ROLLA, Mo. – Dr. David Riggins, Curators’ Teaching Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been awarded the 2015 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education.
The awards, which are not monetary, are based on effective teaching, innovative course design and delivery, effective advising, service to the university community, commitment to high standards of excellence and success in nurturing student achievement.
“Dr. Riggins is a very well-grounded professor,” said Warner Meeks, Ph.D. student in aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T. “Having been a student of his off and on for almost nine years, from undergraduate through graduate studies, I have found Dr. Riggins to be one of the most knowledgeable, yet still approachable professors I’ve had the privilege of knowing. He is especially skilled at keeping the bigger picture of practical aerospace engineering in your peripheral vision while discussing the subject of the day — no matter how abstract or narrow that subject may be.”
Riggins is well-known in hypersonics and scramjet engine design. He has been involved in hypersonic air-breathing flight-test programs that culminated with a successful 2004 Mach 10 flight of the X-43A vehicle, which achieved sustained atmospheric flight at over two miles per second. He has worked extensively on innovative approaches to propulsion and high-speed flight and is a leading authority on the application of the second law of thermodynamics to the analysis of aerospace vehicles. He has authored more than 70 papers, articles and book chapters and has served on numerous panels and working groups in both government and industry.
“Dr. Riggins is full of energy and always engages all the students in the class, making you feel like you’re not another face in the crowd,” said Joe-Ray Gramanzini, an aerospace engineering graduate student at Missouri S&T. “He has a way of drawing you in to absorb as much knowledge as he can give. I think he is a great man and I really look up to him. He is honest and genuine and he always makes time to talk to you even if it has nothing to do with academia. He is a professor I plan to keep in contact with well after I leave the university.”
Riggins earned bachelor of science, master of science and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech in 1981, 1982 and 1988, respectively. He has worked in industry, for the Department of Defense, and at NASA Langley Research Center. He joined the Missouri S&T faculty in 1990 as an assistant professor of aerospace engineering and became associate professor in 1996. In 2000, he was promoted to professor of aerospace engineering and in 2014, he was named Curators’ Teaching Professor.
Riggins has received many awards for excellence in both teaching and research. His teaching awards include eight campus Outstanding Teacher awards, numerous campus teaching commendations, awards from Sigma Gamma Tau and the Miner Alumni Association for excellence in teaching, and the 2011 Faculty Teaching Award. In addition, he has received numerous national awards and commendations from the Department of Defense, NASA and the Joint-Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force technical organization for outstanding sustained contributions in the area of high-speed air-breathing propulsion.
The Governor’s Award is presented to one faculty member at each institution of higher education in Missouri annually.
Rachael Herndon was the editor at The Missouri Times and also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. She joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer.
Rachael studied at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Brandon, and their two children.
