Senior attacker Angela Cascio is co-captain, for

Transcription

Class Notes
39
Amazing!!! Still writing a column at age
97. Sad news: Robert (Bob) Hedstrom
(BIE) passed away (one day short of his
98th birthday). After graduating from RPI: Bob took
over one of the many factories in Fitchburg, Mass.
During WWII they made assemblies for the aircraft
industry, even helicopter rotor blades (out of wood).
Later he went to their factory in Dothan, Ala. He
had been ailing for a while and his son (Joe) had
been keeping me updated.
Now for the rest of the “Story.” Fact: The only
school I applied to in 1935 was RPI!
Personal observations: The difference in RPI in
80 years is monumental: We used to make drawings
in three views with a special pen requiring adjustment for width of line, and pen was filled with an
eyedropper; and now it is done on a 3-D program
on a computer and printed out. Good-bye, “Smiling
Zero.”
All we had for calculations was a slide rule, and
now the computer has taken over.
We had homework every night and tested every
day from an actual book, and now the assignments
are from the Internet.
Tuition, lodging, and food cost about $4,800
(total) for the four years. Now you can buy a house
for less than the cost of a four-year education at RPI.
The things I learned in my freshman year were
mostly obsolete by the time I graduated. But it was
not the details, but how to solve a problem! Due to
the way RPI trained me I was ready to do any task
given to me, and in my first job at Wright Field,
Dayton, Ohio, I had many research projects, but the
most important one was a way to make flight tests
with vibration sensors using a new material called
“silicone.” The first practical use for the material.
Planning ahead. I hope to write more columns if
I can.
Send news to: Lou Shornick ’39, 108 Royal
Garden Terrace, Madison, MS 39110-7637; h: (601)
853-0265; loushor@mindspring.com; website: www.
loushornick.com
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Richard Johnson was interviewed by
the Albany Times Union in July as one
of the last surviving Americans who
developed the first atomic weapon as part of the
Manhattan Project during WWII. He graduated
with a degree in chemical engineering in December
1942, early because engineers were needed for the
war effort. He worked as an industrial engineer at
an ordnance plant in Tennessee and enlisted in July
1944. He was chosen for a clandestine project and
sent to “an absolutely secretive place,” Los Alamos,
where he supervised a group of soldiers who built
component parts for the atomic bombs. Decorated
for his service, he went on to a career as a district
engineer in state government. In retirement, he lives
in Brunswick, N.Y.
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Send news to: L. McD. (Mac)
Schetky ’44, 6782 14th Ave. North,
St. Petersburg, FL 33710; h: (727) 4987938; teschky@gmail.com
When most of us were so busy with
the Navy agenda on campus, there
was a small group of civilians attending class with us that had to create their own living
space, eating places, and activities that we heard very
little about. At our 50th Reunion, I am only aware of
the Aero group that were there in full force, lacking
only Irv Osofsky, who had been told not to travel,
but there were students in other fields as well at the
time, I am sure. I tried to contact others that could
tell the “civilian” side of the story, but thus far I have
had no response. In looking for any information along
that line, I discovered that our class website was the
only source I found with anything about the subject.
Paul R. Dickman (BAE) died Sept. 5, 2014. He
was raised on a farm in the Catskills of New York.
His talent for “patching” was learned on the farm
where you had to “fix” things one way or another.
Paul went on to Rensselaer to study aeronautical engineering. Paul was one of several “icons” on
campus, a “civilian student” in among a campus
inundated with NROTC and V-12 students. A significant number of our class graduated with Paul in
October 1944 with our new degrees. Paul, Chuck
Flora, Jim Decker, John Graves, and Irv Osofsky,
all civilians, got their degrees and left for their new
jobs in the aircraft industry. All but Irv were able
to get back for the 50th Class Reunion with their
wives. (The rest of us followed our Navy orders after
we got our degrees.) Paul joined Grumman on Long
Island and started an eventful career there until he
retired in 1992. Something else started at Grumman, too; it turned out that Dorothy Brader, also a
Grummanite, and Paul found it convenient to go “up
home” together often (real gas rationing you know)
and you guessed it, they got married and brought up
their family in Northport, N.Y., and moved to Farmington, Maine, when Paul retired. They shared 62
wonderful years of marriage and Dorothy is still in
Farmington. Their together time as a family focused
a lot on traveling and camping in all 50 states, along
with 16 years cruising on their sailboat “Starlight.”
Paul’s career was unusual in that he never
Senior attacker Angela Cascio is co-captain, for
44 RENSSELAER/FALL 2015
pgs44-63_ClassNotesFall15.indd 44
10/7/15 4:13 PM
TOM KILLIPS
the second season, of the field hockey team, one of 11 women’s varsity intercollegiate sports teams at Rensselaer.
