Texas A&M Engineering News - Summer 2010 by Texas A&M Engineering

Summer e n g2010 i n e| eDwight r i n gLook . t a College m u . eofd Engineering u/n e w s

Aggie app is iGreat Creative Aggie builds mobile app business by Rylan Barnes ’04

(photo by Jim Lyle)

INSIDE PAGE 5

New building coming soon

ince I graduated in December 2005, the value of my Texas A&M education has grown. Without it, I wouldn’t have won Google’s 2008 Android Developer Challenge — a $275,000 cash prize — for my application ShopSavvy. It uses a cell-phone camera to scan product barcodes to find the best prices on the Internet and at local stores. Looking back on my computer engineering coursework, perhaps the most critical skill professors helped me develop was learning to teach myself. Because technology changes so quickly, it’s something I do every day. I always wanted to build things, and even during free time at A&M, I was always on my computer building something new.

INSIDE PAGE 4

PAGE 6

PAGE 8

Aggie Formula Hybrid car wins second place in international competition

Rising faculty win top awards

Engineering students build library in Acuña, Mexico

ALSO INSIDE

2 U.S. News & World Report rankings 9 Donors and giving

PROGRAM RANKINGS Texas A&M Engineering ranked high among public institutions in the latest U.S. News & World Report annual surveys, “America’s Best Colleges” and “America’s Best Graduate Schools.”

undergraduate rankings Dwight Look College of Engineering Aerospace Engineering Agricultural Engineering Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Industrial Engineering Mechanical Engineering Nuclear Engineering Petroleum Engineering

9 8 3 13 8 9 7 9 2 1

graduate rankings Dwight Look College of Engineering Aerospace Engineering Agricultural Engineering Biomedical Engineering Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Computer Engineering Electrical Engineering Industrial Engineering Mechanical Engineering Nuclear Engineering Petroleum Engineering

ENGINEERING NEWS

brings you news about the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University.

6 6 3 18 17 8 13 14 6 9 3 2

Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering

G. Kemble Bennett

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs

Marilyn Martell

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! Texas A&M Engineering News Editor Engineering Communications 3134 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3134 http://engineering.tamu.edu

engineeringnews@tamu.edu

Director of Communications

Pamela S. Green Editor

Lesley Kriewald Designer

Charlie Apel

dean’sDesk from the

Building excellence

ore than five years ago, Texas A&M University embarked on an ambitious effort to enhance its academic quality by investing in the expansion of our faculty ranks. Known as the Faculty Reinvestment, more than 400 new faculty positions were created university-wide, and more than 100 of those positions were allotted to the Dwight Look College of Engineering. We have successfully completed this unprecedented initiative, and the value of human capital within our ranks today is immeasurable. The synergy generated has illuminated a bright future — not only here at Texas A&M, but ultimately for engineering academicians and practitioners worldwide. Engineering faculty members in all 12 of our departments are making important contributions and discoveries. Our long-standing commitment to research and education has never been stronger. Construction of the $104 million Emerging Technologies Building is now under way and will allow for expansion of our engineering programs in many crucial areas of multidisciplinary research. This infusion of new faculty and new facilities has invigorated our entire research program and is fueling our passion for providing meaningful solutions to relevant problems. We have made a lasting commitment to ensure the quality of this program for generations to come by investing in our people. There simply is no better investment to be made.

Writers

Produced by Engineering Communications 09-1212 06/10 40.5M

Gene Charleton Betsy Ellison Lindsey Preble Tim Schnettler Cassidy Thomas Exa York

G. Kemble Bennett, Ph.D., P.E.

Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

iGreat

Early A&M Venture One of those ventures was Textbook-Trader.com, which helped Aggies save money on textbooks by buying and selling directly with each other. From that project, I learned design patterns, best practices and database design fundamentals. The experience gave me a great head start in several classes and also got me into a bit of trouble. I hosted the site on a friend’s server in a closet at Walton Hall. Students aren’t supposed to run businesses from campus, so I had to explain to administrators that I wasn’t making money. Chris Pick ’99, who had never met me, heard about the server hassle and offered to host the website offcampus for free, a nice favor. The site was live until I finished my degree. (Incidentally, I never made a dime off that website. So let me offer a bit of advice: Technology developers interested in starting businesses should study entrepreneurship. Running a business requires skills beyond technology expertise.)

Big in Japan

In Brief

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

And I am an entrepreneur: In 2008 I co-founded the Dallas company Big in Japan. We develop mobile applications for platforms such as the iPhone, Android and Blackberry. The best part of my career is working at a place that encourages creativity and a little wackiness. How else can I explain the huge Incredible Hulk sculpture in our office? In short, I get paid to do what I love. I see myself building until I die. It was born in me, but Texas A&M gave me the tools to do it right. n

SPE student chapter named best in North America Texas A&M’s student chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) was selected as the 2009 Outstanding Student Chapter for the North America Region. SPE Outstanding Student Chapter Awards recognize student chapters whose programs, activities and levels of participation during a single academic year distinguish those chapters from others. Winners were recognized Oct. 4 during the Student General Session at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.

Aggie aerospace engineering senior is top student in nation Aerospace engineering student Justin Wilkerson was the recipient of the 2009 Ammon S. Andes National Award from Sigma Gamma Tau, the Aerospace Engineering Honor Society. This award honored him as the top aerospace engineering senior in the United States for 2009 based on his academic, service and Justin Wilkerson extracurricular accomplishments.

