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A
man of humble beginnings,
Michael Brady grewup in Iowa
and primarily put himself
through Iowa State University
earning a B.S. in chemical engineering. He
worked as a technician at the Atomic Energy
Commission’s Ames Laboratory and
completed internships at General Motors
and Ethyl
Corporation. He was
awarded a National
Science Foundation
traineeship and
headed to Corvallis
for his doctoral
studies.
Brady speaks
fondly of his days at
Oregon State and
especially for two
menwhomade a significant impact on his
life: Charles Wicks and Robert Mrazek.
“Their acts of kindness and concern for me
as a student and instructor made a great
difference inmy success inmy doctoral
program,” says Brady.
Brady’s career with 3MCorporation
spannedmore than 30 years. All of the
Scotch tape made by 3M since 1972 is made
with the water-based process Brady
invented, and the process remains a trade
secret to this day. “When I first started at
3M, they did not have a chemistry engineer
withmy type of background in pure
chemistry, so I was able tomake an outsized
impact because no one had yet done that
type of research or technical application,”
says Brady. “It was at the cusp of the time
when 3Mwas going from solvent-based to
water-based adhesive systems.”
Brady was actively pursued by Corning
Inc. and joined the company in 1999 to
establish a technology center for the micro-
replication process and product
development for use in the optical fiber and
photonic materials for the communications
business. He went on to establish the Center
for Advanced Process Research, the Corning
Patent Liaison System and courses in clear
technical writing for scientists and
engineers.
Throughout his career, Brady has
authored 15 patent applications andmore
than 25 internal and external publications.
He holds four U.S. patents andmore than 20
international patents.
“What an honor it has been to workwith
OSU—with all the impact it has made in
tsunami research, the biological sciences and
engineering technologies,” says Brady. “It’s
been a lifelong, wonderful experience —
living there, traveling there, running across
other graduates and being able to say I am
associatedwith Oregon State University.”
The teachings of the Bible were the
foundation for Brady’s determination at a
young age, and he is still a religious manwho
is involved in several ministries in his
retirement. “Life’s journey is all about
learning to serve God and learning to use
your gifts,” says Brady. “I learned long ago
that if you have desire and the capacity to
work, success will be yours.”
L
ewis Danielson literally started out
as a mover and a shaker. After high
school graduation in a small
Sacramento Valley farming
community, he spent ten years as a
professional furniture mover. That
preliminary career eventually brought him
to Beaver State
Moving and Storage
in Corvallis where
Oregon State
University was at
his doorstep.
Danielson began
his engineering
career at Oregon
Steel Mills, where
he implemented a
plant-wide lubrication program. He moved
on to Portland-based Mitchel Lewis &
Staver, where he helped design and build
equipment for orchard and dairy farms in
the manufacturing division. But he still had
bigger plans.
“I am a small-company man at heart and
I wanted to pursue the art of creation and
design,” says Danielson. So he joined
Engineering and Prototype Services (EPS)
as a contract tool and product designer,
primarily serving the aerospace industry.
Danielson eventually became president of
the company and through his vision,
helped EPS and its employees achieve
record growth, profits and awards in the
tooling industry.
In 1994, working evenings and
weekends, Danielson and other EPS
employees started Crimson Trace
Corporation, which manufactured state-
of-the-art laser gun sights for the firearms
industry. Today, Crimson Trace delivers
more than 130 made-in-Oregon products
to the military, law enforcement and other
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
G
2013 Oregon Stater Engineering Awards
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Oregon State University
7
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
B.S. Mechanical Engineering Technology ’79
Founder &Chair
Crimson Trace
Wilsonville, Oregon
Continued on next page >
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering ’69
Senior EngineeringAssociate (Retired)
Corning, Inc.
Corning, NewYork
Lewis A. Danielson
Michael D. Brady
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Photography by Oregon State University