AlfredM AGA ZINE - A TOUCH OF Glass - Alfred University
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Alfred Executive Editor Design/Photography Alfred University Erin Martinovich Olivia Piazza ’19 1 Saxon Drive Alfred, NY 14802 Contributing Writers Additional Photography 607·871·2103 Mark Whitehouse Joyce Miyake-Faraji ’21 news@alfred.edu M AGA Z I N E Rob Price Alfred Magazine, copyright APRIL 2022 ISSUE 2022, is mailed free of charge We reserve the right to edit all to alumni, current parents, and letters and articles submitted for friends of Alfred University. publication in Alfred Magazine. Circulation: 6,100
Facing page: N’Kosi Barber, a glass artist from Chicago, works in the School of Art and Design hot glass Inside shop. Barber visited the University the 2 Elizabeth Lyons ’82, renowned in the world of glass art, grew up embracing first week of February in conjunction creativity, the daughter of two Alfred University alumni who were accomplished with the SOAD’s Black Glass Arts photographers and well-known art instructors. Today, Elizabeth, assisted by two Series. The series brought glass artists fellow Alfred alumni—Jen Schinzing ’04 and Mike Krupiarz ’05—operates More Fire of color to the University throughout Glass, a successful glass studio and gallery in Rochester. February, with artists giving glass 9 Before earning bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in ceramic engineering, and a art demonstrations and artist talks. master’s in glass science from Alfred University, Kathleen Richardson ’82, was a Third-year B.F.A. student Adeye chemistry major. Her decision to change her academic path during her first year at Jean-Baptiste was instrumental in Alfred has led her to become one of the world’s leading teachers and researchers in organizing the series, leading efforts to the field of glass and optical materials. raise funds to bring the visiting artists to campus. 13 At Corning Inc. John Mauro ’01, used mathematical modeling to develop newer, more durable versions of Gorilla Glass for cell phones. Now he’s passing along his knowledge of glass engineering to students at Penn State University, using lessons Above: Alfred University military learned as an undergraduate and graduate student at Alfred University. veteran alumni participated during Reunion 2021 last August in the 17 Glass artist Leo Tecosky ’03, discovered as a high school student he enjoyed dedication of a memorial honoring the working with his hands. Then he learned of a place called Alfred University, where U.S. service veterans. The permanent professors excelled at teaching students how to work with their hands. The results memorial, located in front of the Davis of that education are coming to fruition in glass art inspired in part by hip hop. Memorial Carillon, consists of a bench 23 Professor Gary Ostrower ’61, returned to his alma mater to teach history. In and granite inlays detailing each war December 2021, he retired from the University after a 52-year career. To have served and conflict Alfred University-affiliated as a colleague of Ostrower is to have enjoyed a unique professional and educational veterans fought in over the years and experience. the branches of the U.S. military. 27 Alfred Campus Digest Cover image: Elizabeth Lyons ’82 32 Saxon Athletics works in the shop at More Fire Glass, the small production glass studio and 40 Class Notes gallery she operates in Rochester. See story, Page 2. 46 Deaths T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R A L U M N I A N D F R I E N D S O F A L F R E D U N I V E R S I T Y 1
MORE Workshop at SUNY Brockport, where he retired as Distinguished Professor of Art/Education in 2002. He received an honorary degree from Alfred FIRE University in 2006. In 1972, Joan founded the Visual Studies Workshop Press, which produces artists’ books through a residency program. She has taught and lectured in printmaking, printing, and photography, and her work is GLASS part of permanent collections nationally and internationally. Elizabeth’s parents both taught at the renowned Penland School of Craft, outside Asheville, NC, and it was there, at the age of 11, that she saw the process of glass blowing. That experience, By Mark Whitehouse combined with visits to the family glass business on her fathers’ side in New York City, piqued her Elizabeth Lyons ’82, founder of More interest in glass art. “It was magical to visit the place where they made chandeliers and fancy Fire Glass in Rochester, works with mirrors. I remember a giant card catalogue. fellow Rochester natives and Alfred In each drawer there were crystals of various colors and shapes. I spent hours opening those University alumni Jen Schinzing drawers,” she recalled. ’04 and Mike Krupiarz ’05 to create It wasn’t until Elizabeth enrolled in art school at Alfred University that she discovered her passion unique and beautiful pieces of for glass as an art form. glass art at a 4,000-square-foot “After (first-year) Foundations, I started to focus on glass and was excited to be working in that building that houses the small-scale medium, though I was still fascinated by the variety of studio experiences at Alfred,” she said. production glass studio and gallery. “That’s what was beautiful about Alfred. In my All three developed an interest in sophomore year, I was able to work multiple media areas that included ceramics, printmaking art while growing up in Rochester, and wood. Not being limited by material has been and a particular love for working so important to my work. I don’t think of myself as a glass artist. I think of myself as a sculptor and with glass while students at Alfred. designer. I love glass, but I also love metal, wood, found objects, concrete and paint. I would never The daughter of Alfred University alumni and limit myself. The medium is chosen to serve the accomplished photographers—her mother Joan idea.” and late father Nathan both graduated from Elizabeth earned her B.F.A., with a concentration Alfred in 1957; Joan with a B.F.A. and Nathan with in sculpture, in 1982. After graduation, she moved a degree in English—Elizabeth’s interest in the to New York City, working and taking film classes, creative process came naturally. before returning to Rochester in 1988. She earned “We always made things, all the time,” a master’s degree from Rochester Institute of Elizabeth recalls of her childhood in Rochester. Technology and in 1989 began a 21-year career Nathan, who passed away in 2016, was curator teaching art in the Rochester City School District, of photography at the George Eastman House at the School of the Arts, and then at East High in Rochester before founding the Visual Studies School. Continued on page 4 3
Mike Krupiarz ’05 (left), Jen Schinzing ’04 (center), and Elizabeth Lyons ’82 outside More Fire Glass studio and gallery in Rochester. 4
