Award Named for Former Xtreme President Lee Kramer Presented by UNLV
The UNLV Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, department of mechanical engineering, has established the Lee F. Kramer Mechanical Engineering Award, named after the former president of Las Vegas-based Xtreme Manufacturing. The award, through a dedicated endowment with the UNLV Foundation, started by a $32,000 gift contributed by the family and friends of Kramer as well as vendors and customers of Xtreme. The annual award will support students majoring in mechanical engineering for purposes of scholarships and student research design projects.
“We are honored to be the recipient of this gift,” said Rama Venkat, dean of the College of Engineering. “The award reflects Lee’s interest in student design research and is the first of its kind for the department of mechanical engineering.”
The first award will support students in the SAE International Baja Collegiate Competition, a contest that requires students to design and build an off-road vehicle that will endure through tough terrain. UNLV students have had much success in this competition in recent years. SAE International is a global engineering association.
Kramer was a program advisor to the College of Engineering and served as a judge for the department of mechanical engineering in the annual Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition. Kramer played an integral role in the development of the Xtreme business, which produces a range of rough terrain telehandlers and modular building structures, serving as president of Xtreme before he passed away in January 2015 at 67.
Kramer was born in Waukegan, Ill., and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1970 with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering, later earning an MBA from Lake Forest School of Management in 2003. In 2003, Kramer joined forces with Don Ahern to develop the Fresno Engineering Design Group and later the creation of Xtreme Manufacturing, where he served as vice president of engineering and later president.
Kramer is survived by his wife of 34 years Joan Kramer, daughter Jordan and son Justin.
Those wishing to donate to the Lee F. Kramer Mechanical Engineering Award can visit www.unlv.edu/foundation.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.