MechanicalEngineering

News

Summer 2005

Managing EditorNathan Cloud

Contributing WriterDiane Kukich

Layout & EditingLiz Dunkle

University of Delaware

Inside: Alumni Career Celebration • ACC Highlights • ACC Pictures • Event Feedback • Honors day

CareerCelebration

Dr. Thomas S. Buchanan

This has been a great year forMechanical Engineering at theUniversity of Delaware. Our studentsare doing well, our faculty have beengrowing both in number and reputa-tion, and our outreach with alumni hasbeen terrific.

Undergraduate enrollment inMechanical Engineering has never beenhigher. We are pleased with the num-ber and quality of students applying toour program and are revising the waywe teach courses so we can accommo-date the increased number of studentsinterested in joining us.

Along with the increase in studentscomes the addition of new faculty. Lastfall we added Jill Higginson and Xin-yan Deng to our roster. Dr. Higginsonreceived a BS from Cornell, an MS fromPenn State, and a PhD in MechanicalEngineering from Stanford University.Her area of expertise is neuromuscu-loskeletal modeling and she focuses onrecovery of walking after stroke. Dr.Deng received a BS from TianjunUniversity and a PhD from UCBerkeley. Her research is on biomimeticrobotic insects that swim or fly. Such

tiny robots have great potential forexploring, inspecting, and surveillance,which is important for industry anddefense work. Both of our new facultymembers have been busy writing grantproposals and both have been success-ful in receiving competitive awardsfrom the University of DelawareResearch Foundation—a great start!

In September we look forward tohaving Liyun Wang joint us. Dr. Wangis a biomedical engineer currentlyworking in the Department ofOrthopaedics at Mount Sinai School ofMedicine. She is an expert on the flowof fluid in bones. This is important forunderstanding not just how bonereceives nutrients, but also relates tohow cancers are fed. We believe shewill be a great addition to our growingbiomedical engineering group.

We have also been working a lot withour alumni this year. As can be readthroughout this issue, our AlumniCareer Celebration was a tremendoussuccess. We are thankful for the plan-ners and speakers involved with thisevent and look forward to futureopportunities to bring together ouralumni and students.

In a time when many ME programsare struggling, it is great to be a part ofa program that is thriving. By rebuild-ing our ties to the past, strengtheningour present faculty, and growing ourfuture students, we believe we havegood reasons to be excited about thefuture of Mechanical Engineering atUD!

Thomas S. Buchanan Chair ofMechanical Engineering

Cheers from the Chair

IN THIS ISSUECheers from the Chair ..........Pg 2

Alumni Career Celebration ....Pg 3

ACC Schedule of Events ....Pg 3

Lunch and Philosophy..........Pg 3

From Pencils to PDAs ........Pg 3

Research Highlights ............Pg 4

A Tale of One company ......Pg 5

A Tale of One Family ..........Pg 5

Posters, Posters and More Posters ........................Pg 5

Words of Wisdom from Alumni and Friends ..............Pg 5

Having the Last Word ........Pg 6

Abstracts of Presentations by Distinguished Career Alumni..................................................Pg 6

Distinguished Career AlumsReceive Citation Plaques ..................................................Pg 7

ACC images ........................Pg 8-9

Event Feedback ..................Pg 10

Get Involved in Engineering....................................................Pg 11

Honors day ......................................11

Feedback Form ......................Pg 12

Editor’s Notes

The Alumni Career Celebration Planning Committee were very gratified that the April 29th event – the culminationof the year long project – was, by all accounts, successful. Thanks to those of you who confirmed this in your feed-back during the year and following 4/29. (see ppg 10).

We have been discussing and working at integrating this feedback to find the “center of mass”, and we plan to re-convene a planning team in August to develop the path forward. Please continue to let us know what you thinkabout this activity and about “Alumni Relations” in general.

Nate Cloud ‘64, ME Alumni Relations Coordinator

Page 3

Alumni Career Celebration

ME Holds AlumniCareer Celebrationby Diane Kukich

On Friday, April 29, 2005, more than150 UD-ME alumni, faculty, and stu-dents converged on the University’sJohn M. Clayton Conference Center forthe Department’s first Alumni CareerCelebration.

That convergence of people had itsroots in a conversation dating backalmost a year, according to Nate Cloud,coordinator of alumni relations for theDepartment. “We realized that we haveabout 2700 active alums,” he says, “andprobably close to 300 of them are in highleadership positions as CEOs, owners,vice presidents, and directors. This is asignificant number of people who haveachieved success, and we wanted tohear their stories.”

With the concept identified, a plan-

ning committee was convened consist-ing of Cloud; Deirdre Smith, Director ofDevelopment for the College ofEngineering; Profs. Mike Greenberg,Suresh Advani, and Jack Vinson; andalumni Tom Frey, Dick Orth, BillWagamon, and Jim Hutchison.

