Bishop and Peterson engineering company records, 1915-1972

Dean F. Peterson was born on June 3, 1913 in Delta, Utah. In 1930, Peterson enrolled in the ROTC program at the Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) and studied structural and irrigation engineering, and he graduated in 1934 with his BS. In 1935, Peterson enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York and received his MCE that year. By 1939, he had earned his DCE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In the fall of 1939, Peterson found work as a civil engineering instructor at the University of Washington, Seattle. In 1940, Peterson took a job in Maryland to work on constructing a dam on the upper Potomac River. When World War II began, Peterson sought involvement with the war effort. From 1943 to 1946, he worked for the US Navy on various engineering projects within the US. In 1946, Peterson was accepted by the Utah State Agricultural College to work as an instructor in the Irrigation and Drainage Department, where he worked until his retirement. Peterson was involved in many state and government projects during the course of his career with the Utah State Agricultural College, such as his advisory irrigation assignments in the Middle East. Peterson died in 1989.

Source: Peterson, Bessie C., "Dean F. Peterson; His Life and Work", Vol. 1, 1993. (USU SC&A 920 P442-Pet).

Alvin A. Bishop was born in 1913 in Delta, Utah. Bishop attended the Utah State Agricultural College (USAC) to study civil engineering, from which he received his BS in 1934 and his MS in 1939. In 1939, he enrolled in Colorado State University from where he later received his PhD in 1961. After World War II Bishop took a position at the USAC as a professor of civil engineering. In 1965, he was named first head of the Agricultural and Irrigation Engineering Department upon its creation in 1965. "His projects and teaching assignments in forty-three international countries earned him accolades from his peers" (1982, p. 7).

Source: The Outlook, November/December 1982.