Pitt Engineer - Spring 2010

Spring/Summer 2010

Today’s Benedum Hall

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A Message from Our Dean

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As we close one academic year and prepare for another, the Swanson School of Engineering is entering one of the most exciting phases in its history.

Our much-anticipated renovations at Benedum Hall are on schedule (see cover story, page 2), and with them, we plan to literally break down the walls between engineering disciplines so we can foster greater collaboration among our faculty and students.

Engineering, by its very nature, is a collaborative profession. One problem may entertain many solutions, borrowing from electrical, mechanical, civil, or chemical engineering ideas. Toward that end, our progressive open lab structure will encourage research collaboration and teach our students to rub elbows as they roll up their sleeves.

New state-of-the-art facilities are attracting attention in the form of both talent and funding. The Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation has funded joint projects between Kent Harries (civil and environmental engineering) and Di Gao (chemical engineering), as well as Melissa Bilec (civil and environmental engineering) and Alex Jones (electrical and computer engineering).

We have partnered with the National Energy Technology Laboratory as part of a consortium to provide a range of research and engineering services, and we are proud to call the lab’s director, Anthony Cugini, a three-time alumnus: He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the Swanson School.

Yet despite the bells and whistles of our bricks and mortar, we remain dedicated to the practical aspects of engineering, particularly through our commitment to practical work experience for students (see school-to-industry pipeline story, page 18).

Consequently, we have seen that our graduates are realizing far greater job opportunities, with more than 95 percent placement despite the recent economic downturn.

By the close of 2010, we expect to have renovations completed up to the fifth floor, moving into our new quarters level by level, from the ground up. It’s a fitting analogy for our educational philosophy, for we pride ourselves on building wellrounded engineers from foundation to summit. By the time they graduate, they are prepared to immediately add value to industry through the application of skills they have carefully honed during their time at Pitt.

May the tradition of excellence carried by so many of our alumni continue to move us forward as we prepare students to enter the coming decades.

Gerald D. Holder U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering

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Gerald D. Holder U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering

The alumni magazine of the Swanson School of Engineering

Sonia Gill Director of Marketing and Communications/ Editor

Cover Story

Teralyn Iscrupe Associate Director of Marketing and Communications/Contributing Writer

Forty-two thousand square feet of new space was added to Benedum Hall, including a new home for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation.

Kelly Sjol Communications Manager/Editor Don Henderson Assistant Creative Director/Designer Chuck Dinsmore Production Manager Sarah Jordan Rosenson Editorial Assistant Niki Kapsambelis Morgan Kelly Contributing Writers

On the Cover The new home of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation is the most noticeable renovation to Benedum Hall (see cover story, page 2).

Cover photo by Ed Massery © 2009

Today’s Benedum Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Features II-VI CEO Guided by Engineering Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Distinguished alumnus Francis Kramer recounts how his childhood and college years have impacted his successful career as president and CEO of II-VI Incorporated.

Course Work, Projects Create School-to-Industry Pipeline for Students . . . . 18 From product design courses to tailored curricula, the Swanson School is providing the next generation of engineers with the necessary resources to land jobs, even in a down economy.

Departments Around the School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Distinguished Alumni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 I Am a Pitt Engineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Awards 2006, 2007, and 2008 IABC Golden Triangle Award of Excellence, Magazines: 4-Color Design

Have a comment or story idea for Pitt Engineer?

Contact Sonia Gill at 412-624-2640, or send an e-mail to sgill@pitt.edu.

The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution. Published in cooperation with the Department of University Marketing Communications. UMC72451-0610

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COVER STORY

The new home of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation is perhaps the most noticeable of the Benedum Hall renovations. The Mascaro Center now occupies the renovated second floor of Benedum Hall and this newly built addition that connects the Benedum tower and auditorium above O’Hara Street. The building provides 42,000 square feet of laboratory and administrative space that is integrated with the existing space in Benedum Hall.

2 Engineering is a highly collaborative discipline.

To foster collaboration and innovation, researchers in Benedum’s new research labs are mixed together rather than the traditional approach of being segregated by discipline. This arrangement will enable open communication among faculty members and serve as a real-world model for students who will need to demonstrate effectiveness in team environments in the workplace. Pictured here is one of the new mixed-discipline research labs. Forthcoming labs in Benedum will follow this model.

