Nucor Corp. has donated $2 million to endow a chair in the materials science and engineering department at the University of Missouri-Rolla, home to one of the nation’s largest programs in metallurgical engineering.         

The Kenneth Iverson Steel Technology Chair, named in honor of Nucor’s founding chairman, will provide support for steelmaking research. UMR will begin a search to fill the endowed chair soon. The materials science and engineering department plans to have the professor in place for the start of the 2007-2008 academic year.         

Nucor’s endowment supplements state-budgeted funds and will be used to support graduate or post-doctoral students working with the named faculty. Funds will also be used to support travel, dues and professional enrichment.         

“A partner with UMR for many years, Nucor appreciates our commitment to providing a traditional metallurgical engineering program that produces leading research and contributions to the steel industry,” says UMR Chancellor John F. Carney III.         

About half of the students who study metallurgical engineering at UMR eventually take jobs related to the iron and steel industries.         

Dr. Elson Floyd, president of the University of Missouri, says Nucor is a visionary company that understands how research impacts industries.         

Nucor, based in Charlotte, N.C., manufactures carbon and steel products. “Nucor has always embraced new technologies, from thin-slab casting to environmentally friendly pig iron facilities,” says Dan DiMicco, the company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “This endowment will help support development of tomorrow’s technologies in the steel industry.”