Cavin legacy helps engineers carve their own path

Ralph and John Cavin were two of four Cavin brothers born in Natchez in the 1930s and 1940s. While they had other siblings, they found their personalities resonated and they shared a special bond throughout their lives. After John passed away in 2021, Ralph honored his brother’s life with a scholarship at their alma mater. Ralph, along with John’s widow, Cara, created the John Cavin Endowed Scholarship in Engineering at Mississippi State University.

The John Cavin Endowed Scholarship in Engineering supports full-time students studying in the Bagley College of Engineering and is awarded year-to-year as the student progresses. By helping these students, the scholarship honors John, who blazed his own unique trail from Natchez to MSU and on to a successful career.

John was the third son in the Cavin family. After graduating high school, he followed his brothers Ralph and Jim to MSU where he studied electrical engineering. Ralph Cavin had earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering in 1961 and 1962 respectively. Jim Cavin earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1964. John Cavin earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering in 1970 and 1971 respectively. Their brother Donald had earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Texas A&M in 1977 before working on graduate studies in marine biology at MSU in 1978.

After John graduated, he took his first engineering job at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton, Florida. While there, John worked collaboratively on a project with Grumman Aerospace Corporation of New York. After completing that project, Grumman offered John a job, and he and his wife Cara moved to Long Island, New York. Cara hesitated to move so far from home, but she knew John could succeed anywhere. No matter how far from Starkville John was, he always made sure he kept up with MSU and the Bulldogs.

“He was very proud of his degree from Mississippi State and felt like he received an excellent education,” Cara said. “It enabled him to have some pretty incredible career experiences.”

Following his time with Grumman, John spent a few years working in New Jersey. Then, in 1991, he and Cara moved to Madison, Wisconsin. John was president and co-founder of AITS, Inc., specializing in creating Oracle driven e-commerce products. In 2002 John began his career working for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He began there as a software coordinator for the university’s IceCube project, whose field base was located at the South Pole.  His ability to collaborate well set him apart throughout his career and helped his work span the globe. Later collaborations found him working with groups from Indiana University and Yale, always focusing on teamwork and the full scope of each job.

“Being able to see the big picture was one of John’s greatest traits,” Cara said. “He credited his time at Mississippi State with helping him learn that ability.”

Each Cavin paid his own way to attend MSU. Ralph understands the impact scholarships can have on students' lives, as he was supported by a National Science Foundation Fellowship while working on his MSEE degree at MSU.

The value and benefit of that was a gateway to a rewarding professional career.

“My parents were not wealthy, and only through working could I pay my way through college,” Ralph said. “I came to understand there are a lot of capable people who just can't afford a higher education. I’m trying to do something about that in my own small way.”

Establishing the scholarship in his brother’s name lets Ralph support people like him who need a little extra help, and it also honors his dear brother.

“I would say John and I were philosophically aligned,” Ralph said. “We strongly agreed on a lot of different topics. For us, getting together and sharing papers, books or ideas was just natural. I deeply love all my brothers, but John was special to me. I think it's because we looked at the world through a similar lens.”

Successful engineering projects require a systems perspective buttressed by technical depth and usually a team effort. John exemplified each of these attributes and the gift by Ralph and Cara will equip MSU students to succeed in their careers in the mold of John Cavin.