After winning third place in a competition at Drexel’s Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship in Technology, Kristin Dudley has spent the past three years growing and developing LympheDIVAs, which produces fashionable, medical grade compression sleeves for those suffering from a side effect of breast cancer known as lymphedema.
Since selling its first sleeves in 2006, today LympheDIVAS garments can be found in stores nationwide. Unfortunately, great success came with adversity. Ms. Dudley’s business partner was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in March 2007, and lost her battle in January 2008. Ms. Dudley remained committed to LympheDIVAs and demonstrated resilience and relentless determination to achieve the desired outcomes for her business.
Over the last year, Ms. Dudley managed to operate the business while advancing the brand, tripling sales revenues and reorganizing the business’ infrastructure. After realizing the business was in a healthy place, she left LympheDIVAs in the hands of her deceased partner’s family, who will continue to run and grow the business as her legacy. Ms. Dudley is going forward as an entrepreneur with the mission of ‘healing by design’ to provide all those affected by disease with products that are fashionable, functional and empowering.
“Kristin has a level of enthusiasm and optimism that is contagious with everyone that she encounters,” said Mark Loschiavo, executive director of the Laurence A. Baiada Center.
Ms. Dudley was recently selected to receive a fellowship from Women Inventing Next (WIN) and continues to serve as an ambassador for Drexel, speaking to prospective and current students about her experiences at Drexel and beyond.
For more than 30 years, Mr. Boyd worked for M. W. Kellogg, a designer and contractor of petroleum, petrochemical and chemical process plants. While at Kellogg, he rose from a Process Engineer to Senior Process Consultant and Technology Development Manager. He spent more than 20 years working in Texas, and while there, he also worked as an adjunct professor of Chemical Engineering at Rice University.
Mr. Boyd, a patent-holder, has written for numerous publications and, after retiring in 1991, worked as a volunteer for Drexel’s Enrollment Management Office as an interviewer and recruiter for several years. In addition, he worked as a consultant for the University of Missouri.
Mr. Boyd has served on the Alumni Board of Governors and participated on many committees including the Reunion, Alumni Ambassador, Nominations, and Student/Alumni Relations Committees. He has also served as an advisor to his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, and is an active fundraising volunteer for them. He currently serves on the College of Engineering Alumni Association Board as an at-large member. In 2004, Mr. Boyd was the recipient of the Service to Profession Award by the Drexel Alumni Association.
 Ambassador Mack served as the Ambassador to Finland from June 2004 until October 2005. Ambassador Mack has a long history associated with business, the arts, education, public service, and thoroughbred racing. His business life included serving as Senior Partner and Chief Financial Officer of the almost century-old Mack Company (now known as Mack-Cali). Ambassador Mack was also a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Realty Committee.
He co-produced the feature films “Hard Choices” and “She Dances Alone.” In 1977, he produced and co-directed “The Children of Theatre Street,” a documentary film nominated for an Academy Award, the Cannes Film Festival, and was the winner of the Film Advisory Board’s Award of Excellence in 1978.
Additionally, he co-produced the multi-media rock musical “Stomp,” and, in 2001, helped produce a Broadway revival of “Judgment at Nuremberg.”
In the late 1990s, Ambassador Mack split his time between his professional racehorse business and working as Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts, a position to which he was appointed by Governor George Pataki in 1996.
He is the President of the Earle I. Mack Foundation and was inducted into the Drexel 100 in 1992. In April 2008, the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University was named in honor of Ambassador Mack.
In 1995, Justice Newman was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The first woman ever elected to this state’s high court, she served until her retirement in 2006. Prior to her term, Justice Newman was a judge for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, an attorney for a private practice and served as the first female Assistant District Attorney in the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
A prolific writer and speaker, Justice Newman has delivered addresses to the Philadelphia Bar Association; various county bar associations; the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania; the Lawyers’ Club of Philadelphia and the ADR Institute. She has also written extensively for various publications and is the author of the Trial Practice Chapter and was a trial practice consultant for the 3-volume book, Alimony, Child Support and Counsel Fees.
Justice Newman is a trustee of the Drexel University College of Medicine and a member of the Law School Board for the Earle Mack School of Law. She was inducted into the Drexel 100 in 1992 and was designated a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania in 1996. In 2001, she received an honorary degree from Drexel. She was named one of Pennsylvania’s Best 50 Women in Business earlier this year.
