Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame to Hold 2008 Ceremony

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame will induct seven individuals and honor one corporation during a Feb. 16 ceremony at the Marriot Legends at Capitol Hill in Prattville.

Joining the 116 individuals already inducted into the Hall of Fame will be:

James C. Bambarger has demonstrated consistent leadership in the development of Alabama’s engineering consulting industry since he graduated from The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1970. After graduation, Bambarger began working with TTL Inc., a diverse environmental consulting firm. He served as project engineer, project manager, geotechnical engineer and geotechnical consultant before becoming chief executive officer of TTL.

With Bambarger’s leadership, the company completed various projects with the DCH Educational Tower, UA’s Angelo Bruno Business Library, UA’s Sewell-Thomas Stadium and the expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium. He is now the retired CEO and chairman of the board for TTL.

Because of his dedication to TTL, the company chose to honor Bambarger by endowing a UA engineering scholarship in his name. The scholarship has allowed for the education of Alabama’s best and brightest students since 2002. In addition, Bambarger and TTL have pledged more than $100,000 to support scholarships as part of the University’s “Our Students. Our Future.” campaign.

In 2007, Bambarger was honored as UA’s College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Volunteer. He was recognized as a UA Distinguished Engineering Fellow in 2002. Bambarger is a recipient of the UA Keith-Woodman Award and the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year Award.

Melissa Brown Herkt’s 30-year career in project management has led her to become an expert on project management. As Auburn University’s first female engineering co-op student, Herkt has continued to influence global economic life.

After graduating from Auburn with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Herkt joined Exxon’s research and engineering unit in New Jersey as a project engineer. She was later named construction engineer on a project in Denmark, making her the first woman engineer Exxon’s research and engineering unit ever posted overseas.

Herkt later moved to Hoffman-LaRoche as a project director where she turned around a project for a South Carolina pharmaceutical facility that was two years behind schedule and only half-built. In 2000, she was named vice president of global project management for Glaxo Wellcome where she created a multicultural, multidisciplinary team that instituted seamless processes at all of the company’s sites.

Since 2004, Herkt has presided over process systems and solutions, a division of Emerson Process Management. She directs all division work, overseeing 4,000 employees and providing cutting-edge, process-improvement solutions.

Herkt received the Construction Industry Institute’s 2004 Outstanding Implementer Award. She serves on the CII’s executive committee and is a past director of the Mascaro Sustainability Institute. Herkt supports AU financially through an endowed scholarship and is a member of AU’s Alumni Engineering Council.

Walter F. Johnsey, posthumous induction, is remembered for leading an extraordinary life exemplified by remarkable displays of giving, learning, engineering efficiency and hard work.

Following service in the U.S. Army during World War II, Johnsey earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Auburn University. He began working with Charleston Naval Yard as an electrical engineer before returning to Alabama in 1951 to join Alabama Power Co.

In 1964, Johnsey was named chief operating officer of the company and was responsible for the safety enhancement of Alabama’s electrical distribution system. After completing curricula in economics and earning a juris doctorate from the Birmingham School of Law, Johnsey became Alabama Power’s chief financial officer.

After retiring from Alabama Power in 1979, Johnsey purchased Perry Supply, a distributor to mines and foundries that he sold in 1986 to Drummond Co. He was later named president and chief executive officer of Jasper Corp., a Drummond subsidiary.

Johnsey was a member of the National Association of Accountants, the Financial Executive Institute, National Society of Professional Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the American Bar Association.

Robert S. Ryan remains committed to advancing the aerospace engineering profession through consulting, teaching and mentoring less-experienced engineers. He has made significant contributions to space exploration since he joined NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center upon its founding in 1958.

Ryan received a master’s degree in engineering mechanics from The University of Alabama in 1964. At NASA, he began monitoring crucial undertakings, including the Saturn, Apollo, Skylab, Spacelab and Hubble Space Telescope projects. When he retired as NASA’s deputy director of the Structures and Dynamics Laboratory, Ryan’s responsibilities had encompassed structural design, analysis and testing for all Marshall Space Flight Center projects.

Even though Ryan had previously prepared to teach secondary-school science by obtaining a bachelor’s degree at the University of North Alabama and a master’s degree from Peabody College for Teachers, his life changed when he became a leader in the aerospace engineering field.

Ryan was recognized with 10 different commendations during his 40-year career with NASA, including NASA’s Flight Honoree for the Shuttle’s 100th flight. In 1988, the Capstone named him a Distinguished Engineering Fellow, while UNA honored him as alumnus of the year in 1996. In addition, Ryan is a recipient of the City of Madison Citizenship Award.

