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Media Relations
Kansas State University
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6415
media@k-state.edu

Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.

Source: Mary Rankin, 785-532-6715, mrankin@k-state.edu

Monday, Oct. 29, 2007

FIVE TO BE INDUCTED INTO K-STATE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING HALL OF FAME

MANHATTAN -- The Kansas State University College of Engineering Hall of Fame has five new members. Induction to the hall is the highest honor bestowed on its alumni by the college.

Induction ceremonies will be Saturday, Nov. 3, at the K-State Alumni Center. The honorees will be recognized for their professional success and accomplishment, active involvement with and support of the College of Engineering, dedication to K-State, and professional and public service.

The honorees are:

* Stephen Berland, Manhattan, a 1972 graduate of K-State in civil engineering. He co-founded BG Consultants, an engineering and architectural firm in Manhattan, in 1976. Awarded the 2002 Kansas Department of Commerce Appreciation Award, Berland has professional experience in numerous areas of consulting engineering including structures, municipal streets and utilities, hydrology, land development, storm drainage, industrial park development, project funding, traffic studies and highway and bridge design. A licensed professional engineer, Berland has served as treasurer of the board of directors of the Kansas Consulting Engineers and on the board of directors of the American Consulting Engineers Council. Active in the community and at K-State, he is currently on the board of directors of the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, serving as a Kansas State University Foundation Trustee, a member of the College of Engineering Advisory Council, and a member of both the Presidents Club and the K-State Alumni Association.

* Joe Farrar, Manhattan, a 1970 graduate of K-State in mechanical engineering. He is president of Farrar Corporation, a privately owned company specializing in the design and production of fully machined ductile iron cast parts for around 140 original equipment manufacturing customers in 28 states and Canada. The company is nationally recognized as a leader in the application and production of austempered ductile iron. Farrar has served as a member of the board of directors of the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce and the Ductile Iron Society of North America, where he currently is president. He is active in the advisory boards of the Manhattan Area Technical College and K-State's Advanced Manufacturing Institute, as well as the College of Engineering Advisory Council. He was a founding member of the Family Business Forum at the Center for Entrepreneurship at Wichita State University and is currently serving on the board of directors of the Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship. He is also a regional vice president and a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the America Foundry Society. Farrar was recognized with the Governor's Achievement Award for Manufacturing in the North Central Region in both 2000 and 2007. He is a member of the K-State Presidents Club, the Kansas State University Foundation board of trustees and the K-State Alumni Association.

* Donovan Nickel, Windsor, Colo., a 1978 K-State graduate in electrical engineering, completing a master's degree in 1979. He also has a master's degree in business. Nickel is vice president and general manager of the network attached storage business at Hewlett Packard. He joined the company in 1979 as a hardware development engineer in the Fort Collins, Colo., desktop computer division. In 1986, he joined the integrated circuits division, where he led the customer VLSI development programs for a broad range of products across Hewlett Packard. In 1997, he became research and development director for the Fort Collins microprocessor lab, with responsibility for PA-RISC microprocessor development. Prior to his current role, he was vice president and general manager responsible for the business critical hardware systems division at Hewlett, with responsibility for the HP9000 and HP Integrity Server product lines from 2000-2007.

* Robert Iotti, Manalapan, N.J., a 1964 K-State graduate in nuclear engineering, also completing both a master's and doctoral degrees in 1967 and 1970, respectively. He is a licensed professional engineer. Iotti assumed the duties of president and chief executive officer for CH2M-WG Idaho where he led the Idaho Cleanup Project of spent nuclear fuel in 2006. Prior to this post, he had served as senior executive responsible for all nuclear activities at CH2M HILL, with revenue scope in excess of $1 billion a year. He implemented corporate-wide health, safety and quality programs for all nuclear projects, and sponsored and worked with management assessment teams at sites to continuously improve safety and quality. Prior to joining CH2M HILL, Iotti built and directed a commercial industry division responsible for nuclear technology. His division was instrumental in the design and construction of several nuclear power plants in the U.S. and abroad. He served as the project manager for the $30 million Title I design of the Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage System-Engineering Test Model, one of the most advanced concepts for energy storage, and as project manager for the $180 million design of the Department of Energy's Heavy Water Reactor Facility. He was appointed at the request of the DOE to serve as the administrative officer for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

* Susan Tholstrup, Pearland, Texas, a 1981 K-State graduate in chemical engineering. She earned a master's degree in finance from the University of Houston in 1985 and also has a fellowship in e-business from Wharton. Tholstrup is currently the process improvement manager for Shell Exploration and Production Company. She has worked for Shell for more than 20 years. Before transferring to her current role, she was vice president of strategic design and led customer fulfillment. Prior to this assignment, she was vice president of e-business and had overall responsibility for strategies, architecture and processes to best utilize e-business globally for the group of Shell chemical companies. This included delivering an informational technology strategy to support customer fulfillment global processes. Other previous assignments included chief information officer for the Americas region, project director for the Rumba SAP R/3 implementation and various other project management assignments within the Shell Chemicals, Shell Oil and Shell Pipeline organizations.