Dr. Akey is involved with numerous high tech and business start-ups: I-SCAN, Pro Research, Medical Informatics Engineering, Summit Re, eBankDocs.com, and Technical Services. Dr. Akey co-founded the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, serves on its board of directors, and served as its Interim CEO. He is currently serving as the Vice Chairman of the Indiana Technology Partnership - Northeast. Dr. Akey is a graduate of Leadership Fort Wayne; serves with numerous non-profit youth sports organizations; is a past Vice President of Kiwanis; serves with the local Junior Achievement Board; is past member of Business Plan Review Committee for Indiana's Business Modernization and Technology (BMT) Corporation; is a member of the BMT Software Technology Committee; is a board director for Logikos, Inc.; and is a judge at the annual IPFW Regional Science and Engineering Fair as well as the First Lego League tournament. He and his wife, Dr. Jacqueline Akey, MD, have three school age boys.

Presentation Award

Professor of Chemistry
Indiana University - Purdue University

B.S. and M. Ed. University of Pittsburgh
Ph.D. The Ohio State University

Arthur Friedel taught junior high math and science for four years before returning to school to obtain a Ph.D. in science education at OSU. He has been teaching general chemistry, methods of science teaching, and supervising student teachers of science in middle and high school since his arrival at IPFW in 1967. For more than 20 years he was the director of the Northeastern Indiana Regional Science Fair and was a judge at many local school science fair competitions.

He is a member of the American Chemical Society, the National Science Teachers Association, and the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers. He was a founding member of the board of directors of Science Central. His research effort is centered on how to assess student's learning of chemical concepts.

Leadership Award

Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne
Science Education

Jeffrey A. Nowak received a B.S. in Biology from Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH in 1992, and the M.A. in Geology degree from Ball State University in Muncie, IN in 1994. From 1994 to 1997, he taught Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics at Columbus East High School in Columbus, IN. From 1997 to 1999, he was an Associate Instructor of Elementary Science Education at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. From 1999 to 2000, he taught Middle School Science and the eighth-grade gifted and talented (G&T) science program at Northside Middle School in Columbus, IN. He joined the School of Education at Indiana University - Purdue University, Fort Wayne in 2000 as a Visiting Instructor of Elementary Science Education.

Currently an Assistant Professor of Elementary Science Education at IPFW, he teaches EDUC Q200 - Science Skills, E328 - Science Methods for Pre-service Elementary Teaching Majors, and E548 - Advanced Teaching of Science in the Elementary School. His research interests include how to incorporate and utilize "best practice" technologies and inquiry-based instructional strategies in the K-12 science classroom.

Technical Interview and Programming Awards

Chief Technology Officer
SolutionPoint, Inc.

Bill Westrick oversees all development and technical operations for SolutionPoint, Inc. in Fort Wayne. He was formerly Vice President of Software Development at Chameleon Power, Inc. of Detroit. Bill brings more than 18 years experience in software development and extensive management skills to the SolutionPoint team.

Bill Westrick developed a fascination with mathematics and logic systems at a young age and taught himself computer programming when the industry was in its infancy in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He quickly progressed to a professional level and by the mid 1980's was the senior Software Developer for ECS. Over the past 12 years he has spearheaded new technologies that garnered international patents in software color technology. His latest achievement was developing online visualization tools for Chameleon Power, Inc. while overseeing their development teams.

Robust Design and Creativity Awards

Spicer Outdoor Power Equipment Components, Dana Corporation.

BSAE, MS, Ph.D., Purdue University

John Renie studied aerospace engineering at Purdue University majoring in the area of thermal sciences in general and rocket propulsion in particular. During the period of time between 1984 and 1995, he taught at the University of Illinois and Indiana University, Purdue University at Fort Wayne (IPFW). His primary teaching responsibilities involved the thermal sciences, including thermodynamics, heat transfer and combustion.

