In Memoria

Dr. Michael Scott Braasch, 58, passed away on Sunday, September 22, 2024, at his home, surrounded by his wife and daughters. On August 31st, 2024, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and three weeks later, he was with the Lord.

Born September 2, 1966, in West Allis, Wisconsin, Dr. Braasch was the son of the late Milton Braasch and Doris Braasch (née Cottrell).  He is survived by his wife of nearly 36 years, Soo Yin Braasch; two daughters, Marie Braasch (Chris) Chelberg of Burlingame, CA and Mindy Yong Braasch of Aliso Viejo, CA; and two sisters, Patricia Braasch of Central, NC and Cheryl Hasson (Steve) Rushton of Pendleton, NC.

Dr. Braasch was a graduate of Logan High School. He obtained his B.S. (1988), M.S. (1989), and Ph.D. (1992) in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University (OU). He joined the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department at OU as a faculty member in 1994, eventually becoming a Thomas Professor of Engineering. He was a beloved teacher and mentor both at home and abroad; he was an Arskine Visiting Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, as well as a guest lecturer at institutions in Russia, Switzerland, France and Singapore.

During his time at OU, Dr. Braasch served for several years as Director of the Avionics Engineering Center (AEC). He was internationally recognized for his work in characterizing the effects of GPS multipath and was one of the originators of the integrated multipath-limiting antenna for GPS. He was also an expert in Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and authored the book Fundamentals of Inertial Navigation Systems and Aiding (Radar, Sonar and Navigation). Over the years, he was highly sought by corporations including Apple and Google to act as an expert witness in these areas. In February 2024, after 30 years of service, Dr. Braasch retired from Ohio University and joined Northrop Grumman as a consulting engineer.

Dr. Braasch was elevated to Fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION) in 2009 and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2023. He was President-Elect of IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS), after serving in numerous leadership positions in both ION and IEEE.

When he wasn’t working, Mike enjoyed singing and playing the guitar, hiking, and traveling with his family. He also loved flying, having trained as both an airplane and helicopter pilot.

Mike was a devout Christian. As a member of Athens Bible Church, he frequently gave guest sermons. He also led Bible studies for non-English-speaking Chinese women, with his wife Soo providing translation services.

A funeral service will be conducted on Tuesday, October 1st at 1:00pm at Jagers & Sons Funeral Home, Athens, with Rev. William Hixson officiating. Burial will be in Alexander Cemetery, Hebbardsville. Visiting hours will take place on Monday, September 30th from 4-6pm (open casket) and Tuesday, October 1st from 12-1pm (closed casket) at the funeral home. Flowers are welcome. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Athens Bible Church, 42 Poston Road, The Plains, OH 45780.  Feel free to share a memory, a note of condolence, or sign the online register at www.jagersfuneralhome.com.

Read In Memorium 

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/george-schmidt-obituary?id=54…

Brookner, Eli Age 90, a Lexington resident, since 1962 and Principal Engineering Fellow for Raytheon, died at Emerson Hospital in Concord on November 29, 2021. He was the husband of the late Ethel (Bobick) Brookner. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 2, 1931, as the son of the late Angel and Fanny Brookner. He was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York City and went on to attend City College where he met his future wife. Later, he earned his PhD from Columbia University. With a career spanning more than half a century at Raytheon as a Radar Engineer, he played a major role in the development of radar and phased array radar systems. He is recognized as a leader and advisor for over twenty leading radar programs for civil and defense applications. A life member of IEEE, he received the Dennis J. Picard Medal, Warren White Award for Excellence in Radar Engineering, as well as IEEE Centennial and Millennium medals. A renowned international lecturer and published author, his teachings have educated thousands of radar engineers worldwide. An extensive traveler, he has lectured in and visited 22 countries in every continent but the Antarctic. He will also be remembered as a passionate ballroom dancer up until his passing. He leaves behind two sons, Lawrence Brookner of Paris, along with his wife Vera, Richard Brookner of Sunnyvale, CA, one grandson, Daniel Brookner, a nephew, Jonathan Liebowitz, and a sister-in-law, Anita Raynes. 

Published by Boston Globe from Dec. 3 to Dec. 4, 2021.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9397793

Jakob van Zyl, an engineer who held crucial positions at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was involved in numerous space exploration missions over decades, has died. He was 63.

"JPL and NASA are richer for his many technical and managerial contributions, and for his unwavering dedication and engaging personality," JPL Director Michael Watkins said in a statement. Van Zyl's roles included director for astronomy and physics, director for solar system exploration and associate director on a project to formulate a vision for JPL's future. At JPL he contributed to the design and development of many synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems, including SIR-C, SRTM, AIRSAR, TOPSAR, and GeoSAR. 

In 1997, he received the Fred Nathanson Memorial Radar Award for advancement of radar polarimetry, radar interferometry, and synthetic aperture radar from the Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE). In 1998, Dr van Zyl was elected Fellow of the IEEE GRSS. In 2010, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society of the IEEE for his contributions to polarimatric SAR remote sensing. 

