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            Auburn University - University Relations
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6/2/95                                     Bob Lowry

** GRADUATION FEATURE **

AUBURN UNIVERSITY STUDENT TO COLLECT TWO DEGREES


      AUBURN -- Getting a degree in civil engineering is tough
enough for most Auburn University students, but Frank Stevens of
Waverly will also collect a second degree in agronomy and soils
during Wednesday's spring quarter commencement.
      And just for fun during his career at Auburn, Stevens
discovered a new soil type in Lee County, tinkered enough in
mathematics to win a research grant and has piled on too many
academic honors to list.
      "I started working on these two (civil engineering and
agronomy and soils) from the beginning," he said.  "Basically I've
always had a pretty wide base of interest.
      "I couldn't pick one specific area and say that was all I
wanted to do. I found these two degrees that worked together, and
they covered a lot of things I'm interested in."
      Stevens, an Eagle Scout graduate of Lee-Scott Academy in
Auburn, already has a job lined up with a Birmingham company, where
he was cooperative education student. Stevens will be a project
manager with the company, which contracts with industry in
providing solutions to environmental problems.
      "My emphasis in agronomy and soils was in soils, and that's
pretty important in any environmental field, especially in dealing
with spills," he says.
      Joseph Hood, professor of agronomy and soils, calls Stevens
"an outstanding student." 
      "He was an outstanding student in agronomy and soils -- a
person with a lot of potential," he said. "We occasionally get a
student who is interested in soils from an engineering standpoint.:
      As a member of AU's soil judging team while taking graduate
level courses, Stevens had the distinction as a sophomore to
discover a new type of soil in Lee County.
      After testing what appeared to be ordinary red clay from a
road bank off U.S. 280 near Waverly, Stevens discovered that the
soil classified as "oxisol" -- usually only found in Brazilian rain
forests. It was the first discovery of the soil in the continental
United States.
      "It's just an extremely old weathered soil," Stevens said.
"It's probably just a fluke that it was left in place for a long
time and not disturbed. Lee County is on the edge of the Piedmont
Plateau and the Coastal Plain. Right here on the tip, some soil
managed to weather to that point.
      "This means we have soils in this area that are going to
behave as soils do in the Amazon. That's useful from an
experimental point of view. We can study right here in Lee County
what might happen in Brazil."
      After a stint in industry, Stevens says he eventually plans
to go to graduate school and possibly return to AU as a professor.
      "Basically I want to get a little more specialized and narrow
down my field of interest," he says. "I haven't made my mind to go
for a master's or go all the way (for a doctorate). I'd probably
like to end up in the Auburn area -- very probably end up teaching
at Auburn."
      That's not surprising since Stevens' family has a solid
Auburn background. His father, Robert Stevens,  and mother, Mary
Stevens, are both Auburn graduates. His wife and sister  also have
Auburn degrees, and grandparents on both sides have degrees and/or
Auburn connections.
      "I come from a big Auburn family," he added.
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june95:AU-stevens
      CONTACT: Stevens, 334/826-5714.