Case Alumnus Spring 2022

Case Alumnus

The Magazine of the Case Alumni Association since 1921

FOREVER CASE Remembering alumnus Tom Kicher, dean, educator, catalyst

Spring 2022

SAVE THE DATE HOMECOMING

2022

OCTOBER

6 -9

HIGH TIME FOR A VISIT!

We’re excited to welcome alumni back to campus this fall for a weekend of showcases, tours, lectures and nostalgia.

Find updates and details at casealumni.org/homecoming.

REUNIONS ARE BACK

Want to get the old gang back together?

We can help. When it comes to staging reunions, we’re the experts. Contact Kelly Hendricks, Director of Alumni Relations — 216-368-0635; Kelly.Hendricks@casealum.org — and get started on making Homecoming 2022 one to remember.

Dean’s Message

A spring made finer by our remarkable graduates

The academic year follows a rhythm counter to that of the natural world. Just as the earth begins to reawaken each spring, the school begins to slow down and we prepare to say goodbye. Thus, spring is always somewhat bittersweet in my mind – joy at new beginnings tempered with a bit of wistfulness as another academic year goes by.

“This May we honor the Class of 2022 – a class that met a monumentally challenging moment with resiliency and determination…”

This wistfulness is tinged with sorrow this year, marked as it is by the passing of one of the pillars of the Case School of Engineering and a dear friend to many of us here, Dr. Thomas Kicher. Tom was deeply kind, honorable, curious, and funny, a remarkable engineer, and a leader of exceptional dedication. You will read about Tom’s life and his extraordinary contributions to this institution later in the magazine. He changed this school and many of us in it for the better, and I am very grateful to have known him.

Though we are saddened by his loss, I suspect Tom would be the first to celebrate all that is joyful in this season. This May, we honor the Class of 2022 – a class that met a monumentally challenging moment with resiliency and determination, and who, in their time at CWRU, have reached incredible heights. I am in awe of these newest Case grads, and offer them sincerest congratulations on all they have accomplished and my very best wishes for everything that lies ahead.

My thanks go to all who continue to support the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the Case School of Engineering and Case Western Reserve University. May joy find each of you this spring.

Best regards, Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan Charles H. Phipps Dean, Case School of Engineering

Spring 2022

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Tom Kicher left a big space One day about two years ago, I called Tom Kicher’s mobile phone and reached him in his car. I wanted to talk with him about a story he was writing for Case Alumnus. He said he was on his way to work and would call me back.

Work? I did some quick mental arithmetic. I guessed he was in his early 80s. I knew he had retired from the faculty years ago (in 2005).

“I thought you were retired?” I said.

“Retired, hah!” he replied. “I should try that some time.”

Tom had the joy of working alongside his son, Paul ’91, right up until recent times at their engineering consulting firm in Mentor. He worked a lot of places, because he helped a lot of people.

Steve Zinram, the executive director of the Case Alumni Association, told me he called Tom at least once a month for 10 years. He said the former dean, who arrived on campus a freshman in 1955, could recall faculty who began teaching at Case in the 1890s.

Tom’s breadth of knowledge of Case and its people was astonishing.

At the time of his death on Feb. 19 at age 84, he was helping the Kelvin Smith Library create a digital history of the school. He was also working for me, as a prolific writer and researcher whom I often tried to slow down.

Tom’s cover story on Leonard Case Jr., “The Case Legacy,” was easily our most popular story of 2019. (I asked for 3,000 words — he gave me 13,000).

I’m more impressed with his later profile of Harry Fielding Reid, an early Case professor who led students on an expedition to the Alaskan frontier in 1890. The story is a marvel, if only for its description of how the team measured the movement of glaciers — colossal, uncharted glaciers — using standard surveying techniques they learned on campus.

Tom’s appetite for context and history was boundless. He was the master of the trenchant observation and the clever joke. I did not know him as a professor, but so many alumni have written to share memories, I feel I’m starting to.

No one gets a resource like Tom Kicher. Case did, for better than 65 years.

We cannot call him anymore. And I think that’s what’s called the end of an era.

The Case Alumnus is published quarterly for members and friends of the Case Alumni Association, which serves the interests of more than 20,000 alumni of the Case School of Applied Science, Case Institute of Technology and the Case School of Engineering.

Established in 1885 by the first five graduates of the Case School of Applied Science, the Case Alumni Association is the oldest independent alumni association of engineering and applied science graduates in the nation.

The Case Alumnus is a publication of the Case Alumni Association, Inc., a 501(c)3 public charity under the IRS code.

CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, INC. Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106-1712 216-231-4567 casealum@casealum.org casealumni.org

OFFICERS Joe Fakult ’90, President Brian Casselberry ’95, 1st Vice President Matt Crowley ’08, 2nd Vice President Curtis Grant ‘11, MEM ’12, 3rd Vice President Frank Merat ’72, MS ’75, PhD ’78, Treasurer Hillary Emer ‘07, MSE ’07, Assistant Treasurer Steve Simmons ‘79, MS ‘82, MBA ’86, Secretary

STAFF Stephen Zinram, Executive Director Thomas Conlon, Chief Financial Officer Emily Speer, Director of Gift Planning and Grants Compliance Robert L. Smith, Director of Communications Kelly Hendricks, Director of Alumni Relations Ryan Strine, Director of Annual Giving Janna Greer, Manager of Donor Relations and Grants Abbie Murphy, Manager of Digital Content and Design Pamela Burtonshaw, Database Manager Melissa Slager, Manager, Executive Office

CASE ALUMNUS Robert L. Smith, Editor Steve Toth, Toth Creative Group, Layout and Design Master Printing

Robert L. Smith Editor Robert.Smith@casealum.org

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PHOTO CREDITS Wetzler’s Photography Roadell Hickman Photography Flaticon.com, Icons

THE MAGAZINE OF THE CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SINCE 1921 To serve and advance the interests of the Case School of Engineering, the math and applied sciences of Case Western Reserve University and its alumni and students.

SPRING 2022

Cover story 12 Forever Case The passing of alumnus and

former Dean Tom Kicher sparked remembrances and tributes from alumni and admirers far and wide.

No wonder.

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Violinmakers of think[box]

If your child or grandchild takes up the violin, you may have these young alumni to thank.

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Tapping alumni wisdom

A new course connects startupminded students with Case alumni who know the game.

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12

Alumni Adventures 24 Romance with dance Competitive ballroom dancing

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keeps Susie Nagorney on her toes.

Overdue degree Between freshman year and his recent graduation, Dean Cookson squeezed in a remarkable career.

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DEPARTMENTS 1 2 4 7 10 20 22 26 31 31 32

Dean’s Message Editor’s column Letters, posts and emails Around the Quad Alumni Newsmakers Case Memories NewsBytes Class Notes Tribute: Al Gordon, 1920-2022 In Memoriam Long We'll Remember

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VISIT WWW.CASEALUMNI.ORG FOR THE LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS! @casealum

@caselumniassoc On the cover: Thomas P. Kicher, ’59, MS ’62, PhD ’65. Dean, Case School of Engineering 1992-1998

Case Alumni Association

@CaseAlumniAssoc CaseAlumniAssoc

The best way to stay connected to the Case Alumni Association between magazine issues is to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Please join our sites today for the latest news on alumni, students, faculty and innovative research and projects.

Spring 2022

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Letters, posts and emails I just wanted to express my appreciation for your always classy Case Alumnus magazine. I gave a recent issue to my high school junior grandson to help in his study and selection of his future college choice.

Dan Lesco ’62, MS ’66 Broadview Heights, Ohio danlesco@juno.com I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the recent Case Alumnus magazine.

Great articles, and I especially liked that you featured two of my Peer Advisors, Anika and Elliot, along with the great promotion of E-Week.

Thanks for all of your work on this magazine.

Deborah J. Fatica Assistant Dean, Division of Engineering Leadership & Professional Practice Case School of Engineering

News of the death of former Dean Tom Kicher brought many tributes and remembrances, including these: We have lost a very good man. Tom was resident counselor in Pardee dorm when I entered Case in the fall of 1958.

We overlapped in graduate school, though in different disciplines, and started out in the aerospace industry. His leadership service to Case was extraordinary.

I enjoyed a recent exchange with Tom as a result of his history of the Case family. His work revealed that Leonard Case, Jr.’s mother was from my hometown of Stow, Ohio. Since Western Reserve was founded in neighboring Hudson, maybe my university affiliation was preordained.

John Oblak ’62, MS ’64, PhD ’67 Wethersfield, Connecticutt joblak@cox.net I knew Tom when he was a grad student and I was an undergrad. He joined the faculty when I was a grad student. He was a valued friend: optimistic, helpful, and smart.

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Those were heady times. Computing power had reached a point where matrix methods of structural analysis were feasible, and Tom and I both pursued topics in that area under Prof. Lucien Schmit.

I gather that Tom more than anyone was responsible for establishing the Case School of Engineering, for which we can all be most grateful.

Warren Gibson ’65 Belmonst, California warrengibson1965@gmail.com I send my deepest condolences to Professor Kicher family and to Case faculty and staff. He was my professor in the 80s.

He was a great person. He taught us step by step the difficulties of experimental stress analysis, and it was a very enjoyable class.

Goodbye to a great man and great dean.

Kamel Chaoui ’86, PhD ’89 Professor and former dean, Technology and Mechanical Engineering Badji Mokhtar University Annaba, Algeria. chaoui_k@yahoo.fr Dr. Kicher was one of the first people I met on campus in the fall of 1999. I knew

I wanted to study mechanical engineering and Dr. Kicher was my academic advisor. He helped me map out my academic career and we made a plan that I stuck to very closely during my time at Case. I was always grateful for his kindness, encouragement, and sense of humor. He was a very dear man.

He once told me about how his philosophy on teaching had changed over the years. Early on in his career, he wanted to make sure his students "got their money's worth" in his class. He tried to impart as much knowledge as possible, teaching at a fast pace where the students would take lots of notes.

His methods changed when he realized that the students could do more learning in his lecture if he slowed down and gave them time to think about and struggle with solving problems.

The learning happens because of the struggle. This continues to ring true in my life, as I learn new things in my career, and as I raise my children. Think, embrace the discomfort, figure out what you don't know, learn, and grow.

Kind regards, Colleen Kalczynski Cochrane ’03, MS ’05

Submit your letter to the editor SEND BY EMAIL TO:

Casealum@casealum.org

OR BY MAIL TO:

Case Alumnus Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland OH 44106

Our cover story on Polymer Power in the Winter ’22 Case Alumnus brought several letters and comments, including these: Many thanks for the outstanding Polymer Power article and accompanying photos. I will share liberally. It is a wonderful recognition of what Eric Baer started many years ago, which continues.

