Exemplar 2006 - College of Engineering - Wayne State University

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE of ENGINEERING 

Danto Donates $3 Million 

For Engineering Development Center 

ALSO INSIDE: 

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WSU Police To Operate World’s First F-Cell Powered Police Car 

Agreement With Chinese University To Bring 200 Grad Students A Year 

Concussions In The NFL: Assessing The Stress And Strains On The Brain 

by Distinguished Professor Albert King 

College/Karmanos Researchers Demonstrate Promising Breakthrough In 

Targeted Cancer Drug Delivery 

photo by Alonso del Arte 

Fall 2006 www.eng.wayne.edu

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE of ENGINEERING 

EXEMPLAR: 

David Reich 

Editor 

Matthew Garin 

Graphic Designer 

Rick Bielaczyc 

Mary Jane Murawka 

Wojciech Dudek 

Photography 

WSU Marketing & Publications 

Proofreaders 

Ralph Kummler 

Dean 

Yang Zhao 

Chair, Electrical and Computer 

Trilochan Singh 

Chair, Mechanical 

Chuck Manke 

Chair, Chemical and Materials Science 

Mumtaz Usmen 

Chair, Civil and Environmental 

Ken Chelst 

Chair, Industrial and Manufacturing 

Chih-Ping Yeh 

Interim Chair, Engineering Technology 

Albert King 

Chair, Biomedical 

EXEMPLAR is published annually 

for alumni, friends and corporate 

sponsors of the College of Engineering. 

Address comments to: 

exemplar editor 

Wayne State University 

College of Engineering 

5050 Anthony Wayne Drive 

Detroit, MI 48202 

(313) 577-6531 

(313) 577-5300 fax 

dreich@eng.wayne.edu 

Wayne State University is an equal 

opportunity/affi rmative action employer. 

Wayne State University - World Class 

Education in the Real World. 

Please visit www.eng.wayne.edu 

FALL 2006 

A MESSAGE 

from the DEAN 

Welcome back to the College of 

Engineering’s window into the life 

of the College – Exemplar Magazine. 

The great news of the summer was the 

approval by Wayne State University’s 

Board of Governors and the Michigan 

Legislature’s Joint Capital Outlays 

Committee to go ahead with the fi nal 

design and construction of our new 

81,700 sq. ft. Marvin Danto Engineering 

Development Center. (See Up Front, 

page 2.) The State of Michigan got 

the ball rolling last year by pledging 

$15 million. Ford, Yousif Ghafari and 

Jim Anderson have pledged, and Mr. 

Danto graciously wrote a check to 

clinch the deal. We are still looking 

for donations to fi nish the job, but 

President Reid is allowing us to use the 

bonding power of the university to 

borrow funds to get the job done now. 

We expect to be in the building by 

fall of 2008. It’s not too late to get 

involved by buying a lab, equipment, 

a chair in the auditorium, or a brick to 

help out. Our development offi cer, Jack 

Van Hecke, (313 577-4707), would be 

delighted to tell you how to do this. 

The new EDC will give us space for 

Alternative Energy and Advanced 

Propulsion, but in the meantime we 

will rent space from our neighbor, 

NextEnergy, to get started on our new 

$1.5M Biodiesel Project featured in 

this issue. (See page 7.) The chemical 

engineers under Professor Simon Ng will 

characterize the fuels, and the Center 

for Automotive Research under Director 

Naeim Henein will characterize the 

fi nal performance in their test engines. 

The College was pleased to be chosen 

by General Motors to be in the PACE 

(Partners for the Advancement of 

Collaborative Engineering) Program, 

but this is a secret just between us until 

the formal announcement early next 

year. It was a great victory for the faculty 

team, led by Associate Dean Michele 

Grimm, and should keep our students 

on the cutting edge for the next decade. 

A major laboratory in the EDC will be 

devoted to PACE software and hardware. 

We are also 

delighted 

that Associate 

Dean Jerry 

Thompkins 

worked with 

the University 

of Michigan, 

Michigan 

State, and 

Western 

Michigan 

to secure a 

prestigious 

National Science Foundation 

Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority 

Participation grant to develop a 

summer program for incoming 

freshmen to improve minority 

student representation in our 

professions. (See Page 21.) 

Finally, thanks goes to all of the 

faculty and President Reid for their 

hard work in negotiating Memoranda 

of Understandings with six schools at 

Tongji University in Shanghai, with 

whom we will be offering collaborative 

MS degrees to Tongji students who 

will take 12 credits in Shanghai and 

20 credits in Detroit. (See Page 4.) 

Table Of Contents 

UP FRONT 

FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS 


Danto Donates $3 Million for Engineering Development Center . . 2 

AROUND HELIOS 

Agreement with Tongji University in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 

WSU Police to Operate World’s First F-Cell Powered Police Car. . . . 6 

College Partners with NextEnergy to Open National BioFuels Lab. 7 

Snowden graduates at 55 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 

Erlandson Receives National Design Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 

Prasad Elected to National Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 

TRANSITIONS 

Larry Patrick, Pioneer Auto Safety Engineer, dead at 85 . . . . . . . . . . 12 

SCIENCE FEATURES 

Concussions in the National Football League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

Using Dendrimers To Fight Cancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS 

Student Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 

New CEO Student Chapter Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 

Students Flock to Job Fair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 

Two Students Create Catchy College Slogans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 

Summer Program to Support Minority Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 

REFLECTIONS 

Helios Trail: A Symbol of Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 

FRIENDS & ALUMNI 

Class Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 

The Man Behind the Wingerter Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

www.eng.wayne.edu FALL 2006 

Up Front 

Danto Donates $3 Million 

For Engineering Development Center 

The Danto Engineering 

Development Center. Artists 

rendering of the new building as 

viewed from Warren Avenue 

roy businessman and 

philanthropist Marvin 

Danto has donated $3 

million to build the new 

Engineering Development Center 

that will accommodate educational 

programs as well as research and 

development in the growth fi elds 

of biotech, nano-science and 

alternative energy technology. 

Groundbreaking for the $27.3 

million Marvin Danto Engineering 

Development Center is expected to 

take place in the spring of 2007. The 

new four-story (including basement), 

81,700 square-foot building will be 

integrated into the college’s main 

building along Warren Avenue. 

“I see the people of Michigan as 

the direct benefi ciaries of this new 

engineering center,” said Danto, 89, 

a former WSU engineering student. 

“I see this endeavor helping create 

alternative fuels and more effi cient 

automotive engines in America with 

subsequent growth in industries, 

new jobs and a sustainable society.” 

“Mr. Danto’s generosity is 

inspired by his insight and belief in 

the university’s role as a leader in 

the future of Michigan,” said WSU 

President Irvin D. Reid. “World events 

are highlighting the importance 

of our research in alternative and 

sustainable energy at our College of 

Engineering, at NextEnergy and at 

our research and technology park, 

TechTown. Mr. Danto’s gift greatly 

enhances those efforts and other 

research areas within the university.” 

Danto’s contribution boosts the 

total fi nancial support so far for the 

new center to $21.3 million. The 

state legislature has appropriated 

$15 million for the project, College of 

Engineering alumnus Yousif Ghafari 

has pledged $1.5, and the Ford Motor 

Company has committed $1.8 million. 

Danto is chairman and CEO of 

Danto Investment Company in 

Troy. He is founder and owner of 

the Michigan Design Center in Troy, 

and developer, founder and former 

owner of the Design Center of the 

Americas in Dania Beach, Fla., the 

largest and most successful design 

center in America. He was former CEO 

and chairman of Englanders, a fi ne 

furniture and interior design chain 

in Michigan and Florida. And he was 

the president of the National Home 

Furnishings Association, a 16,000 store 

organization representing the retail 

furnishings industry in Washington D.C. 

Danto and his wife Betty reside 

in Bloomfi eld Hills. They have three 

children and fi ve grandchildren. 

Marvin Danto seen with Damon J. Keith, 

U.S. Circuit Court Judge and WSU donator 

photo by Alonso del Arte 

With the Engineering Development 

Center, the college looks to 

create a unique environment to 

strengthen research concepts from 

its laboratories to development 

and commercialization as well as 

to the classroom, said Dean Ralph 

Kummler. “Our vision keeps our 

graduates on the leading edge of the 

workforce in Michigan and the world, 

and engenders an entrepreneurial 

attitude that results in spin-off 

innovations and companies from 

faculty and student research.” 

Six pivotal engineering programs 

expected to gain the most from the 

new center include: the Advanced 

Propulsion Alternative Energy Lab, 

which is advancing fuels, emissions 

and vehicle wear automotive 

systems; the Smart Sensors and 

Integrated Microsystems Lab, which is 

developing micro-systems for artifi cial 

vision, real-time cancer detection, 

and other types of biological and 

neurological implants and smart 

sensors for automotive fi elds; the 

Nanotechnology Lab, which focuses 

on advanced research in surface 

science, tissue engineering, drug 

delivery and biomaterials; the Urban 

Infrastructure Research Lab, which 

concentrates on infrastructure 

and transportation systems; the 

Interdisciplinary MEMS/NEMS Lab, 

dedicated to interdisciplinary research 

on micro/nano-electromechanical 

systems; and the Team-based 

Student Project Lab dedicated to 

national collegiate projects such as 

Formula SAE and alternative energy 

powered vehicle competitions. ❑ 

Danto Family Generosity 

Spreads Far And Wide 

A $3 million contribution to the 

Wayne State Engineering Development 

Center by Marvin Danto, of Bloomfi eld 

Hills, stems from he and his wife 

Betty’s desire to give back, as well as 

what Danto likes to say is “just getting 

involved in what we like to do.” 

Danto, 89, has had a successful 

career as a furniture retailer, real estate 

developer, and community leader. 

He and Betty Danto’s generosity as 

philanthropists spreads far and wide. 

Danto’s undergraduate engineering 

education at Wayne State was cut 

short by World War II. Entering 

military service as a private, he served 

four years in the army -- two-anda-half 

of them overseas, including 

head of operations for four ordnance 

facilities in England, France, Belgium 

and Italy. This experience with 

inventory would serve him well later, 

when, after exiting the army as a 

captain, he went into Betty Danto’s 

family furniture business, Englander 

furniture stores. He ultimately became 

chairman and CEO of Englander- 

Triangle before leaving in 1973. 

Danto later founded Danto 

Investment Company and built the 

Michigan Design Center and the Design 

Center of the Americas in Dania, Fla. 

He is known internationally not only as 

a leader in bringing the best in design 

together under one large roof, but 

also with Betty Danto for generously 

supporting many worthy causes in 

health care, education and the fi ne arts. 

Together they founded the 

supporting grant for the Danto 

Family Home for the Elderly in West 

Bloomfi eld. 

They are the major contributors to 

the Sarasota Ballet of Florida. Their 

eldest daughter, Joanne, is a former 

principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet. 

Marvin and Betty Danto 

The Dantos also founded the Memorial 

Endowed Scholarship in Dance at the 

WSU Department of Dance. 

The Dantos’ interest in supporting 

education also led them to establish 

the Jack Lenor Larsen graduate 

scholarship for textile design at 

Cranbrook Academy of Art. They 

continue to help fund a program that 

sends talented minority children to 

the Interlochen Center for the Arts 

each summer. And they supported 

the construction of the Gulf Coast 

Wonder and Image Zone, a museum 

of science for children of all ages. 

Most recently, they contributed 

$2 million to the building of 

the new University of Michigan 

Cardiovascular Center. 

The $3 million to the Marvin Danto 

Engineering Development Center is an 

investment to the future of Michigan, 

said Danto. “I see this endeavor helping 

create alternative fuels and more 

effi cient automotive engines in America 

with subsequent growth in industries, 

new jobs and a sustainable society.” ❑ 

2 3


Around Helios 

200 Tongji University Grad Students 

Will Study At WSU Engineering College Each Year 

A Real Round Table. The WSU 

delegation dining with offi cials 

from Tongji University 

Students from Tongji 

(tong-gee) University 

in Shanghai, China, 

will study and earn master’s 

degrees in engineering 

at Wayne State in a 

new pilot program. 

The memorandum of 

understanding, signed 

by WSU President Irvin D. 

Reid and Tongji University 

President Gang Wan on 

a recent trip to China 

by a WSU delegation, 

may result in 200 new 

Chinese students a year 

enrolled at the college by 2011. 

“The College of Engineering sees 

a new mission and an opportunity 

unlike any challenge we have faced 

before,” said Dean Ralph Kummler. 

“Our challenge is to participate 

in the new global engineering 

environment. While previously, 

our graduates typically entered 

Michigan industry, now they will 

be entering the global market.” 

After completing 12 credits of 

graduate coursework at Tongji, 

Chinese students may transfer 

those credits to Wayne State 

and take 20 additional credits 

to complete master’s degrees in 

industrial and manufacturing, civil 

and environmental, mechanical, or 

electrical and computer engineering. 

“The Chinese students are very 

excited about this opportunity,” 

Kummler said. “The United 

States is still the number one 

choice for graduate engineering 

education abroad. And their 

faculties are just as enthusiastic.” 