It was while “We’d come she was into the teaching that studio after Elizabeth our other jobs opened More and worked Fire Glass in to keep the Rochester in place going,” 1998. She had Elizabeth wanted to open explained. her own studio, At the time, and found the focus of some space More Fire in Rochester. Glass was “I went to public access. the bank “I wanted and applied to create for a loan to a studio purchase the that was an equipment. The educational bank turned A chandelier Elizabeth Lyons created, consisting of glass magnolia blossoms facility and me down. They attached to a forged metal frame, adorns the lobby of the Arca Hotel in Hong Kong. it was a first said they didn’t for this area. know what they would do with the equipment” if I was committed to offering summer and after the studio venture failed, Elizabeth recalled. school programs for city high school students, Soon after, in a fortunate stroke of serendipity, though kids came from all over. We raised money a glass artist Elizabeth was acquainted with and offered lots of scholarships. Many of those contacted her to say she was selling her glass- students have continued in glass and the arts.” blowing equipment and asked if Elizabeth Elizabeth rented out studio time, and offered a was interested. “It was very small and cobbled variety of classes, taught by nationally renowned together, but I said yes, I would take it.” Using artists, including Einar and Jamex de la Torre, her own $5,000 as an investment, which was Emilio Santini, Karen Willenbrink, Ross Richmond matched by a grant from the City of Rochester, and many others. That shifted in 2010, when Elizabeth bought the equipment and secured Elizabeth retired from teaching and turned her the space needed to open More Fire Glass studio. attention full time to her studio practice. “That’s how I got started. I moved the equipment “It was just me and Jen at the time and there into the space and used it for about two years was a complete course correction,” Elizabeth until I was able to build new hot shop equipment, said. “We both left our full-time jobs. I decided I including a glass furnace.” wanted to focus on creating and making art. It Elizabeth said she made sure to continually was a big, risky leap for us, but it was what we invest in her business. “I was teaching at the time, really wanted to do. Not long after that things so every cent I made (at the studio) I re-invested. really started to take off. There is a point in life I was super-conservative, and never borrowed when you pare down and do fewer things, but do any money. I’d make a little money and buy tools, them better.” equipment and materials or less glamorous In 2016, More Fire Glass studio moved to its things one needs to run a business.” current location, a former welding supply shop In 2005, she was joined at the studio by Jen on Rochester’s Field Street, just off busy Monroe Schinzing. Like Elizabeth, Jen had a full-time job Avenue and easily accessible from I-490. Two elsewhere, as a photographer at a local studio. Continued on page 6 5
The showroom at More Fire Glass studio and gallery in Rochester. Founder Elizabeth Lyons ’82 and fellow Alfred University alumni Jen Schinzing ’04 and Mike Krupiarz ’05 create original glass art at More Fire Glass. years later, Elizabeth and Jen were joined in the glassblowers, create their own works (which are studio by Michael Krupiarz, who returned to his available for sale in the More Fire Glass showroom native Rochester after several years working and and on the studio website) and work with teaching in North Carolina, including a stint as Elizabeth on various projects. Jen serves as studio an instructor at Penland. Michael knew Jen from manager and Michael as studio coordinator. their time at Alfred University, and was a student “Jen has really helped me grow the business. at Rochester School of the Arts when Elizabeth There has been a lot of collaboration between was a teacher there. “When we got to a place us. We bounce ideas off each other all the time. where we could hire someone, Michael’s name Jen and Michael are very interesting artists in came up, and we reached out to him,” Elizabeth their own right. They bring a lot of creativity to recalls. the table,” Elizabeth commented. “I couldn’t ask More Fire Glass serves a variety of clientele, from for two more capable people to work with. They architects and interior designers to individual make it a joy to come to work. Both are incredibly clients and retail showrooms. Elizabeth’s work organized and offer the perfect combination of has appeared in national publications like the working styles.” New York Times, Vogue and Town and Country Jen says she has had an interest in “making magazines, and in specialty trade publications and creating” for as long as she can remember. like World of Interiors magazine and Architectural Growing up in Rochester and attending school in Digest. Elizabeth’s work has been exhibited in Fairport, she says she “took every art class I could museums, is included in permanent collections, in high school” and knew that her college plans and has been sold in major retail outlets like would include attending art school. Barneys, Bergdorf, and Holly Hunt. One of “When I started looking, I asked my mom, ‘How her most ambitious and stunning works is a will I know?” She said, ‘You’ll just know,’” Jen chandelier made of glass magnolia blossoms recalled. “We visited Alfred. All the brick buildings attached to a forged metal frame. A large version and green spaces…it was just different from the of the chandelier adorns the lobby of the Arca other campuses. It had a cozy, homey feeling. Hotel in Hong Kong. It had that vibe. I knew as soon as I got to the Jen and Michael, both talented and experienced campus, Oh my god! This is where I want to go.” 6
Like Jen, Michael was taken with Alfred as soon the chance to join Elizabeth and Jen at More Fire as he set foot on campus for his first visit. “When Glass I walked onto campus, and saw the facility, I said, “Being able to do what you love, what you’re ‘Yeah, this is it.” It was pretty instant.” passionate about for a job…I’m very grateful and He enrolled at Alfred planning to focus on fortunate,” Michael said. Being able to work in his ceramic art, but that began to change after his hometown, “is an extra perk. It’s great for me to be first year. “My introduction to glass was in my here in that respect.” sophomore year, and I thought I’d try it out. It Looking back, Elizabeth is quick to credit her was so new and challenging, it just took over my own time at Alfred for helping shape her career, as interest,” Michael recalled, noting the influence a teacher and artist. of his first glass professor, the late Jackie Pancari, “It’s huge. Alfred influenced my time as a visiting professor of glass from 1998-2003. “Her teacher, particularly the Foundations class. energy and love for glass was contagious.” It didn’t make sense at the time, but after I Jen says her work has “evolved over the years,” graduated and started teaching, I really drew on and her sculptural work incorporates mixed that experience every day,” she says, crediting media. “Even though I’m primarily a glassblower, I “brilliant teachers” like John Wood (her instructor have a lot of respect for other materials.” in Printmaking and senior advisor) and Andy She says working with Elizabeth and Michael Billeci, along with Harland Snodgrass, Jessie at More Fire Glass is so gratifying because she’s Shefrin and Val Cushing. The art school “is rooted doing something she loves while working with in this history of collaboration and ingenuity. It’s great people. “It’s amazing. In the beginning both a very special place. I feel very fortunate to have of us (Jen and Elizabeth) were doing other jobs. worked with those people.” To be able to build this up to the point we could That sentiment is reflected in the students she take the leap is amazing. It’s great to be at a place has worked with—after they’ve come out of Alfred where your creative input is so valued,” she said. University, or those she steered to Alfred as a “Elizabeth, Michael and I make a great team. high school teacher. “Alfred graduates are really Glassblowing studios are such intimate spaces. well-prepared as artists. There is a kind of creative You can’t work with just anyone. We work really growth that happens in the art school that is so well together.” unique to that program.” After graduating from Alfred, Michael studied and worked 12 years in North Carolina—including as a teaching assistant at Penland—before returning to Rochester in 2018. He jumped at 7
