Class Notes

1960s

John Davin ’60 Rocky River, Ohio

John, a star basketball player and golfer for Case Institute of Technology, was inducted into the Spartan Club Hall of Fame at Homecoming 2018. John was one of the leading scorers on the CIT basketball team, earning three letters, serving as a team captain for two years, and claiming a pair of All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference honors. He and six other inductees were first recognized at halftime of the Homecoming football game, a 37–7 win over Saint Vincent College, October 13 at DiSanto Field.

Carl Helrich ’63, PhD Goshen, Indiana

Since semi-retiring from Goshen College, Carl has written several textbooks, including The Classical Theory of Fields. He said the book was inspired by a class taught by physics Professor Leslie L. Foldy, which he was allowed to sit in on during his senior year at Case Institute of Technology. “Foldy was magnificent. He covered the board without once looking back at his notes,” he recalls. Carl’s books are available on Amazon.com.

Kanapur “Chandra” Savalappan, MS ’63 Monroe, New Jersey

Chandra and his wife, Kushala, recently relocated to the U.S. to be closer to their three children. He’s working on his first book, East or West—Life Is Bliss, a semi-autobiographical account of his life as an engineer and business executive on two continents. Chandra graduated from Case Institute of Technology in 1963 with a master’s degree in environmental engineering and worked in pollution control and environmental engineering in both India and the United States. After he retired in 2000, he founded a school to help educate children in a remote part of India.

Bambang Hidayat, PhD ’65 Bandung, West Java, Indonesia

Bambang addressed the conference of the Southeast Asia Astronomical Network (SEAAN) in October 2018 at the Institut Teknologi Sumatera (ITERA) in Lampung, South Sumatra. A founding member of the Indonesia Society for Sciences, he spoke about “Astronomy as a Cultural Element.” Bambang earned his doctorate in astronomy from Case Institute of Technology.

David F. Channell ’67, MS ’69, PhD ’75 Dallas, Texas

Dave has a new book coming out in 2019. The Rise of Engineering Science: How Technology Became Scientific is described by its publisher, Springer International Publishing, as the first book to look at the “broad history of engineering science.” Dave teaches the history and philosophy of science and technology at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he has been on the faculty for more than 40 years.

Clark Heckert ’68, MS ’68 Carbondale, Colorado

Clark has written his first novel, Sudden Storm, an adventure story that follows a Navy SEAL back in time. Not coincidentally, Clark served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He then spent 27 years with DuPont and worked for a decade as a private consultant before retiring to Colorado with his wife, Pamela, to hike and ski. His book is available on Amazon.com.

1970s

George Bibel, MS ’79 Grand Forks, North Dakota

George published his third book, Plane Crash: The Forensics of Aviation Disaster (Johns Hopkins University Press), which he co-authored with Captain Robert Hedges, a pilot for Boeing/Airbus. A professor of mechanical engineering at the University of North Dakota, George is a frequently cited expert on transportation accidents. He spoke this year at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics as part of its Distinguished Lecture Series. His presentation was televised on C-SPAN Book TV May 2 and June 23, 2018.

1980s

Teresa Head-Gordon ’83, PhD Berkeley, California

Teresa, the Chancellor’s Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry & Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, was elected to the 2018 class of American Chemical Society Fellows. The Akron native earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Case Institute of Technology and her doctorate in theoretical chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University.

Katherine A. Bakeev ’87, PhD Newark, New Jersey

Katherine is the Director of Analytical Services and Support for B&W Tek, a Delaware-based producer of optical spectroscopy and laser instrumentation for the pharmaceutical and materials science industries. Formerly she was the Chief Scientist for CAMO Software Inc. Katherine earned her bachelor’s in polymer science and macromolecular engineering from Case Institute of Technology, her master’s in technology management from Stevens Institute of Technology, and her doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She is editor of Process Analytical Technology: Spectroscopic Tools and Implementation Strategies for the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries, which is now in its second printing.

Choon Heung Lee, MS ’89, PhD ’93 Jiangyin, China

Choon Heung has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co. (JCET Group), a provider of advanced semiconductor packaging and test services headquartered in Jiangyin, China. Lee, who holds 59 industry patents, has served in several senior management positions in the semiconductor industry, most recently with Amkor Technology Inc. He earned his doctorate in theoretical physics from Case Western Reserve.