In addition to the agreement 

with Tongji, members of Wayne 

State’s delegation met with 

representatives of Fudan University 

in Shanghai, Tsinghua (Chingwah) 

University and the Beijing 

University of Technology to explore 

other collaborative programs. 

Wayne State’s global forays have 

fostered a healthy international 

student population at the campus. 

The college faculty has had 

outstanding relationships with their 

colleagues at Chinese universities. 

The relationships have provided 

opportunities for outstanding 

Chinese PhD students to work with 

faculty and earn their degrees. 

These students have gone on 

Our challenge is to 

participate in the new 

global engineering 

environment. While 

previously our graduates 

typically entered 

Michigan industry, now 

they will be entering the 

global market. 

to conduct successful careers in 

academia and industry in both 

the United States and China. 

“As our US partner industries take 

their manufacturing, engineering 

and research global, with emphasis 

on China in the automotive sector, 

they are generating a tremendous 

workforce need,” Kummler said. 

“And the need for engineers outstrips 

the ability of China’s universities 

to produce engineers.” ❑ 

Drive Safely To WSU Campaign 

Encourages Drivers To Buckle Up 

Wayne State’s faculty, staff and students drive daily 

from all corners of metro Detroit to reach the 

main midtown campus. With it comes the 

unwelcome hazard of traffi c crashes. 

In Michigan, there are 73,000 injury-causing crashes each 

year, resulting in 1,200 fatalities. That’s why the college’s 

Transportation Research Group (TRG) and the Department 

of Biomedical Engineering, in conjunction with the 

Michigan Offi ce of Highway Safety Planning, hosted a Drive 

Safely to Wayne State campaign from Sept. 26-28. It was 

the second year of this annual campaign. 

The campaign is designed to help make the daily 

commutes of students, staff and faculty safer and raise 

awareness on such driving issues as aggressive driving 

(road rage), distracted driving, drinking and driving and 

safety restraint systems. 

The three-day program is centered on Gullen Mall where 

state and local leaders gathered for the opening program, 

emceed by WJBK TV-2 Traffi c Reporter Jackie Paige. There 

were also numerous displays and activities. Among them 

were computer displays, safety belt convincers, rollover 

convincers, a driving simulator, a car seat safety check, 

“mocktails” and tons of information on crashes and other 

While the rest of the country was saturated in March 

Madness, another kind of sport unfolded at Wayne 

State that required teamwork, and intensity, along with one 

other skill. 

If you haven’t experienced it yet, a FIRST Robotics 

competition is tough to describe. Images from the FIRST 

Robotics regional held at Wayne State University for the 

third year on March 17 and 18 tell it better. 

There is the referee in the center of the playing fi eld 

between rounds dancing the Macarena with the mascot 

from the Utica High School Thunder Chickens. There is 

the emcee, a Canada Bell employee by trade, and a FIRST 

volunteer in his off time. He is sporting a spiked-colored hair 

arrangement resembling a parrot, announcing each team 

with the gusto of the Detroit Pistons announcer introducing 

the starting lineups in the NBA Finals. 

There is the giant screen with video images projected in 

real-time of the robots maneuvering to shoot their loads of 

balls into the center goal, or one on defense knocking their 

opponents off their wheels. There are the rows of hot studio 

lights focused on the playing fi eld. And the green lights 

above the center goals, indicating the current period of play, 

safety information. 

After the 

campaign, TRG, 

which among other 

highway safety 

projects tracks 

safety belt use for 

the state, recorded 

safety belt usage at 

Wayne State. They 

reported that an 

impressive 90 

percent of WSU 

students, faculty 

and staff buckle up. 

For their efforts in 

encouraging safety 

belt use at Wayne 

“Don’t try this yourself!” 

State, the 

Transportation Group, led by Tapan Datta, professor, 

was the recipient of the Buckle Up America Safety Belt 

Award from the National Highway Traffi c Safety 

Administration. ❑ 

photo by M.J. Murawka 

First Robotics Brings ‘March Madness’ To Wayne State 

four periods in all. 

There are the fans packed 

in the stands presenting a 

mosaic of colored t-shirts, 

banners and mascots of 

all species, waving and 

swaying. And the deafening 

sound of chanting 

and cheerleading, 

drowning out the playby-play 

commentary by 

the announcer over the 

loudspeakers. 

And, the robots, of 

course, guided by remote control, each individually 

designed by 133 teams, as distinct in their appearance 

as they are in function. Finally, there are the students, 

the future engineers, scientists and mathematicians, 

who, along with their mentors, are transformed by the 

experience. Surprised a bit by all the attention, surprised 

even more by what can be accomplished by an idea, a 

goal, belief, focus and some perseverance. 

4 5

photo by David Reich 


Features 

WSU POLICE 

WSU Police Offi cer Gary Voight says 

he likes every chance he can get to 

operate the WSU Police F-cell car. 

he Daimler Chrysler 

Corporation has introduced 

the fi rst fuel cell powered 

vehicle in the world. The 

Wayne State University Police 

Department will operate the 

Mercedes F-Cell as a supervisor’s 

vehicle on and in the immediate 

vicinity of the campus, located in 

Detroit’s Cultural Center. 

Outfi tted with a third-generation 

police radio, decals, lights and sirens, 

the WSU Police F-Cell vehicle is a look 

into the future of fuel cell 

automobiles. The demanding 

operation of a police car will produce 

valuable data to help develop fuel cell 

technology. 

The car will also serve as a learning 

laboratory for students in the College 

of Engineering’s Alternative Energy 

Technology program, the nation’s 

fi rst master’s-degree program in 

To Operate World’s 

First F-Cell Powered 

Police Car 

alternative energy. 

“This event exhibits how 

DaimlerChrysler is taking on the 

challenge for industries and 

governments to create viable 

alternative-fuel solutions,” said Mark 

Chernoby, vice president, Advance 

Vehicle Engineering - Chrysler Group. 

“We’re pleased to be a driving force 

in this team effort to develop zeroemissions 

transportation.” 

The WSU F-Cell police vehicle will 

be in full operation upon completion 

of NextEnergy’s new hydrogen 

refueling station expected sometime 

this summer. NextEnergy is a nonprofi 

t alternative energy development 

incubator located in TechTown, 

Wayne State’s technology park. 

The college plans to display the car 

at various campus and public events 

as a way to educate the public about 

alternative energy and technology. 

“The WSU Police F-Cell car 

demonstrates tomorrow’s 

technology, but also reminds us how 

hard engineers, including our AET 

program faculty and students, are 

working toward getting us there,” 

said Ralph Kummler, dean of 

engineering. 

The WSU Police F-Cell car was displayed at 

the college’s Open House last spring. 

The entire fuel cell system of the 

Mercedes F-Cell is housed in the 

fl oor of the vehicle, leaving full use 

of the passenger and cargo spaces. 

It has a range of approximately 100 

miles and a top speed of 85 mph. 

The electric motor develops, 88 hp 

(65 kW), enabling acceleration from 

0 to 60 mph in 16 seconds. The 

stack was developed by 

DaimlerChrysler’s partner, Ballard 

Power Systems. 

The WSU Police F-Cell car 

demonstrates tomorrow’s 

technology, but also reminds us 

how hard engineers, including 

our AET program faculty and 

students, are working toward 

getting us there 

Dean Ralph Kummler 

Fuel cells release energy from the 

reaction of hydrogen with a catalyst 

and oxygen. This clean technology 

operates at a high level of effi ciency 

and is true zero-emissions. 

Hydrogen-powered fuel cell 

vehicles emit only pure water vapor 

as exhaust. 

As part of the world’s largest fl eet 

of fuel cell vehicles, DaimlerChrysler 

has more than 25 fuel cell vehicles 

in customer hands in California and 

more than 100 around the world. ❑ 

College Partners With NextEnergy 

To Open National BioFuels Lab 

NextEnergy, Inc., Michigan’s nonprofi 

t alternative energy accelerator, 

is partnering with Wayne State 

University in opening the National 

Biofuel Energy Lab. Located in 

NextEnergy’s new facility in Midtown 

Detroit, the fi rst-of-its kind biofuel 

technology development lab is made 

possible through a $2.5 million 

U.S. Department of Energy grant. 

The lab is part of NextEnergy’s 

Biodiesel Value Chain Initiative, 

an approach to researching 

and developing biodiesel use, 

including innovative agricultural 

methods to grow energy crops, 

fuel optimization and state-ofthe-art 

biodiesel production. The 

National Biofuel Energy Lab is 

scheduled to open later this year. 

Biodiesel is fuel made from 

renewable resources, such as 

vegetable oil, which can either be 

recycled from restaurants or culled 

from organically grown crops such as 

soy and sunfl ower. It is biodegradable 

and non-toxic and has signifi cantly 

fewer emissions than petroleumbased 

diesel when burned. B20 

– which refers to the percentage of 

fuel made from biodiesel, i.e., 20 

percent renewable natural oils/80 

percent fossil fuel – is considered 

the best blend for everyday use 

in conventional diesel engines. 

“This lab will provide a muchneeded 

biodiesel knowledge base, 

forming a solid technical foundation 

for the development of future fuels 

of this type,” said James Croce, CEO, 

NextEnergy. The ultimate goal of 

the National Biofuel Energy Lab 

is to develop and strengthen B20 

specifi cations and standards in order 

to facilitate widespread warrant 

of B20 use by vehicle and engine 

OEMs and component suppliers. 

Engineering faculty, graduate 

students and PhD candidates will 

conduct the day-to-day research 

and experiments carried out in the 

lab onsite at the NextEnergy Center. 

Professors Simon Ng and Naeim 

Henein will manage lab activity. 

“There are many reasons why 

biofuels are an important bridge 

toward our nation’s energy 

independence, sustainability 

and clean environment,” said 

Dean Ralph Kummler. “On behalf 

of Dr. Henein and the Wayne 

State Center for Automotive 

Research, a leader in diesel engine 

performance technology since 

1980, we are extremely pleased 

to take on this project.” 

In addition to NextEnergy and 

WSU, several partners will be involved 

in contributing to the National Biofuel 

Energy Lab. 

DaimlerChrysler 

will supply 

engines used 

for research; 

Biodiesel 

Industries, Inc., 

the nation’s 

largest biodiesel 

refi ner, will 

aid in the 

WSU AET Program 

Co-director Simon Ng 

production and 

development 

of biodiesel 

fuel; Delphi Corporation will provide 

emission management technology 

and fuel injectors; Bosch and the U.S. 

Army Tank and Automotive Research, 

Development and Engineering Center 

(TARDEC) the nation’s laboratory 

for advanced military automotive 

technology, located in Warren. 

Finally, Bosch and TARDEC will 

provide test facilities and personnel 

for fuel evaluation work. ❑ 

6 7


Faculty Achievements 

SSIM Program Selected For 

2006 University Safety Award 

Greg Auner (L), Ralph Kummler and 

John Davis, VP WSU Finance 

The Smart 

Sensors and 

Integrated 

Microsystems 

lab at the 

college has been 

awarded the 

2006 University 

Safety Award. 

The Award 

recognizes 

efforts to eliminate 

hazardous 

conditions and loss or damage to property. 

SSIM was honored for going to great lengths to 

maintain one of the safest laboratory environments 

on campus. Due to the volatile and fl ammable 

hazards associated with the lab, the unit has 

instituted a strict safety program that consists of 

restricted access, continuous safety training for users 

and monitoring and testing of safety devices. 

Professor Greg Auner, director of SSIM, and Dean Ralph 

Kummler accepted the award presented by the University 

Loss Prevention Committee at a ceremony April 3. 

Engineering Faculty And Staff 

Honored For Years Of Service 

A total of 17 engineering faculty and staff 

members were honored by the university for their 

continuing years of service, while two former faculty 

members were bestowed with retirement awards. 

Donald Falkenburg, former chairman of Industrial and 

Manufacturing Engineering, and Donald Silversmith, 

former associate dean for research at the college, were 

among recently retired university employees bestowed 

with retirement awards at a special ceremony held March 

24. Falkenburg joined the Industrial and Manufacturing 

Department in 1989, later served as chair, and director 

of the Greenfi eld Coalition from 1999 until 2004 when 

the NSF funded program ended. Silversmith, an expert 

in MEMs devices, was associate dean for research and 

graduate studies from 1988 to 1995, and an active 

member of the faculty through 2002 before taking on 

several assignments with the US State Department. 

College of Engineering employees receiving awards for 

25 years of service were: Thomas 

Heidtke, professor, Civil and 

Environmental Engineering; 

Harpreet Singh and Pepe Siy, 

professors, Electrical and 

Computer Engineering; Eugene 

Rivin, professor Mechanical 

Engineering; and Alice Lietz, 

academic advisor. Awards 

for 20 years of service were 

given to Simon Ng, professor, 

Chemical Engineering; Vladmir 

Sheyman, professor, Engineering Donald Falkenburg 

Technology; and Frank Plonka, 

professor, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. 

