capstone engineer - fall 2012

UA Engineering hitting its stride as it celebrates175 years

EngineerCApstonE

Fall 2012

{ Capstone Engineer • Fall 2012 } 1

Features

14 UA Engineering Hitting Its Stride as It Celebrates 175 Years

22 Faculty at the 150th

24 Railroads to Space: Capstone Engineers Make Mark

28 College Timeline

Departments2 Dean’s Message

3 Surveying the College noteworthy news and Research from UA Engineering

11 Currents Events from Around the College

32 Alumni Dynamics Items of Interest to Capstone Engineers

39 Bits and Bytes The College from outside

40 End User Capstone Engineers on today’s technology

41 Message from the CES

Great Engineering Alumni + Outstanding location on the new Science and Engineering quad + A Fantastic Meal = College of Engineering Homecoming Tailgate Party

All engineering alumni and friends are invited to join us as we carry on an engineering tradition of the homecoming tailgate party. The College of Engineering Tailgate Party will be Oct. 27 three hours prior to kickoff on the Science and Engineering Quad. Join us as we cheer for the Crimson Tide against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Roll Tide!

Visit eng.ua.edu/alumni/homecoming.

2 { The University of Alabama } { Capstone Engineer • Fall 2012 } 3

Surveying the CollegeNoteworthy News and Research from UA Engineering

Surveying the College

Dear Alumni and Friends, An anniversary is a time to reflect on the past, celebrate the present and share hope for the future. This year, The University of Alabama is celebrating 175 years of engineering and computer science education. At the College of Engineering, we are proud of our history and the momentum of our students and faculty position us to offer innovation and creativity to the most pressing engineering challenges.

I came to The University of Alabama in the fall of 1980 because it felt like home. My family had roots in West Alabama, but more than that, the College offered what other places I visited could not. For one, the University gave me a chance to be part of a campus of students with diverse interests. second, I was taught closely by professors who personally challenged me, shaping my career. All three of my degrees are from the College, and I am blessed to be a part of the UA engineering family.

Although we’ve grown in the 32 years since I came, what attracted me is still the bedrock for today’s Capstone engineers and computer scientists. We are focused on high-quality undergraduate education, and our research enhances the culture of discovery for our students, helping them define the questions needed to be asked. our students also enjoy collaboration with strong programs in liberal arts, business and the sciences, a benefit of being part of a diverse university.

If you were a student here, then the Capstone feels like home, too. please join us this year to celebrate our alma mater. Without all of you, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Thank you for your support and Roll tide!

Dr. Charles L. KarrDean

Capstone Engineering Society 1-800-333-8156David G. Courington, Chair, Board of Directors • Charles L. Karr, PhD, Dean, College of Engineering • Nancy Holmes, Manager, Capstone Engineering Society • Adam Jones, Editor • Issue No. 46 • Capstone Engineer is published in the spring and fall by the Capstone Engineering Society. • Tori E. Nelko, Designer • Benita Crepps, Proofreader • Jeff Hanson, Samantha Hernandez, Zach Riggins, Photography • Address correspondence to the editor: The University of Alabama, Capstone Engineering Society, College of Engineering, Box 870200, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0200 • Visit the College of Engineering website at www.eng.ua.edu. • The University of Alabama is an equal-opportunity educational institution/employer. • MC8381

Dean’s Message


A sponge for noiseCombustion is necessary, of course, to run an engine, but it is also loud. That can be a problem, but a mechanical engineering professor hopes his device can hush the noise.

During combustion, air is compressed within a chamber, increasing pressure. The injection of fuel within this high-temperature, high-pressure environment creates a flame. The flame acts like a microphone, producing a deafening noise as it amplifies the sounds present in the flow. That noise can also be “deafening” to the engine. Because the noise level is so high, the sound waves produced cause intense pulsations that shake the engine and can cause mechanical failure.

Dr. Ajay Agrawal, the Robert F. Barfield Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering, is working with the U.s. navy to address the issue of noise in jet engines. Many of their naval aircrafts showcase the issues of noise and instability during takeoff, affecting those around the aircraft. The goal is to significantly quiet combustion, possibly making work environments safer and extending the life of equipment.

Agrawal’s method reduces the noise at the source — during the combustion process — through a patented breakthrough technology that uses a sponge-like composite made of hafnium carbide and silicon carbide that can withstand the combustion environment. With its high permeability, gases can easily flow

through so the combustion process is not interrupted, but the noise problem is addressed.

For Truman Scholar, engineering a mind for serviceRyan Flamerich is a 2012 truman scholar, the first student from the UA College of Engineering selected for the prestigious scholarship created by Congress to help future leaders in public service.

With a double major in chemical engineering and political science, Flamerich is one of 54 scholars selected from among 587 candidates nominated by 292 colleges and universities. truman scholars are chosen based on their academic and leadership accomplishments and their likelihood of becoming public-service leaders. The truman scholarship provides up to $30,000 for graduate studies along with special consideration and aid at some premier graduate programs.

A student in the Computer Based Honors program in the Honors College, Flamerich came to UA to study chemical engineering and envisioned a career as an engineer. He said the road to an interest in a career in public service away from professional engineering came from his role as a senator in the UA student Government Association, volunteer work, his time as a Blackburn Fellow on campus and his classes in political science.

“Engineering is much more than curriculum based on application of science,” Flamerich said. “It’s really a mindset — a

way of thinking about things. Engineers look at solving problems in the most efficient way.”

A Crimson Tide championship made for the moonIn a common theme the past year, a team of University of Alabama students won a national championship. The latest championship came not on an athletic field, rather on a simulated lunar surface navigated by robots.

Alabama Lunabotics, a team of students from UA and shelton state Community College, won the top prize in the nAsA Lunabotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The weeklong contest included more than 50 teams from universities around the world.

The team was challenged with designing and building an autonomous or remote controlled excavator called a lunabot. The robot was tasked with collecting and scooping a minimum of 10 kilograms of a lunar-like material within 10 minutes. The team notched the most points in the competition, winning the Joe Kosmo Award for Excellence, and also won first place for its presentation and demonstration, first place for team spirit and second place in the mining portion of the competition.

“The students on this UA team are very talented engineers with competition experience,” said Dr. Kenneth Ricks, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and the team’s faculty adviser.

Two students named Goldwater Scholarstwo more UA Engineering students were selected as Goldwater scholars this year. since 2005, six engineering students have been chosen to receive one of the nation’s most prestigious academic awards. The Barry M. Goldwater scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation selected Hisham K. Ali, of Muscle shoals, Ala., a student majoring in aerospace engineering with minors in the Computer-Based Honors program and mathematics; and sarah E. Johnson, of Mesquite, texas, a student majoring in mechanical engineering and history with a minor in the Computer-Based Honors program. They are among 282 scholarship recipients nationwide.

The students were chosen on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,123 mathematics, science and engineering sophomores and juniors who were nominated by the faculties of their colleges and universities. Each Goldwater scholarship recipient receives up to $7,500 per year toward the cost of tuition, room and board, fees and books.

Ali plans to use his research in luminescent photoelastic coatings and experimental mechanics as a basis for his master’s and doctorate research. He plans to pursue a career contributing directly to spaceflight knowledge and spacecraft development as a research engineer and professor focused in the fields of spacecraft propulsion and structural design.

Left: Dr. Ajay Agrawal demonstrating his noise reduction technology in his lab inside the AIME Building. Right: On Ryan Flamerich’s honor Dean Charles Karr said, “The Truman Scholarship is based on a passion for public service. In a very real sense, engineering is service.”

Alabama Lunabotics members, from left, Jason Watts, an electrical engineering student from Northport, Ala., Adam Melton, an electrical engineering student from Hoover, Ala., Mitchell Spryn, an electrical engineering student from Williamsburg, Va., and Justin Baker, then an electrical engineering student at Shelton State Community College from Tuscaloosa, Ala., work on their lunabot in space provided for engineering student projects.

