MSU engineering college names new group of outstanding alums

Contact: Maridith Geuder

Ten Mississippi State engineering graduates representing federal agencies, academic institutions and private-sector industries are being honored by the university for lifelong professional contributions.

MSU's James Worth Bagley College of Engineering recently named them its 2003 Distinguished Fellows, the most prestigious alumni recognition the college bestows.

This year's group includes W.B. Berry of Houston, Texas; Carmelo J. Bianca Jr. of Huntsville, Ala.; Eugene H. Bishop of Clemson, S.C.; C. Dorman Blaine of Knoxville, Tenn.; Ron Brightwell of Albuquerque, N.M.; Bradley D. Carter of Lexington, Ky.; Paul R. Davis of Shreveport, La.; Beth C. Fleming of Vicksburg; James W. Jones of Gainesville, Fla., and Everette R. Ramage, also of Huntsville.

The engineering college, currently ranked 34th in the nation for engineering research expenditures by the National Science Foundation, is one of MSU's two oldest academic units.

"In more than 100 years of its existence, the college has educated some of the most highly qualified engineers in the state, region and nation," said Dean A. Wayne Bennett. "Our 2003 Fellows exemplify a wide range of professional accomplishments, from furthering space flight research to improving technologies for environmental assessment and restoration. Each is an outstanding professional."

Berry, a 1974 petroleum engineering graduate and Gulfport native, is executive vice president for exploration and production at ConocoPhillips. After completing a master's degree at MSU in 1976, he went on to hold successively responsible positions at then-Phillips Petroleum Co. at locations in Arkansas, Texas, Africa, and China, among others. Following Phillips' 2002 merger with Conoco, he served as president of the Asia-Pacific division until being named to his current position.

Bianca, a 1959 aeronautical engineering graduate and Indianola native, joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville in 1960 as a stress engineer. Later, he was named leader of the center's solid rocket booster team and went on to hold a variety of successively responsible positions, including manager of the stress analysis team that investigated the failure of the 51-L Space Shuttle. The Saturn 1 and 1B, Space Shuttle main engines, Spacelab, Space Station, and Hubble Space Telescope are among other projects on which he has worked.

Bishop is a 1955 mechanical engineering graduate who went on to complete a doctorate in 1964 from the University of Texas before returning to MSU as an associate professor for three years. He subsequently held academic positions as department head at Montana State and Clemson universities. At Clemson, he also served as associate dean for instruction before returning to teaching in 1986. Now retired, he was honored by the South Carolina institution with designations as Alumni Master Teacher and University Alumni Professor.

Blaine is founder and president of Blaine Construction Co., a Knoxville-based nationwide general contraction and construction management business whose clients include Saturn Corp., DuPont and Boeing Co. Blaine Construction is the primary contractor for a $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source Project now being built by the United States Department of Energy in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Blaine is a member of the MSU Engineering Dean's Development Council.

Brightwell is a mathematics graduate of MSU who went on to complete a master's degree in computer science in 1994. Now at the Center for Computation, Computers, Information, and Mathematics at Sandia National Laboratories, he leads system software research and development for the laboratory's computational plant. Sandia is a contractor-operated government facility involved in national security research.

Carter is a longtime Starkville resident who recently retired at MSU, where he completed bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering. He joined the computer science department in 1972 and served as department head 1980-89. He subsequently held positions as education coordinator for the Engineering Research Center and as the university's associate provost for information services. A doctoral graduate of the University of Arkansas, he earlier this year became chief administrative officer for development of a new visualization research center at the University of Kentucky.

Davis, a 1937 civil engineering graduate now retired, established a number of businesses over his career, including an air freight line, several gas companies and a residential land development enterprise. He also worked as a natural gas consultant and was a registered professional engineer in three states. He has been a contributor to a number of student development activities at his alma mater.

Fleming is a 1988 chemical engineering graduate now serving as deputy director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's environmental laboratory in Vicksburg. The lab conducts research in a wide range of environmental areas, including restoration, wetlands technology and water quality. Fleming also holds master's and doctoral degrees from Louisiana State University.

Jones, a Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Florida, is a pioneer in developing biophysical models in agriculture. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and the American Society of Agronomy. He also serves as a board member of the International Consortium for Agricultural Systems Applications, as well as the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

Ramage, a 1969 electrical engineering graduate and former Vardaman resident, is vice president of engineering for the Enterprise Network Division of ADTRAN Inc., a Huntsville-based supplier of network access products to support digital telecommunication operations. He earlier worked for a number of systems development companies and help found Atlanta, Ga.-based Tech 21, a company that developed automated fuel control systems. He is the ADTRAN liaison to the MSU engineering college.