With a long and distinguished career in energy and education, Erroll B. Davis, Jr. has dedicated his expertise and time to serving others. Following his graduation from Carnegie Tech in 1965, he rose through the energy leadership ranks, starting as vice president of finance and eventually becoming CEO and president of Wisconsin Power and Light Company. From there, Erroll was named president and CEO of WPL Holdings, which eventually became Alliant Energy Corporation. Throughout this time, he used his leadership platform and skills to open doors to education for generations of students. 

In 2006, he became chancellor of the University System of Georgia where he was responsible for approximately 300,000 students and 40,000 faculty and staff​ spread across 35 colleges and universities. Prior to his retirement in 2014, he spent three years as the superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools system​ where he had to resolve the largest cheating scandal in US educational history. Through many roles, he demonstrated his commitment to ensuring that education systems work for all students. The Public Broadcasting System, Union Pacific Corporation, PPG Industries​, BP and General Motors Corporation are just a few of the many boards to which Erroll has given his time. From 2004 to 2008, he served as a member of the United States Olympic Committee supporting U.S. Olympic teams. Today, Erroll continues to serve on the Board of Councilors of The Carter Center and the Board of the Chautauqua Foundation.

Erroll has been a lifetime member of the Carnegie Mellon Board of Trustees since 1989, and also served as chairman of the board from 2000 to 2004. Since 1986. he and his wife Elaine have awarded numerous scholarships to deserving students through the Davis Family Foundation, one of the ways he is supporting CMU’s educational mission, advocating for students and supporting efforts to make education more accessible.   

Renowned multi-disciplinary artist Deborah Kass creates vibrant works that examine the intersection of art history, pop culture and self. Her pieces are counted among the collections of the world’s leading museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution. Her mid-career retrospective, “Deborah Kass, Before and Happily Ever After,” was presented by the Andy Warhol Museum in 2012.

She also serves on the board of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Permanent installations of her sculpture OY/YO greet guests at the Brooklyn Museum and the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. She is an inductee of The National Academy (2018) and New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame (2012).

Tom Moran pioneered the creation of the field of human-computer interaction. From CMU, he went to Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he partnered with fellow CMU grad Stu Card and with Allen Newell on a program to create a scientific basis for designing user-oriented computational tools. They developed an engineering theory and predictive models, culminating in the seminal 1983 book, "The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction." Tom founded the Human-Computer Interaction journal and served as editor for 30 years.

As a principal scientist at PARC, Tom managed multiple teams doing research in novel applications, work practice studies, and collaborative systems. He started a new PARC laboratory in Cambridge, England, called EuroPARC, and was its director. Tom later moved to IBM Research as a distinguished engineer, where he initiated a research program to understand collaborative work activities and design tools for IBM office products.

Tom and his wife endowed the Thomas and Lydia Moran Career Development Professorship in Learning Science, a topic they feel CMU is uniquely positioned to advance. They are active in philanthropy, supporting issues of education, early childhood, economic security and action civics.

Barry Gordon is one of the country’s leading experts in corrosion and materials issues in the nuclear power industry.  Upon completing his undergraduate and graduate degree in metallurgy and materials science, he began his career with Westinghouse Electric’s Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory before joining GE Nuclear Energy in San Jose. Currently, Barry is an associate with Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. His professional accomplishments include four patents, more than 85 technical papers and reports, a PE in Corrosion Engineering and a Corrosion Society Fellow. He has served as an expert witness before the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and Atomic Safety Licensing Board. He also chaired and co-authored “Corrosion in the Nuclear Power Industry” for ASM Handbook, Volume 13C.

Active outside of his professional pursuits, Barry was the president of the Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club, principal timpanist with the Saratoga Symphony. Barry’s relationship with his alma mater includes supporting two scholarships at CMU, serving as the San Jose chairperson of the CMU Admission Council and being an active member of the Andrew Carnegie Society and a lifetime member of the Order of the May.

• Denise Asafu-Adjei, M.D., MPH (MCS 2008)
• Alana Cheeks-Lomax (MCS 2008, HNZ 2012)
• Tamara Hamilton (MCS 2008)
• Betty Mbom, Ph.D. (MCS 2008)
• Mariela Zeledón, Ph.D. (CMU 2008)

Mellon College of Science 2008 alumnae Denise Asafu-Adjei, Alana Cheeks-Lomax, Tamara Hamilton, Betty Mbom and Mariela Zeledón saw a need to guide first-year historically excluded and underrepresented MCS students through their CMU experiences. And with an idea and leadership from Betty, they founded COMPASS Group in 2007 and have dedicated their time and energy to nurture the student-generated program’s success ever since. Their strong COMPASS commitment for the last 13 years includes speaking with individual students, serving on advisory boards and meeting the current class.

And each alumna also has built a successful career alongside their mentorship contributions to future generations of Tartans. Denise is a urologist, director of male reproductive medicine and assistant professor at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Alana is the head of Inclusion & Diversity for Cash App at Square, where she is responsible for the strategic development of the business unit’s global strategy focusing on the development of an inclusive culture and the employee experience. Tamara has spent the past decade in the public health and environmental protection sector in New York City and southern Florida. Betty is a cell & molecular biologist and vice president of applied experience at Syapse, a health care technology company generating real world evidence to improve cancer care. Mariela is a clinical social worker and human geneticist and was most recently with Unity Care, providing bilingual psychotherapy to low-income children and teenagers.