1990s

Laura J. Flanagan ’90 Wilmette, Illinois

Laura was named to the Board of Directors of Callaway Golf Company in November 2018 as it expanded its board from nine to 10 members. She is currently CEO of Foster Farms, one of the leading poultry producers on the West Coast. Previously, Laura served as President of the Snacks Division of ConAgra Foods in Omaha, Nebraska. She earned her bachelor’s degree in systems and control engineering from Case Institute of Technology in 1990 and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1996. Earlier in her career, she was a manufacturing engineer for Saturn Corp. when it was run by Case alumnus Skip LeFeuvre ’56. In 2013, Laura was awarded the Meritorious Service Award by the Case Alumni Association.

Robin Knauerhase ’90 Portland, Oregon

Robin has retired from the Intel Corporation after a 26-year career during which she worked mostly on advanced research in the Intel Labs division. In that span, she was awarded 44 U.S. patents and was published in leading computer science workshops and journals. She earned her bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Case Institute of Technology and her master’s at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. She plans to take a “gap year” to travel and pursue fun projects while she decides whether more tech, academia or LGBTQ advocacy will be her next adventure.

Carlos Grodsinsky, MS ’91, PhD ’93 Hinckley, Ohio

Carlos, the chief operating officer at ZIN Technologies, a Middleburg Heights provider of engineering and product development services to NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense, was recently named to the board of the Aerozone Alliance. The business group hopes to create an aerospace-oriented jobs hub around Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the NASA Glenn Research Center. An expert in space flight instrumentation, Carlos told Crain’s Cleveland Business he thinks the alliance can help to reinvigorate the regional economy.

Christian Zorman, MS ’91, PhD ’94 Euclid, Ohio

Chris was appointed Associate Dean of Research at the Case School of Engineering in October 2018 by Dean Venkataramanan Balakrishnan. He had served in the position on an interim basis for the past year, and the dean credited him with “an exceptional job.” Chris earned his master’s and doctorate in physics from Case and joined the faculty in 2002 in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is considered an expert in the field of MEMS.

Rina Banerjee ’93 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Rina had her artwork presented by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in a major exhibition, “Rina Banerjee: Make Me a Summary of the World,” co-organized with the San José Museum of Art. Considered one of the most important artists of the post-colonial Indian diaspora living in the United States, she has exhibited her work most extensively in Europe and South Asia. Born in Calcutta, India, in 1963, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in polymer engineering from Case in 1993 and took a job as a polymer research chemist upon graduation. Rina later earned her MFA in fine arts from Yale University.

Robert Stalder ’94 Batesville, Mississippi

Rob was named vice chairman of the board of the Phi Kappa Theta Foundation, which supports and guides the national network of Phi Kappa Theta fraternities. He was president of the CWRU chapter of Phi Kappa Theta while an undergraduate studying mechanical engineering. Rob is the Chief Innovation Officer at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Tshilidzi Marwala ’95, PhD Johannesburg, South Africa

Tshilidzi was one of the keynote speakers at the 2018 Science Forum in Pretoria, South Africa, in December. He talked about the Moravec paradox and skills needed in the fourth industrial revolution. Tshilidzi is Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case, his master’s from the University of Pretoria and a PhD in artificial intelligence and engineering from the University of Cambridge. He was also a postdoctoral research associate at the Imperial College of London.

Rong Xu, PhD ’98 Beachwood, Ohio

Rong attracted $5 million from the National Institutes of Health for two projects that will try to tackle the biochemistry behind Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Rong, an associate professor in the CWRU School of Medicine’s Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, is an internationally recognized expert in biomedical informatics. She will apply artificial intelligence and big data methods to try to fathom the causes of the dreaded disease. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Peking University, her master’s in biology from Case, and a master’s in computer science and PhD in biomedical informatics from Stanford.

D.M. Pulley ’99 Shaker Heights, Ohio

Doreen used her civil engineering degree and love of old buildings to dive into a career as a forensic engineer. That experience, and a fascination with the Torso Murders of the 1930s, inspired her latest mystery thriller, The Unclaimed Victim. Parts of the novel are set in the Gospel Union Press Building in Tremont, which Doreen describes as a place full of bizarre choices and hidden rooms, more than 175,000 square feet with no master planning. Order the book via Amazon.com.

