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The Magazine of Colorado School of Mines Volume 94 Number 1 Winter 2004 MINES Building Friendships in China page 24 The Amazing “M” page 6 Alumnus is U.S. Senior Oil Adviser in Iraq page 14 Letters to the Editor MINES WINTER 2004 CSM and CSMAA Sign Joint Operating Agreement Mines is published quarterly by the Colorado School of Mines and the CSM Alumni Representatives of CSM and the Alumni Association signed the Alumni Association affiliation Association for alumni and agreement Dec. 11, 2003. Below are excerpts from remarks made at the signing ceremony by friends of the School. The John Schwartzberg BSc Met ’88, CSMAA president, and a response to the historic occasion from magazine is a merger of Mines Magazine (founded in John Trefny, CSM president. 1910) and Mines Today (founded in 1986). The “On behalf of the Alumni Association, I merger took place in 2000. am pleased and proud to be here to join Comments and suggestions our new partners in alumni relations at are welcome. Contact us by Colorado School of Mines. writing to MINES, P.O. Box 1410, Golden, CO 80402; or call 303-273-3294 or For those of us involved in the process of 800-446-9488, ext. 3294, reaching this agreement, today’s ceremony between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., may seem like an accomplishment. And M-F, MST; or email CSM Board of Trustees President F.Steven Mooney while it is, it is really more of a new [email protected]. (front left), CSM President John Trefny and CSMAA beginning. Many people have spent President John Schwartzberg at signing ceremony John U. Trefny, President countless hours working behind the scenes Colorado School of Mines to arrive at this agreement and for that I offer my most heartfelt gratitude. John N. Schwartzberg ’88 President But perhaps the most difficult work lies ahead as we strive to make this vision a reality. What we CSM Alumni Association have here, in engineering lexicon, is a conceptual design. What lies ahead is a challenging Maureen Keller, Editor concurrent design-and-build project. We’ll design the details while we implement Mines’ new CSM Alumni Association alumni relations programs. This agreement gives us a fine base upon which to build. It is up to us as Marsha Konegni, Co-editor individuals, as organizations, and now as partners to provide the human element to make it work. CSM Communications Coordinator We hope today’s signing is the first of many milestones. This is a project without a completion date. Contributing Writers It is something we expect will evolve over time as we all work for the success of Mines.” Katryn Leone BSc Geol ’66 Greg Murphy John Schwartzberg, CSMAA President Jessica Neal Robert Pearson ’59 Jo Marie Reeves “This institution owes a large debt to the many individuals who worked to bring about this David Rein agreement. While much still needs to be done, I believe we have set the stage for strengthening not Steve Smith Roberta Forsell Stauffer only the School’s relationship with its alumni but also the School itself. Nick Sutcliffe Photography We have long recognized that many of Mines’ inherent strengths are related to connections. These Douglas Baldwin ’03 take many forms, including the connections among faculty, staff and students; the connections we Gary Baughman ’73, ’74 foster between academics and student-life activities; connections among the academic disciplines in Tom Cooper pursuit of solutions to interdisciplinary problems; and connections with numerous partners from Walter Hinich Robert McKee ’68 industry, governments and other academic institutions. Graphic Design Emelene Russell Among the most critical connections are those we maintain with our alumni. The special quality of Advertising & Design Mines is imbedded in its people—those who are here now as well as those who have gone before Printing them. Our reputation depends on the success of our alumni and the extent to which that success American Web identifiably derives from their Mines experience. Close connections between the School and each of CPM Number # 40065056 its alumni can be of significant benefit to both. I am hopeful that the affiliation agreement will lead www.mines.edu to stronger ties, better services and enhanced pride among the entire Mines family.” csmaa.mines.edu/alumni John Trefny, CSM President Mines Fall 2003 correction p.17: The fifth bulleted item should read “Better transparent conducting oxides layers for photocell applications are being developed to bring solar [not fusion] energy to commercial reality.” MINES WINTER 2004 MINES WINTER 2004 2 C0LORADO SCHOOL OF MINES 3 C0LORADO SCHOOL OF MINES a a a x b x b x b z z z y y contents y c c c CSM and CSMAA Sign Joint Operating Agreement 3 The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi 22 – An Update The Amazing “M” From