Features | Illinois Tech Magazine

Fall 2004

IIT Urban Legends

As with any college, IIT has its share of stories, passed down from class to class, from senior to freshman. But at IIT, these legends don’t take the commonplace form of the ghost haunting the women’s dormitory. The pragmatic mind of the IIT student has conjured up a different brand...

Fall 2004

In His Tracks

A small photograph is perhaps the most telling testament to alumnus Max Ephraim’s legacy. It hangs in a corner of the factory at Modern Process Equipment, put there not by Dan and Phil Ephraim, Max’s sons and operators of the successful company, but by their workers. It is a tribute...

Fall 2004

Blueprint for a Legacy

When rock stars reach immortality, their fellow musicians honor them with tribute albums. When structural engineers reach immortality, their colleagues present them with a volume of research papers celebrating the breadth of their research. Such was the gift presented to Sidney A. Guralnick , Perlstein Distinguished Professor of Engineering, upon...

Fall 2004

Welcome Home

Whether you first arrived on campus 5 years ago or 50, chances are you can still recall the mix of feelings you experienced back then—fear, excitement, uncertainty, hope. In recent years, with memories of their earliest experiences at IIT still vivid, current students have signed on to become orientation counselors...

Winter 2003

The Age of Dangerous Information: The Internet After September 11

Millions of Americans frantically sought information during the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The general populace wanted to know all they could about both the history and background of those who might have perpetrated these crimes, as well as the details of the damage. Following the East Coast...

Winter 2003

All That Glitters

“I was just running down the corridor. I went to Dr. Perez and said ‘It worked, it worked!’ I was very happy.” While burning one kind of fossil fuel, Nasrin Khalili had an idea for cleaning up another. Khalili was in her car-with offices on Main Campus , Stuart School...

Winter 2003

Unleashing Blue Yonder

James Roche speaks fatalistically about his abnormal major when he was at Illinois Institute of Technology , where he majored in English Literature from 1957 to 1960. Although his Pi Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers and almost everyone else studied engineering, he recalls how his presence among flocks of prospective engineers...

Winter 2003

If Newborns Could Say Thank You

There’s a reason for the sentimental media stories you see about babies’ lives being at danger or great medical risk: there’s not much that tugs at the heartstrings like a small helpless human life imperiled. A recent alumnus of the Institute of Design (ID), Brian Stonecipher, has developed a groundbreaking...

Fall 2003

Porter W. Johnson and the Physics of Baseball

“Most people have never met a scientist... and they have rarely appreciated the effect of science in their everyday lives.” Like a utility player on a baseball team, Physics Professor Porter W. Johnson has done just about everything in his 34 years at IIT. He has taught, consulted and chaired...

Fall 2003

Pushing Back at an E-Giant

In the vast ether of information on the Internet, Ophir Frieder knows how to search like few other web surfers.

Fall 2003

Men of Steel Leave Legacy at IIT

The Finkl Familys’ Continued Commitment to IIT Charles W. “Chuck” Finkl, the late chairman and CEO of A. Finkl & Sons Co. steel forging company in Chicago, was a steadfast supporter of his alma mater, Illinois Institute of Technology. Chuck proved to be one of IIT’s most generous and active supporters both financially and through his investment of time. Lew Collens, president of IIT, explains the Finkl/IIT friendship: IIT is indeed fortunate to have numbered among its alumni and friends such industry leaders as Chuck and his father Bill Finkl. A. Finkl & Sons have looked to IIT as a source of engineering talent for much of this century, and the Finkl family has been a great friend and benefactor of IIT over the same period.

Fall 2003

Ethel Andrus: Founder of AARP, IIT Alum

While her name does not carry the instant recognition across campus that some of our others may enjoy, one of our many prominent Lewis Institute graduates is Ethel Percy Andrus. Andrus was the founder in 1947 of the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) and in 1958 of AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons), and was honored by U.S. presidents for her work in the non-profit world.