HOUGHTON-The Department of Electrical Engineering at Michigan Tech will honor its founding chairman in a special ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m. in room 100 of the Electrical Energy Resources Center (EERC).
"We recently received a gift from one of our alumni, George Swenson, Jr., for the purpose of enhancing the quality of our Electromagnetic Projects Laboratory," said Electrical Engineering Department Chair Dr. David Stone. "We've decided to dedicate that lab to honor George's father, George W. Swenson, who was the founding chairman of MTU's Electrical Engineering Department back in 1928."
Stone said the younger Swenson's gift will be used to purchase equipment to assist students in laboratory projects investigating the performance and design of circuits and antennas used in cellular phones, collision avoidance systems, radio telescopes, and electrical transmission lines.
A native of Willmar, MN, George Swenson received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Minnesota and taught there for 10 years before coming to Michigan Tech in 1928 to head the new electrical Engineering Department. As the only electrical engineering professor in the school at the time, he was responsible for designing the labs, specifying the equipment, and organizing the curriculum for the department. He retired from Michigan Tech in 1960 and in 1961 the college awarded him an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree.
George Swenson Jr. grew up in Houghton and received B.S. and E.E. degrees from Michigan Tech. He later earned his M.S. from MIT and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He served on the faculties of Washington University, the University of Alaska, and Michigan State University, before accepting a position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1956. He is a Professor Emeritus of electrical engineering and astronomy at the University of Illinois. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the MTU Electrical Engineering Academy. In 1997 he was appointed adjunct professor of electrical engineering at Michigan Tech.