Active 1964 - 1994; Emeritus 1994

Dr. Daniel Olfe joined UC San Diego in 1964 after Dr. Stanford Sol Penner hired him during the establishment of the engineering division at UCSD. During his time at the university, Dr. Olfe served as Chair of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department. He notes the most influential colleagues he met at UCSD are Sol Penner, Paul Libby, Forman Williams among others, and Dave Miller whom he occasionally sees to this day.

The implications of his research conducted at UCSD were the basic knowledge in the field of high-temperature gas dynamics. He feels his greatest contributions during his time at UCSD was helping start the curriculum from scratch and participating in selecting new faculty members. Dr. Olfe's most memorable experience while teaching at UCSD was watching the student body grow from a handful of students to thousands. As far as his personal life, Dr. Olfe cherishes his family. During his career at UCSD, they became Southern Californians. In fact, many of the friends they made were part of the faculty at UCSD.

His advice to current faculty who want to make the most out of their experience at UCSD is to participate in departmental affairs. For current students, he encourages them to study hard.

He considers UC San Diego to be a part of his legacy in the way that he participated in the start of the engineering program at the university. Ways he continues his connection to the Jacobs School and UCSD are by attending Faculty Emeriti events, which he shared he enjoyed meeting other retirees and seeing research presentations at these gatherings. He also reads the monthly newsletters as a way to keep informed about the school. Since retiring from the university, he has enjoyed spending his time creating artwork: quilted wall hangings - see danolfe.com.