Gary E. Wnek Professor and Chair, Macromolecular Science and Engineering Joseph F. Toot, Jr., Professor of Engineering

I read with interest the article “Tiny tech, big opportunity” in the winter Case Alumnus magazine. I was especially interested in the story about Professor Eric Baer.

It’s amazing to think that he has been active in that department for 60 years.

In 1965, I was a newly minted chemical engineer from the University of Missouri at Rolla, and I enrolled in the Department of Macromolecular Science headed up

by Dr. Baer. I must confess that I found myself somewhat of an outsider because I really wanted to focus on the commercial production and use of polymers, while my peers and the professors were much more focused on the fundamentals of characterizing the properties and synthesis of polymers.

I studied under Professor Jerome Lando primarily in X-ray crystallography of fluorinated polymers. I remember those dreaded Friday afternoon seminars where we students must present the work we were involved in. As I remember, Dr. Baer could ask some extremely penetrating questions, which seemed impossible to answer.

I completed my doctorate in 1970 as Professor Lando’s first graduate student.

I must confess that when I left CWRU, I never did any work with X-ray crystallography. Instead, I entered the world of fiber

and resin commercial research, which was my career until I retired in 2009.

The greatest takeaway that I gained from my time at CWRU in the Macromolecular world was a great curiosity in how things worked and how to solve technical problems. I credit Dr. Baer and the other professors with honing this skill. I always felt this aspect of my studies at Case put me on a higher level than many of my peers in industry.

I am envious of all the wonderful polymer manufacturing equipment that is now fully utilized by the students and professors in their department, and the ability to directly translate these manufacturing skills and products into patentable ideas and commercial applications. I feel the department has morphed into the type of study environment that I would have flourished in.

Warwick Doll, PhD ’70 Spartanburg, South Carolina wickdoll@yahoo.com Regarding the article “Tiny tech, big opportunity,” I am unhappy that no mention

was made of the environmental impact of the polymer work discussed in the article.

Are the plastic products recyclable? Does Peak Nano accept products back after their lifetime of use? Do these products eventually contribute to micro plastics in all the waters of the planet? If Cleveland is going to be a “giant in polymer manufacturing” I hope it is done responsibly.

Francine Cverna, MS ’86 Burton, Ohio facverna@gmail.com

Editor’s note: We offered Peak Nano a chance to respond Peak Nanosystems is closing the resource loop and reducing waste in our operations through strategic partnerships with local waste collection and recycling partners. We send 100 percent of our film waste to recyclers for repurposing, and we source our feedstock resins from socially and environmentally responsible suppliers.

We are proud to provide products that allow our end-use partners to meet their technical and sustainability goals.

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Letters, posts and emails Our Case Memories section sparked more memories, and a reflection on fleeting youth.

Johnston ’64, a Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother of mine. It was well worth going to a Case track meet just to see Terry run the high hurdles. That was a beautiful sight.

Bill Schimming ’64 Conover, North Carolina waschimming@bellsouth.net

roomed together at the Phi Delta Theta house on Abington Ave. in 1962. Terry ran the high hurdles on the Case track team. We had a ledge outside of our third floor room where we were always able to keep a case of beer cold during the Cleveland winter. Since we were in different majors, we lost track of each other when I graduated in ’63.

I don't remember being that young.

Page 20 of the winter 2022 Case Alumnus triggered a memory for me. The student in the Chemistry Lab, ’60s is Terry

In the winter 2022 issue of the Case Alumnus, on page 20, there is a photo of a very young and intense, Terry Johnson in freshman chemistry lab. Terry and I

To the Editor, As a long-time reader of the Case Alumnus, I look forward to each issue arriving in my mailbox. May it long continue to do so!

I’ve been told that the economics of alumni relationships favors relying exclusively on online distribution of newsletters and magazines, while discontinuing the use of print media. Deciding to do this, while financially advantageous, runs the risk of losing a significant portion of your magazine’s readership.

For many readers of my generation and, I suspect, for many younger readers as well, online access is an unsatisfactory alterna-

tive to holding and thumbing through the print version. I’ve never willingly read an e-book or an e-magazine — have only done so, in fact, when materials I needed for my research were unavailable in hard copy.

My “Long We’ll Remember” piece that appeared in the winter 2022 Case Alumnus elicited some friendly email responses, including one from a person in my graduating class who, like me, majored in physics.

That strikes me as a good use of email. Much more attractive, however, would be an opportunity to meet my classmate in person.

So also, I submit, is print preferable

to online distribution. There is a tactile quality, a sensuousness, to holding a book or a magazine in one’s hands that looking at a computer screen or a smart phone simply cannot duplicate.

I am pleased that with each quarter’s print issue the Case Alumnus offers me an opportunity to experience this small but valuable pleasure.

Sincerely,

I stole a look at my father-in-law’s (John Sturman ’55, MS ’62) copy of the fall 2021 Case Alumnus. I was interested to see the tribute to Glenn Brown and saddened to read of his passing.

I was in a meeting led by Glenn circa 1987, a time in which he was known as “The Superdean.” I made a comment or suggestion and Glenn paused and looked at me steadily for several seconds. His attention made me think that I had either made a manifestly worthwhile remark or a very stupid one.

Having considered me for a bit, the Superdean asked a salient question in the

form of a declarative statement: “You’re from Washington, Pennsylvania.”

“No,” I replied, a bit deflated. “But we used to play them in football.”

Hope all is well in University Circle.

Dr. William Kovach Astronomy ’63 wkovach92024@gmail.com

Karl F. Zender ’59 kfzender@ucdavis.edu

Joe McClain, MS ’86 Director of Research Communications William & Mary jmmccl@wm.edu

Our profile of Steiner House sparked responses from alumni who knew it as home.

My wife and I were residents of Steiner House in the late ’70s and have very fond memories. Thanks so much for your article in the (winter 2022) Case Alumnus on that unique and wonderful place.

Regards, and keep up the good work, Bomi Parakh, MS ’75, PhD ’77 Linda Blanchard Albuquerque, New Mexico l.g.blanchard@att.net 6

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Marvelous story, great house, home away from home!

Best wishes to students living in Steiner House now.

Sincerely, Adriana Velazquez Berumen, MS ’86 Geneva, Switzerland velazquezberumena@who.int

Around the Quad A season to shout about

With help from sharpshooting engineering students, the men’s basketball team made history.

A remarkable season for the Spartan men’s basketball team ended March 11 with an overtime loss to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in a packed Horsburgh Gym — but, oh, what a run.

The boys in blue and white had reached the sectional semifinals of the Division III NCAA tournament — the Sweet 16 — for the first time in school history. With the help of sharpshooting science and engineering students, they created one of the greatest stories in the history of CWRU sports.

People noticed. The success of true scholar athletes attracted fans and media attention. Terry Pluto, the popular sports columnist for The Plain Dealer, twice published columns about the talent and resolve of players focused on academics while playing basketball at a high level. He told his readers how there were no movies on the team bus to tournament games in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as players had to study.

Even CWRU’s sleepy fans came alive.

They crowded Horsburgh Gym in the Veale Athletic Center for the Sweet 16 game.

Many alumni came back to cheer on the team, which had a way of winning in dramatic fashion.

The overtime loss ended a dream season, but the accomplishments will echo

Spartans win in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Photo by Steve Frommell, UW-Oshkosh Athletics

for years. After not playing at all last year due to Covid-19, here’s what the 2021-2022 Spartans achieved: • The team ended the season with a record of 20-7 • The 20 wins are a program best, as are the eight wins in the UAA • The team finished second in the conference, also a program best • It’s the first CWRU team to reach the NCAA Tournament and the first to earn postseason wins (two) Three graduate transfer students elevated an already solid team, but undergraduate STEM majors played big roles.

Ryan Newton scored 38 points in two tournament games off the bench, leading his team to the Sweet 16. He’s expected to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Forward Cole Frilling, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, averaged 16 points a game. A junior, he’s expected to play a starring role again next year.

Also eligible to return will be junior Josh Levy (computer science) sophomore Daniel Florey (mechanical engineering); and freshmen Luke Gensler (electrical engineering) and Umar Rashid (computer science).

So next year may be another season to shout about.

The Science of Beer With this illustration, the Brew Crew — a team of Case chemical engineering graduate students — won Best Poster in the AIChE Beer Brewing Competition at the 2021 annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in November in Boston. The team of Maura Sepesy, Jacob Hostert, Marola Issa and Hairou Yu was honored for the artfully clear depiction of its beer brewing process.

A second Case team, Over the Hops, won for Best New Team and Most Efficient Brew. That team is made up of Will Dean, Drace Penley, Rachel Beller and Bethany Kersten.

We toast them all.

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Around the Quad ChemEs can do it

CWRU President Eric Kaler leads a call for more national support for chemical engineering.

Not only is he president of Case Western Reserve University, Eric Kaler, PhD, is an accomplished chemical engineer. That background shines through in a new report calling for deeper federal investment in chemical engineering to solve society’s challenges.

Kaler chaired the committee that wrote New Directions for Chemical Engineering, a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that outlines an ambitious future for the field.

The study argues that fresh support for chemical engineering is critical to maintaining U.S. leadership and meeting coming challenges — including

generating medical advances and smoothing the transition to renewable energy.

Released Feb. 9, the report argues that chemical transformations made possible many of society’s advances, like synthetic fertilizers that enabled the Green Revolution, and that chemical engineers are ready to create new marvels.

“Chemical engineering is often at the heart of solutions to many of the problems we face, but for our field to stay in a position of global leadership and continue our pace of innovation, we need to reaffirm strong investment in this field,” Kaler said in a statement.

A former professor of chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota, Kaler is a tenured professor in

the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Case School of Engineering and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

He said the report points to opportunities to be seized. Pressing issues chemical engineers can address include: • Decarbonizing the U.S economy • Creating a cleaner, healthier environment • Advancing drug discovery • Making healthcare cheaper and more equitable • Advancing the “circular economy” where much is repurposed and reused Find the study at the National Academies website, www.nationalacademies.org.

Seeing what works

The AMMRC marks 35 years of finding the best materials for the job.

When Distinguished University Professor John Lewandowski founded his lab 35 years ago, prized equipment included a small but mighty rolling mill capable of shaping steel and aluminum alloys destined for cars.

Today, his researchers are just as likely to test the reliability of parts for implantable devices, like pacemakers, where failure really is not an option.

The goal of assuring reliability shines on, but the challenges loom more sophisticated at the Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center, a proving ground for the materials that comprise the products of modern life.

The uncommon center is celebrating a landmark birthday in 2022 with plans for growth. Lewandowski, the center director, expects to install about $1 million worth of equipment this year. He has high hopes for game-changing grants that would allow the center to advance into robotic controls.

