Hall of Fame
Celebrating excellence
This prestigious honor is awarded to select ASU Engineering alumni and champions who have demonstrated the Fulton Schools’ vision of access, excellence and innovation within their professions and communities and who have made significant advancements in their respective fields.
This celebration recognizes the achievements of these visionary individuals who have left an indelible mark on the world.
2024 inductees
Edward Dwight
’57 BS in aerospace engineering
’86 honorary doctorate of humane letters
During his U.S. Air Force service, Edward Dwight graduated from ASU with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. Dwight became a test pilot and trained in the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School program, later becoming the nation’s first Black NASA astronaut candidate. After leaving the military, Dwight worked as a systems engineer at IBM and pursued ventures in engineering, real estate and entrepreneurship. He also became an accomplished sculptor. Dwight received numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate of humane letters from ASU in 1986, the Air Force Commander’s Award for Public Service and the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artist Award in 2020, and the University of Denver CAHSS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. In 2021, NASA named an asteroid after Dwight and this year, he became the oldest person to fly in space.
Celeste Fralick
’98 MS in biomedical engineering
’13 PhD in biomedical engineering
In a technology career spanning more than four decades, Celeste Fralick earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from ASU in 1998, followed by a doctoral degree in 2013. She is an executive technical leader with more than four decades of industry experience, working at leading companies such as Intel, McAfee, Medtronic, Fairchild and Texas Instruments. Fralick has served in prominent roles such as chief data scientist and senior principal engineer. Currently, she serves as chief data officer for startups Choir Power and Innovatio HealthDesign, as well as a managing partner at the consulting firm Purkinje Science and Technology. Fralick is a member of numerous professional societies, holds 18 patents and has been named to Forbes’ “Top 50 Women in Technology” list in 2018, CDO Magazine’s “Global Data Power Women” lists in 2020 and 2021, and the Data Science Salon “250 Pioneers in AI” list in 2024.
Robert Garner
’76 BS in electrical engineering
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from ASU, Robert Garner worked for Xerox, where he co-invented the Xerox STAR Professional Workstation. Garner helped create numerous electronic innovations at Xerox, including the first commercial 10-megabits per second ethernet adapter. He then joined Sun Microsystems, where he led design on SPARC, Sun’s reduced instruction set computer. Garner went on to lead the development of microprocessor architecture, performance, compilers and computer-aided design at Sun. After becoming director of hardware engineering at a startup called Brocade Communications, Garner then worked at IBM Research, where he managed and designed hardware and software products. Since 2004, Garner has led the restoration and maintenance of two 1960s IBM 1401 computers at the Computer History Museum in California.
Bill Slessman
’99 BS in construction
George Slessman
’97 BSE in industrial engineering
ASU football players and brothers George Slessman and Bill Slessman graduated from ASU with degrees in industrial engineering and construction engineering, respectively. The pair went on to dedicate their careers to improving cloud computing and data center efficiency. The Slessman brothers have co-founded multiple companies, including IO Data Centers, which introduced modular data solutions to fit the distinct needs of organizations worldwide. They hold numerous patents for their technology inventions. The Slessman brothers continue entrepreneurial efforts to accelerate development in software, digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence through companies such as DCX Data Centers, GYPC Technologies and CR8DL.ai. A true Sun Devil family, both brothers met their spouses at ASU, and Bill’s two sons are now earning their engineering undergraduate degrees in the Fulton Schools.
2024 Hall of Fame Ceremony
Feature article
5 inducted into Fulton Schools Hall of Fame
Dec. 4, 2024
Full Circle, ASU Engineering News