Peter Lindstrom ’94, Julie Dyke Ford ’95 and Christopher Nave ’04 received the 2015 Elon College Distinguished Alumni Awards during a special April 30 ceremony.
Peter Lindstrom ’94 was recognized for his accomplishments in the natural, mathematical and computing sciences. Julie Dyke Ford ’95 was recognized for her contributions to the arts and the humanities and Christopher Nave ’04 received the award for his work in the social sciences.
“What happens in college—the mentoring relationships that develop in college, the passion that is ignited in college, the curiosity that happens during your university experience—doesn’t just enrich these four years,” President Leo M. Lambert said during the ceremony. “The work that the three of you are doing, and the lives that you are leading, is an extension of the work of the Elon faculty in a very, very important and profound way.”
Peter Lindstrom ’94
Elon College Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Natural, Mathematical & Computing Sciences
“What Peter does is find new approaches for minimizing the time to transfer date within very large distributed computers. Peter acts as a traffic controller for computer data. His work allows other researchers to work toward solving huge problems in a more reasonable amount of time. … You have certainly made a significant contribution to your profession and we are very proud of your accomplishments.”
—Joel Hollingsworth, senior lecturer in computing sciences and chair of the Department of Computing Sciences
Peter Lindstrom ’94 serves as computer scientist and project leader in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. He is also the editor-in-chief for the Elsevier journal Graphical Models and has published extensively in field of scientific visualization and data compression.
An outstanding tennis player, Peter graduated from Elon in 1994 with degrees in computer science, mathematics and physics. He later earned his doctorate in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2000 and joined LLNL, where he focuses on geometric modeling, geometry processing, data compression, multi-resolution and streaming methods and scientific visualization. Peter’s ability to create visual representations of data earned him a $2.5 million Early Career Research Program grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2011. He also received Elon’s Young Alumnus Award in 2002 and is a member of the Elon Sports Hall of Fame for his accomplishments with the tennis team.
Julie Dyke Ford ’95
Elon College Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Arts & Humanities
“Julie was one of our English majors before we had a creative writing concentration or a professional writing and rhetoric concentration, but she was a curious student and took whatever classes we had in each of those areas. … Those of us who taught Julie 20-plus years ago saw in her the promise that she has certainly fulfilled in her writing, her teaching and her mentorship. We are so proud to see her back on campus to receive this award.”
— Janet Warman, professor of English and education
Julie Dyke Ford ’95 is as professor of technical communication in the mechanical engineering department at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. She graduated from Elon with an English degree in 1995 and late received a master’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1998 and a doctorate in rhetoric and professional communication from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces in 2001.
A prolific scholar, Julie has numerous peer reviewed publications and conference presentations, and has directed eight student thesis projects that resulted in peer reviewed publication. She has advised countless students and established the Oral Presentation Center, a campus resource devoted to helping graduate and undergraduate students from all disciplines plan and prepare presentations and conference posters.
Christopher S. Nave ’04
Elon College Distinguished Alumnus Award in Social Sciences
“It is especially gratifying as a former mentor to see Chris grow into his own as a research, teacher and mentor. As I consider my time mentoring Chris and working collaboratively with him, I am reminded that what we do—and what he now does—matters.”
— Maurice Levesque, professor of psychology
Christopher S. Nave ’04 is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Rutgers-Camden. As an undergraduate psychology student at Elon, he was one of a few students who have co-authored two publications based on his undergraduate research.
Following his graduation from Elon in 2004, he received a master’s degree in general experimental psychology from Wake Forest University and later a doctorate from the University of California, Riverside. His research interests include associations between personality, health and behavior across the lifespan, person perception and impression management, and situational assessment. A prolific scholar, his work is being published in the discipline’s most impactful and selective journals and receiving media attention from the likes of CNN and NBC’s “The Today Show.”