Gathering Our Heard
WPI’s 2024 Gathering Our Herd events united alumni in 10 cities nationwide for fun, networking, and community-building.
Read StoryIn Memoriam
Yi Hua Ma, Pioneer in Inorganic Membrane Technology
Yi Hua (Ed) Ma, emeritus professor of chemical engineering, former department head, and a pioneer in inorganic membranes, died Jan. 2, 2025, at the age of 88.
Ma received three chemical engineering degrees—a BS from National Taiwan University, an MS from the University of Notre Dame, and a ScD from MIT—before joining the WPI faculty in 1967. He served as head of the Department of Chemical Engineering from 1979 to 1989. In 1988, he founded the Center for Inorganic Membrane Studies, the nation’s first academic research center in the discipline.
Starting in the early 1990s, Ma turned his attention to the challenge of producing less expensive hydrogen, a renewable fuel. Over a decade of intense research, and with more than $12 million in support from industry and government, he and his research team developed a membrane that was remarkably effective at separating hydrogen from other gases. It consisted of an ultrathin layer of palladium that was chemically grown on porous stainless steel.
Yi Hua Ma
Shell International, a major supporter, licensed the patented technology to be the centerpiece of its plans for the hydrogen economy. As part of a major demonstration project aimed at testing technology for generating cleaner energy from coal, the US Department of Energy verified the membrane’s exceptional ability to separate hydrogen from coal gas.
Ma, who was named an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) fellow in 1999 and the James H. Manning Professor at WPI in 2004, won many other honors for his professional achievements. They included WPI’s Board of Trustees Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Scholarship and the Chair’s Exemplary Faculty Prize, the NASA Space Act Award, and the AIChE Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology. In 2009, the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers published a special issue of its journal dedicated to Ma.
John Decoulos ’50 ME, THETA CHI, Boxford, Mass.
James Sullivan ’52 EE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Westbrook, Conn.
Eugene Rubin ’53 ME, ALPHA EPSILON PI, Worcester
Joseph King ’54 CE, ALPHA TAU OMEGA, Brunswick, Maine
Joseph Marcotte ’56, Bedford, Mass.
Anthony Scancella ’56 CHE, MS CHE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Glen Mills, Pa.
Donald Girard ’57 EE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Harvard, Mass.
John Hoban ’57 CHE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Garnerville, N.Y.
Christopher Brayton ’58 ME, Boston
Roland Cormier ’58, ALPHA TAU OMEGA, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
John Pickering ’60, SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON, New London, Conn.
Joseph LeBlanc ’62 EE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Orrs Island, Maine
Frank Sokol ’62 EE, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Durham, N.H.
Roger Maddocks ’63 CHE, Fort Collins, Colo.
Stanely Skola ’63 ME, Baton Rouge, La.
Adam Kochanek ’64 ME, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Land O’ Lakes, Fla.
Alan Sinclair ’64 MS NS, Bristol, R.I.
Paul Giusti ’65 EE, PHI KAPPA THETA, York, S.C.
Bernard Duesel ’66 CHE, LAMBDA CHI ALPHA, Goshen, N.Y.
John Wright ’66 CHE, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Fond Du Lac, Wis.
Frank Amazeen ’67 ME, West Hartford, Conn.
Wayne Chiapperini ’67 CE, LAMBDA CHI ALPHA, Ledyard, Conn.
Thomas Fitzpatrick ’68 ME, LAMBDA CHI ALPHA, Wareham, Mass.
James Powers ’68 CE, West Boylston, Mass.
Bruce Green ’69 ME, ALPHA TAU OMEGA, Brunswick, Maine
Thomas Taylor ’69 ME, PHI SIGMA KAPPA, Greer, S.C.
Roger Johnson ’70 ME, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Hamden, Conn.
David Yee ’71 MS EE, Northborough, Mass.
Richard Panton ’72 CHE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Valparaiso, Ind.
Hubert Thompson ’72 ME, Glen Mills, Pa.
Timothy French ’73 CHE, Shrewsbury, Mass.
Dennis Mailloux ’74 CHE MS CHE, Westminster, Mass.
Robert Wyman ’77 CE, Ipswich, Mass.
John Ferdella ’79 SIM, West Boylston, Mass.
John Podlenski ’80 CHE, Littleton, Mass.
Robert Frazier ’82 CE, Hoosick Falls, N.Y.
Douglas Hill ’83 ME, Nashua, N.H.
William Mansfield ’87 EE, New London, Conn.
Christopher Burnett ’90 PH, Reisterstown, Md.
Glenn Flaherty ’91 EE, Spencer, Mass.
Thomas Klem ’94 MS FPE, Tuscon, Ariz.
Rollin Crittendon ’96 CS, Brighton, Mass.
Anna Kujtkowski ’05 MS EE, Spencer, Mass.
Jeffrey Moffett ’10 MS CS, Charlton, Mass.
Gary Baxter ’14 MS SD, York, Maine
The WPI community also notes the passing of these friends of the university: Dorothy Adams, Jo-Ann Alessandrini, Ann Beizer, Barbara Karalekas, Mindy Murray, Floyd Tuler, and Gordon Ware.
Complete obituaries can usually be found online by searching legacy.com or newspaper websites. The Alumni Office will assist classmates in locating additional information. Contact alumni-office@wpi.edu.
