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Description
This fourth book in the author’s memoir series discusses the twenty years he was a professor at Virginia Tech, rising through the ranks from assistant to associate to full professor. He reviews his role in conceiving and developing the NASA-Virginia Tech Composites Program. A program that had a major impact on graduate education and the production of engineers capable of working with fibrous composite materials. According to a NASA administrator the program was “one of the most significant contributions to the country coming out of Langley’s composites research”. The author discusses his leadership role in the Virginia Tech personal computer initiative. This 1984 initiative resulted in Virginia Tech being the first public university in the country to require freshmen engineering students to purchase their own personal computer. The initiative is considered to be a major academic advancement at Virginia Tech. During his years in Blacksburg, the author became an Atlantic Coast Conference football official. He discusses many of the highlights of games he worked including, then TV announcer, Coach Darrel Royal, commenting on national TV during the 1974 Blue Bonnet Bowl game “look at that official, he’s the only one that can keep up with the runner”. The book includes details of the year that he was on sabbatical at École Polytechnique in Paris, France, including highlights of his families travels throughout Europe when he would give lectures. The book also includes discussion of rental property ownership in Blacksburg and Sunset Beach, NC. The Appendix has listings of graduate students, scholarly publications, officiated football games, crews and coaches, and details of the Virginia Tech personal computer initiative, the NASA-Virginia Tech Composites Program, and real estate transactions. In 2020, the author was recognized with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.
Publication Date
4-23-2021
Recommended Citation
Herakovich, Carl, "Carl T. Herakovich Professor Virginia Tech 1967-87" (2021). Alumni Publications. 3.
https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/alum_pub/3