Photo by Jeff Baughan Dan Carder of West Virginia University speaks to the 2018 graduating class at Parkersburg South High School Thursday morning. Carder, whose group at the WVU Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions broke the Volkswagen diesel emissions coverup, spoke at the start of the awards assembly and told the class “don’t be afraid to fail because that’s when you learn and discover.”

PARKERSBURG — A Parkersburg South High School alumnus whose research at West Virginia University made international headlines was the keynote speaker Thursday at the awards ceremony for 2018 graduates at the high school.

Dan Carder has had quite a career at West Virginia University, from securing a bachelor’s of science in mechanical engineering in 1992 and a master’s of science in mechanical engineering in 1999 to breaking a Volkswagen coverup of diesel emissions readings.

Carder, a 1988 graduate of Parkersburg South and director of the WVU Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions, spoke to the 2018 graduating class at Parkersburg South during its South Senior Awards assembly.

“Don’t be afraid to fail,” Carder told the more than 340-member class. “Failure is a learning tool. How many times did (Thomas) Edison fail and not give up?”

Carder was one of five valedictorians in his 469-member graduating class at Parkersburg South, the school’s 21st graduating class.

Photo by Jeff Baughan Former Marshall University football coach Bob Pruett, left, and John Sines, representing the Marshall University Mid-Ohio Valley Alumni Club, await their turn to present scholarships to Marshall University Thursday at the Parkersburg South High School Senior Awards assembly. Sines and Pruett presented 19 students with scholarships through the local alumni chapter and the Marshall Foundation. Ian McKnight was presented the Yeager Scholarship, the highest bestowed by Marshall.

“Don’t be afraid to take risks,” he said. “Failure leads to learning and discovery. Success will follow but first you have to be in the game. Not everybody in baseball hits a home run their first time at bat. They will not get a hit every time.”

Carder used a $50,000 study and five-member engineering team on the Volkswagen research, according to reuters.com. article in 2015. The sponsor of the grant was the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation in late 2012.

Research was completed in May 2013 and was later corroborated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board.

“We were just doing our jobs,” Carder told the students. “We never expected to find out what we did and never expected to find out what was discovered about Volkswagen.”

Among other presentations, former Marshall University football coach Bob Pruett and John Sines, representing the Marshall University Mid-Ohio Valley Alumni Club, presented the Yeager Scholarship to Ian McKnight. The Yeager, named after Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the speed of sound, is the highest and most prestigious scholarship awarded by Marshall.

Photo by Jeff Baughan Parkersburg South High School Assistant Principal Maria Miller greets the two rows of graduating seniors as they enter the Roy McCase Gymnasium at South Thursday for the South Senior Awards assembly.

McKnight is the son of Chris and Brenda McKnight. He plans to major in biomedical engineering. He was one of eight students for the fall 2018 semester to receive the award.

The Yeager Scholarship covers full tuition, room and board, textbooks and fees, study abroad at Oxford and a lap top, among other awards. It is worth in the 10s of thousands of dollars.