C. Neil Beer received his B.S. and M.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1964 and 1965, respectively, and his Ph.D. in operations research in 1973, also from OU. He was a distinguished graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1977. He began his 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force in 1956 and, after receiving his commission and pilot wings, was assigned to the Air Defense Command. His distinguished military career included assignments as a combat pilot; associate professor and deputy department head, USAF Academy; director of Theater Force at the Pentagon; and executive assistant to the Secretary of Defense. He retired in 1985 as major general.
1995
John M. Campbell Sr. is an internationally renowned expert in the petroleum industry who served as chairman of the OU School of Petroleum Engineering for 15 years. John received his B.S. from Iowa State University. In 1948 he earned his M.S. in chemical engineering from OU and his Ph.D. in economics in 1951. After working for the Atomic Energy Project in Hanford, Wash., he began teaching at OU, where he held the Halliburton Professorship, served as director of the Petroleum Research Center and was chair of the School of Petroleum Engineering. Campbell is the author of 151 technical articles in the areas of production operations, phase behavior and properties, economics, and analysis of risk management of money.
Jack W. Keeley has devoted most of his career to public service. Following a B.S. in civil engineering from OU in 1957, he attended Harvard and received an M.S. in sanitary engineering in 1958. After graduating, Keeley began his career in Chicago with the U.S. Public Health Service and later in Dallas working with the Corps of Engineers, interrupted in 1960 for a two-year partnership in a consulting engineering firm. In 1965, he moved to the EPA’s Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory in Ada, where he structured the first research program focusing on ground water contamination. Today, this research laboratory is recognized as the world’s leading center for ground water expertise and Keeley is unquestionably the country’s “chief of ground water research.” He retired in 1984 to become senior staff scientist at Dynamac Corp.
Allan Neustadt, a native of Ardmore, graduated from OU with a B.S. in petroleum engineering in 1951. He received his M.S. in petroleum engineering in 1952. He worked for Westheimer-Neustadt Corp. from 1952 to 1981 as vice president in charge of engineering, production and drilling. He also has served as president of Pilgrim Drilling Co. as well as owner and manager of Sapphire Supply Co. Neustadt currently is managing partner in Neustadt Land and Development Co.
Carl E. Reistle Jr.* earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from OU in 1922. He began his career in the oil industry with the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Bartlesville, and in Laramie, Wyo. He worked on several problems connected with oil production in the famous Salt Creek Field in Wyoming and co-authored the first technical paper on the solubility of gas in oil. In 1933, he was made chairman of the East Texas Engineering Association and contributed his efforts to the efficient operation of the East Texas Field. He began his long association with Humble Oil & Refining Co. in 1936 as engineer in charge of the petroleum engineering division. He became president of the company in 1961, and served as CEO and chairman of the board from 1963 until his retirement in 1966.
Richard E. Wainerdi was elected president, CEO and COO of the Texas Medical Center in 1984 after retiring from Gulf Oil Corp. He joined Gulf as the president of Gulf Research & Development Co., the worldwide research arm of Gulf Oil Corp., in 1982. He was senior vice president and director of research and development of 3D/International, a design and engineering firm in Houston, from 1977 to 1982. He spent 20 years with Texas A&M University in both scientific and academic affairs from 1957 to 1977. He founded Texas A&M University’s Nuclear Science Center, the Activation Analysis Research Laboratory, the German Synfuels Technology Retrieval Program, the Center for Energy and Mineral Resources, and a number of other programs, including the university’s College of Medicine. He received a B.S. in petroleum engineering from OU in 1952.