2008 Alumni Reunion & the MEEM Alumni Boat Cruise & Hors D'oeuvres

The Department of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics hosted a boat cruise on the Portage Canal during the Michigan Tech Annual Alumni Reunion, August 6-8, 2008.

See 2008 Alumni Cruise Photos

2008 Alumni Reunion Snapshots

The Emeriti & Distinguished Faculty Fund

An endowment fund has been established to honor Emeriti and Distinguished* Faculty. Alumni will have the opportunity to participate in helping support this Fund by honoring YOUR favorite professors and, if you wish, you may contribute your own stories, inside or outside the classroom, about your favorite professors.

*Distinguished Faculty are faculty who had been at Michigan Tech for at least 10 years.

2007 Academy Induction
John F. Calder ’67 BSME, Dr. Terry J. Woychowski ’78 BSME and Martha N. Sullivan
’80 BSME become members of Michigan Tech Academy of Mechanical Engineering

Biographies and photos for 2007
Academy Web Site

Creative Problem Solver. Innovative Leader. Global Communicator. Paul Gillespie

A native of Highland Park, MI, John Calder earned both his BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1967 and his MS in Business Administration in 1977 at Michigan Tech. When he graduated in 1967, he completed nine interviews and had eight job offers.

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Creative Problem Solver. Innovative Leader. Global Communicator. Paul Gillespie

Paul Gillespie came to Michigan Tech from his hometown of East Lansing and graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1986. He left the state after graduation, taking a position as Test Process Engineer with Intel, a semiconductor company newly moved to Chandler, AZ.

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Company Visionary. Driven Entrepreneur. Generous Benefactor. Nagjibhai Sutariya

Nagjibhai Sutariya came to the United States in 1969 to complete his Master’s degree at Michigan Tech. After graduating with an MS in Mechanical Engineering in 1971, he became a Mechanical Project Engineer at the Ford Corporation.

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A native of Toronto, Ontario, Ron Starr received his BS in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech in 1967. From there, he journeyed to Pennsylvania as a research engineer for ALCOA. Returning to Canada, Starr’s interests expanded into financial planning and later, into a position leading a company that produced playground and recreational equipment.

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Product Designer. Innovator. Humanitarian. Lawrence Mulholland

After earning his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech in 1955, Lawrence Mulholland left his hometown of Saginaw, MI, to begin his career at Clow Corporation in Chicago, IL. Over the next 16 years, he worked at several other companies: Saginaw Products, Republic Corporation, and Beckton Dickinson in Los Angeles, CA.

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ME-EM Members of Presidential Council of Alumnae 2007

The PCA’s main responsibility is to advise the President on campus climate issues and to provide suggestions for enhancing the University’s environment for students, especially women.

Dr.John B. Ligon Retires after 34 Years

View a slide show of photos of Dr. Ligon's retirement banquet that was held at the Miscowaubik Club in Calumet, MI.

Professor William Shapton Honored at SEM IMAC Conference
Dr. William Shapton, Professor Emeritus from MTU/ME-EM Department was honored in Orlando at the Society for Experimental Mechanics: International Modal Analysis Conference

Hockey Social 2007

As part of the Winter Carnival Celebration, ME-EM served refreshments in the MacInnes Skybox at the Ice Arena. Alumni were joined by several distinquished guests, including Michigan's 11th Congreesional District Congressman Bart Stupak.

December 2006 ME-EM Department Christmas Party at the Miscowaubik Club, Calumet, MI

Kyriaki (Kiki) Kalaitzidou (MSME 2002) has been awarded third place in the Quadrant Award 2007 competition.  Quandrand is a global leader in the manufacture of high-performance thermoplastics and composites.  Kiki's thesis was titled "Exfoliated Graphite nanoplatelets as Reinforcement for Multifunctional Polypropylene Nanocomposites".  The academic jury who awarded the prizes comes from internationally acclaimed universities or institutions.  They appreciated "the innovative use of graphite platelets and the progress made towards carbon fibre or carbon nanotube substitutes in polymer composites" of her thesis.

John O. Hallquist (PhD in ME-EM in 1972) elected to the National Academy of Engineering

John O. Hallquist, president, Livermore Software Technology Corp., Livermore, Calif.  was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. John is also an indutee to our Michigan Tech ME-EM Academy. Dr. Hallquist was cited for the development of explicit nonlinear finite element methods and their worldwide dissemination in the DYNA family of programs.

Michelle L. Boven '99 is 2006 Distinguished New Engineer

Michelle L. Boven (Stevens) (BSME'99) has received the 2006 Distinguished New Engineer Award from the Society of Women Engineers, Detroit Section. The award is presented to members who have shown great leadership through SWE and the industry. It recognizes past accomplishments as well as future potential in the field of engineering. Boven was also featured as a 2006 "New Faces of Engineering" winner in the SWE magazine. Michelle is a Dow Automotive Development Specialist. See the Dow Automotive Michelle L. Boven News Article

Korey Kiepert '97 designs roller coasters

Korey Kiepert is a design engineer with The Gravity Group that specializes in the creation of roller coasters. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering '97and Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering '99 for studying fatigue effects of composite materials. See more details and photos of Roller coaster design engineer Korey Kiepert.

