Dr. Daniel Dickrell, Instructional Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was apart of the show “The Greatest of All Time, with Peyton Manning” on the History Channel. The show aired from February 2023- April 2023.

Dr. Dickrell’s goal on the show was to make technical concepts more accessible to viewers who may be interested but don’t have the training to appreciate the work engineers have done in the past. It’s a process of digesting a lot of historical information and then distilling it down into one or two sentences.

He also mentioned that preparing for these shows is similar to getting ready for a technical presentation at a conference. “But It’s all improv…there’s no script other than a general guideline like “Tell us why the invention of radio was important.” You have to be sharp and ready to deliver the correct information in a high-pressure environment to people who may not be familiar with what you’re talking about. The added complexity involved is that there are multiple cameras recording you and also overly wordy explanations are not going to make the cut. It’s fun but not relaxing.”

His part on the show was playing the role of Mechanical Engineer. Dr. Dickrell went on to say “I wasn’t overly opinionated in my ranking of the subjects in each episode (it’s like a top 10 list of things), but I simply ranked them in order of what I thought was most factually relevant to the argument. I was sort of the “straight man” to a lot of other more off-the-wall and bombastic contributors.”

Story by: Emily Hinds

Marketing and Communications Specialist

July 20th, 2023