Meanwhile, he’s busy running a oneof-a-kind center that sprawls across 8

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several rooms on three floors of the Charles White Metallurgy Building, home to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

“I don’t think you’ll find something like this anywhere in the country,” he said.

Janet Gbur and John Lewandowski stand aside a Instru-Met “And it continues uniaxial testing machine in the AMMRC, each holding specimens to expand.” to be tested.

That’s because “No one has the breadth of what products, processes, we have here,” said Gbur, the center’s and materials to produce them continue senior researcher. to grow more refined and complex.

The AMMRC contains about $5 milRecently, a student researcher found lion worth of equipment, Lewandowski the flaw causing cracks to form in a truck estimates. That includes fatigue testers, part. Lewandowski’s team helped the extruders, melters, and forging/forming manufacturer tighten its steel specifications simulators that pound, stretch, bend, and to solve the problem. deform materials of all shapes and sizes.

In a quieter room with finer scale Throughout the year, the center will be equipment, Janet Gbur, PhD ’18, tests highlighting its capabilities and celebrating wires and cables used in implantable its legacy with events and reflections posted electrodes, tiny devices to be implanted to its website: ammrc.case.edu. in the human body.

Around the Quad Comeback for brotherhood

Greek organizations like SAE are gathering again, resuming treasured traditions.

Founders Day resonated with a little more fervor this spring at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at Hazel and Magnolia drives, just off campus. With Covid-19 restrictions relaxed, alumni returned to participate in a live rite of brotherhood for the first time in two years.

Making the moment more auspicious, the fraternity was celebrating its first Founders Day in its new house. Alumni had raised some $400,000 to transform a musty old mansion into a practical and handsome home for 23 students.

On March 18, about a dozen alumni arrived to share lunch and to display another stream of support. In what’s becoming an SAE Founders Day tradition, they awarded scholarships in honor of a distinguished alumnus.

Alumni and students gathered in the living room and applauded as, one by one, five young men were called forward

Ken Barker '70 drove in from Pittsburgh to attend Founders Day activities with his SAE brothers.

to receive scholarships ranging in value from $1,500 to $2,500. The scholars were chosen by an alumni scholarship committee for their contributions to the house and to the brotherhood. It’s a tie that binds.

“Supporting the brotherhood, as

well as the school, is a cause that’s near and dear to all of us,” said Marc Vitantonio ’82, chairman of the SAE scholarship committee.

“We have a great alumni base. It’s awesome,” said chapter president Austin Grillo, a civil engineering major. He noted the chapter’s alumni also staff a mentor-mentee program for the sophomores. “Our alumni are very important to us. They keep us grounded.”

The SAE scholarships are named in honor of Philip Legge ’43, a former administrator for Case Institute of Technology and an active SAE nearly his entire life before his death in 2009.

They are administered by the Case Alumni Association.

The 2022 Legge Scholars of the SAE are juniors Austin Grillo, Lucas Decaro, Joseph Cavallo, Randolph Ayers and Antonio Orsini.

Intel’s impact

The chipmaker is looking to schools like Case to fill a talent pipeline.

Several weeks after unveiling plans for a $20 billion microchip manufacturing plant in central Ohio, Intel explained how it plans to staff the giant facility. On March 17, company executives announced a $50 million fund to help Ohio colleges and universities train the skilled workers it needs.

That was welcome news at the Case School of Engineering.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Christian Zorman, MS ’91, PhD ’94, the Associate Dean for Research at CSE. He added that it raises a big question: “How can Case be relevant to the largest single economic development proposal Ohio’s ever seen?”

Zorman represented Case at the announcement event at Columbus State Community College. He learned that Intel expects about 25 percent of the

plant’s 3,000-person workforce to be engineers. Another 70 percent will be skilled technicians, and five percent of jobs will be unskilled.

The engineering roles span the field, he said, from chemical and mechanical engineers to materials scientists and physicists. Interestingly, computer scientists are not in high demand at a chipmaking plant.

“They’re the customers,” Zorman said. “This is a highend manufacturing process, starting with sand.”

Ohio State University is seen in the best position for jobs and influence, based on its size and proximity to the Intel complex. But faculty and Case students are familiar with manufacturing very small precision products — and Intel now knows it.

Two days before the Columbus

gathering, Intel executives visited Case.

Zorman shared the school’s expertise in microsensors and nano-scale devices, explained relevant courses, and showed them several labs equipped with “clean rooms” that allow for microfabrication and research.

“They were like, ‘Wow, yep, this is definitely related,’ which is what I expected,” he said.

Now a deadline looms. Intel has given schools until May 31 to apply for a share of the Ohio fund, which complements a $100 million national research fund. It wants to hear plans for curriculums, programs, and lab enhancements that can advance a chipmaking industry in Ohio.

Case will be ready with proposals, Zorman said, and ready for a new era.

He noted CSE already sends graduates to similar jobs out of state. “Now, for the first time, we don’t have to point them south and west to do this kind of work.”

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ALUMNI

newsmakers

Alumni newsmakers

That’s leadership

Joel Roth commits $20 million to launch a new generation of leaders.

Starting with a civil engineering degree from Case Institute of Technology, Joel Roth ’58 went on to become a successful manufacturer whose companies had a knack for churning out products more efficiently.

Now he’s paying it forward. In February, Case Western Reserve University announced that Roth had committed more than $20 million to launch the Roth Leadership Institute, designed to prepare students to address the world’s increasingly complex challenges.

“The problems are getting bigger and bigger, and more and more lasting,” Roth said in a press release. “The Roth Institute will provide highly motivated, quality students a broad array of experiences that will help them become leaders who solve problems and change the future.”

His commitment will provide full-tuition scholarships to up to eight students annually starting this fall.

The Roth Scholars will receive mentoring and academic and practical experiences that are expected to shape them into leaders. It’s hoped they will go on to address major societal and community problems.

“We are honored by the confidence that Joel Roth has shown in us with his gift,” University President Eric Kaler said in a statement. “We are all dedicated to providing Roth Scholars learning experiences that prepare them to make meaningful change in the world.”

After Case, Roth earned an MBA from New York University and worked at Proctor & Gamble, Ernst & Ernst and Gulf and Western. In the early 1970s he began buying companies in the southeast, including Fulton Supply, headquartered near Atlanta.

By the early 2000s, Roth’s companies

offered everything from conveyor belts to drill bits, janitorial supplies to safety materials, as well as a range of engineering expertise. Roth’s teams applied that expertise to help companies’ supply chains and manufacturing become more efficient.

In 2008, Roth published The 20% Solution, a guide for businesses to analyze their operations to identify and realize big savings.

Home maker

Alumna brings her safe-housing skills to communities across Ohio.

As director of Cleveland’s Department of Building and Housing, Ayonna Blue Donald ’01 enforced the city’s land use ordinances and directed the razing of thousands of vacant and abandoned properties. In her new role, she expects to be way more of a builder — shaping properties into healthy homes.

In November, Blue Donald was named vice president and Ohio market leader for Enterprise Community Partners, a nationwide nonprofit that works to make homes affordable and lead-free, often through rehabilitation and building projects.

Blue Donald is responsible for advancing housing-based programs and devising solutions that help Ohioans

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achieve housing stability and safety.

“I’ve always had an affinity for building things,” she told The Land, an online Cleveland news magazine that profiled her in January. Blue Donald described herself as an engineer and a lawyer passionate about providing safe living spaces.

“You think of your home as your castle,” she said. “There’s so much peace and serenity there. But imagine if you’re homeless. Or imagine if more than half your income is going to where you live, and you can’t afford food, healthcare and other basic needs.”

Originally from Detroit, Blue Donald came to Cleveland to earn a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from

the Case School of Engineering, becoming her family’s first college graduate.

She went on to earn a law degree at the University of San Francisco and practiced law in Texas before returning to Cleveland with her two children. She rose through the city’s building and housing department and led the department from 2017 to 2021.

“We issued billions of dollars of construction values in permits every year and did more than 1,000 demolitions every year,” she told The Land.

Now she is overseeing Enterprise programs that will help to rehabilitate homes, seal their lead paint, and build housing for former prison inmates and former foster children.

A code enforcer is now a home builder — aiming to build them right.

Alumni newsmakers

ALUMNI

newsmakers

Quality idea

Young alums address a lesser-known impact of the pandemic.

Most people are aware of how Covid-19 strangled the global supply chain, stoking scarcity and inflation.

A lesser-known story is the impact that travel restrictions and cost controls have had on quality control.

As the pandemic raged, U.S. companies found it harder to reach their foreign manufacturers, resulting in fewer inspections and maybe hurting the reputation of their brands.

A pair of startup savvy Case alumni think they have a solution, and deeppocketed investors seem to agree.

Prince Ghosh ’19 and Lucas Fridman ’19 are co-founders of Factored Quality, a startup that says it can connect U.S.

businesses with quality control inspectors in foreign nations while updating a traditionladen field.

In February, the company announced attracting $5.6 million from investors in a seed funding round led by Amity Ventures.

Ghosh, the CEO of Factored Quality, told Modern Shipper that the company can connect brands to third-party inspectors anywhere in the world with on-demand booking, and that the service is badly needed.

“Geopolitical tensions, trade wars, and logistics constraints have forced modern brands to take a decentralized and lean infrastructural approach to

manufacturing,” he said. “We’re building Factored Quality to help those brands scale their quality and manufacturing operations with ease.”

Not unlike other services in the gig economy, the platform allows the company and the inspector to post reviews and ratings of each other.

“This team has the right founder market fit to deliver,” Patrick Yang, general partner at Amity Ventures, told the magazine.

Ghosh and Fridman previously founded Workbench Technologies, a supply chain management software company for the e-commerce industry. They launched Factored Quality in 2021 with Justin Seidenfeld, whom they met when they went through Y Combinator, a renowned startup accelerator.

Early moneyball

Sixty years ago, Don Knuth helped the basketball team achieve new heights.

As the men’s basketball team celebrated a magical season, some recalled another time when a Case team surprised.

In the late 1950s, Donald Knuth ’60, MS ’60, PhD, was discovering his love for computer programming at Case Institute of Technology. Knuth famously mastered the school’s early IBM 650 mainframe. At the time, the inquisitive teen was also manager of the school’s lackluster basketball team. He went to work engineering more wins.

As recounted in The Daily, CWRU’s online news source, Knuth devised a system to rank players based on scoring, steals, rebounds, and other performance factors. He fed the data into the computer via punch cards, then shared the insight with Coach Phil “Nip” Heim.

How much the new metrics helped is debatable, but the team did improve

dramatically. After going 6-10 the previous season, the Rough Riders in 1958-59 achieved a 13-4 record.