2006 Alumni Reunion!

& the MEEM Alumni Boat Cruise & Hors D'oeuvres

See 2006 Alumni Cruise Photos and other Snaphots

First company in the State of Michigan to produce alternative fuel

Richard VandeVusse (BSME '77), owner of Ag Solutions, was featured in the article "Ag Solutions cuts ribbon at new plant" in the September 2006 issue of Upper Peninsula Business Today. Ag Solutions opened a new plant in Gladstone which will be the first company in the State of Michigan to produce alternative fuel. Ag Solution produces biodiesel, a renewable, biodegradable fuel that can be used in place of petroleum diesel or heating oil. They plan on producing 5 million gallons the first year and 15 million next year. Governor Granholm attended the ribbon cutting ceremony along with Agricultural Director Mitch Irwin, Congressman Bart Stupak, and Representative Tom Casperson.

Dr. Harold A. Evensen Retires After 35+ Years

View a slide show of photos of Dr. Evensen's retirement banquet that was held at the Miscowaubik Club in Calumet, MI.

New Machine Design CAD Library

Timothy Thomas (BSME '81) is General Manager of PARTsolutions, LLC. According to a news release by Penton Media, Inc., "Penton Media's Design Engineering group, anchored by Machine Design magazine has entered into a strategic partnership with PARTsolutions, LLC, a leading provider of publishing solutions for 2D/3D digital parts catalogs, to launch the Machine Design CAD Library, a powerful, new resource for design engineers. Located at www.machinedesign.com/cadlibrary <http://www.machinedesign.com/cadlibrary>and free to design engineers, the Machine Design CAD Library includes millions of configurable 2D and 3D CAD models of components and assemblies downloadable for easy use in new and existing designs." Mr. Thomas has made software donations to MEEM through his company PARTsolutions.

Three of the General Motors corporation's chief vehicle engineers graduated from Michigan Tech. All of them are mechanical engineers. Terry Woychowski '78 leads the largest vehicle platform-GM full-size trucks. Doug Parks '84 is the chief engineer for small cars, including Saturns and the Chevy Cobalt. Dave Hill '65 has perhaps the sexiest job of them all-the chief engineer for the Corvette.

See the Michigan Tech Magazine story

Alumni Honors for Virgil Snyder and William Shapton

Dr. William R. Shapton Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics 1979-2003
Dr. Virgil W. Snyder, P.E., Professor Emeritus of Engineering Mechanics 1960-1978

Laituri receives Automotive Safety Engineering Award

Tony R. Laituri (BSME MS '86), has been selected to receive the 2003 Ralph H. Isbrandt Automotive Safety Engineering Award. He is the lead author of SAE paper #2003-01-1355 "Predictions of AIS3+ Thoracic Risks for Belted Occupants in Full-Engagement, Real-World Frontal Impacts: Sensitivity to Various Theoretical Risk Curves". SAE News story

Dr. Oner Arici Retires

Dr. Oner Arici served as Professor and Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies for the Michigan Technological University Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics Department. Photos Page

New Lab and Center Dedicated
Dedication Ceremonies for the Calder Systems and Controls Laboratory and for the Daniel and Carol Rivard Product Realization Center

Web page & photos

Hockey Social 2005

As part of the Winter Carnival Celebration, ME-EM served refreshments in the MacInnes Skybox at the Ice Arena. Alumni were joined by several distinquished guests, including several of Michigan's Legislators. Photos page

2004 Academy Induction
Eric A. Nielsen '80, James L. Reum '53, and Hussein M. Zbib '81 become members of Michigan Tech Academy of Mechanical Engineering

Biographies and photos for 2004
Academy Web Site

Presidential Council of Alumnae 2004
New 2004 Michigan Tech Presidential Council of Alumnae inductee Tanya Klain '90, who is the Program Engineering Manager, Cadillac CTS, CTS-V and SRX, at General Motors Corporation, visited the ME-EM department in April.

Professor William Shapton Honored at Banquet
Colleagues and former student provide a 'roasting' for his retirement dinner, including a review of the 'Bendix Missile story' and other tributes. See the photo gallery here.

Eric Nielsen, an MEEM grad of 1980, is the CEO of Volvo Construction and Equipment of Korea. In a mere three years at the helm, Eric turned the ailing multinational company into a very profitable one, sweeping the major awards given to the top companies in Korea last year. Newsletter Story

Klaus Weinmann, Professor, Chair and SME Fellow

Dr. Klaus Weinmann, former chair of Mechanical Engineering Department, recently retired after 33 years at Michigan Tech. He was recently elected to the Grade of Fellow in the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He was presented with his Fellow medallion and pin in November.
See a slide show here