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ENGINEERING MINNESOTA/PAGE 2

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CONGRATULATIONS ON 50 YEARS OF PUBLICATIONFrom everyone at Ulteig, congratulations to Engineering Minnesota Magazine on 50 years of service to engineers throughout the state. Your dedication helps us provide clients with comprehensive solutions to meet the ever growing demand for critical engineering services in the power, communications, renewable energy, transportation and government markets.

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VOL. 50 NO. 11


Table of Contents

ENGINEERING MINNESOTA magazine is published monthly. For story and advertising information, contact Jim Meusey, Meusey Communications, 1107 Hazeltine Blvd., Chaska, MN 55318

Phone: 952-448-8816Email: [email protected]

Web Site: meuseypublishing.com

THE STORIES

The Collapsing Bridge Page 14The Horse Barn and Pig Sty Page 14The Death of an Engineering Firm Page 15The Role of Honeywell and 3M Page 18 A Las Vegas Murder Case Page 19 Notable Speakers Page 20 An Absurd Legal Defense Page 21 TV Shows and Engineers Page 21

THE PEOPLE

John Kallevig, P. E. Page 22Jack Hanley, P. E. Page 22Lisa Breuer P. E. Page 23Steve Vanderboom, P. E. Page 24Lowell Torseth, P. E. Page 25Chuck Britzius, P.E. Page 26Jim Ryan P.E. Page 27

FromThe Publisher Page 6Around Engineeirng . . . Page 7

COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS page 30


JimMeusey

From The Publisher . . .

Time flies. That adage hit home with the realization 2015 is the 50th year Engineering Minnesota has been covering activities of engineers and engineering in Minnesota. That reality created a challenging question. How does one squeeze 50 years of Minnesota engineering history on to 40 magazine pages? Hopefully, the smart-aleck answer, “very well,” fits in the case of the 50th anniversary issue of Engineering Minnesota.

As usual, Engineering Minnesota readers will determine how efficiently that tricky challenge was met. The magazine has been reporting on the actions, thoughts, achievements and reflections — as well as the occasional follies — of thousands of Minnesota engineers for a half-century. The 50-year mark has a quaint tradition requiring an inevitable ”look back” at the personalities, projects and problems that have comprised Minnesota engineering since 1965. Fortunately, that retrospective glance reflects well on the profession. For certain, Minnesota engineers have performed well the past five decades.

Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, most of their work has been done with little public scrutiny. Among the professions, engineering in Minnesota appears to have been relegated to the back of the bus as far as the establishment media are concerned.

For certain, a major reason is the excellent performance of engineers has enabled them to avoid the public examination given faulty practitioners of other professions and businesses. Their performance has been so consistently good in the state the only news that seems worthy of media attention is failure. . . and there has not been much of that. Revealingly, however, the one Minnesota engineering issue to gain the most media attention the past half century focused on a catastrophic failure — collapse of the I-35W Bridge August 1, 2007. It is ironic that the rush hour bridge failure should happen in a state with a very impressive record of engineering performance and safety. That tragedy is just one of the many stories that will be covered in the anniversary issue.

This issue also seems to be an appropriate venue to provide readers some background on the magazine itself. As it should be, articles in the magazine have almost always focused on Minnesota engineers and engineering. A consequence is there is very little knowledge regarding the start and growth of a magazine that has been around for a half-century in what is the increasingly challenging and complex world of print publishing.

The magazine, initially called Engineering Contacts, began as bi-monthly magazine of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers 50 years ago. Jim Meusey, the fellow who has been publisher of the magazine since 1975, got his start in the business in 1968 after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in journalism. Since he is the person writing this article, the

story is now going to make a smooth transition to a first person narrative.

My start in journalism began with the Minneapolis Argus, a weekly newspaper that arrived on the scene as a result of the Minneapolis newspaper strike in the early 1960s. The Argus eventually disappeared but I did not. After a year with that newspaper, I joined a public relations firm headed by Gene Trumble and Wy Spano that focused on political campaigns. Trumble-Spano Associates was the Upper Midwest agency for the Nixon-Agnew presidential campaign in 1968. One consequence of that connection is several of the Watergate characters were familiar to me long before they would become household names a few years later at senate hearings.

After a year -long stay in public relations, I returned to the newspaper business as the editor of the St. Louis Park Sun newspaper. An interesting aspect to that stint was the political connections of the person I replaced in the job as well as the lad who followed me. I took over in 1970 for the late Dave Hoium who would go on to become an architect of the failed Jon Gronseth campaign for Minnesota governor in 1990. Gronseth dropped out of the race after charges were made he invited teenage friends of his daughter to swim in a pool sans bathing suits. The fellow who replaced me was R. T. Rybak. He would go on to have much more success in the political arena as the three-term mayor of Minneapolis. The closest I got to politics again happened in the late 1970s when my twin brother Jack served as press secretary during the turbulent and challenging term of Gov. Al Quie..

The Meusey brothers started a publication for 30,000 Twin Cities apartment residents appropriately called The Resident in 1973. One year later, we started another magazine. Demonstrating title consistency, it was called The Executive and focused on folks who ran business, trade and professional associations and organizations. Readers included Ed Johnson, then executive director of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers. At that time, Engineering Contacts was struggling as a publication during a very challenging economic time period. The country was suffering from the burden of double-digit inflation and double-digit interest rates. Ed asked if I was interested in taking over the magazine. I was and did. Engineering Contacts was switched to a monthly publication and went from a magazine to a newsprint format. The change got the magazine through a very difficult time and it has remained — through good economic periods and bad — for 40 more years.

I would like to provide a bit more history but I must finish the 50th anniversary issue and then start working toward that iconic 100th anniversary issue because as someone pointed out not too long ago . . . time flies.


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formerly MFRA763.476.6010 sambatek.com12800 Whitewater Dr, #300

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WE SHARE YOUR EXCITEMENT IN CELEBRATING - 50 YEARS -

CONGRATULATIONSENGINEERING

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New markets, enhanced services, but the same firm you’ve known to trust since 1966.

Keith Ellis

p SEH Shareholders and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) members recently elected Bob Ellis, P. E., and Kerry Keith, P. E., to serve on the SEH Board of Directors. SEH also named Mark Dierling, P. E., to serve as the Transportation Leader in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. He has been with SEH for 16 years and a part of the transportation industry for 29 years.

Ellis is a principal and serves as the SEH operations manager for offices in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. He joined SEH as part of the merger between SEH and Yaggy Colby Associates in 2014. During his tenure with Yaggy, he served as president and chief executive officer. His work in the engineering and architecture industry spans nearly three decades.

Keith is a principal and president of SEH of Indiana, a company subsidiary, and formerly served as Secretary of the SEH Board of Directors. He joined SEH in 1994 and leads the company’s work in Indiana. He has 33 years of engineering experience in the consulting industry. The firm also added Transportation Planner Lisa Elliott, Water Resource Graduate Engineer Ahmed Omer and GIS Analyst Lauren Osowski to its St. Paul office

p Jim Tiggelaar, P. E., of Duluth-based LHB spoke at the American Public Works Association Minnesota Chapter (APWA-MN) Fall Conference recently in Brooklyn Center. He discussed the Promenade of Wayzata, a senior housing community and how the project overcame various challenges to transform what had been a declining mall into a dense mixed-use development mimicking native wetland conditions. LHB worked with the Wayzata Bay Redevelopment Company to plan the senior housing community that extends the traditional forms of downtown Wayzata across the site. LHB designed storm water management strategies that accompany several other sustainable



Mechanical • Electrical • Structural • Civil Architectural • Environmental

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and energy efficient efforts included in the project. Storm water systems replicate runoff conditions to Lake Minnetonka that existed in the site’s native condition. Tiggelaar is a civil project manager for the firm’s Public Works Group involved in a variety of building site work and municipal engineering projects.

The firm also noted Jason Wedel, P. E., was recently appointed to the Board of the Sensible Land Use Coalition (SLUC). Wedel is the Municipal Engineering Lead for the Public Works and Structures Group at LHB. He has also served as the City Engineer for a number of communities including Savage, Lino Lakes and Long Lake as well as working in land development for a home builder.

In other news, Nathan Wried, P.E., joined the firm’s Minneapolis office as an Electrical Project Manager. He has 13 years of electrical engineering experience designing lighting, load calculation, power systems, integrated technology systems (telecommunications, security/mass notification systems, and audio visual systems), fire and emergency communication systems and lightning protection. He has designed electrical and special systems across the country for a variety of markets including aviation, commercial, healthcare,

ENGINEERING MINNESOTA/PAGE 11Robot contemplating the future?

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Celebrating the Evolution of Engineering

ISG has a rich history, that extends over 40 years, of building trusting

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With strong Minnesota roots, over 20 licensed engineers in the

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Anniversary and the industry evolution.

