The Heritage Award

Established 1973, the Heritage Award honors alumni and friends of Johns Hopkins who have contributed outstanding service over an extended period to the progress of the university or the activities of the Alumni Association.

Robert F. Bradley, PE’ 73 , MA ’96
Bob Bradley, who received his BS in civil engineering at Johns Hopkins and a MBA from Wilmington College in 1982, returned to Johns Hopkins where he received a master’s degree in real estate.

Bradley’s extensive involvement in Johns Hopkins is remarkable for the years of dedicated service and the variety of positions he has held. He has served on advisory councils for both schools he attended at Johns Hopkins, served as treasurer of numerous committees and groups, and was a moderator of the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education Leadership Forum. For many years, Bradley served the Hopkins community as a member of the Alumni Council. He was also a charter member of the Society of Engineering Alumni (SEA).

He has also been instrumental in increasing financial support for Hopkins by encouraging other alumni to give and by offering important introductions to potential corporate partners. Bradley remains active as a member of the Society of Engineering Alumni’s Nominations Committee. He frequently attends alumni events, including the annual Leadership Weekend, and has participated in several of the Alumni Association’s travel programs.

Formerly president of Morris & Ritchie Associates Inc., Bradley is now retired and living in Naples, Florida.

Charles “Jack” S. Schrodel Jr. ’57
Jack Schrodel received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins in 1957. He followed up with a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967.

Schrodel has been an instrumental member of the Society of Engineering Alumni (SEA) Council for many years, recently concluding a six-year term as an officer of the SEA. His most recent position was Secretary of the Council, and he has also served as the regional liaison and treasurer. As regional liaison, he launched engineering alumni events across the country and created a base for those events to grow. As treasurer, he created a budget tracking form that is still used by the SEA to determine the allocation of funds. Schrodel remains very active with the SEA; he and his wife, JoAnne, regularly attend Hopkins alumni events to represent the SEA and to recruit new members.

The Schrodels have endowed a scholarship to benefit undergraduates in the Whiting School of Engineering. In addition, Schrodel enjoys every opportunity to meet the scholarship recipients to provide support and encouragement.

Schrodel is retired from the Sun Oil Company, where he was a director of information services. Subsequently, he was vice president of a consulting business specializing in computer data center support.

Raquel M. Silverberg ’92
Raquel Silverberg’s dedication to Johns Hopkins started when she was a student and served as a member of the Senior Gift Committee, and has deepened in the years since she earned her BS in chemical engineering from the Whiting School in 1992.

Soon after graduation, Silverberg became an integral member of the Young Alumni Fund (YAF), an alumni leadership group that raises awareness of the importance of giving back to Hopkins among recent alumni (graduates of 10 years or less). She became the first engineer and first female to hold the chairmanship of the YAF. Under her leadership, the YAF raised funds, increased participation in giving and involvement, and contributed funds to the university to be used for student amenities.

This academic year marks Silverberg’s eighth year as a member of the Society of Engineering Alumni (SEA) Council. She has spent the past six years as a member of the executive committee serving as vice chair, secretary, and chair.

Having worked globally throughout her career, Silverberg emphasizes the importance of getting students involved in alumni groups. She has encouraged all members of the SEA to take an interest in student activities at the Whiting School and also to support the Dean’s efforts to fund student group projects.

Woodrow Wilson Award

The Woodrow Wilson Award for Distinguished Government Service honors alumni who have brought credit to the university by their current or recently concluded distinguished public service as elected or appointed officials.

Robert M. Summers ’76, PhD ’76
There may be no environmental cause more dear to the hearts of Maryland’s residents than preserving the Chesapeake Bay, and Robert Summers has played a vital role in protecting and improving the water quality of the Bay and the Maryland environment for more than two decades.

Summers, who received a BA in 1976 and PhD in 1981 in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins, was appointed deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) in 2007. Together with secretary Shari T. Wilson, Summers leads the MDE’s planning, regulatory, management, and financing programs to protect public health, restore and protect air and water quality, clean up contaminated land, and ensure proper management of hazardous and solid wastes.

Summers is the governor’s representative on the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. He is also the MDE’s representative on the Maryland Bay Restoration Fund Advisory Committee and the Governor’s Advisory Committee on the Management and Protection of the State’s Water Resources.

For nearly 24 years, Summers has served the citizens of Maryland in various capacities within Maryland’s progressive and nationally recognized environmental programs, providing expertise on scientific and technical issues related to water pollution control, drinking water protection, and environmental laws and regulations.

Linton Wells II, ’73, PhD ’75
Born on the Atlantic coast of Angola, Linton Wells II seemed destined to spend his life connected to the ocean. He lived for four years on a houseboat and spent a year and a half as a teenager living aboard trans-Atlantic ocean liners going back and forth to the Mediterranean before entering the U.S. Naval Academy.

Wells graduated from Annapolis in 1967 with a BS in physics and oceanography and went on to earn his MS in mathematical sciences in 1973 and a PhD in international relations in 1975 from Johns Hopkins. He graduated from the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo in 1983, the first U.S. Naval officer ever to attend that institute.

In 26 years of naval service, Wells served on a variety of surface ships, including as commander of a destroyer squadron and a guided missile destroyer. In addition, he acquired a wide range of experience in operations analysis, as well as Pacific, Indian Ocean and Middle East affairs, and Command & Control systems. Wells is currently a distinguished research professor at the National Defense University (NDU) and serves as the transformation chair. Prior to his career at NDU, he held several high-level government positions, serving for 13 years as a civilian in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Networks and Information Integration), and previously as the Acting Assistant Secretary and Department of Defense Chief Information Officer (CIO), he worked to ensure the security and effectiveness of our nation’s critical military networks. Wells also serves as a member of the Whiting School’s National Advisory Council.

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Established in 1978, this award honors alumni who have typified the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence and brought credit to the university by their personal accomplishment, professional achievement, or humanitarian service.

Yih-Ho Michel Pao, Dr. Eng ’62
Yin-Ho “Mike” Pao, who received his PhD in fluid mechanics from Johns Hopkins University in 1962, is a pioneer in the waterjet and windpower industries. He has led efforts to develop and commercialize new technologies and led the creation of three new industries: waterjet
machining and trenchless and waterjet surface preparation.

Currently, Pao is the chairman and CEO of Floating Windfarms Corporation, which aims to convert offshore wind to low-cost “green” electricity, at a cost much below the cost of coal electricity, using offshore floating and nonfloating vertical axis wind turbines.

Pao was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2000 for his research, development, and commercialization of waterjet technology for machining, tunnel boring, and surface preparation. He was recognized in 1998 by Industries et Techniques, a leading French journal, as one of the 100 most important innovators for the past 40 years. His companies have obtained more than 150 patents and received numerous awards, including the “No Dig” Award from the International Society of Trenchless Technology.