Computer science senior garners honorable mention from CRA Senior computer science major William Hamilton was chosen for honorable mention by the Computing Research Association (CRA) for its 2010 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award. Hamilton’s work included developing an application that helps experimenters analyze game play and audio data to help identify team communication patterns that arise during the games played in user studies. As a junior, Hamilton published a first-author paper on this work in the 2009 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Building Relationships Incoming engineering freshmen help local Habitat for Humanity

exas A&M Engineering freshmen volunteered with Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity last summer, working to help build a home for a local family. The students worked for about 240 hours installing walls and rafters as part of the Dwight Look College of Engineering’s summer bridge program for first-year students, Learning to Excel in Engineering through Preparation (LEEP). LEEP is a five-week program designed to increase the academic success of incoming freshmen by helping them build relationships with other engineering students and faculty and gain essential study skills. Besides learning how to cope with academic life in the college of engineering, the students participate in a community outreach project and learn how engineers can contribute to society. n

The Winning Formula

Aggie Formula Hybrid car wins second place in international competition

Submarine team places third in international races The Maroon Harpoon, the Aggies’ submarine, raced to a third-place overall finish in the 10th International Submarine Races June 22-26, 2009, at the David Taylor Model Basin in Bethesda, Md. The 14-member team from the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering was one of 24 submarine teams in the competition. The team set a new Aggie speed record at the competition of 5.445 knots, shattering the previous record of 5.382 knots. Over the course of the week, the Maroon Harpoon completed 25 races with 11 races at a speed of over five knots. The Aggie submarine also won a head-to-head race against Wheaton Submarine Works’ submarine, the Scuba Do II. The biannual contest is next scheduled for June 2011.

ggie engineering students have placed second in the 2010 international Formula Hybrid race car competition. This is the second year the Aggies have competed in the hybrid race car contest, which they won in 2009 on their first try. The team scored perfectly in the presentation and unrestricted acceleration portions of the contest, and scored a total of 939.4 points out of a possible 1,000 points to place second against 38 other teams from colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, India, Taiwan and Russia with a hybrid gasoline-electric powered formula-style race car. The competition was held May 3-6 in Loudon, N.H. The Italian team, Politecnico De Torino, placed first. The students designed and built the formula-style vehicle in a two-semester senior design course. Texas A&M teams have taken part in the international Formula SAE competition since 1999 and won that competition in 2000, 2006 and 2007. The students spent about 15,000 man-hours designing, building and testing the vehicle. Texas A&M Engineering’s hybrid car won second place in the 2010 competition.

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

In Brief Engineers Without Borders helps build portable medical clinics for Haiti The Texas A&M chapter of Engineers Without Borders provided assistance in the construction of three portable medical clinics that were sent to Haiti. The units, built from large shipping containers, are designed to assist the long-term medical needs of that country. Engineers Without Borders has more than 300 professional and student chapters in the United States with 12,000 members working on more than 350 projects in 47 countries to provide for the basic necessities in the developing world.

INFORMS students score in San Diego

Aggie biomedical engineering student interns with space research institute

iomedical engineering student Heather Scruggs got first-hand knowledge of the human spaceflight program last summer after being selected to work with scientists at NASA through a National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) internship. Scruggs was assigned to the International Space Station Medical Project at Heather Scruggs NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she was involved with a project to build a complete mockup of the space station’s Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System, which is used to conduct research on the effect of microgravity on the human body. The mockup will be used to train the astronauts who will use the system on the space station. Scruggs said the NSBRI internship was educational on several fronts. “This internship is broadening my horizons and introducing me to a whole new side of NASA that the public doesn’t always see,” she said. “For instance, the group I worked with performs research on the space station so that exploration missions can be done with minimal damage to the body’s systems. All of their work is vital to astronauts, particularly those on the space station.”

Texas A&M’s INFORMS student members once again stood out at the INFORMS Annual Meeting held in San Diego in October. Panitan (Ken) Kewcharoenwong, past president of the local student chapter and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, received the Judith Liebman Award for being a “guiding light” and performing outstanding service to his chapter. The chapter as a whole was honored with the Summa Cum Laude Award, which is the highest distinction given to student chapters. Only one other chapter in the nation was granted the award this year.

Chemical engineering graduate a finalist for GatesCambridge Scholarship Chemical engineering graduate Mark Deimund ’10 is a finalist for the prestigious GatesCambridge Scholarship. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the GatesCambridge Scholarship program enables outstanding graduate students from outside the United Kingdom to study at the University of Cambridge. Deimund was president of the Texas A&M chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and has conducted research with faculty members Mark Holtzapple and Juergen Hahn in addition to interning at Celanese Chemicals for two summers. Deimund was also nominated by Texas A&M for the Marshall Scholarship and the Churchill Scholarship. He was also named an Outstanding Senior Engineer of the Look College for 2009–2010.

TAMUite places first at district Traffic Bowl, advances to international competition A team of four Zachry Department of Civil Engineering students representing the Texas A&M Student Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) placed first in the district-level competition for the ITE Collegiate Traffic Bowl in January at the winter meeting of the Texas District Institute of Transportation Engineers in Frisco, Texas. The Traffic Bowl tested the students’ knowledge of traffic-related subjects such as traffic control devices, highway design and other topics in a Jeopardy!-style format. In winning the competition, the Aggies beat out teams representing the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at Austin. The Texas A&M team will compete against up to nine other district champions at the international ITE Collegiate Traffic Bowl competition in Vancouver in August.

FACULTY on the RISE 2 0 0 9 – 2 010

Huff, Muliana receive nation’s highest award for young researchers

aculty members Gregory Huff (electrical and computer engineering) and Anastasia Muliana (mechanical engineering) were among the 100 researchers named by President Barack Obama as 2009 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. In 2008 Haiyan Wang (electrical and computer engineering) was also recognized with a PECASE Award.

AFOSR YIP Awards The Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program supports scientists and engineers who have received a Ph.D. or equivalent degrees in the past five years, and show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research.

Anastasia Muliana Mechanical Engineering

The prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) is given to support the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.

Aaron Ames

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Industrial & Systems Engineering

NSF CAREER Awards

Mechanical Engineering

Gregory Huff

Sergiy Butenko

Zachary Grasley

Guofei Gu

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Civil Engineering

Computer Science & Engineering

Jaako Järvi

Arul Jayaraman

Tamás Kalmár-Nagy

Chemical Engineering

Aerospace Engineering

Tie Liu

Lin Shao

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Nuclear Engineering

Alexander Sprintson

Raymundo Arroyave Ulisses Braga-Neto Mechanical Engineering

Anastasia Muliana Mechanical Engineering

Mariah Hahn Chemical Engineering

Gregory Huff Electrical & Computer Engineering

Subscribe to

Computer Science & Engineering

Aggie ENGINEERING WEEKLY

Get engineering news delivered directly to your inbox!

http://

engineering.tamu.edu/news/aew

Eun Jung Kim

Carl Laird

Computer Science & Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Haiyan Wang Electrical & Computer Engineering

