AT HOMECOMING, OUTSTANDING ALUMNI RECOGNIZED
The College of EMS honored the recipients of its Outstanding Alumni Awards at the University Awards Ceremony on Friday, October 14 th. The awards recognize alumni who have demonstrated excellence in professional and / or humanitarian endeavors; this year the recipients were: Randy Govier, Richard Cairns, Tammy Salmon-Stephens and Dr. Willard Pulkrabek( a posthumous honor). Additionally, Rachel Mahun was recognized with the Dean’ s Award for her many contributions to UW-Platteville, and to the Women in Engineering, Math and Science program in particular. The recipients’ accomplishments are as wide-ranging as the EMS field itself:
Richard Cairns( BS Engineering Physics, 2005), is the lead railgun designer, manager, and technician / vendor coordinator for the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D. C., where he works as a research physicist in the Plasma-Physics department. The 2010 recipient of the Naval Research Laboratory Group Achievement Award, Cairns enjoys the chance to network with younger engineers starting in the field.
Richard Cairns, Engineering Physics Class of 2005, is now a plasma physicist at the US Department of Defense Naval Laboratory.
Randy Govier is pictured with Chancellor Shields and Dean Gribb.
Randy Govier( BS Mining Engineering, 1976), has earned his reputation as a production expert through his lifetime of work in mining: first as a planning engineer for Midland Coal in Illinois, next a project engineer for Northern Energy Resources Company in the Antelope Coal Mine in Wyoming, and then a mining equipment applications engineer for Bucyrus International( now Caterpillar). Govier’ s extensive field experience has made him a nationally recognized expert on large mining excavators. He now travels the world as a presenter and researcher.