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THE Optics Glass OF Kathleen Richardson ’82, Today, Kathleen holds the prestigious title of Pegasus Professor of Optics and Materials Science in CREOL, the College of Optics and a leading educator and Photonics at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where she researcher in infrared glass runs the Glass Processing and Characterization Laboratory. A member of the Alfred University Board of Trustees since science and technology, 2006, Kathleen earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Alfred got her start at Alfred University. Her research and teaching specialize in infrared optical materials, chalcogenide glasses and glass ceramics; she has been University, albeit briefly, granted 21 patents, with direct benefits to numerous industrial as a chemistry major. By applications. Kathleen is a past president of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) and the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers her second semester, she and a past chair of ACerS Glass and Optical Materials Division. She had switched to ceramic is a Fellow of ACerS, the Optical Society of America (now Optica), the Society of Glass Technology, and the European Ceramic Society engineering, a decision that (honorary). would lead her to worldwide Growing up in Rochester, Kathleen’s interest in optics developed at an early age. Rochester is home to Kodak, and an after-school distinction in the field of Science Explorer program at the company piqued her interest in glass and optical materials. the inner-workings of cameras, and in the chemistry and science behind optical materials. Kathleen’s love of chemistry—it was her favorite subject in high school—and her passion for sports led her By Mark Whitehouse to Alfred University. Her favorite teacher in high school was the father of one of her friends, also a softball teammate. Photos courtesy of The University of Central Florida While she was looking into colleges, her friend’s sister, who had gone to nursing school at Alfred University, suggested Kathleen consider Alfred. “I visited Alfred and I knew it was where I wanted to go. It was a small campus: far enough away from home but close enough where I could come back for holidays. There was a lot of inclusivity and camaraderie at Alfred. And, I could still play volleyball!” Kathleen enrolled at Alfred University in the fall of 1978 as a chemistry major, a course of study that would change after just one semester. “I was living in a dorm with ceramic engineering Facing page: Kathleen Richardson majors and they were having so much fun,” she recalled. The ’82, ’88 M.S., ’92, PhD oversees following spring, she switched her major to ceramic engineering. the Glass Processing and Characterization Laboratory in the At Alfred, Kathleen took as many classes as she could that related College of Optics and Photonics to optics—which studies the behavior and properties of light and (CREOL), University of Central Florida. its interactions with materials, including glass—and in 1982, she Continued on page 10 9
earned her bachelor’s degree. In February of University of Central Florida (UCF). In 1993, she 1983, Kathleen began a five-year tenure at the was named an assistant professor in UCF’s University of Rochester (UR) Laboratory of Laser Departments of Chemistry and Mechanical, Energetics, initially as an electronics technician Materials and Aerospace Engineering. This and then as a laboratory engineer. position later transferred to the School and then Kathleen was one of the first ceramic materials College of Optics and Photonics, once those engineering graduates hired to work at UR in entities were established at UCF. optics. She recalled that when David Pye (then Kathleen served as an instructor in the U.S. and professor of glass science engineering) was abroad, including at the University of Rochester called for a reference, he “was a bit miffed at the Institute of Optics and as visiting professor at employer’s lack of familiarity with the quality Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France, and of Alfred’s ceramic engineering program, and Université Bordeaux in Bordeaux, France in 2000 asserted that ‘our graduates knew as much and 2001. or more about optics and materials as the In 2002, while on leave from UCF, Kathleen graduates of optics programs.’ Most Alfred was appointed manager of the R&D Materials University ceramic engineering graduates went and R&D Technology groups for Schott Glass, into traditional ceramics jobs. a German multinational glass I was the only one at that time company specializing in the who I knew had gone into optics. “I visited Alfred and I knew manufacture of optical glass and I was an outlier, and that decision, glass-ceramics. “For me, it was an it was where I wanted to fortunately, changed my life.” industry test drive after spending While working at UR, Kathleen go. It was a small campus: 10 years in academia. I wanted worked part-time toward her far enough away from to try something different. It master’s degree in glass science, home but close enough was great from a corporate which she earned in 1988. Seeking where I could come back experience standpoint.” a career in education and research, In 2003, Kathleen returned to for holidays. There was she decided to pursue her doctoral UCF, as associate professor in the degree. a lot of inclusivity and School of Optics, Departments “I was running some of the same camaraderie at Alfred.” of Chemistry and Mechanical, projects (at Rochester) as some Materials and Aerospace Kathleen Richardson ’82 of the Ph.D. students, providing Engineering. Two years later, she technical supervision for some as left for Clemson University, where well as mentorship,” she recalled. “I she served for 12 years—seven as realized I could stay at UR or go to Alfred and get a professor in the School of Materials Science and my Ph.D. I knew I needed additional education Engineering (including five years as department and training to get where I wanted to be, so I chair) and five as a research professor. During her opted for the Ph.D.” tenure at Clemson, she was an affiliate professor Kathleen returned to Alfred to earn her at UCF. doctorate in ceramic engineering. Her advisor, “Clemson provided me a leadership William LaCourse, professor of glass science, opportunity,” she said. Among her chief tasks arranged for her to work in the glass lab, which was that of combining two departments: “gave me the opportunity to learn how to teach Ceramics and Metallurgy, and the School of and interface with students.” She lectured in one Textiles. class and was an instructor in another. Enrollment in the two programs had been After earning her Ph.D. in ceramic engineering declining. Kathleen created two endowed chairs in 1992, Kathleen was appointed a research in Clemson’s School of Materials Science and scientist in the Center for Research and Engineering and also increased the co-op and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) at the internship opportunities available to students. 10
