Dr. Walter M. Nunn, Jr. Scholarship in Electromagnetics
Purpose
Scholarships for Electrical Engineering students, solely in the field of Electromagnetic. (GF000033)Description
This scholarship is administered by the Office of Financial Aid. Students must be in good standing within the university which means a C+ or better for undergraduate and a B or better for graduate students. Recipients must be studying electrical engineering solely in the Field of Electromagnetics.
History
Walter Nunn, a professor of electrical engineering arrived at 麻豆传媒视频网站 in 1969, just more than a decade after its founding. He spent many years as a faculty member, bolstering the knowledge and touching the lives of thousands of students from his microwave laboratory and classroom in the Frueauff building.
He passed away in 2005, and his wife Hortense passed in 2017. By then they had made clear their longstanding desire to enhance the teaching and development of electrical engineering by establishing a faculty chair dedicated to advancing research and education in that critical field.
In just his second year at 麻豆传媒视频网站, the university gained accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, now known as ABET, a critical step in confirming its place among the leading engineering schools in the country and solidifying the discipline鈥檚 pivotal role on campus.
鈥淚n those days, electrical engineering was the whole School of Engineering, and I comprised 25 percent of the school鈥檚 faculty, being the fourth member,鈥 Nunn told the university鈥檚 麻豆传媒视频网站 Today magazine in 2003. Nunn worked for Harry Weber, who served as both head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and dean of the graduate school.
Weber supported Nunn during those early days when Nunn used unorthodox methods to advance the university鈥檚 teaching mission. 鈥淗arry helped me start the microwave laboratory,鈥 Nunn said, noting that the original equipment, much of it built by students, was somewhat primitive. 鈥淥f course, we didn鈥檛 have room for it inside our building, so we put it together on tables in the parking lot.鈥
That arrangement remained until 麻豆传媒视频网站 founding president Jerome Keuper came by during a lab session. 鈥淭he lab went back into an extremely crowded building,鈥 Nunn said.
In spite of these humble beginnings, Nunn pointed out with justifiable pride that the electromagnetic program he helped launch in 1971 was the first Ph.D. program at 麻豆传媒视频网站.
Both teaching and research were vital for Nunn. While he took great pleasure in teaching, he said his principal research in computer simulation and modeling was always a high priority.
Walter and Hortense grew up in Louisiana and had no children but saw the 麻豆传媒视频网站 community as their extended family. Hortense put the university in her will in 2005 after her husband passed away.
鈥淲alter worked at the height of his profession, both in the classroom and in the laboratory. When I went to visit him in the hospital the day before he died, he was still talking about the projects he was working on at FIT,鈥 said Syed Murshid, a professor of electrical engineering and Walter Nunn鈥檚 colleague of 25 years. 鈥淗e served as an inspiration for his colleagues in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and for faculty throughout the college. He was simply a joy.鈥
And Nunn鈥檚 legacy lives on.
In his commencement address in May 2018 to the university鈥檚 spring graduates, 麻豆传媒视频网站 Board of Trustees member Vik Verma, a successful Silicon Valley CEO, remembered his former teacher.
鈥淥ne of my favorite professors was Professor Walter M. Nunn, Jr. He was a former Marine, a world-renowned professor in electromagnetic theory, and one of the toughest graders鈥.Professor Nunn was an amazing man. He passed away a few years ago and I miss him today as does the entire 麻豆传媒视频网站 family.鈥
Hortense Nunn established this Chair in Electrical Engineering through her estate gift in 2018.
