Awards & Scholarships

Vernon R. Degner graduated with an MS in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He spent the first twenty years of his professional career in the aerospace industry involved in the development of large liquid rocket engines including the Saturn and Space Shuttle main engines.

He joined WEMCO in 1972 as R&D Vice President and was responsible for the successful development of .the 1000, 1500 and 3000 cu. ft. WEMCO flotation machines presently used throughout the international minerals beneficiation industry.

Successful development of the very large mechanical flotation machine led to the need for an improved basis for selecting the flotation machine size and arrangement in new or modernized concentrators, and Mr. Degner has been very active in applying kinetic flotation principles to new minerals beneficiation applications during the last decade.

Mr. Degner has conducted international seminars dealing with the application of hydrodynamic principles to the design and development of large flotation machines, and is a member of the American Filtration Society and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME).