The Franklin Institute Awards has announced the 2016 Laureates, including the winners of the 2016 Benjamin Franklin Medal. Two Tau Bates have been recognized as medal winners this year. They are:
Robert S. Langer Jr., Ph.D. – (NY D ’70) 2016 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science for his design and implementation of multiple innovative drug delivery systems, and for his founding work in the field of tissue engineering. As a serial entrepreneur, Dr. Langer established a new paradigm for translating academic ideas into practical products. Read more about Dr. Langer from PixarBio of which he is a co-founder.
Yale N. Patt, Ph.D. – (MA E ’62) 2016 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science for his pioneering contributions to the design of modern microprocessors that achieve higher performance by automatically identifying computer instructions that can be performed simultaneously. Learn more about Dr. Patt an engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
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The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has selected Daniel J. Pack, P.E., Ph.D. (IN A ’94), as the next dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Currently, Dr. Pack is a professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio. According to the news release, he is a renowned expert in robotics, computer vision, and unmanned systems.
Dr. Pack was the founding director of the Academy Center for Unmmaned Aircraft Systems Research at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado. In 2005, he was named the Colorado Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation while a member of the faculty at the USAFA.
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Arvind Malhan, MA B ’95, has been named as a partner of the private equity firm New Silk Route (NSR) in New Delhi, India. He joined NSR in 2010 as a principal and previously worked as an executive director at JP Morgan Private Capital Asia, and Director of TVG Capital. Malhan’s bachelor’s degree is in electrical engineering from MIT and he earned his MBA at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Read the announcement for more information.
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Tau Beta Pi 
I was pleasantly surprised to see this announcement in the Tau Beta Pi HQ Blog. I do read every issue of The Bent when it arrives, and particularly enjoy it when one of my friends or classmates shows up on its pages. I also read Chapter Eternal, hoping to not find any of them there! It has been more than 53 years since the class of MA E ’62 graduated, and I still fondly remember the guys — no women members back then 😦 — in our very active chapter, a mistake we have fortunately since corrected. …particularly since Ms. Leone and Ms. Anderson were among our best EE students. Northeastern was very much a commuter school back then, and Tau Beta Pi provided the only social outlet for many of its members. One small correction to your blog — a mistake made by more people than get it correct: There is no “r” in Patt. …a mistake you’d think I would have learned to live with by now!