 In 1967, Mr. Vidas co-founded SEMCOR, Inc., a high-tech consulting firm specializing in integrated information systems solutions. As President and CEO, he led SEMCOR through three decades of steady growth, ultimately employing 1,200 people in 24 states. Advanced Communication Systems Corporation acquired SEMCOR in 1998, and Mr. Vidas retired in 1999.
Mr. Vidas was inducted into the Drexel 100 in 2003 and the College of Engineering Alumni Circle of Distinction in 2001. He is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame and a former member of the College of Engineering Advisory Council and the Reunion Committee. In 2005, Mr. Vidas was inducted into the National Commission for Cooperative Education Co-op Hall of Fame.
The Vidas Athletic Complex, home to all of Drexel's outdoor sports and located at 43rdStreet and Powelton Avenue, is named in honor of Mr. Vidas and his wife. Mr. Vidas was a three-year letter winner in football and one-year letter winner in basketball and lacrosse while at Drexel. He was captain of Drexel’s football team in his senior year and was named All-American in football for both his junior and senior years.
 Mr. Westphal is the founder and chairman of Vertex, which he founded in the 1970s and ran until his retirement in 2001. Vertex provides tax software that corporate clients use to process income, sales, consumer use, value-added, communications, payroll, and property taxes. In 2001, Vertex was named The Best Place to Work in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
In 2005, the College of Media Arts and Design was named in honor of Mr. Westphal’s wife, the late Antoinette Westphal, who was a 1959 Home Economics graduate of Drexel. Both Mr. and Mrs. Westphal were 2002 Honorary Doctorate recipients. The Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery restoration project was also made possible by Mr. and Mrs. Westphal.
Mr. Westphal is a former Trustee and was an original inductee into the Drexel 100 in 1992. Previously, he served on the LeBow Advisory Board. Subsequently, Mr. Westphal served on the Drexel University Strategic Planning Committee. In 1994, Mr. and Mrs. Westphal established the Vertex Fellowship Program for students in the Master of Science in Taxation Program in the LeBow College of Business. In 1994 and 1995, Mr. Westphal presented the Vertex Award to an undergraduate student in the LeBow College of Business.
 Xiang Wang, Ph.D., is the Lead Partner of the China-focused Intellectual Property practice at the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, as well as the Administrative Partner of the Beijing office and a Partner of the Silicon Valley office. Dr. Wang assists local and foreign-based multinational companies with all aspects of their intellectual property rights in China, Hong Kong and the United States. He has extensive experience representing Chinese companies as they expand their domestic and foreign investment, R&D and IP into global markets, including IP-related litigation in the United States.
Dr. Wang has developed the region’s premier IP practice based on his reputation as one of the only IP lawyers who has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, a Chinese Certificate of Laws and admission to practice law in New York, Indiana and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has also received four U.S. medical-technology patents in his name.
Dr. Wang currently serves as Vice Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and as Counsel for the R&D-Based Pharmaceutical Association in China. He also serves as an adjunct professor of electrical and biomedical engineering at Drexel.
In 2005, Dr. Wang was honored by Asian Legal Business as one of the “30 Hottest Lawyers” for handling a large amount of cross-border patent and trademark prosecution and litigation cases. And in 2002, he was the recipient of Distinguished Alumni Award from Drexel’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
 Denis J. Carlson is the Senior Vice President of Investment Banking for J.P. McGowan & Co., an investment bank and securities broker-dealer with offices in Philadelphia. He is also the President of Sno Mountain LLC, which bought the former Montage Ski resort from Lackawanna County in July 2006 and went to work quickly upgrading the trails, the lodge and equipment.
Mr. Carlson was formerly the Senior Vice President for Investment Banking at Commerce Capital Markets, Inc. and has also served as the Managing Director of A.H. Williams. In addition, Mr. Carlson had been the Senior Vice President and Director of Public Finance at Janney Montgomery Scott, LLP in Philadelphia. He was responsible for coordinating the company’s public finance efforts throughout the Eastern United States.
Mr. Carlson has more than 25 years of municipal finance and investment advisory experience, in which time he has completed more than $25 billion in financings.
He has served on the boards of Melmark, the Inglis House Fundraising Committee, and the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Carlson is the past Chairman of the Drexel University Alumni Board of Governor’s Executive Committee and has been an active member on numerous committees of the Alumni Board. He is also a past ex-officio member of Drexel’s Board of Trustees and has been an active participant in the University’s Connections program, which recruits Drexel alumni to speak to current students.
