Missouri University of Science and Technology awarded 12 honorary professional degrees during spring commencement ceremonies May 15.

The professional degree recipients are:

Bentley C. Alexander
Bentley C. Alexander of Frisco, Texas, is vice president of engineering for T-Mobile USA’s south region. Alexander is responsible for design, deployment and operational management of wireless networks. After earning a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1984, Alexander went to work for United Telecommunications Inc. (now Sprint) in Overland Park, Kan. In 1988, he joined McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. (AT&T Wireless). In 2003, he went to Ericsson, where he was head of the Global Services Delivery Center for the U.S. He joined T-Mobile in 2008.

Darryl W. Davis
Darryl W. Davis is president of Phantom Works for the Boeing Defense, Space and Security business unit. Davis joined McDonnell Douglas in 1979 and has held a series of positions with McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. Prior to becoming president of Phantom Works, he was vice president of Advanced Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems. Before that, he was vice president of Boeing’s Global Strike Solutions. In that position, he had responsibility for providing a coordinated set of global strike solutions to the U.S. military and international customers. He was also program manager for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems X-45, helping Boeing demonstrate the transformational capability of unmanned combat aircraft. Davis earned a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1986. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.

Michael L. Deelo
Michael L. Deelo of Beaver, Pa., earned a bachelor of science degree in metallurgical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1967. After graduation, Deelo joined St. Joe Minerals Corp., which was then known as St. Joseph Lead Co. His responsibilities involved zinc oxide, zinc dust and chemicals. Following a brief closing and then reactivation of the plant, he assumed senior management responsibilities for sales and marketing. Later, Deelo joined The Doe Run Co. in St. Louis. His responsibilities included lead metal, lead zinc, copper and nickel/cobalt concentrates, and sulfuric acid. For the last five years prior to retirement, he was with Kinder Morgan in Pennsylvania.

Thomas M. Hayden
After earning a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1971, Thomas M. Hayden obtained an entry level job with a small consulting firm in Richmond, Mo. The recession that began in November of 1973 forced a bankruptcy of the business. Hayden says he was fortunate to get a job with Shive-Hattery Inc. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1974, and he has been with the firm ever since. At Shive-Hattery, he progressed through his professional career as a project engineer and land surveyor, project manager, and as a team and business unit manager. Today he is chair and president of the board. Throughout his career, Hayden has been a volunteer worker and leader in numerous social service, business and professional organizations.

Donald L. Hey
Donald L. Hey is co-founder and board member of The Wetlands Initiative Inc., a Chicago-based non-profit organization working to restore wetlands and develop new models of financing wetland restoration, including nutrient farming. In 2001, Hey began the 2,600-acre Hennepin & Hopper Lakes Restoration Project on the Illinois River. He also is founder and director of the Des Plaines River Wetlands Demonstration Project in Lake County, Ill., one of the nation’s first large-scale wetland restoration projects. Hey earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1963. He also earned a master’s degree in water resources engineering from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Northwestern University. He formerly was president of Hey & Assoc., an environmental services consulting firm in Chicago. Dr. Hey is co-author of A Case for Wetland Restoration as well as numerous journal articles.

Harry C. Hershey
Dr. Harry Hershey, professor emeritus at The Ohio State University, earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from MSM in 1960. He worked at Union Carbide from 1960 to 1962. Hershey then returned to Rolla to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in 1963 and 1965, respectively. He was an assistant professor in the chemical engineering department at UMR for nine months thereafter. In 1966, he joined the chemical engineering faculty at Ohio State, where he rose to the rank of full professor. He co-authored a book on transport phenomena in 1987. Hershey worked for Eli Lilly for 54 weeks in 1992 and 1993. He retired from OSU in 1995, but continued teaching until 1997. He is a member of the Missouri S&T Academy of Chemical Engineers. He owns and manages farms in North Dakota, Illinois and Missouri, as well as a ranch in Colorado. Hershey lives in Worthington, Ohio.

