Education

University Of North Dakota Gets $2 Million Gift

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) ― The University of North Dakota chemical engineering department has received a $2 million gift.
  
The money from alumnus Norman Hoffman and his wife, Ann, is to start a program focused on so-called "energetic" materials such as propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics used in such things as car air bags and bombs.
  
Mike Mann, interim dean of UND's School of Engineering and Mines, said the program could enhance defense research already conducted at the school.
  
Hoffman, a Mandan native and 1959 chemical engineering graduate, once managed a chemical engineering department at a California aerospace company. He later started a company in Minnesota that works with rockets and military systems. He sold the Technical Ordnance company two years ago.
  
"We lose so much knowledge (of energetic materials) over the years," he said. "People have the knowledge, do the research, and they die. We need a place to put all of this stuff."
  
UND President Charles Kupchella said the school would create a repository of information and research on energetic materials.
  
Hoffman worked on the railroad before enrolling at UND. A fascination with rocket propellants led to an interest in explosives and energetic materials, he said.
  
He and Ann Hoffman, originally from Stevens Point, Wis., married in 1967. She was a teacher in Minneapolis for many years.
  
"I'm very happy to give back to UND what it gave to me," Hoffman said. "That's a good education."
  
The gift will have a "profound impact on students and the school of engineering," Mann said.

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