Fall 1999
We suspect that the feature of greatest interest to you is information about other alumni. We've included here everything received from you during the past year, but updates cannot be passed along unless you send them to us. Other alumni would like to hear from you, so please take a few moments to fill out and send us the Alumni Information Sheet inside the back cover of this newsletter.
Professor Emeritus Arnold Flikke (MS 1943) and Zeng Dechao (MS 1947) chat during Zeng's visit to the department this summer.
Chuck Onstad (BAE 1964, MS 1966), Director, Southern Plains Area, USDA-ARS, College Station, Texas, was elected to the grade of Fellow in ASAE. The award was presented at the 1999 ASAE Annual International Meeting in July in Toronto. Only about two percent of the active members of ASAE have achieved the grade of Fellow.
Fred Bergsrud (BAE 1960), Professor Emeritus, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, has returned to work part time coordinating the Rapid Agricultural Response Fund for the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.
Wally Eshenaur (MS 1986) After 13 years working in Ethiopia and Somalia with a private voluntary organization and then with UNICEF, my family and I returned to the U.S. in September. We are the proud parents of four children, ages 18 to 5, and will be residing in New Brighton, Minnesota, for the time being.
Kent Schneider (BAE 1982) I am project manager for New Mech Co. Inc. in St. Paul, Minnesota. Being the only Professional Engineer working for a mechanical contractor has its special challenges. I have lived in Delano for ten years with my wife, Cindy, and children Kris, Katie, and Keri. We operate a small sheep farm and enjoy showing our animals at state and county fairs.
Kimberly DeGuise (BAE 1995) I started out the year in Springfield, Illinois, continuing work for Rapps Engineering. I worked on many interesting projects and learned lots! I also had the opportunity to be in charge of the Illinois Professional Engineering Society's Toothpick Bridge Contest and Engineer of the Year Banquet. I was awarded a full research assistantship at Virginia Polytechnical Institute and University (aka. Virginia Tech) for my master's degree in Biological Systems Engineering and headed for Blacksburg in July 1998. My research deals with what is called nonpoint source pollution modeling. While many computer models have been created to simulate nonpoint source pollution, few models include a component to model bacteria (like fecal coliforms/E. coli). National water monitoring data indicate that bacteria are the third highest cause of water impairment for surveyed streams. So, I hope to create a bacteriological component to add to an existing model. I look forward to the challenge, but this could very easily be a PhD project rather than a master's project (one of my committee members has already tried to talk me into skipping the masters and go for the PhD). Email: kdeguise@vt.edu
Bob Borre (BAE 1998) In January 1999 I started as the Engineering Manager for Ritchie Engineering Company in Bloomington, Minnesota. Ritchie is a 80-person, $30 million a year company that specializes in service equipment for the refrigeration and air conditioning field. I am looking at this as a permanent position.
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
This page is part of the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department web at http://www.bae.umn.edu/