Bagley College of Engineering honors 10 alums as 2017 Distinguished Fellows
The 2017 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellows Walter Dowdle (from left), Ronnie Martin, Huey Ngo, Larry East Jr., Jeffrey Herren, Jerome Gilbert, Ginger Ricchetti, Charles Bridges and Elliott Johnson. Not picture: Kenneth Miller.
Mississippi State University’s Bagley College of Engineering honored 10 alumni for their accomplishments and commitment to the field of engineering at the 2017 Distinguished Fellows banquet on March 30.
The Distinguished Fellows program began in 1991 when 100 alumni were honored to celebrate the college’s 100th anniversary. Now, each spring, new alumni fellows are selected to recognize not only their great commitment to the engineering field, but also to represent the best and brightest that Bagley College has to offer.
The 2017 Fellows include:
Charles Bridges
Bridges has enjoyed a successful career as an engineer for General Electric. He spent more than 13 years in a variety of positions with GE Nuclear Energy before moving on to a customer quality manager role with GE Energy in 2003. Since 2006, he’s been the product line leader for large motors with GE Hitcahi Nuclear Energy Americas. In the community, he also was involved with Habitat for Humanity and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Walter Dowdle
Dowdle got his start as a reservoir engineer and well log analyst with Chevron Oil. Since then, he has served as a vice president at both Intercomp Resource Development and Engineering and at Galactica Enhanced Oil Recovery Corporation. He served as president of Dowdle, Fairchild and Ancell before starting and serving as president of Dowdle and Associates. He has also been active with the civil air patrol as part of the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary.
Larry East, Jr.
East is currently the vice president of global engineering at Albermarle Corporation. He has previously served as general manager of Stone and Webster and was the recipient of the American Chemical Society “Heroes of Chemistry” award. He is a member of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Board while also serving on the board of directors of the South Louisiana chapter of Teach for America.
Jerome Gilbert
Gilbert is undoubtedly a familiar face among MSU faculty, staff, students, and alumni as he spent much of his career as a bulldog. He began his career at Mississippi State as an associate professor in agricultural and biological engineering in 1988 and served as department head in that department from 1996-2004. He was named associate provost in 2004 before becoming provost and executive vice president in 2010. Unfortunately, he left MSU last year and is now the president at Marshall University. He is also a fellow of both the Institute of Biological Engineering and the American Institute for Medical and Biological engineering.
Jeffrey Herren
Herren is the current CEO of Herren Associates, which was named as one of INC Magazine’s 500 fastest growing private companies and as one of the 50 fastest growing companies by the Washington Business Journal. He is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and has been involved with the Association of the United States Army and the U.S. Naval Institute. He was also the recipient of the inaugural GovStar Award by Smart CEO Magazine.
Elliott Will Henry Johnson
After receiving his Bacehlor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Johnson immediately took advantage of the Mississippi State co-op program to earn his first job out of college with Eastman Chemical. While there, he received a U.S. patent for a scrubber system that is designed to eliminate hydrocarbon emissions to the atmosphere. In 1998, he moved to Chevron Chemical and has had a variety of roles there, most recently being promoted to plant manager at Chevron Phillips’ Plant in Orange, Texas. He is also active in the community as a board member of the United Way in Orange County, Texas.
Ronnie Martin
Martin spent more than 30 years of his career with Texaco Exploration and Production, rising to serve as vice president. Since 2002, he has been the senior managing director at FTI Consulting where he created the firm’s oil and gas litigation practice. He is a member of the mechanical engineering advisory board and an advisory board member at the Institute of Energy Law. He also won the Minerals Management Service’s Corporate Leadership Award.
Kenneth Miller
Miller is currently serving as the president and CEO of KEM and Associates. Prior to starting that venture, he spent more than 30 years in the military, first with the U.S. Navy and then with the Air Force. He won the Nathanial Stinson Award in 2003 and twice received the Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award. He is a member of both the Air Force Association and the Navy League.
Huey Jiun Ngo
Ngo first started his professional career at SkyTel after earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at Mississippi State in electrical engineering. While at SkyTel, he won the Ovation Leadership Award and the Circle of Excellence Award. In 2006, he moved to Bomgar Corporation where he is serving as the executive vice president of products and services. He is the recipient of several patents and has been published in the areas of telemetry, telematics, secure access and management. He is also a member of the electrical and computer engineering advisory board.
Ginger Ricchetti
Ricchetti is currently serving as the director of application development at Regions Bank, where she has worked for the past 20 years. Prior to joining Regions, she was an application development manager at Bank of America. She is a member of the computer science and engineering advisory board and has also been active with Habitat for Humanity and Children’s Hospital.
The Bagley College of Engineering is online at bagley.msstate.edu. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by searching for @msuengineering.
Devin Edgar | Bagley College of Engineering
