Thayer Notes: Fall 2024

| 1960s |

John Lo '63 Th'65 Th'67: I am calculating economic growth (GDP and productivity) to determine rate of growth of population on a long cycle (1,000 to 2,000 years) for the Western Hemisphere and Asia in our artificial general intelligence multiverse era of conversion to nuclear power plants for global escape from carbon emissions as we approach the thousand exajoules mark in energy consumption in year 3000 CE. Thayer was involved in magnetohydrodynamic plasma fusion research and development 63 years ago. Fusion is the goal for civilization to control climate change in the Anthropocene era as Earth deals with asteroids' collision paths, with apocalyptic climate consequences such as the one of 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs went extinct. I predict humans will survive by deflecting the meteors' collision trajectory with nuclear warheads–and Thayer will participate in this dark matter-triggered risk cycle every 30 million years.

Mark Tuttle '65 Th'66: I am still doing software development. Instead of writing up my results in the form of a paper (see my work on Google Scholar), I'm going to create a series of videos for posting on YouTube. To my surprise, there's a lot of technical material on YouTube; I hope to add to it.

Gregg Cook '69 Th'70: Always interested and involved in the underwater world, in the mid- to late 1990s, I was chairman of the board of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, which was affiliated with Texas A&M. We did extensive work on ancient shipwrecks, much of it in Turkey, where we basically filled the Crusader Castle overlooking the harbor with the material from our excavations. I grew weary of dealing with the academics involved, but did some work with a friend, Brett Phaneuf, in the oceanography department there, and we wanted to bring technology to bear in the undersea world. Brett and I started our own nonprofit to do exactly that. We saw that the Navy was retiring assets used by the U.S. Department of Defense for testing underwater systems, so we built a submersible and secured a contract to use the boat as a test platform for various systems for defense contractors. We then started a for-profit company called Submergence Group, LLC, and did a number of projects for the military. We built a dry diver lock-out submersible that would fit in the shelters that the Navy used on their host submarines, and then the U.S. Special Operations Command awarded us some contracts to build what came to be known as the Dry Combat Submersible (DCS). They are 40 feet long and fit in a sea container for deniability. The batteries are lithium-ion and are housed in pods outside the main pressure vehicle. These vehicles are extremely complicated, having a rear compartment for the two-man crew, a center compartment for lock-in and lock-out of divers, and a forward compartment to house an eight-man SEAL team. We worked a great deal on auto-heading and depth software, as you have to navigate with an inertial guidance system until you can safely surface to get a GPS fix.

Our software became very robust through the years, and we decided to build an unmanned autonomous boat to duplicate the sailing of the Mayflower on its 400th anniversary. We built the Mayflower Autonomous Ship in Gdansk, Poland, and set to sea. Our software performed exquisitely, but we had mechanical issues that forced us to return. We fixed them and set out again only to have another electrical issue that had us divert to Horta in the Azores, and then on again, and a severe storm compromised one of IBM's supercomputers and we diverted to Halifax, and then we set out again and made it to Plymouth, Mass. We had a few million images of ships and boats and the complete international collision regulations. During the passage, we generated 17 terabytes of data, which had to be meticulously studied to be sure that every single decision made by the AI software was the safest and correct decision.

This effort was groundbreaking. We have said for years that AI software will be used aboard boats and ships in the future. An autonomous vessel can be built at a fraction of the cost of a crewed—no heads, galleys, lifeboats, crew safety equipment, holding tanks, berths, etc. One hundred percent of the water can be pumped onto the flames, and the boat can be driven into a fire until the plates buckle. No loss of life. I've been told we'll never see an autonomous vessel anywhere near an oil platform; I think in 35 years, you won't see a vessel with a man on it anywhere near an oil platform. It may be that people will still want to reassure themselves before taking the leap and have the bridge system function in an advisory capacity until trust is abundantly evident. There is no question, however, that AI navigation will be our future.

| 1970s |

Mike Chapman '76 Th'77: My wife, Martha, and I recently participated in our 11th Distinguished Gentleman's motorcycle ride in support of suicide prevention and prostate cancer research. This time, we helped organize the ride from the Vintage Racing Stable in Sanbornton, N.H. to Laconia, N.H.

| 2000s |

Brian Mason '03 Th'04 Th'05: I continue to work at Abiomed (a part of Johnson & Johnson's MedTech segment) leading a team to develop a novel device for heart failure. Jocelyn '05 and I continue to live in Lexington, Mass., with our children and puppy Salty. We made it up to reunion a few weeks ago—and loved it.

