Six outstanding alumni inducted into Virginia Tech Academy of Engineering Excellence
The academy welcomed its newest class in May and brought its total membership to 185 alumni who have achieved exceptional career successes.
The Virginia Tech Academy of Engineering Excellence has welcomed six new members into its esteemed ranks.
Established in 1999 under the guidance of Dean Emeritus F. William Stephenson and the college’s advisory board, this award recognizes members who have made enduring contributions to engineering and leadership throughout their careers. Selected from a pool of over 79,000 living alumni of the College of Engineering, the distinguished 2024 inductees have brought the academy’s total membership to 185.
This year’s inductees are:
- Mary Cunningham Boyce '81 of New York City
- Uma Jayaram M.S. '88, Ph.D. '91 of Los Gatos, California
- D. Fred McBagonluri M.S. '98 of Accra, Ghana
- Jay Parikh '94 of Mountain View, California
- Ed Reynolds '85 of Ellicott City, Maryland
- Preston Mason White '63 of Virginia Beach, Virginia
“We are thrilled to welcome a cohort of extraordinary inductees whose accomplished careers have significantly influenced the engineering landscape,” said Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. “As academy members, they epitomize the pinnacle of professional achievement attainable through a Virginia Tech engineering education.”
Read more about the academy and each of its 184 members.
2024 Academy of Engineering Excellence inductees
Mary Cunningham Boyce
Bachelor's degree in engineering science and mechanics, 1981
Always drawn to mathematics and physics, engineering was a natural decision for Boyce. Between supportive faculty, taking Mechanics of Deformable Bodies, a co-op opportunity, and being part of a study abroad trip to the former Soviet Union, Boyce found her footing in engineering mechanics.
After graduating from Virginia Tech, she went on to receive her master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Boyce has spent her career in academia since completing her degrees. She is best known for the Arruda-Boyce model of the behavior of polymeric materials and her innovative product development of rubber and other soft materials.
“My academic experiences at Virginia Tech were a launching point for my entire career,” Boyce said. “These opportunities gave me the confidence to pursue a doctoral degree at MIT and my ongoing academic career in research in a highly interdisciplinary field.”
Between MIT and Columbia University, Boyce has led a distinguished career, including:
- Receiving the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering from The Franklin Institute; the Timoshenko Medal for Advances in Applied Mechanics, Applied Mechanics Division from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; and the Engineering Science Medal from the Society of Engineering Science
- Membership in the National Academy of Engineering
- Fellowships in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Academy of Arts and Science, and the American Academy of Mechanics.
- Roles as department head, dean, provost, and chief academic officer
Uma Jayaram
Master's degree in mechanical engineering, 1988
Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, 1991
An accomplished engineer and leader, Jayaram began her journey as the first woman admitted to the mechanical engineering program at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Her time at Virginia Tech was profoundly influenced by her Ph.D. advisor, Arvid Myklebust, and the ACSYNT consortium, which taught her the value of co-creation with external partners. These experiences shaped Jayaram’s approach toward team building and leadership and have been instrumental in her career, which spans academia, startups, and corporations.
“A life lesson given by my seventh grade teacher was, ‘Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you.’ I believe that we should strive to leave every interaction, every place, every group, and every organization a little better than how we found it,” said Jayaram. “This positive contribution, however small, is within everyone's reach and will improve the whole ecosystem and eventually come back to us in unexpected ways.”
Her journey to become the global head of Partnerships for Academia and Industry Research at Electronic Arts has crossed diverse sectors, including media and entertainment, engineering design, manufacturing, aerospace, and gaming. Jayaram’s highlights include:
- Leading the Intel Sports engineering team in transmitting the first streams from the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies in Pyeongchang, Korea, using the True VR end-to-end technology
- Co-founding three companies, two of which were acquired
- Being recognized as an American Society of Mechanical Engineers fellow in 2012
- Receiving her Ph.D. with her mother, husband, and 3-month-old daughter at her side
D. Fred McBagonluri
Master's degree in engineering sciences and mechanics, 1998
In his formative years, McBagonluri was inspired by a local mechanic and his uncle who was a doctor. After earning an engineering scholarship, he combined the influences of these two fields and dedicated 16 years to the medical devices and equipment sectors. Recognizing the need to educate Africa’s emerging engineers, McBagonluri has been committed to ensuring they receive appropriate training for the past eight years.
