Professor Jay Puckett

Vincent O. Smith Professorship in Engineering

Professor Jay Puckett, Civil and Architectural Engineering, was appointed the Vincent O. Smith Professor in Engineering in October 2005. This professorship, established by the late Vincent O. Smith, is to be assigned at the discretion of the Dean with special consideration to structural engineering or other sub-disciplines related to infrastructure as these are the areas upon which Vince Smith built a distinguished career.

In addition to providing leadership for the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at the University of Wyoming, Professor Puckett is known nationally for his scholarship and teaching in structural engineering, specifically as applied to highway bridges. His textbook, Design of Highway Bridges – An LRFD Approach, is widely accepted as one of the most authoritative in the field. He serves the bridge engineering community nationally as an advisor, committee member and consultant to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Puckett has also served on several committees of the National Academies of Science and Engineering and as a research contractor to the Cooperative Highway Research Program. He was instrumental in starting the ASCE Bridge Engineering Journal and served on the original team of editors. He was inducted to Academy of Distinguished Alumni at the University of Missouri at Columbia in 2000.

Vincent O. Smith was born in Sheridan, WY and came to Laramie in 1940, before being lured to jobs in California.  He joined the Army and became operations officer for Construction Battalion in the Pacific Theater for five years.  In 1947 he returned to UW and received his degree in civil engineering in 1950.

Returning to California, he worked for 10 years for the California Division of Highways, rising to district construction engineer.  In 1960 he joined Gordon H. Ball, Inc., as General Manager, and then rose to Executive Vice President and finally President.  He was involved in projects such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART); the Washington, D.C. Metro including Union Station and the Watergate to Pentagon tunnel under the Potomac River; Vandenberg AFB’s Shuttle Launch Facility; excavation for the Grand Coulee Third Power Plant; tunnels 1, 2, and 3 for the San Luis Water Project; and many other projects of national significance.  After a long recovery from a serious car accident, he owned and operated Mark-O-Engineering, dealing with bond claims and the completion of defaulted construction contracts.