Kerekes, Frank 1896-1965

A native of Budapest, Hungary, Frank Kerekes came to the United States in 1903 at the age of seven. As a naturalized citizen 11 years later, he attended the College of the City of New York and earned a bachelor of science in 1917, majoring in physics and economics. He earned the professional Civil Engineer degree at Columbia University. Kerekes' career in engineering education spanned almost half a century. He joined the Department of Civil Engineering at Iowa State University as an assistant professor in 1920 and remained at Iowa State until his appointment as dean of the faculty at Michigan Technological University in 1954. In addition to his teaching, Dean Kerekes performed extensive research in the field of elastic behavior of reinforced concrete and steel structures. He was a member of the Operations Analysis Unit of the U.S. Air Force and had served as a consultant to the Air Force Special Weapons Center in New Mexico. Kerekes also served as president of the Iowa Engineering Society and the American Concrete Institute and, in 1960, received the highest award conferred by the ASCE when he was made an honorary member. Dean Kerekes retired from Michigan Technological University in 1965 and passed away that same year.