Larry Ayers

HONORARY DOCTORATE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Larry Ayers, executive vice president of utilities and mapping sciences for Intergraph Corporation, is a leader in the surveying and mapping industry. He has demonstrated his faith in the mission of Ferris by initiating the donation of software from Intergraph to the surveying engineering program, and was instrumental in the partnership agreement between the University and Intergraph in which Intergraph will help Ferris establish a National Center of Excellence in Geoinformation Technology.

Ayers served the United States government for 32 years, beginning as a research engineer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Development Lab. He progressed through a number of scientific and management assignments at the Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.A. Army General staff to the position of civilian director of the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA). In 1987, he joined Intergraph, based in Reston, VA, as vice president of international federal marketing.

Ayers is active in the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, for which he served as president; the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing; and the American Association of Geographers and Security Affairs Support Association. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Center for GIS Information and Analysis and serves on the Mapping Science Committee for the National Research Council.

He has been selected as a Fellow of the National Institute of Public Affairs; and honored in both 1983 and 1987 with a Presidential Award as Distinguished Federal Executive from President Reagan for his work in modernizing mapping and GIS for defense.

Ayers holds a baccalaureate in civil engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a master in public administration from Indiana University.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to industry, the Board of Trustees of Ferris State University offers its sincere gratitude and takes great pride in conferring upon Larry Ayers the honorary degree of Doctor of Science and Engineering, with all the rights and privileges there unto appertaining.