Case Alumnus The Magazine of the Case Alumni Association Since 1921 Winter 2020 • vol. 35 • no. 1 Hands-on engineering is back! Swanger Fellowships lure prized recruits BoldNEWScienceBLOOD
Winter 2020 1
The Case School of Engineering has been piloting a course where stu dents learn engineering principles the traditional way — by building something.
Dean’s
As the field of engineering evolves, it is natural that we reassess our approach to the way we teach it. Theo ries are important, but a lecture cannot fully capture the engineering experience. This year, we took our first steps toward a new, more holistic approach to engineering ed ucation — a curriculum that combines both traditional theory and a hands-on component — which I hope will excite students and alumni alike.
Best Venkataramananregards, “Ragu” Balakrishnan Charles H. Phipps Dean, Case School of Engineering Message
Our new approach: A hands-on education
The approach was made possible by a generous donation from alumnus Roger Susi ’77, whose $2 mil lion gift will build the Roger E. Susi Laboratory where the new classes will take place. I know that many of you believe, as Roger does, that engineers learn by doing and that our engineering students will benefit greatly by seeing how things really work and how to approach and solve real problems. I look forward to your feedback as we share the excitement of engineering with a new generation.
The Case School of Engineering has been piloting a course where students learn engineering principles the traditional way — by building something. We’re calling it the Roger E. Susi First Year Engineering Experience, and we expect it to become a signature piece of the CaseIneducation.thisnewcourse, first semester students are tinkering, problem solving and getting hands-on experience on team projects. In addition, these team projects provide valuable lessons in how to commu nicate effectively and work well on a team — lessons our students will carry into the workforce. In their second semester, we’ll have students address and solve a problem working with a local community group. We hope to expand these hands-on and community engagement classes next fall and eventually offer them to all of our first years — some 500 aspiring engineers. Much of this harkens back to the way many of us learned engineering, before the field became crowd ed with new knowledge and demands. It took some creative work by our faculty and administrators to fit the hand-on courses into an already rigorous curriculum, but I think they’ve done it.
Robert.Smith@casealum.orgEditor
Robert Smith
Enter Lee Swanger ’68, PhD, a materials engineer who has enjoyed much success as a consultant, educator and researcher. You might see him charging briskly across the Quad on his occasional visits, a white-haired man with the zeal of a first year. His passion for science is plainly evident as he talks about the potential of researchers unleashed. That’s why he funded the Swanger Fellowships, signing bonuses for the nation’s top science and engineering students. He wants scholars like Wilcox to pursue their research dreams where his began.
Established in 1885 by the first five graduates of the Case School of Applied Science, the Case Alumni Association is the oldest independent alumni association of engineering and applied science graduates in the nation. The Case Alumnus is a publication of the Case Alumni Association, Inc., a 501(c)3 public charity under the IRS code.
Ryan Strine, Director of Annual Fund
“In my field, everyone knows about Case,” she said. “It’s one of the top polymer schools in the country.”
Stoking the thrill of science and engineering
Sunniva Collins, MS ’91, PhD ’94, President Ron Cass ’84, 1st Vice President Joe Fakult ’90, 2nd Vice President Brian Casselberry ’95, Treasurer Frank Merat ’72, MS ’75, PhD ’78, Assistant Treasurer Curtis Grant ’11, MEM ‘12, Secretary STAFF Stephen Zinram, Executive Director Thomas Conlon, Chief Financial Officer Emily Speer, Director of Gift Planning and Grants Compliance Robert Smith, Director of Communications Kelly Hendricks, Director of Alumni Relations
casealum.org
If you want to know what makes Case Western Reserve a polymer powerhouse, chat with Kathryn Wilcox, newly arrived from Texas A&M. She probably knows more about Case's history-making role in macromolecular engi neering than most people on campus. It's a big part of the reason she's here, pursuing her PhD in polymer physics. She’ll tell you the Case Institute of Technology created the nation’s first stand-alone polymer department and that the Case School of Engineering remains an industry leader, certainly the talk of her co-op.
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CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, INC. Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH casealum@casealum.org216-231-456744106-1712casealum.org
“This is a way to get these top students to consider the unique experience they are going to have at Case,” he said. Young talent. Alumni vision and generosity. It’s a combination helping to stoke the thrill of science and engineering on Case Quad.
OFFICERS
Now she’s helping Professor Svetlana Morozova, PhD, launch a new polymer physics lab in the Kent Hale Smith Building. Her voice res onates with excitement as she describes creating materials that might allow new treatments for dreaded diseases. Still, she needed a nudge to make Case her place. She had a big decision to make. The University of Chicago wanted her, too.
The Case Alumnus is published quarterly for members and friends of the Case Alumni Association, which serves the interests of more than 20,000 alumni of the Case School of Applied Science, Case Institute of Technology and the Case School of Engineering.
Janna Greer, Manager of Donor Relations and Grants Lillian Messner, Manager of Digital Content Pamela Burtonshaw, Database Administrator Melissa Slager, Manager, Executive Office CASE ALUMNUS Robert L. Smith, Editor Steve Toth, Toth Creative Group, Layout and Design Duke Print & Mail Solutions PHOTO CREDITS Wetzler’s Photography Roadell Hickman Flaticon.com,PhotographyIcons
Winter 2020 3 To serve and advance the interests of the Case School of Engineering, the math and applied sciences of Case Western Reserve University and its alumni and students. Winter 2020 • vol. 35 • no. 1 VISIT WWW.CASEALUM.ORG FOR THE LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS! The best way to stay connected to the Case Alumni Association between magazine issues is to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Please join our sites today for the latest news on alumni, students, faculty and innovative research and projects. 12 Engineering in action New classes aim to share the excitement of hands-on engineering and teamwork. Cover Story 16 Bold science, new blood Scientists have long sought an artificial substitute for blood platelets. Biomedical Engineering Professor Anirban Sen Gupta may have found it. 20 Sign here, succeed here To strengthen Case’s research prowess, an alumnus helps introduce signing bonuses for top grad students. Alumni Adventures 21 Happy Earthling Alumnus Bob Ferguson endured six weeks in a simulated spacecraft to help NASA plan new missions. Guess what he missed? Long We’ll Remember 32 Punch card blues The day I crashed the university’s new Univac. 12 16 THE MAGAZINE OF THE CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SINCE 1921 21 20 32 DEPARTMENTS1 Dean’s Message 2 Editor’s column 4 Letters, posts and emails 7 Around the Quad 10 Alumni Newsmakers 22 Case Memories 24 News Bytes 26 Class Notes 30 In Memoriam 31 Tribute — George Havens ’49 Cover photo of Anirban Sen Gupta, PhD, by Lillian Messner.
John A. Peterson ’62, MS ’64, PhD ’67 Middletown, Ohio Via the mail Our “Case Memories” section in the fall Case Alumnus brought this letter from Indonesia. I became emotional when looking at the old Warner and Swasey Observatory picture. I had my graduate student office there from 1961-1965. In 1965, I defended my doctoral thesis on Astronomy — work ing under the late Professor McCuskey and Professor Blanco. There are still some survivors from the roaring 1961-1965: Prof. Peter Pesch, Dr. Darell Mac Connell, Dr. Dan Pascu; Connard Dahn and some others whom I may have missed mention ing.With my sincerest congratulation for the publication of Case Alumnus. Thank you for sending it to me. In response to our online story about the annual Freshman Welcome, a reader offered this advice to the class of 2023: Bambang Hidayat, PhD ’65 West Java, Indonesia Via the mail Congratulations. Good blessings. There will be tears of sorrow temporarily leaving what's familiar. However, they'll soon be replaced with joy as you meet new friends, become involved in activities and work diligently to achieve goals. Study hard, have some fun, don't forget to smell the roses. You got this. God bless each and every one of you.
Greg C. Young Via Facebook
casealum.org4 Letters, posts anD eMaiLs
An alumnus tells us that the new chapter of Alpha Sigma Mu, described in the fall Case Alumnus, is not the first at Case. Great to see this class of Alpha Sigma Mu students pictured and written up! But it isn’t the first. In about 1960 or ’61, five or six of us were inducted into Alpha Sigma Mu at a monthly meeting of the Cleveland chapter of ASM at the Engineers Club (down on Chester, I think). Anyways, thought you should be reminded of some important metallurgy history!
I thank you for all you did for me.
In September, Bob Stenzel made his first visit back to Case Quad in 20 years. Alumni Relations Director Kelly Hendricks took him on a tour. His response: Your most charming, heartfelt welcome and tour is greatly appreciated. It will not be forgotten. Thanks also for the Case notebook and pen; they will be put to goodCaseuse.was a very good school back in the 50s, but now it is great and is a story that deserves the full exposure you are providing. I will be sure to spread the word for my part.
I was a student in his first class. Class met at 7 am. Sometimes he didn't look all that great on Monday morning. The class was Complex Analysis or a similar title. It was not an understate ment.
Going for a drive in the CE lab was an unexpected pleasure and emphasized for me just how far, literally and figuratively, CE studies have gone from the days of surveying camp in the Mahoning woods. Now I know where that deer came from. The Spartan Hall of Fame was interest ing for showing how well the college has done, given that the Case athletes are in a very competitive academic environment. Perhaps more emphasis could be put on the fact that participation in sports, espe cially for Caseys, represents a voluntary, significant extra commitment of valuable time. To be fair and to provide a more complete picture of their accomplish ments, it should be part of their school transcript or at least set forth in the hall of fame.
Joseph N. Craig ’69 Ellicott City, Maryland Via Facebook Our Facebook post showing Browns QB and Case mathematics instructor Frank Ryan scrambling against the Dallas Cowboys in 1963 prompted several responses, including this one:
Bob Stenzel ’58 Chicago, Illinois Via bobstenzel@gmail.com
Winter 2020 5 Or by mail to: Case Alumnus Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland OH 44106 Send by email to: Casealum@casealum.org SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Bob Stenzel meets Professor Chung-Chiun Liu, left.
