Thayer School
Stuart C. Clark, D'58: "In 1960 I was able to join a small group of engineers working on the temperature control problems of the inertial instruments developed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. I've stayed with the thermal game ever since.
"A curious fact is that the only formal training in heat transfer I've ever received was in the Thermodynamics course you taught me in 1957. I only earned a C+ at that! The ability to understand the fundamentals of a problem, find the required information in the literature, and apply the information correctly is the secret. My Dartmouth experience is largely responsible for my ability to do just this. Knowing one's way around the library helps get the research done more quickly. Knowing how to write a report and make a proper graph conveys the analytical results to others more effectively. These are things I first got into at Dartmouth, albeit, not very auspiciously. But the lessons stuck, though, and my modest A.B. seems to stand in good stead, even with the Ph.D.'s I've met.
"I have taken a number of courses at UCLA night school over the years in engineering math, systems analysis, controls, and digital computers. Familiarity with these subjects has helped me to apply the principles thereof to lumped parameter analogs of thermal systems and computer aided analyses, and to communicate with the systems oriented people I often work for.
"The last two years have not been easy, encompassing about seven months of unemployment. In fact, my current feeling is, that were I to return to school (and I'm continually considering the merits of this) I think I'd shoot for an MBA rather than an advanced engineering degree.
"Currently, however, things seem to be looking up. I've been working with Litton Industries on the Gas Chromatagraph/Mass Spectrometer (6 months ago I couldn't even say it) instrument for the 1975 Viking Mars Lander. The project is loaded with lots of lovely little thermal design problems. In addition, the caliber of the people I work with and the visibility of my efforts are such that the GC/MS is the most stimulating assignment I've ever experienced.
"The pot at the end of the rainbow is the establishment of sufficient reputation to support myself as an independent consultant. We'll see."
Joe Palermo Mech E'59: His wife writes:
"We returned a year or so ago from a 16-month stay in Pueblo, Mexico, where Joe was plant manager for Norton International (which makes grinding wheels, abrasives, etc.). His responsibilities were costs, financing, personnel problems, etc.
"Joe is now marketing manager for the Norton Company in Worcester and we live at the Wee Mite Farm in Jefferson, Mass."
John J. Remsen, CE'15: "The most interesting job I have had was a timber bulkhead and jetty project to stabilize the beach and adjacent land areas at Rockaway Point in Queens, N.Y. The length of the piles totaled 4400 linear feet and were driven by water jet. The job was done in the winter of '21-'22. Later the Army Engineers built a stone jetty at the west end of the point. The area is now part of the Gateway Park Project.
"Engineers need business training and I am glad to note the Tuck-Thayer programs. In our day we spent too much time on the transit and level."
Dr. Nick Costes CE'51: "Since the Apollo II Mission, the Apollo Program has kept me extremely busy. Throughout this program which culminated with the launching of Apollo 17 the activities associated with the lunar surface exploration have been the most dynamic and most fulfilling experience that I have had to date. I suspect that the impact of their historical significance will grow as time goes by.
"My professional career to date has consisted mainly of conducting or managing research. I have taken on responsibilities requiring a lot of coordination, interphasing and cooperative effort with many people and many groups of people, representing a variety of interests and who were friendly at times and not so congenial at others.
"In the process of discharging these responsibilities, it has become obvious to me that the type of academic background and environment provided at Dartmouth and the Thayer School has been very beneficial to me. In many instances this background has had a direct impact on my judgment in evaluating and dealing with a variety of issues requiring immediate action and decision making.
"With respect to the DSE prize paper which I wrote as a second-year student at the Thayer School, even though the jobs I have held since graduation from Thayer School have not dealt directly with column theory and design, the experience gained from researching and analyzing the subject matter and the methodology followed in reporting the results have certainly proved of value in later research endeavors. In addition it provided a good reference in my resume during job hunting times. Also, ten years after I wrote that paper and while I was doing graduate work at Harvard and attending Professor Budiansky's clasSes on elastic stability I was pleasantly surprised to find that the evaluation of various column theories made in that report was still in good standing.
"I cannot help but reminisce with nostalgia the hectic correspondence that I had with a Professor Hoff some 21 years ago when I was trying to get some current data on column testing which I desperately needed in order to beat the deadline for the report and graduate from Thayer School. Since that time I have faced many deadlines and many hectic times, especially in recent years with the various facets of the Apollo Program. However, I can assure you that nothing has ever topped the 'agony and the ecstasy' experienced in the spring of '51!"
Dick Wenzel, BE'72: "The summer courses at the University of Manchester (England) went quite well. For the lectures and seminars concerning the course. Social Planning and the New Towns, we had British V.I.P.s speaking to us.
"The 'New Towns' group consisted of 29 architects and planners, and one engineer. We had a five-day field trip to Scotland to see several New Towns that have been created in the last 20 years.
"There seems to be a widespread dispute concerning whether a town should have a circular flow of traffic or a strong grid network instead."
(Dick attended Churchill College in Cambridge University last year.)
Emerson B. Houck,TT'58, director, marketing and economic research, Eli Lilly International Corporation: "It hardly seems possible that George Taylor is retiring from Thayer School. His departure will leave a tremendous void in the faculty ranks.
"I remember George as an inspirational teacher, a kind and generous man who always put his family first yet somehow was also always available to his students.George was my faculty advisor as a freshman and a close friend throughout my six years in Hanover. I enrolled in every course he taught and much of his philosophy and training is with me to this day.
"As he leaves Thayer, I say farewell in John Dickey's words: 'So long! Because in the Dartmouth Fellowship there is no parting.' "
