Alumni

Paul W. Fernstrum, a mechanical engineering alumnus, is chairman and past president of Menominee-based RW Fernstrum amp; 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 designed the . . .

Timothy P. Coffield earned his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, with high honors, from Michigan Technological University in 1984. He has also completed a business degree from University of Colorado.  After graduating from Michigan Tech, Tim went to work as a research engineer for five years at IBM Research in Rochester, MN.  Following that he was the principal engineer amp; business group manager at Cacade Engineering . . .

John Drake is serious about giving back to his alma mater. He attributes his success in large part to "the training and rigor of a Michigan Tech education with its insistence on understanding." Drake earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1964 and a master’s in business administration in 1969. "Nobody was better prepared to understand and solve problems than Tech grads were," he says. "We competed . . .

Tom Walker earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech in 1962. He spent eight years with General Motors, then joined Volkswagen of America in 1976 as general superintendent of the assembly plant in New Stanton, Pennsylvania. From 1979-1985, he was general manager of a Volkswagen subsidiary producing air conditioning evaporator and condenser coils in Ft. Worth, Texas. From 1985-1992, he was president and . . .