SIE alumnus Xavier Lopez was inducted into the Francis Crowe Society as a Distinguished Engineer at the annual Francis Crowe Society ceremony held Saturday, May 10, 2008, at Hauck Auditorium on the UMaine campus. The purpose of the Francis Crowe Society is to recognize UMaine engineering graduates as they accomplish the formidable goal of completing their engineering degrees and to recognize others who have made considerable engineering contributions and honored the profession. Lopez graduated from UMaine in 1998 with a Ph.D. in Spatial Information Engineering. Since then, he has advanced to the position of Director of Oracle Corporation’s Location Services group where he leads Oracle’s efforts to incorporate spatial technologies across Oracle’s database, application server, and eBusiness applications. He has been active in numerous academic and government research initiatives on geographic information, is the author of a book on government spatial information policy, and has authored over 50 scientific and industry publications in areas related to spatial information technology. Congratulations to Xavier on receiving this distinguished award! (pictured: SIE Professor Kate Beard, Xavier Lopez, SIE Department Chair Mike Worboys)