Lobeck’s $1 Million Gift Helps Endow Engineering Chair By Jennifer Mullen A $2 million gift – $1 million from alumnus William E. Lobeck Jr. ’63 and $1 million from an anonymous donor – has established an endowed chair in advanced engineering environments in the College of Engineering and Technology. Ahmed K. Noor, director of Old Dominion’s Center for Advanced Engineering Environments and professor of aerospace engineering, has been named to the chair. “Old Dominion University’s position as a world leader in modeling, simulation, visualization and virtual collaborative environments will be further asserted through this chair,” said William Swart, then dean of the College of Engineering and Technology. “With it, the Center for Advanced Engineering Environments, together with the college’s other enterprise centers, will be able to continue to enhance the university’s long tradition of serving the research requirements of NASA and Langley Research Center.” The William E. Lobeck Chair will have an emphasis in aerospace research and will support partnerships with NASA as well as additional initiatives, specifically those encouraging entrepreneurial efforts and partnerships. The chair will complement existing centers, initiatives and world-class researchers in elevating advanced engineering environments as a new way to deliver and teach engineering. “We are entering an era that will see a revolution in the development and implementation of engineering processes and practices, including how we educate the future generation of engineers,” said Samuel Venneri, associate administrator for aerospace technology at NASA. “Old Dominion is making a long-term commitment to be a leader in this transformation. This is of great importance to NASA and, I believe, to the nation.” The chair was established, in part, by a gift from the Lobeck-Taylor Foundation. Lobeck, a native of Virginia Beach, is a longtime car rental industry executive. He and his wife, Kathy Taylor, formed the foundation to support education and social causes. In 1999, the couple received the university’s Batten Award, which recognizes philanthropists who have benefited the university in a significant way. The William E. Lobeck Chair is the first endowed chair in the engineering college and the fourth at Old Dominion, which also has 17 endowed professorships.