Sy-Bor Wen Mechanical Engineering

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Texas A&M Engineering

NSF

CAREER AWARDS SINCE 2003

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

AggieSat2 in — and out of — orbit A

ggieSat2, the 5-inch cube picosatellite built by the students of Texas A&M’s AggieSat Lab, was launched into orbit on July 30, 2009. The picosatellite was deployed from STS-127 Space Shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay. It communicated with the AggieSat team at the ground control station for the first time later that evening. AggieSat2 was one of two satellites deployed from Endeavour. The other satellite, Bevo-1, was built by students from the University of Texas at Austin. AggieSat2 beamed information about its position (180 minutes of GPS data) by using the on-board GPS, called DRAGON, developed by Johnson Space Center. Information from the satellite was transmitted to a ground control station set up on the Riverside campus and collected by students. The information was sent to NASA, where it was compared with NASA’s predictions to check the new GPS for accuracy. AggieSat2 passed over College Station at least once every day. On completing its mission, it was expected to burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere. The AggieSat team is now working on AggieSat III, a collaborative effort between Texas A&M, NASA and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Nanosat-5 program. AggieSat3 will serve as the testbed for a stereo-vision system sensor technology for use in future autonomous rendezvous and docking missions. AggieSat2 (top) and Bevo-1 attached underneath, with a view of the Earth below. This picture was taken within minutes of deployment as the picosatellites floated away from Endeavour.

In Brief Texas A&M places fifth, wins Editors’ Choice Award in national Grassroots Challenge A 1993 Honda Civic built and raced by Texas A&M engineering and engineering technology students placed fifth among 58 teams in the $2009 Grassroots Challenge. The annual competition, sponsored by Grassroots Motorsports magazine and Kumho Tires, features cars built and raced on a limited budget. This Grassroots Challenge, for instance, consisted of cars built for $2,009 or less, including the cost of the car. The 2010 competitors will campaign cars costing $2,010 or less. The event consists of drag racing, autocross and a concourse, or car show event. The Texas A&M team was one of two university-based teams in the competition.

Two Aggie-led companies among best places to work in Texas Stress Engineering Services of Houston and College Station’s Capsher Technology have been named among the “Best Companies to Work for in Texas” by the Texas Association of Business, the Texas State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, and Best Companies Group. Joe Fowler ’68, a mechanical engineering graduate and chair of Texas A&M’s Engineering Advisory Council, leads Stress Engineering Services, which was rated the #3 medium-sized (75 to 249 employees) firm among the 100 companies. Capsher Technology was founded in 1994 by Kay Capps ’82 and ’85, and Kevin Sherry. Capps earned bachelor’s degrees in computer science and industrial distribution from Texas A&M.

Aggies win steel bridge regionals, advance to nationals The Texas A&M steel bridge team won first place at the regional competition in January 2010 and competed in the 2010 National Student Steel Bridge Competition May 28-29 at Purdue University. The Student Steel Bridge Competition gives civil engineering students hands-on experience with designing and building steel bridges. Teams are judged and awarded for stiffness, lightness, construction, speed, display, efficiency and economy. Texas A&M is scheduled to host the 2011 National Student Steel Bridge Competition.

IN MEMORIAM

Aaron Cohen awarded honorary Doctor of Letters degree

exas A&M University awarded Aaron Cohen the honorary Doctor of Letters degree in January. Cohen, who passed away in February, was an emeritus professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the former director of NASA Johnson Space Center. “A truly distinguished leader, Aaron Cohen brought his uniquely extraordinary experience with the national and international space programs into our classrooms and laboratories, adding a dimension to the education of our engineering students that few ever have the privilege of experiencing,” said G. Kemble Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin Bennett, vice chancellor and (left) with Aaron and Ruth Cohen. dean of engineering. At NASA, Cohen played key roles in several of the United States’ largest space projects, including the Moon Landing Project, the Space Shuttle Project and the International Space Station. Cohen joined the Texas A&M engineering faculty after retiring from NASA and had a lasting impact on the design curriculum in the mechanical engineering department, on the development of younger faculty and on a generation of students. His wealth of engineering and high-level management experience equipped him especially well to teach about design weaknesses and how to recognize them. He instilled in the students the critical importance of safe, reliable designs that meet exceedingly tough requirements and the critical importance of rigorous, ethical practices. “Cohen’s experiences in life as an engineer, as a manager of complex technical projects, as a manager of people and as a teacher of young people represent a profound contribution to our nation,” said Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin. Loftin presented the honorary doctorate January 27.

Felipe Rendon (top photo), past president of the Texas A&M chapter of Engineers Without Borders, works with a miter saw at the construction site in Acuña, Mexico. John Zwerneman, one of the project leads, is presented a plaque by Amelia Esquivel, director of Escuela Independencia (bottom photo).

Engineers Without Borders builds library for elementary school in Acuña, Mexico

elfless service is one of the core values of Texas A&M and a group of Aggie engineers showed a tiny school in Acuña, Mexico, what exactly it is all about. Members of the Texas A&M student chapter of Engineers Without Borders helped to build a library for an elementary school in Acuña, which sits across the Rio Grande River from Del Rio, Texas. “They had nowhere to store their books,” said Felipe Rendon, then-president of the organization. “We built a 20foot by 20-foot library for them.” Aggies visited the site on an assessment trip, taking measurements, determining where the best place on the school grounds would be for the library as well as determining what size building would work best. Once the assessment trip was complete, design on the new building began back on campus. A team of 22 to 25 people worked on the design. The needed paperwork was submitted to the national office of EWB for approval of the project. When the project was approved, and the design was finished, a group of 14 students headed to Acuña to construct the building. Upon completion of the building, the town and the school showed the group their appreciation. A large ceremony was held that included dancers, food, a presentation of a plaque for the Aggie students and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “The amount of gratitude they showed was amazing,” Rendon said.

