Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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Harold B. Smith, M.E., Professor of Electrical Ejigineering. Professor Smith was born in Barre, Mass., in 1869. lie was grad- nated from the Barre High School in 1886, and entered Cornell soon after¬ ward. He was a prominent member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and was elected to the lionoi’ary society of Sigma Xi. After taking a post¬ graduate course, he became Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering- in charge of the department at Ar¬ kansas State University. He stayed at this school only one year, having accepted positions as head designer and electrical engineer for the Elek- tron jMannfactnring Company of Springfield, iMass., and the professor¬ ship of electrical engineering and the direction of the School of Electrical Engineering at Pnrdne University. In 1896 he came to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and has re¬ mained here ever since. Besides hav¬ ing been electrical engineer and designer for the Westinghonse Electric Manufacturing Company since 1905, Professor Smith revised the electrical vocabulary of the Century Dictionary in 1897; was Chairman of the elury on Electrical Lighting, St. Louis Exposition, in 1904; an author of about fifty papers on electrical engineering subjects, including one before the International Electrical Congress in 1904. He is a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. British Institution of Electric Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, Fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Science, and other scientific societies both at home and abroad. 17

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Zelotes Wood Coombs, A.M., Professor of Modern Languages, Professor Coombs was graduated from Amherst College in 1888. During the following year he was an instruc¬ tor in the Brooklyn Polytechnic In¬ stitute. Later he attended the Uni¬ versity of Virginia both as student and instructor. He came to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1890 as instructor in modern lan¬ guages, serving also as clerk to the President. In 1891 he went abroad and studied at the University of Ber¬ lin, and upon his return to the In¬ stitute was made Assistant Professor of Modern Languages. In 1901 he was made Professor of French, and the following summer he spent in study in Paris. Since 1903 he has been the head of the Language De¬ partment. Professor Coombs is the Faculty Director of Athletics at the Institute, and the cause of good, clean athletics gains from him hearty encouragement, and finds in him a staunch supporter. 16

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Arthur W. French, C.E., Professor of Civil pJi hieermg. Professor Frendi was graduated from the Tliayer School of Civil Eno-iiieering ' , Dartmouth College, in 1892. He held positions with the Tower Brothers, Holyoke, i Iass., the Platte River Paper Company, and the Denver Gnlf Railroad, in which positions he gained valuable expe¬ rience in design and construction. After serving for a time as Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at his Alma j Iater, he came to the Worces¬ ter PoBdechnic Institute in 1899 as t Professor of Civil Engineering. Since coming to Tech his summer work has embraced several important construc¬ tion undertakings. Well versed in theoretical engineering science, and possessed of the instinct for putting things straight for the student, yet at the same time a capable designing and field engineer. Professor French is held in great esteem by the men whose work comes under his direction. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Edu¬ cation, and is Chairman of the Commission on the Congestion of Streets (Worcester), where his work means much for the future of the city. 18