Dayton Section Memoriums
Krishna Pasala
Fritz J. Russ
John
Kraus & Chen-To Tai
Irv Mayer March 2004
Daniel Keith Mevis
Walt Nolte
John "Jack" Cannon
Lt. Col. Charles
Brothers
Jerry Duchene
Nataraj S. Nataraj
Professor Krishna
Pasala
Professor Krishna Pasala, Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Dayton
Dayton Community Looses International
Scholar and Dedicated Teacher
Jan 2008: The Dayton community mourns the passing
of a significant member of the electrical and computer engineering
field. Professor Krishna Pasala was a nationally and internationally
recognized scholar, working in the areas of electromagnetics,
antennas and adaptive signal processing. Over the last 25
years, he has combined a career of enthusiastic teaching,
innovative multidisciplinary research, and mentoring of undergraduate
and graduate students, and faculty. His tireless efforts have
resulted in strong partnerships between The University of
Dayton and the Air Force Research Labs in both collaborative
research and course offerings.
Dr. Krishna Murthy Pasala was born in Eluru
India. He obtained his PhD from the prestigious Indian Institute
of Science (IISc) in 1975 after earning his Bachelors in Engineering
degree from the College of Engineering at Kakinada University
in 1970. In 1980 began his association with UD, first with
the university research institute (UDRI) and then ultimately
as Full Professor with the Electrical and Computer engineering
(ECE) department faculty where he taught for over 30 years.
He dedicated his career in ECE to the education
of undergraduate and graduate students. In the course of Dr.
Pasala's career he mentored many graduate students including
his contributions as committee advisor for over 25 MS and
PhD students. His students will remember him as an extraordinarily
gifted teacher who with noble and inspirational techniques
conveyed the beauty of science to his students. Many of his
former students are active members of his research team addressing
scientific challenges of the day. New courses he had introduced
in the curriculum are offered at UD and WPAFB.
Dr. Pasala was instrumental in forging a strong
and continued relationship between WPAFB and UD and more recently
with IISc. He had numerous publications in prestigious journals.
His work is often cited in Aviation Week and Space Technology.
His work is a testimony to the level of cutting edge research
that he and his research group performed.
We honor his leadership, dedication and commitment
to the communities he served. He is survived by his Mother
Alivelu Manga Thayaramma, Wife Usha, Daughters: Sheela, Swapna,
Prasanthi, Kavitha; Sons-in-law: Venu, Haree and Grand Daughters:
Sanjana and Shalini.
Memorial For
Fritz J. Russ
Dr.
Fritz J Russ, passed away Wednesday, November
3, 2004. He was 84. His innovation, vision and technical expertise
spanned an engineering career of more than 55 years and many
engineering firsts. Russ graduated from Ohio University in
1942 with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering.
At the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., he helped
build the world’s first high-voltage, RF-generated power supply,
later used in every television set.
During WWII, he designed data collection equipment
for the first U.S. post-war nuclear tests and traveled to
Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands to witness the explosions.
He also oversaw development of the first electronic control
system for large diesel generators, resulting in two patents.
At Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he invented a firing error
indicator to measure the precise distance by which an aircraft
gun misses its target and then adjusts the gun in time for
the next shot. In the early 1950s, he and his beloved wife,
Dolores, founded Knollwood Electronics and developed the first
known transistorized wireless electric guitar.
In 1955, they founded Dayton’s Systems Research
Laboratories (SRL), which grew into one of the world’s largest
and most productive, independent engineering and technology
research firms. In the early space program days, SRL helped
select the first astronauts and test space suits. The company
also created a blood pressure monitoring instrument that became
the basis for the central monitoring of multiple blood pressures
in hospitals, and later achieved milestones in lasers, chemical
warfare shelters and artificial intelligence. Russ later managed
his own consulting firm, Russ Venture Group.
During his career, he was appointed by President
Gerald Ford to the President’s Committee on Science to study
national science, technology and engineering policies. Russ
also served on many corporate and civic boards, including
the Ohio University Board of Trustees, Foundation Board of
Trustees and Russ College Board of Visitors, and those of
Wright State University and the Ohio Commodores. He received
many national and state accolades, including the E. J. Nutter
Award presented on “Fritz Russ Day” in Greene County, Ohio,
the naming of the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of
Engineering and Technology at Ohio University, the naming
of the Fritz and Dolores Russ Engineering Center at Wright
State University, an honorary doctorate in engineering from
Ohio University, and the Ohio University Medal of Merit, Alumnus
of the Year Award, and Founders Citation.
