ABET Fellow Award

About the Award

Every ABET Expert promotes confidence in technical education. But those who truly embrace the power of our work and have a clear impact are named ABET Fellows.

The distinction of ABET Fellow is an honor that recognizes individuals that surpass normal expectation by dedicating notable time and effort to achieving our endeavors.

For dedicated leadership in support of excellence in engineering education, and contributions to the collaborative efforts across all commissions to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in the harmonized criteria. 

Lizette Chevalier is currently serving as the Dean of the Dr. Robert A. Savoie College of Engineering at the University of New Orleans. Her B.S. degree is from Wayne State University and her M.S./Ph.D. degrees are from Michigan State University. She is a licensed professional engineer, a Fellow of ASCE and a Diplomat of Water Resources Engineering. She has held several academic administrative positions at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, all of which involved accreditation of programs as well as the institution. She has served as an ABET Program Evaluator, Team Chair, a member of the Executive Committee of the EAC and Chair of the EAC Continuous Improvement Committee. 

For over 24 years of leadership and service to ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission including the development and implementation of baccalaureate-level and associate-level cybersecurity program accreditation criteria.

David S. “Hoot” Gibson is professor emeritus of Computer and Cyber Sciences at the United States Air Force Academy and a retired Air Force Brigadier General. He served as professor and Head of the Air Force Academy’s Department of Computer Science for 15 years. During his 34-year Air Force career, he provided technical expertise and leadership in electronic warfare, computer security, cyber operations, and computer science education and research. At the Air Force Academy, he established one of the first undergraduate cybersecurity degrees. He was a principal co-author of the ACM’s Cybersecurity Curricular Guidelines (CSEC 2017) and guided the development of ABET’s cybersecurity program accreditation criteria for baccalaureate and associate level degree programs. Gibson has been an ABET volunteer for over 24 years and currently serves as past chair of ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission.

For exceptional leadership, dedicated service, exemplary contributions to enhancing the quality of training for program evaluators, and unwavering commitment to improving accreditation processes.

Larraine Kapka’s almost 50-year career included diverse experiences in Government (Air Force Officer); Industry (Department of Energy Contractor-operated Facility/Engineering Consulting); and Academia (College Faculty, Chair, Assistant Dean and Principal Investigator for multiple NSF and DOD grants). Her experience in engineering design, facility operation and maintenance, project management, contracting, instructional design and program assessment allows her to make significant contributions to ABET in the areas of Accreditation, Governance and Training over the past 20 years.

Having earned awards for Technological Innovation as a faculty member at the Air Force Institute of Technology, DOE Energy Manager of the Year and Federal Energy Manager of the Year, and the national Roueche Award for Teaching Excellence from the League for Innovation, Kapka completed her academic journey with the title of Professor Emeritus.  She continues to contribute to her profession volunteering with ASHRAE and ASME. She is proud to be named an ABET Fellow.

For sustained service and cross commission leadership in developing criteria, training, and materials in the area of safety.

Philip “Phil” Schenewerk has served as an ABET volunteer since 1989 and is currently a member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission Executive Committee. He is a retired geological and petroleum engineer with a B.S. degree in earth sciences from the University of New Orleans, an M.S. in geological engineering and a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering, both from the University of Oklahoma at Norman. He is a distinguished member of Society of Petroleum Engineers and a licensed Professional Engineer and Professional Geologist.

For exceptional contributions to improving technical education quality through customer-focused strategies, cultivating an inclusive and diverse environment in accreditation processes.

Carol Schulte is retired from McNeese State University, where she taught courses in process plant technology, a chemical engineering technology program. She earned her BSChE degree at Wayne State University in Detroit. Schulte also has an M.S. in chemistry and an M.E.M. from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Also at Lamar, she received her DE in industrial engineering. She has worked in industry for companies such as DuPont, PPG and Condea Vista. Schulte is currently a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Education and Accreditation Committee and leads the Engineering Technology/Applied and Natural Science Education Subcommittee. She is an Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC) evaluator for AIChE and Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) and Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) program evaluator. She is currently a member of the ETAC Executive Committee and was the 2022-23 ETAC chair. She has also served as chair of the ETAC Quality, Training, Nomination, and Consistency Committees. 

Award Benefits

Fellow award winners will be recognized at the ABET Awards program in the fall. Fellows will also be featured on our website and social media pages, as well as recognized in a press release.