Alumni Newsmakers

Designing a better rover

Alumnus is helping NASA launch a fleet of mini rovers to explore new worlds.

Bristling with cameras, the Perseverance rover has spent much of the past year scouting Mars for signs of life. Yet there are plenty of nooks and crannies on the Martian landscape where the bulky rover, about the size of a small SUV, dare not go. A rover stuck on Mars is stuck for good.

For future missions, NASA is considering a fleet of nimble, robotic mini-rovers that can work together to complete a task. If one fails or is lost, the others would carry on.

Alex Schepelmann ’09, MS ’10,

PhD, a robotics and computational modeling engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center, described the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) project to MIT Technology Review. He said he and his colleagues are designing shoebox-sized rovers that will collect data in hard-toreach places, like craters and caves. They hope to test one in the coming years on the moon.

“The idea there is that [if] we have two or three rovers that we could send, one of them could potentially go down into a lava tube,” said Schepelmann, who earned two mechanical engineering degrees at Case. “And we would basically know that that rover would have a hard time getting back out.”

That’s not a catastrophe, Schepelmann said. Even if one rover gets stuck in a lava tube, it can still relay information to other members of the team — who will motor on.

The new rovers are being tested at Glenn’s Simulated Lunar Operations (SLOPE) Laboratory, which simulates the powdery soil of the moon and the rocky Martian surface. As they allow us to explore areas that otherwise are out of reach, they may make the solitary rover like Perseverance obsolete.

Setting the standard

Alumna Joannie Chin will lead the Engineering laboratory at NIST.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has its duties enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers saw the need to apply universal engineering standards to weights and measures. The task has become far more complex with the emergence of new technologies and capabilities, like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and unmanned delivery services.

A Case-trained materials scientist will help to see that the vast job is done.

The NIST has selected Joannie Chin ’86, PhD, to lead its Engineering Laboratory, the U.S. Commerce Department announced in December. She’ll oversee an $83 million budget and lead a team of about 800 staff members who foster universal engineering standards while applying them to new challenges and even catastrophes.

For example, Chin’s lab is leading NIST’s two current National Construction Safety Team investigations into the impacts of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico and the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium, in Surfside, Florida. Meanwhile, her lab covers a wide range of research on engineered systems. It includes programs focused on the development of measurement science for critical national needs, including infrastructure renewal, building performance, and energy efficiency.

Chin has been at NIST for 26 years as a materials research engineer, most recently serving as acting director of the Engineering Lab. Earlier in her career, she was a research scientist with Gould’s Foil Division in Cleveland and consulted for Babcock & Wilcox. She also interned at Dow Chemical and the Standard Oil Co. while earning her bachelor’s degree in polymer science and engineering at Case Institute of Technology.

No pain, her gain

Investors pour millions into alumna’s Medtech company.

People who want alternative treatments for pain are turning to SPR Therapeutics, which is enjoying the surge in interest. This fall, the medical device company founded by Marie Bennett, MS ’98, reported raising $37 million from investors who back the potential of its neurostimulation platform for pain management.

The fresh cash will fund additional clinical research and allow the 12-year-old company to market its pain treatments to a wider audience of people who want to avoid drugs and surgery.

“There is clear interest from physicians and patients in avoiding the use of opioids and permanent implants to relieve pain,” Bennett said in a press release. “Our goal is to ensure that all patients have access to our SPRINT System as an effective, non-opioid treatment.”

SPR Therapeutics developed a device that delivers soothing stimulation to a pain site via wires implanted temporarily beneath the skin. Use of its nerve stimulation system more than doubled in the past year, Bennett said, and the company has now treated more than 6,500 patients.

Bennett, the company president and CEO, earned her master’s degree in biomedical engineering at the Case School of Engineering. She worked for Boston Scientific and NDI Medical before launching SPR Therapeutics in 2009. Headquartered in the Cleveland suburb of Highland Hills, the company now has nearly 100 employees, including scientists, physicians, and business professionals.

The Kranzusch way

A computer science visionary is helping his alma mater join the big leagues.

In 2019, Kevin Kranzusch ’90 helped launch the Department of Computer & Data Sciences at the Case School of Engineering with a $5 million gift. This fall, he doubled down on that bet with a second $5 million gift.

The encore commitment will endow professorships and help the department recruit top graduate students, to be known as Kranzusch fellows. It will also help to foster collaboration between the new department and other schools and disciplines at CWRU.

“The thing that attracted me to Case Western Reserve was the collaboration that happens across the university,” Kranzusch told The Daily, the university’s online newsroom, which announced his second gift in October. “And when you talk about the things we wanted to introduce to the computer sciences department — things like AI and machine learning and big data — those elements are perfectly lined up for cross pollination.”

Kranzusch earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at Case and soon after joined NVIDIA, a startup focused on computer gaming. Today, the Santa Clara, California-based tech firm is the world’s largest maker of video game chips. As Vice President of System Software, Kranzusch leads software teams working on autonomous vehicles, robotics, and gaming devices — teams that often collaborate.

His latest gift creates the CDS Initiative

Fund, which is designed to encourage collaboration and innovation across university schools and departments. The ultimate goal, Kranzusch said, is to lend students insight into how advances in technology can impact many fields — including medicine, law, and social sciences.

Department Chair Vipin Chaudhary sees an alumnus who is leading the department to new heights.

“He has shown repeatedly that he has an uncanny ability to see the correct areas of growth and catalyze them,” Chaudhary told The Daily. “His close and continuing involvement with the department is truly appreciated.”

Academic pioneer

Case-trained materials scientist will lead Ohio Northern University.

Melissa J. Baumann, MS ’86,

PhD ’88, a top academic officer at Xavier University in Cincinnati, will become the 12th president of Ohio Northern University this summer. A Case-trained material scientist, she will be the first woman to hold that position in the college’s 150 years.

Ohio Northern is a private college of about 2,100 students in the village of Ada, Ohio, about an hour’s drive south of Toledo. Notable alumni include Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and farmworker organizer and MacArthur Fellow Baldemar Velasquez. A native of Mansfield, Ohio, and a first-generation college student, Baumann earned master’s and doctorate degrees in materials science and engineering at Case Institute of Technology.

She began her faculty career at Michigan State University, where she taught materials science, conducted research into biomaterials and tissue engineering, and became an associate dean of the Honors College.

She went on to Auburn University as an assistant provost, head of the Honors College and a professor of mechanical engineering. In 2017, she joined Xavier as Provost and Chief Academic Officer.

She’s scheduled to begin her new job in Ada on July 1, succeeding a retiring President Daniel DiBiasio.