2016 • VOLUME 53 NUMBER 2

It’s not over, but when

Governor Rick Snyder

tapped Michigan Tech

alumnus Keith Creagh to

tackle the Flint water crisis,

Creagh delivered. Campus on the Shore. Keweenaw Waterway. Portage Lake Lift Bridge. Mont Ripley. Every Husky has that special place to spend an evening—or capture a moment.

2 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 3 Table of Contents 2016 • VOLUME 53 NUMBER 2

15 22 26

12 19 32

Stories

12 Husky on the Hunt 22 The Last Flight of 36 The Stuff of Legend by Marcia Goodrich John Hascall by Shannon Rinkinen Alumnus Jon French’s by Scott Balyo From stairs that lead nowhere patented device helps the John Hascall gave everything to hidden swimming pools, we visually impaired—including in service to his country. The mine the depths of Michigan his own brother—shoot Dutch, and his sister, have Tech’s history for nuggets of and hunt. never forgotten. truth and the fool’s gold that live on in legend. 15 Company Town 26 Bear of a Situation 40 Modern Metal by Mark Wilcox by Jennifer Donovan by Allison Mills Alberta, home to Michigan At the boiling point of the and Sarah Bird Tech’s Ford Center, was a Flint water crisis, Michigan company town for Ford Motor Governor Rick Snyder tapped Michigan Tech is one of the Company. Now it serves the alumnus Keith Creagh to fnd only universities in the country School of Forest Resources answers. Creagh’s experience with its own foundry. From and Environmental Science and education prepared him alloy design to mechanical and others. for the task. testing, we take you inside this manufacturing facility. 19 Up in the Air 32 Open Water by Shannon Rinkinen by Cyndi Perkins Former Husky athletes Michigan Tech has a long Bob and Trish Evans are association with sailing, an international juggling and Huskies use plenty of phenomenon. How the engineering principles to race YouTube sensations juggle and cruise Superior waters. work, marriage, and their mission to live more fully and love more truly!

4 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 36 40

Regular Features

06 1400 Townsend Drive Michigan Tech Magazine Published by University Marketing and Communications 42 Alumni Engagement Ian Repp—Director of University 44 Class Notes Marketing and Communications Scott Balyo—Editorial Director 45 In Memoriam Jackie Johnson—Art Director

46 Q/A with Provost Jordan Blahnik—Graphic Designer Jackie Huntoon Comments to the editor Sarah Bird, Nathan Shaiyen— [email protected] Photographers Website Austin Thomason, Adam Johnson— mtu.edu/magazine Freelance photographers Class Notes submissions Crystal Verran—Director of Operations [email protected]

Mailing address changes [email protected]

Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/ equal opportunity employer, which includes providing equal opportunity for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 5 1400 Townsend Drive

Enjoy Upgraded MUB Dining Experience Students returned to campus this fall to find significant renovations and upgrades to the Memorial Union Building’s North Coast Grill and Deli, and Keweenaw Commons.

he last major remodel of that space Director of Auxiliary Services Robert Hiltunen was in 1989, and while there have notes that while the upgrades are important T been several cosmetic updates over to current students, they’re also critical for the years, this remodel dramatically changed creating the right first impression for future the efficiency and flow of the Grill and Deli Huskies. and the ambience of the Commons. “Last year we added the new John Edgar New equipment and cashier stations were McCallister Welcome Center and that along moved closer to the customer, and a new with the Commons are the first things many menu enhances quality and freshness of the of our prospective students and parents see food. In the Commons, a wall was opened to when they enter the building,” he says. give better sight lines and all of the flooring was replaced. Powder-coating the railings and According to Hiltunen, the next phase of the covering the brick columns with wainscoting upgrades will include replacing the ceiling gave the space a “North Woods” feel. and lights, and adding additional big screen Additional enhancements include new paint, TVs, computer projectors, and screens. wall coverings, and improved Wi-Fi. “We want to create a warm and welcoming Updates to the Grill and Deli provide atmosphere for our students, faculty, and customers with better speed of service staff,” he says. and more fresh, made-to-order selections.

6 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 Humans of Michigan Tech #MichiganTech @MichiganTech facebook.com/michigantech

The first and last time I was on I started mountain biking with Afraid. A little bit jumpy. I was driving my mom crazy. It an airplane was a 36-hour trip to my dad. Then I started jumping I haven’t been sleeping was either University of Hawaii China. Fourteen million people. and about three years ago much. I’ve been active in or Michigan Tech. I visited I studied for a year in a city discovered I like going as fast this community since I was a during Preview Day. I have never known for its super-spicy food. as I can down gnarly track. freshman in high school. I was met more friendly or accepting My fifth day there I was riding a I’ve traveled to Switzerland the founder of the Gay-Straight people than Yoopers. So I told bus and I asked, “So, can I work and Canada for downhill Alliance. We recruited allies to my mom: it’s Michigan Tech. while I’m here?” Next thing you mountain biking. I placed third sign pride flags and organized a She was so glad. She’s the one know I was teaching English at collegiate nationals in dual day of silence to show support who pushed me, well, forced at an after-school program. I slalom and second in category for people too afraid to speak me into the Detroit-Area Pre- didn’t know any Chinese. But I one in the Sea Otter Classic in out. I came to Michigan Tech College Engineering Program grew up in a Spanish-speaking Monterey, California. I’m also a to make a difference. This year in the fifth grade. I participated neighborhood and I always certified Professional Mountain Keweenaw Pride set up an in DAPCEP through the 12th thought people who could Bike Instructor and teach outreach committee—I joined grade. Now I serve as senator speak another language were women’s clinics. Downhill makes right away. We organized for the National Society of Black so cool. My roommates here you forget about everything the first-ever Trans Day of Engineers at Michigan Tech. at Tech are Chinese. And one else. It’s you. Your bike. And Remembrance. There’s all We do events on campus and day my roommate asked, “Why the trail. I see scared, nervous this ignorance causing all this outreach events. I definitely don’t you learn Chinese?” Now women. And then I see how hatred. I want to teach people feel like it’s my personal we speak “Chin-glish” in our mountain biking brings out and help them understand what responsibility to enlighten our house. I’m fluent enough to take confidence. That’s the goal. You LGBTQIA is and how it feels campus community about our graduate-level classes in China don’t need to bike behind the to be a part of this community. race—where we come from and if I wanted to. But I’m applying boys. You can lead the pack. Being there for people. what we experience. to law school. Mostly Ivy – Emily Educating people. That’s why – Matthew Leagues. It’s kinda crazy. I’m just I’m so out there. a trailer-park boy from Detroit – Laura . . . my mom always said, “If you don’t come back, you don’t come back.” – Russell

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 7 MiCUP Connects 300 Community College Students to Michigan Tech

o encourage students to pursue Many undergraduate research programs only STEM careers, spark their interest in include the research; Tech’s is a full university T research, and increase the transfer experience. That helps students from of underrepresented ethnic minority, first- downstate Michigan better understand the generation, and economically disadvantaged opportunities at Michigan Tech, according to students from community colleges, Michigan Raffaelli. Tech has been participating in the Michigan College and University Partnership (MiCUP) “One of the biggest hurdles for students is since 2001. the distance from their homes,” she says. “We get to show students what being a Tech collaborates with Delta College (near Husky is all about and that they can make it Bay City), Grand Rapids Community College, here. Many choose to come to Tech because and Wayne County Community College, of their MiCUP experience.” and nearly 300 students have completed the MiCUP combines research, coursework, program over the last 15 years. With the current program grant coming and experiences in the Keweenaw to show to an end soon, Tech will be eligible to community college students what life at Kellie Raffaelli, director of Tech’s Center for reapply, but Raffaelli says the goal is to Michigan Tech is all about. Diversity and Inclusion, credits its success institutionalize it by making it a Michigan to the residential component and course Tech summer residential research program. students take. “We would run it very similarly, but perhaps “Students live on campus, take a class, and bring in the local community colleges, do research,” she says. “They also have especially Keweenaw Bay Indian Community many UP adventures. We have a student College,” she says. coordinator, who is typically a MiCUP alumni, mtu.edu/diversity-center/programs/ who plans trips on the weekends to expose the students to the area.” students/micup

8 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 Summer can #BeAwesome with SYP

ummers on many college campuses 86 percent gained confidence in their ability to are often perceived as a time reserved be successful in a college atmosphere; and 93 S for scaled-back operations and percent would recommend their experience recuperation from marathon-like academic to others. calendars. Enhanced industry engagement also provided However, Michigan Tech uses the reprieve from unique opportunities, including over $200,000 commonly harsh winters and a temporarily in corporate funds that provided more than 400 reduced student population to provide middle students with reduced or free tuition, room, and and high school students from across the world board. Surveys have shown that most of these an opportunity to fill the labs, classrooms, and students would not have the ability or means to residence and dining halls, and effectively attend SYP if not for the gracious sponsorships become college students for a week. they received.

Since 1973, Summer Youth Programs (SYP) has SYP staff are preparing the 2017 programs offered a platform for thousands of students to and looking to build on the momentum of the engage in intensive discovery of educational largest two-year-attendance total (2015-16) seen content ranging across the STEM fields, even in two decades. SYP partners with faculty and dipping into additional areas like business, departments on campus to keep the academic social sciences, and outdoor adventures. offerings fresh and relevant with prospective participants. A growing collaboration with The 2016 season of SYP was successful, as Michigan Tech Recreation is also providing 1,135 students attended 52 different courses exciting opportunities; in 2016 SYP housed all offered on campus. With participants from residential participants of summer sports across the United States and from countries like camps and is slated to return in this capacity Pakistan, Nigeria, and Bahrain, as well as over again next year. 100 students from South Korea, SYP played host to a diversity of demographics, cultures, and SYP 2017 is open for registration, and all printed experiences. Currently there are 650 Michigan materials (catalogs and applications) will be Tech students who are SYP alumni. mailed the second week of January. If you would like to receive future notifications or be added Post-program surveys show it was well-received. to the mailing list, or if you have any questions, Ninety-three percent of participants felt their please visit the SYP website at syp.mtu.edu. experience was different compared to their common classroom schooling at home;

CORRECTION: In the previous issue of Michigan Tech Magazine we misspelled Robin Johnson-Cash’s name. Johnson-Cash was the first African American to earn a PhD from Tech’s Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics and graduated in December 2015. We apologize for the error.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 9 1400 Townsend Drive

Top 11 Percent Around the World

n a ranking of world universities • Michigan Tech made Princeton Review’s collaborates with the National Center released this fall, Michigan Tech The Best 381 Colleges: 2017 Edition. for Atmospheric Research to lead a team I was among the top 11 percent of scientists to conduct holographic worldwide. QS World University Rankings Tech has been listed in the guide every imaging of cloud droplets from an considered 4,322 universities in its latest year since 1994, and Princeton Review airplane laboratory. He also collaborates rankings. (not affiliated with Princeton University) with international scientists and has has published its Best Colleges Guide had extended stays at the Institute The rankings were based on six measures, annually since 1992. for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig, including two large annual surveys, one of Germany, and at Peking University in active academics and one of employers. • Raymond Shaw, professor of physics, Beijing, China. This year, 74,651 academics and 37,781 won Michigan Tech’s 2016 Research recruiters around the world were surveyed. Award. In a letter nominating Shaw Other yardsticks included the ratio of faculty for the award, Ravindra Pandey, chair members to students, the percentage of of the Department of Physics, wrote, international faculty and students, and “Shaw is internationally recognized in citations per faculty member. the field of atmospheric physics. The focus of his scientific work has been to QS Top Universities in the World ranks investigate the role of turbulence on schools by increments of 50 points. In the cloud formation and to study the physics 2016-17 rankings, Michigan Tech scored of nucleation of ice crystals.” 501-550. The University has moved up 50 points since it was first ranked by this Shaw’s work is highly interdisciplinary, organization in 2013. and he is quick to point out that his success is not the result of flying solo. As part of Shaw’s research, he Raymond Shaw

10 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 class has never been higher, with an average ACT composite score of 27.2, compared to 26.8 last year. And Michigan Tech has never had a more domestically diverse undergraduate entering class, with 9 percent of this year’s entering class composed of underrepresented populations.

Graduate enrollment is 1,521 this fall, with graduate students making up 20 percent Karyn Fay Chang Kyoung Choi of the student body.

“Michigan Tech continues to provide • Karyn Fay, a professor of practice in • Chang Kyoung Choi has been at great value to students,” says John Tech’s biological science department, was Michigan Tech for less than a decade, Lehman, associate vice president of the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished but despite that relatively brief period enrollment and university relations. “We Teaching Award in the Assistant of time, his personal, engaging teaching tell our entering students, if you do your Professor/Lecturer/Professor of Practice style brought him the University’s highest job, we’ll do ours, namely making sure category. teaching honor. your education pays off. Earning $62,800 a year, our graduates enjoy the seventh Dean Bruce Seely of the College of Choi, also known as “CK,” an associate highest early career salaries of any public Sciences and Arts emphasizes Fay’s professor in the mechanical engineering- institution in the nation. Including the broader teaching role as well. “Karyn engineering mechanics department, was financial aid and scholarships students brings an amazing level of teaching the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished earn on average, our students see a commitment to the Department of Teaching Award in the Associate $713,000 return on investment over 20 Biological Sciences MLS program. Her Professor/Professor category. years. That continues to attract attention efforts are not limited to the classes she nationwide and accounts for a large part offers, but are equally apparent in her William Predebon, ME-EM department of the enrollment increases that Michigan advising and overall direction of the chair, calls Choi “a very talented Tech has seen over the past 12 years.” program as she helps students through and dedicated teacher.” Predebon their clinical activities, practicums, and emphasizes Choi’s personal connection Since 2005, enrollment at Michigan Tech internships.” with students, calling him “one of those has grown by over 750 students, or 12 rare people who is humble and unselfish percent. More than half of that growth In addition to classroom teaching, Fay with a passion to help his students has come from increases in female serves as academic advisor to the Society succeed no matter what it takes. He cares enrollment, which has increased by over of Medical Laboratory Scientists, His about them as individuals and tries to 430 students, or 28 percent. House Christian Fellowship, and Theta connect with them at every level.” Chi Epsilon Sorority. “These enrollment gains come despite • Fall 2016 enrollment at Michigan Tech is the fact that we graduated the largest 7,268, the highest the school has seen class in Tech’s history last year,” since 1983 and 30 more students than last says Michigan Tech President Glenn fall. Female enrollment is at a record high, Mroz. “This is a true testament to the with 1,957 women making up 27 percent faculty, staff, and community here in of the student body. the Keweenaw and the parents who recognize the value of a Michigan Tech Undergraduate enrollment totaled 5,827. education.” New first-year undergraduate enrollment rose 8 percent over last year with 1,580 students, 119 more than last year.

Majors in computer science, general engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering technology, and Move-In Weekend forestry saw some of the biggest gains. The academic profile of the entering

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 1 1 HUSKY N THE HUNT

JON FRENCH ‘98 ‘00 The rifle is modified to allow the visually impaired to hunt.

12 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 an French has harvested wild Jon crouches right behind Dan and looks Engineering from Michigan Tech. “He said if pig, elk, buffalo, and a bighorn through the specially mounted scope, I could design something that would let Dan D ram. Those trophies would do patting his brother’s back gently right or left, hunt, he would build it,” Jon said. any hunter proud, but what makes Dan’s up or down. “He moves his gun, and when accomplishment remarkable is that he is he’s on target, I put my hand flat on his back. Their project was going nowhere when Jon totally blind. He takes three deep had an inspiration. “I played catcher, and I breaths and squeezes was always amazed at how the umpire was What makes it “We were like the trigger.” right there,” he said. “After that, it was pretty possible is the MA much common-sense engineering.” French Visually two little boys at It works especially Impaired Sighting Christmas with our well if your partner The design was simple: a standard scope System (VISS). is a marksman. Dan clamped on a bar that could be mounted on Designed by his older Red Ryder BB guns.” dropped the buffalo at the gun and adjusted. The sighted partner brother, Jon French 162 yards. could look over the hunter’s shoulder, just ’98 ’00, the VISS lets like an umpire, and sight in on a target. a visually impaired person draw a bead on a Their story began more than 30 years ago, “I credit my Michigan Tech education for a target—from a bull’s eye to a whitetail deer— when Dan, then three years old, lost his sight lot of it,” Jon said. “They teach you theory, with help from a sighted partner. in a vehicle accident. Hunting was a big part and they also teach you problem solving of their family, and when Dan got older, he and to look outside the box.” Finally, Dan These are not easy shots over a bait pile. wanted to be a part of it. could go hunting. “We walk,” said Jon. “If we see an animal we intend to harvest, I grab Dan and pull him Their father, a tool and die maker, struck a down to his knees.” deal with Jon, who by then had earned a BS in Geological Engineering and an MS in Civil

facebook.com/viss12042013

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 13 That probably would have been the end with my brother, and then I met several Hicks lost his sight in 1997 and was of it, except that a few years later, Jon, a soldiers who needed help,” Jon said. “I contemplating selling his guns. “Shooting staff sergeant in the Army National Guard, wanted to give back.” when you are blind can be very boring,” was deployed to Afghanistan. On July 19, he confided. “You shoot, bang bang bang, 2009, he was shot in the chest with a rocket- So he filed for a patent on his system and and spend the rest of the day cleaning your propelled grenade. started the MA French Foundation. (“MA is weapon.” for my dad, Michael Andrew; my sons, Mike The grenade destroyed his right elbow, and Andrew; and my wife, Margaret Ann,” he Then he met Dan and Jon and learned gave him a concussion, and temporarily explained.) about their sighting system. “My buddy said blinded him. Now Jon feels lucky; of the five he’d take me shooting, so it’s not boring at soldiers who sustained similar attacks that Now back home outside of Chassell and that point. It’s really target practice.” month, he was the only survivor. At the time, armed with a brand new artificial elbow, Jon however, he was struggling with depression builds VISS sights in his basement workshop. Target practice, and something else, what and PTSD. He gives them away soldiers call “embracing the suck.” to combat-wounded “I felt very lost,” he said. “Jon’s whole mission vets and sells them at “Jon’s whole mission is to give these sights “Here I had bachelor’s cost to other veterans. to wounded warriors, so they can recapture and master’s degrees is to give these sights Civilians are charged some of that warrior mentality and climb out in engineering from a slight markup—the from beneath the rock they’re under,” says Michigan Tech, and to wounded warriors, total cost is about Hicks. “For a blinded vet, this is the kind of the best I could do in $200. challenge that can pull you out of a tailspin.” rehab at Walter Reed so they can recapture [National Military some of that warrior Expenses are covered Hicks is looking forward to trying out his Medical Center, in by donations and VISS on the gun range and maybe, this fall, Bethesda, Maryland] mentality and climb money from his side out in the bush. “The neat thing about this was stack three Legos.” business as a farrier, is it’s simple, rugged, and doesn’t take a out from beneath the shoeing horses lot of money.” And it offers a chance to do Jon persevered in rock they’re under.” throughout the something he’d thought he’d never his rehab at Walter Copper Country. Any do again. Reed, mastering the money left over at Lego repertoire and even completing a the end of the year is donated to veterans’ That’s the point, says Jon. “It’s a healing course to become a farrier. But he was still support organizations. During the week, he’s process, and I don’t know who gets more discouraged about his arm, which was not an engineer and project manager for Baraga out of it, me or the veterans who receive healing well. Then he had a chance meeting Telephone and Peninsula Fiber Network. the sights. with Jim Zumbo, one of America’s top-tier outdoor writers. Dan is his business partner and “guinea pig,” “Blinded vets will never be exactly how they Jon says, since his brother’s input has been were—all of us understand that. But man, if we “He gave me a kick in the ass,” Jon said. key to successful design. Using the system can get 95 percent of the way there, or 90 Zumbo also took him hunting with a “is a lot of fun,” Dan says, and so is making it percent, or even 60 percent, if something as customized rifle, so he could shoot again. available to others. “It’s so neat to see this is simple as this gun sight can help them get “We were like two little boys at Christmas possible for other people.” back out in the outdoors, find that purpose, with our Red Ryder BB guns.” find that passion for something . . . well, now Retired Army Captain Thomas L. Hicks, you’re living.” That experience helped teach him that of Phoenix, a member of the Northern mtu.edu/magazine/hunt brother Dan wasn’t the only guy in the world Arizona Chapter of the Blinded Veterans

with a disability who might want to get Association, received his VISS in the mail a

outdoors and hunt. “It started with a spark, few months ago.

