Rate My Professor Thomas Castonguay

Thomas Telisphore Castonguay is a Professor of Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering at the University of New Mexico, where he also served as Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering. His academic credentials include a B.S. from the University of Detroit and a Ph.D. from Iowa State College, as documented in the 1959-1960 University of New Mexico catalog. Appointed as Professor of Chemical Engineering and Head of the Department by at least 1949, as per Board of Regents minutes, Castonguay led the department through key periods of growth in the mid-20th century. He was actively involved in university governance, listed in Faculty Senate voting records from 1948-1949, 1952-1953, 1954-1955, and meeting minutes index from 1983-1984.

Castonguay supervised and chaired numerous master's theses in Chemical and Biological Engineering, reflecting his research interests in transport processes, materials characterization, and chemical engineering applications. Among them: James A. Moeller's 'A Study of the Flow Characteristics in the Core Region of the Sandia Fluidized Bed Reactor'; Luciano Sedillo's 'Evaluation of the thermal properties of plastic laminates'; Bipinchandra V. Mehta's 'Recovery of Copper by Liquid Ion-Exchange'; Larry E. Hatler's 'Continuous Crystallization of High Explosives' (1972); Natarajan Mani's 'Size Distribution Analysis Of Carbon Black By Andreason Pipette Method'; and William C. Turner's 'Brazing Nozzles for Rockets Powered by Hydrogen Peroxide and Hydrazine' (1970), where he served as committee member. He contributed to scholarly literature, co-authoring 'Effect of γ-radiation on the dynamic mechanical properties of styrene–butadiene rubbers' with R. K. Traeger in the Journal of Applied Polymer Science (1966). His enduring impact is evident in the T.T. Castonguay Scholarship for junior Chemical Engineering students and fond recollections by alumni, such as in a 2024 department news article where a 1969 graduate credits him for career guidance. Castonguay appears in early UNM records, including the 1947 Mirage Yearbook associated with engineering activities.