Alumni

Trygve Ivesdal joined Raytheon Company in Wayland, Massachusetts, as an electronic design engineer. With the beginning of the microelectronics era, he moved to Raytheon’s Semiconductor Division in Mountain View, California. In 1966, he moved to Melbourne, Florida, and was part of the start-up of what today is known as Harris Semiconductor. In 1969, Trygve and three associates formed Microsystems, Florida’s first privately . . .

Calvin Wheeler began his professional career with General Electric, where an early assignment to develop, design, and test programs for B-52 on-board power systems led to his lifetime interest in power generation. After brief posts with McCulloch Corporation and Harnischfeger Corporation, Cal began his twenty-eight-year career with the Kohler Company in 1961. He retired in 1990 as senior engineer in Kohler’s generator . . .

Kanwal Rekhi is a visionary who works to forward entrepreneurial skills and educational opportunities at Michigan Technological University and around the world. He completed an MS in Electrical Engineering at Michigan Tech in 1969. He was inducted into the College of Computing Honor Academy on October 4, 2023. Rekhi was the first Silicon Valley Indo-American founder and CEO to take a venture-backed company public on the . . .

Robert Hirvela joined the HF Communications Division of Collins Radio Company in 1959 as a project engineer. In 1973, he led the Rockwell business unit that invented and developed the first Digital Automatic Call Distributor, the Rockwell Galaxy ACD, and launched what is known today as the Call Center Industry. In 1978, he transferred to the Air Transport Division of Rockwell as Director of Product Management with . . .