James Eggebrecht, assistant director of Texas A&M University’s Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) and a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was recently awarded the Outstanding Alumni award by the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Assessment Centers.
The Industrial Assessment Centers program, which receives its funding through the United States Department of Energy, began nationally in 1976.
Since 1986 Texas A&M’s IAC has recommended 5,209 projects of which 3,231 were implemented, saving manufacturers an estimated $76 million a year. Eggebrecht has been a part of Texas A&M’s IAC since he started working with the program as a graduate student in 1992. He has personally been a part of an estimated $50 million a year in estimated savings for manufacturers. Eggebrecht enjoys fostering the hands-on interactions between students and manufacturers which teaches the students to see the assessment's direct impact on the nation’s energy consumption.
As a lecturer in the mechanical engineering department Eggebrecht teaches mechanical engineering student’s real world applications for looking at energy usage as part of the design process for what is done in the manufacturing of products.
“That is why the Department of Energy has continued to foster the program,” he said. “It allows the students who graduate from A&M that are a part of the Industrial Assessment Centers program, to take what they have learned and apply it to the future of energy consumption.”
Five alumni were recognized in 2014, and this year Eggebrecht was one of two national recipients of the IAC award.
“This award shows to the local community as well as the national audience how Texas A&M’s engineering department has continued to excel as a world class program,” Eggebrecht said. “It gives us yet another feather in our hat which showcases the college's many capabilities.” Eggebrecht said.
Eggebrecht’ s career at A&M has spanned 22 years and he says he still enjoys working in the program and plans to continue teaching students well into the future.
“With each new semester a grand adventure begins again,” Eggebrecht said.