Alumni
& Friends
Alumni Recruiting
Shown above Michigan Tech alumni returning to recruit during Career Day Oct 7, 2008, in this photo are 3 grads now with Rio Tinto including B.S. in Mining Engineering alumni Lucas Kurtz '05, Joe Dase '05, and on the right, Henry Walqui '01 (MS, Mining Engineering and PhD in Chemical Engineering) now of CCI who stopped by to chat
Flying High America is a collection of
oblique aerial photograph
 Flying High America is a collection of
oblique aerial photographs. The author, Jim
Wark, is a ‘54 Michigan Tech alum with degrees
in mining engineering and geological
engineering.
Wark 'retired' from the mining industry
and paired his 'reverence for the earth's geography'
with his experience as a naval aviator and airshow
pilot: a late life occupation that most of us will envy.
The result
is a series of
b e a u t i f u l
books, one of
which is reviewed
here.
Flying High
America collects
several
hundred photographs,
reproduced in exquisite detail, grouped in
themes that an earth scientist will appreciate.
 Wark travels the continents in a highwing bushtype
plane with a large side opening for unobstructed camera
work. It has the capacity to operate in rough areas, allowing
him to use remote sites as operating bases.
He uses this platform to good purpose. Photos are
taken at low altitudes, providing a sense of three dimensions
that is often missing from downward
looking images. They include
metropolitan areas (the frontispiece
shows lower Manhattan long after the
twin towers were gone); deserts and
other desolate areas; islands, rivers, and
lakes; mountainous regions; farmlands;
coastlines; and surface evidence of mining.
 The format of Flying High America is modest—9' wide,
6¼' tall, and 2' thick—not a typical 'coffeetable' size
tome. But good use is made of each page. Some photos
fully cover two facing pages. Others have smaller complementary
images on the facing page, showing the feature
from a different angle, or a nearby similar feature.
I have given copies of the book to friends and family
and I have watched people pick up my copy at home and
begin to thumb through it. Nobody puts it down until
they need either food or sleep. It is that good.
I recommend it highly to anyone with an interest in
looking at the earth from another viewpoint, particularly
if you don't mind getting so wrapped up in it that you
find yourself looking at it for hours on end.
Review by Wayne D. Pennington |
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| Robert
Burns, P.E., graduate in Mining Engineering 1953,
visiting during Michigan Tech Alumni Reunion, an professional
engineer and prospector, he resides in Sault Ste Marie,
Ontario Canada
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Hilary
Dussing Geological Engineering 1979, presented
a seminar about petroleum development in a "frontier"
area, such as Sakhalin Island, Russia |
Alumnus Wins Goldich Award
Dr. John Klasner, 1972 MTU Ph. D., was
the 2001 recipient of the prestigious
Goldich Award of the Institute on Lake
Superior Geology. The Goldich Award is
given for particularly noteworthy and
meritorious contributions to the
understanding of Lake Superior geology
and mineral deposits.
John completed his Ph.D. on structure
and metamorphism of the Early Proterozoic
rocks of the western Marquette range
under the direction of Professor Jo
Kalliokoski. He joined Western Illinois
University, where he taught for 27 years
until his recent retirement .
John continued research and publishing on the geology of the Lake Superior region in
addition to his teaching and administrative load at an undergraduate university. The
department is proud that John is one of our alums.
Hall
of Fame
 A new
Hall of Fame visibly
acknowledges the
accomplishments and
contributions of
alumni, students, and
faculty of the
department. The hall
of fame is located in
the hallway next to
the department's
main offices and
consists of a number
of plaques decorated
with rock slabs.
There are currently
three sections on the
walls: Academy of Geological Engineering and
Sciences, Gift Recognition, and Student Awards. For
each member of the department's academy there is
a plaque with the member's picture and a short
citation. I often show visitors and prospective
students and parents this section to illustrate some
of the successes of our 1200+ living alums.
The Gift Recognition section is described below.
 The Student Awards section consists of several
plaques listing the names of recipients of
department awards and department designated
scholarships. For example, there is a plaque for the
Kiril Spiroff Book Award given to the outstanding
student in field geology, field geophysics, and
mineralogy. The department has been giving this
award since 1973. There are endowed scholarships
designated specifically for undergraduate and
graduate student majors that are recognized with a
plaque and names of the recipients.
To put a true geo touch on the hall, Bob Barron,
department facilities manager, was instrumental in
getting five rock slabs to highlight the wall. The
slabs are amygdaloidal basalt with native copper
from the Caledonia Mine, sandstone with native
copper from the White Pine Mine, conglomerate
from the Minnesota Mine, specular hematite from
the Champion Mine, and banded iron formation
from Wakefield.
The hall of fame is a work in progress as we add
several new sections, more members to the
academy, more recipients of student awards and
more endowed scholarships or awards. We look
forward to the day when we fill the existing
hallway and must expand elsewhere.
How to Give to the GMES Department
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