Surveying the College Surveying the College

Continued on page 6


Johnson is currently researching combustion systems aimed at improving the efficiency and emissions of alcohol-gas fuel blends during engine cold starts. she plans to attend graduate school to pursue a doctorate and an eventual career in research as a university professor with a focus on combustion and propulsion systems. she was also a 2011 noAA Hollings scholar.

A rare swap for electric motorsEfficient electric machines power much of today’s energy technology and are looked to as crucial to emerging energy industries. Unfortunately, they are powered by a limited global supply of certain naturally magnetic minerals that grow costlier as demand increases. A UA engineering professor hopes to swap these rare earth minerals with more abundant substitutes to drive down costs and encourage swifter adoption.

The United states Department of Energy recently awarded Dr. Yang-Ki Hong, the E.A. Larry Drummond Endowed professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the UA College of Engineering, along with a team of researchers, a $1.26 million grant to determine if the idea works by creating a bulk permanent magnet using the substitute minerals and demonstrating it can function as well as, if not better than, current rare earth permanent magnets.

“We want to prove our concept and then manufacture permanent magnets without these rare earth materials,” Hong said.

Hong is the lead on a team that includes Dr. tim Haskew, professor and head of the electrical and computer engineering department; and Dr. oleg Mryasov, associate professor of physics; along with researchers from Mississippi state University and the University of California san Diego. The grant began this year and lasts for three years.

Parrish chosen for Hackney awardDr. Allen s. parrish, professor and director of the Center for Advanced public safety, is the 2012 t. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership award recipient. The award honors a faculty member who exemplifies the constant guidance and leadership necessary to make the College of Engineering exceptional.

parrish came to UA in 1990 to teach computer science. In 2000, he became the director of the CARE Research and Development Laboratory, or CRDL. Under his leadership, CRDL was elevated to center status and renamed the Center for Advanced public safety, or CAps, by UA trustees in 2009. Researchers at CAps strive to create innovative solutions through information-technology research and cutting-edge software development in order to enhance the public safety and security of the state and homeland.

Through parrish’s vision and direction, CAps evolved its portfolio into a myriad of research and software products and services in the areas of traffic safety, law enforcement, homeland security, criminal justice and, most recently, health and human services. As

director, parrish oversees more than $5 million in annual research expenditures from more than 20 state and federal sponsors and supervises a staff of about 80 professional staff members and students.

CS students win programming contestA team of three university students won a regional computer-programming contest, beating out 21 other teams from six universities in writing software programs to solve problems.

two other UA teams, each with three students, also performed well at the annual Deloitte Consulting’s Hattiesburg Invitational programming Competition, said Dr. Jeff Gray, associate professor of computer science and a co-coach for the teams. The nine students who recently traveled to Hattiesburg, Miss., for the competition are all computer-science majors.

Without Internet access and only allowed their memory and as much printed materials as they could carry, the winning team was the only group among the 21 teams to solve five problems. The teams were given four hours to solve 11 problems ranging from designing software and predicting how a domino chain would fall to writing a program to find similarities among pretend criminal suspects by sorting through data.

With sturdy helmet design, UA students win metalcasting contestFor the second year in a row, a team of metallurgical and materials engineering students won the student Casting Competition for the southeast organized by the American Foundry society. By designing and casting a helmet for soldiers, the students were exposed to leading-edge, metallurgical-engineering technology.

The high-performance helmet would be difficult, if not impossible, to cast using traditional techniques of pouring molten metal in sand molds. By using 3-D computer modeling and 3-D printing technologies to make a more precise mold, the team of students from the department of metallurgical and materials engineering cast a defect-free helmet on the first trial, something that impressed the AFs judges, said Dr. Laurentiu nastac, team adviser and an associate professor of MtE.

Besides the novel casting process, students created the high-performance helmet out of an aluminum alloy, but doubled the mechanical strength of the helmet while keeping it the same weight, about 1.4 pounds, by reinforcing it with aluminum-oxide nanoparticles. The resulting light, yet strong, material functions at hotter temperatures than the non-reinforced aluminum alloy. Being a new trend in metalcasting research, this application of nanotechnology provided valuable experience for the students.

Dr. Yang-Ki Hong, center, in his magnetic materials and device laboratory with, from left, PhD student Gavin Abo, PhD student Jihoon Park and master’s student Ryan Syslo

At left, Dr. Allen S. Parrish, professor and director of the Center for Advanced Public Safety, receives the 2012 T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership Award from Dean Charles Karr at the Distinguished Engineering Fellows banquet at NorthRiver Yacht Club.

Surveying the College Surveying the College


ME professor receives Oak Ridge Powe grantDr. Brian Fisher, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is one of 30 researchers selected nationwide to receive a competitive grant from oak Ridge Associated Universities through the Ralph E. powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards program. Fisher was awarded the grant for the 2012–13 academic year for his study of the spray properties of diesel-surrogate fuels.

MTE professor recognizedDr. Ramana Reddy, ACIpCo professor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, was recently named the recipient of a distinguished service award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials society, or tMs, for his outstanding accomplishments. Reddy was honored with the 2012 Alexander R. scott Distinguished service Award at the 141st tMs annual meeting and exhibition in orlando, Fla., in March. The award recognizes a member’s outstanding contribution to tMs.

Graduate students earn campus distinctionMechanical engineering graduate students Miguel sequera and Meisam salahshoor were recipients of the 2012 outstanding Graduate student awards presented during UA Honors Week. sequera won outstanding Master’s Thesis for “A Conceptual Framework for the Assessment of the Criticality of Key Failure Modes in Micro-Electro Mechanical systems (MEMs) Accelerometers.” His thesis chairperson was Dr. Daniel Fonseca, associate professor of mechanical engineering. salahshoor won Excellence in Research by a Doctoral student for conducting interdisciplinary research enhancing the bioperformance of a novel, biodegradable magnesium-calcium medical material by adjusting surface integrity through hybrid manufacturing.

Patent awarded to AEM professorDr. Amy Lang, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, was awarded a patent for passive micro-roughness array for drag modification, which is based off research into how flexible shark scales can lead to the formation of embedded vortices between the scales in areas when the flow is about to separate from the shark’s body.

MTE team wins national video contestThe Association for Iron and steel technology selected two videos by UA engineering students as first and second place in “The Real steel” Marketing Video Challenge, sponsored by the AIst Foundation. The local AIst chapter was awarded $7,500 for its efforts.

Construction engineering professor honored for teachingThe Construction Industry Institute selected Dr. David Grau, assistant professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering, as the CII Distinguished professor, an award that honors faculty who incorporate published CII research findings into their courses. His efforts benefit students and companies who hire graduates of the program.

In Brief

Clockwise from top: Dr. Brian Fisher, Dr. Ramana Reddy, Dr. David Grau, Dr. Amy Lang

Dr. L. Michael Freeman, associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, retired after 30 years at the Capstone. After joining the College in 1982 as an assistant professor, Freeman was promoted to associate professor in 1989. His research interests include applications of intelligent computing, genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, aerodynamics and orbital mechanics. Besides normal faculty duties, Freeman served as the University liaison with nAsA. He will teach part time at the College, volunteer with AIAA and continue consulting with pearson publishing on Mastering Engineering, an online tutorial and homework system.

Dr. Peter E. Clark, professor of chemical and biological engineering, retired after 25 years of service at UA. He came to the College in August 1987 to join the mineral engineering department and was promoted to full professor in 2011. His research interest is in the area of complex fluid flows, including hydraulic fracturing, well stimulation and rheology of oil-field fluids. Although retired from UA, Clark is now at oklahoma state University as the sampson and Ward Chair in petroleum Engineering, where his primary assignment will be to develop an undergraduate and graduate program in petroleum engineering.


