College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences: 2009 Distinguished Alumnus

Office of College Advancement » Distinguished Alumnus

Since 1990, the college has annually recognized a graduate who has brought honor to its programs with his or her accomplishments in research, business, education and public service.

PAMS honors Cathy Sigal as 2009 Distinguished Alumnus

Catherine T. Sigal (BS ’76 Chemistry) was selected as the College’s 2009 Distinguished Alumnus. Established in 1990, the PAMS Distinguished Alumnus Award recognizes alumni whose exceptional achievements in business, education, research or public service have brought honor and distinction to the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and NC State.

Sigal came to North Carolina as an NC State freshman in 1972. While she was born in New York and raised primarily in Michigan and Mississippi, her family had a history with both the state and university. Her father, Thomas Teague, grew up in Fairmont, North Carolina, and received a BS in electrical engineering from NC State in 1936.

Sigal had an outstanding academic career at NC State, serving as a distinguished North Carolina Fellow – which later became part of the Caldwell Fellows Program, one of the university’s most competitive and prestigious scholarship programs – and graduated as valedictorian with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She went on to receive master’s degrees in chemistry from Harvard and chemical engineering from MIT and a PhD in molecular biology from Princeton and served as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health.

While working for Mobil Research and Development Labs, she received three patents for her work in developing new catalysts for petrochemical manufacturing. She subsequently moved to Merck Research Labs where she designed and scaled-up new processes for the production of drugs and vaccines.

Most recently, Sigal traveled the world as the director of international research for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, where she oversaw JDRF’s international research portfolio and worked to build partnerships with governmental agencies outside the U.S. to co-fund diabetes research.

Not only has Sigal made numerous significant impacts throughout her professional career, her commitment to students is unwavering. She has created the Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral Fellowship with the American Chemical Society which provides a stipend to a scientist whose work addresses a significant problem involving both chemistry and biology.

She serves the College as vice-chair of the PAMS Foundation Board and as a member of the investment committee, where, according to PAMS Dean Dan Solomon, “Her thoughtful questions and comments have made her our own version of E.F. Hutton. When Cathy speaks up, we know it’s something we should listen to.”

Sigal has left a permanent mark on PAMS and NC State by endowing the Thomas S. Teague Scholarship in memory of her father, which supports both undergraduate students majoring in one of the PAMS disciplines and students majoring in electrical engineering. She is also a strong supporter of annual giving for PAMS and has joined the Dean’s Circle as a founding member.

Previous Award Recipients
(Affiliations listed are as of the date the award was received)

2008 LeRoy Martin
MS '52 - Mathematics. Professor Emeritus, Department of Mathematics, NC State University.

2007 Jun Zhu
PhD '89 - Statistics. Vice President, Zhejiang University.

2006 W. Donald "Don" Johnson
BS '69 - Applied Mathematics (also MS and PhD from College of Engineering). Chairman and Representative Director, DuPont - Japan.

2005 Robert L. Bryant
BS '74 - Mathematics. J.M. Kreps Professor of Mathematics at Duke University.

2004 J. Stuart "Stu" Hunter
PhD '54 - Experimental Statistics. Professor Emeritus, Princeton University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

2003 Christine Hemrick
BS '74 - Mathematics. Vice President for technology policy and consulting engineering for Cisco Systems, Inc.

2002 Eric Doggett
BS '89 - Physics. Serves on the board of directors for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and on the board of advisors for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

2001 Eric Bigham
BS '69 - Chemistry. Research Investigator, GlaxoSmithKline

2000 Robert M. Steinberg
BS '64 - Applied Mathematics. Vice Chairman of Reliance Group Holdings, Inc.

1999 Suzanne Gordon
BS '75 - Mathematics, Computer Science, MS Statistics, Director of Management Information Systems at SAS Institute. Member of NC State Board of Trustees.

1998 David F. Bocian
BS '72 - Chemistry. Distinguished research in biophysical, physical-organic and materials chemistry. Professor at the University of California at Riverside.

1997 James W. York, Jr .
BS '62 - Physics. Agnew H. Bahnson Jr. Professor of Physics at UNC-Chapel Hill.

1996 W. Michael Peirson
PhD '83 - Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Established Cherrystone AquaFarms in eastern Virginia.

1995 Anthony J. Barr
BS '62, MS '68 - Physics. Founder and major developer of the Statistical Analysis System from 1966-72; along with three others, formed SAS Institute Inc., in 1976; founded Barr Systems in Florida in 1978.

1994 William Mendenhall III
PhD '75 - Experimental Statistics. Started the University of Florida's Department of Statistics in 1963; prolific textbook writer.

1993 Jacob C. Belin, Jr
BS '70 - Applied Mathematics. President of Kern Oil & Refining Company in California.

1992 John E. Bercaw
BS '72 - Chemistry. Professor, California Institute of Technology; member, National Academy of Sciences.

1991 Charles D. Case
BS '72 - Physics. Environmental attorney and active community citizen.

1990 James H. Goodnight
BS '65, MS '68, PhD '72 - Statistics. Founder and CEO of SAS Institute, Inc.