Page 7 - CEGE Magazine - Fall 2021

OBITUARIES
MUNIRATHNA ANANDA KRISHNAN (MS 1957, Ph.D. 1960) died in May 2021
at the age of 92. The Times of India reported that Anandakrishnan died while undergoing treatment for Covid-19 in
a private hospital in Chennai, India. He is survived by wife Jayalakshmi and
four sons. Anandakrishnan was born at Vaniyambadi in 1928 and completed his BE in College of Engineering, Guindy in 1952. He did his masters and Ph.D. at UMN. He started his career at Central Road Research Institute in 1962 and joined the faculty of IIT- Kanpur in 1963 where he worked until 1974 before moving to the US. He served in the United Nations at several levels includ- ing deputy director of the Commission on Science and Technology for Devel- opment. After retiring from the United Nations, he served as vice-chancellor
at Anna University (1990-96). Anan- dakrishnan was honored with several awards, including Padma Shri from the President of India in 2002 and the Order of Scientific Merit from the President of Brazil in 1996. He also received a UMN Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals in 2003.
MARGARET ASGIAN (BCE 1975, MSCE 1977, Ph.D. 1988) died Friday, July 23, 2021. As a graduate student, she was advised by Peter Cundall (pictured with Margaret in the mid-1980s). Her adviser remembers her as very committed to
understanding the physics involved in fluid injection into fractured rock, saying, “We worked together some after she graduated. I participated in several meetings during her time working on jobs for BP in the United Kingdom. She certainly had a talent for engineering, and she set herself very strict goals
for her work in numerical modeling of hydraulic fracturing and fracture- network flow.” Charles Fairhurst also worked closely with Asgian in 1983-84 during the initial days of Itasca Consult- ing Group in Minneapolis, and again from 1992-1998 when she led Itasca’s efforts to establish an office in London UK. “Unassuming but very intelligent, Margaret was a pleasant colleague.”
GEORGE COCHRAN (BGeoE 1958) passed away on March 26, 2021. Cochran worked as a civil engineer/ geoengineer at MnDOT for over 30 years. He was the Manager of the Research Section when he retired. Glenn Engstrom (BCE 1977), Director, Office of Materials and Road Research at MnDOT and colleague of Cochran, wrote with some memories. “George was smart, caring, kind, funny, and an excellent role model. He was instrumen- tal in the original planning, design, and construction of MnROAD. He was active in many MnDOT and LRRB research initiatives and was a driving force behind several that have been implemented and are now common practice. He was also active on a national level with TRB, NCHRP, and FHWA. George followed his true passion in pavements and geo- engineering. It was fun listening to him talk about the finer points of pavement engineering. I remember driving with him to a Materials Engineers meeting in New Ulm. We tried to take a short cut that didn’t work out. Not a problem, it just made a nice ride longer. George was a wonderful public servant.”
HERMAN R. “BOB” FAST (BCE 1949) died in June 2021 at age 93. Fast played football for coach Bernie Bier- man. Fast went on to get his master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Los Angeles (1960) and was the city manager in West Covina, California, from 1976 to 1990, when he “retired” and continued
to work as a private consultant. He eventually moved back to his home state of Minnesota.
RAYMOND V. KNUTSON (BCE 1961), MSCE 1964) passed away September 8, 2021. He completed his bachelor’s degree with distinction and went on to earn his master’s degree. He and his wife moved to San Francisco where he worked two years with Standard Oil, before returning to Hastings, Minnesota, to work for Koch Oil Refining (Flint Hills Resources). He became the Chief Envi- ronmental Engineer and was the Assis- tant Plant Manager for the last 20 years of his career, retiring in 1996. During his time there, he started programs to sup- port education that still exist. Knutson was a loyal Minnesota Gopher fan, but his time with family and friends were the most important. His motto was “The best is yet to come.”
Long time MSES member ROBERT “BOB” SANDS (BCE 1965) passed
away in March 2021. Sands worked at Edwards and Kelcey, later acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group, for his entire career. His greatest work accomplish- ment was being part of the design and build of the light rail transit project in Minneapolis. Sands was also a great fan of Gopher football.
CHARLES C.S. SONG passed away in August 2020. He was an esteemed col- league, dedicated teacher and scholar, and internationally renowned researcher. A new graduate fellowship to honor his pioneering research accomplishments and his caring mentorship, was created in Song’s honor by a group of his former graduate students: Changsi Chen, Xiangying Chen, Cuiling Gong, Qizhong Guo, Jianming He, Wenchin Lin, and Fayi Zhou. The Charles C.S. Song Fellowship will provide vital graduate student support, particularly for inter- national students at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. The inaugural award will
be made in spring 2022. If you would like to honor Professor Song’s memory by making a gift to the new fellowship, your support is welcome. z.umn.edu/ giveCharlesCSSongFellowship.
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering | DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND GEO- ENGINEERING 7