Bob Long, a former UNM Chemical and Nuclear Engineering professor and Department chair, has died. Long set up a major endowment to be used by the department and for two UNM Presidential Scholarships for Chemical and Nuclear Engineering students. Presidential Scholarships are open to New Mexico’s brightest and best high school graduates and cover 90 to 100 percent of the cost for an undergraduate student to attend UNM.
Vice President for Research Julia Fulghum said, “He was a wonderful person and his gift will allow the department to aid promising students and to help faculty function in this time of very restricted budgets. We especially appreciate his thoughtfulness in remembering the university and the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department.”
Long had a long and distinguished career as a professor and utility executive. He joined the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering program at UNM in 1965 and served as chair of the program from 1974 until 1978 when he left to join General Public Utilities Nuclear Corporation. He served as President of the American Nuclear Society in 1991-1992.
Long initially went to General Public Utilities (GPU) to set up a small reliability engineering group to attack some of the company’s technical concerns. Less than a year later, the accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor occurred, and Long worked to come up with a plan to satisfy the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the safety and reliability of the plant and to restart the undamaged TMI-1 reactor. He then turned his attention first to designing and implementing training for operators and most other personnel, and then to totally revamping GPU’s way of doing business and nuclear safety culture.
Long’s tenure as a faculty chair sensitized him to the problems of running a department and the majority of his endowment gift is designated for use by the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering chair to respond to needs of the department, including paying faculty to go to conferences, to renovate the student computer pod, and increasing support for student groups who are affiliated with the department.
Long created the Robert and Ann Long Fund for the Support of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Education at the School of Engineering. His family has requested that memorial gifts be sent to that fund. Senior Director of Development & Alumni Relations Pam Hurd-Knief is working with the endowment.
Memorial contributions to the Robert & Ann Long Fund should be sent to:
UNM School of Engineering Development Office
Centennial Engineering Center
MSC01 1140
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001
Media Contacts: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at July 13, 2009 03:32 PM