Alumni

Paul W. Fernstrum, a mechanical engineering alumnus, is chairman and past president of Menominee-based RW Fernstrum & Co., a third-generation family-owned company that invented—and continues to manufacture and market—the Gridcooler keel cooler, a marine engine heat exchanger, which was developed during World War II for landing craft. Paul began his career at RW Fernstrum as a draftsman. In 1975 he . . .

After attending "Women in Engineering" as part of the Summer Youth Program at Michigan Tech when she was in 11th grade, Cynthia Hodges '87 '90 knew it was the place for her. "Michigan Tech prepared me very well for my career, for an unlikely reason. There were so few of women studying engineering back then, I got used to being one of the only women in the room. This suited me well for a career in industry, where women . . .

Mark Gauthier’s passion for engineering began early, as he worked alongside his father on automation and fluid power projects at Donald Engineering. He officially joined the family business in 1988, but even as a Michigan Tech student, he was already designing pneumatic circuits and meeting with customers throughout the Keweenaw. Gauthier began his career at SDRC in Farmington Hills before returning to Grand Rapids, . . .

Brett Chouinard is President and Chief Operating Officer of Altair Engineering.  He is responsible for worldwide sales, consulting, and field operations for Altair's 85 offices in 25 countries. His team consults with more than 11,000 customers and supports hundreds of thousands of users across diverse industries, including automotive, aerospace, electronics, defense, banking, and financial services.  During his time . . .