Outstanding Alumni Awards 2024 : College of Engineering : UMass Amherst

The UMass Amherst College of Engineering is proud to announce the recipients of its 2024 Outstanding Alumni Awards (OAA).

Awardees represent the college’s five departments and include five Distinguished Alumni and five Outstanding Young Alumni.

These gifted alumni bring tremendous pride and distinction to the College of Engineering and the broader UMass community.

Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

Visionary leaders in their field, recipients of this honor have reached exceptional levels of professional and personal achievement. This award recognizes distinguished leadership, service, teaching, innovation, and other exemplary accomplishments that positively impact society and the engineering profession.

Ron Kraus ’94 Mechanical Engineering [Awarded by: Biomedical Dept]

Carrie Lavallee ’03 Civil Engineering

Imona Omole ’04 Chemical Engineering

Raquel Rivera ’92 Mechanical Engineering

Rouzbeh Taghizadeh ’00 Chemical Engineering [Awarded by: Biomedical Dept]

Jennifer Anne Watson ’95, ’97MS Electrical Engineering

Outstanding Young Alumni Award

Emerging leaders in the early stages of their careers, recipients of this honor are generally no more than ten years out from receiving their UMass Engineering PhD or generally no more than fifteen years out from receiving their UMass Engineering undergraduate degree. This award recognizes outstanding professional and personal achievements and highlights the recipient’s ambitions and potential to positively impact UMass, the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world.