pursue ambitious projects for a full year in a vibrant interdisciplinary setting amid the resources of Harvard.
Category: Alumni, Architecture, Research, College of Engineering and Architecture
This year three outstanding College of Engineering and Architecture (CEA) graduates will be presenting at our Spring 2023 CEA Awards and Recognition Ceremony, Olabisi Bello (BSChE ’23), Myles Bostic (BSCS ‘23) and Marie-Chantal Nyirahategekimana (BSChE ‘23).
Category: Alumni, Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Howard University architecture professor Hazel Ruth Edwards, PhD., FAICP, (B.Arch. ’86) recently received Architectural Record's 2022 Women in Architecture Design Leadership Award in the category of educator.
Category: Alumni, Architecture, College of Engineering and Architecture
Howard University architecture alumna, professor and former chair of the Department of Architecture Hazel Ruth Edwards, Ph.D., FAICP (B.Arch. ’86) was an invited speaker at a local, independently organized TED event, the TEDxPearlStreet event Mavericks & Moonshots, this past summer.
Howard University mechanical engineering alumna Aprille J. Ericsson (M. Eng. ‘90; Ph.D. ‘95) was recently awarded the Ralph Coats Roe Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The Ralph Coats Roe Medal was established in 1972 to recognize engineers who have made an outstanding contribution toward a better public understanding and appreciation of engineering and its impact on society.
Howard University civil engineering professor Lorraine Fleming has been elected to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), University of California, Berkeley. She will be inducted at a banquet on the Berkeley campus on June 16, 2022. CEE faculty established the CEE Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 2012. Among the objectives of the Academy are to honor the outstanding professional accomplishments and contributions of CEE alumni and to present Academy members to students as examples of successful CEE graduates and role models. The CEE Academy shines a light on the achievements of its graduates.
Category: Alumni, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Mechanical engineering alumna Delicia Gunn (BSME ‘94), recently launched HEMPSULATION®, the debut product of her new venture HEMPSULATION, LLC. HEMPSULATION® is a sustainable building insulation material for commercial and residential use. The non-toxic, negative carbon footprint building material offers thermal, environmental and health benefits surpassing mineral wool, fiberglass, rockwool and other synthetic building insulation products.
Mechanical engineering alumnus and professor emeritus Lewis Thigpen, Ph.D., PE (BSME ’64) was invited to deliver a lecture as a distinguished alumnus at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) Department’s 2022 MMAE Student Research Competition and Departmental Awards.
Category: Alumni, Mechanical Engineering
Jason Pugh, AIA, AICP, NOMA, LEED AP, (B. Arch. 2005) was named principal at Gensler, the world’s largest design and architecture firm, according to Architectural Record. Founded in San Francisco, California in 1965, Gensler generated $1.2 billion in revenue in 2021, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. Gensler operates offices in forty-nine cities in sixteen countries worldwide, working for clients in over one hundred countries.
Howard University Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Ph.D. student Justin Drummond was recently selected as a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF). According to NSF, the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP) is a highly competitive fellowship program that “recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.”
Alumna Renetta Garrison Tull, Ph.D. (BSEE ‘91) recently received the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head Association’s (ECEDHA) Diversity Award. According to the ECEDHA website, this award is given to department(s) or individual(s) in recognition of proactive efforts to increase cultural, ethnic, and gender diversity within the ECE student body and among ECE faculty, that go well above and beyond the normal institutional recruiting practices. ECEDHA membership comprises over 250 ECE department heads or chairs from across the US and Canada.
Category: Alumni, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Mechanical engineering alumnus Oscar Barton, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., F.ASME (MSME ‘87, Ph.D. ‘93) recently received the 2022 District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies (DCCEAS) Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Barton is the first African American mechanical engineering Ph.D. recipient at Howard University and was named dean of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State University in 2020.
Architecture alumnus Alonzo Robinson (B.Arch. ’51) was recently honored with the renaming of the Milwaukee Fire Department Administration Building, which he designed. The building now stands as the Alonzo Robinson Milwaukee Fire Department Administration Building. Robinson was the first African-American architect to be registered in the state of Wisconsin.