2000s

Yijun Deng, PhD ’00 Dresher, Pennsylvania

Yijun in May was appointed vice president of drug discovery at Asieris Pharmaceuticals, a China-based biotech company that specializes in cancer drugs. He earned his doctorate in organic chemistry at Case as an international student and worked as a research and development specialist for several U.S.-based drug companies, including Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute and Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals.

Ashley (Graff) Spears ’04 Edinboro, Pennsylvania

Ashley has been appointed director of facilities management and planning at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania after serving in the interim role since April. In her previous position as manager of construction and planning, Ashley oversaw all aspects of major construction projects on Edinboro’s campus. Before joining the university, Ashley was a project manager for Whiting-Turner. She earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Case and a bachelor’s in physics from Edinboro.

Michael Zhang ’07 Costa Mesa, California

Michael was named by Intellectual Asset Management magazine to its Strategy 300 list, which identifies the world’s leading intellectual property strategists. He’s director of business development at WiLAN, a patent licensing company based in Ottawa, Canada. Michael earned his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Case School of Engineering.

2010s

Alaina Strickler ’13 Stanford, California

Alaina is a PhD candidate and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in the department of chemical engineering at Stanford University. She earned her bachelor’s in chemical engineering from Case, where she engaged in research on copper electrodeposition chemistry for semiconductor applications with Professor Uziel Landau. Her current research focuses on the development of advanced electrocatalytic materials for renewable energy conversion technologies, with major applications in fuel cell and electrolyzer devices.

Rakesh Guha ’13 Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Rakesh is a catalyst in Cleveland’s startup community. He recently helped to launch StartInCLE, a community of startup founders. He also manages the pop-up tech conference TechPint and was a featured speaker at Startup Scaleup 2018. He earned dual degrees in biomedical engineering and electrical engineering and computer science at Case and works as an engineer for the Canton startup Vlipsy.

Denn M. Manglona ’14 Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands

Denn is working as a civil engineer in the Mariana Islands, where he recently passed the Civil Engineering PE Examination. After earning his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Case he moved to Saipan to be closer to family. He’s an assistant project manager for Pacific Engineering Group and Services.

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

Cal Al-Dhubaib ’16 Lakewood, Ohio

Cal was selected for the 2018 class of “Twenty in their 20s” by Crain’s Cleveland Business. Cal, the first person to earn a data science degree from Case, is chief data scientist and partner at Pandata, a data science consulting firm in Lakewood.

Ujval Reddy Atla, MS ’17 Palo Alto, California

Ujval is a systems engineer for Tesla, where he interned while earning his master’s in mechanical engineering at Case. As an international student from India, he participated in CWRU Motorsports and Baja SAE competitions. He speaks four languages and is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Research Projects Agency Riser—a potential superstar with expertise important to national security—at DARPA’s 60th anniversary symposium in September.

A research associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, she was one of only three award winners chosen to address the 1,600 conference attendees. Emily shared her groundbreaking research into restoring natural sensation to amputees with prosthetics. Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones to casealum@casealum.org.

ENGINEERS WEEK RECEPTION

returns to campus February 28

The Engineers Week reception is chugging back to campus for 2019, in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The reception, the climax to Engineers Week activities, will begin at 5 p.m. February 28 in the Tinkham Veale University Center.

Adriana Velazquez Berumen, MS ’86, the Senior Advisor on Medical Devices at the World Health Organization (WHO), will deliver the keynote address.

Find tickets and more information at www.casealum.org/engineers-week-2019.

Emily Graczyk, PhD ’18 Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Emily was one of 50 early-career scientists chosen as a Defense Advanced

Robert Kearns, who earned his PhD from Case Institute of Technology in 1964, is responsible for that feature of your windshield wipers that gives you an occasional swipe in a misty rain. He invented the intermittent wiper—then fought for the credit.

Kearns accused automakers of stealing his invention—which he worked on in a lab on Case Quad. He won millions in decades-long litigation before his death in 2005.

His struggle to protect his patents was memorialized in the 2008 movie Flash of Genius.