Gesslers Establish Scholarship Fund, Encourage Engineering Students to Study Abroad
After 37 years of service to the College of Engineering, Dr. Johannes Gessler retired from Colorado State University in June of 2003. At the time of his retirement, Dr. Gessler and his wife, Seraina, established a scholarship fund specifically designated for Colorado State engineering students who study abroad. The scholarship has special meaning to the Gesslers because it offers students financial aid for opportunities Dr. Gessler found significant in his own education and professional engineering career and commemorates his retirement from Colorado State University.
On average, twenty CSU engineering students participate in the study abroad program each year and experience the engineering profession and its dynamics within another country and culture.
Senior civil engineering student Kristoph Kinzli studied at the University of Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany, during the spring 2002 semester. As a first generation American citizen who grew up speaking German, Kinzli said he knew he wanted to study abroad and experience his heritage and the German culture during college. For Kinzli, seeing reconstructed Berlin from a civil engineer's perspective was one of the highlights of his overseas experience, an opportunity that Dr. Gessler supported from the time Kinzli first visited CSU.
"Dr. Gessler was a very, very inspirational person to me," Kinzli said. "The first time I met him was when I was a senior in high school. I came to CSU with my dad for Engineering Days and he was holding a small presentation on what CSU engineering is about, and we heard him speaking and thought 'That sounds like a German accent.' So the first thing we did is walk up to him and say 'Sprechen Sie Deutsch?'"
"Dr. Gessler's given me some suggestions on what to look into after college, and he's been a great help," said Kinzli.
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| Dr. Neal Gallagher, Dean of the College of Engineering, presents Dr. Johannes Gessler with an ammonite at Gessler's retirement party. The ammonite is a token of appreciation from the College for Dr. Gessler's 37 years of service at Colorado State University. |
Gessler began teaching and advising engineering students at Colorado State University when he joined the Department of Civil Engineering in 1966. Over the next 37 years he served as Interim Department Head; Associate Department Head; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; and from 1997 to 1999, during a time when the College rebuilt the Engineering Building, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering.
During his career at Colorado State, Dr. Gessler received many awards including CSU's Alumni Association's Best Teacher, the Abell Faculty Award for Outstanding Service, the Abell Faculty Teaching Award, the Jack E. Cermak Advising Award, an Academic Achievement Award from the American Water Works Association, a Teaching Excellence Award and the Distinguished Service Award for Advising from Colorado State University.
Dr. Gessler's research interests are in the area of River Mechanics, where he focused on problems related to the behavior of sediment mixtures. During his career at Colorado State he also developed an international reputation as an expert on the design and optimization of water distribution systems. His expertise in these areas led to many consulting opportunities in Ecuador, India, Switzerland, South Africa, Egypt and Russia, as well as within the United States.
To learn how to contribute to the Johannes and Seraina Gessler scholarship fund, contact the Development Office at (970) 491-7028 or send an e-mail message to supportengineering@engr.colostate.edu.
Click here to read the speech Dr. Gessler gave as commencement speaker at the College of Engineering's 2003 Undergraduate Commencement ceremony.