Alumni

Edward J. Gaffney Ted Gaffney earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech in 1951. After serving in the U.S. Navy and working as an engineer at Allis Chalmers for three years, he formed Neodyne Corporation, a research and development company. In 1963, he founded Ortho-Kinetics, Inc., a manufacturer of health care products with manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Europe and sales offices in England, Germany, . . .

Sylvia Salahutdin graduated from Michigan Tech in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and is first in her family to become an Engineer. She is currently the owner of seven LLC's companies operating under the DBA Little Caesars Pizza franchises. Sylvia began her career at Michigan Tech in the co-op program working for Mead paper in Alabama. After graduation she started her career saving lives, working . . .

Paul W. Fernstrum, a mechanical engineering alumnus, is chairman and past president of Menominee-based RW Fernstrum & Co., a third-generation family-owned company that invented—and continues to manufacture and market—the Gridcooler keel cooler, a marine engine heat exchanger, which was developed during World War II for landing craft. Paul began his career at RW Fernstrum as a draftsman. In 1975 he . . .

Dr. James C. Gerdeen (BSME '59) retired as Professor and Department of Mechanical Engineering Chair from the University of Colorado - Denver. After graduation, Jim worked in industry before completing his MS in 1962 from Ohio State University and later his PhD from Stanford in 1965, both in mechanical engineering. He returned to Michigan Tech as a faculty member from 1968 to 1989. He received his M. Divinity, Theology, . . .