College employees receiving 15-year service awards 

were: Carol Heckman, dean’s secretary; Kai Yang, 

professor, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; 

Lidia Nedelcheva, electronics technician; and David 

Griffi n, instrument designer. Employees receiving 

10-year service awards were Gongkang Fu and Nazli 

Yesiller, professors of Civil and Environmental 

Engineering; Brian Thompson, technical advisor; 

Julia Gluesing, Industrial and Manufacturing 

Engineering; and Leslie Monplaisir, professor, 

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. 

ESD Affi liate Council Selects 

Sahney For Gold Award 

Vinod K. Sahney, former 

engineering professor and current 

senior vice president of chief 

strategy offi cer at Blue Cross and 

Blue Shield of Massachusetts, 

received the Gold Award by the 

Engineering Society of Detroit 

(ESD) Affi liate Council at the 

Gold Award Banquet Feb. 22. The 

award, the most prestigious honor 

ESD engineers bestows on one of 

their peers, honors excellence in 

multi-disciplinary technical fi elds. 

Sahney was professor of industrial engineering and 

operations research at Wayne State from 1970 to 1988, 

and presently serves on the College of Engineering 

Board of Advisors. He was vice president of special 

projects at Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit where 

he worked for more than 22 years before recently 

assuming his job with Blue Cross and Blue Shield. 

Sean Wu Named 

“Inventor Of The Year” 

Sean Wu, distinguished professor of Mechanical 

Engineering, was honored with the Wayne State 

University Inventor of the Year Award. Wu was also 

honored last September when he became a “distinguished 

professor” for his work in acoustic engineering. 

The Wayne State Technology Commercialization 

offi ce honored more than 100 faculty members and staff 

inventors March 23 at the Detroit Institute of Arts for 

their ingenuity that has led 

to breakthrough inventions. 

Wu of Troy, holds eight 

U.S. patents, leading to 

the creation of a company, 

SenSound, LLC, with Wu as 

its chief technical offi cer. 

He and his team of scientists 

and students have developed 

an effective tool to help 

quiet the noise in products 

used in our daily lives. 

Besides Wu, engineering 

faculty honored were: King 

Hay Yang and Albert King, professors of Biomedical 

Engineering, for the development of chest and full torso 

computer models used to predict injury; Esin Gulari, 

Charles Mancke and R. Kannan, professors of Chemical 

and Materials Science Engineering, and Gulay Sethakulu, 

assistant professor of research, for the development of the 

supercritical carbon dioxide method to improve properties 

in polymers and rubber; Ankur Naik, Jong Lee and Aditya 

Belwadi (Biomedical Engineering), Cirag Dilek (Chemical 

Engineering) Jihay Feng and Gongkang Fu (Civil and 

Environmental Engineering), Greg Auner, Ivan Avrutsky, 

Ronald Baird, Daniel Georgiev, Xiaoyan Han and 

Chanelle Hughes (Electrical and Computer Engineering); 

and Mohammed Mayeed (Mechanical Engineering). 

Yaprak Joins 

IEEE Accreditation Committee 

Ece Yaprak, associate professor, Engineering 

Technology, has been selected a member of the 

IEEE Committee on Technology Accreditation 

Activities for a one year term beginning April 1. 

Ibrahim Honored With 

WSU Faculty Recognition Award 

Raouf Ibrahim, professor, Mechanical Engineering, is 

among fi ve university faculty members selected to receive 

this year’s WSU Faculty Recognition Award. Ibrahim was 

honored for his book, Liquid Sloshing Dynamics, which 

summarizes his many years of experience and surveys 

more than 2,600 publications on this important subject. 

The awards are given annually to full-time faculty 

members who make outstanding contributions to 

scholarship and learning. Each recipient receives a 

citation from the board, an engraved wall plaque and a 

monetary award. 

Yong Xu Selected For 

Research Enhancement Grant 

Yong Xu, assistant professor, Electrical and Computer 

Engineering, was one of fi ve faculty members selected by 

the university for a 2006 Research Enhancement Grant. 

Xu was awarded $360,000 to support his research in 

nanotechnology. 

Assistant Professor Xu and his research team are 

developing sensors to study the detection of serum 

antibodies for diagnosing ovarian cancer. Biochemical 

sensors play crucial roles in disease diagnosis, drug 

discovery, national security, environment monitoring, 

food safety and more. 

King Hay Yang 

Honored By Chinese Ministry 

King Hay Yang, director of 

the Bioengineering Center, 

was selected for the Chang 

Jian Scholar program by the 

Chinese Ministry of Education 

for his outstanding research 

in fi nite element modeling of 

crashworthiness and occupant 

safety, impact biomechanics 

and orthopedic biomechanics. 

The award acknowledges 

special contributions made 

by Chinese scientists and 

overseas scholars in various research fi elds. Since 

1999, 24 ‘Chang Jian’ scholars have been chosen. 

8 9

www.eng.wayne.edu 

Faculty Achievements 

Machine Shop Manager, 55, 

Earns Bachelor’s 

by Wojciech Dudek 

or most employees his 

age, school is but a speck 

in the rear-view mirror. 

But for Eugene Snowden, lead 

instrumentation designer at the 

college machine shop, taking 

classes, learning from great 

teachers, and studying at the 

university is enjoyable. So much 

so that he received a bachelor’s 

degree in Interdisciplinary Studies 

from Wayne State in May. 

Snowden has worked at 

photo by Wojciech Dudek 

WSU for more than 29 years. 

Ten years ago he decided to 

go back to school. “I was able to take a few courses 

each semester since the work was not extremely 

demanding, at least to me,” he says. “It took a lot of 

dedication and stubbornness, but it was worth it.” 

Snowden had already earned an associates 

degree in special machine design from Macomb 

Community College. At Wayne State, he studied 

non-profi t organization in the Department of 

Interdisciplinary Studies learning how to write grants 

and set up and run a non-profi t organization. 

Snowden thinks that WSU is different than other 

universities because students here are encouraged 

to form study groups and organizations to promote 

learning. “Classes are taught by great teachers, who 

make the studying process very interesting,” he says. 

“I feel that I received a top-notch education.” Even 

with his new degree, Snowden will probably keep 

taking classes because he enjoys it so much, he adds. 

Snowden decided to take non-profi t studies to start 

his own business after retirement, running weekend 

astronomy camps for families. He loves to interact 

with kids, he says, and hopes to work in conjunction 

with the Detroit Science Center. His business plan is 

to supply telescope kits and teach the campers how 

to build and align a 6-inch Newtonian telescope. 

“What better way to learn science than to have fun 

with it,” he says. Already, he has taken necessary 

steps to secure funding for his astronomy camp. ❑ 

10 

ASEE Bestows Erlandson 

With National Design Award 

rofessor of Computer and Electrical Engineering 

Robert Erlandson has been awarded the 

2006 Fred Merryfi eld Design Award from the 

American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). 

The national award recognizes engineering educators 

for excellence in teaching of engineering design and 

acknowledges other signifi cant related contributions. 

Since 1992, as director of the Enabling Technologies 

Lab (ETL) at the College of Engineering, Erlandson 

and his graduate students have enhanced the lives 

of special needs workers and students as well as 

helped local businesses with engineering solutions to 

workplace challenges to special needs employees. 

The partnerships Erlandson has created help 

small businesses employ people with disabilities 

and as well as bring students from special education 

vocational classes to facilities for community work 

experience. Erlandson’s grad students work closely 

with businesses to design a workable prototype 

product that addresses a special workplace need 

presented by employees with physical and/or cognitive 

disabilities. The devices enable the special needs 

employees to perform otherwise diffi cult tasks, and 

helps the company reach their production goals. 

The ASEE design award 

comes with a $2,500 

honorarium and a $500 award 

to the Department of Electrical 

and Computer Engineering. 

The award was presented 

at ASEE’s annual conference 

June 21 in Chicago, Ill. 

Erlandson is also the 

recipient of the 2004 WSU 

President’s Award for 

Excellence in Teaching. Several 

schools have received awards 

for innovative education 

projects the Enabling Technology Lab developed. 

The Bovenschien School in Warren received the 1997 

Education Excellence Award for its work with ETL. And 

the Macomb Intermediate School District received the 

MAGNA Award in 2000 from the American School Board 

Association for its Kids and Kaizen program with ETL. ❑ 

Prasad Elected To National Academy Of Engineering 

Mechanical Engineering Alumnus Pryaranjan (Priya) 

Prasad, BSME68, PhDBioM73, has been inducted as 

a member of the National Academy of Engineering 

(NAE) for his advances in automotive safety and 

impact biomechanics that have led to safer vehicles. 

Prasad, a technical research engineer for Ford 

Motor Company, was among 76 new US members 

of the academy announced in February. Election 

to the NAE is among the highest professional 

distinctions accorded to an engineer. Membership 

honors those who have made outstanding 

contributions to “engineering research, practice, or 

education, including, where appropriate, signifi cant 

contributions to the engineering literature,” and 

to the “pioneering of new and developing fi elds 

of technology, making major advancements in 

traditional fi elds of engineering, or developing/ 

implementing innovative approaches to engineering 

education,” according to the academy. 

Prasad has been a Ford biomechanical and 

automotive safety researcher for the past 32 

years. He is widely recognized in the industry as 

advertisement 

 

Night of 

theStars 

the foremost leader in this area, having conducted 

pioneering research in analytical and physical testing 

methods, including vehicle offset crash testing; 

development and validation of human anatomical 

computer models; and injury criteria for children. 

He was instrumental in 

defi ning the need for and 

requirements of occupant 

crash simulation, leading 

to the widespread use of 

modeling in the automotive 

industry worldwide. 

The latest members 

bring total membership 

to the Academy of 

Engineering to 2,216. 

Prasad was inducted into 

the College of Engineering’s 

Hall of Fame on Nov. 17, 2005. 

He is also the recipient of the 

Henry Ford Technical Award for Side Impact Model and 

the NHTSA Engineering Excellence Award for Safety.


Transitions 

Larry Patrick, Pioneer Auto Safety Researcher, 85 

Lawrence M. Patrick, one of the early pioneers in impact biomechanics 

whose research led to many automotive safety design improvements, 

including the air bag, died Sunday, April 30, at a hospice in Hendersonville, 

N.C., of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 85 years old. 

Patrick performed much of the 

early work in impact biomechanics 

with mechanical engineering 

colleague Herbert Lissner that was 

instrumental in the development of 

the Wayne State Tolerance Curve. 

The model is the basis for the 

current injury criterion for Federal 

Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 

and other auto safety standards. 

Patrick, who was born in 

Detroit, had been living in 

retirement with his wife, Bess, in 

Laurel Park, N.C., since 1982. 

Patrick was researcher in the 

Bioengineering Research Center from 

1946 and professor from 1958 until 

1976. He became director in 1965. 

Early and succeeding Wayne State 

researchers, including Patrick, used 

cadavers to test seat belts, safety 

glass for windshields, collapsible 

steering columns, dashboards, air 

bags and many other automotive 

safety features today’s motorists take 

for granted. The data collected in 

these tests were critical in developing 

the crash sled dummies used by 

automotive safety researchers 

worldwide for testing safety devices. 

Infl uenced by its close proximity 

to the auto industry, engineers, 

together with physicians at the 

WSU School of Medicine, began 

the fi rst controlled laboratory 

research in trauma biomechanics 

in 1939. The achievements by these 

and succeeding WSU researchers, 

particularly Patrick and Albert 

King, chair of the Biomedical 

Engineering Department, put 

Wayne State on the map in the 

impact biomechanics community. 

Patrick was a courageous 

researcher who volunteered 

himself for many different types of 

impact tests, including pendulum 

impacts to his chest as well as 

crash sled tests, to obtain living 

human data. Just last December, 

he was interviewed by British 

television Sky One fi lm producers 

for a documentary entitled, “Tested 

on Humans”, about six leading 

American scientists who volunteered 

themselves for their own research. 

As a researcher and educator, 

Patrick instilled in his researchers 

and students the ethic of hard work, 

intellectual integrity, and above all, a 

spirit to help those in need, said King. 

James Patrick, a civil engineer 

in Hendersonville, said his father’s 

kindness, compassion and caring 

touched anyone who met him. 

“He was a renaissance man and a 

wonderful father. His work made a 

difference to society. A lot of lives 

were saved from what he’s done.” 

In 1976, Patrick resigned from the 

university to become vice president of 

research and development at Libby- 

Owens-Ford Company, in Toledo, 

Ohio, where he led research on 

windshield and automotive glazing 

safety materials. In retirement, 

he and Bess were active in golf 

and hiking and as members of 

the First Presbyterian Church. 

Patrick received a bachelor’s 

in mechanical engineering in 

1942, a bachelor’s in aeronautical 

engineering in 1943, and master’s 

in mechanical engineering in 

1955, all from Wayne State. 

He received many academic and 

industry honors. He is a fellow of the 

Society of Automotive Engineers, 

recipient of the A.W. Siegel Award 

for outstanding international 

research and contributions to 

crash injury protection, professor 

emeritus, and member of the 

WSU Engineering Hall of Fame. 

