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October 2005
In memoriam: Miles Kersten
Miles S. Kersten, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Minnesota for 33 years, died in August at age 92.
Kersten began his first job in 1935 as a soils engineer for the Minnesota Department of Highways. He joined the university faculty in 1945 and retired in 1978. He was instrumental in developing programs in soil mechanics and highway engineering related to soils and pavement design. In his research, Kersten concentrated on frost action in the design of highways. He also studied the thermal conductivity of soils, work that still finds application in a variety of problems.
After retiring, he served as an adviser to Mn/DOT. His work is still routinely cited in papers and technical journals, and a dimensionless number used in soil mechanics equations is called the Kersten Number in his honor.
Among the graduate students he advised was Richard Braun, founding director of CTS and a former Mn/DOT commissioner. "He was a true professor whose primary interest was the students," said Braun. "He was absolutely the best instructor, adviser, and mentor a person could hope for."
In 1990 the CE department created the Miles Kersten Land Grant Chair with gifts from the highway industry and friends in Minnesota. In 1995 he received the first Richard P. Braun Distinguished Service Award from CTS.