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

Trip of a lifetime T

he Panama Canal is an engineering wonder, and 12 students from the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering had the chance to experience it during their sixweek study abroad trip. The students spent three weeks in Panama’s Ciudad del Saber — the City of Knowledge — and three weeks in Costa Rica at the new Texas A&M Soltis Center. Students participated in special activities for the classes they were taking, such as touring the Panama Canal. Currently, the Panama Canal Authority is working towards expanding the canal, and the students met with the Authority engineers to learn how they operate and manage the canal. “It’s incredible to think that one of the most important engineering feats of the 20th century is still running as flawlessly as it did when it was first opened in 1914,” senior Lance Ballard said. “I believe it’s very easy for us to lose sight of the fact that there is life and culture outside of our day-to-day lives here in the United States,” Ballard said. “It was refreshing to see life from a different point of view and in a different way. It was like having another lens to view life through, another way to weigh my life and the things in it in order to see what to cherish and what to lay aside.”

Coming soon... The Emerging Technologies Building, shown here under construction, will house the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Industrial Engineering when it opens in 2011.

Saudi Aramco president, mechanical engineering graduate named Texas A&M Outstanding International Alumnus

Khalid A. Al-Falih (fourth from left) received the 2010 Outstanding International Alumnus Award. Al-Falih, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M in 1982. Pictured are Dan Hill, petroleum engineering professor; Dennis O’Neal, mechanical engineering department head; G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering; Al-Falih; Mark Albers ’79, senior vice president of ExxonMobil; Stephen A. Holditch, petroleum engineering department head; Ed Price ’50, retired executive vice president of Saudi Aramco; and Don Birkelbach, senior director of development for engineering.

halid A. Al-Falih, leader of the world’s largest petroleum company, received the 2010 Texas A&M University Outstanding International Alumnus Award at a campus ceremony March 10. Al-Falih graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1982. His professional path has led to his current position as president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, where he oversees the company’s management of the world’s largest proven conventional oil reserves and the fourth-largest gas reserves. Al-Falih’s road to leadership began as an Aramcosponsored student at Texas A&M and resulted in a three-decade immersion in every operational arena of the company that sponsored him. “Mr. Al-Falih is a wonderful example of an alumnus who remains in contact with his university and college,” said G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. “We appreciate this quality in Khalid and are grateful for the many ways he has enhanced engineering education at Texas A&M.” A loyal Aggie, Al-Falih is quick to note the relevance of his Texas A&M experience to his professional and personal achievements on the global stage. “My years at Texas A&M not only provided me with a firm technical foundation for my professional career, but also reinforced many of the values which guide me in my life to this day. Integrity and hard work are core to being an Aggie and the value of self-development and lifelong learning are all integral to A&M,” Al-Falih said. “Furthermore, my experiences as a young international student at the university helped to shape my attitudes and perspectives on collaboration and partnership within our global community.”

ExxonMobil executive endows awards for faculty, students

W.F. and Marilyn Albers

ynthia and Mark W. Albers, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp., have announced two gifts totaling $380,000 in support of petroleum engineering faculty and students. The W.F. and Marilyn Albers Family Faculty Fellowship honors Albers’ parents (W.F. Albers ’47), and supports teaching, research, service and professional development of an outstanding scholar in the department. The Mark W. Albers Scholarship supports a full-time undergraduate in the department. “My father not only kindled my interest in the oil and gas industry and Texas A&M Engineering, but he and my mother also instilled a strong work ethic and faith-based values that shaped who I am today. They remain my heroes,” Albers said. After graduating in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, Albers immediately joined Exxon. He worked a handful of years in production fields, followed by supervisory and management assignments before becoming president of ExxonMobil Development Co. and then assuming his current role in 2007.

Texas A&M dedicates DXP Pump Laboratory

new full-scale pump facility positions Texas A&M’s engineering technology and industrial distribution department as a national leader in fluid systems education. The three-part gift includes a $500,000 laboratory endowment, $75,000 in startup funds and laboratory equipment valued at $75,000. “DXP’s vision is to provide a state-of-the-art learning center that combines classroom and ‘hands-on’ practical learning opportunities for students at Texas A&M as well as our own employees, customers and suppliers. With the help of several of our key manufacturers, I believe the laboratory is equipped with an appropriate combination of pumping equipment, instrumentation and controls which will allow students to test and confirm basic and advanced principles of fluid technology learned in the classroom,” said David R. Little, chairman, president and CEO of Houston-based DXP Enterprises. Also, six corporate partners contributed a combined estimated value of $330,000 in equipment and technical support to the lab: ITTGoulds Pump, R&CW-Goulds Pump, Viking Pump, Wilden Pump and Engineering, SKF USA Inc. and EagleBurgmann. The laboratory is equipped with four modular-style fluid system trainers and a separate pump room dedicated to real-world simulation of a complete pumping system. The combination of real-scale pumping system with web-based condition monitoring equipment puts Texas A&M at the forefront of fluid systems undergraduate and continuing education for years to come, faculty said.

David R. Little (center), chairman, president and CEO of DXP Enterprises, officially opens the DXP Pump Laboratory assisted by company executives and college representatives. From left, Jorge Leon, Michael Golla, Skip Giessing, Barry Lawrence, Little, Walter Buchanan, John Jeffery, N.K. Anand, Jose Alvarado.

Scholarship honors memory of Charles Rohan

Charles and Toni Rohan

he oil and gas industry may encompass the globe, but its engineers are a close group who honor their own. Nowhere is that loyalty more evident than at Texas A&M where petroleum engineers from the Class of 1975 have established a permanent tribute in memory of classmate Charles A. Rohan. Rohan was a retired Chevron engineer who lived in Richmond, Texas, at the time of his death in 2006. “Charles Rohan personified the high ideals of what it means to say, ‘I am an Aggie petroleum engineer.’ His name will live on forever through this scholarship, which will help us prepare other fine young people for careers in the profession he loved so much,” said Stephen A. Holditch, department head and holder of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Endowed Chair. A $275,000 endowment created the Charles A. Rohan Memorial Scholarship in Petroleum Engineering. Lead gifts by Trent B. Latshaw, Terry W. Rathert and Ted H. Smith helped start the Class of 1975 gift.

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

2009 honorees Morris E. Foster and James E. Wiley Sr.

