Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Chance
Civil Engineering ,
After graduating from South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University in 1953 with a degree in Civil Engineering. Don Veal was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United State Air Force. He worked as a civil engineer for the state of California and later entered the U.S. Air Force Pilot Training Program in the fall of 1953, earning his pilot wings in 1954. He was assigned to the Air Force Training Command where he served as an instructor pilot until he was honorably discharged in 1957.
Don then enrolled in graduate school at SDSU and later at the University of Wyoming earning an M.S. degree and the first Ph.D. degree awarded by the College of Engineering. Veal taught, while a graduate student, in the Civil Engineer Department with a special interest in fluid mechanics. During that time and long after graduation, he flew as a research pilot for the university. He also flew for the United States Forest Service and gave private instruction in his spare time logging more than 11,000 hours in the cockpit.
Veal served the University of Wyoming in several capacities, including professor, assistant director of the Natural Resources Research Institute, the first head of the Department of Atmospheric Science which he started and nurtured. Vice president for research, and ultimately, president of the University of Wyoming. During the time he was at UW, he was also director of the National Hail Research Experiment, a program under the National Center for Atmospheric Research and sponsored by the National Science foundation. After nearly 30 years at the University of Wyoming, Veal retired to become president and CEO of Particle Measuring Systems in Boulder, Colorado, a company that specializes in the manufacture of instruments to optically observe small particles in various media. Don received the Distinguished Alumnus à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã in 1983 from SDSU and the Medallion Service à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã in 1990 from UW. Don was a member of the Wyoming Engineering and Wyoming Aviation Halls of Fame.