FALL 2018 FALL Pursuit of Greatness Reflecting on 60 years of innovation and achievement In This Issue FALL 2018 • Volume 27, Issue 2 Departments Features President’s Perspective ........4 16 Notable Names, Tall Tales and Points of Pride On Campus...................5 on our Evolution from Countdown College A Closer Look.................12 to Florida Tech Athletics .....................14 Crossword..................38 The story of our university’s 60 years lives on through the words of university historian Gordon Patterson. This collection of passages shares excerpts from Patterson’s online series, “The Secret History of Florida Tech.” 26 Vik Verma: Keuper Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient Growing tech startups into multimillion-dollar businesses is just another day on the job for Vik Verma. Now his company 8x8 is revolutionizing enterprise communications everywhere. Among it all, he stays actively involved with the university. GO GREEN, GET ONLINE! fit.edu/magazine 2 THEN AND NOW. On the left, a view of campus looking north from the roof of the Crawford Building in 1984. On the right, that same vantage point today. Can you spot what remains the same and what has changed on campus? FLORIDA TECH MAGAZINE fit.edu/magazine Florida Institute of Technology PRESIDENT Dwayne McCay, Ph.D. VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Wes Sumner ’18 DBA Florida Tech Magazine is published three times a year by Florida Tech’s Office of Marketing and Communications and is distributed to over 80,000 readers. MANAGING EDITOR/ART DIRECTOR Christena Callahan ’07 M.S. EDITOR Stephanie Herndon ’07 CONTRIBUTORS Fanak Baarmand, Stephanie Bacon, Christena Callahan, Stephanie Herndon, Jillian Leclerc, Adam Lowenstein, Erin Mahaney, Gordon Patterson, Lisa Petrillo, Ryan Randall, Wes Sumner, Daniel Supraner PRODUCTION Kristie Kwong WEB LAYOUT David Smith, Erin Fox CIRCULATION Ali Faisal PHOTOGRAPHY Dominic Agostini, Mike Brown, Joy Patterson Alumni Office VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI RELATIONS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Bino Campanini ’90, ’92 MBA 321-674-8434, [email protected] ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Stephanie Bacon 321-674-7198, [email protected] ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT OFFICER Jillian Leclerc 321-674-6826, [email protected] ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT OFFICER Cindy Berger 321-674-6826, [email protected] Have a Story Idea? Alumni News Email [email protected] Changing Addresses? 28 Homecoming 2018: Don’t leave copies of your alumni magazine behind. Send your new address to Florida Tech, Office of Featuring Cold War Kids Development Services, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32901-6975, [email protected] 30 From the FTAA President Unsubscribe Please email [email protected] if you no longer wish 30 On the Road to receive this publication. 32 AlumNotes 34 60 for 60 Profile: Alvin Kaltman, Ph.D. fit.edu 35 Alumni Spotlight: Philina Richardson © Copyright 2018 by Florida Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 36 In Memoriam For reprint information, contact Florida Tech Magazine at 321-674-8963 or [email protected]. Florida Tech Magazine is printed on Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)® certified paper. Florida Institute of Technology is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, education specialist and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Florida Institute of Connect With Us Technology. Florida Institute of Technology does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other protected minority in the admission of students, admin- /floridainstituteoftechnology @floridatech /floridatech istration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, employment policies, and athletic or other university sponsored programs or activities. Contact the Title IX Coordinator at 321-674-8700. MK-370-718 Florida Tech Magazine | 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Alumni and Friends, When our founding president, Jerome Keuper, convened the first night classes at Brevard Engineering College Sept. 22, 1958, the inaugural cohort had only a short drive from their jobs on Cape Canaveral to class in Melbourne. As we’ve welcomed students back for our fall semester and begun to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Florida Tech’s Florida Tech was featured on the home page of The Chronicle of Higher Education on Aug. 6. establishment, it strikes me that the distances our students now travel from their homes to our Melbourne campus reflect just how much Brevard Engineering College—renamed Florida Institute of Technology in 1966—has evolved over its relatively short existence. The truly international nature of our student body, with 120 countries represented last fall (that’s nearly 62 percent of all the countries in the world), says plenty about our foundation and desirability as a school, but it also bodes well for us as we evolve and grow and, just as our students