The Medal of Excellence Awards, established in 2006, recognizes graduates of Rutgers University School of Engineering who have distinguished themselves professionally since graduation in industry, academia, government, research, and business. The awards also recognize alumni who have distinguished themselves in other areas including continued involvement in the School of Engineering and social responsibility. The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has a long list of alumni who have pursued successful careers in academia, industry, or the government.
Honorees are celebrated at a networking dinner event that is attended by alumni and SoE faculty and students, as well as an impressive representation of local industry members and other distinguished guests.
Rita Marty (BS‘93 Electrical Engineering) - 2022 Distinguished Achievement in Research
Vice President-Network Security, AT&T Chief Security Organization
Rita Marty is vice president of emerging services security architecture for the AT&T Chief Security Organization, responsible for defining and developing the next generation of security architecture and controls to support key AT&T initiatives. Her areas of responsibility include 5G, network cloud, policy automation, open source, and FirstNet-public safety's dedicated, nationwide communications platform. During Marty's career at AT&T she has held a variety of technical and leadership positions, including defining the target architecture for the company's mobility network and driving innovation and optimization in key growth areas such as IoT, and leading various service development teams focused on design, development, and deployment of the AT&T global network in Europe and Asia Pacific. She served as a member of the CTO Technology Council, which provides thought leadership for AT&T and its partner community and has led strategic initiatives to accelerate innovation through rapid internal development efforts. Marty earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Rutgers along with an M.B.A. She is a graduate of the AT&T Accelerated Development Program and the AT&T Leading with Distinction Leadership Program and was named Executive of the Year in 2018 by Women of AT&T, and she has served on the group's board. She serves on the industry advisory boards of Rutgers School of Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Thomas A. Kennedy, Ph.D. (BS '77 Electrical Engineering) - 2021 Medal of Excellence Award
Thomas A. Kennedy received his BSEE degree in 1977 from Rutgers University. MS degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology and Ph.D. degree from UCLA. Thomas A. Kennedy retired in 2021 as executive chairman of Raytheon Technologies, following nearly 40 years of aerospace and defense and leadership experience in strategic planning, operations, cybersecurity, engineering and technology, and international business. Thomas A. Kennedy became executive chairman in 2020 upon the closing of the merger between Raytheon Company and United Technologies Corporation. Prior to the merger, he was chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Company. He is a member of Rutgers School of Engineering's Industry Advisory Board and the UCLA Engineering Dean's Executive Board.
Paul DelRocini (BS'86, Electrical Engineering) - 2021 Rutgers Engineering Society Distinguished Engineer Award
Paul DelRocini is an experienced radar systems professional responsible for the development of state-of-the-art radar signal processors performing anti-air warfare and ballistic missile defense missions, as well as beam steering and antenna control systems for U.S. Navy shipboard radars. He is currently a principal engineer in the Embedded Control and Digital Processor Design Center for Lockheed Martin, with previous experience at RCA, General Electric, and Martin Marietta. Paul DelRocini is a recipient of Aegis Excellence Awards from the U.S. Navy and Project of the Year Award from the American Society of Naval Engineers. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Rutgers, a master's degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University, and a graduate certificate in system of engineering of cyber-physical systems from Stevens Institute of Technology.
Robert J. Cenker (MS'77) - 2019 Dean's Award for Service
NASA Payload Specialist, 1986 Space Shuttle Columbia. As a payload specialist representing RCA Astro-Electronics on the 1986 STS 61-C space shuttle Columbia, Robert Cenker revolutionized cable TV by deploying an RCA Satcom satellite. During his six-day, 2.5-million-mile mission, Cenker also performed a number of physiological tests and experimented with an infrared imaging camera. As the final mission before the Challenger disaster, it was dubbed “the end of innocence” for the space shuttle program.
Terry J. Hart (MS'78) - 2019 Dean's Award for Service
NASA Mission Specialist, 1984 Space Shuttle Challenger. Lehigh University professor Terry Hart is a former NASA astronaut, pilot, and telecommunications executive. As a member of NASA’s 1978 "Group 8", Hart logged 168 hours as a mission specialist aboard the STS-41-C Challenger in April 1984. He made history by using a robotic arm to retrieve the disabled Solar Maximum Satellite for repairs.
Emeka O. Oguh (BS'05) - 2017 Distinguished Young Alumnus
Founder and CEO of PeopleJoy, a benefits platform company that provides employee retention solutions focused on financial wellness.
Roman P. Pacewicz (BS'87) - 2017 Distinguished Achievement in Industry
Chief product officer at AT&T Business.
Dorin I. Comaniciu, Ph.D. (Ph.D.'00) – 2016 Distinguished Alumnus in Research
Vice president of medical imaging technologies at Siemens Healthcare, having global responsibility for the oversight of key research and development functions.
Cristina Comaniciu, Ph.D. (Ph.D.'02) – 2012 Distinguished Young Alumnus
Associate professor at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Randal Pinkett, Ph.D. (BS’95) - 2011 Distinguished Alumnus in Industry
Entrepreneur, speaker, author and community servant. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of
BCT Partners, a multimillion-dollar consulting firm based in Newark, NJ, that specializes in program management, information technology and public policy.
Dev Ittycheria (BS’89) – 2010 Distinguished Alumnus in Industry
Engineer and entrepreneur who launched BladeLogic, a software company that fundamentally changed how people provision servers and applications. He was recently appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of athenahealth Inc, a leading provider of web-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups.
Hugh Martin (BS’78) – 2010 Medal of Excellence
CEO of Pacific Biosciences, where he has led a team of advanced optics engineers, advanced semi-conductor process design engineers, a parallel computing group, enzymologists, and a surface chemistry group in developing a DNA sequencing machine that can unravel an individual’s entire genome in minutes – a technology with enormous implications for more effective cancer treatment and drug delivery.
Keiko Harvey (BS’72) – 2008 Distinguished Alumna in Industry
Retired as senior vice president for Video Network Services for Verizon Communications. Throughout her remarkable career, she held positions in responsibility in engineering, sales, finance, and network operations.
Jeffrey Biamonte (BS’95) - 2007 Distinguished Young Alumnus
Member of IBM’s design team who has made significant innovative contributions to the power distribution and heating/cooling characteristics of the Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor based high-end server product line.
Mir A. Imran (BS’77) – 2007 Distinguished Alumnus in Industry
Engineer, inventor, entrepreneur,and angel investor who has pioneered the development of the automatic implantable defibrillator, the EEG monitoring sensor array, a cooled RF ablation catheter for the treatment of ventricular arrhythmias, and a low-pressure balloon and aspirator system for use in catheter based interventions – among his more than 200 inventions.
For a complete list of School of Engineering honorees, click here.
