Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 2 Summer 2019 | Page 9

09
A Perfect Experience
Walter O'Brien retires after 52 years in Mechanical Engineering
he was going to build a quality research program in
the department, and offered me a job as an instruc-
tor, which I accepted.
Of the many changes in the department’s under-
graduate teaching program, the introduction of
computers, followed by the availability of modern
software, has to be among the influential changes.
To my Virginia Tech & ME friends and family:
After 52 years with the ME Department at VT,
I’m retiring June 30. What a career is has been! In
some ways, it seems almost forever, in others, it has
passed quickly. Those of you who have worked a
long time will understand what I mean.
I would like to thank all of you; colleagues, fellow
alums, faculty, students, and the VT leadership for
a unique, memorable experience at VPI and VT. It
was a perfect experience for me.
Of course, in 50 years, there have been many
changes in Virginia Tech, the Mechanical Engi-
neering Department, and the practice of mechanical
engineering. My experience since graduating from
VPI in 1960 with a BSME, has spanned graduate
work, six years in industry, teaching, research, and
service as a faculty member, and 11 years as head of
the department.
When I graduated, in a class of about 100, the fac-
ulty were focused on undergraduate teaching, and
they did an excellent job of it. There was an active
MS program, but little funded research. In 1967,
J. Beverly Jones ('JB2' as we knew him) became
Head of the Department. I had come to know “JB2”
during my MS graduate work at Purdue. Based on
my experience in Industrial R&D, I decided I want-
ed to pursue a PhD and in 1967, “JB2” convinced me
My assigned teaching duties as an instructor
spanned slide rule instruction, and the introduction
of FORTRAN into the curriculum. Punch cards
were the initial means of communicating with the
university computer. Dean Paul Torgersen intro-
duced the requirement that all engineering students
have a personal computer, which rapidly advanced
computer-based education in our program, and
with it, word processing. The Internet followed,
and, some will say, changed everything.
Of course, since the 1960’s, we have moved
from an undergraduate-focused program to a top
20 research and teaching department. University
and college leadership, faculty, students, staff and
alumni have all had a part in bringing this about. In
the 1960-1970 period, President T. Marshall Hahn,
Dean Torgersen, and “JB2” were among the leaders
of the change. We moved from an undergradu-
ate program of about 5,000 students, to today’s
25,000+ students, with a large national footprint
among state research universities. Our enrollment
experience for the 2019-2020 session shows the
high regard we enjoy among prospective students.
Our teaching and research activity is national and
international in scope.
It has been exciting, and a privilege to be part of
this progress. Best wishes to all of you as you pro-
duce the changes that will drive the future progress.
Walter F. O'Brien
J. Bernard Jones Professor
Mechanical Engineering