Case Alumnus The Magazine of the Case Alumni Association Since 1921 Fall 2019 • vol. 34 • no. 1 Homecoming happenings Alumni award winners Case’s patent power BACK TO THE QUAD It’s like you remember, only better
on Case Quad
Tours of Sears think[box], 1 to 3 p.m.
Wizard of Oz (1939, PG) at Strosacker Auditorium, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13
Friday, Oct. 11 and Saturday, Oct. 12
Friday, Oct. 11
134th Annual All Classes Celebration: Innovation ShowCASE and Case Alumni Association Awards
> Mixer at The Jolly Scholar with CIT and CSE Alumni, 3 to 5 p.m.
SpecialHIGHLIGHTSevents
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ADDITIONAL EVENTS
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Friday, Oct. 11, 5 to 8 p.m., Sears think[box] Our signature event includes student innovations and demonstrations (vote for your favorite!) food and beverage stations and a tribute to our award winners. $50 per person.
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> Tours of the A.W. Smith rooftop observatory, 2 to 4 p.m.
Coffee and Chat with the Dean Friday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m., Tomlinson Hall lobby
Tours of Sears think[box], 1 to 3 p.m.
Homecoming Parade Watch with the Dean
Join Dean Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan as he shares his vision and takes questions.
> Stargazing from the A.W. Smith rooftop observatory, 8 to 10 p.m.
To register and to find more information, go to www.casealum.org/homecoming2019
Homecoming 2019 spotlights Case Quad — the heart of science and engineering — with tours, movies, stargazing and other special events.
Saturday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m., Linsalata Alumni Center front lawn Parade Watch with Dean “Ragu” Balakrishnan CIT Lunch & Social Saturday, Oct. 12, noon, Tomlinson Hall 1969 50th Class Reunion 1959 60th Class Reunion Grand Classes Join alumni who graduated from the Case Institute of Technology in 1969 and prior for a reception, luncheon and photos. $35 per person.
> Fifth Element (1979, PG-13) at Strosacker Auditorium, 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m., and midnight Saturday, Oct. 12
> Homecoming Concert at the Maltz Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.
> Tours of the Case Amateur Radio Club shack atop Glennan, 2 to 6 p.m.
> Stargazing at the A.W. Smith rooftop observatory, 8 to 10 p.m.
Intro to Computer Programming class with popular Professor Harold Connamacher, 2:15 p.m.
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“BACK TO THE QUAD” Homecoming and Reunion Weekend October 11-13, 2019
Fall 2019 1
Best VenkataramananRegards, “Ragu” Balakrishnan Charles H. Phipps Dean, Case School of Engineering
Thanks for making me feel at home
Dear alumni and friends of the Case School of Engineering,Thereismuch to celebrate this fall. Personally, I’m marking my first year as dean of the Case School of Engineering. And as an institution, we’re getting ready for one of the most exciting weekends on any academic calendar — homecoming.
Dean’s Message I’m honored to have the opportunity to once again invite you back to campus to celebrate our achievements and explore today’s Case School of Engineering.
I may have been new to campus when I attended my first Case Western Reserve homecoming last year, but I already felt like a warmly welcomed part of this incredible community of innovators. I’m honored to have the opportunity to once again invite you back to campus to celebrate our achievements and explore today’s Case School of Engineering. Meeting and talking with our fascinating alumni is a highlight of my job as dean. It’s been my pleasure and privilege to get to know many of you over the last year, and your stories about your experiences at Case Western Reserve have helped me get to know the campus even better. Understanding our institution’s rich history is a key part in building its future, and I’m eager to keep listening. I’m looking forward to kicking off this year’s homecoming festivities with more of these great conversations at the annual Coffee and Chat with the Dean on the morning of Oct. 11, and continuing them throughout the weekend. You’ve made me feel so welcome as dean, and I’m pleased to welcome you back to Case Western Reserve to celebrate this October.
OFFICERS
CWRU has built that pipeline, and the Case School of Engineering is playing a pivotal role.
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As a story in this issue of Case Alumnus relates, CWRU leapt ahead in the most recent university patent rankings, climbing to No. 17 in the world. The feat was accomplished on a relatively modest research budget, about $340 million. That, says Joseph Jankowski, PhD, the university’s Chief Innovation Officer, makes us something of an “invention factory.” Case Quad is where the action is. More than 60 percent of the 95 U.S. patents awarded the university in 2018 were generated by faculty and researchers connected to the Case School of Engineering.
CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, INC. Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH casealum@casealum.org216-231-456744106-1712casealum.org
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.
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 Ryan Strine, Director of Annual Fund Janna Greer, Manager of Donor Relations and Grants 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 Hilary Bovay Photography Roadell Hickman Photography Russell Lee Flaticon.com,PhotographyIcons
Dean Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan would like to strengthen the School of Engineering’s research capabilities, which could help assure the pace of innovation continues and even grows.
Professor Sunniva Collins, MS ’91, PhD ’94, the new president of the Case Alumni Association, says alumni have a key role to play. In another story in this issue, she talks about how alumni support will be needed to maintain and build research labs. The investment will be costly. But if Case's faculty have proven anything it's this: Given the resources to innovate and invent, they can compete with the best in the world. Reach the editor at Robert.Smith@casealum.org
Invention momentum. Let’s keep it going.
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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.
first interviewed Charu Ramanathan, MSE ’00, PhD ’04, more than a dozen years ago, when I was a reporter for The Plain Dealer and she was a co-founder of an interesting startup out of Case WesternCardioInsightReserve. offered a new, non-invasive way for doctors to see the performance of a beating heart, a powerful innovation. It sprang from her research in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.
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In a city trying to revive a culture of entrepreneurship and create jobs, that was news. As many Caseys know, the story only got better. Medtronic swooped in and bought CardioInsight in a $90 million deal in 2015. The jobs stayed, creating one of the region’s most successful medtech startups ever. Still, CardioInsight was no overnight success story. Ramanathan and her co-founders secured their first patent nearly 20 years ago. Only now is the company’s first product coming to market. Invention takes time. Patents do not bear fruit overnight, if ever. Thus the need to build a pipeline of innovation. Every so often, a new avenue of research proves to be a game changer or a lifesaver.
Jankowski credits an inventive faculty and strategic investments in the tech transfer operation. CWRU has been sharpening its invention IQ for years, and the steady climb in the rankings shows it. The stars may be aligning for a new era of Case innovation.
Provost Ben Vinson III is leading a strategic planning process that asks, among other things, what the university can do to boost the regional economy. Launching more CardioInsights would certainly help.
Fall 2019 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. FALL 2019 • vol. 34 • 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 Best of Case Six outstanding alumni and a beloved professor will be honored at Homecoming 2019. Cover Story 18 Back to the Quad Case Quad beckons alumni back to the heart of science and engineering this Homecoming. Features 22 New purpose Engineering students are redesigning CWRU MedWish to work for a wider world. 24 Invention factory Propelled by engineering researchers, CWRU leaps ahead in global patent rankings. 25 Look who we found For an international student in the 1950s, Case launched a career and a passion. 12 18 THE MAGAZINE OF THE CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SINCE 1921 22 25 24 DEPARTMENTS1 Dean’s Message 2 Editor’s column 4 Letters, posts and emails 7 Around the Quad 10 Alumni Newsmakers 26 Case Memories 28 News Bytes 30 Class Notes 35 In Memoriam 36 “Long We’ll Remember“ On the cover: Students Ali Ansari, PhD, Chao-yi Lu, Grace Burkhart and Alan Dogan are researchers in the lab of Horst von Recum, PhD, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Cover photo by Robert L. Smith
Doug Guild dggolf37@aol.com’59
In the spring Case Alumnus, letter writer Clarence May Jr. ’48 asked, “Was there still surveying camp when you entered Case?” The last class to do the summer camp outing was Case Tech 1958. I know because I was in the class of 1959! I don't remember why the class was abandoned — maybe the powers that be thought transistors were more important than surveying! However, the class of ’59 did have beanies — some of them ended up with our cheerleaders, who were from St. Luke’s. I had a girlfriend at St. Luke’s — she wasn't a cheerleader, but having a Case Ann Harris wrote to tell us that her father, James Reilly ’39, celebrated his 102nd birthday April 26, 2019. Her letter made us smile. We reprint it with her permission: My dad, James Reilly, grew up in Cleveland and came to Case on the basis of taking tests in a wide variety of coursework over a two-day testing period. Having “won” the scholarship for his grades on these tests, he came to school tuition free — yep, even back in 1935 you were awarding deserving students scholarships to attend Case. After receiving his degree in chemical engineering he became an engineer for Esso Production Research in New Jersey, served as a communications officer in the Navy on a submarine during WWII, came back to the states after the war, married our mom and attended Rutgers Law School to become a patent attorney for EPR. He applied his knowledge of chemical engineering to work with their inventors over the course of his legal career, securing patents internationally for Esso's developments and ideas. He rose to become general counsel for EPR and after retirement — Hah! — he joined a private law firm to help the “young” patent attorneys there.
I know he's my dad, father of four, grandfather of 10 and great grandfather of 9, but he's a pretty remarkable guy. He lives in his own apartment in an assisted living facility in Lakeway, Texas, where he greets each day with optimism and a smile. Is he the last living graduate of the class of 1939? I hope not. I like to think he may still have some classmates out there enriching the world.
Ann annreillyharris3@gmail.comHarris
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beanie was some sort of a status symbol so I gave her my beanie. I don't think I ever got it back. I broke up with her and she went on to be a college professor of nursing — I always thought she was smart, a common trait amongst those pretty student nurses. In those days all of our cheerleaders and majorettes were from St. Luke's. I had a great career with IBM and was also an adjunct professor of computer design so maybe I equaled my old girlfriend, but I doubtNiceit. to reminisce about Case Tech and also St. Luke's girls!
On surveying camp, beanies and St. Luke’s girls
Or by mail to: Case Alumnus Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland OH 44106 Send by email to: Robert.Smith@casealum.org SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Your rather old picture of the Warner & Swasey observatory in the spring Case Alumnus brought back great memories. From the time I first came to Case in 1944 until graduating with a physics ma jor in 1947, I roomed at the modernized observatory.Myjobwas to do all the little chores that aspiring students did: mowing the grass, answering the phone at odd hours, and operating the slide projector on public nights when highly respected Professor Jason Nassau would lecture to a community audience. It was a fascinat ing Aftertime. leaving Case to study for a PhD in physics, I had an interesting career of 34 years doing new product R&D for Honeywell. After retirement in 1989, I had an equally interesting career as an adjunct professor in the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Min nesota. I reported the first accurate age for the last reversal of Earth’s magnetic field and a few other things on the topic of paleoclimate change. And I recently published an explanation for mankind’s evolution over the last three million years of ice ages in a cyclic refuge in northernAttendingAfrica.Case was a major step to a lifetime of professional problem solving, and I could not have attended a better college-level school.