ARCHITECTURE + ENGINEERING + ENVIRONMENTAL + PLANNING www.is-grp.com

Proud Recipient of:


Tiggelaar Zien

government, and education. He is a graduate of South Dakota State University.

p American Engineering Testing, Inc. (AET) added A Reza Savabi, P.E., senior geotechnical engineer. to its Geotechnical Division. He has over twenty years of experience in geotechnical engineering, which also includes construction materials testing and environmental engineering. Savabi graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, and a Master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering. He is also licensed in Florida, Illinois, Utah, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas. He is fluent in Spanish and Farsi.

p Westwood Professional Services said Sam Jorgensen, P. E., a civil engineer working in the firm’s power generation division, and Eric Hansen, director of environmental services, spoke about cold-weather solar racking foundation design and utility-scale siting considerations at the recent second annual Midwest Gateway to Solar Conference in Bloomington. Jorgensen provided insight on solar racking foundation design for cold weather regions. He also discussed his experiences with design, testing and construction

in an effort to bring clarity to the risks associated with frost and establish best practices across the industry. Hansen discussed the challenges of siting in regard to current permitting processes and land use considerations, as well as harnessing the green-energy momentum within the approval process. The Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association (MnSEIA) represents and Minnesota energy professionals and solar energy users.



Offices in St. Paul and Rochesterwww.kimley-horn.com

Kimley-Horn congratulates Engineering Minnesota on 50 years of exemplary service to the engineering profession in Minnesota.

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p MSA Professional Services, St. Paul, said Jon Herdegen, P. E., senior project engineer, has been promoted to team leader. His 12 years of experience includes municipal engineering, plan development and project management. He has designed transportation, water and wastewater treatment systems for numerous Minnesota communities. He has degree in civil engineering from North Dakota State University.

p Braun Intertec added project engineer, Martin Halvorson, EIT, its Duluth office. His primary responsibilities are to assist in providing company-wide support to engineering groups as well as perform deep foundation, shallow foundation, slope stability, and retaining structure analysis. As the former geotechnical manager at Twin Ports Testing, Halvorson supervised the geotechnical related activities including field investigations, analysis, and reporting. He has a degree in civil engineering from the University of North Dakota and a Master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Wyoming.

p Terry Zien, a hydraulic engineer with the U. S. Corps of Army Engineers, received the annual Floodplain Manager Award for distinguished service in floodplain management at a recent Minnesota Association of Floodplain Managers conference He was nominated by several Minnesota state agencies.

For the past nine years, Zien has managed the Flood Plain Management Services and Planning Assistance to States programs at the St. Paul District. Zien has also served as the St. Paul District Silver Jackets Coordinator for Minnesota and Wisconsin and as a co-lead for North Dakota for the past seven years. Silver Jackets is a program that focuses on flood risk management. He worked one with with Enviroscience before joining the corps in 1988. He had a Master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota.

p Barr Engineering has moved to 4300 MarketPointe Drive, Suite 200, Bloomington, MN 55435. The firm had been on W. 77th Street in Edina.


The Way It Was

Clark Engineering congratulates Engineering Minnesota on its

50thAnniversary

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The Stories

>

Through the 50 years Engineering Minnesota has been covering engineers and engineering in Minnesota there are three stories that clearly reach out for special attention. Each was unique but for different reasons. The first attention-getting story occurred in 1969 when Bert Getsug, P. E. attracted the attention of the state board of architecture, engineering and land surveying after architects charged him with practicing architecture without a license. While that story would seem to be one that would generate interest solely among the architecture and engineering communities it was well covered by the Twin Cities media. The reason is the local press was far more substantial at that time than today. In 1969, four daily newspapers covered the Twin Cities. The Minneapolis Tribune was delivered to readers in the morning and the Minneapolis Star in the afternoon. In St. Paul, the Dispatch was printed in the afternoon and the Pioneer Press was the morning newspaper. A broad generalization is the morning papers covered national news while the afternoon covered local news extensively. As a consequence, Getsug vs. the state board of registration was well covered by the afternoon papers.

The next story happened 30 years later and was a significant news event for those inside as well as outside of the engineering community. Interestingly, that noteworthy happening received literally no coverage in what is referred to as the mainstream media. By that time, the daily afternoon newspapers had disappeared. Regardless, it remains very telling the disappearance of the 80-year-old Orr-Schelen-Mayeron engineering firm was of so little interest.

By contrast, the third notable “engineering” story of the past 50 years received overwhelming news coverage from the Minnesota mainstream media as well as media from throughout the world. Ironically, it focused on a failure even though Minnesota engineers have achieved an admirable record for their profession. Success has far surpassed any failures so it was with considerable irony that the state was the site of a gigantic engineering disaster when


The Way It Wasthe I-35W Bridge collapsed during rush hour Aug. 1, 2007 because of a poorly designed gusset plate.

THE COLLAPSING BRIDGE

One fellow, who has followed engineering in the state for almost 50 years, recalls his initial reaction when learning of that tragedy. “It was about 6 p.m. on a beautiful August day,” the man recalls. “I left my office, got in my car and turned on the radio. I heard local radio personalities talking about a bridge collapse. I wondered why the station had not switched to network coverage of the event. Since location had not been mentioned, my knowledge of the profession and the country caused me to think the city involved was New York, Boston or Philadelphia. I knew organized crime was active in those areas and assumed the collapse was the result of faulty building materials. I could not have been more wrong.”

The tragedy killed 13 people and injured 145. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation eventually determined a design flaw was the likely cause of the collapse. The problem focused on a too-thin gusset plate that ripped along a line of rivets. Additional weight on the bridge at the time was said to have facilitated the disaster.

A major challenge of reporting about the collapse for Engineering Minnesota magazine was finding people connected to the tragedy to speak on or off-the-record. Companies, firms and governmental agencies involved wanted information released only through a designated spokesperson. One engineer involved said, “they told us to clam up.” Interestingly, the people who offer the least speculation in off-the-record conversations were engineers. Those directly involved, when asked their “best guess” as to “what really happened,” simply said, “I don’t know.” They were as anxious as anyone to learn what the investigation would determine. One major irritant for them was people who speculated on what might have happened. “If I don’t know,” said one highly placed Mn/DOT engineer, “they, for sure, don’t know. But it gets their name in the newspaper and on television.”

At the time, the disaster raised two significant questions. One involved who would be sued and the other focused on whether the next Mn/DOT commissioner would be a registered engineer.

In August 2010, San Francisco-based URS Corporation, which had performed fatigue analysis consulting on the bridge for the Mn/DOT settled a lawsuit for $52.4million to avoid prolonged litigation. In 2011, a lawsuit was brought by the state of Minnesota against Jacobs Engineering Group, the successor of Sverdrup & Parcel, the firm that designed the bridge. A year later, the United States Supreme Court turned down an appeal by Jacobs who argued too much time had passed since the 1960s design work, allowing the state of Minnesota suit to proceed. To avoid protracted litigation, Jacobs paid $8.9 million to settle the suit without admitting wrongdoing.

Carol Molneau was commissioner of transportation at the time of the accident. She was not an engineer. Dick Braun, P. E., who resigned the post in 1986, was the last registered engineer to serve in that position. After the Minnesota senate failed to approve her reappointment in 2008, Tom Sorel replaced her. He was an engineer with considerable experience working for the federal government but was not registered.

THE HORSE BARN AND THE PIG STY

By contrast, Bert Getsug, P. E., was a registered engineer. But he was not registered as an architect. That difference would help highlight the staggering amount of animosity that existed between engineers and architects over 40 years ago. Professional magazines, including Engineering Minnesota, contained several stories of lawsuits filed in several states around that time by architects charging engineers were practicing architecture without a license.

In 1968, the St. Paul chapter of the American Institute of Architects filed a complaint against Getsug with the State Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors. The complaint charged Getsug, a 56-year-old mechanical engineer, went beyond his professional competence by certifying all phases of the drawings for a nursing home, shopping center and apartment complex built by his construction company.

Architects maintained such approval required expertise in architecture. Relations between architects and engineers, obviously at a low point during that time, soon hit rock bottom over the testimony of an architect at a board hearing who was brought in as an expert witness. During cross-examination, the architect said an engineer could not competently design a building used by people. He cited two examples of buildings that engineers were capable of designing without the help and certifications of architects. They were a “horse barn and pig sty.” Seldom have five words created such commotion. Engineers and their organizations could not react fast enough in their support of Getsug and in expressing anger about the comment. The Board of Registration ruled against Getsug but in an appeal, a District Court judge over-ruled that decision. The board appealed the District Court ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court. In April

The I-35W Bridge fell in 2007

ENGINEERING MINNESOTA/PAGE 15Molnau Getsug

1971, that court rejected the appeal on the grounds there was no state statue that allowed the Board of Registration to appeal a decision when the board was acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial manner.

