Climate & Space is very pleased to announce that Prof. Donald C. Winter of the U-M Naval and Marine Engineering department will give our 2020 Nelson W. Spencer Lecture.

This is a Zoom virtual event.
Zoom link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/93463339990?pwd=MDV6cUlabmhtNTdIaEcwZndGcWovUT09
Meeting ID: 934 6333 9990
Passcode: 421507

TITLE: Ruminations on a career in industry, government and academia

ABSTRACT: I have been blessed with a broad range of professional opportunities in engineering during my career. These ranged from research, systems engineering and management responsibilities at a major aerospace firm, TRW, to appointment as Secretary of the Navy, and most recently, Professor of Practice at the College of Engineering. As a Professor of Practice, I was motivated to look back at my career and assess what experiences proved to be most valuable in enabling me to contribute to my profession and take on additional responsibilities. While many of these experiences have to be lived to obtain full value, I have tried to incorporate some of the more valuable lessons learned into my courses.
I will start off my Spencer lecture with a recap of my career, adding to the normal biographical notes my rationale for the more significant job changes that I took on. Following that, I will highlight some of the particularly valuable lessons learned, putting them into the appropriate programmatic and political context. This personal, intellectual history will include consideration of experiences gleaned from international engagements as well as my US based activities. Lastly, I will attempt to integrate all of these experiences and provide some general recommendations for both students and faculty present.