Office of Alumni Relations
April 8, 1997
SUBJECT: Alumni Association Award Recipients for 1997
I am pleased to announce the recipients of the 1997 Alumni Association Awards for Excellence. John Orcutt, Ph.D. '76, one of the world's leading marine seismologists, has been selected to receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award. Professor Orcutt is Director of the Scripps branch of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, one of the largest and most successful research divisions within SIO. His national and international reputation has been recognized by his receipt of the prestigious Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union and the U.S. Navy and the Secretary of the Navy/Chief of Naval Operations "Chair in 
Oceanography," which honors distinguished academic ocean science, past and present research contributions, and national leadership among his peers.
David Brin, '81 will be presented the Professional Achievement Award. Brin received his doctorate in space physics from UCSD and has gone on to become an enormously successful writer of science fiction. He is the author of ten novels as well as the short-story collections The River of Time and Otherness. He has won numerous science fiction writing awards, among them the Hugo, Nebula and LOCUS. Brin has been a NASA consultant and a physics professor. One of his novels is currently being made into a movie by Warner Brothers starring Kevin Costner.
David Miller, Professor of AMES, will be honored for Distinguished Teaching. Highly recommended by his peers for teaching excellence, Professor Miller has had a successful career of inspiring many undergraduate engineers, as reflected in his outstanding CAPE reviews. As department chair he developed a teaching review system within the department which has enhanced the instruction of thousands of engineering students.
Lenny Goins '73, will receive the Distinguished Service to the University Award for his exemplary contributions as a dedicated alumnus, giving generously of his time, energy and resources on behalf of the University, the Alumni Association and UCSD students. His skillful and dedicated fund raising efforts for the Black Alumni Scholarship Committee have raised over $270,000 for scholarships in addition to two scholarship endowments. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association and is currently a trustee of the UC San Diego Foundation.
Kwan So, president of EVG Enterprises Inc. of La Jolla, will be given the distinction of Honorary Alumnus for the service he has rendered to the university as a trustee with the UC San Diego Foundation. He has served on the Foundation's Development and Scholarship Selection Committees and is a member of the IR/PS Dean's Roundtable. A native of Hong Kong, he is a dedicated conduit in building academic partnerships between his vast Eastern network and UCSD. In 1991, he and his wife established the Ho Miulam Fellowship at IR/PS.
The recipients will be honored on Saturday, June 14 at the Awards for Excellence Gala to be held in the Price Center Pavilion. We welcome participation by all faculty, staff and students. Please call the Alumni Relations office at 534-3900 for your invitation.
Bernie Farrow
Executive Director