They began by sending out a surveyto alumni to gain insights into careers,the effect of the ME degree on careerexperiences, and significant challenges

and achievements of ME alums. Overthe course of the next several months,ten outstanding alumni were identifiedto be honored, and plans were made forthe celebration.

The action-packed agenda included atour of the Center for CompositeMaterials by Assistant Director DirkHeider, lunch, an overview of thedepartment by ME Chair ThomasBuchanan, research highlights by threefaculty members, a poster session, a dis-cussion of diverse career options at

Delaware Technical Park, alumni careerpresentations, dinner, and a keynoteaddress by Prof. Jack Vinson.

The following provides highlights ofthe day and offers some “take-away”messages that emerged from not onlythe formal presentations but also theinformal conversations during breaksand lunch.

Lunch and Philosophy

At one lunch table, an alumnus from1973, Greg Greer, and his wife sharedexperiences with Prof. Dick Wilkins andjunior Kristen Elli. Greer, whose 1973degree was in psychology, returned tothe University for a bachelor’s inmechanical engineering (1981) after real-izing that he would need a Ph.D. to suc-ceed in psychology. “But I’m convincedthat we’re more likely to solve theworld’s psychological problems than itsengineering problems,” he quipped.

The group also discussed engineeringethics, the senior design experience, andthe concept of a common first year forall engineering majors. In addition, theytouched on right-brain/left brain differ-ences and how the arts and humanitiescan be effectively integrated into theengineering curriculum.

Elli shared with the group how shehad come to choose UD. “I’m fromSyracuse,” she said, “and I barely knewwhere Delaware was. When I was inhigh school, I got a brochure from UD,which I initially tossed aside. But Iretrieved it when I decided I was inter-ested in bioengineering and heard thatUD’s ME department had a good pro-gram in that area.”

Now that she is finishing her thirdyear at UD, Elli is facing the challenge oftrying to integrate what she is learningin narrow areas in her individual classesinto the bigger picture of being a practic-ing mechanical engineer. She attendedthe event in the hope that it might shedsome light on that issue.

From Pencils to PDAs

In the first formal presentation of theday, Department Chair Buchanandelved into the past of ME at theUniversity, showing pictures of football

ACC Schedule of events

10:00a.m. Campus Tours

12:00p.m. Registration and Lunch

1:00p.m. History & State of the Department-Tom Buchanan, Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Research HighlightsBiomechanics-Jill Higginson, Assistant Professor

Fuel Cells-Ajay Prasad, Associate Professor

Flying Robots-Sunil Agrawal, Professor

2:15p.m. Networking and Interactive Demonstrations of Research, Technology and Undergraduate Activities

3:15p.m. Diverse Career Options at Delaware Technology Park-J. Michael Bowman, Chairman and President, Delaware Biotechnology Institute

3:45p.m. Alumni Career Presentations, and Panel SessionDavid Bach ’77, Owner, Scientific Products & Systems, Inc.

Alex Bourdon ’80, Vice-President of North American Reagents and Consumables Manufacturing, Dade Behring

Anthony Laganelli ’61, Chief Scientist and Assistant Vice President for SAIC’s Power and Information Systems Division

Amy Lerner ’90, Associate Professor, Vice Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester

Patrick Reynolds ’67, President, PoolPak, Inc.

John Thackrah ’79, Vice-President & General Manager, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft

6:00 p.m. Cocktail reception

7:00 p.m. Dinner and Distinguished Career Presentations

Keynote Speaker: Jack Vinson

Page 4

players from the 1920s and a dormroom from 1904. But the dorm room

was telling—while ukulelesand guitarshave givenway to com-puters andTVs, the roomwas remark-ably similar tothe dormrooms oftoday, includ-ing the messybed and the

poster-covered walls.Buchanan went on to compare the

curricula of 40 years ago and today.While students in 1965 had to take mili-tary science and Delaware history,Buchanan pointed out that the 1965 and2005 curricula are otherwise remarkablysimilar. “Fluids, thermodynamics, solidmechanics—the core of what it means to

be a mechanical engineerhasn’t changed much,” hesaid.

The current Chair then touched onseveral other pieces of ME history—theDepartment’s home in several buildingson campus and its growth from one fac-ulty member in 1891 to more than 40,including adjunct positions, today.

He also mentioned that UD’s prede-cessor, Delaware College, had beenahead of its time in going coed in 1872but reversed that policy in 1895.“There’s probably a really great storybehind that,” joked Buchanan, “but Idon’t know what it is.”

