• Akron FT Landing Page

Wednesday September 20, 2023

Early Bird Activity

• 2:45 pm         Gather in the HQ Hotel lobby (1307 E Market St, Akron, OH 44305)
• 3:00 pm         Step off of Walking Tour of East End Development.  Paul Harris | East End General Manager will be our guide.
  ~4:30 pm       Return to Hotel lobby
• 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm we will be visiting the Cascade Locks Park Mustill Store & Museum in multiple groups
  (57 W. North Street) for walking tours and reception.
  NOTE:  Shuttle bus has capacity for 24 people at a time and will depart from hotel parking lot (1307 E Market St, Akron, OH 44305) as listed below. PLEASE let Mary Starbuck know if you will NOT be taking the shuttle (330.217.7165 or starbuckmary375@gmail.com).

Shuttle Run #One.  First come first served (max 24)

• 5:20 pm         Gather in Hotel Lobby
• 5:30 pm         Shuttle Run #One departs hotel. 
• ~5:45 pm Shuttle One stops at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic RR’s Akron Northside Station (27 Ridge St, Akron, OH 44308) where Tony Troppe will be your guide to see the exterior of the former Ace Rubbercompany which he has purchased for adaptive reuse.
• ~6:05 pm       Volunteers will lead you to Mustill Store and Museum along Towpath Trail.

Shuttle Run #Two.  (max 24)

• ~5:55 pm       Gather in Hotel Lobby
• 6:05 pm         Shuttle Run #Two Departs hotel
• ~6:20 pm       Shuttle Run #Two stops at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic RR’s Akron Northside Station (27 Ridge St, Akron, OH 44308).  Tony Troppe will be your guide to see the exterior of the former Ace Rubbercompany which he has purchased for adaptive reuse.
• ~6:50 pm      Return to the RR station where shuttle will be waiting to take you to Mustill Store and Museum (57 W. North Street)

RECEPTION

• 7:00 pm         Reception begins at Trailhead at Cascade Lofts (21 W North St) next to Lock 15 Brewing.  Heavy hors d’oeuvres and cash bar.  Within walking distance from Mustill Store and Museum.
• 7:30 pm         Welcome by Arron Kotlensky, President SIA. Brief overview of fall tour content from Ron Petrie & Mary Starbuck. If not reserved for the night, Tony Troppe may be able to show a 2 bedroom short term rental unit in the Cascade Lofts to those interested.
• 8:15 pm         Shuttle Run #One (21 W North St) Departs for Hotel (first come, first served)
  8:45 pm         Shuttle Run #Two 21 W North St) Departs for Hotel

Thursday September 21, 2023

• 6:00 am         Hotel Breakfast Room opens
• 7:30 am         Board Bus in Hotel parking lot.
• ~7:40 am       Depart Hotel
• 7:50 am         Arrive University of Akron Polymer Center 170 University Ave, Akron, OH 44325.  Our host:  John Fellenstein, Content Specialist, Akron Global Polymer Academy.
  Everyone will be assigned to one of 3 groups (A, B, and C) for rotating presentations as below:

• 9:55 am         Return to Bus
• ~10:10 am     Depart UA Polymer Center
  • If time allows…..On our way to next stop we’ll pass by some sites of interest:  University of Akron Polymer Building with glass artist Dale Chihuly sculpture outside, Quaker Square silos, Rubber Worker statue used for Akron’s newest logo….
• ~10:40am      Arrive Bounce Innovation Hub (526 S. Main St.)
  • Welcome and overview by Rose Saborse, Director, Community & Partnerships.  Rose oversees community partnerships, development and the Generator space in the lobby.  The full group will stay together for the tour of 3 businesses: Vigeo Gardens, Harmoni Solutions Inc. and S4 Mobile Laboratories.  We will return to meeting room (Bit Factory on 5th Floor) for 15 minutes max of abbreviated slides and any Q and A, taking us close to noon.
• Lunch available at 11:45am.
• ~12:15-1:15pm Special Guest Dr. Bob Woloszynek, Chief Engineer, Global Material Development at Goodyear on the topic “Goodyear’s Soybean Oil Technology.” (30-60 mins including Q & A)
• ~ 1:15 pm to 1:30 pm Attendees will take turns visiting B.F. Goodrich museum short walk away.
  • Location: 520 S Main Street inside Building 24 at Canal Place.  Denise Lundell, the museum’s curator, will be our very special guide:
• 1:30 pm         Board the bus
• 1:40 pm         DEPART Canal Place
• ~1:45 pm       Arrive Goodyear Tire and Rubber HQ (200 Innovation Way, Akron, OH 44316) for group of pre-assigned 20 to debark for STEM experience.  Host Jason Chapman, Goodyear Community Engagement
• 2:00 pm         Remainder of group will return to U of Akron for interactive demos by John Fellenstein, (aka Prof. Polymer) Intro to Polymers and Fire and Ice.  Location:  Polymer Engineering Academic Center (PEAC) room 201. 250 South Forge Street Akron, 44325
• ~2:45 pm       Leave U of Akron and pick up group at Goodyear Tire and Rubber HQ (200 Innovation Way, Akron, OH 44316)
• ~3:20 pm       Arrive Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens 714 N Portage Path, Akron, OH 44303. Self guided tour of mansion and display of Charles Goodyear artifacts.
• 4:20 pm         Return to bus
• 4:35 pm         Depart Stan Hywet
• ~5:00 pm       Arrive Hotel (1307 E Market St, Akron, OH 44305) Buffet Dinner available
• 6:30 pm         Community program at Goodyear Branch of Akron Summit County Public Library, 60 Goodyear Blvd, Akron, OH 44305 (5 minute walk from Hotel)
  • Two topics:
    1.  Goodyear Heights Neighborhood Development and History by local historians and residents of the Heights.  Mike Herhold and Sharon Conner.
    2. Goodyear Blimps Retrospective by former Goodyear Airship Operations Director Scott Baughman