— CAPTAIN THOMAS L. HICKS

14 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 When in operation, Alberta’s sawmill could process nearly 20,000 board-feet of lumber per day.

company town

Automotive pioneer Henry Ford In several of these locations, Ford established what were known as company made a mark in the Upper towns—communities where essentially all Peninsula in the early 20th stores, businesses, and housing were owned century. An auto plant, one by one company. of the nation s first charcoal Today, most of Ford’s presence in the UP is ’ a memory. In Dickinson County the shells of factories, commercial forests, manufacturing facilities stand eerily vacant. On the shores of Keweenaw Bay, Ford’s sawmills, and even rumors of an “Tasty Little Town,” Pequaming, is a ghost

Henry Ford experimental chicken farm were town, the schoolhouse and storefronts scattered throughout the UP. standing empty. However, one of Ford’s company towns remains not only viable today, its ties to the future are stronger than its links to the past.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 15 dorm dining hall recreation hall classroom 3

sauna dorm 2 8 stall -garage beech basswood tamarack spruce birds eye

elm sassafras

hemlock

sawmill

Pump house

Preserving the Past Johnson, the daughter of his UP operations When the auto industry’s need for lumber superintendent. waned in the 1940s, most of Ford’s UP Located 40 miles south of Houghton in facilities became ghost towns, industrial the Baraga County community of Alberta, And though he named it after a little girl, the remnants of a more prosperous time—but community belonged entirely to Henry Ford. not Alberta. Michigan Technological University’s Ford Center sits on 5,500 acres of forestland In Henry Ford, Life and Logging, industrial In a 1999 edition of Michigan History and consists of a conference center and a archaeologist Brian Cleven credits Ford as Magazine, Cleven writes, “In 1951 the Ford research forest. The Center also comprises the sole reason for Alberta’s existence. Motor Company sold the Iron Mountain the historic Ford company town of Alberta Ford dammed Plumbago Creek, creating Operation, extending Alberta’s life a short and a sawmill museum. the 20-acre lake that is still in existence time. The L’Anse and Alberta mills operated across US-41 from the Center. It provided until June 30, 1954.” Because it began as a company town, there plenty of water for the sawmill’s boilers. And is no separating the community of Alberta while Alberta’s lumber production paled in One could argue that 1954 marked not the from Tech’s Ford Center; they are one and comparison to Ford’s three other UP mills, it end, but a rebirth of the former company the same. Likewise, there is no separating had a capacity of 14,000 board-feet-per-day town, as Michigan Tech entered the picture. Alberta from Henry Ford. He began building of hardwood and more than 20,000 board- On November 30, 1954, Alberta, its well- the town in 1936, opening it a year later. The feet-per-day of softwood. equipped sawmill, and over 1,700 acres of auto legend named it Alberta, after Alberta adjacent timberland were donated to the

16 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 Michigan Tech students in LeaderShape® Institute learn to Maintenance act with core ethical values, personal values, and convictions.

Michigan College of Mining and Technology visual technology and can accommodate for researching the methods of timber up to 80 people. Smaller conference rooms management and utilization, and serving as accommodate up to 30 people. a laboratory to train students in the field of forestry. Each January for the past 20 years, hundreds of future leaders attending Michigan Storage- While Alberta never developed into the Tech brave tough Baraga County winters Mooseum thriving community Ford had envisioned— to attend LeaderShape® Institute, an people drove to other nearby communities intensive weeklong leadership development Carriage for church, commerce, and other activities— House experience designed to help young leaders it was certainly no ghost town. People still learn to “lead with integrity.” lived in the clapboard houses and every one of the original buildings remained intact. Whitney Boroski, health and wellness coordinator at Michigan Tech, has And while Michigan Tech was still primarily coordinated LeaderShape® for the past known as a mining and engineering school, several years. She says Alberta is “the the sawmill site was a perfect fit for the perfect venue for that group,” even in winter. University’s growing forestry department. “From the fabulous meals, great meeting New Growth space, awesome nature and adventure trails, sauna, museum, and computer lab, the Ford Center lets you get away from it all without Today, Alberta functions in three distinct sacrificing modern comforts or technology,” and significant ways. Because the facility she says. has been used and preserved over the Repurposed but still decades, the historic village of Alberta is a prosperous, the historic Boroski says the staff is willing to please living museum. The sawmill and all of the village of Alberta is a living and always goes above and beyond what is museum, conference center, residential structures are standing and while and educational facility. the sawmill no longer produces lumber, requested of them. “The staff is passionate

virtually all of the residences are often about your experience,” she says. occupied. Back to its Roots Alberta also serves as a first-rate conference facility. The Center has lodging available for Modern-day Alberta is also a forestry up to 110 people. Lodging quarters include classroom—a 5,500-acre classroom. Both dormitory rooms, a converted schoolhouse, undergraduate and graduate students and four of Alberta’s original homes. from Tech’s School of Forest Resources and Each option features shared bathroom Environmental Science spend considerable facilities and most of the rooms are double time conducting research in the Center’s occupancy. hardwood forests, wetlands, and plains. The grounds also contain much more than trees. In addition to the complete meal service in The property is home to numerous species the large dining room, staff accommodate including moose, bears, and wolves. special events such as banquets, barbecues, steak fries and other cookouts, theme Alberta ceased sawmill In addition to the ongoing research at the parties, and box lunches for outings. operations in 1954. Now Ford Center, the facilities also host visiting it’s part of the School of researchers. Forest Resources and Alberta hosts conferences, engaged Environmental Science. encounters, retreats, and reunions. The main conference room features audio and

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 1 7 Ford dammed Plumbago creek, creating the 20-acre lake that is still in existence across US-41.

Dream Delivered

In the early 20th century, Henry Ford had a dream: communities centered on a single enterprise. Whether for automotive 5,500 acres of research forest production, agriculture, or logging, Ford envisioned thriving communities throughout the UP.

Maybe Ford was too idealistic or maybe he underestimated peoples’ ability and desire to travel for commerce and recreation. By mid-century, all of Ford’s “company towns” were ghost towns.

All but one.

And thanks to Michigan Tech, Alberta keeps Ford’s idea burning brighter today than ever before.

mtu.edu/magazine/companytown

Now a modern conference center, Alberta once thrived as a Henry Ford-designed community supplying lumber for his automaking operations.

18 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 eet Bob and Trish Evans. Facebook fans know them M as @BobandTrishJuggling. On social media you’ll see them swuggling (that’s swimming while juggling), joggling (that’s jogging while juggling), and acro-juggling (Google it!). Sometimes they add pyrotechnics, knives, or their niece Kayla. Off digital devices, they’re a pair of Michigan Tech alumni and former Husky athletes committed to living fully, loving truly, and writing their own story—all with three or more balls in the air.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 1 9 Nerdy Cool and Dreaming to Doing Crazy Smart They quit their teaching jobs to embark on Bob Evans ’07 and Trish (Weyandt) Evans a “travel year,” visiting every state except ’08 first met in 2003 as student-athletes Alaska, Hawaii, and Nevada. During this at Michigan Tech. Trish studied math for “dreaming to doing” challenge, they secondary education and competed in became the first people to juggle three balls cross country and Nordic skiing, while through an entire triathlon. There was only Bob majored in psychology and physical one problem with the Bob and Trish USA education and played basketball. Their first Tour: money ran dry. date? A four-hour hike to Hungarian Falls. “Between sports So they did what any millennial would do— and classes, we they Googled “travel and make money.” “I defnitely didn’t have much One of the top options: “teaching English in felt at home free time, so for South Korea.” a while we just in the math met up on Sunday And so that’s what Bob and Trish did next. department,” afternoons,” Bob recalls. During that Houghton, as it turns out, planted the seed Trish says. first Keweenaw for the couple’s international travels. “I trek, the couple grew up in a town smaller than Houghton in discussed what their courtship might look Northern Wisconsin—when I went to Tech like and agreed to postpone a first kiss until it was the first time I met people from other marriage. countries. It was also the first time I had African American friends,” Trish says. And so began a partnership and journey equal parts intentional and adventurous. South Korea. The Philippines. Bali. Tokyo. Hong Kong. And eventually planting roots in “At Michigan Tech, we were part of two Thailand. different worlds—in sports we were labeled cool, but I definitely felt at home in the math “We fell in love with Thai life—it’s out of department,” Trish says. “We’ve always been our comfort zones and so multicultural,” that paradoxical mix of nerdy and cool,” Bob Bob says. “Our food palates have been affirms. awakened,” Trish adds. “It’s crazy to think I can now go almost anywhere in the world Love at First Juggle and meet up with a friend!”

After graduation, with newfound free time The couple uses “We use our their summer and inspiration from friends, the pair picked talent as an up juggling. They searched for partner breaks from juggling instructions online and gained teaching as an excuse to travel. enough skills to perform at their own opportunity to It’s a thrill to wedding in 2007. Partner juggling, Bob says, reconnect with is a form of pre-marriage counseling: “It family back in bring high-level brings out the best and the worst in people. the States and circus skills to a It’s easy to get frustrated and place blame on perform their your significant other.” juggling act in Trish worked as a campus tour guide back in small town,” towns across 2005. “I still remember the facts I shared with Bob says. prospective families. It’s a thrill to see the female Bob and Trish soon landed teaching jobs the Midwest, population grow and to hear about the new in Arizona. Their time in the Southwest was including majors and programs.” spent teaching, juggling, and performing— Houghton in 2015 and Marquette in 2016. some of their very first shows as a duo. After “We use our talent as an excuse to travel. a few years, and a lot of training, it was time It’s a thrill to bring high-level circus skills to to write another chapter. a small town,” Bob says. “In the beginning our families were like ‘OMG! You’re on TV,’ but they adapted as we have. I think more than anything they are curious to learn how

20 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 our story unfolds as we think about our next goal—starting a family,” Trish says.

So what is it about juggling that applies to life? “It’s relaxed concentration in the midst of chaos. Trying to keep nine balls in the air, you have to remain focused, but calm. Life is chaotic, but it’s best to remain calm,” Bob says. You might think these America’s Got Talent contestants juggle from sun up to sun down. What advice do Bob and Trish have for Get a peek into their average day in Thailand: future jugglers? “The first step to being 5:45 a.m. Wake up. Have some tea. Hug good at and kiss. a skill is “The frst step to sucking at 6 a.m. Trish’s breakfast no. 1: banana with being good at a the skill,” almond butter. Bob’s breakfast no. 1: yogurt Trish says. with honey. skill is sucking at “It’s more the skill,” doable than 6:30 a.m. Trish does mobility work and you think. sips on homebrewed kombucha and coconut Trish says. We might water-kefir elixir. Bob journals, reads, and look like meditates (using the Headspace app), then magicians, but it’s very methodical. Start with a daily training session involving juggling, one ball—or no ball—and take baby steps.” bodyweight movements, and self-massage using a foam roller. The couple’s life motto: “Don’t be afraid to 7 a.m. Trish’s breakfast no. 2: egg skillet with do hard things.” spinach, onions, and garlic with a side of fruit. mtu.edu/magazine/juggling Bob’s breakfast no. 2: Sardines over greens with an egg and avocado.