 Chris received his Navy Wings in 1996, attended the Navy Fighter Weapon School and was selected for the Naval Postgraduate/Test Pilot School program in 1989. He served for one year as an instructor at the Naval Test Pilot School and with the VF-11’s Red Rippers, a legendary fighter squadron that pioneered carrier operations from the decks of the USS Langley, the Navy’s first flattop.
Mr. Ferguson was accepted into the astronaut corps in 1998. After completing NASA’s training and evaluation regimen, he logged his first 12 days in space as Pilot of STS-115. The mission delivered and installed the ISS' massive P3/P4 truss segments including solar arrays providing 25 percent of the station's power. Ferguson's crew worked for over 30 hours using the Shuttle's robotic arm and three spacewalks to complete the truss installation.
Last year, Chris commanded STS-126, which positioned a reusable logistics module holding supplies and equipment to sustain a crew of six on the Station. As the commander of space shuttle Endeavour STS-126, Mr. Ferguson worked with his six-person crew on the 15-day space mission to install a system that recycles water. In addition, Mr. Ferguson and his crew delivered equipment to the International Space Station.
In honor of his contributions to engineering and space exploration, Mr. Ferguson was named the Drexel University College of Engineering 2009 Engineer of the Year.
Giang Au transferred to Drexel University in 2006 and quickly became involved on campus. She joined Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, and Kappa Theta Epsilon, the National Cooperative Education Honor Society, and later became Vice President of Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society. Her academic achievements have been recognized by being awarded a Dean's Scholarship and being on the National Dean's List.
In addition to volunteer work, Giang is a Transfer Assistant and has organized events for commuter students, including a panel event to assist first-year students with advising questions. Additionally, Giang joined the Biomedical Engineering Student Advisory Board to provide feedback and ideas for improving the school.
Michael Colligan has worked independently in the community, raising more than $2,000 to support the American Cancer Society. He has served as the Communications Chair for the Newman Catholic Community Center at Drexel, where he developed a newsletter and increased recruitment.
As a member of the Executive Council of the Drexel Traditions Program, Michael helped revive Homecoming in January 2009. He is currently developing an Institute Day tradition that
encompasses events dating from 1917 to the 1940s.
Michael has also served as a Teaching Assistant for the LeBow College of Business. He has served as Recruitment Chair and President of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity and as Social Chair on the Inter Fraternity Council.
Sean Miller is a recipient of the Milton Rosenberg Scholarship and has been inducted into several honor societies, including Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society, Kappa Theta Epsilon National Cooperative Education Honor Society, Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, and the Alpha Sigma Mu Honor Society. He is also one of the University’s Dragon mascots and a former Student Ambassador. For three years, Sean was a Drexel Scholar Student Athlete Award recipient.
Sean has served as President of the Drexel Democrats and, in 2008, was recognized as Student Leader of the Year at the USGA and Student Life Annual Awards for his leadership achievements during the Presidential Primary and Presidential Election. During the election, Sean's responsibilities included organizing more than 100 Election Day volunteers and coordinating a “Get Out The Vote” program to cover the University campus and the entire 24th Ward in West Philadelphia.
Vincent Zapisek has been a member of the varsity rowing team for the past four years at Drexel. He served on the Steinbright Career Development Center Student Advisory Committee, is an Athletes Helping Athletes Mentor, and is a Pennoni Honors College Mentor. He is also a student representative on the College of Engineering Alumni Association Board and a teaching assistant and graduate research student.
As part of the Student Retention Advisory Committee, Vincent helped plan New Student Orientation 2008 as well as revamped Drexel's BlueLine Web page. He has earned Creative Excellent Organizations (CEO) Leadership Certificates for three years and has completed the advanced CEO leadership training.
He was a 2008 recipient of the Drexel UniversityAlumni Association’s AlumniLeadershipScholarship.
 Dr. Ranjan Dash is the Co-founder, Vice President, and Chief Technology Officer at Y-Carbon, Inc., a company based on his doctoral research at Drexel. Under his leadership, Y‐Carbon was able to raise $600,000 in the very first year of operation and created six jobs, including two internships for Drexel College of Engineering students. A portfolio company of Pennsylvania Nanomaterials Commercialization Center and The Nanotechnology Institute of Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Y‐Carbon was on the cover page of the Philadelphia Business Journal and mentioned in the entrepreneurship section of Financial Times in 2008. In addition to his work at Y-Carbon, Dr. Dash has worked in a variety of fields ranging from ceramic manufacturing and software development to materials science research and development.
