Emeritus professors are all over the map

Editor's note: In response to a request from an older alumnus (a self-described "geezer"), we recently asked the ChE emeritus professors for news about their activities in retirement.

Bob Bird writes: "I passed into `geezerhood' in 1992 at the age of 68, having decided that I would have to retire in order to do some of the things on my `things-to-do list'."

He has managed to check off quite a few items since then, including the preparation of several manuscripts in Japanese on polymer science, and teaching a course in Dutch at the Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands and one in English at the University of Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Back in Madison, Bob taught roughly one course per year until last year, when he resolved not to teach anymore. He also completed a 350-page book entitled, The Birds of Brushy Creek, a genealogical, not ornithological, treatise on the early settlement of the Brushy Creek valley in northwestern Iowa.

"Of course," Bob continues, "every summer I've gone up to the Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario for canoeing. In 1999, I didn't make it because of a stroke in January (from which I've fortunately recovered) and a hip replacement. I hope to get back to the Quetico next summer."

Thomas Chapman writes from Washington, DC: "I am enjoying my job as Program Director at NSF, managing grants in the separations program. In addition to handling unsolicited proposals, I get involved in various NSF initiatives, such as nanotechnology, a joint program with EPA on pollution prevention, and an engineering education working group. We are living near Dupont Circle in Washington and enjoying the diversity and cultural life of the city."

Jack Duffie has shared the teaching of the solar energy technology course with Bill Beckman each fall semester since he retired in 1988.

Jack and his wife Pat went to Brighton, England, where he gave an invited lecture on the early history of the International Solar Energy Society. They spend as much time as they can at their cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin. They travel often, and have participated in many Elderhostel programs, the latest on music and art of Montreal. "It is a good way to indulge in our love of music and opera," says Jack.

Ed Lightfoot reports that he is "now working with Ross Swaney and Masood Akhtar of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory in Madison on commercializing biopulping of wood chips. Industrial interest is strong in Brazil, Finland and India as well as the U.S., and it looks as if this process is about to take off. I am also helping Norman Li in organizing the third joint meeting of the Chinese and U.S. chemical engineering societies scheduled for Beijing, Sept. 25-28, 2000. Those interested can e-mail him at lightfoot@engr.wisc.edu, or Norman, at nlchem@aol.com."

Dale Rudd, who looked hale and hearty on his last visit to Madison, is "enjoying retirement enormously" in the Pacific Northwest. His whole family lives within walking distance, and they are doing lots of hiking, camping and travelling in their RV.

Glenn Sather takes the prize for most widely-traveled emeritus: "Since retiring, Mrs. Sather and I have traveled extensively. Our trips have extended from most of the countries of Eastern Europe to Central America to the Far East countries of Japan, China, Malaysia and Singapore, and from the Baltic nations to Southern Africa. For the fall of 2000 we have a trip scheduled to Sicily and southern Italy. When not traveling I keep busy with remodeling work at home. Time is also devoted to church activities and to volunteer work with the Community Action Coalition in the summer and fall, and with the Second Harvest food bank throughout the year. We normally spend a month in Arizona during the winter."

Warren Stewart recently contributed to a paper with an ornithological bent entitled, "Scaling, climate, biodiversity and conservation: fur and feathers," presented by Professor Warren Porter (Zoology) to the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology at their Bird Feather Symposium in Denver in January, 1999. Warren spoke in the Ramkrishna Symposium at the AIChE Annual Meeting last November, on "Normed Linear Spaces and Collocation Methods." He has continued teaching his graduate course, Computer-Aided Modeling of Reactive Systems, each spring using modeling software developed with his former doctoral students, Mike Caracotsios and Jan P. Sorensen. Information on this popular software is obtainable by e-mail from stewart_associates@msn.com.