All photos on this page by Ed Massery © 2009

1 John C. “Jack” Mascaro (BSCE ’66, MSCE ’80) shared the $16 million cost of the Mascaro Center with the University. Mascaro, founder and chairman of Mascaro Construction Company, is pictured here (third from the left) at the dedication on October 2, 2009, with U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering Gerald D. Holder; Eric Beckman, Mascaro Center codirector and George M. Bevier Professor of Engineering; Stephen Tritch (BSME ’71), chair of the Pitt Board of Trustees; Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg; and Provost James V. Maher.

Inside the Mascaro Center to Benedum Hall connector

On the cover: The O’hara Street entrance to the new Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation at the Swanson School of Engineering

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COVER STORY

New student-centered spaces have been built into Benedum Hall, including a café with an open design that enables students to travel quickly from lunch to their next destination, 5 whiteboards outside the library that students can use to work on problems, and 6 study cubbies and benches built into hallways to accommodate students between classes.

7 Two Pitt engineering alumni worked on the Benedum Hall renovation project: Nathan Martin (BSCE ’98), project superintendent for Mascaro Construction, and Jeremy Fusaro (BSME ’05, MSCE ’07), project engineer for PJ Dick. Martin’s role was split between planning, scheduling, and coordinating the work of subcontractors; implementing and enforcing site-specific health and safety plans; and scheduling the delivery of building materials. Fusaro’s responsibilities included spending time in the field and the office, heading up Request for Information tools and submittals, assisting with issues as they arose, and making sure that what was being constructed was per drawings and specifications.

Both alumni felt inspired by the opportunity to return to their alma mater and be a part of history, ensuring Pitt’s place as a leader in sustainable research and development.

Finally, renovating the existing building—rather than building a new engineering school at another location—ensured the Swanson School’s environmental footprint will be as small as possible.

3 The green roof on the plaza of Benedum Hall (underneath are levels G, B, and SB) and 4 the green roof atop the auditorium

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What’s Next: Updated Project Overview Completed Renovations • The 42,000-square-foot Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation addition, connecting the Benedum tower to the auditorium along O’Hara Street • A new second floor in the auditorium, providing five new classrooms with integrated technology • Two green roofs: Benedum Plaza and the auditorium roof • The ground floor, formerly the basement level, which now contains an entrance from O’Hara Street, is home to a new café and the new two-level Bevier Engineering Library. There also are offices for student organizations and classrooms.

• The first floor contains a student reception area; student services, deans’, and administrative offices; and alumni relations and development.

• Complete makeovers to floors four and five (were being completed as Pitt Engineer went to print): The fourth floor will be the new home for bioengineering research, and the fifth floor will encompass nanotechnology.

Upcoming Renovations The second phase of renovation is scheduled to begin in January 2011. This phase will completely renovate floors three and 6–12 with new research, classroom, and office space.

View more photos of the Benedum Hall renovations online at www.engr.pitt.edu/alumni/photogallery/2010_mcsi.

Photo by Ed Massery © 2009

Green building practices were employed throughout both the Mascaro Center addition and Benedum Hall project. Examples include sensors that adjust indoor lighting to the level of incoming natural light; highly efficient, long-lasting LED lights on the exterior that contain no mercury; specialized moneysaving mechanical controls on lab equipment; recycling of construction refuse; and two green roofs.

All photos on this page by Ed Massery © 2009

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AROUND THE SCHOOL

Around the School

IE Professors Coedit Book on Future of Project Management

Dean Holder and Vescovi

Co-op Student Helps to Develop Money-saving Device The Swanson School’s 2009 Co-op Student of the Year helped to save his employer big bucks. Patrick Vescovi, then a senior triple majoring in chemical engineering, chemistry, and bioengineering and a student in Pitt’s University Honors College, was part of a team that designed a piping route into diverter valves, saving SABIC Innovative Plastics in Waterford, N.Y., $240,000 annually.

Buchanan

Engineering Student Honored by ESPN The Magazine Jonathan Buchanan (civil and environmental engineering senior), a member of the Pitt men’s swimming and diving team, was one of 10 honored by ESPN The Magazine in spring 2010 when he was named to the Academic All-District Men’s At-Large First Team. Buchanan was named to the team for his academic record, a 3.95 cumulative GPA. He maintained a 4.0 GPA during the season while setting Pitt’s record in the 200 IM and earning All-Big East honors. Buchanan also was named a 2009 Big East/Aeropostale Swimming and Diving Institutional Scholar and holds the highest overall GPA on the team.

