Dear Professor Acosta,
Upon hearing that you are gravely ill, I find myself remembering fondly of the interactions that I had with you during my years at Caltech. Beyond teaching us how to think and analyze fluid phenomena, I really appreciated learning that people in competitive professions can be friendly and supportive. Those years led me to my lasting friendship with Tom Berto with whom I share many memories of your undergraduate courses. You also direct me to attend MIT for graduate school, which in turn led me to my wife of 30 years.
Do you remember the time that Tom and I rode our bicycles down to Seal Beach from Pasadena and dropped in on you on your boat? It was very nice of you to host us onboard for the visit.
In the last year or so, I have been fortunate to start enjoying retirement life. It is with regret that I was too busy with work and life to visit you. While I started my career helping Volvo produce aerodynamically efficient cars, I eventually shifted my focus to electrified drive train technologies. Although I could not talk to you about it at the time, I like to think that you would approve the way I engineered to cool the lithium-ion battery modules in the 2003 EV that my team built at Volvo.
Thank you professor for preparing me for such a fulfilling life.
Yours truly,
Ichiro Sugioka
Class of 1983
Allan J. Acosta Blog 