Winter 2017 CHEE Class Notes: Pets

Kal Miller

Class of 1962, BS in Chemical Engineering
Class of 1964, MS in Chemical Engineering
Kalbar1@aol.com

I thought I would respond to the call for pet photos to get some doggie notoriety! Pictured are our two Airedale terriers, Emma and Bentley. Airedales are considered the king of the terrier breeds and are real characters.

Behind me is some of the railroad rolling stock that runs around a portion of our backyard, which has been a main hobby of mine since 1995. There is about 1,000 feet of track in the yard around three sides of the pool. I have 12 engines with digital sound systems, and 105 freight and passenger cars.

I am retired and graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the UA in 1962 and 1964, respectively. These were the days of Dr. White and Dr. Edwards. I was the operator of the famous bead machine in the unit operations lab at the time that Dr. Edwards and I did our research.

From 2006 until now, I have been on the board of directors of a water utility near Prescott, and a few years back was the project manager for the design, construction and startup of a new water distribution system for the utility. Two years ago, I provided engineering design for another utility in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Otherwise, our family and the puppies spend our time between Phoenix and our cabin outside of Prescott.

Jim Forthman

Class of 1964, BS in Chemical Engineering
jefpilot@aol.com

Pictured is Thanksgiving Day with me and Mr. Snickers working hard at smoking a turkey and a ham. Mr. Snickers is about 13 years old, and we are his fourth home. His first owners moved and could not take him along. Their folks did not know how to care for him, so they took him to a no-kill shelter. Then some folks with cats adopted him, but he does not like cats, so it was back to the shelter. We picked him up and have had him now for 12 years. He is smart and a very good watchdog.

After 39 years in the chemical industry and 14 years teaching process technology, I decided to finally retire and fly model airplanes. Life continues to be a great ride. I’ve been married 54 years and counting, and been in good health, so you might say we have been blessed.

I appreciate the alumni notes from time to time. I hope to get out to Tucson sometime in the future as I have not been back since the early '90s.

John Heibel

Class of 1967, MS in Chemical Engineering
heibel.john@gmail.com

Picture of Oski, now 10 years old.

Newton Don

Class of 1968, BS in Chemical Engineering
newtond349@gmail.com

Bruno is our fourth dog in the last 30 years. He is now about 11, and we adopted him from Grateful Dogs Rescue when he was about 2 years old. He has the run of the house, is a total mooch and is thoroughly spoiled.

In September, Phil and I traveled to Munich, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. In 1932 and 1933, Phil’s father lived in Germany and studied pathology after graduating with his medical degree from Johns Hopkins. We took photos at many of the same places that his father did. The bombings of WWII damaged or destroyed many of the buildings, but the restoration has been remarkable.

Here are two photos: one of me, Phil and Bruno visiting the Agate View Petrified Forest in April 2017 [at the top of the page], and another of Phil and me in Berlin in October 2017.

In October, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of Catalina High School in Tucson – which I attended – and the 10th anniversary of the Catalina High School Foundation.

UA’s first woman chemical engineering graduate, Marylyn Tobey, was in Catalina High School’s first graduating class in 1957. The honorary co-chairs were Hal Ashton, 1958, of Ashton Construction in Tucson, and Paul Gray, 1960 Catalina and 1967 PhD Arizona, former dean of engineering and provost of UC Berkeley. Professor Gray is a good friend of Catalina and the University of Arizona.

Unlike the middle class, college prep environment of the 1960s, today Catalina is smaller and serves as a magnet school for children of foreign-born parents. In the last 10 years, the foundation has awarded $179,359 in scholarships, grants and school purchases.

Paul Smith

Class of 1969, BS in Chemical Engineering
paultucson47@yahoo.com

I have attached a photo of our two cats, Gus (male) and Vanna (female Bengal). Unfortunately, it is hard to get a picture of cats with their human, so I have sent you this one with both cats.

I retired in 2013 after eight years as the director of facilities at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Prior to this job, I was an Army engineer for 22 years and then served as the assistant vice chancellor for Administrative Services and Facilities at Pima Community College for 14 years.

I visit the UA campus often for a variety of events. I have four grandchildren – three boys and one girl – ranging in age from 1 to 14.

Greg Lorton

Class of 1971, BS in Chemical Engineering
Class of 1973, MS in Chemical Engineering
greglorton@yahoo.com

Here’s a picture of me with Annabelle, a little fluffy white rescue dog. Annabelle is trying to figure out how to get off the chair and out of this ridiculous selfie pose.

I retired in September 2015 after a 42-year career as a process design engineer, environmental engineer and environmental manager – as well as a 15-year stint as a part-time business faculty member.

Although I continue to dabble as an engineering specialist in a few environmental and hazmat issues, I now mostly use my chemical engineering capabilities to find ways to make better beer and mead, as well as build process-industry-related models.

Alan Dennis

Class of 1980, BS in Chemical Engineering
alanrdennis@gmail.com

Here is my license plate. I manage a small team looking after BP's interest in the Trans Alaska Pipeline, BP's crude tankers that call on Valdez, and a half dozen other joint venture operating companies.