This Black History Month, we honor our building namesakes and pioneers in engineering and architecture education, Lewis King Downing (BSCE 1921) and Howard Hamilton Mackey.
Category: Alumni, Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture
The Office of the Provost recently announced the appointment of alumna Kimberly L. Jones, Ph.D., (BSCE ‘90) as associate provost for faculty affairs. In her role, Dr. Jones will work directly with President Frederick and Provost Wutoh and advise on faculty academic matters, disciplinary actions, academic processes and procedures and other assigned responsibilities.
Recent computer science Ph.D. graduate Naveen Naik Sapavath and Ph.D. candidate Eric Muhati received the IEEE CSCloud 2021 Best Student Paper Award at the 8th IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Cloud Computing.
Howard University Department of Architecture Chair Hazel Ruth Edwards, Ph.D., FAICP will be appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts by President Joseph Biden. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) was established by Congress in 1910 as a permanent body to advise the federal government on matters pertaining to the arts and national symbols, and to guide the architectural development of Washington, D.C. The seven-member body is appointed by the President to serve four-year terms; new appointees are not subject to Senate review.
Chemical Engineering Alumnus Jamel Ali, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory partners with Patrick Ymele-Leki, Ph.D., interim chair and associate professor of chemical engineering on bacteria research funded by a total of over $1M in National Science Foundation grants. The pair were featured in a special issue of Chemical & Engineering News (c&en), a publication of the American Chemical Society (ACS), that celebrated 2021 Black Trailblazers in the chemical sciences and engineering.
Category: Alumni, Research, Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture
Mechanical Engineering Alumnus David Canada (BSME ‘04) received the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) 2021 Science Spectrum Trailblazers Award. The award recognizes distinguished individuals who are making a difference in mathematics, biological sciences, physical sciences and social sciences.
This Women’s History Month we honor and share the stories of two alumnae who are dedicated College of Engineering and Architecture leaders, Hazel R. Edwards, Ph.D. and Kimberly L. Jones, Ph.D. Department of Architecture Chair Hazel R. Edwards, Ph.D., FAICP (B. Arch. ‘86) made history when she became the first female architecture department chair at Howard University (HU) in 2016. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Chair Kimberly L. Jones, Ph.D. (BSCE ‘90) is in our spotlight as an alumna who serves and leads her alma mater in various leadership roles. Dr. Jones also serves as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education for the College of Engineering and Architecture.
Alumnus and professor emeritus Lewis Thigpen, Ph.D., PE (BSME ’64) recently published his autobiography, Born and Rai
Architecture Alumnus James E. Silcott (B.Arch. ‘57) has been elevated to the 2020 College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). Silcott was selected for his notable contributions to the advancement of architecture education and the profession through his philanthropy and as a role model and leader in public service.
We celebrate the life of Architecture Professor Emeritus and Alumnus Victor C. W. Dzidzienyo (B.Arch. '67; MCP '69). We deeply appreciate his dedicated service and extend our condolences to family and friends.
Recent Computer Science Ph.D. graduates Abdulhamid Adebayo (far right) and Ronald Doku (second to the right) joined tech giants IBM Research and Oracle as researchers in cybersecurity and data science. Dr. Adebayo joined IBM Research as Hybrid Cloud Security Researcher and Dr. Doku joined Oracle, Inc. as Data Scientist. Both were graduate research assistants and advisees of Danda B. Rawat, Ph.D., Computer Science Professor and Director of Howard University’s Data Science & Cybersecurity Center (DSC2).
Architecture Alumnus Julian Arrington (‘15) of SmithGroup, an international architecture, engineering and planning firm, served as one of two lead designers for Society’s Cage, an art installation that makes “a statement on the forces of systemic racism” (SmithGroup).
Category: Alumni, Architecture
Mechanical Engineering Alumnus Oscar Barton, Jr. (MSME ‘87, Ph.D. ‘93), the first African American to receive the Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University, was recently named dean of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State University. Dr. Barton’s leadership will assist with the efforts of engineering deans at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to diversify the engineering fields and promote the position of HBCUs as leading research institutions in science and engineering.
