NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY - FARGO, N D


DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

ALUMNI NEWS: 1985 - 1987


Lance Loken (1985) is President of Western Plains Consulting, Inc. (WPC), an environmental, regulatory and natural resources consulting firm based in Bismarck, North Dakota. Prior to founding WPC in September 2004, Lance was co-founder of HPC (1993), was a soil scientist with the NRCS, and an industrial hygiene technician and geologist/soil scientist with Braun Intertec.

WPC has 10 staff with staff in Bismarck, Fargo, Alexandria and St. Paul. WPC provides a variety of services, including Phase I and II Environmental Assessments, wetland services (including delineation, permitting, restoration, habitat management plans, functional assessment), indoor air quality surveys, soil surveys and studies, range management and botanical services, subsurface and groundwater assessments and remediation, regulatory permitting services and assistance, easement and fee-title assistance, hazardous waste management services, incident response, and various other services. WPC clientele range from private sector to municipal, state and federal government agencies. Lance is a member of several professional organizations, including the Environmental Information Association - where he is on the National Board of Directors.
Lance still actively farms (hobby) part of the family farm near Baker, North Dakota. He still pursues various types of mammals and birds each fall - hunting, and also pursues the occasional small (hopefully larger too) fish. He can be contacted at: WPC, Inc., PO Box 1401, Bismarck, ND 58502-1401. W: (701) 221-3113. Fax (701) 221-2140. Cell: (701) 400-6642. E-mail is lloken@wpcnd.com .

Terry Ludlum (1985) is a Registered Environmental Health Specialist / RS for Fargo - Cass Public Health Department. Terry's responsibilities include the design and inspection of rural wastewater and water systems, provide response to hazardous releases associated with chemical or petroleum products, perform mandated public health and safety inspections of food service establishments, perform indoor/outdoor air quality testing, development of continuing education and training curriculum, investigate and resolve environmental health complaints or concerns.
Terry and Lori have two children, Jennifer and Clayton. Their home address is 2210 9-1/2 Street N, Fargo. H: (701) 237-3602. Personal e-mail: t_ludlum@hotmail.com. Terry's office address: Fargo - Cass Public Health Department, 401 3rd Ave N, Fargo, ND. O: (701) 241-1396.

Michael J. Gunderson (1986) is a geologist with Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1991, Mike completed his M.S. degree in geology at the University of Tennessee, where he studied acid drainage associated with highway construction. From 1991-98, Mike worked for Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. as a geologist under the U.S. Department of Energy's Hazardous Waste Remedial Actions Program. Following that, Mike worked for IT Corporation and Mactec Engineering. Mike conducts soil and groundwater investigations at a variety of Department of Defense sites, focusing mainly on former TNT manufacturing facilities.
Mike lives with his three dogs, Reagan, Homer and Wilson, at 821 Dogtown Road, Ten Mile, TN. Mike reports that on a quiet night from his home in the hills of east Tennessee he can hear the banjos playing and smell the smoke of the stills. H: (865) 376-8862. W: (423) 694-7446.

Wayne Harris (1986) went on to to receive an M.S. in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines in 1991. Since then, he has worked for Conoco Inc. in New Orleans and Lafayette, and Landmark Graphics -- a leading developer of stratigraphic and geophysical software. After working for 2-3 years in a computer applications support role (two years in Oman), Wayne had the yearning to go back to the U.S. and find a job as an exploration geologist. In the fall of 1997, Amerada Hess Corporation made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Wayne is now an exploration geophysicist, working the deep and ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the search for hydrocarbons.
Wayne and Nonie reside in Katy, Texas, and are the proud parents of Alexander Bustan Harris (his middle name is the Arabic word for "garden") and Nicole Genevieve Harris. Their home address is: 1915 Dawnhollow Lane, Katy, TX 77494, and their home e-mail is: w2harris@aol.com. H: (281) 693-1685. Wayne's work address is: Amerada Hess Corporation, One Allen Center, 500 Dallas Street, Houston, TX 77002. W: (713) 609-5755.

Keith Johnson (1986) is a geologist with Midwest Testing Laboratory in Fargo. Keith does geotechnical analyses of soils, including triaxial compression testing, flexible wall permeability analyses, and soils classification. He is also a North Dakota certified monitoring well contractor. His work address is: 4102 7th Ave. N, Fargo, ND 58102. W: (701) 282-9633. Fax: (701) 282-9635.
Keith and Jennifer have three children: Kai, KelaAnn, and Ian. The Johnsons reside at 2605 34th Ave. SW, Fargo, ND 58104. H: (701) 235-3847.

Melanie Kompelien Niday (1986) is employed by Short, Elliot, & Hendrickson, a consulting firm with corporate offices in St. Paul, Minnesota. Formerly, she was a project manager and hydrogeologist at Earth Tech, Inc. in Minneapolis. Melane has been responsible for conducting hydrogeologic investigations and ground water monitoring; designing long-term monitoring systems, ground water control structures, and on-site leachate treatment systems; and preparing drilling specifications, permitting documents, environmental assessments, and annual reports.
Melanie has also had the opportunity to work on EIS's, wetland mitigations, and remediation projects.
Melanie lives with her husband Roger and three kids at 13588 Nagell Circle, Maple Grove, MN 55311. H: (612) 420-2818. Her kids, Olivia, T.J. and Laura, already have a healthy respect for maps and landscape rocks! Melanie and Roger continue to dream of returning someday to northern Minnesota.

