Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2013 | Page 27

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Chris Ewert ’05 (left) and Andrew Ewert ’09 say their
business, Ewert Energy Systems, got its start in their parents’
garage. Their parents are none other than Dr. Norm Ewert,
associate professor of business & economics and Dr. Sharon
Coolidge ’72, chair and professor of English.

“We hope to make the process of switching from gas to
electricity simpler,” says Chris, “so it’s not as daunting a task to
make things energy efficient.”

Brotherhood and Bachelor’s Degrees

Both sets of brothers credit their innovative pursuits to sharing
both childhood and Wheaton together.
The Ewerts’ first Prius conversion succeeded because Chris
and Andrew spent countless hours in their parents’ garage (only a
block from the College), combining their computer science skills
from Wheaton while egging each other on.
The brothers cite Wheaton courses such as Intro to Third
World Issues and campus groups such as Plowshares with
inspiring their desire to make cars more fuel-efficient.
“We see this as a realistic and practical way of reducing our
dependency on oil,” says Andrew. “And it’s a way of being better
stewards of what God has given us in creation.”
The Wiens brothers also encouraged each other’s pursuit of
science as young boys. “Doug dragged me into his hobbies,” says
Roger. In addition to model rocketry and astronomy, they made
a darkroom to develop photographs from their rocket launches.
They grew up in Mountain Lake, a small town of 2,000 people
in southwestern Minnesota that, oddly enough, has neither a
mountain nor a lake. When asked if this oddity provoked their
curiosity in science, Doug laughed. “No, it was the awe of
nature. Wondering how things work.”
The brothers both majored in physics at Wheaton. But
then Doug pursued his Ph.D. in geological sciences at
Northwestern University, and Roger earned his Ph.D. in physic s
at the University of Minnesota. They overlap just enough to
understand each other’s work, yet still be interested in it when
they gather at academic conferences or family reunions.
“When we get together, we can talk about our research and
bore all of our relatives—and our wives,” says Doug, who is
married to Debra Bock Wiens ’82.
He says the solid background he received at Wheaton left
him well prepared compared to others in grad school. Wheaton
also helped prepare Roger by sparking an interest in foreign
languages during two tours in Europe with the Men’s Glee Club.
“That’s very useful because half of my 50-person team that built
and is operating the ChemCam is French,” says Roger.
Wheaton also helped shape their interest in pursuing the
boundaries of scientific knowledge.
“Wheaton encouraged us to study nature as God’s handiwork,”
says Doug. “The College had a very positive vision of scientific
discovery. It stressed that all truth is God’s truth, so we shouldn’t
be afraid of what we might find.”
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