Jeffrey Roux, professor of mechanical engineering, is set to retire in January 2020. Roux has served the university for 39 years. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
University of Mississippi mechanical engineering professor Jeffrey A. “Jeff” Roux, who will retire from UM in January 2020, leaves behind a legacy of achievements. His impressive career includes multiple national, regional, state, campus and departmental honors for teaching, research and service, and that only includes his time at Ole Miss.
Thirty-nine years ago, the New Orleans native left his decade-long professional career in central Tennessee to become an associate professor within the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Within five years, Roux was promoted to full professor and became the department chair, a position he held for 21 years.
“I can thank Allie Smith (UM engineering dean emeritus) for wooing me into academia and to the University of Mississippi,” Roux said. “He and I had worked together in Tennessee. After he accepted his position here, he actively began recruiting me. It took about five years for him to convince me, but I’m glad I finally came around.”
Among Roux’s achievements are the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Meritorious Service Award for Region IX and the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching and Scholarship.
Within the university, Roux has received the Outstanding Mechanical Engineering Department Teacher Award six times and the School of Engineering Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award four times. A registered professional engineer in Mississippi since 1987, he is both an ASME life fellow and an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics associate fellow.
Expanding upon the foundation Roux established has been rewarding, said Arunachalam Rajendran, chair and professor of mechanical engineering.
“Dr. Roux established himself as a stellar educator and progressive researcher long before I succeeded him,” he said. “To work with him for these past few years has been a most enjoyable experience.”
A prolific author and scholarly researcher, Roux has published 147 papers and peer-reviewed journal articles over his 49-year career. His research interests are in the thermal sciences within mechanical engineering. Since 1981, he has worked on 28 externally funded research projects.
Colleagues’ praise and professional honors aside, Roux said his students are what he will miss most after he retires.
“The most rewarding thing for me about working at Ole Miss has been teaching and then seeing former students return to campus,” said Roux, who has successfully directed eight doctoral dissertations and 36 master’s theses to completion. “Some of them have become like members of my family.”
Roux mentioned two of his favorite students as Tamara Crawford of New Albany and Kendall Harris of Arlington, Texas.
“Tamara came here with a whole lot of determination to succeed,” Roux said. “Over the course of her bachelor’s program and beyond, I have observed her growth. She’s phenomenal.”
Roux remembers Harris as having been nervous about defending his dissertation.
“I assured Kendall that if he could successfully land an F-14 fighter jet on the deck of a Navy aircraft carrier at night in a storm, he could most definitely defend his dissertation without concern,” Roux said.
Roux’s wife, Cindy, died in 2013. The couple’s three adult children earned degrees from UM.
“I have eight grandchildren who either have graduated or will graduate from the University of Mississippi as well at some point,” said Roux, who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Tennessee and his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University. “Ole Miss definitely runs in the Roux family blood.”
Roux’s retirement plans include continuing to exercise at the Turner Center and canoeing on lakes and rivers around the state.