Established in February 2024, with gifts from Dr. Joseph Lee Kenty (PhD 1968) and Constance Kenty (MA 1966). Provides one or more scholarships to undergraduate students who are studying a major in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, are in their second, third or fourth academic year, have a minimum 2.0 grade point and currently participate in one of the University sponsored student motor sports competition teams (associated with the Center for Automotive Research); or currently participate in any student team-based competition within the College of Engineering.
Joe and Connie Kenty established this endowment because they wanted to pay it forward by supporting scholarships for undergraduate students. They provided the following personal reminiscence to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in November of 2024.
“So much of a person’s growth is inspired by situational influences. A trajectory of my career took shape because of my BS in Metallurgical Engineering, which was earned at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and an assignment as part of the ROTC. Having served two years as an Army ROTC Lieutenant, I had not considered graduate school. Then the Ordnance Corps decided to give me a metallurgical engineering assignment at Frankfort Arsenal, Philadelphia.
I met another new officer who had a doctoral degree in Physics during that assignment. He convinced me to go to graduate school, and I ultimately earned a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1968. Dr. John P. Hirth was an influential leader while I completed my thesis on the nucleation and growth of thin metal films.
This milestone led to an electronic materials position at Bell Research Labs followed by a few years of employment at North American Aviation Electronics Research Lab where I supported the electronic materials portion of a formerly classified space program now known as Global Positioning System, or “GPS”. My last and longest research role was at General Motors Research Labs, working on materials and microfabrication of integrated circuits relating to gasoline vapor macro-sensors, which led to significantly reduced evaporative emissions.
The intensive materials science and engineering education from Ohio State University amplified my metallurgy education from UC – an equation to which I attribute my successful career in integrated microsensors research.
Ohio State is embedded in the lives of me and my wife, Connie. Connie earned her MA in Education from Ohio State (1966) while working full time as a teacher. The years we dedicated to pursuing graduate degrees included developing cherished friendships with professors and fellow students. We realized how enjoyable that time in our life was as we grew older, and we are hopeful that students benefitting from our support share similar experiences.
Connie and I pay our appreciation forward by supporting scholarships for undergraduate students and endowment funds for graduate student research. I believe that new materials usage will continue to be at the heart of modern electronics. Many new materials science and integrated sensor advances will continue to influence space, pollution control, and medical applications, and Ohio State will be at the heart of these applications. Our support of MSE undergraduate and graduate students as well as laboratories supports this successful model.”
Joseph L. Kenty PhD, Metallurgical Engineering ‘68
Connie B. Kenty MA, Education ‘66
November 2024