PERSPECTIVE - Dartmouth College · tionally known for his research on biomedical optics and...

PERSPECTIVE

EditorKaren Endicott

DesignWendy McMillan

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DARTMOUTH ENGINEERVOLUME 5 / NUMBER 1

THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS AFFECTING ALL SECTORSof the economy is also having an impact on higher education.Falling endowment values, a challenging federal research cli-mate, and a strong commitment to meeting increasing studentfinancial need have placed unprecedented pressure on collegefinances. Dartmouth College is not immune from these chal-lenges and is taking steps to reduce expenses while preservingstudent financial aid and faculty resources. Our commitmentis to ensure that the outstanding academic experience of ourstudents will not be compromised.

At the Thayer School, we are in a fortunate position relativeto most academic institutions. Our research program hasremained strong despite the increasingly competitive federalfunding climate. For the first six months of the current fiscalyear (through December 31, 2008), research grant awards toour faculty increased 26 percent over the same period one yearago. Funding continues to come from a broad range ofsources, with 30 percent from the National Institutes ofHealth, 25 percent from non-federal sources, and nearly 30percent from the National Science Foundation andDepartment of Defense combined, providing a buffer againstbudgetary challenges in any one particular area. Student inter-est in engineering also remains strong, with record enroll-ments noted in the Master of Engineering Management andPh.D. programs this year, and enrollment in entry-level coreengineering classes up significantly over the past several years.Although the value of Thayer’s endowment has declined alongwith the stock market, the outstanding level of research fund-ing, strong student interest in engineering, and continuedcareful management of discretionary expenditures placeThayer in a strong position to build for the future.

Over the course of the next academic year, while remainingflexible in our responses to this volatile economic environ-ment, Thayer School will continue to build in strategic areas.We will conduct searches for new faculty in our energy andengineering-in-medicine focus areas, build our academic pro-grams in these areas, continue to expand our unique Ph.D.Innovation Program [see page 2], and continue to explore neweducational opportunities for our students. These are certainlychallenging times for the academic community, but Thayer iswell positioned, and we look forward to continuing to growand strengthen our academic enterprise.

Strategies for Challenging TimesBY DEAN JOSEPH J. HELBLE

Contents

DEPARTMENTS

2 The Great Hall26 Alumni News32 Inventions33 RandomWalkCOVERZakim Bridge, Boston, Mass.Photograph courtesy of ParsonsBrinckerhoff Inc.

BACK COVERAerial view of Thayer School andsurroundings.Photograph by John Sherman

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Thayer in the LandscapeThe work of alumni is in plain sight, if you know where to look.BY KAREN ENDICOTT

Invisible Hands of ScienceHistoric instruments bring engineering’s past alive.BY MATTHEW FORMAN ’11

Guardian of NaturalResourcesFor Professor Daniel R. Lynch, resources and human rights areinseparable. BY ADRIENNE MONGAN

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2 Dartmouth Engineer Winter 2009

GreatHallTHE

>>NEWS FROM AROUND THAYER SCHOOL

emerging technologies. The sec-ond, ENGS 321: Introduction toInnovation, is a doctoral-levelversion of ENGS 21, Thayer’ssignature undergraduate coursein creating new products. In ad-dition, Innovation Program stu-dents will complete a three- tosix-month internship at a start-up or other entrepreneurial en-terprise.

The first Innovation Programstudents are pursuing a variety ofresearch and entrepreneurialventures. Ashifi Gogo is co-founder of the Ghana-basedstart-up mPedigree, a companythat authenticates medicines indeveloping nations where drugcounterfeiting is widespread. DaxKepshire founded SustainX, acompany that is developing com-pressed air energy storage tech-nology for enhancing the valueof renewables such as wind and TH

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solar. PrestonManwaring antici-pates that his future start-up willfocus on traumatic brain injuryassessment in hospital triage andintensive care, work that is relatedto his doctoral research. And An-drew Giustini, anM.D./Ph.D.candidate, plans to develop newmedical technologies. “The onlyway to develop new therapeuticsthat will actually be used clinical-ly is to work closely with industryand understand the businessworld,” he says.

These four select students areat the start of a deliberate trajec-tory. “Our intention is to keep theprogram small and focused,” saysDean Joseph J. Helble. “Admis-sion is not automatic. Studentsadmitted to the Ph.D. programprepare additional materialsdemonstrating their creativityand interest in innovation andentrepreneurship. Applicantsthen pass through an additionalscreening and review process. Weexpect to admit four to six Ph.D.students per year to the Innova-tion Program, building to a totalenrollment of 20-25.”

The program itself, says Hel-ble, build on Thayer’s “long his-tory of innovation at the facultylevel. We anticipate that the In-novation Program will increasethe amount of patent activityfrom Ph.D. students at Thayerand the number of companiesstarted by our Ph.D. graduates.We also expect to train a newgeneration of professors who areinterested in putting their workto use by starting companies anddeveloping products that benefitsociety. This program will helpcement Thayer’s reputation as aschool focused on innovation.”

—Kathryn LoConte

FIRST CLASSFrom left, Ph.D.students AshifiGogo, PrestonManwaring, DaxKepshire Th’06,and M.D./Ph.D.candidateAndrew Giustinicomprise thefirst cohort ofThayer’s newdoctoral-levelInnovationProgram.

LEADING EDGE

Nation’s First Ph.D.Innovation ProgramBREAKING NEW CURRICULAR GROUND, THAYERSchool is training a new generation of technologyleaders with the nation’s first doctoral-level engin-eering Innovation Program. The program providesengineering Ph.D. candidates with entrepreneurialtraining for turning complex research discoveriesinto innovative applied technologies.

Students admitted to the program augment theirdoctoral studies with entrepreneurial-centeredcourses such as finance, accounting, patent law, mar-keting, and organizational behavior. Thayer Schoolhas developed two entirely new Innovation Programcourses taught by former dean Charles Hutchinson,who co-founded the multi-million-dollar therapeuticprotein company GlycoFi, and by John Collier, theMyron Tribus Professor in Innovation. The first ofthese courses is ENGS 300: New Venture Creation, acomprehensive overview of the commercialization of

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>>>> Professor Brian Pogue, interna-tionally known for his researchon biomedical optics and imag-ing of cancer, has been namedthe new dean of graduate stud-ies at Dartmouth. In the lab,Pogue and his research teamdevelop and refine new medicaltechnologies that use near-infrared light and spectroscopyto characterize cancer patho-physiology and guide cancertherapy. He also serves asdeputy editor of the journalOptics Letters, is on the editorialboards of Medical Physics andthe Journal of Biomedical Optics,and holds adjunct appointmentsin the surgery department atDartmouth Medical School andMassachusetts General Hospital.

>>>> In the August-September 2008issue of PE: The Magazine forProfessional Engineers, ThayerDean Joseph J. Helble makes thecase for the ability of colleges toprepare engineering studentswho are technically proficientand creative leaders who under-stand broader societal issues.“This call to a holistic approachis, in fact, a call to regain thetrue mission of the engineeringprofession,” Helble and three co-authors write in “Dispelling theMyths of Holistic Engineering.”“Engineers are eloquent in dis-tinguishing themselves fromother scientists as the science-based professionals who applytheir creative and technicalknowledge in service to human-ity, specifically by designing andbuilding to improve the qualityof life for society in both thebuilt and natural environments.”

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Kantrowitz was passionate about the roles ofacademia and the scientific community

in the public perception of technology.

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FACULTY NEWS

New Profs Arrive>>>> Ryan Halter, assistant professor of engineering,brings expertise in the fields of engineeringmechanics and biomedical engineering. Hiscurrent research projects include electricalimpedance imaging for breast cancer andprostate cancer screening. After completing hisB.Sc. and M.Sc. in engineering mechanics atPennsylvania State University, he earned hisPh.D. from Thayer School in 2006.>>>> Songbai Ji, assistant professor of engineering,is currently working on image-guided neuro-surgery. He completed his B.Sc. in materials sci-ence at Shanghai Jiaotong University and hisM.S. in computer science and D.Sc. in mechani-cal engineering at Washington University in St.Louis. His interests include image analysis,finite element, and numerical methods.>>>> Frederic Leblond, assistant professor of engin-eering, is currently focusing his research on fluorescence-guided neurosurgery and fluores-cence imaging. He received his B.Eng. fromÉcole Polytechnique de Montréal, his M.Sc. inPhysics from Université Laval, and his Ph.D.from McGill. >>>> Kofi Odame, assistant professor of engineering,specializes in electrical and computer engin-eering. He joined the Thayer community inSeptember 2008 after completing a Ph.D. inelectrical and computer engineering at GeorgiaInstitute of Technology, as well as M.S. and B.Sc.degrees from Cornell University. His researchinterests include biologically inspired cochlearimplants and rain-computer-interface front-ends. Odame will also be teaching ENGS 32:Electronics: Introduction to Linear and DigitalCircuits.>>>> Subhadra Srinivasan, assistant professor of engin-eering, completed her bachelor’s degree in tech-nology, electronics and communication engin-eering at Pondicherry University in India. Sheearned her Ph.D. from Thayer School in 2005.She is focusing her research on near-infraredimaging, fluorescence imaging, and non-linearimage reconstruction techniques.

Dartmouth Engineer Winter 2009 3

IN MEMORIAM

Professor EmeritusArthur Kantrowitz THAYER SCHOOL PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING,Emeritus, Arthur Kantrowitz died of heart failure onSaturday, November 29, 2008, in New York City. Hewas 95.

Kantrowitz came to Thayer as professor and sen-ior lecturer in 1978. Previously he taught aeronauticalengineering and engineering physics at Cornell andfounded Avco Everett Research Laboratory. Heearned his Ph.D. in physics at Columbia; held 21patents; served on advisory boards to the Ford WhiteHouse, the Department of Commerce, NASA, theGeneral Accounting Office, and the National ScienceFoundation; was a member of numerous scientificorganizations; and was a recipient of the RooseveltMedal of Honor for Distinguished Service in Science.

Kantrowitz’s wide-ranging research included one ofthe first attempts at controlled nuclear fusion in 1938,magnetohydrodynamic generators, rocket nose conesable to withstand the heat of re-entry into the atmos-phere, and the intra-aortic balloon pump that has beenused in hundreds of thousands of patients.

He was passionate about the roles of academiaand the scientific community in the public percep-tion of technology. He advocated for a “sciencecourt” to provide reliable information about thescope and limitations of scientific knowledge.

An obituary in The New York Times noted that he“never lost his faith in science and in humanity’sability to solve its problems.”

He is survived by his wife, Lee Stuart of Hanover;three daughters, Barbara, Lore, and Andrea; and sixgrandchildren.

Professor Kantrowitz, left, with Rob Wills Th’83

The Great Hall


STUDENT PROJECTS

I Want Oneof Those!