Meeting the most modest Dr. CC (Liu) and hearing of his work and patents on markers for diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, was simply thrilling when one considers the potential ramifications of his work.
Finally, think[box] was terrific! It per fectly follows the traditional Case motto, “Make no small plans.” Everything was first rate and well thought out. A key to future success will be to generate sus taining and improvement funds with the think[box]-generated developments.
Tom Fulton ’75 Via Facebook Our online story about the electric scooters now whisking students across campus drew this question: That would have been helpful back in the days – wonder how they do in the snow and ice, though. Oanh Loi-Powell Via Facebook Yes, these are true scholar-athletes who play often before small crowds & without athletic scholarships. They play for the love of the game and team. Cindy Fitch Via Facebook Many were excited about the Spartan football team making the playoffs, led by science and engi neering majors like quarterback Drew Saxton.
casealum.org6 Letters, posts anD eMaiLs I matriculated Case Tech in 1971 as an astronomy major. There are any number of reasons as to why I didn't graduate with that degree; we'll just leave it with “It was the early 70's…” I have been developing software for 43 years and co-own PDF Systems, Inc. But, I've never lost my fas cination with things astronomical. Today is Halloween in our tiny town in western North Carolina, and as I left the office with my dog to stroll through the town, closed off for festivities, I encountered the PARI booth.When we moved here, I knew that the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute was close by and vowed to get up there. As I chatted with people at the booth, I mentioned that I was at Case and here was The annual fall Pumpkin Drop of the Physics & Astronomy Club brought this nostalgic response from a former astronomy student. the response — “We've just acquired all the glass plates from the Case observatory. They had no place to store them!” So now, when I do stop up, I'll be able to check out some of the old Warner & Swasey glass plates! Nice to see the Physics & Astronomy club out and around and having fun!
Plans for splitting EECS began under the interim deanship of James McGuffin-Cawley, PhD ’84, who said he weighed advice from alumni, including members of the Silicon Valley Task Force.
“It’s really to align us with the future, and provide the right opportunities for today’s and tomorrow’s students,” McGuf fin-Cawley said. With Professor Jing Li, PhD, serving as interim chair, the school is conducting a national search for the inaugural chair of the new Computer & Data Sciences Department.
From Case to space Inspired by Apollo, Engineers Week eyes the future of space travel. Engineers Week 2020 will resound with space-race fer vor and pride Feb. 15-21, as the Case School of Engineer ing partners with the John F.
His vision meshes with the Case School of Engineering and Dean Ven kataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan.
What do you think of the creation of the new department? Let us know via casealum@casealum.org.
“These days, computing and data pervades everything that we do,” the dean told the board of the Case Alumni Association last year. “That means there’s huge potential for impact on the research side of things.”
Big gift, new department
Kevin J. Kranzusch ’90, a California software executive and gaming pioneer, said the industry had changed much since he earned his computer engineering degree nearly 30 years ago, and that he wants to help Case take advantage of the opportunities.“I’msoexcited to be a part of this effort,” he told The Daily, the university’s online news source. “Computer sciences, especially AI and machine learning, are the future, and I hope this can play a part in helping our students to excel in those areas.”
Winter 2020 7 • E-week Reception, 5 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17, Thwing Ballroom
• SWE Luncheon, 12:45 p.m. Feb. 21, Nord 356 • KSL/think[box] Design Compe tition, 1 to 3 pm Feb. 20, at Sears think[box] arounD the QuaD
Kennedylanding.the50toPresidentialKennedyLibrarycelebratethethanniversaryofApollomoonPresidentfamously challenged the nation in 1961 to land on the moon before decade’s end. Ohio-native Neil Armstrong took the small step for man, giant leap for mankind July 20, 1969. This year, the JFK Library is recalling the Apollo missions in partnership with select research universities, including Case, which played pioneering roles in the nation’s space program. In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisen hower picked T. Keith Glennan, presi dent of Case Institute of Technology, to organize the National Aeronautics Space Administration. Glennan proposed a manned trip to the moon. In the ensuing years, Case graduates took leading roles as scientists and engi neers at the NASA Glenn Research Center (then Lewis Field), which specialized in fuel and propulsion systems for the Apollo rockets.Case also produced astronauts like Don Thomas ’77, PhD, a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions.
The change came this year, with the quiet creation of the Computer and Data Sciences Department, which was spun off from a renamed Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering. In December, the univer sity amped up the volume, announcing that a Case alumnus made the new department possible with a $5 million gift.
• Moonshot Symposium with JFK Library, Feb. 18 • Moon Rover Challenge, 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 20, Tinkham Veale ballrooms
Thomas is scheduled to address the Engineers Week Reception Monday, Feb. 17, and a Tuesday, Feb. 18, symposium exploring the future of space travel. Here is a tentative list of E-week events of special interest to alumni. Find details at casealumni.org/e-week/ As the skills required of electrical engineers and computer scientists mounted and diverged, many had seen a need to split the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science — allowing for a keener focus on emerging fields.
The new department is Case’s response to a spike in computer science enrollment and rising opportuni ties in data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning and supercomputing.
With an alumni boost, data science gains department status.
“In a world of climate change, you Rocking the Reuters 100
Takahashi, a specialist in fire science and engineering, shared his research in Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering He wrote that he and his team have tested fire blankets in the lab and in the field, once wrapping a shed in blankets of different materials before engulfing it in a controlled forest fire in New Jersey. The protection is not foolproof, he said, but the blankets could provide a first line of defense “against a relatively short wild fire attack.” And that’s more than helpless homeowners have now. Read more at tinyurl.com/sciencedailyfireblanket DIY fire protection
The School of Engineering helps CWRU rise in a key ranking. have areas experi encing wilder swings in temperature,” Yu told The Daily this past summer, “so having a roof that reacts to both heat and cold could be beneficial no matter the time of alsoEvaluatorsyear.”singledouttwooftheresearch hubs on Case Quad: The Center for Layered Polymeric Systems (CLiPS) in the Department of Macromolec ular Science and Engineering, and the Great Lakes Energy Institute, “which researches the production and harvesting of clean energy.”
Professor’s idea for wrapping homes in “fire blankets” sparks interest.
Fumiaki Takahashi, PhD, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, proposed protecting houses and buildings from wildfires by draping them in fireretardant materials. In October, he published the findings of 10 years of research into the potential of giant fire blankets to protect valued structures. His idea was shared widely by news services, including Thomas Reuters, which noted new solutions are needed. Califor nia’s fires are being exacerbated by climate change, which is making the fire season longer, drying out forests and increasing the strength of winds, forest experts say.
As an example of Case innova tion, evaluators highlighted the work of Xiong “Bill” Yu, PhD, a professor of civil en gineering, who has developed roof shingles that change color in reaction to natural light. Yu and his team took standard asphalt shingles and coated them with special plastic films. Their “chameleon roof shingles” allow a home to absorb more heat in the winter and reflect it in the summer. Computer modeling shows the thermochromatic shingles could lead to a 5 percent reduction in energy demand in the winter and a 13 percent reduction in summer.
The Reuters’ innovation ranking, now in its fifth year, takes a close look at patent filings and the success rate — the per centage of filings that result in a patent. It found CWRU trending in a productive direction.Surveyors counted 201 patents filed by CWRU between 2012 and 2017 and a suc cess rate of 38 percent. The Daily, CWRU’s online news source, reported that between 2016 and 2019 the number of patent fil ings from CWRU rose by one third, while the success rate increased by a quarter. Most of the patents awarded the university are connected to the Case School of Engineering. At 47, CWRU is the highest ranked university in Ohio and stands in elite company; just below the Technical University of Munich and ahead of Emory, Pittsburgh and Purdue. Read more at innovative-universities-2019www.reuters.com/
As wildfires raced through California, forcing thousands to flee their homes this fall, a Case researcher’s house-saving solution became a hot topic of discussion.
casealum.org8 arounD the QuaD Case Western Reserve climbed 20 plac es — to No. 47 — in Reuter’s 2019 ranking of The World’s Most Innovative Universities, and engineering researchers deserve much of theThecredit.listidentifies the 100 universi ties around the world doing the most to advance science and invent new technol ogies, as evidenced by patent production and innovative research.
Kent Hale Smith ’17 and his two brothers, Vincent and Kelvin Smith ’22, joined Alex Nason ’22 to launch the Graphite Oil Products Company in 1928. The foursome grew the specialty chemicals company with talent from Case, where the Smith family roots run deep.
Across the decades, support from the Smith family and from Lubrizol endowed Old friend, new ties
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“We haven’t done anything ‘Kick start-y’ just yet,” but the club is consider ing its options, said Kristina Collins, MS ’19, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Aero spaceCollins,Engineering.theclub’s historian and for mer president, has been poring through its old logbooks, building a database of alumni ham enthusiasts. Working with the Case Alumni Association, she hopes to launch a targeted giving campaign.
It’s a new approach for a venerable club, one founded at Case Institute of Technology in the 1940s. But amateur radio has seen a resurgence of late and alumni might like to know that student interest is strong, Collins said. Plus, crowdfunding seems to offer more than a revenue stream.
Calling all Hams
“We want to have a relationship with our alumni, whether or not they donate,” she said. “We do have a facility to maintain. So if they donate, great. But we’re communication hobbyists — we do like to talk!”
Reach her at Kristina.Collins@case.edu or KD8OXT.Tohelpthe radio club today, go to casealumni.org/campaigns/radio-club/http://
The Case Amateur Radio Club hopes former members help raise new antenna towers.
The gift continues a legacy of support that dates nearly to the founding of the company by Case alumni some 90 years ago.
Following the lead of student groups like the Humanitarian Design Corps, club members will reach out to potential supporters online — and on air — and ask them for help.
