Celebrating the Class of 1971

Lives in: Rio Rancho, NM
Family: I have been married to Lois Jean Vanhook for 57 years. We have two daughters; one graduated from UNM; the other from NMSU.
Career highlight: Fellow IEEE, IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow, IEEE-USA Competitiveness Fellow, and IEEE-USA Citation of Honor. I had an opportunity to pursue 3 careers: engineering/management, university professor, and public policy, and now do research on economic growth.
Favorite or significant UNM memory: After graduating from the University of Kentucky, I entered UNM in 1963 to begin graduate work. New Mexico and UNM were sharp contrasts to my previous experiences. Basketball games at UNM in Johnson Gym had 3,000 attendees until UNM played for the NIT championship in Madison Square Garden. I recall that UNM had incredible track teams; John Baker was the featured miler. UNM was top notch in the broad jump, high jump, 100-yard dash, and 880-yard run. Major athletic competitors were Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and BYU. My favorite memory was the incredible classmates I had at UNM during the Technical Development Program sponsored by Sandia National Labs and later the Doctoral Study Program also sponsored by Sandia National Labs.
Favorite professor: Dr. Larry Posey, Adjunct Professor
Worst grade at UNM?: Conveniently forgotten this fact.
Favorite hobbies: Reading factual literature, e.g., The Economist and Foreign Affairs, writing about economic development especially opinion columns for the Albuquerque Journal that have the potential to influence public policy, and meeting on Thursday morning with a group of Corrales retirees.
Favorite place to eat back then: Frontier; it also has an incredible art exhibit.
Favorite place to unwind: Home
If you could picture yourself back on campus, where would you be?: In the basement of the Farris Engineering Building using the Febetron 705 to fire pulsed beams of electrons onto uranium alloys to measure their thermomechanical response. Graduate school was all work and no play.
How did your UNM education impact your life or career?: I entered UNM to pursue an MS in electrical engineering and work at Sandia National Laboratories. Because my work shifted to radiation effects studies in electrical engineering, I shifted to nuclear engineering for my Ph.D. study. My education at UNM prepared me for my radiation effects career and allowed me to earn the IEEE Fellow award for my technical work. It also prepared me to make a major career shift to public policy research which was focused on industrial competitiveness and it prepared me for the writing that was required in public policy research that had a major impact on legislation. My UNM education also impacted my desire for learning which I have pursued since leaving UNM and allowed me to finish my career as a university faculty member.
Do you keep in contact with anyone from your days at UNM?: Dr. Charles Gwyn, Jim Harris, Dr. Ed Graham, and Dr. Sam Varnado are among those I still contact. Three of my UNM classmates in electrical and nuclear engineering studies that I often contacted: Dr. Jim Jorgensen, Tom Shishman, Dr. Dennis Mangan, and Dr. Gary Scrivner are recently deceased.

Lives in: Grand Junction, CO
Tell us about your family: Married with three kids ( one set of twins that were a surprise in the delivery room) and four granddaughters
Career highlight: Started in oil refineries working in Louisiana, then Wyoming. Consulted out of Santa Fe, NM for a while, then spent 20+ years at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. I worked on a variety of projects at LANL including assignments with the Plutonium Disposition Program, work that took me repeatedly to Russia.
Favorite or most significant memory while at UNM: Who can forget the thrill of the Engineering Days slide rule relay race? A more significant memory - I ran out of money in my junior year and was considering dropping out. Dr. Castonguay walked into one of my classes and asked if I had a suit. He told me to wear it the next day, UOP was taking us to lunch and was giving me a scholarship. I have no idea how he found out I was broke. Doc called me into his office that spring and asked if I would like a summer job in Pampa. I heard "Tampa" a was picturing myself walking the Florida beach every evening. I finally understood it was Pampa, Texas It was a great summer job, just without a beach.
Favorite professor: We had five great professors. But Dr. Castonguay was more than a professor. He clearly defined our chemical engineering education as our job and that he was our boss and mentor.
Worst grade at UNM?: I'll take the 5th, although if I repeat my life, I'm not taking " Man, Law and Society" as an elective again.
How did your UNM education impact your life/career: The disciplined formal engineering problem-solving method we were taught served me well in many areas of my life.
Favorite hobbies: Flyfishing and building and flying remote control airplanes. Of course, flying an RC airplane leads to considerable time repairing RC airplanes.
If you picture yourself back on campus during your time at UNM, where are you and what are you doing?: Sitting in the Chem E building lab talking with classmates before class.
Favorite place to eat: Still exploring places to eat in Grand Junction and have not picked a favorite. My favorite in New Mexico was the Plaza Cafe South in Santa Fe.
Favorite place to unwind: Floating a river with a fly rod in hand.
Do you keep in contact with anyone from your days at UNM?: No.

Lives in: Plano, TX
Tell us about your family:Jaya and I live in Plano, TX. Both sons and their families also live in Dallas area. Nimesh and Sapna have two sons and Monil and Sweta have a daughter. Thus, we have two grandsons and a granddaughter.
Career highlight: Worked for Halliburton for 18 years and 22 years in academia as Chair Professor and Department Head at the University of Oklahoma. Retired from OU as Emeritus Professor, so I can help at the Pandit Deendyal Petroleum University in Gandhinagar, India. Mentoring students and faculty at PDPU for the past 6 years as Shell Chair Professor. Selected as Fellow, AIChE; Distinguished Member, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE); and Distinguished Alumni, UNM School of Engineering.
Favorite or most significant memory while at UNM: During my time at UNM, I enjoyed the campus life, Ferris Engineering building where I conducted my research experiments is always going to be in my memory. I have many fond memories of my time at UNM. We miss the authentic mexican food and the Sandia mountains.
Favorite professor: Dr. Kenneth Cox and Dr. George Quentin
How did your UNM education impact your life/career: It prepared me to taken on challenging projects and taught me how to solve complex engineering problems.
Favorite hobbies: Travel, reading, outdoor activities, spending time with grandkids and their activities; Mentoring students and faculty at the petroleum university in India.