2024 Medal of Excellence Honorees
The Medal of Excellence event celebrates alumni achievement from among diverse engineering fields
Rutgers University's School of Engineering will recognize the achievements of alumni at the Medal of Excellence and Distinguished Alumni Awards event on Thursday, September 26, 2024. Presented annually since 2006, the awards honor School of Engineering alumni who have distinguished themselves professionally since graduation.
Awards include the Medal of Excellence, Distinguished Achievement in Industry, Distinguished Achievement in Research, Dean's Award for Service, and Distinguished Young Alumna. During the event, the Rutgers Engineering Society, the school's alumni networking group, will present its Distinguished Engineer Award which recognizes technical achievement and has been awarded since 1960.
Medal of Excellence Award
Michael Haberman ENG’90 (Electrical Engineering)
Senior Vice President, Strategy and Transformation
Verizon Global Networks and Technology
Mike Haberman serves as senior vice president, strategy and transformation, for Verizon’s Global Networks and Technology (GN&T) organization, responsible for the GN&T Transformation Office and the Technology Ambassador Office. He also plays a critical role as liaison between Network and Verizon’s Business and Consumer Groups.
As leader of the Transformation Office, Mr. Haberman is responsible for re-imagining how work is accomplished and ensuring that roles, processes, systems and culture are put into place to support their evolution to the Verizon network architecture of the future. In this role, he works with business leaders, industry partners and consortiums, nonprofits, and universities to ensure Verizon is at the forefront of technology and innovation now and into the future.
Prior to his current roles, Mr. Haberman was responsible for the national deployment of 5G technology, and oversaw Network performance, support, and implementation for the nation’s largest 4G LTE network in the United States.
Over the past 30 years with Verizon and its predecessor companies, Mr. Haberman has played a pivotal role in developing the digital standards that revolutionized wireless services in the US. Since joining the company in 1990, he has held positions in engineering, technology development, system performance, and voice and data operations.
Distinguished Achievement in Research
Bruce Dunn ENG'70 (Materials Science and Engineering)
Distinguished Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
University of California, Los Angeles
Bruce Dunn is a distinguished professor of materials science and engineering at UCLA and holds the Nippon Sheet Glass endowed professorship; he also served as interim dean of the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering from 2022-2023. Prior to joining UCLA in 1981, he was a staff scientist at the General Electric R&D labs in Schenectady, New York.
Dr. Dunn is widely known for his research related to the synthesis of inorganic and organic/inorganic hybrid materials and the characterization of their electrical, optical, biological, and electrochemical properties. His recent work on electrochemical energy storage includes such accomplishments as the development of three-dimensional batteries and creating a new generation of energy storage materials known as pseudo-capacitors. He has led research programs at UCLA for DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, and the Department of Energy, published over 300 papers in scientific literature, been awarded 24 patents, and serves on the editorial boards of several renowned publications. His list of honors includes a Fulbright research fellowship, the Orton Lectureship from the American Ceramic Society, the Web of Science list of Highly Cited Researchers, and awards from the Department of Energy for outstanding research in materials science.
Distinguished Achievement in Industry
Whitney Muse ENG’08 (Applied Sciences in Engineering)
Senior Policy Advisor
Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation
The White House
Whitney Muse is a Biden-Harris Administration appointee, currently serving as the senior policy advisor in the White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation (OCEII), where she works on implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy and climate provisions. Ms. Muse joined the White House in September 2022 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
As the inaugural chief of staff and senior advisor of DOE’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO), she worked across operations, program development, and policy implementation of GDO’s $26 billion portfolio addressing power generation, transmission, and grid resilience topics. She began at DOE as chief of staff in the Office of Electricity. Prior to joining DOE, Ms. Muse provided policy and regulatory analysis of international power sector projects at Deloitte and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Ms. Muse earned a bachelor's degree in applied science and engineering from Rutgers School of Engineering and her M.A. in international energy and environment policy from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Dean’s Award for Service
Kenneth Johnson ENG’66 (Mechanical Engineering)
Vice President/General Manager (retired)
Lockheed Martin Space Systems
In a career spanning 35 years with Lockheed Martin Corporation, Ken Johnson held a variety of senior positions in aerospace engineering and technical management in the development of space-systems, and leading large, multi-disciplined organizations. Johnson retired as vice president serving as the general manager of the Communications & Power Center located in Newtown, PA, and as the general manager of the East Windsor, NJ spacecraft design and manufacturing facility known as AstroSpace.
Among the awards and honors he has garnered during his career are Lockheed Martin Exceptional Service Award; finalist in “Global Excellence in Operations” – Fortune Magazine; selected by Smithsonian as one of four RCA “Pioneers in Space”; Tau Beta Pi “Eminent Engineer;” AIAA Associate Fellow; ASME Associate Fellow; GE 1-in-1,000 award; two RCA Technical Excellence awards; and the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center Public Service Award. He has also been recognized by Rutgers University, including Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni; Rutgers Distinguished Engineer Award; Loyal Son of Rutgers.
Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rutgers in 1966 and a master’s in engineering management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1971. He is a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees and the Foundation Board of Directors, has been very active with the Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering, a leader and board member of the Rutgers University Alumni Association, and president of several chartered alumni associations.
Distinguished Young Alumnus
Parth Oza ENG’12 (Civil and Environmental Engineering), GSNB’21
Assistant Commissioner and Deputy State Transportation Engineer
Capital Program Management
New Jersey Department of Transportation
Parth Oza has served as assistant commissioner, capital program management (CPM), since 2022. As a key member of the New Jersey Department of Transportation's senior leadership team, he is charged with delivering the bulk of the department’s capital program of over $1 billion annually in state and federal construction projects, in addition to over $350 million in consultant engineering awards. Mr. Oza oversees a work force of over 1,300 employees in several divisions within CPM and is responsible for leading an active construction program valued at approximately $4 billion with 200 plus active highway and bridge construction projects. He also serves as a deputy state transportation engineer for the department, and previously served in various roles in the Division of Transportation Operations Systems and Support.
Mr. Oza is a registered professional engineer (PE) in the State of New Jersey and serves as the president of the Rutgers Engineering Alumni (REA) group.
Corporate Partner of the Year
Turner Construction Company