Three Southwestern College graduates will be inducted into the Southwestern College Natural Science Hall of Fame on Saturday, Nov. 14.  The new members are William Glass, Lyle Kallenbach, and John Leonard Antal.  The plaques will be on display prior to the 5:30 p.m. dinner in the Deets Library.  The induction ceremony will begin at the conclusion of the meal, approximately 6:15. 

The hall of fame honors Southwestern College alumni who have made significant contributions to the natural science world.

This year’s inductees include:

• William A. Glass ’53 held management positions ranging from scientist to associate lab director at Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) from 1963 to 1993. As chief scientist at PNNL, he was responsible for program management and a budget of more than $5 million. A physicist, his research has focused on the energy loss of energetic nuclear particles (protons, neutrons, electrons) in tissue-like material, i.e. gas state carbon, hydrogen, oxygen in tissue equivalent composition. He pioneered many of the techniques of energy loss in very thin tissue layers by using variable energy incident particles impinging on gas targets of various densities. His work with wall-less proportional counters (radiation energy deposition detectors) was also pioneering.

• Lyle Kallenbach ’61 completed graduate degrees in chemistry at Oklahoma University and Texas A&M University, and then joined Gulf Oil Research Co. where he was a manager in the analytical research department that specialized in polymers and proprietary chemicals research. Technical firsts achieved under his direction included the utilization of mass spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and high pressure liquid chromatography to elucidate and quantify new organic structures. He joined Phillips Petroleum Co. (later ConocoPhillips) and as a senior research chemist, he continued research and specialized in catalyses where he invented and developed numerous new polymers and petrochemical processes. These are currently utilized worldwide in the chemical, polymer, and oil refining industries. He has technical publications, technical seminars, and 35 U.S. patents to his credit.

• John Leonard Antal ’58 was a packaging engineer for many companies throughout his distinguished career. He developed his first acrylic for Monsanto Chemical while he was still in college, then became an expert in product packaging. After an 11-year stint with Falstaff Brewing Corp.—where he designed and developed labels, cans, bottles, and metals—most of Antal’s work was done with medical and pharmaceutical products. He created an irrigation and Pedialyte bottle for Abbot Laboratories that is still used today, designed plastic products including a kidney dialysis filter unit for Baxter Travenol Laboratories, and designed the Neosporin package and the Snoopy Band-Aid with Neosporin box for Glaxo-Wellcome. After retirement he received a patent for orthopedic surgeries developed for Bristol-Meyers Squibb. Antal died in 2001.

For more information about the dinner or the Natural Science Hall of Fame, call Susan Lowe, director of alumni programs at Southwestern College, at (620) 229-6334.