Getsug, who remained very active in various engineering organizations in his remaining years, died in 1984. As has been noted, Getsug’s board of registration challenge received considerable publicity. By contrast, the death of a high profile 80-year-old Twin Cities engineering firm was completely ignored by the local mainstream media.

THE DEATH OF AN ENGINEERING FIRM

The death of the Twin Cities-based Orr-Schelen-Mayeron engineering consulting firm on the last day, of the last year, of the last century was perhaps the most fascinating story in the history of Minnesota engineering. Owners turned off the lights, locked the doors and simply went out of business. No one was willing to buy what remained of one of the state’s most successful engineering firms for almost 80 years.

Eventually, death would take Publicker leader Jim Weis, a key player in the OSM saga. Publicker owend OSM. The company would change its name and move into new ventures. But despite change, questions continued to dog the company. Publicker changed its name to PubliCard when the one-time whiskey distributor moved on to the “smart card” business in the late 1990s. That business focuses on manufacturing coin metering equipment and various “smart card” systems.

Weis, one-time chief operating officer and company president, represented Publicker in negotiations relating to the demise of OSM. His thoughts on that decision are, of course, buried with him. When Engineering Minnesota contacted PubliCard in 2005 the company no comment on what happened in Minnesota six years earlier.

Regardless, Engineering Minnesota made attempts to find someone who might shed light on the company’s thinking in 1999 when it “disposed of” rather than sold what had been a profitable firm. Those attempts represented considerable challenge because few employees remain from six years earlier.

Engineering Minnesota did reach one person who had some knowledge of the situation in 1999. His caustic albeit concise explanation simply reinforced what is known. “There is no great

>

The I-35W Bridge fell in 2007


The Way It Was

Congratulations on 50 years of embracing Minnesota’s Engineering Profession!

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Mayeron Orr

Mittelsteadt Castro

mystery,” the man said, “there was nothing left to sell.” That explanation is the only one ever presented for closing rather than selling. “They were talking about a selling price around a quarter-of-a-million dollars,” the man said. “That was ridiculous. It was the equivalent of a spit in the ocean for Publicker. It was easier to walk away. For that amount, it wasn’t worth the trouble.”

PubliCard (nee Publicker) is a firm that dealt in millions — not thousands of dollars. The worth of any business comes down to what someone is willing to pay.

A guide for engineering consulting firms is the selling price runs about five times annual revenues. But that is only a guide. Some people involved in negotiations said asking price for OSM was $2 million. Most of the firm’s key personnel with important client contacts had left by that time. But that figure dropped quickly when news about Publicker’s situation and previous negotiations became known. Several Minnesota consulting firms were interested but nothing happened. At the end, according to one engineer involved, negotiations with an out-state consulting firm focused on a price of about $200,000.

“That was almost as much as we used to pay in annual insurance premiums,” the engineer sneered.

The story of how Publicker came to acquire the bastion of Middle America engineering known as Orr-Schelen-Mayeron is as remarkable as how it caused the firm’s death.

The company started in 1913 and went public in 1946. At one time, Publicker was one of the largest producers of alcohol in the world and had over 5,000 employees. Things went exceedingly well through the 1950s. Then a fellow named Fidel Castro created a revolution in Cuba. Eventually, Castro nationalized all Publicker’s sugar cane plantations used in alcohol production. Publicker went from a $300 million company to a $30 million operation.

To recoup, the company went on a ferocious buying and selling spree. That spree found them purchasing assets of a British company known as Hanson Industries for about $32 million in 1991. Hanson had purchased OSM several years earlier.


The Way It Was

And its staff of Professional Engineerscongratulates Engineering Minnesotaon 50 years of reporting aboutProfessional Engineers andEngineering in the state of Minnesota

Anita Kaliszewski, P.E. Bruce Grandits, P.E. Carol Ous, P.E. Doug Hughes, P.E. Eric Meyer, P.E. Ethan Charpentier, P.E., S.E. Greg Buchal, P.E. Henry Voth, P.E., S.E.

Jacob Higgins, P.E.Kesh Ramdular, P.E.Kevin Schultz, P.E., S.E.Matt Johnson, P.E.Matt Woodruff, P.E.Michael Murphy, P.E.Rachel Schulz, P.E., S.E.Tom Renick, P.E.

3524 LaBore Road White Bear Lake, MN 55110 651-481-9120

A piquant situation for those interested in Minnesota engineering involves the similar purchases yet contrasting results affecting the fates of Orr-Schelen-Mayeron and Twin City Testing, both engineering-related firms.

Both were well-established Minnesota firms started by fellows with more ambition than money. Milt Orr created his firm in 1922. Chuck Britzius, P. E., established Twin City Testing in 1938. Both became successful due to the character and competence of the owners and their employees. In fact, both became so successful owners could not afford to sell either firm to employees. Interestingly, OSM and Twin City Testing wound up eventually being purchased by British interests in the 1980s. Both were also sold again to American companies. Twin City Testing rebounded. OSM died.

By the early 1970s, the only original partner still active in OSM was Harry Mayeron, P. E.. He was in his mid-50s and starting to look to retirement. He owned 51 percent of OSM. He wanted to sell to employees. Unfortunately for all, OSM had become too successful and was worth far more than employees could afford. Mayeron eventually sold the firm to Kidde Corporation, an American company with a variety of interests. Immediately after the sale, Mayeron died of a heart attack. The 70s and 80s were good years for OSM. Kidde turned down five offers to sell. But in 1983, it sold the firm to Hanson Industries.

Hanson Industries was a British conglomerate with worldwide interests. It was headed by an eccentric fellow known as Lord Hanson. By almost all accounts, Hanson was an ideal absentee owner. OSM employees remember the company primarily for its “hands-off” approach. Hanson set achievable financial goals. As one former employee put it, “as long as we made money for them, they didn’t see any reason to get that involved.” Everything was swell. Then Publicker got involved.

Not surprisingly, assessment of Publicker’s situation at that time depended on whom one was talking with. One version maintained Publicker purchased the Hanson interests so it could take advantage of income tax breaks it would receive as a result of previous financial losses. Another, put forth by an OSM engineer in a position to know, maintained that Publicker, a public company, found itself sitting on $42 million in cash at the end of the 1980s. That was the result of the ferocious buying and selling campaign it had embarked on. The 1980s were a time of buy-outs, forced mergers and hostile take-overs. At that time, Publicker’s 11 million shares of stock were selling for less than a dollar. Even the most inept stock market entrepreneurs would realize expenditure of a few million dollars to buy a majority of shares would enable a purchaser to wind up with immediate access to $42 million in cash. Needless to say, that possibility was not lost on the folks at Publicker. They went ahead and purchased 10 companies owned by Hanson Industries. OSM was included. It was an unfortunate inclusion.

Bernie Mittelsteadt, P. E., who died in November, replaced Harry Mayeron in 1972 as OSM president. He was a good choice. “Everyone liked Bernie,” is the way one engineer put it. But Mittelsteadt acknowledged he did not like the owners of Publicker. He labeled them a “money hungry” operation that demanded a specific number of dollars each quarter. He was also up upset that Publicker required OSM clients mail checks to a post office box in North Carolina. “That didn’t inspire a lot of confidence,” he noted. Moreover, about the same time, Publicker ended a popular OSM employee bonus plan that had been part of the firm’s operation for years. “They needed more money,” he explained.

By 1995 Mittelsteadt had enough. He joined four other OSM civil engineers in setting up their own consulting firm. That group followed the example set a year earlier by key OSM mechanical and electrical engineers who also formed their own consulting firm.

By the end of the 1990s, very little was left of what had been one of the state’s best engineering firms. Almost all of its top money producers were gone. About all that remained were memories and a sad legacy of what could have been.


The Way It WasTHE KEY ROLES 3M AND HONEYWELLPLAYED IN MINNESOTA ENGINEERING

The middle decades of the last century were a glorious time for the two Minnesota industrial giants that provided comfortable homes for much of the state’s engineering talent. Covering both sides of the Mississippi River, Honeywell and 3M featured some of Minnesota’s best engineers. But that was then.

How much the landscape has changed came into focus during 2008 with the announcement that 3M moved headquarters for its optical systems division from Maplewood to Hong Kong. The changing condition of big-time industrial engineering in Minnesota had been obvious for some time. For sure, 3M and Honeywell were no longer your father’s engineering companies. The latter had not been for some time.

