Alumni Newsmakers

Clean idea

Thinkboxers develop a faster, better way to disinfect hospital masks

Since early spring, staff at Sears think[box] have focused on producing equipment and innovations that can help healthcare workers fight Covid-19. Ian Charnas ’05, the Director of Innovation and Technology at think[box], thinks the latest invention to come off the prototyping floor is the most exciting one yet.

A team sprinkled with Case alumni developed a device that can disinfect an N95 respirator for reuse in one minute. The product has the potential to be a godsend for small- and medium-sized hospitals that need the masks, but lack rapid decontamination capabilities.

“No one else has done anything like that,” Charnas told The Land, a new online newspaper in Greater Cleveland. “We’re contributing towards human knowledge and adding something new to the conversation.”

The Synchronous UV-C Decontamination System even has a catchy nickname, SUDS. It’s a tall, narrow, single-door box that baths an N95 mask in Ultraviolet C, a wavelength of light with the ability to kill germs.

The technology began in the lab of Jacob Scott, MD, a clinical assistant professor in the School of Medicine, whose graduate students hypothesized that increasing the intensity of UV light could disinfect masks quickly. Charnas tapped Badar Kayani ’20, the Prototyping Student Lead at think[box], to build the device, which is easy to use. Throw in a mask, shut the door, and in 60 seconds, tests show, the mask is disinfected and ready to be reused.

With a prototype to demonstrate, the team is now looking for a commercialization partner.

Email Charnas at Ian.Charnas@case.edu.

Model athlete

By earning her Case degree, Olympian became an even bigger star back home

In 2004, Shikha Tandon, MS ’12, swam for India at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Later, she earned her master’s degree in biology at Case Western Reserve University. Today, both accomplishments make her a person of honor in her homeland.

In June, the Hindustan Times, one of the largest newspapers in India, reflected on Tandon’s example as “one of the few Indian sportspersons who has combined sports and education at the highest level.”

She was 19 when she competed against the world’s best swimmers in the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle — two events in which she still holds the national record in India. Six years later, a shoulder injury ended her swimming career, but she was already working in the labs on Case Quad. She completed her master’s degree program in biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and went to work for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, combining her passion for science and sports as Science Program Lead. Today, at 35, she’s a product manager for TechCrunch in San Francisco and a role model for superstar athletes in India.

“Shikha feels education has a very important role in an athlete’s life — be it understanding your own body, diet and the sport, following an anti-doping program or making a post-retirement plan,” the newspaper wrote.

It quotes Tandon advising other elite athletes to prepare for their second act: “An athlete’s career is unpredictable — injuries can force them to quit,” she said. “What do you do then? Education can help you.”

Find her story at tinyurl.com/ shikhatandon.

Numbers guy

Alumnus dives into baseball statistics with holy zeal

There’s almost something divine about Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, the number that expresses a baseball player’s value to the team. Rev. Humbert Kilanowski ’04, PhD, who honed his mathematics skills at Case, has been making news for tweaking the most studied formula in baseball.

An assistant professor of mathematics at Providence College, Kilanowski is also an expert in sabermetrics, baseball analytics made famous in the book and film Moneyball. Recently, he was profiled by the Catholic News Service for giving baseball executives more numbers to crunch.

Theoretically, WAR judges a player's skill over that of his replacement — typically a minor leaguer who would be called up to take his spot on the roster. Using statistical data from the summer Cape Cod Baseball League, where he watched and scored games last season, Kilanowski devised WAR rankings for amateur players with limited playing time and shallower stat pools — something that had not been done before.

His results were published in July in the Baseball Research Journal of the Society for American Baseball Research and appear to have already affected some draft picks.

A lifelong baseball fan, Kilanowski was known as Philip when he studied math and astronomy at Case (Humbert is his religious name). He found his vocation while earning his doctorate in mathematics from Ohio State. In 2018, he was ordained a Catholic priest and became a Dominican Friar. Now he pursues both passions — faith and baseball — with mathematical zeal.

“I knew that I wanted to build on my research background in applied probability,” Kilanowski told Providence College Magazine last year. “God’s providence has shown me new ways to tie in mathematics with my studies in philosophy and theology since becoming a Dominican, and even searching for a better model in baseball is part of the lifelong quest for truth.”

Unsung heroes

Factory workers and polymer scientists work overtime to fight the coronavirus

Healthcare heroes have attracted most of the attention in the battle against the coronavirus, as well they should. But many manufacturing workers and their science colleagues have also been working overtime to fight the pandemic.

Braskem America, a major polypropylene producer, made national news when its workers volunteered for “liveins” at factories in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to produce the key polymer used in medical gowns, disinfectant wipes and face masks. During the first live-in that ended in late April, 44 employees worked and lived at the Braskem plant outside of Philadelphia for 28 straight days without leaving.

“The undertaking was just one example of the endless ways that Americans in every industry have uniquely contributed to fighting the coronavirus,” The Washington Post reported. “All of the workers volunteered, hunkering down at the plant to ensure no one caught the virus outside as they sought to meet the rocketing demand for their key product, polypropylene.”

A Case alumnus added scientific insight to the effort. Joel Carr, PhD ’13, Braskem’s U.S. product team leader, worked with his team in Pittsburgh to support the increased production with polymer engineering.

“Knowing that we are making products that go into these applications that keep health care workers safe is really empowering,” Carr told The Daily, CWRU’s online news source.

Carr said Braskem shifted products between factories in order to meet the sharp increases in demand. That move “is not trivial,” he said, adding that his team helped ensure “the products have the same polymer architecture and balance of properties” to meet application needs and customer expectations. Carr, a PhD student of Professor Eric Baer, was a Charles Reed Fellow at Case and has enjoyed early success as a polymer scientist.

In 2017, Plastics News named him a Rising Star for his success developing new polypropylene copolymers.

Master teacher

Lauded by students, the man behind "Larry Lab" wins the Wittke award

Students have their own name for Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering 371, a course taught by Larry Sears ’69.

“This sounds corny, but ‘Larry Lab’ changed my life,” a former student recently told a nominating committee.

He was one of several students who have described the circuit design course as “legendary,” and helped Sears win the 2020 Carl F. Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Sears, the champion of Sears think[box], brings the experience of an engineer and the enthusiasm of a tinkerer and an inventor to the classroom. Soon after graduating from Case Institute of Technology in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he launched his startup in a storefront in Little Italy. Hexagram Inc. developed and manufactured electrical systems and controls for companies, solving problems on demand. Most notably, it produced a remote meter-reading device that was adopted by utilities across the land.

After 35 years in industry, Sears sold his company and returned to the Case School of Engineering as an adjunct faculty member, where he focuses on applying theory to real-world projects.

In his class, students are challenged to pursue a new project every week, with each project presenting different topics in analog, mixed-signal and power electronics, according to The Daily, CWRU’s online news source. They are encouraged to show independent thinking and creativity.

“Actual performance is always going to be different from simulations and calculations,” Sears told The Daily. “As in life, things rarely go according to expectations.”