Editor’s column

I 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 Western Reserve. CardioInsight 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.

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.

CWRU has built that pipeline, and the Case School of Engineering is playing a pivotal role.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, INC. Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106-1712 216-231-4567 casealum@casealum.org casealum.org

OFFICERS 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 Photography Flaticon.com, Icons

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.

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.

Propelled by engineering researchers, CWRU leaps ahead in global patent rankings.

For an international student in the 1950s, Case launched a career and a passion. FALL 2019 • vol. 34 • no. 1

1 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.

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