Distinguished Alumni Award
2019 Distinguished Alumni Award Winner: Dr. Yonn Rasmussen, Xerox Corporation
Cornell alumna and PCCW member Dr. Yonn Rasmussen is Vice President of a multi-national engineering and manufacturing organization within Xerox Corporation, responsible for technology, engineering and global manufacturing of digital printer components and subsystems. Over her 30-year career in business she has lead innovation in materials science and engineering and has amassed deep experience in commercialization of technology into products. She is currently also involved in an initiative to capture new markets in security enhancement and smart consumables based on printed electronics.
She is a recipient of the Xerox President’s Award and holds 29 patents. She received a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester through the Executive Development Program. She is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Beta Gamma Sigma engineering and business honor societies.
In 2018 she was elected by the alumni to the Cornell Board of Trustees. She is on the advisory board of the Materials Science & Engineering Department at Cornell, is the former Chair of the Student Mentoring as well as the Alumnae Engagement Committees of President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW) and is a member of the Simon Women’s Alliance at University of Rochester Business School. She is the former National President for Asian Professional Networking group at Xerox. She has a long-standing interest in student mentoring. Over the years, she has mentored STEM women in engineering and science through SWE career and leadership development seminars, through various Cornell 1:1 mentoring platforms and by creating networking opportunities between Cornell PCCW alumnae and students.
Past Materials Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award Winners
2018
James Hwang
Professor of Electrical Engineering, Lehigh University. Dr. Hwang received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1978.
2017
Linda Schadler
Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Education, and Russell Sage Professor, Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Schadler received her PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1990.
2016
Eugene Fitzgerald
Merton C. Flemings-SMA Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. Dr. Fitzgerald received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1989.
2015
Don Thomas
Author, Speaker and Former Astronaut with 4 space missions. Dr. Thomas received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering From Cornell in 1982.
2014
Karel Czanderna
President & CEO of Flexsteel Industries. Dr. Czanderna received her PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1984.
2013
Richard Vaia
Branch Chief of the Nanostructured & Biological Materials Branch at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Dr. Vaia received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1995.
2011
Sunggi Baik
President of Pohang University of Science and Technology. Dr. Baik received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1981.
Ronald Black
Chairman & CEO at Rambus. Dr. Black received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1990.
Frederick Schoen
Professor & Executive Vice Chair at Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital. Dr. Schoen received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1970.
Frank Shieu
Dean of the College of Engineering at the National Chung Hsing University. Dr. Shieu received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1990.
2010
Donald Morel Jr.
Chairman & CEO of West Pharmaceutical. Dr. Morel received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1984.
Gregory Galvin
President & CEO of Kionix. Dr. Galvin received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1984.
Harriet Kung
Associate Director of Science for BES with the US Department of Energy. Dr. Kung received her PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell University.
Jung-Hyun Oh
President & CEO of SSCP Co. Mr Oh graduated from Cornell with a BS and MS in Materials Science in 1995 and 1996, respectively.
2008
Fred Keller
Chairman & CEO of Cascade Engineering. Mr Keller graduated from Cornell with a BS in Materials Science & Engineering.
Roger Poeppel
Senior Engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Poeppel received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell in 1968.
Edwin L. (Ned) Thomas
Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering at Rice University. Dr. Thomas received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell University.
Rick Lih-Shyng Tsia
Chairman & CEO of Chugnwa Telecom. Dr. Tsai received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering From Cornell University.