Kathleen Richardson is one of the world’s preeminent researchers and teachers in the field of optics. The Pegasus Professor of Optics and Materials Science at the University of Central Florida, she has played a key role in lobbying the United Nations to designate 2022 as the International Year of Glass. Using her Alfred University connections, she success in teaching, research, creative activity, helped develop a student internship program and service. That same year, she was awarded at Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence County, SC, where Alfred University alumnus Professorship at UCF. John Marra ’83 (BS ceramic engineering, BA At UCF, Kathleen leads a team conducting chemistry) was serving as chief research officer. research in the Glass Processing and “I had a wonderful Alfred network to help me Characterization Laboratory (GPCL) in CREOL, during those years at Clemson,” Kathleen said, a global leader in education, research, and noting that Marra also agreed to send some of industrial partnership in the fields of optics and his employees at Savannah River (some also lasers. Alfred alums) to serve as adjunct professors at “I, with my colleagues, lead the optical glass Clemson. Her work at Clemson was successful in side of the lab,” she explained. “We actually make increasing enrollment in the School of Materials components based on glass and glass ceramics Science and Engineering. that we hope someday make it into an innovative Kathleen left Clemson in 2012 to return to UCF, optical system that requires something special, but retained her position as a Clemson research not currently available on the market.” professor through 2017. She has been professor in While these infrared (IR) materials are the College of Optics and Photonics at UCF since engineered to transmit light that we cannot 2012. In 2018, she was named Pegasus Professor typically ‘see’, they also must meet other metrics of Optics and Materials Science and Engineering. of performance based on their thermal and UCF Pegasus Professors are recognized for mechanical robustness, and compatibility Continued on page 12 11
with unique manufacturing methods. Many recently, Martin established the University’s new IR systems are now deployed for security Center for Directed Energy. and imaging systems that must be small Kathleen has sought to pay her success and compact, a challenge with crystalline IR forward, through service to her profession and to materials. her alma mater. Applications where infrared optics are widely This past spring, the United Nations designated deployed include night vision systems, such as 2022 the International Year of Glass. As a tribute those used in infrared lens systems and cameras. to her former undergraduate advisor David Other applications include sensing of chemical Pye, Kathleen and Pye were closely involved and biological species in vapor or liquid form in lobbying the UN for that designation. She where IR glasses are integrated onto silicon chip- is currently leading efforts to organize the U.S. based structures. For example, this planar IR kickoff event, the National Day of Glass, which technology can be used to detect the presence will be celebrated in April in Washington, DC. of a deadly bio-chem material like anthrax or “Dave Pye envisioned (the International Year of other toxins possessing a ‘fingerprint’ signature Glass) five years ago. It was very much his idea,” in the IR. Current GPCL research partners are a she said, explaining that Pye knew she had been mix of governmental agencies— involved in the United Nations the U.S. Army, National Science International Year of Light from Foundation, Defense Threat “It’s why I serve as a 2015 and encouraged her to Reduction Agency, and NASA, help with securing the Year of trustee, to give back to i.e.—as well as private industry, Glass designation from the UN. including defense contractors like the University. I know “I worked with my international Lockheed Martin (all their infrared glass colleagues to help make what I’ve been able to optics are manufactured at their it happen. It’s a testament to Orlando location), BAE Systems, do is because of my all of our passion in the art, and Raytheon Corporation. engineering and science of glass Alfred education. And “There is nowhere else in the and how it touches our lives. United States you can go to find for that, I’m extremely We are truly entering the Age of this type of expertise,” Kathleen Glass and the multitude of areas grateful.” says. “I can count on one hand the where it impacts our everyday places in the world that do what Kathleen Richardson ’82 activities.” we do. And for this reason, we are Kathleen is grateful for her extremely proud, but very busy.” time at Alfred, to which she “This gives me joy when I think about our attributes much of her professional success, and team’s impact – it gives me the opportunity speaks glowingly of the faculty who mentored to work with great people,” she added. “And, her, including Pye and LaCourse, James Shelby most importantly, it provides my students an and Arun Varshneya. opportunity to get really great jobs in a wide “I came back to Alfred (to pursue graduate range of locations and for diverse employers.” degrees) knowing precisely what I wanted to Kathleen’s husband, Martin Richardson, is do,” she said, referring to her pursuit of a career professor of Optics and Photonics, Physics, and focusing on glass science and optics. “I was so Electrical and Computer Engineering at CREOL, fortunate to have such great people around me, where he is founding director of the Townes this community of glass professors well known in Laser Institute at UCF. The Institute, which is their field.” associated with CREOL, is funded by the state “It’s why I serve as a trustee, to give back to the of Florida to develop the next generation of University. I know what I’ve been able to do is laser light engines for applications in medicine, because of my Alfred education. And for that, I’m advanced manufacturing and defense. Most extremely grateful.” 12
