Introducing the Early Career Distinguished Alumni Society

The ties that bind Maryland Engineering alums are more than experiences shared, relationships built, and opportunities earned.

They’re risks taken, trails blazed, leadership cemented, and legacies laid.

To acknowledge and honor the accomplishments of Maryland Engineers 40 years old and younger, the A. James Clark School of Engineering and Dean Samuel Graham, Jr., are proud to announce the Early Career Distinguished Alumni (ECDA) Society and inaugural class of inductees. Established in Fall 2022, the ECDA Society launches an exclusive professional network of Maryland Engineering alums leading the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and change agents.

“We charge our graduates with the responsibility of improving society through engineering, and these Maryland Engineering alums have done just that. It’s therefore our privilege to recognize the innovations, leadership, and impact made by the Clark School’s inaugural class of Early Career Distinguished Alumni Society inductees,” said Dean Graham. “We’re proud to highlight their accomplishments and hope they serve as inspiration especially for our students and early-career engineers.”

ECDA Society inductees were welcomed back to campus on September 23 for a day of networking with fellow alums and campus leaders, behind-the-scenes tours, and opportunities to share their experiences with engineering students, culminating with a reception and induction ceremony.

Read more about the inductees

See photos from the event

Meet the 2022 class of the Early Career Distinguished Alumni Society:

Nicholas Barrick (’06)
Vice President, KCI Technologies, Inc.

Megan Bock (’06, M.Eng. ’10)
Payload Systems Engineer, NASA

Lyndon Kyle Brown (’04)
Chief Strategy Officer, Pondurance

Gillian Bussey (M.S. ’10, Ph.D. ’12)
Special Assistant to the US Air Force Chief Scientist, OUSD (R&E)

Kailyn Cage (’06, Ph.D. ’18)
Research Hardware Development Engineer, Amazon Lab126

Marc Dandin (’04, M.S. ’07, Ph.D. ’12)
Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

Katie Edwards (’17)
Deputy Director of Aviation Safety and Regulatory Affairs, The Boeing Company

Rose Faghih (’08)
Associate Professor, New York University

Morteza Farajian (M.S. ’10, Ph.D. ’15)
Executive Director, Build America Bureau, U.S. Department of Transportation

Imraan Faruque (M.S. ’10, Ph.D. ’11)
Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University

Jeffrey Gair, Jr. (’09, M.S. ’16, Ph.D. ’17)
Founder, Scinetics, Inc.

Kyle Gluesenkamp (Ph.D. ’12)
Senior Research and Development Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Katrina Groth (’04, M.S. ’08, Ph.D. ’09)
Associate Professor, University of Maryland

Gregory Hitz (’09, Ph.D. ’16)
CTO, ION Storage Systems

Christopher Huie-Spence (’11)
Senior Manager, Loads, Virgin Galactic

Steve Kerber (’03. M.S. ’05)
Vice President and Executive Director, UL Research Institutes

Fatema Kothari (M.S. ’08)
Director of Engineering, Airband Initiative, Microsoft

Brandon Lester (’06)
Defense CTO, Microsoft

Nefretiti Nassar (’10, M.S. ’12)
Amazon #1 Bestselling Author of Play It to Win: Strategies for Millennials Starting in Corporate America

Grace O’Connell (’04)
Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence, Associate Professor, University of California Berkeley

Daniel Oates (M.E.P.P. ’13)
Global Technology Policy Advisor, Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, U.S. Department of State

Kajal Pancholi (’02, M.S. ’04)
President & CEO, Avatar Technologies

Edmon Perkins (Ph.D. ’15)
Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University

David Stacy (’10)
Principal & Founder, Performance Based Fire Protection Engineering, PLLC

Kathy Weber (’04)
Lead Project Reliability Engineer, Stanley Black & Decker

September 26, 2022