Alumni News

Charles R. Adler (PhD 1950) writes on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his graduation from UW that his memories of Wisconsin and all his friends from those days are among his fondest. "I was among the first to do my entire research under Bob Marshall...I still find it difficult to think of Wisconsin without Bob being there waiting with his great smile...Since I moved into a management track in 1962 (Kodak sent me to MIT as a Sloan Fellow for a master's in management), I fell behind in engineering competence and I am amazed by your current technology and capabilities."

Gordon F. Brunner (BS 1961) chief technology officer and member of Procter & Gamble's board of directors, received the Industrial Research Institute's Medal for 2000 for, among other things, his "leadership in creating an effective global R&D organization built on technical mastery... and for his visionary leadership in creating a portfolio of discontinuous, innovative business ventures that provide dramatically new product benefits and new-to-the-world products."

Luis Cisternas (PhD 1993) is professor of chemical engineering at the University of Antofagasta (Chile), and has been associate dean of research and development of engineering, and the chief of the master's degree program since 1995. He researches process synthesis of inorganic chemical and metallurgical processes.

Tom Epperly (PhD 1995) joined the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in March. He is working on software tools to enable large-scale computational modeling and optimization.

Carlos W. López (BS 1997) graduated from law school with a master's degree in environmental law, and at the time he wrote, was looking for a job opportunity in the field of environmental law.

Bill Pitt (PhD 1987), professor of chemical engineering at Brigham Young University, won the 1999 Outstanding Faculty Award in chemical engineering for his achievements in research, teaching and service.

Gregory B. Raupp (PhD 1984) has been appointed associate dean for research in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Arizona State University in Tempe. Greg joined the faculty in the Department of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering at ASU in 1985, and achieved the rank of full professor in 1994. In addition to his new duties, he continues to teach and to direct his own research programs in semiconductor materials processing and air purification.

Robert E. Safford (PhD 1973) is a professor of medicine at Mayo Medical School. He received his MD from Mayo Medical School and has been a cardiologist at Mayo Clinics in Rochester, Minnesota and Jacksonville, Florida since 1982. He was recently appointed as chair of the Department of Medicine and was named a Barbara Woodward Lips Professor.

Robert J. Schaefer (MS 1966) writes that he is enjoying his work in regulatory affairs dealing with fuels issues at the BP Technology Center in Naperville, Illinois.

John M. Torkelson (BS 1978), professor of chemical engineering at Northwestern University and associate dean for graduate studies of the R.R. McCormick School of Engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Polymer Physics Division. He was recognized "for imaginative and successful applications of fluorescence spectroscopy to polymer physics issues ranging from free volume to free radical polymerization." John received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1983.

Thomas Veeser (Exchange student 1980/81) writes that he is working as a professor at the Fachhochschule Hamburg (Germany).

Hal Warner (PhD 1971) is one of six associate editors charged with rewriting the Petroleum Engineering Handbook of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Over the past 15 years, he has worked on SPE's Reservoir Engineering Journal. During his more than 27 years with ARCO, he co-authored a dozen papers on various aspects of upstream petroleum technology. He was awarded AIME's Rossiter W. Raymond Award in 1979, and in 1997 was elected a distinguished member of SPE.

David J. Zanzig (BS 1986) was named Inventor of the Year by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for his role as part of a team that developed an off-road tire with puncture- resistant sidewalls. Dave helped develop a more durable rubber formulation used in the tire. Dave holds more than 20 U.S. patents.