Two alumni join Engineering Hall of Fame at Kansas State University
Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021
MANHATTAN — The Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University will induct two new members into its Hall of Fame on March 5.
Induction to the hall is the highest honor bestowed on its alumni by the college. Honorees are recognized for their professional success and accomplishment, involvement with and support of the College of Engineering, dedication to K-State, and professional and public service.
The following are members of the class of 2021:
Michael Wiegers, Baldwin City, is a 1982 graduate of Kansas State University in electrical engineering. He was named to his current position, vice president, consumer engineering, Garmin International, Olathe, in 2010 and directs the strategic product and technology development of the worldwide consumer engineering group. He first joined Garmin in 1993 as the lead engineer in marine product design. During his tenure, he has served in a variety of technical and business leadership capacities in all Garmin consumer product segments. Previously with King Radio, also in Olathe, he designed VHF aviation communication and navigation radios and worked in new technology areas such as flight-critical software and electronic display systems during his 11-year career with the company. Wiegers was named the College of Engineering 2018 Alumni Fellow at K-State and in 2019 he and his wife, Lynn, invested in the naming of the Mike Wiegers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the college, empowering the department to recruit and retain top faculty, support deserving students and provide flexible funding for department leaders. Wiegers, who is originally from Marysville, served as chair of the K-State Engineering Advisory Council in 2020-21 and has recently joined the advisory council for K-State Olathe.
Charles Wilson, San Diego, California, graduated from K-State with bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering in 1962, 1964 and 1972, respectively. With a distinguished career as a nuclear engineer, he is currently a senior scientist with Leidos Inc. where he holds several clearances for work on classified nuclear programs. In his more than 45 years in the nuclear weapons field, he has worked on related projects for the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency, Defense Threat-Reduction Agency and three national laboratories: Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia. A designer and radiation environment calculator for all scatter stations on U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency X-ray effects tests, he has also been a compiler, author and technical editor for numerous nuclear weapons handbooks. A member of the KSU Foundation board of trustees since 1999, he has established, in the name of his father, the Charles E. Wilson Scholarship for Dickinson County, Kansas, students; endowed a study room in the rebuilt Hale Library following the 2018 fire; and established a fund for upgrades to the nuclear reactor facility at K-State. He is a 1958 graduate of Abilene High School, Abilene Kansas.
