Alumni

by Marcia Goodrich Two thousand years before the Industrial Revolution, the Greek mathematician Hero came up with the idea for the steam turbine. English engineer Sir Charles Parsons built the first one in 1884, to generate electricity. And for the last twenty years, Steven Burdgick has fiddled, tweaked, and tinkered with steam turbines and their close cousins, gas turbines, ultimately revolutionizing aspects of a stogy . . .

Joan graduated from Michigan Tech in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. She subsequently earned her master's degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1984. Post Michigan Tech she was hired as an engineer with the Advance Development Department of Hughes Aircraft in Los Angeles and was given a Top Secret clearance. She designed and developed a working prototype . . .

Dorothy (Daavettila) Ruohonen had a strong connection to Michigan Tech prior to her attending the University in 1982. Dorothy’s father, Donald Daavettila, was named Michigan Tech Professor Emeritus of Physics in 2000. Working as a nurse while attending Michigan Tech, Ruohonen graduated in 1985 with a degree in Mechanical Design Engineering Technology. By 1987, Ruohonen was President and Owner of Hawk Technologies, executing . . .

Susan graduated from Michigan Technological University with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1987. In 1994 she received a Master’s of Science in Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Susan began her career as a Quality Engineer in Precision Weapons Development at Alliance Techsystems/Honeywell. In 1991 she began working for SCIMED, which later became a division . . .