Donors

The Albert H. Bryan, Jr. Scholarship in Engineering was established by Mrs. Albert H. Bryan, Jr. and the Raytheon Company, Lexington, Massachusetts, as a tribute to the late Albert H. Bryan, Jr. and in recognition of his contributions to the University and the engineering profession. Mr. Bryan, a native of Watertown, Tennessee, built upon his baccalaureate degree in civil engineering from Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (now Tennessee Technological University).

In 1942, a man who was President of the Senior Class, president of the engineers, scholarship medal winner (highest four-year scholastic average) student, student manager of the bookstore, a member of Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, and Bachelor of Ugliness left Tennessee Tech to take his place in the engineering world. In recognition of his distinguished scholarship at Tech and his exemplary character, he was elected to membership in Tau Beta Pi, the all-engineering honor society. During World War II, Mr. Bryan attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army, and was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal and awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat.

In 1946, prior to entering graduate school, Mr. Bryan was associated with research in mechanics of particles in physics at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He received an M.S. degree in 1948 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of Structural Dynamics and Experimental Stress Analysis. In 1952, Mr. Bryan went to Huntsville, Alabama, with his wife, the former Lillian Phillips of Watertown, and two of his three children, to work as a missile engineer at Redstone Arsenal. He was named Chief of Research and Engineering for what was then the Army Rocket and Guided Missile Agency.

In 1958, Mr. Bryan joined Raytheon Company to manage the advanced missile development at the company’s Bedford, Massachusetts missile system’s laboratories. In 1964, he returned to Huntsville to represent the Raytheon firm. Mr. Bryan became Vice President for Government Programs for Raytheon in 1968, and in 1980 was appointed Vice President for Corporate Development for the government group at the firm’s headquarters in Lexington, Massachusetts.

In 1983, upon his request he returned to Huntsville, Alabama, and served as Raytheon’s senior representative where he distinguished himself most admirably in engineering and community enterprises. His local activities included membership in the Rotary Club, service as an officer and director of the Chamber of Commerce, and the American Defense Preparedness Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was a director of the United Way, the Huntsville Rehabilitation Foundation, and Volunteers of America. He was an active member of the Mayfair Church of Christ where the Conference Room has been furnished as a memorial to him by the Raytheon Company. Mr. Bryan died on October 25, 1988.