Besides his wife, with whom he 

was married for 65 years, James 

Patrick and wife, Gayle, also of 

Hendersonville, Patrick is survived 

by daughter, Jody Ard and husband, 

Eddie, of Smyrna, Ga; daughter, 

Kathryne Patrick and husband, 

Marty Cipollini, of Rome, Ga.; sister, 

Catherine and husband, Nelson 

Johnson, of Sevierville, Tenn; and 

brother, Col. John Patrick and 

wife, Barbara, also of Sevierville; 

and seven grandchildren. 

Takaaki Kagawa, CE Prof, 

1947 To 2005 

The college expresses its deepest sympathy to family 

and friends of Takaaki Kagawa, associate professor, 

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 

who died Oct. 24 in Tokyo, Japan. He was 58. 

Kagawa, an expert in the analysis of the effects 

of earthquakes on foundations and infrastructure 

lifelines, was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2004, 

but continued to teach through the end of winter 

semester 2005. Last summer he worked with his 

graduate students while traveling to a Tokyo hospital 

for treatment. 

He was a member of civil engineering for more than 

19 years where he established a solid reputation for his 

work in geo-technical earthquake engineering. “He was 

exceptionally knowledgeable and a very noble person 

in character,” said Mumtaz Usmen, the department 

chair. 

Kagawa was born in Nara, Japan on May 12, 1947. 

He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1970, 

and earned his master’s of science and PhD from 

the University of California at Berkley where he 

studied under the late Professor Harry Seed. Seed’s 

pioneering research in earthquake science led to the 

understanding of soil behavior and ground response 

during earthquakes that is the basis for present-day 

seismic design around the world. 

For his PhD at Berkley, he developed a computer 

simulation model that analyzes how building 

foundations 

would behave in 

an earthquake. 

The model, 

called TLUSH, is 

used extensively 

around the 

world. 

Kagawa 

updated, 

improved and 

maintained 

the software model throughout the years, said Haluk 

Aktan, a close colleague who traveled with Kagawa on 

occasion to Japan and California to study earthquake 

effects on building foundations. 

Funeral and cremation took place in Fujimishi, Japan. 

His remains are buried in Nara. Kagawa is survived by 

his wife, Katsumi, sons Wataru and Shinji, father Keiji, 

and mother Toyoko. 

Jatinder Singh Bedi, 

ECE Associate Professor, 62 

The College of Engineering extends its heartfelt 

sympathy to family, friends and colleagues of Jatinder 

Singh Bedi, associate 

professor, Computer 

and Electrical 

Engineering, who died 

Dec. 26 after a long 

illness. He was 62. 

Bedi was an 

innovative researcher 

of fuzzy neural 

control methods and 

Wayne State professor 

since 1983 when he 

was invited to teach 

computer engineering 

at the college. He 

was appointed 

associate professor in 

1986, and awarded 

tenure in 1991. 

He left on sabbatical in 1998, and never returned 

due to his illness, a neurological disorder. 

Bedi studied fuzzy neural control, voice recognition 

and speaker verifi cation. He introduced the fuzzy 

logic course into department curriculum, teaching a 

large number of computer engineering classes at the 

graduate and undergraduate levels. He also conducted 

funded research for the Ford Motor Company. 

Bedi continued to guide the work of his graduate 

and PhD students even after he moved to a nursing 

home. “He showed courage and determination, 

continuing guidance for his students during 

illness,” said Professor Harpreet Singh, a colleague 

in Electrical and Computer Engineering. “He was 

extremely popular and likeable among students.” 

Bedi was born in Hazro, West Pakistan, in 1943 

and graduated from Punjab University in 1965. In 

1967 he received his postgraduate certifi cate from 

Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and 

his PhD from the University of Roorkee, Roorkee, 

India in 1978. He taught at Thapar Institute of 

Engineering and Technology in Patiala, India 

until 1983 when he came to Wayne State. 

Associate Professor Bedi is survived by his wife, 

Deep; mother, Sampuran Kaur; son, Harjaneet; 

daughter, Tammanna; fi ve brothers and one sister. 

12 13


Science Features 

 

by Albert I. King, Department 

of Biomedical Engineering 

On any Sunday afternoon in 

the fall, it is not uncommon 

to see an NFL player go down 

after a play and fail to get up. One 

of the reasons is a mild concussion 

or what is technically termed a mild 

traumatic brain injury (MTBI). 

Opposing players can run into 

each other at speeds in excess of 15 

mph, and most concussions occur 

when there is helmet-to-helmet 

impact. The player who is struck on 

the side of the helmet is more likely 

to receive a concussion, possibly 

because the head is longer in the 

fore-aft direction and the skull is 

thinner along the side of the head. 

In some cases, MTBI can result from 

heavy ground contact, such as in 

the decking of a quarterback. 

The injury is exemplifi ed 

by confusion, possible loss of 

consciousness, headache, dizziness, 

and temporary loss of memory and 

cognitive function. Shortly after the 

event, the injured player may not be 

oriented to time, place and person. 

He may also have vision problems. 

The injured player may be required 

by the team physician to sit out the 

next play, the next game or for longer 

periods depending on the duration 

of the symptoms of concussion. He 

is not allowed back on the fi eld until 

he is clear of all symptoms. With 

regard to the risk of severe injury due 

to repeated concussions, there is a 

school of thought that recommends 

caution after sustaining a concussion. 

However, this is not accepted 

universally even though we can see 

the effects of multiple concussions 

on boxers, such as Mohammed Ali. 

Despite efforts on the part of 

helmet manufacturers to improve 

the protective ability of the helmet, 

concussions continue to occur. In a 

project with the NFL, Wayne State 

has been studying these concussion 

cases with the help of a computer 

model of the brain. Game videos of 

a collision producing a concussion 

were analyzed by Biokinetics, a 

consulting fi rm in Canada, to estimate 

the speed of the opposing players 

at the instant of collision. They then 

reconstructed the impact, using 

crash dummies that wore the same 

helmets that were worn by the 

players. Head accelerations of both 

dummy heads were measured and 

the data were fed into our model 

to assess the stresses and strains 

sustained by various parts of the 

brain during a concussive impact. 

The comprehensive model of the 

head includes not only all of the 

The Wayne State University 

Brain Injury Model 

Development of strain and strain rate 

in the brain due to a lateral impact 

major components of the brain, 

but also the skull, scalp, face, facial 

and nasal bones and teeth. It was 

validated against several sets of data 

obtained by various researchers 

who conducted head impacts on 

cadavers and measured pressure in 

the brain as well as displacement 

of the brain relative to the skull. 

Despite efforts on 

the part of helmet 

manufacturers to 

improve the protective 

ability of the helmet, 

concussions continue 

to occur. 

The model revealed some 

interesting results. Most of the brain 

motion, and hence the strain in the 

brain, occurs near the center of the 

brain and not on the periphery. 

Also, the rate of strain is a good 

predictor of MTBI because the brain 

is not only sensitive to amount of 

strain, but also to the rate at which 

the strain is applied. Figure 2 shows model predictions of strain and strain 

rate in the brain following a side impact to the head. “Hot spots” for strain 

initiate near the site of impact, and gravitate towards the center of the brain 

at the end of the impact. These central regions are the seat of consciousness. 

Brain motion is more pronounced when there is a large amount of 

head angular acceleration or rotation as opposed to linear acceleration or 

translation. However, every impact has both components of acceleration, 

and it is diffi cult to determine the contribution of each to the resulting 

concussion. This is because concussion may not be entirely due to the high 

strains. Any impact produces transient pressure waves that traverse the 

brain, and the concussive effect of these waves is not clearly understood 

at this time. In fact, this may be the reason why we are unable to design 

a helmet that can be more effective against helmet-to-helmet impact. 

This article fi rst appeared in the 2006 December-January Issue of 

Technology Century, published by the Engineering Society of Detroit. ❑ 

Albert I. King Distinguished Professor And 

Chair, Department Of Biomedical Engineering 

Albert I. King is recognized 

worldwide for his work in evaluating 

the effi cacy of safety devices in 

automobiles. As leader of the 

Wayne State Bioengineering Center 

since 1979 and as a prominent 

researcher since 1966, he and his 

colleagues pioneered research in 

automobile safety design. He is also 

widely recognized for his work in 

the mechanisms of the spine and 

experimental models of head injury. 

Professor King earned his 

doctorate in biomechanics from 

Wayne State (1966) and was 

a student of the original WSU 

biomedical engineers. He received 

the Smithsonian Medal in 1998 for 

his work on computer brain models. 

Other awards include the Kappa 

Delta Award from the American 

Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons 

(1995), the H.R. Lissner Award from 

the American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers (1996), and the Volvo 

Award for his research on low back 

pain (1984). In 2000, Professor King 

was inducted into the National 

Academy of Engineering. 

14 15


Science Features 

A PROMISING NEW FRONT IN THE WAR AGAINST CANCER 

Researchers achieve promising breakthrough 

delivering cancer drug to targeted tumor cells 

Schematic of the dendrimerbased 

targeted, nanovehicle 

that are imageable in vivo 

by David Reich 


Public Affairs Offi cer 

Chemotherapy has been 

the primary tool in 

cancer treatment for 

some years. Usually, it involves 

massive amounts of cancer drugs 

delivered intravenously. Typically, 

although effective, a signifi cant 

percentage of the drug fails to 

reach the intended tumor and is 

absorbed by other parts of the body 

with undesirable side effects. 

With the advent of nanotechnology, 

a promising new front has opened 

in the fi ght against cancer, and 

researchers are focusing on 

new “targeted” drug delivery 

systems capable of honing in and 

attacking tumor cells without 

affecting healthy tissue. 

Chemical engineers, together 

with medical scientists, are working 

with tiny polymer constructs called 

dendrimers (~5-10 nanometers) 

that act as cancer-drug carrying 

‘vehicles’ to target cancer cells, which 

can be highly resistant to drugs. 

At Wayne State’s College of 

Engineering, a team led by 

Chemical Engineering Professor 

Rangaramanujam Kannan has 

shown how to effectively deliver 

a cancer drug to the doorstep of 

a tumor. More signifi cantly, their 

unique dendrimer formulation can 

manipulate the resistance cancer 

cells to open themselves for drug 

delivery. Through collaborations with 

researchers at the Karmanos Cancer 

Institute, the investigation is set to 

move to the animal model stage. 

Kannan’s team has demonstrated 

their method to be as much as 

20 times more effective against 

resistant cancer cells than current 

treatment methods. Their nanovehicles 

were the fi rst reported 

polymer-based delivery vehicles that 

performed better than the drugs 

in cells. Considering the built-in 

advantages of these vehicles in 

vivo over free drugs the potential 

of their technology is signifi cant. 

A successful targeting method 

using nanotechnology not only 

introduces a powerful new tool 

in fi ghting cancer, but has other 

applications. One application is in 

cancer detection. Kannan’s team 

is working with other Karmanos 

researchers in developing imaging 

agents using dendrimers to 

create improved cancer detection 

and screening procedures. 

“It costs hundreds of millions of 

dollars to develop a new drug that 

may be more effective; rather than 

discover a new drug, it’s much 

cheaper to deliver the same drug 

more effectively,” says Kannan in 

explaining part of the motivation 

behind his compelling research. 

Kannan (pronounced ‘con-nun’) 

has not only shown his talent as 

a premier researcher in the nine 

years he arrived at the college from 

California Institute of Technology 

in Pasadena where he earned his 

PhD, but also a talent for teaching 

and engaging his students. 

Using the power of similes (he 

loves to compare, for instance, the 

role of a dendrimer to a school bus), 

Kannan outlines and explains to 

an interviewer the intricacies of his 

work and the background of the 

area of his expertise – polymeric 

nanomaterials and drug delivery 

– which involves more than a 

bit of knowledge in biology. 

In April, Kannan’s group caught 

the attention of nanotech and cancer 

scientists when he reported in the 

journal Bioconjugate Chemistry 

success in attaching the common 

Cellular localization of dendrimerdrug-imaging 

agent nanodevices. 

FITC fl uorescence seen inside 

the cell suggest rapid transport of 

drugs into cells by dendrimers. 

cancer drug methotrexate to 

a dendrimer nanoparticle that 

overcame resistance to the drug 

in cancer cells (see nano.cancer. 

gov/news_center/nanotech_ 

news_2006-04-03b.asp). 

For the past few years, researchers 

have been able to use dendrimers 

–- nanoscopic, non-toxic, tree-like 

polymers -– to attach themselves 

to cancer cells in the body. The 

problem, however, has been in 

manipulating these nanovehicles 

to transport themselves through 

the tumors, into cells, and releasing 

the drug at the right time. 

Kannan credits Karmanos 

collaborator Larry Matherly, 

professor, Cancer Biology/ 

Pharmacology, and his insights into 

how the drug works, as key to the 

team’s promising results. “He is 

a world expert in understanding 

methotrexate transport and folate 

receptors in leukemic cells. 

“We believe a lot of the clues on 

how to make this whole technology 

go relies on understanding the 

mechanism by which these things 

act,” Kannan says. “To make these 

things go, fi rst it has to be harmless, 

it has to get where you want it to 

go, it has to be taken by the cells, 

and fi nally, the dendrimer has to let 

go of the drug in the right place.” 