On the roof of Glennan, nine stories above Case Quad, a trio of hi-frequency antennas cast spidery shadows over a glass-and-cinderblock bunker known as the Ham Shack. Inside the rooftop club house, members of the Case Amateur Radio Club talk to ham radio operators around the world. To keep the conversation flowing, the club needs to refurbish two of its an tenna towers. A capital project looms for a student group with a modest budget.
Lubrizol commits $2 million to train more Case scientists and engineers. scholarships
The Smith brothers’ father, Dow Chemical co-founder Albert W. Smith, chaired the chemistry department at the Case School of Applied Science and founded the metallurgy department.
withinBerkshirepurchasedworldwide,employsLubrizol,UniversitytheSmithbrary,KelvinhelpedprofessorshipsandandbuildtheSmithLitheKentHaleBuildingandTinkhamVealeCenter.Wickliffe-basedwhich8,700wasbyHathaway2011,butthefriendshipCaseendured.Thenewgrantwillsupport science, technology, engineering and math schol arships for underrepresented students, internship and co-op positions, and joint research between the company and the university.“Lubrizol’s founders, who all had close associations with Case, believed education was critical for the growth of the individual and the business,” said Julie Edgar, Lubrizol's corporate vice president of innovation and chief of sustainability. “We are proud to continue this tradition by supporting and growing STEM talent in our local communities, especially among underrepresented scholars.”
Science powerhouse Lubrizol Corp. recently broadened its longstanding ties to Case Western Reserve with a $2.2 million grant that will seed new research and fund scholarships for STEM students.
In November, the former classmates announced the sale of their latest ven ture, Scout RFP, to Workday Inc. for $540 million in cash. They have not forgotten where their success began.
casealum.org10 aLuMni newsMakers ALUMNI newsmakers
Yakubovich and Garber went on to launch Scout, which offers online tools for sourcing and managing a company’s supply chain. Their San Francisco-based company sparkles with Case talent, including co-founder Chris Crane ’08, who earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering.mechanicalToddSchwarzinger, the interim executive director of the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship at Sears think[box], sees a success story to inspire others.“This is a huge success for our alums at Scout and their entire team,” he told The Daily. “It’s inspiring for our students to see young entrepreneurs from Case Western Reserve leverage their skills and connections toward such an outcome.”
Born in Tanzania, Gomes was raised in Bangalore, India, where he started programming at the St. Joseph School for Boys. He came to Cleveland to study at Case Institute of Technology. In a 2011 interview with Case Alumnus, Gomes fondly recalled “all-nighters spent in the Smith computer lab with friends” and the value of summer internships.
Support from the Case Alumni Association helped him to earn his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering. He went on to UC Berkley for his doctorate in computer science.Gomes helped develop the Java programming language at Sun Microsys tems before joining a childhood friend at Google in 1999, only a few months after the company started. He worked on its early search algorithms and, over the years, helped shape and grow the company’s flag ship service. In 2018, he was named head of all search at Google. In August of 2019, Gomes returned to his high school to much excitement. According to the Economic Times of India, he offered this advice to students gathered in the computer lab: “When you have curiosity, follow it. Find more about it. Don’t study anything by rote. Just try and understand what it is. It is not easy sometimes. It is the thing that will stay with you later on. Understand what it is about and later use it in creative ways.”He stayed to sign autographs and to no doubt inspire many more careers.
“As students, we found mentors who have helped us nearly every step of the way,” Garber told CWRU’s online news source, The Daily. “As alums, we’ve found the CWRU network to be full of successful people who want to help other people.”
Search engine hero When Ben Gomes visits the old school, kids want autographs.
As Vice President of Search Engineer ing at Google, Gomes is known globally as the “diplomat of search,” a status Case helped him attain.
Great scouts Pioneers of online food ordering hit the jackpot again.
When Ben Gomes ’90, PhD, visited his high school alma mater earlier this year, students positioned themselves for selfies and clamored for autographs. It’s not every day the engineer behind the most popular search engine on Earth drops by.
Yakubovich, Scout’s CEO, earned a degree in mechanical engineering while Garber, Scout’s president, earned his degree in business from the Weatherhead School of StartingManagement.withRascal House, the pair developed software that enabled restau rants to take online orders. The dorm team included childhood friend and fellow refugee Oleg Fridman, ’07, now a senior vice president of technology at Panera.
Working from dorm rooms at CWRU, Alex Yakubovich ’07 and Stan Garber brought online food ordering to campus and to America in the early 2000s. They sold their first startup, Onosys, for millions after graduating, but their success in entrepre neurship was just beginning.
Five years after they graduated, the found ers sold Onosys to daily-deal provider LivingSocial for more than $6 million.
Yakubovich and Garber — both refugees from the former Soviet Union — grew up together in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs and both graduated from CWRU in 2007.
NASA know-how Alum’s space-age lubricants are speeding the future.
Marla Perez-Davis, PhD ’91, was named interim director of the NASA Glenn Research Center in September, succeed ing the retiring Janet Kavandi and continuing her impressive ascent at the nation’s space agency.Since joining Glenn in 1983, PerezDavis has held several key leadership positions, including deputy director,
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Tasty pivot Like the ‘Indian Chipotle’? Thank a Case engineer.
When he pulled off the highway near Cleveland one night last winter, the senior editor of Food & Wine magazine was surprised to find a restaurant serving his favorite Indian street food. David Landsel saw the traditional tandoor ovens behind the big, bright windows of Choolaah Indian BBQ and wondered, who engineered this authentic experience? He soon learned of Randhir Sethi ’96, who earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Case, but soon detoured into the restaurant trade. Sethi and his business partner, fellow engi neer Raji Sankar, started with Five Guys franchises in Northeast Ohio. Then came the dive into fast-casual food inspired by recipes from their native India. With his wife, Simran, on board, the trio opened the first Choolaah Indian BBQ off I-271 in Orange Village in 2014. They have since opened Choolaahs in four other cities, mostly recently Pittsburgh, where people lined up overnight to dine. Another Choolaah is being anxiously awaited in OhioLandselCity. credits the healthy, tasty meals that don’t cost much more than a burrito bowl at Chipotle. “I ate an entire order of the samosa chaat, a bowl of chicken tikka, lots of rice, some naan too, and I still felt near ly virtuous,” he wrote in the magazine’s January 2019 issue. “With any luck, we’ll see Choolaah by many more highway off ramps in no time.” That’s the idea. “The dream is to have Choolaah in ev ery part of the world,” Sethi told Cleveland Scene in November, adding, “If Cleveland hadn’t embraced us, Choolaah wouldn’t exist. We’re very grateful.”
It was quite a fall for Christo pher DellaCorte ’86, MS ’87, PhD ’89, a senior technologist at the NASA Glenn Research Center and one of the space center’s leading innovators. In early October, the resident of suburban Cleveland received ASM International’s 2019 Engineering Mate rials Achievement Award at MS&T19 in Portland, Oregon. The awards committee recognized his work in the development and commercialization of high-strength, super elastic, nickel-titanium-based bearings and gears that do not rust.That same month, the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers named him editor of Tribology Trans actions, the society’s peer-reviewed journal.DellaCorte started at NASA in 1985 as a graduate student in its Surface Science Branch. He was hired full-time after earning his master’s in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Case and came to specialize in tribology (friction and wear) problems in extreme environments. In 2018, he helped Glenn win its first Commercial Invention of the Year Award, a coveted award within the space agency. He was the co-inventor, with NASA retiree Brian Edmonds, of a new high-temperature lubricant coating for super alloys. Despite the lack of a catchy name, PS/PM400 is said to outperform grease, oil and graphite in rocket engines, aircraft turbines and steam generators.
She’s now preparing Glenn and its staff of 3,200 civil servants and contract workers for the coming Artemis expedi tions. The next generation Orion space craft arrived at Glenn in November for pre-launch testing. She also continues the Case-NASA leadership tradition set by T. Keith Glennan, the former president of Case Institute of Technology, who helped launch the National Aeronautics Space Administration as its first administrator.
Taking the helm Alumna assumes command at NASA Glenn, continuing a Case tradition.
director of aeronautics research and chief of electrochemistry. As deputy director of the Research and Engineering Directorate, she was responsible for leading all phases of Glenn’s research and engineering and overseeing nearly 1,000 researchers and engineers.Bornand raised in a small town in Puerto Rico, Perez-Davis earned three en gineering degrees, including a doctorate in chemical engineering from Case Institute of Technology, where she was advised by Professor Donald Feke ’76, MS ’77.
The Sears Design Lab in the Glen nan Building typically stirs with sophomores and juniors com pleting a circuits lab. This day, it’s busy with 17 freshman discovering what it means to be an engineer. They’ve been challenged to design a control system that will balance a small ball on a narrow wooden beam. They’re learning engineering principles the old-fashioned way — by applying them.
Hands-on learning is expanding to become a signature thrust at the Case School of Engineering.
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“Oh, we did it!” a startled student declares.“No,you didn’t,” a passing teaching assistant responds. “This is going to take awhile.”About two weeks. Then the students will jump to another project, diving into another facet of engineering by design ing, building and testing something. The hands-on approach — piloted last spring — harkens back to the Case Institute of Technology and its emphasis on applied science. Eventually, every first-year engi neering student will be getting his or her handsThere’sdirty.a back-to-basics movement dawning at the Case School of Engineering, an initiative to make “experiential learning” a sturdier cornerstone of the Case education.
Huddled in groups of two and three at workbenches, the students tap code into laptops loaded with MATLAB software and wired to microcontrollers. The wavy green line on an oscilloscope tells them if their signal is getting through.
Photos by Roadell Hickman
Engineering in action
By Robert L. Smith Teaching assistant Zach Hathaway moves between freshman solving basic engineering challenges in the Sears Design Lab.
“We’re trying to make sure they experience the excitement of engineering,” Dean Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrish nan told the board of the Case Alumni Association at its November meeting. “Engineering is much more than what you learn in the lecture hall. It’s experiencing something.”