Honeywell significantly reduced its local presence years earlier and moved much of its operation out of Minnesota. The 3M announcement illustrated once again that engineering is becoming more and more of an international profession. It also revealed how drastically the parochial perspective that characterized so many of the last century’s Minnesota employers of engineers had changed. “I fear many Minnesota companies have lost the sense of local responsibility and community they used to have,” said John Wesson, a retired mechanical engineer who worked for Honeywell. “Too many companies are being run from outside the state by management that has no connection or concern for Minnesota,” he said.

In the 1950s thru the 1980s, Honeywell and 3M were solid and reliable employers of engineers and strong supporters of the engineering profession locally. The two could always be depended on to help fund the latest worthwhile project supported by local engineering organizations. Wesson, who helped raise money for the local chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, said, “the first place I went when I was looking for money was Honeywell. The next was 3M. That gave me a good start and a lot of credibility.”

To be sure, the effort was not one-sided. The twin behemoths benefited significantly from their local support. When it came to recognizing outstanding engineering achievement, local engineering organizations were quick to laud 3M and Honeywell accomplishments.

For example, the two corporations dominated the Seven Wonders of Engineering awards presented annually by the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers. The Wonders recognize outstanding engineering projects in the state. The society started the program in 1964. Honeywell and 3M dominated the first 20 years. During the 1970s, between them, the two companies won either three or four of the seven awards presented six times. They won at least one award in almost every one of the other years well into the late 1980s.

But nothing is forever. Things started to change during the 1990s. As mentioned, Honeywell scaled back and increasing pressure on 3M management to improve the profit picture changed the work culture at that company. It was no longer the exceedingly benevolent work place it had been for decades. People started getting laid off.

For decades that possibility was unheard of within 3M. An appealing attraction of the firm — and a remnant of the impact of the Depression years — was that no one ever got fired. A 3M engineer once described the thinking this way — albeit using a bit more colorful language. His explanation: You can be the biggest screw-up in the world and 3M won’t fire you. What they will do is put you someplace where your screw-ups won’t cause any damage.

The situation was changing on the other side of the river as well. Best example involved one of the company’s higher profile engineers — the late Al Baldwin, P. E. Baldwin was a dedicated engineer who championed engineers and the engineering profession. It always bothered him that engineers were not given the same respect afforded other professionals such as doctors and attorneys.

Baldwin was very active in efforts to enhance the image and influence of engineers. He continuously promoted the profession. In fact, he served as president of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers as well as the local chapter of the American Society of Mechanical and was instrumental in re-invigorating and re-starting the Minnesota Federation of Engineering Societies in the early 1980s. That group had been the dominant engineering organization in the state through the 1950s. Baldwin felt his efforts would help unite the engineering community and give it a stronger voice — and more respect.

But his hopes were never realized. In fact, his dedication and determination in the effort cost him his job at Honeywell. In the early 90s, the atmosphere at Honeywell had changed. Management was no longer as supportive of engineering organizations as it had been.

Increasing pressure to produce a better bottom line caused management to re-think its policy on supporting engineering organizations. It cut back on its previous generosity relating to time and money. Management told Baldwin he was going to have to reduce his involvement in engineering organizations if he wanted to keep his job. The ultimatum was unacceptable to Baldwin.

Al Baldwin, P. E.


The Way It WasIn 1992, he quit Honeywell and formed his own consulting firm that he ran until he died six years later at age 63 of cancer. He never saw the engineering profession achieve the respect from the public he thought it deserved.

BATTLES THAT HELPED SHAPE THE

MINNESOTA SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS

During the summer of 1977,Don Hassenstab was facing his first major challenge as executive director of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers. In meeting that challenge during his first year on the job, he would learn the same lesson as had his predecessor Ed Johnson.

One of the first things Johnson did when he was named executive director in 1968 was to dig out minutes of all previous MSPE meetings. That provided his bedtime reading for weeks. He concluded the same problems kept occurring. Problems were solved and forgotten only to be rediscovered years later and solved by new people.

Hassenstab’s challenge was somewhat similar to the dilemma facing engineers at the creation of MSPE in 1939. In 1977, Professional Engineers working for the Minnesota Department of Transportation became alarmed when Commissioner Jim Harrington proposed dropping the registration requirement for certain top administrative positions in the department. They appealed to MSPE for assistance. MSPE expressed concern over Mn/DOT’s implication that registration laws were an unnecessary requirement and that engineers were lacking in management skills.

MSPE received support from its national organization’s Professional Engineers in Government chapter. Its president sent a telegram to Gov. Rudy Perpich asking him to drop the proposal. The strong support had an impact and Harrington withdrew the idea. “This is a key effort for us,” Hassenstab said at the time. “It showed

the society can look after the interest of Professional Engineers in the state and be successful.”

Interestingly, it was looking out for the interests of Professional Engineers employed by the state that provided the impetus for creation of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers. “In 1939, the country was still emerging from

Don Hassenstab >


The Way It Wasthe depression,” wrote Hib Hill, P. E., the first MSPE president, in a 1965 Engineering Contacts article while reflecting on the conditions that led to creation of his group. “Competition for work was desperate. State employees were required to make political payments to retain their jobs. Our concern as engineers was not so much over merely unethical practices, it was over gross and open violations of ethics,” he continued.

An organization of Professional Engineers was created May 6, 1939. Annual dues were $12. It was known as the Minnesota Association of Professional Engineers. The named was changed in 1943 when the group became affiliated with the National Society of Professional Engineers.

The Minnesota Foundation of Engineering Societies had been the dominant organization for engineers since the 1920s. The federation had served with varying success to represent engineers in Minnesota. Ted Thompson, P. E., president of MSPE in 1948, recalled the federation was not organized to meet the changing needs of engineers at the time. There were no individual memberships and payment of dues was voluntary. Diversity of interests was substantial and personal participation was minimal. Primary engineering groups at the time were the Engineers Club of Minneapolis, the Engineering Society of St. Paul and the Duluth Engineers Club. The 388-member MSPE took a major step in 1944 when it hired Richard Price as its first full-time executive secretary.

THE MINNESOTA CONNECTION TOA LAS VEGAS DESERT MURDER

At a social gathering, if one were to ask Scott Wolter what he does for a living, his response “I work in archaeopetrography” is likely to cause the inquisitor to start planning an immediate exit strategy. That would be a mistake. Wolter might be one of the most interesting fellows the questioner encounters.

Archaeopetrography is a description Wolter created to describe the new and unique work he does. It involves the study and dating of stone or concrete from ancient or earlier times. Engineering Minnesota readers became familiar with him several years ago in a cover story about the death of a young woman in the Las Vegas desert.

Las Vegas police were stymied by a case in which a jogger discovered a body almost entirely encased in concrete. It had deteriorated and police had difficulty determining time of death. Las Vegas attracts 40 million people annually and some become missing persons. Connecting time of death to a list of people missing in a specific time frame would enable police to have a starting point. Investigators speculated the killer encased the body in concrete to protect it from scavenging animals. No body meant no murder investigation.

Las Vegas Police Lt. Tom Monohan learned of the unique concrete analyzing capabilities of American Petrographic Services (APS), a division of American Engineering Testing in St. Paul, and called Wolter. Petrography involves assessment of concrete, as well as other construction materials, for forensic analysis related to problems and failures.

Wolter came to Las Vegas with skepticism. He told Monohan he had never done “anything like this” and had no idea how successful he would be. Monohan responded his department had never sought an analysis of crime scene concrete and they would establish procedure as they went along.

Concrete analysis enabled APS to place time of death between 18 and 24 months earlier. Las Vegas police investigated missing persons reports in that time frame and were able to focus on a young woman. More work enabled them to determine a prime suspect.

But there is still no conclusion to the case. The suspect has moved to another state but Las Vegas police are tracking him. The man has refused to return for questioning. He and his family have been consistently uncooperative.

“Las Vegas police feel they have the right person, “Wolter explained a while back. “There is plenty of circumstantial evidence. They don’t feel, however, they have the type of evidence that will lead to a conviction. Prosecutors don’t want to go to trial unless they are sure they can convict the fellow. They are hoping that something will turn up to help solidify their case. They are optimistic they have the right person.”

Meanwhile Wolter keeps working on fascinating cases. APS analyzed the historic Kensington Runestone discovered by a Minnesota farmer in 1898. Runic scholars determined inscriptions on the stone were made by Norse explorers in the 1300s. Skeptics thought the stone was a fake. It has long been a source of controversy. If authentic, it would have meant that Vikings had beaten Christopher Columbus to the New World.

Scott Wolters


The Way It WasNOTABLE SPEAKERS AND

THE REACTION GENERATED

For certain, after dinner speakers at engineering events often tend to be as mundane as they are predictable. But every once in a while one of those performances or situations did merit an Engineering Minnesota article.

