The spring initiation of Tau Beta Pi at Cornell University this past spring was a special moment for alumnus Meyer A. Gross, NY D ’59. During his time pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at Cornell in 1958, he began his first year at Cornell Law School and was not elected to join Tau Beta Pi. This past March, Gross was initiated into Tau Beta Pi by the New York Delta Chapter at Cornell. “I’ve waited nearly sixty years for this,” he said.
It was also a unique opportunity for the other new initiates and current chapter members as Gross spoke at the lunch following the ceremony about what a mechanical engineering education was like 60 years ago. In his career as a lawyer, he served as patent counsel for technical firms involved in instrument systems, aerodynamics, and pharmaceuticals, and obtained important patents relating to bi-axial orientation of plastic sheets, use of Interferon for cancer therapy, automatic focusing cameras, and water-drip irrigation. Read the news article for more information on Gross and his long-awaited membership into Tau Beta Pi.
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Recent civil engineering graduate Lucas De Buren, CA N 2015, was recently profiled by Cal Poly Pomona’s University News Center. He is a first-generation college student who moved with his family from Argentina. Read the article for information on De Buren’s many collegiate accomplishments, including becoming a McNair Scholar and a Regenerative Communities Initiative Fellow.
De Buren will go onto work as a Disney Imagineer intern after graduation and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in structural engineering in the fall. “I want the work I do to have a positive impact on people, in some way or another. I want to look back on my career and know that it was because of my work as an engineer that improved someone’s life,” said De Buren.
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At the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Annual Meeting on June 9, the 134th president began his yearlong term. Julio Guerrero, Ph.D., takes over as president for J. Robert Sims, TN B ’63, who served as the 133rd ASME president since July 2014. Click here to read the news release for biographical details on Dr. Guerrero and ASME President-Nominee K. Ketih Roe.
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Tau Beta Pi 
Enhancement of hydrocarbon production from Shale Rock Reservoirs: I believe the Petroleum and Gas Production Industry from Shale Reservoirs should invest time and resources to develop an advanced class of ‘Proppants’ – particulate solids which will absorb hydrocarbons, and expand to prodigious dimensions ! When successful, these ‘expansive proppants’ will grow long after production commences – and greatly expand the system of cracks and crevices from which the hydrocarbons can be produced from the shale rocks. Also, these second generation proppants could be injected into older wells, which have ceased to produce economically, and provide a second generation of production from the same wells. Our Republican Congress should provide tax exemptions to promote research and development on this second generation of Shale Reservoir Proppants.