Retirements

Dr. Andrew Ernest, professor, CCEE

Dr. Glenn Tootle, associate professor, CCEE

Dr. Vinu Unnikrishnan, assistant professor, AEM

Dr. Weihua Su, assistant professor, AEM

Dr. Yonghyun Kim, assistant professor, CBE

Dr. Thang N. Dao, assistant professor, CCEE

Dr. Mark Elliott, assistant professor, CCEE

Dr. Wei Song, assistant professor, CCEE

Dr. Eric Giannini, assistant professor, CCEE

Dr. Hwan-Sik Yoon, assistant professor, ME

Dr. Zheng O’Neill, assistant professor, ME

Dr. Jenwei Shen, assistant professor, AEM

Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian, professor, ME and ECE

New to the College

Promotion and TenureTenure and promotion to associate professorDr. Jeff Carver

Dr. Monica Anderson

TenureDr. Fei Hu

Dr. Sushma Kotru

Dr. Shuhui Li

Promotion to professorDr. Greg Thompson


Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian

{ Capstone Engineer • Fall 2012 } 11

CurrentsEvents From Around the College

Currents

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of these items contributes to the Capstone Engineering Society, which provides scholarship

funds to UA’s College of Engineering.

Call 1-800-333-8156Come by 130 H.M. Comer

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Show your pride in the College of Engineering with top-quality apparel and gifts.


Big event at UA to study the very smallMore than 180 scientists from 12 countries who research materials at the atomic scale were on campus in what organizers said was a strong statement on the growing research reputation of The University of Alabama and its College of Engineering.

Held every two years, the International Field Emission symposium, was last held in sydney, Australia, and, before that, in Rouen, France. In May, colleagues in this specialized science convened in Alabama for the weeklong conference.

Dr. Gregory Thompson, an associate professor in the department of metallurgical and materials engineering, chaired the effort to organize the conference along with Dr. Mark Weaver, professor of metallurgical and materials engineering, and Rich Martens, manager of UA’s Central Analytical Facility. staff from

the College of Engineering, Central Analytical Facility and Bryant Conference Center also helped organize the conference.

“We hosted the premier meeting in field emission and atom probe microscopy,” Thompson said. “This conference brings together leading scientists around the world to our campus for in-depth scientific discussions. It speaks volumes on the direction The University of Alabama research is heading.”

CS hosts robotic competitionMore than 100 students — third graders to seniors in high school from across Alabama — came to shelby Hall in April to tell robots what to do, hoping their instructions were good enough to win the Alabama Robotics Competition.

The competition, which is in its second year, was hosted by the UA department of computer science. The goal is to spur interest in

computer science among elementary and high school students, said Dr. Jeff Gray, associate professor of computer science. “software is driving automation,” Gray said. “software is everywhere, and computer scientists are the ones who are enabling the growth of automation.”

Unlike other robotics competitions, students were not judged on building the robot, rather on the robot’s performance in obstacle courses set up in the rotunda of shelby Hall. students programmed the robots at a computer before watching them autonomously carry out their instructions.

A new phase for phase IVon May 11, contractors on the fourth phase of the science and Engineering Quad took a break to celebrate topping out the building, the completion of the concrete frame of the structure, on schedule. Contractors along with University of Alabama and

College of Engineering staff involved in the project came to a catfish lunch on site. There was a raffle with prizes, and workers with Doster Construction Co. thanked the crew for its hard work. The team from Williams Blackstock Architects was also on hand. The building, which will sit between shelby Hall and H.M. Comer Hall, is still on schedule for a May 2013 opening.

CES hosts networking receptionMembers of the Capstone Engineering society board of directors along with engineering students got to know each other at the CEs networking Reception in March. The CEs board designed the reception to help upperclassmen transition to the engineering profession by engaging students with alumni in their particular disciplines and fields of interest.

Top: More than 180 members of the International Field Emission Society came to The University of Alabama in May for a weeklong conference. Bottom: Students in the Alabama Robotics Competition watch as the robots they programmed navigate an obstacle course.

Top: The fourth phase of the Science and Engineering Quad, pictured in July, is on track to open in May 2013. Bottom: CES board members Haynes Smith, BSME ’76, center, and David Courington, BSChE ’74, talk with students at the CES Networking Reception.

Currents Currents


It was a botanist, not an engineer, who helped steer engineering education through a critical crossroad at The University of Alabama.

At least that’s the story according to an engineer, Robert “Bob” Barfield, former dean of the College of Engineering.

Coming off a difficult decade, the College of Engineering was in a lull in 1981. Although no academic program ever lost accreditation at the College, three programs were being warned by their accreditor of deficiencies, and three more were being asked to show cause why they should not be stripped of accreditation.

“That’s what faced me the day I took the job,” said Barfield, appointed in 1982.

By 1987, as the College celebrated 150 years of engineering education at the Capstone, the departments were clear of accreditation issues, research was rapidly expanding and enrollment was stable. For Barfield, the credit for the change starts with Joab Thomas, the Harvard-educated botanist and former UA professor tapped to lead UA in 1981.

UA Engineering

By Adam Jones

175 yearshitting its stride as it celebrates

Continued on page 16


“Joab Thomas was a different breed,” Barfield said. “He was a scientist, first of all, and he knew the value of engineering to the University.”

Thomas and Barfield ignited success, and today, 175 years after trustees instructed that engineering be taught at the University, the College is at a peak of teaching and research as administrators and professors work to ensure Capstone engineers and computer scientists are ready for the challenges of tomorrow.

“The world has changed,” said Dean Charles L. Karr. “Ultimately engineering and computer science are about discovering new designs and new ways of doing things. We want to expose our students not just to existing knowledge but help them discover new knowledge.”

Helping design new things, specifically railroads across the expanding United states, was why UA trustees told the faculty in 1837 that “the present state of our country calls for instruction in (engineering) from our university,” according to a history of the College, “A promising Field, Engineering at Alabama 1837–1987.” At the time, civil engineering was the only discipline taught, but UA became one of the first five institutions in the country to teach engineering.

Engineering was assigned to Frederick Augustus porter Barnard, the chair of mathematics, although his tutor, sort of like an assistant professor, taught the courses. Arnoldus V. Brumby, who had an engineering education from West point, left within a few years after trustees could not appoint him to a full professorship, leaving engineering to the overworked Barnard.

It was the first setback of many for the fledgling engineering program at UA as limited resources, lack of understanding of engineering needs by trustees, the Civil War and dilution of state money to engineering education in Auburn would continue to thwart ambition during the 19th century. Despite the challenges, professors chugged along building the program. By the time UA president John Abercrombie set up the College in 1909, there were more than 100 students studying courses in civil, mining, mechanical and electrical engineering, and construction was underway on the campus’ first building meant for engineering, B.B. Comer Hall. Three years later, the department of chemical engineering was added.

During the 20th century, the College experienced success,

such as six of the College’s eight programs gaining accreditation from the newly formed Engineers’ Council for professional Development in 1936, ranking the College in the top 12 percent of schools in the country for accredited programs. The two other programs, mining and chemical engineering, would be accredited later. However, the College struggled at times because of forces beyond its control, chiefly poor support from the state and fewer engineering jobs in the south than in the Midwest and new

England.“The success of the College was tied

very much to the funding of the University and the economics of the state, and until there was a lot of federally funded engineering research — starting with World War II — technology education in Alabama didn’t have a lot of room for growth,” said Dr. Robert J. norrell, historian and author of the College’s history. “But, having said that, the College of Engineering did a good job with its limited resources and expanding its resources.”