Research Highlights

Three ME faculty members providedoverviews of major research programsunderway in the Department, often cit-ing statistics to provide motivation forthe work they’re doing: Twenty millionAmericans suffer from osteoarthritis.Every year700,000Americansexperiencestrokes. Thereare 200 millioncars in theUnited States,which trans-lates into morecars than driv-ers. Two-thirds of thepetroleumused in theU.S. is fortransporta-tion.

JillHigginson,AssistantProfessor,

discussed theongoing bio-mechanicsresearch,which shedescribed asa type ofreverse engi-neering.“We’re work-ing back-ward from

an existingsystem and

trying to determine the forces acting onit,” she said. With nearly half of the fac-ulty in the Department doing somework in the biomechanics area, researchis underway in a number of areas,including sports injuries, stroke rehabili-tation, prosthesis design, and respira-tion.

“We’re using experimental tools relat-ed toimagingandmotionanalysis,coupledwith com-putationaltools such

as modeling and simulation, to developimproved therapies for a range of dis-abilities,” Higginson said.

With 800 million cars on the world’sroads, fuel cell technology is assumingincreasing importance. Prof. AjayPrasad explained that a fuel cell is basi-cally an electrochemical device thatcombines hydrogen and oxygen to pro-duce electrical power, with heat andwater as byproducts.

The voltage produced by individualcells is tiny, so they have to be used in astack similar to a loaf of bread.Transportation uses include cars andbusses, while stationary applicationsinclude devices like laptops, PDAs, andcell phones.

Fuel cell engines are quiet and pro-duce zero emissions at the source,

Prasad said, but they’re expensivebecause they currently use platinum.One of the efforts underway in UD-MEis to find a less expensive alternative forthat material. Other current fuel cellprojects in ME focus on durability andtransport phenomena.

With homeland security on every-one’s mind, the work of Sunil Agrawaland his research team on flying robotshas attracted national attention. Thetiny unmanned vehicles, which mimicthe mechanics of birdsin flying and hover-ing, have applications

in reconnaissance, security, and surveil-lance.

Challenges being addressed by theresearch program include design for“correct” aerodynamics, maneuverabili-ty, and real-time sensing and control.

After starting several years ago withbalsa-wood robots that crashed into thewalls of Spencer Hall, Agrawal and histeam have advanced to the point wheretheir work has been featured on theDiscovery Channel.

“We’re currently developing a facilityfor navigation and control within a

Images fromTom Buchanan’stalk from Pencilsto PDAs illus-trate the differ-ence of then andnow in theMechanicalEngineeringDepartment.

Jill Higginson

Illustration from Jill Higginson’s talk onbiomechanics

Ajay Prasad

Image of a fuel cell

Sunil Agrawal

Protoype offlying robot

Sou

rce

NM

SE

A

Tom Buchanan

Page 5

small physical environment,” Agrawalsaid. “Mimicking what we see in natureis helping us in the design of newmachines.”

Matt Porter, a junior in ME, attendedthe event because he is very interestedin research. “My favorite part of theevent was the presentation on fuelcells,” he said. “It provided me with amuch enjoyed insight into the world ofalternative power and made the entireevent worthwhile and meaningful tome.”

A Tale of One Company

Conversation topics at the break ranthe gamut from patents and grad schoolto internships and careers. JimHutchison (1979), President of JAEDEngineering, talked with students aboutopportunities at his company. OfJAED’s 35 employees, five are UD-MEs:Hutchison himself, Brian Zigmond,David Spangler, Rebecca Durney, andJason Parish.

“JAED is a consultingengineering/architecture firm and assuch is organized with partners whoown the business and associates whoare recognized for outstanding work asbeing on track for partnership in thenear future,” Hutchison explains.“Dave is a partner in our firm, and Brianis an associate.”

Hutchison has nothing but good tosay about his four UD-ME colleagues,referring to “versatility,” “great engi-neer,” “management aptitude,” and“top performers.”

“They each bring the confidence andsolid education that we have come toassociate with UD-ME grads,” he con-cludes. Always on the lookout for moreof this talent, Hutchison and Zigmondchatted with several UD-ME juniorsabout career opportunities during thenetworking session.

A Tale of One Family

The Bourdon family takes mechanicalengineering seriously—so much so thatthree generations attended the alumnievent. Dick (1969), Alex (1980), andBrian (2007) were joined by Alex’s wifeDiane and their daughter Lauren, a highschool junior. Not in attendance wasAlex’s brother Richard, a year older butalso in the ME class of 1980.

Dick worked for more than 30 years atThiokol (now ATK), helping design,build and test rocket motors. His wifeRuth also worked there as an adminis-

trativeassistant.

Alex,who isVicePresidentfor Global

Manufacturing at Dade Behring, wasbeing honored as one of tenOutstanding Alumni at the event. “Eversince I was a kid, I’ve loved makingthings, so I knew ME was the right fieldfor me.”

