TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has selected University of Alabama College of Engineering student Thomas Saunders to serve on the Petroleum Division Collegiate Council.

Saunders, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering from Alexander City, is one of 12 students in the nation to participate in this first-year event. He was the only student in the state selected to participate. Saunders serves as president of UA’s ASME chapter.

“We are very fortunate to have the only student from the state representing the University and our strong engineering program,” said Dr. Beth Todd, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

The ASME Petroleum Division Collegiate Council was established to promote the petroleum industry to ASME student chapters and expand student memberships and programs in order to better serve and more accurately meet the needs of student members.

Founded in 1880, ASME International is a nonprofit educational and technical organization with 125,000 members. In addition to being one of the world's largest technical publishing operations, it also holds technical conferences, provides professional development courses, and sets industry and manufacturing standards.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.