Thayer School

As those of you who visited Hanover this summer, or live,in the Northeast, know it has rained and rained and rained. For the hydrologists, try 3.8 inches in four hours in July. Hanover grass is very green but the golf course is soggy and water is seeping into many basements. This is being written in mid-August, for your reporter and his wife Lee will spend the first weeks of September in Europe. During this, our first trip there, we hope to visit the Doxiadis planning group (Ekistics) m Athens, and Professor Nervi of Leverone Field House fame in Rome. .

Bill Kimball '29 will retire from the ASCE headquarters staff on September 1 to return to Hanover and a much deserved period of fun and relaxation. Our most recent information is that Bill will be hard pressed to defend his free time in the face of requests for his services and counsel. Bill has been, during the past three years, traveling and speaking extensively to professional engineering organizations, societies, and universities, as well as developing the structure and program in engineering education for the American Society of Civil Engineers, in his office of Assistant Secretary.

Dean Myron Tribus returned from the Department of Commerce to Hanover for several days early in July to kick off his course, "Decision Analysis for Engineers and Scientists." It was good to hear Myron's voice again in Room 106. The main portion of the course was given by Professor of Engineering Barney Smith assisted by Professor of Engineering Paul Shannon. Paul's company in Hanover, Digital Systems Corp., continues to expand in projects under contract and personnel. One of Paul's engineers is Stan Gembicki '69, who received Thayer's Doctor of Engineering degree in June. We are very proud to report that, in addition to a sizable number of Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Engineering, and Master of Science degrees, the Thayer School awarded the following other doctorates: D.E. - Gary Grulick and JosephNwude; Ph.D. - Steve Clifford, RobertEvans, and Chang-Yao Wang.

Associate Professor of Engineering Richard Schile will join the Thayer School faculty on September 1, 1969. Dick is presently the Senior Materials Scientist, United Aircraft Research Laboratories. He received his Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering degree in 1953, the M.S. in Mechanics and Mathematics in 1957, and his Ph.D. degree in Mechanics in 1967, all from R.P.I. He was on the R.P.I, faculty at the University of Hartford from 1958 to 1960, following two years as an instructor at R.P.I. His teaching and research interests are in mechanics, materials, and mathematics, with current emphasis on composite materials.

Bob L. Smith, Professor of Civil Engineering at Kansas State University, will be a visiting Ford Fellow during the fall term, 1969. He will assist in the ES-21, Introduction to Engineering, course with the principal objective of developing a similar design project course following his return to K.S.U. Bob has been active in curriculum development at Kansas State and is an expert in transportation engineering.

The Thayer School faculty was active in several conferences and society meetings at the end of the academic year. Adjunct Prof. Bill Kimball presented a paper at the annual meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education at Penn State, titled, "Comments From the Profession and Technical Societies (On Four-Year Technology Programs)." At the same meeting Profs. Fred Manasse and Barney Smith discussed Dartmouth's Time-Shared Computer Facilities, and the extensive use of this computer system, on and off the campus, by college and secondary school students and faculty. Prof. Russ Stearns '38 participated in a workshop at the ASEE meeting on the subject of engineering design education. Profs. Bob Dean, Carl Long, Barney Smith, and Russ Stearns gave talks at a conference organized by Prof. Brian Quinn of the Tuck School on the subject of "Future Technologies and Industrial Development." We are pleased with the steady growth of interdisciplinary studies and conferences involving Thayer with other departments of the College.

During May, 1969 Prof. Millett Morgan attended the COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) Meeting in Prague and presented a paper written by Prof. Torn Laaspere and Millett, and two authors from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, dealing with VLF noise bands and OGO-4 spacecraft. Tom and Millett are continuing their previous research utilizing the OGO satellites with an experiment aboard OGO-6 which was launched into polar orbit June 5, 1969. While in Europe, Millett and Eleanor met Tim Ratner, E.S. '63 and his wife Ann at the opera in Wiesbaden, a happy coincidence. Tim is a captain in the Air Force stationed in Wiesbaden, and Ann is a program consultant for UNIVAC in Germany.

Nick Costes '5l is a Marshall Space Flight Center specialist who, as chief of the team for the lunar soil mechanics investigation, traveled from Huntsville, Ala. to Houston to observe and monitor the Apollo 11 lunar mission. Nick, in collaboration with several other U.S. soil mechanics experts, directed follow-on investigations at Houston's Lunar Receiving Lab to determine the Moon's soil and rock characteristics. Nick was also a key member of the group which designed and interpreted the digging and impact tests on the earlier unmanned lunar landing. Bill Davis '50 has visited Thayer School several times this year as the liaison for The Stanley Works with Thayer. Bill is Director of Research and Development for Stanley which has recently joined the Thayer Partners. He is particularly interested in the development of new products and processes, including low cost housing.