Former Dean Reid made an impact everywhere he went
Monday, January 10, 2022
Media Contact: Kristi Wheeler | Manager, CEAT Marketing and Communications | 405-744-5831 | kristi.wheeler@okstate.edu
On April 14, 2021, the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology received the heartbreaking news that a great man had passed away.
Karl Neville Reid, former dean of CEAT, was among the greatest ambassadors that Oklahoma State University, CEAT and the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) will ever know.
Reid was born on Oct. 10, 1934, in Yellville, Arkansas. He graduated from Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, and enrolled in then-Oklahoma A&M College where he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Reid completed his master’s degree at Oklahoma A&M in 1958. He briefly served in the Army Reserves, and then went on to earn his Doctor of Science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He served on the faculty at MIT for four years before coming back to OSU.
In 1964, Reid joined the faculty at OSU in MAE, where he excelled in research and teaching, rising to the rank of full professor while working in fluid power control, fluidics and web handling control.
“Karl was interested in people and helping them achieve their aspirations,” said Keith Good, fellow faculty member of MAE and friend. “If you were a student or a faculty member, you did not escape his focus.”
He served as school head of MAE from 1976-1986 before being appointed the dean of CEAT. He served as dean for 25 years, the longest-serving dean for CEAT.
“His greatest passion was helping students become what they were meant to be,” said Dr. Paul Tikalsky, current dean of CEAT. “He enjoyed teaching the introductory engineering course to freshmen on all the degrees they could pursue in CEAT. He spent countless hours with the CEAT Scholars and W.W. Allen Scholars as a mentor and study abroad leader. He was a mentor to many students during his time at OSU. He was a champion for CEAT research facilities and was instrumental in bringing the Advanced Technology Research Center and the Helmerich Advanced Technology Research Center to fruition. He understood the necessity of introducing STEM to K-12 students and was an active supporter of FIRST Robotics.”
Reid received awards from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers, and is a fellow in the American Society for Mechanical Engineering and the American Society for Engineering Education.
“Faculty research and alum success were important to Karl,” Good said. “He enjoyed supporting students, alums and faculty. This allowed him to let the world know the greatness that was achieved in Oklahoma, at OSU, in CEAT and MAE and he was a proponent of each of these entities. Karl was an excellent storyteller and he was always prepared with a story to tell you what good was being done by the faculty and by alums to help lift our state, nation and world,” Good said. “He was a lifter of all.”
Reid was involved in many research efforts. Two of the larger efforts were the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for System Science and the Web Handling Research Center which was one of the greatest and longest-lived NSF industry/university research centers. Reid’s focus as an engineer was dynamic systems and control. He helped create the NSF Center for System Science to allow mechanical and electrical engineers to understand the dynamics that underlie electrical, fluidic and thermal systems.
He created the Web Handling Research Center as part of a larger initiative to promote automated manufacturing. OSU and MAE gained national and international notoriety from these research centers. He was awarded the ASME Centennial Medallion and selected as the Outstanding Engineer in Oklahoma in 1988. Among his academic credentials are four U.S. patents and 40 journal papers.
“People from across the United States and the world were given cause to attend conferences that gave them reason to come to Oklahoma for the first time,” Good said. “When they got here they learned about the rich Native American culture of Oklahoma and some engineering expertise, because Karl Reid cared about all of it. A great man has passed and we live in his shadow. As you live each day and interact with faculty, students, industry and government, remember that it is not all about you. That is the legacy that he would want to leave. He would want others to lift students of all levels, make them better than they were, making MAE, CEAT, OSU and Oklahoma a better place than when you found it.”
A true legend will be missed, but his impact lives on.
Story by: Kristi Wheeler | IMPACT Magazine