Lehigh rededicated one of its research institutes recently, strengthening its longstanding ties to a family that helped win World War II, transform the aerospace industry and shape much of modern manufacturing.
Besides paying homage to Ludwig and Erwin Loewy, the Czech-born brothers who contributed to the victory over Nazi Germany, the university also honored Lehigh officials who have helped keep the Loewy legacy alive.
In a ceremony in Whitaker Laboratory, faculty members from two colleges and members of the office of advancement rededicated the Loewy Institute, which had been known since its founding in 1970 as the Institute for Metal Forming.
The Loewy Family Foundation has supported teaching and research at Lehigh since 1993, said Wojciech Misiolek, director of the Loewy Institute and Loewy Chair in Materials Forming and Processing. The foundation’s generosity has benefited countless students and faculty members while enabling them to build networks of collaboration with peers in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.
The Loewy Visiting Professorship and the Loewy Graduate and Postdoctoral Fellowships enable two or three scholars, and sometimes as many as half a dozen, to conduct research at Lehigh each academic year, said Misiolek. The foundation also endows the Loewy Laboratory Equipment Fund.
“The research we are pursuing with endowed support from the Loewy Family Foundation has raised our international profile, facilitating exciting collaborations and providing powerful leverage for success in securing external research funding,” said Misiolek.
The renewal of the Loewy family’s support, said Misiolek, will enable the research institute to continue expanding its research into newer areas such as biomaterials, medical devices, structure materials and 3D printing.
Read the full story at the Lehigh University News Center.
-Kurt Pfitzer is Manager of Editorial Services with Lehigh University's Office of Communications and Public Affairs.
