{"id":9783,"date":"2024-05-15T13:15:05","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T13:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=9783"},"modified":"2024-12-09T20:28:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T20:28:09","slug":"doc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=9783","title":{"rendered":"Doc"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mechanical engineering professor David Dyer is retiring after the longest Auburn career of any faculty member in university history. The man they call Doc reflects on how things on the Plains have changed over the past 59 years \u2014 and how some never have.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s no real secret. He liked it \u2014 that\u2019s it. He liked machines. He liked engineering. He liked students. He liked feeling that through his position in Auburn University\u2019s Department of Mechanical Engineering \u2014 first as an assistant professor, then as an associate, eventually as chair from 1995-2008 \u2014 he made a difference each day \u2014 all 21,500 or so. He wasn\u2019t trying to set a record. It just happened. At least, best anyone can tell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because if there\u2019s a professor who\u2019s taught longer \u2014 not just in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, but all of Auburn University \u2014 no one knows about it. George Petrie? Former engineering dean J.J. Wilmore? Rookies. Didn\u2019t even pass the 55-year mark. Professor David Dyer \u2014 or Doc Dyer as they\u2019ve called him for as long as anyone can remember? 59 years. His retirement, which went into effect May 31, closed the chapter on 59 years of teaching… at the same school, in the same department, in the same way. With the same values. Fifty-nine years of training young Auburn minds and hands to work skillfully. Fifty-nine years of just Doc being Doc. <\/span><\/p>\n

Inspiration<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Things started up in Tennessee in the 1940s, just south of Nashville, in a place called Eagleville. Population: not much. Doc would probably fancy himself the second-best engineer to come out of Eagleville. He\u2019s good. But he\u2019ll be the first to tell you \u2014 he\u2019s no Dump Edmunds. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Wizard of Eagleville<\/a>\u201d \u2014 that\u2019s what the Eagleville Times calls Edmunds every time it does a local history spread. Doc remembers him well. Is it safe to call Edmunds one of his inspirations? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yeah,\u201d Doc said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019d take a break from his farm chores, walk down to the grocery store and sit around listening to Edmunds \u201cholding court,\u201d talking about his inventions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe invented the dump truck,\u201d Doc said with a smile. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, Google\u2019s a little less certain about that than Doc. Whatever Edmunds\u2019 contribution to the evolution of the modern dump truck isn\u2019t quite as celebrated as, say, John Isaac Thornycroft or Garfield Wood. But, in Eagleville, that\u2019s the story. In Doc\u2019s mind, that\u2019s the story. He\u2019s sticking to it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why they called him Dump,\u201d Doc said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dump Edmunds, “The Wizard of Eagleville.\u201d<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another inspiration? His uncle, Paul Fairfield. He had a lot of patents, mostly related to canning. It soon became clear to young Doc that farming might not be for him. And if you knew about machines \u2014 if you knew how they worked, which Doc always just seemed to \u2014 there might be another life available, or at least an easier one. So, when he asked his mom how he could be like Uncle Paul and do things like Dump, she told him the two magic words: mechanical engineering. <\/span><\/p>\n

He started school at Middle Tennessee State University, paying his own way. They had a sort of pre-engineering pipeline program going with the University of Tennessee: get your basics out of the way, head to Knoxville. Which is what David did.<\/span><\/p>\n

He got good grades. He met his wife, Angie. And he met Mancil Milligan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Birth of A Teacher<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

If Edmunds opened Doc\u2019s eyes to the wonders of engineering, then Milligan, a young University of Tennessee mechanical engineering professor who taught a class on boilers, opened his eyes to the wonders of teaching engineering.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the one who kind of got me going in that direction,\u201d Doc said. \u201cHe was just good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Milligan, who is still very much alive at 92 years old \u2014 much to the surprise of his former student \u2014 says the same about Doc.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely remember David,\u201d said Milligan, professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee. \u201cDavid got it. He kind of helped teach some of the others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes \u2014 that was part of the charm of Milligan\u2019s class, Doc said. It was almost as if Milligan taught him how to teach engineering. <\/span><\/p>\n

Several of the boys would come by his room in South Stadium Hall and ask Doc to elaborate on Milligan\u2019s instruction. It was almost like it was his own little class. Doc loved seeing the light bulbs go off. He knew it was for him. <\/span><\/p>\n

He finished his bachelor\u2019s in mechanical engineering at Tennessee. Then, he headed off to Georgia Tech for his master\u2019s and doctorate, excelling there, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
David Dyer during his undergraduate days at the University of Tennessee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1965, geography was a big factor when it came time to hunt for a job. He interviewed at Vanderbilt. But the big city? No. He wanted something closer to home, if not on the map then at least in spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n