Alden Adolph ’11, Thomas Collier ’11, Max McClorey ’11,Kevin McGregor ’11, and Chris Zentner ’11 designed abike that grows as a child grows. The bike usesonly one set of 20-inch wheels but can be ad-justed to mimic the geometries of a bike with16-, 20-, and 24-inch wheels. The studentswon the Phillip R. Jackson Award for out-standing performance in ENGS 21: Introduc-tion to Engineering. Their teaching assistantwas M.E.M. student Eric Klem ’08.

POWER TO THEPEOPLEFrom left, GiancarloNucci ’07 Th’08,Zoe Acher ’08, and ManaureFrancisquezRodriguez ’11,work on a microhydro-power system in Rwandathat is generating interest from several villages.

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The Bike That Grows �

Forget the Purell. ENGS 21 students Sean Currey ’11, Elizabeth Kemp ’11, Heather Kluk ’11, andYolanda Lin ’11 built a self-sanitizing keyboard.Keyboard covers rotate after use for cleans-ing by ultraviolet light. The group’s teachingassistant was B.E. student Scott Lananna ’08.

Self-Sanitizing Keyboard �

stores. We’d spend days trying tofind specific parts, find bearings,an axel that fits. Then it wouldbe hours haggling. One time Ispent three hours finding awhole bunch of plumbing andelectrical supplies, and then an-other three hours bartering. AndI guess I went too low, becausethe guy just stormed off with allthe wares. Then there was threehours of frantically runningaround the scrap yard all overagain. It’s pretty exciting, but tir-ing, too.”

Another stipulation set by thestudents was to use local labor,which served to provide com-munity members with employ-ment as well as familiarize themwith the technology.

“We were employing up to 35people in the course of severalmonths,” says Koons. “And theultimate goal of this project is tohave these systems spread natu-rally without any foreign aid, tohave trained local technicians,managers, and entrepreneurswho can run this as a small busi-ness with a local energy produc-er. Then it would just fitnaturally into the economicframework.”

Looking forward, HELP aimsto have the Banda micro-hydroproject act as a working model forfuture sites in surrounding com-munities. “With every successfulproject, I’d like there to be less andless involvement from us andmore involvement from trainedlocals,” says Koons.

That reality is not far off.Members of bordering commu-nities have inquired about im-plementing the technology intheir own villages.

—Kathryn LoConte

SERVICE TO HUMANITY

Micro Hydro-Power SEVEN STUDENTS WORKING ASpart of Dartmouth Humanitar-ian Engineering LeadershipProjects (HELP) Worldwidehave successfully implemented amicro hydro-power system inthe village of Banda, Rwanda.

Using the area’s natural water re-sources, Dartmouth engineersdesigned and built two hydro-powered turbines that can gener-ate enough power to charge thebatteries community membersuse for home lighting. The tech-nology saves villagers fromwalking 27 miles each way to thenearest city on the electric gridto charge their batteries.

The project, started in 2008,made a point of using local ma-terials and involving local resi-dents in the work, according toBen Koons ’08 Th’09, presidentof HELP.

“Acquiring local materialswas pretty interesting,” he says.“There are these big scrap mar-kets in the nearby city of Kigali,hundreds of tiny one-room

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>>>> The International MetallographicSociety has awarded professor IanBaker and three of his studentshonors in its InternationalMetallographic Contest andExhibit, held in conjunction withthe society’s annual convention inAugust. The contest, which offersmicrostructural analysts theopportunity to display their workand communicate significant sci-entific information, covers allfields of optical and electronmicroscopy. Baker and Yifeng LiaoTh’09 earned an honorable men-tion in the “Electron Microscopy—Transmission and Analytical”division for their work on“Microstructural Refinement of aEutectoid Fe-Ni-Mn-Al Alloy.”Baker and Si Chen Th’10 receivedthird-place honors in the “ElectronMicroscopy Scanning” division fortheir work on “Mechanisms ofSintering Ice Spheres.” And theprofessor and Rachel LomonacoTh’09 received an honorable men-tion for the Dubose-Crouse Awardfor Unique, Unusual, and NewTechniques in Microscopy fortheir research on “Classification ofFirn Using Micro CT and SEM.”Baker is Thayer’s ShermanFairchild Professor of EngineeringSciences and senior associatedean of academic affairs.

>>>> Dartmouth has been awardednearly $3 million to develop aninterdisciplinary doctoral pro-gram in the polar sciences andengineering, with a focus onrapid environmental change. Thefive-year grant from the NationalScience Foundation “will allow usto train a desperately neededcohort of climate change scien-tists,” says environmental studiesprofessor Ross Virginia, directorof the Institute of Arctic Studiesat Dartmouth. His co-investiga-tors in the project include Thayerprofessors Ian Baker and MaryAlbert Th’84.

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Professor Oliver Goodenough:“You should manage lawyers,

not be managed by them.”

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CLASSROOM

Technology,Law, andEntrepreneurshipPROFESSOR OLIVER GOODENOUGH GUIDESThayer School graduate students through the intri-cacies of the legal system that surrounds entrepre-neurial enterprises. It’s not enough for students tohave an innovative idea to unleash onto the world,he says. They have to scale legal hurdles as well.

“Understanding the legal frameworks availablefor creating productive alliances of invention, capi-tal, management, and labor is a critical skill for peo-ple who bring ideas to fruition,” says Goodenough, aVermont Law School professor and Thayer adjunctprofessor who has taught ENGS 188: Technology,Law, and Entrepreneurship for five years.

During fall term, 22 students from Thayer andTuck School of Business filled 202 Cummings Hall

to learn about the law of intellectual property, con-tractual transactions, business structures, debt andequity finance, and securities regulation in thiscountry and abroad.

In leading students through these issues, Goode-nough demystifies the way the legal world works.“My goal is to convince you that at least in certaindomains, the law is your friend,” he told the class.“By having a core understanding of what lawyers aredoing, you will understand the context, ask betterquestions, and make things better for yourself.”

Goodenough, who practiced business and prop-erty law earlier in his career, gives students a bluntlook at his profession. “Lawyers are bossy people.They’re also often cautious people. That can be avery good thing. But there may be places in engin-eering and business where you want to take somerisk. You should manage the lawyers, not be man-aged by them,” he told the class. “By the end of theterm, I hope that you will not be intimidated by a20-page contract. You may be bored, but you won’tbe intimidated because you’ll have the tools to un-pack it and manage it, not be managed by it.”

—Kathryn LoConte

HEAD OF THE CLASSOliver Goodenough


The Great Hall

CELLULOSIC ETHANOLBREAKTHROUGHLee Lynd, Thayer’s Paul E. andJoan H. Queneau DistinguishedProfessor in EnvironmentalEngineering Design, and histeam have engineered a cellu-lose-dissolving bacterium thatcould lead to cheaper and moresustainable ethanol production.In this country, fuel ethanol isproduced from corn. Producingethanol from cellulosic feed-stocks—such as wood, grass, andvarious residues—rather thanfood sources has obvious advan-tages. But a key constraint to thefeasibility of ethanol productionfrom cellulose is the cost of cel-lulase, the enzymes that convertfibrous biomass into sugars thatcan be fermented.

Currently, ethanol produc-tion also utilizes yeast, whichgrows at moderate temperaturesof 30 to 35 degrees C. In a majorbreakthrough, Lynd’s team hasengineered a new bacterium,strain ALK2, that grows at 50 to60 degrees C.—a temperaturethat speeds the breakdown ofcellulose—and ferments all sug-ars in the biomass into ethanol.Under controlled conditions,Lynd reports, the amount of cel-lulase needed to break down cel-lulosic feedstocks is slashed inhalf when ALK2 is used in placeof yeast.

“This work shows that a newclass of potentially important or-ganisms can be engineered toproduce ethanol as the only fer-mentation product,” says Lynd,who is chief scientific officer andco-founder of Mascoma Corp., aleading developer of cellulosicbiofuel technology. “This opensup new and exciting possibilities

going forward,” he adds, notingthat Mascoma plans to test strainALK2 in its pilot plant in RomeN.Y.

Lynd and his team publishedtheir findings on the ALK2 ther-mophilic bacteria online in thejournal Proceedings of the Nation-al Academy of Science during theweek of September 8, 2008.

—Elizabeth Kelsey

THERAPY IN SPACECramped quarters. Life-or-deathdecisions. Missions that lastmonths or years. These are justsome of the psychological stres-sors astronauts face. To help themcope, Thayer adjunct professorDr. Jay Buckey Jr., a former astro-naut, has teamed with Dr. JamesCartreine of Harvard MedicalSchool and other researchers withthe National Space BiomedicalResearch Institute to develop aninteractive, multimedia programcalled the Virtual Space Station.According to Buckey, the multi-media aspect of the program,which enters clinical trials thiswinter, provides an importantemotional component. “Just like agood movie, it will draw you inand let you respond to the char-acters,” he says.

While participating inNASA’s Neurolab mission on theSpace Shuttle Columbia in 1998,Buckey became interested in ad-dressing potential barriers toflights to Mars or other long-du-ration missions. Psychologicalstressors, such as interpersonalconflict or depression, can de-stroy missions if they are nothandled well, he says. With theVirtual Space Station, on-screenpsychologists lead users throughlectures, exercises, interactive

simulations, and programmedinterventions. Astronauts cantake diagnostic tests, workthrough simulations, and prac-tice problem-solving strategies.The system, which runs on anylaptop, will be accessible any-time, anywhere. Currently,space-based astronauts can onlyconsult with therapists on theground when communicationlinks are available.

The Virtual Space Station alsohas practical applications here onearth. Doctors’ offices, schools,oil rigs, and other remote loca-tions would benefit from theportable therapy. Buckey hopesthe program will enable morepeople to receive assistance forconditions that are sometimesstigmatized. “Often people aremore comfortable working with acomputer for these kinds of prob-lems,” he says. “With this pro-gram, we hope that people willseek help earlier, rather than let-ting the situation become worse.”

—Elizabeth Kelsey

FIGHTING DECOMPRESSIONSICKNESS IN SPACEAnother space project of Buckey’sthat has earth-bound applicationsis his work with decompressionsickness (DCS). Because currentspacecraft and suit designs re-quire astronauts to move throughdifferent pressure environments,the prevention of DCS is a priori-ty for spacewalks. When humansmove from areas of high pressureto low, nitrogen can be releasedin the body in the form of bub-bles. Buckey and Creare Inc. arecurrently developing a dual-fre-quency instrument to detect andsize nitrogen bubbles in body tis-sue. The instrument uses two

frequencies of ultrasound (simi-lar to the frequencies clinical ul-trasound machines use) to detectand size bubbles through thechest wall as they move throughthe heart. The instrument alsocan detect small, stationary bub-bles in tissue—a unique capabili-ty. One potential benefit is theability to detect the earliest stagesof DCS and allow for preventa-tive strategies like oxygen pre-breathing and the limitingphysical activity at critical times.Further, the instrument can po-tentially be used in coronary by-pass surgery to distinguishbetween solid and gaseous em-boli and in industrial and avia-tion applications to determinethe gas saturation in fluids.

