Excerpt from article published in the Fall-Winter 2012 Edition of the Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly Magazine
(http://www.nwibq.com/current-issue/)
By Rick A. Richards, Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly
People who do what they do because they love doing it don’t see themselves as doing anything special. At least that’s the case with the people chosen as Fellows of the Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana for 2012. Those Fellows and two research teams that share the Chanute Prize for Innovation are quick to deflect attention from themselves. Olga Petryszyn’s reaction when she learned she had been chosen as a Fellow of the Society of Innovators was confusion. “Really?” was Petryszyn’s first thought.
“There have to be other people more deserving than me.” John Davies, managing director of The Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana, says that kind of reaction isn’t unusual. Over the years, people have done remarkable cutting-edge research in the region and in most cases they did it because they simply loved what they were doing. Such is the case with the 2012 Class of Fellows.
The Society was created in 2005 by Ivy Tech Community College Northwest to honor the individuals who have created products, processes or services that make a difference, not only in Northwest Indiana, but across the nation and the world. The Society of Innovators is helped by principal sponsors ArcelorMittal, Bukva Imaging, Horseshoe Casino, Krieg DeVault, NIPSCO, Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly, and the Times Media Company. Ideas from Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, Porter, Pulaski and Starke counties are reviewed each year, and individual Fellows are selected along with Chanute Prize winners that recognize team innovation…
IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY The Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation at Purdue University Calumet has saved clients more than $30 million. Pictured are Chancellor Thomas L. Keon, students Dong Fu and Armin Silaen, Vice Chancellor Ralph Rogers, research engineer Bin Wu, Doreen Gonzalez-Gaboyan in business development and outreach, Director Chenn Zhou, Administrative Assistant Linda Robinson, and Senior Research Scientist John Moreland.
Center For Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) Purdue University Calumet, Hammond
Chanute Prize, Co-Recipient
…With its new 6,300-square-foot research center and a 70-seat theater for advanced research projects and 3-D virtual classrooms, the Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation is no longer a concept. It’s technology that’s been embraced by the private sector and has saved clients more than $30 million.
Since CIVS opened last October, more than 5,800 people have visited to learn about its potential. Dr. Chenn Q. Zhou, director of CIVS, says the Chanute Prize is recogni-tion of the quality work the team has accomplished. Other team members are John Moreland, senior research scientist; Bin Wu, research engineer; Doreen Gonzalez-Gaboyan, outreach and development; Linda Robinson, administrative assistant; and Armin Silean, a post-doctoral researcher.
“We’re all very honored and humbled,” says Zhou. “I’m happy for my team and the university. It’s also wonderful for our students.”
Zhou says the recognition raises the profile of Purdue Calumet and CIVS. The center uses visualization and simulation technology to solve real-world problems from working with NIPSCO on designing a virtual power plant in which to train employees to a virtual hospital to train health care workers.
Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson asked the visualization and sim-ulation team to look at plans for the Gary/Chicago International Airport. The CIVS team looked at runway expansion and development plans to help the city explain more precisely to contractors what needed to be done.
Zhou says CIVS has the potential to play a major role in economic devel-opment through improved decision-making and problem-solving. At the same time, the center is training a new generation of innovators and changing the image of Northwest Indiana.
“For the future, we’ll keep moving and we’ll keep focusing on technol-ogy. No matter what the area, we can integrate this into the decision-mak-ing process,” says Zhou…
