Established April 17, 1964, with a bequest from Claudia L. Melick, in memory of her husband. Income provides civil engineering scholarships for freshmen with superior standing in high school.
Adapted from his obituary, published in Iowa, 1953.
Cyrus Alan Melick was born on October 5, 1882, in Tampa, Florida, and passed into the Great Beyond on April 24, 1953. His parents moved back to their na
tive Ohio,where Cyrus attended the public schools. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1903. After some time spent in practical engineering work and teaching, he returned to the University on a fellowship for study and received his Doctor of Civil Engineering degree in 1910.
In 1911 he was married to Claudia Dean of Earlham, Iowa. They made their home for many years in Lansing, Michigan, where he was associate professor of civil engineering at Michigan State College, and later held the position of bridge engineer for the Michigan State Highway Department.
In 1934 he went into the Bureau of Public Roads in Washington, D. C. Later he was transferred to South Carolina, and then to Ames, Iowa. He retired in October 1952.
He was a member of the engineering fraternities of Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi.
In speaking of his long-drawn-out illness and suffering he expressed his belief that there was a purpose in it all, or God would have arranged otherwise. Cyrus was a builder. His work was his life. His trained mind and hands have helped to construct the highway to better living for tomorrow.