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1. Gordon Parker Named First John and Cathi Drake Endowed Professor in Mechanical Engineering |
by Jennifer Donovan, public relations director
Alumnus John L. Drake received what he calls “a tremendous education at Michigan Tech, both in mechanical engineering and in business administration.” That education helped him succeed as the founder and chairman of Drake Manufacturing Services. Now he and his wife, Cathi Drake, want to help make a Michigan Tech education even better for future students.
They have pledged $1 million to endow the John and Cathi Drake Endowed Professorship in Mechanical Engineering, including gifts to provide immediate funding of the professorship. “We have been most impressed with the current management and mission of Michigan Tech and the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics,” Drake said. “We trust that our support will play a small role in helping new Tech grads achieve the success that we have enjoyed.”
Gordon G. Parker, a professor of mechanical engineering at Michigan Tech since 1996, has been named the first recipient of the Drake Endowed Professorship. Parker is an internationally recognized leader in control systems, particularly their application to naval technology. He has been recognized for his teaching as well as for his research.
“Michigan Tech’s mission is preparing students to create the future,” said President Glenn D. Mroz. “Our vision is to grow as a premier research university of international stature, delivering education, new knowledge and innovation for the needs of our technological world. This endowed professorship recognizes the inspired teaching and research of its first recipient and will help us achieve that mission and vision.”
William W. Predebon, chair of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics, agreed. “A strong, talented faculty is the lifeblood of a university,” said Predebon. “The very best teachers and researchers attract the very best students.
“Outstanding teaching starts with faculty who are at the top of their profession, who can excite students to think beyond the lecture and text and who know how to integrate their research into the classroom,” Predebon continued. “Gordon Parker is such a teacher.”
Before coming to Michigan Tech, Parker worked as an aerospace engineer and a senior member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratory. He earned the Michigan Tech Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001 and the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award in 2003. Parker has received more than $4 million in research funding from government and industry.
His BS in Systems Engineering is from Oakland University, his MS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics is hosting a reception to honor Parker, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, in the Red Metal Room 105 of the Memorial Union. Refreshments will be served. |
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2. Sharp-Dressed Men and Women: Career Day 2007 |
By Dennis Walikainen, senior editor, University Marketing and Communications
The hill leading up to the Student Development Complex was covered with students in their Sunday best on their way to their future. Krystle Olson and Derek Weichlein hit the door of the SDC at the same time.
“Surveying,” Olson answered when asked about her major. She was looking to intern this summer “with anyone.” Weichlein, a civil engineering major, was looking for a summer internship with Construction Resources Management Inc.
They entered a whirlwind of recruitment.
The Multipurpose Room, Wood Gym and Gates Tennis Center were all transformed into Careerville. Outside, GM, Ford Motor Company and Caterpillar lured prospective interviewees with flashy vehicles.
One student told a GM recruiter stationed next to an Avalanche pickup truck/fold-out tent combination, “I want to work in alternative energy.”
This is in sharp contrast to a recent report out of California that said their college graduates still didn't know what to do when they left school.
Inside the Wood Gym, accounting major Jill Garrity, graduating in spring 2009, talked with Sentry Insurance; Alticor, the parent of Amway; Auto-Owners Insurance; and was looking for Cummins and Caterpillar. Sentry sounded promising for an internship next summer.
Nick Dumler, a mechanical engineering student graduating this December, was going to talk to Caterpillar, Cirrus Design and John Deere. Electrical engineering major Jeremy Stocks had already landed a job with GM, but was trolling for Ford, Dow Corning and Navsea, an electronic defense firm that told him to “stay by your phone tonight around seven.”
Even first-year students were working the crowd. Jean Blanning (Humanities) had one of her classes questioning employers. Their findings? “They want lots of engineers,” said Audrey Manderfield. Heather Reed said that there were internship opportunities for first-year students, and that interviewing the interviewers was “a great experience.”
Both students were undecided about their academic field of choice, another good reason for attending Career Day.
Representatives from CH2M Hill were undaunted in spite of the fact that their display materials didn’t arrive. They penciled in some signs and sign-up sheets and were attracting attention because of their low-tech approach.
Kari MacDonald and Ginger Friar represented Veco Alaska, which had just merged with energy and manufacturing giant CH2M Hill. They were looking for chemical, mechanical, civil, structural and electrical engineers and already had a couple interviews set up by early Tuesday.
They recruit at Michigan Tech because they “know the engineers are great and not afraid of winter,” MacDonald said of her company, which is based in Anchorage.
Cynthia Filley was representing C2AE, a Lansing-based architecture, engineering and planning company. Their construction projects ranged from churches to airports to healthcare. “Assisted-living communities are a fast-growing part of our business,” Filley said.
They have “lots of Tech engineering grads working for them,” she said.
Their motto, displayed prominently behind her and on her business card, seemed to summarize the reason nearly 300 organizations were recruiting on campus this October day: “It’s the people.”
