History

The following brief history of MUFMech was prepared by John Foss (1938-2026) and edited by Bob Brodkey (1928-2022) in April 2010 (may both rest in peace!).

During a 1972 visit to The Ohio State University, Victor Goldschmidt (ME Prof. at Purdue) shared his idea – that was destined to be eminently successful – with Bob Nerem (ME Prof. at OSU). Namely, it was proposed that a gathering of faculty and students to share research results and to socialize at a retreat be established under the name Midwestern Universities Fluid Mechanics Retreat. The idea was supported and they made contacts with known colleagues in the four-state area: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois. The membership criteria included a PhD program in the area of fluid mechanics.

Victor was a lay minister in the Methodist Church and it was a simple matter for him to make contact with a Methodist church camp near Lake Wawasee in north central Indiana. The historical roots of the Methodist Church (break from the Church of England over the problems of alcohol in the Colonial period) disallowed beer/wine at the camp.

Bob Brodkey (TOSU), on a scouting mission on the first Thursday, located the Frog Tavern (a quite simple bikers’ bar at the Lake) and this was our gathering spot for the first evening. Bob’s van was also used as the required elevation to gain access to the second story open window upon the discovery that the first floor doors were locked given our late return from the Tavern.

The coasters from the Tavern became the symbolic penalty given to those who transgressed the Retreat’s rules. The rules were initially promulgated by Victor and Bob (Nerem) but rapidly expanded by consensus of the Steering Committee. A sample of the rules: (1) no titles (professor, student, chair, Dr.), (2) no reference to funding agencies nor government, etc. officials, (3) no misspellings, numerical errors, mislabeled axes, on one’s slides, (4) no late entry to the sessions, (5) must wear a nametag ,(6) no presentation of published work.

The second MUFMECH was chaired by Hassan Nagib (IIT). His encouragement to participate plus introducing the crowd-pleasing awarding of Frogs (coasters) strongly contributed to the cohesiveness of the MUFMECH community. In spite of rampant inflation, the unit redemption price of a Frog was – and remains – one US dollar. This seeming violation of the “First Law of Inflation” has been compensated by the ease with which Frogs are presented to members of the audience. The schedule was also set at this meeting with its six sessions of five 20-minute presentations (15-minute presentation + 5-minute Q and A). Time for sport and R and R was also formalized following the post-lunch session on Friday.

John Foss chaired the third meeting at the more comfortable and hospitable Geneva Center (Presbyterian church camp – beer tolerant but with strict rules of behavior). The success of the frogs as a crowd-pleaser gave him the stimulus to create the term: KOTGOF (Keeper of Time and Giver of Frogs). The sense of the third meeting was one of “being established” rather than “being new.” A memory challenged statement of the participating schools includes (in alphabetical order): Case-Western Reserve, Cincinnati, IIT, Illinois, MSU, MTU, OSU, Ohio Univ, Purdue. Schools that have been added and since fallen away (but would be welcomed back) include Northwestern, Southern Illinois, Wisconsin (Madison). Later joiners – still active – include Michigan and Akron.

Changes have, of course, occurred after year three, but they have represented smaller variations to a settled protocol. We are grateful to those who have maintained this opportunity for faculty and students to come together for information sharing, socializing, and establishing long-lasting bonds from this shared experience.

MUFMech was held at the Geneva Center (Rochester, Indiana) from 1975 through 2025. In 2025, inflation finally caught up and the cost of a frog increased to $2. In 2026, the retreat was held at Cedar Lake Ministries (Cedar Lake, Indiana). 

Programs

MUFMech has a rich history that spans over 50 years. Below are MUFMech programs throughout the years. We are missing a few, so if you come across one please email a copy to us!

Memos

We have compiled some miscellaneous notes, memos, and other documents from prior MUFMech retreats.

• Presentation by John Foss reflecting on 50th year of MUFMech (2023)
• Note from Bill Schultz reflecting on the 50th year of MUFMech (2023)
• Note from Frank Chambers reflecting on the 50th year of MUFMech (2023)
• Memo to Geneva Center from John Foss (2009)
• Note and schedule to attendees from Joe Powers (1994)
• Memo to Steering Committee from Mike Foster (1983)