Local Executives to be Inducted into Industrial and Systems Engineering Academy

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A. Sue Weisler

Johann “Hans” Demmel and William Hard, alumni of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, will be recognized Oct. 19 for their many contributions to the university and the industrial engineering profession.

Johann “Hans” Demmel and William Hard will become the two newest members of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Academy of Rochester Institute of Technology at noon Oct. 19 in RIT’s Xerox Auditorium in the James E. Gleason Building.

The alumni of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering will be recognized for their many contributions to the university and the industrial engineering profession. The induction ceremony is free and open to the RIT and local communities. It is one of the events taking place during RIT’s Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend.

Demmel ’83, senior manager systems engineering for Raytheon Missile Systems, has been a longtime contributor to the college, serving as president of the department’s industrial advisory board. He is also active with the local chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, holding several leadership positions in his years as a member.

Hard ’74, a recently retired marketing and sales executive with Xerox Global Services, is a member of the President’s Roundtable, an advisory organization of successful alumni, led by RIT President Bill Destler.

Academy honorees are selected from a pool of candidates nominated by engineering department faculty, industry partners and university leaders, says Scott Grasman, department head. Richard Reeve, the department’s first faculty member and academic adviser, was the academy’s first inductee in 2009. In 2011, Jasper “Jake” Shealy, a former faculty member and department head, was inducted.

“The academy is intended to recognize people who have made significant contributions to the department, and the focus is on our alumni,” Grasman says. “But when it was starting out, Jake and Dick were so instrumental in founding the department that it seemed appropriate to induct them in to start the academy. This year, the feeling was to focus on alumni and recognize their contributions.”