Dustin Cole Howser

Dustin, son of Darlene and Tim Howser, graduated with honors and highest distinction from Bristol Tennessee High School.

He is an accomplished song writer and studio musician. As lead guitarist and session leader for Phoenix Record’s National country artist, Brad Puckett, Dustin’s talent and love for music earned him the “Best Act” award at the Gatlinburg, Tennessee “Smokey Mountain Songwriter’s Festival.”

Dustin graduated Summa Cum Laude from Vanderbilt University with a degree in engineering. He was awarded the “Mechanical Engineering Program Award” as the top mechanical engineer of the graduating class. He completed internships with Domtar Corporation, in Kingsport and VEXTEC, in Nashville. He worked in research in the Biomechanics and Assistive Technology lab at Vanderbilt and is a co-author of a patent-pending invention. He served as president of Vanderbilt Circle K, as well as vice president of the Vanderbilt Aerospace Club. He received the NASA USLI “National Experiment Design Award” for his payload design for the Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Laboratory.

Dustin is employed as a Tech Service Rep in the Specialty Plastics Division at Eastman Chemical. Previously, he worked as an Aeronautical Engineer with Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas as a member of the F-16/F-22 Integrated Fighter Group (IFG), and as a mechanical engineer at Nuclear Fuel Services, in Erwin, Tennessee.  He resides in Johnson City.