Five Honored as UA Distinguished Engineering Fellows

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Five people were recently honored by The University of Alabama College of Engineering as its 2000 Distinguished Engineering Fellows.

Dennis Lynn Baxendale, John R. Cobb, Herbert Lee Hughes Sr., James M. Merrell and Leonard H. Sedlin were selected for the top honor the College awards it alumni. During the past 12 years, the College has named as Fellows fewer than 300 of its nearly 15,000 alumni.

Baxendale is the chief executive officer of ELTECH Systems Corp., a world leader in electrochemical technology and related product usage. He graduated from The University of Alabama in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.

Since joining ELTECH upon its formation in 1982, Baxendale has held a series of key positions, including manager of membrane cell technology, vice president of ELTECH Business Units, executive vice president and president. A native of Stapleton, Baxendale lives in Novelty, Ohio.

Cobb, a registered engineer in Florida and Alabama, serves as executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Haskell Company, one of the top five design-build firms in the United States.

A native of Tuscaloosa, Cobb received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from UA in 1965 and 1968, respectively, and has worked successfully with government agencies, corporate clients and real estate developers in 25 states and Canada. He lives in Jacksonville, Fla.

Hughes participated in developing Equipment Sales Corp., an air conditioning wholesale company, into a franchise operation that now includes 55 counties in four states. During Hughes’ association with ESC, it has expanded from one location and six employees in 1959 to 70 employees in 11 locations.

A Mobile resident and a Tuscaloosa native, Hughes graduated from The University of Alabama in 1948 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

For more than 40 years, Merrell has been a successful marketing and general management professional in the computer industry, working for such well-known companies as IBM, Cray Research, Inc., SUN Microsystems and Litton PRC, Inc.

A Birmingham native, Merrell, earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University in 1958. Merrell’s career in the computer industry began in IBM’s Federal Systems Division, where he developed the strategy and directed resources for a successful bid for the Space Shuttle Launch Processing System contract at NASA Kennedy Space Center. A Great Falls, Va. resident, Merrell is corporate vice-president for federal marketing for Nichols Research Inc.

Sedlin, a native of New York, graduated from UA with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1955 and earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1961.

While working in paper products research and development at Procter & Gamble, Sedlin co-authored a patent for controlling the bonding strength of a hot-melt adhesive. He later joined Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. where he served in positions of increasing responsibility in two states and four foreign countries. Raised in Mobile and now living in Baton Rouge, Sedlin joined G&E Engineering in 1988 where he serves as vice president and as project coordinator for CRA services.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering has about 1,800 students and more than 90 faculty. It has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.