Category: Alumni

Rajath Nagaraj ’21 to Present Talk on Project Management in Data Science and AI Innovations in Insurance on Sept. 23

Rajath Nagaraj ’21 MS in Data Science will present a talk by on Monday, September 23, 2024, from 12-1 pm, in MEEM 403. His talk is titled, “Nagaraj will discuss, “Navigating Project Management in Data Science and Exploring Al Innovations in Insurance.”

The talk is presented by the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems’s Center for Artificial Intelligence.

Alumni Jon Dowling Retires from City of Jackson After 31 Years

Michigan Tech alumnus Jon Dowling ’80 BS in Civil Engineering and ’82 Master of Business Administration, has retired from the city of Jackson, Michigan, after a more than 31-year career with the city, and as city engineer since 1999. During his service to the city, Dowling managed numerous significant construction and infrastructure improvement projects.

Jon Dowling poses for a photo in his office on Sept. 3, 2024 in Jackson, Michigan. After more than 30 years serving as city engineer, Dowling is set to retire on Sept. 6. (Mitchell Kukulka | MLive.com) Mitchell Kukulka | Mkukulka@mlive.com

Scott Blecke ’13 Named CEO of YVEA Electric Cooperative

Congratulations to Scott Blecke ’13 TechMBA®, who has been named CEO of Yampa Valley Electric Association, a member-owned electric cooperative based in Colorado. Blecke has more than 20 years of experience as a strategic engineering executive.

From Steamboat Pilot & Today, published July 3, 2024.

The board of directors for member-owned co-operative Yampa Valley Electric Association has named a new CEO, Scott Blecke, a professional engineer from Michigan.

The CEO role includes overseeing Luminate Broadband, and Blecke will start at YVEA on Aug. 19.

“It was an extensive process,” YVEA Public Relations Specialist Carly Davidson said. “We spent the last 5-6 months working with our consulting firm to narrow our list of approximately 200 to our final selection.”

YVEA Board President Tom Fox made the hiring announcement during an all-employee meeting on Wednesday.

Restoring American History, One Building at a Time

by Jen A. Miller

Ron Staley standing in front of Michigan Central Station.When Ron Staley ’77 ’80 (AAS Civil Engineering Technology, B.S. Business) encounters a historic building fallen into disrepair, he sees opportunity.

Staley leads one of the country’s most respected historic preservation teams at The Christman Company, where he’s senior vice president and executive director of historic preservation. For nearly four decades, he and his team have restored architecturally significant structures, preserving them as cornerstones of U.S. history.

With each project he tackles, he’s “taking a building apart and putting it back together for future generations.”

Read about Staley’s career and his latest project — Michigan Central Station, a grand old rail station in Detroit that will soon be a 30-acre walkable innovation hub — in our 2024 Michigan Tech Magazine

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