7:15 a.m. Cold showers and scooter rides to work at Lanna International School.

7:55 a.m.-3 p.m. Trish teaches high school math and Bob teaches PE. They eat school lunch together (it ’s healthier than at most US schools). Bob does a 20-minute juggling practice session during lunch break.

3-5 p.m. Trish coaches running and Bob coaches basketball. They lead an after-school juggling club together.

5-5:30 p.m. Daily “together” practice. They pick five juggling or acrobatics skills to work on every day.

5:30-6 p.m. Dinner at Happy Green, a vegetarian buffet serving fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden right behind the restaurant—for less than $3 a person!

6-10 p.m. CrossFit (a few times a week) or a trip to the farmer’s market for fresh mangoes. More reading (they don’t own a TV).

In their next act, Bob and Trish 10 p.m. In bed and exhausted (we’d say!). hope to start a family in Thailand.

/bobandtrishjuggling • @bobandtrishjuggling

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2 1 The Last Flight of John Hascall

In the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten lie the graves of 8,301 Americans killed during World War II. In Plot H, Row 8, Grave 9 rests John Sherman Hascall. His story, like all the others, is far too short.

Nancy Krohn, 93, of Ann Arbor remembers her brother John. A Husky and neighborhood hero.

22 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 When you live on Lake Superior, one of the first things you learn is how to swim. (Top photo) Photos and memories of John and life in the Upper Peninsula. (Below) Growing up in Marquette, Nancy Krohn John’s senior picture in the remembers her older brother John teaching Keweenawan. her in those cold waters. Now 93 and living in Ann Arbor, she also recalls he was the neighborhood hero.

John. Athletic, good-looking, full of life. It’s said he could swim like his namesake, 1924 Olympic gold-medalist and Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller.

Their family was close-knit, so while his decision—like those of thousands of others— to fight for his country was an honorable choice, it was also likely a difficult one.

After all of the years, Nancy holds on to the memories of her brother, and his Purple Heart medal, with pride.

John probably remembered her too as he was shot down.

It’s unlikely he panicked, thinking until those last moments it would be okay. He’d survive, fight on, liberate Europe, and return to America to restart his life. A TRUE YOOPER

Born in Calumet on New Year’s Day, 1918, he grew up in Marquette, where he loved to ski, camp with his family, and play hockey.

A lot of hockey.

“My brothers grew up playing . . . everybody played when they could,” Nancy recalls. “They played serious hockey growing up. The only time I played was if they were short, and they would recruit me to be the goalie. One year, I A symbol of sacrifice: got a black eye.” Nancy, six years his junior, would often visit John’s Purple Heart. John during his years in Houghton. John was a Husky, graduating from Michigan Tech in 1939 with degrees in mining “I remember going up to Michigan Tech. The engineering and geology. He was in ROTC, Theta Tau house was across from campus. I a member of (former fraternity) Theta Tau, on loved going into the fraternity house and was the staff of The Lode, and a standout on the in love with all of the boys,” she recalls with a hockey team. It’s not surprising he chose Tech; laugh. his father Carleton Hascall graduated in 1911 with a degree in mining, and brother Carleton And, then, as now, a rivalry existed between Jr. preceded him by two years, graduating in the schools in Houghton and Marquette. 1937 with a metallurgical degree.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2 3 Belt-Schutsloot

John was shot down while flying P-38s, “fork-tailed devils,” Schutsloterwijde John bailed from his plane on bomber escort missions Site of Crash above Schutsloterwijde, a small between the UK and Germany lake in the Netherlands. during WWII.

“When Michigan Tech came down to play successfully, John landed in the middle of the (Northern State) Normal School (now the lake, strong winds blowing him across its Northern Michigan University), we would surface. Struggling but ultimately unable to always go to the game. One year my mother remove his tangled parachute, John drowned. and I were at the game and Johnny got Local residents rushed to save him, and a injured and he was taken to the hospital. It doctor spent three hours trying to resuscitate wasn’t too serious,” Nancy says. him. “He lied there, FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM In a letter to John’s family, Van der Luur just quietly and described those final moments. John moved west after graduation, working not wounded or for the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company before “He lied there, just quietly and not wounded damaged at all. enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces or damaged at all. His face was calm and on April 7, 1942—like so many of that time, nothing of fright or something like that was in His face was calm putting the freedom of others before his own. its expression. It was just as if he slept after a and nothing of tiresome job.” A 2nd lieutenant in the 77th Fighter fright or something Squadron, 20th Fighter Group, John flew In a small ceremony, John was buried in like that was in its P-38s on bomber escort missions. After 18 the Wanneperveen village cemetery. Local months of service, he would take his final residents brought flowers to his grave. His expression. It was flight. Accompanying B-17 bombers from remains were moved to Margraten after the just as if he slept Kings Cliffe, UK, to Bremen, Germany, he war, and his plane lay undiscovered until 1981. was shot down by German pilot Lt. Leopold after a tiresome Munster, November 29, 1943. Nancy still recalls his decision to enlist. job.”

An eyewitness, J. J. Van der Luur from “I remember John came home at Christmas Steenwijk, a fighter with the Dutch resistance and the family talked it out, but they didn’t J. J. Van der Luur cycling through the area, saw John’s damaged include me,” she said. “I was always kind of eyewitness plane appear through the clouds and fall neglected as far as conversations went. John near Schutsloterwijde, a small lake near Belt- told them he was going to enlist and he did.” Schutsloot in north-central Holland. Bailing

2424 MICHIGANMICHIGANTECHMAGAZINE TECH MAGAZINE 2016 Their older brother Carleton delivered the longer do it,” he says. “I take flowers to the And members of the van der Venne family are news that John had been killed in action. grave every time there is a commemoration at not the only Dutch citizens remembering the the cemetery in Margraten.” American soldiers who gave their lives in the “I heard shortly after my parents did. I was in liberation of the Netherlands. Every grave at college in Ann Arbor at that time. My other Theo cites a desire to Margraten has been adopted brother lived in Grosse Ile and gave me the remember those who sacrificed by Dutch families, and there’s a news firsthand. He came over and we talked everything for his country as “We have five waiting list. about John.” motivation. children at home, John’s sacrifice, and those made She was 20 at the time. Over 70 years have “I think our generation must one brother, and by hundreds of thousands of passed, but she has never forgotten him realize what happened in the young soldiers during WWII, are and was pleased to learn that others haven’t war of 1945,” he says. “We three sisters so we especially remembered in the forgotten either. have had a lot of caring for the will continue my words of witness J. J. Van der soldiers killed for our freedom, mother’s work of Luur. FLOWERS FOR JOHN and are giving back now. This has to happen in areas where taking care of the “. . . when I saw John lying there Today, his grave often has flowers, tended the war was for peoples’ in a certainly unknown village by the same Dutch family for over 60 years freedom.” grave,” Theo says. to him and also to you, I stood after Jeanne van der Venne-Habets of Eijsden thinking and knew that there was adopted it in the early 1950s. And John’s grave will be a great difference between his tended for many years to come. and my fighting. I fought in my own country Before passing away in February 2016, she and for my own country, but he was fighting passed the duties to her son, Theo van der “We have five children at home, one brother, outside his country for another country so Venne. and three sisters so we will continue my that everybody might live there in peace mother’s work of taking care of the grave,” and freedom just as in America … I thanked “As the eldest son I have taken care of Lt. Theo says. him for this sacrifice. I will never forget those Hascall’s grave after my mother could no moments.”

Jeanne van der Venne-Habets (inset) tended John’s grave (right) in the Netherlands American Cemetery. Her son Theo carries on the tradition.

mtu.edu/magazine/hascall

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2255 A SITUA

It’s not over, but when Governor Rick Snyder tapped Michigan Tech alumnus Keith Creagh to tackle the Flint water crisis, Creagh delivered.

26 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 There’s a bear in Keith Creagh’s outer office—a glossy black bear guarding a Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) sign. That’s not surprising, since Creagh—a 1974 Forestry alumnus—is director of the DNR.

But it’s nothing compared to the bear of a situation Creagh took on when he answered Governor Rick Snyder’s call to become interim director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) at the height of the Flint water crisis.

In April 2014, to save money, the city of Flint, Michigan, switched from Detroit’s Lake Huron water to water from the nearby Flint River. What A SITUATIONappeared to be a fiscally responsible decision came with two unintended consequences. The Flint River water has a lower pH—a measure of acidity or alkalinity. It was more acidic, although still within what is considered a normal or acceptable range. It also contained high concentrations of chlorides, which cause the metal pipes carrying the water to oxidize more easily.

Detroit’s water was treated with polyphosphates to counteract the chlorides. Flint River water was not.

General Motors was the first to notice the difference. Automobile parts in their Flint plant were corroding at a much faster pace. GM investigated and found the cause of the corrosion: the high chloride concentration. GM wasn’t looking for lead. They were looking at their iron-corrosion problem.

The company switched back to Detroit water and reported the reason to officials in Flint.

“GM’s findings should have raised a red flag Keith Creagh ’74 leads Michigan’s Department of for city and state officials,” says David Hand, chair of civil Natural Resources—experience and environmental engineering at Michigan Tech and a that prepared him for the Flint water treatment expert. “Many of the water service lines water crisis. in Flint, the ones that run from the mains to commercial buildings and residences, are made of lead. He will give the address at And the untreated Flint River water was taking the Michigan Tech’s Midyear protective scale off those pipes, leaching the lead right into Commencement December 17. the city’s taps.”

