Alumni News

Alumni Receive Awards At Founders' Day Oct. 16

Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented to eight former students during Old Dominion's annual Founders' Day dinner on Oct. 16 at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Two were College of Sciences alumni.

Mark H. Thiemans (M.S. Oceanography '75) -- Currently dean of physical sciences at the University of California, San Diego. Thiemans discovered the "mass-independent isotope effect" and was a recipient of the 1998 Ernest O. Lawrence Medal, the most prestigious award given to scientists by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Richard W. Turner (Psychology '69) -- A Richmond resident, Turner retired as the president and CEO of BEI Medical Systems, a medical technology company he founded in 1991 and sold to Boston Scientific Corp. in 2002 for an estimated $95 million. BEI developed the Hydro ThermAblator, which is used widely to treat excessive uterine bleeding.

Mark H. Thiemans and Richard W. Turner
College of Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

Another alum was presented an award during the dinner program:

James S. Cheng (Computer Science '82), founder and principal stockholder of Computer & Hi Tech Management Inc. of McLean, VA, received the Distinguished Entrepreneurial Award. In 1999 Virginia Business magazine recognized the firm with its Vanguard Award for being the fastest-growing company in the commonwealth.