Liebeck Endows Ormsbee Professorship

9/8/2015 Susan Mumm, Media Specialist

Alumnus Bob Liebeck pays tribute to the late Prof. Al Ormsbee by endowing a professorship.

Written by Susan Mumm, Media Specialist

 

Al Ormsbee
Al Ormsbee
Al Ormsbee
Bob Liebeck
Bob Liebeck
Bob Liebeck

Saying it’s “payback time,” alumnus Bob Liebeck has channeled his respect and gratitude for his mentor, the late Aerospace Engineering at Illinois Prof. Al Ormsbee, into the department’s first named professorship.

 

“Al really made it happen for me; he was a scholar and a motivator, and how lucky could I be,” said Liebeck, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a world-renowned authority in the fields of aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and aircraft design. “Things have worked out well for me as an aeronautical engineer.”

The professorship will be officially announced during the Al Ormsbee Memorial Symposium on Aerodynamics and Aircraft Design on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, in Room B02 of the Coordinated Science Laboratory, 1308 W. Main Street, Urbana. The symposium features a host of successful engineers who have benefited from Ormsbee’s influence, including Liebeck, Senior Fellow of The Boeing Company; Adjunct Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine; and Professor of the Practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Liebeck would like for the professorship to encourage work in the core areas of aeronautical and astronautical engineering, including aerodynamics, flight vehicle design and structures. He hopes his gift to be an example, encouraging other AE alumni who have experienced success to consider giving back as well.   And, he said it is a “thank you” to Ormsbee.

“I hope he’d like it,” Liebeck said. “He was a powerful influence, not just for me but for many others.”

Liebeck was an undergraduate when he first developed his appreciation for Ormsbee’s teaching skills, and decided to go to graduate school upon Ormsbee’s encouragement. The two worked closely together on airfoil design, research that Liebeck credits for leading to his 2011 Daniel Guggenheim Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in aviation.

Ormsbee also introduced Liebeck to A.M.O. Smith, who, in 1966, led the Aerodynamics Research Group at Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. Smith advised Liebeck to work on maximizing airfoil lift, and the work continues to be referenced in aerodynamics textbooks today.

Quoting Sir Isaac Newton, Liebeck said, “’We stand on the shoulders of giants.’ I was blessed to have the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of two giants: Allen Ormsbee and A.M.O. Smith.”

 


Share this story

This story was published September 8, 2015.