Residents began to complain. An angry contingent of citizens brought discolored, smelly water to city hall. Not until October 2015—nearly a year and a half after the switch to Flint River water—after pressure from the US Environmental Protection Agency and an independent study by a Virginia Tech scientist, did the county health department declare a public health emergency.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2 7 Amidst a national uproar, the director Governor Snyder knew Creagh was the right of MDEQ—the agency responsible for man for the job. “Keith Creagh is incredibly overseeing water safety issues—resigned. knowledgeable and passionate about Michigan’s environment,” the Governor says. Enter Keith Creagh. “The expertise and enthusiasm he brings to every task is unmatched.” Creagh’s first call came from Dan Wyant, erstwhile “I asked Keith to step in during a very director of the MDEQ. difficult Wyant, a longtime friend time at the and colleague, said: “I’m Department of “I asked on my way out.” Wyant Environmental said that Governor Snyder Quality, and Keith to step planned to ask Creagh to he did not in during a take charge of the MDEQ. hesitate,” “And I am going to ask you Snyder goes very difficult to do it,” he added. on to say. “He has worked time at the The next call was indeed every day Department of from the Governor’s office. to improve After promising his wife, water quality, Environmental Laska, that the assignment recommend would be temporary, updated, Quality, and Creagh accepted Snyder’s stricter he did not appointment as interim standards, and director of the MDEQ on change the hesitate.” Keith Creagh testifies before December 30, 2015. “At that way regulators the US House Oversight point, I only knew what I had read about it,” approach Governor and Government Reform says Creagh. “But it was important. When their jobs so Rick Snyder Committee February 3, 2016. you turn on the tap, you ought to be able to that they are drink the water.” responsive and open-minded to concerns.”

David Hand was on Togwotee Pass, Wyoming, when he Among them was R. Rhodes Trussell, whom Hand calls the got the call from Keith Creagh. It was 20 degrees that world ’s expert on corrosion. Hand co-authored a book on day in February, and Togwotee Pass is 10,000 feet up in water treatment with Trussell. the Wyoming mountains, above Jackson Hole. Shivering as he stood outside, the only place he could get cell Then Hand, Professor Marty Auer, and Assistant Professor phone reception, Hand—chair of civil and environmental Daisuke Minakata, all in Tech’s Department of Civil and engineering at Michigan Tech and a water treatment Environmental Engineering, were asked by 1991 alumnus expert—shared names of some of the world ’s top water Steven Tomaszewski, director of operations for North treatment specialists with Creagh, who was trying to get a America at General Motors, to do a historical assessment handle on the Flint water crisis. of GM’s actions in relation to Flint ’s water. GM, which had switched its water service back to Detroit in late 2014, had WHAT REALLY HAPPENED been accused of prior knowledge of Flint ’s water problems. The team found that GM had switched water because the chloride concentration in Flint River water was too high, causing corrosion of metals in automobile parts. “GM didn’t know anything about lead; they weren’t looking for TO FLINT’S WATER lead. They were looking for the reason metal parts were corroding,” Hand explains. Hand ’s own expertise is in treatment of organic compounds in water, and Flint ’s problem involved lead—an inorganic Even so, GM notified the Flint Water Authority of their contaminant—so Hand sent him to several colleagues. findings, Hand says, but it wasn’t until a year later that

28 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 Creagh knew he had accepted a tough Creagh soon discovered that nearly everyone assignment. “I was not naïve,” he says. “I was angry. The people of Flint were angry knew it would be fairly contentious.” that they felt that their water was poisoning them. MDEQ employees—who were being “Fairly contentious” is an understatement reamed by the press and the public—were typical of Creagh. “He has a different defensive. So were city officials. And the EPA, way about him. He handles stressful the Governor, and the Michigan Legislature situations calmly,” says Michelle Crook, wanted answers. an environmental engineer with the DNR and a 1992 Michigan Tech alumna who has They all wanted to know what had worked with Creagh for years. “He wants to happened. They all wanted to know who was hear everyone’s point of view. And he really responsible. listens. But he also challenges people not to accept the status quo.” “I went in understanding that people were angry,” says Creagh. “And they had a right Mike Irish, an associate professor of visual to be. They didn’t know whom to trust. I all. Processes were examined at the water and performing arts at Tech who was a needed to be a good listener. I needed to treatment plant, and initial conditions in the classmate in Creagh’s 1974 Forestry class, help them construct a community-based city’s pipes were analyzed. recalls the same sort of laid-back, big-picture solution.” guy. “It was always a pleasure to be on Creagh found many factors that played into Keith’s team,” says Irish. “He was real even- The first thing he did was establish an MDEQ the crisis. In addition to the lack of corrosion tempered, unflappable.” emergency operations center to oversee control, Flint’s water system was overbuilt testing programs and analyze the water for its current population and manufacturing Irish recalls the time when a couple of treatment and delivery system in Flint, to base. That meant less water was flowing classmates “really got into it while we were determine actual conditions at that moment through the pipes than they were intended socializing after hours. Keith pulled them and what needed to be done going forward. to handle. apart, took one aside and talked to him, then talked to the other one. He defused the MDEQ started a sentinel program to monitor whole situation.” the water quality and lead levels in hundreds of homes throughout Flint. Another That’s a skill that would stand him in good residential program collected 23,000 water stead in the MDEQ and Flint. samples from Flint residents and tested them

anyone identified contains some lead, which doesn’t get into the water as long the reason lead as the scale is firmly attached to the pipes. And when the levels in Flint ’s scale is gone, the chloride-rich water can leach lead from the water were rising. pipes into the water.

What had The pH of the water—a measure of acidity or alkalinity—was happened, Hand actually within the normal range for drinking water, but with says, is that when no corrosion protection, there was nothing to hold the scale Flint switched in place on the pipes, giving the chloride levels an ideal from Detroit environment to do their dirty work. water, which is treated with “Even at normal pH, you’re going to see more lead when polyphosphates to chlorides are high,” says Hand. Flint water is coming from keep scale on the Detroit again, so the corrosion-inhibiting polyphosphate is pipes and prevent being added now. But another problem interfered with the lead from leaching corrective action. Michigan Tech into the drinking water, their new Flint River water was not researcher treated with phosphates. “People got scared and turned their water off,” says Hand. “I Dave Hand helped Keith don’t blame them. I would have, too.” Creagh find As a result, the high-chloride content of the water removed water treatment scale from the pipes. Scale sounds like a bad thing, but it experts. is actually protective of the metal pipes. The scale itself

mtu.edu/magazine/flint-water

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2 9 Members of Michigan’s National Guard distribute bottled water to the people of Flint in January 2016.

“All water is corrosive, but if it’s flowing, programs in place to solve the community’s to value a diversity of expertise, because a it’s less corrosive,” Creagh explains. In problems.” multidisciplinary approach is the best way to Flint, water was being underutilized; it solve complex problems. wasn’t flowing through the pipes. “One of Meanwhile, things were no better back at the the critical lessons learned was, how do MDEQ, where Creagh faced an atmosphere Everyone began investigating the Flint water you appropriately size infrastructure for charged with grief and fear. At his first situation. The EPA convened a data summit, a city with a declining meeting with the staff, he a consortium of experts that included population and loss of says, “there was more than the Wayne State University and Virginia manufacturing,” he says. “In the MDEQ, a little tension in the room. Tech scientists who had first reported the It was really intense, but not problem. The Governor brought in all the He also found what he in Flint, in unexpected, despite the fact stakeholders—health specialists, educators, calls “analysis paralysis.” that MDEQ staff consists of water quality experts, nutritionists—to form No one wanted to make Washington, highly trained professionals.” the Flint Water Interagency Coordinating a decision, because and in Lansing, Committee. everyone was afraid they “In the MDEQ, in Flint, might be prosecuted or we had a in Washington, and in Creagh spent four wrenching hours before lose their job. Lansing, we had a lot of a congressional oversight committee. “It lot of voices voices hollering, but never was not a conversation; it was not civil,” he “I was a little surprised at hollering, but together,” Creagh recalls. recalls. He also testified before the Michigan how long it took to put “They weren’t listening House and Senate Oversight Committees. the necessary programs never together,” to each other or paying There, he says, he found “civility and in place,” Creagh admits. attention to the actual data.” thoughtful questions. They wanted to know “The difficulty in getting a Creagh recalls. what we can do to improve the system.” consistent answer wasn’t Creagh credits his Michigan something I anticipated. The capacity just Tech education with teaching him “to look And Creagh, true to form, participated in an wasn’t there. The new mayor was working at the data.” He says he also learned at Tech effort to reach out to community leaders and to build an administrative structure to put to ask the bigger, deeper questions and ministers.

30 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 “We were guests in their “I’ll still be “I couldn’t take the family to community,” he says. “We Florida while the people in Michigan Tech and had to be respectful, and we in Flint,” Flint don’t have safe water to had to bring people together. drink.” The expertise is all here. The he says. “I GM Teach about question is how you build Laska understood about the integrity and trust and make appreciate the vacation. “My concern,” she Flint Water sure that everyone gets opportunity to says, “was, how much stress heard.” can he really take?” General Motors and Michigan Tech stay involved, were able to play a special role in the Before he took the interim Keith Creagh developed aftermath of the Flint water crisis. With director job, Creagh to take it from some good stress-busters. sponsorship from GM’s Ride the Waves promised his wife it would a crisis to an “You go home and jog or program, 12 middle- and high-school only be for three months. play old-guy soccer,” he says. teachers from Flint, Michigan, spent Three became six, and ownership of “You go hunting or fishing. a week at Tech this summer, learning six became seven, while You try to find some solitude, about the Flint River watershed,

Creagh’s biggest problem responsibility.” some place where the cell drinking-water treatment, and was something that people phone won’t ring.” wastewater treatment. call “work-life balance.” Essentially, he was working 24/7, taking his first briefing at 6:45 But when the time came for Governor The goal was to prepare the teachers to in the morning and his last conference call at Snyder to appoint a permanent MDEQ bring water resources issues, including 8 at night. “And then I could start my regular director, Creagh stood firm. Flint’s water, Flint ’s drinking water situation, to their DEQ work,” he quips. once again coming from Detroit, had classrooms and students. And down the improved in quality. The MDEQ and the Flint road, some of those students might even Creagh started as interim director of water system were in the process of being be inspired to pursue environmental MDEQ on January 4. His first half-day off restructured, with processes put in place to engineering, says Marty Auer, professor was Valentine’s Day, February 14, when prevent similar problems. So when Snyder of civil and environmental engineering at he watched the Michigan State-Indiana asked Creagh about staying in the job, his Michigan Tech and program director of University afternoon basketball game, then answer was simple. Ride the Waves.