Outstanding Alumni

he Look College honored two former students with the 2009 Outstanding Alumni Honor Award. Morris E. Foster ’65, formerly president of ExxonMobil Production Co. in Houston, graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in mechanical engineering. A Distinguished Graduate of Texas A&M, Foster was appointed to the Board of Regents of The Texas A&M University System in 2007 by Texas Gov. Rick Perry. His term expires Feb. 1, 2013. He currently chairs the board. Foster was honored “in recognition of his outstanding achievements in leadership and management at the highest levels of corporate performance, of his considerable contributions in producing and developing the world’s energy resources, of his generous support of mechanical engineering education, and of his selfless service to The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.” James E. Wiley Sr. ’46 was just 16 years old when he became “Fish Wiley” at Texas A&M in 1942. After graduating with a degree in civil engineering, Wiley formed Wiley Bros. General Contractors with his brother. Texas A&M named him a Distinguished Graduate in 1990, and in 2000 he became a Distinguished Graduate of the civil engineering department. Wiley was honored “in recognition of his exceptional and proven leadership from an early age and throughout life, of his many entrepreneurial successes in the construction and investment businesses, of his tireless yet unassuming generosity to numerous organizations across this great university, and of his unabashed devotion to the students served by Texas A&M and their educational excellence.”

2010 honorees Steven A. Holditch and Mark W. Albers

he Look College honored two former students with the 2010 Outstanding Alumni Honor Award. Mark W. Albers ’79 earned his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering in 1979 and built an impressive 31-year-career with Exxon Mobil Corp., rising to his current position as senior vice president. Albers was recognized for his “leadership of U.S. industry and his contribution to our national economy through executive management roles at the world’s leading energy corporation, for his consummate diplomatic skills in representing ExxonMobil throughout the global arena, for stellar character and service to his profession and community, and for his generous dedication to the faculty and students of Texas A&M.” The second honoree, Stephen A. Holditch ’69, heads the Texas A&M petroleum engineering department. A distinguished scholar, savvy entrepreneur and recognized leader in professional societies, Holditch is widely recognized by his peers as one of the top engineers in the nation in hydraulic fracturing. In 1995 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and in 2002 named president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Holditch was recognized for “unparalleled achievements in the practical application of hydraulic fracturing to unconventional natural gas resources, for extensive service to his profession at the highest levels, for entrepreneurial success in founding and leading the world’s preeminent unconventional resources consulting firm, and for strategic leadership to ensure petroleum engineering excellence at Texas A&M.”

Engineering Development Officers Don Birkelbach ’70 (979) 845-5113 d-birkelbach@tamu.edu

Assistant Vice President for Development

Dwight Look College of Engineering, Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas Engineering Extension Service, Texas Transportation Institute

Andy Acker ’13 (979) 458-4493 a-acker@tamu.edu Director of Development

Chemical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Nuclear Engineering

Brittany Borden ’06 (979) 458-1299 b-borden@tamu.edu Director of Development

Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Brady Bullard ’95 (979) 862-4843 b-bullard@tamu.edu Director of Development

Biomedical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering

Jennifer Hester ’98 (979) 862-1876 j-hester@tamu.edu Director of Development

Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

Jay Roberts ’05

(979) 862-8044 jay-roberts@tamu.edu Director of Development

Civil Engineering, Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution

Chevron’s Janeen Judah presents support to Texas A&M Foundation President Eddie J. Davis and petroleum engineering Assistant Department Head Maria Barrufet.

Chevron gift enhances drilling and fluids laboratory

$690,000 gift from Chevron Corp. will modernize the newly renamed Chevron Drilling and Completions Laboratory in the petroleum engineering department. “This gift supports Chevron’s long-standing relationship with Texas A&M University and its very important role in educating our future employees,” said Janeen Judah ’81 and president of Chevron Environmental Management Co. “Texas A&M is a major source of recruiting for Chevron, especially in engineering. By modernizing the Chevron Drilling and Completions Laboratory, we will ensure that when we hire top-notch Aggie engineers they will be fluent in current technologies.” The gift will fund state-of-the-art technology, including new drilling, cementing and stimulation measurement equipment as well as the purchase of a drilling rig simulator and software. The drilling laboratory was originally endowed by Texaco. Chevron merged with Texaco in 2001. The gift will aid the department’s remodeling plans to simulate a realistic rig floor using the drilling simulator and the hydraulic tubing tongs currently used for research and other equipment typically found on a rig floor. The hands-on approach will help students learn the importance of drilling mud properties and how changes can help identify and solve potential drilling problems.

Fellowship honors memory of Ronald Robinson

A Ronald J. Robinson

graduate fellowship will honor the memory of a former petroleum engineering department head. Recipients of the Dr. Ronald J. Robinson ’74 Memorial Fellowship will be students working towards a master’s degree in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering. “As a graduate student, Ron benefited from scholarships that rewarded his tenacity and hard work. This fellowship in his name will continue to help deserving students further their education and bring new talent into the field,” said Bonnie Robinson, his wife of 40 years. Robinson served as Texas A&M petroleum engineering department head and holder of the Albert B. Stevens Endowed Chair from late 2001 until 2003. Robinson passed away in August 2009.

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

Scholarship preserves memory Mechanical engineering of Jack and Nell Glynn memorial scholarship honors their lives Jack Christopher O’Leary Throughout and Nell Glynn stressed the importance of education and worked hard to ensure a college education for their children. Now a petroleum engineering scholarship at Texas A&M will continue their legacy. John M. “Mike” Glynn ’75 and his wife, Dona, established a $60,000 endowment to fund the Jack Nell and Jack Glynn and Nell Glynn Scholarship. “My dad always told me, ‘Son, you have a chance to become what I never could be — a professional man,’” said Glynn, senior operations engineer for Plano-based Denbury Resources. “Those words were a motivation to me every day as I pursued my degree in petroleum engineering. I have been blessed with a wonderful 33-year career in the oil industry that was made possible by the values and support that my Mom and Dad gave me. I am also thankful and proud that I can give back to the school I love and give deserving students some of the opportunities that were given to me.”

arents honoring a young life cut short have endowed a memorial scholarship for future generations of mechanical engineering students. The Thomas Christopher O’Leary ’12 Memorial Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering is funded through the Texas A&M Foundation with a $25,000 gift from Merri O’Leary Walsh and Fred Walsh ’74. Christopher O’Leary “We wanted to create this scholarship in Chris’s name because he was determined and committed to becoming a mechanical engineer graduate of Texas A&M. His name will live on through this scholarship forever, symbolizing his desire to never give up,” said Fred and Merri O’Leary Walsh. O’Leary was 20 years old and in the middle of his sophomore year as a student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the time of his death in October 2009.