master Chef John Mauro ’01 developed ways to use mathematical modeling to cook up newer, more durable versions of Corning Inc.’s Gorilla Glass for cell phones. He's also a terrific chef. By Rob Price John Mauro ’01, PhD ’06 grew up in the Southern Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxies. He is also Tier, in a house his father designed on a hillside often described as one of the top glass scientists overlooking the Canacadea Valley in Almond. His in the world, although he’s too modest a man to father was an engineer and worked for the New describe himself that way. He does confirm that York State Department of Transportation. His he loves the academic life; he loves teaching; mother was an elementary school teacher in the he loves working with his undergraduate and Alfred-Almond school district. During the summer graduate students. And he traces his happiness at months, the Mauro family vacationed in a cottage, Penn State to his years as an undergraduate and also designed by John’s father, on Waneta graduate student at Alfred University. Lake, about 40 miles from Almond. He learned “The Alfred experience was formative for me. My to paddle a kayak there when he was boy. His professors taught by their own example, and I’m grandfather taught him how to catch and clean just trying to follow their example.” fish. His grandmother taught him how to cook the John started working at Corning Inc. while he fish. was still an undergraduate at Alfred University. He lives in Boalsburg, PA, these days with his He joined the company on a full-time basis after wife, Yihong, and their daughter, Sofia, having his graduation in 2001 – just about the time the joined the faculty of Penn State University in 2017. company was sinking into a financial crisis driven Before moving to Pennsylvania, he and his wife by, among other issues, the implosion of the fiber lived and worked in Corning. John was a glass optics market. In June 2000, Corning’s stock had scientist for Corning Inc., and he is often described soared to more than $100 per share. By June as the co-inventor of Gorilla Glass, the ultra-thin, of 2002, the stock had dropped to about $1 per scratch-resistant, nearly unbreakable glass used in share. It began its slow climb out of the cellar Continued on page 14 13
during the second half of 2002, supported in part January 2012, Corning announced the invention by its sales of glass to manufacturers of flatscreen of Gorilla Glass 2. A year later, Corning invented video monitors. Gorilla Glass 3. Each iteration of the glass was On the West Coast, Apple Inc. was working on stronger and more damage resistant than its a product that would need a different kind of previous version, and less prone to fracturing flat glass. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs was in the event of being dropped (cell phones get looking for a rock-hard, thin glass that would dropped a lot). Mauro contributed to Gorilla Glass respond to the touch of a fingertip while also improvements by developing mathematical resisting scratches and fracturing. Jobs met with models to assemble a theoretical recipe of Wendell Weeks, Corning’s new chief executive, materials that would create versions of Gorilla and described the various properties Apple Glass that satisfied the needs of companies such needed for the new glass, which would cover as Apple. the flat-screen surface of a new gadget Jobs was To understand John’s accomplishment, it’s thinking of calling the useful to compare iPhone. Did Corning the development of make any glass that Gorilla Glass with the would withstand the invention of a new punishment Jobs recipe for a favorite anticipated each iPhone meal. A chef can would suffer? Weeks spend months and knew of a hardened years testing different glass material that ingredients until Corning had developed finding the precise in the early 1960s – mixture of herbs, called Chemcor – which spices and other the company had set ingredients that yield aside due to the lack the best tasting meal. of demand. Weeks John Mauro, instead, thought Chemcor could used a computer. be adapted to Apple’s “We build needs, and the company equations,” he committed itself to an explains, “in which we intense campaign to insert the chemistry manufacture thousands of the glass, and of square feet of thin, John Mauro leads a class at Penn State University as Professor the computer scratch- and fracture- of Materials Science and Engineering. eventually gives us resistant glass that would the values of the glass coat the screens of the newfangled iPhone. In properties, such as density and thermal expansion 2007, the first shipments of Gorilla Glass began coefficients. Each model gives a separate property leaving Corning’s manufacturing facility in and if we put all these models together, we get a Harrodsburg, KY. kind of magic chemistry. …I remember one of the Now, enter John Mauro. Once the first version products we commercialized: The model told me of Gorilla Glass was delivered to Apple, it was what the optimized glass would be, and I thought necessary for Corning to begin improving the about it for a while and realized: That actually product, hardening the glass further, making makes sense. So, I melted that glass, I melted a it stronger and more scratch resistant. At that whole bunch of other glasses, and the glass that point a 27-year-old Mauro began working on the model predicted was indeed the model with subsequent iterations of Gorilla Glass, and in the optimum composition.” 14
The Mauro family: John and Yihong with daughter Sophia. He wasn’t working in a vacuum. John credits In the Inamori School of Engineering, John individual professors with whom he studied at points to Arun Varshneya, emeritus professor of Alfred University as major contributors to his glass science, as his principal mentor. “Professor success at Corning. Physics Professor Roger Varshneya was numero uno,” he says. “He Loucks, in Alfred University’s College of Liberal invited me to co-author the third edition of Arts and Sciences (CLAS), provided hours Fundamentals of Inorganic Glasses, which of support while John was developing the was published in 2019. …Little did I know how mathematical models for new iterations of Gorilla much that book would change my life. And my Glass. He and Loucks have co-authored numerous own teaching style was inspired by Professor papers together. Varshneya’s style, which boiled down to engaging Then there were History Professor Gary Ostrower students and conveying the technical rigor of ’61 and the late Fiona Tolhurst, former Alfred glass science and glass technology.” University English professor, also members of And of course, John salutes David Pye ’59, PhD CLAS. “Professor Ostrower is such an effective ‘68, former dean of the New York State College of and engaging lecturer. When I was in his class, I Ceramics and now the inspirational force behind was captivated not only by what I was learning the United Nations’ declaration of 2022 as the but also by watching his teaching style. …And International Year of Glass (IYOG). John, who Professor Tolhurst was transformational in serves on the International Year of Glass North helping me take my writing to the next level. I’ve American Steering Committee, worked with Pye published hundreds of journal articles and I now in galvanizing international support for IYOG; have two textbooks under my belt; people seem “but the original idea was David’s,” he says. “He’s to know me for the clarity and accessibility of my someone who not only has these big ideas, but writing style.” he’s successful in implementing them as well. He Continued on page 16 15