Robert G. “Bob” Johnson ’47 Minnetonka, MN
Our new photo feature, “Case Memories,” drew a response from a reader who helped to solve a mystery and another who shared a vivid memory. I recognized the individual on page 22, “Rapid Station 1959.” He is Candido Font, from our CIT Class of 1959. I very much enjoyed the entire magazine, especially “Case Memories” and of course the section on the legacy of Leonard Case, Jr. Best Regards, Joe Konecsni ’59, MS ’64 konecsni@cox.net
Tezeon Wong, MS tezeon@yahoo.com’99 Our story on the founding of the Case School of Applied Science and the Case legacy, by former dean Tom Kicher, attracted many letters and emails. Here’s a sample:
Kudos to Dean Kicher! Please pass on my well wishes to him, Jack Daly and Melissa Barns, who were always so helpful and kind in supporting us during the EPOM program.
Springenjoyedmuch“TheCaseLegacy”articlethatappearedinthe2019Case Alumnus, especially when I saw that it was written by Dean Kicher, one of my professors and men tors while I was attending the EPOM program during 1995-99. Interesting, and informative of Case's early history. I have come to appreciate the good will of the Case family and their lasting con tribution to the generations of us that followed them. It serves as a reminder that we have benefited from the selfless ness of those that have come before us.
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I really enjoyed your article on Leonard Case. It made me realize how little I had known about the man. When I entered Case in the fall of 1961, I was shocked to see how radically the engineering curriculum had been changed. No more surveying for civils? Machine shop for MEs? I am grateful for the sound education I got at Case, but in hindsight a little more hands-on work would have beenMaybegood.the success of think[box] heralds a rebirth of some of the ideals of Leonard Case.
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The article on Leonard Case Jr. in the recent Case Alumnus magazine was excellent! Although I received my Ph.D. (geology) from CWRU, I was not aware of the university’s history. As a graduate student in geology at the University of Mississippi the late ’60s, I happened to be reading a book that talked about the experiments Michelson and Morley had done at Case Institute of Technology. At the time I was applying for graduate school to pursue my PhD in geology. I discovered that the CWRU Geology Department was filled with top-notch, well-respected scientists: Frank Stehli (paleoecology), Sam Savin (isotope geochemistry), John Hower (clay mineralogy), Phil Banks (radiomet ric dating), to name a few! I applied, was accepted, and completed my PhD. there! It was an incredible experience to study with that faculty and interact with the other graduate students!
I seldom write to editors regarding articles I read, but The Case Legacy article by Tom Kicher in the Spring Case Alumnus brought back many memories.
The article in the Case Alumnus magazine, The Case Legacy, was terrific. For a Cleveland native and a Case graduate, it made for great reading and a trip down memory lane. I would like to suggest a slight revision should you reprint all or portions of this article. Moses Cleaveland has an “a” in his last name. Bill Schimming waschimming@bellsouth.net’64
Leonard Case Jr.’s gift to the people of Cleveland was a gift not just to the city of Cleveland but to students, like me, from all over who were lucky enough to experience the intellectually stimulating environment that makes CWRU what it stillThanksis! for the article!
Stephen G. Franks, PhD ’ franks_steve@hotmail.com74
All Case alumni can be proud and appre ciative of the Case family — Leonard Sr., for all his efforts and forethought during his career, and his two sons, for their courage and dedication to use the finan cial gifts they inherited for very worthy causes that will continue to benefit many for a long time. The courses at Case Institute of Tech nology, as I know it, were very difficult. I learned new lows and reached for new levels of education I wasn't sure I could attain. But in 1965, I accomplished the feat, graduating. It was the same year Tom Kicher received his PhD. Years later we became good friends. The article brought back memories of my life after Case, and what the Case education provided me and my family. I am proud to be a Case graduate. Thanks to Tom and you for publishing the article to remind me and others what Leonard Case Jr.’s vision has provided us. Norm Traffis ntraffis@aol.com’65
Best wishes, Warren Gibson ’65 Belmont, CA
The first six undergraduate members are Sharon Chen, Lauren Homack, Samantha Lederman, Madeleine McAllister, Claire Nelson and David Scannapieco.
“It helps our students because it recognizes the best of the best,” said De Guire, PhD, an associate professor of materials science and engineering. “So there’s the recognition. Then there’s the call to lifetime service and high professional standards.”
The Case Alumni Association has helped most of the inductees with scholarships.
New chapter of Alpha Sigma Mu advances materials science at Case
Students chosen for the Zeta Chapter of Alpha Sigma Mu represent the top 25 percent of their class at Case and have contributed to the department or the profession through volunteerism andEstablishedleadership.
Materials science has been growing as an industry and as a field of research, and now there’s an honor society at the Case School of Engineering to encourage professional fellowship.
in 1932, Alpha Sigma Mu encourages and recognizes excellence in materials engineering. It’s a growing field, thanks to the emergence of additive manufacturing and the increasing impor tance of renewable energy, biomedical devices and advanced metals, ceramics andThepolymers.Department of Materials Science and Engineering at CSE is made up of 12 faculty members who teach and advise about 100 students, roughly split between graduate and undergraduate programs.
The first three graduate-student members of the society are Benjamin Palmer, Zhe Ren and Menghong Wang.
Ready for a material world
Professor Mark De Guire chats with graduate student Menghong Wang at the induction dinner.
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Front row, l to r: Menghong Wang, Madeleine McAllister, Sharon Chen, Claire Nelson Back row, l to r: David Scannapieco, Zhe Ren, Benjamin Palmer, Samantha Lederman, Lauren Homack, James McGuffin-Cawley
The Case chapter of the prestigious honor society includes six undergraduate students, three graduate students and one materials science professional — James McGuffin-Cawley, PhD ’84, the Senior Associate Dean of the Case School of Engineering and a professor of materials science and Organizersengineering.ofthechapter, including professors Sunniva Collins and Mark De Guire, hope to enrich a growing program by rewarding stellar students and pulling professional mentors into the fold.
Ten students and a professor were inducted into a newly formed Case chapter of Alpha Sigma Mu, the honor society for materials professionals, May 8 at Nighttown.
CRC Press published Power Plant Centrifugal Pumps and Rotating Machinery R&D Test Rigs in 2017 and Bearings in 2018.
helped to pioneer biologically inspired robotics and make the nimble machines a CaseQuinn,specialty.who opened his bio-robotics lab in 1990, inspired a generation of Robo Prof Engineering’s Roger Quinn honored as a top university researcher students and researchers who take cues from animal anatomy to design stronger, more agile robots. In April, the university recognized him as one of its most prolific scholars with a Faculty Distinguished Research Award.
A second chance at life helped to make an author of Professor Mike Adams His cancer was discovered early enough to be treated successfully, though rather dramatically. A surgeon removed his right jawbone. Adams came away feeling physically fine but emotionally bereft. Along with being an engineer and a professor, he’s a clarinetist.concert-levelOrwas.Whenherealized he could not play his beloved clarinet at the same level, he set the instrument aside. And began to type. “I’m not going to complain,” he said. “I’m alive and well. I said to hell with it. I started writing books.” The books tapped engineering knowledge gleaned in the labs on Case Quad and during 14 years in private industry, with employers like Westing house and Worthington.
Professor emeritus Maurice “Mike” Ad ams Jr. may be the happiest engineer in town. He recently published three books that tap his engineering expertise. Better yet, in February, he reached his five-year remission date. That, the doctors say, means he’s cancer“Godfree.was good to me,” said Adams, who retired in 2015 from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Case School of Engineering. “It was a one-year trip to hell and back but I made it through.”Authorship and cancer treatments went hand in hand. The warning sounded in 2014, when he had a pair of wisdom teeth pulled. His jaw was slow to heal and his dentist sent him to a specialist, who spied the cancer. Adams, who lost his wife to lung cancer, retired from Case after 33 years on the faculty.
andcrawl,thatcomenaninroboticsthat,isRogerProfessorQuinnabigreasonfromthelabstheGlenBuilding,robotscanwalk,climbslither.He
Adams is at work on another book, this one on machine design and develop ment. He’s ready to teach again, should the opportunity arise. And he takes pride in the fact that all four of his sons became mechanical engineers.
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The Arthur P. Armington Professor of Engineering, Quinn is seen as an interna tional leader in bio-robotics, a researcher who has made seminal contributions to the emerging field. His work in a “very thorough and elegant way, combines solutions from engineering for the control of walking robots with findings from biology, in particular neurobiology,” one of his colleagues wrote in a nominating letter. It now stands as a “hallmark in the field of motor control research, bridging neurosciences and engineering,” another colleagueMeanwhile,wrote.he has graduated 34 doctoral and 77 master’s students, delivered more than 150 scientific lectures at national and international conferences, and secured eight patents, the university reported. That’s not all. As faculty adviser to the CWRU Cutters, he has guided Case engineering students to three first-place finishes at the national Robotic Lawn Mower Competition.
Unexpected encore
“I’m loving life,” he said. “I’ve got lots to be happy for.” You can reach him via mla5@case.edu
Maurice Adams performed a Mozart clarinet concerto in 2013 in Harkness Chapel
Members of the Humanitarian Design Corps have enjoyed some success engineering solutions to problems and challenges in remote corners of the world. They thought alumni and others might be willing to help them as they practice globally minded engineering. Turns out they were right.
Kenneth Singer, PhD, the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics at Case Western Reserve, thought he could transform the archival storage industry with a patented, multi-layer film that can be written with existing Blu-Ray laser technology.
Their initial product is aimed at the burgeoning data archiving market, a critical need for cloud storage, business andThegovernment.technology was developed by Singer and his team in labs at CLiPS, which is housed in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineer ing. The invention “involves the design of a multilayer film capable of being written with existing Blu-Ray laser technology and produced in a highly scalable roll-to-roll process,” according to theStevenrelease.Santamaria, the company’s CEO, told Crain’s Cleveland Business the company plans to expand its staff of 14 and hopes to have its technology commercially available by 2021.
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The group’s first crowdfunding campaign, launched in May, exceeded its initial goal by collecting more than $5,000 from 30 donors. (You can still give at Thewww.casealum.org/hdc).moneywillhelpstudents travel to some of the group’s ongoing projects, including a water system that corps members designed in a remote village in Costa Rica and a solar energy system they are building in a national park in Malawi.
In May, the Solon-based company announced a seed funding round had attracted $8 million from investors led by Refinery Ventures of Cincinnati, and that the former CEO of Panasonic North America, Joe Taylor, had joined the board. Pavey Investments and Capital One Partners of Cleveland also invested in the company. Folio Photonics was found ed in 2012 as a spinoff from the Center for Layered Polymeric Systems at the Case School of Engineering. It licensed optical data storage technology developed at CliPS, a National Science Foundation-funded science and technology center founded and directed by Professor Eric Baer and the late Professor Anne Hiltner. The company said in a news release that unlike existing archival storage solutions, its terabyte-scale multilayer DataFilm Discä “delivers an extremely long shelf-life, small environmental footprint and low total cost of ownership.”
The four-year-old student group, popular among engineering majors, promises real-life engineering lessons and social impact. It’s had no problem attracting student interest: about 50 young men and women belong to the corps.The new stream of support means they can take on more challenges — and maybe make a bigger impact.
Crowdfunding good work
Investors are excited about new optical storage technology
Six years since the launch of his startup, Folio Photonics, that vision is coming together.
