Remembering Richard Schultz: A catalyst for collaborative research at UND

Posted by admin • December 9, 2010 • Printer-friendly

Dear Readers:
This edition of UND Discovery is dedicated to the lasting memory of professor of electrical engineering and department chair Richard R. Schultz, renowned and respected by students and colleagues on and off campus for his many contributions to science, the arts and humanities, and the University community over a lifetime cut too short. In addition to being a loving father, devoted husband and friend to many, Richard was a scholar, teacher, mentor, researcher, talented musician, actor, artist and competitive runner — a true modern-day Renaissance man, a polymath whose reputation as a master collaborator wholly reflected the theme that weaves its way throughout this edition of UND Discovery (see the story on Richard on the inside back cover). Richard is and will be greatly missed.

On Sept. 30, UND lost Richard Schultz, a remarkable engineer, educator and researcher who embodied the spirit of collaboration at the University.

Richard R. Schultz Professor of Electrical Engineering and Department Chair

Schultz, 43, a native of Grafton, a graduate of UND and a 16-year University faculty member, was the electrical engineering department chair and director of the Larry Jodsaas Engineering Entrepreneurship Center in the School of Engineering and Mines. He passed away at his home in Grand Forks following a three-year battle with colorectal cancer.

Never content to simply participate in research projects, Schultz is remembered by colleagues and students as a catalyst who enabled truly collaborative, interdisciplinary research while making student learning his highest priority.

“We’ll really miss him,” said Paul Lindseth, associate dean in the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, who worked with Schultz on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) projects.

“He was the kind of individual who doesn’t come along very often,” Lindseth noted. “He dedicated himself to the state of North Dakota, the University and the economic development of the region. He saw that as the key to his role at UND.”

Naima Kaabouch, assistant professor of electrical engineering, worked closely with Schultz.

“People trusted him because they knew he was very competent and knew he would be a great addition to their project,” she said. “His reputation was as someone who was reliable and efficient, which made it easy to collaborate with him.”

Mechanical engineering associate professor William Semke and Schultz were partners in collaboration for 10 years on a variety of projects. Semke understood the secret to Schultz’s research success.

“There was no ego to deal with,” he related. “It wasn’t a matter of him building up his resume or his credentials. He was overly generous. He probably should have kept more accolades for himself, but he freely distributed them.”

Schultz encouraged graduate and undergraduate students to think for themselves when looking for creative solutions to engineering problems.

“He would do everything he could to help guide you, but the expectations never fell,” said Jonathan Musselwhite, an electrical engineering graduate student. “In the lab, Dr. Schultz was open to different paths we wanted to pursue. He still expected the same end goal, but how we got there didn’t have to be his way. That gave us more ownership in our research, our education and our lives.”

Schultz and Semke established the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Engineering Lab in the engineering school as part of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence. They conducted payload development and for a project that employed 35 students this past summer.

“He took on tremendous amounts of work in diverse fields and did it extremely well,” Semke said. “He handled the administrative duties, technical research topics and teaching. He was quite unique in that he was able to excel in all of those areas.”

Schultz sought and cultivated collaborations at UND with aerospace, nursing, psychology and business to cover all aspects of UAS development, from the psychological factors of flying unmanned aircraft to the business side of marketing the technology.

One of his collaborators was Ric Ferraro, UND Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of Psychology, whose students Schultz invited to observe remotely piloted aircraft fly during a test at Camp Grafton.

“Richard rolled out the red carpet for just about anybody,” Ferraro said. “He was kind of like a little kid sharing his toys and wanting to see how we could play together. His attitude always put everybody at ease.”

One of the many students Schultz mentored was Florent Martel, who came to UND from France as an undergraduate engineer on an internship. Schultz got him involved in hands-on research, something that didn’t happen in his native country.

“I remember him saying that he would learn more from us than we would ever learn from him,” Martel said. “He was a huge advocate for student-driven research.”

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in engineering, Martel returned to UND as a graduate student where he worked with Schultz to develop collision avoidance technology for remotely piloted aircraft. Along with Craig Silvernagel, who teachers entrepreneurship at the School of Business, they founded a company called Machine Visionaries, LLC.

Silvernagel and Schultz coauthored an award-winning paper and taught an entrepreneurship class together. He knew Schultz as an outstanding communicator who understood the business and marketing aspects of R&D.

“Richard was not only a highly competent engineer, but he was also very interested in marketing and very competent at it,” he said. “He understood that you had to wrap a cool name and a cool brand around the product.”

Schultz received a B.S. in electrical engineering from UND in 1990, graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors. He earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Notre Dame, then returned to UND.

Retired professor emeritus Thomas Owens, who knew Schultz both as a UND student and a young faculty member, remembered that he stood out from the beginning.

“He was a North Dakota boy who wanted to be in North Dakota, who wanted to be at UND and wanted to be a teacher,” he recalled. “And he was outstanding. Student learning – not teaching – was his primary objective.”

To the students and faculty who knew Schultz and worked with him, he was far more than an educator and researcher. He engaged them and inspired them to do more, to go further than they imagined possible. He did it by leading by example up to the very end of his life.

“For three years, he was facing his cancer and working,” Kaabouch remembered. “His door was always open for students and faculty. He was always writing grants and always doing things with students. He was just an amazing person.”

Lindseth said that Schultz remained totally involved in the UAS project, trying to accomplish as much as possible and long as possible.

“That was Richard,” he said. “He wanted to be totally engaged. That’s the way his professional life was and the way his private life was. He lived it right up to the end.”

Asked what UND will miss most about Schultz, Martel said, “What we’ll miss most about him is the way he brought collaborative efforts between the disciplines, not just the other engineering disciplines, but other departments on campus. The University will miss his passion for interdisciplinary work.”