The Ford Mustang and the Ford Pinto

Lee Iacocca was born on October 15, 1924. He is the creator of the famous Ford Mustang and lesser known Ford Pinto. He was also CEO of Chrysler until he retired in 1992. Iacocca graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in industrial engineering (obviously). Although he began his Ford career as an engineer in 1946, but he jumped to sales shortly after with the company. Eventually, he worked up the ladder and became a prominent figure at Ford, making it to product development. Iacocca became Ford's vice president in 1960. As the leader of the Ford Mustang project, he insisted on a contest for the car's design, which resulted in the original Mustang production car. In 1967 the Mustang was very successful. Iacocca continued to oversee the redesigns, but complained about how the car's frame became too large compared to its same power, making it slower. Once sales declined in the early 1970s, Iacocca complained that the Mustang was no longer successful because customer preferred smaller compact cars. He explained, "The Mustang market never left us, we left it." Iacocca stayed with the Mustang, restyling it through its second generation, pushing for it to be more like the original smaller versions. Iacocca was let go from Ford, and went to Chrysler where he began another successful career.

The Panama Canal

Two firms founded by Lehigh graduates were instrumental in the construction of the Panama Canal. The McClintic-Marshall Construction Company constructed the locks and the Dravo Corporation manufactured the enormous lock gates. The gates were uniquely engineered to float and have adjustable buoyancy. This allowed them to be made in the U.S., towed like a barge to Panama, and minimized the force needed to open and close them. The Panama Canal is recognized as one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" [3].
http://www.ce.memphis.edu/1101/interesting_stuff/7wonders.html

The Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge was designed by Joseph Struass. Joseph Strauss was an Alumni of the University of Cincinatti. The actual construction of the Bridge however, was carried out by the Mclintic Marshal construction company. The Mclintic Marshal Company was founded by Howard H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of the Lehigh Class of 1888. The Bridge is concidered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. There were many people in opposition to the building of the Golden Gate bridge but in response to them, Joseph Struass said "The Golden Gate Bridge, the bridge which could not and should not be built, which the War Department would not permit, which the rocky foundation of the pier base would not support, which would have no traffic to justify it, which would ruin the beauty of the Golden Gate, which could not be completed within my costs estimate of $27,165,000, stands before you in all its majestic splendor, in complete refutation of every attack made upon it." Many people disliked the idea of the bridge but thanks to the Mclintic Marshal company and Joseph Strauss, this 42,000 foot bridge became one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.