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Bopaya Bidanda, Ernest E. Roth Professor and chair, and David I. Cleland, professor emeritus, both of the Department of Industrial Engineering, have coedited a new book from Project Management Institute, Inc., the world’s leading project management organization.

Project Management Circa 2025 brings together 41 project management experts to envision and describe the practice of project management across regions and industries in the year 2025. The book is the first of its kind to discuss what future changes can be expected in the use of project management and how organizations around the world might be impacted by these changes.

Bidanda

Students Design Fish Farm in Mali, Africa Students involved in the Pitt chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA) traveled to Makili, Mali, over spring break to continue their mission to design a fish farm for the community. The time of year provided ideal digging conditions, as the ground in Makili was a little softer and the weather cooler than usual.

Vescovi was the founding father of the Pitt chapter of Phi Delta Theta, an alcohol-free and anti-hazing fraternity. Under his leadership, it became the largest fraternity on Pitt’s campus, and collectively, its members have the highest GPA. Also in 2009, the Swanson School awarded Vescovi the George Washington Prize in recognition of academic excellence, service, and leadership.

The goal of this most recent trip was to construct the pond that later will be stocked with fish to provide sustainable food options for the community. Currently, the Pitt chapter of EWB-USA is developing concepts for building an enclosure around the pond with plans next year to analyze and assess the progress of the mission. In attendance this year were Lauren Sakerka (chemical and petroleum engineering sophomore), Michael Malencia (freshman), and Hendrik Van Hemmen (civil and environmental engineering senior).

School Now Offering Lean Six Sigma Training The Department of Industrial Engineering now offers professionals and companies the region’s only university-level training in the popular Lean Six Sigma strategy. The two-term part-time program offers Green and Black Belt certification locally and affordably. Local companies seeking a Lean Six Sigma solution also can submit on-site project work to the class, regardless of whether their employees are taking the course.

Developed at Motorola, Inc., in the 1980s, Six Sigma employs systematic statistical and quality methods to reduce process errors and variation. Lean Six Sigma graduates become experts in process improvement, saving their employers as much as $100,000 a year, according to Shankar Lakhavani, adjunct professor of industrial engineering.

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AROUND THE SCHOOL

Summer Engineering Academy Gives Edge to Freshmen

Mao Earns NSF CAREER Award Zhi-Hong Mao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his work evaluating capabilities of neural control in human-machine interaction. The educational component of this project will create more opportunities for students and working engineers to appreciate the importance of how human capabilities factor into engineering system design.

NSF offers these prestigious awards to rising faculty stars in an effort to reward and encourage their continual methods of integrating research and education. At least 19 Pitt engineering faculty members have previously received an NSF CAREER award.

Swanson

Engineering freshmen entering Pitt last fall enjoyed a scavenger hunt around Oakland that helped them to become familiar with campus. Organized by the Pitt EXCEL Program, the scavenger hunt was part of the Summer Engineering Academy (SEA), held during two weeks in August. SEA participants reside on campus for the entire two weeks and learn essential study skills to prepare for the transition from high school to college. SEA has been offered to incoming freshmen for six years and is planned again in August 2010. It’s just one of several programs offered by the Engineering Office of Diversity to help students prepare for the rigorous engineering curriculum and enable students to create lasting relationships.

Mao

School’s Namesake Is Commencement Speaker John A. Swanson was the featured speaker for Pitt’s 2010 Commencement on May 2.

Swanson, who helped to revolutionize computer-aided engineering a mere four years after receiving his PhD in engineering from Pitt in 1966, served as an inspiring example for the newest class of Pitt graduates preparing to transform their educations into successful and important careers. In 1970, Swanson began to develop, support, and market his ANSYS program, a general-purpose, finite-element software code that now is used in engineering design worldwide to predict how product designs will behave in manufacturing and real-world environments. Now retired, Swanson lends his expertise to Pitt engineering students as an advisor on senior design projects.

