“All This Fun, and a Paycheck, too?”

About the Book

The book is a collection of stories: assignments from a long and enjoyable engineering career as well as anecdotes and experiences from summer jobs, vacations, and consulting. The focus is technical; each little story pivots on some scientific principle. The intent is three-fold: a) genealogical: to capture descriptions of a lifetime of fun times and accomplishments for descendents who might be curious about old great-grandpa Tom; b) to inspire a next generation of youngsters to consider pursuit of engineering, science, and critical thought, as a door to a fruitful life; and c) to try to bridge that pervasive "boring and/or over-my-head" gap by showing that "engineering" concepts are essentially common-sense and intuitive (you learned them in kindergarten playground), and the jargon should not be off-putting. The book's message: Engineering/science can be fun; it happens every day and everywhere; a degree is not a prerequisite.

About the Author

Tom Clifford, one of nine kids, was born in Texas in 1940 into a heritage of academics and engineering. The family followed Daddy across New Mexico as he helped create wartime infrastructure with the Corps of Engineers. With his BS in Ch E in 1963, Tom helped the birth of space travel (Gemini at McDonnell; Space Shuttle at UTC; satellites at Lockheed); the development of microelectronics (stints in Silicon Valley), and "green" initiatives (elimination of asbestos, lead, and ODC solvents); as well as developing OSHA-safe manufacturing processes. He was a research, design, process, and manufacturing engineer, and later an R&D and operations manager and consultant, enjoying every minute. He has accumulated many patents and publications; and particularly treasures his mentoring of young engineers, helping them on to successful careers. Retired, he now enjoys kayaking, fishing, hiking, photography (often from his wife's aerobatic airplane), world travel, and family.