William Wilcox died peacefully in Massachusetts on December 17, 2020. Wilcox was born in Manhattan, Kansas, on January 14, 1935, the son of Albert Ross and Ethel Winifred (Peters) Wilcox. His childhood was spent in St. Louis, Washington DC, Ness City (Kansas), and Torrance (California).
He received a B.E. degree from the University of Southern California in 1956 and a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960, both in Chemical Engineering. After working for TRW Semiconductors and the Aerospace Corporation for 8 years, Wilcox returned to USC as a professor of chemical engineering and materials science.
In 1975 Bill was recruited by Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York to head its chemical engineering department. Over the next 42 years he served Clarkson as its dean of engineering, head of the New York State Center for Advanced Materials Processing, and director of the NASA Center for the Commercial Development of Crystals in Space.
Two years prior to coming to Clarkson, Wilcox began a 30-year association with NASA’s microgravity materials research program. This included both ground-based research and experiments in Skylab, the Space Shuttle, and sounding rockets, as well as two sets of experiments performed by Wilcox himself on the notorious “vomit comet” low-gravity aircraft.
He received numerous national and international awards for his contributions to chemical and materials engineering. Wilcox published more than 260 research articles, held editorial positions on several journals and organized many international conferences, workshops. He was elected Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Wilcox also brought in big investments to Clarkson. He was inducted into Clarkson’s Million Dollar Club in 1998 and over the years he received more than $19 million (not accounting for inflation) in external funding for his research at Clarkson.
Bill is survived by his wife, brother, 4 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren.
He also has 31 academic children, i.e. former PhD students that he advised, as well as 30 MS students. Generations of undergraduate and graduate students benefitted from his courses on subjects ranging from statistics to materials science.
In 2003, Wilcox was named “Clarkson Distinguished Professor” in recognition of his high level of scholarly achievement and service to the University. He retired in 2017 and moved with his wife to Massachusetts. His cremains will be buried in the Ness City, Kansas, where his father, mother and youngest brother.