Tau Beta Pi Leadership
The Executive Council is a group of alumnus members elected by the Convention to lead the Association, under the provisions of the Constitution and Bylaws and the Acts of the Convention. See previous Executive Councils here.
It guides the programs of Tau Beta Pi through a full-time Executive Director, whose offices at the University of Tennessee are the Headquarters of the Association (HQ Staff), and other Association Officials whom it appoints. All actions taken by the Council or the Officials are reported back to the Convention.
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Rachel K. Alexander, CA Upsilon '15 | Councillor, 2019-25; Secretary 2020 & 2021, VP 2022, & President 2023 |
| Mike J. Hand III, MI Gamma '11 | Councillor, 2023-25; Treasurer 2023 |
| Ron M. Hickling, CA Epsilon '80 | Councillor, 2021-24; VP 2023 |
| MingDe Lin, NY Gamma '01 | Councillor, 2021-24 |
| Marla A. Peterson, AZ Alpha '83 | Councillor, 2023-25 |
| Michael L. Peterson, IA Alpha '89 | Councillor, 2020-23; Secretary 2022 & 2023 |
| Joan M. Sciacca, CA Mu '87 | Councillor, 2021-24 |
| George Youssef, NJ Gamma '01 | Councillor, 2017-23; Treasurer 2021 |
| Menna M. Youssef, VA Gamma '04 | Councillor, 2017-23; Vice President 2021, & President 2022 |
| Curtis D. Gomulinski, MI Epsilon '01 | Executive Director |
| James D. Froula, TN Alpha '67 | Executive Director Emeritus |
| Roger E. Hawks, NY Lambda '75 | Assistant Executive Director Emeritus (deceased) |
Rachel K. Alexander, P.E., began serving as a ΤΒΠ Executive Councillor in 2019 and graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with a degreee in civil engineering.
She is an associate engineer with the Sacramento Area Sewer District. Previously, Rachel worked at an architectural engineering firm performng forensic investigations of structures.
Rachel held positions of social chair and president of her collegiate chapter (CA Upsilon) and has served as president and in other capacities for the Sacramento Valley Alumni Chapter. She looks forward to building the Association's image and reconnecting with alumni.
Mike J. Hand III, has served as a TBP District 7 Director since 2016 and previously served as MI Gamma Chapter president and advisor. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan with B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering systems.
He is currently employed at Ford Motor Company as an autonomous vehicle systems engineer. Additionally, he served as chair of the Student Advisory Board, is a TBP Fellow (2012), helped establish the Ann Arbor Alumni Chapter, and helped lead the Constitution and Bylaws reorganization from 2014-18.
Mike has attended every Convention since 2011 and plans to work to create Association committees to provide more volunteer opportunities for students and alumni, expand
chapter resources, streamline the organization's operations,
and expand the Association's commitment to DEI Initiatives.
Ron M. Hickling began serving as a ΤΒΠ Executive Councillor in 2021 and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering.
He is a senior systems engineer at Interconnect Systems, a subsidiary of Molex, LLC, where he is involved in the development of hardware for instrumentation and RF bandwidth ADCs and DACs coupled with FPGA processing. Previously, Ron co-founded startup TechnoConcepts, Inc., and served as its first president.
Ron has served at ΤΒΠ's permanent Convention Chair 28 times and as parliamentarian before that. He previously served as a District 15 Director, Engineering Futures Facilitator, and Director of Engineering Futures. More recently, he served as an advisor to the CA Epsilon Chapter. He enjoys living with his family in Newbury Park, CA, and playing music in his spare time.
MingDe Lin, Ph.D., began serving as a ΤΒΠ
Executive Councillor in 2021 and is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in biomedical engineering. He earned his Ph.D.in biomedical engineering from Duke University.
MingDe is the Director for Clinical Research North America for Visage Imaging, Inc., where he oversees and directs academic-industry research partnerships, especially around Artificial Intelligence and acts as the liaison between engineers in Visage and clinical collaborators to translate ideas to products that improve patient care. He is also an adjunct assistant professor, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Lin is directly involved in research to develop better ways to treat patients with liver cancer and in this context, and is the chief engineer and operations manager of the Yale Interventional Oncology Research Lab.
At Yale, MingDe has been an advisor for CT Alpha Chapter since 2016, and from 2017, he reactivated and has been serving the Central Connecticut TBP Alumni Chapter, first as President (2017-19) and then as Director in order to shepherd the transition of new leadership and to work with the officers in longer term strategic goals to bring a closer connection together with the collegiate chapters. He looks forward to instilling a greater connection between alumni and collegiate Tau Bates, to explore the role TBP can play in diversity and inclusiveness, and to encourage aspiring engineers towards TBP.