Swanson has had a long relationship with Pitt. He was elected to the University’s Board of Trustees in 2006 and, in 2002, was inducted into the Cathedral of Learning Society, which recognizes individuals who have donated $1 million or more to the University. In 1998, he received the engineering school’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

In December 2007, Pitt renamed its engineering school the John A. Swanson School of Engineering in recognition of the greatest generosity by an individual donor in Pitt’s history—$41.3 million donated by Swanson as part of Pitt’s $2 billion Building Our Future Together campaign. Swanson’s gifts to Pitt have helped to create the John A. Swanson Institute for Technical Excellence, which houses the John A. Swanson Center for Micro and Nano Systems, the John A. Swanson Center for Product Innovation, and the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Center of Excellence. He also established the John A. Swanson Embedded Computing and Interfacing Laboratory in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

During the past 40 years, Swanson has earned substantial recognition, including two of the highest honors a professional engineer can receive. He was named to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009 for contributions to and innovations in engineering. In 2004, he received the American Association of Engineering Societies’ John Fritz Medal, widely considered the highest award in the engineering profession.

Prior awardees of the Fritz Medal include Orville Wright, Alexander Graham Bell, Alfred Nobel, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, and George Westinghouse.

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Borovetz Team Part of $23.6 Million Project to Develop Child-sized Heart Pump Borovetz

Harvey Borovetz will lead a group of researchers across the nation as they pursue the continued development of an implanted ventricular assist heart pump for infants and small children with congenital or acquired heart disease. The project aims to provide much-needed access to the sophisticated technologies that have saved the lives of older patients with heart failure. Borovetz’s is one of four projects that compose the Pumps for Kids, Infants, and Neonates (PumpKIN) preclinical program, a $23.6 million effort sponsored by the National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. He and his colleagues at Pitt; Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC; Carnegie Mellon University; Goleta, Calif.-based LaunchPoint Technologies, Inc.; and Salt Lake City, Utah-based World Heart Inc. began designing and building their device, called PediaFlow, more than five years ago.

“We now have the opportunity to put PediaFlow through the necessary development and testing needed to proceed to clinical trials,” Borovetz explains. “The aim is to begin human studies in three to four years.”

Borovetz is a Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Bioengineering as well as deputy director of artificial organs and medical devices at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Pitt’s share of the award is $5.6 million.

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AROUND THE SCHOOL

DeArdo Recognized for Advancing Steel and Iron Technology Illustrating Pitt and Pittsburgh’s continued presence in the steel industry, one of the world’s largest organizations devoted to advancing iron and steel technology recently recognized Anthony DeArdo for his decades-long work to enhance steelmaking. DeArdo, William Kepler Whiteford Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and director of Pitt’s Basic Metals Processing Research Institute (BAMPRI), was named recipient of the 2010 AIST Benjamin F. Fairless Award (AIME) from the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, an organization with a membership of more than 15,000 academics, students, and iron and steel producers and suppliers worldwide.

DeArdo has spent 35 years as a professor and researcher in the area of structural materials composition, focusing particularly on microalloyed and stainless steels. His many accomplishments include the development of lead-free steel.

DeArdo is founder and director of BAMPRI, a world-renowned research facility that serves the basic metals industry through development and implementation of the latest products and processing technology. The institute helps to compensate for the reduction of in-house research and development that has occurred throughout the metal production industry in recent decades. DeArdo is an elected fellow of ASM International and the London, England-based Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

DeArdo

Mascaro Center Study Deems LED Streetlights Effective and Efficient Engineers in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation have conducted the first cradle-to-grave assessment of light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights and have determined that the increasingly popular lamps strike the best balance between brightness, affordability, and conservation when their life span—from production to disposal—is considered. LEDs consist of clusters of tiny high-intensity bulbs and are extolled for their power efficiency and clear luminosity.

The study compared LED streetlights to the country’s two most common lamps— the high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps found in most cities and metal halide lamps akin to those in stadiums—and the gas-based induction bulb, another emerging technology billed as bright and energy efficient. The team reported that LEDs may carry a formidable price tag but, when compared to HPS and metal halide lamps, they consume half the electricity, last up to five times longer, and produce more light. Induction lights proved slightly more affordable and energy efficient than LEDs but also may have a greater environmental impact when in use. The authors also noted that LED technology exhibits more potential for improvement and may surpass induction lamps in the future.