—Elizabeth Kelsey

POWER LINE DE-ICINGRussia and China are taking ad-vantage of Professor Victor Pe-trenko’s de-icing system forpower lines. Both countries haveplaced orders with Petrenko’scompany, Ice Engineering LLC.

Petrenko’s variable resistancecable (VRC) de-icing systemswitches the electrical resistanceof a standard power line from lowto high, automatically creatingheat to melt ice build-up or keepit from forming in the first place.The system can be implementedfor less than a ten percent in-crease in overall cost and can alsobe installed as part of regularlyscheduled maintenance. “Thebeauty of the VRC system is thatit’s fully customizable and is anaffordable addition to the currentmanufacturing and installationprocess,” says Ice Engineeringvice president Gabriel Martinez.

—Kathryn LoConte

lab updates Former astronaut Jay Buckey

Dartmouth Engineer Fall 2004 7

>>>> Professor Ursula Gibson ’76 spent the fallterm at the VTT Technical ResearchCenter of Finland in Espoo, Finland,under a Fulbright Scholarship. A nano-materials specialist, she is investigatingthe use of zinc oxide nanostructures as away of imparting UV protection capabili-ties. “My collaborators in Finland areinterested in improved protection forwood products,” said Gibson, who hopesto connect this research to the timberindustry in Vermont and New Hampshire.“Zinc oxide is a particularly attractivematerial to use as a UV blocker because itabsorbs a wide range of UV light, anddoesn’t degrade as it does its job.” Gibsonreturned in January to become the newdirector of Thayer’s M.S./Ph.D. programs.

>>>> Adjunct professor Mary Albert Th’84 hasbeen named director of the new IceDrilling Program Office, part of NationalScience Foundation’s Office of PolarPrograms. The IDPO is responsible fordrilling and obtaining ice core samples,which contain data about past climateconditions, levels of pollution, and evenlevels of atmospheric greenhouse gasesover the last 800,000 years. Albert is aresearch engineer with the Cold RegionsResearch and Engineering Laboratory,part of the Army Corps of Engineers, andwill head-up research at IDPO, which willbe headquartered at Thayer School.

>>>> A group of Dartmouth researchers,including Thayer research associateand scientist Robert Savell Adv’05, hasdeveloped a mathematical tool thatcan be used to unscramble the under-lying structure of time-dependent,interrelated, complex data—such asthe career-long votes of legislators,second-by-second activity of the stockmarket, or levels of oxygenated bloodflow in the brain. Their study was pub-lished in a December online issue ofthe Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Science. “We think this toolcan be useful when applied in thefinancial realm, to portfolio and riskmanagement,” says study co-authorand mathematics professor DanRockmore. “We expect similar resultsas it is applied to different complexsystems like the brain, or even the col-lections of brains that are societies.”

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RESEARCH FOCUS AREAS

Engineering inMedicineENGINEERING IN MEDICINE WAS THE FOCUS of several public lectures at Thayer School dur-ing Fall Term. One of three major research areasat Thayer—the other two are Energy Technolo-gies and Complex Systems—the intersection ofengineering and medicine was the theme of theschool’s weekly Jones Seminars. And in an in-tensive symposium on Engineering in Medicine,health-care professionals, faculty, and studentsgathered October 16-17 to discuss integratingengineering design, evidence-based medicine,and cost effectiveness.

Organized by Professor Brian Pogue, thesymposium featured keynote speakers RodericPettigrew, M.D., Ph.D., director of the NationalInstitute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengi-neering; Ronald Newbower, Ph.D., co-founder,strategic director and chief technology officer atthe Center for Integration of Medicine and In-novative Technology; and C. Everett Koop ’37,M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General and currentsenior scholar at the C. Everett Koop Institute.They and a dozen other speakers discussed anarray of research and clinical advances and con-cerns, including bioengineering in 21st centuryhealth care, translating and implementing tech-nology in the medical field, and the issues be-hind the current American health-care crisis.

To listen to or view presentations online, visithttp://engineering.dartmouth.edu/news-events/lecture-series/impact-areas/engineering-in-medicine/program.html.

ENDOWED CHAIR

Robert A.PritzkerProfessorshipPROFESSOR KEITH PAULSEN HASbeen appointed the first Robert A.Pritzker Professor of BiomedicalEngineering. The professorshiprecognizes faculty scholarship atthe intersection of engineering andmedicine, one of Thayer School’smain research focus areas.

Paulsen is a leading innovator ofmedical imaging technology andcancer therapeutics, primarily forthe breast and brain. Along with aninterdisciplinary team of colleagues,he has worked for more than 20years to advance clinical sciencethrough the merging of engineeringmodeling methodology with an ar-ray of imaging techniques.

In addition to his appointmentat Thayer School, Paulsen is also aprofessor of radiology at Dart-mouth Medical School, director ofthe Dartmouth Advanced ImagingCenter at Dartmouth-HitchcockMedical Center, and co-director ofthe Cancer Imaging and Radiobi-ology Research Program at theNorris Cotton Cancer Center. Hereceived his B.S. in biomedicalengineering from Duke and hisM.S. and Ph.D. from ThayerSchool in 1984 and 1986.

Tony Pritzker ’82 and his wife,Jeanne, endowed the professorshipin honor of Tony’s uncle, RobertPritzker, an industrial engineerwho established The MarmonGroup of companies. Tony is man-aging partner of The PritzkerGroup private-equity firm.O

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HONOREESJeanne and Tony’82 Pritzker, leftand center,attended theinaugural lectureKeith Paulsendelivered duringFall Term whenhe became thefirst Robert A.Pritzker Professorof BiomedicalEngineering.

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GLASS STAIRCASE,APPLE STORE, BOSTON, MASS.SEE PAGE 10.

THAYER IN THE8 Dartmouth Engineer Winter 2009

BY KAREN ENDICOTT

THE WORK OF THAYER ALUMNIIS IN PLAIN SIGHT, IF YOU

KNOW WHERE TO LOOK.

INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS BUILDING,GEORGE BUSH

INTERCONTINENTAL AIRPORT,HOUSTON, TEX.SEE PAGE 12.

LANDSCAPEDartmouth Engineer Winter 2009 9

(Pictured on page 8)Elizabeth Hunneman ’05 Th’06 designed thehigh-strength stainless steel alloy fittings for theglass stairs in Apple’s flagship Boston store, lo-cated at 815 Boylston Street and completed in2008. “Glass is very unforgiving. As a result, allconnection hardware must be designed withprecision to 1/1000th of an inch to transferloads fromonepiece of glass to another or fromglass to building structure,” says Hunneman, adesign engineer and project manager atTriPyramid Structures Inc. in Westford, Mass.“In any one of these stairs, there are dozens ofvery different connection fittings, and each hasa very specific purpose. In some cases, fittingsthat look identical when installed have com-pletely separate functions and, for that reason,unique internal details.”Photograph by Midge Eliassen.

John W. Ballard ’55 TT’56 co-founded TCIInternational in 1968 to develop and apply theMethod of Moments to antenna design. Mak-ing it possible to calculate radio-frequency cur-rent distributions on arbitrary arrangements ofmetallic conductors, the technique eliminatedthe painstaking iterative experimentation oftraditional antenna design and construction.“Today almost all antenna design is based ontheMethod ofMoments,” says Ballard, a Thay-er overseer who is also co-founder, president,and CEO of Radio Propagation Services Inc.The Voice of America antenna in Yamata, hesays, serves Japanese immigrants and their chil-dren in South America.Photograph courtesy of John W. Ballard.

The Niagara Generating Facility used to be acoal-fired power plant. In a two-year projectcompleted in2008, ScottGardner ’92,managingdirector of US Renewables Group, oversaw theplant’s conversion fromcoal tobiomass and tire-chip fuel. The transformation required retro-fitting the boiler and building a “receiving,storage, and material handling system for up to750 tonsperdayofwoodchipsonasitewithonly5.5 acres, of which only 1 to 2 acres is availablespace,”he says.Another challenge: “weatherizingthe system to withstand an upstate New Yorkwinterwhile supplyingwoodchips and tire chipsto the boiler round-the-clock.”Photograph courtesy of Scott Gardner.

Dan Malwitz ’77 designed most of the primarymirror support system for the AEOS 3.67-metertelescope atop Mount Haleakala in Maui. Thesystem, he says, consists of a hollow steel weld-ment, 84 axial hydraulic actuators, 48 lateral hy-draulic actuators and linkages, plus a number ofcounterweights to handle the pitch moment.“The point of this elaborate system is to supportand control the 10,000-pound Zerodur (zero-CTE glass) meniscus without distorting it, re-gardlessof elevationangleor telescopedynamics.It has to slew quite quickly—for a telescope—totrackobjects in low-earthorbit,” he says.The tel-escope is part of the Air Force’s Maui space sur-veillance system.Malwitz worked on the systemwhile atContravesUSA,nowL-3Brashear.He iscurrently a staff design engineer at the space anddefense group of Moog Inc.Photograph courtesy of Dan Malwitz.

Randy Cooper Th’54 was a software engineeron the final test team for the central switch ofthe first commercial cellular telephone systemin Chicago in 1984. “The main challenge wasthat it had never been done before by anyone,”he says. Cell phones have changed not onlyhowwe communicate, butwhatwe see. “Thoseugly towers are everywhere!” says Cooper.Photograph by Joseph White.

TimOsby ’89ownsWahooDocks, aGainesville,Ga., company that manufactures high-end en-vironmentally friendly aluminumboatdocks forresidential and commercial sites throughoutNorthAmerica. “Wehave amultitudeofdesignsand specs that thedocksneed to adhere tobasedon the location—snow loads, oxidationenviron-ments, wind and wave action,” says Osby. Toview the company’s customizable options, visitwahoodocks.com.Photograph courtesy of Tim Osby.

The NewYork Times calls Echo Mountain Parkski area, 30 miles from Denver, Colo., the “newNeverland of freestyle stunt pilots.” Owned byavid skier Jerry Petitt ’67 TT’69, Echo Moun-tain Park lures youthful snowboarders andfreestyle skiers with inexpensive lift tickets andover-the-top terrain. “There are no gentlygroomed slopes, nowide cruiser runs, not evena single mogul field,” raves the Times. “Echo is100 percent terrain park—50 acres of jumps,rails, boxes, picnic tables, stairs, mailboxes andpipe. With a good-times agenda, Echo aims tobe the X Games proving ground for the youngand indestructible.”Photograph courtesy of Jerry Petitt.