Scientists have shown that if you 

attach folic acid to a dendrimer, 

then attach the cancer drug to it, 

the dendrimer will reach a tumor 

cell 100 times better than without 

the folic acid. Kannan calls the 

targeting agent folic acid “the 

roadmap” in his school bus analogy. 

“On the cell surface there are 

receptors who can welcome the 

drug into the cell,” Kannan explains. 

“Some tumor cells over-express 

folate receptors. And you can attach 

some molecules like folic acid 

on your dendrimer that will fi nd 

these receptors very effectively.” 

Resistant cells are very 

sophisticated, but they can be 

tricked. “They are clever enough 

to fi gure that the drug is coming,” 

says Kannan. “But they are not 

clever enough to fi gure out that 

the dendrimer is hiding it.” 

Getting in the cell is certainly a big 

step, but not “a big deal” since it’s 

already been 

done, Kannan 

says. “Besides 

that, you 

need the right 

environment 

around the 

dendrimer and 

the drug. And 

that is the big, 

big deal. That 

is where we 

are able to get 

signifi cantly 

better 

performance 

than 

Ranganamanujam 

Kannan 

what people have gotten in 

the literature before.” 

The dendrimer formulation with 

the “correct charge”-- so the drug 

will be released inside the cell in 

the right place -- is the key. “Inside 

the cell all kinds of things happen,” 

Kannan explains. “It fi rst gets into 

something like early endosome, 

then late endosome, then goes into 

lysosome. Lysosomes are places 

where the drug can be released 

from the polymer. If the dendrimer 

does not spend enough time in 

the lysosome, then the drug will 

not be released. If you use anionic 

dendrimer, you have a better chance. 

“If a dendrimer has a COOH 

end-group it means under the 

right environment, it will carry a 

negative charge. It can be anionic,” 

says Kannan. “Whether you have 

a highly negative, neutral, positive 

charge, plays a big role in how the 

dendrimer is taken into the cells 

and how the drug is released. This 

is a very big fi nding, a crucial step 

Dendrimers story continued on page 31 

16 17


Student Achievements 

Engineering Alumni 

Association Student Awards 

Chelsea Zenk is the 2006 recipient of the Engineering 

Alumni Association (EAA) Outstanding Senior Award. 

She was also one of the four recipients of the Robert J. 

Wingerter Award 

(see below). 

EAA bestows its 

most prestigious 

award to the 

top Wingerter 

award winner. 

Chelsea Zenk (R) pictured with 

Tony Will, BSEE’88 

Howard M. Hess Awards 

Jasna Bektas 

is the 2006 

winner of the 

EAA Frosh/Soph 

Award. 

The Howard M. Hess Award for academic excellence 

is given to the outstanding Engineering Technology 

graduating seniors from each semester. 

Vanco Stojanoski, BSET’05, graduated from 

Macomb Community College with an AA in Automation 

Systems Design. He worked for Comau Pico, Inc. 

for fi ve years before enrolling at Wayne State. He 

graduated in December magna cum laude. 

Bryan Wakely, BSET’06, graduated from 

Macomb Community College with a degree in vehicle 

design, enrolling at Wayne State in 2003. Bryan 

maintained a 3.9 GPA at both institutions. He has 

worked as co-op student at GM and was considering 

it’s offer to continue with them after graduation. 

Robert G. Wingerter Awards 

The Wingerter Awards are presented to 

outstanding seniors with exceptional qualities 

of scholarship, character and leadership. 

The award is the college’s top honor. 

Shelly Davis, CEE’06, excelled in academics as 

well as providing leadership to the student body as 

president of the student chapter of American Society 

of Civil Engineers, vice president of Chi Epsilon and 

member of the Society of American Women Engineers. 

Jessin John, ECE’06, demonstrated strong leadership 

qualities as an offi cer in the IEEE Student Chapter and 

president of the REACH Christian Club. As a member 

of Tau Beta Pi, he achieved a high scholastic level. 

Joseph Scott, ChE’06, performed undergraduate 

research and remained active in the student chapter 

of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, all 

the while maintaining an exceptionally high grade 

point average. Joe will pursue a doctoral program at 

MIT, Cal Tech, Berkeley, or at one of several other topranked 

PhD programs where he has been accepted. 

Chelsea Zenk, IME’06, was a student role model, 

balancing schoolwork, practical fi eld work and volunteer 

service. She served as project manager for her senior 

design team assignment at GM’s Hamtramck assembly 

plant. She volunteered at freshman orientation 

events and tutored at Shelters Elementary School in 

Southgate. Finally, she was president of Delta Phi Epsilon 

Sorority and was an active member of Tau Beta Pi. 

Two CEE Graduate Students 

Earn National Scholarships 

Suvra Chakrabarti and Chirag Safi , graduate 

students in the college’s Transportation Research 

Group led by Professor Tapan Datta, were selected to 

receive Michigan Institute of Transportation Engineers 

Scholarships for the 2005-2006 academic year. The 

scholarship is awarded each year to four students 

from Michigan universities based on academic 

performance, leadership, professional activities and 

a brief essay on the transportation profession. 

Lu Wins “Best Paper Award” 

At Stapp Conference 

Biomedical 

Engineering doctoral 

student Ying Lu has 

won best student paper 

of the 2005 Stapp Car 

Crash Conference for her 

paper on whiplash pain 

mechanism. Co-authoring 

the paper, which was 

part of Lu’s dissertation, 

were Chaoyang Chen, 

Srinivasu Kallakuri, 

Ajit Patwardhan and 

John Cavanaugh, 

Ying Lu 

professor, Department 

of Biomedical Engineering, and her advisor. Their 

work comes out of the Biomedical Engineering 

Spine Lab where researchers are honing in on 

the specifi c source of whiplash pain. Lu’s paper 

describes the dynamics occurring when the cervical 

facet joint capsules are stretched in a whiplash. 

Piluso Earns AWMA 

National Scholarship 

Chemical Engineering 

graduate student 

Cristina Piluso has 

been selected to receive 

a $2,000 scholarship 

from the Air and Waste 

Management Association. 

She is among 11 students 

throughout the country 

selected for the award 

presented at AWMA’s annual 

conference June 22 in New 

Orleans. The organization 

bestows the scholarships annually to promising 

environmental students pursuing studies and research 

leading to careers in air quality, waste management, 

and/or environmental management/policy/law. 

As an undergraduate, Piluso was among the four 

Wingerter Award winners in 2004 distinguished 

for their outstanding academic performance and 

leadership. Piluso’s graduate research project will 

introduce a general mathematical framework of a 

sustainability decision-analysis methodology. 

New CEO Student Chapter 

Formed At Wayne State 

A new student organization on campus for 

students who want to become captains of their own 

businesses held its fi rst offi cial meeting Jan. 26. 

Students at the college formed Collegiate 

Entrepreneur Organization, or CEO for short, a chapter 

of the national organization, for the fi rst time at 

Wayne State University. The students began meeting 

informally last fall when they invited engineering 

alumnus Jim Anderson to share his experience starting 

his one-man consulting service, Urban Science, in 

1977. His company has grown to a global engineering 

services company with $70 million in revenue. 

Anderson is mentoring the students in developing 

their own individual entrepreneurial career plans. 

The new CEO group is open to all Wayne State 

students, said President Daniel Thomas, a mechanical 

engineering senior who wants to design and 

develop new inventions, and became involved in 

CEO to learn how to “be in control of them.” 

Future and current CEO’s Daniel Thomas (R), CEO Student 

Chapter president, with (right to left) Jim Anderson, CEO, of Urban 

Science, Marcos Nosr, and Dean Ralph Kummler. 

18 19 

photo by David Reich


Student Achievements 

AROUND CAMPUS 

Left: Mechanical engineering 

student Aman Ullah 

demonstrates his senior design 

project on presentation day 

last December for professor 

Evgeny Rivin’s senior capstone 

class, ME4500. Ullah and fellow 

students Michael Sowards, 

Matthew Kerr, and 

Todd Demaray designed this 

planetary drive as a low cost, 

off-the-shelf solution to power 

transmission needs, providing 

varying transmission values in 

one unit. Over the decade, Rivin 

has been teaching the class, 

from 300 to 350 students have 

designed about 75 projects. 

by Wojciech Dudek 

Right, above right: Recruitsers 

and future captains of industry. 

Students Flock To Engineering Job Fair 

ore than 450 students crammed the halls of the 

college Oct. 13 with their resumes in hand, eager 

to talk to engineering company recruiters and get a foot 

in the door of the industry. 

Co-hosted by the college and WSU Career Services, 

the 2005 Job Fair attracted representatives from 29 

companies seeking qualifi ed individuals to fi ll fulltime 

positions, COOP placements and internships. 

The companies included private companies along with 

federal and state government agencies. Most students 

lined up at tables represented by Detroit Diesel, Bose, 

Yazaki and EDS, where lines were 10 students deep. 

“I came for GM, the CIA and Ford,” said electrical 

and computer engineering senior Bradley Bezzina. 

“These are companies I would like to work for.” 

There are fewer job opportunities in the region 

because of the sluggish economy, but companies 

still come here to offer jobs, said Gerald Thompkins, 

associate dean of students for the college. 

The recruiters are looking for fresh graduates with 

leadership abilities, communication skills, languages 

and high grade point averages. They also said that 

candidates must be fl exible and ready for travel relocation. 

About 300 students spoke with EDS recruiters during 

the daylong Job Fair, said John Coschino, senior recruiter 

at EDS, which needed computer engineering graduates 

for positions in software applications, development and 

programming. 

Coschino said he was impressed with the quality of 

the Wayne State engineering students. “Wayne State 

engineering students are well prepared, bright and they 

know what they want. You can see they have done their 

homework.” 

Recruiters spent from fi ve to 10 minutes with each 

candidate who left resumes for further review by human 

resource offi ces. During informal talks, they asked 

simple questions such as, “Why are you interested in our 

company?” and “What would you like to work at?” 

The Engineering Job Fair in its present form with 

numerous companies setting up shop at one time fi rst 

took place in 1996 when more than 60 companies were 

represented, said Thompkins. It was created to increase the 

opportunities for engineering students who tended to just 

interview with the Big Three automakers - GM, Chrysler 

and Ford, he added. ❑ 

Summer Program To Support Minority Engineering Students 

he college is offering a new summer program for 

incoming pre-engineering freshmen as part of a 

new four Michigan university alliance to address 

under-representation of minorities earning bachelor’s 

degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. 

The “Engineering Pre-First Year” (EPFY) program at 

Wayne State and those of the other alliance partners 

– Michigan State, University of Michigan and Western 

Michigan – are part of an effort to boost graduation 

levels of African Americans, Native Americans 

and Hispanics by 50 percent in fi ve years. 

The universities announced their new partnership in the 

Michigan-Louis Stokes alliance for Minority Participation 

(MI-LSAMP) program last January. The MI-LSAMP is a 

fi ve-year, $2.5 million program funded by the National 

Science Foundation (NSF). The college will receive $100,000 

annually for the next fi ve years to run its summer program. 

The new program will help strengthen Wayne 

State’s role of increasing the diversity and numbers of 

Michiganians from all communities going into high 

tech fi elds, said WSU President Irvin D. Reid. “I know 

Two Students Create Catchy College Slogans 

Civil and Environmental Engineering sophomore 

Alexander Prysiazniuk could have a future 

in marketing if he wasn’t so passionate about 

a career in engineering. Prysiazniuk, 19, and another 

student, Nicholas Bashour, were the winners of the 

College of Engineering’s Best College Slogan Contest. 

A panel made up of college deans and 

administrators, along with the college’s Board of 

Visitors, chose Prysiazniuk’s and Bashour’s slogans from 

64 submissions by students, faculty and staff. 

Engineering the world’s 

future and your own. . . WSU 


Prysiazniuk said it only took him a moment to come 

up with his slogan, “Engineering the world’s future 

and your own. . . WSU College of Engineering.” 

these students can benefi t immensely from our support 

in their successful pursuit of studies in math, science and 

engineering, which can lead to a wide range of careers.” 

Wayne State has long attracted a large percentage of 

minority students. But it shares the problem of other 

universities nationwide of retaining minority students 

in engineering and the sciences. “The gap in minority 

graduation rates in science and technology across the 

country is widening,” said Gerald Thompkins, associate 

dean of engineering, and director of WSU’s MI-LSAMP 

program. “We haven’t done a good job to help our students 

see the opportunities and options. Our program will work 

directly with incoming minority freshmen and ensure they 

make a smooth and informal transition to college, thereby 

increasing their chances to succeed in engineering.” 

According to the 2000 US Census, African Americans, 

Hispanics and American Indians comprise 26.4 percent 

of the total US population with steady growth expected. 

However, they represented only about 14 percent of all 

the engineering baccalaureates in 2002, according to 

the American Association of Engineering Societies. ❑ 

Bashour, a 20-yearold 

junior majoring 

in journalism, 

came up with the 

slogan, “College 

of Engineering: 

Developing today’s 

engineers, pioneering 

tomorrow’s 

technology.” It came 

off the top of his head 

as well, he said. 

