Great teachers are at the heart of every great university. From college professors to kindergarten teachers, one thing all educators have in common is a sense of the impact they can have on the life of a child - or a college student, for that matter. Whether they teach math, engineering or art history, Missouri S&T teachers do so with dedication and determination, sharing life lessons along the way.
My first interaction with Ronald Bieniek occurred in the fall of 1996, a few days after my first Physics 23 exam. I got a “D” on the test and I was very upset. After all, this was the first D I had ever gotten on an exam. It wasn’t supposed to happen because I had been a top high-school student, I was good at physics (or so I thought), and I had studied the night before the exam. I explained to Professor Bieniek that clearly there must have been something wrong with his test.
Throughout my time at Missouri S&T, Dr. Chris Ramsay, MetE’83, MS MetE’85, continually challenged me and fellow members of Pi Kappa Alpha to be better men, and to become an integral part of the university and the Rolla community. He is a central part of the continued success of Missouri S&T’s PiKA chapter. He encourages the chapter to think strategically, to develop a road map, and to manage by tracking progress to milestones. We all use these important lessons after graduation. Ramsay is a firm believer that the fraternity is a proving ground for the development of the leadership skills that are required for success in today’s global marketplace.
When I think about the teachers who made a difference in my life, Diana Ahmad is one that sticks out in my memory. She is the one who convinced me, and a great deal of other students, to pursue a history minor.
Probably the course that taught me things that have been most interesting to me over the years was Photography, taught by Ernesto Gutierrez, Engl’77. Ernie taught me, among other things, that using the smallest aperture behind my camera’s lens would give me the most accurate focus.
I never had a class with Jeff Cawlfield during my time at Missouri S&T. Of course, I knew him. He was the head of the department, he frequently attended Association of Engineering Geologists meetings, and he had a pretty good reputation as a teacher.
If helping a wandering undergraduate student find focus and, in the process, a career qualifies as an “impact,” then I would say that Daniel Stutts made a huge impact on my life.
When I came to the United States from South America for my master’s degree at Missouri S&T, I did not know anyone in the whole country, except my adviser, Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe, and her family.
I would imagine that someone who never met Gary Patterson, ChE’60, PhD ChE’66, would be impressed by his intellect, humility and energy. He is a person who some people would call a go-getter, a driven, type A personality with integrity and passion. I never heard him utter a discouraging word, a complaint or a negative comment about anyone or anything. He seemed to accept whatever happened as a challenge to overcome or resolve. As you can see, he has several admirable qualities.
William Andrews was my favorite professor and, without a doubt, the most brilliant, perceptive and best teacher I have ever known - but he was also my very special friend. I struggled with addressing him as “Bill” (which after my graduation he insisted on) because of the utmost respect and admiration I carried for him. While he was most comfortable being referred to as “Bill,” to me it seemed too ordinary for such an extraordinary man.
It was the final exam in fluids class. I had studied hard and I was tired. I wore my Army fatigue jacket to classes that cool morning and, back in those days before most of us could afford the really good calculators, most of us had the old standard four-function calculators. I had a Commodore. It added, subtracted, multiplied and divided, and it had a “k” factor for repetitious multiplication, like in accounting, and that was it! It wasn’t the most useful calculator for a scientific class with integrals, “diffy q,” square roots, etc., but that’s all we had (other than the slide rule, of course, and I never did master that very well).
The Formula SAE Team from Missouri S&T started this racing season ranked No. 9 in the world, and S&T’s 2009 performances have bolstered that standing. Here are some of last spring’s highlights from various student design teams on campus.
Nuran Ercal, an expert in the study of lead toxicity, became the Richard K. Vitek/Foundation for Chemical Research Endowed Chair in Biochemistry at Missouri S&T on June 1. The chair was established in 2005 through a lead gift of nearly $800,000 from Richard K. Vitek, Chem’58, and his wife, Marilyn. It will help combine the expertise of faculty from the departments of chemistry, biological sciences, and chemical and biological engineering.
Kate Drowne, associate professor of English and technical communication, was named 2009 Missouri S&T Woman of the Year. Drowne, who is also director of the S&T Writing Center, was honored during a campus ceremony in April.
Missouri S&T has been selected by the Department of Energy to develop iron phosphate-based glasses for high-level nuclear waste disposal. These glasses can be processed to contain large concentrations of nuclear waste components in a way that keeps those components from dissolving in groundwater.
Movies like A Beautiful Mind notwithstanding, mathematics rarely gets top billing, or even a cameo appearance, in Hollywood movies. But students in Robert Roe’s Foundations of Mathematics class at Missouri S&T starred in a film of their own hoping to better understand a learning method with roots almost as old as mathematics itself.
Joseph Rupp, MetE’72, chair, president and CEO of Olin Corp., challenged graduates to think critically, but be ethical in their decisions during commencement ceremonies May 15-16.
This year, 32 Missouri S&T alumni and former faculty were inducted into Missouri S&T academies. Academy membership recognizes a career of distinction and invites members to share their wisdom, influence and resources with faculty and students.
Eleven Missouri S&T alumni received honorary professional degrees during Spring Commencement. The degrees recognize these graduates for professional achievement:
Missouri S&T researchers believe the power grid of the future will operate much like the Internet, except it will transmit energy and not data, speeding renewable electric-energy technology into every home and business in the country. This National Science Foundation-funded study is just one of a number of energy-related research projects at Missouri S&T that distinguishes the university as a leader in energy research.
It may look like a plain wooden box, but this computer-controlled bartender could give restaurants of the future a smarter way to serve sodas and mixed drinks.
Recent experiments to create a fast-reacting explosive by concocting it at the nano level could mean more spectacular firework displays. But even more impressive to the Missouri S&T professor who led the research, the method used to mix chemicals at that tiny scale could lead to new strong porous materials for high-temperature applications, from thermal insulation in jet engines to industrial chemical reactors.
Federal requirements to increase the production of ethanol have developed into a “drink-or-drive” issue in the Midwest as a result of biofuel production’s impact on water supplies and water quality, says Joel Burken, professor of environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, in the May 1 issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Despite the stirring portrayal in Band of Brothers, Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division was not the first to enter Adolf Hitler’s Berchtesgaden mountain retreat near the end of World War II, says military historian John C. McManus in his latest book.
A fan of country music since childhood, Patrick Huber, associate professor of history and political science, asserts in his latest book that the origins of the genre in the South lie not in rural communities as previously believed, but in cities and towns. His book, Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2008. The book also documents the role of textile mill workers in early country music.
Sandra Magnus, Phys’86, MSEE’90, a mission specialist for NASA and a former standout for the Missouri S&T women’s soccer team, received the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award, and Jordan Henry, EE’09, a standout pole vaulter for the Miners’ track and field squad, received the men’s Paragon Award from the GLVC.
Brooke Ryan has been around the game of soccer her entire life. She started playing when she was 4, but before that she attended her two older brothers’ games.
Jerry Bayless, CE’59, MS CE’62, will probably never know just how much of an impact he has made on the lives of his students. It is not because of his administrative duties as department chair; it is not the numerous awards he has received from professional societies; it is not the many department committees he has served on. As important as all these may have been, what sets him apart is his involvement in student life and extracurricular activities. That is where Bayless has truly made a difference.
Six years before their Golden Alumni Reunion, a dozen members of the Class of 1942 started kicking around the idea about doing “something big” for their upcoming 50th anniversary in 1992.