Globally minded engineering students find a new stream of support
Case spinoff soars
His four-year-old, 10-person company in Little Italy, staffed largely by Case graduates, has shifted its focus from consumers to business customers. The cash infusion will help to fuel the change in strategy and build new features, he said.
“The MP startup competition is a great piece of validation that we're back on the right track,” Wentz wrote.
Third place tie ($10,000) — Boundary Labs, a developer of sensor technology, founded by Prince Ghosh ’19. Yeu Patch, a maker of the potholefilling Thump Pad. Mandato Prize ($10,000) — Quanter ra, a provider of aerial imaging analytics, lead by Shoshana Ginsburg, PhD ’15. New president, new era Sunniva Collins, PhD, is excited to lead alumni in an era of change
First place and $25,000 went to Everykey, a company with a product for the times — a device designed to unlock Everykey recharged CWRU’s flagship startup competition boosts alumni founders computer networks and mobile phones, making passwords unnecessary.
• Carlin Jackson ’15, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, is the founder and principal consultant at Theo. Wyes David, Ltd
• Steve Simmons ’79, MS ’82, of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, is a senior field solution architect for CDW
Chris Wentz ’13 received the $25,000 first prize check from Bob Pavey, left, and JumpStart CEO Ray Leach.
“They’re alumni, too,” Collins said. “And they should be able to participate fully, while they are here and when they leave.”Collins, a resident of Cleveland Heights, came to the Case School of Engineering in 2013 from Swagelok, where she was a senior research fellow, bringing expertise in advanced manufac turing. An inventor on four patents, she served as president of ASM International in 2014-2015.Inaddition to a new president, the June meeting introduced four new board members:•Jessica Palmer ’10, MEM ’11, of Brunswick, Ohio, is a project manager for Vitamix
Five startups connected to Case Western Reserve shared $70,000 in prize money, and a boost of confidence, at the second annual Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition this summer.
“There’s some transition occurring” within the alumni corps and on campus, said Collins, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.CWRUProvost Ben Vinson III is now leading a strategic planning process to chart the future course of the university. Collins supports that effort but said her priority as CAA president will be to for ward the vision of Dean Venkatara manan “Ragu” Balakrishnan. “I’m very excited. I think it’s a great time to be in this role,” sheThesaid.dean would like to strengthen the school’s research capabilities, and Collins said alumni can help by supporting the maintenance and enhancement of research labs. She would also like to introduce scholarships for international students, who have become an important part of the student body. Presently, there are no scholarship programs that appeal to Case’s international graduates.
casealum.org10 aLuMni newsMakers ALUMNI newsmakers
The contest seeks to identify and support promising startups with CWRU connections. It was co-founded by Bob Pavey, a CWRU trustee, in honor of his late investment partner David Morgenthaler. The second edition attracted more than 50 entries. On June 29, six finalists pitched a panel of investors at a campus gathering. The other winners were: Second place ($15,000) — Nexus A.I., a company that applies artificial intelli gence to staffing decisions.
• Kenneth A. “Ken” Barker ’70, of Allison Park, Pennsylvania, is the former senior vice president, director of quantitative analysis and research for Mellon Equity Associates, LLC
Sunniva Collins, MS ’91, PhD ’94, is mindful of her pioneering role as the new president of the Case Alumni Association. She’s only the second woman to lead the 134-year-old association — after Susie Nagorney ’76 — and the first president to have graduated from the Case School of Engineering, which was created in Collins1992.ascended to the presidency of the Board of Directors in July, replacing Marv Schwartz ’68, PhD ’73, who finished his two-year term.
“We started Everykey as undergradu ates at Case, so winning the MP startup competition brings us full circle, and it's possibly the most meaningful award we've been given!” founder Chris Wentz ’13 said in an email.
“It was the thrill of my life,” Thomas said.
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Anu Garg ’02 has been supplying a word a day, every day, to vocabulary enthusiasts around the globe for 25 years. That remarkable consistency (from com- + sistere – “to take a stand”) began with class mates at the Case Institute of Technology.
“English has more than half a million words, and one lifetime is not enough to meet all of them,” Garg said. "But this is what I Finddo.”his work at Wordsmith.org
America’s wordsmith Alumnus shares the wonder of words with the world for 25 years
“We can think of no better grand marshal than Dr. Thomas, whose life of service speaks to the values exemplified by our own Neil Armstrong,” she said. Thomas recalled how Armstrong accepted an invitation to witness one of his space shuttle launches — and came a day early to not miss anything.
Leading that grand march July 14 was NASA astronaut and Case alumnus Don Thomas ’77, PhD. Town leaders say he was just the man for the moment. Thomas, a Cleveland native who earned his bachelor’s in physics from Case, was selected as a mission specialist in NASA’s 13th group of astronauts in 1990. He is a veteran of four space shuttle missions, three aboard Columbia and one aboardToday,Discovery.Thomas serves as director of the Hackerman Academy of Mathematics and Science at Towson University. He’s also a sought-after public speaker who encour ages young people to prepare to become the next generation of scientists, engineers andParadeexplorers.organizer Molly MaxsonKlemenic told the Sidney (Ohio) Daily News that Thomas makes Wapakoneta think of its favorite son.
Moon glow Astronaut Don Thomas, PhD, helps Ohio town celebrate its Apollo pride Megan Masterson ’19 is off to England this fall to
possibleopportunityCambridge.UniversityastrophysicsstudyattheofIt’sanmadebyaGates
Cambridge Scholarship, which is bestowed upon a chosen few. She’s one of only 34 students in the United States selected for the scholarship, which recognizes intellectual acumen, Cheerio Prestigious scholarship sends young astronomer to Cambridge leadership and social commitment. Established by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the scholarship funds a postgraduate degree at Cambridge for students outside of the United Kingdom. Masterson graduated in May with degrees in mathematics and astronomy and physics. She was helped in her academic journey by a Junior Senior Scholarship from the Case Alumni Foundation.“Icouldn’t have done it without the mentorship that I’ve had at Case [Western Reserve],” she told The Daily, noting the instrumental support of her advisers and professors. She is the first CWRU student to win a Gates scholarship since Jason Tabachnik ’13, who was also a math major. Masterson plans to study astrophysics at Cambridge and peer deeper into a universe she became fascinated with at Case.
Wapakoneta, the hometown of Neil Armstrong (“…one small step for man…”), celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with a host of events, including a parade through the city of 10,000 in northwest Ohio.
“The breadth of research that I’ve done has allowed me to see that astronomy really is the field for me,” Masterson told The Daily.
Today, his daily vocabulary primer, Wordsmith, reaches nearly 400,000 subscribers in 171 countries. That makes Garg — a self-described word nerd — one of the foremost promoters of the English language.Hebegan sending his word-a-day emails in 1994 to fellow Case students while earning his master's in computer science.“Istarted this as a hobby when I was in graduate school and it remained a hobby," Garg told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in May. He continued to send out a daily email for the 16 years he worked as a research engineer, programmer or consultant for AT&T Labs, MCI and others. Eventually, the email list grew so long, he was working two jobs and he had to pick one. He chose Wordsmith.
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At Homecoming and Reunion Weekend October 10-13, the association will honor six distinguished alumni and one beloved professor. These are people who have shaped the campus and the world and strengthened our alumni community.
These awards represent the highest honors bestowed by the Case Alumni Association, the oldest independent alumni association of engineering and applied science graduates in America.
Award winners will be recognized at the Innovation ShowCASE the evening of Friday, October 11, at Sears think[box].
Here are the 2019 award winners and a summary of why they are worthy of our thanks and admiration. Register to attend at casealum.org/homecoming2019.
Best of Case
Introducing our 2019 award winners
Gold Medal
He specialized in data storage at a company that became second to IBM in computer systems, rising to become vice president of PC Systems and Peripherals.
Saviers, who has been married to his wife, Dorrit, for more than 40 years, credits Case for giving him the tools and the curiosity for a fulfilling life.
After 24 years at DEC, he left in 1992 to run Adaptec, a maker of computer I/O interfaces, where he soon became CEO andSaviers,chairman.who lives in Seattle, has been retired since August 1998 but his days remain full with discovery and technology. He’s a member of the ARLISS project, in which high power rocketry enthusiasts in northern California build and test miniature satellites. And he remains active in amateur radio (KZ1W), including “DX-peditions” to activate stations in remote parts of the world.
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Like most students in the 1960s, F. Grant Saviers ’66, MS ’68, arrived at college never having seen a computer. Halfway through his freshman year, he discovered the computing center and the Burroughs 220, a room-sized machine with tape drives and punch cards and mystery. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
He gives back to the Case School of Engineering as a member of advisory boards, including the Silicon Valley Taskforce. He’s a longstanding member of the Case Dean’s Society. The F. Grant Saviers ’66 Scholarship Fund supports undergraduates in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.“Iwant to see that students have the same opportunities I had,” Saviers said. “And that leads me to want to continue to support the university.”
Rich in memories, Paul Stephan ’64 often turns reflective when he recalls one of his thousands of former students, like the young man from a humble home who had lost his father. Stephan helped him to find a jacket and tie for a job interview, as well as slacks and loafers and — most of all — confidence.
Right place, right time Grant Saviers discovered computers at Case and helped engineer an industry
“Case had a philosophy that was different from other universities at the time,” Saviers recalled. “The students could touch the computer. We were free to see what we could do.” He learned computer engineering be fore there was such a degree, then helped pioneer the industry as a top executive at Digital Equipment Corporation. Today, he helps other Case students find their path to success as a supporter of scholarships, experiential learning, and as an advisor to the Case School of Engineering.
Saviers, a founder and trustee of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, will come home in October to receive the Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed annually by the Case Alumni Association. Born in Baltimore, Saviers became interested in electronics via ham radio as a boy. It was the start of a lifelong pursuit. He recalls he and his classmates in the Case radio club crawling through the catacombs of Case Main to thread coaxial cable from their basement club house to a rooftop antenna. Meanwhile, his professors encour aged professional work. He designed and installed modifications to the Univac 1107, pledged Zeta Psi, and became a young innovator. For his master’s thesis, he built a double speed acoustic modem, with an on-the-fly error correcting system for con necting a Teletype terminal to a computer. IBM offered him a job upon gradu ation but he selected the smaller, edgier DEC — “these MIT guys in an old woolen mill near Boston,” as he describes it. “I said, DEC is the closest thing I've ever seen to Case. A lot of bright people, a freewheeling environment.”
“It certainly launched me in a great direction,” he said. “Looking back, I didn’t want to be lost in a great big school like Purdue or the University of Michigan. Case was the right size. It had great pro fessors who gave students an enormous amount of freedom. I made great friends.”
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“I knew from my teaching days the quality of the work these young people were doing and how a scholarship could lend a badly needed boost," he said. “So I know the value of the alumni association and alumni giving.”
He began his career at DuPont as a physicist but soon earned a law degree and became a patent attorney. That led to a seat on the Delaware Public Service Commis sion and, eventually, eight years as a state Superior Court Judge. After he left the bench, Martin joined Bell Atlantic Delaware as general counsel and rose to become president and CEO of the company now called Verizon. In 2005, he became a partner in the Wilmington, Delaware, law firm of Potter Anderson & Corroon. He specializes in arbitration and mediation of cases with technical issues, which tap his scientific background.Hewasa member of Case Western Reserve’s board of trustees from 1999 to 2009 and has also served on the College of Arts and Sciences Visiting Committee. That degree in physics keeps on giving, Martin says, and he’s proud to support his alma mater.
