Alumni newsmakers

Trailblazer helps other women find success in STEM

Ka-Pi Hoh ’84, MS ’87, PhD ’89, was named one of Northeast Ohio’s Notable Women in STEM by Crain’s Cleveland Business for her pioneering work for Lubrizol Corp. and for her eagerness to share her success.

A three-degree alum from Case Institute of Technology, Hoh is an expert in macromolecular science and engineering. Recently, she was promoted to Director of Organization Change Management, Information Solutions Strategy at Lubrizol, a specialty chemicals maker headquartered in the Cleveland suburb of Wickliffe.

Hoh’s impact spans the globe. She served as the first female technical manager at Lubrizol’s European Research and Development Centre in the United Kingdom, where she helped pave the way for other women scientists, according to Julie Edgar, vice president of research and development and chief sustainability officer at Lubrizol.

“Ka-Pi has always been focused on helping women in STEM—both internal and external to Lubrizol,” Edgar told Crain’s, adding that Hoh was one of the founders of the Lubrizol’s Women in Technology group.

Hoh also helped to establish Lubrizol’s technical presence in China. She designed and managed construction of the Zhuhai Research, Development Testing Laboratory, then recruited and developed a team of chemists, technicians and managers, Edgar said. Back in the U.S., she led the team that redesigned Lubrizol’s product commercialization process.

At her alma mater, Hoh serves as chair of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering. She’s also a professional mentor for the Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER), where members were thrilled to hear of her award.

Sarah Dunifon, WISER’s associate director, described Hoh as “one of our greatest supporters.”

Alumnus Charles Phipps helps the dean think big

Thanks to computer science pioneer Charles Phipps, CIT ’49, Dean Venkataramanan Balakrishnan has new resources at his fingertips. Phipps, committed $5 million to the Case School of Engineering to create a fund the dean can tap for research and big ideas.

“This support is incredibly helpful to the school and I am so grateful to Mr. Phipps for his generosity,” said Dean Balakrishnan, who henceforth will be known as the Charles H. Phipps Dean at the Case School of Engineering.

The endowment allows him to draw annually from the fund for research opportunities, strategic initiatives and transformative ideas.

Phipps, who is 92 and lives in Dallas, earned his degree in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology in 1949 and never forgot the experience.

“Case at that time was just right for me, in part because of the small class sizes and easy rapport with professors, as I came from a small town and would have been lost at a larger university,” Phipps told The Daily. “But the university also had a strong interplay between engineering and science, and with that and social and other activities, I had a sense of accomplishment by my senior year and initial confidence for trying new uncharted challenges.”

His career took him to Texas Instruments in the late 1950s, just as the company was developing integrated circuits and semi-conductors. He rose to become director of strategy.

The recent endowment is Phipps’ third major gift to Case. In 2005, he and his brother, John B. Phipps, created the Myron Phipps Dean’s Discretionary Fund in memory of their father. That fund helped launch the Great Lakes Energy Institute in 2008.

In 2011, Phipps’ $2 million commitment created the Phipps Endowment Fund for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in honor his late wife, Mary Claire Aschenbrener Phipps.

The latest gift will help the dean in his desire to offer more experiential learning, expand research and grow the PhD program.

California transplant thrives in CLE startup culture

Vedang Kothari ’12, MEM ’13, came to the Case School of Engineering from San Jose to earn his degree in biomedical engineering. Many people, including his business-owning father, tried to coax him back to California with job offers.

Lucky for Northeast Ohio, Kothari stayed to apply his entrepreneurial instincts near campus. Last August, he helped launch MuReva, a biotech startup offering a promising light therapy for people suffering a side effect of cancer treatments. The company quickly raised $1.3 million in capital and attracted another $1.7 million in government grants, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported.

Kothari credits his early success to a local startup support network that puts collaboration over competition.

“What I like about Northeast Ohio is that it’s a very close-knit community where people are very willing to help,” he told Crain’s. “I think in other places, like Silicon Valley, it’s very competitive. Whereas here...everyone I’ve talked to has been very willing to go out of their way to support us, even though there’s no direct financial gain for them.”

MuReva sprang from Lumitex, a Strongsville lighting solutions company where Kothari interned as a student. He began working on a phototherapy treatment for oral mucositis, which causes painful ulcers in one’s mouth and throat. MuReva is nearing clinical trials on a mouthpiece designed to bathe the oral cavity in healing light. The startup was supported in its endeavors by local business accelerators like BioEnterprise and Jumpstart Inc. It also had the advantage of Kothari as president and CEO.

“He’s a really smart guy,” Lumitex CEO Peter Broer told Crain’s. “He’s a leader. He’s a natural. As one of the investors said, ‘He’s right out of central casting.’”

Thinking beyond

Startup competition highlights the innovation of Case alumni

Graduates of the Case School of Engineering will be well represented when the second edition of the Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition reaches its spring climax.

Among the six finalists vying for $50,000 in prize money and professional services are Everykey, a password solution company founded by Chris Wentz ’13, and Quanterra, an aerial imaging analytics service founded by Shoshana Ginsburg, PhD ’15. The contest seeks to identify and support promising startups with CWRU connections. It was co-founded by Bob Pavey, a Case Western Reserve trustee, in honor of his late investment partner David Morgenthaler.

More than 50 student and alumni-led companies entered the second edition— nearly double the number from the contest’s first year in 2017. They were winnowed to a pool of six finalists by the finance class of Scott Shane, a Weatherhead professor who specializes in entrepreneurship. On May 29, the finalists will seek to impress a panel of investors at the George S. Dively Building on campus. Chris Wentz is no stranger to pitching his product, which addresses the problem of remembering passwords. Everykey has developed a Bluetooth device that unlocks your phone, laptop, tablet or car doors when you’re nearby.

Wentz began developing the technology while earning his bachelor’s degree in computer science, then launched his company with a Kickstarter campaign in 2014. He has since attracted more than $1 million in seed funding. He and his team work out of offices in Little Italy.

Shoshana Ginsburg came away with a $10,000 prize at the first Morgenthaler-Pavey competition, when Quanterra was known as ImaginAg. Her company creates software for analyzing aerial images, enabling farmers, surveyors and developers to elicit insightful data from drone flights.

“Looking for a needle in a haystack? How about a cow on a ranch?” the company asks on its website.

A senior research scientist for MIM Software in Cleveland, Ginsburg earned her doctorate in biomedical engineering from Case, where she specialized in machine learning tools.

You can meet these alumni founders, and learn more about their innovations, at the competition. Find registration information at mpstartup.com.