Professional Awards in Engineering 2021

• Outstanding Young Bioengineer

  Dr. Patrick McClure

  Outstanding Young Engineer awarded to McClure

  

  Dr. Patrick McClure has been awarded the 2021 Alumni Outstanding Young Engineer Award in Bioengineering. As a student at University of Louisville, he was the top student in his Bioengineering class, winning both the Jerry and Pat Sturgeon Excellence Award and the Barry Goldwater Scholarship for his academic and research achievements as an undergraduate.  After receiving his MEng at Speed School in 2013, McClure was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge, (UK) for a PhD focusing on computational neuroscience.

  After graduating with his PhD, McClure became a Machine Learning Research Scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, MD in 2017 and was promoted in 2020 to a Machine Learning Project Lead position.

  The research that Patrick conducted as an undergraduate, graduate student, and a research professional has been published in high-impact venues, including Neural Information Processing Systems, one of the most prestigious machine learning venues.

  In addition to his academic and research success, McClure has repeatedly used his experiences to tutor and assist students in achieving academic excellence, including working with the National and International Scholarship Office to prepare students for competing for national and international awards and scholarships. He has also returned to UofL multiple times to give talks on his research and experiences to Speed School students from both the Bioengineering and Computer Science and Engineering departments.

  “The most memorable part of my Speed School experience was the professors that cared about me both professionally and personally,” said McClure. “The ones that made the most impact were Dr. Melvin Maron and Dr. Ayman El-Baz. Their mentorship inside and outside the classroom motivated me as a student, and still motivates me today.”

• Professional Award in Chemical Engineering

  Dr. Sarah Alwardt

  Professional Award in Chemical Engineering goes to Dr. Sarah Alwardt

  

  Dr. Sarah Alwardt has been awarded the 2021 Alumni Professional Award for Chemical Engineering. She holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Chemical Engineering and a Certificate in Environmental Engineering all from University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering. Alwardt has also served as a post-doctoral researcher and was an adjunct chemical engineering professor at the school for two years.

  In her early career, Alwardt spent five years at Givaudan and four years at Brown-Forman leading process development and translating manufacturing processes from the lab to the plant. She completed her next ten years at Humana, where she held increasingly responsible leadership roles in research, program, and process development.

  Speed School prepared me for success in so many ways,” said Alwardt.  “I was taught two very important lessons: how to solve problems and where to find answers,” she said. I was taught that the best answers came from diverse groups coming from different directions to a common goal.”

  Alwardt also said her Speed School classmates were inspirational. “I remember being surrounded by brilliant people who were motivated and hungry to learn and do more. I have not kept up with all of them, but know that some are physicians, practicing engineers, business leaders, etc.  We were all given a strong foundation to go so many places.”

  In her current role, Alwardt leads the talented associates of Ontada’s Market Insights and Real World Research organizations as a vice-president at McKesson. With domestic and international experience in health economics and outcomes research, Alwardt has proven success in organizational transformation, business acceleration, associate engagement, and delivering data driven insights and evidence. She is an accomplished author and speaker, having published and presented several works in the international flavors and fragrance industry, real world evidence application, and rapid analytics. She holds multiple patents for her work on the removal of pesticides from citrus oils.

  She is currently a member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi.

• Professional Award in Civil Engineering

  Karen Crawford

  Geotechnical Engineering Crawford wins Professional Award in Civil and Environmental Engineering

  

  Karen Crawford has won the 2021 Alumni Professional Award in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She received her BS and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering with a concentration in geotechnical engineering from U of L. The engineer said her Speed School experience taught her valuable lessons in teamwork she translated to her career.

  “When I went to Speed School, there weren’t any PCs or internet to get information on topics and problem solving,” said Crawford. “I think having to work with other students on projects or to solve problems was a good model to cooperation and working as a team in the workforce.”

  She started her engineering career at US Ecology, a national hazardous and radioactive waste disposal company, working on landfill design and facilities project management at sites located throughout the country, including long stretches at remote facilities in Nevada and Washington.