Research money, particularly from nAsA, came in waves during the early 1960s, increasing tenfold to just more than $1 million from 1962 to 1965. phDs were awarded beginning in 1964, and enrollment blossomed in the post-sputnik world. But by the 1970s, engineering education across America suffered from a perception that technology was doing more harm than good.

“technology is being tabbed by many as a ‘bad guy’ because some technological devices and processes produce by-products, which unquestionably degrade our environment,” wrote Dean W. Edward Lear in 1970. “our society does not lack for people who can cite this problem, but most can only suggest simplistic answers to the very complex questions posed.”

Enrollment seesawed for much of the 1970s, and sponsored research bounced between $500,000 and $1 million, according to norrell’s research. Added to this was what many in engineering saw as an inattention to the sciences from UA president David Mathews at a time of rocky state funding and high inflation in the latter part of the decade that reduced spending power and pay.

When Mathews resigned, trustees tapped Thomas president, who within months replaced the retired Lear with Barfield. The first step for Barfield was getting Thomas to agree to let the College, its departments and faculty keep more overhead money in grants. That change motivated faculty to seek out more grants and allowed

Helping design new things,

specifically railroads across the expanding

United States, was why UA trustees

told the faculty in 1837 that

“the present state of our country calls for instruction in

(engineering ) from our university.

From top, engineering students in the foundry in 1968, aerospace engineering students gathered around a propeller in 1946, student at an electron microscope in 1984 and civil engineering students with a concrete canoe in 1992. (Photos courtesy of W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library)



departments and the College to use money for graduate assistants, equipment purchases and facilities rather than sending the bulk of the money back to the University for wider distribution. By 1986, sponsored research at the College was more than $4 million annually, according to norrell’s research.

“That was an incentive everywhere in the College, and it was a big change,” Barfield said. “I give Joab Thomas the credit.”

Thomas also agreed to another of Dean Barfield’s ideas — loaning the College money to put a computer in every professor’s office and allowing a student fee to pay for computer upgrades. Within the first few years of Barfield’s tenure, engineering and computer science had exclusive computer labs for students. “our students just jumped out in front nationally in computing,” he said.

Barfield also oversaw the integration of the computer science department, which had been jointly managed by the colleges of Engineering and Arts and sciences. The department’s roots extend to 1971, and it was always closely affiliated with engineering. still, the department’s faculty was wary of coming at first, he said.

“They had been kind of kicked around, and we had to convince them they were as equal as any other department,” Barfield said.

When the College celebrated 150 years, Barfield said there was an increase in pride among faculty, students and alumni, and three years later he oversaw the dedication of two buildings that, while not wholly belonging to engineering, were the first new facilities in more than 30 years for the College. The Rodgers science Library took the engineering and science collection from a cramped space in Gorgas Library to its own building, and the tom Bevill Energy, Mineral and Material science Research Building was the first UA facility dedicated solely to research.

“That was a real big deal, but it’s microscopic compared to what’s happening today,” Barfield said.

president Roger E. sayers, who succeeded Thomas, continued an emphasis on research, as did Barfield’s successors, Raymond W. Flummerfelt and timothy Greene. Through it all, though, was a focus on undergraduate education, the lynchpin of goals laid out later by former president Robert E. Witt, who pushed enrollment expansion along with more quality research.

“We’re fairly balanced between research and undergraduate education. Everybody has that dual mission,” said Dr. Alan Lane, interim head of chemical and biological engineering and professor at UA for more than 25 years. “We’ve maintained perspective.”

The duty to undergraduate education comes from the mission of a public university to educate any student who wants to major in

engineering or computer science, even if they need remediation, said Karr. The College will not institute differential admission requiring students to pass certain courses with a minimum grade point average before they are allowed into the College, he said.

Balanced with that mission, though, is the need for the College to prepare students not just to compete for jobs in the region but also globally, Karr said. “We’re throwing them out into the global society,” he said. “our graduates have to sit toe-to-toe with peers all across the world, so that’s brought increasing pressures on us as educators.”

part of that preparation is improved facilities, and in 2013 the College will open its second building in two years after the south Engineering Research Center, or sERC, opened earlier this year. The building will be the fourth in a quad of science and engineering buildings that began in 2004 with the opening of shelby Hall. Although sERC and the fourth phase are solely for

engineering, shelby Hall and the science and Engineering Complex, opened in 2009,

house portions of the College.“I don’t know of anybody else who has put

in so many high-quality facilities in such a short amount of time,” Karr said.

The new buildings help attract professors and their research, building on momentum already

established. This century, research expenditures in the College increased by 50 percent to more than $22 million

by spring 2011, and new research awards to faculty increased more than 40 percent to more than $17.5 million.

new facilities are designed to blur the line between research and education as undergraduates often work alongside their graduate counterparts in the lab. They also encourage collaboration with the sciences, such as chemistry, biology, physics, math and geology, that share the same buildings with engineering faculty. “The things our students work on now are much more integrated with the sciences,” Lane said. “It’s hard to tell between some of the research we do in engineering and that done in arts and sciences.”

UA engineering has to take advantage of campus relationships to help train what Karr calls “whole-brain” engineers. And it is not just in the sciences, but also in business and art as well. The College reaches across campus with IdeaLab, a class where business and engineering students creatively develop community projects and

From top, engineering class about 1886, the 1923 engineering faculty, engineering students at an experiment in the 1950s, William Vaughn and engineering class in 1881, a computer science student in 1976 and electrical engineering students in 1955. (Photos courtesy of W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library)



take them outside the classroom. With art, engineering students can take 3-D design in an art class to help them kindle the creative fires, and the metallurgical foundry and art foundry will soon be in the same building to encourage collaboration.

taking advantage of the liberal arts, business and sciences is the path the College will take to prepare students because more is expected of engineers today than 30 years ago when many worked in walled-off departments in large corporations, Karr said. “now, engineers often work for smaller and more nimble companies that compete in the global environment,” he said. “We have to be multifaceted. now, the engineer is the shepherd of the whole project.”

Besides changes in facilities, research and cross-campus collaboration, students coming into the College have changed in the past 25 years. There are also more of them. With more than 3,300 students, enrollment has rocketed 56 percent since 1987, and two-thirds of that has come since Karr took office in 2005. That growth has given the College critical mass in some areas and brought more diversity in students’ background into the classroom, Karr said. professors have to accommodate different learning styles and meet the expectations of students who come to college with different skills — more digital, less mechanical — than their predecessors, he said.

“The world is different. Kids are different — not better, not worse,” Karr said. “so if the input and output have changed, we have to change with better technology, better education and better facilities. But our mission is the same.”

In 1837, UA trustees told the faculty that “the present state of our country calls for instruction in (engineering) from our university.” today, 175 years later, the present state of our world still calls for engineering instruction at the University, and Barnard would likely be pleased to learn trustees did decide to create some full professorships for engineering.

At top, an aerial view of the north side of campus in 1979 shows the three engineering buildings lining Seventh Avenue. Behind the engineering buildings are mostly undeveloped property and the Bryce Hospital campus, an area now dominated by the Science and Engineering Quad shown in the larger aerial view of campus taken this past summer. The fourth and final building, which will be dedicated to the College, should be finished in May 2013.


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Engineering education at The University of Alabama began as a way to churn out civil engineers to lay railroad tracks, but over the past 175 years, UA engineering managed to educate an impressive group of alumni who advanced their discipline, science and industry.


By Adam Jones

“We’re proud of our history, and we’ve always produced outstanding graduates who are successful,” Dean Charles L. Karr said.

In 1837, University of Alabama trustees were keenly aware railroads were coming, and the state needed to get its towns and ports on the grid posthaste. And, for good measure, four trustees were railroad investors who realized there were not enough engineers in the state, indeed the entire south, to meet the need. They instructed the professor of mathematics to teach courses in civil engineering.

