Letters, posts and emails

Our profile of Arun Varshneya, the alumnus who developed chemically strengthened glass for devices like the EpiPen, drew several enthusiastic responses, including these:

I enjoyed the recent coverage of Dr. Varshneya’s career. He had been also a colleague and friend at the Ford Research Laboratory. If there is a way for you to pass along my best wishes and congratulations on a marvelous career it would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Robert McCune

CIT Physics ’69 robert.mccune@sbcglobal.net

Lovely example of CWRU culture — which values interdisciplinary curiosity & innovation. “They were like, ‘Hey, take whatever courses you like. See where it takes you.’”

Kara Hazelgrave ’96 @karahazelgrave via Twitter

You can count mine as another life you saved through your work. Thank you for allowing this life-saving shot to work!

Joy Ward, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, CWRU @joywardKU

Via Twitter

An alumnus thinks the “soft skills” taught by Joe Mayer, PhD, are essential for all Case students.

Kudos to Joe Mayer, PhD, who teaches “Leadership and Interpersonal Skills,” EPOM 400, as reported in the Spring 2021 issue of Case Alumnus. I have often thought that such a course would be especially beneficial to science and engineering students.

While there are some outstanding books for personal development and enhancing interpersonal skills (such as Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins and the classic How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie), bringing these concepts to the classroom at Case offers growth to busy students in an area largely overshadowed by the emphasis on developing technical skills and knowledge.

Although this is presently a graduate course, my hope is that consideration would be given to making a version of this course a core requirement for all undergraduate students at Case. These are lifelong skills that will enrich Case students as they move beyond graduation on the journey of their professional and personal lives.

Eric R. Snyder ’72

Hudson, Ohio via the U.S. Mail ers6872@sbcglobal.net

The Case Alumni Association is a financial supporter of SOURCE, a university program that matches students with summer research projects. We heard from a grateful scholar.

Or by mail to: Case Alumnus

Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland OH 44106

I just finished my first year as an undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University. I'm majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in artificial intelligence. I want to thank you for your generous support of my 2021 SOURCE STEM research scholar funding. It allowed me to conduct research under my mentor in person this summer and help successfully complete my first research project.

I conduct research as an undergraduate in Dr. Robert Gao's Electromechanical Systems Lab and work on a day-to-day basis with his graduate students, Clayton Cooper and Jianjing Zhang. My research used physics-informed machine learning to predict the mechanical properties of parts printed using metal additive manufacturing. We used thermal imaging data to train our neural network.

This research was conducted in conjunction with faculty and students at Northwestern University. The new model we developed has the potential to ensure reliability in healthcare applications, automotive parts, or anything that utilizes this additive manufacturing process.

I came to Case for the research opportunities offered to undergraduate students. My goal was to earn a master's in mechanical engineering or potentially machine learning. I'm now also considering a Ph.D. and this experience was an integral part of that decision. My technical knowledge has grown so much. Thank you for this opportunity.

Regards,

Joshua Huang ’24

Kansas City, Kansas

Our stories on two standout alumni inspired a letter from a seasoned techi.

The “Case Memories” section always stirs memories. Timothy Brown ’00 (TimothyBrown@email.com) wrote to say that he recognized a classmate, May Liu ’98, at the far right of the top photo on page 24 of the Winter 2021 Alumnus.

Turns out the Case Engineers Council was a nice springboard. Liu went on to earn her doctorate at Stanford and today is a principal medical research scientist at Intuitive Surgical, a pioneer in robotic-assisted surgery.

The articles about my former colleagues Don Schuele and fellow graduate Bruce Banks in Case Alumnus (Winter 2021 issue) inspired me to write this short note about probably the oldest alum still actively running a technical company — as well as a non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting experimental physics education.

I confess, I’m speaking of myself. I had two major connections to Case — one as an undergraduate physics and astronomy major (BS ’53) and as a faculty member from 1965 to 1970 in the Physics Department.

I will be celebrating my 90th birthday in August with a party at my company, TeachSpin, and I will be building our PS2 — D Pulsed/CW Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer, designed specifically for teaching. I donated such an instrument to the Case Physics Department a few years ago.

I do enjoy reading about my school, but am sad to see so many of us leaving this planet.

Stay well,

Jonathan Reichert ’53

Buffalo, NY via the U.S. Mail

Circle of culture

Campus neighborhood named No. 1 arts district in the USA

It doesn’t take long for first-year students to notice the cultural riches all around them. Case students are shaped not only by their academic programs but by University Circle, which some call the busiest square mile of arts and culture in the nation.

That title just became a little more official. In May, readers of USA Today voted University Circle the No. 1 arts district in the country. The campus neighborhood — which includes the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Maltz Performing Arts Center and Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra — beat out arts districts in Minneapolis, Dallas, Baltimore and Miami to win the 2021 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest.

“We’ve known for years – and now the rest of the nation will know as well – that some of the best art in the country can be found right here in our own backyard,” Chris Ronayne, president of University Circle Inc., said in a press release.

Added William Griswold, director and president of the Cleveland Museum of Art, “We very much look forward to welcoming visitors from our region and around the globe to enjoy our exhibitions and renowned collection.”

More than 40 nonprofit and cultural organizations are located in University Circle, and many of them are cheap or free to students.