RSS List of Recent PostsSupport the College
The generosity of alumni and friends is vital to maintaining college excellence. Gifts directly support some of our top priorities, including need-based scholarships to make an engineering degree accessible to all; school outreach efforts to inspire the next generation of engineers; and mentoring and networking services to help our students succeed.
Make a gift online through the University of Wisconsin Foundation.
Free WAA email: you@uwalumni.com!
The Wisconsin Alumni Association offers a free email service for alumni. The email works great from smartphones and uses Google technology for easy access, strong spam blocking and long-term storage.
Monthly Archives: January 2012
Les Ryder Named EcoMotors VP of Engineering
Les Ryder (BSME, ’72) is the new vice president of engineering at EcoMotors, a company working to develop new engines and technologies for a wide range of propulsion and power-generation applications. EcoMotors engine and powertrain packages are designed to be efficient, smaller, lighter, and less expensive to manufacture than conventional internal combustion engines. Read more…
Posted in Focus on Alumni, Newsmakers
Tagged ecomotors, engine, ford, Les Ryder, powertrain
Comments Off
Kiekhaefer Pushes the Limits of Racing Technology
Fred Kiekhaefer
Fred Kiekhaefer describes the demands that racing places on marine drives, engines and systems this way: “It’s like motocrossing a fully loaded semi over the Continental Divide, only the mountains are moving.”
Kiekhaefer is president of Mercury Racing and a 1972 UW-Madison graduate with a master’s degree focused on engine design and noise control. He is the son of legendary entrepreneur, engineer and Kiekhaefer Corporation (later renamed Mercury Marine) founder Carl Kiekhaefer, but his path to the top of marine racing and manufacturing was anything but certain.
He started his education as a physics major at Ripon College, but finished his degree at UW-Madison after plans to attend MIT hit a snag.
“There was a brochure at Ripon that said I could spend three years at Ripon and two years at MIT and graduate with a degree from MIT,” he says. “After a couple of years, I went to ask about the transition and the staff looked at me like they’d never heard of it.” (more…)
Posted in Focus on Alumni, Newsmakers
Tagged innovation, kiekhaefer, Mercury Racing, power boats, stern drive
1 Comment
Kissinger to Lead Graef Engineering
John Kissinger
John Kissinger (MSCEE, ’83) is the new chief executive officer of Graef, an employee-owned consulting engineering firm with offices in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Madison, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois; and Orlando, Florida. The firm has been providing consulting services for 50 years.
Kissinger succeeds Richard Bub (BSCEE, ’75) who served as president and CEO since 1995. Bub will be transitioning into a new role as Chairman and leader of special projects for the firm.
Richard Bub
In his new position, Bub will focus on mergers and acquisitions, as well as training new managers. He will also teach a leadership in engineering class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Read more.
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off