It is likely 1845 alumnus John Frederick steele was the first UA graduate to become an engineer. He began as an assistant engineer on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and was later chief engineer for several other railroads, according to “A promising Field: Engineering at Alabama, 1837-1987” by Dr. Robert J. norrell.

Detached attention to engineering by the faculty in the antebellum period meant few UA graduates went on to practice engineering, and those who did were like steele, civil engineers stomping through wilderness with surveying equipment on horseback to plan the route for railroads. some also practiced engineering for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

After the war, the University and engineering struggled to reopen since most of the campus was burned. After fits and starts, the engineering curriculum was fully realized in 1881, and graduates of the late 19th century continued working for railroads, many of them local lines. Alumni of the period took jobs not too different from their counterparts in the 20th century, either for corporations or federal projects such as the local work on the Warrior and tombigbee rivers by the U.s. Corps of Engineers. George Washington Feagin, BE 1886, joined the “Expert Department” at General Electric in new York, for instance.


With the expansion of technology in the 20th century, Capstone engineers took jobs in a variety of industrial corporations. Like most engineers from any university during the period, they “organized scientific and technical knowledge and applied it for the benefit of corporate, capitalistic enterprises,” norrell wrote.

one early example of an alumnus with huge success in industry was otto E. Kirchner, BsEE ’20. He designed airplane wings that could carry larger gas tanks, enabling Adm. Richard Byrd to fly over the south pole in 1929. He later designed the pilgrim, a single-engine passenger plane regarded as the first built for commercial passengers. Built for the fledgling American Airways, Kirchner later joined the company as chief engineer, overseeing its expansion for several decades. An earlier graduate, Lewis M. smith, BsEE ’16, served as the chief engineer for Alabama power Co. in the 1930s and later as its president. Another alumnus, stephen D. Moxley, BsME ’21 and MsME ’22, helped make American Cast Iron pipe Co. in Birmingham a leader in sand spun casting, developing a centrifugal casting process instead of a static casting. He later became president of ACIpCo.

probably the most well-known UA engineer from the early 19th century was Robert Jemison Van de Graaff, BsMinE ’22

and MsMinE ’23. A Rhodes scholar, he later earned a doctorate in physics at oxford in England. He designed the Van de Graaff

generator, an electrostatic generator that could produce high voltages. He also later developed a particle accelerator used in rotation therapy and industrial X-rays.

After World War II, Capstone engineers found themselves at companies such as the tennessee Valley Authority, General Electric Co.., Westinghouse, philco, Alabama power Co., Dupont, U.s. steel and texaco, to name a sampling. John McKinley, BsCheE ’40, was director of research at texaco before becoming chief executive in the 1980s.

two alumni became members of the national Academy of Engineering. The first was t. Louis Austin, BsMinE ’42, chief executive of the texas Utility Co. and, after, Brown and Root. He was inducted because of his leadership in developing advanced power generation capabilities. Joseph p. Moore, BsAE ’49, was a materials engineer, who developed a superplastic forging process called Gatorizing.

Besides industry, UA engineering alumni worked in large numbers for the government after

World War II, mostly in military at Redstone Arsenal or for nAsA at the Marshall space Flight Center, both of which are in Huntsville, Ala. Hoyt Harris, BsEE ’50, became the highest ranking civilian at Huntsville’s

Army Missile Command. Thomas Lee, BsAE ’58, was deputy director at Marshall after helping oversee development of spacelab. UA’s first astronaut was Col. James Kelley, MsAE ’96. He piloted two missions of space shuttle Discovery.

And although UA's program in computer science is relatively young, its graduates have had success as well. Cynthia Cason Gray, BsCs ’82, co-founded Gray Research along with her husband, Ron Gray, BsME ’81, a leading provider of engineering and software solutions to the U.s. Department of Defense and nAsA.

The list of prominent Capstone engineers could go on. Fewer than 400 out of an estimated 27,000 alumni have been named Distinguished Engineering Fellows, the College’s highest honor. The Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame has inducted 47 Capstone engineers.

With record enrollment most every year of the 21st century, the College is graduating more each semester than ever, and professors in the College are working to ensure today’s students are as well-prepared as their predecessors. “For our students to be successful, they need to become lifelong learners so they, too, can bring the same prestige to the College our alumni have,” Dean Karr said.

one recent graduate continues the legacy of UA engineering as an engineer for a railroad company. Although continuing that legacy had nothing to do with why Harris Williams, BsConE ‘12, took a job as a manager with norfolk southern after graduation, his reason for getting the job has everything to do with the Capstone. “They really want construction engineers on the railroads,” he said. “They like our program and how our professors teach us.”

Robert Jemison Van de Graaff in New York in 1931 demonstrating a 1.5 million volt Van de Graaff generator. (Photo courtesy of the MIT Museum)

With record enrollment most

every year of the 21st century, the College is graduating more each

semester than ever, and professors in the

College are working to ensure today’s students

are as well-prepared as their predecessors.

Capstone Engineers inducted into the

Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame

Kenneth R. Daniel, 1989

Joseph M. Rodgers, 1989

Robert Jemison Van de Graaff, 1989

Charles Allen Long Jr., 1991

T. Louis Austin Jr., 1992

Philip W. Lett, 1992

John K. McKinley, 1992

Edwin Milton Hardin, 1993

Thomas J. “Jack” Lee, 1993

Ernest C. Gaston, 1994

James A. “Mickey” Blackwell, 1995

Robin Lee Browne Buckelew, 1995

Milton H. Ward, 1996

Garry Neil Drummond Sr., 1997

Robert F. Barfield, 1998

James S. Marlen, 1998

Charles M. Rampacek, 1998

Allen Franklin, 1999

David R. Hart, 1999

Harry H. Holliman, 1999

Bernard N. Ames, 2000

Donald W. Bell, 2000

John V. Davis, 2000

William W. Moss, 2001

Tom Kilgore, 2002

William H. Lawler, 2002

Dennis L. Baxendale, 2003

Leroy McAbee Sr., 2003

Chester C. Carroll, 2004

George D. Hopson, 2005

Thomas L. Patterson, 2005

James M. Delahay, 2007

Thomas E. Doster III, 2007

Earl R. Foust, 2007

M.A. “John” Oztekin, 2007

James C. Bambarger, 2008

Robert S. Ryan, 2008

Kevin M. Hostler, 2009

H. Kenneth White, 2009

Ronald Gray, 2010

Philip LaMoreaux, 2010

Robert Lightfoot, 2010

George T. Goodwyn, 2011

Henry Hoyt Harris, 2011

Jack W. MacKay, 2011

James M. Kelly, 2012

Garry M. Lyles, 2012

Col. James Kelley, pilot of two Space Shuttle Discovery missions. (Photo courtesy of NASA)


{1832} University of Alabama opens

{1837} Engineering courses added to curriculum

{1845} John Frederick Steele likely first UA engineering graduate

{1871} Civil engineering degree offered

{1875} A 25-year veteran of railroad engineering, Horace Harding becomes first professional engineer to teach at UA

{1881} William Vaughn organizes School of Engineering; enrollment takes off

{1882} To meet student demand, Robert A. Hardaway was hired to teach engineering full time in 1882

{1887} Mining engineering established

{1903} Edgar Kay becomes chair of civil engineering

{1907} Courses in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering established

{1907} Enrollment tops 100

{1909} College of Engineering established; Kay named dean

{1910} B.B. Comer Hall, home to engineering, opens

{1912} Chemical engineering established, led by chemistry professor Stewart Lloyd

{1912} George Davis named dean and head of civil engineering; John Gallalee tapped to head mechanical engineering; Shaler Houser picked to teach civil engineering

{1912} Degree in highway engineering established; later dropped

{1919} Enrollment eclipses more than 200

{1920} U.S. Bureau of Mines station set up (the first research station at UA)

{1922} First master’s degrees awarded

{1923} James Cudworth becomes instructor in mining engineering

{1925} Student Robert Jemison Van de Graaff named Rhodes Scholar

{1926} The UA chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, established

{1927} Student Robert G. Baugh Jr. named Rhodes Scholar


{1929} Aeronautical engineering established

{1931} Metallurgical engineering established


{1936} Bureau of Mines building and Hardaway Hall open

{1937} Industrial engineering established

{1937} The Engineers’ Council for Professional Development accredited six of the College’s eight programs, ranking the College in the top 12 percent of schools in the country for accredited programs

{1939} Aeronautical engineering student Rose Rabinovitz is first female graduate of the College

{1940} The entire industrial engineering program offered at UA’s Birmingham extension, the only UA program fully available off campus

{1940} The College beefs up its civilian flight-instruction program to train pilots and ground crew for the war effort

{1941} UA’s Engineering, Science and Management Defense Training program helps train thousands of workers to fill technical positions left by departing soldiers.