Marla A. Peterson, was nominated by the Arizona Alpha Chapter and became a ΤΒΠ
Executive Councillor in January 2023. She earned a B.S. in systems engineering from the University of Arizona (UA), where she served as AZ Alpha Chapter vice president for two years.
Marla initially joined Garrett, now Honeywell, and refined her love of technology and efficiencies by becoming a Black Belt, Lean Expert, and Lean Master. Now, Marla is a senior technical manager for Continuous Improvement. She has been dedicated to aerospace product excellence for 38 years, serving in leadership positions for over 25 years at various levels.
She is a founding member of the Engineering & Technology Diversity Council and Women in Honeywell network. She also serves as the Honeywell corporate program manager for engineering diversity events and is the campus manager of UA. She continues to mentor and sponsor interns, new hires, and experienced women in aerospace.
Michael L. Peterson, has served as a member of the Executive Council since January 2021 and as Secretary of the Association since January 2022.
He received his bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Iowa State University, where he was chapter president and a founding member of the PrISUm solar car team. He also has master's degrees in mechanical engineering and management from MIT.
His career at General Motors included a variety of manufacturing engineering, corporate strategy/planning, and leadership positions. He retired at the end of 2018 and currently teaches statistics and leadership at Oakland University; he and his wife also run Challenge Island – Oakland County East, a hands-on, team-based STEAM enrichment program for students ages 4-14.
Mike is part of a 3-generation ΤΒΠ family; his father was a Sigma Tau member at South Dakota School of Mines (SD A), and his three children (2 mechanical engineers, 1 software programmer) are also members of the Michigan Gamma chapter of ΤΒΠ. He previously served for two years as a District 7 Director and for 24 years as an Engineering Futures Facilitator.
Joan Sciacca began serving as a ΤΒΠ
Executive Councillor in 2021 and is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University with a B.S. degree in aeronuatical engineering.
She served as the California Mu Chapter president during her senior year. After graduating, she participated in design meetings for the Engineering Futures Program in the late 1980's and facilitated sessions from 1987-98. Joan is currently semi-retired after a diverse career, over 30 years, with Honeywell International where she held leadership positions in engineering project, field support & aircraft engine test, business management, program & product management, a joint venture with General Electric, a $1B divestiture transistion, operational & process excellence, six sigma and lean problem solving, business continuity management, global strategic sourcing, customer & product support, global internal consulting and human resources talent management.
She is the founder of Finestra Consulting, LLC, where she continues to follow her passion for process excellence and coaching/mentoring early and mid-career professionals in leadership and leadership presence. She has been a volunteer mentor with Menttium since 2008. Joan enjoys being outdoors and fills her spare time with travel, snow skiing, show shoeing, and hiking. She is the proud morther of two sons; in electrical engineering and civil engineering.
George Youssef was nominated by the Central Jersey Alumni Chapter and became a ΤΒΠ
Executive Councillor in January 2017.
He is a graduate of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) where he earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering, cum laude, and NJIT's Albert Dorman Honors College. George joined the General Electric company field engineer program in 2002 working on gas turbines around the globe. George has served in a number of positions including field engineer, resource engineer, training manager, and senior customer service leader in areas ranging from New Jersey and Georgia, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In a recent position, he was responsible for outage planning and execution, upgrades, and parts and repairs for ten nuclear power plants in PA, NJ, and CT.
He currently holds a service director position supporting the boiler services business in the western part of the United States. While at NJIT, he was active in Tau Beta Pi and served as a chapter president. George was a District 2 Director from 2009-16 covering the six chapters in New Jersey. He attended Convention twice as the voting delegate and enjoyed attending last year's Convention in San Diego. He is married with one daughter and relocated from New Jersey to California. During his free time, George enjoys traveling and meeting new people.
Menna M. Youssef, Ph.D., was nominated by the Richmond Alumni Chapter, became a ΤΒΠ
Executive Councillor in January 2017, and served as President in 2022.
She is a graduate of Old Dominion University, where she earned a bachelor of science magna cum laude and an M.S., both in electrical engineering. She then attended the University of Dayton, completing her Ph.D. in 2011 focusing her research on pattern recognition and computer vision applications for human activity recognition. Menna was a Graduate Student Research Program fellow and Virginia Space Grant Consortium fellow at NASA Langley researching electromagnetic propagation in aircraft fuselages and interned for NATO working on passive radar scenario testing.
As an instructor at Old Dominion, she developed a strong interest in STEM and education reform that led her to work on developing initiatives in rural communities in the Middle East and North Africa region. In 2014, Menna joined the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a Patent Examiner in the Image Analysis workgroup. She is currently a Supervisory Patent Examiner in the Circuits workgroup. Menna served as a ΤΒΠ chapter president and as an advisor for VA Gamma.