Thorsteinn Gislason Th’73 was a project man-ager and facility designer for a deep-watermarine terminal and frozen-food processingplant that Coldwater Seafood Corp. construct-ed in Everett in themid 1970s. The facility, seenin the lower center section of the photo, occu-pied some 150,000 square feet, with approxi-mately 80,000 of that in the formof cold storageat -10 degrees F. “We were challenged by ex-tremely poor soil conditions and the need tohave very high load-bearing capability on thefloors. After a geo-technical survey by expertsit was decided to drill caissons to the level ofbearing soil. Each caisson was individually de-signed, and they ranged in depth from 30 feetto less than 10 feet,” saysGislason, nowmanag-ing director of Tigertraders, a Salem,N.H., im-porter and marketer of frozen seafood. TheColdwater facility he worked on now belongsto Preferred Freezer Services.Photograph courtesy of Thorsteinn Gislason.

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When the 55-storyCorinthian opened in 1988,it was Manhattan’s largest apartment building.With 1.1 million square feet containing 846apartments plus commercial space and agarage, it occupies a full block between Firstand SecondAvenues and 37th and 38th Streets.“The building towers over the Manhattan en-trance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel,” saysSam Florman ’46 Th’73, chairman of KreislerBorg Florman, the general construction com-pany that put the Corinthian on the map.Photograph courtesy of Sam Florman.

Edward C. Kern Jr. ’67 Th’68 founded Irradi-ance Inc. to accelerate the worldwide deploy-ment of photovoltaic systems. In 2004he servedas the technical advisor for Asia’s firstmegawatt-plus photovoltaic system, the Ca-gayan De Oro Solar Photovoltaic Project inMindanao.Theproject not only produced elec-tricity, but achieved an extra goal, Kern says:making “clean solar power less expensive byus-ing localmaterials and labor appropriate for de-veloping countries.” Kern holds a doctoratefrom MIT and lectures there on wind and so-lar energy.Photograph courtesy of Edward C. Kern Jr.

With its tower diamond design, the ArthurRavenel Jr. Bridge over the Cooper River inCharleston is the longest cable-stayed bridge inthe Americas. Opened in July 2005, the spanwas designed to withstand ship collisions andCharleston’s seismic and hurricane conditions.Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. worked on thebridge’s final design while Thomas O’Neill ’73Th’74 was the firm’s chairman and CEO.Photograph courtesy of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.

The Red Line is the heavy rail backbone of theLos Angeles public transit system. The two-track, steel-wheel subway serves the city’smostdensely populated areas, providing high-speedservice from Union Station in downtown LosAngeles to North Hollywood via the mid-Wilshire district, Hollywood Boulevard andUniversal City. Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.worked on the project while Thomas O’Neill’73 Th’74 was the firm’s chairman and CEO.Photograph courtesy of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.

(Pictured on page 9)The International Arrivals Building of theGeorge Bush Intercontinental Airport canprocess 4,500 passengers an hour. It is part ofthe Houston Airport System’s InternationalServices Program, which doubled the airport’scapacity to 68 million passenger flights annu-ally and streamlined customs and immigra-tion processing. Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.worked on the project while Thomas O’Neill’73 Th’74 was the firm’s chairman and CEO .Photograph courtesy of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.

The Henry C. Beck Co., headed by Henry C.Beck Jr. ’38 Th’39, provided general contractorservices on the 781,000-square-foot aircraftmaintenance hangar for American Airlines.The building can simultaneously service sev-en wide-body aircraft. Beck was awarded theOutstandingConstructionAward by the TexasAssociation of General Contractors. The com-pany is now known as The Beck Group.Photograph courtesy of Henry C. Beck Jr.

The Henry C. Beck Co., headed by Henry C.Beck Jr. ’38 Th’39, constructed this 68,000-seatsports facility in 1930when itwent by the nameof Fair Park Stadium and Beck was known asCentral ContractingCo. Throughout the years,Beck completed several renovation projects.Photograph courtesy of Henry C. Beck Jr.

The Henry C. Beck Co., headed by Henry C.Beck Jr. ’38Th’39, completed theconstructionofthe first launch facilities at Cape Canaveral inJune of 1961 for the launch of the Saturn rock-et. This $6.5 million project included $4.5 mil-lion of underground construction to strengthenthe ground to withstand the tons of thrust initi-ated for a rocket launch.Photograph courtesy of Henry C. Beck Jr.

While a junior structural designer atAndersonNichols&Co. FrederickT.Comstock ’48Th’48worked on concrete slab and expansion detailsfor theNational SecurityAgency building. Theoriginal low, sprawling structure, situated tothe right of the dramatic modern additions,was completed in the 1950s. “At the time,” saysComstock, “it was thought to be second in sizeto the Pentagon.”Photograph courtesy of the National SecurityAgency.

The signature element of Boston’s Big Dig, theZakim Bridge carries I-93 over the CharlesRiver and provides a dramatic gateway toBoston from the north. The ten-lane bridge isthewidest asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge intheworld and the first hybrid cable-stayed steeland concrete bridge in the United States.Thomas O’Neill ’73 Th’74 was chairman andCEO of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. when thefirm served as management consultant for theconstruction of the bridge.Photograph courtesy of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.

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As the engineering technician at the City ofSandy,Ore., Elizabeth French ’99Th’00, ’01wasresponsible for designing and managing the2008 construction of the Sandy Civic Plaza. Inaddition to accommodating community gath-erings, festivals, and farmers’markets, the plazafunctions as a demonstration area for environ-mentally friendly construction. “Most of thesurfaces are constructed from permeablepavers, with a 10-inch rock course underneathfor storage of stormwater,” says French. “Basedon this project, I have now developed the city’sspecifications for permeable pavers for pedes-trian areas.”Photograph courtesy of Elizabeth French.

Participating in Engineers Without Borders,TiaHansen ’05Th’06 has beenworking as proj-ect manager and resident engineer overseeingconstruction of a water tank in a rural area ofTanzania. “The biggest problems that I faced inthis project were the lack of constructionknowledge, particularly in reinforced concreteconstruction, and materials acquisition andtransportation,” she says. “We ended up havingto float 13 tons of materials across a river insmall canoes and teaching localmasons how tomake concrete blocks anduse them to build re-inforced concrete structures.”Photograph courtesy of Tia Hansen.

Engineer and entrepreneurEdward “Skip” Strit-ter ’68 is chairman of VillageTech Solutions, anonprofit that provides energy and access forpeople in ruralNepal.One ofVillageTech Solu-tions’ projects is constructing wire bridgesacross the deep river canyons that isolate vil-lages and make travel treacherous. Each wirebridge consists of a human-powered carriagethat runs along a cable strung between anchortowers. Holding up to five or six people andtheir goods, the carriage is propelled by rope inthe hands of passengers andbystanders. “Thesebridges are built at the request of a village—usually because they have a lot of school kidswho need to cross the river. Costs range from$15,000 to $25,000,” says Stritter’s colleagueDavid Sowerwine, who co-founded the organ-ization with wife Haydi Sowerwine in 1996.“The villagers have no money, but can workhard. We raise the funds, we supervise, theybuild.” Villagers are also getting constructionhelp from Thayer students, including M.E.M.candidate David Drennan and Mike Wood ’10.For more, see villagetechsolutions.org.Photograph courtesy of David Sowerwine.

Asvicepresident for finance andadministrationat Grand Valley State University (GVSU) inMichigan, Tim Schad ’70 Th’71 decided that allnew construction would be LEED certified. “In2001–2002 thiswasnotasobviousas it is today—not everyone believed in global warming or theneed tobuild energy efficient buildings,” he says.“But thismadeus a leader.GVSUhas builtmoreLEED-certified buildings than any other collegeor university in the United States.” Schad, whoalso owns Nucraft Furniture Co. in ComstockPark, Mich., notes that GVSU was started byDartmouth alum William Seidman ’71.Photograph courtesy of Tim Schad.

James M. Tanaka ’81 of the Department ofTransportationwas projectmanager for the de-sign and construction of the $15.5 million,20,000-square-foot laboratory for the AlaskaDepartment of Environmental Conservation.Completed in 2006, the state-of-the-art facilityenables researchers to provide surveillance of

seafood, food, water, air, soil, and zoonotic dis-eases from wild and domestic animals.Photograph courtesy of Livingston Slone.

James M. Tanaka ’81 is project manager for thedesign and construction of the Department ofHealth andSocial ServicesVirologyLaboratory,a public health research facility at the Universi-ty of Alaska, Fairbanks. “The virology labora-tory has been designed to function successfullyin Fairbanks’ sub-arctic climate—where sum-mer temperatures reach 90 degrees F., and win-ter temperatures fall to 65 degrees F. belowzero—to be highly durable and maintainable,and to provide for the intensive mechanicaland electrical requirements for laboratory bio-containment in themost energy efficientmeanspossible,” says Tanaka. The project is scheduledfor completion in early 2009.Photograph courtesy of Livingston Slone.

William B. Conway ’52 Th’54 was principal-in-charge for the construction of the I-130 cross-ing, the nation’s longest cable-stayed bridgewhen itwas completed in 1978.Conway retiredin 2007 from the chairmanship ofModjeski andMasters Inc., a St. Louis, Mo., structural engi-neering firm specializing in bridge engineering.He is a recipient of the John A. Roebling Medalfor lifetime achievement, an award sponsoredby Roads & Bridges magazine.Photograph courtesy of William B. Conway.

Lucy Gibson Th’88 helped construct a hikingtrail underpass below I-91 inNewbury to com-plete a section of the Cross Vermont Trail.Photograph courtesy of Lucy Gibson.

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when Thayer School of Civil Engi-neering was founded in 1867, sur-veying was a key component of the

skills Thayer students were required tomaster. Infact, surveying was so crucial to the establish-ment of property boundaries, the westward ex-pansion of the nation, and the development ofrailroads, canals, bridges, and other infrastruc-tures of commerce that until the 1880s all Dart-mouth students—not just engineers—studied thesubject. And though Thayer School broadenedits focus beyond civil engineering—and droppedthe term from its name in 1941—Thayer studentscontinued to study surveying until 1962.

Many of the surveying instruments used byThayer students during the 19th and early 20thcenturies now reside in Dartmouth’s ScientificInstruments Collection. Assembled by the lateDartmouth physics professor Allen King, thecollection, housed in the physics department inWilder Hall, is one of the largest in North Amer-ica. It is now curated by history professorRichard Kremer, who regularly brings the in-struments into his history of science classes forstudents to examine and research.

“Using the collection is a newway in the histo-ry of science to go beyond texts,” he says. “Knowl-edge is being produced with these objects. They’rethe ‘invisible hands of science.’ ”

The following is a close-up look at toolsThayer students used in the school’s earlydecades.

B Y M A T T H E W F O R M A N ’ 1 1

ofscience


HALDENCALCULEXThis circular slide rule,3 inches in diameter,belonged to ProfessorRobert Fletcher,Thayer School’s firstdirector. It was madeby J. Halden & Co. ofManchester, England,in the early 1900s.