James R. Knox
James R. Knox earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Missouri S&T in 1963 and a Ph.D. from Boston University in 1967. He had post-doctoral training at Oxford University and at Yale University. In 1970, he joined the University of Connecticut faculty, where he held joint appointments in molecular biology and polymer science. During 1976-77, Dr. Knox was a visiting professor at Harvard University. For his research on protein structure, his experiments were carried aboard NASA shuttles and the Soviet space station. His x-ray diffraction work in the 1980s and 1990s was the first to reveal the structure of the penicillin target enzyme and bacterial enzymes responsible for resistance to penicillins and vancomycin-type antibiotics. These findings were published in Science and covered by the New York Times. Knox’s atomic-level enzyme images are still used by pharmaceutical scientists for the design of new antibiotics.

Samuel C. Mahaney
Col. Samuel C. Mahaney is a licensed attorney and adjunct professor of federal appropriations law and fiscal policy at Georgetown University. Mahaney has served as a Harvard National Security Fellow, Georgetown Capitol Hill Fellow, and as a Legislative Liaison to the Defense Appropriations and Authorizations Committees in both the House and Senate. Col. Mahaney is also a command pilot. He has more than 18 years of flying experience in bombers, air refueling tankers and aeromedical evacuation aircraft. He has served in numerous positions since joining the Air Force is 1988. He is currently assigned to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. Mahaney earned a bachelor of arts degree in history at Missouri S&T in 1985. His law degree is from St. Louis University.

Donald M. Mayberry
Donald M. Mayberry was the first person to earn a degree in the new management systems program at Missouri S&T in 1993. During Mayberry’s last summer at S&T, he completed an internship at Wal-Mart’s home office in Bentonville, Ark. He went to work full time in the network support group at Wal-Mart in 1994. He worked his way up to senior manager and was in charge of 65 associates. In 2008, he moved out of the networking group to become an enterprise architect, developing technology solutions to real business problems. Mayberry originally started college at the University of Missouri-Columbia after graduating from Steelville High School. He left MU after one semester to work for Town & Country Supermarket in Steelville, eventually becoming co-manager of the store. In 1989, after 13 years at Town & Country, he enrolled at S&T. Mayberry and his family live in northwest Arkansas.

Adonica D. Randall
Adonica D. Randall is president and CEO of Abaxent LLC., a business consulting and information technology company in Wisconsin. Randall specializes in business process improvement and the development of new services. She has experience in a variety of industries, including healthcare, insurance, manufacturing and distribution. She previously served in technical, sales and management positions at General Motors, GE Health Systems and IBM. Randall earned a bachelor of science degree in computer science from Missouri S&T in 1975. She also has a master’s degree from Marquette University. For the past 15 years, she has taught, developed curriculum and has been the department coordinator at Alverno College as an associate professor in the computer and information technology department.

Daniel A. Reed
Daniel A. Reed is corporate vice president of technology policy and strategy and leader of the eXtreme Computing Group (XCG) for Microsoft. Reed helps shape Microsoft’s long-term vision and strategy for technology innovations. He is responsible for research and development on the cutting edge of parallel and ultrafast computing. He also directs Microsoft’s cloud computing research. Before joining Microsoft, he was a chaired professor of computer science at the University of Illinois, where he was director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He was also a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Reed earned a bachelor of science degree in computer science from Missouri S&T in 1978. He also has a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Purdue University.

Thomas A. Wetteroth
Thomas A. Wetteroth is vice president of array operations at Applied Microarrays Inc. Wetteroth has more than 27 years of experience in engineering production and development management. He earned a bachelor of science degree in ceramic engineering from Missouri S&T in 1979. He earned a master of science degree in ceramic engineering from S&T in 1982. Wetteroth has been involved with the biological microarray business since 2001, maintaining continuity through migrations from Motorola, Amersham Biosciences, GE Health and now Applied Microarrays. He has published numerous technical papers and holds six patents.