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In his first job, Joshua Martin III ’66 shined shoes in his father’s barber shop in Columbia, South Carolina. Today, he’s a director of public corporations. Between that humble beginning and stellar finish, Martin worked as a research scientist, a patent attorney, a judge and the CEO of a phone company. And it all started with a degree in physics from Case Institute of Technology.
“The only thing of his own that he wore that day was his underwear,” he recalled, his eyes misting. “But he got the job.” Stephan, the quarterback for the Rough Riders in the early 1960s, was forever a teammate to the students he taught, the players he captained, the alumni he engaged as a development officer for the Case Alumni Association. At Homecom ing 2019, he will receive the Samuel Givel ber ’23 Award, which honors an alumnus who exemplifies fellowship and human kindness in the Case tradition. It may become a favorite trophy in a crowdedStephancase.grew up farming and playing sports in the countryside northeast of Cincinnati and followed an older brother to Case.“Itwas tough academically,” he said. “I went to a small high school. I was valedictorian. So was my brother. My mother and father were valedictorians of their high school. So we were expected to do well academically. But Case was challenging.”Hemajored in mathematics, partly to avoid engineering labs, pledged Zeta Psi and became president of the Case Inter fraternity Council. He entered his first football game as a sophomore when the starting quarterback went down injured. His first pass on his first play went for a touchdown. More satisfying were the two wins over Western Reserve before he graduated.Stephanwent on to earn his master’s in operations research at the University of Pennsylvania. He managed computing projects for industry and for hospitals as the field of information systems emerged. He had been teaching part-time at Case when, in 1985, Dean Don Schuele made it full-time. Stephan was asked to teach a mandatory freshman class in computer programming, some 600 students per year. By the time he stepped away from full-time teaching in 1998, he had taught and counseled more than 7,000 students.
That was his springboard to the Case Alumni Association, where he reconnect ed with former students and asked them to help the next generation.
“Oh, science was my first love,” says Martin, winner of a 2019 Meritorious Service Award, which recognizes his contributions to society and to his alma mater. “After the Russians launched Sputnik, I couldn’t get enough of science.”
In the 11th grade, he was a finalist in the National Science Fair. He chose to attend Case Institute of Technology for its strong science and technical reputation. He ma jored in physics, pledged Alpha Phi Alpha and played clarinet in the concert band. “I grew tremendously during my time there,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the wonderful growth I enjoyed during my time in Cleveland.” His immersion into the laws of physics brought an epiphany, however. “I realized I didn’t have ‘Nobel juice,’” he said.
He has the memories to remind him.
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To talk physics with Professor Don Schuele, PhD ’63, is to talk about wind, sports, the universe and how it all works. What pitch can a batter hit farther, a fastball or a curveball? If you know the laws of physics, Schuele says, you under stand why it’s a curveball. How do you measure the electrical properties of layered polymers? That’s what he’s working on now, having never stopped questioning. At a university renowned for its physicists, Schuele stands tall. He served Case Institute of Technology — and later Case Western Reserve University — as teacher, researcher, administrator and dean. Though he retired several years ago as the Albert Michelson Professor of
Best of Case Introducing our 2019 award winners
For faithful and brilliant service to Case, Schuele will receive a Meritorious Service Award at Homecoming 2019.
More than one dean has seen the sign he keeps handy in his office and his labs, the one lettered PGTS: “Protected by the Ghost of Tony Saada.”
“Nature’s a lot of fun,” he said. “If you do an experiment, and it doesn’t work out, you have to stand back and ask, ‘What is nature trying to tell me?”
“I’m going to be right over in Lake View Cemetery,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “Don’t think I’m not watching.”
“Students at Case were always very good,” Schuele said. “To interact with these students was fun.” He helped to make it so. To explain the genius of the Michelson-Morley Experiment, Schuele built a life-sized model that stands in the lobby of Schmitt Auditorium. An avid sports fan, he uses examples from the sporting world to teach and generate interest in physics.
“It’s an honor,” said Schuele, a member of the Case family for 60 years. “In my job as an administrator, the alumni association was extremely helpful.”Schuele came to CIT from the faculty of John Carroll University in 1959 to earn his doctorate in physics and never left. Over the next 40 years, he served the school in an array of leadership roles, including department chair and two tours as dean.Buthe looks back most fondly on his years as a classroom professor.
“Let me show you!” he declared on a recent morning, eager to describe the labs’Saadacapabilities.designed and championed the twin labs, imbuing them with his energy and several of his own inventions. He has done much the same with the Department of Civil Engineering, which he chaired for 20 years, and where generations of students have experienced his zeal. At Homecoming 2019, the nearlegendary professor will receive a Meritorious Service Award in recognition of his expertise, his infectious spirit, and his steadfast service to the Case School of Engineering.Saadanotonly started the first geo technical engineering and research lab at Case, he also established the Saada Family Fellowships, which help to attract top students pursuing doctorates in Civil Engineering.
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When he launched his first startup a decade ago, Matt Crowley ’08 waited six months to sign his first client. His latest company attracted its first customer in six days — and his phone has not stopped ringing and pinging since.
Professor Adel “Tony” Saada, PhD, has been teaching for nearly 60 years, most of that time on Case Quad, yet a surge of youthful energy is never more than a thoughtMentionaway.the geotechnical labs on the second floor of the Bingham Building, one flight above his office, and you might send him leaping from his seat and marching briskly toward the stairs on rebuilt legs.
“Theoretically, you can hit a curveball farther because of the spin, the fluid dynamics. A lot of people don’t know that,” he said. In the 1980s, he helped to bring science to U.S. Olympic teams as a leading member of the Sports Equipment Technology Committee of the U.S. Olympic Meanwhile,Committee.heandhis wife Clare raised six children. Schuele enjoys the company of 13 grandchildren and two great grandchildren — as well as the students who still look to him for guidance.Athis campus lab he has two research projects underway, exploring physical mysteries that still challenge and fascinate him.
longinfluenceMeritoriousServiceProfessorTonySaada’swillendure
Physics, Schuele still maintains a lab on campus, where he guides young scientists toward new discoveries.
The multi-lingual Saada studied in France — at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures de Paris and at the Institute of Hydraulics of the University of Grenoble — before immigrating to America to earn his PhD at Princeton.
A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Saada has been inducted into the Academy of Geoprofessionals with the status of Diplomate, Geotechnical Engineering.
Harry Nara and Robert Scanlan recruited him to the Case Institute of Technology in 1962 to start a discipline in geotechnical engineering. He taught for decades, chaired the department from 1978 to 1998, and was instrumental in securing the Neff Chair and in starting the environmental engineering discipline. He also wrote a textbook, Elasticity, Theory and Applications With 30 years of uninterrupted support from the National Science Foundation, Saada has published widely in national and international journals. No doubt his influence will long endure. Playfully acknowledging the competition for building space among engineering departments, Saada vows to watch over his labs long after he’s gone.
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Cyprus Lake offers a timely and
Senior Scholarship helped him attain his degree, he said, and his first internship and one of his first jobs came through the alumni network.
casealum.org16 critical service — cybersecurity for air ports and airlines — as it taps Crowley’s uncommon expertise in airline industry computer systems. Busy as he is with a new company — and a newborn — he devotes time to the Case Alumni Association as a mentor, advisor and member of the board of directors. He will be honored at Home coming 2019 with the Young Alumni Leadership Award. “I’m surprised and honored,” said Crowley, who earned a degree in computer engineering in 2008 from the Case School of Engineering. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without the university and without the alumni association.”AJunior
Best of Case Introducing our 2019 award winners
Schwartz is a technology entrepreneur with a generous spirit. He has shared his expertise as a software designer and programmer with the Youngstown Business Incubator, with Cleveland school children and with CWRU, where he has been an adjunct professor for more than 30 years. He helped to shape the culture of discovery in Case’s computer science program. In the late 1960s, Schwartz became a programmer for the campusbased Chi Corporation — “Project X” — which broke new ground as the first time-sharing computer company in Northeast Ohio. He later launched Noteworthy Medical Systems, an electronic medical records company. In 2014, he became Chief Scientist at One Community, a Cleveland-based high-speed Internet provider to nonprofits that has evolved into Everstream and DigitalC.
Marv Schwartz ’68, PhD ’73, stepped down as president of the Case Alumni Association in July but not before building a nearly lifelong legacy of service. At Homecoming 2019, Schwartz will be recognized for supporting his alma mater as a teacher, advisor, board member and alumni leader.
The pleasure was all his. “Case taught me all I knew about computers and programming,” Schwartz said. “Based on that, I had a really successful career. It gave me the tools that I use every day to do what I want to do.”Many benefited from those skills.
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“It’s a great organization and has good people and they’re moving the organiza tionHisahead.”service is not over. As immediate past president, Schwartz will join the board’s executive committee. But he feels confident passing the torch to the new president, Professor Sunniva Collins, MS ’91, PhD ’95. He has no doubt she can count upon the same support he received from alumni who can never forget their time at Case.
“I’ve worked for Case since I graduated,” he observed, speaking in the lobby of Yost Hall, home of the math department then and now.
“It’s a group of like-minded individuals who want to advance Case,” he said.
Crowley, a native of Cleveland, started his career as a software engineer, first at Microsoft developing Internet Explorer, then as co-founder of a software development business in Washington, D.C. Then he joined an airline industry trying to adapt to a digital world. As Chief Information Officer for Cleveland Hopkins Airport from 2014 to 2017, he was named a CIO of the Year finalist by Crain’s Cleveland Business Crowley moved on to Philadelphia’s airport, where he served as CIO until this year. In May, he co-founded his latestCyprusstartup.Lake advises airports on how to protect their information systems from ransomware attacks, something that Cleveland Hopkins experienced in April. More worrisome than digital extortion, Crowley said, are hackers or terrorists who might succeed in shutting down flight control systems, endangering lives. “Everyone needs these services right now,” he said. “It’s been a very fulfilling experience.”
“It’s just a special place,” he said.
“I love being on the board,” Crowley said. “I am honored to be able to help the next generation of students, those coming into the university and those entering the workforce.”
As an adjunct, he taught math and computer science in the spirit of favorite professors, like Paul Guenther, with whom he shared many lunches. A dozen years ago, Schwartz joined the board of the Case Alumni Association.
The one constant in his career has beenDisdainfulCase. of dissecting frogs, he got off the pre-med track at Washington & Jefferson College and transferred to Case to study mathematics, a science he loves for its discipline.
The awards ceremony takes place during the Innovation ShowCASE Friday night, October 11, at Sears think[box]. Register at homecoming2019https://www.casealum.org/
Crowley and his wife, Rachel, are planning to move back to Cleveland from New Jersey with their firstborn, Oren. That will make it easier for him to be involved with his alma mater.
You’ve worked hard, saved diligently and are ready to enjoy your retirement years. Maybe you’re also looking for a way to give back to the organizations and causes that have been important to you.
