Honorees Inducted for 2026
Thomas R. Dion
Thomas R. Dion was born in 1946 in Summerville, S.C.. He attended public schools and entered Pinewood School in 1955 in Summerville. Later he was a member of the last class to graduate from Gaud School in Charleston. While still in high school he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Sea Bees as an engineering aid. He was a member of The Citadel Class of 1968, served as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy on board ship, and later returned to school to complete his graduate work in Civil Engineering at Clemson University in 1973. He worked at the S.C. Department of Transportation and at Sigma Engineers in Charleston before joining the Citadel’s Civil Engineering Departmental faculty in 1976. He was promoted to Colonel and became a full professor in 1996. He retired after almost 38 years of teaching at the end of 2013. He married Susan Cameron Richardson and they have two sons: Thomas Walker Dion (1975- 2012) and Cameron Richardson Dion.
He is the author of two internationally published civil engineering textbooks and has also been issued patents in and outside of the United States. He was elected as a Commissioner of Public Works for the Town of Summerville, served as a charter member of the Board of Architectural Review, and as the chief examiner for the S.C. State Board of Engineering and Land Surveying Examiners on matters pertaining to land surveying for 10 years. In addition to many professional organizations, he is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars. He was a recipient of the Palmetto Award medal during Citadel Corps Day 2010 and of the LeTellier Cup from the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2011 for his lifetime contribution to the profession. In 2013 he received the South Carolina Professional Land Surveyors Life Service Award for his educational contributions to the profession of land surveying in the State of South Carolina over the past 38 years. Most recently he was lead author on a History of the Free School Board of Dorchester in the Province of Carolina, published by the Dorchester Free School Board in 2024 in celebration of their 300th anniversary, and also lead author on another local history, The Tea Farm—Her People and Her Town: Summerville, South Carolina, published in 2025 by the Timrod Literary and Library Association in Summerville. He is currently working on another history for the Timrod entitled Marooning in the Pines—The Inns of Summerville. He is a member of St. Paul’s Church Anglican in Summerville, South Carolina.
Dr. Dan Nale
Dr. Dan D. Nale, PE, PhD, began his distinguished engineering career upon graduating from The Citadel with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1982. As a cadet, Dr. Nale was named to the Dean’s List, President’s List, and Gold Stars List. He earned membership in Tau Beta Pi, Summerall Guards and Honor Court and progressed in leadership from Squad Corporal and Platoon Sergeant to F Company Commander.
Having begun as a stress analyst engineer on the space shuttle wing program at Grumman Aerospace, Dr. Nale remained in the aerospace sector until he retired in 2019 from Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation as Sr. Vice President of Programs, Engineering, Flight Operations, and Flight Test.
Committed to lifelong learning, Dr. Nale earned his ME and PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of South Carolina and his MBA from Mercer University. Following his retirement from Gulfstream, Dr. Nale returned to The Citadel, where for six years he served on the engineering faculty.
In 2019, Dr. Nale, with support from Gulfstream Aerospace, established an engineering scholarship, which is awarded annually to undergraduate students who are both affiliated with Gulfstream and are pursuing a degree in civil, mechanical, aerospace, or electrical engineering.
A private pilot, Dr. Nale has flown the Grumman Tiger aircraft, built by the company where he began his career. He also served as a flight observer aboard various Gulfstream aircraft. Dr. Nale is the proud father of two adult daughters and two granddaughters. Today, he and his wife live in Charleston, where he consults with established and emerging aerospace firms advancing the future of flight.
Johnston W. Peeples
A native South Carolinian, John Peeples received a BS in Electrical Engineering from The Citadel, class of 1970. After a tour of duty in the US Air Force, he completed an MSEE and PhD in EE at the University of South Carolina.
Peeples entered the computer industry with NCR Corporation in 1976. He received corporate- and industry-wide recognition in 1980 for his role in the analysis of low-level radiation-induced failures, called “soft errors” that were threatening to limit the size of memory chips.
In 1996 Peeples retired as NCR’s Assistant Vice President of Technology to co-found KryoTech, Inc., with the mission of advancing computing performance through the application of novel cooling techniques. To this end, KryoTech demonstrated the world’s first one Giga-hertz Personal Computer at AMD’s 1999 shareholder meeting in New York City.
In August 1999 Peeples joined The Citadel’s Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty, where his service included 12 years as department head, and his teaching and scholarly interest were focused on Solid State Devices and Energy Systems Engineering. He retired from full-time teaching in July 2022, but continues to teach college-credit Physics at a Charleston-area high school.