Despite the civic enthusiasm for LEDs nationwide, until the Pitt study, no comprehensive analysis of LED streetlights existed, said study coauthor and Assistant Professor Melissa Bilec, also assistant director of the Mascaro Center and codirector of the school’s Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure. Bilec and Assistant Professor Joe Marriott conducted the evaluation with Cassie Jurgens, a civil engineering junior; industrial engineering junior Eric Zatcoff; and Douglas Hartley, a mechanical engineering senior at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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2010 Carnegie Science Awards

School Joins Partnership to Establish Resource Center, Improve Health Care for Veterans The Swanson School of Engineering has become a partner in a $3.6 million project awarded to the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System to establish a Veterans Engineering Resource Center (VERC), the goal of which is to streamline the delivery of health care services. The partnership will research ways to apply engineering and systems improvement principles to such common health care hurdles as when to move patients through intensive care and how best to schedule surgeries and routine appointments. From a medical provider’s standpoint, VERC will empower health care teams to work more efficiently and effectively—and in turn give veterans the best care and services possible. The Swanson School team will be led by Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering Andrew Schaefer and will involve several other investigators from other schools at the University of Pittsburgh.

Congratulations to the Swanson School’s 2010 Carnegie Science Award recipients:

Givi Is First Pitt Faculty Member to Be Inducted AIAA Fellow

• Di Gao, assistant professor and William Kepler Whiteford Faculty Fellow, received the Advanced Materials Award for his work on superhydrophobic anti-icing coatings that prevent icing of freezing rain on a solid surface.

Peyman Givi is the first Pitt faculty member to be selected as a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the world’s largest aerospace technical society. Givi, William Kepler Whiteford Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, was recognized for his “pioneering contributions in mathematical modeling and computational simulation of turbulent combustion.” He was among 30 fellows honored worldwide.

• Bryan Brown, a bioengineering graduate student, won the University/Post-Secondary Student Award for research in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and immunology.

Givi studies the complex field of engine turbulence, creating computer models to help engineers to design more efficient, cleaner-burning engines while saving the time and expense of constructing an actual test engine. He oversees the Swanson School’s Laboratory for Computational Transport Phenomena, which boasts high-speed minisupercomputers, graphic systems, and state-of-the-art hardware and software for running simulations. He also represents Pitt at NASA’s National Center for Hypersonic Combined Cycle Propulsion at the University of Virginia, which researches air-breathing propulsion, materials and structures, and boundary-layer control for aircraft that travel at Mach 5 and faster.

• Andrew Schwartz, adjunct faculty member in bioengineering, won the Life Sciences Award for his work involving the development of brain-controlled prosthetic arms and hands.

• Kacey Marra, adjunct faculty member in bioengineering, earned an honorable mention in the Emerging Female Scientist category for her research on fatderived stem cells for tissue regeneration, as well as the development of novel biomaterials.

• The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine received the Corporate Innovation Award for its clinical research and innovative therapies.

TheVeterans Engineering Resource Center will empower health care teams to give veterans the best care and services possible.

Givi

In 2005, Givi was awarded the NASA Public Service Medal for exceptional contributions to NASA’s mission. In 1992, he was among the first faculty members nationwide to receive a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, established by President George H.W. Bush.

Givi also is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

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DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

II-VI CEO Guided by Engineering Principles

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As a child growing up in New York’s Finger Lakes region, Francis Kramer had all the ingredients necessary to fuel a future engineer’s budding curiosity.

A native of Cohocton, a hamlet south of Rochester, N.Y., Kramer had plenty of time to work on kid-friendly projects that nurtured his natural love of problem solving.

“Certainly in a town like that, you get to repair a lot of things as a kid, whether it’s a lawn mower, or a bike, or your own little transistor radio,” Kramer recalls.

Later, home on a summer break from the University of Pittsburgh, Kramer also would find an outlet for his entrepreneurial aspirations.

One of his friends had purchased a Charles Chips franchise, which delivered large cans filled with potato chips to customers throughout western New York.

Kramer spent the summer working as a truck driver for the franchise, earning 25 cents on every can. Ignoring retail outlets, he instead hawked potato chips to hungry tourists around the Finger Lakes from May to August, averaging $300 a week on commissions.

Back in Pittsburgh, a different attempt at entrepreneurship backfired.

Kramer was part of a team of engineering students who planned to sponsor a movie night to raise money for the needy. They persuaded a movie theater to lend them the film for free and thought they had covered every last detail: a projector, an operator, popcorn, and admissions. They cleared about $2,600, far exceeding anyone’s expectations.

And then the bill came in.

Kramer realized that one of his fellow volunteers had rented the projector at a rate of $750 a day, which wiped out a healthy chunk of their profits. The incident taught him the value of detail-focused planning.

II-VI Incorporated President and CEO Francis Kramer (BSIE ’71) stands beside a highly specialized $1 million diamond turning machine at the company’s headquarters.