• You pay no income taxes on the gift. The transfer doesn’t generate taxable income or a tax deduction, so you benefit even if you do not itemize your tax deductions.
• Your gift can provide meaningful support for scholarships, faculty, laboratories, research or any area of your choosing.
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Disclosure Statement: The information in this article is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. Figures cited in examples are for illustrative purposes only. References to tax rates include federal taxes only and are subject to change. State law may further impact your individual results.
• If you have not yet taken your required minimum distribution for the year, your IRA charitable rollover gift can satisfy all or part of that requirement. However, gifts can be made at any time.
Ready to Learn More?
For more information contact Steve Zinram, at steve.zinram@ casealum.org; 216.368.8841.
Smart Giving
Did you know? Your IRA gift can be used to create a named endowment that will support the Case experience for generations to come. Named endowed funds support scholar ships, fellowships, laboratories, equipment and extracurricular activities that expand knowledge and foster innovative thinking.
A lot of good things can happen when you use the IRA charitable rollover to make a gift to the Case Alumni Foundation. For example:
If you’re 70½ or older, you can use the IRA charitable rollover to make a tax-free gift to the Case Alumni Foundation. This law allows you to transfer any amount up to $100,000 directly to a qualified charitable organization, like the Case Alumni Foundation, without paying income tax on the distribution.
Not 70½ Yet?
Find more information about supporting the Case Alumni Foundation at casealum.planmylegacy.org or contact Steve Zinram, Executive Director of the Case Alumni Association at steve.zinram@casealum.org; 216.368.8841.
If you don’t yet meet the age requirement, you can still support our mission with your IRA. Simply name the Case Alumni Foundation as a beneficiary of your account, and we’ll receive the funds after your lifetime.
It’s easier than ever to support the Case Alumni Foundation — make a tax-free gift from your IRA
• Your gift can be put to use today, allowing you to see the difference you’re making immediately, or you can invest into the endowment in order to support campus activities for years to come.
Consider making a gift to the Case Alumni Foundation from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
casealum.org18 This Homecoming, alumni are beckoned back to the heart of their Case experience. BACK TO THE QUAD
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Happenings on
For Homecoming 2019, alumni are invited back to the Quad, to the heart of their Case experience. Special tours and exhibits will shower attention on Case Quad and maybe show you some things you had forgotten — or could never forget.
The formal name of the secluded world bounded by Crawford Hall and the Bingham Building is the Kent H. Smith Quadrangle. But most alumni and students know it as Case Quad or, simply, the Quad. Many alumni of Case Institute of Technology knew it as campus.
The oldest part of the CWRU campus, the Quad began with the vision of Leonard Case Jr., who endowed the Case School of Applied Science, which began to establish itself on the plateau above Doan Brook in 1885. Much has changed on this shady stretch of grass and flower gardens. Students no longer cross the shadow of Case Main, which was razed in 1972, nor sleep in Yost Hall, which opened as a dormitory in 1951. Today, they recharge mobile phones at one of the solar charging picnic tables beside the MichelsonMorley Fountain, which honors the famous physics experiment con ducted nearby. And the Quad now extends all the way to Sears think[ box], the university’s popular new innovation center. But much remains familiar and unchanged. Students still file into physics in Rockefeller, learn to weld steel in Bingham, and meet friends for lunch in the basement of Tomlinson. They can, on select nights — including October 11 and 12 — catch a movie at Strosacker and gaze at the stars from the observatory atop the A.W. Smith Building.
Stargazing
If you’re a Case grad, you’ve strolled the paths of Case Quad. You’ve relaxed under its shade trees. You’ve rushed to class in one of its iconic buildings, all the while traversing the history of the Case School of Engineering.
Two flights of steep, narrow stairs lead to the dome atop the A.W. Smith Building. Inside, pointing skyward, is a Warner and Swasey 9.5-inch (24cm) refracting telescope donated to the Case School of Applied Science in 1919. For years, it enabled students and researchers to explore the heavens from campus. As a special Homecoming event, the observatory will be open for daytime tours and nighttime viewing. the Quad
The Case Amateur Radio Club operates from the ham radio shack on the roof of the Glennan Building. Club members will be up there most of Saturday, October 12, talking with amateur radio operators around the world about the Michelson-Morley experiment. You’re invited to come up and see the operation and even get on the air with W8EDU.
Happenings on the Quad
The state of Case
On air
(Don’t forget to register for events at casealum.org/homecoming2019.)
Quad tour A walking tour of historic Case Quad will leave from the Tinkham Veale University Center, outside of the Michelson & Morley Restaurant, at 2 p.m. Friday, October 11. It should wind back to The Jolly Scholar in time for the 3 p.m. alumni mixer.
The Case School of Engineering is attracting stellar students in record numbers. Dean "Ragu" Balakrishnan will share his vision and answer questions during Coffee and Chat with the Dean, 10 a.m. Friday, October 11, in the lobby of Tomlin son Hall. While in Tomlinson, view the Joe Prahl exhibit in the trophy case newly dedicated to former CAA president Tom Litzler ’53, MS ’62.
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For event times and places, and for registration, go to casealum.org/homecoming2019
Sears think[box] tours
And now the movie
Back to class Wittke Award winner Harold Connamacher, one of the most popular professors at the Case School of Engineering, welcomes you to observe an entry-level course in computer programming at 2:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11. Just as in college, space is limited — to 100 alumni — so register early.
The CWRU Film Society has been screening 35mm films on campus for more than four decades. They invite you to enjoy a movie and a bag of popcorn at Strosacker Auditorium. On Friday night they’re showing The Fifth Element and on Saturday night the original Wizard of Oz.
Tours of the university’s seven-story innovation center, one of the most popular facilities on campus, run from 1 to 3 p.m. both Friday and Saturday of Homecoming weekend.
Agroup of science-minded Case Western Reserve University students scored an engineering feat recently while testing and repairing secondhand pulse oximeters to donate to needy hospitals in Africa. They discovered that batteries in the critical devices drain without constant electricity, even when the pulse oximeters are turned off. The machines, which measure oxygen levels in the bloodstream, were designed to be plugged in at all times.
casealum.org22 Re-engineering MedWish
That works! CWRU students Joseph Kingston and Anish Reddy work with volunteer Alex Massiello, an engineer, at the MedWish warehouse in Cleveland’s Asiatown.
Cleveland freelance journalist Harlan Spector is the former medical writer for The Plain Dealer.
“We want to use the skills we’re learn ing to help people in any way we can,” he said. “We interact with devices, sometimes see problems that develop, and get ideas on how to design future ones.”
Club members gather every other Case students bring passion and engineering skills to a quest to repurpose discarded medical supplies — with lifesaving results.
By Harlan Spector
“It’s designed with a bias – it’s assumed you always have electricity,” said Professor Colin Drummond, the assistant chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineer ing at the Case School of Engineering and the group’s advisor. “So we had to figure out a way around that.”
The solution? They installed a simple switch to stop the battery from discharging when the machine is unplugged. Drum mond said the experience got engineering students to think about “functionality in the greater context of environment and socialThestructure.”studentsbelong to the Case chapter of MedWish International, a Cleveland nonprofit that repurposes discarded and unused medical supplies for developing nations in need. The students, most of whom are majoring in science or engineering, are using their skills to give new life to medical devices discarded by hospitals.
CWRU MedWish evolved from a merger of two like-minded clubs on campus. A dozen years ago, a science and engineering club called Medical Instrumentation for Nations in Develop ment (MIND) laid the groundwork for testing and repairing medical equipment in conjunction with MedWish. In 201415, the MIND club won a Case Student Leadership Award for community service. About two years ago, Medwish and MIND merged and last year the new club shipped its first few refurbished pulse oximeters to African hospitals lacking the equipment.
The Case chapter is focused specifically on refurbishing devices, such as vital signs monitors, pulse oximeters and baby incu bators. The students have high aspirations. They see themselves a national model for student MedWish chapters. They’re working on guidelines that other student groups could use to repair and repurpose lifesaving devices, based on their experi ences. And they are trying to establish a feedback loop with their far-flung clients, to get better and better at what they do.
Chapter co-president Ari Bard said the pulse oximeter battery issue illustrates the ability of engineering students to solve problems by thinking in new ways.
“There’s a need for supplies in places globally that don’t have the funds or access,” she said.
“There’s a need for supplies in places globally that don’t have the funds or access,” she said. “These devices we’re working on aren’t defective. They should be utilized.”
“We just follow the manual, go through it line by line,” Yerneni said, as if it were no harder than figuring out a new microwave oven. He placed a pulse oximeter sensor on his index finger to verify the instru ment was Studentsworking.saythe experience is rewarding in many ways. They’re helping improve patient care in poor countries, while keeping discarded devices out of the waste stream. And they are learning to think like “Hands-on,engineers.experiential learning,” said Jasmine Haraburda, a sophomore biology major and chapter vice president. “You get to play with devices, figure them out and see what engineering is like.”
Julian Narvaez, a sophomore elec trical engineering major, said it’s easy to get wrapped up in the technology and engineering, but that students care deeply about the humanitarian aspect of the work. Narvaez visited a hospital in Uganda last year and saw a shortage of pulse oximeters in a neonatal intensive care“Theyunit. had seven working pulse oximeters for 80 children,” he said, noting that pneumonia is a big killer in that part of the world. “The more pulse oximeters we can send out there, the Afrabetter.”Syed, a graduate student in medical physiology, sorted through components of vital signs monitors and nodded in agreement.
About a dozen students gathered in the workshop on a recent Saturday, one of their last sessions of the spring semester.
Saturday during the school year at the MedWish headquarters and warehouse on East 31st Street in Cleveland’s AsiaTown. They enter a setting of challenge and innovation. Thinking like an engineer A cacophony of beeps — high and low, fast and slow — gives away their location in a third-floor workshop. Students gather at worktables, surrounded by racks filled with used medical devices. The devices that come into the warehouse are in work ing order but have outlived their useful ness to area hospitals, often because of new standards and technology. The Case students clean the machines and locate components and cables. They download operating manuals, run tests, reassemble and re-engineer devices when needed.
As their recent session drew to a close, Massiello gathered the group, reminding students who served as test subjects to remove leads they had placed on their chests and bellies.
“One of the major hospital systems in Columbus, lucky for us, shipped us a relatively new ICU system,” he an nounced. “We have enough to put together probably 10 of these, which is incredible. That’s next week.”
“Students at Case are very, very busy. It’s inspiring that they take the time and make this a priority,” he said. “People can be cynical about Generation Z. When you see these students and their service mentality, it’s very encouraging.”
Sometimes students have to scout for batteries, cables and sensors, or order new ones. The chapter has an operating budget of about $7,000, most of which comes from alumni through the Case Alumni Association. The chapter can’t buy all the parts it needs, Drummond said. He and Massiello have bought some parts with their own money.
Alex Massiello, a retired biomedical en gineer and a MedWish volunteer, is their hands-on mentor and supervisor. Gowtham Yerneni and Ajay Sammeta, both sophomore biochemistry students, huddled around an intensive care monitor. Sammeta tested the machine’s alarm settings, while Yerneni read from an operator’s manual. Neither had any experience with intensive care monitors.
