ABOUT THE PHOTO: On September 28, 2007, John A. Swanson visited campus to attend the School of Engineering Campaign Gala, which celebrated the success of the school’s $100 million capital campaign. While here, he took the opportunity to tour the new facilities associated with the Swanson Institute of Technical Excellence. He is pictured here peering into the walk-in anechoic chamber, an insulated area that is used to conduct radio wave research in the RFID Center of Excellence, one of the research centers under the Swanson Institute umbrella.
Education
- 1966: PhD in applied mechanics, University of Pittsburgh, School of Engineering.
- 1963: MS in mechanical engineering, Cornell University, College of Engineering.
- 1962: BS in mechanical engineering, Cornell University, College of Engineering.
Career
 Swanson is the founder of ANSYS Inc. Headquartered in Canonsburg, Pa., the company designs, develops, markets, and globally supports engineering simulation solutions used to predict how product designs will behave in manufacturing and real-work environments. ANSYS has 1,400 employees and distributes products through a network of business partners in more than 40 countries.
The company was formed in 1970 to market the ANSYS program—the finite-element software code Swanson created—for use by a broad spectrum of industries employing computer-aided engineering, including the aerospace, automotive, biomedical, manufacturing, and electronics industries. Swanson served as the company’s president, chief executive officer, and director until his retirement in March 1999.
He still teaches ANSYS training classes and serves the company as an advisor.
Swanson’s gifts to Pitt have helped create the John A. Swanson Institute for Technical Excellence, which houses the John A. Swanson Center for Micro and Nano Systems; the John A. Swanson Center for Product Innovation; and the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Center of Excellence. He also has established the John A. Swanson Embedded Computing Laboratory in Computer Engineering.
Pitt Honors and Affiliations
- 2006: Elected to the Board of Trustees.
- 2002: Inducted into the Cathedral of Learning Society, which recognizes individuals who have donated $1 million or more to the University.
- 1998: Received the School of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Industry Honors and Awards
- 2006: Received President’s Award, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
- 2004: Awarded the John Fritz Medal, American Association of Engineering Societies.
This is considered the highest and most prestigious award in the engineering profession. Presented since 1902, prior awardees of the Fritz Medal include Orville Wright, Alexander Graham Bell, Alfred Nobel, Thomas Edison, and George Westinghouse.
- 1998: Received ASME Applied Mechanics Award.
- 1994: Named by Industry Week one of the top five of the top 50 research and development “stars” in the United States.
- 1994: Elected as an ASME Fellow.
- 1990: Received Computers in Engineering Award for outstanding contributions to the engineering and computing industries.
- 1987: Named Pittsburgh Engineer of the Year, ASME.
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