UA Engineering Alumni Honor Outstanding Senior

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Blake Whitley, a senior at The University of Alabama, recently received the 2012 Capstone Engineering Society Outstanding Senior Award.

Along with this title, Whitley was given a $500 cash stipend and a plaque to honor his achievements. A native of Owens Cross Roads, Whitley has maintained a 4.0 grade point average throughout his college career while studying metallurgical and materials engineering.

“Blake is truly the epitome of a well-rounded student,” said Dr. Viola Acoff, department head and professor for the department of metallurgical and materials engineering at UA. “He is a natural leader and a good citizen in addition to his many accomplishments in the classroom and in research.”

The Capstone Engineering Society, the alumni association for the College of Engineering, established the Outstanding Senior Award in 1986 to honor an exceptional student who deserves distinction among their peers.  An outstanding student is selected from each department in the College, and the overall winner is determined by a selection committee after assessing each student’s academic performance, professional and technical activities, College leadership, external leadership and other activities.

Whitley was also recently honored with the 2012 Copper Alloy Division scholarship by the American Foundry Association, receiving a $1,000 award. This year, he also earned the FEF scholarship and publication in the International Journal of Metalcasting for a winning paper submission to the American Foundry Society 2012 Student Technology Contest.

Whitley is the recipient of numerous academic honors, including recognition on the Dean’s and President’s Lists and membership in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Whitley received many scholarships, including a UA Presidential Scholarship, College of Engineering Leadership Scholarship and the MTE Citation Corporation Endowed Scholarship in addition to several others.

As an undergraduate, Whitley has done significant research in the areas of mesoporous silica monoliths, solar cells and shape memory alloys. He has co-authored a paper in The Journal of Physical Chemistry and made presentations to several professional societies. Whitley serves as president of Materials Advantage along with vice president of Engineers Without Borders and Tau Beta Pi. In 2011, he interned at Materials Analysis Lab of ALSTOM Power, and he aided House United in the rebuilding of two homes damaged by tornadoes.

After graduation in May, Whitley will return to the materials lab at ALSTOM Power in Chattanooga, Tenn., before beginning graduate school at the Colorado School of Mines in pursuit of a doctorate in metallurgical and materials engineering. Ultimately, Whitley hopes to concentrate his career in the area of material development and failure analysis.

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 3,300 students and more than 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater, Hollings, Portz and Truman scholars.