Mechanical engineering to host alumni conference April 27

4:34 p.m., April 6, 2007--UD's Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) will hold its third annual Alumni Business, Technology & Careers Conference at Clayton Hall on Friday, April 27. The dual-track program includes seminars by faculty, alumni and students on engineering technology, engineering business topics and career planning and experience.

“This event is a unique opportunity for students, faculty and alumni to come together and share information about careers and breakthroughs in research and technology,” ME Alumni Relations Coordinator Nate Cloud (BME '64), said. “It's a great chance for networking and information exchange.”

The event was initiated three years ago to honor distinguished ME alumni and has since been expanded to include talks on current research by ME faculty, as well as business-oriented presentations.

“We've also devoted a lot of effort to increasing student involvement,” Cloud said. “We really want current ME students to take advantage of this great opportunity to meet alumni and get ideas about the types of careers open to ME grads.” Of the 220 people who signed up for the event last year, more than 80 were students.

This year's class of distinguished ME alumni includes:

Donald R. Cohee (BME '68), vice president of research and technology for ILC Dover in Frederica;
Michael J. Doyle (BME '92), a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Newark, N.J.;
James B. Foulk (BME '59), chief executive officer of the SURVICE Engineering Co. and president/CEO of Chesapeake Defense Services Inc. in Belcamp, Md.;
Jerry Kegelman (BME '78), associate director of aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics, and acoustics research and technology at the NASA Langley Research Center;
Jodie (Kuchler) Morgan (BME '85), president of SPI Polyols Inc.; and
Nancy Sottos (BME '86 and PhD '91), Donald B. Willett Professor of Engineering and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

This year's program includes presentations on wind turbine aerodynamics by Prof. Len Schwartz (ME), environmental fluid mechanics by Prof. Lian-Ping Wang (ME), and offshore wind energy by Prof. Willett Kempton (College of Marine and Earth Studies). Seminars by ME alumni will cover topics ranging from patent law and airplane forensics to starting a business and being successful in the 21st-century workplace.

The program also includes opportunities for discussion of current research and development displays with graduate students, social times for reunion and further networking, and continuous refreshments, a cocktail hour and dinner.

For more information, e-mail Cloud at [cloudn@udel.edu] or visit the event web site at [www.me.udel.edu/alumni/celebration07.html].

Article by Diane Kukich