University of Louisville Magazine

FALL 2013

The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.

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A C R O S S C A M P U S J. B. SPEED SCHOO L O F ENGINEERING FAMILY CREATES METHOD OF GIVING BACK Tony, 66S, and Alice Fortwengler, AD, remember the tough days. Working jobs and raising their frst child, coupled with Tony pursuing a mechanical engineering degree from UofL, presented lots of responsibility. It was this experience which inspired the IBM retiree and the Fortwengler Family Fund to set up a scholarship in 2007 to ease the burden of married engineering students, in part to honor his machinist father who encouraged Fortwengler to pursue engineering. "We decided we would set up the Fortwengler Family Fund modestly. Every year we contribute to it," he said, adding that now their grown children do also. "It has been really rewarding to us to know the fund exists and continues to grow, and it'll help married students who may be in need and help them stay in school." The frst recipient, junior mechanical engineering student Casey Dowell of Louisville, also enjoyed working as a machinist for several years before deciding he "wanted to take my career to the next level" and ultimately enrolled at Speed. He and wife Sara have been married three years and were grateful for the Fortwengler family's support. "I was defnitely happy to receive it," Dowell said. "It's helped out quite a bit. It took some weight off my shoulders and got me to the co-op semester," when students are paid for their required cooperative education in industry and business. The Fortwengler scholarship covered his fall 2012 tuition before his spring co-op began at Samtec, a New Albany, Ind., electronic connector company. VISION | To serve the university, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the engineering profession by providing high-quality educational programs to all students; engage in research and scholarship that will extend knowledge; and assist the economic development of the regional, state and national economies through technology transfer. CARD IOVASCULAR IN NOVATION INSTITUTE GOOD DEED PLUS TIME EQUALS AMAZING RESULTS Sometimes it takes time for good deeds to bring about amazing results. A $1.5 million donation in 2005 from the Gheens Foundation in support of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute (CII) is a perfect example. Eight years later, researchers with CII have published results of their work that may hold the key to treating adults and children who have heart disease as a result of poor blood fow. Using regenerative cells from fat, new blood vessels can be formed, returning function to the heart muscle. Amanda LeBlanc is one of the researchers. She joined the CII team as a postdoctoral fellow in 2009 and joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 2012. Without the funds resulting from the Gheens Foundation gift, LeBlanc likely would not be at UofL. "Dr. LeBlanc rapidly has become a leader in the transformation of a patient's fat-derived cells into a treatment that essentially serves as a blood vessel Band-Aid for the heart," said CII Director Stuart Williams. "Without the resources available from the Gheens Foundation investment in our early planning stages, I don't know that she would have been here to help us make this discovery." VISION | CII strives to improve lives through world-class cardiovascular research, scientiļ¬c discovery and new enterprise creation. FA L L UO F L M A G A Z I N E | 4 7

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