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Staff and faculty have been plotting the transition for several years. Under Bal akrishnan, who arrived in 2018, planning accelerated. Then CIT alumnus Roger Susi ’77, an innovator in medical imaging, gave wings to the idea with a generous gift. Susi, the founder and chairman of IRadimed Corp. in Orlando, Florida, recently pledged $2 million to launch the new classes and to build and equip a 5,000-square foot lab where much of the hands-on learning will take place. We’re trying to make sure they experience the excitement of engineering.
“ ”
That pilot course, directed by Assis tant Professor of Civil Engineering Kurt Rhoads, PhD, was extended this fall to two classes of freshman. Soon, it’s expect ed to corral every freshman engineering student — about 500 of them — into what’s being called the First-Year Engi neering Experience at the Case School of Engineering.Theexperience will highlight another Case tradition: using engineering to help humanity. After completing the hands-on classes, first-year students will be sent off campus to solve an engineering challenge. They’ll spend a semester on a team design ing solutions to a community problem.
“The more you can get the real-world experience, the better,” she said.
Professor Marc Buchner, PhD, and Assistant Professor Kurt Rhoads, PhD
“The idea is to get them to learn engineering by solving problems,” said Rhoads, one of the lead designers of the new curriculum. He expects the hands-on work to enhance motivation and retention as students find themselves saying, “Hey, I’m an engineer!”
James Banks ’65 arrived on campus the year the Engineering Design Center (now the Electronics Design Center) opened in the Bingham Building. The Students Projects Lab was noisy with machine tools he used to complete class projects, he recalled. “It adds reality,” Banks said. “When a student designed something, they didn’t really learn anything until they found out it didn’t work. The kid has to have the opportunities to make mistakes.”
Studentsapplication.need to experience the dynamics of projects and collaboration, he said, adding, “As soon as you inject the human element, engineering changes.”
“I got a lot of good breadth in my classes, but not a lot of depth,” she said. She thinks she could have used a broad overview of how a project comes together. So she especially likes the idea of a community engineering project.
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Jim Kilmer ‘00, MSE ’00, said he long saw the need for more experiential learning in his major, computer engineer ing. Kilmer, division director for the Opal Group, said there was often a disconnect between academic knowledge and practi cal
Early response from alumni has been positive, often enthusiastic. Many recall their own hands-on engineering classes, or wish they had more to recall.
Alexandra Fort ’13, an engineer for the advanced manufacturer Swagelok, had no exposure to engineering before college, so she was “starting from square one” as she majored in systems control at Case.
The Roger Susi Undergraduate Student Teaching Lab is now being shaped from the old machine shop in the basement of the Bingham Building.
“
When a student designed something, they didn’t really learn anything until they found out it didn’t work. The kid has to have the opportunities to make mistakes. ”
Those insights are important even for computer science majors whose expertise may be coding, he said.
Alumni enthused
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“It made me realize that all these branches are very much related,” she said.
That seemed evident in the Sears DesignJakobLab.Wegmueller, a first-year mechan ical engineering major from northern Virginia, said the pilot course made him feel like an engineer as he designed and tested control systems and created a piezoelectric crystal.
Back to the future As Associate Dean of Academics for the Case School of Engineering, Professor Marc Buchner, PhD, is charged with im plementing the new curriculum, which he sees as a return to valuable fundamentals.
The drift away from active learning happened gradually, across academia, Buchner said. As the Space Race of the 1970s shifted priorities toward engineering science, advances in computer technolo gy, materials science and manufacturing techniques all had to be incorporated into busy degree programs.
Now the pendulum is swinging back, partly with a push from a new generation.
“This is definitely a great way to expose yourself to other areas of engineering.”
“Obviously it’s not as physical as other kinds of engineering, but actually being part of a project, it’s a different level of experience,” Kilmer said. “I think this is fantastic.”
Today’s engineering students are coming out of high schools with experience in robotics competitions, computer gaming and rocketry, he said. “The students want to learn by doing,” Buchner said. “They want to be active.”
What are our thoughts on the new approach? How was hand-on engineering handled during your time at Case? Did you work on a community project? Share your recollections and suggestions via casealum@casealum.org.
“You learn all these new things in different fields,” he said, a trace of marvel in hisHisvoice.teammate, Asya Orhan, a chemical engineering major from Turkey, said the class opened her eyes.
“We went back to a strong science and theoretical base,” Buchner said. “And as we did that, we moved away from the experi ential basis of education.”
The technology being pioneered in Professor Anirban Sen Gupta’s lab could transform emergency medicine and save thousands upon thousands of lives.
After he arrived at Case Western Reserve University as a bio medical engineering research associate in 2003, Anirban Sen Gupta, PhD, fixed his attention on the biology of blood platelets and how they could be used to save lives. If only there were a plentiful supply, readily available. People who suffer traumatic injuries from car accidents, gunshots and the like often don’t receive life-saving blood and platelet transfusions in time. It’s essentially a logistics and supply challenge. Donor platelets — the blood cells that help the body to form clots and stanch bleeding — are always in short supply. Now a professor of biomedical engi neering, Sen Gupta is leading the quest toward a solution. He and his team have developed synthetic platelets that mimic clotting mechanisms of real platelets and amplify the body’s natural ability to stop the bleeding. The patented technology, named SynthoPlate for commercializa tion purposes, is seen by some as a game changer.“There are thousands of lives that could be saved each year, and that’s just for trauma,” said Dr. Philip Spinella, a trauma physician at St. Louis Children's Hospital and one of the world’s leading experts on clinical trials of blood products. “That’s why this technology is so exciting.”
By Harlan Spector
An estimated 60,000 people die each year in the United States from hemorrhag ing, a leading cause of death in trauma Scientists have long sought an artificial substitute for blood platelets. A Case researcher may have found it.
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Photos by Lillian Messner
NEW BLOOD
This drawing on a white board in Sen Gupta's lab shows how a real platelet works and how synthetic platelets mimic them.
Winter 2020 17 cases. If successful, synthetic platelets could help stop bleeding from traumatic injuries, complex surgeries and other caus es such as clotting disorders, Spinella said.
• They can be sterilized to resist bac terial contamination
• They can be injected directly into a vein at the scene of trauma
• They can be manufactured on a large scale
Studies show if you can transfuse blood or blood components soon after trauma, the chances of survival increase tremen dously. This is why oftentimes death from traumatic hemorrhage is considered a preventable death. Mighty cells, short supply Platelets, tiny blood cells, are part of the body’s rapid defense force. They rush to a wound to form a plug and stop bleed ing. Made in the bone marrow, platelets can be transfused as part of whole blood or as a separate component along with red blood cells and plasma.
“If you can make something that works like platelets but has easier availability and longer shelf-life, you can revolution ize how trauma patients are treated,” Sen Gupta said. “You could save the patient on the roadside or in a remote hospital.”
The artificial platelets being developed in Sen Gupta’s lab on Case Quad could enable transfusions in smaller hospitals, at roadside accidents and on the battle field, where real platelets are almost never available.Thisis a prime motivation for the young researcher.
“If you can make something that works like platelets but has easier availability and longer shelf-life, you can revolutionize how trauma patients are treated.”
• They are portable, long-lasting and do not require blood typing
The problem is that platelets for transfusion are hard to find and hard to keep. They are highly perishable and are typically available only at large hospitals or trauma centers.
Some of the advantages of artificial platelets include:
In contrast, donor-derived blood platelets are highly susceptible to contam ination, which limits their shelf life to 5-7 days.In Sen Gupta’s research, some see the intersection of a societal need and Case expertise.SenGupta is collaborating with re searchers who are manufacturing artificial red blood cells. He envisions the artificial platelets and red blood cells combining in plasma to create the world’s first biosyn thetic whole blood surrogate.
“I saw plenty of people bleeding,” said Spinella. “We were using whole blood collected on site. The problem with that is you need to have thousands of donors. Eventually, you run out of donors.”
When he came home from the war, Spinella began to focus on blood solutions. Two years ago, he met Sen Gupta at a medical conference sponsored by the De partment of Defense. In August, he joined his research team as a scientific advisor. Now being tested on animals, Sen Gup ta’s synthetic platelets are potentially three to four years away from human trials. But Spinella has high hopes. The platelets can be freeze dried, he noted, making them easy to preserve and rushed to a scene. “It can easily be put on ambulances and helicopters,” he added. As chief research officer of Haima Therapeutics, Christa Pawlowski ’11, PhD ’15, is working to commercialize her former professor’s technology.
Sen Gupta holds a vial of human platelet-rich plasma, which he tests against synthetic platelet particles to see cooperative activity.
Haima is now designing the initial product and seeking private investment to fund clinical trials, an essential step toward FDA approval of a new drug. Plenty are watching and hoping.
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The military has keen interest in tech nologies to control bleeding. A 2013 study of military casualties in Iraq and Afghan istan found uncontrolled blood loss was the leading cause of death in 90 percent of potentially survivable battlefield cases. As a U.S. Army veteran, Dr. Spinella saw the carnage firsthand. Before becom ing a professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, he was an Army doctor deployed to the Iraq War from 2004 to 2005.
“If they solve that problem, they basi cally revolutionize emergency medicine,” said Christian Zorman, PhD, the Associate Dean of Research at the Case School of Engineering. “The reason this fits really well with Case is that it’s at the intersection of biomedical engineering and materi als science, two areas where we are very strong.”Since opening his lab in 2006, Sen Gupta has attracted about $11 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense. In 2018, he and former student Christa Pawlowski ’11, PhD ’15, co-found ed Haima Therapeutics. Their startup, located in the BioEnterprise building near campus, taps separate government grants and private investment as it seeks to bring SynthoPlate to market.
“We want to make sure this can be used by people and save people’s lives,” said Pawlowski, the company’s chief scien tific officer. “How do we make this into a product that can be manufactured?”
