Alumni News continued “With hard work, dedication, the traditional Carnegie
It’s hard to imagine a more quintessential mechanical engineering success story than that of John P.Waszczak (B.S. 1969, M.S. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). From his earliest summer jobs in the steel mills of Pittsburgh to a successful career perfecting a number of landmark engineering achievements—including the F16 fighter aircraft, space shuttle, Tomahawk cruise missile, and Excalibur guided projectile— this alumnus personifies the continuing evolution of our field. Waszczak was born in Homestead, and grew up in the shadow
of Pittsburgh’s busy post-war steel industry. His father John H. Waszczak worked for a small local company, Mesta Machine, that served the needs of the steel mills by creating machine tools, large rolling mills, and other equipment. Like many young men who grew up in Pittsburgh, Waszczak had early jobs working in the hot, demanding environment of the mills, and he also worked on cars alongside his dad, a part-time auto mechanic. But, all the while, he knew what he really wanted to do. “My dad admired the engineers at Mesta, and I looked up to them, too,” recalls Waszczak. “I always thought being an engineer would be the greatest job in the world.”
Engineering His Destiny
John W “the Greatest Job in the W
aszczak Is Happy to Have orld”
The first in his family to earn a college degree, Waszczak used a
scholarship funded by Mesta to attend Carnegie Mellon—another obvious choice for him. “I applied to a few other schools, but if you were from Pittsburgh, you knew the reputation of Carnegie Mellon’s engineering program,” he says. “When I received my acceptance letter, it was an easy decision.” Waszczak would go on to earn his master’s and doctorate degrees
from MechE, funded by a fellowship provided by the National Defense Education Act (NDEA). He spent his graduate years work- ing on a project for defense leader General Dynamics, an experience that would shape the course of his entire engineering career. “General Dynamics came to Carnegie Mellon looking for help in studying new composite materials, and two of my professors— Tom Cruse and Jerry Swedlow—recommended me,” says Waszczak. “I spent four years studying how and why materials failed at the joints of aircraft like the F16, and I found it absolutely fascinat- ing. I knew I had found my true vocation.”
10 I C ARNEGIE M ECH
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20