Eberly College of Science alumni making a difference
The Alumni Fellow Award
The Alumni Fellow Award is the most prestigious award given by the Penn State Alumni Association. Since 1973, the Alumni Fellow Award has been given to select alumni who, as leaders in their professional fields, are nominated by an academic college and accept an invitation from the President of the University to return to campus to share their expertise with students, faculty, and administrators.
2021 Recipient of the Alumni Fellow Award
Alexa Dembek is a 30-year DuPont veteran. She is a born problem-solver, innovator, and education advocate. She champions the company’s entrepreneurial mindset to spur growth, while fostering close collaboration with customers and strategic partners alike.
The business success Alexa has achieved is emblematic of her passion for enabling innovation to flourish, a consistent theme spanning her career at DuPont. Alexa leads business and innovation strategy alignment to make the most impactful portfolio choices for DuPont. She is passionate about elevating the role sustainability plays in investment decisions and how DuPont can help customers achieve their own sustainability ambitions.
Prior to assuming her current role, Alexa led DuPont Central Research and Development. Throughout her career Alexa has been an ardent champion of the next generation of innovators. This, coupled with her commitment to talent development and inclusion, has prepared her well for current leadership role at DuPont.
Alexa serves on the dean’s advisory board for Penn State’s Eberly College of Science and is active with the Delaware Innovation Space, a partnership between the University of Delaware and the state that incubates startups. She is a recipient of Eberly’s Outstanding Science Alumni Award and is the author of 16 peer-reviewed journal articles, two symposia chapters, and five issued US patents.
Alexa is a member of the Penn State Alumni Association. In addition to her Penn State degree, she holds a degree in Chemistry from Northern Illinois University. She lives in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Scott, and their three children, Alan, Jonathan, and Daniel.
Previous Eberly Alumni Fellow Award Recipients
2019
Eliav Barr
Colonel (Ret.) Priscilla H. Hamilton (Nominated by Penn State Behrend)
2018
Mark Becker
2017
Allan Silberman
2016
Andrew Santacroce (Nominated by Penn State Abington)
Janet Vergis
2015
Stephen Miller
Scott Smith
2014
Donald Abraham
Bruce Blausen
2013
Gary Ralph Matyas
Tom Richardson
2011
F. Alan Andersen (Nominated by the Graduate School)
Arthur Baldwin
David Han
Gloria DeGrandi Hoffman
Bob Wilson
2010
Robert G. Faris (Nominated by Liberal Arts)
Stuart Seides
2009
Bruce Gewertz
Amitabh Srivastava
2008
Richard B. Silverman
2007
Gail Folena-Wasserman
Ronald L. Mallett (Nominated by Altoona)
Chad A. Mirkin
2006
David Denlinger
Yu Hak Hahn
Daniel Pelak
2005
Perry Geib
Robert Newnham
Robert Shaler
James Stith
2004
Terence Dwyer
2003
Robert Emery, Jr.
Marcus Hansen, Jr.
John Heller
Paul Nelson
2002
Catherine Beath
John Hoover
Lou Martarano
2001
Roger Brumback
Judith Loftin Davenport
Monica Morrow
2000
Edward Frymoyer
James Plonka
1999
William Elliott III
Albert Kligman
Gino Mori
Barbara Howell Raphael
Michael Swank
1998
Edward Beckwith
Stephen Mahle
Owen Webster
1997
T. Ming Chu
1996
Theodore Steinman
Charles Tatum, Jr.
1995
Howard Jacobson
Anthony Silvestri
1994
Joseph Miller
Morris Taradalsky
1993
Duane Alexander
Alan Bedrick
Gary Lyons
1992
Gordon Fee
Terry Loucks
LTG Harry Soyster
1991
James Balog
John Hampford
Nicholas Pelick
1990
Mary Louise Krumrine
Murray Schwartz
1989
Robert Eberly
Frank Luerssen
1988
F. Richard Nichol, Jr.
Donald Wyenberg
1987
Eugene Apple
Ralph Garruto
Raymond Shibley
1986
Harold O'Connor, Jr.
1985
Edward Shapiro
1984
Alan Schriesheim
1983
J. Lloyd Huck
1982
Peter Banks
Robert Chapman
1980
Allen Russell
1979
Joseph Kriss
1978
Louis Rosen
1975
M. Gen (Ret.) Walter Tkach
1974
Vernon Barger
J. David Lockard