Brian chose both the field of mechani-cal engineering and UD as the place tostudy it without any influence from hisfather, uncle, or grandfather. “I lookedat other schools,” he said, “and I quicklyidentified UD as the best.”

But UD-ME shouldn’t look to his sis-ter Lauren to continue the family tradi-tion. She’s more interested in subjectslike English, psychology, and history,and says she’ll probably choose a careerthat involves working with people.

Posters, Posters, and MorePosters

More than 20 posters were set up inthe lobby of Clayton Hall, with studentsand research staff available duringbreaks to answer questions and explaintheir work. Alumni from four and five

decades ago had the opportunity tolearn more about UD-ME’s twenty-firstcentury research in topics ranging fromfuel cells and orthopedic implants tocoating systems and nutrient transportin cartilage.

With a large presence from the Centerfor Composite Materials, many of theposters addressed ongoing research inadvanced materials, and the Center’sannual poster book, featuring informa-tion on more than 100 projects, was

available for participants to take home.

Words of Wisdom from Alumniand Friends

Mike Bowman, Chairman andPresident of Delaware Technology Park,explained that the Park’s role is to con-nect engineering in academia with engi-neering in industry and thereby fosterthe translation of ideas into the market-place.

“You can have a great idea,” he said,“but if you can’t move out the incum-bent, then it won’t work. Innovation isour great hope, and engineering plays alarge part in that.”

Bowman pointed to UD-ME alumMark Hopkins (80BME) as an exampleof a success story in bringing an idea tomarket. Inventor of an innovative bicy-cle wheel that was eventually used byLance Armstrong, Hopkins did every-thing right in developing the idea,patenting it, scaling it, and finding acompany to market it effectively.

“Entrepreneurship is risky,” Bowmansaid. “Entrepreneurs have a passion fortheir idea, and what they do is waymore important to them than how muchmoney they’ll make. They trust deeplyin their idea, and they use their energyto overcome enormous obstacles.”

Bowman spoke about the importanceof alliances. “Tech parks foster leverag-ing and mitigate duplication of effort.Being near a university is a big deal interms of intellectual property, students,facilities and equipment.”

“We have to think like Leonardo daVinci,” he continued, “and focus on thewhole system, not just the parts. Thebusiness aspect is very different fromthe engineering part—it’s messy, emo-tional, and nonlinear. If you want to bean entrepreneur, you have to seek enjoy-ment at every step and always be readyfor an unexpected change in direction.”

Bowman’s talk was followed bycareer presentations from six of the out-standing alumni being honored at theevent: David Bach (1977), Alex Bourdon(1980), Anthony Laganelli (1961), AmyLerner (1990), Patrick Reynolds (1967),and John Thackrah (1979).

Although they allegedly didn’t collab-orate with Bowman in preparing theirpresentations, many of their messageswere uncannily similar to those offeredby Bowman—and each other: “Never stop learning,” said Bourdon.

Page 8

“Continue your education,” said Bach. “Do the right thing sooner rather thanlater,” said Bourdon. “Ethics are the key to success,” said Bach. “It’s a really small world, so speak careful-ly,” said Bourdon. “Write your rejection letter very carefully—it’s a small world,” said Bach.

And, echoing Bowman’s commentabout entrepreneurs, Bourdon said,“People can live with almost anythingas long as they have a good reason why.Go where you’re loved and do whatyou love.”

As Reynolds pointed out in a follow-up letter about the event, “I found itinteresting that a common theme thatran through almost all the alumnispeakers was the need to acquire busi-ness and management credentials aftergraduating. Of the six speakers, five ofus charted courses into the business areaafter graduating.”

Junior Janelle Konchar enjoyed hear-ing about the actual careers of MEgrads. “We get lots of opportunities toattend academic lectures within theDepartment,” she said. “But it’s not thatoften that we get to hear about whatpeople in industry are doing. There areso many types of jobs out there. I thinkeveryone wants an opportunity to becreative, and it’s great to know thatthere are lots of ways to do that.”

Having the Last Word

It was fitting that the keynote speech,following dinner and completing theday, was delivered by Jack R. Vinson, H.Fletcher Brown Professor of MechanicalEngineering.

Now a vibrant 75 years old, Vinsonhas been with the University since 1964,and he brought more than 40 years’

worth of reminiscences and recollectionsto the celebration. He plans to retire inJune, but, intypicalVinson style,he plans tokeep doingall of thethings he’scurrentlydoingbecause he isa man whowill let noth-ing slow himdown.

For the past four decades, Vinson hasbeen a dedicated teacher, a prominentresearcher in structural mechanics andcomposite materials, an author or co-author of seven popular textbooks, ahighly active contributor to several pro-fessional societies, and an inspiringmentor to graduate and undergraduatestudents.

