Thayer School
With this issue, the fall term will have been completed, and the first contingent of engineering students will return from Jersey City and Tuskegee where they have been teaching and assisting young people less fortunate than they. These young Dartmouth students report a challenging and sobering experience; present plans call for a second group of students in New Jersey and Alabama for the winter term.
In December, the sophomore ES-21 students will report on their projects in the serious problem area of pollution. Here, also, the Engineering Science majors (some liberal arts students are also in the class) exhibit a concern over the basic social problem, as well as considerable motivation and self-education well beyond the level of their present expertise. The seven student companies are working on projects, of their choice, in solid waste handling and disposal including salvage, antipollution of water resources, and instruments for measuring air pollution and inspection.
Recent graduates will be saddened by the death of Steve MacVean '66 in Vietnam in early November. Steve had completed his M.E. degree at Thayer School, except for a few details, before leaving for service with the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer. His degree will be awarded posthumously. Thayer School faculty and students have established a book fund in Steve's name, and his friends can make gifts in his memory to Mr. Allan Herrick, 101 Crosby Hall, Hanover, payable to Dartmouth College, noting that the gift is for the Stephen S. MacVean Memorial Fund.
Warren Daniell '50 reports that the Boston D.S.E. Meeting on October 29 was a fine get-together. Bill Kimball '29 gave the talk of the evening and Warren reports, "Bill did a fine job and made the evening a pleasure for us all." Bill has now completed his retirement from A.S.C.E. headquarters and the move back to Hanover. It's good to see the adjunct professor again in the halls of Cummings and at faculty meetings. Those attending the Boston meeting included: Al Doolittle '37, Charley Hitchcock '39, Paul Breck '43, Dick Rice '44, Phil Jackson '44, Bob Harvey '47, Rube Samuels '47, Al Wilson '47, Tom Barr '50, Gil Nelson '50, Warren Daniell '50, Walt Cairns '51, Paul Barnico '51, Harlan Fair '54, Bruce Johnson '62, Tom Jester '64, Duncan Hughes '65, Dick Wells '67, Rick Kornblum '68, Executive Officer Des Canavan, Acting Dean Bill Davis, and Prof. Tom Piatkowski.
We regret we do not have an attendance list for the New York D.S.E. meeting held earlier in October. Bob Barr '42 points out that Hugh McLaren '40 is Executive Director of Construction for the New York City Board of Education. If we combine Hugh's tremendous responsibilities with those of Rick Davidson '41 who is Mayor Lindsay's Commissioner of Public Works for New York City as Bob suggests, we note proudly that "these two Thayer alumni are in charge of construction projects exceeding several billions of dollars." Congratulations to Hugh and Rick.
Last spring the graduate course, Internship in Engineering, centered its attention on a design problem sponsored by the Foxboro Company, one of the Thayer School Industrial Partners. Bob Prescott '67, Research Associate at Foxboro, assisted several of the Thayer students on their projects. This close working relationship between industrial experts who present a problem they themselves are attending to solve and the interns is an essential part of the professional program at Thayer. We are grateful to Bob for his valuable assistance.
It was mentioned in an earlier column that Bill Davis '50 is acting in a liaison capacity between Thayer and the Stanley Works, an industrial partner. Two fifth-year, B.E. candidates, Clint Harris '70 and BillAllen '70 have started projects related to ocean engineering for Stanley, a positive follow-up to their ES-21, underwater projects of three years ago. Tim Hankins '63 writes from the University of California, San Diego, where he is a doctoral candidate in the field Qf radioastronomy. He states, "The discovery of pulsars last year has changed the motivation and direction of my part of the project somewhat, and has made it even more interesting. So far we haven't produced any good science, but we have the bugs in the system on the run, and should have some significant results on the solar wind, and perhaps on pulsars, soon."
Recent reports place Gershen Abraham'59 at Swingline, Inc. on Long Island as Quality Control Manager. He has been with Swingline almost since graduation. Harlan Fair '54 tells us that Tom Unkefer '54 is very busy in the Philadelphia construction business supervising the operations of Unkefer Bros. Construction Co. Harlan commutes to New York City and his responsibilities at the Cornell Medical Center. WadeBarnes '47 brought his family to Hanover and Thayer School last summer for, we believe, his first visit since graduation. Wade is with Chas. T. Main, Inc. in Boston tackling design and operational problems in the paper industry. Also last summer, Air Force Lieutenant Brian Patterson D'68 attended the Thayer Decision Theory course. He is stationed in Los Angeles with Headquarters, SAMSO (SMRD), U.S. Air Force.