“These devices we’re working on aren’t defective. They should be utilized.”
Jasmine Haraburda, center, tests a blood pressure monitor on fellow student Julian Narvaez.
The fledgling chapter is just now hitting its stride, Drummond said. It sent two ICU monitoring systems to hospitals in Kenya in April, and a dozen more devices were ready to go. In addition to working on guidelines, the chapter also plans to create a communications channel to receive feedback from faraway hospitals about the refurbished devices fromDrummond,Cleveland. for one, is impressed by the students’ dedication.
To support CWRU MedWish, go to www.casealum.org/givenow or contact Janna Greer, Manager of Donor Relations and Grants: janna.greer@casealum.org.216-368-3647;
CWRU MedWish members like Yehe Liu have gotten good at re-engineering medical devices for re-use.
Fall 2019 23
attainedbiomedicalTheWickendontheBuilding.professorofengineeringninepatentsin2018, to go with nine patents awarded him in the previous two years.
“That’s immense,” Jankowski said. “We’re an invention factory.”
CWRU attained 95 utility patents in 2018, by all accounts the most in school history. While the study tallies patents that the university owns, each patent is assigned an inventor, usually a faculty member. Mark Griswold, PhD, a researcher who has pioneered HoloLens technology and augmented reality, was CWRU’s top inventor in 2018 with 13 issued patents.
Case Western Reserve University leapt ahead in global patent rankings in 2018, cracking the Top 20 for the first time, thanks to a strong showing by engineering and science researchers.
Engineering helped CWRU become a leading patent producer by Robert L. Smith
Other top inventors in recent years include Dustin Tyler, PhD, an expert in neural engineer ing and advanced prosthetics. The associate professor of biomedical engineering attained seven patents in 2016. CWRU’s patent production is unusually high relative to the volume of research activity, Jankowski said. With an annual research budget of about $340 million, the university should expect about 131 invention disclosures, the first step in the patent process, he said. Instead, faculty and staff filed 277 invention disclosures in 2018.
The university ranked 17th in the world among universities granted U.S. utility patents in 2018, up from 43rd in 2017, according to a recent study. That’s tops in Ohio and better than many peer research universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Northwestern and University of Chicago.
“It starts with the inventor,” he said. “We have a very active research faculty.”
Michael Haag, Executive Director of Technology Management, credits a strategic approach that began about a dozen years ago, when university trustees agreed to bolster the tech transfer team. There’s a long “lag time” with patents, four or five years between the application and the awarding of a patent, but the university is now seeing the results of building the pipeline.
The professor of radiology, a National Academy of Inventors fellow, holds a joint appointment with the School of Medicine and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Case School of ComingEngineering.insecondwas Anant Madabhushi, PhD, whose deep learning computers are advancing medical imaging in
The patent rankings, compiled by the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association, are based on data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 2013. They reflect “utility patents,” or patents designed to protect an invention.
The university invested in the kinds of resources that both attract and support ambitious research.
casealum.org24 ‘Invention factory’
CWRU ranked 51st in patent produc tion in 2015, rose to 46th in 2016, 43rd in 2017, and now stands at 17th. Researchers say they also benefit from the dynamic research environment in University Circle. Madabhushi, who came to CWRU from Rutgers, said he was struck by how easily he’s able to collaborate with top doctors from University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic. Madabushi has attained 25 patents since arriving at Case in 2012; he has 30 more patent applications pending.
Joseph Jankowski, the university’s Chief Innovation Officer, credits a culture of discovery and invention momentum.
So when a recruiting professor from the Case School of Applied Science visited one day, he accepted his offer to come to Cleveland and begin college immediately.Fontearned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineer, then set off on a globetrotting career. He worked in Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Spain before returning to the U.S. in 1980. At an interview in Miami for a position as a structural engineer, he said, the recruiter saw his Case degree and hired him on the spot. “He said, ‘If you went to that school, you can do this job.’” Eventually he left private industry and went to work for the Dade County Engineer’s Office, from which he retired about 10 years ago. He’s been married to his wife, Helena, for 49 years.
Every year, he said, they attend a reception that the Alumni Association of Case Western Reserve hosts in con junction with the Cleveland Orchestra’s appearance in Miami. That springs from another benefit his college offered.
“I had a good experience,” he said. “It was good school. It was as good as I thought it would be and probably better.” He had actually come to America to attend MIT, he said. His first stop was a boarding school in Boston, to learn English. Grouped with other Spanish-speaking students, he said, he did not feel he was learning anything.
The black and white photo intrigued us when we came across it in our archives. Who is that nattily dressed young man clutching textbooks (and a slide rule?) and standing alone at night on the train platform? “Rapid Station 1959” is all that is written on the back. We published the photo in the spring Case Alumnus, in a new section we call “Case Memories,” asking readers to alert us if they recognized a face or a scene in the Soon,collage.Joe Konecsni ’59, MS ’64, emailed to say the mystery student was his classmate, Candido Font. We reached Candido Font ’59 in Coral Gables, Florida, where he is happily retired. He said he had not seen the photo, but he found his copy of the magazine, flipped to page 22, and called back. “I don’t know why I was there (on the train platform), but that’s me!” he said. He speculated he was on his way downtown, or perhaps just posing for a photo for a friend. Font was not a commuter. He came to Case as an inter national student from Cuba in 1956 and lived on campus.
"Students got free tickets to Severance Hall," Font said wistfully. “Beautiful Severance Hall, right across Euclid Avenue. I came to love classical music because of Case." Have a Case recollection you want to share? Write Robert.Smith@casealum.orgto
Fall 2019 25
Candido Font came from afar in the 1950s and morefoundthan he ever expected
casealum.org26 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 A runner for the Hudson Relays alumni team stretching, 1990 Students reaching the finish line of the Hudson Relays in 1976
by Emma
’21
Thirty Yost Hall residents cram into a phone booth, April 1959
The annual Thanksgiving Day football game against Western Reserve drew huge crowds. Case won 15-7 in 1948 at League Park. Univac In 1954, students staged a mock funeral after President Glennan announced the end of intercollegiate football for CIT. compiled Wyckoff
Credit: Photos
Fall 2019 27
lab, 1969
casealum.org28
The Tacologist opened in April on the prominent corner of Ford Drive and Euclid Avenue in Uptown, and it’s likely the region’s first Mexican restaurant with a sciencey theme. The cocktails come in glass beakers at a bar with a periodic table of tequilas. Molecular diagrams on the wall remind diners to study for their chem exams. Wonder who they could be targeting?
Chris Carr ’19 hosted the last episode of his science radio show “Enter Galactic” on WRUW-FM 91.1 in May and went out with a (big) bang. His special guest was renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Carr, an astronomy and physics major who helped discover a galaxy while at Case, met Tyson during a visit to Columbia University, where he’s now pursuing a graduate degree.
LastNewsByteshurrahonHessler?
Out with a bang
The Hessler Street Fair June 1-2 again drew thousands to the historic brick street near the heart of campus with music, poetry and a ’60’s vibe — but maybe for the last time. After 50 years, organizers of the fest funded by lemonade sales say they are taking a break — and that they are not sure when (or if) the street fair will return.
Professor Philip Taylor added another accolade to his lengthy honor roll at the 2019 commencement exercises. The renowned physicist accepted the Hovorka Prize, which the university bestowed in recognition of exceptional teaching, research and service to humanity.
HonoringCase’sstarman
Case-friendly tacos
Winning with a smile
Running smart Junior David Hall was named an Academic All-American for excelling at cross country for the Spartans while earning a perfect 4.0 as a mathematics major. Helping to put the wind at his back was a Junior Senior Scholarship from the Case Alumni Association.
A new landscape master plan for the Cleveland Museum of Art — unveiled in May — calls for some eye-catching addi tions to the museum property, including more outdoor art and an outdoor dining terrace. But one idea would resurrect a sound not heard in decades — the scrape of a blade on a fro zen pond. The plan calls for a skating oval on Wade Lagoon.
Ibtesam Ghazy, a second year biology/biochemistry major, won the 2019 Student Diversity Excellence Award at Case Western Reserve. She’s co-president of the Muslim Student Association and a staff writer for the student newspaper, The Observer. Her name in Arabic means “smiling warrior.“
Professor David Zeng, PhD, is leaving the Department of Civil Engineering after 19 years to become Vice Provost of Academic Innovation at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, but his impact will be felt for years. As department chair the past 10 years, Zeng helped raise millions to renovate labs and more than doubled student enrollment. Meanwhile, he oversaw the hiring of more than two-thirds of the current faculty.
Gone but not forgotten
Fall 2019 29
Skating Wade Lagoon?
Mathewson,Christopher ’63, PhD College Station, Texas Chris received the James Hutton Life time Service Award from the National Association of State Boards of Geology in recognition of service leading to the significant advancement of the profession of geology. He’s an emeritus professor of geology at Texas A&M University. Chris earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engi neering from Case Institute of Technology. Hans Biserod ’64 Raufoss, Norway Hans flew in from Norway in early April to tour his alma mater with his Professorcousin-in-law,Sunniva Collins. He came to Case Institute of Technology as an international student in the early 1960s, working on the transatlantic liner to pay his passage. He met his late wife, Solfrid, at a Norwegian Independence Day party in Cleveland and returned to Norway with a wife and a mechanical engineering degree. The couple raised four children. Before his retirement, Hans helped modernize the Norwegian armed CLass notes forces as an engineer for the government munitions manufacturer NAMMO. William N. Hayes ’67 Danvers, Massachusetts Bill received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Morrison R. Waite High School in Toledo. He enjoyed a 43-year career with General Electric and is now retired and serving as secretary of the Northeast Massachusetts chapter of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives). At Case, he played football, met his wife, the late Sherrie Jansen, and earned his bachelor’s degree in management science. A lifelong learner, Bill earned his MBA at age 53. James L. Smialek ’68, MS ’72, PhD ’81 Strongsville, Ohio Jim retired last October as a senior research scientist after 50 years with the NASA Glenn (Lewis) Research Center. He authored nearly 200 research papers, journal articles, patents, book chapters, received two NASA Medals for Excep tional Scientific Achievement, and was elected Fellow of the Metallurgical Society of AIME (TMS), the American Ceramic Society and the American Society for Ma terials (ASM). Jim maintained connections with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and often collaborates with faculty and students. Last October, he joined other CIT Metallurgy graduates from the class of ’68 (Ron Krupitzer, John Shields, Lee Swanger, Ed Gesdorf, Bill Timmons and Hank Vernon).