HISTORIC INSTRUMENTS BRING ENGINEERING’S PAST ALIVE.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN SHERMAN


WYE LEVELConsisting of a telescope andbubble level, theWye level wasa basic tool for measuringelevation. In an 1869topography exercise, Thayerstudents usedWye levels todetermine the contours ofBridge Street inWest Lebanon.William J. Young of Philadelphia,Pa., one of the most prolificAmerican instrument makers inthe 19th century, constructedthis level. It cost about $150 inthe 1860s.

DIP CIRCLEDip circles, also known as dipneedles or inclinometers,measure slope—a.k.a. “dipangle”—with respect togravity. Used in surveying,mining, and prospecting,dip circles also served asdemonstration instruments inphysics classes. The Phelps &Gurley Co. of Troy, N.Y.,manufactured this brass andglass dip circle around 1848.Dartmouth purchased it in1862 for $20.


SEXTANTThe sextant was designed todetermine the angle betweenthe moon and stars to calculatelongitude at sea. On land, surveyorsused sextants to determine anglesbetween fixed locations. In an earlyclass, Thayer students used sextantsto measure angles for triangulatingthe height of a local church spire.This sextant, manufactured byBlunt & Nichols of New York, datesfrom between 1866 and 1868.

THACHER’SCALCULATINGMACHINEIn the 19th century, as now, engineeringstudents were expected to execute complexcalculations with ease. They could increase their speedand accuracy with the Thacher calculator. Placing thelogarithmic scale on a drum and series of crosspieces,the Thacher functioned like an 18-meter slide rule forcalculations up to five significant digits. Inventor EdwinThacher patented it in 1881. This one was manufacturedby Keuffel & Esser of New York around 1887.

OPTICAL SQUAREStudents used the opticalsquare for sighting alongtwo lines at right angles.This optical square wasmade around 1885 by alocal instrument maker,J.N. Brown, whose shopwas located just off MainStreet in Hanover.


TRANSITMeasuring horizontal andvertical angles, transits wereintegral to surveying. As aculminating project in theSeptember 1869 course onsurveying and engineering,Thayer students had to usetriangulation to calculatethe distance from theDartmouth Green to MountAscutney in Vermont. Theyused transits to obtain theangles they needed for thecalculation. This transit wasmanufactured byWilliam J.Young of Philadelphia, Pa.,in the mid 19th century.


FOR PROFESSOR DANIEL R.LYNCH,RESOURCES AND HUMAN RIGHTS

ARE INSEPARABLEBY ADRIENNE MONGAN

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN SHERMAN


ship. Governance structures that do notmatchthese will not succeed. For example, a trans-boundary resource cannot bemanaged by sov-ereign states alone.Or a slow-growing resourcecannot be managed by governance that lacksaccountability for long-term consequences.This is a simple dynamic error, well under-stood yet pervasive. The cumulative effects ofoverlapping markets, governments, corpora-tions, cultures, and individual action com-pound the problem. Moreover, most peopledon’t understand—and in some cases, theydon’t accept—the complexities of natural re-sources dynamics, making it harder to devel-op and enact safeguards against resourcedegradation or depletion. This is why it is crit-ical for professionals to accept the twin obli-gations to develop specialized knowledge andto help people implement it.

Where do engineers come in?Engineers understand systems, so we’re in anideal position to analyze how natural dynam-ics, consumption patterns, and social, political,and economic factors affect resources—andexplain it to others. I believe that engineers andother professionals have a responsibility to useour specialized knowledge for the collectivegood.

What will it take to make natural resourcestewardship a universal value?Weneed professional, government, and corpo-rate institutions to cooperate creatively to de-velop new means of collectively safeguardingnatural resources. Agreeing that all of us—in-dividuals and institutional entities alike—havestewardship responsibilities is a crucial firststep. Each of us must accept this sense of re-sponsibility so that we can pass precious, finitenatural resources on to future generations toutilize.

He wants the world toadopt a Declaration of Stew-

ardship Responsibility, akin to thelandmark 1948 United Nation’s Uni-

versal Declaration of Human Rights,which Lynch calls “the greatest document ofthe 20th century.”Having drafted his ownDec-laration of Stewardship Responsibility (seesidebar for highlights), Lynch is taking his caseto fellow engineers, including students in hisclasses on climate change and engineering andsustainability and natural resource manage-ment.The MacLean Professor of Engineering at

Thayer School and an adjunct scientist atWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution inMassachusetts, Lynch is an expert in compu-tational techniques for simulating large-scaleenvironments. His finite element mapping ofcontinental shelf circulation in the Gulf ofMaine andGeorges Bankhas led to greater un-derstanding of those ecosystems, includingfactors affecting fish populations and patternsof toxic algae blooms.Lynch spent the 2007-2008 academic year

participating in the Program in Science, Tech-nology and Environmental Policy at Prince-ton University’s Woodrow Wilson School ofPublic and International Affairs. During thattime he completed his latest book, SustainableNatural Resource Management for Scientistsand Engineers, due out from Cambridge Uni-versity Press in 2009.

Why are you working on a Declaration ofStewardship Responsibility?Earlier inmy engineering career,my focuswason water resources. As I advanced in the field,I felt a sense of responsibility to usemy knowl-edge to help others have access to this essen-tial natural resource, clean water. Now I’mworking to encourage fellow professionals touse specialized knowledge for the global sus-tainability of natural resources in order to im-prove upon the common good.

You link protection of natural resources tothe idea of basic human rights.Why?The Universal Declaration of Human Rightsasserts that all people have the right to “an ad-equate standardof living.”The two internation-al covenants that implement the declaration inlaw articulate this in terms of housing, water,food, and health. These rights depend on theavailability of essential natural resources—clean air, potable water, safe food—for peoplenow and for future generations. To achieve theultimate goal of sustaining human opportuni-ty, the very essence of the declaration, wemustprotect natural resources.

What role would a Declaration of Steward-shipResponsibilityplay inpromotinghumanrights and protecting natural resources?Human rights canonly be achieved if theworldaccepts responsibility for enacting them. TheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRights assertsthat everyone has “duties to the community”for the realization of rights. Similarly, naturalresources will only be protected for perpetuityif people now develop a sense of universal re-sponsibility for stewardship. By codifying theresponsibility into adeclaration, I hope to stim-ulate thinking about what individuals and in-stitutions can do to protect the naturalresources—andmake them available to every-one.

Why hasn’t the world already done more tosteward natural resources?Much good has been achieved within specificnations. There is a vacuum in natural resourcegovernance. Though resources are central tohuman flourishing, they are outside thebounds of present government and corporateinstitutions. In part this is because the occur-rence of natural resources is seldom congru-ent—in space and time—with either corporateor governmental domains. The size, dynamics,and time frames of natural resource systemsdo not conform to human ideas of nationalboundaries, sovereignty, and rights of owner-

Adrienne Mongan is a contributing editor atDartmouth Engineer.

DDaniel R. Lynch is an engineerwith amission.


TOWARD A DECLARATION OFSTEWARDSHIP RESPONSIBILITY

Here are some of the key points ProfessorLynch incorporates into his Declaration ofStewardship Responsibility. Read the fulldocument at dartmouthengineer.com.

� A sustainable relationship amongpeople and natural resources shall bepursued in scientific, economic, andsocial communities. As natural resourcessustain human productivity, so musthumans sustain natural resource produc-tivity and availability.

� Everyone has a responsibility to reducereliance on nonrenewable natural re-sources, use less, recycle more, and findefficient substitutes.

� No one has a natural or intrinsic right towaste, harm, destroy, pollute, contami-nate, or degrade a natural resource.

� Property rights in natural resourcesshall be understood as obligations tostewardship.

� Governments and public agencies haveobligations to steward natural resourceson behalf of citizens.

� Natural resources have their own timeand space scales that do not obey humanpolitical and economic constructs. Allconcerned with resource use, ownership,or governance shall recognize and re-spect these scales.

� Natural resources cross political, legal,and economic boundaries, necessitatingcooperative governance.

� Cumulative effects of separate actionsthat have aggregate or synergistic effectson natural resources shall be recognizedand accounted for collaboratively amongowners, beneficiaries, and governancebodies.

� Habitat for living resources shall besafeguarded against degradation ordestruction from individual or collectiveaction or inaction.

� Natural conduits that distribute naturalresources shall be safeguarded againstdegradation or destruction from individ-ual or collective action or inaction.

� Extinction of living resources by indi-vidual or collective action or inaction isto be avoided.

� Uncertainty and error shall be treatedconservatively, that is, with a preferentialoption for conserving future opportunity.

� Everyone has a responsibility to seekways of implementing the above.

recent Boston Globe opinion piece(boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/12/15/how_cars_can_solve_the_energy_crisis). “Students in Dartmouth’sThayer School FormulaHybrid pro-gramarehavingagreat timebuildinghybrid race cars,”hewrites. “Imagineif the torpiddesign studios inDetroitsuddenly came abuzz with excitingfuturistic designs that treated theworld’s precious hydrocarbons likenewspapersorbeer cans.Theywouldcreate excitingnew jobs ina field thathas worldwide appeal. And maybe,just maybe, we could save the planetwhilewe’re at it.”Yulehasbeensavingtheplanetoneparcel at a timeaspres-ident of Yule Development Co.(yuledevelopment.com), a real estatedevelopment firm inNewtonCenter,Mass., that specializes in designingenergy-efficient solutions for “dis-tressed” buildings and sites.Veteran Wall Street analyst Brian

E.WongTh’00 is the newdirector of re-search at AMI Research, a leadingprovider of issuer-paid research cov-erage and independent stock reports.Wong will direct the production ofindependent analyst research reportsfor AMI, based in Key Largo, Fla.Wongpreviously conducted sell-sideequity research with BroadpointCapital and First Albany Capital,where he was a member of theWallStreet Journal’s Top Five Equity An-alyst Team in 2002 and 2003.With abackground in medical technologyand health care, Wong provided in-vestment research reports on com-panies in the diabetes, orthopedic,neurotechnology, plastics, and gen-eral surgery sectors.There’s a hot new install-it-your-

self solar water-heating system onthemarket.CalledHot2O, it’s a light-

ChrisCrowleyTh’75 is a researchengineerby vocation and a wildlife photogra-pher by avocation. During his 31yearsmanaging research projects forHanover-basedCrearehealso logged1,000 scubadives in locations suchasIndonesia, theGalápagos Islands,Fiji,and theCaribbean. After earning hisM.E. at Thayer, Crowley worked onnuclear reactor safety, gas and oiltransport inpipelines, oceanmining,thermodynamic power cycles, andspacecraft systemdevelopment proj-ects.Recently retired fromCreare, hesees connections between engi-neering and photography. “Wildlifephotography is like running an engi-neering project. You have an objec-tive: to photograph a certain animalor animals. You have to develop awork plan to get the shots. You havea limited budget. And the wildlife‘clients’ are oftenonly slightly less co-operative than business clients!” Hisimages and articles have been pub-lished inmagazines, textbooks, andaNatureConservancyposter.Viewhisphotos at cjclandandseaphoto.com.