His anecdotes included a story aboutKenneth Rowe (1958), who wrote AMiG-15 to Freedom: Memoir of theWartime North Korean Defector WhoFirst Delivered the Secret Fighter Jet tothe Americans in 1953.

“I really enjoyed Prof. Vinson’s talks,”said junior Ross Rozansky. “It wasinteresting for us to hear about how hestarted CCM and how the Universityhas changed over the 40 years that he’sbeen here.”

With one the primary objectives of theevent being to increase students’ aware-ness of the variety of career optionsavailable to them, the planning commit-tee would have liked to see higher stu-dent participation. However, those stu-dents that did attend felt the time waswell spent. They also had some sugges-tions for future such events, including

making attendance mandatory forupperclassmen, with classes canceledfor the day, and dedicating a brief ses-sion to one-on-one discussions betweenalumni and students about careeropportunities.

“I think the event was a tremendoussuccess,” said ME Department ChairTom Buchanan. “Nate Cloud, DeirdreSmith, and many faculty, staff, andalumni spent a lot of time makingthings work incredibly smoothly. I amvery pleased we were able to bringtogether so many alums and hear theirinspiring stories. I sensed that many hadnot been back for a long time and it waspleasant to participate in a joyous gath-ering of long-lost friends. A good timewas had by all!”

To make the event even better in thefuture, feedback was requested througha survey sent to participants. The com-ments were overwhelmingly positive,according to Cloud, including suchaccolades as “well-organized,” “enter-taining,” and “informative.”

Many suggestions were also made foradditions and improvements. While allideas will be considered in planningfuture career celebrations, particularattention will be paid to increasing stu-dent participation and improving con-nections with female alumni. The tourof the Center for Composite Materialswas very well received, and some atten-dees suggested tours of the campus andother engineering facilities.

Reynolds summed up the reactions ofmany when he wrote, “I want to thankyou and your army of volunteers whoorganized and produced the very suc-cessful University of DelawareMechanical Engineering Alumni CareerCelebration. I was very impressed withthe attention to detail for every aspect ofthe event.”

Abstracts ofPresentations byDistinguished CareerAlumni

David Bach—Graduation from theUniversity is thestart of the careerprocess wheretechnical individ-uals build upontheir academicstudies throughindustrial experi-ence and further

college studies. An intrapreneur buildstechnical credibility within an organiza-tion by applying fundamental engineer-ing skills and learned experience. Theseindividuals often become the technicalengines and innovators within an organ-ization. Many individuals completetheir careers attaining this level ofachievement, but others will take thestep of becoming entrepreneurs, wherefirms are completely developed outsidea corporation or large organizationstructure. This presentation suggestedseveral rules on intrapreneuring anddiscuss technical achievements alongthe path from graduation to intrapre-neur or entrepreneur.

Alex Bourdon—BSME 80, is VicePresident Global Manufacturing for

Dade Behring,the world’slargest companyfocused solely onclinical diagnos-tics. He sharedhis background,career choices,lessons learned,

and a relevant war story in the businessarena, connecting some key decisionsback to his educational foundation fromthe U of D.

Jack Vinson

Page 9

Anthony Laganelli—Since complet-ing his PhD inApplied Science40 years ago, hehas worked withtalented peoplein two corpora-tions—GeneralElectric andSAICInternational.

The projects he worked on were alwayson the cutting edge and presented engi-neering and logistic challenges. Theseincluded re-entry environments, alter-native sources of energy, nuclear ener-gy/weapon systems, information tech-nology, and homeland security before9/11. His discussion will also addressethics in business and personal financialmanagement.

Amy Lerner—Career paths canfollow suchunusual routesthat it is some-times challengingto identify theunderlyingtheme. InLerner’s case, this

theme involves design of and for thehuman body. After a beginning design-ing space suits, she became more inter-ested in the “design” of the anatomicalstructures within the body. In herresearch, she considers the design of theknee joint, an elegant but complicatedstructure which functions beautifully –most of the time. She investigates someof the knee injuries that lead to prob-lems during growth or aging. As sheprovided students with experiences inmedical device design, she encouragedthem to keep their eyes and minds openfor whatever unexpected opportunitiesmay come along in their careers.

Patrick J. Reynolds—Despite havingwhat he thoughtwas “all the rightstuff” for starting abusiness—theright product, theright people,enough venturecapital, engineer-ing talent, suffi-cient marketingexperience, hands-on operations and financial manage-ment experience, and family support—Reynolds experienced a “free fall” as

soon as the corporate documents weresigned and he was “PresidentReynolds.” He quickly realized that henot as prepared for what was aheadthan he had thought. A lot of hardwork and an equal amount of familysupport and luck combined to producea successful new business. Today hiscompany has the largest market sharefor its products in North America. Theyhave over 70 employees and areexpanding products into new markets.The future looks positive. The past con-tains a lot of survival lessons, which heshared in this talk.

