He is a little uncomfortable as he prepares for retirement, “just because I don’t know what lies ahead.”

Indeed, Benefield showed up at the office nearly every Saturday morning when he wasn’t on the road, to find time to think and strategize in relative peace and quiet, or simply to take the week in review as he planned for the upcoming one.

“I plan to support Chris Roberts, the incoming dean, with any kind of help that is requested,” he has commented. “But beyond that, I don’t want to be around to second-guess the programs, goals and planning that he will bring to the table. I see it as counterproductive.”

He and Mary are relatively new grandparents, so he does plan to take more time with his family, which includes Brynna, her husband Richard, their daughter Zosia and his son Bryan, who was born in Auburn in 1983. He may consider consulting on a schedule that he feels represents a good balance between his professional abilities and personal opportunities.

And he will take the time, at homecoming this fall, to attend a ceremony in which the laboratories in the new Advanced Engineering Research Laboratories will be collectively named as the Benefield Laboratories. It will be a fitting tribute to one whose belief in research — and whose love of Auburn — has never wavered.

Taking the Reins

At the end of June, Larry Benefield will officially relinquish his duties as dean of the College of Engineering, and will hand the reins over to Chris Roberts, department chair and Uthlaut professor of chemical engineering at Auburn.

“I have had the opportunity to watch Dr. Roberts develop from a dynamic young faculty member who excelled in both instruction and research to a very efficient and effective department chair,” says Benefield. “He is brilliant, innovative and creative with incredible personal skills. He will bring these attributes to his new position as dean and without question will do an outstanding job.”

Roberts, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri and a master’s and doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, came to Auburn in 1994 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and has been chair of that department since 2003. He has a strong record of scholarly and academic achievement in nanotechnology and synthetic fuels, and has published more than 110 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in leading chemical engineering, chemistry, materials and related journals.

In addition, he has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than $16 million in extramurally funded research contracts and grants at Auburn University from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture, and National Energy Technology Lab, as well as industrial sponsors and others.

“Dr. Roberts has an outstanding record of achievement in teaching and research and has demonstrated exceptional leadership as chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering,” said Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Timothy Boosinger. “I am confident that he has the ability to significantly advance the college’s mission.”

Roberts will become dean effective July 1. “I am extremely pleased and humbled to have been appointed as the new dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering,” he said. “I certainly look forward to assisting our students and faculty to reach our full collective potential, and we will continue our trajectory of becoming one of the truly premier colleges of engineering in the nation.”

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