Around the Quad

Commencement 2021

After polling students, the university opts for in-person graduation ceremonies

In another sign of return to normalcy, Case Western Reserve University will hold limited in-person commencement ceremonies beginning May 16.

The decision came after a poll of graduating seniors and graduate students found that more than half would “definitely” attend live events and another 21 percent said they would “probably” be there.

University leaders also expressed encouragement in the accelerating rates of vaccinations and lowered prevalence of Covid-19 in the region and on campus. The positivity rate on campus, where testing is widespread, has steadily decreased since January and in March dipped below 0.5 percent, interim President Scott Cowen reported to staff and faculty.

“Like many of you, we treasure the tradition of graduates coming together to celebrate their achievements and receive the diplomas they worked so hard to earn,” Cowen said in a March 19 email to hopeful graduates. “We were glad to read that so many of you felt similar sentiments.”

Still, the university intends to continue precautions, including physical distancing. Instead of a mass gathering, plans call for several smaller ceremonies for specific schools and colleges. Also, attendance will be limited to the graduates themselves and select faculty and staff.

Cowen expressed regret that parents will not be allowed to attend. All events will take place on Freiberger Field and will be livestreamed so family and friends can watch them unfold in real time. Here are more details: • Plans call for in-person graduation ceremonies for schools awarding professional or graduate degrees, including the Case School of Engineering • The first two ceremonies, for law and medicine, will take place on

Sunday, May 16. • Undergraduate ceremonies, including those for engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences, will take place on Sunday, May 30 • The remaining schools’ diploma ceremonies will happen on the preceding

Friday and Saturday (May 28-29)

The university cautions that public health conditions could force plans to change. Times and updates will be posted at case.edu/commencement/about/ 2021-commencement-updates.

Go STEM and go bold

Alumna delivered encouraging words to Case students tuned into the annual SWE luncheon

Keynote speaker Hang Loi (top row, third from left) preached courage and resilience.

Nearly 80 people, mostly female science and engineering majors, Zoomed into the annual luncheon of the Society of Women Engineers during Engineers Week in February. They beamed as Hang Loi ’88 advised them to stride boldly into their chosen careers, for they were already well on their way to success.

“A STEM degree makes you marketable,” said Loi, an engineer and inventor at 3M in Minneapolis. “And being marketable is a sign of career success.”

Loi earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Case, but also a bachelor’s degree in piano through the Department of Music. While she did not go on to play professionally, she believes music lends her an edge in innovation.

“Music gave me bragging rights,” she said. “It gave me confidence that I could do something difficult.”

Loi rose through the engineering ranks at 3M, where she is the Global Supplier Relationship Manager for its consumer electronics business. In November, she was honored by the Society of Women Engineers at the WE20 Virtual Conference for two patents she recently attained for innovations to multilayer optical films.

Her luncheon address, moved online because of the pandemic, was titled “Courage and Resilience.” She urged the students to practice self-reflection and to set goals.

“If you can, really, really, really try to set 5- to 10-year goals,” she said. “Just really focus on yourself and figure out where you want to go. What do you want to achieve?”

If you’re not sure, seek advice, Loi said. Ask questions — she wishes she had asked more. Then march forward with confidence.

“The world needs more scientists and engineers,” she said.

Learn more about the CWRU chapter of the Society of Women Engineers at cwru.swe.org/.

New material world

White Hall will become a bigger, brighter place for materials scientists

The construction underway in the Charles M. White Metallurgy Building, home to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been a long time coming. It was more than 10 years ago that a visiting committee recommended dramatic updates to a building designed for an earlier era.

The wait will have been worth it, promises Jim McGuffin-Cawley, PhD ’84, the former department chair and the Arthur S. Holden Professor of Engineering. A $1.2 million renovation will result in a new entranceway from Case Quad, a stateof-the-art materials science lab and new spaces for networking and collaboration.

“It’s going to have a completely different look and feel,” said McGuffin-Cawley, who began fundraising for the project a decade ago. “It’s going to just change things for a generation of students.”

Opened in 1961, White Hall is a hard-to-navigate warren of sharp turns and outdated spaces. For example, it has four dark rooms designed for imaging equipment seldom used anymore.

Come fall, when it reopens, students, faculty and visitors will stroll into a bright, glass-walled lobby that showcases a new Materials Teaching Laboratory. McGuffin-Cawley hopes a roomy new student lounge will foster more of the faculty-student interaction that is a hallmark of a Case education.

The renovations should be completed in time for the start of fall classes and for alumni tours at Homecoming in October. Meanwhile, the Department of Materials Sciences is seeking to raise funds to furnish the lab with modern materials science equipment, including a tabletop scanning electron microscope, an X-ray diffractometer and a thermalanalysis system.

To learn more about how to help, go to casealumni.org/give/ and choose “Materials Science.”

Sharing the thrill of engineering

As a leader of Robotics for All, freshman Garrett Tieng is helping pull more youth into STEM By John Garcia ’21

Garrett Tieng ’24 threw himself into robotics in high school, reading up on strategies and collaborating with friends on his Botball team. But he did more than explore his own passion for engineering. He found ways to open doors for others.

At age 15, Tieng became a teacher for Robotics for All, a collective of volunteers launched by a former high school robotics teammate in Palo Alto, California. The non-profit group provides free STEM classes and robotics training to youth who might not otherwise have the opportunity. Now a first year at the Case School of Engineering, Tieng is the vice president and chief operating officer of a crusade with impact.

Since its start in 2017, Robotics for All has grown to encompass more than 220 volunteers like himself. Meanwhile, more than 1,200 K-8th grade student have been trained through its online and in-person (pre-pandemic) courses. Tieng oversees the development of curricula for online coding classes and is anxious to return to a live classroom environment. He’d love to again see children learning the fundamentals of robotics with Lego Mindstorms EV3 kits.

“It was such a joy to be able to share my passion with students who otherwise may not have been able to experience robotics,” he said.

As a volunteer instructor, Tieng discovered a love for teaching. He would like to bring Robotics for All to more underserved communities. Tieng created a Board of Directors to lend the organization more structure and helped transition to remote classes when Covid-19 hit. In the summer of 2020, he directed the development of online classes in Fundamentals of Programming, Python and Scratch.

Meanwhile, he continues to explore engineering as a mechanical and aerospace engineering major and as a member of the Case Aeronautics Team, where he helps design planes for competitions and memes with friends.

If engineering schools find more STEM-enthused youth in the years ahead, it may well be because of recruiters like Garrett Tieng.

Learn more about Robotics for All at robiticsforall.net.