On December 7, 2018, the department hosted a luncheon to honor four of our graduates with CBE Distinguished Alumni Awards and one graduate with the CBE Distinguished Young Alumni Award.
Established in 2016, the CBE Distinguished Alumni Award and the CBE Distinguished Young Alumni Award are intended to celebrate and recognize the exemplary contributions recipients have made to their profession, their community, and their department, college or university. All graduates of the department, including deceased graduates, are eligible for consideration.
The 2018 Award recipients are:
CBE Distinguished Alumni Award
- Mr. Harry “Hal” A. Lawton III
- Ms. Tracy Proctor Mustin
- Dr. Richard B. Phillips
- Dr. Ronald C. Zumstein
CBE Distinguished Young Alumni Award
- Dr. Srini Siripurapu
Harry “Hal” A. Lawton III
Hal Lawton was named president of Macy’s in September 2017. As president, he’s responsible for all aspects of the Macy’s brand, including merchandising, marketing, stores, operations, technology, and consumer insights and analytics.
From 2015-2017 Hal was senior vice president of eBay North America. In that role, he oversaw all aspects of eBay’s Americas business unit, including marketing, merchandising, operations, business selling, consumer selling, and advertising, as well as global responsibility for shipping, payments, risk, and trust. Prior to joining eBay, Hal spent 10 years in various leadership roles at Home Depot, most recently as senior vice president for merchandising. He was responsible for accelerating the growth of Home Depot’s Internet business and building it to nearly $2 billion annually. Prior to that, Hal was an associate principal at McKinsey & Co., providing strategic advice to executive teams in consumer packaged goods and manufacturing industries.
He was recently named to the board of Sealed Air Corporation, and previously served on the board of Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. He also serves on the corporate advisory board for The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and is a member of the CEO Roundtable for the American Heart Association. Hal earned an MBA from the University of Virginia (2000) and dual bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering, and Pulp and Paper Technology (1996) from NC State.
Hal and his wife, Jodie, have three children and live in New York City.
Tracy Proctor Mustin
A native of Lee County, Tracy Proctor Mustin completed her B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1984. Upon graduation, she was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps, completing tours in facility engineering, construction project management, environmental programs, and contingency construction—Seabees. Tracy left active duty in 1991 but continued her military service as a reserve officer, retiring at the rank of Captain in 2009.
On leaving active duty, Tracy began her career in civilian federal service at the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration. Over the next twenty-six years she gained extensive executive leadership and management experience in federal national security and environmental management programs. As the Director of the Second Line of Defense Program, Tracy led efforts to provide equipment and training to over 50 countries, enhancing their capabilities to detect and deter illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological material across international borders. She joined the career Senior Executive Service in 2008.
As the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management from 2011 to 2013, Tracy was responsible for the policy direction, management, and execution of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup portfolio, the largest environmental cleanup program in the world –with an annual budget of over $5.5 Billion. She retired from federal service in 2014.
Tracy is married to Lloyd M. Mustin II and resides in McLean, VA. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Richard B. Phillips
Richard Phillips is a three-time winner, having earned B.S. (1964), M.S. (1966) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees in Chemical Engineering at NC State. Between completing his M.S. and Ph.D. Richard fulfilled his Army ROTC military obligation, serving two years of active duty in the Chemical Corps at Fort Bragg and the Republic of Korea. After completing his Ph.D., Richard was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Grenoble in France.
Richard started with International Paper, the world’s largest paper company, at the Corporate Research Center in Tuxedo Park, NY, and remained with IP for the next 34 years. During that time, he was blessed with a tremendous variety of assignments, including R&D (six U.S. patents), technical services, and manufacturing and engineering. In the latter role, he was responsible for manufacturing and engineering technology for IP, and managed projects in France, New Zealand, Poland, Russia and Brazil.
Following retirement in 2005, Richard joined the Paper Science and Engineering department as an adjunct professor, developing and teaching two courses that are now required for graduation. Since coming to NCSU, Richard has had more than 20 peer-reviewed publications in the biofuels area and has been co-principal investigator on several million dollars of research grants.
Richard was married for 51 years to Mary Elizabeth, who passed away in January, 2017. They established a $1,000,000 endowed undergraduate scholarship that supports PSE students who choose to minor in business. Their legacy includes two children and six grandchildren.
