Development News

Monte Sano Research Corporation honors its former president with scholarship at Tennessee Tech

Monte Sano Research Corporation established the Bill Nourse Memorial Engineering Endowment to honor its former president and a 1984 Tennessee Tech University mechanical engineering graduate.

When Roswell William “Bill” Nourse, III passed away suddenly on June 30, 2023, MSRC knew they wanted his legacy to be remembered. The Bill Nourse Memorial Engineering Endowment will assist future engineering students through scholarship support.

“Bill was the personification of genuine love and compassion,” said Steve Thornton, chief executive officer of MSRC. “It was impossible not to fall in line with his leadership. He inspired, integrated and instituted accountability. Bill left us at absolutely the top of his career with all the tools and tactics we needed, together with significant momentum in the direction we should go. Bill’s influence will continue to impact our lives and the lives of other people yet to come.”

MSRC is a Huntsville-based small business specializing in providing full-spectrum defense system engineering, research, design, development, integration, test, evaluation and planning services to the United States government.

Nourse was a longtime employee at MSRC, serving for 11 years as a subject matter expert, executive vice president and finally as MSRC president from Jan. 1, 2023, until his death.

Nourse’s colleagues describe him as a loving father and husband, dear friend, rock-solid employee, supportive mentor and outstanding president who made countless improvements to the company.

“Bill had a way of instilling confidence in you that motivated you to keep going and succeed,” said one colleague. “He would be at the beginning, middle and end of whatever marathon you had taken on for yourself, cheering for you every step of the way. Bill will never be forgotten, because everywhere he went he left a little piece of him. Bill will live on in the memories we made with him, the lessons he helped teach and the way he united so many of us.”

Another colleague added, “He could explain the most difficult, intrinsic concepts in a way that most everyone could understand. His energy was entertaining and contagious. He loved to ask us all, ‘Who’s MSRC?’ And he’d get us to yell, ‘We are!’ If he could ask me that now, I would say, ‘You are, Bill. You are.’”

The Bill Nourse Memorial Engineering Endowment will be awarded to Tech students majoring in electrical, mechanical, chemical or computer engineering.

Aubrey Johnson, a first-year electrical engineering student from Davidson County, Tenn., received the Bill Nourse Memorial Engineering Scholarship for the 2024-25 academic year. Johnson is the scholarship’s very first recipient.

“I am honored to receive the first Bill Nourse Engineering Scholarship,” Johnson said. “I feel a deepened sense of duty to honor Mr. Nourse’s legacy of engineering and leadership. I will strive to do this by giving an earnest effort to my studies and by doing my best to set an example of leadership, respect and kindness for my peers.”