The two were 

each awarded an 

iPod Shuffl e for their 

winning entries, which Alexander Prysiazniuk 

were introduced on 

the WSU Athletic Department’s electronic marquee 

overlooking the Lodge Freeway, and possibly 

developed in other college materials and programs. 

20 21


Refl ections 

Helios Trail: 

A Symbol of Light 

Helios Trail being lowered by crane into 

the Engineering court yard in 1989. 

Editor’s Note: This story originally 

appeared in the 1989 Open House 

issue of Wayne Engineer. 

By Santiago Aguilar and Mark C. Kehoe 

co-editors, Wayne Engineer 

rom now on whenever you 

enter the courtyard of the 

Engineering building, the fi rst 

thing you’ll see is the College 

of Engineering’s sleak new symbol 

that seems to touch the sky. The new 

structure is called “Helios Trail.” It 

represents our constant striving to 

reach our engineering goals no matter 

how distant they may appear to be. It’s 

to inspire us to continue our efforts to 

realize our dreams, one step at a time. 

The engineering college began the 

quest for representative sculpture 

in early 1988 specifying that the 

sculpture be composed of material that 

could withstand the changing weather 

condition of Southeastern Michigan. 

Thirty two national submissions for 

proposed structures to represent the 

College of Engineering were sent in. 

Of the submissions, four fi nalists were 

chosen by panel chaired by Katherine 

Martin, the Dean of the College of 

Fine, Performing and Communication 

Arts. The panel consisted of Mel Shaw, 

Professor of Electrical Engineering, 

Richard Bilaitis, Assistant Dean of 

the College of Fine, Performing and 

Communication Arts, Ann Tobey, 

an artist and musician, artist Mary 

Jane Hock and 

Engineering 

has very 

strong ties 

to art that 

are too often 

forgotten. 

Dean Beaufait. 

Each of the 

four fi nalists were 

awarded $500 and 

asked to submit 

a scale model of 

their proposed 

sculpture. These 

models were then 

displayed in the engineering 

building’s Hall of Fame lounge, 

where students and faculty were 

invited to view the models. People 

viewing the models were polled to 

determine which sculpture appealed 

to them most. With the results of 

this poll in mind, the selection 

committee chose Bruce White’s 

sculpture Helios Trail to represent 

the Engineering College at Wayne. 

Bruce White is a professor at the 

Northern Illinois School of Art. In 

his proposal, Mr. White stated that 

the sculpture speaks “of the coming 

together of mans’ limitless intuitive 

and rational powers. The angular 

upward thrust of the diminishing 

form…(points) to the future and… 

(creates) a sense of dynamic energy.” 

The 40 foot high sculpture, fabricated 

form both polished and brushed 

stainless steel, was named Helios 

Trail, according to Mr. White, “…with 

the idea of the sun god lighting 

the sky, creating a trail of light.” 

The contoured edge of the 

structure, facing the building, 

was designed to take advantage 

of the attractive properties of 

light. Lighting would create what 

Mr. White called a “changing 

silhouette of the… contoured edge.” 

The sculpture was also designed 

to look different when seen from 

various places in the courtyard, 

creating a “dynamic” effect. 

The angular form was chosen 

so the sculpture’s shape would 

contrast the straight lines and 

horizontal bridging wall of 

the engineering building. The 

triangular base also “relate(s) 

to the angular divisions 

of the interior landscape.” 

Mr. White said that these were 

“a vital part of the concept.” 

The sculpture was transported 

on the back of a fl atbed truck from 

Illinois, where it was constructed 

by its designer and a welder, to the 

delivery area of the engineering 

college. It arrived about a month 

before dedication. It was then lifted 

from the back of the truck, over the 

engineering auditorium and into 

the engineering building courtyard 

by a large crane. As luck would have 

it, the base’s mounting bolts were 

not quite correct and adjustments had 

to be made. Once this problem was 

resolved, the sculpture was secured 

and prepared for its unveiling. 

The Helios Trail was offi cially unveiled 

on September 22 to an audience of 

engineering faculty, alumni, students, 

and those curious on-lookers that just 

happened to walk by despite inclimate 

weather. Following Dean Beaufait’s 

opening remarks, David Adamany lauded 

the symbol, saying it spoke “…very well of 

the College of Engineering.” Bruce White, 

Katherine Martin and Lou Ross, executive 

vice-president of Ford Motor Company, 

also spoke highly of the engineering 

college and its new symbol. Dean Beaufait 

said the sculpture was “…the realization of 

a dream which I had for this college from 

the fi rst day at Wayne State. To me this 

marks the beginning of a new era for the 

Challengers to the “Trail” 

On a recent trip to Florida, alumnus Brian Geraghty, MSME’72, took these 

photographs of a sculpture in front of the Jacksonville City Hall and plaque. 

Look familiar? This sculpture by Bruce White, the same artist who created 

the college’s Helios Trail, was erected in 2001 and commemorated to the 

“Great Fire of 1901” by the citizens of Jacksonville. Thank you Brian for 

discovering our new connection with Jacksonville. 

College of Engineering at Wayne State.” 

Dean Beaufait also added, 

“Engineering has very strong ties 

with art; one which is too often 

forgotten.” To help reinforce the 

engineering college’s ties with art, 

the sculpture has become the symbol 

of our college. A line art illustration 

of the structure is going to be used 

on all offi cial engineering college 

stationary and publications. In support 

of this decision, beginning with this 

issue, the new logo will appear on 

all Wayne Engineer covers. As Dean 

Beaufait said this logo will give the 

engineering college, “a special identity 

within the university community.” 

Indeed the sculpture will be a symbol 

of the College of Engineering for 

years to come and will be “…a gift to 

students past, present and future.” ❑ 

22 23

ENGINEERING 

ALUMNI 

ASSOCIATION 

2005-2006 

WSU Engineering Alumni 

Association Board Offi cers 

and Members 

Offi cers 

President: Brian Geraghty 

(MSME ’72) 

Ford Motor Company 

Vice President: Paul Nahra 

(BSME ’98, MSME ’99) 


Financial Offi cer: David M. 

Chegash (BSIE ’75) 


Secretary: Anthony Corsetti 

(BSME ’99, MSME ’01) 

Motorola 

Past President: Joseph Boelter 

(BSChE ‘ 65, MSChE ‘ 66) 

Management Recruiters 

of Plymouth 

Board Members 

Robert L. Byrum (BSME ’58) 

Sensor Manufacturing 

Anthony Duminski (BSEE ’65, MSEE ’69, 

MBA ’82) 

The Norris Group, Inc. 

Claude Fiori (BSEE ’89) 

Tamer Girgis (MS ChE) 

Student Rep, President, 

Engineering Graduate Student 

Association 

Gerald Goldberg (BS AeE ’52) 

Curtis Gomulinski (BSEE ’01) 

Coleen Hill (BSCE ’00, MSCE ’02) 

Hubbell, Roth & Clark, Inc. 

Boban Jancevski (BSECE ’03) 

Motorola 

David Kolodziej (BSME ’59, MSME ’62) 

Ralph Kummler 

Dean of Engineering 

Frederick Levantrosser (BSCE ’60, MSCE 

’67, MBA ’73) 

Don Neumann (BSEE ’72, MSCE ’82, 

Ph.D. CE ’99) 

General Dynamics 

Edward Paley (BSME ’58) 

HPS, Inc. 

Offer (Frank) Preuthun (BSME ’48) 

Fritz Quitmeyer (MSME ’83) 

American Axle and Manufacturing 

Paul Skalny (MS Operations 

Research ’93) 

US Army TARDEC-NAC 

Tony Wojtowicz 

Lakeside Engineering 

From The President Letters to the Editor 

Dear Alum, 

As you read through this issue of 

Exemplar, you will see how your 

Engineering Alumni Association has a 

lot to offer for you. Whether you are 

looking for information about current 

projects at the Engineering College or 

what your fellow alums are doing, 

belonging to 

the 

Engineering 

Alumni 

Association is 

a great way to 

keep in touch. 

But if you 

want to do 

more than 

keep in touch, 

we have lots 

of programs 

in which you 

can 

participate. 

The WSU 

Capital Campaign “Wayne First” is in 

high gear and with contributions from 

many alums, the $27.3 million 

Engineering Development Center has 

been given the go ahead. Funding for 

equipment is still needed if you have 

not yet sent in your contribution. 

The Engineering Alumni Grants for 

Education and Research (EAGER) 

funds today’s students in collaborative 

projects that promote teamwork, 

engineering ingenuity and creativity. 

If you give to EAGER, either with your 

time or money, you will experience the 

enthusiasm of our Formula SAE team 

and other teams as they compete, 

often on a national scale, against other 

universities. This year’s FSAE 

competition was attended by 125 

colleges and universities from all over 

the world. Wayne State has produced at 

least two overall winners in 

engineering competitions over the 

past few years. So the talent and drive 

is outstanding on our teams. The 

Alumni Association also funds student 

events like the Senior Breakfast in April 

and supports the Student Honors 

Convocation. 

We have a new annual event, The 

Golf Outing, and as our treasurer, 

David Chegash, reported, “The record 

crowd enjoyed good golf, great food 

and prizes”. The EAA’s EAGER account 

enjoyed the outing, too, as we set a new 

record for contributions. The records 

we set this year were wonderful but we 

want to do even better next year. 

Golfers, sponsors and contributors, 

keep your calendar open for next year’s 

outing in May of 2007. Hope to see you 

there. 

The “Night of the Stars” fundraiser 

gives recognition for the College of 

Engineering, including Alumni 

Achievement Awards. This past year we 

celebrated with 250 attendees at the 

Detroit Science Center. This unique 

venue had theaters and exhibits as a 

side experience to the dinner by Opus 

One and the Awards. A silent auction 

offered unique items that were quickly 

bid on by the attendees. The 

“interesting venue” theme will be kept 

this year with the Night of the Stars 

ceremony again going to the Detroit 

Science Center. Join us for this year’s 

event on Friday, October 27. 

This year we had a wine tasting 

event, a football homecoming event 

and a hockey night. All these 

supported our mission to build loyalty 

and active support among Wayne State 

University Engineering alumni. The 

Alumni Association helps to promote a 

positive image of Wayne State and The 

College of Engineering. We promote 

professional development and 

networking opportunities with our 

activities and our membership roster of 

1200 is growing every year. In 2005, 

the Engineering Alumni Association 

was named the Outstanding Alumni 

Group at WSU. 

More work needs to be done as our 

vision is to be the principal affi liation 

of engineering graduates, providing 

leadership and direction in “giving 

back” to our alma mater. We 

accomplish this by contributing to the 

growth and image of the college and to 

strengthen alumni bonds via 

communication and programming for 

alumni. 

Learn more about the Engineering 

Alumni Association by visiting our 

website at www.wsueaa.org and 

contacting any member of the board. 

Wayne State has been an important 

part of your education, and now the 

Engineering Alumni Association offers 

numerous ways to engage your 

interest, curiosity and experience. 

Having an engineering degree from 

Wayne makes you a member of a 

unique group. Use the alumni 

association services and encourage 

others to join the association. When 

possible, volunteer your time to give 

back. The rewards far outweigh the 

time you give. 

I have just completed my two-year 

tenure as EAA President and want to 

thank the many dedicated volunteer 

alums, along with the school staff and 

faculty that made this assignment 

enjoyable and rewarding. 

Brian Geraghty 

MSME ‘72 


We received the following letter from a friend of former college professor and inventor 

Robert Kearns after publishing his obituary in the 2005 issue of Helios News. 

- Editor 

Dear Helios News: 

Somebody should write a book about this one-of-akind 

Boy, Husband, Father, Friend, and “Man of all 

Seasons.” In one word, Bob Kearns was a “Mensch” 

which = “A Good Man.” 

Got to know Bob as a poor boy coming out of River 

Rouge, and St. Catholic Church till he got his doctorate, 

till Mayor Cavanaugh made him Commissioner to 

Building and Safety, till Roman Gribbs canned him, till 

he wrote the fi rst version of the BOCA Building Codes, 

till he gave his own Oral Arguments in front of the 

Supreme Court, till I took his RR church apart, and 

‘UPSed’ it back to him in Maryland, till we buried him Robert Kearns 

at the same church in River Rouge where the hearse 

thought he should be buried in Downtown Detroit near 11th Street instead of 

Dearborn. Bob was a Detroiter and part of the Irish Mafi a, and his assistant was 

“Black Jack Kelly.” They met in the Lager House on Michigan Avenue at 6th. 

Bob lost the central vision of his left/right eye on the eve of his honeymoon 

in Windsor. He claimed to have started working on the wipers the same night. 

BS. He spent the night in the Harper Hospital. Bob never lied, but his make-eeups 

were something else. 

I was the best friend that Bob ever had! He was the best friend I ever had! We 

went well together for a lot of years! Bob always said that at the end of the day, I 

could see what I had done. But he couldn’t as his was mental. Bob was one of 

the few men that wore more hats than I did. We were “Simpatico.” 