What’s more, the use of an “electronic computer” tapped the public imagination, and the team and its whiz-kid manager were featured on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

Knuth would go on to greater fame as the author of the classic, multi-volume series The Art of Computer Programming.

"This series of books," the author wrote, "is affectionately dedicated to the Type 650 computer once installed at Case Institute of Technology, in remembrance of many pleasant evenings."

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CASE'S FRANCHISE PLAYER 12

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Tom Kicher served his alma mater for more than 60 years as teacher, dean, and guiding light.

By Robert L. Smith

W Dean Kicher helping to announce an electric car race in 1994.

“When I think about Tom, I think about his willingness to take chances, try new things. He was always looking to think a little bit bigger.”

two Tom Kicher and ade m s nt de stu s hi of se Ca the cover of , Alumnus in 1992 air ch s wa he when ent of the Departm l of Mechanica and Aerospace Engineering.

Tom Kicher and Susie Nagorney ’76 at the reception for Junior Senior Scholars in 2018.

hen a teenaged Tom Kicher ’59, MS ’62, PhD ’65, arrived at Case Institute of Technology in 1955, he had plenty of reasons to be enthralled with his new world.

The school president was on leave to lead the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. A crater on the moon was named for the chairman of the Astronomy Department. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was building flood control dams using designs drawn up in the Department of Civil Engineering.

Kicher’s admiration for Case, which he wrote about years later, quickly became mutual. He earned three engineering degrees on Case Quad, including his doctorate, then joined the faculty and became a change agent. He led the committee that wrote the white paper that created the modern Case School of Engineering, in 1992, and served as it first dean.

In an era of uncertainty, he guided CIT under the umbrella of Case Western Reserve University, uniting students, faculty, and alumni behind a mission to maintain the rigor and prestige of a Case education.

Upon his death Feb. 19 at age 84, many admirers spoke of his timely leadership, wisdom, and captivating spirit as they memorialized one of the best-known, longest-serving faculty members in the history of the school.

“He was uniquely capable,” said Jack Daly ’89, MS ’91, a former partner and managing director of Goldman Sachs. “He had that positive energy, the ability to grow an organization and inspire people. He was the franchise player.”

Michael Diamant ’68 first met “Professor Kicher” as a sophomore. He later chaired the visiting committee of alumni and industry leaders that helped guide the new Case School of Engineering in the 1990s.

“He was the right guy at the right time to put these things together,” said Diamant, a member of the board of the Case Alumni Association. “He didn’t have an ounce of guile in his body. Tom only wanted the best for the School of Engineering and for the university. And he was highly regarded by alumni, by anybody he worked with.”

Sunniva Collins, MS ’91, PhD ’94, came to know Kicher (pronounced “KICK-er”) best through the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, where she’s an associate professor. Kicher engaged with faculty long after his retirement in 2005 as the Arthur P. Armington Professor of Engineering.

“Always a calming presence,” she said. “He said to me that being a professor at Case is the best job in the world. He said that we get to know these bright young people when they’re just starting their careers, and we can help them. I think he really took that to heart.”

Many treasured his guidance.

“Tom was warm, funny, wise and kind, a true Case engineer,” said Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan, the Charles H. Phipps Dean of the Case School of Engineering.

“He will be missed.”

Born October 20, 1937, Kicher was raised in Johnsonburg, a small mill town next to the Alleghany National Forest in northwest Pennsylvania. In an earlier interview, he said he quickly fell in love with Case and the University Circle neighborhood.

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“I was exposed to a lot of things I’d never been exposed to,” he told Case Alumnus in 2018. “Arts, culture, the sciences. I could approach almost anyone and ask questions. It was an ideal place for a young boy from a small town. Case changed my life.”

After a brief tour in the aerospace industry in California, he joined the faculty in 1965 as an assistant professor of engineering. He became an associate professor, then a full professor in 1979. He served as chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and as the Associate Dean of Science and Engineering from 1974 to 1979.

“I figure I’ve held more and varied roles on this campus than just about anyone,” he once observed.

He met his wife, Janet, at Case and watched all three of his children graduate with Case degrees.

As a faculty member for 40 years, he imparted memorable lessons. Tall, bearded, and prematurely bald, Kicher possessed a resonate voice that carried easily across a lecture hall.

Joe Fakult ’90, a senior engineer at Safron Electrical & Power, recalls him sketching out a mechanical system with felt-tipped markers on an overhead projector, illustrating a problem to be solved in a factory maybe a few miles away. An expert in design and failure analysis, Kicher consulted for industry and brought real-world challenges into the classroom.

“He was an excellent teacher,” Fakult said. “Every step of the way, he put himself at the viewpoint of the students.”

Curious and contemplative, Kicher dove more deeply into Case history later in life, tapping his vast breadth of experience. As a student in the 1950s, he once observed, he had professors who had been teaching at Case since the 1890s.

In 2019, he wrote the cover story for the spring issue of Case Alumnus, exploring the Case family and Leonard Case Jr.’s role in the launch of the Case School of Applied Science in 1880. The Case Legacy proved so popular among alumni that the association commissioned a rare reprint.

Kicher is one of the principal contributors to Case School: An Evolving History, a multimedia history project led by the Kelvin Smith Library and housed online at scalar.case.edu/ caseschool/index.

He was also the vice president of an engineering consulting firm, Kicher & Co., where he worked alongside his son, Paul ’91, until recently.

He is survived by Janet, his son Paul, daughter Laura Chamberlin, and five grandchildren — Mackenzie and Peyton Kicher and Macey, Regan, and Keely Chamberlin.

News of his passing sparked tributes from former students and colleagues and from alumni and admirers far and wide.

Distinguished University Professor Clare Rimnac smiles to recall a change agent who kept a fully outfitted machine shop in his basement. When she arrived at the Case School of Engineering in 1996, she 14

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He met his wife, Janet, at Case and watched all three of his children graduate with Case degrees.

Case Alumnus Spring 2019

Case School: An Evolving History homepage

The Kicher Family

Tom Kicher and Professor Ken Loparo, PhD ’77

Roger Cerne ’63, left, Jack Flynn ’51, MS’53, PhD ’56 and Dean Tom Kicher

The Silver Bowl

Tom Kicher, former chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, in June 2017

was one of five women in a faculty pool of 105. Kicher huddled them into a planning group.

“He brought us together to strategize, how to support female faculty,” she recalled. “He said, ‘If we’re going to attract more women into engineering, they need role models.’ And I appreciated that.

“When I think about Tom,” she added, “I think about his willingness to take chances, try new things. He was always looking to think a little bit bigger.”

Many alumni can recall a Kicher encounter that changed their life. For Ram Fish ’95, MS ’95, it came when he sought to enroll in an unusually large number of courses to finish his degree program early, as he could not afford tuition. When his advisor balked, Fish went to see the dean.

He said Kicher weighed his proposal for several days, contacting references, before approving. He also steered Fish to Roger Cerne ’63, who arranged a loan from the Case Alumni Association.

Fish graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer engineering and become a technology pioneer in Silicon Valley. He has never forgotten the administrator who believed in him.

“I am very grateful to Dean Kicher,” he said. “He listened to me. He was willing to work around the system to get something done for a student.”

Jack Daly, today a partner at the private equity firm TPG Capital, earned two mechanical engineering degrees at Case.

But before he could leave for industry, Dean Kicher convinced him to stay on as an instructor for six years. He wanted Daly to continue to run a student group he had founded, one that matched engineering students with community service projects.

Daly feels Kicher saw both a worthy cause and a young man who would benefit from leading it. He flew in from San Francisco for the funeral at St. Noel Catholic Church in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby Hills.

“He was the most important mentor in my life,” Daly said.

After retirement, Kicher joined the board of the Case Alumni Association, where he became known as Case’s elder statesman.

The board made him a life member and, in 2018, awarded him the Silver Bowl, the association’s highest honor.

Stephen Zinram, executive director of the Case Alumni Association, said he has lost a mentor who knew how to get the best out of people.

“He listened to your question and always gave a well thought out answer, often an anecdote,” Zinram said. “He never rushed into an answer, but instead he became the professor who led you down the path and helped you find it.”

Fakult, the president of the Case Alumni Association, sees a legacy enshrined in the school.

“I think he was an agent of thoughtful creation,” Fakult said.

“And he fully understood the legacy of Case engineering, what its students and faculty were like. He knew how to keep that legacy alive.”

You can honor the memory of Tom Kicher with a contribution to the Class of 1959 Scholarship Fund. The fund, which Kicher helped to create, assists fourth year students facing an unforeseen financial challenge. Find the fund at casealumni.org/give/.

Questions? Contact Janna Greer; janna.greer@casealum.org, 216-368-3647.

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Maxwell Morgan, a luthier in Cleveland Heights, helps Matt Canel test one of his 3D printed violins.

THE MUSIC MAKERS Is it real or is it think[box]?

When it comes to violins, two young alumni want to make it hard to guess.

By Robert L. Smith

A

meticulous young man in a leather apron pulled a bow across the strings of a candycolored, plastic violin. A surprisingly deep, resonant sound filled his workshop.

Standing nearby, Matt Canel ’20, MS ’21, and Ben Kaufman ’12, MEM ’13, waited expectantly. They hoped to begin soon mass producing this instrument, which they designed for children. Their violin is cheaper and sturdier than a traditional wooden model but sounds, they think, like the real McCoy.

They were awaiting the opinion of Maxwell Morgan, a luthier, or craftsman who builds and restores stringed instruments.

Morgan had never seen a plastic violin before the two Case alumni walked into his Cleveland Heights shop two years ago.

“These are simply way better than when you guys first approached me,” he finally said. “You’re on point.”

Still, he saw an issue with tuning nuts in the neck. He recommended subtle adjustments. Canel nodded and smiled. They were getting close.

A mechanical engineer with a theater background, Canel is the founder and CEO 16

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of 3D Music. The company sprang from his master’s thesis, which entailed creating a plastic violin on 3D printers in Sears think[box], the university’s maker space.

More than 100 iterations later, he’s still tinkering with a formula he thinks could lead to far more children playing a prized instrument — or at least giving it a try.

Because his violins sound pretty good. And that may be good enough to get started.

“We’re dropping the cost barrier,” Canel said, describing how he plans to disrupt the market. “That means that more people could have the chance to learn an instrument. And I think that could have a

big impact.”

The violin is probably the best-known musical instrument in the world. Its lush sound has captivated audiences for centuries. But it’s also a fragile and expensive work of art. Concert-level violins can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Even the banged-up violin in the school band room is probably worth several thousand dollars.

Children generally get started on smaller, quarter-scale violins — about half the size of a full-scale model. These are cheaper and easier to handle than a concert violin, but still several hundred dollars and highly breakable.

Because of the expense, many music students never come to own their own instruments — and many children never get started.

