Holocaust Survivor and Leading Robotics Scientist among Shooting Victims

The world of engineering science lost two of its finest yesterday. Liviu Librescu and Kevin Granata were professors in the school of engineering science and mechanics at Virginia Tech. The school's dean, Ishwar K. Puri, spoke highly of both:

"Dr. Librescu and Dr. Granata were both world-class researchers, excellent teachers, outstanding mentors to doctoral students, and fully involved in outreach to the profession,'' Puir said. "ESM is a unique interdisciplinary department, one of few in the US, and their presence greatly enriched our program. There are few programs in the US that have scholars of their caliber and in their particular disciplines on the same faculty.

"I grieve for them. They will be dearly missed,'' the dean wrote.

Liviu Librescu was born in Romania, Puri said, but his quest for freedom brought him to the United States. Students on Monday described his attempts to barricade his classroom door while they jumped from a window to safety.

"He was an exceptionally tolerant man who mentored scholars from all over our troubled world,'' Puri said.

Granata was interested in translating his biomechanical research into robotics. He studied neuromuscular control, specifically how humans walk and run, and muscle and reflex response. He was described as one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the U.S.
Virginia Tech dean pays tribute to 2 who died [Chicago Tribune]