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If you want to catch up to MEAM Professor Richard E. Sonntag (BSE ME '56, MSE '57, PhD '61) when he retires this year, you better move fast–very fast. That's because the former chair of MEAM and his wife, Pat, plan to spend more time racing their Eagle Talon in competitions around the country or serving as crew to their son, Rick. "It's not just going fast that makes racing so exciting," says Sonntag, who began racing in the late 1980s and now competes in eight to 10 races each year. "What's really fun is coming up to a turn going 90 miles per hour. You think, 'There's no way I can make it through this!' But then you do, and it's fantastic. It's like riding in the front car of a roller coaster going breakneck speed except you have to steer it. It isn't reasonable but it's a lot of fun. "It hasn't really hit me yet that I'm retiring," he says. "But I'm looking forward to doing the things I want to do. More road racing. Crewing for my son. Traveling. And most importantly, doing it together with my wife." Sonntag has spent his entire career at U-M- receiving his BSE ME in 1956, MSE in 1957, and PhD in 1961, all in mechanical engineering. He began as an assistant professor in MEAM, became associate professor in 1963, then full professor in 1967. He served as acting MEAM chair 1981-1982 and as chair 1982-1992. In 1992, he received the Department's Excellence in Service Award. MEAM Professor and Chair Panos Y. Papalambros credits Sonntag with strategically moving the Department forward. "Dick epitomizes the tradition of quality and commitment that has made this Department a great educational institution. During his years as Department chair, he oversaw dramatic changes in facilities and faculty composition that are the foundation of the successes we're enjoying today." Photo Below: U-M MEAM CPO / Shekinah Errington Indeed, during his more than 35 years in MEAM, Sonntag has seen many substantial changes- from the growth in size and stature of the Department to the development of North Campus. He served on the College of Engineering (CoE) Executive Committee and North Campus Renovation Committee, to name just two of his many involvements. He recently served as chair of MEAM's Departmental Review Committee. "Our Department changed a lot in all those years. I had the opportunity to hire a lot of good people. It was also the time when we moved to consolidated space on North Campus. Before that, we were located on Central Campus, G.G. Brown, and the Auto Lab, which weren't connected at the time. Some faculty who had offices in either the West or East Engineering Buildings on Central Campus had never been to North Campus before we moved. "The field of mechanical engineering has changed quite a lot, too," says Sonntag. "It's now possible to scientifically analyze problems that in the past were done by trial and error. People used to build projects to see if they'd work and built in safety factors because you didn't know the limits of the design. Now you can simulate your work on the computer. We now have electronics, robotics, and microcomputers in machinery. And the development of new materials and composites have added to the improvement of products," he says. Sonntag's main research interest area is thermodynamics and he has conducted research and published in many areas, including equations of state, equilibrium, properties, new refrigerants, and Helmholtz function representation. He is the co-author of four textbooks- the widely used Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, Fundamentals of Statistical Thermodynamics, Introduction to Thermodynamics, and the new Thermodynamic and Transport Properties. "I see these textbooks as the primary accomplishments of my career," says Sonntag. "Through them, I feel I've made a true contribution. The Fundamentals textbook is used all over the world and translated into several different languages. "My textbook was also responsible for changing thermodynamics instruction to the metric system. Before my textbook, instruction was all in English units. My book introduced tables using the Metric system, which allowed the development of text and problems in Metric. This was important because most manufacturers worldwide use the Metric system," he says. Sonntag is also proud of his experimental research in cryogenics, phase equilibrium, and slush hydrogen with NASA and the Apollo space program early in his career. Some of this research included determining the conditions under which helium dissolved in liquid hydrogen. This was significant because rocket hydrogen tanks were pressurized with helium gas. If helium seeped into the hydrogen, it also seeped into the rockets' motors. Sonntag's research calculated the performance of these motors with the presence of helium. As Sonntag moves towards retirement, he's concerned with different kinds of motors now--that of his race cars. He looks forward to enjoying the world of racing as well as continuing to write textbooks, doing some woodworking, and touring England. "I'll miss my colleagues and students and the staff. I enjoyed being the advisor to the SAE Formula Car Team. I've made so many good associations of people here. I love Ann Arbor and so does my family. I know this will always be my home. Now I'll have time to do some of the other things I enjoy. I never had time to race during the school year and now I will."

Photos courtesy of Richard and Pat Sonntag