Currently the provost and president of Academic City College in Ghana, McBagonluri’s career highlights include:
- Recipient of the 2008 New Jersey NJBiz Innovator Hero Award, a finalist for the 2009 NASA Astronaut Candidate Corps, and most recently the 2018 Ashesi University Innovator of the Year
- Written over 40 U.S. patents and patent applications, 22 of which were issued
- Pioneered innovative product development and manufacturing processes, leading to over $250 million in new markets
- A distinguished career as a hands-on, progressive innovator in corporate America working at senior levels for Siemens Healthcare, Becton Dickinson & Co., and Joerns Healthcare
When asked what being inducted into the academy means to him McBagonluri said, “The dreams that come true are the dreams we dream while awake.”
Jay Parikh
Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, 1994
A mechanical engineer by education, Parikh saw an incredible opportunity in the internet technology industry. The fast-paced learning environment intrigued him from the very beginning. Equipped with the systems thinking and problem-solving skills that Virginia Tech instilled in him, he’s gravitated to tackling the more difficult problems in his career.
With a career focused on engineering and product, Parikh’s accomplishments include:
- Growing Facebook from 300 million people to more than 3 billion
- Introducing and scaling disruptive technologies from zero to billions in revenue
- Gaining a wide range of experiences across business and technical functions
“I am humbled and honored to be inducted into the Academy of Engineering Excellence,” said Parikh. “I never thought that when I graduated I’d become a member of such an accomplished group of Virginia Tech alumni.”
Ed Reynolds
Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, 1985
Reynolds has made significant contributions to space exploration throughout his career. His defining moment came in 1990, when he, as a systems engineer for the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), won a mission to rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid against the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This success led to further missions to Mercury, Pluto, and the sun.
Following his work at Johns Hopkins University APL, Reynolds has spent over 20 years with NASA as a project manager for its missions. Other career milestones include:
- Being named to TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2023
- Having asteroid (33486) 1999GN8 renamed Edreynolds by the International Astronomical Union Naming Committee
- Receiving the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Award for Aerospace for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission
“Being inducted into the Virginia Tech Academy of Engineering Excellence is a remarkable achievement for me. It signifies not only technical capability but leadership and dedication to advancing knowledge and solving real-world challenges,” said Reynolds. “Personally, it recognizes my contributions to deep space missions to better understand and protect Earth from solar coronal mass ejections and asteroid impacts.”
Preston Mason White
Bachelor's degree in building construction, 1963
At Virginia Tech, White embarked on a transformative journey that not only shaped his career but also impacted many lives. His most memorable moment at Virginia Tech was a setback in his first year. However, with his mentor Bill Favro’s advice, he returned to pursue a degree in building construction, marking a pivotal point in his life. White credits the building construction program for requiring courses that provided him with the skills needed to run a business.
Recently retired, White’s accomplishments are noteworthy, including:
- Establishing a $10 million endowed diversity scholarship as part of Virginia Tech Advantage which recently named its first recipient
- Building a company from the bottom up, turning Century Concrete Inc. into a powerhouse with over 500 employees across three cities
- Living out the spirit of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) through his involvement on over a dozen boards, including sitting on the Board of Visitors for Virginia Tech and Christopher Newport University
- Nearly a decade serving in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve early in his career
On being inducted into the academy, White said, “Many who have come before me in this distinction are well deserving and I hope I can live up to the expectations. One bit of irony is that building construction was not part of the College of Engineering until several years ago, so I might not have been eligible for this back then. However, I am glad to be honored with this award, and for that part, I am glad I was a part of getting the major moved to the College of Engineering.”
