Alumni Q&A

Carlos Grodsinsky, MS’ 91, PhD ’93,

wants to make aerospace believers of us all

Carlos Grodsinsky was recently named chairman of the Aerozone Alliance, a new economic development group aiming to create an innovation hub around Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the NASA Glenn Research Center. We sat down with him at ZIN Technologies, an aerospace design and engineering firm in Middleburg Heights, where he’s chief operating officer.

An immigrant from Argentina, he came to the Case School of Engineering from Michigan in 1987 to earn his master’s and doctorate degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Now he hopes to help create a space-age economy for his adopted hometown.

We’ve been hearing about the Aerozone Alliance and efforts to develop the land around the airport. Why is this a big deal?

It’s bigger than the airport. Basically, we’re looking at the innovation cluster, the expertise and the intellectual capital, around the NASA Glenn Research Center and the industry that supports that center, and how to leverage that in a more effective way. Airports are about transportation, and that’s important. The Aerozone is really about aeronautics and aerospace. And a lot of that is because of our jewel—NASA Glenn. If you look at other NASA centers, they’ve been able to do a lot more. If you look at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Marshals Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama, there’s a much bigger aerospace industrial base around those centers.

Why hasn’t our NASA blossomed into something bigger here?

I think we just haven’t organized ourselves as well as we can, and part of that is historical. Since we’ve had such a long manufacturing history, things tend to get stovepiped. There was maybe no desire to really organize and plan for the new stuff. Over time I think evolutionary forces passed us by. I’ve been here since ’87, this is the only common thread I see.

NASA Glenn is state of the art. It’s an R&D center, but they are starting to

evolve into more programming. They have responsibility for the “first element” in the Gateway Mission back to the moon. That first element—that’s what they call it—is all about power and propulsion. How do we make sure we can grow that into a new economy and new technology? That’s the whole idea behind Aerozone. It’s an exciting time.

So how can we take advantage of this opportunity?

Part of our role is to get some of that new expertise and knowledge out into our industry, and source and build these systems in Northeast Ohio, as opposed to sending the work to California or Colorado. And there are a lot of reasons why the Midwest is attractive. We’re cost competitive. We certainly have the top-end knowledge. Our companies are evolving into more advanced manufacturing. Eaton Aerospace is actually headquartered in California. But Parker (Hannifin) is totally here. And we’re working with them. We’re working with Saffron, Meggitt, and the surrounding communities. So all of these people are part of this. It’s synergistic. Part of our role is to get some of that new expertise and knowledge out into our industry, and source and build these systems in Northeast Ohio, as opposed to sending the work to California or Colorado. And there are a lot of reasons why the Midwest is attractive. ”

What can the alliance do?

I think you need an entity as a point of contact for people coming into the area, and to develop the industry that we do have. The government doesn’t have the resources to do that. We know how to work with NASA and with local industry. The idea is that we have a whole critical industrial base around NASA Glenn and the airport and the Ford property. It’s totally underutilized but very valuable space.

What could the Aerozone be in 10 years? Some press reports have talked about 50,000 jobs.

That’s the intent. I don’t know what the time frame would be. ZIN is a piece of this. They use us as a poster child. In the last 18 months, we’ve added over 100 jobs (boosting the workforce to about 325). Most of that is just from leveraging our expertise and knowledge we gained working with NASA, and NASA Glenn in particular, but now we do flight hardware across the market sector. For the Dream Chaser (NASA’s space plane), we are designing and engineering the whole electrical power system. It’s a commercial contract with NASA. That’s work for a lot of engineers, a lot of technicians.

The Aerozone Why does aerospace in Northeast Ohio excite you?

I love the breadth of different technologies, and how pervasive space is in our lives, although it seems to be a well-kept secret. And I didn’t want to leave Cleveland. I think Cleveland’s a great town. Case, the universities, the arts, the symphony—the city has so much going for it. And a lot of people come back! I live in Hinkley now. You learn, slowly, the east side, the west side, I didn’t know it was a thing. (laughs) We have one daughter. Sadly, she left Ohio (to work for Tesla). We doubt she’s coming back. But that’s partly why I’m interested in the Aerozone and why I chair the Ohio Aerospace and Aviation Council. We’re losing too much of our best and brightest. We have to offer them a future here.

The Aerozone comprises parts of five communities, NASA Glenn and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to Robert.Smith@casealum.org.