Canel and Kaufman aim to change that. Their hard plastic, quarter-scale violins sell for $200, or about half the cost of a popular wooden beginner model.

Meanwhile, it’s kid friendly in other ways.

“Our strongest selling point is, we’re droppable,” said Kaufman, the company co-founder and business development manager. 3D Music violins come apart and snap back together, he noted. They also come in fun colors, like banana yellow and candy apple red.

3D Music violins

Ben Kaufman tests a violin at Sears think[box] as a producer for WCPN-Ideastream tapes a radio show and Matt Canel looks on.

“If your kid is on the fence (about playing a violin) pick a color,” said Kaufman, a computer engineer by trade.

“Our sound quality is significantly better than a traditional wooden violin at our price point.”

The project began several years ago, when Canel was an undergraduate student worker at Sears think[box]. He became an expert on its array of 3D printers — machines that can be programmed to print three-dimensional objects. He played cello in middle school but could never afford his own. Now he wondered, could he print one?

He decided to start with a child’s violin, which proved challenge enough.

The quest became his thesis and, in 2020,

his company. Kaufman soon joined him and they now have a luthier to consult and two design patents pending.

In January, Canel and Kaufman took several of their violins to CES, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where they exhibited alongside other innovators from Case Western Reserve. That appearance attracted media attention, which continued through the winter.

On a recent afternoon, a producer from WCPN Ideastream, the public radio station in Cleveland, visited them in their $375-a-month production space on the 7th floor of Sears think[box]. In a work bay not much larger than an office cubicle, four 3D printers whirred away, slowly printing violins. Jean-Marie Papoi filmed and taped

Printing a violin takes 3D Music about two days.

as Canel drew a bow across a freshly printed model, playing scales.

The next week, they made their first sale, to a customer from Colorado who ordered off their website: www.3dmusic.org/.

“Eventually, I would like to print a cello,” Canel mused. “That’s a $45,000 instrument.

Nothing is out of the question.”

First, though, he hopes to put affordable violins into the hands of beginners. He considers his company to be in the “rapid prototyping phase,” making small adjustments each day, working toward mass appeal.

“We’ve learned this does work,” he said.

And violinists are not the only young musicians needing practice.

To comment on this story, email casealum@caselaum.org.

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Ram Fish leads a class at Sears think[box] in February.

Shaping tech leaders

In a new course, alumni superstars share their startup savvy with aspiring entrepreneurs.

By Hannah Jackson ’24 A dozen students sit around a large conference table on an upper floor of Sears think[box]. At the front of the table, an alumnus leans back in his chair and opens the class with this observation: “In entrepreneurship, you need to fall in love with the problem, not the solution.”

Students instantly look intrigued, as they’re always focused on solutions in the classroom. But this isn’t your typical class.

It’s being taught

by Ram Fish ‘95, MS ’95, a technology entrepreneur and Silicon Valley success story who is helping to pioneer a new kind of course at Case Western Reserve University.

The class, “Technology Management and the Startup Trek,” is designed to bring together students interested in entrepreneurship with alumni who can 18

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share firsthand experience and insight.

Also known as VEAL 333, the course is a partnership between the Case School of Engineering, the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship and Post-Graduate Planning and Experiential Education.

It was designed by Fish and Michael Goldberg, the executive director of the Veale Institute and an associate professor and entrepreneurship specialist at the Weatherhead School of Management. Goldberg said he saw a chance to connect students with opportunities in the tech industry and to strengthen student-alumni ties.

The debut class offered some unusual features, including an all-expenses-paid trip to Silicon Valley, where Fish and Goldberg introduced the students to other founders and technology innovators — many of them Case alumni.

“We have amazing alums. They want to do more with our great students,” Goldberg said.

The course is like no other offered at

Case, as it offers a view of startups and tech giants from people who succeeded in the field.

After earning two computer engineering degrees at Case, Fish went on to lead digital health strategy at Samsung, where he helped to build Simband, the world's leading platform for wearable health sensors. He also played influential roles at Apple, Nokia, and Openwave.

Today, Fish lives in Menlo Park, California, where he runs his latest startup, 19Labs, a company seeking to bring state-of-the-art emergency medical care to remote corners of the globe.

In the seminar sessions, Fish and Goldberg invited students to discuss the highs and lows of startup culture, engage in conversations with industry experts – often via Zoom – and research current companies and their employees.

Fish’s background in the mobile phone industry allowed him to bring in speakers like Lisa Waits, who was

Nokia’s Chief Counsel when the company fought for survival in a digital world being disrupted by Samsung and Apple. She discussed with the students why Nokia was unable to sustain its success and what that means for future mobile startups.

“Why did they fail?” Fish asked, encouraging students to look at the background of the CEO and his or her willingness to take risks. “The pace of your decision-making is absolutely critical.”

A dozen students from across Case’s academic schools were selected for the pilot course. They met several times in person and via Zoom before flying off to visit Silicon Valley March 23-26.

Fish and Goldberg arranged tours of innovative companies and introduced students to Case alumni working in the San Francisco Bay area. Fish had even bought the students personalized hoodies, conversation starters to wear when they met engineers and executives from companies like Salesforce, Oracle, Apartment List, Airbnb, Netflix, GoPro, and Meta/Facebook.

The networking opportunities may be the class’s most rewarding feature, Fish believes.

“I want to help students get recruited,” he said. “That’s half the battle of the tech industry, so Michael and I are leveraging our networks to create the best experience for our students.”

He added that he enjoys the discussions with Case students and

that he’s always wanted to teach, so he’s thankful that his alma mater made that possible.

“When I went to Case, the idea of going off and starting a company anywhere outside of the Midwest was not something kids thought about,” he said. “This bubble of ambition was what people’s minds were set on. But there's so much more that you can do once you realize there are no limits and other possibilities. I want to open students’ minds to these possibilities.”

Goldberg said Fish’s real-world experience complements faculty knowledge, which makes the class dynamic in a way that students haven’t experienced before.

“

I want to help students get recruited. That’s half the battle of the tech industry.

”

Students of VEAL 333 couldn’t agree more.

Max Pennington, a senior studying chemical engineering, took the class to learn how to lead a tech company.

He has his own startup, CLEANR, which works to minimize microplastic pollution through smart filters on washing machines.

“Mr. Fish not only listens and answers our questions during class through the seminar, but he has been willing to take time out of his day to

Students of VEAL 333 outside the offices of Oracle in San Francisco.

Alex Yakubovich '07, a Workday executive and co-founder of Scout RFP and ONOSYS, talks with students in Silicon Valley.

listen to our personal questions for advice with our own companies,” Pennington said. “It is not very often that you get the opportunity to pick the brain of people with as much experience as he has, and this is another great reason to take the class.”

Ishaan Gupta, a third-year computer science major, said the field trip to Silicon Valley added a special dimension.

“This trek just took my understanding of startups, product design, and entrepreneurship to just another level,” he said.

Megan Nellis agrees. She’s a fourth-year student majoring in chemical engineering.

“The Silicon Valley Trek and the VEAL 333 class are hands-down one of my favorite and most valuable experiences from CWRU,” she wrote afterward. “I was able to network with so many successful CWRU alumni I never would have had the chance to meet otherwise. I learned invaluable lessons from their experiences that have inspired me to continue to pursue my career in entrepreneurship and to dream even bigger.”

VEAL 333 will continue this fall, with Fish again teaching the course.

Goldberg plans to package the class into the new Veale-Snyder Fellows program at the Veale Institute, then open the course to more students and more alumni instructors.

That will provide more alumni with the opportunity to share their expertise with Case students hungry to learn.

For more information on VEAL 333 and future classes, email Michael.Goldberg@case.edu.

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Case Memories Here's another selection of photos from our archives. If something or someone triggers a memory, please write and share it with us: casealum@casealum.org

Surveying, 1980

CIT Family Christmas Party, 1963

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Outside the old Baker Building, date unknown

station, 1970 Univac 1004 input-output

Computer Science Lab, date unknown

Tug-of-war, Gre ek Week

1980

The patio at the Barking Sp ider

Case Alumnus cover, 1999

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NewsBytes Solidarity with Ukraine Soon after Russian forces invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, CWRU President Eric Kaler and Provost Ben Vinson III emailed a message to the campus community expressing sadness and solidarity.

“Tragically, after decades of hard-won peace, war has returned to the European continent,” the top administrators wrote.

They alerted international students and faculty — and anyone else who needs it — to the university’s counseling services. And they closed with this: “For now, we hope for continued triumph of democracy and peace over authoritarianism and aggression.”

A White House summons

Girl Talkin’ still While earning a biomedical engineering degree at Case, Gregg Gillis ’04 managed to become a musical sensation known as Girl Talk. His electronic mashup project rolls on.

Biomedical Engineering Professor Dustin Tyler, PhD '99, has achieved success developing prosthetics with a sense of touch, a story we told in the Fall ‘21 Case Alumnus.

Federal funders see money well spent. On March 18, Tyler was invited to Washington, D.C., to discuss his DARPAsponsored research with President Joe Biden.

The White House is shaping a new funding agency to support medical innovation, and Tyler’s approach is seen as a winning model.

On March 31, Gillis kicked off a new Girl Talk tour with a sold-out concert at Cleveland’s House of Blues and talked with The Plain Dealer about how it all began. He shared fond memories of CWRU dorm life, Coventry music clubs and Hessler Street house parties.

“It was a huge thing – it was a really fun community there, just being able to play shows at Case,” he said. And he did bring home that engineering degree.

Two commencements, one busy mayor Justin Bibb, who won a landslide victory last fall to become Cleveland’s 58th mayor, will deliver the university’s commencement address Sunday, May 15, as well as the law school address the day before. The 34-year-old mayor earned dual degrees at CWRU, in business and law.

“The JD/MBA degrees I received from CWRU helped strengthen my belief that I could one day lead our city,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to returning to campus and sharing words of wisdom to inspire the next generation of leaders.”

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Research worth accelerating Two Case researchers recently received CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program. These are grants designed to accelerate the research of the nation’s top junior faculty.

Svetlana Morozova, an assistant professor in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, was awarded a five-year, $610,00 grant to expand her work exploring the unique properties and possibilities of polymer gels.

Lydia Kisley, an assistant professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, received a five-year, $625,000 grant for her work examining metal corrosion at the molecular level.

Rising in the rankings The annual graduate school rankings of U.S. News and World Report had good news for the Case School of Engineering. The school climbed seven notches to rank 45th nationally — its first time back in the 40s since 2016. The chemical engineering program leapt from 41st to 34th, and materials science from 40th to 35th while civil engineering improved from 57th to 47th. Computer engineering improved six slots, to rank 50th in the nation.