H. Scott Parkin (1986) is a hydrologist for the North Dakota State Water Commission in Bismarck. After graduating from NDSU, Scott taught science at Upham Public School. He then returned to NDSU to complete an M.S. degree in Soil Science. At the State Water Commission, Scott supervises water usage in aquifers across the state. His work address is: 900 East Blvd., Bismarck, ND 58505. W: (701) 328-3449.
Scott and Becky have three sons: Andy, Ryan, and Shawn. The Parkins reside at 1720 Ryan Drive, Bismarck, ND 58501. H: (701) 224-0784.

Randy Roberts (1986) has started a private consulting firm, HydroResolutions, LLC.   One of the projects Randy and his partners work on is with the Canadian nuclear repository program led by Ontario Power Generation.  HydroResolutions designed the deep-borehole hydraulic testing equipment, and does all of the testing and analysis to determine the hydraulic properties of the geology down to a depth of about 850 m.
Formerly, Randy was a hydrogeologist for Sandia National Laboratores in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Randy completed his M.S. in hydrology at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (1990) and until 1999 had been working for Duke Engineering and Services in Albuquerque on hydrologic characterization of proposed nuclear-waste repositories. Specifically, he has worked on advancing well-test analysis methodologies in two areas: analysis of tests performed in fractured rocks (non-radial flow) and statistical analysis of the uncertainty in the hydraulic-parameter estimates. It all sounds a little dweeby, but he gets to fly to lots of foreign countries and explain it to people -- a geologist could do worse...
Randy and Karen are proud grandparents! and live in Rio Rancho (a suburb of Albuquerque).

Richard (Rick) Steinke (1986) Since 2005, Rick has been a senior research engineer in the Research and Technology Department at Allied Mineral Products, Columbus, OH. Allied Mineral Products offers an extensive line of heat resistant refractory products. The products are used in industrial applications where resistance to heat, chemicals, and abrasion are required. Most of Rick's work revolves around the aluminum industry. Most of Rick's time is spent developing new products, providing customer support, licensee support and marketing support.
Rick started his career at National Refractories and Minerals and transferred to northern California in 1989. Rick started as a research engineer and eventually became the facilities engineer before the company closed down in 2003.
In addition to NDSU, Rick also attended graduate school at Pennsylvania State University, obtaining a M.S. in Solid State Science in 1989. Having a geology-based educational background, especially in mineralogy and petrography, has been very helpful in his career. The refractory industry has taken Rick to Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, Mexico, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Trips to Australia and China are expected soon.
Rick is married Trisha Wright and they have a son named Jonathan.
Currently residing at 4000 Orchard Crest Court, Dublin, OH 43016.
Rick's employment address is Allied Mineral Products, 2700 Scioto Parkway, Columbus, OH 43221 W: (614) 876-0244.

Roy Bartholomay (1987) has been named chief of the U.S.G.S. project office at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory headquartered in Idaho Falls.
After graduating from NDSU, Roy was hired on a student appointment with the USGS at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) Project Office. In 1990, he completed his M.S. degree at Idaho State University and was converted to a full-time hydrologist position in 1990. Most of his research with the USGS included describing the natural geochemical environment of the Snake River Plain aquifer at the INEEL and interpreting changes in the water quality. In 2001, Roy became Sub District Chief with the USGS Huron, S.D. office.
Roy married Darcy Wallace in 1994. They have three kids: Cassandra, Cory, and Gracie. They reside in Rigby, Idaho.

Ty Fuglseth (1987) graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1991 with a MS in Marine Geology in 1991 with a thesis titled "Sediment mixing and accumulation rates in the Sulu and South China Seas: implications for organic carbon preservation in deep-sea environments." Ty worked at USC for a year constructing a radiocarbon dating lab and collecting cores on two research cruises to the mouth of the Amazon River. After working for a few years with environmental companies in the Carolinas, Ty returned to Minnesota to join Widseth Smith Nolting, an engineering, architecture, land surveying, and environmental consulting firm located in Brainerd, Crookston, and Alexandria, MN.
Ty lives in Fertile with his wife Kirsten and two daughters; Kennedy and Madison at Route 1 Box 12, Fertile, MN 56540. H: (218) 945-3436.

Bob Hawbaker (1987) is the industrial hygiene division manager for Environmental Science & Engineering in Englewood, Colorado. Bob moved here from Salt Lake City, where he spent 3.5 years working on a project that involved remediating and capping in place some historical mine tailings.located directly below the Bingham Canyon copper mine. The last portion of the job was cleaning the yards of approximately 100 residences in West Jordan because they had elevated levels of lead and arsenic in their soil from historical flooding of Bingham Creek which washed the tailings down. Bob has also worked with groundwater remediation and investigations associated with underground storage tanks and various other contaminants.
The ES&E office address is: 2 Inverness Drive East Suite 201, Englewood, Colorado, 80112.

Rick Orth (1987) is a hydrogeologist for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Upon graduating from NDSU, Rick moved to Florida where he worked as a soil scientist for three years. Starting in 1990, he became employed as a hydrogeologist for the Department of Environmental Protection in Fort Myers.
Rick issues permits for underground injection wells and reviews well permits and groundwater monitoring plans for pollution control.
Rick and Terri are parents of two girls, Madelyn and Emma. The Orths reside at 1236 Shelby Parkway, Cape Coral, FL 33904. H: (941) 772-0539. W: (941) 332-6975.

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