André Jerenz Th'04: I am a MEM '03'-04 and after graduating had a few different career steps. For the last 10 years, I have been with McKinsey, where I am a partner with McKinsey Technology for three years now, focusing on financial services. One collaboration I am quite proud of is our work with one of the globally leading NGOs that are focusing on financial inclusion for the poorest of the poor. On a family note, I am married and have an 11-year-old daughter and an 11-month-old son.

| 2010s |

Devon Anderson Th'10: I have joined the department of orthopedic surgery at the University of Vermont after a long medical and graduate training. I will serve as a team physician for Middlebury College and the U.S. Ski Team. I have continued engineering research in orthopedics, including sponsoring an ENGS89/90: "Engineering Design Methodology and Project" project last year and collaboration with Doug Van Citters '99 Th'03 Th'06, with whom I began my research career. For ENGS89/90, my father and I sponsored a project to do preliminary research and prototype development on a patent that we hold for integrating UV light into surgical lighting systems to provide intra-operative antisepsis and reduce surgical site infections. The team did an excellent job performing basic science research to validate the efficacy of the technology, and we greatly enjoyed working with and mentoring the team.

My introduction into engineering and orthopedic research was working over multiple summers and academic terms in the Dartmouth Biomedical Engineering Center with Dr. Van Citters and Dr. John Collier '72 Th'75 Th'77. I investigated mechanical properties of articular cartilage and researched the mechanical phenomenon of squeaking ceramic hip implants with John Currier '79 Th'81. This research inspired my pursuit of a PhD in biomedical engineering at Oregon Health & Science University in a combined MD/PhD program, during which time I worked on growing articular cartilage tissues in the laboratory from stem cells. At Middlebury, I will be the primary orthopedic surgeon for Middlebury athletics and an orthopedic consultant for the U.S. Ski Team. I grew up an alpine ski racer and am still an avid skier. I became involved in sports coverage and athletic medicine through my medical training with a residency in orthopedic surgery at University of Rochester and a fellowship in sports medicine at Duke University, where I served as a team physician for Duke athletics. While I will be on faculty at the University of Vermont, I will be based in Middlebury at a UVM network hospital, Porter Medical Center.

Max Fagin Th'11: I've moved to the pilot office at Blue Origin, helping to ensure the NASA Artemis astronauts will have an easy (and fun) time flying our vehicle when they land it on the moon. I'm learning to fly the vehicle, building the simulators, and assessing the flight controls and displays.

Josephine Kalshoven '19 Th'19: I am excited to announce that I just received my PhD in biomedical engineering from Brown University this past Memorial Day weekend. I am excited now for the next step, as I look for medical device industry jobs in the Boston area. At Dartmouth, I worked in the lab of Prof Doug Van Citters from my sophomore year onward, and I was thankful to have such a great BME research experience under his guidance. He gave me a lot of freedom to make my project my own and investigate—as if I were a new doctoral student—and I loved it! It was also in that lab that I was introduced to the world of orthopedics. For my PhD, I quantified the biomechanics of the thumb carpometacarpal joint, which lies in the wrist at the base of the thumb. It's a joint that is crucial for dictating the power and precision of everyday grasps, but it is also a common site of debilitating osteoarthritis. Unfortunately, all the existing surgical and therapeutic treatments are insufficient to restore proper functionality, in large part because the complex joint has such a unique pattern of motion and biomechanical characteristics. I used a robotic system to move cadaver thumbs, quantifying the multidirectional range of motion and mechanical stiffness of the joints, as well as the contribution of its stabilizing ligaments and the impact of bony degradation during osteoarthritis. It is my hope that this work will enable the development of future interventions for better treatment of the arthritic thumb. Additionally, it was an honor to learn that I had been selected for both the Outstanding PhD Thesis Award and the Contribution to Community Life Award for the Brown University Institute for Biology, Engineering, and Medicine. While I was highly involved across campus, I believe this award was in large part for my revival of the biomedical engineering graduate leadership board following the pandemic. The organization had all but dissolved, but I organized meetings, recruited members, and established a committee structure and method for rotation of leadership of general body meetings. Faculty and staff turn to our organization as a voice for the students, and I am pleased to say that the structure (and a large, highly engaged membership) continues on even as I have stepped back.

| 2020s |

Julia Bonzanini '21 Th'21: I started a PhD program in bioengineering this past year at the University of Washington, where my research focuses on using computational tools to design de novo proteins against peptide MHC cancer targets.