RENSSELAER/FALL 2015 45
10/7/15 4:15 PM
CLASSNOTES
changed employers, though the name changed
several times: Grumman Aircraft, Grumman
Aerospace, etc. His specialty was known by various
names over the years, but he seemed to like Loads
& Dynamics. One of his assigned projects lasted
for the majority of his career: the A6 airframe,
which was used, reused, and morphed into various
forms, both civilian and military. He also worked
on the Gulfstream I, II & “III,” the E2 Hawkeye,
the Ag Cat, and the F-14, X-29, and many others.
His family said that he was one of those go-to
people for when you wanted to determine the feasibility of a new idea. A good example was the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) project. Grumman
decided to propose the use of the Gulfstream II as
the base, and as Paul put it, turn it into a “flying
brick.” He was asked to do the preliminary work
for the proposal; they bid it and won. Problem was
that they’d started building it before it was realized
that they’d never had more than the preliminary
“guestimate” done, and had already manufactured
some of the bolt-on parts. After some frantic overtime to generate a more formal treatment, he was
able to confirm his earlier estimates, and the project proceeded without significant changes. From
NASA reports, four of the STAs were built and
used throughout the Shuttle program. Each pilot of
the Shuttle had to have 1,000 Shuttle landing simulation flights before they actually were assigned
to a Shuttle mission. The STA was designed to fly
like the Shuttle; it had the same dynamics, similar visibility, similar seat angles, etc., and a landing
was “completed” when the pilot’s eyes were 30 feet
off the ground with no actual landing; then the
instructor would take over and fly the STA around
for another simulation landing.
As I was searching for further information about
Paul, I discovered that the search engines on the
Internet have found our Class of ’45 website. I will
have to spend some time to update the website
soon!
Send news to: Herb Asbury ’45, 4435 Foxenwood Lane, Santa Maria, CA 93455-6718; h: (805)
937-0628; asburyh@aol.com
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70th Reunion: Oct. 6-9, 2016
Bill Oliver wrote to say hello to his
classmates and to invite them to
share remembrances. Bill graduated in June ’46,
a bit after the rest of us, but probably some of us
shared classes or drinks with him. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and an EE. After graduation, Bill was commissioned an ensign in the
USNR and served as a deck officer aboard the USS
Douglas H. Fox DD 779 (a destroyer).
Bill now lives in Atlanta, Ga., and “would love
to hear from anyone who was around at the time.”
He’s at (404) 784-3431.
Hugh Flomenhoft wrote about a great trip
to Washington, D.C., with a group of 65 WWII
veterans: an “Honor Flight.” Each veteran had
a “guardian” to help him get around, necessary
with the active program that they had (visiting
the WWII Memorial, the Iwo Jima Memorial, and
Arlington Cemetery). Hugh reminisced about the
early ’50s when he worked for the Navy (BuA)
The Church V Bunch: Sam Fletcher ’50, who wrote the essay for One Last Thing in this issue,
provided the above photo from his collection. It was taken in the fall of 1946 using a Brownie
camera. From left, are Henry Krason ’50, Frank Tomlinson ’50, Frank Sacken ’50, Arthur Leak
’50, William Bokram ’50, J.C. Kiersted ’50, and Samuel Fletcher ’50. “I don’t remember what
Bokram was pouring out,” says Fletcher. “Certainly punch and not beer.”
and he would eat lunch at the reflecting pool near
the Washington Monument. He reported on the
pageantry of military guards at the Iwo Jima and
Arlington sites. It was a long day (14 hours) and he
was overwhelmed by the greetings they received,
both at Washington and when they returned to
West Palm Beach. It is 70 years since the end of
WWII. Hugh remembered as a child in elementary
school when veterans from the Civil War (70 years
earlier) visited his classroom!
Send news to: Ed Miller ’46, Apt. 113, Beltrone Living Center, 6 Winners Circle, Albany, NY
12205; millered430@gmail.com
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Send news to: Fred Grob ’49,
4 Albatross Lane, Smithtown,
NY 11787; h: (631) 382-9350;
fredgrob78@gmail.com
Sam Fletcher provided an essay for
the last page of this magazine. He
also provided some details about his
life story: Awarded a four-year full tuition scholarship from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp.,
Sam graduated from Rensselaer, where he was a
member of Theta Chi, with a bachelor’s of aeronautical engineering. He returned to Grumman for
full-time employment in flight test after working in
various manufacturing shops during the summers
as an apprentice. There he met Nancy Brunner;
they were married in 1953. He designed and built
a house on the Long Island north shore in 1958.
Sam was flight test project engineer and program manager for a variety of programs including
the A6 Intruder, F111B (the “Edsel”), and G-1
Gulfstream. He completed a master’s of management engineering in 1972 at L I University – C.W.
