On behalf of the College, Dr. Charles Karr (center), dean of UA’s College of Engineering, accepted the check from vice president of contracts Ronnie Chronister (right) and manager of corporate communications Kristina L. Hendrix (left), both UA alumni, at a presentation ceremony Wednesday.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A Huntsville-based applied science and information technology company recently chose to invest in The University of Alabama College of Engineering.
Dynetics Inc. has gifted the College with an $85,000 donation to be split among the new H.M. Comer Hall, the Alabama Astrobotics team and student scholarships.
“Dynetics sees the value in helping the next generation while they are preparing to enter the workforce,” said Dave King, Dynetics chief executive officer. “The University of Alabama College of Engineering is producing top-caliber students who will become great engineers and scientists.”
On behalf of the College, Dr. Charles Karr, dean of UA’s College of Engineering, accepted the check from vice president of contracts Ronnie Chronister and manager of corporate communications Kristina L. Hendrix, both UA alumni, at a presentation ceremony Wednesday with members of the Astrobotics team also in attendance.
Of the money given, $50,000 will go toward a team room on the second floor of the renovated H.M Comer Hall set to open in August 2018.
“We’re very grateful for this donation from Dynetics and the legacy it will leave within the college,” Karr said. “We appreciate that they wanted to take advantage of naming a room in H.M. Comer.”
The Astrobotics team will be sponsored by Dynetics for the upcoming year and will receive $25,000 of the donation, which is the largest sponsorship the team has ever received from a single company. In addition to travel and operations expenses, the team will use this sponsorship to continue expanding its participation with robotics activities, including the current initiative in place to design and build devices that will assist disabled children.
“It is very important to us that Dynetics and the College of Engineering understand how appreciative we are of this sponsorship,” said Dr. Kenneth Ricks, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Astrobotics team faculty advisor. “We will do our very best to make UA and our sponsors proud.”
The remaining $10,000 from this donation will go toward student scholarships in Dynetics name.
“We hope this gift will help within the labs and classrooms to cultivate an even better environment for learning and growth,” King said.
Dynetics is based in Huntsville, Alabama, and it provides responsive, cost-efficient engineering, scientific and IT solutions to the national security, cybersecurity, space and critical infrastructure sectors.