Eubank family endows engineering scholarships

aymond H. Eubank’s daughter and two sons followed in his footsteps to graduate from Texas A&M. Now the entire family is providing other students the same opportunity. Two endowments of $60,000 each will fund scholarships in computer science and petroleum engineering, and another $50,000 will establish an award in the General Rudder Corps Scholarship Program. Raymond, president and owner of Dallas-based Estate Oil & Gas Corp., and his wife, Joellyn, will join with daughter Sheri J. Edwards ’76 and son Richard H. Eubank ’74 to fund the Raymond H. Eubank ’48 Family Scholarship in Computer Science. Sheri and Richard both received computer science degrees. Another son, Dennis R. Eubank ’78, earned a petroleum engineering degree from Texas A&M. He and his father are endowing the Raymond H. Eubank ’48 Family Scholarship in the Nelson Scholars Program to attract freshman students to a profession in petroleum engineering. Top photo: Sheri Edwards and Richard Eubank with their father. Bottom left: Dennis Eubank with wife, Sarah, and children, Anna and Jake. Bottom right: Joellyn and Raymond Eubank.

$1.25 million gift supports Texas A&M construction engineering management

wo $500,000 gifts — from Kathleen and William F. Urban of Kingston, Wash., and the Beavers Charitable Trust — and $250,000 in matching funds from the Zachry Foundation have established the Beavers Charitable Trust Endowment. One focus of the gift will be support for the teaching, research, service and professional development activities of a faculty member who has exceptional experience in heavy construction contracting. The endowment will further enrich civil engineering student education by helping provide for special lectures on campus and mentoring by industry professionals. William Urban is the retired president and CEO of General Construction Co. and a past president of The Beavers Inc., a social and honorary organization for companies and individuals in the heavy engineering construction industry. “This endowment was created to be the keystone in a first-of-its-kind program committed solely to advanced

studies supporting the heavy construction industry,” said Urban ’66, who earned his bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering. “Giving back to Texas A&M and the heavy construction industry has been a goal of mine for a long time.” Urban gave this gift in memory of his father, William Fred Urban ’41, a World War II U.S. Army veteran and the only one of 12 children to attend college. “He was the best man I have ever known. This gift is one way to remember him and his legacy,” Urban said. The Beavers Charitable Trust has provided more than $3.6 million in scholarship grants and maintained more than $3 million in endowed scholarships at 34 American schools of engineering and construction management. The Zachry Foundation is a long-time supporter of Texas A&M Engineering. A past gift of $10 million provides civil engineering with faculty chairs, professorships, scholarships and fellowships, and includes support for the department’s excellence fund, surveying camp and student advising services.

Kathleen and Bill Urban join with The Beavers Inc. and the Zachry Foundation to create an endowment in honor of William Fred Urban.

Texas A&M Engineering honors outstanding seniors Every fall, G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering, recognizes outstanding seniors in the Dwight Look College of Engineering. Recipients of the 2009–10 Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award are (pictured, from left) Rodrigo Garza Urquiza, mechanical engineering; Rachel Oyler, electrical engineering; Alexandra (Sandra) Iacob, biomedical engineering; Colin Bailie, mechanical engineering; and Mark Deimund, chemical engineering. Each received the annual award due to their academic achievement, character and leadership abilities. The seniors received an engraved medallion and a $5,000 educational grant. Their names appear on a plaque in the Zachry Engineering Center. David W. Gent ’75 (third from left) represented Brown at the ceremony.

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

Anadarko Foundation gives $1 million

Mary Sue and Albert Schutz

Albert, Mary Sue Schutz endow scholarship From right: G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering; Chuck Meloy, Anadarko senior vice president, Worldwide Operations; Clay Gaspar, Anadarko general manager and lead recruiter; and Stephen A. Holditch, petroleum engineering department head.

he Anadarko Foundation has given a $1 million gift to support the petrophysics laboratory in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering. “People are the foundation of our success at Anadarko, and we are committed to developing the future leaders of our industry. Almost 200 of the people who work at Anadarko today are graduates of Texas A&M, so we appreciate the significant role this university plays in developing the talented and skilled individuals who are key to our industry’s ability to continue finding and producing the energy resources we all need,” said Chuck Meloy ’82, Anadarko’s senior vice president of Worldwide Operations, who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M. “It is an honor to support development of the future innovators of our industry through this gift that will enhance development of crucial specialized skills in petrophysics and reservoir engineering.” Petrophysicists study the rock properties of natural resource reservoirs, including oil, natural gas and ore deposits. The new laboratory will support the undergraduate course in reservoir petrophysics and more than a dozen graduate courses related to reservoir engineering.

ol. Albert and Mary Sue Schutz of San Antonio have endowed a petroleum engineering scholarship at Texas A&M. “Our donation of $100,000 is to afford worthy students the opportunity to pursue their studies with financial support, enabling them to participate in a full college experience with their classmates,” said Schutz ’40, whose financial resources as an undergraduate left little time for anything but study and work. Schutz and his twin brother, Charles, entered Texas A&M together with just $125 from their widowed mother. The two worked on campus, maintaining grounds and cleaning buildings, as well as serving as waiters in the Corps mess hall. “This effort greatly limited our opportunity to enjoy the full college experience,” Schutz recalled. After graduation in 1940 with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, he embarked on a 30-year career in the U.S Army, retiring as a colonel in 1970.

Scholarship honors Sterling Lacy

arolyn and David B. Miller of Dallas have endowed a $120,000 gift to create the Sterling S. Lacy Jr. ’46 Scholarship in the petroleum engineering department’s Von Gonten Scholars Program in honor of her father. “We wanted to honor my dad because helping others achieve higher education has always been one of his top priorities in life. We want to continue his example by endowing this scholarship for future petroleum engineers at Texas A&M,” Carolyn Miller said. Sterling Lacy earned a petroleum engineering degree from Texas A&M in 1947. “I consider this endowment to be the highest honor I have ever received, made especially meaningful by the loving generosity of my daughter and son-in-law. I am humbled to know that deserving students will be aided in their pursuit of higher education at Texas A&M because of this scholarship,” Lacy said.

Department Head Stephen A. Holditch, right, with Carolyn Miller and her father, Sterling Lacy.