Van Zyl was involved in missions that sent the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, Dawn to the asteroid belt, Cassini to Saturn, and the InSight Mars lander and its tying accompanying CubeSat spacecraft. He was also involved in the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission currently en route to the red planet, as well as development of future missions.

A native of Namibia, van Zyl received a degree in electronics engineering from Stellenbosch University in South Africa and earned his master's and doctorate in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.JPL said van Zyl was passionate about encouraging young people in Namibia and South Africa to pursue science. 

Caltech has established the Jakob vanZyl Memorial Fund to support research and/or scholarship for students in the EE department where Jakob studied, graduated, conducted research for most of his career and taught for more than 20 years. You may make tax deductible contributions online at https://caltech.imodules.com/vanzylmemorial or checks may be mailed to the Jakob vanZyl Memorial Fund c/o Caltech, MC 5-32, Pasadena, CA  91125. 

Myron Katon, PhD'60, died from COVID-19 in May 2020. He was an internationally known authority in the fields of inertial navigation and guidance, as well as the author of the definitive textbook Avionics Navigation Systems and several other books. He is best known as the deputy director for guidance and control for the lunar module that landed.a man on the moon during the Apollo Project. He also worked on the Space Shuttle rendezvous radar and many other aerospace projects. He was an instrument-rated pilot and avid traveler, ran his own consulting business for two decades, and taught classes in power systems management.

After working at NASA, Dr. Katon worked at TRW as chief engineer for Spacelab Avionics, headed the system engineering team for Space Shuttle Avionics, and was a project engineer for a nuclear power plant. He was a life fellow of the IEEE, was an elected member of its corporate board of directors, and served two terms as president of its Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society. He taught simulation methods, multi-sensor navigation systems, and land navigation at UCLA, and published more than 80 papers and articles. In 1981, he formed Kayton Engineering Company in Santa Monica, CA, and taught at the University of California in Los Angeles.

He received the IEEE's Millennium Medal and the 206 Kershner Award for his work on avionics, navigation, communication, and computer-automation systems. His name is included on the Wall of Honor at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. He is a fellow in the National Science Foundation. He received a Cooper Union Presidential Citation in 1980 and the CUAA Gano Dunn Award in 1975. He was inducted into the Cooper Union Hall of Fame in 2009.

Myron's daughter Sue ('78) and grandson Daniel ('07) are also MIT alumni.

Newmarket – Dr. Robert “Bob” M. O’Donnell, 74, of Stonewall Way died peacefully November 20, 2015 at Exeter Hospital surrounded by family.

Born August 31, 1941 in Lynn, MA, he was the son of Michael and Katherine (Niland) O’Donnell. He was raised in Lynn and attended St. Mary’s High School. He received his SB in Physics from MIT in 1963, and MS and PhD degrees in physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964 and 1970.

He was a member of the senior staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory for many years as a Radar Engineer. In 2003 he was elected to IEEE Fellow “for contributions to advanced surveillance and tracking radar systems”. He retired in 2008 and in his retirement continued teaching Radar with two series of free online courses. He was actively involved in the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society. Diagnosed with dementia in 2013, he attacked the disease like the scientist he was. He devoted much of his energy and focus in the last years of his life documenting the disease’s progression to honestly and directly show the many challenges of this (as he called it) “awful disease”.

His hobbies included classical music, amateur radio, and sailing.

Bob was a very spiritual man, he was a member of the Lee Church Congregational and a communicant of St. Mary Church in Newmarket.

He was predeceased by his brother, Thomas O’Donnell who died in 2008.

Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Janice Nickerson O’Donnell of Newmarket; four children, Michael O’Donnell and his wife Virginia Wang of Carrboro, NC, Meaghan Hulsey and her husband David of Buckeye, AZ, Brian O’Donnell and his wife Kayley of Atlanta, GA; and Andrew O’Donnell and his wife Julia of Waltham, MA; and 2 grandchildren, Sam Hulsey and Delaney Wang.

I bring some sad news for the AESS community: On August 14th at about 2:30AM we lost our friend, Bob Lynch.

For those who don’t know, Bob was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. Bob’s positive attitude, his enthusiasm, his good humor and optimism: these were how he was a great researcher, mentor, teacher and coach. And these were also how he approached his disease; he let all of us believe that each piece of news about his health was a positive one. So even for those of us who did know of Bob’s battle with that horrible disease, his passing was a true shock. I admire him ever more as I learn more about his fight.

Bob was a mighty contributor to our Fusion society: session chair, ISIF Fusion 2009 General Co-Chair (Seattle, with Chee-Yee Chong), ISIF Webmaster, ISIF VP of Communications, ISIF Board Member, Managing Editor of ISIF’s JAIF. Bob played a key role in ISIF’s flourishing. For example: Bob single-handedly pushed – and pushed hard enough – with Elsevier to get JAIF “indexed” on Scopus, meaning that JAIF now is recognized in the academic tenure process. JAIF is growing, and Bob is part of the reason that is happening.
 
Bob loved to contribute. He loved to teach. He was delighted to encourage students and junior co-workers – and the athletic teams he coached. 

He leaves behind his wife Cheryl and two sons Bobby Jr. and Ryan. And he leaves behind many of us who miss him very much.