Ohio Northern University’s T.J. Smull College of Engineering honored Dr. O. Glenn Smith and Keng Siang-Lim with Distinguished Alumni Awards on Feb. 25.
At ONU, Smith was a member of Sigma Xi, Alpha Sigma Phi, Tau Beta Pi and Kappa Kappa Psi. He played varsity baseball, basketball and golf and was elected to ONU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.
After graduating from Northern in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, Smith earned his Master of Science and then a Ph.D. (both in mechanical engineering) from the University of Pittsburgh. He worked as a fellow engineer with Westinghouse Electric Corp. and as a heat transfer specialist at Atomic Power Labs.
In 1967, he began a long and distinguished career in project engineering and management for NASA’s Johnson Space center in Houston. After the decision to stop the Apollo moon missions, Smith was the study manager of a NASA in-house effort to identify costs, schedules and recommendations for various uses of Apollo launch-ready systems. These potential uses included Skylab II, the Apollo-Soyuz mission, artificial gravity tests, manipulator development, solar power satellite demos and museum pieces.
Smith also was the project lead for a team of astronauts, scientists and engineers tasked with designing controls for the Apollo telescope mount in Skylab, and he acted as project lead for the development of Earth resources instruments for the Skylab program.
Smith was a rocket engine specialist in the Shuttle Systems Engineering Office at Johnson Space Center, specializing in the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) built by Rocketdyne.
He was a deputy manager of systems engineering for the space shuttle, transferring to the Space Station Program Office after the first eight Shuttle flights, and he was the manager of science and applications experiments for the International Space Station. Smith retired from NASA in 1994 and continues to serve as a consultant on space launch systems.
A 1989 graduate of ONU with a dual major in civil engineering and computer science, Lim is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of NextLabs. As CEO, he is responsible for the vision, leadership, strategic direction and successful growth of the company and its employees.
IDG Demo recognized him at DEMOfall 2009 with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant contributions to the advancement of technology. Lim is credited for his contributions to web and SOA technologies, ecommerce, SAAS, and information security software.
Lim also has been recognized by several key organizations as one of the industry’s “most influential people on the Internet.” ZDNet selected him as one of the “50 Smartest People” in 2000. He is widely known to be able to spot new markets and emerging technologies and often is recognized as one who is capable of creating new category-defining products.
Lim is recognized as one of the inventors of the Java application server through his founding of Kiva Software – an application server pioneer. Kiva Software was the first to introduce an enterprise-class Java Application Server to market in 1996 and, in the process, coined the terms Java and Web Application Server and led to the emergence of the enterprise Java Bean (EJB) and J2ee standards.
Through his works and vision on Internet and network security, Sygate Technologies – which he helped launch in 1998 – has successfully established itself as the market leader of the enterprise endpoint security enforcement software.
In addition to his degree from Ohio Northern University, Lim earned a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a member of the engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi, and the holder of more than 30 approved and pending patents in the Internet and information security-related areas.
Established in 2010, The T.J. Smull College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes those who have distinguished themselves through outstanding personal qualities and significant contributions to his or her chosen field.
To be eligible for the award, an individual must be a graduate of the T.J. Smull College of Engineering; be distinguished in his or her profession, business or other worthy endeavor; have received recognition from his or her contemporaries; have made a significant contributions benefitting his or her community, state, nation, the University or the college; and be a person of such integrity, stature and demonstrated ability that the faculty, staff, students and alumni of the college will take pride in and be inspired by his or her recognition.