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“I learned a lot, quickly,” he says.

So even in his earliest years, Kramer had a knack for marrying business and engineering principles, a trait that has helped him to grow II-VI Incorporated from a tiny company employing fewer than 100 people to a firm with more than 6,000 employees worldwide, 16 manufacturing facilities, and annual sales of more than $300 million.

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Johnny Bell Photography

An industrial engineer by training, Kramer credits the intellectual methodology he learned at what is now the Swanson School of Engineering with helping to shape his management style.

one without that background and teach them to be an engineer,” he says. “If you’re an engineer, you think of how to break down the problem and then move forward.”

“The industrial engineering degree specialized in operations research, which I thought was quite interesting,” he says. “You could find out how things flow as well as the optimal solution to some problem.”

After earning his bachelor’s degree at Pitt in 1971, Kramer went to work for what was then Rockwell International, starting out as an engineer and eventually moving into business development. He would stay with the company for a dozen years. One of his final assignments was to build the utility communication systems business at Rockwell from a handful of employees to 125 people. The business used proprietary signalling and hardware to communicate over electric lines and was sold to General Electric Company in 1982.

“ If you’re an engineer, you think of how to break down the problem and then move forward.”

That philosophy fit nicely with Kramer’s preferred occupation, namely figuring out the best way to grow a business. In his case, the success of II-VI, a crystal growth technology company based in Saxonburg, Pa., is probably the most visible example of his success in applying engineering principles to business.

“Everything I model in my own mind I relate to the flow of the matter, whether it’s information systems, how money flows, how products flow,” says Kramer, who is now the company’s president and chief executive officer. “I take that industrial engineering perspective on things and work back upstream to find the root of what the issue or business opportunity was, see who was there, and take advantage of that.”

And while he also has a graduate degree in industrial administration, he believes the engineering foundation has been critical to his success.

“You can teach an engineer to be an accountant or to be a salesman. But it’s tough to take some-

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The experience gave Kramer a taste for nurturing a business. While still at Rockwell, he met the founder of II-VI, and he thought the time had come for a career move.

His strategy was to come to II-VI and help to develop another platform material—or what Kramer refers to as a “workhorse material”—on which to continue growing the business. The plan worked; today, the company’s products go directly to customers’ assembly lines and are built into the products of such heavy hitters as Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation.

“We’re not building calculators or watches for the end user; we build components for others’ machines, and they’re critical parts,” Kramer explains. “We’re below the radar screens of the companies coming into the market and dominating it, but we are key to them, because they need the materials—so they pay the price.”

Sales grow at a pace of about 15–20 percent every year, as does profit. Already well posi-

tioned in Japan and Germany, II-VI is now looking to move into China and other parts of Asia.

As a member of the Swanson School’s Board of Visitors, Kramer hopes to bring worldwide business thinking into the school’s curriculum.

“I’m always thinking about how the program can be more worldly. You’ve got to be global,” he says.

Toward that end, he has arranged for Pitt engineering students to visit his factories in Asia. He also urges engineering students to think of the world, not just the United States, as their job market.

“Where will you go in the world?” he asks students. “Don’t just stay U.S. focused.”

(Above) Employees of II-VI Incorporated celebrate with President and CEO Fran Kramer (seated, far right), the 2010 Swanson School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.

(Below) After receiving his 2010 Swanson School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, Kramer spoke about his career and acknowledged the employees of II-VI. Nearly 200 alumni and friends attended the Distinguished Alumni Awards Banquet, held March 4 at Alumni Hall.

With an engineer’s methodical approach, Kramer had identified a couple of fields to which he hoped to apply his expanding skills in business growth: robotics and lasers. He thought II-VI— which takes its name from chemistry’s periodic table and the elements that can form II-VI compound semiconductors—was the opportunity he’d been seeking.

In the early 1980s, II-VI had about $10 million in sales and had found a niche in cadmium telluride, a crystal compound made from cadmium and tellurium.

“You could see they were the number-one supplier in the United States for these components for military, medical, or even industrial lasers, all of which were in their addressed market,” says Kramer.

II-VI Incorporated has a diverse product line. From thermoelectric coolers (pictured here) to CO2 laser optics (top, second from left) to 1-micron laser processing heads (top center) to other high-tech products with numerous applications for multiple industries, II-VI is a worldwide leader in engineered materials and components.