Winter 2020 19 Want to comment on this story? Email casealum@casealum.org
“This is potentially part of the solu tion,” he said. “My hope is that it can get licensed and begin to reduce death from hemorrhage.”
“That started my journey into the world of synthetic platelets,” he said. Born and raised in Kolkata (former ly Calcutta), India, Sen Gupta came to America as a graduate student in 1998. He studied at the University of Akron, where he received his master’s degree and doctor ate with a focus on polymeric biomaterials engineering.About15 students now work in his labs in the Wickenden Building, but Sen Gupta’s work has also drawn collaborators from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of North Carolina, Harvard University and several other institutions in the U.S. and Europe. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Au thority, a government bio-defense agency, has expressed interest in the potential of synthetic platelets to treat clotting dys functions caused by radiation poisoning.
Sen Gupta began exploring artificial blood plate lets as a research assistant in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He now has his own lab in the Wickenden Building.
A journey into blood Sen Gupta’s interest in the field started at Case when, as a research associate, he studied polymer-based coatings designed to prevent blood clotting on medical devices. Drawn to Case for its biomedical engineering program and translational research environment, he dug deep into the complex processes of blood clotting. He found studies of artificial platelets from the 1980s and 90s, and learned that the designs had not advanced into effective technologies.“Thismade me curious to know the reason,” he said. He found that the past designs didn’t mimic platelets, but mimicked a molecule called fibrinogen, a protein that promotes clotting.“This led me to coming up with a new design that closely mimics how platelets actually do their clotting function,” he said.The American Heart Association endorsed his idea with an early career research grant in 2007.
While his primary focus has been stemming blood loss from trauma, Sen Gupta is also researching artificial platelets as a targeted drug delivery system to treat patients with cardiovascular diseases and cancer — even to treat patients in other worlds.Sen Gupta and colleagues have dis cussed whether astronauts might one day stow artificial platelets on missions to Mars.“There is no blood product that goes to space,” he observed. “If you have colonies in space, you will have injuries in space.”
Harlan Spector, a Cleveland freelance writer, was an award-winning healthcare reporter for The Plain Dealer
That would allow first responders to begin lifesaving treatments on the scene.
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“Research dollars come about when you have top flight PhD students to do the research,” he said. “We know these students have choices.”
She’s now a research as sistant to Assistant Profes sor Svetlana Morozova, PhD, a polymer physics specialist who joined the faculty this year. Wilcox is helping her build a lab that will, among other things, explore collagen structures with the aim of creating therapeutic materials to treat diseases like arthritis and Alzheimer’s. She thinks her bonus lured her toward something special.
“I needed a new perspective,” she said. “I needed to go where polymer engineer ing began. And I don’t regret that one molecule.”
Sign here, succeed here
Kathryn Wilcox in her polymer physics lab, where she operates light scattering instruments
Kathryn Wilcox was weighing full scholarships and research lab positions at both Case Western Reserve and the Uni versity of Chicago when the Case School of Engineering called with one more enticement: How about a $5,000 signing bonus?Soon, she was signing on the dotted line.“I was pretty indecisive. I was still deciding,” said Wilcox, who was also being courted by her alma mater, Texas A&M University. “So it did factor in my deci sion.”Now she’s pursuing her doctorate at the Case School of Engineering and helping to launch a new lab in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering. The former salutatorian of her high school class in Beaumont, Texas, is right where Case wants her to be. Thanks to the generosity and creativity of an alumnus, Case has added a shiny new lure to its recruitment package. With an initial $265,000 gift, Lee Swanger ’68, PhD, made possi ble Swanger Fellowships that are now being awarded to top graduate students. In October, he committed anoth er $250,000 to the program, assuring there will be Swanger Fellows for years to come. This fall, 15 students were named to the inaugural class of Swanger Fellows. The distinction comes with a cash award that they can spend any way they wish.
“It’s just like an athlete getting a signing bonus, except we’re giving them to stu dents,” said Christian Zorman, PhD, the Associate Dean of Research at the Case School of ZormanEngineering.saidhe’sheard of a few other schools offering such bonuses and that he expects others to follow. By attracting top graduate students, a research university can enhance its reputation and attract more research funds.
“This is a way to get these top students to consider the unique experience they are going to have at Case,” he said. The bonuses come with no strings attached, which Swanger thinks is im portant, as they lend graduate students a rare windfall. He smiled to learn of one Swanger Fellow who used the award to take the family to see The Lion King. Shane Riddle, a Swanger Fellow in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, intends to use his bonus to attend conferences in his specialty, robot ics. He said he was startled by the offer.
Swanger Fellowships become another lure in the Case recruitment package.
“I never heard of such a thing,” he said. “It certainly helped sway the decision. The extra $5,000 would be helpful no matter what. But it really takes the pressure off being an underfunded grad student.”
Wilcox used part of her bonus to pay for her move north. She said it helped nudge her toward a fruitful decision.
So does Swanger. He was one of them. The valedictorian of his class at Willough by South High School, Swanger took a Case engineering degree to Stanford University, propelled by a Hertz Fellow ship that he said allowed him freedom to pursue Afterresearch.35years as a materials en gineer and consultant, Swanger said he wanted to help his alma mater by boosting its research power. The dean’s office had been mulling signing bonuses and Swanger liked the idea. He allowed a research fellowship he created in 2018 to be re-directed into a more assertive recruiting tool.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I say that as a researcher at heart,” said Ferguson, the Vice President of Global Re search & Development for Atlanta-based Vernay Laboratories. “It was also pretty ex citing to be involved in such a cool science experiment.”Ferguson, 44, was one of four volun teers selected for the 20th HERA mission, a part of NASA’s quest to understand how human behavior and group dynamics are affected by prolonged isolation and confinement.Thecallhad gone out for healthy non-smoking STEM majors with advanced degrees. Ferguson earned his master’s in engineering at Case at night, driving into Cleveland from Sandusky, where he was working as a research scientist.
Still, he missed the old world. Upon exiting his spaceship, he rushed to hug his wife Holly. He devoured an apple and soon enjoyed the food he had been craving, his first meal back on Earth. Pizza. Give your regards to Bob BobFerguson@vernay.comvia
When he stepped out of the mock spaceship for the first time in 45 days, Bob Ferguson, ME ’02, hugged his wife and took a bite from a juicy apple. He also looked back a little longingly at the Human Exploration Research Analog, or HERA, where he had experienced the life of a space explorer.
Earthling Alumnus Bob Ferguson spent six weeks in a simulated space habitat and emerged a grateful man. PaldaniusRyan Bob Ferguson
“Higher education and continuous learning have always been important to me,” he said. “I guess I’m just curious and interested in a lot of different areas, not to mention human space flight!”
Happy
After passing a flight physical exam, he met his crewmates: Ryan Paldanius, a product engineer in Houston; Amran Asadi, an anesthesiologist in Stanford, and Mounir Alafrangy, an aerospace engineer in Washington, D.C. Their HERA habitat was meant to resemble a space ship flying to Phobos, a moon orbiting Mars. Parked inside the Johnson Space Center in Houston, it has three levels and measures 636 square feet. The door closed on them on August 16, 2019. For the next six weeks, until egress September 30, Ferguson and his crewmates lived and worked side by side. They simulated space maneuvers and dug up simulated moon rocks. They shared a galley and a bathroom and slept in bunks separated only by netting. They enjoyed one weekly phone call to family.
“I knew this was part of a larger mis sion, the human exploration of space,” he said. “I am honored to have contributed to the science that generated such significant data, and especially to work with such a talented group of scientists and engineers within the NASA HERA project.”
AlafrangyMounir AmranAsadi
Winter 2020 21 aLuMni aDventures
“For the most part, we got along really well,” Ferguson said. “We performed well as a crew. One of the biggest concerns to me was how well I was able to handle the confinement.”Ascubadiver who competes in iron man competitions, he was worried about feeling cramped. But he found he was able to stay upbeat and focused through 16hourHeworkdays.saidithelped that the crewmates all met each other virtually before the mis sion, and then went through astronaut-like training and team building. Plus, he saw a bigger picture.
casealum.org22 Here is another selection of images from our archives. If you know someone in a photo, or recall a memory from the era, please let us know: Casealum@casealum.org Case MeMories Professor Leslie Foldy teaching theoretical nuclear physics, 1956 Bed Race on Case Quad, Greek Week 1972
Winter 2020 23 Class via closed circuit TV 1953 Engineering class 1973 Surveying at Camp Case, 1957 Snowmen on the Quad, circa 1950. Credit: Photos compiled by Emma Wyckoff ’21 and Sebastian Abisleiman ’21.
Case Quad became a movie set for two days in mid-November as a camera crew shot scenes for Cherry, the upcoming film from the Russo brothers — Anthony and Joseph — the CWRU alums of Captain America fame. The filmmakers hired dozens of students as extras, riveted campus and added to their Cleveland cred. Said the Russo brothers in a news release: “As Cleveland natives ourselves, it means a lot to us to be able to film in our hometown.”
A week after accepting her master’s degree in engineering and management in May, Cassandra Laios ’18, MEM ’19, won the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the hammer throw. That made her only the 15th NCAA Champion in the 48-year history of CWRU athletics.
David Schiraldi, PhD, is retiring after 10 years as chair of the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, but his legacy will live on in the many new faces he brought to science and engineering. Schiraldi founded and cham pioned the Envoys Program, which brings bright teens from under-resourced Cleveland schools to Case for training as scientists. Since 2006, more than 50 Schiraldi Envoys have gone on to college and many have started STEM careers, one with her PhD.
Smashing pumpkins for physics Free pumpkin pie and falling pumpkins drew a throng outside of Strossacker Auditorium on a crisp October day. The occasion was the 22nd annual Pumpkin Drop of the Physics and Astronomy Club, which reenacts Galileo’s Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment by dropping pumpkins off the roof.
