Thayer School

The Boston meeting of the Dartmouth Society of Engineers was held at the Engineers Club, Prudential Center, Wednesday evening, October 28. Twenty-four alumni and faculty were in attendance, exceeding by one, I am told, the attendance at the New York meeting held earlier in the month. In addition to Dean Ragone, who was the speaker of the evening, the faculty was represented by Ed Brown '35, Des Canavan, Carl Long, and, if Emeriti count, Bill Kimball '29. Dean Ragone's talk on the state of the School and on his thoughts for future directions and development was interesting and informative and brought forth a number of questions which he fielded with his usual skill and directness.

An announcement has been received of the award of the Air Medal for air action in Thailand to U. S. Air Force Captain WardHindman '6B. The award cited "his outstanding airmanship and courage on successful and important missions completed under hazardous conditions." Ward was at the time an F-105 Thunderchief fighterbomber pilot at Takhlin Royal Air Force Base and also performed duties as deputy director of information for the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing.

Two members of the Thayer School faculty serve on the U. S. Department of Commerce's Technical Advisory Board Panel on Housing Technology: Dean Ragone who is chairman of the Panel and Adjunct Professor Fred Hooven. Last month's column mentioned the fact that the 1970 ES-21 project is directed toward the housing problem. The Board of Review met on October 21 to hear proposals of the student "companies." Alumni members of the Board are Prof. Russ Stearns '38, course director, Bill Davis TT'50 who is Manager of Corporate Product Development for the Stanley Works, and your correspondent. In addition to Dean Ragone and Prof. Bob Dean, the Board also includes Neil Mitchell, principal of a housing firm in Cambridge, and Herb Campman, director of corporate independent research and development for Sanders Associates. Lansing Reed '48, a welcome addition to the Hanover scene who is in charge of corporate relations for the College's Office of Development, also attended the meeting of the Board.

Bill Davis reports that classmate Neil Jorgensen EE'50 has recently been promoted to Vice President of the National Cash Register Co. in Dayton, Ohio.

Philip H. Kitfield '21 retired as chief engineer of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works in 1952. If this news seems a bit outdated, it may be further noted that he retired as chief engineer of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority in 1970. On the occasion of his second retirement, after completion of the Turnpike, he was again hailed and this time received an official commendation and scroll from Governor Sargent at the annual meeting of the underwriters of the Turnpike Authority held at the Gateway Center in Newton. His citation expressed the thanks of the Commonwealth for the major contribution he had made to the state's highway building program.

Frederic A. (Rick) Davidson Jr.,CE'41, has resigned his position as Director of Public Works for New York City to return to his former company, this time as a partner in the architect-engineer firm of Eggers and Higgins in that city. He and his father Fred Davidson '15 and your correspondent may not have been the only Thayer alumni at the Yale game in October, but they were the only ones I saw.

Announcement has been made of the appointment of Malcolm Corner '44 as contracting manager-Midwest for U. S. Steel's new department, USS Architectural Products, which furnishes and installs curtain walls on the exteriors of high-rise office buildings, commercial buildings, shopping centers and educational structures.

After a brief vacation on the west coast, Chuck Klimmek '70 spent about four months with the Eli Lilly Co. in Indianapolis before reporting last month to Newport News where he entered the Navy's CEC Officer Candidate School.

Chris Hu '70 wrote during the fall to Professor Converse about his work with the Environmental Control Section of the Esso Research and Engineering Company. After a couple of months with this section in New Jersey, Chris was "loaned" for six months to the Humble Oil Refinery in Baton Rouge for the purpose of working on an extensive study of water usage to minimize the volume of waste water prior to secondary treatment. A brief quote from his most interesting letter: "Many of us used to joke about Thayer School's concern for social relevance but it isn't funny when you've seen people (graduates of other engineering schools, ed.) who aren't concerned with the effects of the technology they are helping to propagate."

To paraphrase a TV reporter, ''And that's the way it is" in 1970. Till 1971, then, Season's Greetings from the faculty to the alumni.