The Carl A. Westerdahl Forum Inaugural Event

By now all Friends should have received an invitation to "Making the Connection:  Rensselaer Graduates Who Built Bridges over the Hudson" that the Friends is sponsoring next month.  The committee planning the event, headed by Friends Board of Directors members Rick Hartt and Meg Gallien, have put a lot of effort into this and are excited to offer not one but two presentations to all who are interested in learning about civil engineering training at the Institute in the late 1800s and the role Rensselaer alumni had in the design and construction of bridges in the Hudson Valley and nationwide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
 
We are very fortunate to have Frank Griggs '56, engineer, bridge restorer, and historian, as our featured speaker.  He'll be joined by Chris Letchford, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at RPI, and George Christian, M.S. '76, who has over 38 years of engineering and management experience in varied bridge planning, design, construction, and evaluation activities in the New York State Department of Transportation Office of Structures.
 
The Carl A. Westerdahl Forum memorializes the creative contributions made by Carl A. Westerdahl (1937-2013), former dean, director, and historian at Rensselaer, through programs that explore education, history, art, architecture, engineering, and science as they relate to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

The online invitation with information, including directions to RPI and parking instructions, and a registration form that can be sent in can be obtained at http://www.lib.rpi.edu/documents/friends/Carl.pdf /

Online registration is now available!
 
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me at bircha@rpi.edu or (518) 452-0618.

I hope to see many of you at the event.  It promises to be an excellent introduction to the annual lecture series honoring Carl who was committed to the Institute and took great pleasure in sharing its history, contributions, and success stories with others.

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library