New EAC members

Joe Asialo, Jr. David Jimmie Bratton Tom Cogan Janeen Judah n the past year, the Dwight ’77 B NUEN Bairrington ’63 B CVEN ’77 AERO ’81 B PETE Look College of Engineering has ’83 M CHEN ’78 MEEN ’65 M CVEN ’83 M PETE welcomed nine new members to the Engineering Advisory Council. This group of distinguished leaders, selected by the dean of engineering, helps provide guidance with strategic planning, external relations and resource THE HONORABLE Guylaine Kevin Schultz Brent Smolik Debbie Riddle Pollock ’91 M ELEN ’83 PETE development. ’85 D CPSC

Advisory council honors dean with scholarship

Tromblees endow fourth chemical engineering scholarship

Jo Howze, senior associate dean for academic programs, presents G. Kemble Bennett (right) with a framed photo of Texas A&M’s Engineering Advisory Council. The advisory council has honored Vice Chancellor and Dean Bennett with an undergraduate scholarship endowed in his name.

onna and Gene Tromblee of Seabrook used retirement savings to create a $30,000 endowment for the Donna and Gene Tromblee ’70 Scholarship in the C.D. Holland Scholars Program. The Tromblees contributed another $10,000 to support needs of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, including funds for a general excellence fund and study abroad participants. “We chose to give a gift for others to enjoy and from which to benefit as much as we have from my education at Texas A&M,” said Gene Tromblee.

Gene and Donna Tromblee

Engineering scholarship honors memory of safety pioneer Ralph Vernon

Mike Sawyer, who provided the lead gift for the Vernon scholarship.

he memory of a safety engineering education pioneer has been preserved with the endowed Dr. Ralph J. Vernon ’51 Scholarship by lead donor Michael (Mike) Sawyer ’83. Vernon began his career as a safety engineer for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. before joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1966 where he pioneered safety engineering and industrial hygiene degrees within the

engineering college. He retired as professor emeritus of industrial engineering in 1986. “Dr. Vernon’s impact did not stop upon my graduation. He maintained contact and continued nurturing my career for many years after A&M, and I, as well as many former students, owe my success largely to him,” said Sawyer, president of Apex Safety Consultants, a specialty process safety consulting firm.

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

Halliburton Foundation endows million-dollar engineering chair

Dave Lesar (center), Halliburton chairman, president and chief executive officer, was hosted on campus Sept. 29 by G. Kemble Bennett (right), vice chancellor and dean of engineering, and Eddie J. Davis, president of the Texas A&M Foundation.

BP’s Richard Morrison (right) announces laboratory support with Department Head Stephen A. Holditch.

BP America provides half-million-dollar gift

P America announced its significant upgrade of computer resources for integrated hydrocarbon reservoir studies and establishment of the BP Laboratory for Field Studies in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering. “This targeted investment by BP in Texas A&M students and faculty creates a state-of-theart, highly collaborative working environment to deliver one of the most advanced, team-based, undergraduate reservoir engineering courses in the world,” said Richard Morrison, a BP vice president. “The environment created here feels less like a classroom and more like team space in one of BP’s producing assets.” The BP lab expands the level of technology and computer resources available to petroleum engineering juniors, seniors and graduate students in their reservoir modeling and capstone reservoir design courses.

he Halliburton Foundation has endowed an engineering faculty chair to help prepare students for careers in the energy industry. Former students and friends of the university working at Halliburton contributed funds to the $1 million pledge. Endowed faculty chairs are among the most important resources available to universities in recruiting and retaining distinguished faculty at the top of their profession. Distributions from the endowment can fund a variety of educational enrichments including student support, faculty development, curriculum enhancement and research initiatives. “Our partnership with Texas A&M is strong and long-standing,” said Dave Lesar, Halliburton chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Texas A&M continues to be a top recruiting school for Halliburton in the number of students joining the company straight from university.” In 2009 Halliburton’s giving to Texas A&M had totaled $6.8 million since 1981, including $1.75 million to the Look College and its departments. The Halliburton Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting educational and charitable purposes, was established in 1965 and supports U.S. education at all levels, through employee matching gifts, direct grants and scholarships. In 2008, the Halliburton Foundation contributed $2.9 million to enhance educational opportunities at K-12 and higher educational institutions.

Wellborn to endow petroleum engineering scholarship

is summer jobs in the 1930s Texas oilfield were hot and dirty, but for Houston high schooler Joe Wellborn they fueled dreams of a future career. Wellborn earned a petroleum degree at Texas A&M and spent four decades with the company known today as ExxonMobil. Now he has created a scholarship to help others pursue their goals.

“I want to give back to the school that did so much for me,” the retired Exxon Co. operations superintendent said. His contribution of $30,000 will establish the Joseph H. Wellborn, Sr. ’41 Endowed Scholarship in Petroleum Engineering. Matching funds from ExxonMobil Foundation will help complete the gift. Joe Wellborn

Corporate and Foundation Giving

GIFTS $10,000 AND HIGHER

MARCH 1, 2008 - February 15, 2010

$1,995,203 Zachry Foundation $1,351,050 Chevron

$126,200 Shell Oil $125,000* Virtual Media Integration

$60,000 Terrabon $58,262 Intel

$1,117,420 BP $890,471 Halliburton

$122,644* Microsoft $116,625 Marathon Oil

$54,959 3M $54,000 Broadcom

$690,000 Communities Foundation of Texas $658,000 Texas Instruments

$112,000 Silicon Valley Community Foundation $102,000 Womack Machine Supply

$575,000 DXP Enterprises $500,000 BP Foundation

$100,000 W.D. Von Gonten and Co. $100,000 Forster Family Foundation

$805,000 Anadarko Petroleum $400,000 Williams Brothers Construction $400,000 Aramco Services $326,000 ConocoPhillips $312,740 ExxonMobil Foundation $300,000 Schmidt Family Foundation $270,000 Hewlett Packard $234,500 Exxon Mobil $234,000 Energy Future Holdings $217,020 Dow Chemical Foundation $200,000 Cain Foundation $181,000 Beavers Charitable Trust $150,000 Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program $145,000 Silicon Laboratories $135,550 Boeing $130,000 SABIC Americas

