Bill Richardson, who graduated from Auburn in 1969 with a master’s degree in electrical engineering, spent 26 years working for International Paper (IP) at a time when computer-control innovation was on the rise. Richardson and a team of co-workers, including Auburn engineering alums John Botts (’64 and ’66 mechanical engineering) and Wayne Dobson (’69 electrical engineering), pioneered such efforts for the company, resulting in the first fully computer-controlled paper mill in the world in 1981. Richardson recently detailed the team’s experiences of building a paper mill around the computer for the Computer History Museum of Mountain View, Calif. His report can be found in the museum’s permanent archive collection.
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AUBURN ENGINEERING NEWS
- Auburn Engineering students combine to win $30,000 in Tiger Cage Student Business Idea Competition final round April 2, 2025Liam Heary, a sophomore in computer science and software engineering, and Vincent Visser, a sophomore in industrial and systems engineering, won second and fourth place, respectively, in the university's largest student entrepreneurship event
- Elementary school students learn basics of prototyping through Auburn Engineering egg drop April 2, 2025More than 50 kindergartners through fifth-graders recently descended upon Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium for this year’s egg Drop event, hosted by the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
- Army partners with Auburn to close capability gaps in light tactical vehicles April 1, 2025One of the main motivations for establishing the Auburn University Applied Research Institute (AUARI) in Huntsville in 2022 was to take Auburn Engineering's commitment to national defense to the next level. Mission accomplished.