Mississippi State University alumni recognized as 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellows, Emerging Leader

STARKVILLE, Miss.— The Bagley College of Engineering recognized Mississippi State alumni from various industries for their accomplishments and commitment to the engineering field at the 2026 Distinguished Engineering Recognition Banquet.

Eight alumni were selected as Distinguished Fellows, while one alumnus was chosen as the sixth recipient of the college’s Emerging Leader award. The awardees are as follows.

Danville, Calif.—Stephanie Roveda, was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. A 1994 MSU chemical engineering graduate, Roveda has enjoyed over 32 years with Chevron holding various roles within the company. Most recently Director, Global Value Chain Strategy accountable for development and activation of Chevron’s go-to-market strategies for oil, gas and natural gas liquids. Additionally, she stewarded value chain excellence across Chevron inclusive of price performance, competitive benchmarking and sustaining organizational capability.

Diamondhead—Christine Cuicchi was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. A 1994 MSU aerospace engineering graduate and a 1999 computational engineering graduate, Cuicchi is a distinguished leader in high-performance computing with a career spanning 29 years in the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program.

Greenwood Village, Colo.—Muthukumarappan “Kumar” Ramurthy was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. A 1994 MSU petroleum engineering graduate, Ramurthy is a Strategic Energy Executive and Technology Founder with over 25 years of experience driving multi-billion-dollar outcomes through technical innovation across the U.S. unconventional oil and gas sector.

Indianola—John Thomas Robertson was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. A 2009 biomedical engineering graduate, Robertson has worked as an attorney for Pinnacle Agriculture in Memphis, where he worked with management on company transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, leases, litigation contracts and real estate purchases. After leaving the legal world, Robertson returned home to become a partner in St Rest Planting Company in Holly Ridge, where he farms soybeans, corn and cotton with his brother, James Robertson and first cousin, Will Long.

Knoxville, Tenn.—Kari Babski-Reeves was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. Reeves, a three-time MSU industrial engineering alumnus, in 1995, 1998, and 2000, is Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Tennessee.

Louisville, Miss.—Matthew Hillyer was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. A 1995 MSU mechanical engineering graduate, Hillyer serves as Vice President of Manufacturing and Engineering for Taylor Machine Works, Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Mississippi.

Madison, Ala.—Terrance West was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. A three-time MSU electrical engineering graduate, in 2004, 2006 and 2009, West currently serves as the Chief of the Missile Science and Technology Division for the US Army DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center. Alongside his military civil service, he is the entrepreneur behind The Leaf Cigar Emporium in Madison.

McComb—Brad Clark was selected as a 2026 Bagley College of Engineering Distinguished Fellow. A 1985 MSU civil engineering graduate, Clark is the owner of Clark Construction, Inc. of MS in McComb, Miss.

Starkville—Hagan Walker was selected as this year’s recipient of the college’s Emerging Leader Award. A 2015 and 2017 MSU graduate, Walker is the co-founder and CEO of The Glo Companies, a Starkville-based company that began as a classroom project at Mississippi State University.