a mess of wires to a sleek new system, students transform the “M” controls 6 Building Friendships in China Short Takes 8 CSM strengthens academic and industry ties Calendar of Events 12 24 CSM Foundation and Alumni Association Financial Statements 13 People Watch 26 Notes & Quotes 29 “This Is a Whole New World for Me” Mines grad is senior adviser to Athletics 30 14 Iraqi Ministry of Oil in Baghdad The Golden Memories of James B. Lowell ’08 16 $1 Million Gift Honors Former Mines Professors Staying Connected 19 Jim ’59 and Arlene Payne Endow Three Scholarships for Hollister, Keating and Meredith 32 Thank you to CSMAA Donors 36 In Memoriam 38 About Our Cover: On the Move 40 CSM President John U. Trefny signs the guest register at the Petroleum Museum of the University of Petroleum-East China while on a fall trip to China. MINES WINTER 2004 MINES WINTER 2004 4 C0LORADO SCHOOL OF MINES 5 C0LORADO SCHOOL OF MINES By Jessica Neal Albert Clark, Jordan Wiens, Britta Eustice, Chris Mnich, the M-posters From a mess of wires...to a sleek new system or the past 70 years the renowned “M,”a symbol of Mines the “M.”As of April 2003, thanks to the efforts of a Senior the “M” lit during the last century and a half were starting to Wiens, Britta Eustice, Albert Clark and Chris Mnich worked for Fpride and one of the largest mountainside monuments in Design foursome called the “M-posters,”Blue Key can animate spark and sizzle threateningly, and Wiens said he had had eight months completing the “M”—and never once was the the nation, has shown brightly in the night atop Mt. Zion. the “M” not only from their office in the Student Center, but enough! emblem turned off during the night. Now the “M” has 40 Never unlit for more than 24 hours, the “M” is maintained by from anywhere in the world. preprogrammed sequences and can display chasing lights, color Blue Key members who have long battled the elements to keep So he designed a completely new electrical system. He presented sequences, holiday shapes and more. In addition to this record. Traditionally these keepers of the “M” have also The fully computer-automated and remote-controlled emblem the project to Rockwell Automation as a community service contributions from Rockwell Automation, Data-Linc Corp. changed the lights each holiday season and special occasion. started out as a solo project by Jordan Wiens BSc Eng ’03, then project for the School and Rockwell gave full funding for the donated radio modems for the remote control of the “M,”and a senior engineering student, to clean up and organize the electrical automation, donating almost $8,000 worth of software Ross Electric provided wire, panel boards and support In the past when Blue Key members wanted to switch controls of the “M.”As an active student government and hardware equipment. Then Wiens presented his project to throughout the duration of the project. Upon graduation, the automation from one program to the next, they had to participant with experience as an electrician, he had assumed the Engineering Division. Subsequently approved for credit, it “M-posters” turned the duty of maintaining the “M” back over manually enter the commands from the controls at the base of the role of maintaining the “M” because of his knowledge of became a Senior Design project, and a team was assigned to re- to Blue Key. wiring. However, the incomprehensible mess of wires that kept work, reinstall and revamp the beloved “M.” MINES WINTER 2004 MINES WINTER 2004 6 C0LORADO SCHOOL OF MINES 7 C0LORADO SCHOOL OF MINES Short Short takes takes Wulf Keynotes Midyear than in any other ConocoPhillips Robot Commencement profession,” he said. Supports CSM Challenge Wulf was presented President of the National Academy with an honorary ConocoPhillips’ Vice President The Fall 2003 EPICS of Engineering William A. Wulf was degree, as was of Health, Environment and Challenge, “All-Terrain Robot the keynote speaker at midyear Dr. Richard A. Tapia, Safety Bob Ridge BSc CPR ’71 Search Project, Robots With a commencement ceremonies Dec. 12 the Noah Harding has presented Mines with a Mission,” required first-year when more than 250 degrees— Professor of donation of $250,000, of students to design and construct including bachelor’s, master’s, Computational and which $150,000 will be all-terrain robots that could doctoral and professional degrees— Applied Mathematics designated for the autonomously traverse through a were awarded. at Rice University, ConocoPhillips SPIRIT natural terrain environment while Scholars Program. The completing one of three missions: Dr. Wulf, who has also served as where he is also remaining funds will be lunar exploration, toxic gas location assistant director of the National associate director of Richard Tapia President John Trefny (left) with On a fall trip to Egypt, granted to specific or landmine detection.