“I made my wife a promise. And no “If we can reach these teachers, then we offense, Governor, but I sleep with can stimulate a process that ’s going to her.” engage the young people, and they are the ones who are going to have to do Laska is relieved that he kept that what is necessary to protect our water in promise, although “he brought the future,” he observes. Flint back with him,” she says. The teachers spent time at Tech’s Great That’s true, Creagh agrees. “I’ll still Lakes Research Center. They collected be in Flint,” he says. “I appreciate and analyzed data, took a trip on the the opportunity to stay involved, to research vessel Agassiz, where they take it from a crisis to an ownership took water samples and learned about of responsibility, where everyone water chemistry, plankton, sediment, and realizes that you can’t take care benthic or bottom-living organisms. of the environment without Keith promised wife Laska considering public health, that The teachers were enthusiastic about his stint at MDEQ would be short. it’s all about exposures, risks, and their experience. “I learned a lot quality of life.” about how the water gets into the Flint took his wife out to dinner. “You can do that River (the watershed),” says Patricia for a sprint, but not for the long haul,” he And besides, as Creagh is the first to Miller, a science teacher at Carman remarks. admit, he doesn’t like to leave anything Ainsworth-Baker Career Academy. “I unfinished. can use it in biology when we are talking Laska Creagh agrees. “We were supposed to about ecosystems and water cycles. mtu.edu/magazine/flint-water go to Florida for a vacation,” she says. “We In chemistry, I can incorporate it in a couldn’t go.” But Creagh explains: ‘smells’ unit, and in physics, the force and motion of water can be taught.”

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 313 1 32 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 With 31,700 square miles of sweetwater sea at our doorstep, sailing and Michigan Tech go together like snow and the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The sailors of Michigan Tech represent every aspect of the University, every nuance of the sport. Among students, faculty, staff, and alumni are designers, navigators, racers, and cruisers. Long-distance voyagers and day-trippers. New swabbies and salty dogs.

Huskies at the Helm

First on deck, our most visible mariner: Stephen Roblee ’75 ’80, a math professor for 33 years before he became primary captain of the 36- foot, 19-passenger Michigan Tech Research Vessel Agassiz. Steve’s sailed all over the world and spent entire summers plying the waters off Bayfield, Wisconsin, Lake Superior’s most populated sailing grounds.

Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) Director Guy Meadows spends most of his water time on powerboats. But he’s also a sailor who began with Sunfish and Hobie Cats—light, beach- launched, personal-size sailing dinghies— before moving on to bigger things, like a 36-foot ketch-rigged sailboat, and outrunning a South Pacific typhoon. It’s an arc familiar to the sailing mentors of Michigan Tech—one they hope to extend with each new sailor they welcome aboard.

“We have such a wonderful environment for sailing, it would almost be criminal to ignore it.” Sails in the sunset— —GLRC Operations Director Michigan Tech mariners Mike Abbott ’80 ’88 glide on the Keweenaw Waterway.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 33 The Nimbus Too crew, front to back on the port side (left to you landlubbers): Roth Robertson, Justin Zang, and ‘Admiral’ Nancy Byers Sprague; middle, Pete Method and Skipper Dianne Sprague; and starboard (right) front to back, Bill Sewel, Meral Jackson, Denis Leopold, and Patricia Butler.

Deb Kinzi ’71 skippers Splashdance!, a 19-foot 1985 Flying Scot. Crew includes Mike Irish ’74.

Club advisor Dieter Wolfgang Adolphs, loading that results from moving through Sailors Without Borders associate professor of German language these fluids dictates how the rigging should There’s a lot of university-community and literature, inherited the job from former be tensioned or eased, and what material crossover. The local Onigaming Yacht Club advisor Ralph Hodek, an associate professor should be installed in the first place to roster is full of mtu.edu addresses. Yacht of civil and environmental engineering. handle the abuse. Psychologically, it has club is a misnomer for these down-to-earth Huskies often crew on Hodek’s 40-foot Santa made me a better scientist by teaching me mariners who simply love to race and cruise Cruz Red Hawk. how to adapt—how to read the conditions on Lake Superior. that I’m working in and use them to get Many members are experienced racers, where I need to go—which is not necessarily On the 35-foot Hunter sailboat Nimbus Too, although anyone is welcome to try sailing a straight line. There are always wind shifts Dianne Sprague and Nancy Byers Sprague (after passing a swimming test) before and sometimes it’s impossible to travel share their sailing passion with Huskies paying dues. Students also pay a per-race straight upwind at your goal.” from all over the world. Nancy, director of fee, driving long distances to compete in graduate degree services, has compiled a Midwest regattas. “First Mate s/v Dark Star” 300-to-400-member crew list. While not all is included on my résumé. make it aboard, safe to say the couple has Dieter also takes student crews on yacht —Cameron McNamara ’11, club speed and distance races aboard his taught sailing basics to hundreds. PhD candidate, Crew, Dark Star 30-year-old, 28-foot Laser Dark Star. Cam Nancy’s email signature has something to do McNamara, who earned his bachelor’s in with it: ASK ABOUT sailing with me materials science and engineering in 2011 Harnessing the Wind in the beautiful Keweenaw of the and returns from Australia to defend his PhD Upper Peninsula. dissertation this winter, first sailed on Dark Spring 2016 graduate Rohit Sunil Pandhare, Star in 2009. “I was hooked. I enjoyed the who earned his master’s in mechanical The Michigan Tech Sailing Club has about hard yet technical work and wasn’t hesitant engineering and plans to return for his PhD, 30 members. It’s open to students, faculty, about handling the boat or going forward is a new sailor. He’s been crewing on Nimbus staff, and community members. But under on the deck in difficult weather, so eventually since July. “I love the idea that we’re using Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association Dieter put me on foredeck,” he says. the wind to move the boat, nothing other rules only undergrads can race. Twice “In a technical sense, sailing has given me than that, and as an engineer it just amazes weekly practices run early September to personal experience with fluid dynamics, me to see fluid dynamics in action.” early November. The fleet of six Collegiate weather patterns, and rigging systems. 420s, a 470, and two Lasers, are launched at Both aerodynamics and hydrodynamics Rohit likes to heel. That’s when the boat tips, Houghton’s East Waterfront Park. are important in racing. Understanding the leaning far to one side, under the influence

34 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 of wind on the sails, weight of the boat, “They call it the boom because in innovative tunneling machinery, Dick’s and other factors. It often freaks people out that’s the sound it makes when it company’s equipment bored the “Chunnel” because it feels like the boat will tip over. under the English Channel. He and hits your head.” The physics of the scenario make that highly his wife Bonnie, environmentalists and unlikely. The farther a boat heels, the less —Dianne Sprague, philanthropists, are creators of the Chairs of Nimbus Too pressure there is because the sails present Skipper, Sustainability at Michigan Tech. a smaller area to the wind. The ballast With patient coaching crew members gain of the keel, located below the waterline, Mike DeLano ’85 a self-described ME who teamwork skills and an innate sense of compensates with a righting motion. often does EE work, crews on the 70-foot balance. Santa Cruz Stripes for legendary skipper Bill Martin, former US Sailing Association “Engineering in action right No one takes racing too seriously. “We’re President and University of Michigan here.” not like some racers. We don’t get mad. Athletic Director. —Rohit Sunil Pandhare ’16, We do play by the rules, but we’re low key,” Crew, Nimbus Too says physics professor David Nitz, skipper of Mike was always a boater but didn’t start the 28-foot Tartan Gamma Hunter (“I study sailing until after Michigan Tech. He got cosmic rays, and I’m always looking for the interested in the details of racing and Off to the Races sunshine,” he says.) Like other mentors, he navigating and learned by reading. A lot. hopes sailors who crew with him gain the The yacht club races in summer Sundowner He carried around flashcards to memorize skills needed to sail for a lifetime. and fall Frostbite series. Nimbus often terms and concepts. sacrifices any chance of winning by weighing “It’s a sport you can enjoy until you’re quite the boat down with extra, untrained crew. “It’s like engineering, right? You gotta do ripe. People sail into their 80s,” says the “Light thoughts,” cautions Dianne, as your homework.” teacher-mariner, who’s spending his 25th sailors from India, Ethiopia, and Lower season sailing Gamma Hunter. Michigan pile on. Snacks, sunblock, sailing “Sailing is a semi-athletic chess gloves, and safety instructions are efficiently The most beneficial thing about sailing? match overseen by God.” dispensed as Nimbus heads to the Portage “You have to think a lot,” he says. —Mike DeLano ’85, Main Trimmer Lake race course. and Navigator, Stripes And basic nautical lingo: Port is left because Sail On, Engineers! it has the same amount of letters. Starboard is right. The bow is the front of the boat. Huskies have been making waves in The stern is the back. Ropes are ‘lines’ and the sailing world for years. Take Richard sails are ‘sheets.’ Winches are ‘grinders.’ Robbins ‘56, who commissioned renowned marine architect Bob Perry to design the And most important, a warning to duck 65-foot sloop Icon, which placed second when the boat turns, or “comes about,” in its 2001 debut race in the Sydney- a maneuver that sends the boom, the Hobart race. The boat’s most unique horizontal pole at the bottom extending features are a mechanically retractable from the bottom of the mast, swinging keel and removable interior to make it across the deck. light for racing. Known as a world leader

mtu.edu/magazine/open-water

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 35 36 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 ith a history as W rich as the copper mines our founders once studied, you can bet myths and legends abound on campus—and throughout the Keweenaw Peninsula.

“I heard . . .” “Someone once said . . .” “Well, what REALLY happened was . . .”

We scoured the internet and the history books and tracked down Huskies old and new to tackle just a few of the most talked about Michigan Tech tall tales:

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 37 THE CLAIM: The wind harp doesn’t work. What Director of Energy Management and Sustainability Dave Taivalkoski says: “I’ve With private support from the Friends of the worked here 41 years and I’ve never heard Garden, the Great Lakes area’s first-ever wind it. I’ve often thought about sneaking in at harp was installed between the Chemical night and stringing fishing line to it to get it Sciences and Memorial Union buildings (an working.” area fondly known or feared as the wind tunnel) in 2012. The [very subtle] bottom line: “I saw the original plans from the artist himself and it What staff say: Sculptor Ashok Agarwal was stated the harp would play music very calibrated the 13-foot high Aeolian harp rarely.” — Gregg Richards, Director of in Calumet, so that’s why it doesn’t emit Engineering Services “music” on campus in Houghton. The physics of it all: The harp DOES, in fact, play. We have recorded evidence—no speaker What Reddit says: “They” put a speaker by required. It just takes wind—plenty of wind the harp to amplify the gentle hums; it would (about 28-36 miles per hour). Take off your work if turned at a 45-degree angle, but then chook and have a listen: mtu.news/2bRnAtw it wouldn’t look as aesthetically pleasing.

THE CLAIM: There are underground tunnels for students to get to and from class during winter.

What students say: Why trek through 220 annual inches of snowfall when steamy underground tunnels await?

