May 26, 2006 — Nucor Corp. has donated $2 million to endow the F. Kenneth Iverson Chair in the materials science and engineering department at the University of Missouri–Rolla (UMR), home to one of the nation's largest metallurgical engineering programs.

The Nucor Endowed F. Kenneth Iverson Chair of Steelmaking Technologies is the largest corporate cash donation in UMR's history and the first donation to endow a chair in Nucor's history. It will provide critical support for steelmaking research and ensure the continuation of higher education in the field.

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, professional enrichment and other necessary research and teaching expenditures.

"Nucor has always embraced new technologies, from thin-slab casting to environmentally friendly pig iron facilities," said Dan DiMicco, Nucor's Chairman, President and CEO. "The endowment we're announcing today will help support development of tomorrow's technologies in the steel industry."

Nucor's donation highlights a long-term relationship between the steel company and UMR. Nucor has hired UMR's metallurgical engineering graduates and supported UMR research for years. Nucor also has co-sponsored UMR's summer programs for high school students and hosted visits of UMR students to its facilities throughout the United States.

“On behalf of the entire University of Missouri system, I would like to express my thanks to Nucor for its generous gift, named in honor of Nucor's founding chairman, Ken Iverson," said Elson S. Floyd, University of Missouri President. "Visionary companies such as Nucor understand the importance of basic research to allow their industries to evolve. Nucor is willing to make a major investment in the future of its industry."

"We selected UMR for this position because of its unsurpassed track record of outstanding research into steel technologies," DiMicco said. "UMR's leadership is helping engineering students understand that there are many opportunities for challenging, rewarding careers in the steel industry."

UMR will begin a search for the professor to be selected to the position. Internal and external candidates will be considered. UMR plans to have the professor in place for the start of the 2007-08 academic year.

Founded in 1870 as the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, the University of Missouri–Rolla (UMR) is the oldest technological university west of the Mississippi. UMR, which has an enrollment of 5,500-plus students, has one of the nation's largest programs in metallurgical engineering. For the past 10 years, UMR has averaged 20 to 25 bachelor degrees in metallurgical engineering per year with about half of those graduates taking jobs related to the iron or steel industry. US News and World Report lists UMR as having a top-50 materials science and engineering graduate program.

Nucor and affiliates manufacture steel products, with operating facilities in seventeen states. Products include carbon and alloy steel bars, beams, sheet and plate; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; and light gauge steel framing. Nucor is the nation's largest recycler.