The College of Engineering at North Carolina State University has named the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus award winners for 2011. The recipients are Marshall D. Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.com; William H. Dean, president and CEO of M.C. Dean, Inc.; and Robert R. Womack, former chairman and CEO of Zurn Industries, LLC.

The awards were presented by Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering, at a banquet held Jan. 26 at the Park Alumni Center on NC State’s Centennial Campus. The award honors alumni whose accomplishments further their field and reflect favorably on the university.

Dean received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from NC State in 1988. Since 1997 he has been president and CEO of M.C. Dean, Inc., a company founded in 1949 by Dean’s grandfather, Marion Caleb Dean. The firm has become a diversified leader in power engineering, applied electronics, information technology, controls systems, software, and systems integration for complex, mission-critical organizations.

Under Dean’s leadership, M.C. Dean has not only increased and diversified its engineering competencies, but also increased its total annual revenues thirtyfold and grown from a company of 100 employees in 1997 to 3,300 employees today. The company has offices throughout the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In 2009, Dean created the M.C. Dean Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations in their efforts to improve the communities they serve.

Dean and his company have been great allies of the College. M.C. Dean is an active recruiter of NC State engineering graduates, a consistent participant in the NC State Engineering Career Fair and an industry member of the FREEDM Systems Center, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center headquartered at NC State that is dedicated to smart grid technology and distributed energy.

Dean is also a member of the College’s Dean’s Circle and the NC State Engineering Foundation Board of Directors. He delivered the 2009 winter commencement address for the graduates of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

More information about the other award recipients for 2011 can be found in the article here.