Seven Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) graduates were honored at the 2025 College of Engineering Alumni Awards Induction Ceremony on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

The awards recognize alumni who have contributed to the profession, advanced in their careers, and enhanced the lives of others both personally and professionally.

The ECE inductees have made an impact in a variety of industries, from medical safety to aeronautics.

Sheldon Fox (EE 1981, M.S. EE 1982) was inducted into the College’s Engineering Hall of Fame. Roderick McLean (M.S. EE 1993) and John Slaughter (EE 1989, M.S. EE 1990) were each named to the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni. Raghav Kohli (EE 2007) joined the Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni.

Finally, a team of three ECE graduates Joseph Boettcher (EE 2017, M.S. CS 2021), Zachary Braun (CMPE 2017, M.S. CS 2021), and Tyler Sisk (EE 2017) received the Dean’s Impact Award, who founded SlateSafety, a company that produces a wearable device monitors heat stress, environmental conditions, and real-time location to help avoid some of the 300 million worker injuries reported worldwide every year.

Read more about ECE honorees below. You can also read more about the 2025 Award Ceremony and view pictures.
 

Sheldon Fox

EE 1981, M.S. EE 1982
Retired Senior Vice President, Operations and IT, Harris Corporation (now L3Harris)
 

Over a 35-year career at Harris, Sheldon served as president of Defense Systems and Intelligence Systems, as well as group president for Government Systems. He moved to the corporate office to lead the integration of Harris’s largest acquisition, then held a number of executive leadership roles spanning program management, engineering, supply chain, operations, and IT.

Sheldon was a football Academic All-American, National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete, and Georgia Tech Scholar Athlete. After Tech, he attended UNC Chapel Hill to earn his MBA as a Morehead fellow. His education continued throughout his career with executive management programs at UPenn Wharton, UVA Darden, and the Defense Systems Management College.

Sheldon’s service on boards includes the Georgia Tech Foundation, Georgia Tech Advisory Board, Georgia Tech A-T Fund, Enterprise Florida, Second Harvest Food Bank, and Feeding Tampa Bay.

He and his wife, Cindy, grew up in Miami and have three children: Shana, a University of Florida grad with a master’s from the University of Southern California; Lainey, a University of Central Florida grad with a master’s from Northwestern; and Jordan, a Florida State University grad with a master’s from Georgia Tech.

Roderick McLean

M.S. EE 1993
Vice President and General Manager, Air Mobility and Maritime Missions Marietta Site General Manager Lockheed Martin
 

Roderick is responsible for Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules transport, the C-5 strategic airlifter, and the P-3 Orion programs. As site general manager, he also is responsible for the facility manufacturing center wing assemblies for the F-35 fighter aircraft, provides sustainment support for the F-22 Raptor, and supports several Skunkworks Advanced Development Program activities. Roderick joined Lockheed Martin in 1994 as a radar systems engineer in Moorestown, New Jersey, and previously served as the vice president and general manager of F-16/F-22 Integrated Fighter Group Programs at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. 

In addition to his Tech degree, Roderick earned a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and an MBA from the University of Maryland. He serves on the College of Engineering External Advisory Board, the North Carolina A&T Engineering Advisory Board, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber Board of Directors. Roderick is a National Association of Corporate Directors certified director and previously served on the board of Draken International. He and his wife, Kathy, have three children.

John Slaughter

EE 1989, M.S. EE 1990
Interim President, Herrick Technology Laboratories

A West Virginian, John was drawn to Georgia Tech by the late Dr. E. Jo Baker’s President’s Scholarship. ECE Professor Tom Gaylord was a particularly memorable employer and mentor.

Upon graduation, John was fortunate to gain employment as a radio frequency design engineer with the iconic defense electronics firm Watkins-Johnson Company. There, he learned how to properly use a soldering iron, helped design and deliver state-of-the-art broadband communications and signal processing equipment, and wrote several well-received technical papers.

Further good fortune ensued in 1997, when John was invited onto the ground floor of Digital Receiver Technology, Inc., where he helped build even more exciting software-defined radios. He retired in 2011 as vice president of engineering.

John has since invested in and served on the boards of RF and SDR companies Atlanta Micro and Herrick Technology Labs. He has been a contributor to Georgia Tech’s President’s Scholarship, ECE, the football program, and the magnificent barbell squat and deadlift sections of the Campus Recreation Center.

Raghav Kohli

EE 2007
General Counsel, Foundry Technologies, Inc.
 

Raghav’s role supports Foundry’s focus on democratizing compute for the next generation of AI innovations. The startup is backed by Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firms and has developed a new breed of public cloud, powered by an orchestration platform that makes accessing AI compute as easy as turning on a light.

Prior to joining Foundry, Raghav spent a decade at Alphabet where he served on the leadership team at Waymo, playing a critical role in the development, deployment, and commercialization of lifesaving fully autonomous technology. He also provided legal counsel to Google on the launch of their consumer hardware business and their platforms used by billions of people.

In 2023, Raghav was named “40 under 40” by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, a recognition honoring rising executives that have shaped the Bay Area and are paving the way for what comes next.

Raghav met his wife, Purvi (CHBE 2007), while studying at Georgia Tech. They have three kids and reside in the San Francisco Bay Area.

SlateSafety

Workers worldwide face harsh and demanding conditions. The International Labor Organization reports that 313 million workers are injured and 2.3 million lose their lives every year, leading to a global economic loss of $12.5 trillion. The tools that should be keeping workers safe are outdated, hard to use, and unconnected.

SlateSafety’s goal is to change that. The company has created a modern, easy-to-use, and connected safety system that protects workers in real-time. Its flagship product is a wearable device worn on the arm, designed to alert workers and supervisors whenever a worker faces unsafe conditions. Companies such as Perrigo, Southern Company, and Bechtel rely on the system to safeguard workers when working alone or in high-heat environments. The U.S. military also utilizes the system to protect recruits during training. Last year, SlateSafety issued alerts for over 40,000 potential safety risks worldwide.