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CORVALLIS - Thomas "Burke" Hayes, a resident of Lake Oswego and founding partner of the engineering firm CH2M HILL, heads a list of honorees selected for top awards from the Oregon State University Alumni Association.

Hayes is the 2004 recipient of the E.B. Lemon Award, which recognizes and honors former students who have made significant contributions to society and whose accomplishments have helped enhance the prestige of the university.

Others award recipients include Roy and Marilyn Young, recipients of the Dan W. Poling Award for service to the university; and Terry and Millie Elder, recipients of the Jean and Crawford H. "Scram" Graham Award for service to the alumni association.

Hayes, often described as an "engineer's engineer," worked his way through Oregon State College during the depths of the Great Depression and earned his B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1938. He earned a master's from MIT in 1940 before serving during World War II as a U.S. Navy radar specialist.

In 1946, Hayes and fellow Oregon State students Holly Cornell, Jim Howland, and their professor, Fred Merryfield, also an OSU alum, formed a small engineering firm in downtown Corvallis - Cornell, Howland, Hayes & Merryfield - later incorporated as CH2M HILL. The company now has nearly 200 offices on six continents and a staff of more than 10,000 employees.

Throughout his career, Hayes enjoyed a reputation for being able to develope innovative ways to improve on existing technology. He invented, patented and directed the building of a manufacturing facility to produce variable speed electric motor control devices that have been widely used in municipal water utilities for the past 40 years.

Hayes is a fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He has been active in civic affairs and is a past president of the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce. Hayes has continued to support Oregon State after graduation, serving as an adjunct professor at OSC in electric engineering specialties from 1946 to 1955, when no regular professor with required expertise was available. He has been a longtime board member of the OSU Foundation.

Roy Young, who has had a distinguished career in higher education and is former acting president of Oregon State University, received his bachelor's degree from New Mexico State University and master's and doctoral degrees from Iowa State University.

He joined the Oregon State faculty in 1948 as assistant professor of plant pathology and later headed the department of botany and plant pathology until he was appointed dean of research in 1966 with campus-wide responsibility for research coordination. He was acting president of OSU from 1969-70 and then served as vice president for research and graduate studies until 1976, when he left OSU to become chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Marilyn Young is past president of the OSU Folk Club, former member of the executive board of the Oregon State Mother's Club, former board member of Art Center of Corvallis, and former chair of the Corvallis Community Calendar. She has actively participated in Chi Omega sorority and The Assistance League of Corvallis.

The Youngs retired in 1986 and returned to Corvallis.

Mildred "Millie" and Terence "Terry" Elder are longtime supporters of the OSU Alumni Association. Terry entered Oregon State with the class of 1944, took time out to serve in the war, and returned to graduate in 1947 from the College of Ag Sciences. His involvement in the OSU Alumni Association began almost 50 years ago. He was a member of the board during the 1960s, president from 1967-68, and a Golden Jubilee Representative from 1994 to 2001.

He also supported OSU by serving on the E.R. Jackman Foundation board, the President's Club Committee, the President's Club Leadership Council and the OSU Memorial Union board. He is retired from his position as vice president of First Interstate Bank.

Millie also attended Oregon State and finished her college studies in 1948. She has served as president of the OSU Mother's Club of Corvallis, vice president and secretary of the statewide OSU Mother's Club, and president of the Oregon State chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha Alumni. She is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association.