30s

Frederick E. King (BSE ME ’37) writes that he is happily living in a retirement community in St. Petersburg, FL. He retired in 1978 after 41 years with Union Carbide Corp. Reminiscing about MEAM, he says, “We loved those informal (no credit) coffee sessions at 6:30 in the morning, in the old brick Auto Lab, where Walter Lay would inspire us all to think, and think, and never be satisfied with the ordinary. What an educator!”

Ronald G. Wilson (BSE ME ’32) writes from his Life Care Condo in Holland, MI: “I continue to support the U-M Engineering School. For the record, the ‘Health Service’ referred me to the U-M Hospital in March of ’32 where an early diagnosis of TB enabled me to recover in a Sanatorium within a year...they mailed my diploma to the ‘San’ in August! I thank the University for a successful career with a small manufacturing company which grew after the depression and led to V.P. on the board of directors.”

60s

M. Douglas Dunn (BSE ME ’67) partner and chair of the Utility Practice Group of the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, was recently elected to a three-year term on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association (ABA). He has been actively involved in the ABA for 18 years. He lives in New Vernon, NJ.

David A. Matzen (BSE ME ’63, MSE ’64) recently retired from Whirlpool, where he served as director of technology. He writes that he is enjoying teaching on a part-time basis at Ipy Technology State College.

70s

MEAM External Advisory Board (EAB) member Robert J. Buckler (BSE ME ’71, MSE ’73) recently assumed a new position with Detroit Edison, where he has served for 24 years. He was appointed president and chief operating officer of DTE Energy Distribution, which consists of all transmission and distribution as well as unregulated retail activities.

Daniel J. Winarski (BSE ME ’70, PhD ’76) became a U.S. patent agent in April 1998 by passing the Patent Bar Exam. He serves as a senior engineer in SSD Patent Licensing at IBM in Tucson, AZ.

80s

Basem Alzahabi (MSE ’86, MSE ’88, PhD CE ’96) is a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Kettering University in Flint, MI, previously known as GMI Management & Technology Institute. He teaches CAE and mechanical vibration.

Steven D. Jones (BSE ME ’88, MSE ’89, PhD ’93) was one of 13 individuals selected as a Dell K. Allen Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer of 1998 from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Jones, a senior project engineer at Suspa, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI, was recognized for his vision and development of advanced sensor integration and control technologies for manufacturing systems. He is currently working in the development of new products and processes for height adjustable work surfaces for factory and office environments.

Billy Pruchno (MSE ’83) is vice president of Visimation, a computer consulting firm, and married with a two-year-old son. He saw an article in the Mechanica about Professor Emeritus Joseph Datsko (BSE ME ’43, MSE ’52), one of his former MEAM professors, and contacted him after all these years to tell him how much he enjoyed his class. He wrote, “...I think very fondly of the time that I spent at the U-M, and your class was the beginning of it. I still have your Materials in Design and Manufacturing soft cover book. I take it out from time to time to look at it....The time and energy I spent pouring over that book, as well as your welding class, left deeper impressions on me than the material itself...”

Jeffrey S. Troy (PhD ’86) and Laurie K. (Koff) Troy (MSE ’86) write from Laguna Niguel, CA, where they live with their two sons, Jordan, six; and Alex, five months. Jeffrey graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1994 and is now an attorney as well as a project manager in Space and Communications at Hughes Electronics. Laurie received her MBA at UCLA while working full time. She is now a senior project engineer in the Space Station Division of Boeing where she works with both engineering and business issues.

90s

Michael Bailey (BSE ME ’97) is on a two-year College Graduate in Training (CGIT) rotation at General Motors Truck Group in Pontiac, MI. He is also taking engineering graduate school classes through Purdue University.

Jonathan Bixler (BSE ME ’98) writes from San Diego, CA, that he has a great job at Guidant Corp., a producer of medical devices such as angioplasty catheters, stents, and pacemakers.

Brian J. Forster (BSE ME ’98), former president of Pi Tau Sigma (PTS/PTS), writes that he is now happily working at Goldman Sachs in New York City, “...but I’m definitely a little nostalgic for the days as an undergrad. Everyone back at PTS tells me everything is going great!”

Clay A. Hunt (BSE ME ’96) has returned from two years as a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Portugal and the Azores. He is now a design engineer in the Spacecraft Mechanical Design Department at TRW, Inc., in Redondo Beach, CA.

Tao Jiang (PhD ’96) received his permanent U.S. resident status in August 1998, and officially joined Ford Motor Co. in October, as a product design engineer working on vehicle CAE integration methods and process development.

Jairam Manjunathaiah (PhD ’98) is a senior project engineer in the Research and New Product Development Group at Lamb Technicon Machining Systems in Southfield, MI.

Eric Mockensturm (BSE ME ’92, MSE ’93) recently joined the faculty of Pennsylvania State University. He received his PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of California–Berkeley. His research focus is the mechanics of flexible structures. His work on axially moving materials helps give design guidance on the processing of magnetic tapes, paper sheets, and other long, flexible “webs.”

Theo Moreno (BSE ME ’95) is an integration engineer in the Vehicle Synthesis, Analysis, and Simulation (VSAS) Department of General Motors’ Mid-Size and Luxury Car Group (MLCG). He is the director of Young Engineers and Scientists, an engineering career development program for ninth graders in southwest Detroit, supported by the Detroit Professional Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE-DPC).

Gundlapalli Ravishankar (PhD ’96) is a CFD specialist in Product Development/CAE at Luk Inc., in Wooster, OH, working in product research and development of torque converters for automatic transmissions. He and his wife, Vani, had a baby girl, Nithya, on June 25, 1998.

Kyle A. Ray (BSE ME ’94) is a system validation engineer in Product Validation and Reliability at General Motors Truck Group in Pontiac, MI. He is engaged to Petra Petway, who works in GM’s Human Resources, and a July 1999 wedding is planned.

Brian M. Sternaman (BSE ME ’95) is a design engineer in Development Engineering at Camco Products and Services in Houston, TX. He and his wife, Heather (Johns) (BSE ChE ’95), are the proud parents of Grace Emily, born April 21, 1998.