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DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award John Choma Jr. Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, 1964; Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, 1966; Doctor of Philosophy, 1969 Professor of Electrical Engineering and Former Chair of the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering; University of Southern California; Los Angeles, Calif.

Department of Industrial Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award Francis E. Novak

Congratulations,

2010 Distinguished Alumni!

The Swanson School of Engineering has honored its top graduates through the Distinguished Alumni Awards since 1964.

Kramer

Massaro

Swanson School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award Francis J. Kramer

Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Distinguished Alumni Award Paul E. Fischione Johnny Bell Photography

2010 Swanson School Distinguished Alumni Award honorees (left to right) Wesley C. Pickard, Paul E. Fischione, Anthony A. Massaro Jr., Dean Gerald D. Holder, Francis E. Novak, and Francis J. Kramer (not pictured: John Choma Jr.)

Johnny Bell Photography

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, 1966 President and Chief Executive Officer (Retired); Stellex Monitor Aerospace, Inc., and Stellex Precision Machining, Inc.; Amityville, N.Y., and Wichita, Kan.

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 1978 President; E.A. Fischione Instruments, Inc.; Export, Pa. Full bios and more photos are available online at www.engr.pitt.edu/alumni/distinguished.html.

U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering Gerald D. Holder presents Fran Kramer with his award, which he received in part for helping to grow II-VI Incorporated into a company with 6,000 employees worldwide, 16 manufacturing facilities, a market capitalization of approximately $1 billion, and annual sales of more than $300 million.

Hold the Date!

Homecoming 2010

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, 1971 President and CEO; II-VI Incorporated; Saxonburg, Pa.

October 28–31, 2010

Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award Anthony A. Massaro Jr. Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, 1967 Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer (Retired); Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.; Sarasota, Fla.

Pickard

Choma

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award Wesley C. Pickard Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering, 1961 Chief Financial Officer (Retired); Synergy, Inc.; Washington, D.C.

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Fischione

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FEATURE

John Swanson (center) visited with Associate Professor Gregory Reed and students in April 2010 to discuss their product design projects.

About 40 students have graduated with a concentration in electric power since the program was established.

According to Reed, every single graduate had at least one job offer, if not several. And the corporate relationships he has nurtured as part of the initiative have extended to global companies such as Siemens and BPL Global, Ltd. “Our scope and reputation is getting well beyond Southwestern Pennsylvania,” says Reed. “It’s really a model that is being established nationwide for other regions to follow.”

Course Work, Projects Create School-to-Industry Pipeline for Students When students in the Swanson School of Engineering complete a project course directed by Roy Marangoni, they often discover that a job offer is waiting at the end of the term.

Marangoni, emeritus professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, teaches a course in product innovation, product realization, and production design. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, students use the course to work on projects proposed by industry then present their results in a formal report and presentation during a symposium at the end of the term.

“We get a lot of students who will actually go work for their project sponsor,” says Marangoni. “Really, what’s a better way of [evaluating] students?”

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P I T T E N G I N E E R

That practical approach to education could be one reason Pitt engineering students are enjoying a high placement rate, even in the midst of a soft economy. Dean Gerald D. Holder estimates that more than 95 percent of the school’s graduates are placed, largely because of the school’s focus on creating a classroom-toindustry pipeline.

Gregory Reed, director of the Swanson School’s Power & Energy Initiative, says an aging workforce and stagnant job growth in the power and energy industries during the 1980s contributed to a talent gap that has companies scrambling for young graduates. At least 50 percent of Reed’s research profile is industry funded, and a new emphasis on efficiency and smart grid technologies combined with a higher demand for energy is creating plenty of opportunities.

Connecting Students to Their Futures

“We saw this coming for a long time, and fortunately the school had the right vision around it,” says Reed, adding that the initiative “is training the next generation of power and energy professionals to come in and bring the innovation and solutions to meet the challenges that we have.”

When John Swanson was a PhD student at the engineering school that now bears his name, he was also finding practical applications for his course work—something he is looking to encourage in today’s students.

Swanson had been an engineer at Westinghouse for just a few months when his supervisor recommended him for a graduate program at Pitt. Swanson spent the next three years earning his doctorate, which he completed in 1966, and in his studies he saw the potential of using computers for simulation.

His research dissertation and his work at Westinghouse showed the possibility of an integrated analysis system. When Swanson first proposed developing such a system to Westinghouse, the company passed on it. Three and a half years after his graduation from Pitt, he left Westinghouse to start his own company in a Pennsylvania farmhouse.

