Gary Pennell is Chief Metallurgist at Nucor-Yamato Steel Company in Blytheville, AR. He is an alumnus of Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), receiving his B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering in 1997. Gary, himself being the first student to ever co-op with Nucor in 1996, has helped organize Nucor’s corporate recruiting task force to increase Nucor’s presence on the university’s campus. This resulted in Nucor becoming one of Missouri S&T’s top recruiters regularly, and in the 2011-2012 academic year, Nucor was the number one cooperative education employer of Missouri S&T students. Gary has led recruiting efforts in a number of ways. He has attended every career fair as well as going the extra mile to reach out to additional students on campus. He was a lead orchestrator in the organization of “Nucor Week” on the campus in September, 2011.
Gary has also been influential in providing important gifts to the university both individually and through Nucor. Through his efforts and support, Nucor Steel provided a $2 million gift in 2006 to Missouri S&T’s Materials Science and Engineering department to endow the F. Kenneth Iverson Chair of Steelmaking Technologies. This was the largest corporate cash gift in the school’s history.
“In our collective 40 years in academia, we have never witnessed an alumnus who has collectively achieved so much in all areas of what a meaningful relationship with industry represents.”