Engineering the Future and Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Awards Celebrated at Annual Engineering Industry Research Symposium

Prominent community and philanthropic leaders Dr. Henry and Susan Samueli, and Boeing Company Senior Vice President, John J. Tracy, honored for their exceptional contributions

Three remarkable individuals were recognized as part of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and surrounding communities at the School’s annual awards program on May 15, 2007.  Dr. Henry and Susan Samueli, honored for their numerous contributions to UC Irvine and philanthropy worldwide, were given the Engineering the Future award, and John J. Tracy, Ph.D., senior vice president of engineering, operations, and technology at The Boeing Company, was presented with the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year award.

“I am deeply honored to recognize these three impressive leaders on behalf of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering.  Henry and Susan Samueli, and John Tracy, have dedicated and contributed their time, innovative ideas, and generous resources to our School, UC Irvine, and their surrounding local and international communities,” said Nicolaos G. Alexopoulos, dean of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

2007 Engineering the Future Award - Dr. Henry and Susan Samueli

For Their Continued Leadership in the Advancement of Education and Research, and Their Instrumental Support to The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine and Philanthropy Worldwide

Henry Samueli was born in Buffalo, NY and grew up in Los Angeles, Calif. He earned a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 1975, 1976, and 1980, respectively.  From 1980-1985, he worked in the defense industry and held various engineering and management positions in the Electronics and Technology Division of TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif. Since 1985, Henry has been a professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at UCLA, and has served as a distinguished adjunct professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at UC Irvine since 2003. He has published over 100 technical papers, and is a named inventor in 36 patents. He has been on a leave of absence from UCLA since 1995.

In 1988 he co-founded PairGain Technologies, a telecommunications equipment manufacturer, and served as a consultant and chief scientist for the company until 1994. In 1991, he co-founded Broadcom Corporation where he currently serves full-time as chairman of the board and chief technical officer. He is responsible for driving the vision of Broadcom's research and development activities as well as helping coordinate corporate-wide engineering development strategies. Broadcom is a global leader in providing semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom’s system-on-a-chip and software solutions enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment.

Susan Samueli was born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif. She earned a B.A. in mathematics from UC Berkeley in 1972. From 1972 to 1985 she was with IBM Corporation where she worked initially as a software programmer in the Federal Systems Division, Westlake Village, Calif., and then as a systems engineer in the National Marketing Division, Los Angeles, Calif., providing technical marketing and sales support for IBM's mid-range computer systems. In 1985, she left IBM and focused her energy on raising her children, at which time she developed a keen interest in alternative health care. She developed an active consulting practice in the areas of nutrition, homeopathy, and Chinese herbs and subsequently received a Ph.D. degree in nutrition from the American Holistic College of Nutrition in 1993, and a Diploma in Homeopathy from the British Institute of Homeopathy in 1994.

In December 2003, Susan and Henry purchased the management contract for the Honda Center (formerly Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) sports and entertainment venue, creating Anaheim Arena Management, LLC, to oversee all operations of the arena, and in June 2005, they purchased the Anaheim Ducks National Hockey League club, Honda Center’s largest tenant. In 2005, Billboard Magazine listed Honda Center as the third largest grossing arena in the world in concert ticket sales.

Since relocating to Orange County, Calif. in 1995, Susan and Henry have become very active in the community.  Susan is on the boards of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, Opera Pacific and Temple Beth El.  She chairs the Orangewood Children’s Foundation Auxiliary, 44 Women 4 Children, which primarily raises money for emancipating teens from the foster care system.  She also serves on the advisory board of the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at UC Irvine’s College of Medicine.  She was honored with the UC Irvine Medal in March 2000, and was the 2002 Ellen Cooperman Angel Award recipient given by the John Wayne Cancer Institute.

Henry serves on the UC President’s Board on Science and Innovation, the UCLA Chancellor’s Competitiveness Council, the UC Irvine Chief Executive Roundtable, and the Industrial Advisory Boards of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA and The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine. In 2000, he was awarded the University of California Presidential Medal, the UC Irvine Medal, the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science Alumnus of the Year, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Circuits and Systems Society Industrial Pioneer Award. He was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 2000, a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2003, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and the Edward A. Dickson Alumnus of the Year award from UCLA.

The success of Broadcom Corporation has provided Susan and Henry the opportunity to support many worthwhile organizations. Susan oversees the Samueli Foundation, which provides grants to nonprofit organizations in five major program areas: education, health, social services, the performing arts, and Jewish culture. Henry and Susan also gave a $20 million donation to UC Irvine in 1999 that enabled the School of Engineering to support faculty research through endowed professorships, create competitive fellowships for graduate students and competitive scholarships for undergraduates, and support other priority projects in the School.  In recognition of this support, UC Irvine’s engineering school was named The Henry Samueli School of Engineering.  In addition, they gave $1.5 million to the School that contributed to the establishment of the Center for Pervasive Communications and Computing.

Since Broadcom’s initial public offering in 1998, the Samueli Foundation has granted over $200 million in gifts, and in 2003 and 2004 Susan and Henry were listed among BusinessWeek’s 50 Most Generous Philanthropists in the Nation.

2007 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award - John J. Tracy, Ph.D.

For His Continued Dedication to The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine and His Exemplary Professional and Personal Achievements in the Field of Engineering Science

As Senior Vice President of Engineering, Operations, and Technology at The Boeing Company, John J. Tracy is responsible for defining and implementing corporate strategies for attaining excellence in Boeing's engineering, operations, supplier management, program management and quality assurance functions, and in providing executive oversight of the Information Technology, Phantom Works and Intellectual Property Management organizations.  As leader of this 100,000-plus employee team, he reports to Boeing’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, and is a member of Boeing’s Executive Council. 

Prior to this position, Tracy was vice president of engineering and mission assurance for Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems business unit, with functional management responsibility for the IDS engineering processes, engineering tools, and the 32,000-person engineering team. Since joining Boeing in 1981, he has also held a wide variety of other leadership positions, including vice president of structural technologies, prototyping, and quality for Phantom Works, general manager of engineering for military aircraft and missiles, and director of space and communications advanced engineering.

Tracy is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Royal Aeronautical Society.  He was also named the Hispanic Engineer of the Year in 2006 by the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation.  He received a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California at Irvine in 1987, and master's and bachelor's degrees in physics from California State University Los Angeles (1981) and California State University Dominguez Hills (1976).