Curtis D. Gomulinski is the Executive Director of The Tau Beta Pi Association. He succeeded Jim Froula at the close of the 2011 Convention. He is the fourth member to hold this position.
He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Wayne State University and a master's degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining Tau Beta Pi, Curt spent eight years at the University of Michigan serving in a variety of roles including system administrator, project engineer, and interim manager. He was responsible for numerous server systems and departmental applications as well as leading an array of infrastructure projects including the execution of virtualization, storage, networking, and database solutions serving the needs of plant operations.
He was initiated into ΤΒΠ in 1998, served for two years as chapter president, and spearheaded the successful bid to host the 2002 Convention in Detroit. In 2002, he assisted local alumni to reactivate the Southeastern Michigan Alumni Chapter and began his volunteer role as District 7 Director. In 2008, he assumed the role of Chapter Advisor to Michigan Gamma at the University of Michigan. He served in both roles until July 2011.
He lives in Knoxville, TN, with his wife, Tricia Gomulinski, South Dakota Alpha '98. He and his wife met through their mutual involvement as District Directors, and he proposed to her at the 2010 District Conference in Laramie, WY. They were married in 2010 on New Year's Eve in metropolitan Detroit. He enjoys traveling, hiking, and learning to play the piano.
James D. Froula, P.E. (ret.), is Executive Director Emeritus of The Tau Beta Pi Association. He was named in 1982 and served until 2011 as Executive Director. Jim is the third person to hold this position.
Prior to joining ΤΒΠ, Jim spent 12 years in design, development, and engineering management for the IBM Corporation in Lexington, KY, and Boulder, CO, receiving a first-level invention achievement award and an outstanding innovation award as mechanical manager for the Model 60 Copier.
His career began at Union Carbide Corporation's Y-12 nuclear plant as an engineering co-op student. He served as a lieutenant in the United States Army ordnance corps at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, Rock Island Arsenal, IL, and in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam and was awarded the bronze star and the army commendation medal.
Jim earned a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering at the University of Tennessee, where he was elected to Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Tau Sigma, and Tau Beta Pi, serving as President of Tennessee Alpha. His graduate work was completed under an NSF fellowship.
A former District 12 Director, Jim received the ΤΒΠ Distinguished Service Award in 1982. Former president and vice president of the Association of College Honor Societies, he served on the award selection committee of the American Association of Engineering Societies and on the committee on finances for Sigma Xi during 2012-19.
A licensed professional engineer in Tennessee, he is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a member of Phi Gamma Delta, Sigma Xi, National Society of Professional Engineers, Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers, and Technical Society of Knoxville. He serves on the Editorial Board of The Bent of Tau Beta Pi and as member (2019-23) and chair (2021-22) of the committee on audit review for Sigma Xi. Jim has climbed all 53 of the 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado and hiked all 800 miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park two times.
Roger E. Hawks is the Assistant Executive Director Emeritus of The Tau Beta Pi Association. He joined Tau Beta Pi in 1986, served as Assistant Secretary-Treasurer from 1986-2016, and served as Director of Chapter Programs from 2016 until his departure in 2018. Roger was only the sixth person to hold the position of Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, and the first to do so for a period longer than 10 years.
Roger's work at Tau Beta Pi was diverse and included many aspects of the Associations operations. He worked with petitioning societies interested in establishing a Tau Beta Pi chapter, oversaw interactions with chapters including reporting, activities, and awards, assisted with the award winning Engineering Futures Program, and served as the liaison to the District Directors and Advisors. He also assisted in the coordination of our annual Conventions, back to the 1986 event in College Park, MD.
Roger's years of service place him among the giants of Tau Beta Pi history including Red Matthews, Bob Nagel, and Jim Froula, all of whom dedicated an extensive period of their lives to the Association.
Roger was born and raised in Westchester County, New York. He graduated from Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua. He was the first in his family to attend college receiving a B.E. degree in chemical engineering, cum laude from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. After spending 10 years working in the Maxwell House Division of General Foods, Roger responded to an ad in The Bent 'Wanted Assistant Secretary-Treasurer.'
While on the fencing team at Pratt, Roger met and married Stefanie in January 1974. Stefanie served as captain of the women's fencing team for the 1974-75 seasons. Their 'children' have been of the four-footed and furry variety. Roger has a keen interest in music. He has sung in several church choirs, serving briefly as director, and the Knoxville Community Chorus. Stefanie began as a pen-and-ink and pencil artist and has moved into computer graphics. They are both avid sci-fi fans. They were given a tour of the BBC by the executive assistant to the producer of Doctor Who and saw the original Star Wars (before it became 'A New Hope') 30 times during the first year. Roger passed away on February 28, 2022.