• 7:45 pm         Program Ends.  Walk back to Hotel.

Friday September 22, 2023

• 6:00 am         Hotel Breakfast Room opens
• 7:45 am         Board Bus in Hotel parking lot.  BE SURE TO HAVE state issued photo ID or Driver’s License.
• 8:00 am         Bus Departs Hotel
• ~9:00 am       Arrive Lincoln Electric.  22801 St Clair Ave., Cleveland, OH 44117. We will start out in the Auditorium for a 15 minute General Presentation, then split into groups for the tour.
• 10:30 am       Depart Lincoln Electric
• ~11am            Arrive Scranton Flats to meet Jim Ridge, founder of Share the River, and Byron Sah P.E. Chief Section Engineer/|Bridge Design, Cuyahoga County. Divide group into 2 and switch for 15 min presentations each.
• 11:30 am       Board bus to tour industrial valley area from the comfort of the bus.
• ~12:00 pm     Lunch at CanalWay Center  4524 East 49th Street Cuyahoga Heights, OH 44125
• 12:50 pm       Board bus
  1:00 pm         Depart CanalWay Center
• 1:30 pm         Arrive NASA Glenn Research Center 21000 Brookpark Rd, Cleveland, OH 44135. Hosts:  Jared P. Reed, RA, LEED AP BD+C Chief: Systems, Operations  and Maintenance Branch, and retired engineer Raymond Beech
  • IMPORTANT: Everyone must bring their state issued photo ID’s or Driver’s License.

The tour bus should proceed to the Vehicle Inspection Loop upon arrival at NASA. Signage is posted along the entryway drive that will direct the bus driver to the inspection loop.

 Agenda:

• • 1:30: Arrival at NASA
  • 1:45: Badging Completed via Inspection Loop
  • 1:50: Arrive at RSB to visit exchange store and use restrooms (bus should park along Walcott road after dropping group off at B164, then return to B164 by 2:25pm)
  • 2:25: return to bus for GRC History
  • 2:40: GRC History with Center Historian on the bus
  • 2:45: Bus arrives at Walcott Road to meet B64 and ERB tour guides (group will be split in two)
  • 3:00: Groups arrive at tour locations
  • 3:30: First set of tours is completed
  • 3:45: Groups return to tour bus, then proceed to next tour stops
  • 4:15: Second set of tours is completed
  • 4:30: Groups returns to bus and depart the campus
• ~5:30 pm       Arrive in Akron for Banquet and program at Grey Lodge  | Akron Woman’s City Club 732 W Exchange St, Akron, OH 443026:00 pm
• 6:00 pm         Buffet Dinner in the Wolle Lounge, 2^nd Floor
• ~6:45 pm       Guest speaker:  Mac Love, Co-Founder & Chief Catalyst, Art x Love on the Akron Stories project.   Celebrating the people who made Akron the “Rubber Capital of the World.”
• 8:00 pm         Program Ends.  Final Thoughts from Pres. Kotlensky
• 8:15 pm         Board bus to hotel

Key resources/people/speakers/tour sites/organizations

The East End is a 1.4 million square foot mixed use redevelopment initiative that offers Akron’s newest and best “LIVE, WORK & PLAY” experience. In addition to luxurious apartments and Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, this exciting new community now also includes two concert/event venues, a fully managed sports complex and Class A Office space with an ultra modern lobby with first class amenities.

