In Memoriam

Faculty

Mo-Shing Chen

The professor emeritus of electrical engineering passed away on April 30, 2023, in Taiwan. He spent his entire academic career at UTA, retiring in 2003 after 41 years. By all accounts, Dr. Chen was an outstanding teacher and researcher who made numerous contributions to the field of energy systems.

Chen created a short course titled “Modeling and Analysis of Modern Power Systems” that he later made into a two-week class for industry professionals. More than 1,500 people attended the course over the 35 years of its existence. He founded the Energy Systems Research Center in 1968 and was its director until his retirement. In 1976, he was chosen as the first “Power Engineering Professor of the Year” by the Edison Electric Institute. He was honored by the college in 2023 as one of the first recipients of its Legacy Award, which is given to someone who is or was a tenured College of Engineering faculty member in recognition of outstanding career-long performance and dedication to the college.

Don Wilson

A professor and associate chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering who served UTA for 55 years, Dr. Wilson passed away suddenly on April 11, 2023. He had more than 50 years of experience in the fields of gas dynamics, high-speed aerodynamics, and propulsion. He joined the faculty in 1968 as an assistant professor, became a professor in 1983, and served as department chair from 1997-2003.

Wilson established the UTA Aerodynamics Research Center and was involved in the development of its numerous test facilities. He directed the NASA/UTA Center for Hypersonic Research from 1993-97 and also initiated UTA's detonation wave engine research programs in 1994.

He spent two summers at NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center as a NASA/ASEE Faculty Fellow and was involved in the NASA/Department of Energy National MHD Power Generator Program. Wilson was also faculty advisor to NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla ('84 MS, Aerospace Engineering), who perished in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on reentry to Earth's atmosphere, and he was frequently interviewed about her in the following decades.

Alumni

Dan Sutherland ('51 AS, Mechanical Engineering) 90, Dec. 26, 2022, Red Oak, TX.

Charles Melvin Brown ('52 AA, Engineering) 92, Jan. 23, 2022, North Richland Hills, TX.

Eddie Lee Wells ('53 AA, Electrical Engineering) 88, Jan. 21, 2022, Burleson, TX.

William Theodore Masters ('54 AS, Engineering) 87, March 30, 2022, Grandview, TX.

David Woodall ('54 AS, Engineering) 87, June 16, 2022, Fort Worth, TX.

Charles Leonard McMillon ('60 AA, Engineering) 86, Dec. 22, 2021, Blackwell, OK.

Henry “Hank” Marshall ('62 BS, Electrical Engineering) 84, March 19, 2022, Fort Worth, TX.

Richard L. Johnson ('63 BS, Electrical Engineering) 84, Aug. 2, 2022, San Antonio, TX.

John Thomas Lewandowsky ('63 BS, Electrical Engineering) 81, Jan. 29, 2022, Lewisville, TX.

James Dewayne McClure ('63 BS, Mechanical Engineering) 81, May 3, 2022, Tyler, TX.

John David Garland ('64 BS, Civil Engineering) 80, Feb. 23, 2022, Mesquite, TX.

Robert V. Wolff ('65 BS, Mechanical Engineering) 87, Dec. 26, 2022, Fort Worth, TX.

James Edward Stracener ('66 BS, Civil Engineering) 79, April 1, 2022, Waxahachie, TX.

Joe Valera Milliorn ('67 BS, Civil Engineering) 78, Jan. 25, 2022, Arlington, TX.

Everette Eugene Gray ('68 BS, Mechanical Engineering) 78, Dec. 7, 2022, Austin, TX.

Lee Deatherage Taylor ('68 BS, Industrial Engineering) 94, Nov. 24, 2020, Arlington, TX.

Alba Jay “AJ” Bonham ('70 BS, Electrical Engineering) 85, Sept. 26, 2022, Albuquerque, NM

David Wayne McCulloch ('70 BS, Mechanical Engineering) 75, Aug. 14, 2022, Arlington, TX.

Howard Don Richardson ('70 BS, Civil Engineering) 82, March 13, 2022, Carrollton, TX.

William “Bill” D. McCoy ('71 BS, Electrical Engineering) 84, Oct. 21, 2022, Wylie, TX.

Forester Ensign Woodruff Jr. ('72 MS, Industrial Engineering) 86, Aug. 16, 2022, Des Moines, WA.

Ruben Paco Madrid ('73 BS, Mechanical Engineering) 82, Dec. 18, 2022, Silver City, NM.

Gary Kenneth Trietsch ('74 MS, '69 BS, Civil Engineering) 75, Nov. 7, 2022, Houston, TX.

Harvey Gene Oppermann ('75 MS, '71 BS, Civil Engineering) 73, July 16, 2022, Fort Worth, TX.

Ernest Michael “Mike” Smith ('78 BS, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) 71, Feb. 14, 2022, West Columbia, SC.

David Ray Harvey ('80 BS, Electrical Engineering) 78, March 9, 2022, Joshua, TX.

Galen Ray Blake ('83 BS, Electrical Engineering) 62, Aug. 3, 2022, Austin, TX.

Larry Dean Hyde ('85 BS, Electrical Engineering) 90, Nov. 30, 2022, Deer Park, TX.

Steven O. Mosbey ('88 BS, Electrical Engineering) 63, Aug. 15, 2022, Huntsville, TX.

Charles Allen Hamilton ('91 BS, Civil Engineering) 60, Dec. 25, 2022, Bedford, TX.

Thomas Lawrence Frey Jr. ('95 PhD, '88 MS, Electrical Engineering) 61, Oct. 15, 2022, Fort Worth, TX.

Charlie Roy Wilkinson III ('97 BS, Computer Science and Engineering) 53, July 31, 2022, Fort Worth, TX.