AUSTIN, Texas—A formal dedication ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 9) to mark the naming of the McKinney Wing of the Applied Research Laboratories (ARL). ARL is located at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus of The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road.
Former ARL director Dr. Chester McKinney and his wife, Linda, will be honored at the event and will be joined by family members, friends and colleagues. UT Austin President Larry R. Faulkner and members of The University of Texas System Board of Regents will preside. The public is welcome to attend the ceremony and following reception.
McKinney served as the ARL director from 1965 until his retirement in 1980, leading and overseeing a number of high-profile projects. Many of the projects related to national defense. McKinney was instrumental in establishing the high-resolution sonar program that remains one of the cornerstones of ARL research in acoustics today.
“Chester McKinney’s administrative principles continue to guide the center,” said Dr. Clark S. Penrod, ARL’s executive director. “He fostered an atmosphere in which the laboratories became known for technical excellence and for providing cost-effective solutions to some of the military’s most difficult problems.”
McKinney, a native of Cooper, Texas, was born Jan. 29, 1920. After his discharge from the U.S. Army Air Corps as a captain in 1946, he worked at the laboratories toward two degrees in physics, an M.S. in 1947 and a Ph.D. 1950. He specialized in radar and sonar research, and his later work was primarily in the field of underwater acoustics. Since retiring from his director’s post, he continues to serve as a consultant to ARL.
“We are all in debt to Dr. McKinney for his guiding hand in the Applied Research Laboratories’ groundbreaking research,” said Faulkner. “I’m delighted to be able to honor him and Mrs. McKinney in this most appropriate way.”
In the past 20 years, McKinney has served on several advisory committees to the U.S. Navy, including the Mine Advisory Committee and the Naval Studies Board. He also has served on the Underwater Sound Advisory Group and other similar groups.
McKinney is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and served a term as its president. In 1983-84, he served as a liaison scientist with the Office of Naval Research in London. He is an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Acoustics.
For more information, contact: Jim Kunetka, Resource Development Office (512) 475-9641 or e-mail jkunetka@mail.utexas.edu