I have two sons with civil engineering degrees from UA. One works in the Naval shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, and the other is a construction manager building a nuclear power plant in Georgia.

Ana Needham

Class of 2005, BS in Chemical Engineering
Analuisa.co@gmail.com

It finally happened: We put Prince in baby clothes. Arizona attire of course!

Vicky Karanikola

CHEE Research Professor
Class of 2013, MS Chemical in Engineering
Class of 2015, PhD in Chemical Engineering
vkaranik@email.arizona.edu

This is a picture of my dog Sally. Sally rode 3,000 miles with me to my postdoc in Connecticut. The other picture is of Sally with her best friend, Cimcime, who belongs to fellow CHEE PhD alumni Andrea Corral and Umar Yenal.

Like the parents, our dogs are the best of friends and they liked to sleep on top of each other, until Andrea, Umur and Cimcime moved to California. Sally misses her friend.

Rebecca (Veach) McBride

Class of 2014, BS in Chemical Engineering
veachr@email.arizona.edu

Mike McBride

Class of 2014, BS in Chemical Engineering

After getting married in Arizona last year, we will be celebrating our one-year anniversary this December. We are lucky enough to have adopted two affectionate Siamese cats, Mako and Bolin, who enjoy snuggling, chasing shoelaces, sitting in anything that resembles a box, and waking us up early to get their breakfast.

Rebecca: I graduated with an MS in civil and environmental engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have enjoyed my last two and a half years at Environmental Planning Specialists Inc., an environmental consulting company in Atlanta, Georgia, that does work for companies in various industries across the U.S.

Mike: I am pursuing my PhD in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, and my area of research involves the development of organic semiconductors.

Ana Otarola

Class of 2014, BS in Chemical Engineering
otarola@email.arizona.edu

Here is a picture of me and my puppy, Ivy, an Australian Shepherd mix. Ivy is 10 months old now and has been a lovely addition in my life. This month, I completed my first work anniversary with Honeywell Aerospace, making this year one filled with new opportunities and adventures. With Ivy by my side, this year will be one I’ll always cherish.

Dylan Kline

Class of 2016, BS in Chemical Engineering
dylan.kline95@gmail.com

Paola Comanares

Class of 2017, BS in Chemical Engineering

Paola Colmenares and I came back to Phoenix from Maryland this break to visit our families and we took a picture with my dog, Vegas.

I’ve been working toward my PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Maryland College Park researching energetic materials and propellants. I’ve also been working as an engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the Contamination and Coatings Engineering branch.

Paola’s been working as an engineer at Northrop Grumman here in Baltimore, and she is in their professional development program. She’s also started working toward her master’s degree in space systems engineering at Johns Hopkins University. We’ve worked our way into the space industry, so if anybody out there has similar interests and questions about doing so, they can feel free to reach out to us!

Kara Kanto

Class of 2017, BS in Chemical Engineering
karakanto@gmail.com

This is Tesla. He would like to think he's a lap dog, but he's more of a 3.5 lap dog. He was named after the inventor (not the car company) as he is too smart for his own good and will likely fall in love with a pigeon.

Right now, I'm working for Qualcomm in the Failure Analysis department. The most interesting part of my job is materials analysis. I use a dual beam to create site-specific lamellae of failing devices, and then image them and run EDAX in a TEM. I basically get to look at atoms.

Anthony Muscat

CHEE Professor and Department Chair
muscat@email.arizona.edu

Cherrie (short for Cherubini) and Anthony get some play time.

Bob Arnold

CHEE Professor
rga@email.arizona.edu

Bob Arnold and trusty dog Milo. Just finishing up Chapter 4 of Water Chemistry.

Paul Blowers

CHEE Distinguished Professor
blowers@email.arizona.edu

I’ve been hiking hard to balance out the carbon footprint of driving to California to pick up the new addition to the Blowers family household, Toby!

Holly Altman

CHEE Program Manager
haltman@email.arizona.edu

Barley was my best friend and constant companion for eleven and a half years. He was the dog of a lifetime: funny, smart, easygoing, beautiful, goofy, loyal and like a movie star/diplomat in my neighborhood. People would literally stop their cars to say hello to him.

I spent much time planning and enjoying fun activities with Barley such as hiking, swimming, taking walks, visiting friends (dog and human) and attending outdoor events. My brother once accused me of being “Barley-centric.” The love Barley and I shared will always be part of me.

Michelle Wik

CHEE Academic Advisor
michelles@email.arizona.edu

Here are the Wik Family pets, from left to right, top to bottom: O'Ryley, O’Malley, Riko, Oakley Rose, Stormy, and O’Ryley and O’Malley. All are rescues. Stormy and Oakley came and adopted us. Riko is only 2 years old and is the baby of the family. O’Malley is the freeway alley cat. O’Ryley is the old man. Stormy (the cat in the sink) is the alpha over everyone.

I’ve had to leave a lot lately and all of them comfort me when I get home. Wiks are truly blessed. We also have four fish!