The most controversial speech occurred in 1969. Northern States Power Company was recognized as a recipient of a Seven Wonders of Engineering Award presented by the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers at its annual Engineering Week awards banquet. NSP was honored for the newly constructed Allen S. King power plant on Lake St. Croix near Stillwater. The facility was the largest of its kind in the Upper Midwest. Guest speaker for the event was John Logan, president of Rose Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana and a strong environmentalist. No one involved in the program was familiar with what Logan was going to say. They soon learned. He let loose with a blistering criticism charging engineers were not doing enough to provide leadership in making the world a more attractive and healthy place. Among items creating “an unlivable environment” were gigantic power plants such as the one NSP was being honored for building. Not surprisingly, there were a number of audience members who expressed anger about the choice of speakers, including a couple of representatives from Northern States Power. “The one thing I learned from that experience,” said the engineer who arranged the program, “is that you can never sink low enough in your chair to avoid being seen.”

A less controversial but more comical event happened in 1976 when a chapter of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers invited then St. Paul Mayor Larry Cohen to speak at its meeting. He was also a fierce critic of engineers. He had generated anger once by stating he never met a socially conscious engineer. During the meeting he sought feedback and got it. Some engineers said Cohen expected too much because engineering decisions were often overruled by politicians. The evening produced a good exchange of views. The engineer in charge of the program called it progress because “ten years ago we never would have invited a critic to dinner. “ Cohen responded that 20 years ago he would have been tarred and feathered. To that observation, one engineer shouted, “the evening isn’t over.”

THE ENGINEER WHO HELPEDAN ABSURD LEGAL DEFENSE

Although the trial happened over 40 years ago, it can still bring a sardonic smile from anyone familiar with the case. The trial concerned Minneapolis chiropractor John Mitchell charged with murdering his wife in 1969. Mitchell claimed innocence. He maintained his wife killed herself after arranging her death to appear as murder—so her husband would be blamed.

That scenario, if true, would have been unprecedented. A Hennepin County coroner’s investigation revealed Mrs. Mitchell had been strangled before her body was found by firefighters responding to a blaze that destroyed her house in south Minneapolis. Mitchell hired famed Boston attorney F. Lee Bailey to defend him. Bailey was assisted in the case by local lawyer Ron Meshbesher who would go on to establish himself as one of the state’s best-known criminal attorneys.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s office charged Mitchell strangled his wife and set the fire to cover up his act. To most, it appeared a clear case of murder. But the Bailey-Meshbesher team presented a unique defense. They maintained Mrs. Mitchell had ignited the fire and then strangled herself while the blaze was consuming the house. A key part of the defense team’s contention was based on its ability to find an expert witness who would testify it was “possible” the victim could have strangled herself to death. They found one with an engineering background. However, team Bailey-Meshbesher was unable to find anyone on the jury who believed that premise. Mitchell was found guilty. He served over 30 years in prison and was placed on parole several years ago.

“It was a memorable defense,” recalls Bob Nolan, a lawyer who worked in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office at the time. “When there is strong evidence against your client, you are forced to become very inventive. Their defense would never have had a remote chance had it not been for an expert witness willing to maintain that self-strangulation, while not ‘probable’ was ‘possible.’ Expert witnesses, including those with engineering backgrounds,” he continued, “can come in all shapes and sizes.”

WHY THERE ARE NO TVSHOWS ABOUT ENGINEERS

There is still nothing in the works as far as Bob Arotsky knows. He is a Twin Cities native who has spent the past 30 years in Los Angeles writing for television shows. His brother is a Twin Cities mechanical engineer. Arotsky has been a constant source for the monitoring of proposed television show that might have an engineer as a lead character. “The many CSI shows are about as close as it will get,” he told Engineering Minnesota readers several years ago. “That is not real engineering but it is the best that can be hoped for. I think engineers should be pleased with that. I don’t expect anything to happen but you never know.”

Team F. LeeBailey (left)and RonMeshbesherpresented auniquedefense


The Way It Was

The PeopleJOHN KALLEVIG, P. E: ONE OF THE

MANY WHO “INVENTED” THE INTERNET

Editors of magazines and newspapers know that every once in a while they come across a fascinating story more by accident than design. That is what happened regarding one of the most intriguing articles this magazine has run. Initially, the idea was to interview John Kallevig, P. E., in his Shoreview home during November, 1998 regarding the way engineers could battle their way up the corporate ladder. Kallevig, a mechanical engineer, had worked in several positions during a long career with Honeywell. His resume also included stops at Federal Cartridge Corporation, Graco and 3M. By the late 90s, he had formed his own consulting firm. Today, the retired Kallevig lives in Balsam Lake, Wisconsin

After the interview, the questioner and Kallevig were chatting about news of the day. Disscusion focused on a relatively new concept called the Internet. Kallevig told the interviewer that he had developed an idea similar to the Internet “way back” in the early 1960s. He proceeded to fill in the details. The interviewer re-opened his notebook and said, “John, I think we now have a much better story than the one we just talked about.”

The early 1960s were a difficult time. It was the height of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was erected and the Cuban missile crisis erupted. In 1962, Kallevig found himself at a Honeywell facility in Iowa. A delayed flight put him at a plant gate at 9 p. m. facing a security guard. As Kallevig was explaining that the secret information he was delivering must always remain sealed, the guard opened the envelope and started paging through the data. As Kallevig told the guard he was not supposed to do that. He was also thinking there has to be a better way. There was.

At that time, Kallevig had a boss who advocated engineers develop speaking skills to increase their ability to communicate technical knowledge. That development required them to give a speech on a

technical topic. Kallevig knew the transfer of classified information was a major problem. He sat down and drew up a plan involving the use of leased telephone lines to transmit technical information that would be encoded by a computer to prohibit someone from tapping into phone lines to steal information. The enemy could still tap phone lines but, unless they also had the code, they could not decipher information.

The idea was presented to fellow Honeywell engineers in a speech. “I thought it was a very effective talk,” Kallevig said. It ended with polite applause. Fireworks commenced shortly after. “You ____________, you have just given away the whole show,” a Honeywell scientist shouted at Kallevig. “What are you talking about?” Kallevig responded, “you aren’t making any sense.”

“I can’t tell you what this is about,” the scientist fumed, “except that it involves national security and if you mention it again, they will kill you. You better keep your mouth shut.” A native of the Iron Range, Kallevig grew up in a rough and tumble environment and let the scientist know he didn’t appreciate intimidation. He told the fellow he might even obtain a patent and become rich and famous. “Don’t talk about this to anyone the rest of your life,” the scientist warned, “if you do, they will have to kill you.” Kallevig shot back “I’m not that easy to kill.” The scientist eventually calmed down and told Kallevig that Honeywell was working on a top secret program, DARPAnet, identical to the one he had described.

Years later, Kallevig acknowledged he occasionally thinks back to that episode and wonders what would have happened had not the scientist heard his presentation. “My guess,” he wryly observed, “is that I would have become very, very famous or I would have become very, very, dead.”

THE MEMORABLE JACK HANLEY, P.E.

Jack Hanley, P. E., was certainly one of the most memorable Minnesota engineers of the past half-century. He died in 1985. Dapper, sophisticated and articulate, he had a different style and personality than many engineers. When told he, “dressed like an architect,” Hanley was uncertain if the observation was a compliment or criticism.

Hanley taught civil engineering at the University of Minnesota and was a partner in Fowler Hanley Inc., a architectural and engineering firm with offices near the top of the IDS center in downtown Minneapolis.

In the 1970s, Fowler Hanley Inc. was very active in foreign engineering. The firm designed buildings in Japan, Poland, Italy and the Soviet Union. But the most memorable work took the firm to Sharjah, which is part of the United Arab Emirates on the Gulf of Arabia.

John Kallevig, P. E.


The Way It WasThe discovery of offshore oil in 1971 had a lot to do with peaking the interest of many who flocked to the country. “There were plenty of ‘fly-by-night’ types in the country trying to make a quick buck,” Hanley told Engineering Minnesota readers in a 1976. Success was not immediate. The firm wound up paying $25,000 in out-of-pocket expenses before getting a contract to design a hotel.

Working in the Middle East had it challenges. The skills of local workers were not close to those of Americans. But there were attractions. Work was done at a very leisurely pace. Serious business discussions did not start until around 10 p.m. And the country’s Sheiks had a well-earned reputation for throwing elegant parties.

The day of the interview four decades ago, Hanley was very optimistic about his firm’s Sharjah future and anticipated he would play a ‘vital role’ in its development. Unfortunately, the future did not match his optimistic forecast. His firm ran into problems with the cost of building materials. In addition, work styles prevalent in the country created problems with production schedules. After three more years of trying, financial considerations caused the firm to close operations. Years later, partner Mike Fowler, P. E., noted, “Ultimately, we wound up losing about $100,000 over a five-year period. It was an expensive education but it was worth every cent. I am glad we had the opportunity. The experience was unforgettable.”