Lights,NewsBytescamera,action!
As two pumpkins of different mass splattered in synch, one club member declared, “Gravity still works!”
Envoy forever
National champion
Now she’s on to a new arena, as an electrical engineer for Lockheed Martin in upstate New York.
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Still nifty at 50
The printed word may be disappearing in the real world, but it’s doing just fine on campus. The Observer, CWRU’s student newspaper, celebrated a half century in print in October with a special anniversary issue. Past reporters and editors — many of them science and engineering grads — recalled how producing the news shaped their col lege years and even their careers.
As the new chair of the Depart ment of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Gary Wnek, PhD, can be expected to bring some startup fervor to the labs. A re nowned polymer researcher, Wnek has championed entrepreneurship and innovation in the curriculum of the Case School of Engineering. His many leadership posts include Faculty Director of Sears think[box].
And the Emmy goes to… Synchronizing dialogue to moving images is an art, and few are better at it than Jeff Bloom ’70. His London-based firm Synchro Arts won a 2019 Technical and Engineering Emmy Award for the engineering creativity that goes into its audio processing software.
“The most significant extra-curricular activity that I undertook at CWRU was working for The Observer,” wrote Jason Mitchell ’94, a video game developer at Valve, recalling deadlines and multi-tasking. “Those of us on staff were learning how to be collabora tive ‘full stack’ media creators before the word entered the lexicon.”
Our kind of royalty
Beauty and the Bolt, the non-profit launched by Xyla Foxlin ’19 to attract more women into labs, plants and maker spaces, has a new promotional tool for the new year. Its 2020 Princesses with Power Tools Calendar features a dozen women in fairytale dress drilling, designing and calculating. The princesses include Ailin Yu ’17, who took degrees in Sys tems and Control, Computer Engineering and Musical Perfor mance to SpaceX, where she’s an avionics software engineer.
The Columbus native took an unusual route to show business, starting with a physics degree from Case Institute of Technology.
entrepreneurMacromolecular
Tom earned his bachelor’s degree in metal lurgy from Case Institute of Technology.
Joseph Rencis, PhD ’85 San Dimas, California Joe was added to the Alumni Wall of Dis tinction at the Milwau kee School of Engineer ing, where he earned his A.A.S. and B.S. degrees in architectural and building con struction engineering technology before earning his doctorate in civil engineering from Case. He’s a professor of mechanical engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona.
CLass notes engineers from the aerospace and medical industries, providing them with insight into the characteristics, properties and applications of refractory metals.
1960s
1980s Michael D. Sieger ’83 Cleveland, Ohio Mike is responsibleProgressivePresidentClaimsattheGroup,forclaims strategy, and one of the top executives at the insurance giant. He joined Progressive as an intern in 1988 and became a fulltime employee in 1990. Mike earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology and his MBA from the University of Chicago. Shih-Chin Chen, PhD ’84 Dublin, Ohio Shih-Chin received the Gold Medal Award for lifelong scientific achievements from the Technical Asso ciation of the Pulp and Paper Industry. He’s a corporate executive engineer at the Columbus-area offices ABB Group, a Swiss multi-national that develops robotics, electrical and automation technology. He earned his doctorate in systems and control engineering from Case Institute of Technology.
1970s P. Jeffrey Bloom ’70 London, England Jeff and his company, Synchro Arts, won a 2019 Technical and En gineering Emmy Award for engineering creativity. The award recognizes Synchro Arts' software, which synchronizes dialogue to moving images and has become a mainstay of Hollywood sound editors. It’s been used in TV shows like Game of Thrones and Star Trek and by producers and engineers working with artists like David Bowie, Queen, Elton John and Rhianna. Jeff, a physicist and a musician from Columbus, Ohio, founded the company 25 years ago. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from Case Institute of Technology. Philip King ’72 Saint MissouriCharles, Phil received the Achievement Award from the Engineers’ Club of St. Louis for his contributions to engineering over many years. The award, the club’s highest honor, recognizes Phil’s work designing, developing and produc ing military helmet-mounted displays
for pilots of fighter/attack aircraft. He did most of this work at McDonnell Douglas and later Boeing in St. Louis. Phil earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engi neering from Case Institute of Technology. He attended the award ceremony with his wife, Kathy, a 1972 graduate of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. Larry Enterline ’74 Buford, Georgia Larry was appointed to the board of directors of Compass Diversified Holdings, an owner of leading middle market businesses. The re tired CEO of FOX Factory Holding Corp., Larry has more than 30 years of public company leadership and operating expe rience. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology. Diana Essock ’75 Chagrin Falls, Ohio Diana was elected vice president of ASM Inter national October 1st, 2019, at MS&T19, the Materials Science & Technology technical meeting and exhibition in Portland, Ore gon. She’s president of Metamark in Cleve land. She earned her degree in metallurgy from Case Institute of Technology, where she was the first female undergraduate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Bob Desberg ’79 WashingtonBellingham, Bob has joined Leading Edge Metals & Alloys, Inc., as a materials specialist, bringing more than 30 years of refractory metals experience to the job. After earning his degree in metallurgy from Case Institute of technology, Bob spent much of his career consulting with Thomas K. Glasgow ’68 Rocky River, Ohio Tom taught a course in “Elements of Metallur gy” in January at ASM World Headquarters in Novelty, Ohio. He’s a retired Consulting Technologist for the Materials Division of the NASA Glenn Research Center and a Fellow of ASM International, where he was the initiator of an ASM program rewarding teachers for introducing engi neering concepts into elementary schools.
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Krishna kataswamy,VenPhD ’85 Crystal Lake, Illinois Krishna has been named Executive Vice President, Business Development, at Illinois-based Star Ther moplastic Alloys & Rubbers. In his new role, he will lead business development, marketing and innovation. Previously, he was the Chief Technology Officer at In terface Performance Materials. Across 30 years, Krishna has been recognized with numerous awards in the polymer materials industry. He earned his doctorate in chem istry from Case Institute of Technology.
Benedict Gomes ’90, PhD Palo Alto, California Ben, the Vice President of Search at Google, addressed students at his high school alma mater in Bangalore, India, in August, advising them to always be curious. “When you have curiosity, follow it,” he was quoted by the Business Standard. “Find more about it. Don’t study anything by rote. Just try and understand what it is. It is not easy sometimes. It is the thing that will stay with you later on. Understand what it is about and later use it in creative ways.” Gomes earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Case Institute of Technology. In 2018 he was named head of all search at Google.
Robert Stoll MS ’90, PhD Westlake, Ohio Bob is running for a second term on the Westlake School Board in suburban Cleveland. After earning his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case, he worked as an engineer, a plant manager and a technical director. In 2012, Bob joined the faculty of Ashland University as a professor in supply chain management. Evan Morris, PhD ’91 Madison, Connecticut Evan has accepted a po sition as vice president of scientific imaging research at Invicro in its New Haven, Conn., facility. A special ist in brain imaging, he’s a professor of radiology and biomedical imaging at the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science. Evan earned his doctorate in bio medical engineering from the Case School of Engineering.
Chris DellaCorte ’86, MS ’87, PhD ’89 Medina, Ohio Chris received ASM International’s 2019 Engineering Mate rials Achievement Award October 1st at MS&T19, the Materials Science & Tech nology technical meeting and exhibition in Portland, Oregon. The award committee recognized his work in the development and commercialization of NiTi alloys for corro sion-resistant, high-load capacity bearing, gear and mechanical component applica tions. Chris is a senior technologist at the NASA Glenn Research Center. He earned three engineering degrees at Case Institute of Technology, including a doctorate.
Jason L. Mitchell ’94 Bellevue, Washington Jason is a software engineer at video game maker Valve, where he has worked on such game franchises as Steam and Left 4 Dead. He has spoken at graphics and game development conferences around the world. Jason earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at Case, where he was a writer and editor for The Observer. Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones casealum@casealum.org.to
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Toni Marechaux, MS ’86, PhD ’89 Washington, D.C. Toni, a mentalscientistconsultingonenvironandindustrial issues, was elected to the board of trust ees of ASM International at its October 2019 assembly. She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees at Case Institute of Technology, where she specialized in metallurgy. Before moving to Washington, she supported NASA Glenn as a scientist with ZIN Technologies.
Raymond Fryan, MS ’87, PhD ’95 Massillon, Ohio Ray, the treasurer of ASM International, is Vice President for Technology & Quality at the TimkenSteel Corp. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Case in materials science and engineering and has worked for Timken for more than 35 years. A distance runner, he has finished many Boston marathons.
Enrique Conterno ’89 Indianapolis, Indiana Enrique, the top U.S. executive at Eli Lilly and Company, is retir ing at the end of 2019 after 27 years with the company. An inter national student from Peru, he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineer ing from Case Institute of Technology and was an All-American on the Spartan swim team. Enrique joined Lilly in 1992 and worked in sales, finance and marketing on his way to becoming President of Lilly Diabetes and Lilly USA. 1990s
Steven F. Hubbard, PhD ’97 Weston, Massachusetts Steve joined the faculty of Stonehill College in Easton, MA, as a visiting Assistant Professor of Physics. Previously he was a long-time faculty member and Interim Dean of the Division of Science and Mathematics at Lorain County Community College. Over the course of his career, Steve served on Ohio statewide education panels and was elect ed an at-large trustee to the Ohio Acade my of Science. He earned his doctorate in physics in 1997 from the Case School of Engineering.
