UA Honors Five Distinguished Engineering Fellows

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama College of Engineering recently honored five alumni and friends of the College by inducting them into its class of 2006 Distinguished Engineering Fellows.

David G. Courington, Douglas A. Moore, Robert E. Morris, M.A. Oztekin and Bob St John, received the top honor the College presents at a ceremony on March 11 at NorthRiver Yacht Club.

David G. Courington started in 1970 as a UA student intern at 3M. Courington, now operations manager, is responsible for all aspects of manufacturing at the Decatur Material Resources plant. His technical knowledge of the industry made him ideally suited to head a joint venture in Decatur between 3M and the Japanese manufacturing company, Daikin. In 2003, he was key to the rebirth of the Decatur plant by providing leadership in the acquisition of new product lines and businesses, including the French firm, Solvay, bringing plant employment back to approximately 800 people.

Courington received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from The University of Alabama in 1974 and a Master of Business Administration from Alabama A&M in 1979. He was named a Chemical Engineering Fellow in 2002. He is a member of the American Society for Quality and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Throughout his career, Courington has maintained strong ties to the University. Besides being instrumental in maintaining 3M’s support of an annual scholarship, he has contributed personally to the Millennium Program each year, and he has served on both the chemical and biological engineering advisory board and the Capstone Engineering Society board of directors. In his role as mentor, Courington has launched countless graduates on their careers through personal contact, networking and opportunities for employment.

Active in his community, Courington serves as president of the Central United Methodist Church Foundation and as a member of the Decatur Chamber of Commerce. He resides in Decatur with his wife, Jacqueline. Their daughter is a freshman at the Capstone.

With 23 years of experience in software research, design and development, Douglas A. Moore has greatly impacted computer software application and implementation, especially in the insurance industry. As president and founder of Innovex Technology LLC, he leads the company as it serves as the research and development arm of several large insurance carriers nationwide. In just three years, Innovex has successfully launched three major products in the financial services industry.

Moore graduated from The University of Alabama in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Although he completed all the necessary coursework to receive his master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University, Moore was tempted to leave school early by a unique business opportunity, and he developed the Report Management System for Maxis Information Systems Inc. RMS is a mini-computer to personal computer data transfer and analysis application, which was eventually used by more than 2,000 insurance agencies nationwide.

Following his success at Maxis, Moore became president of Computer Systems and Solutions Inc. In 1994, he was named vice president of Applied Systems Inc., where he led the company to become one of the foremost providers of automation software in the insurance carrier market. At Applied Systems, Moore hired and trained more than 170 programmers, business analysts, project managers and consultants in the design and implementation of several dozen enterprise-scale, mission critical automation systems.

In 2004, Moore was selected as one of 12 members of the inaugural class for the Birmingham Venture Club’s Entrepreneur Accelerator Program. He serves on the board of directors of TechBirmingham, a not-for-profit entity, and he is a member of the Capstone’s electrical and computer engineering industrial advisory committee.

Moore lives in Birmingham with his wife, Karen, and their two sons.

For the past 40 years, Robert E. Morris served as a pioneer in the research and development of ductile iron in the automotive industry. Though he retired from SouthCast Sales Inc. in 2001, where he was owner and president, he continues to work as an independent castings sales agent and consultant.

Morris is considered one of the leading experts in the world on the production of ductile iron castings, particularly in the area of ductile iron automotive safety parts. Throughout his career, Morris developed and marketed ductile iron castings as a unique and innovative replacement for steel stampings and forgings used in the automotive, agricultural, and electrical transmission and distribution industries.

From 1971 to 1982, Morris guided Columbus Foundries, now known as Intermet Columbus, to a leadership position in the production of automotive ductile iron safety parts.

He led the foundry from a small business with $2 million in sales to an international company with sales in excess of $75 million.

From 1976 to 1982, Morris served the national Ductile Iron Society as treasurer, vice president, and then president. He was the recipient of the 1983 Ductile Iron Society annual award.

Prior to his role as president at SouthCast Sales, Morris was president and CEO of the Alabama Ductile Casting Co. In 1982, Morris purchased Allied Foundry in Brewton and renamed it the Alabama Ductile Iron Co. After expanding the foundry and doubling its sales, the foundry was purchased by Citation Corp. in Birmingham. It served as Citation’s introduction to the automotive market.

Morris graduated from The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical and materials engineering in 1962. In 1988, he was named a UA Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Outstanding Fellow. Additionally, he served as director of the Birmingham chapter of the American Foundrymen’s Society. Morris serves as a member of UA’s metallurgical and materials engineering board of advisors.

Residing in Birmingham, Morris and his wife, Billie, have four children and four grandchildren.

During the past 50 years, M.A. Oztekin has founded two extremely successful corporations and created thousands of jobs for Alabama citizens. He has demonstrated engineering creativity in product and process design as the holder of five U.S. and six foreign patents. Oztekin’s love of The University of Alabama has led to the establishment of the Oztekin Family Endowed Scholarship for students enrolled in the College of Engineering.

A native of Turkey, Oztekin studied engineering in Turkey, Michigan, and at The University of Alabama. In 1951, Oztekin became a naturalized citizen and went to work for the nation’s first and largest, modern store fixture company in Detroit, Mich., where he realized the need for flexible, sturdy, attractive and durable display units.

Returning to Alabama in 1956, Oztekin created the Dixie Craft Manufacturing Co. in Goodwater to manufacture steel shelving and belt driven, automatic checkout counters for retail merchandizing. Dixie Craft grew into Madix Corp., a national leader in retail merchandizing and storage products. In 1958, Oztekin founded the Kent Corp. and patented the world’s first unitized single-piece adjustable steel shelves and uprights with integrated roll formed back-panel channels, still used today as engineered display solutions for food and other retail products.

As CEO and president of Kent, Oztekin introduced electro-coat paint applications to the industry, promoted the use of integrated CAD/CAM systems and computer-integrated manufacturing and control systems, and was an early advocate of radio-frequency bar coding for inventory tracking.

Oztekin resides in Birmingham with his wife, Sue. They have four children and nine grandchildren.

Bob St John is one of the most influential geotechnical engineers in Alabama, having served in leadership positions in several firms. He has more than 40 years of experience in geotechnical consulting, construction quality control, and engineering management.

St John received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1961 from the Capstone and began a career in geotechnical engineering with Law Engineering and Testing Co. For the next 17 years, St John worked on many high profile projects throughout the eastern United States, including foundation studies for nuclear power plants, repair studies for major landslides along the interstate system in Tennessee and West Virginia, and geotechnical studies for numerous high-rise structures throughout the Southeast.

In 1980, St John and Gary Durham founded Ground Engineering and Testing Service Inc., which has grown to more than 100 personnel in five locations in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee. Ground Engineering developed a reputation for quality and service, winning several state and national awards for engineering excellence. In 1998, Ground Engineering joined Atlanta Testing and Engineering Inc., becoming one of the largest and most qualified geotechnical materials. The firm is now known as QORE Property Sciences.

His love of engineering and the business of consulting engineering led St John to join J2F Inc., a small business located in Birmingham, where he is currently a partner.

St John has served as president of the American Consulting Engineers Council of Alabama and of the Engineering Council of Birmingham. In 1996, St John founded the Engineering Council of Birmingham’s foundation, which supports scholarships in engineering for recipients in the Birmingham area. St John also serves as a member of the board of directors of the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.

St John and his wife, Lottie, reside in Birmingham. They have three children and three grandchildren.