Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame to Hold 2005 Ceremony

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame will induct six individuals and honor two corporations/institutions during a ceremony on Feb. 19 at the Embassy Suites in Montgomery, Ala.

Joining the 97 individuals already inducted into the Hall of Fame will be:

Ralph S. Cunningham has helped build refining facilities to fuel the nation during his career in oil and petrochemicals. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1962 from Auburn University, Cunningham earned a master’s degree and doctorate in chemical engineering at Ohio State University. He then started his career as a technical engineer at Exxon and was soon promoted to their corporate planning department.

In 1982, Cunningham was recruited to an executive vice-presidency, which later became presidency of Tenneco Oil. During the late 1980s, Cunningham took leadership roles at Clark Oil, then Texaco Chemical, followed by Huntsman Corp. In the 1990s, Cunningham joined Tulsa-based CITGO as president and chief executive officer leading the company to its U.S. gasoline market share being third in the industry.

In 1997, Cunningham retired from CITGO. He continues to serve as a director on the boards of Agrium Inc., EnCana Corp., Enterprise Products, Reaction Design, TETRA Technologies and an environmental consulting firm in Houston, Texas.

Cunningham has given back to his alma mater by acting as adviser and generous patron of Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

George D. Hopson is NASA’s project manager for the space shuttle main engine, the most advanced liquid-fueled rocket engine ever built. He supervises 2,100 employees on the $300 million mission and has served Marshall Space Flight Center for more than four decades.

In 1945, Hopson enlisted in the Marine Corps. Through the ROTC program at The University of Alabama, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1950. Commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers, he joined a combat engineering battalion in Korea, earning the Bronze Star. When the conflict ended, he returned to The University of Alabama to complete a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Hopson’s first professional assignment was in propulsion engineering at General Dynamics in 1954.

In 1962, Hopson joined the von Braun team at the Marshall Space Flight Center and consistently accepted positions of higher responsibility. Captivated by NASA’s “race to the moon,” he contributed much to the Saturn V project and developed means for the nation’s first space station, Skylab.

In his current post as project manager for the space shuttle main engine, his team has enhanced space shuttle safety and reliability using new high-pressure turbo machinery.

Hopson’s achievements have won him several awards, including NASA’s exclusive Presidential Rank Meritorious Executive Award in 2002 and NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal for illustrious contributions to a mission. He has twice accepted NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal and its Exceptional Service Medal. In addition to his NASA honors, Hopson was inducted as a UA Distinguished Engineering Fellow.

Joe Leonard has been the driving force behind the success of AirTran Airways as chairman and CEO.

In 1999, Leonard was persuaded to take on 2-year-old AirTran, a product of a merger with ValuJet and AirTran Airlines—both of which were struggling. Through adding gates and acquiring the nation’s youngest all-Boeing fleet, Leonard successfully negotiated the huge debt he had inherited at AirTran and avoided bankruptcy. The success of AirTran lies in Leonard’s process of winning over value-conscious business passengers. AirTran Airlines has earned the distinction of 2004 Best Low-Fare Airline by Entrepreneur Magazine.

Before his contributions to AirTran, Leonard graduated from Auburn’s aerospace program in 1967, and began work at Boeing flight-testing the 727, 737 and 747. After serving as a Northwest Airlines engineer from 1969 to 1982, he became American Airlines’ vice president for technical operations. In 1993, Leonard joined AlliedSignal, a key aerospace supplier, as senior vice president and eventually CEO and president.

Leonard is a director of the metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau and is involved in numerous charitable organizations.

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II has faced many technical challenges requiring hard work and clear thinking—for high stakes, including his experiences with Apollo 13.

His innovative contributions to the space industry have been numerous, including his work on the Apollo spacesuit and program, space shuttle flights and the Navy’s unmanned space program. His participation in the development and testing of the Apollo spacesuit, for instance, helped to safeguard participating astronauts throughout the Apollo program.

Mattingly graduated in 1958 from Auburn University’s Navy ROTC program where he received a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. Entering the U.S. Navy as an ensign, he got his wings in 1960. He later became a student at the select U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School when, in 1966, NASA brought him on board as an astronaut. He was assigned to both the Apollo 8 and 11 missions as a member of the astronaut support crew. He was then designated command module pilot for Apollo 13, but shortly before launch he was removed from flight status as a medical precaution. Instead, he became part of the engineering effort to safely land the compromised spacecraft. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Mattingly was a mainstay of the space shuttle program.