What Facilities Management says: The tunnels are indeed steamy. In fact, 4,503 feet of utility tunnels throughout campus deliver steam to buildings on campus. They are not, however, for human traffic. [sad face]

THE CLAIM: What The Lode says: It’s true. Built in 1949, the 30-foot by 75-foot pool was part of There is a swimming pool in the Sherman Gym, former home to Tech’s PE basement of Walker. department. By the mid-1980s, the pool area was converted into classrooms, hallways, and What alumni say: There used to be a swimming pool in the old Sherman Gym. storage. A door was cut to allow access so the Jazz

Band could play in the deep-center of the Partially removed and partially filled in, students can still stand outside and peer abandoned pool. into where the pool once stood.

38 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 THE CLAIM: original stairs. They were left in place for several years and after a 2008 renovation, There are stairs to nowhere in the the original connection to the ballroom was Memorial Union Building. closed off and the space on the landing was converted to a tel-com closet, housing Gregg Richards tells us what’s up: “The stairs were the original exit from the audio-visual equipment for the ballroom.” second floor ballroom. A renovation was So, the stairs DO go somewhere . . . sort of. completed in 1988 adding an additional exit stairway, eliminating the need for the

THE CLAIM: What Director of Facilities Kerri Sleeman “The University and numerous entities There will be/was going to be a says: talked about building a parking structure, parking structure on campus. but there are no plans for one at this time. It’s just too expensive to be viable.” What students say, version 1: There was supposed to be a parking structure built, (So don’t put away your snow shovels just but plans were canceled because it would yet, Huskies.) disrupt our scenic views.

What students say, version 2: There was supposed to be a parking structure built, but plans were canceled because snow removal would be a problem.

THE CLAIM: Tech students solved the mystery of the Paulding Light.

This one—described in a 2010 Michigan Tech news story—has been read more than 142,000 times. We’ll let you decide what, exactly, the Paulding Light (or lights?) REALLY is: mtu.news/2bFkmNK

mtu.edu/magazine/legend

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 3 9 Not many campuses have a foundry. Students use our foundry, but it’s more than a classroom. Researchers run tests in the foundry, but it’s more than a lab. Companies commission foundry work, but it’s more than an R&D facility. At Michigan Tech, our foundry is the centerpiece of an innovative metal design process.

Foundries aren’t old school. it undergoes testing that spans atomic structures to the tensile The cutting edge of metal design strength of entire rods. didn’t get left in the Bronze Age; nowadays, the craft has progressed Most campuses and industries have past a simple molten pour and bits and pieces of a metal design requires analytical research before process. Not us. Our team of faculty, and after. Researchers customize staff, and students are present from alloys, optimizing them for specific first calculation to final report— uses. Foundry workers harness high transferring the billet each step heat and intense pressure in casting of the way. With Kevlar gloves, of and extrusion to create just the right course. internal structure. Once the metal gets shaped and stretched,

40 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 The furnace is hot—more than 700 degree Celsius (about 1,300 degree Fahrenheit). Inside, several aluminum alloy ingots melt into orange, mercurial pools.

Sparks fly when cold or foreign material hits the liquid melt inside or the hot edge of the crucible. Compared to steel or brass, aluminum has a lower melting point (660 degree Celsius) and produces many of the lightweight alloys in use today.

Tom Wood, a staff engineer in the foundry, holds several extrusion dies. As the hot billet pushes through the die, the metal elongates, changing both its shape and structure.

Casting is the art and science of pouring As the aluminum billets Aluminum is one of the most commonly extruded metals. molten metal. The metal is not just hot, but cool, they contract and Foundry staff designed and tested a special Upper Peninsula blinding. Undergraduates Erika Harris and dimple downward. Set extrusion: The extra hook serves as a bottle opener once Julia Scruton wear face shields along with in an oven around 400 sliced into keychain-sized slabs. reflective and fire-resistant jackets, boot degree Fahrenheit, the spats, and thick mitts worthy of foundry work heat homogenizes the and Keweenaw winters. microstructure before extrusion. mtu.edu/magazine/foundry

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 41 Alumni Engagement

PCA Inducts 20th Class of Leaders

Twenty years ago, Michigan These alumnae enhance the University’s Britta A. (Vande Hei) Jost ’02 ’04 Tech established the outreach on and off campus in countless BS Mathematical Sciences Presidential Council of Alumnae ways, including: MS Mechanical Engineering Engineering Project Team Leader, • Establishing a scholarship fund for (PCA) with two goals in mind: Caterpillar Inc. honor some of Tech’s most female students Terre A. Lane ’82 successful female alumnae • Hosting Career Success sessions for students BS Mining Engineering and reengage them with the • Mentoring female students Principal Mining Engineer, Partner, University. by developing leadership and Global Resource Engineering

professional skills Heather J. Lewandowski ’97 PCA members are recognized for • Encouraging female students, BS Physics personal and professional achievements faculty, and alumnae to understand, Assistant Professor/Associate Fellow of in all facets of life, including education, communicate, and accomplish their JILA, University of Colorado career excellence, community career and life choices involvement, and volunteerism as a Jan A. Miner ‘88 • Enhancing diverse support for Michigan Tech student or alumna. BS Scientifc and Technical Michigan Tech through interaction by Communication council members Many of the members were and Lawyer—Bay County, Michigan, continue to be pioneers in the felds Public Defender’s Offce The 12 members who joined the Council of science, engineering, education, in September 2016 include: Leanne M. (Homberg) Panduren ’93 technology, forestry, entrepreneurship, BS Civil Engineering and business. Many chose to enter Denise L. Blankinship ’84 President—Rowe Professional Services felds in which women remain BS Business Administration underrepresented VP, Business Analysis/Application Dorothy A. (Eisch) Proux ’86 Support, Church Pension Group BS Business Administration The frst induction event took place in Partner/State and Local Tax Services— Christine M. (Gustafson) Cowell ’00 Ernst & Young LLP (retired) the spring of 1996 with 17 inaugural BS Chemical Engineering members. Since then, more than 180 Research and Engineering Director, Lynne M. Shetron-Rama ’91 alumnae have been selected, and in Kimberly-Clark Corporation BS Medical Technology September, 12 new members were Associate Professor, Program Director— inducted bringing the membership Deborah A. DeManno ’78 Eastern Michigan University to 195. BS Medical Technology Scientifc Director, Global Research and For more information on the Presidential Members meet annually on campus Development, Council of Alumnae and a complete list to participate in activities that support Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. Inc. of current members go to

the University’s strategic plan and Smriti Gandhi Dhanjal ’92 mtu.edu/alumni/recognition/pca. specifcally focus on engaging the MS Electrical Engineering campus community to educate, Dealer Systems Portfolio Manager, infuence, and inspire the women of Marketing Sales and Service, Michigan Tech. Ford Motor Company

Joan M. Heil ’83 BS Mechanical Engineering Vice President—Micon Consulting, The Micon Group

42 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 Alumni and Friends Alumni Board of Directors Russell Gronevelt ’69 was the recipient of the 2016 Honored at Reunion Executive Committee Board of Control Silver Medal. Presented at the The following alumni and friends were President Alumni Reunion Dinner in recognized by the Alumni Board of Directors: Robert G. Wojcik ’91 August, this award recognizes Past President Outstanding Young Alumni Awards Russ for his long service Edwin F. Eiswerth ’77 Benjamin Almquist ’04 Materials Science and to the University and his Engineering, London, England, lecturer and Vice President noteworthy personal and researcher at Imperial College London and Dr. Daniel S. Batten ’88 ’90 professional achievements. Johnathon Aho ’08 Mathematical Sciences/ Treasurer He is an outstanding example Biological Sciences, Rochester, Minnesota, Joseph A. Azzarello ’78 to our students and alumni. Mayo Clinic surgery resident, Clinician Secretary Investigator, and Gold Quality Fellow. Kerry A. Irons ’72 Outstanding Service Award Executive Director Joshua ’03 and Jana Fogarty ’05 Materials Brenda M. Rudiger, Alumni Engagement Science and Engineering, Plymouth, Directors Wisconsin, and long-time hosts of an annual Braeton Ardell alumni broomball tournament. Undergraduate Student Government Distinguished Alumni Award Representative William Bernard Jr. ’69 Metallurgical and Chad Arney ’99 Materials Engineering, Perrysburg, Ohio, CEO and Chairman of Surface Combustion, Inc. Andrew J. Burton ’97 Faculty Representative Humanitarian Award Derek S. Chapel ’05 James Tanis ’57 ‘58 Geological Engineering/ Geophysics, and Janet Tanis, Sedona, Joseph M. Gallo ’11 Arizona, founders of the Biwindi Community Rebecca J. Gatzke ’98 Program which brings hope to vulnerable Courtney Harris children in Biwindi, Uganda, through the Michigan Tech Student Foundation power of education. Representative The Honorary Alumni Award SherAaron N. Hurt ’09 John Patton, former Professor of Chemical Jenna M. Joestgen ’10 Alumni Celebrate Tech Engineering 1968-77, of El Paso, Texas. Kristin J. Kolodge ’95 More details about these individuals are Connections Will Lytle ’12 available online at: Graduate Student Government Alumni Reunion 2016 brought over 600 mtu.edu/alumni/recognition/profiles Representative alumni and friends back to campus Nominations for the 2017 Awards are open Emily C. McDonald ’12 August 4-6 for three days of events. From until December 1. For additional information, Michael D. Peterson ’85 sharing stories of 1966 at the Golden M please contact the Alumni House at pinning ceremony, to the 5K run/walk for Dennis M. Sage ’86 [email protected]. scholarships, to creating a lovable plush Denise A. Slattery ’94 Michigan Tech Alumni Board of Directors husky dog, new memories were made by represents over 70,000 members. Ashwin K. Vekaria ’12 all ages. Mission Statement: Upcoming meeting: Celebrating Traditions. Creating Connections. February 9-10, 2017 To view photos from the week, head to mtu.news/2cgCXze. Vision: If you have a question or suggestion, We are passionate champions of Michigan please contact the Alumni House at Weren’t able to make it back this year? Tech’s unique traditions and we continuously 877-688-2586 or [email protected]. strengthen our alumni community. Make plans to visit campus for the 2017 Alumni Reunion, August 3-5. In addition to featured class years, we will be celebrating all women of Michigan Tech.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 4 3 Alumni Engagement Class Notes

