Photo by Marsha Miller
In 1957, 50 years ago this fall, I arrived as a freshman engineering student at the university. I wasn’t the only newcomer—Darrell Royal also arrived as our new football coach. Although I finished my academic work in 1966 and went to the University of Illinois to teach, in a sense I never left Texas. It was hard to follow Longhorn football from Urbana, and the Illini stadium seats were mighty cold. On our driving trips back to Texas, we would stop at the first Mexican food place south of the Red River to fill up. In 1982 Dean Earnest Gloyna asked me to return to Texas to build a program in micro-electronics at the university. Now 25 years later, this will be my last year as dean of engineering. After a dozen years as “your dean” I am stepping down to do other things.
As we move into a leadership transition for the Cockrell School, I want to use this issue of UTexas Engineers to highlight several challenges our nation faces that I think the Cockrell School can skillfully address. These issues are energy, our future technical workforce, and health. I have asked some of our alumni and faculty to review these challenges and discuss how the Cockrell School can contribute to the solutions. Rex Tillerson (BSCE ’76), who heads the largest energy company in the world, and Henry Groppe (BSChE ’44), who has been active in energy consulting for 50 years (it’s a milestone year for him too), give their perspectives on the challenges we face in the broad area of energy. In a sidebar we tell about a representative slice of our engineering alumni and faculty addressing those energy challenges.
One of my greatest concerns is whether the United States will maintain leadership in the technical advances we expect in this century. Too few students choose to study engineering, and it is our job to bring more young people into the profession. I am pleased that many of our graduates have chosen to spend part of their careers teaching math, science, and engineering at the high school level. You will read about one of the more than 60 graduates of the Cockrell School teaching in high schools and encouraging high school students to become the engineers who will design and build the countless things we need for the 21st century.
As the biological sciences have advanced in recent years, engineers are incorporating biology along with physics and chemistry into their technical advances. You will hear from two of our young graduates in biomedical engineering who are seeking improved methods to diagnose everything from strokes to skin cancer: Andrew Dunn (PhDBME ’97) and James Tunnell (BSEE ’98). You will also find a report on the successful commercialization of work by faculty Christine Schmidt (BSChE ’88) and Jennifer Maynard (PhDChE ’02).
Finally, we share with you the story behind our new name. It’s a familiar name since our largest building has honored Ernest Cockrell Jr. since 1972. While Ernest Cockrell Jr. gave what he could to better his school, he did it with the belief that others would follow. And you did. Our article about Ernest Cockrell Jr. tells of the vision he had of what our College of Engineering, now Cockrell School of Engineering, could become. Fifty years ago Ernest Cockrell Jr. became a founding member of the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council. Little did any of us know that these men and women would play such a large role in developing the financial base supporting the Cockrell School and continue to inspire all who connect with their vision. We appreciate you—all of you!
Sincerely,
Dean Ben G. Streetman