George Egbert Uthlaut’s extraordinary career brought everlasting improvements to oil and gas operations and production. He boosted the success of a number of defining energy ventures, including Florida’s Jay Oil Field and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

After graduating from Auburn University in 1954, Uthlaut was commissioned as a Navy officer and served three years as an aviator. He then joined Humble Oil and Refining Co., predecessor of Exxon Corp., as a junior petroleum engineer and later as a staff engineer at Humble’s Houston headquarters.

When Uthlaut was named president of Exxon Pipeline Co., he became the company’s voice during the construction of one of the world’s largest crude oil pipelines, the Trans-Alaska. In 1979, he became operations vice president for Esso Middle East, working with each Exxon Middle Eastern affiliate to ensure its access to world-class technology. In 1981, Uthlaut was appointed managing director of Esso U.K., where he oversaw North Sea explorations. Uthlaut retired from Exxon in 1987 before joining Enron Oil and Gas as senior vice president of operations.

Uthlaut continues to inspire AU’s engineering students as he serves on the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council, the chemical engineering alumni advisory board, the Engineering Keystone and Engineering Eagles societies, and AU’s “1856 Society” of involved alumni.

John Holman Watson is a long-standing supporter of engineering education, as he provides leadership and scholarships for students interested in becoming engineers. Since he graduated from Auburn University in 1960, the engineering community has depended on Watson’s multifaceted expertise to expand the efficiency and productivity of the engineering field.

Watson is chairman of Engineered Systems and Smith’s Inc., a company he became owner and president of when he was in his 20s. His role at Smith’s began after his college co-op experiences at Redstone Arsenal and Fort Rucker and after completing service in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a second lieutenant in 1962.

Watson’s entrepreneurial engineering talents have changed lives through various engineering projects, including the completion of the nation’s largest latex glove manufactory and a cutting-edge baker’s yeast plant representing one-seventh of the U.S. market.

As a foundation board member with the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind, Watson has helped double the organization’s financial endowment. He was named the institute’s 2002 volunteer of the year, and he recently finished construction of the AIDB Wiregrass center for disabled infants, children, adults and seniors.

Walter Stanley Woltosz is an acknowledged leader in the emerging science of computational biopharmaceutics. His passion for aerospace engineering, computer simulation and modeling influenced him to apply similar technologies in the health care industry. As a former expert in simulating and optimizing rocket and missile performance, Woltosz has made it his mission to help physically disabled people generate words they can not speak.

Woltosz joined the U.S. Air Force in 1963 and was tapped for a commissioning program and sent to Auburn in 1967 after four years in the Strategic Air Command. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1969 and 1970, respectively.

In 1981, Woltosz incorporated Words+, a company built on Woltosz’s effort to help his wife’s mother, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease. Words+ offered the first of many innovative products used to help the physically disabled, including the personal-computer-based augmentative communication system, portable speech synthesizer, keyboard emulator with integrated speech, and the use of word prediction.

In 1996, Woltosz launched Simulations Plus, a leading developer of simulations and modeling software for pharmaceutical discovery and development. The company’s flagship program, GastroPlus, is a computer program that simulates absorption and pharmacokinetics for oral drugs.

Woltosz is a member of the AU Engineering Keystone and Engineering Eagles societies. He serves on the Alumni Engineering Council and has received the Distinguished Auburn Engineer Award.

The corporations/institutions to be inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame include:

Southern Earth Sciences Inc. is one of Mobile’s few turnkey geotechnical consultant companies with the ability to collect samples, analyze them in-house, identify problems and pose solutions. With branches in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, SESI provides geotechnical engineering, construction-materials testing, and environmental services throughout the region.

Dr. James E. Lair, chief executive officer of the company and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers veteran, founded SESI in 1975. The company’s use of digital cone penetrometer testing, or CPT, has helped SESI’s reputation grow steadily as the technique provides engineers with the ability to measure the length and reliability of deep foundation systems.

In 2003, SESI patented a CPT-based process, PS/CPT, which allows engineers to discern structures like bridge abutments without extensive, expensive removal of surrounding soil. PS/CPT recently benefitted engineers reevaluating levees following Hurricane Katrina.

SESI partners with the University of South Alabama Coastal Research Center to develop new uses for CPT. It also offers internships to students at USA, where Lair teaches foundation engineering and serves as director of the Technology and Research Park.

Previous honors for SESI include several safety awards, AGC’s 2006 Engineer of the Year, the Mobile chamber’s 2006 Small Business of the Year, and the Mobile Area Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities 2003 Employer of the Year.

The State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame was founded by proclamation of the governor in 1987 to honor, preserve and perpetuate the outstanding accomplishments and contributions of individuals and corporations/institutions and projects that have brought and continue to bring significant recognition to the state.