An avid ham radio enthusiast and private pilot,
he was a lifelong champion of engineering education, establishing
the National Academy of Engineering’s Fritz J. and Dolores
H. Russ Prize with his wife in the ’90s. One of the world’s
top three engineering prizes, the Russ Prize recognizes outstanding
achievement in an engineering field that contributes to the
advancement engineering and improves the human condition.
He and his wife were most generous benefactors to Cedarville
University, Ohio University and Wright State University. Dr
Russ established a fund for the Dayton Section IEEE for an
annual award to an outstanding candidate
Memorials John
Kraus & Chen-To Tai
To those in the electromagnetics community. The IEEE Antennas
& Propagation Society has suffered two great losses in the
past month.
John Kraus (OSU Professor Emeritus,
pioneer in radio astronomy, famous for the "Big Ear," his
texts in antenna theory, and amateur radio operator W8JK)
passed away July 18, 2004.
Also, Chen-To Tai (U of M Professor
Emeritus, known for his many contributions to vector analysis,
Dyadic Green's functions, and mathematics in field theory)
passed away July 30, 2004. Many persons had the
privilege to meet, study under, or collaborate with them,
and their contributions to our field and to our Society were
(and will continue to be) huge.
Memorial for
Irving Mayer
Irving Mayer died on the evening of March 25th, 2004 at the
Harborside Nursing Home in Troy, Ohio. He was 90 years old.
Irving was born in Atlanta Georgia, Oct. 5th 1913. He served
in the Army in Italy during the Second World War. He lived
most of his life in Fairborn, working at Wright Patterson
Air Force Base as an electronics engineer. After his retirement
he became active in Ohio State Science Days and was an enthusiastic
supporter of local conservation organizations. He served on
the Boards of Directors of the Glen Helen Association and
the Dayton Museum of Natural History.
Memorial for
Daniel Keith Mevis
Local IEEE Member, Daniel Keith Mevis, passed away on Friday
March 21st at WPAFB Medical Center. If desired, contributions
may be made to the National Morrow Donor Program, The National
Foundation www.themarrowfoundation.org
or the National Transplant Assistance Fund, NTAF Stem Cell
Transplant Fund www.transplantfund.org
in Daniel's memory.
Memorial for
Walt Nolte
Walt Nolte passed away unexpectedly in February
2002. Walt was a key member of Dayton Section IEEE and served
on its Executive Committee for several years. He arrived in
Dayton in 1960, already a four-year member of AIEE American
Institute of Electrical Engineers. In 1963, he joined McGraw-Hill
Information Systems where he was involved with coordinating
the selected expertise of the U.S. Science/Technology community
with information evaluation requirements of the Foreign Technology
Division of the Air Force Systems Command (FTD). Walt was
elected as the Dayton Section IEEE Chairman in 1978 and has
continued to be an active member throughout the years. For
the last several years, he was the Section's Affiliate Council
representative at the Dayton Engineer's club. He also served
as the Section's primary contact point with IEEE headquarters
for coordinating and maintaining the Section's membership
list and mailing information.
We, who served with Walt at various Dayton Section
IEEE meetings and functions, were frequently guided by Walt
's vast experience and knowledge of details that formed the
history of our Section.
Memorial for
John "Jack" Cannon
Jack Cannon passed away on Saturday, June 30,
2001 at his residence. He seemed to be in good health when
he retired for the night, but never woke up in the morning.
Jack was born on July 30, 1926, in Ironton, Ohio. He served
during WWII aboard the U.S.S. Vinton in the Pacific Fleet.
He was a graduate of Miami University with a B.A. in Physics
in 1950 and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in
1973. Jack was an active member of the Dayton Section IEEE
for the past several years, having served through all the
chairs and was the Section Chairman in 1998. During the last
two years he was the driving force toward getting the executive
committee of IEEE to approve an Electronic Engineering Milestone
Award for NCR Building 26, which housed the U.S. Naval Computing
Machine Laboratory during World War II. This was the site
of highly classified research, development and manufacturing
work performed to crack the German coding machine Enigma,
which includes the contributions of women tasked to the war
effort (WAVES) (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)
Jack retired in 1992 after 41 years of distinguished civilian
service at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in planning, research
and development. Jack's final assignment from 1987 to 1992,
involved cementing a civilian technology transfer initiative
between WPAFB's Aeronautical Systems Center, the State of
Ohio and area colleges and universities. For his work in this
area, he was bestowed the award for Meritorious Civilian Service
by the Dept. of the Air Force and recognized by, then, Governor
Richard F. Celeste. Jack was known to approach his earthly
life with great purpose, conviction, self-assuredness, curiosity,
wisdom, humor, humility, thankfulness and peace.

Memorial
for Lt. Col. Charles Brothers