William J. Foley 

634 Sweetbriar 

Milford, MI 48381 

Hall of Fame Gallery Launched Online 

The College of Engineering has a new feature on its homepage, the COE 

HALL OF FAME ONLINE GALLERY. 

More than 17,000 students have attended Wayne State’s College of 

Engineering since it fi rst opened its doors more than 70 years ago, graduated 

and gone out in the world to pursue their individual careers. 

In 1983, the college began to recognize some of its most outstanding 

graduates by creating a Hall of Fame. More than 100 alumni with distinguished 

careers and life experiences are now members. 

Now, you can visit the Hall of Fame without leaving your computer by simply 

logging onto the Alumni link on the college’s homepage. 

25


Friends & Alumni 

WSU Alumnus Writes About His Career In Nuclear Industry 

Starting With Army Job On The Manhattan Bomb Project 

By Wojciech Dudek 

“I wanted my book to 

be a fascinating summary 

of an engineer’s life,” says 

Robert Kupp, ChE’47 in 

his recent autobiography, 

A Nuclear Engineer in 

the Twentieth Century 

(TRAFFORD Publishers, 

2005), where he 

summarizes his 58-yearlong 

contribution to the 

nuclear engineering fi eld. 

Kupp’s career began 

in 1945 when he 

Robert Kupp 

unwittingly became 

involved in the 

Manhattan Atom Bomb Project. Drafted into the army one 

semester shy of graduation at Wayne State with a chemical 

engineering degree, Kupp found himself six months 

later in the Special Engineers Detachment at Oak Ridge 

Tennessee. It was January 1945, and top secret activities 

at the Oakridge National Laboratory were in full swing. 

Kupp was made operations supervisor, working in 

the Gaseous Diffusion Plant responsible for the analysis 

of the control instrumentation in the gaseous diffusion 

cascade. “Work on the project was exciting for a young 

engineer,” says Kupp. “My assignments, starting up 

a new section of the plant, and my subsequent move 

to the central control room, made for me a fascinating 

beginning of a nuclear engineering career.” 

The Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, along with an 

additional operation that separated isotopes from uranium 

235, enriched the uranium used in the “Little Boy” bomb 

U.S. forces dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 

I wanted my book to be a 

fascinating summary of an 

engineer’s life. 

Robert Kupp, ChE’47 

Aug. 6, 1945. His superiors, even if they knew, never told 

his engineering group their work was part of a massive 

countrywide effort to develop a bomb that would be 

used against the Japanese. But Kupp and a good friend on 

the project “put 2 and 2 together” after reading a book 

by two physicists who described in 1942 the concept of 

using enriched uranium to create a nuclear explosion. 

While Kupp knew he was part of a project making 

material for a powerful new bomb, he and his group 

were not privy to its timeline, nor how far along the 

Manhattan Project scientists “somewhere in the southwest” 

were. Kupp recalls hearing the news of the Hiroshima 

bombing on the radio. “We were very, very excited 

and exuberant,” he says. “We knew we had created 

something that was substantive in the world, and we felt 

it would end the war much quicker than otherwise.” 

After his army discharge in July 1946, Kupp returned to 

Wayne State in January 1947 to earn his degree. He was 

able to complete the 23 credit hours he needed in one 

semester with the assistance of the chemical engineering 

chair at the time, Harold Donnelly. Kupp remembers the 

popular professor fondly as willing to help him graduate. 

Kupp landed his fi rst civilian job in August 1947 as a 

process engineer with the Kellex Corporation (later changed 

to Vitro Engineering Corporation) located in the Oak Ridge 

area and the company that designed and built the Oak Ridge 

Gaseous Diffusion Plant. After Vitro Manufacturing bought 

Kellex in 1952, Kupp worked as the chief nuclear engineer. 

He was involved in designing one of the fi rst nuclear 

plants in the United States -- Indian Point I, New York. 

In 1960, Kupp partnered with Sidney Stoller (previously 

the vice president of engineering at Vitro) to form Stoller 

Associates. Their corporation served the growing commercial 

nuclear power industry in the development of this new 

technology. They specialized in the nuclear fuel cycle, safety 

and power generation economics. Their company provided 

consulting work for the electric utility industry, the US 

Department of Energy, the United Nations and many other 

clients. While at Stoller, Kupp taught nuclear engineering 

as an adjunct professor at New York Polytechnic Institute. 

Kupp says he enjoyed reliving his experiences and 

refl ecting on the nuclear industry in the process of 

writing his self-published book. A Nuclear Engineer in the 

Twentieth Century offers readers an opportunity to learn 

much about the development of nuclear technology in 

the United States, depicting important problems facing 

the industry from its early beginnings to the present. 

Kupp writes about radiation safety, power economics, 

risk/benefi t analyses and the societal issues of nuclear 

waste disposal. Moreover, his fi rst-hand experience in 

the industry adds an important personal dimension. 

A Nuclear Engineer in the Twentieth Century by Robert 

Kupp, BSChE’47, can be purchased by googling Robert 

William Kupp, or visiting www.trafford.com/04-2811 


Class Notes 

1950s 

John Banicki, MSCE’ 51, founder 

and chief executive consultant of 

Testing Engineers & Consultants 

Inc. of Troy, was selected for the 

Engineering Society of Detroit’s 

(ESD) 2005 Lifetime Achievement 

Award. Banicki has been an ESD 

member for 52 years. He received 

ESD’s Distinguished Service Award in 

1995 and was 

elected fellow 

in 1977. Among 

many other 

honors, he is the 

Michigan Society 

of Professional 

Engineers 

(MSPE) 2005 

Outstanding 

Engineer in 

Private Practice, the recipient of 

the 1979 MSPE Engineer of the Year 

Award and an elected fellow. 

Norman W. Schubring, BSEE ’52, 

MSEE ’59, is a WSU liaison to Delphi 

Research Labs. In 1978, Schubring 

received the Charles L. McCuen 

Special Achievements Award for Tri- 

Band Slot Antenna. Schubring also 

received the Award of Recognition 

for Pioneering Contributions on 

Third International Symposium on 

Integrated Ferroelectrics in 1991. 

In addition, Schubring received 

the John M. Campbell Award for 

Discoveries of New Fundamental 

Properties of Ferroelectric Materials 

in 1995. In 1999, he was inducted 

to the Delphi Inventors Hall of 

Fame. He resides in Troy. 

Eugene Tomlinson, BSCHE ’56, 

MSCHE ’61, MBA ’74, is retired from 

Tomlinson Research. He recently 

completed an assignment with 

the Governors Offi ce of Workforce 

Training and Development. 

Tomlinson enjoys oil and watercolor 

painting. He resides in Santa 

Fe, N.M. with wife Sandy. 

1960s and 70s 

David E. Casteel, BSCHE’ 60, is 

retired from Texas Instruments 

Incorporated after 24 years 

as a senior business systems 

computer programmer. He 

resides in Dallas, Texas. 

William Jackson, BSET ’70, MSET 

’72, is a senior engineer at Aerospace 

Corp. Jackson designs and develops 

deep space communication systems. 

He received the President’s Award 

for technical and programmatic 

excellence in leading recovery 

effort of a government program. 

He resides in Chantilly, Va. 

Zoltan Lukacs, CE ’79, is a project 

executive for Turner Construction 

Co.’s Detroit offi ce. Lukacs is 

also a member of the Habitat 

for Humanity Detroit board of 

directors. He resides in Novi. 

1980s, 90s and 00s 

Michael Popovic, CHME ’81, 

is a mechanical engineer at 

DiClemente Siegel Design Inc. 

He resides in Southfi eld. 

James A. Croce, ECE’86, CEO of 

NextEnergy, a non-profi t alternative 

energy accelerator, 

was named 

Developer of 

the Year by 

TechTown, Wayne 

State’s research 

and technology 

park. Croce is 

a 2004 WSU 

Engineering Hall 

of Fame inductee. 

He resides in Troy. 

Joe Hernandez, BSET’91, is a group 

leader in the Retail Mechanical 

Engineering Department at SSOE, 

Inc. Hernandez has been active with 

the American Society of Plumbing 

Engineers (ASPE) for 30 years, 

serving on the board of directors 

for 13, fi ve of those as a president. 

Hernandez received the ASPE 

Chairman’s Award of Merit in 1996 

for developing an education program 

for young engineers in plumbing 

engineering. In 2004, Hernandez 

was named Engineer of the Year by 

the American Society of Sanitary 

Engineering. He resides in Troy. 

Laurel Johnson, BSChE’93, 

MSCIE’98 is a senior project engineer 

at Soil and Materials Engineers, 

Inc. She resides in Eastpointe. 

Paul Pentecost, Jr. Certifi cate HWM’ 

93, MS HWC’96, is president of 

the Michigan Chapter of Certifi ed 

Hazardous Materials Managers. 

He resides in Bloomfi eld Hills. 

Joel Rinkel, MSCEE’98, is a 

senior product engineer at Soil 

and Materials Engineers, Inc. 

He resides in Plymouth. 

Yaser Mahmoud, 

BSChE ’99, MBA 

’05, is a general 

manager for EDS 

Environmental 

Disposal System. He 

resides in Dearborn. 

Michael Meixner, 

EMMP’04, is a 

director of international logistics at 

Russell A. Farrow, Ltd. Meixner is 

responsible for overseeing Canadian 

logistics operations. He resides 

in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. 

Andy Balogh, BSME’05, is a product 

engineer at Freudenberg-NOK. He 

is designing crankshaft dampers 

and linear mass dampers. He 

resides in Brownstown Township. 

26 27



Transitions 

Leonard Myron Salle, BSCE’59, Dies In Palo Alto, Calif. 

Leonard Myron Salle, a college alumnus and founder of the 

California progressive think tank, the Commonweal Institute, 

died May 5 at Stanford University Hospital as the result of 

complications of coronary bypass surgery. He was 69. 

Salle was born in Detroit, graduated from Mumford 

High School in 1954 and Wayne State in 1959 as a civil 

engineer. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 

1960 and worked in executive positions in civil and 

environmental engineering design and construction fi rms. 

“He was a good man who did good in his lifetime,” said 

longtime friend and fellow Wayne State alumnus Harvey 

Gotliffe, a professor of journalism at San Jose State in 

California. “From his days at Wayne in the 1950s, Leonard 

has been passionately devoted to try and do what is right 

and benefi cial for his community and for society as a whole.” 

In 2001, Salle co-founded the Commonweal Institute 

that seeks to maximize the visibility and the power of 

progressive ideas and values. “The issues closest to his 

heart included those with a liberal bent -- protecting 

the environment, reducing classroom size, buttressing 

election security and supporting the tort system,” 

according to his obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Salle was president of the Santa Clara County Engineers 

and Architects Association, a fellow in the American Society 

of Civil Engineers, and a charter member of the Association 

of Environmental Professionals in California. For the past 

16 years, Salle 

and his wife, 

Katherine Forrest, 

have resided in 

Palo Alto, Calif. 

Salle is survived 

by his wife, 

Katherine Alden 

Forrest; sons 

William F. of 

Agoura Hills, Calif., 

and Stephen K. 

of Sacramento, 

Calif.; stepsons, 

Eric John Finseth 

Leonard Salle with wife, Katherine Forrest of McLean, Va., 

and Ian Frederick 

Finseth of Denton, Texas; a brother, Donald of San Mateo, 

Calif.; sister-in-law, Adele, wife of his diseased brother, 

Richard Salle, of Saratoga, Calif.; and six grandchildren. 

A special fund in Salle’s name has been set up at 

the Commonweal Institute to carry out his long-term 

work on strengthening the public education system. 

Donations can be mailed to the Leonard M. Salle 

Memorial Education Fund, the Commonweal Institute, 

325 Sharon Park Drive, Suite 332, Menlo Park, CA 94025. 

Emmett Leith, BAAS’50, MSPhy’52, PhDEE’78, 

Holographic Innovator, Dies At 78 

Holographic innovator and Wayne State University electrical 

engineering alumnus Emmett Leith was planning to retire 

Dec. 31 after 52 years at the University of Michigan. But 

Leith, a professor of electrical engineering and computer 

science, died of an internal hemorrhage Dec. 23 after falling 

ill the day before at his home in Canton. He was 78. 

“He’s known as the person who made practical holography 

possible,” Gary Adams, who worked for Leith at the U-M Institute 

of Science and Technology lab, told the Ann Arbor News. Leith 

uncovered the principles of the hologram while working at the 

lab in the mid-50s. Between 1961 and 1964, Leith and fellow 

researcher Juris Upatnieks made a series of presentations to the 

Optical Society of America describing three major advances in 

holography, which uses lasers to create three-dimensional images. 

Leith was born in Detroit. He earned all his college 

degrees from Wayne State: a bachelor’s in liberal arts 

and sciences in 1950, a master’s in physics in 1952, 

and a PhD in electrical engineering in 1978. 

Just before he fell ill, Leith was honored at his retirement 

party. He had worked at U-M for 52 years. 

Louis Silverman, BSChHE ’41, ’41 died Nov. 