John Thackrah described his career inthree major phases: the formative years,the development years, and the execu-

tive years.These threephases of hiscareer were sep-arated by twosignificantevents, andthey had anunanticipatedimpact on his

life and career. The message was oneof commitment and results, opportu-nity and fulfillment.

Distinguished CareerAlums ReceiveCitation Plaques

The ten alumni who were selectedas distinguished representatives of allof the careers of our alumni aroundthe word, Class of 2005, were invitedto speak at the 4/29 Celebration, andto receive a citation plaque commem-orating their selection. (See ME Newsissue: Winter 2005, ppg 12 – 16).Honorees are listed below.

Bach, Bourdon, Laganelli, Lerner,Reynolds, and Thackrah attended theACC to speak and receive theirawards from Department Chair TomBuchanan at a ceremony after Dinner.

Popovich, McCoy, and Kohloss wereunable to attend and received theirawards by mail. Pezza was to receivehis at a regularly scheduled ceremonyat the Philadelphia Navy Yard overthe summer.

Dave Bach, President & CEO ofScientific Products & Systems, Inc.,University of Maryland BaltimoreCampus (UMBC) Technology Center

Alex Bourdon, manager of globalmanufacturing operations, DadeBehring

Frederick H. Kohloss,retired consulting engi-neer

Anthony L. Laganelli,Chief Scientist andAssistant Vice President,Propulsion andInformation TechnologyDivision, Space andDefense Group, ScienceApplicationsInternationalCorporation

Amy Lerner,Associate Professor,Department of

Biomedical Engineering, University ofRochester

Donald R. McCoy, Deputy AssociateDirector for Weapons Physics, LosAlamos National Laboratory

Jack N. Pezza, Mechanical Engineer,Shock Qualification Program, NavalSurface Warfare Center–CarderockDivision (NSWCCD)

Stephen D. Popovich, retired,General Electric

Patrick J. Reynolds, co-founder,President, and CEO,PoolPakTechnologiesCorporation

John Thackrah,Vice President andGeneral Manager ofOperations, Pratt &Whitney

A similar woodand marble plaquewas created with allthe honorees names.This will be dis-played in SpencerLab.

Page 6

Alumni CareerCelebration

April 29, 2005

Page 7

ni Careerbration29, 2005

Page 10

Event Feedback We requested feedback from atten-

dees on the 4/29 Alumni CareerCelebration event. Questions posed toAlumni are bolded below and responsesare listed under each question.

The responses were very kind;thoughtful; and very much appreciatedby the planning team. All commentsand ideas will be taken into considera-tion in future planning.

1) What comments do you have on theevent organization and format includ-ing facilities and agenda?

u It is helpful enlisting the help of anindividual per company to help recruitalumni within that specific firm

u Really enjoyed the networking oppor-tunity, would personally have liked tohelp more interaction with the alumni)

u It is particularly important and can behelpful for the students to see the rangeof possibilities. May want to get betterdiversity of alumni that not only took abusiness direction, but remained in anME functional role.

u Facilities were appropriate and wellmanaged.

u Could have used a little more time forthe technology displays. Given thequantity of displays, it would have beengood for the presenters to know andarticulate quickly what the main 1 or 2interest points were for their topics (i.e.“my project helps joint replacement lastlonger”.)

u Panel session was enjoyable for thespeakers, and good questions wereasked, but time was limited. Too fewstudents to matter.

u Reception/Dinner was Well done.Jack Vinson is as excellent today as hewas 25 years ago.

u Really, I thought the Event was wellthought out and executed.

2) What suggestions do you have forimproving a future event of this type?Timing; Format; Frequency; etc.

u More opportunity for mingling withstudents

u Not too often—every year seems toomuch, perhaps every 3-5 yrs

u Showcase some of the design projects- talk more about current STUDENTachievements, not just faculty achieve-ments/research. Perhaps even haveone of the students/grad studentsspeak???

u The program was clearly too long formost busy professionals to attend theentire event.

u This was good—dinner, or luncheon,or even a Saturday outing would befine.

u Frequency: I would love twice a year,but I know cost might be too much get-togethers— on campus have alwaysbeen nice - I also went to the dinner forDr. Vinson, so this year has been nice forme, and I still feel part of the Universitybecause of these functions.

u Timing-OK; Format-OK

u Frequency- Yearly

u The planning and preparations madea big difference.

u Timing and format were fine. I don’thave a firm opinion on frequency.

u The poster session layout was difficultto navigate. It would have been moreinteresting with “props” like a model ofthe flying robot or some other hard-ware. We’re all ME’s, we like to touch,poke and see how things work.

u I think Friday afternoons/evening canbe difficult and may impact attendance.Once per year, would be good timing.I do like combining the opportunitywith meeting students.

