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Alumni in the Spotlight
The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize was shared by former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose contributors included a number of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s world-class experts. One of those experts is Thomas Barnwell (BS CE ‘69; MS ESE ‘71). Barnwell is a senior science advisor with the EPA’s International Center for Environmental Research. For over three decades, his responsibilities included development, modification and testing of simulation models of transport and fate of pollutants in the environment. He provided invaluable technical assistance to states, EPA regional and program offices, and other ORD offices. Barnwell has been actively involved in the Global Change Research Program, where his research interests included biogenic emissions of radioactively important trace gasses, coupling of terrestrial systems models with atmospheric models, and soil organic matter dynamics. He is active in professional associations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers, the International Water Association, the Water Environment Federation, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Geophysical Union.
In its award announcement, the Nobel Committee recognized the recipients “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”
Gene Smith (BS EE ‘70), was a 2007 recipient of GE's Edison Award. As a Senior Systems Engineer working in GE Transportation Systems - Rail Solutions, Smith helped to establish Locotrol Distributed Power some 25 years ago and foster its development into the tremendous success story that it is today. With LOCOTROL distributed power, railroads can optimize the distribution of power and braking control over the entire length of a train. Installed on more than 8,500 locomotives around the world, the systems provide control of remote locomotives by command signals sensed at the lead locomotive and transmitted over a radio data link to the remote units.
Named after one of GE’s founders and history's most prolific innovator, the prestigious Edison awards are presented to individuals for recent technical contributions that have made a significant impact on the current and future vitality of their businesses. Recipients receive a $25,000 grant to fund research at a university of their choice and Smith has donated his award for research in wireless communications at Clemson’s College of Engineering and Science.
Larry B. Copeland, P.E., (BS CE ’59) of Greenville, SC, was named the 2007 Engineer of the Year by the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers at its annual conference in Charleston in June.
Copeland, a veteran in the engineering community, and a registered professional engineer, is a 1959 graduate of Clemson University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering. Copeland has 48 years of experience in the engineering field, starting as a design engineer with Douglas Aircraft Company.
While working for Brown Engineering he worked closely with NASA performing stress analysis on space vehicles liquid oxygen fuel tanks. Copland is currently a Senior Project Manager for an industrial engineering design/bid design/build project for O’Neal, Inc. and has also served as Vice President of O’Neal worldwide.
As an engineer Copeland has served as design engineer with a various companies working on many projects. He has been involved with the National Society of Professional Engineers and SCSPE. He served as vice-president and president of the Piedmont chapter of SCSPE, as well as helped with MathCounts, E-week and the convention committee.
“This year’s 2007 SCSPE Engineer of the Year, Larry B. Copeland, has given a lifetime of knowledge to the Engineering community, and is still offering his expertise,” said Joe S. Jones, Executive Director SCSPE.
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