Ronald J. Placek Scholarship
When Ronald J. Placek enrolled at the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1954, there was no massive campus. Back then, the Chicago branch was at Navy Pier, which was a pier that jutted out three-fourths of a mile into Lake Michigan. The building itself looked more like the temporary military facility it had been in the 1920s than the major tourist attraction it would become decades later. Ron eventually ended up on the Urbana-Champaign campus where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s and Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics.
Ron and his brother were the first in their family to attend college. Their father was a factory worker, working for a company that made picture frames. Because money was tight, Ron lived in the most economical housing Illinois provided: the Parade Ground Units (PGU). These 16-man units had been built during World War II to house the troops. There were 8 beds on one side; 8 on the other and showers and bathrooms in the middle.
The other PGU housed 16 men who used wheel chairs. (Illinois was one of the first universities in the nation to establish programs enabling paraplegics to attend college.). There was a wonderful feeling of camaraderie in the PGU units. The guys partied together, had wheel chair races and, in general, had a true college experience, despite their humble abode!
In 1957, Ron was inducted into Pi Tau Sigma, the honorary fraternity for mechanical engineers and while still a college senior, he became a staff member of the College of General Engineering (renamed the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering in 2016).
After receiving his Ph.D. in 1963, Ron continued working at the College of Engineering, earning the title of associate professor while teaching courses in stress analysis, vibration analysis and machine design. He also became a principal contributor in the first of a series of curriculum guides in engineering technology for junior colleges; and wrote a textbook, “Technical Mathematics with Calculus”, which was published by Prentice Hall and used in junior college engineering technology programs.
In 1967, Ron was one of 27 professors named by the Ford Foundation as a recipient of a 15-month residency in industry. The program enabled university professors to gain experience
in high levels of decision making in industry and encouraged closer relations between engineering practice and teaching. Ron served his residency at GE, then went back to Illinois for a year. In 1969, he returned to GE to serve as manager of applied mechanics.
In 1981, Ron became manager of GE’s Bucket and Rotor Design. During this period, new high efficiency buckets were introduced and turbine designs included units as large as 1100MW. He also served as project manager for a special task force on stress corrosion cracking of nuclear wheels.
In 1987, Ron became manager of GE’s Steam Turbine Generator Service Engineering, providing technical support to field engineers who maintained over 800 units worldwide.
In 1995, Ron was named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for his contributions to the development and design of steam turbines. He holds several patents and co-authored a number of technical papers.
Upon his retirement from GE in 1995, Ron started his own consulting business, working for clients throughout the U.S., England and Canada until his death in 2012.
Known affectionately as “Dr. Ron” by those who worked for him, Ron was always grateful for the education that he received at the U. of I. Teaching was in Ron’s blood. He was an educator, willingly sharing his knowledge, and more than one corporate executive thanked him profusely for the newly-gained insights learned during a business meeting. This scholarship---though small---was established in memory of “Dr. Ron” and carries with it our heartfelt wishes that you, the recipient, will use your talents and newfound knowledge to make your mark on society.
Criteria
- Demonstration of financial need
Past Recipients of the Award
| Year | Recipients |
| 2025 | TBA |