Krystle Olson emailed me her results later: "I found two companies that were in the area I was looking to work this summer, and they told me they were going to give me a call: R.A. Smith and Associates out of Appleton and Wade Trim out of their Traverse city office. It was my first time going to the career fair and I am really glad I went. It showed me that there are many options I have to think of once I start looking for a full-time survey position." |
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3. Bingo, Prizes at University Women's Fall Welcome Tonight |
Women affiliated in any way with Michigan Tech have been invited to the University Women’s Club Fall Welcome and Membership Drive tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 3. The program will include bingo and door prizes.
The fun begins at 7 p.m. and continues until 9 p.m. in the Atrium of the U.J. Noblet Forestry Building. |
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4. Little Huskies Child Development Center Dedication Thursday |
Michigan Tech’s Little Huskies Child Development Center will be officially dedicated Thursday, Oct. 4, at 1:30 p.m. The dedication ceremony will take place at the entrance of the building, located between the SDC and the U.J. Noblet Forestry Building on MacInnes Drive. The campus is welcome to attend. However, there is no available parking near the center, so attendees will need to walk up the hill from campus or park in the SDC parking lot.
The child development center opened for business in August. For enrollment information, contact Eva Hatfield at 487-3528 or ehatfield@gretchenshouse.com . |
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5. Husky Friday Oct. 5 |
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Fire up for Homecoming, and wear Michigan Tech colors. Friday, Oct. 5, is Husky Friday at University Images and the Campus Bookstore from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. All Michigan Tech apparel in school colors, black, gold and gray, is 25 percent off. Support Homecoming and the Huskies, wear the colors, and shop on Husky Friday. |
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6. Board of Control to Meet Thursday |
The Board of Control will meet Thursday, Oct. 4, at 8:30 a.m., in the Memorial Union Ballroom.
Les Cook, vice president for student affairs, will present enrollment figures for fall 2007. The board is also expected to act on the 2009 Capital Outlay Budget Request, which will be submitted to the state. The top priority is phase II of the Center for Integrated Learning and Information Technology, followed by a new building for the School of Business and Economics.
Board of Control meetings are open to the public, and all members of the university community are welcome. |
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7. Flags Flown at Half Staff Tomorrow |
Flags will be lowered tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 4, in honor of Army Sergeant First Class Matthew D. Blaskowski, of Levering, who died Sept. 23 while on active duty in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Blaskowski, 27, died in Asadabad from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire during combat operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy. |
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8. Water Distribution Seminars Oct. 8 |
Two environmental engineering PhD students will give a seminar Monday, Oct. 8, from 3 to 4 p.m. in Dow 642. Rabi Gyawali will present "Water Distribution System: Kathmandu, Nepal," and Santosh Ghimire will present "Saving Energy in Municipal Water Distribution Systems."
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9. Free Furniture in Humanities |
The Department of the Humanites has the following furniture available:
*five woodgrain-top desks
*two small, light woodgrain computer tables, measuring 30 by 27 inches
*six classroom blackboards
*one projection screen, 55 inches wide
*one black, metal over-the-desk organizer, five feet long
*one diagonal table, three feet long
*one tan, metal cart on wheels, measuring 18 by 20 inches with 14-inch drop sides (27 inches high)
*seven four-drawer file cabinets, six dark green and one tan
*one two-drawer, tan file cabinet
*one five-drawer, tan cabinet, measuring 25 inches high by 29 inches long
*chairs on wheels: four tan, one blue and two gold
*two six-shelf bookcases
*three six-foot classroom bulletin boards
*one four-foot classroom bulletin board
If interested, please contact Sue Niemi at seniemi@mtu.edu or 487-2540 before Tuesday, Oct. 9.
As always, university property may not be given or sold to individuals. It may only be transferred between university departments. |
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10. Free Freezers in SFRES |
The School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science has two large freezers to give away. One is a GE brand and the other, Sears. They are large floor freezers (not upright) and are both in good working order.
If you are interested in viewing the freezers, please call 482-6303, ext. 10, and ask for Ruth Gleckler.
As always, university property may not be given or sold to individuals. It may only be transferred between university departments. |
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11. Michigan Tech Notables |
Associate Professor Brian Barkdoll (CEE) has been awarded the distinction of Diplomate of Water Resources Engineering by the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers in conjunction with the American Society of Civil Engineers. The award is based on accomplishments in the field of water resources and service to the profession.
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12. New Funding |
Jeffrey Naber (MEEM) has received $51,169 from Argonne National Laboratory for "Graduate Student Research in Hydrogen IC Engines."
Gregory Odegard (MEEM) has received $54,126 from NASA for the first year of a potential three-year project totaling $174,254, "Multiscale Modeling of the Effects of Physical, Chemical and Hydrothermal Aging on Failure of Graphite/Epoxy Composites."
James Baker (Technology and Economic Development) has received $2,000 from the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative for "Method for Non-Destructively Evaluating the Mechanical Property of Logs and Round Timbers—Database Analysis."
Thomas Van Dam (Civil and Environmental Engineering) has received $101,000 from the Michigan Department of Transportation for "Continuation of the Transportation Materials Research Center (FY 2008 to 2010)."
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