Each year, the College of Engineering and Applied Science presents the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards and Recent Alumni Award to outstanding representatives of CU Engineering.
This year, two award recipients hail from chemical and biological engineering: professor and former Dean Robert H. Davis (in the special category for non-alumni) and Lisa Glatch (ChemEngr'84), executive vice president of global engineering company CH2M, for industry and commerce.
Glatch’s 32-year career in engineering and construction professional services has touched a variety of industries across the globe, including oil and gas, government, consumer products and power. Before joining CH2M in 2014, Glatch served as senior vice president of global sales for Jacobs and spent 24 years with Fluor Corporation.
She served as a loaned executive to the U.S. Department of Transportation in the wake of 9/11 and earned a Medal of Honor for her work implementing the Transportation Security Act across 429 U.S. airports.
Outside of work, Glatch has served on the CU Boulder Engineering Advisory Council for eight years and is currently vice chair.
In addition to her degree from CU Boulder, Glatch also earned an Advanced Management Certificate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her husband and son also attended CU Boulder, while her daughter found success as a professional tennis athlete.
The second recipient is a familiar face for many alumni: dean emeritus Robert H. Davis.
Davis joined the chemical engineering faculty in 1983 after earning degrees from the University of California Davis and Stanford. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and supervised more than 60 graduate students, 12 postdoctoral associates and 150 undergraduates during his career.
Davis became dean in 2002, leading the college through a time of tremendous growth. In his first full year as dean, the freshman class included 14 percent women and 6 percent underrepresented minorities. Today it boasts 32 percent women and 20 percent underrepresented minorities.
He also helped launch several new programs, including the BOLD Center (Broadening Opportunity through Leadership and Diversity), the Engineering Honors Program, the Engineering Leadership Program and three Residential Academic Programs.
Davis stepped down as dean in January 2017 and continues to serve on the chemical and biological engineering faculty.
Glatch and Davis, along with DEAA recipients Ron Blackwelder, Marco Campos, Richard Taylor and RAA recipient Jill Seubert, will be recognized in a ceremony April 28.