was probably the single biggest influence on me in the organizational work going into making the when I made the decision to go into academia 2022 International Year of Glass a success. after working at Corning. He said there was no “The International Year of Glass should help better job in the world than being a professor, and educate the public about glass, the importance of now I know he was right.” glass and finding the next generation of exciting John was living in Corning when the position opportunities in glass. There are so many major he eventually would fill opened at Penn State challenges facing the world; how many of those with the retirement of Carlo Pantano, a glass can be addressed using glass? We want to get the engineering professor of international renown. By next generation of students excited about glass: the time John heard Pantano was retiring, Penn how ubiquitous it is, how important it is, and how State had already interviewed numerous people there are real opportunities in this field of science.” to fill the position. When Pantano heard John If John Mauro sounds busy, don’t forget that he was interested in the job, is also married, with a he put up the money to daughter who is in her bring John to Penn State second year of high for his interviews. school. Yihong, his “Teaching was wife, served initially as something I always a part-time researcher wanted to do,” John says. at Penn State when the “Even at Corning, I spent Mauro family moved a lot of time mentoring to Pennsylvania. When young scientists. I the COVID pandemic helped start a sabbatical started, she stepped program for university back to concentrate on faculty to spend time their home life. at Corning. In 2014, I “She’s into was promoted to senior gardening,” John says. research management at “She’s a terrific gardener, Corning, and I eventually and we have amazing had 15 scientists and vegetables.” technicians working in my And John (no group, all of whom I got surprise here) loves to mentor and support. I to cook – which he just love to teach and help learned before he people along with their understood how recipes intellectual development.” could be developed An avid cook, John rustles up a meal with Sophia. At Penn State, John with mathematical currently teaches Introduction to Glass Science modeling. Learning to cook was simpler; he just for senior undergraduates and a graduate course stood alongside members of his family during his in Materials Kinetics. He also continues a vigorous childhood summers on Waneta Lake, learning output of scholarly publications, with more than how to fry fish. 300 scholarly articles and two textbooks: Materials “I am the luckiest person in the world,” he says. “I Kinetics: Transport and Rate Phenomena and owe it to Alfred University, and to the people who Fundamentals of Inorganic Glasses (co-authored mentored me at Corning. But I also owe it to my with Varshneya). He continues to be a prolific mother and father and grandparents. The lessons inventor, now with 62 granted U.S. patents, and you learn when you’re a child may be the most was recently inducted as a Fellow in the National valuable. At least for me, all my lessons are coming Academy of Inventors. He is also heavily involved full circle.” 16
GLASS ARTIST LEO TECOSKY’S ART EVOKES A WORLD OF CULTURES THE Leo Tecosky ’03 didn’t know he liked working with his hands until he was a teenager, visiting relatives in Vermont HIP during summer vacations away from his home in Florida. He was working in a bakery and café owned by an uncle, near Montpelier; at the same time, he began working with a local blacksmith, learning the ways of fire, and hammers, and anvils. HOP “I always drew, I was always creative,” he says. “But that’s when I realized I was interested in working with my hands and material manipulation.” In Vermont, learning the basics of blacksmithing, he also heard of a school in western New York, Alfred University, and its School of Art and Design, where teachers and artists MAN were dedicated to helping students work with their hands, manipulating material and making art. He enrolled in the University and studied with Art Professor Fred Tschida, in the School of Art of Design, focusing on tubes and neon gas. He also took summer By Rob Price Continued on page 18 17
classes in glass blowing – “just to get my feet wet,” began providing music for parties using two but Tschida was an important mentor. After Leo turntables and spinning the vinyl LPs backwards graduated, Tschida invited him to return for an art and forwards, achieving a new rhythmic sound residency in the neon studio. that in turn inspired a new style of dance – break Leo also took classes in the College of Liberal dancing. Campbell eventually changed his name Arts and Sciences, where the late William Cassidy, to DJ Kool Herc; his DJ-ing experiments inspired Professor of Religion in the Human Studies a new style of singing – Rap – that had a bravado Division, served as his advisor and mentor. Cassidy equal to the energy of break dancing. Other was a student of eastern religions; he practiced cultural innovations developed alongside Rap and Tai Chi; loved opera, downhill skiing, and watching DJ Kool Herc’s DJ-ing: Inner city graffiti, for one, NFL football Sunday afternoons in the fall. His which was regarded by municipal authorities as intellectual life was a medley of Americana and property destruction but which also was yielding international. extraordinary designs on the facades of inner Leo himself is now described as an artist city buildings and subway walls. Altogether, the drawn towards combining different experiences scholar Henry Louis Gates notes, DJ-ing, graffiti, and cultures into complex glass forms. He breakdancing and Rap fused into the “works at the intersection of cultural cultural medley known as hip hop. exchange,” according to an art Hip hop is where art critic cited on his website, http:// begins for Leo. “I create www.leotecosky.com/bio. “His experience living in many “A lot of hip hop glass art using hip hop as a jumping off point,” he places and traveling to others has helped shape is smooth and says. “I think my art has concepts that aren’t his view of the world.” He was born in New soft, and blown talked about in the art world or in the world at Mexico and spent his early years growing up glass is round large: graffiti as a sub- culture, typography as near Albuquerque before and soft also.” language, Arabic art and his family moved to Miami. Islam as a marginalized In the years following his Leo Tecosky culture and religion. And it graduation and residency brings awareness to all those at Alfred University, he joined ideas as creative and decorative an apprenticeship program at the beauty.” Wheaton Cultural Center, in southern New One of Leo’s favorite icons, a sign he Jersey, where he began crafting glass art under returns to over and over in glass, is the arrow, the mentorship of Hank Adams and Beth Lipman. a common symbol in graffiti, but when Leo He has enjoyed art residencies in Stockholm, crafts a glass arrow he moves the straight lines Istanbul, and Hohr-Grenhauzen, Germany; also of the image into graceful curves that shift the Corning, Pittsburgh, and New York City. He implications. The sharp, leading point of one of describes his art as an amalgamation of different his arrows may announce: Look here! But the designs, images, and icons drawn from different other end is a graceful curve, like a dolphin’s tail; cultures including Islam and one of its U.S. it disrupts the rigidity of the point and introduces offshoots, the Five-Percent Nation, which was a more natural, organic element. Hip hop culture founded in Harlem in the early 1960’s. has sharply defined edges too; it makes no bones Places like Harlem and the Bronx have been about itself. “But a lot of hip hop is smooth and vital sources of inspiration in his evolution as soft,” Leo says. “And blown glass is round and soft an artist. In the 1970s, in the Bronx, a young also.” Jamaican-born teenager named Clive Campbell 18