Today, the company he founded, ANSYS, Inc.—headquartered in Canonsburg, Pa.—and its subsidiaries employ approximately 1,600 people and

Marangoni

distribute products directly and through a network of business partners in more than 40 countries.

He never forgot the value of his engineering education. In addition to lending his name to his alma mater, he also funded the John A. Swanson Center for Product Innovation, with the idea that practical, hands-on work would better prepare students for the real world.

In April 2010, Swanson came to campus to see the presentations for Marangoni’s project course. Anywhere from 15 to 18 companies participate in the school’s product innovation course, and Marangoni serves as a sort of project coordinator. Among the ideas presented was a lung cancer database that uses interactive software to collect symptom information from patients. A virtual nurse asks the patient to point to pain spots using a two-dimensional figure, then captures answers.

When they use the software, patients “have a tendency to be more truthful, and all of this is in writing,” Marangoni explains.

Another student team developed a communication system for Westinghouse to use in a nuclear reactor, where wireless devices won’t function. Its solution, an inexpensive paging system, was so well received that Westinghouse wound up hiring the entire team.

• More than 95 percent of last year’s graduating engineering students were successfully placed in industry positions or in graduate school by the University’s Office of Student Employment and Placement Assistance. That figure rises to more than 97 percent for students who participated in the Swanson School’s award-winning Cooperative Education (Co-op) Program.* • Power & Energy Industry Day brought 21 companies to campus in 2009, providing networking opportunities and research seminars for more than 100 students and 75 industry personnel. More than 100 students attended Nuclear Engineering Night to hear renowned keynote speakers such as Dale Klein, who was chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the time, and Aris Candris, president and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC. • Strong partnerships between research facilities and the school provide regular opportunities for students interested in research and development. For example, the Swanson School is a regular partner in research with the National Energy Technology Laboratory, whose director, Anthony Cugini, received his BS, MS, and PhD in chemical engineering from Pitt. * Data based on responses collected from the Class of 2009, the latest available at time of printing

“Whatever we do, industry’s going to have to be involved,” Swanson says. “If you don’t work with real things, you don’t know how real things work.”

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I AM A PITT ENGINEER

I am a Engineer

Stephanie O’Neill (civil engineering junior) led a tour of the new CONSOL Energy Center with the Pitt Civil Engineering Alumni Club (CEAC). O’Neill is completing an internship with PJ Dick and was assigned to the arena project.

(At right, left to right) A family of Pitt engineers: seated, Robert (BSME ’51) and Beverly Storrick; standing, Gary Storrick (BSEE ’77, MSEE ’81), Diane Storrick (BSEE ’80), Wendy Storrick Mermigos (BSEE ’85), Jim Mermigos, Janet Storrick Bauer (BSEE ’84), and Craig Bauer (BSCE ’83)

Karl (BSChE ’50) and Ethel Mesloh, at their house in New Bremen, Ohio, during a visit with Butch Bryner from the Swanson School Office of Development and Alumni Relations

(At right, center) David Bundy (BSME ’70), of Stow, Mass., owner, Global Fitness Center, with two of his four scholarship recipients, Jaren Bailey (civil engineering junior) and Matt Kaminski (mechanical engineering sophomore)

(At left, left to right) Longtime friends Wally Reimer (BSCE ’72, MSIE ’82), Jim Lombardi (BSCE ’72), and Ken Balkey (BSME ’72, MSME ’80), visit at the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards Banquet.

(Below) Richard Madden (BSEE ’56), Pittsburgh, Pa., founder, the Future Fund, and scholarship recipients (left to right) David Bobish, Nicholas Czarnek, Bryan Gielarowski, and Alex Patterson.

Not pictured is Philip Konieczny. All of the Madden scholars are students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Camillo Zarroli (BSChE ’51) in Naples, Fla.

David Bundy with two of his four scholarship recipients (left to right): Jillian Bonaroti (bioengineering junior) and Jenna Gilbreath (industrial engineering senior)

John Pavia (BSEE ’69) (center) celebrated ECE Day at Heinz Field with Matthew Weinstein (left), executive director of development and alumni relations, and William Stanchina, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Are you proud to be a Pitt engineer? Send your photo to sgill@pitt.edu.

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Swanson School of Engineering Office of Development and Alumni Relations 104 Benedum Hall 3700 O’Hara Street Pittsburgh, PA 15261 www.engr.pitt.edu

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