Five alumni inducted into Academy of Engineering Excellence

Virginia Tech’s Academy of Engineering Excellence inducted five new members at its annual ceremony to celebrate careers that reflect innovation, leadership, and a lasting impact on the future of engineering.

This year’s inductees are:

• Maria A. Bothwell
• Thomas "Ted" Hume
• Navin Manjooran
• Michael J. Mankosa
• Roshan Roeder

Since its establishment in 1999, the academy has recognized just 190 graduates out of more than 82,000 living alumni of the College of Engineering, making the group one of the most prestigious at Virginia Tech.

“The five remarkable alumni we’re welcoming into the academy this year have reached levels of excellence and achievement that inspire our entire community,” said Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. “Their success stories reflect the power of a Virginia Tech engineering education to shape lives of meaning, leadership, and lasting impact.”

2025 Academy of Engineering Excellence inductees

Maria A. Bothwell

• Bachelor's degree, industrial engineering and operations research, 1990
• MBA, business administration, 1992

Late in Maria Bothwell’s senior year at Virginia Tech came a crisis: She’d accepted a job as a mechanical engineering patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with plans to go to law school, but she slowly realized that this path didn’t align with her skills or her interests in the human elements of industrial engineering. Tim Greene, a professor of industrial and systems engineering, stood in as a therapist and coach to help avert the crisis. “He guided me through a swift pivot to an MBA program, and he referred me to a manufacturing engineering role at Litton Poly-Scientific, [where] I applied total quality management practices in the projects throughout the plant,” Bothwell said.

Driving results on the manufacturing floor led to a management consulting role focused on process reengineering, then to multiple leadership positions in business consulting, strategy, and new business launch. Since 2017 Bothwell has served as CEO and chair of Toffler Associates, a future-focused strategic advisory firm working in the areas of resilience, security, innovation, technology, and workforce transformation. “As a curious lifelong learner, I love the dynamic client environment with challenges and uncertainty,” Bothwell said. “Now 30+ years later, I still enjoy solving new client challenges.”

Career highlights

• Being inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni for the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Serving as advisory board chair for Virginia Tech's Department of Engineering Education, advisory board member for Virginia Tech's Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, executive board member for the Professional Services Council, and advisor for the Federal Foresight Advocacy Alliance
• Obtaining a Certificate de Cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu Paris and preparing meals as a volunteer chef for the Carpenter Shelter residents

Thomas "Ted" Hume

• Bachelor's degree, electrical engineering, 1974

Ted Hume’s work ethic, sense of community, even his engineering career can be traced to his childhood growing up on a farm outside Washington, D.C. “What shapes us as human beings is where we come from — our family, values, and experiences,” he said. “I grew up watching my parents do whatever was necessary to provide, and that taught me resilience and adaptability.” He also gained early experience tinkering with tractors, playing with walkie-talkies, and putting together a ham radio from a kit his parents gave him. “That really helped lead me to choose electrical engineering at Virginia Tech,” Hume said.

Hume’s upbringing and values made working for the government a natural fit, and he spent 32 years in public service before co-founding the defense and system engineering company Dominion Technology Resources in 2003. Recognizing the evolving challenges in national security, Hume and his wife, Karyn, established the Hume Center for National Security and Technology in 2010. “To be prepared to handle the changing landscape of threats to the United States, I knew we needed to invest in our students,” said Hume, who sees the center as his legacy. “They’re our future defenders.”

Career highlights

• Creating the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech
• Serving as chairman of the Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s National Security Institute
• Spending career working on extremely challenging, interesting, and important problems on behalf of and for the U.S. government

Navin Manjooran

• Ph.D., materials science and engineering, 2007

“My journey into materials science and engineering, particularly nanotechnology, has been shaped by a combination of family influence, personal passion, and a commitment to innovation and leadership,” Navin Manjooran said. A full scholarship brought him to Virginia Tech to pursue a doctorate in materials science and engineering with a focus on nanotechnology. “The sense of family and a culture of collaboration, combined with a strong emphasis on excellence, were key factors that drew me to Virginia Tech.”

His ongoing commitment to global leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the pursuit of excellence continues to guide him in his role as chairman of Solve, a global technology and research services company focused on critical challenges in energy, industry, medicine, and infrastructure. Throughout his career, Manjooran has remained dedicated to mentoring emerging professionals and driving inclusive innovation across sectors. His time at Virginia Tech, he says, laid the foundation for a lifelong pursuit of impact through science, leadership, and service.

Career highlights

• Being chosen as a fellow of seven professional societies: ASM International; the American Ceramic Society; the Institute of Engineers; the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining; the Indian Institute of Metals; Alpha Sigma Mu; and the Indian Institute of Engineers
• Serving on a multitude of boards, including as president and chair of the Board of Trustees for ASM International
• Publishing 12 books and holding 12 patents/disclosures

Michael J. Mankosa

• Bachelor's degree, mining and minerals engineering, 1984
• Master's degree, mining and minerals engineering, 1986
• Ph.D., mining and minerals engineering, 1990

The late nights Mike Mankosa spent in the lab as a graduate student working on the design, instrumentation, and control of minerals processing equipment may have been exhausting, but they paid off. Not only did Mankosa pursue a successful career in research and development, rising to executive vice president of global technology at Eriez, but he’s still in touch with his long-ago lab mates. “Most of those friendships are still in place and regularly enjoyed 35 years later,” he said.

Mankosa knew he wanted to study engineering in college, but it was pure luck that he ended up at Virginia Tech. His mother insisted on touring campus in 1978 while en route to summer vacation in Myrtle Beach. “One visit to campus was all it took to be convinced,” he said. Graduate school in mining and minerals engineering fostered his natural inventiveness, and with 70 patents to his name, Mankosa was selected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018. “This global recognition by my peers was the ultimate achievement in my career,” he said. 

Career highlights

• Being selected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018
• Authoring 115 articles in scientific and technical journals
• Obtaining 70 patents for U.S. and international equipment and processes and over $2 million in federal and state research funding

Roshan Roeder

• Bachelor's degree, computer engineering, 2001

Northrop Grumman hired Roshan Roeder as a software engineer when she was fresh out of earning her undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech. More than two decades later, she now leads 20,000+ employees as corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, a role she’s held since 2024. “I’m using engineering to really make a difference by providing global defense technology that equips the U.S. government and our allies to protect the world,” Roeder said.

Virginia Tech rose to the top of Roeder’s college list because it was the best engineering school close to her hometown of Charleston, West Virginia, and her brother was an electrical engineering alumnus. Now the university is definitely a family affair: Roeder married a fellow student, and together they have two daughters who have their own dreams of one day attending Virginia Tech. 

Career highlights

• Being named corporate vice president and president of defense systems at Northrop Grumman in 2022
• Serving as a commencement speaker for the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering
• Joining Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus Advisory Board in 2024

Read about past inductees to the Academy of Engineering Excellence.