When Rough Riders ruled The success of the 2021-22 Spartan basketball team has some alumni recalling the great Case Institute of Technology teams of the 1960s.

Co-champions of the Presidents Athletic Conference in the 1969-1970 season, the Rough Riders won the conference outright in 1960-61, and Don Zito ’62 will never forget it. He was part of that championship team.

“We did carry Coach Heim to the pool and dump him in,” he writes.

“His only request was to let him take off his glasses and his wallet.”

Case’s Cupids in demand The Case Men’s Glee Club uses singing Valentines to sharpen its skills and raise money for the club’s coffers. Fortunately for the university’s oldest student group, love is in the air at CWRU. On Feb. 14, glee club members delivered 169 serenades — at $5 to $10 apiece — to blushing sweethearts in classrooms, offices and dining halls, continuing an upward trend in Valentine’s Day demand.

The most requested song? Sh Boom Sh Boom, followed by Can You Feel the Love Tonight and, of course, My Girl.

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Alumni Adventures

A romance with dance Susie Nagorney, a mathematician and educator, will seize any chance to ballroom dance.

By John Canale

F

or centuries, women have struggled to convince men to join them on the dance floor. More often than not, it’s a losing battle and the men watch as their significant others dance with their friends.

Susie Nagorney ’76 is one of those women who won the dance battle. She convinced her future husband and dance partner, Frank Nagorney ADL ’72, to take lessons so he could join her on the dance floor. The duo never looked back as they teamed up to become a success in the world of ballroom dancing.

“When he was in law school, he would come to visit me in college here at Case,” said Nagorney, a mathematics major at Case Institute of Technology. “There would be dances and he wouldn’t go out there and dance. He didn’t like to go out there and just move around. He wanted to learn steps, so we started taking ballroom dancing lessons.”

They continued to hone their dance skills long after their college days. This led to the world of competitive ballroom dancing, where it’s not a matter or winning or losing, but impressing judges with your skills and techniques.

Nagorney, a lifelong educator, is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Cuyahoga Community College and a member of the board of directors of the Case Alumni Association. She was elected the board’s first female president in 2006. While serving students and her alma mater, she became an aficionado of ballroom dancing.

The couple participated in competitions and performances in Greater Cleveland and throughout the Midwest from 1983 to 1993, then took a break to devote more time to their children — then 13, 11 and six.

After the children had grown, Nagorney was eager to get back to the dance floor.

But it took some convincing, and Father Time, to get Frank to lace up his dancing

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dear to Nagorney’s heart. She is an 18-year breast cancer survivor.

The couple performed their waltz twice during the marathon, helping the event to raise $5,000.

“I really like the tango, but my husband does not,” Nagorney said. “But we both enjoy the waltz, the foxtrot, swing, cha cha, and rumba.”

It was not until she took classes with her future husband that she fell in love with the art.

shoes again.

“My husband was an All-American fencer in college,” Nagorney explained. “He was competing in the over 50 group and got injured. The doctor told him he better stop fencing. So, I was finally able to convince him to get back to dancing.”

In November, Nagorney and her husband took part in a dance marathon at South Park Mall in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville. The event was a fundraiser for Ohio Cancer Research, a cause near and

She never took dance lessons when she was growing up in the Cleveland suburb of Parma. It was not until she took classes with her future husband that she fell in love with the art.

While dancing has brought them closer, it was the sport of fencing that brought them together.

“I took a fencing class at Case, because I had to take a physical education class that fit into my schedule,” Nagorney said. “That summer the fencing coach Mr. (Menyhert) Kadar asked me to fence at his studio. My husband was there, home from law school, fencing for the summer, and that’s where we met.”

While it may have been fencing that brought them together, it’s their shared love of dancing that’s continued to sweep them off their feet.

John Canale is a freelance writer in Northeast Ohio.

Have an alumni adventure to share? Email casealum@casealum.org

Overdue degree

D

Between freshman year and graduation, Dean Cookson squeezed in a remarkable career.

Dean Cookson ’22 doesn’t expect his newly minted college what I wanted to do,” he degree to open any doors. But it has helped him to reflect on the said. “I thought, you know, many he’s already walked through. one thing I could do….”

The veteran technology executive received his bachelor’s degree He emailed Dean Ragu in computer engineering in January, some 35 years after starting Balakrishnan who, to his classes at Case Institute of Technology. His capstone presentation, surprise, responded. Cookson titled “How I Spent the Past 30 Summers,” was delivered to an was connected to the Departaudience of about three dozen graduating seniors. ment of Electrical, Computer “He was great,” said the presiding professor, Frank Merat ’72, and Systems Engineering, MS ’75, PhD ’78. “The students loved him.” which was still waiting for his The overdue degree represents a milestone for Cookson, senior project. He was given Dean Cookson upon completalthough one he’s accepting quietly and with some bemusement. a list of options to fulfill the ing his private pilot check ride When he added a bachelor’s degree to his lengthy LinkedIn profile, requirement, including a in December 2016. he says, he declined to send out a status update. presentation on his co-op.

“Only 30 years late!” he said, laughing. “I’ve never been good He registered for ECSE 398, paid his tuition, built a slide deck, at following instructions. You know, it’s neat, actually. It’s been kind and flew to Cleveland. On Nov 8, 2021, he walked into a lecture of fun.” hall in the White Building.

He means the gradu“I did a presentation on ation experience, but he 30 years’ worth of co-ops, I did a presentation on 30 years’ worth of co-ops, could have been referring basically, including 10 years basically, including 10 years in a CIO/CTO role. in a CIO/CTO role,” he said, to his whole career.

America’s tech industry laughing again. “It was fun.

I was a little worried the kids were going to be was mushrooming when a I was a little worried the kids bored by the old guy waxing poetic.” young Dean Cookson, a few were going to be bored by credits shy of graduation, the old guy waxing poetic.” headed to Boston in 1990 for a co-op with one of MITRE’s research But afterward, several students came up to compliment him. and development centers. One semester of cooperative work “He just strode in in pants and a t-shirt and tore right into it,” experience became two, then a startup drew him into the vortex said Merat, approving of the lessons. of the tech boom.

In addition to describing several of the systems he designed for “I was employee number 315,” he recalled. “The next year, we various companies, Cookson talked about engineering managehad 1,600.” ment, navigating change, “lots of the soft skill stuff that engineers He started out as a computer programmer but quickly became need,” Merat said. “The class loved him.” a designer of computer systems and an e-commerce specialist. In a At Case, he had started as a double major — physics and saxowhirlwind career, he went from COO at Snapfish to vice president phone performance — but switched to computer engineering when and CTO at the upstart airline Virgin America — “a fantastic place he realized he was always playing in the computer lab, he said. Still, to work.” he feels the physics classes and music lessons gave him a good founA couple of times in his career, he said, a hiring manager dation for jobs where he was often designing systems from scratch. asked about a college degree, but the lack of one never held him “A lot of the critical thinking I learned at Case, how to look at back for long. “The Bay area tech world is pretty chill about that,” the world, how to measure things you can’t really measure, actually he explained. helped a ton,” he said.

He was senior vice president and CIO at Red Robin, the gourA Denver resident, Cookson has since joined another tech met burger chain, when the pandemic devastated the restaurant startup, Mews, based in Prague. He’s vice president of strategy industry. Remote school meant his two school-aged sons would be and business operations at a company that aims to transform learning from home, in need of supervision. It seemed like a good the hospitality industry. time to get off the treadmill. He left Red Robin in 2020.

It’s a new experience for him — his first job with a “I had a chance to hunker down at home and think about college degree.

“

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Class Notes 1950s James P. Buchwald ’54 Mount Vernon, Ohio Jim’s belief in engineering education will long endure thanks to a scholarship named in his honor. In January, Jim’s daughter, Karen Buchwald Wright, announced a $1.5 million gift to endow a full scholarship for an undergraduate student from Ohio attending the Case School of Engineering. Karen recently stepped down as president and CEO of Ariel Corp., which her father founded in 1966 and built into the world’s largest manufacturer of separable reciprocating gas compressors. Long retired, Jim continues to support community causes in his beloved Mount Vernon.

1960s Bruce Banks ’64 Olmsted Falls, Ohio Bruce was inducted into the NASA Glenn Research Center Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2021. The center’s most patented inventor, Bruce made significant contributions to NASA’s efforts in electric propulsion, thin-film coatings, surface texturing, and atomic oxygen protection.

He also found an array of uses for these technologies in the private sector.

1970s Julie Gerberding ’77, MD ’81 Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania Julie has retired from Merck after 12 years 26

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with the pharmaceutical giant, where she most recently served as executive vice president of population health and sustainability. In March, she announced she has accepted the role of CEO of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. Julie was the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2002 to 2009, the first woman to hold the position. Over her career, she has been included in Forbes magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year.

Steve Fossi ’78 Santa Rosa, California Steve has retired as the global business development manager for Keysight Technologies. His career as an electrical engineer, sales manager, and senior executive at numerous companies included 27 years working for Hewlett-Packard and its spinoff Agilent Technologies.

1980s Kandice Marchant, MS ’83, PhD ’85, MD Cleveland Heights, Ohio Kandice has opened Marchant Manor Cheese on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights, where she makes and sells artisan cheeses.

Wisconsin-born and raised, Kandice earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in materials science from Case Institute of Technology and then her medical degree from the CWRU School of Medicine. She became a pathologist at Cleveland Clinic and eventually Chair of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Institute — the first woman at Cleveland Clinic to head a clinical institute. She now happily calls herself the Cheese Doctor.

Andrew Olah, PhD ’85 Spencer, Ohio Andy was appointed to the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the county’s community resource for coordinating and funding services for people with developmental disabilities. “The major incentive which prompted me to apply for a seat on the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities was the strong impact the agency has had on my son Patrick,” he said in a press release.

“MCBDD programs have allowed him to be independent and function extremely well within the community.”

Joannie Chin ’86, PhD Frederick, Maryland

Joannie was named Director of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where she was formerly deputy director. She leads a staff of more than 400 charged with developing measurement science for critical national needs. Joannie earned her bachelor’s degree in polymer science and macromolecular engineering at Case Institute of Technology and her doctorate at Virginia Tech.

Cindy Zaharchuk ’89 Cleveland, Ohio Cindy is a senior electrical engineer for The Austin Co., one of the nation’s oldest design-build contractors, headquartered in suburban Cleveland.

She’s also an instrument-rated private pilot. Cindy earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology.

1990s Jon Goldsby, MS ’91, PhD ’96 Strongsville, Ohio Jon has started a new position as Branch Chief at the NASA Glenn Research Center. A research physi-cist for NASA for 30 years, he’s one of the few NASA employees to be a two-time Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) winner. Jon earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in materials science and engineering at Case School of Engineering.