{1943} Enrollment tops 1,000

{1943–44} College faculty teach engineering to more than 1,000 soldiers through the Army Specialized Training Program


{1947} ME department head John Gallalee named UA president; Cudworth named dean

College TimelineTimeline


{1949} Mining engineering opens a foundry and gets accreditation

{1950} Houser Hall opens

{1950} Chemical engineering receives accreditation, bringing the whole College to national certification

{1952} Graduate engineering courses taught at UA’s Huntsville extension

{1962} H.M. Comer Hall, or the Mineral Industries Building, opened

{1962} PhD programs in electrical, chemical, mechanical and engineering mechanics were offered

{1962} Sponsored research awards totaled more than $100,000

{1963} After several years of struggles, the College’s programs are fully re-accredited

{1964} First PhDs awarded

{1964} Course “Introduction to Digital Computations” added to curriculum

{1965} Sponsored research totaled more than $1 million

{1967} W. Edward Lear, a UA graduate at the National Science Foundation, named dean

{1969} New undergraduate curriculum introduced to reduce engineering specialty training while increasing courses in general science and math along with humanities and social science

{1971} NASA lends the College its first computer, an RCA 110-A, and the department of computer science and operations established

{1972} The Capstone Engineering Society, the College’s alumni group, was created

{1979} Dr. Howard Hartman appointed to the College’s first endowed chair

{1982} Robert Barfield named dean


{1987} College celebrates 150th anniversary, begins Distinguished Engineering Fellows

{1987} Minority engineering program established.

{1988} Center for Materials for Information Technology established

{1990} The Rodgers Science Library opens

{1990} The Tom Bevill Energy, Mineral and Material Science Research Building opens

{1996} Raymond W. Flummerfelt named dean

{1998} University Transportation Center established

{1998} The Center for Advanced Vehicle Technology began

{1999} Timothy Greene appointed dean


{2001} UA Engineering alum Col. Jim Kelley piloted the Space Shuttle Discovery

{2003} Engineering student Rob Davis named UA’s first Portz Scholar

{2004} Shelby Hall, home to some college labs, offices and classrooms, opens

{2004} The Aging Infrastructure Systems Center of Excellence began

{2005} Charles Karr appointed dean

{2006} Construction engineering added to the curriculum

{2006} Alabama Industrial Assessment Center selected a regional center by U.S. Department of Energy

{2009} Trustees designate the Center for Advanced Public Safety as a research center

{2009} Graduate enrollment tops 300

{2009} The Science and Engineering Complex opens



{2012} The South Engineering Research Center opens, the first building solely for engineering since H.M. Comer opened

{2012} Engineering student Ryan Flamerich named Truman Scholar, the College’s first

{2013} The $250 million Science and Engineering Quad completed with opening of the fourth phase


Six alumni receive College’s highest awardThe University of Alabama College of Engineering honored six alumni of the College by inducting them into its class of 2012 Distinguished Engineering Fellows. Recognition as a Distinguished Fellow is the highest commendation given to graduates and others who have strengthened the reputation of the College of Engineering through their efforts.

Robert p. Barnett, of Cropwell, Ala.; Milton Arthur Davis Jr., of Birmingham, Ala.; Edward Day VI, of ocean springs, Miss.; Eric F. Edwards, of Madison, Ala; David E. Roberts Jr., of Houston, texas; and John Daniel Ward, of Huntsville, Ala.; received the top commendation at a ceremony at the northRiver Yacht Club in tuscaloosa, Ala.

Robert Barnett’s legacy as an engineer will live on in the buildings and structures he has dedicated his life’s work to constructing. For more than 25 years, Barnett has earned national praise and respect as a structural engineer at the helm of his own company.

Barnett graduated from the University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1968 and a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1971. In 1986, Barnett formed Barnett Associates in pell City, Ala. At one point, the company was a one-man, eight-computer operation, designing projects worth tens of millions of dollars annually for numerous architectural firms and general contractors throughout Alabama. In 2005, the firm was renamed Barnett, Jones, Wilson LLC.

A registered professional Engineer in 17 states and a Certified structural Engineer through the structural Engineering Certification Board, Barnett has served in prominent leadership roles nationally in the American society of Civil Engineers and the Council of American structural Engineers among others.

Milton Davis is one of the top performing business-development managers in his industry and has 30 years of progressively challenging experience. For the past 13 years, Davis has used his engineering expertise on the business-development end of construction and process engineering.

Davis graduated from the University in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. After graduation, he worked for MW Kellogg/Rust as a systems-control engineer on several projects. In 1996, Davis joined BE&K Engineering and Construction Co. and eventually became principal manager of business development until 2011, when he accepted a position as director of industrial business development with B.L. Harbert International in Birmingham. His duties include market analysis, sales, strategic planning, client presentation, risk analysis and contract negotiations.

Throughout his career, Davis has received several honors and awards including Engineer of the Year in 1996 by the national society of Black Engineers.

Ed Day has dedicated 30 years of engineering expertise to southern Co. in nuclear power, wholesale-power marketing, engineering, procurement and construction. He is part of the

Alumni Dynamics Alumni Dynamics

Dean Charles Karr, center, stands with the 2012 Distinguished Engineering Fellows that includes from left, John Ward, Milton Davis, Ed Day, Eric Edwards, Bob Barnett and David Roberts.


Alumni DynamicsItems of Interest to Capstone Engineers and Computer Scientists


company’s management council as president and CEo of Mississippi power.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UA in 1982, Day joined southern Co. as an engineer. After taking on roles of greater responsibility, he moved to southern Company Generation in 1996, where he eventually became executive vice president of engineering and construction services. Day was named Mississippi power’s 11th president and CEo Aug. 13, 2010. Under Day’s leadership, Mississippi power broke ground on construction of an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plant in Kemper County, Miss., a $2.4 billion investment.

Day is involved in the community, serving on the boards of the Mississippi Economic Council, the Mississippi Energy policy Institute and the Mississippi partnership for Economic Development.

Eric Edwards began his engineering service with the United states Army as a student at The University of Alabama College of Engineering, and he has since contributed 30 years of knowledge and commitment to the country through aviation and missile research for the Army. In 2010, he was named director of the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center.

Edwards began his service in 1983 as a co-op student before earning his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Capstone in 1987. Throughout his career, which included a stint with nAto, he has been an engineer for aviation and missile systems,

providing critical technology to soldiers. In May 2010, Edwards was named director and top civilian authority of the AMRDEC, the Army’s hub for research, development and engineering technology along with services for aviation and missile platforms across the lifecycle. The center has about 7,400 military, Army civilian and contractor employees with annual revenues of $2.9 billion.

Edwards has received numerous commendations including the Commander’s Award for Civilian service.

As a son of an engineer, David Roberts saw his father solving problems around the world, instilling a passion that today finds Roberts, as Marathon oil’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, leading the company on a path of sustainable growth and value creation, while also focusing personally as an industry leader on the critical challenge of achieving greater energy security for energy consumers.

