In addition to these academic advantages, Texas A&M presents me with the opportunities necessary to realize my ultimate goal: to become a leader in industrial energy efficiency. While completing my undergraduate education in mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University, I worked as a student engineer to reduce waste at two different manufacturing plants. These experiences solidified my interest in the industrial sector and energy efficiency, and in searching for graduate schools, I discovered Texas A&M’s strengths in these fields. For example, the university houses one of the most state-of-the-art utility plants in the world. At its core, this system recovers energy that would otherwise be lost, using it to provide heating and cooling to campus.

Texas A&M is also home to one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC), through which students can perform no-cost energy assessments for mid-sized industrial facilities across the state and spread awareness about recovering waste and increasing efficiency. Established in 1987, the IAC at Texas A&M has performed more than 700 of these energy assessments and made cost-saving recommendations that amount to more than $80 million.

Far-Reaching Effects

By developing more effective assessment strategies, I can directly impact how the U.S. industrial sector uses energy. I am also investigating ways in which large systems at industrial facilities can work together to consume energy in a smarter, more efficient way. Since the industrial sector accounts for more than 30 percent of America’s energy consumption, seemingly small changes in how these facilities consume energy result in significant steps toward a cleaner and brighter future. Working in a field with such far-reaching effects fascinates and motivates me.

I understood only some of the opportunities ahead of me when I decided to attend Texas A&M. Since the start of my Ph.D. program, I have learned about my family legacy, met colleagues who I can forever call friends and found the opportunity in energy efficiency I sought.

As a young father and an aspiring engineer, I am certain that many more adventures await me in Aggieland.

Alleviating Financial Worries

Austin Rogers ’19 is the first recipient of the William E. Dark ’54 Graduate Fellowship in mechanical engineering. Created in 2015 with a gift of $60,000 by William “Bill” Dark ’54, the fellowship provides stipends for tuition and research.

“An engineering education teaches one to think critically and to manage projects,” said Dark, “and mechanical engineering offers one of the broadest educations. When students can worry less financially, it leads to more productive minds for studies and research.”

After enjoying a varied and financially rewarding career in engineering, oil and gas, stock broking and real estate, Dark now invests in these fields. He previously funded a fellowship for graduate students conducting geosciences research under the Berg-Hughes Center for Petroleum and Sedimentary Systems in addition to a mechanical engineering professor of practice held by James M. Donnell. The course Donnell teaches focuses on enhancing entrepreneurship in mechanical engineering education.