Sarah Jones ’03 New Albany, Ohio Sarah is a senior engineer for Owens Corning in its Process and Materials Inno vation Group in the Roofing Division in Granville, Ohio. She’s also a role model for girls in STEM, participating in school activities that encourage girls to embrace math and science. Sarah earned her bach elor’s in chemical engineering from the Case School of Engineering. Eric Anderson ’04, PhD ’07 Ann Arbor, Michigan Eric, a physical scientist at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Re search Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michi gan, received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award, announced in July, recognizes his leadership in developing innovative tools to predict the physical nature of Great Lakes waters. Eric earned his bachelor’s and doc torate degrees in mechanical engineering from the Case School of Engineering.
casealum.org28 CLass notes
Bridget Smith ’97, MSE ’99 Newport CaliforniaBeach, Bridget, a patent attorney, is joining Lowenstein & Weatherwax in Los Ange les to specialize in administrative chal lenges to patent validity. Previously, she was co-chairwoman of the PTAB group at Knobbe Martens. Bridget earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chem ical engineering at Case. She worked as a software engineer at Motorola and as a data scientist consultant at Khimetrics Inc. before earning her law degree at Arizona State.
Kathryn Daltorio ’05, MSE ’07, PhD ’13 Shaker Heights, Ohio Kathryn was recently featured in Wogram mer.org in a story titled Robots, Animals, and Data?: How This Professor is Transforming Biotechnology and Robotics. Kathryn, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Case School of En gineering, is a specialist in biologically inspired robots. In 2019 she was honored with a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research. Elaine Hillenmeyer ’05, PhD Beaverton, Oregon Elaine, a devices,consultantregulatoryformedicalwasinducted into the Spartan Club Hall of Fame at Homecoming 2019. She was a four-time All-American swimmer while earning her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Case School of Engineering. As a senior, she was named CWRU’s Female Athlete of the Year. Elaine went on to earn her doctorate in bioengineering from the University of Washington.
Robert Trefz ’99 South Elgin, Illinois Rob has been promoted to Vice President of Marketing at Emer son Tools, where he has worked since 2004. Rob, a licensed engineer, earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Case School of Engineering and a master’s in business administration degree from the Weatherhead School at CWRU.
2000s
Robert Ferguson, ME ’02 Newnan, Georgia Bob, the Vice President of Global R&D for Vernay Laboratories, was selected to participate in NASA’s HERA program at the Johnson Space Center beginning August 16, 2019. HERA, or Human Exploration Research Analog, is a three-story habitat designed to test iso lation, confinement and remote conditions in space exploration. Bob was one of four volunteers to enter the habitat for Mission XX, which runs for 45 days.
Alex Thurston, MSE ’04 MassachusettsBelmont, Alex is an engineeringapplicationsmanager at Olympus Scientific Solutions, where he leads a team that helps customers develop and institute new uses for XRF and XRD products. He entered the metals manufacturing industry after earning a master’s degree in materials science from Case.
Ryan Kowalski ’13, PhD Bedminster, New Jersey Ryan has joined C.W. Brabender as a food extrusion responsiblespecialist,fordriving the development of single- and twin-screw extrusion applications and assisting clients with formulations. He earned his bache lor’s in chemistry from Case and received his doctorate in food science from Washington State University.
Shikha Tandon MS ’12 San CaliforniaFrancisco, Shikah has productTechCrunchjoinedasamanager in its San Francisco offices. Previously she was the Science Program Lead at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in Colorado Springs. A world-class swimmer, she represented India at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She earned her master’s degree in biology from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Fred Hatfull ’11 San CaliforniaFrancisco, Fred is the senior technical lead for Yelp, having recently moved from management back to a technical role, where he works with operations and engineering teams across the company. Fred earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Case School of Engineering. His senior year, he won the Chairman’s Award for a student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science who shows exceptional academic or leadership potential.
Sam Crisanti ’17, MS CrisantiAnna’18(Mehringer)’17,MS’17 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Sam and Anna were married June 22, 2019 in Barrington, Illinois, at a ceremony that included many fellow Case graduates. They met at Case and are now both mechanical engineers in Milwaukee. Ailin Yu ’17 Los Angeles, California Ailin is a satellite avi onics software engineer at SpaceX, where she previously worked on launch systems software. She graduated from CWRU with a triple major in Sys tems and Control Engineering, Computer Engineering and Musical Performance. Cassandra Laios ’18, MEM ’19 Owego, New York Cassandra is an electrical engineer for Lockheed Martin’s electronic systems sector in upstate New York. In 2019, the year she graduated, she won the NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Track and Field Hammer Throw Championship, becoming only the 15th NCAA Champion in the 48-year history of CWRU athletics. In September, she was named a Top 30 Honoree for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award and in January received the NCAA Today’s Top-10 Award. Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones casealum@casealum.org.to Eric Diven ’06 MassachusettsSomerville, Eric was awarded the Members Choice Award at the annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition at Wharton Esherick Museum in Chester County, Pennsylvania, for a piece he calls “Springtime in Bronze.” He earned his degree in computer science at Case and worked as a programmer until 2017, when he entered the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts. He then founded Long Walk Woodworking, a Somerville shop where he crafts traditional and contempo rary furniture. Kevin Bigart, MD, ’09 Chicago, Illinois Kevin, an orthopedic surgeon, was induct ed into the Spartan Club Hall of Fame at Homecoming 2019. He was an Academic All-American soccer player while earning his bachelor’s degree in chemical engi neering from Case. He was also the first winner of the Bill Sudeck Outstanding Student-Athlete Award in 2008. Kevin earned his medical degree in 2013 from the School of Medicine at CWRU. 2010s Lakshman “Lucky” Tavag ’10 Cleveland, Ohio Lucky is vice president of engineering at Axuall, a Cleveland startup whose blockchain technology recently attracted $3 million in seed funding from investors. Previously he was director of engineering at Votem Corp. and MOAT. Lucky came to Case as an international student from India and earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering.
Winter 2020 29
Bradford S. Linscott ’56, Strongsville, OH; 6-30-19
Aleksandre Sambelashvili MSE ’02, PhD ’04; Maple Grove, MN; 8-23-19
Russell J. Jirberg ’59; Parma, OH; 3-3-19
Patricia Ann Andreozzi MS ’77, PhD ‘80; Cranston, RI; 7-6-19
Gerald B. O’Hara ’57; Westlake, OH; 4-9-19
Donald J. Roy ’42; Clearwater, FL; 7-31-19 Charles J. Swartwout ’42; Sedona, AZ; 8-29-19 Morton J. Gross ’45; Cleveland, OH; 1-21-19 Charles T. Unger ’45; Canton, OH; 9-13-19 William N. Arduser ’46; Canandaigua, NY; 6-14-19 Henry L. Kurtz ’46; Clearwater, FL; 8-8-19 Frank V. Lantz ’46; Reading, PA; 5-25-19 Leo Tobacman ’48; Cleveland, OH; 5-30-19 George N. Havens ’49; Bozeman, MT; 10-7-19 Frederick J. Milford ’49; Columbus, OH; 10-14-19
Donald R. Scroggins ’64; Dumfries, VA; 10-11-19
Gino J. Coviello ’53, MS ’55, PhD ’64; Simpsonville, SC; 11-23-19
Raymond J. Slattery ’54; Cuyahoga Falls, OH; 9-16-15
William F. Meyers, MD ’73; Atlanta, GA; 6-7-19
Raymond F. Smiley ’60; Williamsburg, VA; 8-15-19
Dwight A. Merritt ’59; Mayfield Hts., OH; 2-26-19
Luke L. Gould ’14; New Orleans, LA; 9-5-19
Gunars Cukurs ’56; Anchorage, AK; 8-4-17
William G. Riel ’68; Orville, OH; 8-7-19
Stephen J. Simcic ’64; Euclid, OH; 10-11-19; 10-15-19
Martin T. Kaufman II ’67; Marion, OH; 8-8-19
Jack A. Suddreth ’56; Locust Grove, VA; 9-1-19
James R. Dawson ’56; Dunwoody, GA; 6-17-19
Donald V. Cohen ’55; Meqoun, WI; 8-24-19
Richard R. Russell ’53, MS ’62; Simpsonville, SC; 10-1-19 Charles E. Feddersen ’54; Henderson, NY; 10-26-19 John C. Hall ’54; Akron, OH; 9-18-19 Taro Mukai ’54; Des Plaines, IL; 9-1-13
Dale W. Sullivan ’57; Oceanside, CA; 11-18
Morris Perlmutter MS ’59; Beachwood, Oh; 10-1-17
Daniel J. Hensel ’59; Gansevoort, NY; 5-12-08
Stuart W. Thro ’64; Owls Head, ME; 9-5-19
John M. Vick ’73; Mystic, CT; 9-10-19
Nedyalko V. Ivanov ’81, MS ’81; Olmsted Falls, OH; 3-17
Lionel G. Baldwin MS ’59; Fort Collins, CO; 6-26-19
Donald R. Cantleberry ’59; Alpena, MI; 5-16-19
Donald L. Peterson ’51; Lakeside Marblehead, OH; 10-21-19 Anthony Trampus ’51; Cleveland, OH; 7-1-19
John E. Todd ’59; Sequim, WA; 5-2-18
David A. Whitfield ’49; Lady Lake, FL; 8-18-19 Craig S. Fenn ’50; Webster, NY; 9-23-19 William E. Roberts ’50; Seattle, WA; 1-24-11 Nicholas M. Trivisonno ’50, MS ’55, PhD ’58; Brunswick, OH; 9-3-19 James L. Kern ’51; Gig Harbor, WA; 7-29-19
casealum.org30 in MeMoriaM
Joseph J. Prizzi ’57; North Royalton, OH; 5-7-19
Charles S. Tatka ’61; Evans, GA; 7-21-19
William A. Millson ’55; Lakewood, OH; 3-24-08
Alfred C. Eynon II ’62; Fort Wayne, IN; 9-20-19
Robert M. Factor MS ’69, PhD ’71; University Park, FL; 10-31-19
Dennis L. Pesek ’71; Richfield, OH; 11-3-18
T. Allen Gigliotti ’76, MS ’77; Troy, MI; 9-15-19
Kenneth J. Major ’53; Richmond Hts., OH; 9-18-19
Maria A. Orlati PhD ’85; Buffalo, NY; 4-22-16
Marylou Kiley MS ’74, PhD ’76; Cleveland, OH; 3-25-19
Frederic C. Trenor ’65; Pittsburgh, PA; 7-31-19
Eugene J, Manista ’59; North Olmsted, OH; 12-10-18
James E. Thompson ’69; Woodridge, IL; 3-11-07
Donald B. Mead ’51; Jefferson, OH; 11-22-19
Michael C. Weber ’90; West Chester, OH; 10-19-19
Andrew J. Whitelaw ’51; West Chester, PA; 1-4-19 Leo L. Cifelli ’52; Cleveland, OH; 3-6-19 Donald W. Schneider ’52; Canton, OH; 8-3-19 Steven Cupach ’53; Gulf Breeze, FL; 8-30-19
Nicholas A. Mantzios ’14; Lincoln, NE; 12-1-19
John T. Mead ’59; Sarasota, FL; 2-1-15
Ranjana N. Chandra ’75; Chantilly, VA; 5-11-15
TRIBUTE George Havens
It was to be Haven’s last hurrah on a campus he loved. The advertising and marketing legend passed away October 7, 2019, at the age of 95. He left a legacy of creativity and loyalty that will long endure.While building a stellar career and raising three sons, Havens shared his optimism and boundless spirit with Case and CWRU. He in fused new energy into reunions, devised inno vative marketing campaigns to boost enrollment and served on strategic planning committees, often working side by side with Ginny, his wife and companion of more than 70 years.