3) What ideas do you have of a moregeneral nature for achieving the pur-pose (below) that was established forthis project in summer of 2004?

u To celebrate the careers of the univer-sity’s mechanical engineering graduates;

u To facilitate the building of strongerrelationships between our mechanicalengineering alumni, the university’smechanical engineering department,and current mechanical engineering stu-dents; and

u To increase our mechanical engineer-ing students’ awareness of the variety ofcareer options available to them, as wellas their role as future alumni;

u Construction of a member-accessibledatabase organized by geography andprofession – members listed thereinwould volunteer to consult with oneanother and the students regarding theirareas of expertise and business.

u Exposure to engineers with more var-ied careers by students

u Lacked importance of communicationskills for engineers

u Recognition of older faculty- pre 1965-There’s some of us older alumni around.

u My suggestion relates to StudentEngineer and Young Professional partic-ipation.:

Separate from the DistinguishedGraduates (the speakers were outstand-ing!!!), I would add just one or twospeakers for a young engineer category.I think it would be good to hear from

young engineers with interesting sto-ries and notable progress/accomplish-ments.

2 to 4 years recent grads BS or MS

7 to 10 years (or a Post Doc) withnotable accomplishments

u Maybe this would help promotegreater participation from younger stu-dents and graduates.

u Biggest improvement: Have more stu-dents attend. It seemed clear that eachof the speakers designed their talks forthe students, and the students have thegreatest potential to benefit from theevent.

u I think an Alumni email directory willhelp bring in more alumni. I wouldcontact friends I’ve lost touch with andencourage them to attend.

u You’ve made a great start at gettingthe alums together with each other andstudents. This was a commendablebeginning. I enjoyed talking to the stu-dent at our table. I hope every tablewas lucky enough to have one or twostudents. I don’t know what kind ofties the students have to the professionalchapter of ASME. I’m a member buthave only done one or two events overthe years. Some of them look quiteinteresting, particularly the plant tours.

u Could this be combined with corpora-tions setting up job fairs to provideinformation to students regarding spe-cific companies/opportunities

4) Please share any other thoughts notcovered by the above.

u I had a wonderful time. It appearsthat you need to better connect with thewomen alumni. Have you tried tocompare your responses to knownnumbers of women in each class? Even15 yrs ago when I graduated, there werequite a few women in the class. I don’tknow why they would have chosen notto attend - perhaps they haven’t stayedin engineering as much as you’d like,but as was pointed out, MANY of themale alums have gone more towardsbusiness careers.

u Overall, surprisingly well organizedand entertaining. I’m looking forwardto the 2006 event.

u I would just like to add that this hasbeen very helpful for me - I am a femaleengineer, and a mother, so I have chosenpart time work (not very technical work- database management) at this time tobe able to actually be home some of thetime, and so it has been a nice opportu-nity to get out and network. Also, someof us are involved in the EngineeringDepartment’s mentoring program forfemale engineers, and this has helped tore-enforce this. I did not think to talk tomy student about the dinner, but did

Page 11

get to network with other female engi-neers in this program, and it helped re-enforce that effort. Perhaps the next pro-gram you put on could be advertisedwithin this mentoring program for themechanical engineers. (We mentoracross all engineering disciplines.)Thanks!

u Overall it was a very interesting andinformative day. A complete campustour would be interesting. Also a tour ofengineering facilities. Really enjoyed thetour of the Composites Facility.

u I thoroughly enjoyed the CareerCelebration! Thank you for all you didto organize it!

u As you could imagine, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, myDad and my son to celebrate our engi-neering-ness together, and, of course,

talking about my company and careerare always pleasurable for me.

u Great start! Thanks to all the teamwho put the event together. I had awonderful time and would come again.The class “agents” would have beengood to have in place to get their class-mates out to an event. I saw two of myclassmates at the event, We had din-ner, and had a great time together talk-ing over old times and catching up onprofessors and friends.

Undergraduates feedback

1. Get more undergrads there!

a. Market a lot harder to undergrads.Make them sign up in class.

b. Get Honors Juniors & Seniorsinvolved in the planning! Or Student

Advisory Board.

c. Display undergrad research posters togive alums reasons to talk to under-grads.

d. Display Sr Design Posters to give sen-iors a reason to be there, and to showthe alums what we are doing in SrDesign.

e. Modify the name to include under-grads, i.e. “Career Success Secrets forME Students”

2. Consider repeating it with only aslice of classes, i.e., 1, 10, 15, 20, etc.years ago (Same people will probablynot come every year.)

