This alumnus spent most of his undergraduate years at Caltech not with housemates but with two fellow commuters who rode with him in his huge black Buick from Alhambra to campus and back every day. Each of the three men was working toward a different degree: physics, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering—the latter, in this alumnus’s estimation, being by far the easiest of the three.
He took edifying courses from the likes of Professors Robert Daugherty, Howell Tyson, and Donald Hudson, and, after earning a BS, he mustered the gumption to complete a fifth year at Caltech to obtain an MS—also in mechanical engineering.
After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, he pursued employment in the private sector, and throughout his career, his pride in his alma mater grew. He secured a job at Aerojet, a rocket manufacturing company established by aeronautics legend Theodore von Kármán with fellow scientists and engineers from JPL and Caltech. The alumnus then went on to work for TRW, which was co-founded by Caltech alumni Simon Ramo (PhD ’36) and Dean Wooldridge (PhD ’36). It was at TRW that he met Pat, the woman he was to marry.
Pat and Dysart “Dys” (BS ’53, MS’54) CoNine share a love of science and engineering. As a matter of fact, Pat earned a BS in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she was one of five women in a graduating class of more than 700 men.
The CoNines have enjoyed many Seminar Days and reunions at Caltech— educational experiences Dys finds infinitely more fun than his college courses, because there’s no homework. The couple made a bequest intention to support Caltech students. The CoNines want to ensure that, regardless of financial wherewithal, hardworking future scientists and engineers will have the opportunity to experience their own enduring pride in having attended Caltech.