UT Tower lit with 100 to celebrate anniversary of department. Photo by Senior Lecturer Billy Wood.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering welcomed the arrival of its second century with a series of events and activities to commemorate the occasion and launch a three-year capital campaign. On Thursday, September 19, Dr. Robert Ambrose— a 2013 Distinguished Alumnus, member of the External Advisory Committee (EAC) and Division Chief at NASA—gave the first in a series of Chevron Distinguished Lectures, followed by an afternoon reception. On Friday, the EAC members joined the department for pizza and t-shirts, sporting the new logo for the campaign.
That was followed by a dinner and awards ceremony held at the Bob Bullock Museum. At the dinner, the Distinguished Alumni were awarded certificates. Dr. Michael Webber gave a keynote speech on the history of the department, and Chair Jayathi Murthy, Dean Greg Fenves and alumnus Warren Waggoner (Distinguished Alumnus 2006) also spoke. A birthday cake for the department was presented, and later served the next day at the Tailgate party. After dinner, guests adjourned to the UT Tower, which was lit with 100 in the department's honor. On Saturday afternoon, the department hosted its annual Tailgate party, with BBQ and the Tower cake. Several hundred students, alums, EAC members, Distinguished Alumni, faculty and staff enjoyed the festivities.
Party and Event Photos
Faculty members from the Mechanical Engineering Department. Photographed at the Centennial dinner, September 20, 2013.
Dr. D.K. Ezekoye awarded the Distinguished Engineer Awards. In this photo he is recognizing Michael Shane for the Hall of Fame Award.
Distinguished Alumni and Mechanical Engineer Recipients with Chair Murthy, Dean Fenves and Dean Wood 2013 (l-r): Jayathi Murthy, Greg Fenves, Greg Dekunder, Robert Ambrose, Michael McShane, Denise Elston, Kenneth Ball, Sara Brand, John Howell and Sharon Wood. Learn more.
Wishing the department a happy 100th birthday were Dean Greg Fenves, student Sarah Miller, Chair Jayathi Murthy, alumnus Sam Zamrik and Professor Emeritus Gary Vliet.
Centennial dinner audience: Robert Marwill (left), Joe Beaman, Lisa Beaman, Jim Reilly (Phillips 66) and Kim Reilly.
Guests mingled in the rotunda before dinner.
Professors Guihua Yu, Arumugam Manthiram, Dave Bourell and S.V. Sreenivasan chat before dinner.
Kenneth Ball (far right, top row and friends): Top row, left to right: Michael Bryant, D.K. Ezekoye, Dave Bogard, Atul Kohli, Michael Alley, Ken Ball. Bottom row, left to right: Funke Ezekoye, Geni Bryant, Karen Thole, Sandy Ball, Liz Bogard. Dr. Ball was received the Honorary Engineer Award.
Kicking off the Centennial events, Dr. Robert Ambrose from NASA delivered the first Chevron Distinguished Lecture on Thursday afternoon. Ambrose is also a new member of the External Advisory Committee (EAC) and was selected as a Distinguished Alumnus.
The 2013 External Advisory Committee members with Chair Jayathi Murthy. Left to right: Matt Palmer (Chevron), Kan-Well Wang (University of Michigan), Keller Towns (ExxonMobil), Denise Elston (Shell, retired), Warren Waggoner (Exxon, retired), Chair Jayathi Murthy, Byron Pipes (Purdue University), Leslie Phinney (Sandia National Laboratories), Gene Coffman (Ford), David Morgan (Cameron) and Robert Ambrose (NASA-Johnson Space Center).
Students, faculty, staff and EAC members line up for pizza and t-shirts.
A large crowd enjoyed the 17th annual ME Tailgate on Saturday afternoon before the Kansas State game. The department thanks the generosity of Phillips 66 for underwriting the event.
