Thayer School
Before, during and after the busy holiday season, several members of the Thayer School staff were involved in business and professional activities which bear little resemblance to the professor's ivory tower. Jim Browning, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has established a company whose business is investigation, research and development work. Jim and his staff, presently numbering two, have set up business in headquarters located on Route 5 just south of Norwich and are already conducting two major projects under contract with industrial firms.
Director of Research Millett Morgan and Huntington Curtis, assistant professor of electrical engineering, attended a meeting of URSI in Gainesville, Fla., in mid-December, at which Professor Morgan reported the results of experiments in audio-frequency radio signals such as "whistlers" which have been carried out between stations established in New Zealand and Alaska. The northern ter- minus of this research project was established by Professor Curtis on a trip to Unalaska last August and September. A more complete report of the experimental work which Professors Morgan and Curtis have been conducting was printed in the January ALUMNI MAGAZINE which inadvertently omitted to indicate the important role played by Professor Curtis. The meetings at Gainesville were also attended by Cutting Johnson DC'33 and Blanchard Pratt EE'51, research associates at the Thayer School.
On the return trip from Florida, Professor Morgan attended a session of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science where he presented a report on the proposed program on the ionosphere for the International Geophysical Year.
Joe Ermenc, professor o£ mechanical engineering, attended a week-long Nuclear Engineering and Science Congress and International Atomic Exposition in Cleveland early in December. The conference and exposition were arranged by Engineers Joint Council representing twenty-six cooperating engineering and scientific professional societies.
Early last month Chi-Neng Shen, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, escorted the second-year mechanicals and Tuck-Thayers to Boston where they viewed the annual exhibit of the Instrument Society of America.
The writer and all members of the faculty are grateful for all the season's greetings which were received during December from many friends and alumni. The display of cards in the Main Office added a festive note to that otherwise severe facility.
Jamie Thomas '41 writes that he and Dee Anne have recently changed their home from New Jersey to Florida where Jamie has been appointed Director of Purchasing for the Minute Maid Corporation of Plymouth, Fla. Their new home address is 1950 Legion Drive, Winter Park. In spite of moving south, they expect to be back in Hanover for "their fifteenth in June.
Professor Ed Brown received a long letter from John Scoville CE'55 some time ago reporting on his life as a civilian engineer with the Ohio Oil Company in Robinson, Ill., and reporting his change of occupation and employer as of his selective service induction date, November 7. John hoped to be assigned to the Army and Camp Carson for a couple of years of skiing but we haven't heard whether this is working out or not.
An attractive Spanish Christmas card from Steve Olko CE'47 reports that he is back in this country having completed his two-year assignment on the Spanish Air Bases.
The names on the letterhead of Norman's Wholesale Grocery Company of Bloomingdale, N. Y., are J. L. Curran and A. F. Neiderbuhl, the latter being none other than ArtNeiderbuhl TT'49 who enclosed a snapshot of his charming wife and the four small Neiderbuhls.
Peg and Ed Bergethon ME'48 have returned to Hancock, N. H., with their family and Ed has returned to his former company, New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc., as Vice President for Engineering. Congratulations to Ed and it's good to have these people closer to Hanover again.
A Christmas card from Jim Holway EE'48 reports that he and Mrs. Holway have taken up residence in the desert while Jim, serving a two-year hitch in the Army, is working on research and development for guided missiles. He reports that the desert's color isn't up to par with New England's, "that they haven't had a sand storm yet and that he was in the same car pool with Jack Morgan ME'54."
A very attractive greeting card from Private Kisuk Cheung CE'54 traveled the farthest to reach us at Thayer School and I quote: "The engineering work here is still interesting and good for refreshing class work at Thayer. I miss brisky Hanover winter. Tokyo weather is unpleasant and it has very high humidity." More technical advice came from Kisuk several months ago stating that the US Army had placed him in a design branch of the Central Command in Tokyo. Many former students of Professor John Minnich's will appreciate Kisuk's remark that "There is a civil engineer in here who reminds me much of good Prof. Minnich. He is constantly protesting against Japanese tendency to increase allowable working stresses of concrete, and trying to increase steel reinforcement in concrete."
The October issue of Highway magazine shows a picture of "Research Analyst N. C.Costes" CE'51 securing an undisturbed soil sample from the bottom of a 178-foot deep and 576-foot long highway fill on a new mountain highway in North Carolina.
An interesting brochure reached the School early this fall describing the firm of "International Engineers, specialists in overseas technical liaison." American headquarters are on Jenny Lane, Dayton, Ohio, and overseas headquarters at 6, Rue de la Corraterie, Geneva, Switzerland. The company is owned and operated by two partners, of whom Alan Jackson TT'53 is senior partner and in charge of the foreign office. Congratulations to Alan and his partner and best wishes for a successful enterprise.
Pauline and Hank Parker CE'47 and their two children have returned to this country after three years in Colombia where Hank was Resident Engineer on a highway construction project for Winston Brothers Company. The Parkers will be in Minneapolis where the home office of Winston Brothers is located. On his way from Cartagena to Minneapolis, Hank managed to spend a couple of hours in Hanover.
