W. Bradford Ingalls

W. Bradford Ingalls was finishing an associate’s degree in engineering at the New England Aircraft School in 1951 when the school was acquired by Boston University and Ingalls became one of the University’s first engineering alumnus. He would later earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees at BU, and teach project engineering in the nascent College of Engineering.

Ingalls’ pursuit of education was matched by his pursuit of professional excellence. During the 1950s, Ingalls attended evening classes at BU while working during the day at a highly classified job developing technology to protect space vehicles from the heat of re-entry. The heat-resistant tiles on today’s space shuttle are direct descendants of that innovation. He went on to a highly successful career in engineering.

In 2005, Ingalls made a generous donation to the College of Engineering to establish a student resource center. “It was a project that appealed to me because I think that helping the students is where it’s at,” he said. “I wanted to help current students, help attract new students, and help the College produce a better product.”

Although ill, Mr. Ingalls attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony that formally opened the center in September 2005. In his final months, he was gratified to learn of the center’s immediate popularity with the very students he intended his gift to benefit.