John Chawner ‘84 is an engineer whose technical work formed a foundation for computational aerodynamics, an entrepreneur whose business helped shape an entire field of engineering software, and an alumnus whose mentoring has influenced engineers from students to late-career professionals.
He will be the keynote speaker at the College of Engineering and Computer Science Convocation on May 9th at 8:30am. The ceremony will by held at the Lally Athletics Complex.
Chawner graduated from Syracuse University in 1984 and moved to Texas for a job at General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics) as a propulsion engineer. He transferred to General Dynamics’ nascent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) group in 1987. In the CFD group, Chawner was part of a 3-person team who wrote software that impacted every aircraft program the company has since developed including the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II. The software has also been used throughout the entire U.S. aerospace and defense industry on virtually every military aircraft and space vehicle. Upon his retirement, a NASA manager remarked publicly that the space agency could not have landed spacecraft on Mars without this software.
Seeing the commercial potential for the software, especially for civilian applications and research, Chawner co-founded his software company Pointwise in 1994. Pointwise was part of the “first wave” of companies commercializing CFD. Thus began a 26-year journey during which the company grew from a 2-person startup to international presence and success. He had responsibility for and contributed to software product development, business operations, product management, and technical marketing. Chawner was also a pioneer in the use of social media within the engineering software market and wrote what was the world’s most widely read CFD blog. In 2021 he negotiated Pointwise’s acquisition by Silicon Valley-based Cadence Design Systems. He retired in 2023.
Chawner’s commitment to innovation extended to running the business. He practiced servant leadership, placed a premium on professional development of his team, and earned a Blue Zones designation for the company – all of which led to Pointwise being recognized as Small Business of the Year in Fort Worth in 2018. Within the aerospace industry, he has been a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics since 1980 and has held leadership roles on many committees, both technical and business focused. He was recognized with the Sustained Service Award in 2022 and in 2024 he was elected a Fellow of the AIAA.
Chawner’s entire professional life was predicated on his time at Syracuse University where in addition to achieving academically, he held leadership roles in several student organizations. He was SU’s candidate for the 1984 Rhodes Scholarship and a 1984 ECS Class Marshall. As an alumnus, he has served on the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering’s Advisory Board for nearly 20 years and recently became a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council. John established an ECS Endowed Professorship in 2025.
Chawner met his future wife. Cathy, during his freshman year at SU and the two have been together ever since. They will celebrate 40 years of marriage later this year. The couple now enjoys retirement in Madison, Wisconsin. Through his new company, Gibberish Consulting, Chawner helps companies and individuals with leadership development and marketing strategy.