$95,000 Rockwell Collins Charitable $90,000 Google $89,063 McDaniel Charitable Foundation $83,500 Lockheed Martin Foundation $81,000* Applied Materials $80,000 Chesapeake Energy $76,826 Entergy Services $75,000 Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation $75,000 Shell Global Solutions (US) $74,000 Schlumberger Technology $70,000 International Business Machines $64,413 National Instruments $60,000 Boanerges Land and Royalty $60,000 Estate Oil & Gas $60,000 Jones and Carter $60,000 Oasis Minerals

$53,500 Apache $53,000 Bechtel Group Foundation $50,340 Craig C. Brown Foundation $50,000 Fremont Group Foundation $50,000 GM $50,000 Greater Kansas City Community Foundation $50,000 Metalforms $47,500 Parsons $46,500 TETRA Technologies $46,000 Freese and Nichols $45,000 QUALCOMM $45,000 S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation $41,000 Chesapeake Operating $40,000 Jaster Quintanilla Dallas $40,000 United Technologies $39,000 Addax Petroleum Development $35,000 Medical Continuous Monitoring Systems $34,000 Agilent Technologies Foundation $34,000 Marine Technology Society $32,060 Fluor Foundation

Barker scholarship benefits nuclear engineering program

D David G. Barker

avid G. Barker of Kerrville, Texas, will endow a scholarship for nuclear engineering undergraduates. His initial gift of $12,500 will establish the David G. Barker ’66 Scholarship. Matching funds from Ray Rothrock of Portola Valley, Calif., will increase the endowment to $25,000. Barker ’66 and a general manager with Dril-Quip Inc., earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and then a master’s in nuclear engineering in 1968. Barker is a registered professional engineer in Texas and has been inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Graduates in the mechanical engineering department.

e n gin e e r in g.t a m u.e d u/n e w s

*Including in-kind gifts

$30,500 Altura $30,000 American Petroleum Institute

$22,000 Houston Electrical League $21,000 XTO Energy

$30,000 Energy Cup $30,000 Latshaw Drilling

$20,100 Kharafi National $20,100 Texas Instruments Foundation

$29,975 Vestas Wind Systems $28,500 David and Lucile Packard Foundation $27,630* Neuralog

$20,000 American Bureau of Shipping $20,000 Baker Hughes Foundation

$27,500 Crawford and Hattie Jackson Foundation $26,500 Pape-Dawson Engineers

$20,000 Mediaphy $20,000 Optimenergy

$26,000* BHP Billiton Petroleum (Americas) $25,200 Lah Lah Farm $25,000 American Concrete Institute $25,000 BASF $25,000 Exelon Generation $25,000 Exelon Nuclear Texas Holdings $25,000 S.R. Horn $25,000 Laurel Foundation $25,000 Arthur D. Little $25,000 NVIDIA $25,000 Saint Mary Land and Exploration $25,000 A.M. Dachs Foundation $24,963 Nuovo Pignone Spa $22,760 Lockheed Martin $22,500 Cog Operating

$20,000 Cummins Business Services $20,000 Dealer Computer Services

$20,000 Roberts Foundation $20,000 Subsea Tieback $20,000 Baker Hughes Foundation $18,950 Pacific Coast Companies $18,400 Shell Oil Company Foundation $18,000 Spectra Energy Foundation $18,000 Total Petrochemicals $16,125 Dell $16,000 Landgraf, Crutcher and Associates $15,900 Lubrizol Foundation $15,000 Accelicon Technologies $15,000 Competition Roofing $15,000 PPG Industries $15,000 Questar Educational Foundation $15,000 Semiconductor Research

$15,000 Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers $14,500 Hydraquip Distribution $13,700 Econtrols $12,500 Henry G. and Dorothy Kleemeier Fund $12,500 Teradyne $12,250 Raytheon $12,000 Computer Innovation Services $10,500* Aghorn Energy $10,250 Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation $10,100 Artificial Lift Research and Development Council $10,000 Acergy $10,000 Adobe Systems $10,000 Antec $10,000 AREVA $10,000 CITGO Petroleum $10,000 E.I. du Pont de Nemours $10,000 EOG Resources $10,000 Innovative Signal Analysis $10,000 ISM Retail and Wholesale $10,000 Knowledge Based Systems $10,000 Marmon Mok $10,000 Noble Energy $10,000 Valero Refining-Texas $10,000 Ramsay Family Foundation

Scholarship from Carl Isaac honors memory of Murdock Baker

arl Isaac ’58, executive vice president of operations with Beryl Oil and Gas Co. in Houston, has endowed a petroleum engineering scholarship to honor the memory of a valued mentor. “The influence of Murdock Baker inspired me to establish this award,” Isaac said. “He was a close

friend and mentor who was instrumental in my career as a petroleum engineer.” Baker ’58, a Beaumont native and petroleum engineering graduate, was an independent oil and gas producer at the time of his death in November 2008. Carl Isaac

non profit org US postage paid college station tx permit no 215

301 WISENBAKER ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER BIZZELL STREET, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COLLEGE STATION, TX 77843

Taking Flight Aerospace engineering students design, build and fly aircraft

erospace engineering students flew the aircraft they designed and built from runway 17R at Texas A&M’s Riverside campus. The flights marked the end of a two-semester design-build-test-fly aircraft challenge put forth by Professor Leland A. Carlson who, in Fall 2008, asked AERO 401 and 402 students to provide a conceptual preliminary design for an Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that could carry a 2,000-pound payload for a range of 800 nautical miles at transonic speeds (Mach0.8) flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet. During Spring 2009, faculty members Thomas Strganac, John Valasek and Jim Boyd guided three teams as they tested the models they designed and built. The models were tested in the 3×4 feet Low Speed Wind Tunnel at the H.R. Bright Building on campus. The tests were performed to validate conceptual design parameters with scaled models as well as provide benchmark information for the scaled flight vehicles. Following the wind tunnel tests, the teams built and flew flyingscaled versions of their designs at the Riverside campus.

From top, Teams Manureva Aerospace, Ascension Aerospace and Applied Industries designed, built and flew their aircraft as part of AERO 401 and 402. The Manureva Aerospace team was awarded the Lowy Award because the selection committee agreed that Manureva’s airplane retained substantial elements of the team’s original design.