do, look toward our own future. “It’s like traveling the world in four years,” one of our students told Fiske Guide to Colleges a few years ago about our global attendance. Many facets of Florida Tech that contribute to our international appeal can be traced back to our formative years: Dr. Keuper’s early and unwavering insistence on creating a challenging academic environment; a desire, certainly in the school’s second decade and President McCay prepares to lead the procession onward, to strengthen the emphasis on research; the understanding during summer commencement. that a campus must offer not just the pleasant amenities, including a soothing oasis of palm trees in our botanical garden, but also the latest teaching technologies, equipment and materials. When I was named Florida Tech’s fifth president in July 2016, I articulated three core principles that complement our history while casting an eye forward: research that benefits all of humankind, student success for a lifetime and great global citizenship. The occasion of our 60th anniversary is a great moment to pause and appreciate what Florida Tech is now and what it has the potential to be, and also to understand the tenacity and foresight of Jerry Keuper and our other early supporters. They worked tirelessly to cement a sound foundation that now, decades later, allows us to relentlessly pursue greatness. Sincerely, Dwayne McCay, Ph.D. President McCay and Bino Campanini ’90, ’92 MBA ran into Delta pilot Jim Berry ’91 on their flight to President Philadelphia. 4 ON CAMPUS Engineering and Science: Separated No Longer In addition to returning and equally as important, impact research areas will students, Florida Tech’s fall creates a less organizationally give the university more term began with the arrival complex environment for “horsepower” for recognition, of something else: the official students to navigate. university leaders said. merger of the College of Furthermore, the merger The merger will unify Engineering and Computing also supports the goal of the talents and efforts of and the College of Science. increasing Florida Tech’s faculty in the two colleges, Officially known as the reputation and recognition, improving communication, College of Engineering two key components to collaboration and teamwork. and Science, the merged improving the university’s school streamlines academic rankings. Creating such a administration—a benefit to critical mass of faculty in the university’s finances— high-visibility and high- Honoring Jack Schwalbe As he stood at the front of the room, Gordon Patterson said although there are many good professors who are learned in their field, a great professor is one who acts as a horticulturist, planting and cultivating the ‘seeds’ of study and knowledge in his students. “And Jack Schwalbe,” Patterson contin- ued, “is a great professor.” Professor Emeritus Schwalbe beamed as he heard these words during a recep- tion held in his honor on Aug. 13. Ed Kalajian, Ashok Pandit and Patterson Friends and colleagues honor professor emeritus Jack Schwalbe during a campus reception. arranged the reception as a farewell to the influential professor who is moving to New Hampshire to be closer to family. In 1979 Schwalbe with his structures coach and role model.” Schwalbe retired When Kalajian was starting the ocean expertise joined Kalajian to form the from the university in 2000. engineering program at Florida Tech in university’s civil engineering program 1974, he found help in Jack Schwalbe, As the reception came to a close and and develop the structures lab. a structural engineer with an exper- attendees gathered around Schwalbe for tise in ships, submarines and offshore Through the years “Coach Jack” served a group photo, he said, “I want to thank platforms. In just a few short years, on the faculty senate and volunteered you all for your kind words. I have loved Schwalbe built up the program to one as an intercollegiate tennis coach for being here, the university, the people, that experts pointed to as the definition Florida Tech. Bill Jurgens shared, the teaching … this has been the finest of what an ocean engineering program “He had a lot of great philosophy and period of my professional life.” should be. self-confidence, which made a great Florida Tech Magazine | 5 ON CAMPUS BRAISED CHICKEN, Autism in Brazil: BRONZE MEDAL Florida Tech Chef de Cuisine Jon The Scott Center to Train the Skoviera and dining service team Trainers for Treatment members Jenn Manaseri, Crystal online training Mensch and Susan Voss won a Florida Tech’s training, created Trainer” model, bronze medal in the American modules for use Paraná will select Scott Center by experts at The Culinary Federation’s Culinary in Paraná. The the trainees for for Autism Scott Center, for Competition at the 24th annual following 18 the lessons. After Treatment, along people in Brazil Chef Culinary Conference at the months will be two years, those with the Brazilian who work with University of Massachusetts in spent training trained will be Amherst June 3–8.