In just less than 30 years since graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mineral engineering, with a petroleum option, from the University, Roberts has worked or directed activities on five continents and managed some of the world’s largest oil fields and oil-field construction projects with texaco, BG Group pLC and Marathon oil. In 2008, Roberts was named executive vice president in charge of worldwide upstream business and became Coo in 2011.

Roberts serves on the board of directors of Flowserve Corp., a global leader in the manufacture and aftermarket services of flow control products.

John Ward is recognized as one of the best fabrication engineers of his time. Throughout his career, Ward gained the respect and trust of his colleagues as he worked hard to succeed. He became regarded as one of the foremost experts in the design and fabrication of pressure vessels, in accordance with the American society of Mechanical Engineers code.

After serving in the Korean War, Ward took classes at night while working full time and graduated from the Capstone with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1958. He then worked 24 years in pressure-vessel design and fabrication before he and his brother, Distinguished Engineering Fellow Don Ward, established Ward tank and Heat Exchanger Corp. in Charlotte, n.C. The company grew into one of the leading manufacturers of stainless-steel and nickel-alloy tanks in the eastern U.s. Ward served as president and CEo of the company until 1996. Though retired, he continues as chairman of the board.

over the years, Ward has received many honors and awards including the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year and Business partnership Award and Entrepreneur of 1993.

Courington receives UA Engineering Outstanding Alumni Volunteer awardIn 1995, the College of Engineering began a yearly tradition of recognizing alumni who provided outstanding volunteer assistance

to the College as the outstanding Alumni Volunteer. The 2012 outstanding Alumni Volunteer award recipient is David G. Courington.

Throughout his career, Courington has demonstrated his love and loyalty to UA through his service on the chemical and biological engineering advisory board and the Capstone Engineering society board of directors, where he serves as chair. He has maintained strong ties to the Capstone and has helped the College continue to understand the viewpoint of major engineering industries and how the College can better prepare students for the workforce. In his role as mentor, Courington has launched countless graduates on their careers through personal contact, networking and opportunities for employment.

Courington, a 1974 chemical engineering graduate, worked 38 years for 3M and is now a chemical industry consultant with specialties in chemical processing, safety, environmental and project management.

Vulcan Materials Co. continues support of College Darren Hicks, director of human resources for Vulcan Materials Co., re-engages with the College by fully supporting the Vulcan Materials Company Endowed support Fund, which supports the construction engineering program.

The Distinguished Engineering Fellows banquet was held at NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa. David Courington, left, is congratulated by Dean Karr while receiving the Outstanding Alumni Volunteer Award. Darren Hicks, right, of Vulcan Materials Co. presents Dean Karr with a donation.



1971William E. Brown, BsEE, was promoted to vice president, sales and marketing, at BIoLAsE technology, a dental laser manufacturer and distributor.

1975Gary M. Lyles, BsME, was awarded the 2012 Astronautics Engineer Award by the national space Club. Lyles is chief engineer for the space launch system program office at nAsA’s Marshall space Flight Center.

1981Joe D. Battle, BsCE, was appointed the director of the G.V. “sonny” Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson, Miss.

1983Steve Cosper, BsCE, was named Contractor of the Year by Equipment World Magazine. Cosper is the CEo of Granite Contracting .

1985Israel Barajas, MsChE, joined Wind Energy services Co. as HsE manager with primary duties for programs to maintain and enhance the company’s respected safety record.

1990T.S. Ramakrishnan, MsCs, became the exclusive technology adviser for Vserv.mobi, a mobile-advertising network for application developers. He will provide counsel and insight on new media industry.

1992Gregory Paul Alexander, BsME, left his position at Fluor Corp. in February 2011 to become project manager for development of corporate project-execution strategy at Furmanite Inc.

1995Greg Burns, BsMinE (pet.), was appointed vice president of human resources at Microseismic, an oil-field service company.

2001Chris Palmer, BsEE, won the Young professional Association of Chattanooga 2011 Community service person of the Year and recently graduated from the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce Leadership

Chattanooga program. palmer is an engineering specialist with tVA in transmission-reliability engineering and controls in energy delivery.

2003Andy McCartney, BsCE, was named an associate at Almon Associates.

Bradley Porter, BsCE, was named an associate at Almon Associates.

Something we missed?

please send us your professional achievement and recognitions for inclusion in Alumni notes by visiting eng.ua.edu/alumni/update/.

American Cast Iron Pipe Co. for continuing support of the ACIpCo Engineering scholarship program

Boeing Co. for continuing support of the Boeing Corporation scholarship and the Boeing Corporation Multicultural Engineering scholarship

Mrs. Faye Bowles for establishing the Faye J. and Joseph E. Bowles Endowed scholarship

Brasfield & Gorrie LLC for continuing support of the Brasfield & Gorrie Founders’ scholarship, the Brasfield & Gorrie Endowed support Fund and the Brasfield & Gorrie Discretionary Fund

Mrs. Tammie Jean Butts for continuing support of the tommie Ray Courington Memorial Endowed scholarship

Mrs. June N. Crowder for continuing support of the William E. Crowder scholarship in Aerospace Engineering

Mr. Harvel Gordon Deas Jr. for support of the Engineering scholarship Fund

Mrs. Karla McCain Devin for continuing support of the nickless Devin Endowed scholarship

Ms. Noel Devin for continuing support of the nickless Devin Endowed scholarship

Mr. and Mrs. Kevin M. Hostler for continuing support of the Becky and Kevin Hostler Endowed Engineering scholarship

Mr. Carl D. Jones for support of the Charles Edward Jones, III (tre) Memorial scholarship

Mr. and Mrs. George M. Jones III for continuing support of the George Merrell Jones III and Carole Jurenko Jones Endowed scholarship

Dr. Herbert C. Jones and Dr. Bess Jones for support of the Charles Edward Jones, III (tre) Memorial scholarship

Tom D. Kilgore for continuing support of the Myra Blevins Kilgore Endowed scholarship

Nuclear Electric Insurance LTD for support of the Double “A” Endowed scholarship

Nucor Corp. for continuing support of the nUCoR student Introduction to Engineering support Fund and the Metallurgical Engineering Gift Fund

Mr. G. William Quinby for continuing support of the G. William Quinby Endowed Engineering scholarship

Mr. and Mrs. Wallace A. Swanson Jr. for continuing support of the Wallace A. and Thelma C. swanson Endowed scholarship

URS Energy & Construction Inc. for continuing support of the Civil Engineering Gift Fund

Vulcan Materials Co. for continuing support of the Vulcan Materials Company Endowed support Fund

From left to right: Gary M. Lyles, Steve Cosper (photo courtesy of Equipment World Magazine) and Greg Burns

Big Thanks We appreciate our recent partners in UA’s College of Engineering family for their support of our students and programs. Alumni Notes Jobs. Promotions. Awards.



James David BercawJames David Bercaw died Feb. 28, 2012, in Vero Beach, Fla. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University in 1957. After an honorable discharge from the U.s. Army Corps of Engineers, Bercaw began his career at Bell Laboratories. He went on to hold a variety of positions in engineering and management at Western Electric and At&t Consumer products, where he was eventually executive vice president of operations.

In 1988, he was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow. His honors also include an honorary doctorate of engineering from purdue University and membership on the national Research Council.

Dennis James HerronDennis James Herron died May 24, 2012, in newnan, Ga. At UA, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1973 and a master’s in mechanical engineering in 1975 and worked in a fellowship research project on the design of the Hubble space telescope arm.

Victor S. MusickVictor s. Musick died Feb. 15, 2012, in Acton, Mass. He served in World War II in the U.s. Air Force and later served in the Korean War. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Capstone in 1949 and a master’s in mechanical engineering from Union College. He began a 36-year career with General Electric in 1949, where he was named manager of reliability engineering in 1972. After retirement, he was an independent consultant on turbo machinery for more than 15 years.