Cascade Locks Park is the southernmost segment of the Cascade Valley Metro Park in a once abandoned and abused urban landscape. The mission of the Cascade Locks Park Association (CLPA), incorporated in June 1989, is to preserve, protect and promote the industrial, commercial and cultural heritage of the Park along locks 10-16 of the Ohio & Erie Canal. The Park’s main feature is the splashing waterway which channels the Ohio & Erie Canal through a series of “staircase locks.” CLPA was a key player in the designation of the regional Ohio & Erie National Heritage Canalway. Cascade Locks Park serves to connect downtown Akron to a network of open spaces and trails. In order to realize its mission and to revitalize Akron, CLPA worked with local neighbors, nonprofit groups and businesses, partnered with the City of Akron, Summit Metro Parks, the University of Akron, and the National Park Service.

University of Akron. In 1909, Dr. Charles M. Knight, a professor at Buchtel College, had the foresight to teach the world’s first course in rubber chemistry, preparing students for careers in the booming rubber industry in Akron, the “Rubber Capital of the world”. By World War II, the rubber chemistry program was so well regarded that the U.S. government contracted with The University of Akron to establish the Rubber Research Laboratory to aid in the development of synthetic rubber needed for the war effort. As the polymer industry grew and diversified so did the research at the School evolving into areas such as coatings, nano-composites, flexible electronics and biomedical applications.

Bounce Innovation Hub. Bounce Innovation Hub was founded in January 2018 and serves northeast Ohio entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. Located in downtown Akron in the former B.F. Goodrich factory complex, the nonprofit organization comprises more than 300,000 square feet of coworking, event, meeting and professional office space. With more than 50 organizations in the building, Bounce accounts for more than 250 people working and creating.

Vigeo Gardens. Mission:  TO ACCELERATE THE WORLD’S TRANSITION TO INDOOR FARMING. WE BELIEVE WE CAN PRODUCE 1% OF THE WORLD’S CALORIES IN OUR INDOOR FARMING NETWORK.  “In the Bounce incubator, we are creating a standardized farming model at a one-fifth scale,” said Peterson. “This model reduces material cost and labor, including decreasing the number of human touches with our produce from 11 to two to increase staff efficiency. Once we are able to demonstrate performance, we’ll replicate this model to full scale.”
Harmoni Solutions Inc. Tests accuracy of CNC machine work  Harmoni is a touch screen device that you connect to your CNC machines that utilize long-range RFID technology to perform time and machine data collection as well as optimize operations in your machine shop by automatically detecting nearby employees and jobs.   With this information at hand, we simplify the entry of time records into ERP systems, load the correct programs for the detected part revisions, and combine machine data with transactional data to provide a holistic view of shop capacity and performance.
—S4 Mobile Laboratories. S4 Mobile Laboratories produces a mobile soil laboratory that can measure the chemical content of the soil as a function of depth. Quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) is of interest for the purpose of allocating carbon credits and for soil health and agricultural productivity. As well as SOC, other soil properties of relevance to agriculture and to forensics may also be quantified and mapped in 3 dimensions.

B.F. Goodrich Museum just steps away from Bounce.  In March of 2012, Canal Place Ltd. placed a local ad requesting B.F. Goodrich memorabilia. The response was overwhelming and soon Denise Lundell, a local Akron resident and historian, was hired to curate an exhibit. The display plays homage to the original rubber company started in 1870 here in Akron. Artifacts on display include drawings, anniversary commemorative gifts to workers, rubber tire ash trays (of course), clothing and more inside renovated tire display cases. You’ll see historic images and other artifacts along the excursion which will really whet your appetite for more Akron rubber history.

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. In 1910, F.A. Seiberling, co-founder of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company established in 1898, began to purchase land in Portage Township, a farming area on the west side of the Akron city limits. Seiberling and his wife, Gertrude, wanted to build a home large enough for their growing brood and their extended family. They also wanted the house to function as a center for entertainment and events for the greater Akron community. They named it Stan Hywet, Old English for stone quarry — after the property’s most prominent natural feature. Seiberling hired architect Charles Schneider, landscape designer Warren Manning, and interior decorator Hugo Huber to create Stan Hywet.

Akron Woman’s City Club established in 1923 (100^th anniversary this year).  Built in 1901, it was formerly owned by Bertram G. Work and then George M. Stadelman, the presidents of B.F. Goodrich Co. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. respectively

Lincoln Electric. The world leader in arc welding, robotic welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting.