So, the arrow has become a subject for formal Leo now lives in Brooklyn, where he and his study and focus in his work. “It’s a symbol used wife are raising their two-year-old daughter, across the graffiti canon,” Leo explains, “It’s a Coretta. Lauren Tecosky, a writer and former very stylized element, moving from straight to science teacher at the Community Roots Charter squiggly, and it comes from the language of hip School, now teaches at the Brooklyn Botanic hop, which is what my work is about at its core. Garden. Coretta is two. “We split her care,” Leo The arrow is evocative. It guides the eye. It’s a says. “And I have other family members who connector in terms of joining letter forms and live in Brooklyn.” He teaches at the Tyler School graffiti pieces. It’s a striking element in terms of its of Art and Architecture, Philadelphia, and also physical form.” works as a glass Music adds fabricator and an additional gaffer for different element. Click companies around on one of Leo’s New York. videos (www. He is busy, leotecosky.com), and he hopes and you can to stay busy, watch him craft “making more of one of his arrows my own art, and accompanied that depends on by a hip hop rap doing my day- piece by Dewey to-day work as a Decibel, a rapper glass fabricator. I and artist born in also want to keep Boynton Beach. traveling as much Decibel was as I can. I want to originally named take my daughter Dewey Bryan around the world Saunders, but and show her he manipulated new places. I want the material to gather new of his name to material for my become Emcee world.” Unless and then He likes his in 2011 Dewey life. “It’s a great Decibel (These life,” he says. days, he goes by “It’s a balancing the name Dewey act between Bryan). He may my fabrication Leo Tecosky’s neon artwork. Tecosky initially studied neon art at Alfred have been born work, different University with Fred Tschida. in Florida, but his workshops, and music is pure inner city (He describes Philadelphia making my own art. Glass has taken me as his city of “origin”). He also traveled frequently to all over the world. That’s something I really Alfred, when Leo was studying at the University, to appreciate about the medium. It opens up doors enjoy a local party, which he would help Leo host. internationally, because glass artists make such a “Dewey would come and rap while I did the DJ- tight-knit community.” ing,” Leo says. 19
CELEBRATING Alfred University plans events, activities around UN International Glass School of Art and Design have used the medium of glass in creating art on display in private and public collections around the world. Year of Glass Glass art and glass technology are changing world culture and industry, and Alfred University When Alfred University Professor Emeritus David students and alumni are emerging as leaders in Pye ’59, ’68 Ph.D., learned the United Nations would what may be known someday as the Age of Glass. declare 2015 an International Year of Light and Light- Alumni include glass artist Pearl Dick ’98, artistic Based Technologies, he began thinking of a similar director and founder of Firebird Community Arts, UN resolution that would establish an International in Chicago, whose art programs encourage growth Year of Glass. and healing in inner city youth and were featured on Six years later, in May 2021, a resolution approved an NBC Nightly News telecast in 2017; Mike Pilliod by the UN General Assembly declared 2022 the ’01, director of glass/manufacturing innovation International Year of Glass. Pye’s colleagues at Alfred for Tesla; Robert Schaut ’02, scientific director for University, working in both the Inamori School of Corning Incorporated Pharmaceutical Technologies Engineering and the School of Art and Design, and co-inventor of Corning Inc.’s Valor Glass, used now are preparing for a year that celebrates Alfred in glass vials used to transport COVID vaccines; University as one of the preeminent glass science and Don McPherson ’84 M.S., ’88 Ph.D., co-founder of arts education institutions in the country. EnChroma, a maker of eyeglasses for people with Alfred University is renowned in the world of glass, color blindness; John Edmond ’83, co-founder of Cree both in art and science. The University is the only (now Wolfspeed, a global leader in the development institution of higher education in the country that and manufacture of silicon carbide power and radio offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees frequency semiconductors. When it was founded in Glass Science Engineering. Side by side with in 1987, Cree focused on producing LED’s and, glass technology research, artists studying in the subsequently, LED lighting solutions); and Richard 20
Sturzebecher ’58, who that will reduce levels of developed the formula for fertilizer run-off. a glass fiber capable of In other words, the “Glass transmitting light signals. Future” is happening. As Alfred University Bill LaCourse, uncle of undergraduates themselves Aiden LaCourse, and retired are exploring new uses professor of glass science in and applications for glass, Alfred University’s Inamori including fourth-year School of Engineering, puts it: student Aiden LaCourse, “Glass is booming.” who has developed a nearly unbreakable, and Alfred University’s standing in the world of reusable, glass straw; LaCourse is also working with glass, both in science and engineering, and art, Alfred University glass technology professors to undoubtedly played a role in successful efforts to develop a glass medium for agricultural fertilizers establish 2022 as the International Year of Glass. The University has held, and is in the in the advancement of glass in New York will be process of organizing, numerous on- recognized. campus events marking IYOG. They include: • Conference on Glass Recycling Sustainability, • The Black Glass Artist Series. Supported by the hosted by the Inamori School of Engineering, and School of Art and Design, Sculpture/Dimensional opening of the Center for Glass Innovation. Studies Division and Student Senate, the series featured glass artists of color visiting Alfred • Scholes Lecture, held in April (date, speaker to