In Memory

James Bercaw

Friends We Will Miss • Fred Elton Armstrong Jr.,

BsME ’61

• Robert Charles Asquith, BsEE ’50

• James R. “Rod” Barnett Jr., BsCs ’84

• Stephen E. Barrish, BSEE ’76

• John Culver Chaty, BSChE ’57

• John F. Conrad, BSIE ’56

• Michael Ditoro, BSIE ’43, BsME ’49

• John Vann Eberlein, BSCE ’48

• Laurence E. Elliot, BSIE ’55

• Joel H. Etheredge III, BsME ’49

• John Charles Fay Jr., BSIE ’60

• Bruce Foster Geschwind, BsEE ’39

• James Shelby Hicks, BSAE ’59

• Bynum Lee Holtzclaw, BsEE ’50

• Lester Hall Kelley, BSCE ’51

• Ronald E. Kemp, BSIE’66

• Herbert Carl Langenfeld, BsCE ’40

• Vincent J. Mannarino, BsME ’51

• Benjamin Franklin May Sr., BsChE ’51

• Winfred Frazier McCartney, BsIE ’42

• Thomas Edward “Tom” Moore Jr., BsCE ’59

• Daniel Herbert Mozley, BsEE ’53

• Burt Eugene “Pete” Peerson, BsME ’43

• George Andrew Sakallaris, BsChE ’40

• Robert Edward Shannon, MsIE ’60

• Art T. Sims, BSIE ’50

• Robert J. “Bob” Smith, BsIE ’49

• Troy A. Street, MSAE ’71

• Dwight Davis Studdard, BsME ’62

Tweetgineering — Because engineers use Twitter, too

“ Alabama is a hotbed of construction companies, and our students understand the importance of these companies for their future as engineers and builders.” — Dr. Ken Fridley, head of the department of civil, construction and environmental engineering , in the article “University of Alabama bachelor degree of construction takes off,” Alabama Construction News

“ For me, as a layman, his most significant contribution to our nation was the stringer project that brought to an end, death and suffering of the Afghan people at the hands of a merciless foe.” — Gadsden Times columnist John C. Floyd on H. Hoyt Harris, BSEE ’50, and a 2011 Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame inductee who developed a man-portable air-defense system used to end a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

“ In the long term, cheap energy has made us less energy efficient.” — Dr. Clark Midkiff, director of the Center for Advanced Vehicle Technology, in the article “Panelists: rising gas prices may spark alternative energy,” Birmingham Business Journal

“ Many times when you get into the problem of designing software … you’ve got so much going on that it’s hard to remember how a user is going to react to it. ... These are

fallible human beings writing this software.” — Dr. Marcus Brown, associate professor of computer science, in the article “Google, Facebook and consumers must work together regarding privacy concerns,” The Tuscaloosa News

“ plans have a way of changing.… Circumstances will never be exactly what you expect.” — Gov. Robert Bentley on how he went from a freshman majoring in aeronautical engineering at UA to dermatologist to governor in the article “Governor urges JSU grads to pursue life of service,” The Anniston Star

“ so it’s just like the weak link in a chain: if any of those points is weak, then you lose everything.” — Dr. John van de Lindt, the former Garry Neil Drummond Endowed Chair in civil engineering , on how a tornado’s uplift force affects an entire structure in the article “Shelter from the storm,” Business Alabama

“ The amount of amplification depends on how intense the combustion is. If you have a lot of heat in small area, there is a lot of amplification. If the heat is spread all over, the amplification is lower.” — Dr. Ajay Agrawal, Robert F. Barfield Endowed Chair and professor of mechanical engineering , in the article “Sponge soaks up jet engine noise,” Popular Mechanics

Bits and BytesThe College From Outside

“The thermal diffusivity of my oatmeal bowl was a lot more than I expected... #burntfingers” — Ashton Greer, senior, civil engineering

“I just tried to use the screen of my tI-89 as a touch screen. so saddening.” — Brian Dunlap, senior, electrical and computer engineering

“officially changing my address to sERC 3047. I haven't moved for the past two days #engineeringproblems #testweek” — Ashley Elliott, junior, mechanical engineering

“I'm awful at words with friends. Can we play math with friends? #engineeringproblems” — James Duncan, BSCE ’84

Alumni Dynamics

{ Capstone Engineer • Fall 2012 } 41 40 { The University of Alabama }

CE: What’s the biggest change in engineering education in the past 25 years?Lane: our reliance on computers is the biggest change. twenty-five years ago I would assign students a term paper in chemical-reactor design that required solution of multiple, coupled, ordinary differential equations. The students would write a program for the mainframe computer to solve the equations using numerical methods. now, that same problem is a 20-minute homework assignment using an equation-solving program on their laptop.

There’s also more technology connected to the classroom. I used to spend a lot of time designing overhead projector slides. now, every classroom has a projector with a computer connected to the Internet. I can easily call up pictures, videos, spreadsheets and chemical-process simulators to enhance my lectures. so, you don’t know what a heat exchanger looks like? twenty seconds on Google images and I can provide many visual examples.

CE: If computers are so good at equation solving now, are students learning less about the underlying process to do the math?Lane: Yes, but is it important? When I was a freshman, people were very concerned about transitioning from slide rules to calculators. A few years later, no one cared. (I do have a giant teaching slide rule mounted on my kitchen wall.) students now have more time to develop the equations describing a system and interpreting the results. I still show them a few simple Euler method solutions to demonstrate what a numerical solution entails, but the equation solvers use more rigorous and accurate methods.

CE: What does that mean for student learning?Lane: I’ve seen students pull out their calculator to solve 4 x 3 or fire up the Internet to convert feet to meters. There is a real danger of becoming too dependent on technology. But in the end, our students learn with greater depth and breadth in a subject because our technological tools make us more efficient.

Dr. Alan Lane has taught chemical engineering at The University of Alabama since 1986 and has seen many changes in engineering education over the past 25 years.

End User

End UserCapstone Engineers and Computer Scientists on Today’s Technology th

ENGINEERING

Dear Alumni and Friends,As the College of Engineering celebrates 175 years of education and growth at The University of Alabama, we are also marking 40 years since its alumni established the Capstone Engineering society. The partnership, formed in 1972, has strengthened engineering and computer science education, research and service at the Capstone, and we look forward to continued success in the next 175 years.

From its inception, one of the main goals of the Capstone Engineering society has been to support the College and its students. our mission is still at the core of the CEs as our members assist in providing educational opportunities to our flourishing engineering and computer science students. to further this mission, in 2006, the CEs established the Capstone Engineering society Alumni Endowed scholarship. In the past six years, 63 awards of more than $211,000 have provided essential assistance to our students.

Besides scholarships, the CEs supports student-enrichment activities; recognizes student and alumni leaders with awards; coordinates events for students, alumni and faculty throughout the year; and produces the Capstone Engineer magazine.

We are proud our alumni give back to their alma mater because none of these achievements would be possible without their

support. please join us in celebrating 175 years of the College of Engineering and 40 years of the Capstone Engineering society. If you are not a member, please consider becoming one today by completing the enclosed envelope or visiting the College’s website at eng.ua.edu/giving. Every member makes a difference.

Roll tide,

nancy n. HolmesManager, Capstone Engineering society

Capstone Engineering SocietyCollege of EngineeringBox 870200 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0200

Nonprofit Organization

U.S. Postage PAID

Tuscaloosa, AL

Permit 16

“ We are focused on high-quality undergraduate education, and our research enhances the culture of discovery for our students, helping them define the questions needed to be asked.”

—Dr. Charles L. Karr

capstone engineer - fall 2012

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