Samuel D. Hakes
Distinguished Engineer Award, 2025
Dr. Samuel D. Hakes was born on August 17, 1930, and was raised on 170-acre horse ranch in Manitou Springs, CO. He graduated from Manitou Springs High School in 1948 where he lettered in both basketball and football.
After attending Western State College in Gunnison, CO, he joined the US Navy in 1950. He served in the Korean War as a radio man in the flight crew of a PB4W2 patrol bomber, and was decorated with the National Defense medal, China Service medal and several battle campaign ribbons. He was also stationed in Alaska and Hawaii and was honorably discharged in 1954.
Sam entered the University of Wyoming’s Electrical Engineering bachelor’s program in 1954 on the GI Bill and graduated with his BS degree in 1957. He continued his education at UW, earning an MS degree in 1958. He was inducted into the honorary engineering society Sigma Tau (which later merged with Tau Beta Pi) and graduated with honors.
Sam joined the Electrical Engineering faculty as a lecturer in 1958, was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1960 and to Associate Professor in 1965. He was then granted a sabbatical to begin work on his PhD at the University of Iowa, completed that degree in 1969 and returned to UW as a Professor.
In 1972, Sam was appointed the Department Head of Electrical Engineering at UW and served in that capacity until 1975 when he was appointed as Dean of the College of Engineering, faithfully serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1996.
Sam passed away in 2002. In Spring 2003, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences renamed the Outstanding Graduate Research/Teaching Award to the Sam D. Hakes Outstanding Graduate Research and Teaching Award in his honor. This award was originated by him and recognizes the outstanding efforts of college faculty and celebrates Sam’s many achievements and dedication to graduate education in the College.
From the Fall 2002 edition of the College’s newsletter, Foresight, which announces Sam’s passing: Hakes’ engineering expertise was in the field of electronic instrumentation design. He and Richard Weeks developed the Tele-Heart System, a portable cardiotachometer for measuring heart rates. Hakes and Mack Schrib designed and produced a unique, highly effective athletic timer that was used in the Winston Cup car racing series, as well as for rodeo, skiing, and track events. Other projects included instruments used in aerospace measurement laboratories, telemetry-tracking, and computer design.
Initiated into the national engineering honor society, Sigma Tau (now Tau Beta Pi), Hakes was not the “Ivory Tower type.” His roll-up-the-sleeves teaching style has been described by former students as “practical,” “down to earth,” “right there in the trenches with you,” and “creative and thought-provoking.” He wanted his engineers to be able to hit the ground running in the real world. In 1975, the year he became Dean, he was named Outstanding Faculty Member.
In his 21 years as a highly respected, outspoken dean at UW, he left no room for doubt where his priorities were: he fought hard for the College of Engineering in terms of academics and dollars.
