2012 National Engineers Week banquet features Rogers Starr as guest speaker

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  This year's celebration of National Engineers Week will take place Feb. 19-25. Local area activities will include a student design competition, an engineer-for-a-day program and a banquet.

Local area National Engineers Week event sponsors are the Tullahoma chapter of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE), the Highland Rim chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the local Tennessee chapter of the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA) and the Tennessee section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

The theme for National Engineers' Week this year is "7,000,000,000 people, 7 billion dreams, and 7 billion chances for engineers to turn ideas into reality."

The National Engineers Week banquet will be held Feb. 23 at the Manchester/Coffee County Conference Center. The guest speaker will be Rogers Starr, the president of Jacobs Technology.

Starr leads the company's delivery of test and evaluation, technical operations, and engineering support to a wide range of aerospace, defense, energy, and automotive acquisition, engineering, and development programs. The unit consists of 22 dedicated business segments, employing 15,000 personnel, supporting defense, NASA, DOE and automotive customers.

Previously, he served as general manager of test operations at AEDC from 1997 to 2000. From 1994 to 1997, he led major programs supporting DOD, NASA, and automotive companies. From 1990 to 1994, he was general manager of the Technology Group with responsibility for the design, build, and activation of major ground testing facilities globally.

Starr is a member of the AIAA and of the National Society of Professional Engineers where he has held several offices and served on several committees. He was an NSPE Congressional Fellow. He is the author of more than 20 journal articles and conference papers. He received a master's in science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Tennessee (1967) and a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology (1966).

The banquet begins at 5:30 p.m. with a social, followed by dinner at 6 p.m. and then a presentation at 7 p.m. titled, "Engineering: A team sport. The menu will be prime rib, potatoes and vegetables with a dessert. Cost per person is $30. The deadline to purchase banquet tickets is Friday, Feb. 17.

To purchase tickets or for additional information, contact AEDC's Paul Kelly, Tullahoma TSPE chapter member and chairman for the Engineers Week activities, at (931) 454-6542 or call Harry Clark at (931) 454-4495.