Dr. Dash was the first student at Drexel University to complete simultaneous Ph.D. and MBA degrees within four years. In 2006, he received the Best Dissertation Award in engineering and physical science at Drexel. In 2007, he was awarded the International Carbon Prize, sponsored by Elsevier, for his doctoral research and he was invited to serve on a Department of Energy panel on the future of electrical energy storage. Additionally, he was named "Most Likely to Enhance Drexel's Reputation" by the Dissertation Award Committee at Drexel.
Dr. Dash’s work has resulted in a family of novel carbon materials, and has received a Nanotech Briefs Nano 50 Award and a R&D 100 Award. Y-Carbon was recognized as a “company to watch” at the Pennsylvania Nanotechnology Conference in 2005, and he has published 10 journal papers and has 6 patents pending.
 Marilynne Rose is an interior designer and instructor for Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design Department of Architecture and Interiors. For the past 14 years, Ms. Rose has taught interior design courses at Drexel and her professional design career spans more than 25 years.
Professionally, Ms. Rose founded Marilynne Rose Interior Design in 1989 to provide design services for both commercial and residential projects and clients. She has continued practicing her professional services since she began teaching at Drexel, completing nearly 60 projects during her tenure.
In her academic career, she has developed curriculum and courses and served as the advisor for both the Drexel Interiors Group and Senior Show. As the Senior Show advisor, Ms. Rose has improved the event’s visibility and reputation, holding it at prominent, public locations with greatly increased attendance each year. For five years, Ms. Rose has served as the Henderson Challenge Liaison, helping organize the business plan competition for College of Media Arts and Design students sponsored by Nina Henderson, a trustee. Ms. Rose was the driving force behind the Kreibel-Clark Scholarship, which is awarded to an interior design student in the sophomore year.
Most recently, Ms. Rose has initiated a new project, tentatively called Friends of Drexel Interiors. As a long-term goal of this project, she hopes to form a group of vital alumni to partner with the program, assist with co-op leads, and raise funds.
Ms. Rose has several professional accreditations and society memberships, including NCIDQ and LEED. In 2001, she was awarded the American Society of Interior Designers Award for Excellence.
 Roberta L. Hyland was a part of the inaugural cohort of the Masters of Science in Higher Education program. She received her Master of Science degree in Higher Education, with a concentration in Enrollment Management, from Drexel University in September 2007. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies with concentrations in Russian and German at Muhlenberg College.
Ms. Hyland was recently appointed as the Assistant Vice President of Government Relations at Student Clearinghouse. She oversees the National Student Clearinghouse’s operational and relationship activities with student aid providers and the U.S. Department of Education. She is also the Program Manager for their StudentTracker Research services and has been integral to the Clearinghouse’s efforts to develop an enrollment reporting method for international institutions and the development of their national database of educational credential information.
Ms. Hyland demonstrates her ongoing commitment to education through her successful mentoring work with high school students as a speech and debate coach. Her students have been ranked nationally, won state championships, and successfully completed undergraduate and graduate programs at prestigious higher education institutions.
In 2006, Ms. Hyland’s Lincoln-Douglas Debate Resolution Overview was published by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and, in 2005, she authored the debate topic paper for use by the NFHS in their Policy Debate Topic Selection Process.
 Sarah Stolfa currently teaches undergraduate photography courses at the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania. In August of this year, she has plans to open the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PAAC), which is a nonprofit photography center in Philadelphia that would service the study, contemporary practice and appreciation of photography.
As a student, Ms. Stolfa won the prestigious New York Times Magazine photography award in 2004, where a portfolio of her work was published. Soon after graduating from Drexel University, she began exhibiting her work in galleries and museums around the region. In 2006 she was given a scholarship for a Masters of Fine Arts degree at Yale University School of Art. While at Yale, Ms. Stolfa taught at the Yale University Art Gallery and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Professionally, Ms. Stolfa has done editorial work for the New York Times Magazine, she is represented by two commercial fine arts galleries, has works in public collections, exhibits continuously, has done curatorial work and will publish the first collection of her work, The Regulars, in June 2009.
“I cannot think of a more promising young alumnus for this award,” said Stuart Rome, professor of photography at the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. “I would be proud, as one of her former teachers, to see her hard work, creative excellence and commitment to her community acknowledged by the Drexel community in the form of the Rankin-Epstein award.”
Click here for a list of the 2008 Alumni Award recipients
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