3. More breaks to encourage mingling.

It was a great initial experiment!

Honors Day —Mechanical EngineeringAward Recipients May 6,2005

Senior Year AwardsW. Francis Lindell MechanicalEngineering Award to theDistinguished Senior

Christine M. TateMichael D.M. Kutzer

Scott E. Kasprzak

Mary and George Nowinski Awardfor Excellence in UndergraduateResearch

Justin W. Caulfield

Junior Year AwardsW. Francis Lindell MechanicalEngineering Award to theDistinguished Junior

Douglas A. BrunnerKristem M. Elli

W.Francis Lindell MechanicalEngineering Achievement Award

Janelle A. KoncharErik A. Pearson

Sophomore Year AwardsW.J.Renton Award for OutstandingSophomore

Hadi M. FattahOther Department AwardsDelaware Section of The AmericanSociety of Mechanical EngineersOutstanding Student

Michael A. Fuqua

American Society of MechanicalEngineers Student Section

John R. Eisenbrey

Robert T. Bosworth ScholarshipChristopher T. Sherman

Redden ScholarshipDouglas E. Erickson

Jessica A. DibelkaChristoper M. Gordon

Helwig Graduate FellowshipJustin B. Alms

Thomas N. Shipman

Get involved in theCollege ofEngineeringDeirdre Smith

The Blue Hen spirit is alive and wellin the Department of MechanicalEngineering, a point clearly displayedat the Alumni Career Celebration event.If you missed this opportunity to hookup with your fellow engineering alum-ni, you don’t have to wait for the nextevent to get involved. Now is a greattime, and there are many ways…

Attend the College of EngineeringHomecoming Luncheon on Friday October 7, 2005 from 12:00 to 2:00 at theUniversity’s Blue & Gold Club. Allengineering alumni and their guests areinvited.

Check out the Engineering AlumniAssociation’s website, and get involvedwith as a board member, join the plan-ning or scholarship committee, or sim-ply attend an outing. Upcoming eventsinclude a golf outing on August 22,2005 and a wine dinner at the Blue &Gold Club in October 2005. All pro-ceeds from these events are used tofund the Engineering AlumniAssociation Scholarship Fund.

If you are not already receiving theCollege of Engineering’s quarterly elec-tronic newsletter, sign up now, and stayup to date on alumni, student and fac-ulty news, as well as upcomingUniversity and College events.

Join the Women in Engineering men-toring program and share your guid-ance, experience, and most importantly,your encouragement, with our mechan-

ical engineering students.Have your company sponsor a senior

design project – a culminating educa-tional experience for our undergraduatemechanical engineering students.

Join the over 400 mechanical engi-neering alumni who provide valuablefinancial support to the University ofDelaware each year. You can designateyour support to the Department ofMechanical Engineering or any of itsprograms.

For more information on any of theseways to get involved, visit the Collegeof Engineering alumni website atwww.engr.udel.edu/alumni/index.htmlor call Deirdre Smith at (302) 831-8694.

Do you have any feedback (comments, questions)? Or let us know any current events or info not covered by the data sheet below.

INFORMATION FORM FOR THE DEPARTMENT’S RECORDS

Name ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________First Middle Last Maiden

Delaware Degree BME Date______________________ MME Date______________________ Ph.D. Date ______________________

Spouse’s Name ________________________________________________________________________ DE Alum? __________________________________________

Mailing Address ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Home Phone ______________________________________________________________________________ E-mail __________________________________________

Company __________________________________________________________________________ Your Position __________________________________________

Mailing Address ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Business Phone ______________________________________________________________________________ Fax __________________________________________

E-mail______________________________________________________________________________ Web Address __________________________________________

Please identify if your company is an affiliate or subsidiary of a larger company ____________________________________________________________________

Return this form to: Nate Cloud, 126 Spencer Lab, University of Delaware, Newark DE 19716 and/or contact me anytime at cloud@me.udel.edu or 302-778-4567

ALUMNI FEEDBACK - What’s New With You?

Department of Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of DelawareNewark, DE 19716-3140

NONPROFITORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGEPAID

NEWARK, DEPERMIT NO. 26

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER—The University of Delaware is committed to assuring equal oppor-tunity to all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, veteranstatus, age, or disability in its educational programs, activities, admissions, or employment practices as required by Title IX of the EducationAmendments of 1972, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, otherapplicable statutes and University policy. Inquiries concerning these statutes and information regarding campus accessibility should bereferred to the Affirmative Action Officer, 305 Hullihen Hall, (302) 831-2835 (voice), (302) 831-4563 (TDD). 116/3.5m/605/L