Under appointments by Governors Haley and McMaster, Peeples completed 10 years of service to the State of South Carolina as a member of the SC Board of Registration of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, including two years as the Board’s chair. He is a professional engineer, a member of the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi, a senior-life-member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, a patent holder, author of numerous technical papers, journal articles, symposium proceedings and book chapters, and is an active speaker at professional and technical venues. Peeples is the 2019 recipient of the international Robert Janowiak award, for leadership and service to electrical and computer engineering education, was honored with a named full scholarship for ECE students at The Citadel, received The Citadel’s 2022 Palmetto Medal, was named the 2020 Charleston Engineer of the Year. He just completed a term as the 2025 chair of the Charleston Engineers Joint Council.
Richard L. Cook Jr.
Richard L. Cook, Jr. is a nationally recognized building envelope consultant and designer with more than four decades of experience specializing in roofing, waterproofing, and exterior wall systems. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from The Citadel in 1984 and has dedicated his career to advancing the technical standards of building enclosure design and performance.
Evidence of Mr. Cook’s prominent leadership and influential impact are demonstrated through the following achievements:
- Served in senior national leadership roles within the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC), including President, Immediate Past President, and multiple other positions. Recognized Fellow of IIBEC, reflecting peer recognition for sustained leadership, technical expertise, and service to the profession.
- Played a pivotal role in the evolution of the Roof Consultants Institute (RCI) into IIBEC, shaping the modern building-enclosure consulting profession.
- President of the Building Envelope Institute established to advance education, mentorship, and professional development related to Exterior Walls.
- One of a select few professionals nationally to earn all major building-enclosure registrations, including Certified/Registered Roof Consultant, Waterproofing Consultant, and Exterior Wall Consultant, and the inaugural Registered Building Envelope Consultant (RBEC).
- Author and presenter of numerous technical papers delivered at national conventions, university symposiums, professional conferences and certification workshops, advancing industry knowledge, engineering design, construction methods, and best practices.
Mr. Cook’s remarkable forty-one year professional career includes the following significant milestones:
- Founding Partner, The Building Envelope Enclosure Group (The BEE Group), delivering expert consulting and design services nationwide, 2019- present.
- Co-Founder and Vice President of Austin Dillon Cook Engineering, now ADC Engineering, building envelope, roofing, waterproofing and exterior wall, consultant, designer, project/construction manager, 1991-2019.
- Roofing, Construction Engineer, Southern Division, NAVFACENGCOM, where he established roofing programs, authored specifications, trained DoD personnel, and led recovery efforts following Hurricane Hugo, 1984-1991.
- His stature as a nationally recognized leader in roofing, waterproofing, and building envelope system design, responsible for curriculum development, professional certification programs, and continuing education through educational partnerships with Clemson University, North Carolina State University, and The Citadel. Selected Faculty Member, Roofing Industry Educational Institute, 1996.
- 53 Roofing Design and Technical merit Awards RCI/IIBEC, SWRI and NRCA, 1993 – 2018, including six projects on the Citadel Campus.
Mr. Cook has accumulated an extensive list of professional credentials including:
- Registered Building Envelope Consultant, IIBEC. #0001
- Registered Exterior Wall Consultant, IIBEC. #0005
- Registered Roof Consultant, IIBEC. #0026
- Registered Waterproofing Consultant, IIBEC. #0002
- Certified Building Envelope Commissioning Professional, CBECxP, IIBEC, #0014
- LEED® Accredited Professional, US Green Building Council 2003
- Certified Construction Specifier, Certified Construction Contract Administrator, and Certified Document Technologist – Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)
- SC Accredited Commercial Energy Manager, 2009
- Certified Solar Roofing ProfessionalTM (CSRPsTM) – RISE™ 2010
Mr. Cook has accumulated an impeccable record of service to The Citadel, including:
- Past Chair, Citadel Civil Engineering Advisory Council, providing guidance on curriculum, accreditation, and industry alignment
- Member, Mark Clark Society 2024, Order of the Tartan 2009
- Director, In State Club President, Citadel Alumni Association (CAA)
- Past Director, District #1 Citadel Alumni Association (CAA)
- President, Berkeley County Citadel Club
- Past President, Charleston Citadel Club
- Past President, Brigadier Foundation
- Established Athletic and Academic scholarships at The Citadel
- Chair/Co-Chair, The Citadel Class of 1984 Reunions
- Adjunct Faculty Citadel Dept. of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering
Commitment to The Citadel’s Values
Mr. Cook embodies an unwavering commitment to The Citadel’s core values of honor, duty, and respect, as demonstrated by:
- Actively mentoring Citadel engineering students and alumni, offering professional guidance, career support, and encouragement. A lifelong sense of duty to serve others, advance the profession, and uphold the reputation of The Citadel through engineering excellence and high moral character.
- Engineer of the Year Award, Charleston Contractors Association, 2002
- Finalist, Engineer of the Year, Southern Division, NavFacEngCom, 1990, 1991
- Junior Officer of Deployment RNMCB-14, Civil Engineering Corps, 1991
- Honor Student, Reserve Civil Engineering Corps Office School (OCS), 1987
- Outstanding Engineer, The Citadel, Class of 1984