South
Dakota School of Mines & Technology’s
2019 winter
commencement includes a long list of luminaries. The university’s 180th
commencement ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, in the
Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Theatre. More information and a link for live
stream video of the event can be found here.
Commencement
Speaker
Kelvin
Droegemeier, Ph.D., is the director of the White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy (OSTP). Droegemeier serves as President Donald Trump’s
science advisor and leads OSTP in its coordination of science and technology
initiatives across the federal government. Droegemeier’s background is in
extreme weather, numerical weather prediction and data assimilation.
Droegemeier earned a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology from the
University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D.
in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Honorary
Ph.D.
Dale Claude Lamphere,
the South Dakota Artist Laureate, will receive an honorary doctor of public
service. In his 47-year career Lamphere has created more than 60 public
monumental sculptures from Washington, DC, to Burbank, Calif. One of his most
recent works is titled “Dignity,” a 50-foot-tall, 12-ton stainless steel
sculpture in Chamberlain. He also recently completed the Arc of Dreams over the
Big Sioux River in downtown Sioux Falls. He has also had additional recent
sculptures placed in Chicago, Kansas City, Colorado Springs, Omaha and Dallas.
Posthumous
Bachelor of Science
Torger
Henckel, a mining engineering student, passed away on Sept. 21, 2019 in the
Black Hills while pursuing his passion of hiking and rock climbing. Henckel
joined the Mining & Mucking Team in 2015, served as vice president in
2018-19, and was part of the team that won the co-ed/mixed division competition
at the International Collegiate Mining Games held in Cornwall, England, in
2018. He grew up in Viroqua, and graduated in 2015 from Luther High School in
Onalaska, Wis. Family and friends remember his strong faith, his love of
skiing, hiking and rock climbing, and his amazing descriptions of rock
formations. Henckel had accepted a job offer in Tucson, Ariz., as a mining
engineer with Freeport McMoRan. He will receive a posthumous bachelor’s degree
in mining engineering.
Distinguished
Alumni Awards
Tom Corcoran (CE ‘83)
Tom Corcoran began his professional career as a structural
design engineer for education, governmental and public projects in Omaha, Neb. He
has 36 years of structural engineering experience and is an advisor/mentor for
the structural engineering group, including the new Seattle structural
engineering lead, at Integrus Architecture where he also served as principal/partner
since 2006. Corcoran’s professional projects span from the structural design of
educational facilities, community libraries and commercial buildings, to
correctional/detention facilities and police stations.
Connie Determan (CE ‘84)
Connie Determan has more than 30 years of experience in
environmental engineering and management. Her career started with
Woodward-Clyde Consultants in Colorado. She is currently vice president and
environmental compliance officer at Kiewit Corporation in Omaha. She has been
involved in a variety of environmental projects that include establishing new
approaches for evaluating lead-contaminated soils at a national level and
developing technical advisory committees with community groups, industry and
government agencies.
Jackie Flowers (CE ‘92)
Jackie Flowers began her career as an engineer with the South
Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Pierre. In 2000, she
was recruited to be utility director for Sheridan, Wyo., and shortly thereafter
was promoted to public works director where she managed 13 city divisions,
including utilities. In 2006, she was recruited to Idaho to lead Idaho Falls
Power, a municipally-owned electric utility, as its first female general
manager. She is currently the director/CEO of the Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU)
in the state of Washington. TPU is one of the largest public power utilities in
the country, serving approximately 176,000 electric customers and 100,000 water
customers.
Roger Musick (EE ‘71)
Following
graduation from SD Mines, Roger Musick joined Martin and Associates in his
hometown of Mitchell. In 1974, he became an equal partner at Martin and
Associates which designed the majority of the communications networks in South
Dakota and Iowa. Musick started Innovative Systems in 1998 as a family
partnership. The company has gradually grown from a staff of 10 to about 200. Musick
has always been an advocate for living in South Dakota, and one of his goals
has been to create good jobs for computer science and engineering graduates who
want to stay in the state after they graduate. Today, Innovative Systems
employs 47 graduates and interns from Mines.
Dr. Larry Schumaker (Math ‘61)
After graduating from Mines, Larry
Schumaker attended graduate school at Stanford University where he earned his master’s
and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics in 1962 and 1966, respectively. He spent 22 years at University of Wisconsin,
the University of Texas, and Texas A&M University as a professor and a
researcher. Schumaker has served on a special committee of the South Dakota
Board of Regents to develop EPSCOR funding for the state of South Dakota. Since
1988, he has been the Stevenson Professor of Mathematics at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville, Tennessee. During his distinguished career, he has
been very active in his profession.
Senior
Class Representative
Caitlin Hone will receive her Bachelor
of Science degree in civil engineering with a minor in global engineering. Hone
has been involved in various clubs and activities while at SD Mines, including serving
on the Student Association Senate; participating in band and university choir; serving
in leadership roles with Alpha Omega Epsilon; as president of Rotaract; and as
a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Newman Club. She
has worked for Bohannan Huston, Inc., in Albuquerque, NM; the American Society
of Civil Engineers in Washington, DC; KLJ Engineering in Watford City, ND; the
Office of the State Engineer in Albuquerque; Sen. John Thune’s office in Rapid
City; and Amigos de las Americas in Madriz, Nicaragua. Following graduation,
Hone has accepted a position with Bohannan Huston, Inc., in Albuquerque, NM.