UA Chemical Engineering Celebrates 100 Years

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama department of chemical and biological engineering in the College of Engineering honored 100 alumni and friends by inducting them into its class of Centennial Fellows culminating a year of celebrations recognizing the department’s founding in 1910.

The newly inducted Centennial Fellows received the honors at a ceremony Wednesday, Oct. 13, at NorthRiver Yacht Club. The awards ceremony was conducted by UA professors Heath Turner and Gary April, with guest speakers Sen. Richard Shelby and UA President Robert E. Witt. (See list of Fellows below the brief history of the department.)

Brief history of UA’s department of chemical and biological engineering:

• In 1908-1910, the College of Engineering established specific departments of engineering, with one of these being the department of chemical engineering. In 1910, the first students enrolled in chemical engineering to pursue studies leading to baccalaureate and master of science degrees.
• Between 1910 and 1950, the department of chemical engineering graduated engineers who contributed to major technological developments ranging from extracting energy and producing chemicals from the state’s and nation’s natural resources to the emergence of the United States’ space industry after World War II. 
• The department of chemical engineering awarded the first two doctorates offered in the College of Engineering in 1964. 
• In 2004, the department of chemical engineering changed its name to the department of chemical and biological engineering to better address emerging technologies within the profession and extending opportunities for career development beyond the traditional chemical process fields to those based on molecular processing within biological and nanotechnological fields. 
• The department of chemical and biological engineering’s nearly 2,000 graduates have become successful in a wide spectrum of careers ranging from traditional areas of energy, chemicals, petrochemicals and environmental to those technologies that encompass food, pharmaceuticals, space, biotechnology, nanotechnology and many other areas.

The Centennial Fellows, listed by graduation year, are as follows. Additional graduation years for those who earned more than one degree from the UA College of Engineering are listed after their names.

1914: Charles Arthur Abele (1916)
1916: Emmett Norman Barnes 
1918: Steadham  Acker, James Lee Cawthon                       
1919: Donald  Hobson Thornbury
1922: Kenneth Gilespie Harris (1923), Dr. Ray L. Farabee   
1923: Sarah Elizabeth Satterfield 
1924: Walter Shaffer Ernst, William Jackson Porter       
1929: Clarence W. Scott      
1933: E. Oden, Albert Simmons                               
1940: James A. McCollum, John McKinley, Peter G. Prater      
1942: John W. Lewis 
1944: Alice Nedora Hargis  
1947: Dr. John Stark (1962, 1964)
1952: Dr. John H.Beyer, Dr. Aubrey Blackwell, Eugene Luke Croxton Jr., Carroll Dailey, Luther Preston Gause, Donald H. Lee                               
1955: Leonard H. Sedlin, Susanna Virtue Tomlinson 
1956: Ralph M. Lewis   
1957: Patricia Lee Moore                 
1959: James Johnson         
1960: Joseph E. Sanders        
1961: Dr. Merrill Jones (1963, 1965)
1963: Harry Holliman (1966)
1964: L. Lamar Faulkner, Robert C. Head, Bomar Ingram       
1965: Charles M. Rampacek (1967), James Marlen                 
1966: Vassiliki Sinis Lygeros (1967), Dennis L. Baxendale       
1968: Edward L. Englebert (1970), J. Steve Biggs     
1969: James Stewart  Atkins (1970), Everett Cameron Powell Jr.     
1970: Thomas Chilton, Dianne  Massey Wiles (1971), Dr. David R. Hart (1975)
1971: Griffin I. Johnson (1972), Dr. Donald O. Hill (1974), Chris Messelt (1975), Kenneth Barrett, Dr. John Phillip Gooch, Jeff Hilleke 
1972: John Covington       
1973: Kenton L. Roberts, Edward F. Tatum   
1974: Dr. Boyd L. Bailey Jr., David G. Courington, Barry S. Johnston         
1975: Robert  A. Byrd, Dr. Hua-An Liu, Debbie Clark Roberts, John Roberts   
1977: Rajeev Mohan (1979), John D. Winter (1984, 1988), Kevin Hostler, Dana Riley, Douglas R. Robinson       
1978: Richard Canty, Jimmy Junkin, Dan Roper       
1979: Rick M. MacKay, Charles Daley Speer                     
1981: Milton A. Davis, Michael Bernard Kitt, Linda J. Lewis, Alice K. Weekley    
1982: Darryl W. Gilley  
1983: Dr. Mark E. Cooper, Claude Eubanks Jr., Miriam Kay Anderson Johnson, Patricia Tucker Martin, Luther S. Pate IV, Patricia Suggs 
1985: Paul W. Lammers, Dr. Patricia Massengill McCoy   
1986: Ashley Cousins, Dr. Niomi Krzystowczyk, Robert J. Morris, Susan Burch Waltman    
1989: Katrina  Baker
1991: Casey Colvin Frederick      
1992: Dr. Kristina D. Rinker        
1993: Dr. Angela Elaine Summers  
1994: David Raine     
1995: Dr. Vikram Gopal (1998)
1996: Lori R. Eastman, Jacqueline Davis Pirkle          
1998: April Cole                           
1999: Amy Godwin Arnold                    

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 2,700 students and over 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.