Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Roscoe
B.S. Mechanical Engineering ,
Leon B. Ellwein worked with the IBM Corporation in Rochester, Minnesota, after completing two degrees from South Dakota State University. He left IBM to join the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, where he was assigned to the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He earned a Ph.D. in industrial engineering and operations research in 1970 from Stanford University. He also attended the advanced management program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He was professor and associate dean for research at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and a senior member of the scientific staff at Science Applications International Corp. in LaJolla, California. He then served as associate director for Applications of Vision Research at the National Eye Institute. He authored over 80 scientific publications dealing with cancer program planning, national security analysis, carcinogenesis modeling and numerous visual impairment and eye-care surveys conducted in collaboration with investigators in India, China and several Latin American countries.