---
title: A Peek Inside… Professor Emeritus Bill Fourney’s Office
date: 2023-12-04T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/a-peek-inside-professor-emeritus-bill-fourneys-office"
section: Articles
---
# A Peek Inside… Professor Emeritus Bill Fourney’s Office

*December 4, 2023* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/author/karen-shih)


> Engineer Explains How Collection of Exploded Objects Enhances Teaching

*Bill Fourney Office 11152023 SC 70796542 1920x1080 — Professor Emeritus Bill Fourney shown through a thick piece of plexiglass. The engineer and explosives expert has been at the University of Maryland for nearly six decades—and he's not done yet.*

After nearly 60 years at the University of Maryland, [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://eng.umd.edu/) Professor Emeritus Bill Fourney could be relaxing out at his ranch in Colorado. Jetting across the country to visit his four sons and many grandkids. Anywhere but College Park.

But instead, the explosives expert still comes to campus three days a week, working in the C.D. Mote, Jr. Engineering Laboratory to better protect soldiers from brain injuries—and guiding new generations of students as they learn how to conduct research to do good in the world.

“I love to teach,” he said. “That’s why I decided to go into academia, rather than industry.”

He’s always prioritized student interactions, even as he’s taken on leadership roles in the Clark School, serving as chair of both the aerospace and mechanical engineering departments for about a decade each, then as associate dean for undergraduate studies. As chair, for example, he tried to interview every student before graduation to learn how departments could improve.

One of his proudest achievements is creating the Keystone Program with then-Dean Nariman Favardin in 2006. Today, thanks to the extra support and enhanced hands-on experiences it offers to first- and second-year engineering majors, about 75% of them graduate within five years.

Fourney, whose office is nestled in the Keystone suite of the J.M. Patterson Building, explains why he has so many broken objects, the university mementos he’s collected over the years and the story behind a Terps football with his name on it.

**Plexiglass explosion**



*Octagonal plexiglass with a flower explosion pattern*



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*exploded can of saline*



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*gray watchman's box; vintage mountain dew and pepsi cans*



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*oil shale on a bookshelf*



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*football with Go Terps and Dr. Bill Fourney written on it sitting in a piece of white goal post*




**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Mechanical Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/mechanical-engineering), [A Peek Inside](https://today.umd.edu/topic/a-peek-inside), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)