15, 2005. He received a master of science 

in metallurgy from Stevens Institute of 

Technology, NJ, in 1950. He was a member 

of the Wayne Alumni in New York City for 

several decades. Over the 50-year span of 

his career, he worked at the Bowen Products 

Division of the L.A. Young Corporation, RCA, 

Chromatic Television Laboratories (Paramount), 

Raytheon, General Precision Corporation and 

the Electronics Semiconductor Corporation. 

Donations 

Engineering Development Center 

Support Hits $21.3 Million 

A total of $21.3 million has been pledged to the 

building fund for the new Engineering Development 

Center, which is expected to cost a total of $27 

million. In addition to the state of Michigan’s $15 

million commitment, a $1.5 million donation from 

chemical engineering alumnus Yousif Ghafari has been 

pledged. An additional $1.8 million will come from 

Ford Motor Co. as the university gears up for the 

second phase of its capital fund-raising campaign. 

Ernest Kirkendall Family 

Bequeaths $25,000 

Promising engineering students will benefi t 

from a $25,000 donation left by former alumnus 

Ernest Kirkendall and his family. Kirkendall, who 

died last August, earned his bachelor’s degree 

from Wayne State in 1934 and master’s and PhD 

from University of Michigan in 1935 and 1938. He 

was an assistant professor of chemical engineering 

at Wayne University from 1941 to 1946. 

Kirkendall’s doctoral thesis experiments on the interdiffusion 

between copper and zinc proved that the 

individual component atoms in a solid alloy diffuse at 

different rates. His discovery, which took the scientifi c 

world 10 years to accept, became a well-known 

theory in metallurgical science, providing guidance for 

materials research and practical engineering problems. 

George F. Warnke, BS Engineering’45, 

died in May 2005 in Chandler, Ariz. 

Thomas R. Reagan, BS IME ’49, died 

Oct. 17, 2005. He lived in St. Louis, MO. 

Richard Kazmier, ME ’51, died June 

14, 2005, after a long battle with cancer. 

Kazmier was a retired mechanical engineer 

who enjoyed a long and successful 

career with Rockwell International 

and was a veteran of the US Army. 

Singh Development Donates 

$50,000 For Scholarships 

Students in India will have the opportunity to pursue 

graduate studies in engineering at Wayne State, thanks 

to a $50,000 donation from Singh Development 

LLC of Troy. Lushman Grewal, a 1967 electrical and 

computer engineering graduate and treasurer of 

Singh Development, helped establish the scholarship 

fund. Grewal, a native of India who emigrated to 

the United States in 1961, said Singh’s interest is in 

strengthening cultural understanding between the 

two countries. In addition to Singh’s donation, two 

area Sikh institutions have donated $10,000 each to 

the endowment to encourage collaboration between 

the college and educational institutions in India. 

Clare and John Morrison Bequeath 

$120,000 For Scholarships 

Thanks to Clare and John Morrison, engineering 

students will receive fi nancial support in the form of 

scholarships. A total of $120,000 was bequeathed by 

Clare and her brother John, who was an electrician at 

Ford Motor Co. John Morrison died in 1997, and Clare, 

an attorney who lived in Detroit, just this last February. 

Clare’s sister was a Wayne State University alumnae. 

28 29


An Alumnus Remembers 

The Wingerter Awards for excellence in engineering 

scholarship are the highest honor an engineering student 

can receive, and only the top students are selected. Most 

people affi liated with the college recognize the name 

and the image of Wingerter, which often appears in 

college publications in articles announcing the award 

winners. But few people know the man himself. 

The man behind the Wingerter Award, Robert G. Wingerter, 

talked to Marion Ringe, Offi ce of Development and Alumni 

Affairs, on his student years at Wayne State and explained 

how he came to establish the fi rst award in 1968. 

After graduation in 1938, Wingerter joined Timken Roller 

Bearing Company in Canton, Ohio, as a trainee engineer 

for sales and moved up through the ranks over the next 

20 years, culminating as director of sales for four years. 

He then went to Rockwell-Standard Corporation, serving 

as executive vice president, director and president of the 

automotive division. His last career move took him to 

Libbey-Owens-Ford Company, where he served fi rst in the 

position of executive vice president, then president and 

chief executive offi cer, and fi nally, chairman of the board. 

This October, Wingerter will celebrate his 90 th birthday. 

He and his wife, Dorothy, a Wayne State education 

graduate (1939), live in Perrysburg, Ohio. In August, 

they celebrated their 67 th wedding anniversary. 

by Marion Ringe 

“In the 1930s when I was in high school, 

my father’s business had failed and fi nding work was 

almost impossible. My mother prepared food for several 

grade school lunchrooms to bring in a little money. Life 

was tough. At that time, the Detroit Board of Education 

awarded one tuition scholarship to what was then Detroit 

City College, the precursor to Wayne State University, to 

each high school graduating class. When I graduated from 

Denby High School in January 1934, I was the fortunate 

recipient. That was the way I was able to enter college.” 

“I was good in math and mechanical challenges and 

had an early interest in studying engineering in college. I 

did well academically, and I also enjoyed sports. I pitched 

baseball for my high school team and also played on the 

high school golf team. I was introduced to golf as a caddy. 

Wayne didn’t have a baseball team at that time, but I did 

make the varsity golf team, which put me on crowded 

The Man Behind The Wingerter Award 

Robert G. Wingerter, BSEngg’38 

streetcars from the east side, toting an armful of books and a 

loaded golf bag. I was captain of the Wayne golf team for two 

of the three years I played varsity golf and was able to arrange 

my classes to leave afternoons available for golf matches.” 

“At the end of my sophomore year and early in 1936, the 

city of Detroit converted from manufactured gas to piped-in 

natural gas. That meant all gas appliances throughout the 

city had to be converted to accommodate the new service. A 

number of college students took advantage of the opportunity 

Robert Wingerter with wife, Dorothy 

for the good-paying work. I became a trouble-shooter, 

handling diffi cult conversions, and was earning as much as 

$60 a week, depending on overtime opportunities, which 

seemed a small fortune during the mid-30s. I worked at that 

job for eight months until the conversion was complete, and 

I returned to my academic studies. Then I bought a 1933 Ford 

V8. No more golf bags on the streetcars. Being able to drive to 

school was a dream-come-true, but parking was a problem. 

The only place to park was on the street. With the bumpers 

on the Ford, I developed a handy skill -- nudging parked cars 

front and rear just a bit until there was room for mine.” 

Establishing the awards 

“A long-time friend from my grade and high schools, Ray 

Hayes, was active in the leadership of the university’s alumni 

association in the mid-1960s, and he urged me to sponsor 

Robert Wingerter with Dean Ralph 

Kummler (L) and Jack Vanhecke, the 

college’s development director 

Dendrimers story continued from page 17 

to making these things work.” 

Kannan and Matherly were 

able to achieve success only after 

lengthy trial and error applying their 

dendrimer formulations to tumor 

cultures consisting of both sensitive 

and resistant cell lines. “As time goes 

by, cancer cells become resistant to 

the drug,” Kannan says. “Larry can 

take a sensitive cell and knock out 

the receptor that takes in the drug 

and make the cell resistant. You treat 

them with the drug and you fi nd the 

sensitive line gets killed. The resistive 

line puts up a big struggle even after 

being given a factor of 100 times 

more drug. If we take that same cell 

line, and treat it with the dendrimer 

conjugate we created, we need to 

give a factor of 8-25 times less drug.” 

The researchers have been 

using mice in preliminary tests to 

learn more about the behavior of 

dendrimers. “Now that we know 

what kind of construct is working, 

we can go back and put targeting 

moieties (agents) on dendrimers 

and go and test them in animals.” 

Kannan hopes to work with other 

some new support for 

the university. I was 

motivated to recognize 

superior scholastic 

performance in the 

engineering college.” 

“I established the 

awards in December 

1967 to reward 

senior students for 

their outstanding 

scholarship, character 

and leadership. Back 

then, the awards 

were $250, and I 

gave $1,000 each 

year to fund the 

four annual awards. 

researchers at Karmanos, Children’s 

Hospital of Michigan and Kresge 

Eye Institute, that will lead to 

several clinical applications through 

translations of this nanomaterials 

research platform. “Our collaborators 

have animal models to test our 

dendrimer-based delivery systems,” 

says Kannan. The collaborations are 

with Anthony Shields, Fazlul Sarkar, 

Bonnie Sloane and Kami Moin and 

Neb Duric (all at Karmanos), Ray Iezzi 

(Kresge), Mary Lieh-Lai (Children’s), 

David Bassett (College of Pharmacy). 

Another close collaborator is Sujatha 

Kannan (Kannan’s wife) who was 

his mentor and is on the faculty at 

Children’s. She is working on using 

dendrimers for delivery to the brain. 

“It’s a relative new technology 

with very broad applications, 

and Wayne State is a great 

collaborative environment to 

make it happen”, he says. ❑ 

Today, each awardee receives $1,000, and my hope 

is that the endowment I created will support some 

future increases to parry the erosion of infl ation.” 

”Since 1968, 130 awards have been presented, and it 

is gratifying to receive photos and occasional notes of 

thanks from the students. Reading about past Wingerter 

award winners who are succeeding in business also is a 

great pleasure for me. Although it is diffi cult now to attend 

the award ceremonies as I occasionally used to, I still feel 

connected to the College of Engineering and am proud 

to stimulate students through this award recognition.” 

Marion Ringe is a development offi cer in the WSU 

Offi ce of Development and Alumni Affairs. 

R.M. Kannan is an associate 

professor in the Department 

of Chemical Engineering and 

Materials Science, and Biomedical 

Engineering. He is also a coinventor, 

co-founder and chief 

technical offi cer of nanoScience 

Engineering Corporation, a 

nanotech start-up partly owned 

by Wayne State, that researches, 

develops and markets novel 

neofi ller dispersion technologies. 

30 31


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YOU CAN HELP 

ENSURE THE FUTURE OF THE 

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 

IT’S EASY AND SO REWARDING! 

Have you thought of planning a future gift for the College of Engineering? A bequest or 

other carefully planned gift is an excellent way to strengthen the college’s future. 

Your planned gift can: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Make a signifi cant impact on the 

college’s programs and students 

Help you save on taxes - income tax, capital 

gains tax, gift tax and/or estate tax 

Enable excellent management of your assets 

Give you a tremendous sense of satisfaction, knowing 

your gift will help keep the legacy of quality higher 

engineering education strong and growing 

Examples of convenient planned gifts: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Gift by will or trust 

Gift of the remainder of retirement plans 

Life income gift 

Gift of life insurance 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wayne State University can assist 

you with your gift plans 

For more information, contact Bill 

Winkler, Planned Gifts Offi cer at: 

(313) 577-6508 or E-mail bwinkler@wayne.edu 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

College Leadership 

Ralph Kummler, Ph.D., P.E. 

Dean of Engineering 

Michele Grimm, Ph.D. 

Associate Dean, Academic Affairs 

Snehamay Khasnabis, Ph.D. 

Associate Dean, Research 

 

 

Gerald Thompkins, Ph.D. 

Associate Dean, Student Affairs 

Gary Zaddach, M.B.A. 

Director, Business Operations 

Lawrence Achram 


James Anderson 

Urban Science 

David Aronow, 

Arco Alloy Corporation 

Robert Banasik, Ph.D. 

Omnilife Health Care 

John Banicki 

Testing Engineers & Consultants 

Andrew Brown, Jr., Ph.D. 

Delphi 

Walter Bryzik, Ph.D. 

TACOM 

Bob Byrum 

Sensor Manufacturing 

Russell Carter 

ArvinMeritor 

James A. Croce 

NextEnergy 

Robert Denton 

Denton, Inc. 

Bharat Desai 

Syntel, Inc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian Geraghty 

Ford Motor Company 

James Gessner 

Michigan Energy 

Yousif Ghafari 

Ghafari Companies 

Board of Visitors 

Jack VanHecke 

Development Director 

Kate Kendro 

Development Offi cer 

Megan Cyrulewski 

Development Offi cer 

David Reich 

Public Affairs Offi cer 

Charles Hess 

Fischer/Unitech, Inc. 

David Hill 

E.C. Korneffel Co. 

Cheryl E. Kreindler 

CH2M Hill Michigan, Inc. 

Steve Kurmas 

DTE Energy 

Mike Marino 

Aviation Partners Boeing, retired 

Victor M. Mercado 

Detroit Water/Sewage Department 

Nancy Philippart 

General Motors 

Madhava Reddy 

HTC Global Services, Inc. 

Julius L. Reeves 

General Motors 

Erik Roeren 

Eberspacher North America, Inc. 

Vinod K. Shaney, Ph.D. 

Henry Ford Health Systems 

Donald J. Smolenski, Ph.D. 

GM WFG Environmental 

Clay L. Snyder 

EDS GMNA 

Percy Vreeken 

Transnav Technologies


Wayne State University 

Detroit, MI 48202 

fax: (313) 577-5300 

phone: (313) 577-3780 


Join Us For 

Night of the Stars 

on October 27, 2006 

call 1-866-7-ALUMNI 

for details

Exemplar 2006 - College of Engineering - Wayne State University

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