Post. He became test program proposal manager
for the F-14 Tomcat and later ground test manager
and armament equipment manager.
In 1973, Sam joined a Revolutionary War reenactment regiment and took part in over 100 reenactments during the Bicentennial Celebration.
He began leatherworking and shoemaking craft
work and interpretation during this period and in
May 1984, retired from Grumman after 35 years.
Sam “starred” in Alan Alda’s movie “Sweet
Liberty” in 1984 (sixth continental soldier from
the right in the ranks), and also made props for the
actors. He worked as a volunteer interpreter and
shoemaker at Old Bethpage Village Restoration on
Long Island, where he really learned the finer skills
of the craft.
In February 1987 he moved to Virginia and
worked as a shoemaker/interpreter for Colonial
Williamsburg. Retired again from CW in December 1988 to become a frustrated golfer, VA master gardener, Kiwanis member, bird-watcher, and
handyman. Sam is still married to Nancy and they
have a son, a daughter, and two grandchildren.
Send news to: Herbert Kee ’50, 354 Broome
Street, Apt. 6D, New York, NY 10013-5458;
h: (212) 219-8461; hkee9988@gmail.com
51
Bob Pavan sent the following news:
“On Aug. 23, my wife, Barbara, and
I celebrated our 63rd wedding anniversary. For
the first year of our marriage we lived in Renwyck,
the married students housing, while I completed
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CLASSNOTES
my master’s studies. She worked in the bookstore,
interrupting her education at Bennington College, and I as a research assistant. Years later we
completed our education with doctorates from
Harvard. When our son Michael was born the
following July, we removed the oil space heater in
the living room and replaced it with a card table, a
basket for his bassinet, and an orange crate nailed
to the wall to store his clothes and diapers. As Barbara says, it was a good place to start.
“One of our wedding party was a classmate,
Peter Brumberg. Peter was inspired by our wedding to immediately afterward drive to the camp
where his Barbara was a counselor and propose!
Over the years as our families grew our friendship
continued, going to New York plays and having late
night bridge games while our children played. In a
sad irony, Peter died August 23rd on our wedding
anniversary. He is survived by his wife, Barbara,
and their sons Ricky and Gary. We will miss him.”
Send news to: Fred Williamson ’51, 23 Briarwood Drive, Old Saybrook, CT 06435; john_f_
williamson@comcast.net
52
John Winter sent the following note:
“I just returned from a three-day weekend in Troy. I accompanied my wife,
Marge, to her Russell Sage 60th Reunion. It was also
RPI’s graduation weekend and our classmate, John
Zimmer (EE), was there for his grandson’s cum
laude graduation in nuclear engineering. John was
a fellow resident of Tin Town, 22 Peck Drive, and
best man at our wedding. I had the opportunity to
attend President Jackson’s Colloquy in the amazing
EMPAC building. I had a chance to talk with the
new head of the Department of Electrical Engineering. I asked him if they were still teaching Vacuum
Tube Theory and Techniques. He replied, ‘I’ve heard
of those things.’ Our Institute is a totally different
place and we are lucky to have Shirley Jackson still
leading it upward. Looking forward to another miniReunion for the Great Class of 1952.”
Don Spanton reminded me that he, Bob Sy,
and Bob Davis were at Fort Meade from December 1952 to about July 1953 in the 756th Trans
Railway Operating Battalion. Davis and Spanton
went to Korea for a year but Sy stayed home, stayed
in the reserves, and made general. Coincidentally,
I was assigned to 2nd Army Hqs. in the 562nd Preventive Medicine Detachment, arriving there in
mid-spring of 1953 as a private after taking basic
training at Camp Pickett following my enlistment
in January 1953, and leaving there for the Brooke
Army Medical Center in October 1953, when I
received my direct commission as a second lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps.
Don also mentioned 13 Peoples Avenue, where
he was in room 6 with Jim Kullmann. James
Compton and Phil Segnitz were in room 10. Others—he couldn’t remember their room numbers—
were Don Shildneck, Mike Vanko, my roommate
John Gregory (who left RPI sometime before we
graduated), Rit Pfahl, and Larry Korb.
It was with a sad personal note that when I
opened the June 11, Albany Times Union, I found
that Mark Delamater had passed away. Mark was
not only a classmate, but also a fellow engineer in
the New York State Environmental Conservation’s
Division of Air Resources (DAR). After serving in
the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Sanders (DE-40)
during WWII, he attended the University of Ohio
and then RPI where he received his BEE. He then
worked for Westinghouse, GE, Honeywell, and
ALCO before joining Paul Berry and me at the
DAR. He was a great fast-pitch softball pitcher,
and could outplay many who were even 20 years
younger than him. He enjoyed tennis, and played
until he was 86. Mark is survived by his wife, Ruth,
and three daughters, six grandchildren, and three
great-grandchildren.