Ron Jezerinac ’93 Jupiter, Florida

Ron reflected on his days as a standout basketball player for CWRU (1989-1993) as today’s Spartans made their improbable run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division III Tournament. “I wish someone would have told me to slow down a little bit. Survey our team and the other team more. Think your way through the game a little more,” he told The Daily, CWRU’s online newsroom. Ron is the founder and president of the Jezerinac Group, a structural engineering firm in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Scott Stiefel ’93, MS ’93 Shaker Heights, Ohio Scott has been promoted to co-CEO at Telos Alliance, a Cleveland manufacturer of audio products and systems for broadcasters. Previously, he was chief operating officer at the global company. Scott earned his Case degrees in electrical engineering.

Rob Stalder ’94 Emory, Virginia Rob is the new Chief Information Officer at Emory & Henry College in Virgin-

ia. Previously, he was CIO at Coahoma Community College in Mississippi. Rob earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Case School of Engineering and is a member of the board of directors of the Case Alumni Association.

Peter Johnson ’94 Gibsonia, Pennsylvania

Peter recently travelled to Oświęcim, Poland, to help One Humanity Institute repair and furnish housing and community spaces for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion — and to help hand out thousands of Teddy bears to Ukrainian children. To support his Ukrainian relief efforts, go to www.onehumanity.institute/ house-of-hope/.

Aaron Henderson ’97 Bethel Park, Pennsylvania Aaron was named “One of 20 People to Know in Engineering” by the Pittsburgh Business Times. He’s an Engineering Group Manager and Civil Practice Lead at Sci-Tek, a Pittsburgh engineering, surveying, and consulting firm, where he oversees a team of civil engineers, designers, and drafters. Aaron earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Case.

Ketal Patel, MS ’97 North Royalton, Ohio Ketal is the co-founder and CTO of Vitalxchange, a digital platform that helps parents and caregivers of special needs children find guidance and resources. Previously he was an engineering director for Medtronic and software development manager for CardioInsight, a Case-connected startup. Ketal earned his master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Case School of Engineering.

Theodore Otero ’99 Chagrin Falls, Ohio Ted was named one of Cleveland’s Top 500 Leaders, Doers, Visionaries & Idea Generators by Cleveland Magazine.

He’s the president of Otero Signature Homes. Asked what he would tell his 16-year-old self, he told the magazine: “Hug your grandparents because you will miss them when they are gone.” Ted earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Case.

2000s Xinsheng Lou, PhD ’00 West Hartford, Connecticut Xinsheng started the new year as the volunteer leader of the Industries and Sciences Department of ISA, the International Society of Automation, which sets industry standards and engages automation professionals. A control technologist for GE Power, Xinsheng earned his doctorate in systems and controls engineering at the Case School of Engineering.

Cheryl Thompson ’00, MS ’03, PhD Hershey, Pennsylvania Cheryl has started a new position as the Associate Director for Population Science at the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Penn State College of Medicine. Previously, she taught and served administrative roles at the CWRU School of Medicine for a dozen years.

Cheryl earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer engineering from Case School of Engineering and her doctorate in genetic and molecular epidemiology from CWRU. Spring 2022

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Class Notes Ayonna Blue Donald ’01 Cleveland, Ohio Ayonna is the new Vice President and Ohio Market Lead for Enterprise Community Partners, a nationwide nonprofit that helps to place people in healthy, affordable homes, often through rehabilitation projects. Previously, she was the Director of the Department of Building and Housing for the City of Cleveland. A lawyer and an engineer, Ayonna earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the Case School of Engineering. She was president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Levon Pogosian, PhD ’01 Vancouver, British Columbia Levon has been awarded the Buchalter Cosmology Prize, which recognizes “ground-breaking theoretical, observational, or experimental work in cosmology.” He and his collaborator, Karsten Jedamzik, won first prize for their research on relieving the Hubble tension with primordial magnetic fields. The Hubble tension, one of cosmology’s greatest puzzles, concerns the apparent difference in the Hubble constant — or how fast the universe is expanding today — determined using different types of observations. The pair showed how to reconcile the difference by accounting for magnetic fields in the early universe. Levon is a Professor of Physics at Simon Fraser University.

Daniel Elgort, MS ’03, PhD ’05 New York, New York Daniel has been named Chief Data and Analytics Officer at M2GEN, a bioinformatics company that applies data and analytics to oncology research. Previously he was the chief scientific officer at Covera Health. Daniel has spent his career at the intersection of 28

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healthcare, technology, and data science.

He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in biomedical engineering at the Case School of Engineering.

Abdou A. Ayoub, MEM ’05 Middleburg Heights, Ohio Abdou is the Managing Director of Paragon Shift, a data analytics and AI solutions firm he founded in 2010.

He started his career with Deloitte Consulting in Cleveland, working with clients in the Americas and Europe, and later transferred to the Deloitte Middle East practice, based in Beirut, Lebanon. A private pilot and a licensed scuba diver, Abdou speaks and consults around the world on topics related to data analytics and AI solutions.

2010s Tawny Bragg ’10, MEM ’12 Chicago, Illinois Tawny is a Specialty Account Manager at CVS Health, where she helps to bring specialty drugs to market. The job that keeps her most busy, she reports, is being a wife to Babajide and mother to “two beautiful boys,” Joshua and Tatum. Whenever possible, she loves to bake and work with youth.

Matt Davis ’12, MEM ’13 Cleveland, Ohio

Matt has assumed a new position as Regional Manager for Parker Hannifin Corp., the global leader in motion and control technologies.

Previously, he was business development manager and a product sales manager for the hydraulic valve division. Matt earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Case while playing football for the Spartans.

Lauren Smith ’13, MS ’15 Arlington, Virginia Lauren is now a Program Manager for Satellite Servicing at Northrop-Grumman, where she is leading two programs focused on refueling spacecraft in orbit. Previously, she was the Operations Manager for a portfolio of 13 National Security Space programs in Denver.

Lauren earned her master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Case and serves on the board of directors of the Case Alumni Association and the Industry Advisory Board for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Ran Wei, MS ’14, PhD ’20 Sheffield Village, Ohio Ran is a hardware engineer for Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems in Elyria, Ohio. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering at Case, where he was a ThinkEnergy Fellow with the Great Lakes Energy Institute.

Timothy Nevin ’15, MEM ’16 Cleveland Heights, Ohio Tim has been promoted to vice president of operations at Cotsworks, a Cleveland-based designer and manufacturer of rugged fiber optical materials for harsh environments. Previously he was its director of strategic initiatives and director of manufacturing technologies. Tim is an Eagle Scout and an assistant scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America.

Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones to casealum@casealum.org.

Spencer Boyd III ’16 Canton, Michigan Spencer is an exterior design engineer for Nissan Motors at its North America Technical Center, where he started as an intern in 2014. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Case, where he was a member of the Emerging Scholars Program and the varsity basketball team.

Kristina Collins ’16, MS ’19 Cleveland, Ohio Kristina was selected as a finalist in the 2022 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She’s a member of the inaugural cohort of AAC&U’s Future Leaders Society, which recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education. Kristina, the former president of the Case Amateur Radio Club, is pursuing her doctorate at Case in electrical engineering.

Jing (Zhao) Lyon ’16 Cleveland, Ohio Jing has joined Brite Energy Innovators as entrepreneur programs director.

The Warren, Ohio, accelerator focuses on early-stage companies in the energy sector. She previously was a project manager of Allganize and a project control analyst for Nexus Engineering, both based in Cleveland. Jing also founded her own company, EcoSpinners, while earning her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Case.

Santiago Chabrier ’17 Cleveland, Ohio

Santiago has joined Avery Dennison as a team manager.

Previously, he was a manufacturing operations supervisor for SherwinWilliams in Garland, Texas. He came to Case from Cleveland’s Max Hayes High School through the Envoys Program of the Case School of Engineering. Santiago earned dual degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry.

Hivank Dokania, MEM ’17 Chicago, Illinois Shivank has joined Cardinal Commerce as a program manager for product commercialization and delivery. Previously, he was a project manager for Hyland Software in Cleveland. Shivank earned his master’s of engineering and management at the Case School of Engineering. His community service led to him being honored as a Civic Engagement Scholar by CWRU.

Preethi Kumar, MEM ’17 Union City, California Preethi is now a technical program manager for Argo, a Palo Alto company that develops selfdriving technology for automakers. Previously, she was a technical program manager for Iron Ox, a sustainable food producer, and for the autonomous vehicle program of Uber. Preethi earned her master’s of engineering and management at the Case School of Engineering.

Chioma Onukwuire ’17, MEM ’18 Dearborn, Michigan Chioma has joined Cardinal Commerce as a technical product manager. Previously, she was a compliance analyst for Wells Fargo. Chioma also leads the African fashion platform Chimu, which she founded while a student at Case. In January, she discussed her experience in cultural entrepreneurship as part of the CWRU Entrepreneurship Speaker Series.

Janet L. Gbur, PhD ’18 Canfield, Ohio Janet has been named to the ASTM International board of directors, where she will share her materials expertise. She is a research biomedical engineer and investigator in the Advanced Platform Technology Center at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and a senior research associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Case. Janet, an ASTM member since 2012, earned her doctorate in materials science and engineering.

Lauren Homack ’19 Youngstown, Ohio Lauren joined Ellwood Aluminum as a metallurgical engineer at its new casting shop in Hubbard, Ohio, after completing a metallurgical engineering development program. She earned her bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering at Case and was an All UAA Academic Honoree on the varsity swim team.

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Class Notes Khayln Miller ’19 Long Beach, California Khaylin has joined Boeing as an associate sustainable commercial aircraft design and analysis engineer. He earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace and mechanical engineering at Case, where he was a Gates Scholar and a member of the National Society of Black Engineers.

Menghong Wang, PhD ’20 Pasadena, California Menghong is a Mac MLB reliability engineer for Apple.

She earned her doctorate in macromolecular science and engineering at Case, where she was a member of the inaugural class of the CWRU chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu, the honor society of materials scientists.

Ryan Buechele ’21 Columbus, Ohio

2020s Zoe Le Garrec ’20 Boston, Massachusetts Zoe is a field service engineer for Rockwell Automation.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Case, where she was president of the Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable and a member of the Humanitarian Design Corps.

Isabel Mcleod ’20, MS ’20 New Paltz, New York

Isabel is a bridge engineer at Modjeski and Masters in Poughkeepsie, New York. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering at Case, where she was the design lead on the Steel Bridge Team that went to the national championships.

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Ryan is a graduate teaching associate at Ohio State University, where he is pursuing his doctorate in physics and exploring high energy theory. He earned his bachelors’ degrees in mathematics and physics at Case while also earning a bachelor’s degree in music through the CWRU Department of Music. While at Case, Ryan won the Albert A. Michelson Prize for physics and played trumpet with the jazz band Blue Theory.