  In 1993, Crawford joined with several of her US Ecology colleagues to start Chase Environmental Group. Originally, Crawford and her partners continued engineering work for US Ecology as a subcontractor, but soon transitioned to providing environmental contracting services to consulting firms, industry, and government clients.

  One notable project experience for Crawford came on a former military base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, formerly used as a navigation station during World War II.  She was responsible for overseeing remediation of contamination from transformer leaks on the tiny, uninhabited island while protecting the endangered species present there.  Today, her company, Chase Environmental Group has five locations in four states and over 50 employees.

  Not as large but equally impressive is Karen’s family, which includes her supportive husband, Steve, five children, and five grandchildren, all of whom are avid Cardinal fans.  If you visit her extensive garden, you will find no hazardous contamination.

• Professional Award in Computer Science & Engineering

  Aleksey Fadeev

  Dr. Bin Xie earns Professional Award in Computer Science and Engineering

  Dr. Bin Xie was awarded the 2021 Alumni Professional Award for Computer Science & Engineering. Xie earned his Masters of Engineering in 2001 and PhD in 2006 in Computer Science from University of Louisville Speed School of Engineering.

  His R&D interests are Mobile Computing, AI/ML, and Cybersecurity. In these areas, he has published 70+ papers in IEEE conferences and journals, and co-authored three books.  Xie credits his Speed School experience to his subsequent success.

  “One of the most significant experiences was the Mobile Computing course in which the professor designed several projects,” said Xie. “Through these projects, I developed not only the understanding of cutting-edge knowledge in this area but also the thinking skills to achieve a higher level of accomplishment in my research. These projects motivated me to explore challenging issues in this areas and consequently fostered new R&D programs,” he said.

  Xie is the Founder and CEO of InfoBeyond Technology, an innovative company specializing in Network, Machine Learning and Data Security within the Information Technology industry. Customers range from small businesses to public corporations such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Honeywell, Manchester-Boston regional airport, HCA Healthcare, and Sun Pharmaceuticals. In addition, his team delivers ground-breaking solutions for federal agencies including the Department of Energy, U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Transportation. Some of these projects have collaborated with universities including the University of Louisville.

  Xie said Speed School offered opportunities to meet a variety of professors and prestigious scientists and gain his vision for his state-of-the-art research.

  “I am deeply appreciative of Speed School for the social skills I have earned as a result of these programs. These skills gave me confidence to start up InfoBeyond Technology targeting to transit viable technology to useful and business-doable products.”

• Professional Award in Industrial Engineering

  William Harrington

  Process engineer earns Professional Award in Industrial Engineering

  

  William Harrington, PhD, PE, has been awarded the 2021 Alumni Professional Award for Industrial Engineering. Years before connecting with University of Louisville Speed School, Harrington was out earning credentials and professional experience in the field. After graduating with his BSME from University of Cincinnati in 2001, he worked in manufacturing operations at Ford Motor Company, where he certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt and drove a number of improvements in quality and process efficiency.

  After earning his MBA at Case Western Reserve University, and more than ten years of process engineering and business management experience in manufacturing, he transitioned into a career of leading performance improvement in healthcare when he joined Norton Healthcare as a Director of Clinical Effectiveness. While there, he first connected with Speed School by mentoring seven IE students and coaching a graduate student through a project for optimizing the allocation of surgical block time.

  In 2013, Bill began his pursuit of a PhD in Industrial Engineering at Speed School, which he completed in 2017. With a passion for his work, Harrington said he looks forward to advancing the reliability of health care through the application of industrial engineering methods.

  “Facilitating change in healthcare involves meeting a high burden of proof, and the skills I’ve gained through Speed School in literature review, data collection, modeling, and hypothesis testing have helped tremendously,” said Harrington.

  Though he moved to Northern Kentucky in 2018 to join St. Elizabeth Healthcare as a Director of Quality Improvement, Harrington has continued to stay engaged with the University of Louisville by teaching in the Masters of Engineering in Engineering Management (MEEM) program, collaborating with other professors and physicians in research for publication, and by being an external advisor to Logistics and Distribution Institute (LoDI).

