Chuck Hand

Chuck  Hand
  • BS Electrical Engineering 1962
"Although not exactly dirt-poor, I needed part-time work to pay expenses while at Tech," Chuck Hand '62 remembers. "Earning a degree in electrical engineering with a power emphasis has provided me a stimulating and satisfying career. Much of my life's work has involved gigantic gas-insulated substations (GIS). Currently, I am working on a nine-figure GIS project, part of an electrical network that delivers power to Southern California from as far away as the Columbia River."

Why this career choice? "Because of Sputnik in '57, most students gravitated to electronics and control systems—the space-age stuff," he says. "Electrical power professors Walt Anderson and Joe Roman helped me to take these first steps toward a path less traveled. Only four in my class selected electric power. It's made all the difference, and now I want to give back." Hand pays it forward by supporting scholarships and recruiting undergraduate and graduate students. "The jobs are waiting," he says. "More student engineers need to be introduced to the exciting, challenging electrical power business."

Excerpted from Michigan Tech Magazine, Winter 2008-2009