Chris Yule ’70 points to Thayer stu-dents’ work as an example of howcars can solve the energy crisis in a

weightpolymer systemdevelopedbyFreemanFord ’63, president andCEOofFAFCO, the nation’s oldest andlargest solar thermal panelmanufac-turer. A closed-loop design allows itto serve up hot water even duringwinter cold. The system is compactenough to be shipped in a small boxto homeowners, who can easily addit to their existing water heaters. Seefafco.com for more information.For years Tom Brady ’66 Th’68,

founder of Plastic Technologies Inc.,has been at the forefront of the poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) bottleindustry. Now he is developing andcommercializing a PET recyclingtechnology to deal with all the emp-ties. The technology, he says, “willhave huge implications for reducingwaste and decreasing the carbonfootprint for PET packaging.” A pi-lot line is running in BowlingGreen,Ohio, with installation of thefirst production line scheduled forearly 2009. Brady plans to license

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the system worldwide and expectsto have 25 operations runningwith-in three years—for a total process-ing of some 200 million pounds ofPET annually. “The breakthroughwas our patent, which recognizesthat reducing particle size allows thedecontamination and purificationto proceed exponentially faster as afunction of particle size,” he says.“One engineering challenge wefaced was using a powder instead ofa pellet, which is the industry stan-dard. We solved that by agglomer-ating the powder into a pellet formthat dries and heats like a powderbut handles like a pellet for shippingand processing. A second engi-

Chris Crowley Th’75

Tom Brady ’66 Th’68 iscommercializing a newtechnique for recyclingplastic bottles.

HOT PRODUCTFreeman Ford ’63developed a DIY solarwater system for hiscompany, FAFCO.ed


into its constituentparts, oxygenandhydrogen, and the controlling of theH2 output to power or increase theefficiency of an engine or motor.There are some currently in opera-tion. Then there is BlackLight Pow-er’s power source that extracts heatfrom themanipulationof thehydro-gen atom to a fractional quantumstate. Both 1- and 50-kilowatt unitshave been validated by an outsidelab. The only input is water. Further,there’s the employment of “negativeenergy.” These new means of pro-ducing energy will power our worldin the future.

—Ken Carpenter ’48 TT’50

I’m nominating the open-dredgedcaissons under the piers of theHueyP. Long Bridge here inNewOrleans.This construction innovation is nowfairly widely used, but in 1930 mostcaisson piers were pneumaticallysunk to their founding. I’m now in-volved with widening that bridgewithout increasing the foundations,andambasingmyconfidenceon thefine geotechnical work done in the

The computer is by far themost im-pressive invention that I have seensince graduation.

—CharlieWeinberg ’42 Th’43

The spiral tunnels on the CanadianPacific Railwaynear Lake Louise. Togain elevation, it makes two com-plete circles inside the mountain.

—Tom Streeter ’44 TT’48

Fly ash from large coal-burning elec-tric powerplants has the samechem-istry and uses as the volcanic ash theRomans used in their aqueducts.Mycompanymade a patented road basematerial from lime, fly ash, and var-ious aggregates called Pozzolanicroad base. It was a way to use prod-ucts that otherwise would have end-ed up in landfills. The patent onlime-fly ash road base material im-pressed me and had an effect on mylife in the 1960s.

—Craig J. Cain ’45 Th’45

What excitesmeare investigations ofelectromagnetic principles that per-mit low-energy electrolysis of water

1920s on the site by Karl Terzhagi.Bill Kimball, then an associate pro-fessor and eventually dean of theThayer School, was involved in theanalysis.Hewrote a finepaperon thegeotechnical aspects of the bridge.

—William B. Conway ’52 Th’54

The greatest engineering achieve-ment in my lifetime was Neil Arm-strong’s landingon themoonon July20, 1969 and safe return to Earth.The Internet is another. My view isbiased because of my 50-plus yearsin both the aviation and comput-ers/communications fields.

—Pete Knoke ’55 Th’56

The solid-state computer impressesme the most.When I was at Thayer,there was just one chapter in onebook that discussed transistors. Thatinvention made possible the inte-grated circuit, and that made pro-grammable computers possible.Throughout my career with theNavalResearchLaboratory and thenNASAGoddardSpaceFlightCenter,I used these developments to build

just one question�

Q. What invention or feat of engineering, from any timeperiod, impresses you the most?

The Cashew Nut Sheller, 1971

BEST INVENTIONSThe first line of the abstract saysit all: “A method and apparatusfor removing explosively thekernel of a cashew or similar nutfrom its shell while isolating thekernel from contamination.”—Solomon G. Diamond ’97 Th’98

neering challenge was that we nolonger melt-filtered the plastic toremove solid contamination. Wesolved that by demonstrating thatwhen hard contaminants are re-duced in size, theyno longer presentan issue for secondary processingand reuse.” For more information,visit plastictechnologies.com.

Zoe Courville Th’03, ’07 digs snow—specifically inAntarctica on a recentthree-month expedition to drillthrough twomiles of snow to collectatmospheric data from the past140,000 years. “From the ice coreyou can actually tell a whole bunchabout past climate and temperature,”Courville recently told the NewHampshire Union Leader. The self-proclaimed “snow freak” earnedherThayer Ph.D. in materials scienceand engineering, doing research onthe impact of snow accumulation inGreenland and East Antarctica.Nowa researchmechanical engineerat the U.S. Army Cold Regions Re-search and Engineering Laboratoryin Hanover, she works with mentorand adjunct Thayer professor MaryAlbert Th’84 on the effect of climatechange on the polar ice caps.

Zoe Courville Th’03, ’07

evermore capable telemetry systemsfor launch vehicles and satellites.

—RonMuller ’55 Th’56

My late husband, Gene White ’56,would agree with me that in all ouryears of living andworking in devel-oping countries, three inventionsstand out: the radio, the bicycle, andthe sewing machine. Never did weencounter a person who did notwant a radio or yearn for a bicycle ifall their travelwas by foot, donkey, orbus. Likewise, no one needed to beconvinced that a sewing machinewas a practical item!

—BetsyWhite (Mrs. GeneWhite ’56)

Velcro. Taking a look at nature andembodying the idea into auseful clo-sure is quite exceptional.

—Charlie Schneider ’57 TT’58

The steamengine in the 1800s. Itwasa power source that could be locat-ed anywhere and enabled society tomove away from oceans and rivers.

—Don Baker ’61 Th’62

GPS is my favorite. I have alwayslovedmaps, butGPSputsme into themap. It is a transformative invention.

—Bruce Johnson ’61 Th’62

Themost impressive engineering featthat I found during my engineeringcareer was four-color offset litho-graphic printing. The idea that onecan create a rainbow of color by put-tingdotsonapageusing just four col-ors is amazing. It is hard to believethatusingaphotographicplatewherethe desired patterns are hydrophobicand attract ink, but the rest of theplate is hydrophilic andkeptwetwitha slurry, lets one put ink on paper.Further, achieving registration withfour separate rollers at paper speedsofmore than 2,000 feet perminute isan accomplishment.

—Harris McKee ’61 Th’63

The production of a practical heli-

copter by Igor Sikorsky in 1939 led tothemulti-billiondollar industry serv-ing societal and defense needsthroughout the world.

—David O. Smith ’61 Th’62

TheBoeing 747. It’s amazing it couldget off the ground.

—Frank Barber ’62

Has to be the Archimedes screw. Itsimpact on agriculture in the EasternMediterranean from 300 B.C. untilthe full development of Europe isonly outweighedby thedevelopmentof fasteners in the Industrial Age.

—Bill Reilly ’67

My joint entry: airplanes and air con-ditioning. They allowed the full civ-ilization of Florida and California. Iguess you also have to tip your hat tothe integrated circuit; most of its ef-fects are invisible but also every-where around us.

—Peter Fahey ’68 Th’69

The hybrid-electric drive train forvehicles, because it allows for recy-cling of energy. This may savemankind from itself. If cold fusionever works, I’ll change my vote.

—Chris Yule ’70

Underwater concrete pylons forbridges.

—Larry Lewis ’71

The Great Pyramid of Giza.—Stephen Flanders Th’73

The photographic camera. Photospreserve today’s events as well asevents of billions of years ago fromthe farthest reaches of the universe.Photos can evoke profound emo-tions, making the camera the great-est emotionally related invention,just ahead of the phonograph.

—Steve Arcone Th’77

Favorite of all time:Wright brothers.Newest favorite: Stanley Williams,

Hewlett Packard researcher leadingthe team that discovered the mem-ristor, a fundamental physical com-ponent that interacts with electricityin a unique, non-linearway. Ifmem-ristors can be developed, they mayunlock a whole new generation ofelectronics.

—George Eger ’77

There is no more important humanoccupation than farming.Andnoth-ing has done more to make agricul-ture possible than the humble hoe.Even themostmodern and sophisti-cated of agricultural plows are noth-ing more than a large-scale hoe.

—Nelson Valverde ’77

Watermills andwindmills are simpleand require little tech to deliver lo-cal power.

—Knud Eric Engelsted ’78

A case can bemade for the Brown&Sharpe universal milling machine.While you don’t see them aroundanymore, the B&S universal per-formed an astounding array ofwork.It could make virtually anymachinepart or tool—and all motion wascontrolled mechanically.

—SteveWyckoff ’78 Th’79

In aviation, I’d have to say the SR-71Blackbird. It had stealth in the early1960s, and nothing has been donesince that performs anywherenear it.Charles Babbage’s calculating ma-chine is another “ahead of the rest”invention. He couldn’t get it to workbecause machining wasn’t accurateenough in the day, but someone re-cently built one and it worked.

—Richard Akerboom ’80 Th’82, ’85

The Panama Canal was a huge proj-ect but brilliant in its simplicity. In itsday, the lake thatwas created (Gatun)was the largest ever. The above-sea-level lake reduced the excavationfromabout 50miles toonly about 10,Many of the large earth-movers we

take for granted today were devel-oped specifically for theGalliard cut.The controlsmanaging thewater andlocks stand basically unchanged foralmost a hundred years, and gravitybasically powers the entire operation.I am biased, as I’m from the formerU.S. Panama Canal Zone.

—William Hale ’80 Th’93

While a graduate student at ThayerSchool during the early 1980s, I wasgiven access to the ARPAnet, the be-ginning of the Internet.

—John Hoh ’81 Th’82, ’84

The Internet will be no less impor-tant than the invention of the print-ing press.

—KimQuirk ’82 Th’83

The Panama Canal—first use ofmass-poured concrete among otherfirsts, and an incredible feat of con-struction logistics to implement anexcellent engineering idea (don’tbuild a sea-level canal, as the Frenchtried to do, but build a lake and twosets of locks). It remains an engi-neering marvel for the ages.

—Mike A. Adams ’83

The Wright brothers’ airplane andfirst successful flight. I am biased,having gotten my commercial pilotlicense from the Lebanon airportwhile studying at Thayer. (Now as aspresident of Performance MotionDevices, in Lincoln, Mass., I’m toobusy to get in much flying.)

