ELI FROMM (1939-2025)

BY MOSHE KAM
SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY

ELI FROMM, a celebrated bioengineering researcher and innovative engineering education reformer, died on Jan. 20, 2025, at age 85.

Eli was born on May 7, 1939, in Niedaltdorf, Germany, the second son of Helen and Siegfried Fromm (his brother, Menachem, was 11 at the time). The family fled Germany on the eve of World War II, first to France, then to England, and finally settled in New Jersey, where Siegfried later started an egg farm in Vineland. Eli worked on the farm while not in school and also started a business vaccinating chickens, possibly his first direct experience with bioengineering.

Siegfried passed away in 1956, prompting Eli to forgo a full scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating from high school and instead remain in southern New Jersey to help his mother run the farm. He enrolled at Drexel Institute of Technology (later renamed Drexel University) as an electrical engineering student in 1958, beginning an affiliation with Drexel that continued in various roles until he retired from the university as Roy A. Brothers Professor 60 years later, in 2017. His academic degrees included a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering (1962), a Master of Science in engineering (1964) from Drexel, and a Doctor of Philosophy in bioengineering/physiology from Jefferson Medical College in 1967.

Eli’s professional career began at General Electric Company in 1962, where he worked as an engineer for the missile and space division. He was responsible for studying, designing, and assisting in the development of biomedical instrumentation and solar-powered tele-stimulation systems. In 1963, he joined the Engineering Physics Laboratory of E.I. DuPont Company, where he helped develop the noncorneal contact commercial tonometer (“Durham Tonometer”) and external blood pressure monitoring systems for continuous sensing.

He joined Drexel as an assistant professor in 1967 and served the university as professor, leader, and administrator for the next 50 years. Eli held faculty appointments in the Biological Science, Electrical Engineering (later, Electrical and Computer Engineering), and Biomedical Engineering departments. His bioengineering studies concentrated on biosensing and on implantable transmitters and transducers for long-term acquisition and analysis of physiological information. He was the principal investigator for numerous research projects in biotelemetry, including the development of microminiature implantable and ingestible transmitters and sensors for experimental use in physiological measurements of the reproductive, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems.

Over the years, Eli also held many administrative and organizational positions, including vice provost for research and graduate studies at Drexel, vice president for educational research at Drexel, and member of the staff of both the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Legislative Office for Research Liaison of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

From the early 1980s, his primary professional focus was engineering education. As director of the Center for Educational Research in the College of Engineering, he led a major initiative known as Drexel E4, launched in 1988 with funding from the National Science Foundation. Drexel E4 — short for “Enhanced Educational Experience for Engineering Students” — was aimed at radically reforming the undergraduate engineering curriculum. The program restructured the lower-division engineering curriculum; integrated courses and disciplines that had traditionally been taught separately; shifted the emphasis from classroom lectures to laboratory and workshop experiences; engaged students in design and teamwork from their first week in the program; and introduced open-ended challenges requiring students to seek knowledge and expertise beyond standard textbooks and lab manuals.

Implementing the Drexel E4 vision required participation, training, and buy-in from a large cohort of university instructors and professors who would teach the new experimental curriculum. These instructors came from varied backgrounds and multiple disciplines within engineering, science, and the humanities. The effort also required informed consent of first-year students, who were presented with an experimental study plan rather than the traditional Drexel engineering curriculum they expected. Over time, the success of this innovative and complex project became clear. Student participants showed improved long-term retention, quantifiable gains in computing and experimental skills, and stronger performance in upper-division science and engineering courses. Equally significant were the long-term increases in the number of undergraduate degrees awarded to female, African American, and Hispanic students. This multifaceted success stemmed largely from Eli’s careful curriculum design, his ability to track progress and modify the program for optimal results, his skill in assembling and motivating a large team of collaborators, his success in securing funding, and his evident leadership.

Following the Drexel E4 initiative, a larger project was launched in 1992 — also based at Drexel — called the Gateway Engineering Education Coalition. Led by Eli as principal investigator and supported by the Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation, the coalition brought together seven partner institutions: the colleges of engineering of Columbia University, Cooper Union, Drexel University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, Polytechnic University of Brooklyn, and the University of South Carolina. The coalition’s broad goal was “to change the way we conduct the engineering educational process; to change the process of engineering education reflected not only in innovative curriculum development but also in how faculty interact with students, how students learn, and how emerging technologies are embedded into the educational environment.”

The expectation was to make engineering education more exciting, effective, and efficient. Focus areas included curriculum development and implementation, professional development, engagement of underrepresented populations, instructional technologies, assessment, and “linking and sharing.” The long-term legacy of this large-scale project includes a substantial body of textbooks, guidebooks, and laboratory manuals created by the coalition and widely distributed among engineering colleges. Several institutes adopted integration techniques developed by the Gateway Coalition to restructure the engineering student experience — most importantly, engaging students in engineering and design from their first day on campus.

For his leadership of the Gateway Coalition, Eli became the first recipient of the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. The prize recognizes groundbreaking programs with a demonstrable impact on engineering and technology education. He received the Gordon Prize “for innovation that combines technical, societal, and experiential learning into an integrated undergraduate engineering curriculum.” In presenting the award, the coalition was praised for “fostering student interest in engineering by providing students with cutting-edge technologies to address practical engineering problems in areas that include engineering biotechnology, concurrent engineering, environmental engineering, and emerging Internet technologies.”

Other honors Eli received include life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education, charter fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, member of the “Drexel 100,” recipient of the IEEE Centennial Medal, and recipient of the Smithsonian Institution Medal. In 2001, he received the IEEE William E. Sayles II Award for Achievement in Education from the IEEE Education Society.

Eli is survived by his wife, Dorothy (née Gold), whom he married in December 1962; sons Steve (Laura), Larry (Galit), and Richard (Lorien); and grandchildren Matty, David, Ruben, Shira, Dylan, and Lyra. He was preceded in death by his parents, Siegfried Fromm (1898-1956) and Helene (Helen) Fromm Wolf (Lucas) (1902-76); and his brother, Menachem Edgar Fromm (1928-2008).