Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 

Orval L. Lewis

Distinguished Engineer

1977

Degree

Mechanical Engineering – 1939

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 1977

Thirty eight years of professional activity as an engineer – including participation in engineering design and construction of facilities for defense, aerospace, nuclear development, energy and environmental conservation, heavy manufacturing, and hydrocarbon processing – that is a thumbnail sketch of the career of Orval L. Lewis, a 1938 Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering graduate of Texas Tech. Since that initial degree, he has added another, a Master of Business Administration, granted in 1954 by the University of Southern California. He has done additional graduate study at the Universities of Tulsa and Oklahoma.

Since 1974, Mr. Lewis has been director of projects for Davy Powergas Incorporated, a position which has him responsible for major engineering projects, using his company’s offices in England, France, Germany, Australia, Iran, and the United States. Prior to his association with Davy Powergas, he was project manager with Fluor Corporation; vice president and general manager of Zapata Engineers, Incorporated; general manager of the engineering and construction division, Houston Research Institute; manager of a variety of departments, projects and divisions of C. F. Brown and Company; chief engineer and manager of the engineering division, Erhart and Associates; and held several management positions in the Jones and Laughlin Company.

Highlights of Mr. Lewis’ career have included the design of the first high pressure gas injection plant and three of the first catalytic cracking units for high octane gasoline production. He participated in the Atomic Energy Commission’s liquid metals fast breeder reactor program, as well as deep ocean research for the design of submerged power stations. Since 1974, he has been vice president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and has been a Fellow of ASME since 1966. Among his honors in recent years are his election as Engineer of the Month by the Los Angeles Council of Engineering Societies; being named Engineer of Distinction by the Engineers’ Joint Council; and receiving the Kansas Bankers Association Award for Outstanding Land Use and Soil Conservation. He is listed in Who’s Who in Texas and Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the states of Texas, California, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. He has authored more than twenty articles which have been published in a variety of professional journals.

Careers to match that of Mr. Lewis are rare, and institutions of higher education take great pride in such outstanding alumni accomplishments. Texas Tech is very pleased to honor Orval L. Lewis and to designate him: DISTINGUISHED ENGINEER.

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