Thayer School
If this column appears to be a little more disorganized than usual for the next few months, it will be reflecting the condition of your correspondent in trying to acquaint and reacquaint himself with the men, materials, and machines of Thayer School after two years devoted largely to related but geographically separated activities. Without undue modesty, I can report that I completed my six-month appointment to the Federal bureaucracy early in July and officially returned to Thayer School in my professorial capacity September 1. Actually, I spent better than half of that unaccounted-for interval re-opening my Thayer School office and attending an Engineering Foundation-sponsored Conference on Urban Transportation Research and as soon as I send copy for this column to the editor I will take off for a one-week Conference on Linear Algebra in Engineering Curricula sponsored by the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics. But enough of me.
A quick weekend trip to Hanover almost, but not quite, enabled me to attend the nowannual Thayer Alumni luncheon at the Norwich Inn. Depending on somewhat inadequate sources, and with apologies for inadvertent omissions or additions, I can report a congenial gathering with several members of the faculty and an enthusiastic reception of Dean Tribus's description of "The Thaver School Today" by alumni and wives: Harriet and Chuck Ervin '38, Mary and BobEgelhoff '39, Jean and Charlie Hitchcock '39, Marjorie, Nancy, Linda and CharlieMain '39, Charlotte and Jack Avril '54, Mary and Jim Decker '54, Clark Griffiths'58, Jill and John McCloskey '59, DanO'Hara '59, Gretchen and Bill Tindal '59, Barbara and Herb Grant '60, and Priscilla and Fred Hart '60.
Professor Russ Stearns '38 continues on leave for the academic year and continues his association with the firm of Operations Research, Inc., in Silver Spring, Md. During the summer, presumably in search of warmer weather, Russ spent most of his time in Atlanta, Ga., on a systems analysis project for the Southern Railway.
Professor Joe Ermenc and family spent the summer in Davos, Switzerland, which Joe characterized as Shangri-La, and at the time of this writing are believed to be en route back to Thayer School where Joe is scheduled to resume teaching duties with the opening of College September 23.
A familiar and favorite figure is missing from the Thayer School scene this fall owing to the retirement of technician-teacher-raconteur Larry Goldthwaite after nearly twenty years of firm guidance and cheerful assistance to faculty and students.
The 1963-1964. Thayer School catalog presents a broad "over-view" of the School's instructional and research program which will be of keen interest to so many alumni that it is planned to send copies to all. Extra copies may, of course, be had for the asking.
Four new members of the teaching faculty are on the job this fall.
Associate Professor of Engineering Alvin O. Converse Ph.D. comes to us from Car- negie Institute of Technology and will teach courses in engineering analysis, optimiza- tion theory and application, and combustion instability and engage in research in solid propellants.
Associate Professor of Engineering Paul T. Shannon Ph.D., formerly in the Chem- ical Engineering Department at Purdue, will teach courses in thermodynamics, kinetics and applications of probability theory to en- gineering design. He will engage in research in the analysis of steady-state rate phe- nomena from the information theory view- point and in the dynamic behavior of mul- tiparticle systems. Paul is not a complete newcomer to Thayer School, having spent the spring and summer of 1962 as a visiting scholar while on leave from Purdue.
Assistant Professor of Engineering John W. Strohbehn Ph.D. has moved from coast to coast to join us from Stanford where he has been engaged in research. He will teach courses in circuit analysis and synthesis, linear systems, physical electronics, and information theory. He will also be associated with Dr. Millett Morgan in research.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Engineering Peter H. O. Roe has been lecturer in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. He will teach and conduct research in engineering analysis, electric circuits and linear systems.
Although Thayer School did not participate directly by offering courses in the Dartmouth Summer School of 1963, there were few if any livelier centers of activity on this campus.
Professor George Taylor, with the assistance of Martin Anderson '58 and Bill Woodson '57, offered for the eighth consecutive year his one-week course for industrial executives entitled "Guideposts for Executive Decision-Making."
Dean Tubus and Washington University's Professor of Physics E. T. Jaynes again presented their two-week course in "The Uses of Information Theory in Science and Engineering," enrolling some thirty people from industry and education.
Neil Drobny '63, now a candidate for the new Master of Engineering degree and holder of a Public Health Service fellowship, studied here during the summer under Dean Tribus, Professor Wallis, and Mr. Evans.
Research contracts and grants supported intensive activity throughout the summer in a wide variety of projects, ranging from the ionosphere through two-phase flow and plasmas to the supercooling of metals, under the direction of Professors Lees, Morgan, Colligan, Dean, Edgerton, Laaspere and Wallis. These projects provided summer employment for some dozen fifth-year Thayer students and nearly as many undergraduates and more advanced graduate students.
Although it's clear that I could fill this column every month with news of the School, I prefer to write about alumni activities. I'll start on my backlog of alumni news next month and hope you will keep me supplied with more items than I can use throughout the year. Also, take a few minutes - or a few days - to drop in at Thayer School when football, fall foliage, skiing, drama, art, a son in college or just a desire to know what's new in engineering brings you to Hanover.
