Scott W. Tyler (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ’78), Ph.D., a Foundation Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, will receive the John Hem Award 
for Excellence in Science and Engineering at the 2013 NGWA Groundwater Expo in Nashville in December. The award recognizes individuals who make significant contributions of service, research and innovation to the industry. He was recognized with a collaborator, Dr. John Selker (Oregon State Univ.), for their development and application of fiber-optic temperature sensing for hydrology and development of the first community user facility in hydrology for instrumentation. The researchers have used innovative fiber-optic/laser technology to capture temperatures around the globe, in a variety of hydrological, climatological and geological settings such as glaciers, caves, creeks, mines, avalanche areas, volcanoes and farmlands. Dr. Tyler has even studied the water temperature at Devils Hole in Death Valley to help protect the endangered pupfish and drilled through 200 meters of Antarctic ice to take the temperature of the McMurdo Ice Shelf and the 800 meters of ocean underneath it. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1990. Read more about Dr. Tyler’s award here.
Month: November 2013
Alumni, Lake H. Barrett
Lake H. Barrett (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, M.S. Mechanical/Nuclear Engineering ’67, ’71), an independent consultant in the energy field with more than 40 years’ experience in nuclear energy and nuclear materials management, is a special advisor to the president of Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the company that operates the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that was breached during a March 2011 magnitude 9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami. Mr. Barrett retired in 2002 from federal service after serving as the former head of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Nuclear Waste management. He oversaw the removal of nuclear waste from a Three Mile Island reactor in 1979 and led the Yucca Mountain Geologic Repository program through site selection and confirmation by Congress.
In Memoriam
In Memoriam
The School of Engineering community mourns the loss of professor emeritus Eli Dabora, who passed away November 8, 2013. Dr. Dabora joined UConn in 1968 as a professor of Aerospace Engineering and, later
, Mechanical Engineering. With expertise in high speed combustion for propulsion, Dr. Dabora brought considerable knowhow in the combustion characteristics of fuels. He was particularly interested in understanding the science of detonation, how to initiate or suppress it, and its possible application to propulsion. During his years at UConn, he was admired and loved by his colleagues. Dr. Dabora earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees at MIT, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, where he taught for five years before coming to UConn. Please read more about Eli’s career here and view his obituary here. Those who wish to share memories of Eli on his guest book may visit www.potterfuneralhome.com. A memorial service will be held in late December; the family requests that donations be made in lieu of flowers, to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, Willimantic, CT 06226.