THE LEADER AND THE CHEERLEADER

Life for Lisa Breuer, P. E., has never been ordinary. As a Bismarck, ND high school student, she took a college chemistry course because it was more challenging than what her school could offer. She received an A. At the University of Minnesota in the 1980s, she had to look hard to find other women in her engineering classes.

Breuer majored in the then new discipline called geotechnical engineering. Her first employer, Doug Barr, P. E., founder of Barr Engineering, had to ask her what a geotechnical engineer did because the firm never had one on staff.

Later on, she became the second woman to be president of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers and the only Minnesota Professional Engineer to be named Young Engineer of the Year by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE.) And there is an additional distinction. Breuer is the only Professional Engineer to have ever been a member of a National Football League cheerleading squad.

It has been an interesting journey for the woman a high school guidance counselor told to steer clear of engineering with the added advice she should enhance her office skills. Breuer stuck with engineering. She is now a senior geotechnical engineer with Braun Intertec.

“Things have pretty much worked out the way I had hoped,” Breuer once observed. She was on the cover of Engineering Minnesota in 1999 for a story related to her selection as national Young Engineer of the Year by NSPE. That honor helped persuade Breuer to start her own engineering firm.

Breuer, however, is very much a team player. The most interesting team of which she was a member was the Minnesota Vikings cheerleading squad formed in the early 1980s when the team moved indoor to the Metrodome. Breuer had been a cheerleader for the University of Minnesota hockey team.

JackHanley, P. E.

>

Breuer the leader Breuer the cheerleader


The Way It WasThe attraction of becoming a Minnesota Viking cheerleader was two-fold. One was the challenge of performing in front of a large crowd. The other was the opportunity to work with women. Because of her engineering background, Breuer noted, most of her activities were male-dominated.

Breuer tried out for the team in 1986. Tryouts attracted plenty of media attention and over 300 candidates. The team had 32 members. Breuer said she enjoyed her two years on the squad. However, weeks with home games often took about 20 hours of her time.

“It became very time-consuming and that type of activity can be very demanding physically as well,” Breuer has said in describing the experience. Interestingly, Breuer called a halt to her cheerleading career for the same reason many football players do. “My knees gave out,” she explained. “The routines put too much stress on them. If you think football is tough, you ought to try cheerleading.”

THE INTRIGUING STORYOF STEVE VANDERBOOM

Through the decades, Engineering Minnesota has featured articles on hundreds of engineers. One of the most fascinating stories centered on the career of Steve Vanderboom, P. E., founder of Pace Laboratories in Minneapolis. His story remains notable because he was very open and forthcoming regarding the requirements and sacrifices needed to establish a national engineering firm. The article about the “Long Journey of Steve Vanderboom” ran in the magazine about 10 years ago. It still makes interesting and informative reading.

Once upon a time Steve Vanderboom, P. E., was an ambitious young man on a fast track. In 1979, a cavalcade of impressive activities helped the 27-year-old be named Minnesota’s Young Engineer of the Year. The previous year, he and partner Bill O’Connor opened Pace Laboratories, an engineering testing firm on Nicollet Av. near Lake Street in south Minneapolis. Vanderboom came from a long-line of self-employed people. “I always had a desire to be independent,” he said at the time. “I always wanted to be able to shape my own future. I wanted a chance to try things my way and to be able to do what was right for me.”

Vanderboom did things his way. He was quick to focus on moving operations national. He began an ambitious growth effort that included acquiring several firms throughout the country. By the mid-1980s, Pace had over 80 employees. Vanderboom expressed amazement at his firm’s growth. “Growth exceeded my expectations,” he said at that time. “Some was by design. The rest just seemed to take off.” That growth, by design and otherwise,

made the 1990s a very challenging and educational experience for Steve Vanderboom.

He reflected, in a first-person account, on the changes he experienced and included advice for young engineers who might identify with that one-time ambitious 27-year-old who was on a very fast track 35 years ago.

When I started Pace, my wife, Julie, worked shifts as a nurse and made enough money to meet our minimum needs while we were building the business. We really did not have any money, so we did not have a lot to lose. We agreed that if we started a company, our lives together would be more like dating than marriage for the first five years. She later had to remind me that the five years were up. We worked a lot of hours. It would have been very difficult if we had children, but during the first five years of the business, we did not have children. You have to have an understanding and supportive partner to put in those kind of hours. It would have been much harder to do after we had started a family.

• Creating a national firm is very rewarding. It is also very demanding. We have around 700 employees in 12 different laboratories. There is not a day that I am not cognizant of the responsibility that comes with providing employment for people. Whether you are employing seven people or 700, you have assumed the responsibility to operate the business in a way that will allow those people to continue to be employed and to take care of their families. We have had our good times and our bad times during the past decades. The bad times bring many sleepless nights trying to figure out how to fix what is broken. The good times do give you a good feeling about what you have accomplished.

• Companies made offers offered to buy us out in the 1980s. I stayed. Bill O’Connor didn’t. Do I have any regrets? Sure.

During the third year of double digit price declines in the mid 90’s, we started losing money and our business essentially failed. I had to bring in an outside investor to restructure. It was the most difficult time of my professional and personal life. Many of our employees were laid off and many of our suppliers lost money. I was embarrassed and frightened, but I had to try not to show it because I needed to keep our employees believing in the future. This was also a very difficult time for Julie.

Fortunately, I found a great outside investor who has been a wonderful partner and a very good friend. He had the patience and the vision to help me work through the hard times and return to growth and profitability. Things are going much better now and I have to say that I now appreciate going through the difficult times as it gave me a much broader and more balanced perspective of what life is all about. Also, you do learn who your true friends are when things are not going very well.


B R A I N E R D | M O O R H E A D | S T . P A U L

W E C O N G R AT U L AT E E N G I N E E R I N G M I N N E S O TA O n 5 0 y e a r s o f s e r v i c e t o t h e e n g i n e e r i n g p r o f e s s i o n .

E N G I N E E R I N GS O L U T I O N SFROM MUNICIPAL TO TRANSPORTATION.

The Way It Was

• I believe that there are a lot of people who are capable and who have the motivation to start their own business. I do think that it takes more capital now to start than it did in the 70’s. There are probably a lot of engineers who think about taking the risk of starting up a business, but who are not willing to take the risk with their spouse and children.

• It is a commitment of time that, once made, is not easily reversed. I do believe that there are few things as professionally rewarding as building a successful business that provides good career opportunities for many people. I enjoy my work and believe that there are many more good years ahead of me.

THE NO NONSENSEEXECUTIVE SECRETARY

The obituary notice regarding the death of Lowell Torseth was just one of dozens that appear each Sunday in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. It is likely that mention of his passing a few years ago at age 84 had no impact on most licensed Minnesota engineers working today. But Torseth played a significant role in helping to create the environment in which 21st century licensed engineers function.

Torseth was a crewcut wearing, ramrod straight, no nonsense West Point graduate

who spent 18 years in the U. S. Army. After leaving the Army in 1969, he became the Executive Secretary of the then Minnesota Board of Architecture, Engineering and Land Surveying. He held that post until retiring in 1992.

Professional Engineers started to focus more attention on the board in the 1970s. There were two reasons. Some who questioned the board’s reason for being made attempts

to abolish it and place licensed engineers under control of the Minnesota Department of Commerce. That effort was tied to a popular concept of the time called “Sunset” laws designed to enable government to eliminate boards that “no longer serve a useful purpose.” The issue generated concern. The Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers established a Task Force to recommend whether that group

Steve Vanderboom, P. E.

>


The Way It Wasshould continue supporting a Board of Registration. The Task Force said it should.

Another factor increasing the board’s profile was the 1972 selection of Torseth to replace the retiring Helen Carlson as executive secretary. Carlson held that position since 1943 and focused on administrative duties. Torseth’s approach gave an added dimension to the term “activist secretary.” (At that time, most people who headed societies and associations did so with the title of executive secretary. The term executive director was just starting gain popularity as the duties and responsibilities of people in those posts expanded significantly.)

Torseth attempted to regulate groups under board control even though he had little enforcement power. He continually campaigned before the state legislature for a full-time investigator for better

enforcement of regulations. Legislators never saw engineers, architects and land surveyors as a problem because the public never considered them a problem.

Legislators thought assigning a lawyer from the State’s Attorney General’s office was all that was needed. However, the lawyer assigned often had duties in other areas as well. Registration infractions were seldom at the top of that attorney’s priority list.

Lack of support ruffled Torseth. As a result, he constantly chided Professional Engineers, who complained about the board’s failure to enforce licensing laws, to make formal complaints. Few did. They voiced complaints but did not act. Many thought enforcement was the board’s responsibility. Torseth maintained the burden should be on professionals. That conflict continued until he retired.