—GregWoods Th’83

The invention of semiconductorsimpresses me most. These are criti-cal to computers, iPods, cell phones,and even today’s automobiles.

—Mark Jones ’84 Th’85

The gramophone.—Alex Hartov Th’88

My favorite invention of all times isthe cell phone. I remember my joy


BEST INVENTIONSThe steam engine in the 1800s. It wasa power source that could be locatedanywhere and enabled society tomove away from oceans and rivers.

—Don Baker ’61 Th’62

Alumni News


when wireless phones came about.Freedomfromthe cord!Most impor-tant invention of all times, though—ACelectricity: home-delivered and itpowers everything (includingmycellphone).

—Doris Martínez Th’91

The wheel.—DuncanMcElroy ’91

The Toyota production system hasinspired much of my work duringthe last 15 years. It is the most effec-tive system of production devised inhuman history, and is being emulat-ed by organizations worldwide. Theconcepts behind the systemseem fullof paradoxes, yet when they work inconcert, they create a powerful, self-managing, ever-improving system.

—Durward K. Sobek II ’91

I am impressed by the Thermos. Ifyou put something hot in it, it keepsit hot. If youput something cold in it,it keeps it cold. How does it know?

—Erik Bliss ’92

Cochlear implants let deaf kids growup listening and talking, and givesadults who lose their hearing theability to retain their relationshipsand productivity! I’ve devoted mycareer to this technology, first as anaudiologist, then academic re-searcher, and now strategist for theleadingmanufacturer of implantablehearing solutions.

—Kevin Franck ’92

Most of us could not do our jobswithout our computer. It has becomethe most central tool of our lives.

—Annie Kaskade ’92

While reading my 4-year-old son abook on the first moon landing, Iwas struck with how amazing it wasto engineer the equipment that car-ried people to the surface of themoon and safely back to Earth forthe first time. In addition toworking

in uncharted territory, the engineershad a tight time frame and didn’thave access to the computing pow-er that exists today.

—Laura Iwan ’93 Th’94

The Golden Gate Bridge.—Keith Lenden ’95 Th’95

Space travel was and still is an amaz-ing feat. And the Apollo spacecrafthad less computing power than mycell phone.

—Vic Almgren ’94 Th’96

U.S. Patent No. 3,605,843 (1971):Cashewnut sheller. Inventors: Thay-er adjunct professor Robert C. DeanJr. and Richard W. Couch Jr. ’64Th’65. The first line of the abstractsays it all: “A method and apparatusfor removing explosively the kernelof a cashew or similar nut from itsshell while isolating the kernel fromcontamination.”

—Solomon G. Diamond ’97 Th’98

Uniform screw threads that are easyto manufacture and validate. Thesedidn’t exist in theUnitedStates before1864. I grewup taking thebasic engi-neering infrastructure for granted,that we can all go to the hardwarestore and get nuts and bolts in orderto fasten two objects together. No re-search required! How I wish we hadsuch a technology base for biology!

—Drew Endy Th’98

The boat is the most important in-vention ever created. (I’mbiased, be-cause my Thayer M.S. thesisinvolved fluid simulation of anAmerica’s Cup yacht for ProfessorHorst Richter.) The boat allowedhu-mans to reachAustralia 40,000 yearsago, spreaddown the coasts ofNorthandSouthAmerica 13,000 years ago,and colonize the Polynesian Islands5,000 years ago. The shipping tradein theMediterranean Sea supportedthe rise of theGreek andRomanCiv-ilizations. The global economy start-

ed with European explorers in sail-ing ships. Thebulkof trade goods arestill carried in ships.

—JoeMcInerney Th’99

The plow enabled man to start cul-tivation, which led to civilization.

—Holden Chi Hoon Lee ’00 Th’01

My favorite invention is the person-al computer. My second favorite isthe jet airplane. The two together al-low me to live, work, and play any-where in the world I want.

—Will Schoen ’00

The original Ferris wheel was de-signed and built in 1893. The size ofthe wheel impresses me—264 feethigh, weighing more than 2 millionpounds, and able to carry 2,160 peo-ple at one time. People marveled athowsuchadelicate-looking structurecould be so strong and not waver ineven gale force winds that tore apartthe roofs of buildings and otherstructures during the fair.

—Lauren Scopaz ’00

The total knee replacement.—Derek R. Jenkins ’02 DMS’06

As a feat of imaginative engineering:Tarski’s undefinability theorem of1936 on the limits of truth. For ele-gance and usefulness: solar waterdisinfection (SODIS), developed byMartin Wegelin in the early 1990s.My personal favorite: nature’s evolu-tionary engineering of a tree. It is amasterpiece of simple thermody-namic efficiency, and energy degra-dation.

—Daniel Bilar Th’03

I am amazed at large structures likeskyscrapers and huge planes. On asmaller note, the iPhone is prettyamazing, too.

—BrianMason ’03 Th’04, ’05

Airplanes. Every time I am in ametaltubewithwings Ican’thelpbut to look

out thewindowandmarvel athowweevermanaged tomake this happen.

—Peter Rice ’05 Th’06

I am glad Johannes Gutenberg in-vented the printing press. Paper, giv-en to us by the Chinese, is one of themost important inventions.

—Subha Srinivasan Th’05

A windmill built byWilliam Kamk-wamba, when he was 14, to powertwo light bulbs and a radio for hisfamily of 20 in the remote village ofMalawi,Africa.Hebuilt it by readinga physics book! See africanleadershipacadmy.org/site/about/students/studentprofiles/williamkamkwamba.html.

—Afua Amoah Th’06

My favorite invention is air condi-tioning.Without it, there are a lot ofplaces we couldn’t comfortably live.

—Glenn T. Nofsinger Th’06

One recent invention caught my at-tention: Last week people broadcasta football game live, in 3-D.

—Trinell Ball Th’07

I’d go with the Internet. It has revo-lutionized how we communicate,work, shop, bank, learn, teach, etc.

—Thach Bui Th’07

Apollo 11 and the Panama Canal.—Juan Pablo Fernández Th’07

The bicycle. The design of modernbicycles is so simple that it is beau-tiful. Every part of a bike—theframe, crank, crank arms, brakes—has a function that is integral to itsuse. The simplemechanics allow fora robustness and reliability that veryfewother inventions can achieve. Bi-cycles made 30 years ago are stillused daily with onlyminimalmain-tenance. Computers, cell phones,and even cars, become obsoleteevery five years.

—Calvin D. Krishen Th’07

BEST INVENTIONSMy favorite invention of all times is thecell phone. I remember my joy whenwireless phones came about. Freedomfrom the cord!

—Doris Martínez Th’91


COURTESYOFDANMALW

ITZ

Alumni News

1950sLenNeely ’56: I retired froma career inmainframe data processing (pro-gramming, systems analysis andde-sign) in 1995. I do not considermyself to be an engineer since Iworked in related areas and mayhave used engineering approachesto work. And I did not completemymaster’s work at Thayer School. Nowork going on except to handle thehealth issues associatedwith being asenior citizen!Charlie Schneider ’57 TT’58: I have beenretired 12 years now. I did not usemy Tuck-Thayer skills in engi-neering directly. Started as a salesengineer and moved into manage-ment. Always appreciated engi-neering work/results and how theyhave been used to better our lives.

1960sFrank Barber ’62: I’m semi-retired toGolden, Colo., enjoying its moun-tains, now covered with snow.JohnWalkup ’62 Th’63: In 1998 I retiredfrom my position on the faculty atTexas Tech University and my wife,Pat, and I returned to the San Fran-cisco Bay Area in 1999. We had metand married out here when I was agraduate student at Stanford after Ileft Thayer in 1963. Since our returnwe have been directing aministry touniversity professors atUCBerkeley,Stanford, UC Davis, and San JoseState University. It is called FacultyCommonsand is the facultyministryofCampusCrusade forChrist, Inter-national, an evangelical but nonde-nominational ministry. I organizefellowship groups for Christian pro-fessors at all of these universities.While it’s true thatmany of the engi-neering professors I work with areengaged in energy research,my timeis spent on encouraging them spiri-

tually and helping them integratetheir faith and their academic disci-pline.The latter canbeachallenge, asyou might expect. Looking back onmy Dartmouth/Thayer educations,my graduate work at Stanford, andmy career at Texas Tech, I can onlysay howmuch I appreciate the broadliberal arts education I received atDartmouth.Asyoumightexpect, I’mreally anetworkerandpeopleperson.AtDartmouth I learned to thinkcrit-ically and takeabigpicture lookat lifeas well as at engineering. This hasbeen invaluable tome,both inmyca-reer and now in ourministry.Robert Dalrymple ’67: I’m with the de-partment of civil engineering atJohns Hopkins University. Rightnow I amworking on theU.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers’ efforts on pro-vidinghurricaneprotection to southLouisiana, water waves propagatingover mud, and numerical modelingof breaking waves.

1970sDanMalwitz ’77: I haveworkedatMoogInc. nearBuffalo,N.Y., for thepast 15years. Right now I am designing theupper-stage thrust vector control ac-tuator for NASA’s Ares I spacecraft.This is the crew launch vehicle thatwill replace the space shuttle. Moogis a fun place to work; seven hoursfromHanover and two fromToron-to. The space and defense group,where Iwork, currentlyhas 25open-ings for mechanical, electrical, proj-ect, and systems engineers at variousexperience levels. I have had a greatengineering career since leavingDartmouth: Five years at Split Ball-bearing inLebanon,N.H., designingball and roller bearings; two years atLockheed Electronics in Plainfield,N.J., designing antenna structures;and eight years atContraves inPitts-

burgh, Pa., designing motion simu-lators and telescope structures.While at Contraves I designed the50,000-pound payload crew sta-tion/turretmotionbase simulator forthe U.S. Army Tank AutomotiveCommand in Warren, Mich. I alsodesigned the primary mirror sup-port system for the AEOS 3.67-me-ter telescope that is now atopMountHaleakala, Hawaii (see page 11).Here atMoog I designed the electricflight simulator actuators thatFlight-Safety is now using. I have been for-tunate to be able to apply myGod-given design abilities that wereawakened at Dartmouth. Andreaand Ihavebeenmarried for 29years.We have two great children: Sarah,whowithhusbandScott has our firstgrandchild, Haley; and Daniel, whois a freshman at Gordon College.Nelson Valverde ’77: As my third suc-cessful career (after international fi-nance and Internet service), I amcurrently enjoying bringing to thedeveloped world the novelty andpleasure ofBolivian coffees.Visitmywebsite, invalsa.com, for details.

