All 3D Printers in Lister Hill Library have been named for individuals from UAB History. Short biographies for each printer's namesake, along with photographs of each individual, were provided by University Archivist Tim Pennycuff. This information is on display digitally in the 3D Printing at UAB Libraries guide and physically in Lister Hill Library 3D Printing.
Imogene L. Baswell, a student from Bessemer, Alabama, received a bachelor’s degree in Engineering in 1969, becoming the first female to graduate from the university’s engineering program in Birmingham. She studied on a part-time basis with night and weekend classes while she held a full-time job in the metallurgy department at Southern Research Institute. Baswell also earned a master’s degree in Engineering from UAB in 1976 and, in 1981, would earn a PhD in Bioengineering from Clemson University. Dr. Baswell was a biomedical metallurgist with the Richards Medical Co., a company specializing in orthopedic products, and she obtained three US patents related to metal orthopedic implants and the implant production process. Baswell was also the first female police officer for the City of Birmingham.
Compiled by Tim L. Pennycuff, Associate Professor and University Archivist, UAB Libraries.
For additional information visit the UAB Archives website: https://library.uab.edu/locations/archives.
Neel Varshney of Madison, Alabama, received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UAB in 2000. At UAB, Varshney was a member of the Honors Program and the Early Medical School Acceptance Program and was the recipient of the Charles W. Ireland Presidential Scholarship, the university’s top award for an incoming freshman. Varshney was also a UAB Ambassador, was selected as the UAB student representative to the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama System, was chosen as Mr. UAB for 1999, and was a member of Tau Beta Pi. In 1999 Varshney became the first UAB student to be awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship; he studied at Oxford University in England where he received a master’s degree in Neuroscience and Mathematical Modeling. Varshney graduated from the Harvard Medical School and completed an internal medicine internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Varshney is currently director of the Healthcare Team at KKR & Co., a global investment and private equity firm.
Compiled by Tim L. Pennycuff, Associate Professor and University Archivist, UAB Libraries
For additional information visit the UAB Archives website: https://library.uab.edu/locations/archives.
Melson Barfield-Carter, a native of Barfield in Clay County, Alabama, earned a B.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of Alabama in 1914. She graduated from the medical school at Tulane University in New Orleans in 1921 and then became the first female medical resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Barfield-Carter returned to Birmingham and became the state’s first female radiologist with her staff appointment at Hillman Hospital. During World War II, Dr. Barfield-Carter served in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army. In 1945 she became the first female hired to a full-time faculty position at the newly established four-year medical school in Birmingham. At the same time, Dr. Barfield-Carter was appointed as the first chair of the Department of Radiology becoming the first female department chair in the history of the School of Medicine. Barfield-Carter served as radiology chair until 1955 when she took the position of chief of Radiology at Baptist Medical Center Hospital. In 1970 the Birmingham hospital dedicated its radiological suite in her honor.
Compiled by Tim L. Pennycuff, Associate Professor a
For additional information visit the UAB Archives website: https://library.uab.edu/locations/archives.
Ruth Stillman Hare was born in New York. In 1936 she earned an undergraduate degree from Vassar College. She then went to the University of Buffalo where she was a graduate student and a research assistant. Ruth Stillman Hare and her husband, Kendrick Hare, PhD, MD, came to Birmingham in 1951 when he was recruited to serve as the chair of the Department of Pediatrics. In Birmingham, she worked as a research associate in the pharmacology department and in 1955 received a PhD in Pharmacology. Ruth Stillman Hare received the very first doctoral degree awarded to a student for work done at the new medical center campus in Birmingham. Her dissertation – UAB’s first doctoral dissertation – was The Control of Water Reabsorption in the Dog Kidney by the Antidiuretic Hormone of the Neurohypophysis (1955). Dr. Hare was then on the faculty in the pharmacology department. In 1967 she and her husband took leaves of absence from UAB in order to work at the Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, part of a project of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. The Hares returned to the US in 1974 and retired to California.
Compiled by Tim L. Pennycuff, Associate Professor and University Archivist, UAB Libraries.
For additional information visit the UAB Archives website: https://library.uab.edu/locations/archives.
Seymour S. West was born in New York City and served in the infantry of the U.S. Army during the Second World War. West received an undergraduate degree in Biology from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York. In 1963 he received a doctorate in Biophysics and Anatomy from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. West held a faculty appointment at Case Western Reserve until he came to Birmingham in 1966. Here he received the appointment as professor of Engineering Biophysics, with joint appointments in the Anatomy and in the Physiology and Biophysics departments. Dr. West was chair of the Department of Engineering Biophysics from 1966 until 1978 and was then the director of the biophysics division in School of Public Health until his death. Dr. West was internationally credited as having established the field of biophysical cytochemistry and for having developed microspectrofluorophotometry for the study of living cells.
Compiled by Tim L. Pennycuff, Associate Professor and University Archivist, UAB Libraries
For additional information visit the UAB Archives website: https://library.uab.edu/locations/archives.
Rose Scripa is a native of New York. She received a bachelor’s degree in Ceramic Science from Alfred University and earned two master’s degrees, Ceramic Science from Penn State and Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida. In 1976 she earned a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida. Dr. Scripa was one of the first women in the nation to earn a doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering. She came to UAB in 1977 as the first female appointed to the full-time faculty at the School of Engineering. She eventually became a professor of Materials Science and Engineering and served as an Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs in the engineering school. She also served as Associate Provost at UAB. Dr. Scripa was an active member of the Faculty Senate and from 1993 until 2000 she served as the faculty representative to the UAB athletics department. In 1992 she received the UAB Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching and in 2007 she was the recipient of the UAB Ellen Gregg Ingalls/National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. Dr. Scripa retired from UAB in 2015 and was named as a Distinguished Service Professor by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama System.
Compiled by Tim L. Pennycuff, Associate Professor and University Archivist, UAB Libraries
For additional information visit the UAB Archives website: https://library.uab.edu/locations/archives.
Josiah C. Macy, Jr., was born in New York City. He graduated with a chemistry degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in 1954 received a PhD in Mathematics from the same institution. Dr. Macy held faculty positions at MIT, John Hopkins University, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 1967 he was recruited to Birmingham as the inaugural director of the Division of Biophysical Sciences, a joint-health science unit at the Medical Center. Dr. Macy also held faculty appointments as professor of Biocommunication and as professor of Physiology and Biophysics. From 1967 until 1972 Dr. Macy was the first chair of the Department of Information Sciences; later renamed in 1977 as the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. He was also director of UAB’s Computer Research Laboratory. Dr. Macy retired from UAB in 1978 due to health reasons. Following his death, the Josiah C. Macy, Jr., Research Computer Center at UAB was named in his honor. As noted at the time, Dr. Macy “was instrumental in the development of the UAB computer centers and in the adaptation of computers for medical use.”
Compiled by Tim L. Pennycuff, Associate Professor and University Archivist, UAB Libraries.
For additional information visit the UAB Archives website: https://library.uab.edu/locations/archives.