Srini Siripurapu
Srini Siripurapu earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from NC State in 2000 and 2003, respectively. His graduate research focused on polymer blends and alloys, structure property relationships of polymers, polymer rheology, nanomaterials and supercritical fluids. Srini joined GE Plastics after graduating from NC State and held multiple roles of increasing responsibility in product development and technology innovation, including serving as their Global Product Technology Manager for the Specialty Polycarbonates Business. While at GE, he completed his Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification.
Srini moved to General Cable in 2012 and went on to serve as Vice President of Global Technology with responsibility for the R&D and Engineering functions of the company. After a corporate buyout, he became Senior Vice President of R&D and Chief R&D Officer of Prysmian Group, the world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. In this role he’s responsible for the company’s world-wide R&D strategy, R&D talent development and Innovation pipeline.
Srini is active in the Society of Plastics Engineers and has served on the Technical Committee of its Annual Technical Conference for the past 15 years. He serves on the Industrial Advisory Board of the NSF Industry–University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) Program for High Voltage and High Temperature Materials and Structures. He recently joined the International Scientific and Technical Committee of Jicable, a worldwide forum concerned with all aspects of development and deployment of AC & DC insulated power cables and their accessories. He’s an inventor on over 50 patent applications and holds 25 granted US patents.
Srini and his wife, Subha, live in Milan, Italy with their two daughters.
Ronald C. Zumstein
Ron Zumstein earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from NC State in 1987, following a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in 1983. His Ph.D. study of crystallization, which was supervised by Dr. Ronald Rousseau, led to nine separate publications. Ron joined Ethyl Corporation in 1987 as a process development engineer at its Baton Rouge R&D facility. In 1994, as Albemarle Corporation was spun off from Ethyl Corporation, Ron assumed the role of technical director for the Orangeburg, SC site and supported the company’s launch of a new naproxen manufacturing unit. Through his technical efforts, Ron is a co-inventor on three US patents.
In 1996, Ron returned to Baton Rouge as technical director for Albemarle’s process development efforts. He then moved into manufacturing and became site manager for Albemarle’s Pasadena, TX (1998-2001) and Orangeburg, SC (2001-2003) facilities. In 2003, Ron returned to Baton Rouge to take responsibility for the corporation’s Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) group, a move that resulted in a step-change reduction in injuries across the company. Ron added the responsibility of Albemarle’s Polymer Additives Manufacturing unit in 2005, with six manufacturing plants globally. Since 2008, Ron has held corporate leadership roles for Albemarle in Manufacturing, Supply Chain, HSE, Operational Excellence and Engineering. He’s currently Senior VP of Engineering and Project Execution, where he spends much of his time overseeing Albemarle’s expansion in battery grade Lithium production units in Australia and Chile.
Ron has been married to Cindy, whom he met while at NC State, for 33 years. They have three children and a grandson.
Past Recipients of the CBE Distinguished Alumni Award or the College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award
- Mr. William E. Angelo
- Dr. Candis S. Claiborn
- Dr. Dominic T. Clausi
- Dr. Norvin A. Clontz
- Mr. S. Frank Culberson
- Mr. Wayne T. Day
- Vice Admiral Joseph W. Dyer, Jr., USN, Ret.
- Ms. Steffanie B. Easter
- Dr. James K Ferrell
- Ms. Elin E. Gabriel
- Dr. Leland E. Garrett, Jr.
- Mr. Jeffrey R. Garwood
- Mr. William R. Garwood
- Mr. Carlos D. Gutierrez
- Mr. Kent O. Hudson
- Mr. Michael D. Killian
- Mr. Ross W. Lampe, Sr.
- Mr. Arthur P. Moss
- Dr. Donald R. Paul
- Mr. Fred H. Ramseur, Jr.
- Mr. Carl S. Stutts, Jr.
- Mr. Alan S. Weinberg
- Mr. F. Perry Wilson
Previous CBE Distinguished Young Alumni Award Recipients
- Dr. Chisa K. Brookes
- Dr. Eric M. Paradise
Congratulations to these distinguished alumni. You’ve represented yourselves and our department exceedingly well!