  “I believe my experiences at Speed School humbled me, and during my pursuit of a PhD I grew an appreciation for how much I do not know and how much knowledge others have contributed to society,” said Harrington. Our technological advancements are the result of many people’s contributions.”

  In his personal life, Bill enjoys time with his wife Krista and two sons Donovan and Shea, serving in his church, coaching middle and high school wrestling, and enjoying much of what Kentucky has to offer, including rooting for the CARDS!

• Professional Award in Mechanical Engineering

  Candace “Candy” Gilbert Medina

  Professional Award in Mechanical Engineering bestowed upon Medina

  

  Candace “Candy” Gilbert Medina has received the 2021 Alumni Professional Award for Mechanical Engineering. A native of Chicago, Candy moved to Louisville in 1970.

  With a BS in Science and Masters of Engineering from Speed School in 1980 and 1981, respectively, Medina also obtained her Master of Business Administration from Bellarmine University in 1989 and her Professional Engineer designation from the state of Kentucky in 1994.

  Her career started as a project engineer at Celanese Corporation, a chemical plant in Louisville, where she served as maintenance and engineering manager. Medina said her degree in ME from Speed School was a versatile discipline that helped her across the engineering spectrum.

  “While it seems like chemical engineering would be divergent, my academic background was very useful in that setting, since I was designing and installing reactors, pumps, tanks and piping systems,” she said.

  In addition, Medina’s co-op experiences lent her other knowledge and skills that guided her career trajectory. “I spent all three internships at a local company, learning cost estimating and visiting manufacturing sites all over Louisville,” said Medina. “I attribute my organizational skills and my affinity for cost accounting to that experience.”

  In 1994, Medina made the career transition to GE Appliances, and in her six years there became certified as a Six Sigma black belt, and held positions as an advanced manufacturing engineer and commercial quality leader. In 2000, Medina founded her own management and engineering consultant firm, CGM Associates, LLC, and was president of the company until her retirement in 2021.

  Medina believes in giving back to her community and helping young people learn the value of altruism. In 2005, Medina became one of the founding developers of the Louisville Youth Philanthropy Council (LYPC), an organization that teaches experiential philanthropy to high school students. She is also Executive Director of The Gilbert Foundation, a family foundation that has been making philanthropic grants to non-profit organizations in the Louisville area since 2002. She lives in Prospect, KY with her husband, Roger, who is also a graduate of University of Louisville’s Speed School (Chemical Engineering).

2021 Student Affairs Legacy Award

Bill Brasch

Bill Brasch received his Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Louisville in 1971. As a student, he was a member of the Student Senate and the Student Activities Board. Brasch received a Graduate Certificate in Traffic Engineering from Northwestern University in 1981.

Brasch is the past National President of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity and Trustee of the Phi Kappa Tau Foundation. He is the seventh UofL alumnus to serve as National President of his or her national fraternity or sorority. He is a past member and former Vice President of the National Council of Phi Kappa Tau. He has served as a chapter advisor and mentor of the Beta Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Tau since 1971. He also served as Vice President of the UofL Alumni Association Board of Directors and has continued to serve the University as an alumni networker.

Brasch is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer. He retired from the University of Louisville in 2016, after 32 years as a Senior Construction Coordinator, overseeing many new building and renovation projects on campus.

Brasch was one of the most involved members of his undergraduate chapter of Phi Kappa Tau during his time on campus. He has been a vital connector for the University, providing outreach and assistance in Greek Life, serving on several student awards committees, and through his connections at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering. One of the most significant contributions Brasch has provided to the University of Louisville community was his efforts in leading the campaign to raise funds to build the new Phi Kappa Tau chapter house on Unity Place. He also led the campaign to establish the Morton Walker Endowed Scholarship Fund, memorializing his college mentor, Speed School Professor, and former Dean of Men.Bill and his wife, Pat Lang Brasch, a University of Louisville graduate, reside in the Louisville area. They have one son, William F. “Will” Brasch, Jr., also a University of Louisville alumnus.

Learn more about Bill Brasch