Kenneth C. Shraut papers

Kenneth Charles Schraut was a professor of mathematics at the University of Dayton for over 50 years. He was born in Hillsboro, Illinois, on May 19, 1913. At the University of Illinois, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1936, he was a member of the honorary fraternity Phi Nu Epsilon. He earned both a master's degree (1938) and a Ph.D. (1940) from the University of Cincinnati.

Dr. Schraut was a visiting instructor at the University of Notre Dame in the summer of 1940 before coming to UD in the fall. He taught full-time at UD from 1940-1978 and continued teaching part-time from 1978-1993. Schraut was chairman of the Mathematics Department from 1954-1970 and founded a summer institute for high school mathematics teachers on campus. He taught math classes to business and pre-medical students, along with algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and advanced engineering mathematics. Schraut established the UD chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon (National Mathematics Honor Society) and was an advisor for pre-medicine students.

Among his most notable accomplishments was his pioneering work with what became the University of Dayton Research Institute. In 1949, Schraut and his top 10 math students received a $10,200 contract from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) to analyze or "reduce" aircraft flight load data. This project, which became known as Project Globe, was followed by a second data reduction contract for $25,000. From 1951-1952, Dr. Schraut directed the expansion of research efforts at UD. In 1952, he began Project Delta, recruiting full-time professional researchers for nuclear weapons effects research. From these beginnings, sponsored research at UD grew to $1 million by 1956 and on September 1 of that year, UD Research Institute was formally established.

Dr. Schraut's civic and professional activities included the American Math Society; the Math Association of America; the American Society for Engineering Education, for which he was chairman of the Math Division; the American Association of University Professors; the Metropolitan Dayton Honors Society; and the National Science Foundation Summer Institute, which he directed in 1959 and 1961-1967.

For his contributions to the University, Dr. Schraut received the first distinguished service professor award in 1972 and the Lackner Award in 1987. On May 9, 1992, the University of Dayton held an event to celebrate his career of over 50 years. Dr. Schraut died on October 29, 1997 at the age of 84.