In 1995, he left the academic environment to work for the Spicer Outdoor Power Equipment Components Division of Dana Corporation located in Fort Wayne, IN. His primary responsibility at Dana has been as Lab Manager, with responsibility of conducting quality assurance and product durability tests on drive train components involved in leisure and utility vehicles. He also has the responsibility of conducting finite element analyses on drive train components as well as NVH measurements.

He is an active member of the Fort Wayne chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) serving as their Chairman for one year and as a Governing Board member for the past decade. He continues to teach various engineering and engineering-related subjects as an Associate Professor at IPFW and has participated in the FLL in 2000 as well as serving a judge for the regional science fair for a number of years during the past decade.

Robust Design and Creativity

Chief Executive Officer
SolutionPoint, Inc.

Chris graduated in 1990 with a B.A. from DePauw University in Greencastle,
Indiana with a double degree in Economics & Management and Mathematics. With knowledge and interest in computer technologies, Chris worked at Magnavox Electronic Systems Co. from 1990 to 1995 as a Systems Engineer with focus in human interface engineering and systems analysis. Chris evolved to a program support role for the Pentagon, Army/USMC leadership and Army field operations.

In 1995, Chris (and two others) founded SolutionPoint, Inc., a Fort Wayne based software design and development company producing software for
business and Internet applications. Located in downtown Fort Wayne, SolutionPoint employs eight. The company focuses in distributed, high end application design with an emphasis on web-enabled software. SolutionPoint recently announced the completion of an automated, vehicle-based computing system that enables auto rental from the vehicle itself, eliminating traditional rental counter operations.

Chris is an executive member of the Indiana Technology Partnership Northeast and is active with local and regional technology initiatives.

Presentation Award

Department of Geoscience
Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne

B.S. Geology, Minor Mathematics, 1988, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
M.S. Geology, 1991, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi.
Ph.D. Geology, 1994, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi.

Associate Professor of Geology and Fellow in the Office of Academic Affairs, IPFW

Drummond's research focuses on spatio-temporal patterns in stratigraphy. Recent papers on the stratal distribution of tempestite deposits and lateral continuity of shallow-water carbonate facies has prompted study of high-resolution stratigraphy of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic shelf sequences.

Dr. Drummond was awarded the James Lee Wilson Medal for outstanding achievement in the field of sedimentary geology by a young scientist. A 1998 publication was awarded Best Paper in the Journal of Sedimentary Research. He also received the Sigma Xi IPFW chapter Outstanding Researcher of the Year.

A dedicated teacher, Drummond is editor of the Journal of Geoscience Education and sits on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.

Against All Odds

Kelly Konger studied and received her degree in Computer Science, and practiced as a computer programmer specializing in CNC programming at Manufacturer's Alternatives. She became the manager for 10 yrs.

In 1994 she left Manufacturer's Alternatives and went to Tuthill Corporation and was the Production Control Manager and the S.A.P. super user for all the Tuthill Transfer System divisions. She is now the Project Manager responsible for the implementation of lean manufacturing and is the leader of the information technology user group for 27 divisions with 5 of them out of the country.

She started back at IPFW for her 2nd degree in 1990. This one in Engineering, and has been the past President for the Society of Women Engineers for the Fort Wayne chapter for the last 3 years. This last year the organization was fortunate enough to be able to speak to over 900 boys and girls about "What is Engineering".

Leadership Award

Organizational Leadership and Supervision
Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne

Dina Mansour-Cole researches, consults, and teaches in the areas of team development and leadership. She came to Fort Wayne after receiving her Ph.D. in the Management of Organizations from the University of Cincinnati. She was the primary investigator on a project that looked at the effects of team membership on reactions to the merger of two hospitals. She has also studied teams and transitions in R&D and manufacturing settings.

She redesigned the required course in Leadership for Team Development for the Organizational Leadership and Supervision Division at IPFW. More recently she taught an online course entitled Leading Virtual Teams. She has published articles about team design and about teaching with student teams. This December her chapter on team identity formation in the virtual environment will be published in the JAI Series Volume 9, Research in the Study of Work Teams.

Team Spirit Award