ME-EM
Alumni NewsBrief
December
2005
Greetings from William (Bill) W. Predebon, Chair, Department
of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics. This
NewsBrief contains the latest
news and accomplishments from the Department. It will
be sent electronically to all alumni for whom we have
an email address. Our plan is to send it out quarterly.
For the latest news and information about our faculty,
students, staff, and alumni please visit our web site
Department
News or the Alumni
News Page or the Alumni
Page
Upcoming Events, all alumni are welcome to participate.
ME-EM NewsBrief, Volume 1, No. 3, December 2005
Seasons Greetings from William (Bill) W. Predebon,
Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering
Mechanics. For the latest news and information about
our faculty, students, and staff, please visit our web
site News Page.
Upcoming Events, all alumni are welcome to
participate.
The Department will host a small reception at the IMAC
XXIV Conference in St. Louis MO. It is tentatively
set for February 1, from 6 to 9 pm at the St. Louis
Adam’s Mark Hotel. For more information please
email Kathy at kagoulet@mtu.edu.
The 6th Annual ME-EM Alumni Winter Carnival Hockey Social
is on Saturday, February 11th, MTU versus Minnesota
(Winter Carnival), 5:07 PM start time in the MacInnes
Room of the Student Development Complex (SDC). RSVPs
are requested to Kathy at kagoulet@mtu.edu
or 906-487-2911.
The Keweenaw Research Center and the Department of Mechanical
Engineering Engineering Mechanics will host the
2006 SAE
Clean Snowmobile Challenge (CSC) on March 13
18. We have hosted it for the last 3 years.
A MEEM/MTU Alumni Reception will be held at the 2006 International
Mechanical Engineering Education Conference jointly sponsored
by ASME and the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society (CMES)
in Beijing, China the first week in April. Arrangements are
not final at this time.
Past Events
MEEM/MTU hosted a small reception for alumni and families
of current students during the International Conference on
Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences
(ICCES) Conference in Chennai, India on December 3, 2005.
Alumni Awards/Accomplishments
It is my intent to highlight alumni accomplishments on a
regular basis. I would like to hear from you and about
your accomplishments and those of other MTU ME-EM alumni
who have achieved recognition. Please email me this
information at wwpredeb@mtu.edu
or Kathy at kagoulet@mtu.edu.
The Edward Lowe Foundation has named
50 Michigan companies as Michigan’s 50 'Companies
to Watch'. According to the Foundation, these awards
'recognize and celebrate the contribution, innovation
and energy of diverse second-stage companies in Michigan.
These companies work behind-the-scenes generating the
bulk of new, sustainable jobs and are a powerful economic
force, underpinning the high quality of life most Americans
enjoy.' Six of the 50 companies selected were started
by MTU graduates and four of the six are ME graduates.
The companies started by MEs are: GS Engineering, Houghton,
MI, founded in 2001 by Glen Simula (MSME
1981); Testing Services Group, Lapeer, MI, founded in
1998 by Mark A. Lockwood (BSME 1982);
Twisthink, Holland, MI, founded by Robert Niemiec
(BSME 1985); and Van Aire, Inc., Gladstone, MI, founded
in 1987 by Richard S. Vandevusse (MSME
1977).
William Foy (BSME 1987) has been named
vice president at DENSO International America, Inc.
Melanie Giasson (BSME 2002) has been
selected to receive SAE International’s 2006 SAE
Bell Agnew Award for outstanding A World In Motion volunteer.
Tony R. Laituri (BSME 1986, MSME 1988),
a technical specialist in biomechanics and occupant
simulation with Ford Motor Company was awarded the SAE
International Ralph H. Isbrandt Automotive Safety Engineering
Award in March, 2005.
Albert (Abbie) Maki (BSME 1948) was
featured in a July 21, 2005, article in the Daily
Mining Gazette, 'Local hockey legend is honored
in Minnesota', along with his brothers Alfred, Edward,
and Wilfred. All four played hockey for the Huskies.
Abbie’s brother Al had a rink named after him
in Farmington, Minnesota.
Douglas Parks (BSME 1984) has been
appointed Global Vehicle Chief Engineer for the Global
Compact Car Development Team at General Motors.
Glen Petaja (BSME 1971, MSME 1974)
was named Corporate Vice President with global responsibility
for the Pall Advanced Separation Systems (PASS) business,
Pall Corporation, on Nov. 10, 2005. He has served as
President of PASS since its inception in 2002 and will
retain that title.
