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in this• tt t• •Gooch. . .“WHAT’CHA been doin’ lately?”, someone might ask Dr. H. Gordon Harris Jr. of Laramie. Wyoming, better known as “Gooch native Rockdale.And Dr. Har*ris* reply mightbe any of the following:Developing mathematicalmodels to describe the recovery of oil from oil shale by in-situ retorting techniques “Watching my race horse DR. HARMSrun.Writing a refresher coursein engineering fundamentals.Shooting pool.Shaking Egyptian sand out of my boots.Investigating a novel device to serve as a prime mover in artificial hearts.—be—Many hata. . .GOOCH HARRIS is my kind of PhD type. I mean, if you went out to shoot the professor of chemical engineering at the University of Wyoming he’s probably the last guy you’d draw a bead on. Despite aBerkeley background, and despite the fact that he teaches such things as “stoichiometry, you'll still catch him in Levis more often than in a coat and tie.I went to high school here with Gooch. He did all the things the rest of us did— sports, girls, and hanging out at the Joinerburger stand. Inaddition, he was fascinated byeducation. Not inflicted, mind you. but fascinated enough that his AAAAAA report cards were made out the first day of school. By the end of his freshman year they ordered his valedictory certificate printed.—be—Trackin'. . .GOOCH, son of Mildred Harris Baker of Rockdale and the late Harry Harris, married a local gal, Carolyn Hart, daughter of Gertrude and Dave Hart, and she just happened to be the salutatorian of that class, although everybody knew she was far too pretty for that sort of thing.Anyway, Gooch got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees atUT in ’61 and ’62 and receivedhis PhD, also in chemical engineering, in '68 at Berkeley where he worked as a teaching assistant. Next he was assistantprofessor of chemical engineering at Tulane in New Orleans from ’68 until ’74 when hebecame associate professor ofChem-E at the University ofWyoming which is about as remote from Rockdale as Berkeley.—be—Grants. •GOOCH's habitat is notalways the classroom. F’in-stance. in 1975, funded by a National Science Foundation grant, he worked in Egypt advising investigators at the American University in Cairo ona project for the acid extraction of Egyptian clays.In 1 *69-71, through anothereducation foundation grant, he was a principal investigator for a novel device to serve as a prime mover in artificialhearts.Now I guess the reason all this column was spawned is the news that Gooch is currently working, via a $100,000 grant from the Energy Research Development Administration, “to develop mathematical models to describe the recovery of oil from shale bv in-situ«rretorting techniques.’’ whateverthat means.—be—And. he's also done research work with Texaco, DuPont.Applied Aluminum Research.Walk. Naydel Associates. Laramie Energy Research Center, and others.—be—Hoaaea, etc.HE’S ALSO fascinated withengineering a cue ball into running a table. Gooch sorta’ comes, goes and drifts like theLone Ranger, but his mount is a pickup-camper rather than a white horse.He and Carolyn have four children and visit here occasionally. Most of the folks down at Cliff s Pool Hall probablv have no idea that the man who hits town two or three times a vearWwith a deft cue stick recently worte a paper. “Mathematical Modeling of the LERC 150 • TonRetort.Gooch and Cliff Sims are also in cahoots on a race hoss or two.In addition, Dr. Harris' resume notes canoeing as an avocation, and I’d bet he’s pretty good at it, too.
Newspaper Details
Rockdale Reporter and Messenger
Rockdale, Texas, US
Thu, Nov 11, 1976
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 03 Oct 2019
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Rockdale Reporter
Rockdale Reporter and Messenger
