The year 2007 saw the retirement of four Whiting School faculty legends. In the reminiscences that follow, some of the people whose lives were forever changed by these stellar academicians share their memories…<\/p>\n
When it came to Professor Bob Green, Sandy Buxbaum \u201979, MS \u201983, PhD \u201986<\/strong> and his classmates knew how to get their papers and projects looked at immediately. \u201cProfessor Green was a neat freak,\u201d recalls Buxbaum. \u201cHe had fanatically tidy stacks on his desk and shelves; in fact, the piles on his desk were squared perfectly to the corners, so if you were dropping off a paper and wanted to make sure he saw it, you placed it on the diagonal.\u201d<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t difficult for Buxbaum to grab the attention of the professor and advisor he had for almost a decade, as he completed three degrees in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. \u201cProfessor Green was incredibly loyal to his students. He helped us get exposure and opportunities to show our work at national meetings,\u201d says Buxbaum. \u201cAnd once you were on his team, you had a strong advocate forever. Green was an energetic\u2014and of course super-organized\u2014guy, and he loved a good joke. He\u2019d even stop a lecture right smack in the middle to share a new joke he\u2019d heard.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Buxbaum\u2019s father, Bob, never studied with Green, he did get his bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees at Hopkins in mechanical engineering and also created a small endowment for the department. \u201cProfessor Green was a special help to my son\u2014academically and personally. He was the kind of teacher who truly gave a damn,\u201d says Bob Buxbaum \u201951, MS \u201953<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cSandy and I remember him always saying, \u2018I did this my own self.\u2019 It\u2019s a phrase we associate with him and often say it to each other to remind us of him. Green was easy to like and easy to respect. He was truly dedicated as a professor.\u201d<\/p>\n At a roast for Green\u2014who was named the Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor of Engineering in 1998, and who retired recently after being a member of the faculty since 1960\u2014Sandy Buxbaum and a classmate glued a stack of coins together to present to Green. \u201cHe\u2019d always play with the coins in his pocket, stack them by size, then put them back in his pocket,\u201d Buxbaum says.<\/p>\n No doubt that stack of coins is placed precisely on a rounded corner of some shelf amid Green\u2019s engineering books, awards, and Hopkins memorabilia.<\/p>\n In 1966, a few months after Professor Charles \u201cRoger\u201d Westgate<\/strong> unpacked his boxes and settled into his new office in the Department of Electrical Engineering, he was joined by a new colleague, Professor Richard Joseph. \u201cWe had adjacent offices when we were first in the department and we\u2019d talk briefly every day about our work at the university and our families,\u201d says Westgate. \u201cWe\u2019ve been friends ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to being an outstanding scholar and bringing considerable visibility to the Whiting School for his work\u2014especially for his research in solitons and other propagating wave studies\u2014Joseph was known for his sense of humor. \u201cWhat I liked most about him was his practical, \u2018both feet on the ground\u2019 perspective,\u201d says Westgate. \u201cAs I moved through a variety of administrative posts as associate dean, department chair, and other positions, I often sought out Richard\u2019s opinion. He was a reliable and invaluable source of good advice\u2014with a generous topping of good humor.\u201d<\/p>\n Joseph, who was named the Jacob Suter Jammer Professor in 1982 and who was also awarded the Distinguished Young Scientist Award from the Maryland Academy of Sciences in 1970, retired last year.<\/p>\n \u201cRichard\u2019s students knew he had high expectations for them and they rose to the occasion. He was also a popular choice among doctoral students and the faculty advisors as a reader of dissertations. He was always thorough and gave rapid feedback,\u201d says Westgate.<\/p>\n Westgate looks back fondly on his colleague and friend. Although it was more than four decades ago, it is not difficult for Westgate to picture Joseph and himself in 1966, two professors launching their illustrious careers, leaning on the doorframes of each other\u2019s offices, talking and sharing, sparking ideas and having a good laugh.