A native of East Cleveland, Havens graduated third in his class from Shaw High School and came to Case School of Applied Science on scholarship. Though he majored in chemical engineering, “I didn’t see myself in a plant,” he told Case Alumnus in 2017. He took his science background to a fledgling Cleveland advertising agency, The Jayme Organiza tion, and built it into a national powerhouse. He also taught leadership courses for the Weatherhead School, where he earned his MBA. Upon retirement, Havens kept going. He launched a consulting business and established a second home near Bozeman, Montana — where he and Ginny liked to backpack. His seventh book, Heroic Leaders, published in 2017, included a profile of former Case president T. Keith Glennan. In the last years of his life, the Havens made their home in Judson Manor, a short walk from Case Quad and the campus imbued with his spirit.
The ad man with an engineering degree pivoted. He sent letters to surviving classmates inviting them to what he proclaimed to be the first 69th class reunion in Case“Youhistory.madeit this far,” he prompted, “don’t miss this great event!”
“It was the first time this had been done,” Cerne said. “Enrollment started to jump. This guy’s mind was always working.”
George Havens ’49 was looking forward to his 70th reunion in 2019, but seemed to have a premonition, which he shared with former Dean Tom Kicher ’59, MS ’62, PhD ’65. “He said, ‘You know, we better have it this year (2018). We’re losing people,’” Kicher recalled.
Former CAA director Roger Cerne, who knew Havens for nearly 50 years, described a convivial genius. When Case’s enrollment fell following federation with Western Reserve in 1967, he said, Havens devised a direct mail branding campaign that attracted fresh prospects.
Find the obituary that ran in The Plain Dealer at tinyurl.com/havensobit
From 1983 to 1984, Havens served as president of the Case Alumni Association, which honored him with its Samuel Givelber ’23 Award in 2002.
Winter 2020 31
“George was one of the most positive people that you can imagine,” recalled Kicher, who helped launch the modern Case School of Engineering in 1992. “George was the one who got us all together and got everyone on board. He was very good at that.”
The alumni came. Kicher addressed the luncheon. Dean Ragu Venkataramanan Balakrishnan popped in to say hello. The room resonated with bonhomie.
LL REMEMBER…”
“Since the disaster occurred while I was trying to run my two programs, one after the other, I was thought to be the culprit.”
The day I broke the university’s brand new Univac 1108 By Warwick Doll, PhD ’70 computer time, and the rest was to be sold. Even with the new computer, I still had to input all of my cards manually. While the computing time was cut by a factor of 4, it still took about a minute to compile the program before it would run. As I recall, the computer could only run one program at a time, no matter how big or small the program.
“LONG
casealum.org32
Icame to Case Institute of Technology in 1965 as a master degree candi date in the Macromolecular Science Department under Dr. Jerome Lando. Professor Lando’s field of expertise was X-ray crystallography of polymers. Work in this area required a great deal of trial-and-error computations, still in the age of manual calculations, slide rules and mechanical calculators. There were no digital calculators or personal computers. From my undergraduate studies in Missouri, I had a basic knowledge of writ ing computer programming and I taught myself how to write programs for the Uni vac 1107. The input for this computer was all on punched cards, and my program grew to a stack of about 850 cards, plus the input data cards. Each card contained one step of the program. It took about five minutes to compile and run my program on the Univac 1107. About the start of my PhD program, CWRU bought a new Univac 1108, which had a much faster processing speed. The school moved the computing center to a new building and sold time on this com puter to commercial businesses. CWRU was allotted a certain percentage of the PUNCH CARD BLUES
In my final year, the university pur chased a state-of-the-art storage device. It looked like a long, rotating log, but the computing center was quite proud. Since I had a large program, I was allowed to have a special user number and could store my entire program on the new device. Then all I had to do was use 8 to 10 cards to call the program off the computer storage unit and input my data. I was still doing a lot of trial-anderror computations, and so I loaded two different sets of input data to be run one after another. Suddenly, the computer shut down and reported that all of the comput ing time allotted to the university for the entire year had been consumed. The com puting staff expressed alarm. They were trying to figure out what had happened. Since the disaster occurred while I was trying to run my two programs, one after the other, I was thought to be the culprit. I was called in to see the head of the computer department, who was furious. I had to explain exactly what I had done. It turns out that by running the long program stored on the memory device, it still took some time to extract the program and run it with the data. The second set of data called for this same program and apparently the program was not available to run the new set of data while the old one was still running on the computer. This caused the computer to crash and consume all of CWRU’s computing time. They were able to recover the compu tation time for the university, but I had to promise to never do that again. Today, this entire trial-and-error program would easily run on a lap-top. Warwick Doll is retired and living outside of Spartanburg, South Carolina. You can reach him via wickdoll@yahoo. com. If you would like to comment on this story, or share your own Case memory, please email casealum@casealum.org. WE’
GivinG Corner
If you answer “yes” to any of the statements below, you’re ready to write the Case Alumni Foundation into your life’s story through your will. You want the opportunity to guide decisions about the future ownership of your possessions and the legacy you leave behind
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If you are ready to include one simple sentence in your will and include a gift to the Case Alumni Foundation in your estate plan, contact Stephen Zinram orstephen.zinram@casealum.orgat216-368-8841formoreinformation.
• Flexible. Until your will goes into effect, you are free to alter your plans or change your mind.
•
Including the Case Alumni Foundation in your will is a popular way to give because it is:
Your attorney can help you structure a gift so your loved ones will be taken care of first after you’re gone. They will include a sentence indicating your wishes in a new will or living trust, or add it to existing documents through an amendment called a codicil. A popular option is to leave a percentage of what is left of your estate after other beneficiaries have received their share. This way, your gift remains proportionate to the size of your estate, no matter how it fluctuates.
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You want to make sure your support of our work is still available after your lifetime You want to balance your generosity to us with an assurance that loved ones are taken care of first n You want the flexibility to change your mind about your gift at any time Learn more at www.casealum.planmylegacy.org.
Remember the Case Alumni Foundation in your will or living trust.
Versatile. You can give a set amount of money or a percentage of your estate. You can also make your gift contingent upon certain events.
Disclosure Statement:
• Affordable. The actual giving of your gift occurs after your lifetime, so your current income is not affected.
Securing the future of the programs that are most important to you really is as simple as including just one line in your will. By doing this, you can support the Case Alumni Foundation mission tomorrow without giving away any of your assets today.
What if all you had to do to ensure that the Case Alumni Foundation can be successful for years to come is to write a simple sentence? Sound impossible?
Make the Impossible Possible in One Sentence.
• Impactful. You have the ability to direct your gift to any area that is personally meaningful to you, like a scholarship fund, laboratory or to support faculty development. How a Gift in Your Will Works
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The information in this publication is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. State law may further impact your individual results.
Is Including a Gift in Your Will Right for You?
CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1712 CLEVELAND,ORGANIZATIONNON-PROFITU.S.POSTAGEPAIDOHIOPERMITNO.2120 1. Retrieved July 15, 2019, from usnews.com/best-colleges/case-western-reserve-university-3024/overall-rankings 2. Retrieved July 15, 2019, from usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/case-western-reserve-university-201645/overall-rankings Receive a scholarship worth over $19,000.* Break the ofBoundariesInnovation Equip yourself for greater success with an advanced engineering degree. graduate4engineeringdegreeoptionsNationally#40RankedUniversity1 Best#52EngineeringGraduateSchool2 research270+andindustrypartnerships Become more when you come back. online-engineering.case.edu/alumni Scholarship funds are not payable directly to recipient. $19,170 of the scholarship will be applied in a prorated manner over the duration of the student's program of study. The remaining scholarship amount corresponds to a charge of $0 for taking and passing the last required course in the curriculum and will be applied after the final drop/add period for this concluding course. If a student receives other forms of financial assistance, then the student's financial assistance may require modification to account for the scholarship by preventing any 'over-award,' such that the total financial assistance received does not exceed the cost of attendance, as defined and determined by the Office of Financial Aid of Case Western Reserve University. Recipients of the scholarship must remain continuously enrolled in the program through completion. Exceptions may be granted for students who obtain a university-approved leave of absence. Students receiving the scholarship must maintain satisfactory academic progress at all times for the scholarship to remain in effect. This scholarship offer may be revised, rescinded or terminated at any time. All admissions and scholarship decisions of Case Western Reserve University are final. *