NASA Glenn Research Center. The NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio designs and develops innovative technology to advance NASA’s missions in aeronautics and space exploration.

Mac Love – Akron Stories. Mac Love is the Chief Catalyst of Art x Love, (pronounce our company name art-by-love, art-times-love, or art-ex-love )– a creative agency he Co-Founded with his wife Allyse in Akron (OH) in 2015. Art x Love specializes in cultural strategy, public art, and interdisciplinary design. In the last 8 years, Art x Love has produced more than 200 murals, 100 placemaking transformations, and 200 cultural events in collaboration with more than 300 local artists and more than 10,000 residents. Mac is the president of Leadership Akron Class 38, serves on the board of Akron Roundtable and Keep Akron Beautiful, and is a member of Akron’s Bicentennial Committee. In 2021, Mac was recognized by the Ohio House of Representatives for “preserving the history of the area” with the Rubber Worker Statue & Akron Stories project. 

Share the River. An organization that promotes the economic, social, and recreational vibrancy of Cleveland’s waterfront.

Ray Beach – NASA host. Ray Beach was born and raised in the Greater Cleveland area, growing up in Fairview Park. His interest in a space related profession stemmed from his father’s interest in engineering and the excitement of the Apollo lunar missions.  Ray received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Fenn College of Engineering.  He began his career at the NASA Lewis Research Center in 1976 and remained with NASA for over 44 years.  Raymond Beach has over thirty-five years work experience at NASA in power systems, beginning with power component and system development work done in support of the ERDA and DOE energy programs at the Lewis Research Center in the late 1970s. This work included the development of motor drives for electric and hybrid electric vehicles and flywheel energy storage for vehicle power peaking and brake energy recovery. During the space station program he was the lead testbed engineer for the advanced development program and was responsible for the development, integration, and test of AC and DC components used in power test beds to verify system operation and performance. Subsequent work involved the research and development of high speed flywheels, to be used on low earth orbit spacecraft to provide energy storage and attitude control. The flywheel work led to the successful demonstration of a 60,000 rpm composite flywheel system suspended on low loss magnetic bearings for a flight demonstration project. Recent work, performed as a program manager at DARPA, involved the conceptual development and analysis of power beaming used to provide energy for space propulsion systems. Current work activities involve the development of advanced power components and systems for aircraft hybrid electric propulsion.

Cleveland Engineering Society (established in 1880). The Cleveland Engineering Society (CES) is a non-profit professional membership organization comprised of more than 500 corporate and individual members representing the diverse engineering and technology spectrum. CES connects northeast Ohio’s engineering community to share experience and expertise, explore new technologies, business strategies, trends, and issues, and address regional workforce and economic development. Society (CES) is a non-profit professional membership organization comprised of more than 500 corporate and individual members representing the diverse engineering and technology spectrum. CES connects northeast Ohio’s engineering community to share experience and expertise, explore new technologies, business strategies, trends, and issues, and address regional workforce and economic development.

Early in 1880, four Cleveland engineers campaigned to accept separate and conflicting concepts. These individuals debated the validity of ideas concerning the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Metric System.  The group attached mystic and religious significance to the endurance of the pyramid but also opposed the introduction of the Metric System into America. Led by Charles Latimer, chief engineer of The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, the group formed the Anti-Metric Society. Conversely, Clarence H. Burgess, the county surveyor; Walter P. Rice, assistant U.S. engineer; and Hosea Paul, civil engineer, were advocates of the Metric system and were also interested in consorting with people of similar beliefs.  Soon, the differing opinions of these men were overshadowed by a common desire: to form a permanent engineering society in Cleveland. The first meeting of the Civil Engineers Club of Cleveland was held on March 27, 1880, in the Case Library Board of Education room. In 1908, having grown a diverse membership of more than 200 Cleveland engineers, the group officially changed its name to the Cleveland Engineering Society (CES).

The first committees were created during the inaugural meeting of the Civil Engineers Club of Cleveland. The library and program committees were the first of some 30 standing and civic committees established. In 1926, the Consulting Engineers Division became the Society’s first special interest group. Today the general planning for CES operates from the following active committees: Development, Marketing, Membership & Nominating, Outreach, and Programs. In addition, eight divisions address the specialized interests of various membership segments: Young Professionals, Senior, Management of Technology (MoT), Design and Construction, Energy, Environmental, Healthcare Engineers, Facility Managers, and Information Technology. We cater to the specialized interests of our membership, including Design & Construction, Energy/Power, Environmental, Healthcare, Information Technology, Mathematics, Manufacturing, and much more.