Auburn University’s Alumni Engineering Council has previously honored Mattingly with its Outstanding Achievement Award. Other distinctions have been conferred by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Delta Tau Delta, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Federation Aeronautique International.

Thomas L. Patterson has created hundreds of jobs and provided a substantial amount of wealth for many of Alabama’s citizens through his success in Alabama’s technology industry as an engineer-entrepreneur.

In 1980, Patterson launched his first firm—the thriving computer-systems supplier SEAKO, and attracted a Fortune 500 buyer in 1989. That same year, Patterson established TXEN Inc., a provider of technology-based programs used in the administration of health care plans. Patterson became board chairman of Nichols TXEN, having earlier served as chief executive officer of its Birmingham health care and insurance division until Nichols Research was acquired by Computer Sciences Corp.

In an additional venture, Patterson serves as the CEO of DAXKO Inc. He co-founded the Birmingham firm in 1998 to develop Internet-based data systems for commerce.

Patterson received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering at The University of Alabama in 1964. He attended a U.S. Navy program completing a master’s degree in engineering mechanics in 1967.

Patterson has been a long-time donor and volunteer at The University of Alabama. Among many other appointments, Patterson’s roles have included membership in the President’s Cabinet, the Engineering Leadership Board and a charter member of the Capstone Engineering Society. He has received many honors from UA’s College of Engineering, including Outstanding Fellow of the mechanical engineering department, Distinguished Engineering Fellow and Outstanding Alumni Volunteer.

Neil G. Thompson became the first engineer to conduct corrosion research in material science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, earning a UAB graduate research assistantship. He completed his master’s degree at UAB in 1977, and was immediately tapped for a research assistantship at Vanderbilt University, where he earned his doctorate.

Today, Thompson stands at the wheel of the successful engineering firm, Cortest Columbus Technologies Inc., and also serves as vice president for the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. Thompson plays a central role in NACE technical committees, and he chairs the group’s congressional activities committee. He also serves the U.S. secretary of defense as a corrosion task force member of the Defense Science Board.

Cortest Columbus Technologies Inc., or CC Technologies, is Thompson’s brainchild. Established in 1985, the engineering/research/testing firm has become North America’s biggest corrosion science group. From Mexico to Malaysia, the firm is noted for its science and service, especially in the area of pipeline integrity.

Thompson and CC Technologies have recently contributed to an assessment, conducted by the Federal Highway Administration, of the direct costs of metallic corrosion. He continues to lend his analytical abilities, and those of the research teams he has created, to the Congress-mandated study.

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

Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon Inc. is one of the top 200 engineering companies in the nation, recently ranked 171 by Engineering News Record.

Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon was founded by Alabamian Dan Barge Jr. and his Vanderbilt classmates in 1955. The group went on to expand operations in Alabama in 1989 by merging with Sam Wainwright’s company, resulting in the company that it is today. The company has 13 offices in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

The company, along with Wainwright Engineering, has provided engineering services for hundreds of airports throughout the nation. In Alabama, the company has been involved in airport work in almost every county in the state. These projects have included planning and relocating entire airports, runways and taxiways, runway and taxiway extensions, navigational aids, lighting, parking aprons, fuel farms, hangars, terminals, noise analyses, property acquisition and airport industrial parks.

It has also had an impact on the state of Alabama and beyond in other ways, including water and wastewater treatment plants, industrial parks, roads and bridges, industrial facilities and military work.

Southern Research Institute, based in Birmingham, has often played a pivotal role in some of the world’s most fascinating engineering accomplishments since its beginnings in 1945.

One of its early accomplishments was providing critical information leading to the selection of heat-shield materials used in the Apollo space mission. Working with NASA, engineers were able to use the extreme temperature testing facility at Southern Research—the leading facility of its kind. NASA could submit materials for heat testing up to 5,000° Fahrenheit.

Institute engineers also developed the radiometer, which is used with a telescope to make temperature measurements of the moon’s surface and to select landing sites for manned missions.

More recently, a Southern Research engineer was asked to serve on the committee investigating the Columbia shuttle disaster. The Southern Research engineering team continues to work closely with NASA as it prepares for a return to space.

The environment and energy department of Southern Research’s engineering division has provided environmental research and services to the government, industry and private institutions around the world. A primary focus of the department has been in developing better ways to reduce air pollution and solid waste emissions from energy and other sources.

With decades of expertise in aerospace engineering, Southern Research engineers now serve as a local go-to resource for the growing automotive manufacturing industry in Alabama and the Southeastern United States.

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.

Note to Editors: For more information about the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame, visit the Web site at http://aehof.eng.ua.edu.