Category Archives: Newsmakers

Steven Zinkle

Senior materials researcher and Corporate Fellow Steven Zinkle of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been named a 2013 Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS).

Zinkle was awarded the UW-Madison College of Engineering Distinguished Achievement Award in 2010. He earned his BS, MS and PhD in nuclear engineering from UW-Madison in 1980, ’82 and ’85.

Acknowledged for his “pioneering contributions to the understanding of radiation effects in materials and for advancing the scientific basis of performance limits for structural materials in advanced nuclear energy systems,” Zinkle will be formally recognized during the spring MRS meeting in April. Read more…

Jake Rohrig

Jake Rohrig (BSEMA, ’12) has long dreamed of being an astronaut. He knew it was a tough job to get so he studied hard, earned a degree and took a job as a mechanical engineer with UTC Aerospace Systems in Rockford, Illinois. His work designing generators for aircraft keeps him close to all things aerospace and connected to his dream.

Ironically, UTC won’t be sending Rohrig to space anytime soon, but AXE Apollo deodorant body spray just might.

In mid February, AXE launched a contest whereby the two people who collect the most votes by midnight, April 27 will win a trip to AXE Space Camp in Orlando, Florida. The winner will be trained and sent to an altitude of 103 km on a premier flight by Space Expedition Corporation. It’s a chance of a lifetime and a trip easily worth $100,000.

Currently, an Internet celebrity who pulls pranks on his girlfriend is in the lead with more than 50,000 votes. Frankly, this breaks Rohrig’s heart.

“Everyone in this contest, in the top five, are all pretty much Internet celebrities. So for me to be competitive with them at all is kind of amazing to begin with,” Rohrig says. “But I hope to show, that through hard work, dedication and the network of a great alma mater, pretty much anything is possible.”

This, hopefully, is where readers of this blog and friends of Badgers everywhere come in. Supporters of Rohrig can vote here

Currently, he moves in and out of the top ten with about 1,400 votes. Rohrig hopes fellow badgers will use their twitter feeds and social media accounts to vote and spread the word.

Already, through a friend of a friend, Rohrig connected with fellow Badger Logan Cascia, a videographer who created the viral video titled “Teach Me How to Bucky.” The two produced the following promotional video, titled “Badasstronaut.”

So now, it is up to you. Will this hard working Badger engineer get his few minutes in space, or will the prize go to someone who famously tricked his girlfriend into eating a spoonful of cinnamon?

Laura McCarten

With greenhouse gas emissions trending downward in Minnesota, Xcel Energy finds itself “ahead of the curve” in its proactive efforts to lower emissions from power plants around the state, according to Xcel Regional Vice-President Laura McCarten (BSEP, ’79).

Thursday McCarten, who has a degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Wisconsin, said that Xcel had taken significant steps in reducing emissions in the state, including converting two older coal-burning plants to natural gas (Riverside and High Bridge), and retrofitting the King plant with modern emission control technology to burn low-sulfur Wyoming coal. The conversions resulted in a significant drop in C02 levels and a 90% reduction in sulfur emissions, and were cost effective due to the current low price of natural gas. Read more…

Major General Thomas A. Benes

Since age 8, Milwaukee native Thomas Benes always wanted to fly airplanes. Born into a long line of tool makers, fabricators and machinists, he also loved science, working with his hands, and figuring out how machines were put together.

First in his family to earn a college degree, Benes received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1974 and spent the next several decades flying fighter jets for the U.S. Marine Corps from aircraft carriers and bases in Japan, Europe and the Pacific. (more…)