Arun Varshneya, MS ’68, PhD ’70 Alfred, New York Arun, an emeritus professor of glass science at University,Alfredwas honored at the 25th International Congress on Glass June 9-14 in Boston for a lifetime of achievements in glass research, education, and entrepreneurship. The "festschrift" was organized by former students. Arun joined the faculty of the Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred in 1982. He had previously worked at Ford Scientific Laboratories in Dearborn, Michigan, and GE Lighting in Cleveland. He earned his master's and doctorate de grees in metallurgy from Case Institute of Technology. Gee-Yin “Brian” Chow, MS ’69, PhD ’69 Santa CaliforniaMonica, Brian is now an adjunct physical scientist at RAND Corporation after working as a senior physical scientist from 1989 to 2015. Before joining RAND in 1989, he was an advisor to the President's Science Advisor, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Brian earned his doctorate in physics from Case Institute of Technology. Cung Khac Vu ’69, PhD Houston, Texas Cung will be honored by the College of Arts and Sciences at 2019 Homecoming festivities for exceptional contributions to his field and to the lives of others. He distinguished himself during a 37-year career in the energy industry as a research director, exploration manager and chief geophysicist for companies like Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron. Now retired, he serves on the advisory board of the Great Lakes Energy Institute at the Case School of Engineering.
casealum.org30 1930s James Reilly ’39 Lakeway, Texas James celebrated his 102nd birthday April 26 surround ed by his grandchildrenchildren,and great grandchildren. He earned his bache lor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Case School of Applied Science and went on to a fruitful career as an engineer and a patent attorney. His daughter Ann Harris wrote to say, “I like to think he may still have some classmates out there enriching the world.” 1960s
Ronald C. Taylor ’79, MS ’85, MS ’91 Rockville, Maryland Ronald is a bioinformatics advisor for The High Performance Computing and Informatic Office of the National Insti tutes of Health's Center for Information Technology. Previously, he was a senior research scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He earned his degrees in physics at Case Institute of Technology. 1980s Mark McConnell ’80, PhD NewNewmarket,Hampshire Mark, a noted gamma ray astrono mer, addressed the Astronomical Society of Northern New England August 2, talking about “Gamma-Ray Bursts – A Scientific Detective Story.” Mark is a full professor in the Physics Department and Space Science Center at the University of New Hampshire. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from Case Institute of Technology and his doctorate at UNH. Leslie Swanson ’80 MassachusettsCambridge, Leslie, the President & CEO of eXalt Solu tions, has more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry as an innovator and an entrepreneur. In April she shared her “Secrets for Success for Women in IoT” with the tech newsletter IoT for All.
Jennie Hwang, PhD ’76 Bedford, New York Jennie was appoint ed Chairman of the Board on Assessment of U.S. Army Centers of the U.S. Department of Defense. The board assesses the operational efficiency and merits of the technological programs in the Army’s research, development and engineering centers across the country.
Fall 2019 31
Jenny made Case history in 1976 when she became the first woman to earn a doctorate in materials engineering. She went on to an illustrious career that included executive positions at Lockheed Martin and Sherwin Williams, authorship and entrepreneurship. Don Thomas ’77 Towson, Maryland Don delivered ment143rdaddresscommencementtheMay4attheCommenceCeremonyof the University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College. A NASA astronaut since 1991, he orbited the Earth nearly 700 times and served as a mission specialist on four space shuttle missions. A Cleveland native, Don earned his bach elor’s degree in physics from Case. He now does public speaking and makes school presentations on astronaut life.
Walter Copan, PhD ’82 Monument, Colorado Walter is the director of the StandardsInstituteNationalofand Technology, or NIST, a government agency that promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, stan dards, and technology. In 2017, Congress confirmed him as Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director. After earning dual degrees in chemistry and music from Case Western Reserve University in 1975, Walter began his career in chemicals and materials research at Lubrizol Corpora tion. He earned his doctorate in physical chemistry from Case in 1982.
Michael Ciancone ’83 Houston, Texas Michael is the author of Forward to Spaceflight, an illustrated bibliog raphy of pre-1958 publications on rocketry and space travel published by Apogee Books. As an engineer for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, he serves as the Lead for Safety and Mission Assurance of the European Service Module of the Orion Program.
Among her observations: “You will defi nitely fail if you don’t show up, but if you do show up you have a chance at success. My number one piece of advice for women in tech is to assume that you are welcome and show up.” She earned her bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology.
Michael earned his bachelor’s degree in fluids and thermal sciences from Case Institute of Technology. He also earned a bachelor’s in psychology from CWRU.
Eugene Lozyniak ’79 Clinton, Tennessee Eugene retired from Y-12 National Security complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, after 39 years as a senior engineering specialist. The manufacturing facility contracts with National Nuclear Security Administration's Nuclear Security Enterprise. He earned his bach elor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case Institute of Technology.
1970s
Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones casealum@casealum.org.to
CLass notes
Randall S. Dearth MS ’89 PennsylvaniaSewickley, Randall joined GCP Technologies,Applied a Cambridge, Massachusetts developer of advanced construction technologies, as president and chief executive officer. Previously, he was president and CEO of Calgon Carbon Corporation, LANXESS Corporation (North America) and Bayer Chemicals Corporation (North America). Randall earned his master’s degree in poly mer science and engineering from Case. 1990s Jeffrey Barkehanai ’90 Lake CaliforniaForest, Jeff, a andfordefinitionproductmanagertheengineeringindustrial software developer AVEVA, reports that he recently attained his first patent. He gave a presentation on “OEE in the Cloud, Model Driven MES and Quality” at the 2019 Manufacturing Industry User Conference of Wonderware California. Jeff earned his bachelor’s in chemical engineering from Case Institute of Technology.
Coleen Pugh MS ’85, PhD ’91 Akron, Ohio Coleen was named Dean of the Wichita UniversityStateGraduate School and Associate Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, effective July 28, 2019. She’s leaving the University of Akron, where she was a professor of polymer science and a faculty member for 20 years. Coleen earned her master's and doctorate degrees in macromolecular science from Case Institute of Technology.
Anne E. Hines MS ’90, PhD ’94 Denver, Colorado Anne was honored by the College of Engineering at Boston University for her career achievements and support of her alma mater and the world community. Anne and her husband are co-founders of the Colorado Nepal Alliance, a Denver nonprofit that works to enhance the lives of people in rural Nepal. She received her bachelor’s degree from BU and earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in biomedical engineering from Case.
casealum.org32
Brian Zrimsek ’90 Aurora, Ohio Brian is the Chief Products Officer at MRI Software, a providerCleveland-basedofsoftware products for the real estate industry. A member of the executive leadership team, he has 25 years of experience in large-scale enterprise software. Previously, he was IT Vice President at The Irvine Company and VP of Research at Gartner, Inc. Brian earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case. David Vasko ’92 Hartland, Wisconsin David, the Director of Advanced Tech nology at hostAutomation,Rockwellistheofanewpod
cast: State of the Industry: Your Guide to the Future of Smart Manufacturing. It’s designed to help manufacturing executives keep current with technology and trends and is available through iTunes. Lars-Ake Norling, MS ’92 Stockholm, Sweden Lars is an investment director and sector head of TMT at the Swedish investment firm Kinnevik, a position he assumed in fall 2018. He has more than 20 years of experience in management positions in the TMT sector in Northern Europe and in emerging markets. Previously he served as CEO of Total Access Commu nications (DTAC) in Bangkok, Thailand. Lars earned his master’s in systems and control engineering from Case Institute of Technology.
Tshilidzi was one of the keynote speakers at the 2018 Science Forum in Pretoria, South Africa, in December. He talked about the Moravec
Jeen-long “Daniel” Liao, MS ’84 Shanghai, China Daniel appointedwasto the board of directors of Amkor Technology, a Phoenix-based semiconductor packaging and test services company. He’s a senior executive at Lam Research, a semiconduc tor processing equipment company, and serves as Chairman of Lam Asia Pacific Operations. Daniel earned his master’s in electrical engineering and applied physics from Case Institute of Technolo gy. He has held engineering management positions at Integrated Device Technology and at Intel.
Tshilidzi Marwala ’95, PhD SouthJohannesburg,Africa
Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones casealum@casealum.org.to
Michael Straightiff ’03 VirginiaCharlottesville, Michael leads the University of Virginia’s Licensing & Ventures Group, which helps patent, license and commer cialize university ideas and inventions. He learned the job at CWRU, where he worked in the tech transfer office for six years after earning his degree in biomedical engineering from Case School of Engineering.
Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Case.
Pat earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at Case. He’s a Lead Program Management Specialist for the MITRE Corp.
Blue Point, New York Alex, a ceuticalpharmascientist, is Director of Clinical Supplies Operations in the Small Molecule Product Development team of Allergan. He’s also active in his Long Island community, serving as vice president of the Blue Point Community Coalition.
Tshilidzi is Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case, his master’s from the University of Pretoria and a PhD in artificial intelligence and engineering from the University of Cambridge. He was also a post-doctoral research associate at the Imperial College of London. Kirsten Bowen ’96 Sagamore Hills, Ohio Kirsten was named Member of the Year by WTS Internation al, a trade group that advances women in the transportation industry, at the group’s annual conference in May. She’s an associate vice president for Michael Baker International, a Pittsburgh-based civil engineering firm, where she’s the Surface Transportation Lead for the Great Lakes region. Kirsten earned her degree in civil engineering from the Case School of Engineering. Maria Bennett, MS ’98 Beachwood, Ohio Maria was recognized as one of the top 50 business executives in Northeast Ohio with a Smart 50 Award from Smart Business magazine. She’s the founder, president and CEO of SPR Therapeutics, which uses technology she invented while completing her master’s program in biomedical engineering at the Case School of Engineering. 2000s
Aaron C. JohnstonPeck ’07, PhD MarylandGermantown, Aaron, one of the top distance runners ever to compete for CWRU, was inducted into the 2018 Spartan Club Hall of Fame. He won the UAA Cross Country Championship his sophomore season, the only CWRU runner to date to win the conference meet. In 2006, he was named Most Outstanding Performer at the UAA Indoor Championships after running the 5,000-meter at a winning 14:44.18, a conference and school record. Aaron is a research engineer in the Materials Structure and Data Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Alexander Wellems ’05
Patrick T. Rodjom ’06, MEM ’07 Alexandria, Virginia Pat was inducted into the 2018 class of the Spartan Club Hall of Fame for swimming. He is the only CWRU athlete in program history to be named the University Athletic Association Men's Swimmer of the Year, an honor he claimed his junior season, in 2006, when he won conference titles in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke.
Jeff Hunter ’05 CaliforniaSunnyvale, Jeff recently scaled Alaska’s Mount Denali — North America’s highest peak — to honor his father and to spread awareness of a lethal brain disease. He embarked on his three-week expedition May 17, 2019, two years to the day after his father, Alliance, Ohio, lawyer Robert Hunter Jr., died from Frontotemporal Degeneration. Jeff, a software developer, climbed the 20,000-foot mountain as a fundraiser for FTD research. His climb so far has raised more than $30,000 www.classy.org/fundraiser/1883202.via
Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones casealum@casealum.org.to
Fall 2019 33 paradox and skills needed in the fourth industrial revolution.
casealum.org34 CLass notes
Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones casealum@casealum.org.to
Donald Glaser
Austin Leeds PhD ’18 Orlando, Florida Austin is a research manager at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. He earned his doctorate in biology at Case, where he completed his dissertation on markers of social bonding in gorillas and the implications for the care of gorillas in zoos while working for the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
Dan Gill PhD ’19 Chicago, Illinois After earning his doctorate in chemical engineering from the Case School of Engineering in May, Dan accepted a postdoctoral position at the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, where he will conduct fundamental materials research. Anna Sklenar ’19 Cleveland, Ohio Anna was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to study in Russia and continue her research into Russian perspectives on modern times and technology, the subject of her capstone project at Case. She spent a year in Russia before earning degrees in mechanical engineering and international studies.
