Honoring Alan Nye
Honoring Alan Nye
Dr. Nye was a pillar for advice while I was a student at RIT, and he remains a mentor now even though I graduated more than a decade ago.
You can honor Dr. Alan “Doc” Nye for his unparalleled career, and make an impact in the RIT Performance Team community.
Dr. Nye has been a pillar of the RIT Performance Team Racing community for over 40 years. He joined the RIT faculty in 1976 and became advisor to the RIT SAE student chapter in 1978. Over the years he has advised teams participating in Mini Baja competitions, the Methanol Marathon, the Methanol Challenge, GM Sunrayce USA, Sunrayce 93, American Tour de Sol, and Formula SAE competitions. He has been honored by SAE as Outstanding Faculty Advisor nine times, was given the Ralph R. Teetor Award in 1983, the Carroll Smith Mentor’s Cup in 2003, and the SAE Excellence in Engineering Education Award in 2004.
While these awards are special to Alan, his passion and favorite role has been mentor and friend to students in the RIT and Performance Team Racing communities. "Doc" has left his mark in the classroom, as well. He currently serves as the associate department head for the department of mechanical engineering, having instructed thousands of world-class RIT engineers making their impact on the world.
Honoring Dr. Nye through the Dr. Alan Nye Endowed Student Support Fund
The Dr. Alan Nye Endowed Student Support Fund honors Alan’s contributions to RIT, the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, RIT Performance Team Community and especially the generations of students who benefited from his service as both an advisor and instructor.
Established in 2020, this endowment will provide financial support to RIT students who are involved with one of RIT’s Performance Racing teams that participate in SAE International's Collegiate Design Series (CDS). This fund will help eliminate financial barriers for students participating in performance team activities by providing support to help cover the cost of expenses such as gas, airfare, rentals, hotel and food. Over the years, Alan has helped to influence and impact students from all performance teams and it is his wish that they will all have access to this fund.
Dr. Alan Nye’s vision to create and build the SAE Collegiate programs at RIT has provided 1000’s of students with invaluable real-life engineering, business, and leadership skills heading into their professional careers. But even more meaningful, ‘Doc’ has been a selfless mentor and friend who has offered his support, guidance, and encouragement to succeed in all aspects of life. Doc Nye continues to be a dear friend to this day, and I along with many others, am forever grateful to be benefactors of his passion and dedication to serving students around the world.
Help Us Reach Our Goal
Your help is needed to endow the Dr. Alan Nye Endowed Student Support Fund through gifts totaling $100,000. Once endowed, Dr. Nye’s name will be attached to this fund in perpetuity to honor his impact on the thousands of students he’s mentored and colleagues he’s supported, and the endowed fund will provide $5,000 each year to support students in need who participate in RIT Performance Racing Team activities associated with SAE International's Collegiate Design Series (CDS). Each spring semester, students participating in these activities will have the ability to apply for a student support grants to supplement their experience. Recipients will be selected by a committee that consists of a representative from the office of Development and Alumni Relations and a student services representative from both the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and College of Engineering Technology.
When you join us in supporting this fund, you will be invited to an annual luncheon to meet the student recipients and hear about their experience. Now more than ever, funds like this are needed to help students bridge the financial barriers to participate in these invaluable activities. As you know, experiences like this can have lifelong impact for these students.
This support for students, and this opportunity to honor Dr. Alan Nye would not be possible without your generous support. Thank you.
