Glen W. Zumwalt was presented the WSU Recognition Award in 1992, a decade after he received the Outstanding Engineering Research Award at WSU and a year after he retired from Wichita State as Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering.
Zumwalt taught at WSU for 24 years, joining the faculty in 1968 after teaching at Oklahoma State. He was instrumental in developing WSU's doctoral program in aeronautical engineering, and his world-class research projects included leading a Wichita State team that created an electro-impulse de-icing system for a variety of aircraft.
He also formed a company that built wind tunnels, and was co-inventor of a high-speed ground transportation system called AirTrain.
In 1985 while on a hike in California, Zumwalt suffered a 23-foot fall that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Confined to a wheelchair, he didn't let his injury curtail his activity. In 1992, Bert Smith, WSU professor and then-chair of aerospace engineering, commented, "He's a very positive thinking person. That accident could have put a lot of people into a state of depression, but it didn't slow him down a bit. It was business as usual."
Zumwalt, a wwii veteran who served in the Navy, was a devoted family man. He, his wife, Carol, and their five children opened their home to many international students through the years.
Glen Zumwalt died Sept. 17, 2011 in Wichita.
