The 19th Annual Steinmetz Symposium
May 1 and 2, 2009
Information
The 19th Annual Steinmetz Symposium will be held on Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 and will include concurrent sessions for oral presentations, posters, performances, and art exhibits. Most sessions will be held on Friday and classes will be cancelled as appropriate to allow all students to attend Steinmetz sessions.
Dedication
Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865–1923), a professor at Union, was regarded as a leading pioneer of electrical engineering. He served as chief consulting engineer for the General Electric Company, and took charge in 1902 of Union’s new electrical engineering program. He was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wroclaw, Poland) and studied in Breslau, Zurich and Berlin, receiving his Ph.D. in 1888. Steinmetz, an active socialist with strong anti-racist beliefs, was forced to flee Germany after writing a paper critical of the German government. He immigrated to the United States in 1893. He studied alternating current, and patented a system of AC in 1895. By the time he died, he held over 200 patents. Steinmetz served as a lecturer in undergraduate and post-graduate courses at Union until his death. He wished for his students “the spirit of divine discontent, for without it the world would stand still.”
Union is proud to dedicate the Charles Proteus Steinmetz Symposium on Student Creative, Scholarly and Research Achievement to the memory of this scholar, teacher, and practitioner.
For more information about Steinmetz Symposium, please contact Professor Mary Carroll, Director of Undergraduate Research.