UA Honors Five Distinguished Engineering Fellows

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama College of Engineering recently honored five alumni and friends of the College by inducting them into its class of 2005 Distinguished Engineering Fellows.

Mark E. Cooper, Robert H. Haubein, Norman Hugh Mathews, James A. McCollum and W. David McGiffert received the top honor the College presents at a ceremony on March 12 at NorthRiver Yacht Club.

Dr. Mark E. Cooper has utilized his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from The University of Alabama to advance the field of medicine as managing principal and general surgeon at the Surgical Clinic PLLC and chief of staff at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. At the Surgical Clinic, he is on the board of 16 surgeons and staff and performs approximately 750 surgeries each year.

In addition to chief of staff duties at Centennial Medical Center, Cooper serves on the surgery advisory committee and the board of trustees. He also works as the medical director of the surgical first assistants program at Nashville Technical School. He has been recognized as a Fellow by the American College of Surgeons and the Southeastern Surgical Congress.

Through his involvement as a member of the chemical and biological engineering advisory board, Cooper has stayed active at the Capstone. He resides in Nashville, Tenn.

Robert H. Haubein retired as executive vice president of Southern Company Generation in 2002, but he still plays an active role in the engineering community through his involvement with The University of Alabama College of Engineering.

As executive vice president of power generation, Haubein was responsible for 66 plants consisting of 273 units with a rating of more than 24,000 megawatts. These included fossil, hydro and combustion turbine plants owned by Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric.

Haubein serves as chair of the Engineering Leadership Board at The University of Alabama and is a member of The University of Alabama President’s Cabinet. Haubein and his wife, Lee, also support UA engineering education through an endowed engineering scholarship.

Haubein, originally from Kansas City, Mo., received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri, and he resides in Tuscaloosa.

Norman Hugh Mathews, managing principal and president of England, Thims & Miller Inc., administers the design of large commercial and residential land development projects which require his knowledge in areas such as transportation, storm water design and water resource management.

Mathews received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology from The University of Alabama in 1981 and began work for Pan American Engineers Inc. In 1983, Mathews joined ETM and has since expanded it to a firm of 220 employees with an annual growth rate of 18 percent over the last 10 years.

Mathews served for two years as the inaugural chairman of the board of directors in the founding of Seamark Ranch, a Christian children’s home for abused, orphaned and homeless children in Jacksonville, Fla. Mathews and his wife, Regina, chose to support UA civil engineering students by establishing an endowed engineering scholarship in 2002. Mathews resides in Jacksonville, Fla.

James A. McCollum worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority National Fertilizer Development Center in Muscle Shoals, Ala., for 41 years.

After graduating from The University of Alabama in 1940 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, McCollum joined TVA as a chemical engineering aid assigned to the phosphate branch, which produced 60 percent of the phosphorus used by the Allies in World War II and a quarter of a million tons of calcium carbide used in synthetic rubber production during this period of defense operations.

McCollum entered the U.S. Navy in 1944 and returned to TVA in 1946. He was then assigned to an operation that produced a chemical agent for the U.S. Army during the Korean War. McCollum became chief of the phosphate branch in 1972 and chief of the ammonia branch in 1976. Though he retired in 1982, McCollum continued to work with TVA’s office of agricultural and chemical development for two years as a consultant. McCollum supports the College through an endowed engineering scholarship to support chemical engineering students. He resides in Sheffield.

W. David McGiffert, president of McGiffert & Associates LLC, manages the preparation of engineering designs, economic feasibility studies, hydraulic studies, wastewater discharge permitting and preliminary engineering reports for site development and residential projects.

McGiffert worked for McGiffert & Associates on a part-time basis for nine years until receiving his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from The University of Alabama in 1974. He then began as project engineer and eventually became president and manager of McGiffert & Associates.

He leads the company of nine engineers and a total staff of 39 and has played an integral part in the economic development of the Tuscaloosa area through projects with the city of Tuscaloosa, the city of Northport, and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International. In 2003, McGiffert & Associates and Price McGiffert Construction Co. Inc. established the David G. McGiffert Endowed Engineering Scholarship supporting UA civil engineering students. McGiffert resides in Tuscaloosa.

In 1837, UA 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, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the five oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.

Note to the Editor: Photos to accompany this release are available from Mary Wymer at mwymer@coe.eng.ua.edu.