CEAS Alumni Awards Dinner

Melanie Drerup, CM '89, is Chief of Planning for the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, with over 30 years' experience leading the organization and construction of the state’s educational facilities since the Commission’s inception.

Melanie has worked on policy development for many programs administered by the Commission, and is involved in the development of the assessment and master planning process, including web-based planning tools, as well as the development and updating of the Ohio School Facilities Design Manual.

A Fellow of the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) and recipient of the A4LE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Melanie is a dedicated advocate for effective educational planning. She has completed the State of Ohio’s Certified Public Manager program and is accredited in the use of environmental design through the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.   

John A. McCullough, AERO '89, is Deputy Associate Administrator for Integration in NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate in support of human exploration missions to the moon and Mars.

He previously served as the Director of the Johnson Space Center's Exploration Architecture, Integration, and Science, leading integration of Artemis and Mars exploration architecture and concept development, mission analysis, exploration system engineering and integration support, and astromaterials research and curation, with responsibility for the Agency's orbital debris program and the Commercial Lunar Payload System (CLPS) project. 

John also served seven years in the Orion Program as Manager of the Orion Vehicle Integration Office, leading all spacecraft systems engineering, integration and integrated vehicle analysis.

John was NASA's Chief Flight Director for human spaceflight for the last four years of the space shuttle program and International Space Station assembly. He also spent eight years as a flight director where he led flight control teams and crews for more than 620 shifts during shuttle and space station missions.

James E. Cashman III, ME '76, '79, MBA '82, has 45 years' experience in technical, financial, operations and sales management, which have been key to the success of numerous computer software, product data management, transaction processing and computer-aided engineering companies.

Most recently Jim was Executive Chairman of ANSYS, Inc., a developer and global marketer of engineering simulation software and technologies that are widely used by engineers and designers across a broad range of industries. He had previously been CEO of ANSYS from 2000 through 2016 when the organization annual revenues from $50 million to over $1 billion, and ranked in the Top 5 of public technology companies for total returns. Jim championed Simulation Driven Product Development, which enables organizations to build and validate complete virtual prototypes, resulting in reduced physical prototype testing, faster time to market, and improved market acceptance of innovative new products. 

Before joining ANSYS, Jim was vice president for international operations, marketing and software development at PAR Technology Corporation; earlier, he was a founder of Metaphase Technology as well as an early-stage member of Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC), a computer-aided engineering company where he held management positions in international sales, major accounts and market development, and product management. 

Jim’s community service have benefited the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, the President’s Advisory Council at Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. He served 10 years as Chairman of the Pittsburgh Technology Council and is a member of the National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. He is on the boards of Certara (CERT) where he is Chairman, and National Instruments (NATI) where he serves on the Audit Committee and chairs the Nominating & Governance Committee.