Ohio native Ervin J. Nutter enrolled in the undergraduate program in mechanical engineering at UK in 1934. He later dropped out to go to work for, among other companies, Procter and Gamble. During this time he became the youngest person ever in the state of Ohio to pass a professional engineer’s license exam. After a job promotion went to a colleague holding an engineering degree, Nutter moved his family back to Lexington where he convinced UK administrators to allow him to enroll in the middle of the semester. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1943.
Born and educated in Fayette County, Kentucky, Samuel M. Cassidy received his Bachelor of Science in metallurgical engineering in 1925. After graduation, he accepted a position with Allen and Garcia Company, consulting and construction engineers, in Chicago, Illinois, where he received valuable experience in the field of coal mining. While employed at Allen and Garcia, he completed the requirements for a masters degree in mining engineering (’28). In 1946, he became president of Consolidation Coal Company (KY) in Jenkins, Kentucky.
By his own description, Louis Ware’s career was a planned one which, “with tenacity, the help of other competent people, a good health record and, of course, a goodly portion of luck, worked out as planned.” Following receipt of a Bachelor of Mining Engineering degree from the University of Kentucky College of Mining Engineering in 1917, Mr. Ware headed for the mines to become miner and underground boss for Old Dominion Copper Company in Globe, Arizona. His plan included getting experience in all types of mining, and he did just that.
Miss Margaret Ingels came to the University of Kentucky from Paris, Kentucky, hoping to pursue a degree in architecture. Fortunately for the engineering profession, there was no degree program in architecture at UK at that time and Dean F. Paul Anderson persuaded her to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering as “the next best thing.” She was the first female engineering graduate from this institution when she received her Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering in 1916.
Joseph A. Boyd, educator, scientist and business executive, was born in Oscar, Ballard County, Kentucky. He earned his Bachelor of Science in 1946 and Master of Science in 1949 in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky. He held a position on the UK faculty while working on his graduate degree and, in 1950, he joined the electrical engineering faculty at the University of Michigan. Dr. Boyd received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1954.
His nominator accurately described David Blythe when he wrote, “In a career which covers 50 years he has touched thousands of UK graduates as an instructor, mentor, colleague, leader and engineer of the highest character.” Born and educated in Georgetown, Kentucky, Dean Blythe received his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering at the University of Kentucky in 1940. He worked for the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Corps of Engineers and served in the Air Force as an engineering officer advancing from 2nd Lieutenant to Major during his four and a half years of service.
Ralph Anderson called himself an engineer and a farmer. Born and raised in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, he began his formal education in engineering at the University of Cincinnati after serving approximately two and one-half years as a B-29 flight engineer in the U.S. Air Force. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from UK in 1950, working during his two years at UK in the Engineering Machine Shop. He spent the next seven years at General Motors and General Electric Company as a test engineer, and at Kett Corporation in analytical analysis and design.
Since receiving his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kentucky in 1966, Eliott D. James has distinguished himself in a number of engineering and management positions with several of the nation’s leading technical corporations. As a group executive with Harris Corporation, he was responsible for multiple divisions including distributed data processing, interactive terminals and word processing.
S. J. “Sam” Whalen, a native of Frankfort, Kentucky, served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Following his discharge in 1945, he entered the University of Kentucky , receiving his Bachelor of Science in metallurgical engineering in 1949. He was employed as a research engineer by Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio prior to entering Ohio State University, where he received his masters degree in metallurgical engineering in 1951.
R. Wayne Skaggs was born and educated in Elliott County, Kentucky. He received a Bachelor of Science in agricultural engineering in 1964 (with high distinction), and a Master of Science degree in 1966 from the University of Kentucky. After receiving his doctor of philosophy in agricultural engineering from Purdue University in 1970, Dr. Skaggs joined the faculty of the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at North Carolina State University.