Technology from PARTsolutions, LLC was utilized in
the development of the ASME B18 Digital Fastener Library
which provides a parametric, graphical interface for
design engineers to create and retrieve ASME B18 PINS.
Timothy Thomas (BSME 1981 and MEEM
Professional Advisory Committee member) is CEO of PARTsolutions.
Scott Wazny (BSME 1994) returned to
Nepal and the Himalayan Mountains and successfully reached
the summit of Mt. Everest on May 30, 2005.
Terry Woychowski (BSME 1978), formerly
Chief Engineer, has been appointed Executive Director
of Chief Engineers and Vehicle Chief Engineer for Full
Size Trucks at General Motors.
University News
Dr. Kathryn Clark, vice chair of the
MTU Board of Control, received one of NASA’s highest
honors this August. She was awarded the NASA Distinguished
Public Service Medal, the highest honor NASA can accord
to a civilian.
Department Accomplishments
Our Graduate Program is ranked 52nd (top 32%) nationally
and 3rd in Michigan among 164 doctoral granting Mechanical
Engineering Departments in the U.S. by the 2006 U.S.
News & World Report: America's Best Graduate Schools
and our Undergraduate Program was ranked 25th (top 16%)
nationally and 2nd in Michigan among 148 doctoral granting
Mechanical Engineering Departments in the U.S. by the
2005 U.S. News & World Report: America's Best
Colleges
Our Undergraduate Program is currently 3rd in the U.S. and
1st in Michigan in BSME degrees granted. We have been in the
top 5 in this category for the past 22 consecutive years.
NSF ranked the ME-EM Department 29th in Research Expenditures
in FY2003 (latest ranking) with $6.127 Million among all Mechanical
Engineering Departments in the U.S.
Faculty Awards/Accomplishments
Students from The Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI)
at MTU have received the prestigious International Mondialago
Award, sponsored by DaimlerChrysler and the United Nations
Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Called by Institute co-director Dr. James Mihelcic
(Civil and Environmental Engineering) the 'Academy Awards
of Engineering.' Dr. John Sutherland,
Henes Chair Professor in MEEM, is the SFI co-director.
Dr. L. Brad King received the Distinguished
Alumni Award from the Calumet/Laurium/Keweenaw School
District Reunion Association.
Dr. Greg Odegard was featured in the
December 2004 issue of Michigan Small Tech Journal:
'Michigan Tech’s Greg Odegard links NASA and Nanotechnology'.
Dr. William Shapton (Professor Emeritus)
will receive the SEM 2006 DeMichele Award recognizing
'exemplary service and support in promoting the science
and educational aspects of modal analysis technology'
on February 1, 2006 at the IMAC XXIV Conference
in St. Louis MO.
Dr. Virgil Snyder (Professor Emeritus)
will be honored for his outstanding contributions to
the field of modal analysis at the IMAC - XXIV
Conference in St. Louis MO on February 1, 2006.
Dr. Henry Sodano, an assistant professor
in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was quoted
in the prestigious journal Nature about windmills powering
wireless networks.
Dr. Ghatu Subhash is the recipient
of Michigan Tech's Annual Research Award for 2005. The
award recognizes one person per year at the professor
level for outstanding achievement in research.
Student Awards/Accomplishments
Matt Holbrook, a senior in Mechanical
Engineering has published the article 'Return of The
Heavyweights -- The Mechanics of Current in the Underwater
World' in the JULY-AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2005 (Vol. 16 No.
5) of Walleye Insider. His advisor is Dr. Jeff
Allen.
Kristen Karnowski, Andrew
Richards, Anthony Schwenn, Yuta Shokinji, Senior
Design students, represented MTU and MEEM at 2005 Korean
Capstone Design Fair. Their advisor is Dr. John
Gershenson.
Osanan L. (Sam) Barros Neto, a Michigan
Tech ME student, who appeared in Junkyard Megawars and
Discovery Canada (which nicknamed him Plasmaboy), was
mentioned in Fortune magazine recently. Barros is among
a handful of electricity enthusiasts profiled in the
Oct. 14 edition of Fortune magazine article, 'Lightening
Bugs' by Ivan Amato, which chronicles the exploits of
'high-voltage hobbyists'.
Julio Rivera, a Michigan Tech Ph.D.
student in the Mechanical Engineering department along
with four others traveled to his native Puerto Rico
visiting several universities, targeting recent engineering
graduates who could go on to gain a master’s or
Ph.D. at Tech. Dr. John Sutherland
is his advisor.
William W. Predebon, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
Phone No.: 906-487-2551
Fax No.: 906-487-2822
E-mail: wwpredeb@mtu.edu
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