John E. Swearingen Engineering Center

1987

The center includes the triangular 210,000-square-foot main building faced with Alabama limestone and more than 100,000 additional square feet of classroom and office space in nearby remodeled buildings donated by the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company.

The center houses more than 20 laboratories for research in fracture mechanics, computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, computer graphics, and machine intelligence and robotics. Other labs are designed for research in high-voltage phenomena, fluid dynamics, structural testing, soils and foundations, biomechanics, environmental engineering, and industrial waste treatment.

One wing of the main building constitutes a four-story lab. The second, third, and fourth stories have floors that are half permanent and half expanded metal grating. If an unusually tall piece of equipment is needed, the grating can be removed, allowing the equipment to extend to the roof and permitting researchers access to it from all four levels.

A fiber optic system handles computer interconnections between the center and other buildings on campus, enhancing the center's networking capability. A lovely courtyard provides a setting for various social functions as well as a gathering place for students.

John E. Swearingen (Class of 1938, 1965 Law Honorary), chairman of the Board of Standard Oil Company (Indiana), joined Standard in 1939 as a chemical engineer in research. After holding several positions in Standard's research department, he transferred in 1947 to Amoco Production Company (then Stanolind Oil and Gas Company). He returned to Standard in 1951 and was elected chairman of the board in 1965 after serving as president, CEO, and a director.

He is also a former chairman of the National Petroleum Council; a director of the Chase Manhattan Corporation, the Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., the Lockheed Corporation, the American Petroleum Institute, and Northwestern Memorial Hospital; and a trustee of Carnegie-Mellon University.

A native of Columbia, he has served as a member and chairman of the President's National Advisory Council at Carolina.