Dr. Robert E. Nickell, Advisory Council member since 2011 and current Vice Chair, passed away on Jan. 21 after a sudden illness.
Robert (Bob) Nickell (Engineering Science BS ’63, MS ’64, PhD ’67) was a structural integrity consultant and president of the company, Applied Science & Technology of San Diego, California. He joined CEE’s Advisory Council in Spring, 2011.
After a career of providing technical support for a variety of government and industrial organizations, Bob founded his own company and, for the past 35 years, provided consulting services on long-term operation of nuclear power plants and the vulnerability assessment of critical infrastructure to terrorist attack, among other areas.
Bob consulted on the structural integrity of Alaska offshore oil and gas platforms and, following the September 2010 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline disaster, provided technical support to the California Public Utilities Commission and their independent panel investigation.
Bob was the 118th president of American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1999-2000, and was a Fellow of ASME and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was honored with the Naval Structural Mechanics Award by the Office of Naval Research and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). In 2007, Bob was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to the finite element method and the safe operation of power plants.
"Bob and I had many thoughtful discussions about promoting the effectiveness of the Advisory Council and enhancing the CEE student experience," said Robert Wadell, Council Chair, "We will all miss him very much."
"Bob Nickell was truly dedicated to the welfare of our department and students. As a member and Vice Chair of our Advisory Council, he made valuable contributions. His suggestions, which he offered in his gentle, yet frank, manner, were always helpful. He was a man of few words, but he did not hesitate to provide critique when he felt it was for the benefit of CEE," said Samer Madanat, CEE Chair.
See Bob Nickell Arrangements for more information on his memorial service.
See Bob Nickell Obituary.