Young Alumni Council Presents Distinguished Young Alumni Award

Four alumni were presented with the Distinguished Young Alumni Award by the Young Alumni Council. Honored were Erik Hayes, director of residence life at Rose-Hulman; Gregory Hubbard, General Motors Engineering Group Manager for Hybrid Power Train Control Systems, Brighton, Mich.; Scott Loughmiller, director of product management, Tumbleweed Communications, Redwood City, Calif.; and Jeff Ready, vice president of marketing for Tumbleweed Communications, San Jose, Calif.

This was the first year the award was presented using new criteria whereby nominees must have graduated within the past 10 years. Previously, the award was given to graduates who had graduated within the previous 20 years. The recipients were honored for their early career achievements during a special event sponsored by the Young Alumni Council on the Friday evening of homecoming weekend.

Erik Hayes - Helping Students Every Day
Hayes oversees programs that provide activities and services for about 1,000 students living in eight campus residence halls at Rose-Hulman. He supervises residence assistant staff and serves as adviser to the Residence Hall Association. Erik received the Outstanding New Professional Award for the Great Lakes Region from the Association of College University Housing Officers following his first year as director of residence life. He serves on the Young Alumni Council and volunteers for several education organizations in Terre Haute. Hayes earned the bachelor's and master's degrees from Rose-Hulman in 1997 and 2000 respectively.

Greg Hubbard - Developing Hybrid Vehicles
Hubbard, a 1994 mechanical engineering graduate, is leading a team at General Motors on the development of hybrid power trains for passenger vehicles. He received the Chairman's Honors Award presented by the president and CEO of GM for his work on the electric drive component for a hybrid transit bus. Hubbard has received 14 U.S. patents, and he has 25 patents pending. He helped develop the transmission used in the vehicle selected in 2001 as the Motor Trend "Truck of the Year."  He assists the mechanical engineering department by submitting proposals for senior design projects.

Scott Loughmiller - Following a Dream
Loughmiller became a successful entrepreneur even before graduation. His first company was Aureate Development in Terre Haute, which was created with fellow students Jeff Ready and Mike Olson. They also partnered to create, Corvigo, which was sold in a multi-million dollar deal to Tumbleweed Communications. He has developed several technical innovations including Intent-Based Filtering which uses artificial intelligence to filter junk e-mail. Loughmiller has been a guest lecturer in entrepreneurship classes at Rose-Hulman, and his companies have created employment opportunities for several Rose-Hulman graduates. He earned a bachelor of science in computer science in 1996.

Jeff Ready - Success in the Silicon Valley
Ready has teamed with other Rose-Hulman alumni to create several companies, the most recent being Corvigo which was bought by Tumbleweed Communications. He has received the Blue Chip Award from the U.S. Chamber of Chamber of Commerce and the Best Technology Award from Ziff Davis for his technical innovations. Ready started Internet Measurement Initiative, a non-profit industry association which is a leading authority in measuring Internet audiences. He has provided summer internships for Rose-Hulman students and he has been a guest lecturer on campus. Ready earned the bachelor of science in computer science in 1996.