Clifton A. Baile, Ph.D.
D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Agricultural Biotechnology
University of Georgia
With more than 40 years experience at Harvard University, UPenn, UGA, SmithKline Beecham and the Monsanto Company, Baile brings a wealth of experience translating university research to private sector use. He has participated in the founding of eight companies while at UGA. In 2002 he was awarded the Lamar Dodd Award for recognition of “an outstanding body of scholarly and creative activities in the sciences.” He was recognized in 2008 with the D. W. Brooks Distinguished Professorship by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for sustained exemplary achievements in research.
J. Barnie Beasley, Jr., P.E.
Director, Engineering Solutions
Beasley is a Director for Engineering Solutions, an international nuclear services company with operations throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries. He also serves as an independent nuclear safety and operations expert to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors. A UGA engineering alumnus, Beasley joined the Georgia Power Company in 1969 as a co-op student. Joining Southern Nuclear Operating Company in 1997, he moved through successive management roles in Southern Nuclear, retiring in 2008 as President, CEO and Chairman. Beasley served as the inaugural chair of the University of Georgia Engineering Advisory Board from 2008-2010.
Mickey Brown, P.E.
Executive Vice President
Georgia Power
Brown, who serves as Executive Vice President of Georgia Power’s Customer Service Organization, holds an engineering and MBA degree from UGA and Georgia State University, respectively, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Development Program. He is responsible for the construction, design and maintenance of the electric system serving some two million customers statewide. He also leads the company’s region operations, customer service, corporate services, and energy planning & sales initiatives. In 1969, Brown joined Georgia Power as a junior engineer and has moved through successive leadership roles in the land, retail sales and service, Metro Atlanta and Northern regions, and distribution departments.
James H. Dooley, Ph.D., P.E.
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Forest Concepts, LLC
A licensed professional engineer, Dooley is a Past President of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and of the Institute of Biological Engineering. His company, Forest Concepts, specializes in woody biomass feedstocks and developing, manufacturing and marketing innovative wood products for environmental restoration and habitat enhancement. Dooley has been a leader on the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology, where he helped strategically modernize the accreditation criteria for biological engineering. He has been elected Fellow in three scientific and technical societies and has been awarded nine United States patents. Dooley is the 2011-2012 chair of the UGA Engineering Advisory Board.
Dustin Dyer
Guidance Navigation & Control Engineer
NASA
A 2006 UGA engineering alumnus, Dyer earned his M.S. from Georgia Tech in electrical and computer engineering, where he was awarded the Honeywell Innovator Scholarship. In 2008, he accepted a position with the National Aeronautics & Space Administration, supporting the Space Shuttle Program as a mission assurance engineer. In 2010, he moved to NASA’s Launch Services Program where he currently serves as a guidance, navigation, and control systems engineer for NASA’s fleet of expendable launch vehicles.
Timothy D. Farley
Vice President, Engineering
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
Gulfstream is a world-wide technology leader in the business-aviation field with over 11,500 employees. Farley, an aeronautical engineering graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, provides engineering leadership for Gulfstream’s operations. His past responsibilities with Gulfstream have included leadership positions in Structures, Service Engineering and Project Engineering. Prior to joining Gulfstream in 1992 as a project engineer, Farley was employed with McDonnell-Douglas.
Pramod P. Khargonekar, Ph.D.
Dean Emeritus, College of Engineering
Eckis Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Florida
A UF alumnus, Khargonekar is an internationally recognized scholar who has authored three hundred publications in the fields of electrical and computer engineering. As past leader of UF Engineering, he is an influential voice in American academia and many professional organizations. Khargonekar was the 2010-2011 chair of the UGA Engineering Advisory Board.
David Radcliffe, Ph.D., C.P. Eng. (Australia)
Kamyar Haghighi Head, School of Engineering Education
Epistemology Professor of Engineering Education
Purdue University
A past President of the Australian Association of Engineering Education, Radcliffe is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. Prior to joining Purdue in 2007, Radcliffe taught and researched at various universities in Australia, UK, and USA and with industry focus on design research, education innovation, building strategic interdisciplinary partnerships and capacity building. His research focuses on the nature of engineering as a profession, how it is perceived and practiced, how it is learned especially outside of the classroom, and how an engineer’s identity is shaped.
Jagannath Rao
President, Customer Services Division USA
Siemens
Siemens is a leading, global technology company which is more that 150 years old and has operations around the world in more than 180 countries and 400,000 plus employees. Siemens Industry inc (SII) is the US arm of the company and serves the Industrial market in the USA. Jagannath Rao, an electrical engineer, provides leadership for the Services Division of SII which focuses on addressing trends in the industry related to productivity, water and energy management, asset performance management and water treatment technologies. He has been with Siemens for 27 years and has had various management roles in India, Singapore and USA.
Ward Simonton, Ph.D.
Principal
Simonton & McKinney, LLC
A UGA engineering alumnus, Simonton began his career in the Kellogg Innovation Center. After receiving his PhD from the Oklahoma State University in 1986, Simonton joined the UGA engineering faculty and for eight years led an advanced robotics program focused on agricultural applications. Simonton left UGA in 1994 to start Adaptive Equipment, Inc., a company that designs, builds, and supports robotic automation for manufacturing firms worldwide. In 2010, Simonton founded an energy efficiency firm serving both businesses and homes.
Michael Szomjassy
President, Environmental Services
CH2M Hill
A Notre Dame civil engineering alumnus, Szomjassy is President of the Environmental Services Business Group and former member of the Board of Directors of CH2M Hill, a U.S. Fortune 500 company with 30,000 employees worldwide. Szomjassy recently served as the Deputy Program Director for the CLM Delivery Partner, a joint venture providing program management to the Olympic Delivery Authority for the London 2012 Olympics. He previously filled leadership roles with Williams Environmental Services, Insituform Technologies, Aqua Alliance and OHM Corporation.
Rogers Wade
President and Chief Executive Officer
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Before joining the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, Wade was a senior partner in the public affairs firm of Edington, Wade and Associates. An active member of the Georgia business and political community for nearly 40 years, he served as the chief staff to Senator Herman E. Talmadge in Washington from 1973 to 1980 and is active on the Boards of the Georgia Research Alliance, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the U.S.O., the Georgia Trucking Assn., and the Richard B. Russell Foundation.
Thomas Woelker, Dipl.-Ing.
COO of ThyssenKrupp IT Services GmbH
ThyssenKrupp Group
A mechanical engineering graduate of Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany, Woelker joined ThyssenKrupp in 2001 and has served in several successive management roles, becoming operating unit head of the newly founded ThyssenKrupp IT Services GmbH in 2009. ThyssenKrupp is an integrated materials and technology group with almost 180,000 employees in more than 90 countries developing ideas and innovations to offer solutions for sustainable progress. Eight business areas focus the Group’s activities and know-how in strategic competency areas of Materials and Technologies. In addition to manufacturing materials and plants, the Group also provides complete system solutions and innovative services.
