Background
Nevins was born on November 15, 1924 at Kinsley, Kansas. He grew up in Dodge City, Kansas.
Nevins was born on November 15, 1924 at Kinsley, Kansas. He grew up in Dodge City, Kansas.
He earned Bachelor of Science and Mississippi degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1973 from the University of Illinois.
He spent a year in the military and joined the faculty at Kansas State University as an instructor. He died October 30, 1973. The Nevins Physiology and Human Environment Award is an annual prize given by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers) awarded since 1978 to "young researcher who has distinguished himself in man’s response to the environment, which may include thermal, acoustical, olfactory, microbial or other effects".
In 1957 he become chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department.
He was the Kansas Power and Light Company Distinguished Professor, 1963-1967. In 1961, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers decided to close its research laboratory, located in Cleveland since 1924, and invited interested organizations to bid on receiving its equipment.
Doctor, Nevins obtained from the state of Kansas $160,000 for a building and a like amount from the National Institutes of Health for installation and operation. He obtained the chamber and promised to carry on research in American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers’s interest for at least 5 years.
The new facility was named the Institute for Environmental Research, and Doctor Nevins became its Director.
In 1967 he was promoted to Dean of the College of Engineering at KSU. He published over 60 technical papers in American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education and others In association with Yale University, he was also a visiting professor of Environmental Technologies.
In 1973 he accepted the position of Fellow and Head of the Environmental Engineering Group and Member of the Executive Committee of the John B. Pierce Foundation Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut, a world class environmental research organization.