To be sure, Torseth had support regarding enforcement of licensing regulations. But it resided in a very, very small number of Professional Engineers. The most adamant

Lowell Torseth


The Way It Waswere engineers who owned small firms and felt the board should be more vigilant in enforcement. Firm owners said contractors often did work that should been done only by licensed engineers. Complaints usually came from electrical or mechanical engineers against Master electricians and plumbers. Those engineers, however, had little support from the rest of the engineering community.

Torseth was never shy about expressing an opinion. He mentioned a few when he retired 20 years ago. They included:

• Minnesota engineers stress safety. They are the type who wears both a belt and suspenders.* Every profession is going to have scalawags. I’m amazed at the poor quality of work done by some engineering firms in the state. You just shake your head and ask, “Where do these people come from?”* Continuing Education is not needed. Good engineers stay on top of what is happening. And besides, you can make someone go to a Continuing Education class but you can’t make them learn.• Engineers have a lot to be proud of. All you have to do is look around and see the bridges and dams — or even go back to the old trolley car days.• Engineers have been hurt by their inability to coalesce. They have a tendency to stay aloof from problems. There is such a multitude of disciplines it is hard for one engineer to relate to what another does.

ChuckBritzius,P. E.

CHUCK BRITZIUS, P. E: THE ENGINEER

FROM CENTRAL CASTING

Mike Barich is a tall, bearded fellow who has spent the past quarter-of-a-century photographing subjects ranging from presidential candidates to rock stars. He has maintained a degree of sanity by photographing others, including several engineers for the cover of Engineering Minnesota magazine. One engineer photographed was Chuck Britzius, P.

E. “Hey, where did they find this guy,” Barich once asked, “Central Casting?” Dapper, athletic, and distinguished in appearance, Britzius cut an impressive figure in Minnesota engineering. He would certainly fit any Hollywood image of what an engineer should look like including those days over a half-century ago when movie studios created a long list of actors to fill casts by signing them to long-term contracts. Britzius died in 2003 at 92. >


The Way It Was Image aside, Britzius also had significant influence on the substance of engineering in the state. He founded Twin City Testing in 1937 and turned it into one of the most influential firms in the state. When Britzius established his firm it was a different time. A unique aspect of the early days included the quaint practice of camping out overnight on job sites. “There was no Motel 6 in those days,” he once explained. Britzius built his business by maintaining close relationships with clients. It was that characteristic which caused him to remain active for several years after he sold the firm in 1985. “When long-time clients call up, they always ask for me,” he said at the time, “I can’t let them down.”

Born in 1911, Britzius grew up in a different America. He professed strong belief in God, country and family. He may have been the ultimate “straight-shooter” but he was also capable of getting angry. One fellow, among the many ex-Twin City Testing employees who would go on to establish his own firm, remembers returning to the St. Paul office at 662 Cromwell Ave. on a Friday night over 60 years ago. He heard two voices arguing vociferously. One belonged to Jack Gislason, who played a key role in the early success of Twin City Testing. The other voice was that of Britzius. “There was no doubt they were ‘clarifying’

the understanding that one of them was supposed to handle the business end of the firm and the other was to handle engineering,” the employee remembers. “They were not shy, or quiet, about getting their points across.”

A native of Rochester, Britzius had interests other than engineering. He was a strong believer in the value of scouting and — like many engineers — was very active in its promotion. He also served a stint as mayor of Deephaven, the suburban community where he lived much of his life. But he was best known for his ability as a tennis player. He was inducted into the Minnesota Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. Britzius played on the University of Minnesota tennis team. He was Big Ten champion in 1933. He would later join with a partner and win the National Public Parks doubles tournament championship played at Central Park in New York City two years in a row.

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The Way It Was

Jim Ryan, P. E.

JIM RYAN, P. E.: WAS HEMINNESOTA’S BEST ENGINEER?

Given the eclectic nature of engineering, it is impossible to label anyone as the state’s “Best Engineer.” But if someone were to undertake that Herculean effort, a good bet is the name Jim Ryan, P. E., would be on or certainly near the top of any list. The one-time University of Minnesota mechanical engineering professor is inventor of the Black Box used to determine the cause of airplane accidents. He also perfected retractable seat belts for automobiles. Those ideas saved countless lives. Ryan put into practice the credo that is supposed to guide all Professional Engineers. He was dedicated to safeguarding life, health and property.

Initially, the United States Air Force wanted Ryan to determine at what altitude a parachute would open automatically. The problem was that a too high of altitude caused jumpers to pass out. Wisely, Ryan used dummies in his testing process. His primary testing device was a tensiometer he patented in 1951. The instrument measured the shock force of parachute openings. Ryan then reasoned that if a tensiometer could measure pass-out altitudes of falling dummies it could also measure flight patterns of airplanes.

Ryan started teaching at the University of Minnesota in 1931. He taught over 5,000 mechanical engineers. When Ryan died in 1973 at age 69, a multitude of fascinating ideas died as well. Those ideas originated in a mind that never stopped thinking. He saw thinking as a special gift. “None of us do it very much,” he once observed. “There is no wear and tear on the brain. A brain doesn’t wear out. The more it is used the better it gets.” It is hard to find any engineer who validated that observation better than Jim Ryan.

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The Way It Was

Comments & Observations

JonRippke,P. E.

Perry Smith,P. E.

Engineers and engineering have been the subject of countless Engineering Minnesota stories the past half-century. The articles featured the comments, observations and experiences of thousands of Minnesota engineers. Below are a few of them.

BETTER THEM THAN ENGINEERS

By the year 2000, as many as 80 percent of architects could be “dislocated” as computers automate the production of architectural drawings, product specifications, cost estimates and schedules, according to a 1984 presentation by McGraw-Hill before the Technology Assessment Board established by Congress. “Computers in

construction will improve productivity of existing efforts but will not generate new jobs,” said Harry Mileaf of the publishing company.

SMALL TOWN BACKGROUND IS AN ASSET

“In smaller communities, I deal with council members who are not able to put in much time. As a result they depend on us quite a bit more. But that dependence is made easier if they feel a special bond with you. I think my rural background makes it a lot easier for them to feel comfortable with me and have confidence in me,” said Jon Rippke, P. E., who was named the Minnesota Society of Professional

Engineers’ Young Engineer of the Year in 1981, referring to his background as kid growing up on a farm near Moville, Iowa.

A CITY ENGINEER’S PERSPECTIVE

Don Asmus, P. E., in 1979 and Minnetonka City Engineer: “The city council doesn’t always follow my advice. I can live with that. I have learned over the years not to take an either/or position. That is why I have been here 15 years.”

John Flora, P. E., Fridley Public Works director, “When I come to work in the morning, I never know what to expect. We react as often as we act. It can get hectic but never boring.”

Perry Smith, P. E., retiring Minneapolis city engineer in 1989. “Engineering is the easy part of the job. The hard part is dealing with the city council and the budget. There was always pressure to do the work with fewer people. That part I won’t miss a bit. Also, it is better to leave a job one year too early than one year too late.”


The Way It Was

Comments & Observations

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Congratulations on 50 years of reporting on engineering in Minnesota!

ClaytonSorenson,P. E.

DonAsmusP. E.

>Clayton Sorenson, P. E., Minneapolis City Engineer in 1977, “To be successful in this job you have to understand the concerns of city council members. You have to know what to say, when to say it and when not to say it. I have had to override the staff, even when they were technically right, for political reasons. As you can see, the important aspects of my job have little to do with engineering.”

ENGINEERING WAS ATTRACTIVE ALTERNATIVE

“I look forward to getting back to work after the football season is over. It can be hard but I am able to separate football from engineering. After going through a 20-week season, it is good to do something different.” Minnesota Viking Steve Jordan who worked for the Gilbane Building Company in 1986. He has a degree in civil engineering from Brown University.

THE APPPEAL OF FORENSIC ENGINEERING

Forensic engineer Bill Dunlop in 1991 about his work. “The key to success in this business is the ability to express yourself

clearly on the witness stand to people who have no technical background. From a business standpoint, everything is very simplified. If you have the credentials you don’t have much marketing expense. You don’t have to submit a bid proposal and you get paid a fee regardless of the outcome of the case,”

MN/DOT BETTER THAN MPCA OR DNR FOR P.E.’S

Board of Registration member Merlin Williams, P. E., on the work experience in 1990 of engineers for state agencies seeking registration. “The Minnesota Department of Transportation does a good job in allowing engineers the type of work experience needed for registration. The Minnesota


The Way It Was

RichardBraun,P. E.

BobLurtsema

Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources engineers don’t get a well-rounded engineering background.”

