The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 3

BREAKING NEWS: VANC0UVERSUN.COM WESTCOASTNEWS A3 OPINION Research pays off with PhD after 54-year wait West Vancouver man's early work at Cambridge factors in honours at 81 MONDAY, JULY 27, 2009 jrgym, jr PETE McMARTIN VANCOUVER SUN well. They told me as soon as the oral exam was over that they were going to recommend me for a PhD." He got word June 9 that the recommendation had been accepted. Last week, Alex, his wife and elder daughter flew to Cambridge. He was treated there as something of a celebrity, and people he didn't know kept coming up and congratulating him on his degree. During the day of the ceremony, the dean of the college threw a reception for all the post-graduates, and it started with glasses of champagne and a special toast in MacMillan's honour.

At the July 20 graduation ceremony, MacMillan was the first graduate to go up on stage and receive his degree. It was a sombre and dignified affair, he said, and one conducted with formalities that were centuries old. He was, by a lifetime's margin, the oldest graduate to receive his degree that day. "I was in there with kids who were all in their 20s bright young things, and all of them very nice." His PhD degree is now home and framed. "My family was very pleased that I got it," MacMillan said, "but I was even more pleased that my work was finally being recognized.

"I'm a doctor of philosophy now. "Finally, after 54 years." He began to think that, if his papers were so scientifically sound that they were still being cited after five decades, perhaps they were worth more than an MSc. "When I found out that my results were so widely accepted, I actually contacted the professor of fluid mechanics at Cambridge, a Dame Ann Dowling. "She suggested that I apply for a PhD." He did. "I had to submit an application for PhD, by special regulation, as they call it, because I'm not there as a post-grad.

And it had to include a description of the work I did, plus back-up reference material, including citations of my work that I could find in the literature. Then it went to the board of graduate studies, which passed it on to the engineering school, and one of Dame Ann Dowling's staff shepherded my application through all the stages of acceptance. "They were so keen on it that what would normally take a year and a half to get through was pushed through in seven months. One of the requirements was that I have an oral exam, but since they were there and I was here, they gave me special dispensation and we held the oral exam by telephone." The oral exam, MacMillan said, took a little over an hour. He was nervous about taking it, so at age 81 he hit the books again.

"I was a little apprehensive about it, but actually it turned out extremely From 1952 to 1955, Alex MacMil-lan attended graduate school at Cambridge University. For his dissertation, he wrote several papers on aeronautical engineering. For that work, he was awarded a master of science degree. On his return to Canada, he joined the aviation industry, a short five-year stint that included working on the Sparrow Missile. "When that fell apart," he said, he moved on to pulp and paper research.

He came to B.C. His life here proceeded and he raised a family and the decades went by. His days and work at Cambridge receded to memory. jMacMillan is now 81, and lives in lest Vancouver. Five years ago, he said, he sat down at his computer and Started to scan the Internet.

He rum-ihaged around in the literature of aeronautical engineering, and was surprised by what he saw. "I found that my work at Cambridge was not only being used, but that it was being used so much that it was actually being cited as 'the MacMillan GLENN BAGLOVANCOUVER SUN Alex MacMillan of West Vancouver proudly wears his robes after being granted his PhD by Cambridge on Thursday. pmcmartinvancouversun.com CRIME Police surge targets gang violence around transit hubs More uniformed officers will patrol Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain stations to ease public fears about criminal activity Translink public opinion studies and a crime analysis aimed at securing the public transit system, particularly at stations where transit users say they feel "apprehensive" or the least safe. Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun More uniformed officers will be seen at rapid transit hubs, particularly at Surrey Central, BroadwayCommercial and Main Street stations, which are the worst for criminal activity ranging from drug trafficking, the sex trade and gang recruitment. Criminals loitering around Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain stations and bus loops will have more chances of running into the police.

The Greater Vancouver Transit Police and the Integrated Gang Task Force are working together to patrol transit hubs taking back the streets, we're taking back the bus routes and we're not going to tolerate gang activity out there," Transit Police Chief Ward Clapham said. "You could see dozens of uniformed police officers swarming a station or a significantly." Clapham started the push to bolster security around SkyTrain stations last December to quell a public perception that the transit line is a magnet for crime. By May, there had been nearly 200 arrests. The move wasbasedontwo a FOR BREAKING NEWS 247 GO TO VANC0UVERSUN.COM to quell gang activity and violence, "We're taking back the rails, we're bus loop. We have increased our profile SI If! i i i I 1 ww i wiiii vvii vnu wiwf lumy 581 Piiilii 15af vvncn ruu ruun umk DOES IT RETURN THE FAVOUR? IMPS IT RETURN THF FMnil -r- I -r 1 1 iff fillip-'- 1 -if -Hill -i-e-" slmlw Iffliji fffilii lltilil S3HS- mm mm jifjf ill Oi ffiTflTftt Film si5fiHI man 1 1 MM-' i It.