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Oregon State University
College of Engineering
2012 Oregon Stater Engineering Awards
I
n the mid 1930s, three Oregon State
College students studied under Fred
Merryfield, an enthusiastic civil engineering
professor. A decade later, the quartet
formed CH2M, an engineering design firm
based in Corvallis, Ore. A merger in 1971
changed the company’s name to CH2M
HILL, and it has grown to become one
of the world’s largest engineering firms,
with projects spanning the globe.
Bob Chapman was fortunate to benefit
from Merryfield’s mentoring, both on
campus and off. “I had a three-hour
class in sanitary engineering design
from Merryfield when I was in graduate
school — there were only 11 of us on
the graduate program at the time,” says
Chapman. “We’d have sessions at his
house on the patio, and conversations
would drift from sanitary engineering to
ethics and philosophy. It was a good time
to be coming out of school.”
Chapman benefited not only from the
eclectic inspiration of Merryfield and the
absorption of sound fundamentals from
Oregon State, but also from a cooperative
program between the
university and the City of
Corvallis. The program
employed engineering
students to run its water
treatment plant on the
Willamette River during
peak demand in the summer. “I was really
fortunate to be one of the students hired
to operate that plant,” he says. “It was my
first experience in water treatment and I
really enjoyed it.”
Chapman’s link with Merryfield
proved fortuitous. “Never once did he say
anything about offering me a job,” says
Chapman, but CH2M hired him in 1966
and he worked for the company until he
retired.
When Chapman joined the small
regional engineering firm, the company
employed 200 people; today it employs
more than 25,000 people around the world.
Chapman’s forty-plus years with the
company included a wide variety of
project assignments and management
positions. Having developed expertise in
design-build-operative project delivery
for clients around the country, he retired
as senior vice president of the company’s
Water Business Group.
Chapman says he felt well prepared to
“tackle the world” after his Oregon State
education. “I benefited from a first-class
faculty in structural engineering, hydrau-
lics and environmental programs,” he says.
Chapman also benefited from Oregon
State’s willingness and ability to find
summer jobs and internships for stu-
dents in their specific fields of study.
“First-hand work experience and some
background in business principles is
extremely valuable to students graduating
today,” says Chapman. “I am so impressed
by how articulate most of these young,
aspiring engineers are. As you get out into
the real world, you need to present your
thoughts well, reach out and network
and promote — it is important to be able
to differentiate yourself from others just
having technical skills.”
Robert L. Chapman
Hall of Fame
Bob and Meredith Chapman on a safari in Central Africa
BS Civil Engineering ’65
MS Civil Engineering ’67
Retired, Senior Vice President
CH2M Hill
|
Vancouver, Wash.
J
erry Florey’s name is engraved on the
Smithsonian’s National Aviation and
Space Exploration Wall of Honor. His
technology has been
to the moon and back
many times over. In his
early career, he was
hired by Dieter Hutzel,
who was Werner von
Braun’s deputy in
German rocket development before and
during World War II.
As a young man raised in McMinnville,
Ore., Florey was a 4-sport letterman in
high school and fraternity vice president
at Oregon State University. He went on
to become an integral part of the United
State’s presence in space.
“I went to work in the rocket business,”
says Florey. “There were no advanced
degrees for that. I got my training in
rocket science from the Peenemunde
Germans. Add that to my technical degree
from Oregon State and I was able to
compete with engineers from some of the
country’s most prestigious universities.”
Florey’s extensive career touched
all aspects of space systems — rocket
engines, launch vehicles, and satel-
lites and their payloads. His experience
includes business development, strategic
planning, technical marketing, and exten-
sive program engineering and technology
contract management.
Florey is most proud of his involvement
with the Apollo space program. “I con-
tributed to the design and development of
the nation’s first liquid hydrogen/oxygen
rocket engines used on the second and
third stages of the Saturn V launch vehicle
that sent men to the moon,” he says. “I was
on the propulsion console of all Apollo
launches —but for one — at the George
Marshall Space Flight Center, which pro-
vided backup support to the launch crews
at Cape Canaveral (Kennedy) and the flight
directors at the Houston Space Center.”
Florey also served as director and chief
engineer for the Rockwell International
Space and Satellite Systems Division,
where he managed the engineers in all
the technical disciplines. “I was heavily
involved in managing resources, indirect
and direct budgets, independent research
and development — just busy keeping the
whole operation running,” he says.
After a career in which 100-hour weeks
were not uncommon, Florey still revels
in the wonderment of the historic times
in which he was involved in the space
industry. “There is so much more to learn
today than there was in the 1950s,” he
says. “When I first started, engineers were
king; I could speak with my NASA coun-
terpart, and we could negotiate a change
order. This is no longer true. Based upon
my experience, an up-and-coming engi-
neer should also think about an additional
business degree.”
Florey is married to his college sweet-
heart Mary, and they enjoy extensive
traveling around the world in their
retirement years. “You must understand,
I was working during the Cold War,” he
says. “Because of the classified nature
of the ‘black programs’ in which I was
involved, I was discouraged from traveling
outside the country.”
Jerry Jay Florey
Hall of Fame
BS Chemical Engineering ’55
Retired, Senior Staff Manager,
Space Transportation Division
McDonnell Douglas
|
Huntington Beach, Calif.
Jerry and Mary Florey at the 1992 World Space Congress