NO CONTINUING ED

Board of Registration Executive Secretary Lowell Torseth in 1990, “The prospect of the state legislature requiring Continuing Education for engineers in unlikely. I am not in favor of it unless the courses are aimed at a specific goal. Any Continuing Education requirement should be concerned with protecting the public and not allowing someone to get an MBA, he said. ”

THE TOP ENGINEERS

The Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers named the Engineer of the Decade as part of its 50th anniversary celebration. Structural engineer Walt Wheeler was named for the 1940s. University of Minnesota engineering professor Jim Ryan was named Engineer of the Decade for the 1950s. Construction company owner Gerald Rauenhorst was named for the 1960s. 3M environmental engineer Joseph Ling was named for the 1970s and Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Richard Braun was named for the 1980s.

RELIGION TRUMPS ENGINEERING

In 1975, soon to be Vice President Walter Mondale presented Steve Tuttle, P. E. with the state’s Young Engineer of the Year award. By 1990, Tuttle had left engineering and was heading a Christian Fellowship ministry in Maine and New Hampshire. He received a degree in civil engineering

from Northeastern University and studied for three years at Bethel Seminary in Arden Hills before joining Braun Engineering in Edina. “My scientific training helped me think critically, search out and analyze the bible,” he said. In 1993, he added that although he took a substantial pay cut he got greater satisfaction from his fellowship work.

AN ACCURATE PREDICATION

In 1987, Ellerbe President John Labosky said the reason his firm acquired two companies and merged with another is that growth is the key to future survival. He predicted the architectural/engineering field would eventually see the emergence of dominating “Big Eight” firms, similar to accounting, which would be supplemented by numerous very small firms. A survey by Professional Services Marketing Journal predicted the demise of the mid-sized A-E firms (35 to 75 employees) by 1997 leaving only a few large firms and a “galaxy of specialized boutique firms.’

TRANSPORTATION WAS A FOCAL POINT AT THE TURN

OF THE CENTURY

In 2002, talk in local engineering circles focused on the increasing number of national firms that were expanding in size and also opening offices in the Twin Cities. A follow-up story indicated transportation was a major factor in the growth. New Jersey-based Edwards and Kelcey, which had an office in the metropolitan area, ranked as the country’s 61st largest engineering firm. It purchased an Ohio firm and a Florida firm, both were very active in transportation and both did considerable work for the Ohio and Florida Departments of Transportation respectively. In 14 years, Edwards and Kelcey acquired 14 firms.

Veteran Twin Cities engineer Gary Ehret, P. E., who joined three other local engineer to open a St. Paul office for the North Carolina-based Kimley Horn & Associates consulting firm, said at the time that federal legislation created more focus on transportation funding. “Transportation

legislation will probably be the 21st century equivalent of the 1970s Clean Water Act for consulting firms,” he predicted.

ANOTHER VIKING PLAYER WHO HAD AN ENGINEERING DEGREE

It was well-reported Minnesota Viking player Steve Jordan was also an engineer. He had a degree in civil engineering from Brown University and worked for a Twin Cities construction company before moving to Phoenix. Less publicized was that fellow Viking Bob Lurtsema had a degree in mechanical engineering from Western Michigan.

Lurtsema was a very high profile player because he was the star of many television commercials for Twin City Federal where he was known as “Benchwarmer Bob.” Lurtsema, who played for the New York Giants before being traded to the Vikings, worked for Dow Chemical in the offseason for a year. After that he never used his degree. In 2003, he told Engineering Minnesota he recently saw a college paper he had written on hydraulics. “I don’t understand any of it today,” he admitted.

He recalled in 1984 he talked to a group of engineers at Bursch’s Cafe in Hopkins. Title of his talk was, The Humorous Side of Engineering. “As I remember,” Lurtsema recalled, “ it was a very short talk.”


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MINNESOTA ENGINEERS REACT TO WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACK

The September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center by terrorists focused Minnesota attention on what engineers can do to prevent or respond to acts of terrorism. A meeting of the local chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers discussed the issue. It featured Bryan Juncosa, P. E., a member of the Hoboken, New Jersey Urban Search and Rescue Team. Juncosa determined the safety of the buildings to help rescuers locate survivors. “Firemen finally got an appreciation of what engineers can do for them,” he said.

Steve Tuttle, P. E., received the state’s 1975Young Engineer of the Year award from Senator Walter Mondale

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The Way It Was

>

PresidentRonaldReagan

He advised Minnesota engineers to start immediately to create a USAR team because funding comes from the state legislature. At the time, the Minnetonka fire department was the only unit in the state that had the training and equipment to mount a successful USAR effort.

IN THE BEGINNING . . .

The Minnesota State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors was created April 25, 1921. The purpose, according to Arnold Steffes, P. E., of the Toltz, King, Duvall & Anderson consulting firm, was to establish minimum qualifications to be “registered” with the state. Professional organizations supported the concept.

Steffes said the intention of the board was not to establish a registration certificate as a license for someone to design office buildings or houses, sewers or power plant. Instead, it was felt that the board should issue a certificate as a statement that the registrant

had the minimum standards of education and experience and was a “proper person to practice the profession.” Minnesota was the 10th state to have a registration board. Wyoming was the first in 1907.

COLLAPSE WILL CAUSEENGINEERING CHANGES

A walkway at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City collapsed in 1981 and killed 114 people. The Missouri state board of registration found the structural engineer at fault. The engineer maintained the steel fabricator was liable. Board executive director Paul Munger


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The Way It Wasof Missouri spoke a couple of years later at the Midwest Engineers Conference in Minneapolis. He said the disaster demonstrated how ill equipped the board was to investigate the Hyatt disaster. “We had little money and no subpoena power,” he said. He added the ill-designed walkway could handle only 27 percent of the load it was supposed to hold.

The engineers who approved the final design lost their licenses. Over $140 million was awarded to victims and their families.

NSPE MEMBERS LIKEDPRESIDENT REAGAN

A 1984 survey of National Society of Professional Engineers revealed most thought highly of President Ronald Reagan. Over 80 percent said he was doing an above average job. Highest praise went for his efforts to insure the country’s technology competitiveness. Reagan was favored by 77 percent of the engineers over his 1984 presidential opponent Walter Mondale. Eighty percent of the engineers said they voted for Reagan in the 1980 election.

MERGING FIRMS: WHEN IT ALL STARTED

The combining of engineering giants AECOM and URS a couple of years back illustrated how much the engineering profession had and continues to change in regard to the size of firms. The seeds for change, however, were placed many years earlier when Chuck Britzius, P. E., sold his Twin City Testing firm to England-based Huntingdon Ltd. On the evening of Feb. 26, 1993, 82-year-old Britzius was riding in a car with 83-year-old buddy Archie Carter and a driver. The sale had taken place a few years earlier. “So, Chuck,” Carter asked, “how are things going at the office?” Britzius still maintained an office at the firm. “I have absolutely no idea of what they are doing there,” Britzius responded. The driver later observed listening to Britzius’ negative comment was comparable to hearing the Pope swear. Anyone doubting Britzius’ usual optimism should know he started his company in 1937 during the middle of the Depression.

>


The Way It Was

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REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTHAS ALWAYS BEEN A QUESTION

The reason for and existence of registration for engineers has been a point of contention. Rex White Jr., a colonel in the U. S. Army, once observed that registration did not make a better engineer or a smarter engineer. “I have observed,” White said, “that it makes him a more cautious and careful engineer.”

Conversely, Tom Linville, who served as president of the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1967, came to Minnesota then and told fellow Professional Engineers, “We would be surprised by the number of engineers we offend by our exclusiveness in a profession where men of distinction are not licensed. By excluding them, we demean the unlicensed men. Lots of engineers, licensed or not, don’t like us simply on this account.”

THE POLITICIAN’S MANTRA:DON’T GET MAD, GET EVEN

3M engineer Russ Susag, P. E., was very active in politics during much of his career. In 1991, he ran for the Richfield City Council and won. He was elected two more times. He had many memories of campaigning including the time he faced the lady of the house. She had only one question for the politician going door-to

RussSusag,P. E.

door, “Democrat or Republican?” Susag explained city council races were non-partisan. “Democrat or Republican,” the woman repeated. Susag responded, “Republican.” Slam.

Susag admits there is one scenario that kept him going through all the long days and nights required of a city council member. That involved the time the door slammer would come before the council with a request. Susag fanaticized about the one question he would ask and he knew exactly how it would be worded. He would ask, “Republican or Democrat?” The scenario never occurred but it is a political dream that has never died.

CHINA IN THE LAST CENTURY

Cargill was a client for Hopkins-based Ibberson Engineering in 1998. The connection brought Steve Frankowsky, P. E. of Ibberson to China. The firm also worked in Russia. Frankowsky reflected on his experience with foreign engineers and engineering. “Russian engineers come from very regimented backgrounds. They have a certain way of doing things and are

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