Engineering Hall of Distinction 2003 Inductee-Ed McLaughlin

McLaughlin, a native of Ireland, earned both his baccalaureate degree and master’s degree from Queen’s University, Belfast, and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Imperial College of the University of London, England, as well as a D.I.C. in chemical engineering-thermodynamics. In addition he was awarded a D.Sc. in recognition of his international standing in fields of thermodynamics and transport properties of dense fluids. Upon earning his Ph.D. he was offered a position at Imperial College in the chemical engineering department. During his 14 years there, he rose from assistant lecturer, lecturer, senior lecturer and reader, to assistant director. But Jesse Coates, while visiting London in the late 1960s, persuaded McLaughlin to come to LSU on sabbatical leave as an NSF Senior Visiting Foreign Scientist. In 1970 he decided to make it permanent and accepted a position as a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. In 1979 he became the department chairman, serving in that capacity until 1987 when he became dean of the College of Engineering. He retired in 1997 after a long, prolific career as an educator and leader with many accomplishments to his credit.

It was while serving as chairman that he started the title professorships in order to reward the faculty and replace a lack of state funding. He continued this practice as dean and its success can be gauged by the fact that almost all college faculty members hold a professorship. As dean he saw a growing need to enhance undergraduate laboratories and approached the college student leadership with the idea of a technology fee to enhance the laboratory equipment, which eventually was adopted by the University and then by the legislature. However, the ties he forged with alumni and industry are probably one of his greatest achievements and the results are easily viewed today. As chairman, he encouraged closer ties to industry since that is where most of our graduates were going. Through his efforts, we got the funding for the titled professorships, countless scholarships, and graduate fellowship support. In fact, college endowments currently exceed $40 million with a majority of those funds being donations from alumni or industry figures.

In light of this brief history, it is easy to see why he was chosen for this distinguished honor. He truly deserves and we whole-heartedly congratulate him on his induction into the Engineering Hall of Distinction.