University in the month of February (celebrated be announced). The Scholes Lecture Series was as Black History Month) for one-week residencies, established in 1982 by alumni of Alfred University offering artist talks and creating original artwork to to honor the late Samuel R. Scholes, who in 1932 be exhibited at the School of Art and Design. established the first glass science program in the United States at the New York State College of • Summer Arts at Alfred Festival. Plans are under Ceramics at Alfred University. way for the festival, which will include events and activities focused on glass art. • Bill LaCourse is leading a project to design and create medals, made partially from glass, which will • A concert by Denis James, a well-known be given to competitors in World University Winter musician who performs on instruments made from Games next January in Lake Placid, NY. glass. • A Fall semester GlassArtEngine course. • Summer workshops in glass art and engineering Glass engineering and art students partner to and a summer “institute” in Glass Explorations. work through research and technical challenges, exploring new physical combinations of glass as a • Reopening of the Paul Vickers Gardner Glass material. Center as a center for interdisciplinary glass studies. Vickers, a 1930 graduate of the University’s New Some of the aforementioned events and activities are tentative; dates and times will be announced when York State College of Ceramics, served as curator of finalized. ceramics and glass at the Smithsonian Institution. • New York State of Glass, an on-campus celebration of the state’s leadership in glass art and science, during which companies, universities, museums, and individuals who play a key role 21
Looking Back 22
Retired History (Avery Publishing Group, 1996); and Collective Insecurity: The United States and the League of Professor Gary Nations (Bucknell University Press, 1979). He also has written numerous scholarly articles dealing with the United States’ involvement in world Ostrower ’61 affairs during the 20th century. He has written dozens of book reviews – too many to list (“For space reasons, I have omitted all reviews written reflects on a half before 1986,” he writes in his CV). He is currently researching material for an article about the century of teaching American Nazi (and former AU faculty member) Edward Sittler. Meanwhile, he has served as ombuds officer for both Alfred University and St. Bonaventure By Rob Price University. He has served as university parliamentarian, vice president of the Faculty On Dec. 2, 2021, Alfred University History Senate, and Chairperson of the Committee for Professor Gary Ostrower wrapped up the final the Faculty Evaluation of Administrators. In the class in his History 211 course, American History Village of Alfred, he coached Little League. For from 1492 to 1865. It was also his last class a quarter century, he served as a trustee at Alfred University, where he has for the Village and as Mayor. He has taught for the past 52 years. He appeared on hundreds of local also graduated from Alfred radio programs, offering his take University – in 1961, which “To be a colleague on domestic and international means he has lived in politics, especially on the and around the Alfred of Gary is to be a historical backgrounds of community for more than current events and national six decades. It’s difficult student. I’m always controversies. to estimate the number In early November of of individuals whose lives learning from him.” 2021, he delivered his have been impacted by last Bergren Forum as an the experience of studying Professor Emrys Westacott Alfred University Professor: under Ostrower. But his “What You Didn’t Know about colleague in the College World War II.” For an hour, he of Liberal Arts and Sciences, hopscotched through issues such Professor of Philosophy Emrys as the pros and cons of the United Westacott, estimates the figure is high. States’ use of atomic bombs to end the “Gary has had a profound influence on so war, the virtues and vices of Winston Churchill, many,” Westacott says. “Not just on students but and the German failures to adequately equip on everyone who has worked with him. To be the huge German army, noting the Nazi war a colleague of Gary is to be student. I’m always machine employed 400,000 horses when it learning from him.” invaded Russia. The number of Bergren Forums In his more-than five decades at Alfred he has delivered over the years, according to University, Ostrower has published three books Westacott, is incalculable. on United States foreign policy in the 20th Born in 1939, growing up in Woodbridge, NJ, century: The United Nations and the United Ostrower was acutely conscious of the world States: 1940-1998 (Twayne Publishers, 1998); war surrounding the United States and his The League of Nations: From 1919 to 1929 community. “I had uncles who fought in the Continued on page 24 23
Professor Gary Ostrower lectures to a packed history class. Ostrower has favored a traditional lecture/discussion format for teaching History. War. My father served as a civil defense official. Pennsylvania and Denmark’s Aarhus University. We collected tin cans and newspapers, we were He met his future wife, Judy Samber, when involved in blackouts. I recall air-raid warnings she was an Alfred University undergraduate. vividly.” They have two children, Sarah and Peter, who In high school, he began enjoying the study attended Alfred-Almond Central School. Judy of events that had led to the world wars. As an went on to law school, eventually becoming undergraduate at Alfred University, he majored Allegany County’s first female judge and an in history and political science, studying with outstanding judicial referee. Meanwhile, in 1996, people like Professors David Leach and Melvin Ostrower was named the Margaret and Barbara Bernstein. “On the first day of the first class I Hagar Professor of the Humanities at Alfred took with Leach, I walked out of the classroom University. knowing that I would teach History,” he says. In 52 years of teaching at the same institution, “Leach made the light bulb come on for me.” he has had a bird’s eye view of the development As a graduate student at the University of of the liberal arts and sciences, as well as on Rochester, he initially thought he would study the evolving Alfred University student body. He French History, but the French scholar was on remembers when, early in May of 1970 during leave. “So I started taking courses in American his first year at Alfred, four students were killed History. I loved it.” during an anti-war demonstration at Kent State He joined the Alfred University faculty in 1969 University and two more at Jackson State. after two years teaching at Vassar College. The Protests erupted across the country. He University became his professional base for remembers, “Alfred University students went the next four decades, and the surrounding on strike. The University cancelled classes, final community his home. He has been a visiting exams were cancelled.” professor at places as varied as the University of Other changes: The extraordinary shift in 24
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