| The Mobile Area Council of Engineers recently named Dr. Francis M. Donovan, Jr., University of South Alabama professor, as their 2007 Engineer of the Year and Angela R. O’Connor, a 2001 graduate of the University, as their Young Engineer of the Year.
Donovan, a professor of mechanical engineering, joined the University faculty in 1983. While at the University of Utah in the 1970s, he was an engineering and surgical member of an artificial heart team that designed prototypes and developed surgical techniques for their insertion into humans. That work led to his patent on the Donovan artificial heart prototype. During the same time, Dr. Robert Jarvik, who would become the first doctor to successfully transplant an artificial heart bearing his own name, was a medical student and researcher in Utah.
“This honor was totally unexpected and very much appreciated,” said Donovan. “The University has provided me with a career that allows me to pursue various interests, such as artificial hearts, new engine designs, or whatever. Without the university, I couldn’t do any of that.”
Previously, MACE honored Donovan as its 2002 Educator of the Year. He was the 2006 Professor of the Year, honored by engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi, in the University’s College of Engineering.
Donovan has three mechanical engineering degrees, including a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State University; a master’s degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a doctorate from Purdue University. He completed postdoctoral studies in biomedical engineering at the University of Mississippi Medical School.
Donovan, the father of five children, lives in Mobile with his wife, Dorothea, and their child, Marissa.
O’Connor graduated magna cum laude from the University in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. She now works with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on projects in the Mobile District, across the Southeastern U.S. and in Honduras.
O’Connor is project engineer on the $250 million Joint Strike F-35 Fighter Jet home base under construction at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. She is also project engineer for an $80 million training and research facility at Redstone Arsenal for the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau.
The Grand Bay resident and her husband, Patrick, have a 15-month-old daughter.
Both Donovan and O’Connor were presented their awards during a banquet at the Heron Lakes County Club in Mobile.
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