Auburn Engineering alumni magazine fall/winter 09 - Samuel Ginn ...

SC: A real, live goat inside Haley Center? (Now Dyer just laughs and
nods, as though he knows that probably isn’t the first time, or the
last, that a farm animal has seen the inside of an Auburn classroom
against its will.) What did you do?
Irwin: I told that goat to get the out of here. I’m sure one of my
students dragged it in there.
SC: Well, I think I’ll skip my next question, “Do you have interesting
classroom stories to share?” Dr. Dyer, no animals in your
classroom?
Dyer: No, no. I’m afraid not.
SC: How have the engineering facilities and
laboratories changed over the years?
Irwin: We certainly have fancier labs now, that’s for sure, with more
sophisticated equipment.
Dyer: With ME, back when we started with the machine shop and
students would make castings, it was very hands-on. Then there
wasn’t as much from about the ’70s to the ’90s. There was more of
a focus on manufacturing. Now, we’re focused on students learning
the theory and practice together with lecture and labs. It’s hard with
the reduced number of hours, which limits that.
Irwin: It’s dictated by technology now. And students of all
engineering majors working together to solve problems. When
I was with the Bell Labs, we’d all sit around a table and say,
“communication is our most important problem.” We weren’t talking
about telephones. Now we stress the importance of communication
and collaboration to engineering students from the beginning.
Dyer: We’re emphasizing teamwork and communication for students.
All the curriculums are centered on it now. Also, the cost to maintain
labs and do the upkeep has skyrocketed.
Dave Dyer, left, and Dave Irwin
Irwin: It takes a great deal of funding to support labs, their research
and the equipment in them. Another thing I’ll never forget is
spending 30 hours writing lab reports.
SC: It seems to me that it’s always good to see
how far you’ve come when it’s time to move
forward. Why do you feel it’s important that we
celebrate the college’s centennial this year?
Irwin: We have a lot of outstanding alumni and graduates who
have left behind big shoes to fill. All of our students have been well
prepared to become just as successful and go out into the world to
follow in their footsteps and share what they learned at Auburn.
Dyer: It’s important to remember that nobody is standing still.
Everyone is out recruiting top students and faculty members. We
have to keep working to build the reputation of the teaching and
research and the quality of the degrees from Auburn. And we need
to continue to grow the funding for endowed professorships and
scholarships for the future.
SC: What’s in store for you both in the future?
Irwin: I’ve picked out my office on the fourth floor, about as far away
from the main office as possible. I’ll be teaching and writing some
books. I’ll also be working with the Engineering Development Office
to help continue to raise funds to support the college.
Dyer: I was recently on the search committee to find the new ME
department head, Jeff Suhling, because my term limits have expired.
I plan to teach and work on a few undergraduate initiatives, like the
2+2 program that brings in engineering students from India to finish
their last two years at Auburn. I’m also working with an outside nonprofit
group to bring more scholarships and fellowships to Auburn.
39