He interviewed at the school across the state. He interviewed at Clemson. In the end, he got as close to Eagleville as he could \u2014 War Eagle Country.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAuburn impressed me,\u201d Doc said. \u201cThey had good students who were probably a little more ahead of the students at Tennessee. They had some good young faculty. They had good facilities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They even had a computer \u2014 one whole computer. You could walk down to the computer lab in Broun Hall, drop off the punch card with the numbers you wanted crunched, come back after lunch and hope for the best. Doc shook hands with engineering Dean Grady Cox, who told him that at 25 years old, Doc was the college\u2019s youngest hire, or at least in modern memory. Doc packed his bags for Auburn. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then he packed them for London. <\/span><\/p>\n

Cold War, Hot Research<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

For Doc, another selling point for Auburn had been the luxury the college allowed professors when it came to professional development. He quickly saw it firsthand. Within a year of arriving at Auburn, he\u2019d been offered a National Science Foundation (NSF) postdoctoral fellowship at Imperial College; Cox told him to go for it. He and Angie spent a year in London.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he returned to Auburn, a new dimension of his still new job had opened up \u2014 research, important research, and lots of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the mid-1960s. The Cold War was warmer than ever. Though he hadn\u2019t realized it when he accepted the fellowship, the professor Doc studied under, Brian Spalding, was the world\u2019s leading expert in something Uncle Sam was growing increasingly interested in. <\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly, the young professor whose college research had focused mostly on freeze-drying knew as much as practically anyone in the United States about heat and mass transfer \u2014 the nuclear kind. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI brought that knowledge back to Auburn, and we got several million dollars\u2019 worth of contracts,\u201d Doc said. \u201cBack then, that was big money.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And from big groups. The Army. The Navy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
In 1972, Dyer (left) and colleague Glennon Maples (right) formed the Boiler Efficiency Institute, a nationally recognized energy consultancy still operating today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey wanted to know how you could fortify assets against nuclear blasts,\u201d Doc said. \u201cMe and Dr. Glenn Maples went to Washington, D.C. at least once a month for several years getting research support. We had it pretty good with the NSF and the Office of Naval Research. We did that work here for about 10 years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There was other work, too. Less life-and-death, but just as in demand. Maples and Doc soon formed a lucrative, nationally respected energy consultancy still operating today<\/a>. Want to know how to conserve power? Call Doc. Want to do things with a boiler you didn\u2019t think possible? Call Doc. <\/span><\/p>\n

Doc\u2019s colleague P.K. Raju, the Thomas Walter Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, would add one more thing to the list: want to get students interested in learning? Call Doc. <\/span><\/p>\n

Doc\u2019s reputation as a researcher was already well-established when Raju arrived at Auburn in 1984. What immediately impressed Raju, though, was how Doc leveraged it in the classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

‘I Just Liked It’<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Dyer\u2019s consultancy projects and expert witness assignments endowed him with a wealth of industrial experience that he used to enhance the educational experience of students,\u201d Raju said. \u201cHe has been a strong advocate for providing experiential learning opportunities within the department.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Raju immediately points to the Auburn Engineering Technical Assistance Program, which earned national recognition and a significant NSF award for providing students real-world experience through technical assistance to industries in Alabama. Raju directed it. But Doc helped establish it, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWithout him, it wouldn\u2019t have happened,\u201d Raju said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doc also helped Raju establish and develop the Laboratory for Innovative Technology and Engineering Education, which produced award-winning, real-world multimedia case studies for use in mechanical engineering classrooms.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Raju, that was exactly the vision and leadership that made Doc an obvious choice to chair the department in 1995. Pradeep Lall, the MacFarlane Endowed Distinguished Professor and Alumni Professor, feels the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDoc\u2019s impact on education and research during his tenure as department chair and as a faculty member will continue to be felt long into the future,\u201d Lall said. \u201cBut the thing that impressed me the most about Doc was his passion for student learning.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

That, said Lall, will be the image that sticks with him: walking through Wiggins Hall, looking over and seeing future engineers packed around Doc\u2019s desk, asking questions, getting answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

John Prunkl, a 1990 mechanical engineering graduate who chairs the Department of Mechanical Engineering\u2019s Advisory Board, was one of those students. At Doc\u2019s recent retirement celebration, Prunkl, who owns a Chicago-based energy company and has more than 30 years in the power industry, surprised Doc with news of a $25,000 scholarship the board plans to endow in his name. <\/span><\/p>\n

In his mind, no mechanical engineering professor in Auburn history deserves it more.<\/span><\/p>\n