People You Know, January to March 2011

Updates from New Mexico Tech alums. Send your updates to tguengerich@admin.nmt.edu.

Donald Strachan (M.S. Geology, '76) joined Deer Horn Metals as an advisor to the company in economic geology and hydrogeology. Strachan earned a bachelor's in geology in 1973 from California State University, Fresno and received his master's from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1976. According to a company press release, Strachan has extensive experience in all corners of the globe, but most importantly from the company's perspective he has been assisting World Industrial Minerals in searching the globe for sources of tellurium. Strachan visited the Deer Horn property in late 2009 and prepared an internal report on Deer Horn's tellurium potential, which inspired the company to move forward vigorously to the next stage of development. "We welcome Don's vast expertise and are confident that he will assist us in moving Deer Horn Metals to the next level," the press release said.

	Megan  Curry and Guglielmo Fucci

New Mexico Tech graduates Dr. Guglielmo Fucci (Ph.D, 2009) and Megan Curry (M.S., 2009) have set a wedding date: July 3, 2011, at North Canton Church of Christ.

Dennis and Dorothy Curry of Massillon, Ohio, announced the engagement. Dr. Fucci is the son of Antonio and Elvira Fucci of Pomigliamo d’Arco, Italy.

Curry graduated from Perry High School, the University of Akron and New Mexico Tech. She is employed by Axtell High School in Axtell, Texas. She earned her master’s in geology in 2009.

Guglielmo graduated from Liceo Scientifico “Cristoforo Colombo” High School, the University of Naples “Federico II” and New Mexico Tech. He is a post-doctoral associate at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He earned his doctorate in mathematical physics in 2009.

Daniel Holcomb (B.S. in Management, 1995) earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1998. In 1999, he joined the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Special Agent. “Since then, I have completed tours of duty in Imperial County, California, El Paso, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada and on the Western Pacific island of Saipan, located in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In 2010, I left Saipan to become a Special Agent Polygraph Examiner with the DEA, and I am once again stationed in El Paso, Texas.”

Barney P. Popkin (Groundwater Hydrology, ’65) is currently a visiting scientist and affiliate with the University of Arizona, Hydrology and Water Resources Administration.

Barney has had a typically diverse year of international consulting in water, wastewater, solid and hazardous waste, and environmental management. He wrote and negotiated Administrative Action Memos to streamline how 3,600 community livelihoods and stabilization grants worth $168 million could meet U.S. environmental regulations in Afghanistan and Yemen. He also wrote environmental compliance procedures and program management plans as well as crop-pest-disease control manuals.

He facilitated the Programmatic Environmental Assessment for an $800-million road construction and community capacity building project in Afghanistan. He has drafted agricultural, health, resource recovery, and water and wastewater grant concepts, and made presentations to donors and national strategy teams on innovative agricultural, soil and water management strategies for Yemen. He has trained agricultural extension workers in soil and water science and pest management and environmental procedures. He has designed irrigation wells and fields in Afghanistan.

He facilitated approval of the environmental assessment of the Republic of Georgia Oil and Gas Corp.’s 30-km natural gas pipeline. He has advised agencies and donors on water and water-quality management in response to the Haitian earthquake and Pakistani floods. He has continued to lead the Linkedin Environmental Marketing Association of Arizona group.

Barney has submitted articles on Middle East Water Crises to Earth, Geological Control of Afghanistan Agricultural Production and Markets to The Professional Geologist, and Renewal Energy at Home; Case Study at International Village, Pristina, Kosovo to European Geologist magazines.

Barney lives in Tucson with his wife and their brindle boxer, Buster Brown.