Jacob Huggard ’05 (Mechanical Engineering) and 1960s 1990s Sara (Flessert) Huggard Douglas Kriebel, PE ’65 Matt Kramer ’98 ’04 (Electrical Engineering) (Chemical Engineering) (Electrical Engineering) are happy to announce the has been named a Fellow recently took a position birth of their third daughter, of the American Institute with Thyssenkrupp System Scarlett Mina, on February 9, of Chemical Engineers by Engineering in Auburn Hills, 2016. Scarlett joins her big the board of directors. He Michigan, as an engineering sisters, Fiona and Avalyn. is a principal and founder supervisor. He and his wife, of Kriebel Engineered Kristen, reside in Berkley, (Mechanical Equipment, Ltd. and was Michigan, with their three Eric Baum ’09 Engineering) and named the 2011 Delaware children. Lyndsey Valley Engineer of the Year by (Marino) Baum ’09 the Technical and Professional (Exercise Science) welcomed David Claus, PE ’99 future engineer Carson Jay Societies of the Delaware (Civil Engineering) has joined Valley. Baum into the world on HDR Inc. as the structural August 4, 2016 in Chicago, engineering manager. He Illinois. works in their Ann Arbor offce after relocating with his family from Colorado. Christopher1970s Lenicheck ’70 (Geological Engineering) Brenda Polk ’99 2010s retired, US Army, 1991; (Scientifc and Technical Nick Deming ’11 retired, Science Applications Communication) was (Civil Engineering) and International Corp. (SAIC), admitted to the State Bar of Carol (Ostrowski) Deming 2005; vice commander, Michigan and is practicing as ’12 (Materials Science and American Legion Post 74, an estate planning and elder Engineering) are happy to Charlottesville, Virginia; law attorney in rural Michigan, announce the birth of their chairman, Virginia American with a focus on helping family daughter, Eleanor Mae, on Legion Boys State Program. farms transition between May 27, 2016. generations. John R. Baker ’71 Christina Mae Basso ’14 (Mechanical Engineering) (Chemical Engineering) has retired after 35 years with and Benjamin Lee Cottrill Siemens PLM Software as ’13 (Biomedical Engineering) a senior technical product 2000s were married in September manager. He and his wife, Jennifer Bzura ’05 2016. Both are employed by (Chemical Engineering) Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Barb, reside in Irvine, married Jeff Lanzafame in California. (FCA). Christina is a thermal August 2015 at Squaw Valley system integrative responsible Resort in Lake Tahoe. The and Ben is a design release couple met playing kickball engineer. In their spare in the San Francisco Bay time, Christina is pursuing Area and still reside there a dual MBA and Master’s today. Jennifer recently Chris1980s Orr ’81 in Management at Walsh (non-degree) is a board- received her PMP certifcation University in Troy, Michigan, certifed consulting and started a new job as a and Ben is pursuing a Master’s meteorologist providing senior project manager for in Mechanical Engineering consulting services as Chris process improvement in the at Oakland University in Orr LLC. He specializes Development Sciences Group Rochester, Michigan. They in long-range weather of BioMarin Pharmaceutical reside in Rochester with their forecasting (three months to Inc. dog, Rocko. three years), and serves as an expert witness for criminal Frank Mathias ’05 and civil court cases and for (non-degree) and Jody insurance claims. He is also a (Kositzky) Mathias ’01 consultant to traders, capital (Chemical Engineering) management frms, and proudly announce the birth hedge funds about weather of their son, Conor Kendrick, impacts on stocks and born July 6, 2016. commodities.

44 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 In Memoriam 1942 1953 1961 1970 1980 Robert E. Manderfeld Benson E. Berry, PE Arthur C. Maki Robert A. Deardorff Kenneth S. Kaurala Thomas Niessink, PE Ray H. Herner Jack L. Olsen L/Col. Kent N. Heaton Ricardo L. Hopkins 1981 1943 1955 1962 John H. Odinga Terry L. Bodelin Don W. Brenner Frank M. Makarinsky Dr. Clyde D. Calhoun Alton C. Rhodes Sr. David L. Johnson Dr. Norman N. Breyer Earl W. Walke Jr. 1956 1971 1982 1944 Dr. Kenneth G. Brickner 1963 Gary L. Simmons Gail M. Larsen Dr. Donald L. Shell Robert J. Collins Richard A. Benz Nagjibhai J. Sutariya Suzanne J. Sippel Jack A. Hamman Douglas D. Henderson 1946 Robert J. Wagner, PE Ed Sirkka 1972 1983 Margaret M. Perlich James L. Van Camp Ralph E. Radl John B. Austin, MD 1957 1947 Laurie J. Clark 1964 1973 1984 Warren G. Wills Martin D. McGrath Terrence M. La Fleur Ronald F. Bacon Eugene E. Gilginas Jr. Joseph F. Raffaelli Jr. Bruce H. Mattson, PE Mary C. Keane 1948 James K. Richards Richard T. Newland Eugene W. Mattila Jr. 1985 Dr. John W. Kallander Edward J. Santori Michael A. Wagner Bruce G. Whitmarsh 1965 1974 1949 Howard O. Krook Larry E. Fitzpatrick 1987 George E. Bergstrom 1958 John M. McCarthy John C. Martin Dr. Suzy M. Cocciolone Frank J. Karkoski Harold W. Carlson Paul D. Turovaara Jr. John C. Vahrenwald Col. Carleton J. 1993 Robinson, Ret. 1959 1966 1975 Joseph M. Gasperich Rafael Saviniemi Frank H. Hands Michael D. Bevilacqua Robert P. Yeo Jerome S. Meach Birger M. Gabrielson 1994 1950 Lawrence M. Niffenegger Jerry D. Jablonski 1976 Jeremy C. Kuivanen Adrian W. Barker Cato A. Nyborg R. Keith Konzuk Wayne K. Hayward William F. Engler Oscar W. Nyman Anne E. Stafford James A. Keranen 2004 Kenneth E. Ottosen Dale A. Vitone, PE Jonathan M. Luse, CPA David M. Szyszkoski Robert P. Poppe 1960 William J. Runge Donald A. Arendt 1967 1977 2009 Harold Smith James T. Emerson Joseph M. Nies Allen R. Putvin Eric S. Westra James A. Steinen William C. Engle John T. Fraser 1968 1978 2011 1951 Glenn E. McNitt II James L. Hodges Anne M. Johnson William K. Langdon Edward J. Maney, PE Duncan C. Norwell David T. Rowe Delvin M. Shively 1969 1979 2012 George I. Turnquist M. Thomas Makmann Antonia E. Allison Chetwood A. VanAken 1952 Richard L. Tyson Carol E. Petrow Jere E. Hornung Shaun M. Vsetula Richard H. Karsten Vincent A. Vellella Ted A. Ricci Lawrence R. Kennedy John H. Weimer Glen G. Lucchesi

Northern Lights reflect on Portage Canal.

2016 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 4 5 & Provost Jackie Huntoon talks across all the disciplines as a result of grappling with questions related to Q Aour general education programs. We assessment of learning, giving credit for challenges, trends, and what are not alone in tackling this challenge, life experiences, and tracking students’ excites her most about being universities around Michigan and non-academic, co-curricular, and skill- at Michigan Tech. across the nation are also working on based achievements. this same issue. We’re fortunate here Q. You’ve been provost and vice to have some great people working on Q. What excites you the most about president for academic affairs for this challenge and helping us to do the the work you do here? a year and a half. What’s surprised things that will allow us to collect and I have always liked challenges. I also you most about the role? use data to continually improve our like people. The most exciting part of Initially, the most surprising thing was academic programs. this job is that I get to work with very the number of documents that come interesting people and collaboratively through the Provost’s Office needing figure out how to improve the quality signatures. I spent most of my first Q. As you look at other universities of education for our students. Michigan week in the position decoding the across the country, what are some Tech is a very special place. Our language on forms and determining of the trends you’re seeing? Throughout the past decade, public small-town location means that we what my signature was really intended universities have experienced fairly see each other at the gas stations, in to signify. Some of the other provosts dramatic reductions in funding from the grocery stores, and on ski trails, I know say that provosts’ jobs involve their state governments. At the etc. That means that everyone has the solving a myriad of problems, both same time the public’s perception opportunity to talk to everyone else. big and small. This is an accurate of higher education has changed. I’ve had people come up to me in the characterization. Whereas, I used to Higher education was once viewed as freezer section at the market and talk attend meetings from time to time, I something worthy of public investment to me about something that they are now “meet for a living.” Having a day because an educated populace excited about or interested in. I think filled with 12 or more back-to-back was understood to be the driver of it’s great that people feel comfortable meetings is sometimes a challenge, but innovation and economic development. sharing information about their goals it is always interesting. As I look back Today, many people seem to think and passions with me. on my first year, I am most surprised that higher education only benefits by how much I have learned about and those who receive the education. from the people who work and study Q. When you’re not in the office, This is unfortunate because a quality here at Michigan Tech. what’s your favorite thing to do in education, such as the one available to the Copper Country?

students at Michigan Tech, can make My favorite thing to do in the Copper Q. What are the biggest academic dreams into reality for young people. Country is to hike through the woods challenges facing Michigan Tech? In addition to being concerned about near my house with my two black labs. Right now I’d say that our biggest funding, higher education leaders are We live in one of the most beautiful challenge is bringing our University- also thinking about ways to attract places in the world. We have clean wide assessment program to full- more students and different types air, clean water, healthy forests, and scale implementation. Assessment is of students. The demographics of abundant wildlife. I feel incredibly lucky required by accreditation organizations the US population are changing and to be able to live here. and faculty involved with externally college and university leaders want accredited degree programs have been to make sure that higher education assessing student learning outcomes is available to everyone. Leaders at for decades. Our challenge is figuring four-year colleges and universities out how to accurately assess the are also trying to collaborate more learning that occurs at Michigan Tech with community colleges. We are also

46 MICHIGAN TECH MAGAZINE 2016 Ways to Engage and Show Your Support, Huskies!

Wear Black and Gold on Fridays

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Engage with @MichiganTech Share Your Return to Campus for Events Michigan Mentor Young Alumni Offer Internships Tech Recruit Current Students Story: Make an End-of-the-Year mtu.edu/memories Donation by December 31!

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Michigan Technological University 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton, MI 49931-1295

Fight Tech Fight! New Look. Same Pride. Don’t forget those Husky fans on your list. Visit the Michigan Tech Campus Bookstore or University Images to deck the halls in black and gold or shop online at bookstore.mtu.edu. Non-Proft Org. U.S. Postage PAID Houghton, MI Permit No. 11

Michigan Technological University 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton, MI 49931-1295

Fight Tech Fight! New Look. Same Pride. Don’t forget those Husky fans on your list. Visit the Michigan Tech Campus Bookstore or University Images to deck the halls in black and gold or shop online at bookstore.mtu.edu/michtech2.