Sarah Hosack (Gill) ’08 Mars, Pennsylvania Sarah is a project manager for Equi trans Corp.,Midstreamwhichprovides midstream services to the natural gas industry in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Previously, she was a project manager for EQT Corp. in Pittsburgh and a project engineer for Westinghouse. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Case. 2010s Hardik Patel ’12, MEM ’13 Oberlin, Ohio Hardik is an analyst and DatamonitorAreaTherapeuticDirectorfor Healthcare, specializing in oncology. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and his master’s in engineering management from Case School of Engineering.
'46 was only 25 when he created the ingenious device that won him the Nobel Prize. His bubble chamber allowed scientists to study sub-atomic particles with far great er clarity and precision. Born in Cleveland to Russian immigrants, Glaser became fascinated with physics at Cleveland Heights High School and earned bachelor's degrees in physics and mathematics at Case School of Applied Science. In 1960, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics at age 34 — the youngest of CWRU's 16 Nobel laureates.
Terrence Mathis ’16 Cleveland Heights, Ohio Terrence is a product engineer with PMI Industries, a Cleveland provider of deep ocean cable hardware. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Case School of Engineering.
Vedang Kothari ’12, MEM ’13 Cleveland, Ohio Vedang is president and CEO ClevelandPhototherapy,MeRevaabiotech company he recently launched to treat a side effect of cancer treatments. He began developing the technology during an internship at Lumitex, in Strongsville, as a student at the Case School of Engineering. Vedang came to Case from San Jose, California, to study biomedical engineering and earned a master’s degree in engineering and management.
Khalid Al-Dhubaib“Cal”’16 Lakewood, Ohio Cal was recognized as one of the top 50 business executives in Northeast Ohio with a Smart 50 Award from Smart Business magazine. He created the data analytics consulting firm Pandata after earning one of the first degrees in data science from the Case School of Engineering.
Wells S. Duncan ’61; East Stroudsburg, PA; 4-30-19
Edward V. Rutkowski ’68; Baltimore, MD; 7-18-19
Lawrence R. Mintz MS ’76; Coudersport, PA; 5-21-19
Frederic L. Rieger, Jr. ’64; Waynesville, OH; 7-18-19
H. Edward Stone MS ’62; Dallas, TX; 3-15-19
James C. Poffenberger, Jr. ’42; Strongsville, OH; 12-22-18 M. Daniel Kilmer III ’43; Santa Ana, CA; 2-5-19 Allan J. Goodfellow ’45; Avon Lake, OH; 12-19-18
Alan D. Hecht PhD ’71; Rockville, MD; 4-19-19
Thomas A. Podwoski ’57; Painesville, OH; 4-16-19
C. Robert Lamb ’58; Tucson, AZ; 5-28-19 William C. Mann ’58; Hilliard, OH; 4-30-19 Richard D. McKeon ’58; Hastings, MN; 7-13-19
William C. Pletcher ’71; Sacramento, CA; 4-8-19
Paul Krueger ’63; Warren, NJ; notified of death 3-24-19, DOD unknown Gerald V. Petac ’63; Cape Coral, FL; 11-28-14
Don A. Halperin ’45; Gainesville, FL; 4-15-19 John C. Hart ’45; Columbus, OH; 5-24-08 Charles F. Trivisonno ’45, MS ’48; Portsmouth, OH; 6-10-19
Thomas J. Innes ’66; Scottsdale, AZ; 4-7-19
James M. Kampfer ’61; Gadsden, AZ; 4-30-19
Stanley L. Kroder ’59; Plano, TX; 3-6-14
Paul D. Braho ’79; Butler, PA; 4-26-19
Donald E. Koehn, Jr. ’77; Valley View, OH; 6-18-19
Melody A. Wilk PhD ’86; Timberlake, OH; -24-19
Robert M. Laczko ’54; Round Rock, TX; 3-26-19 Michael J. Masica ’54; Coshocton, OH; 5-22-19 Millard “Mel” Phelps ’54; Walnut Creek, CA; 6-28-19 E. Timothy McDonel ’55, MS ’57; Brecksville, OH; 3-14-19 Richard Pavelle MS ’55; St. Augustine, FL; 9-2-17 George Zenevich ’55; Hubbard, OH 4-6-19
Robert E. Mackley ’66; Columbus, OH; 10-14-18
Charles “Chuck” B. Zehnder ’61; Columbus, OH; 5-31-19
Mark F. Beltowski MSE ’99; Apex, NC; 5-20-19
Wayne Podell ’66, MS ’72; Breckenridge, CO; 5-2-19
Hans J. Braathen PhD ’69; Sandefjord, Norway; 10-14-18
Robert J. Fryauff ’51; Vero Beach, FL; 5-1-19 Alan R. Burkart ’52; Albuquerque, NM; 5-17-19
Neil E. Chatterton ’56; Ardmore, TN; 4-23-19
Peter H. Hanley ’63; Sandusky, OH; 5-11-19
Efrom J. Fader ’48; Seal Beach, CA; 3-1-19 William A. Higgins ’48, MS ’54; Tuscon, AZ; 4-25-19
Beryl S. Seegel ’48; Los Angeles, CA; 5-19-19 John N. Kelly, Jr. ’49; Rocky River, OH; 5-11-19 James E. Farley ’50; Hampton, VA; 4-25-19 Louis E. Hubach ’50; Mantua, OH; 2-15-19
Henry A. Kmieciak MS ’66; Willowick, OH; 3-29-19
George R. Herman ’62; Lafayette, LA; 5-1-19
Edwin H. Layer ’50; W. Lafayette, IN; 7-12-19 William D. Staats ’50; Conway, SC; 4-1-18 Douglas G. Brown ’51; Littleton, CO; 2-19-19
William P. Wetter, PhD ’69; Seaford, DE; 5-3-19
Tyler Justin Lamb ’01; Mount Pleasant, SC; 6-7-19
John L. Mihelich ’59, MS ’61, PhD ’64; Douglasville, GA; 2-1-18
Fall 2019 35 in MeMoriaM
Lee F. Schiemann ’59; Chagrin Falls, OH; 6-16-19
Jeffrey M. Powell ’67; Richmond Hill, GA; 3-29-19
John O. Richards ’57; Juno Beach, FL; 1-9-19
Gordon Y. Tanaka ’76; Arlington, VA; 1-29-19
Robert W. Gray ’52; South Yarmouth, MA; 3-4-19 Robert M. Linn ’52; Madison, CT; 4-13-19 Edward H. Hoecker, Jr. ’53; Fairborn, OH; 12-10-17
Arthur L. Vaughn ’70; Warren, OH; 5-6-19
“LONG WE’LL REMEMBER…”
Have a Case memory to share?
Email the editor, Robert.Smith@ casealum.org, or call and start the conversation: 216-368-0111
There were no dorms for women, so we were mixed into the Western Reserve women’s dorms. That made for a bit of a walk to the CIT buildings — especially for an 8 a.m. engineering drawing class, carry ing that big wooden drawing board. And good luck finding a women’s bathroom.
Women in the classes before mine had organized. They knew what we needed. I
Welcome to Case Institute of Technol ogy for the other half in the 1960s. Those of us who were “Casey Coeds” knew a different kind of college. It was just as rigorous and demanding as what the men experienced, but with fewer options, more slights and, I smile to recall, wonderful sisterhood. We were a chosen few. Getting admitted was the first hurdle. There was a rumor among the girls that the board of directors limited female admission to 10 percent of a class, as girls would only work until they had children, anyway. Any kind of discrimination was legal then. It didn’t matter, because not too many women applied. I was one of 13 girls in a class of 839 students in 1964. (Nine of us walked at graduation in 1968.) I applied early decision and was accepted with the badly needed scholarships and loans.
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At freshman orientation in 1964, each of us was given a class tie. It was a men’s tie, of course. I wore mine — and actually still have it.
MY PLACE AT CASE Claire Lohr ’68 recalls life as a ‘Casey Coed’ when coeds were rare By Claire Lohr was assigned a “big sister” who wrote to me in the summer before I started. She provided a map of where women’s bath rooms could be found. Each classroom building usually had one somewhere, for the Wesecretaries.enjoyed some perks, too. All ladies’ bathrooms then had a sofa. This worked really well for snagging a nap between classes, or spending the night at the computing center, as I feared walking homeTherealone.was some blatant discrimination. One department chair was said to have vowed that no girl would ever graduate from his department. I didn’t want to take any of his classes, anyway. The student newspaper ran a cartoon charac ter named Gretchen Grossbod, an ugly woman in work boots who was supposed to represent the women at Case. If hiring managers for summer jobs or at gradu ation did not want to hire women, they made that VERY clear. One interviewer asked me what I would do for him if he hired me. Not getting what was going on, I answered “work.” No job was offered. I struggled at first with poor study habits and undiagnosed learning disabilities. The other women rallied around me. One dropped by to see me and taught me step-by-step what I needed to do to study. Another got her graduate student boyfriend to tutor me in physics, which I was barely passing. When the time came for me to use the machine shop for an engineering lab, I was in trouble. I had never touched one of those machines before. Girls were not allowed to take shop in my high school. The professor who ran the shop was delighted to have a girl in there, and he patiently taught me how to safely operate eachExtracurricularone. activities were few for women. There were not enough of us for a sorority. But I enjoyed being a cheerleader for Case Tech. I was a student member of the IEEE and now am a life member (free after 50 years!). In the end, I got a great education at Case, and at the right time. It launched me into an awesome career. I am still working and participating in the devel opment of standards for software and systems engineering (elected to a position with the IEEE Computer Society). Now, let’s all go out and encourage all children — girls and boys — to participate in STEM classes, to prepare them for the future needs of American industry!
and
with critical funds needed for research, fellowships and laboratory upgrades • Enable the
School of
steve.zinram@casealum.org, 216-368-8841.
Thank you For supporting the Case Alumni Foundation organization of the Case Alumni Association, the oldest independent alumni association engineering applied Case School of Engineering Case Alumni Association Case Engineering Zinram, executive director of the Case Alumni Association, at
science graduates in America. With your help, we are able to… • Award scholarships to outstanding students who want to become Case engineers and scientists • Support the
to welcome thousands of graduates each year to Homecoming and other special events • Promote academic excellence, discovery and innovation in the Case tradition To learn how you can help CAF in its mission of supporting the
A supporting
for
and the applied sciences and mathematics at CWRU, please contact Steve
Case Western Reserve University invites you back to the start, countless alumni have unlocked the tools to fuel new discoveries and heighten their achievements. can too. engineering masters and let their commitment to excellence steer toward a more future. more when
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CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1712 CLEVELAND,ORGANIZATIONNON-PROFITU.S.POSTAGEPAIDOHIOPERMITNO.2120
Research alongside today's
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 in engineering. graduate4engineeringdegreeoptionsNationally#42RankedUniversity1 Best#52EngineeringGraduateSchool2 research270+andindustrypartnerships Become
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Scholarship funds payable recipient. $19,170 of the scholarship will be applied in a prorated manner over the duration of the student's program of study. 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.
