10-14-96 Contact: Clark Beck, Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, 937 854-7967; cbeck@delta.cs.wright.edu

ATHENS, Ohio -- Paul Stocker, a 1926 graduate of Ohio University and a former member of the university's Board of Trustees, will be posthumously inducted into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Dayton Oct. 17.

Stocker is one of three engineers and scientists who will be honored by members of the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, an international organization established in 1981 to honor individuals who have improved the quality of life of all people through the development of new technology, medicine, medical procedures or some other research in engineering or science.

Stocker will be honored for his engineering research that resulted in the development of solid-state telephone systems. Other inductees are Helen and Alfred Free of Indiana, chemists who are recognized for developing various clinical analysis techniques used by health care professionals.

This year marks the 15th induction ceremony for the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, said Clark Beck, a founding member of the organization and president of its board of trustees.

"We established the organization as a way to expose young people to the accomplishments of scientists and engineers and to honor those who had made contributions to the field," Beck said.

Three people -- two living and one deceased -- are inducted each year, he said. Nominations are submitted by scientists, engineers and others, and are reviewed by a selection committee. The organization's board of trustees votes, and those who receive the most votes are honored.

Past honorees include Henry Heimlich, Linus Pauling, Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver and Orville and Wilbur Wright. All inductees receive a medal and living honorees are recognized with portraits hung in the East Hall of the Dayton Engineers Club.

Stocker's wife, Beth, will attend the reception honoring her husband, who died in 1978. After graduating from Ohio University with a degree in electrical engineering, Stocker worked with Bell Telephone and later formed his own company, Lorain Products Corporation in Lorain, Ohio.

The invention for which he will be honored in Dayton -- a static frequency converter with the trade name of "Sub Cycle" -- was used by telephone engineers around the world, receiving more than 50 foreign and domestic patents.

Stocker received the Ohio University National Alumni Association Certificate of Merit in 1956 and began serving the first of two terms on the university's Board of Trustees in 1958. He received an honorary engineering doctorate in 1974. In 1978, Stocker and his wife, a 1928 university graduate, were named Alumni of the Year by the university's Alumni Association.

The Stockers contributed to many university and engineering scholarships, building programs, and other university funds throughout the years. In 1986, the couple were honored for their contributions with the dedication of the current home of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, the C. Paul and Beth K. Stocker Engineering and Technology Center on the West Green of the Athens campus.