<\/p>\n \u201c \u2018I don\u2019t know much about this, but here\u2019s what I do know…\u2019 That\u2019s what Professor O\u2019Melia would often say, but it was always a signal that you better listen carefully because he knew a lot and had great insight,\u201d says John Tobiason, PhD \u201988<\/strong>, today professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. \u201cCharlie is humble and fundamentally shy, but he is an incredibly important intellectual leader in his field.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1978, under O\u2019Melia, Tobiason completed his master\u2019s degree in environmental engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After working for a few years in consulting engineering, he decided to go for his PhD so that he could teach at the university level. By then, O\u2019Melia had moved to Hopkins.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire reason I went to Hopkins to pursue my PhD was because Charlie was there. I didn\u2019t apply anywhere else,\u201d says Tobiason. O\u2019Melia\u2014the Abel Wolman Professor of Environmental Engineering and member of the National Academy of Engineering\u2014started at the Whiting School\u2019s Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering in 1980. He retired last year.<\/p>\n \u201cCharlie and his wife, Mary, opened their home to me from the start,\u201d says Tobiason. \u201cIn fact, in the early \u201980s, when visiting Hopkins before coming to do my PhD, my family and I were at his house and my son, who was 1 at the time, took his first steps on their rug.\u201d<\/p>\n Tobiason also remembers his years at Hopkins with O\u2019Melia as exciting and intellectually stimulating. \u201cCharlie is a brilliant and kind man. And a great mentor,\u201d he says. \u201cI was part of a fantastic group of engineering students, too, many of whom\u2014myself included\u2014 went into teaching. We worked really hard\u2014 for ourselves and for Charlie.\u201d<\/p>\n And their collaboration extended beyond engineering. \u201cWe had a long tradition of playing basketball,\u201d says Tobiason. No matter where we were, we were always learning from him.\u201d<\/p>\n What Ed Wysocki \u201972, PhD \u201977<\/strong>, remembers vividly about being an advisee of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Jack Rugh was a tiny office he and his classmates coveted.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoever was the next of his grad students under his advisement got the office,\u201d says Wysocki. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t much bigger than a closet, but it was right across the hall from Professor Rugh\u2019s office. In it, you\u2019d have a desk, a chair, and a filing cabinet.\u201d Although it afforded barely enough room to remove your overcoat, it gave Rugh\u2019s grad students, like Wysocki, the space\u2014and lack of distraction\u2014necessary to do their writing, analyzing, and thinking. And when the pressure was too overwhelming, they could meander across the hall and throw some questions or ideas out to the professor, or better yet, get him to chat about sailing.<\/p>\n \u201cProfessor Rugh was really into sailing. He had this old wooden sailboat, which I think he sold to two students when I was still an undergrad,\u201d says Wysocki, now employed by Lockheed Martin. \u201cThose students later sold that boat to some other students. It got handed down and inherited within the department.\u201d Rugh\u2019s sailboat, it seems, was like his knowledge and passion for engineering\u2014it was passed on with robust enthusiasm.<\/p>\n Rugh\u2014named the Edward J. Schaefer Professor in 1991\u2014who retired recently, was a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department for almost 40 years.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember when I first saw Professor Rugh,\u201d says Wysocki. \u201cI was a sophomore and taking a general systems class. He walked in, this energetic, blond guy, and I thought to myself that he looked way too young to be a professor.\u201d But Wysocki soon learned that Rugh\u2019s seeming youthfulness had its advantages. \u201cHe was a good guy. Easy to talk to. He probably influenced me in more ways than I can think to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The year 2007 saw the retirement of four Whiting School faculty legends. In the reminiscences that follow, some of the people whose lives were forever changed by these stellar academicians share their memories… Professor Bob Green When it came to Professor Bob Green, Sandy Buxbaum \u201979, MS \u201983, PhD \u201986 and his classmates knew how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-leadership","issue-winter-2008"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nProfessor Richard Joseph<\/h4>\n
Professor Charles O\u2019Melia<\/h4>\n
Professor Jack Rugh<\/h4>\n