Campus History – Missouri S&T 150

One active alumnus

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 21:00:55 +0000

James E. Bertelsmeyer Hall was constructed with a lead donation from Bertelsmeyer, along with many other chemical and biochemical engineering alumni.

James E. “Jim” Bertelsmeyer, a 1966 chemical engineering graduate and the retired founder, chair and chief executive officer of Heritage Propane Partners in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a past president of the Miner Alumni Association, a member and past chair of the Missouri S&T Academy of Chemical Engineers, a member of S&T’s Order of the Golden Shillelagh, and the Missouri S&T Board of Trustees. James E. Bertelsmeyer Hall was constructed with a lead donation from Bertelsmeyer, along with many other chemical and biochemical engineering alumni.

So April. Very Fools. Many Smart. Amaze.

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:54:59 +0000

Missouri S&T homepage featuring Doge. Such wow.

We don’t always pull pranks on April Fool’s Day. But when we do, we win. So proclaimed WIRED on their Tumblr when they got word of our April 1, 2014, redo of our main website. On that day, the images on the home page were doctored by images of an internet-famous shiba inu dog — named “Doge” by cyber-memers — and accompanied by Doge-speak, a type of pidgin English that accompanies the Doge meme. Amaze.

Chain reaction

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:52:41 +0000

Take 60 sleep-deprived students — easy enough to find in Rolla — and add 450,000 strips of newsprint and 530,000 staples. What do you get? A 40.67-mile paper chain. In March 1997, S&T students spent nearly 24 hours in the Student Recreation Center constructing the chain in an effort to beat the previous record of 37.06 miles, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. “Breaking a Guinness record is something I’ve wanted to do since sixth grade,” says Patrick Painter, who organized the event during his sophomore year. Painter earned an engineering management degree in 1999 and an economics degree in 2003. He is now chief financial officer at Chicago-based Industrial Flow Solutions.

While the team did set a record, it was short-lived. The new 24-hour record for a team paper chain, set in 2005, is over 54 miles.

Solar Village people

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:50:11 +0000

Before there was a Solar Village on campus, there was a sole villager. Allison Arnn graduated in 2005 with an engineering management degree. A member of the university’s very first Solar House Design Team, Arnn spent her senior year living in the house the team designed and built for the 2002 Solar Decathlon, a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored design competition. As the first occupant of an S&T student-built solar home, Arnn covered rent, water and sewage, but didn’t have to worry about an electric bill. “It is a welcome relief” to have one less bill to pay, she said. “And it is such a unique opportunity. How many college students can tell people they lived in a solar house while they attended school?”

Several students – and even faculty – have followed in Arnn’s footsteps by taking up solar living in S&T’s Solar Village, which now consists of four student-designed homes, and a “solar suburb” of sorts, the EcoVillage, which contains two solar homes. Both villages are equipped microgrids, where researchers can study the impact of living in a home fueled by alternative energy.

‘Who is Ilene Morgan?’

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:49:50 +0000

Dr. Ilene Morgan was featured on the quiz show Jeopardy! Photo by B.A. Rupert, Missouri S&T.

If “third time’s a charm” were a category on the quiz show Jeopardy!, then “Who is Dr. Ilene Morgan?” might be one of the answers. The clue might go like this:“This Missouri S&T faculty member tried twice to land a spot on this program before finally succeeding in 2012.” A longtime trivia buff and a Jeopardy! fan since childhood, Morgan made her Jeopardy! debut on the March 5, 2013, episode of the show. The associate professor of mathematics and statistics described the experience as “bucket-list awesome,” and added that recording the program before a studio audience didn’t bother her. “I was not thinking about the audience, or the camera, or the money,” Morgan said. “I was just playing trivia, and I was having fun.”

Morgan, who is now retired from S&T, loves to play trivia. “I have a brain like flypaper,” she said. “Random things will kind of stick to it.” But success on Jeopardy!, as with trivia games, is “more about being knowledgeable” about a variety of things than it is about intelligence, Morgan said. “It’s not that trivia is useful, but there’s a sense that everybody can watch Jeopardy! and, when you get a question that everybody misses, you can say to yourself, ‘Ha! I could be on Jeopardy!’”

Clued in on Jeopardy!

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:49:01 +0000

This Missouri S&T professor of foreign languages was once a clue on the popular TV game show Jeopardy! If you guessed, “Who is Dr. Gerald Cohen?” congratulations. Cohen earned the distinction of being named in a clue on the Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, edition of the show. The clue was: “Professor Gerald Cohen, an expert on word origins, edits a learned journal called ‘Comments on’ this.” For those of you playing at home, the correct answer is: “What is ‘etymology.’”

In his journal, Cohen writes about the possible or likely origins of words and phrases in the American lexicon, such as “abacus,” “kibosh” and “jazz.” He wasn’t watching the program when his name appeared; a family friend called him to inform him. “My reaction was, of course, complete surprise,” Cohen said on the day following the program. “I didn’t wake up yesterday morning wondering if I’d be on Jeopardy! My second thought was, ‘Hey, I could have answered that question.’”

First woman department chair

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:47:41 +0000

In 1990, Dr. Elizabeth Cummins was named chair of Missouri S&T’s English department. She joined S&T as an instructor in 1967 after teaching five years at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

She taught classes on literature, science fiction and technical writing. Beyond her teaching and scholarly accomplishments, including three Faculty Excellence Awards, Cummins was one of the driving forces in the university’s establishment of a writing center and she co-directed, with Dr. Catherine Riordan, an award-winning “Women at Work” series.

Cummins was the first recipient of the university’s Woman of the Year Award in 1997 and in 2017, the Dr. Elizabeth Cummins Women’s Advocate Award was established. It goes to an S&T employee, regardless of gender or job title, who demonstrates commitment to women on campus through mentorship and advocacy.

Raising support for scholarship

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 19:10:13 +0000

Zebulun Nash, who graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in 1972, was part of a team that got its start by raising funds for the creation of a Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship at S&T. It took 20 years, but the scholarship endowment became a reality for the university’s students.

‘Mr. Miner’

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 19:09:37 +0000

The name “Mr. Miner” may sound like someone related to mascot Joe Miner, and in Jerry Bayless’s case it may be true. Carrying the aforementioned nickname, Bayless, who earned his bachelor’s degree (1959) in civil engineering,joined the civil engineering faculty while pursuing a master’s degree (1962) in the same discipline. He remained on the faculty and held various administrative positions until his retirement 58 years later in February 2017.

Not your average Joe

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 19:07:01 +0000

You know all about Joe Miner, the world’s greatest mascot. But do you know Joe Minor, the civil engineer? Joseph E. Minor served as chair of S&T’s civil engineering department for five years. An expert in wind engineering, the native Texan specialized in studying the effects of tornadoes and hurricanes on buildings and the performance of window glass. Minor earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M and a Ph.D. from Texas Tech. In 2018, he was named a distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. This Miner, Joe Minor, had a major impact on his profession.