1980sJayHole ’81Th’82: At present I have twojobs. I’m helping another ’81 engi-neering major, Toby Reiley, start anew company offering financialservices to automotive dealers. Theoffering is an innovativeway to allowa small segment of the deep sub-primemarket topurchaseusedvehi-cles that is beneficial to the buyersand the dealers.My “day job” is withChemPak International LLC, a verysmall chemical company that doesspecialty packaging of specialtychemicals, mostly polymerizationinhibitors, catalysts, and pigments. Iwork across the spectrum butmost-ly on procurement/supply chain,

quality, operations, and strategy. Pri-or to ChemPak International LLC, Ihad an entrepreneurial “learning ex-perience” with a company trying tomake ethanol from waste liquids,primarily beverages. The start-up,management, and technical teamgrosslyunderestimated the complex-ity of the operation, particularly asrelated to fermentation and wastetreatment/disposal.Greg Woods Th’83: I am president ofPerformanceMotion Devices (pmdcorp.com). PMD has some veryunique intellectual property that es-sentially puts a high-performancemotion controller on a chip. Thechips are marketed to high-volumeoriginal equipment manufacturers,primarily in the life sciences andother high-tech markets where thecustomer is looking to develop hisownmachine control, such as bloodanalyzers, semiconductor fabrica-tion, energy technology, defense, etc.I’m proud to report that my sonChris was just admitted to theDart-mouth class of 2013! That will getme back up to the campusmore fre-quently over the next four years.

thayer notes�


Sean Hogan ’88: I started my career inenvironmental and waste manage-ment, developingwaste to energy fa-cilities. During that time I spokeseveral times to Lee Lynd’s environ-mental engineering classes, which Ialways enjoyed. Currently I work atIBM on health care-related topicsand the transformation that needs totake place in our health system tomake itmore cost effective.We havebeen doing some groundbreakingwork in these areas—fromtheGeno-graphic Project with National Geo-graphic to pandemic response—andin consumer activation as an impor-tant factor in improving the systemand individual well-being.

2000sLauren Scopaz ’00: I graduated fromHarvard Business School in June2007 (with fellow Dartmouth engi-neer BrianNickerson ’00), have workedat the Harlem Children’s Zone, anonprofit in N.Y.C. since then, andgot married in September 2008.Erik Dambach ’04 Th’05: I just complet-edmyM.S. from Purdue Universityin aeronautics and astronautics. I amnow working on my fifth and finaldegree, my Ph.D. at Purdue. I havehad a great time designing and test-ing rocket engines. This past sum-mer I worked at Edwards Air ForceBase testing advanced fuels in thehigh desert of southern California.And I look forward to playing witheven more fire over the next twoyears as I work on my Ph.D., inves-tigating new non-toxic (or at leastless toxic) propellants.Daniel Hassouni ’05 Th’05: I completedmy first marathon—the SunTrustNational Marathon in Washington,D.C.—in 3:11:46 as amember of theLeukemia and Lymphoma Society’sTeam in Training. In the process Iraised $5,608 to help in the fightagainst blood cancers. The group of53 runners that made up Team inTraining’s squad for this race sur-passed $150,000!

Subha Srinivasan Th’05: I love workingat the interface of math and engi-neering.When I amnot involved inimplementing some numerical for-mulation or computing in 3-D forimaging, you will find me in a yogaclass ormy studio at homedoing sunsalutations or tai-chi or dancing toMiddleEasternmusic.Music,move-ment, and books are my passions.AfuaAmoahTh’06: A little aboutmy lifeafter Thayer: I moved to New YorkCity and worked with BlackRockfor two years. Currently, I am pur-suing a Duke M.B.A. I have a long-term goal of using my engineeringandM.B.A. experiences to establisha mechanized farming industry inAfrica, which will allow people toget better access to food.Hannah Murnen ’06: I’m working withbio-inspired polymers (mimickingproteins) in the area of biomineral-ization. I’magraduate student atUCBerkeley in the chemical engineeringdepartment. My advisor is Dr.Rachel Segalman, and my projectuses synthetic molecules to mimicthe behavior of proteins. The endgoal is touse these synthetic proteinsto catalyze the growth of inorganiccrystals intodesired shapes andmor-phologies so that they canbeutilizedforoptoelectronic applications (pho-tovoltaics, semiconductors, etc). I’llbe here for about four more years.Right now I’m thinking that I’d liketo go into academia at the end of it,but that’s a long ways off!Glenn T. Nofsinger Th’06: This May I re-located toHonolulu,Hawaii, takinga position with BAE Systems asprinciple scientist. I’m helping thedevelopment of image processingalgorithms. Life on the island isgreat, and Imanaged to find aDart-mouth alumni club in Honolulu.Peter Rice Th’06: I am still working atAlarm.com with Colin Murray’04 Th’05and Colin Ulen Th’05 from Thayer andam expecting to pick up a few moreThayer grads in the near future. Inmy personal life: Betsy ’06, my wife,

and I welcomed our own little engi-neering project into the world onJuly 16, 2008: Samuel Bartlett. Heloves spitting up on his ThayerSchool bib, which I picked up whileon campus for recruiting, and hasshown an interest lately in bridges.Rui “Anny” Zhang Th’07: Both life andwork are good here in upstate NewYork, though cold recently. Thayer’sengineering educations, especiallythe practical skills I acquired in theM.E.M. program, greatly helpedmein the real-lifework. I amworking inthe marketing group with IndiumCorp. of America in upstate NewYork (indium.com). I like my joband the company a lot.

OBITUARIESJohn Fondahl ’47 Th’48, 83, a world-renowned expert on the criticalpath method for constructionmanagement, died September 13,2008. During World War II hejoined the Marines, serving in thePacific theater. After working forthe American Bridge Co. in Pitts-burg, Pa., teaching civil engineeringat the University of Hawaii, andworking as project engineer onCal-ifornia’s Nimbus Dam, he became aprofessor of civil engineering atStanford in 1955. He taught therefor 35 years, co-founded its con-struction management program,and served as the first Charles H.Leavell Professor of Civil Engi-neering. He taught constructionmanagement courses all over theworld, founded the ProjectManage-ment Institute, and served as presi-dent of the Construction DataSystems Corp. He received theGolden Beaver Award for HeavyEngineering Construction in 1975,was elected to the National Acade-my of Engineering in 1993, and totheNational AcademyofConstruc-tion in 2001. He is survived by hiswife of 62 years, Doris; daughtersLauren,Gail,Meredith, andDorian;and three grandchildren.

Robert E. Koski ’51, 79, died October11, 2008. After graduation, hemoved to Sarasota, Fla., and in 1970co-founded SunHydraulics, a lead-ing designer and manufacturer ofhigh-performance screw-in hy-draulic cartridge valves and mani-folds that control force, speed andmotion as integral components influid power systems. TheAmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers,honored him when it inauguratedthe Robert E. Koski Medal to “rec-ognize individuals who have ad-vanced the art and practice of fluidpower motion and control througheducation and innovation.” In 1992he was awarded the Joseph BramahMedal by the Institution ofMechan-ical Engineers for his “contributionto the resurgence of interest in flu-id power in theU.S.A. and beyond.”Case studies of his horizontalmanagement approach at Sun Hy-draulics led to his participation inprograms at Tuck Business Schooland Harvard Business School. Sur-vivors include his wife of 53 years,Beverly; children Christine, Robertandwife Tomeika, andThomas andwife Sherry; six grandchildren; andfive great-grandchildren.

Gene F.White ’56 died June 17, 2008 athis home in Berkeley, Calif., afterbattling leukemia. Having earned aB.S.C.E. from theUniversity ofDen-ver in 1957, he was a civil engineerspecializing in water resources andirrigation in Asia and Africa. Heserved in theU.S. Army in 1957 andwas a PeaceCorps volunteer in Pak-istan. He began skiing and climbingmountains as a teenager and had alifetime list of 1,320 ascents, includ-ing several first ascents in Pakistanand Canada. His work and moun-taineering took him to 60 countries.He spokeFrench, Indonesian, Push-to, and Urdu. He is survived byBetsy, his wife of 48 years; childrenEric, Greg, and Laura; and fourgrandchildren.

IN THEMOOGDanMalwitz ’77 is designing the upper-stage thrust vector control actuator forNASA’s Ares I spacecraft, the crew launchvehicle that will replace the space shuttle.

Dartmouth Engineer is online!dartmouthengineer.com

inventions

INTRA-AORTICBALLOON PUMP

A dynamic duo for solving prob-lems of engineering in medicine,Thayer professor ArthurKantrowitz and his brotherAdrian learned early on thatArthur’s passion for physics andAdrian’s interest in medicine

LIFESAVERSThe Kantrowitz brothers,Adrian, left, and Arthur,right, helped heart patients.

could combine into a powerfulforce for innovation.

As kids they built an electro-cardiograph machine out of oldradio parts, and later—whenAdrian became a doctor andArthur a professor of engineer-ing physics—they paved the wayfor open-heart surgery withtheir early version of a heart-lung machine. Their projectstogether continued from there.They developed a left ventricu-lar assist device, introduced

electrical stimulation of para-lyzed muscles, pioneered theimplantable pacemaker, andinvented the intra-aortic bal-loon pump (IABP).

The IABP is a small balloonthat fits in the aorta and counter-pulsates with the heart. Thisaction both decreases myocardialoxygen demand and increasesmyocardial oxygen supply. Acomputer controls the flow ofhelium into and out of the bal-loon. Helium is used because its

low viscosity allows it to travelquickly through the long con-necting tubes and lowers the riskof rupturing the balloon andcausing a harmful embolism.

The IABP is credited withsaving hundreds of thousands oflives. The device was used onArthur himself to ease theeffects of heart failure during hisfinal hours. Both brothers diedin November 2008, just 15 daysapart.

—Catharine Lamm

>> INVENTORS:PROFESSOR ARTHURKANTROWITZ ANDDR. ADRIAN KANTROWITZ

PHOTO

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PHBY

RALPHMORSE/TIME&LIFE

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Master of Engineering Management (M.E.M.)students gathered in Jackson Conference Room at

the end of Fall Term for the annual M.E.M.Mugging Ceremony. A yearly ritual since 2005, theMugging Ceremony marks the end of the 18-

month degree program. Why mugging? Becauseeach graduate receives a special M.E.M. coffee

mug. “They’re going off into the workforce. They’llneed a coffee mug,” says Ross Gortner, assistantdirector of the M.E.M. program who earned hisown Thayer M.E.M. degree in 2004. And since

some grads won’t make it back to campus in Junefor Commencement, “the party is a chance foreveryone to get together and say goodbye,” saysGortner, shown crouching in the photo. Despitethe weak economy, 16 of the 40 class membersare heading right into jobs at Boeing, Eaton,General Mills, McKinsey, Microsoft, and othercorporations. The rest expect to find company

desks for their coffee mugs within six months. TheM.E.M. program is directed by Thayer ProfessorRobert Graves, pictured on the left, and Tuck

Professor Kenneth Baker, right.

RANDOM WALK

THAYER SCHOOL OF ENGINEERINGDARTMOUTH COLLEGE8000 CUMMINGS HALLHANOVER, NH 03755-8000

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