Alumni Newsmakers

Mission possible

Case-trained scientists are helping NASA explore Mars for signs of life

The nation was riveted as the Perseverance rover descended to Mars February 18 at the end of a parachute. But few watched as intently as the Case alumni at Gooch & Housego, a global leader in photonics technology in the Cleveland suburb of Highland Heights.

Katie Colbaugh ’13, MS ’15, and Matt Whittaker ’96, MSE ’00, PhD ’07, are crystal growth scientists. They grew crystals that were packed aboard Perseverance to help analyze soil and send the images back to Earth. Their experiments could speed the answer to the mission’s key question: did the Red Planet once support life?

The rover will collect rocks that will be returned to Earth 10 years from now, but the work of the Case alumni will help scientists to analyze pictures much sooner. Their crystal is a core component in the rover’s SuperCam, which can analyze the chemical makeup of Martian soil on the spot.

“If there was life present, they might have left traces of evidence,” Colbaugh explained to News 5, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland.

She described feeling a “wow factor,” knowing that a crystal she helped grow is now a part of the exploration of Mars.

“I think we lose sight of the exciting technology that we’re doing here because we’re used to it and we’re here every day, and so an event like this was certainly exciting for all of us here,” she said.

Gooch & Housego’s Highland Heights facility is one of the few places in the world growing crystals to use for such devices.

“It’s very exciting to see the rover land,” Whitaker agreed, “but it’s the people that are going to be working in the rooms analyzing data for years to come where all of the discoveries are going to start.”

He said he's looking forward to the data and research to follow.

“I can tell you that everybody who works in this facility was at home watching that landing, and I was too and it was really exciting,” said Whittaker, who earned all three of his Case degrees in materials science. “This is just the beginning of the science. The engineering challenge to get here was extremely impressive and they pulled it off, it looked like perfectly, but now — to me — is when the fun part of the details and all the analysis starts.”

Unforgettable lessons

With a $2 million gift, Bob Herbold supports inspired teaching

Former Microsoft COO Bob Herbold, MS ’66, PhD ’68, gained a lifetime of inspiration from his education at Case Institute of Technology. Fifty years later, he still keeps in touch with his favorite math professor, Richard Varga ’50, PhD.

“Professor Varga was a tremendous mentor — so much so that I still speak to him several times a year,” Herbold told The Daily, the university’s online news source, in announcing an uncommon gift.

To foster great teaching in the Case tradition, Herbold committed $2 million to endow a first-of-its-kind professorship at the Case School of Engineering. The Robert J. Herbold Professor of Transformative Teaching professorship will recognize and support a faculty member who excels at teaching and mentoring.

The first professorship will be held by Harold Connamacher, professor of computer and data science.

“Recently, I had an opportunity to monitor a class taught by Harold Connamacher and was really impressed,” said Herbold, who earned his master’s degree in mathematics and his doctorate in computer science at CIT. “Through this professorship, I hope to be able to recognize and reward teachers, like Harold, who are extraordinary in their field.”

Healthy pivot

Alumna leads food-tech startup to early success

As president and CEO of Foster Farms, Laura Flanagan ’90 led one of the largest poultry producers in the western United States. She left the meat business in 2019, when she became president of Ripple Foods, a California-based maker of plant-based foods and beverages intended to be nutritious and sustainable.

She may be just what the non-dairy milk needed. Ripple reported double-digit sales growth in 2020, its fifth year in business, and is expanding its distribution and product offerings. NutritionInvestor. com, which covers investment in the food and beverage industry, noted that Ripple’s rise coincides with the addition of key new executives, including Flanagan.

She reports feeling right at home.

“I gravitated to our mission of creating food that is good for people and good for the planet,” Flanagan said. “We are building a great team to take Ripple's growth to the next level.”

Flanagan earned her bachelor’s degree in systems and control engineering at Case and worked as a manufacturing engineer for Saturn Corp. before earning her MBA at Stanford and entering the food industry. A supporter of her alma mater, she earned the Case Alumni Association’s Meritorious Service Award in 2013 while president of the Snack Division of ConAgra Foods.

Scholar athlete

Spartan football standout Patrick Crossey earns prestigious NCAA award

As a captain of the Spartan football team, Patrick Crossey ’20 led the team to two PAC Championships and a pair of NCAA Playoff berths — while earning a 3.81 grade point average as a civil engineering major.

He’s now working for a construction company in the Washington D.C. area, but the collegiate honors continue.

Crossey in February was awarded the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, which recognizes student athletes who excelled both academically and athletically in the last year of their eligibility. The honor includes a $10,000 scholarship for graduate school.

Crossey is the seventh player in the history of CWRU football to earn the prestigious award. He follows Cody Calhoun ’18, now a scientist and clinical research assistant for the Ohio State University College of Medicine, and Dayton Snyder ’16, a biomedical engineer and cancer researcher at CWRU.

A starting safety all four years, Crossey ended his career ranked ninth in program history in tackles, with 294. He was also a leader in his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, where he served as secretary.

Crossey specialized in construction management in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In July he started with Grunley Construction Co. as an engineer. He said he would like to use the NCAA scholarship to pursue an MBA.

Electric innovator

Another engineering professor joins the National Academy of Inventors

The research of Professor Rohan Akolkar, PhD ’04, has resulted in new nano-materials and electrochemical fabrication processes. Those discoveries have in turn enabled production of highperformance microprocessors used in computers, cell phones and other electronics devices.

His success pushing the envelope in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering has not gone unnoticed. In February, Akolkar was elected to the National Academy of Inventors as a Senior Member, recognizing him as one of the nation’s top young academic scientists.

A chemical engineer, Akolkar is the fourth CSE faculty member to be selected for the academy in the past year. He follows in the footsteps of Anant Madabhushi, the Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Umut Gurkan, associate professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; and Scott Bruder, adjunct professor of Biomedical Engineering.

Dean Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan said Akolkar’s election was well-deserved and enhances Case’s research reputation.

“His field-leading work in electrochemistry, his leadership at the Great Lakes Energy Institute, and the meaningful partnerships he has established with our national laboratories have helped to cement Case Western Reserve’s position as a leader in catalyzing breakthroughs in energy and sustainability,” the dean said.

Akolkar, the faculty director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute, earned his doctorate in chemical engineering from the Case School of Engineering and won numerous industry awards and patents during his eight-year tenure in research and development at Intel.