Dean Cookson ’21 Denver, Colorado

Dean received his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in January, 35 years after starting classes at Case Institute of Technology. Before completing his senior project, he enjoyed a wide-ranging career as a computer programmer and technology executive that included CIO and CTO roles at the likes of Snapfish, Virgin America, and Red Robin restaurants. On Nov. 8, 2021, he returned to campus and delivered his senior project presentation, titled “How I Spent My Last 30 Summers.”

Connor Nee ’21 Cleveland, Ohio

Connor joined Howmet Aerospace as a metallurgist on its quality assurance team. He interned at Howmet while earning his bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering. He also helped his classmates as a Peer Advisor for the Case School of Engineering.

Julie Wasielewski ’21 Cleveland, Ohio Julie is a manufacturing engineer at TYLOK Fittings & Valves, where she interned while earning her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. A sister of Alpha Chi Omega at CWRU, Julie served on the leadership team of the Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable.

Emma Wyckoff ’21 Columbus, Ohio Emma recently passed the FE Civil exam and received her Engineer Intern certification, putting her on track to becoming a professional engineer. She is an engineer-in-training at Gresham Smith. Emma earned her bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering at Case.

Class Notes are generated by personal submissions as well as by news releases, public announcements, and LinkedIn postings. If you have news to share, please send your professional and personal updates to caselum@casalum.org.

TRIBUTE Al Gordon

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lbert “Al” Gordon ’42 relished the opportunity to help Case and Case students and spent a long life pursing both goals.

He died March 20, 2022, at the age of 101.

A long-time member of the board of the Case Alumni Association, Gordon served three terms as president and was honored with the association’s most distinguished awards. Meanwhile, he lived a life of adventure, entrepreneurship, and familial devotion.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Gordon went from Glenville High School to Western Reserve College but soon transferred to Case Institute of Technology, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy.

He served in World War II as a naval officer and was stationed in Hawaii, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, where he helped plan the Okinawa invasion. After the war, he and his brothers founded Cosmo Plastics, which manufactured

plastic bobbins and other parts for the electronics industry.

A longtime resident of Beachwood, Gordon was married to his beloved wife, Lillian, for 66 years before her death in 2014. He nurtured a home greenhouse and brightened area nursing homes with gifts of plants.

1920 to 2022 In 1997, he was elected to lead the Case Alumni Association as president.

He served two more terms, 2004-05, and 2005-06, and spent many years on the scholarship committee, where he helped to award hundreds of thousands of dollars to deserving students.

For his support of the CAA and the Case School of Engineering, Gordon received a Meritorious Service Award in 1993. In 2007, he was honored with the Samuel Givelber ’23 award for promoting fellowship. Then, in 2011, he was presented the Silver Bowl, the highest honor bestowed by the alumni association.

Funeral services were held March 22 at Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel in Cleveland Heights. Burial was in Mount Olive Cemetery. The family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, www.jewishcleveland.org/.

In Memoriam Francis J. Borofka ’40; Timonium, MD; 12-1-21

John A. Armbruster ’58; Chardon OH; 2-18-22

George Matlow ’40; Louisville, KY; 11-1-21

Joseph F. Denk, Sr. ’59; Willoughby, OH; 12-28-2

Albert Gordon ’41; Beachwood, OH; 3-20-22

Thomas P. Kicher ’59, MS ’62, PhD ’65; Euclid, OH; 2-19-22

Frank A. Leisey ’44; Golden, CO: 2-22 Frank Hach ’49; Chardon, OH; 11-18-21 Glenn W. Miller ’50 Cleveland, OH; 9-21-21 Frank R. Hondlik ’51; Naples, FL; 1-7-22 Paul E. Renas ’51; Gaithersburg, MD; 10-27-21

Dr. Edward (Ted) M. Pflueger ’59; Menlo Park, CA; 2-2-22 Leonard K. Tower ’59; Cleveland, OH; 3-27-21 Ervin Behrin ’60; Livermore, CA; 11-14-21

Robert F. Bond ’62; Atlantic Highlands, NJ; 11-14-21 Norman C. Harbert MS ’62; Hunting Valley, OH; 1-29-22 Jan F. Kreider ’64; Boulder, CO; 1-24-22 John E. Miller ’64, MS ’70; Greenville, NC; 11-10-21 Joseph J. Benich Jr. ’65, MS ’68; Isle of Palms, SC; 12-22-21 Sherman L. Heller ’65; Wilmington, NC; 10-1-20

Wendel “Pete” V. Peterson ’53; Mayfield Village, OH; 1-19-22

J. Samuel Bitler ’60; Raleigh, NC; 12-12-21

John W. King MS ’65; Grand Blanc, MI; 11-20-21

Daniel J. Gans ’60; Wallingford, CT; 12-13-21

Lawrence J. Stephan MS ’68; Wayne, IL; 2-6-15

Richard F. Schneider ’52; Sunnydale, CA; 10-25-21

David F. Nyman ’60; Naples, FL; 1-16-22

Dr. Peter Weiss ’69; Venice, FL; 10-19-21

Robert E. Kane, Sr. ’53; Huron, OH; 12-20-20

Warren M. Young ’60; Farmddale, OH; 2-16-20

James E. Eilers PhD ’71; Edwardsville, IL; 3-12-21

Bernard “Dave” Hanhilammi ’54; Columbus, OH; 2-4-22

Patrick J. Chambers, Jr. ’61; The Villages, FL; 2-6-22

Thomas R. Sawyer ’72; Moscow, ID; 12-24-21

Melvin H. Schwartz ’62, MS ’64, PhD ’67; Skokie, IL; 10-31-21

Albert O. Richardson MS ’74; Chico, CA; 11-25-21

Nicholas J. Smilanich, Jr. ’60; Rocky River, OH; 12-10-21

Doyle K. McKenzie White ’97; city unknown; 12-21-21

Richard W. Detrick, PhD ’55; Midlothian, VA; 1-1-22 Marion R. Musser ’57; Griffin, GA; 1-21-2 Douglas B. Sheppard ’57; Torrance, CA; 10-25-21

Richard A. Lueckel ’80; Westerville, OH; 2-4-22

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“LONG WE’LL REMEMBER…” When Greek Week ruled In 1970, it mattered that SAE had the fastest bed on campus.

By Ken Barker ’70

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wheels. Our bed was a tricycle sporting a wooden frame. Our s winter turns to spring in Cleveland, Case students’ design featured cambered rear wheels to counteract the stresses attention turns to thoughts of outdoor fun. Back endured when cornering, but they took a beating anyway. in the 1960s, Case Institute of Technology had 12 I reconditioned the SAE bed my senior year (1970) to ensure national fraternities represented on campus, a large our winning streak continued. number for such a small college.

The annual tradition of overSince roughly half of the student hauling the bed was passed body was Greek, Greek Week “In hindsight, my fraternity experience down from class to class. Kermit was arguably the biggest campus Lichty (CIT ’68) taught me what event come spring. helped me mature as a person, make the bed typically needed, and Activities included pie-eating lifelong friends, and imparted my fondest recommended the local bicycle and beer-chugging contests, shop he used to respoke the various carnival style booths, memories of my four years at Case.” extra-heavy duty bicycle wheels. and, biggest of all, the fraterI then trained Mark Witzke nity Bed Race. The Bed Race (CIT ’71) so that our winning ways endured after I graduated. used the double figure-eight path within Case Quad between “Jocks” in the chapter were recruited for the staggered relay team Strosacker Auditorium and the Sears Building. Teams of runners we used to sustain a winning pace. pushed their chapter’s bed to earn a trophy (and bragging rights), proclaiming which fraternity had the fastest bed on campus. The only restrictions were that the bed had to be muscle powered, piloted by the president of that chapter, and have a mattress.

A ponding in Wade Lagoon, 1970

SAE bed, 1970

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was the perennial winner of the bed race (in addition to sponsoring the Beer Bust). I had pledged SAE in the spring of my freshman year. I was drawn to their song-filled parties, gorgeous house on Magnolia Road, and the affinity I felt for the brothers. In hindsight, my fraternity experience helped me mature as a person, make lifelong friends, and imparted my fondest memories of my four years at Case.

While some chapters took the bed race in fun, for those who seriously tried to win, the race was grueling. Because of the tight turns, the beds usually sustained major wear — especially on the 32

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For Greek Week 1970, our bed logged yet another win. In celebration, our relay team carried me bodily down to Wade Lagoon to be “ponded.” Ponding at Case was a fraternity tradition of tossing someone into Wade Lagoon whenever something especially good happened to them. It was usually reserved for when a brother became “pinned” to his sweetheart, but could be used on any occasion deemed worthy.

While I have many fond memories of my years at Case, Greek Week 1970 is the best of all.

Ken, the former Senior Vice President of Research for Mellon Financial Co., is retired and living outside of Pittsburgh. Give him your regards at 66ragtoppony@gmail.com.

Giving Corner

Blended Giving: The Best of Both Worlds You can make a difference at the Case Alumni Foundation both today and tomorrow by combining your current gift with the intent to make one in the future. This type of giving, called blended giving, allows you to make an even bigger impact than you thought possible.

Making a blended gift is easier than you think. Simply choose a gift that works for you today, like support of the Case Fund©, and pair it with one that works for you in the future — like a bequest or a beneficiary designation.

MAKE AN IMPACT TODAY

MAKE A DIFFERENCE TOMORROW

Cash or check Stock or appreciated assets Tangible personal property Life income gifts IRA charitable rollover/ Qualified charitable distribution

Gift in your will or living trust Retirement plan assets Bank or brokerage accounts Life insurance policies Beneficiary designations

Why Blended Giving?

When you combine a gift today with a gift for the future, you: • Provide immediate support for key priorities on the campus; • Ensure the Case Alumni Foundation can continue our efforts by making an investment to benefit future generations of students, faculty, and staff at Case; • Inspire others to give, while creating a legacy that’s personally meaningful to you.

Plan Your Giving Strategy Finding the best combination of current and future gifts to meet your charitable and financial goals can be challenging. Our staff is available to work with you and your financial advisor or estate planning attorney to help you find the best giving options to meet your needs.

Do More Through Blended Giving Let us help you to see the impact you can make at the Case Alumni Foundation both today and in the future. Contact Stephen J. Zinram, Executive Director at 216.231.4567 or stephen.zinram@casealum.org to learn more, or for help getting started finding the right blend for you.

Disclosure Statement: The information in this article is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. Figures cited in any examples are for illustrative purposes only. References to tax rates include federal taxes only and are subject to change. State law may further impact your individual results.

CASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1712

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