The estate of alumnus Paul Slysh (1925-2015) has created an endowed scholarship to support students in the Grove School of Engineering and the Zahn Innovation Center.
The City College of New York is pleased to announce that engineer, inventor, and alumnus Paul Slysh’s estate has created an endowed scholarship to support engineering students and the Zahn Innovation Center. In addition to this generous gift, CCNY will be entrusted with the key to a mausoleum displaying his numerous patents and other materials from his esteemed career.
Slysh's trust has donated over $1.6 million and is preparing to make a final distribution of $20,000.
“Mr. Slysh's forethought demonstrates not only the endearment he had for his alma mater, but the value he placed on innovation and entrepreneurship. We are appreciative of the confidence he had in the Zahn Innovation Center and the community of innovators we are nurturing. His gift broadens the impact we are able to make,” said Kesia Hudson, Interim Executive Director of the Zahn Innovation Center.
After earning a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from CCNY in 1949, and two master’s degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, Slysh went on to pioneer the design and implementation of advanced structures in both the aircraft and aerospace industries.
During the 1960s, he worked in data systems and the Convair division at General Dynamics. He was awarded 18 patents and his division’s work was used in the aircraft and rocket designs that were at the core of the United States’ space program.
Slysh was the principal internal research and development investigator on the isogrid concept. Isogrid is a structure comprised of triangles designed to hold the greatest possible strength with the least possible weight. Using isogrid was essential to many of the breakthrough engineering developments in aircraft and aerospace design that occurred over the 20th century and it is still used today.
In 1977, Slysh founded his own engineering consulting company PS Associates, Inc. The company provided design support to an impressive roster of clients including Boeing, Martin Marietta, and Fermilab.
During the 2012-2013 academic year, Slysh gifted the Grove School of Engineering with a license to ISOGRID-SST™ (Shell Structures Tools). This software enables rapid, reliable and comprehensive shell structures and isogrid design. He considered this software his crowning professional achievement.
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