This issue of Rensselaer will arrive after the 2015
Reunion & Homecoming. I was planning to attend
and represent the Class of ’52 at the 50 Year Club
dinner. I hope that maybe one or two of you were
also able to attend.
Stu Currier dropped me a note just to say hi. I
really need to hear from the rest of you so that I can
pass along the news of your life and latest exploits
to your fellow classmates, so keep sending me news.
Send news to: Harry (Bud) Hovey ’52, 15 Sylvan Lane, Troy, NY 12180-8542; h: (518) 283-2337;
bud@wf2b.com
53
This past spring the Tappan Zee Bridge
Authority invited the RPI New Jersey
Chapter to a briefing on the building
of the new $3.9 billion bridge. This will replace the
RPI-designed bridge from the 1950s (Emil Praeger,
CE, Class of 1915). We attended with an overflow
crowd. We could see the TZB and its surroundings
from the office building that we gathered in. It was
all breathtaking.
It is a gigantic job which includes the largest
crane on the East Coast handling the laying of the
bridge foundations. The project is design-build,
which means complementary design and build to
expedite construction for this 5-½ year project.
Q-and-A included funding, the builders (550
different companies), estimated life (100 years),
use of public transportation, pedestrian and
bicycle use, lighting, security, traffic for 140,000
autos a day, etc. See www.newnybridge.com; call
1-855-TZ-Bridge.
Several RPI engineers who are working on
the project spoke to us, along with the governor’s
office (Brian.conybeare@newnybridge.com). A truly
outstanding bridge and a stimulating meeting.
Thanks, RPI New Jersey Chapter.
The four pillars of a graceful and successful
change from full-time employment to flex-time,
or retirement, are: 1) Health and Medical Issues.
Examine proximity and quality of health care.
Include activities and exercise that grow and
change with age. 2) Community. The need for
friends, family, and emotional support. 3) Intellectual Stimulation. Me-time requires mental involvement and growth. 4) Financial Consideration. Create financial plans that test your cash budget based
on various scenarios.
How do you shape up? Do you have any other
considerations/issues?
The Ferris wheel, created by George Ferris
(1893), appears to have developed a life of its own
worldwide. Since its origination there have been
nine world records for the height of the wheel.
Some of the areas they have been constructed in
are: London, England; Paris, France; Singapore;
Las Vegas, Nevada; Yokohama, Japan; Nanchang,
China. Others are scheduled for Staten Island,
N.Y., and Dubai. Have you ever been on a Ferris
wheel? Where? What are your impressions? Should
our school emblem be a Ferris wheel or the Brooklyn Bridge?
It is often difficult to try to keep up-to-date with
our class, as we as engineers and scientists are not
the best communicators. I encourage you to create
email on any subject that interests you and send it
to agaent@aol.com or call me at (914) 833-1039 to
let me know what’s going on in your life.
Also, I have a current list of our classmates and
their emails. If you want a copy, please be in touch
with me through email, phone, or snail mail.
Send news to: Arthur Goldstein ’53, 940
Sylvan Lane, Mamaroneck, NY 10543; w: (914)
833-1039; h: (914) 777-0009; cell: (914) 659-8683;
agaent@aol.com
54
We had the annual AEPi minireunion at PGA National Country
Club, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on
March 15. Representing the Class of ’54 were yours
truly (Bob Meyers), who was the event coordinator, Henry Rosenblatt, and Zev Rosen. Other
attendees were Bill Bernstein ’55, Jerry Brezner
’55, Al Hochberg ’56, Martin Rogers ’56, Barry
Steinberg ’56, Chick Hefter ’57, Mel Hirsch
’57, Gerry Schneider ’59, Steve Gideon ’59, Stu
Mencher ’60, and Andy Block ’60, plus, of course,
spouses and significant others. Setting, weather,
food, and camaraderie all were outstanding, and
the rendition of the alma mater was resounding.
We learned from Ed Scofield ’52 that Marshall
Barnes passed away July 26, with Bee Jay, his wife
of over 60 years, at his side. A WWII Army vet,
he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and
after graduating from RPI, had a successful architectural career in Connecticut and retired to Cape
Cod, where he enjoyed sailing and cycling.
In June I experienced some heart palpitations
and went to the local ER, believing that what I
needed were some adjustments to my pacemaker.
Sure enough, my diagnosis was correct, and I knew
I was in good hands when the pacemaker specialist from St. Jude turned out to be Dillon Burgess
’09, who majored in biomedical engineering. As he
adjusted my pacemaker, we swapped RPI tales and
compared our two vastly different eras.
Lou Ducote sent the following: “After 61 years,
I recently had the opportunity to visit RPI. When
I graduated in 1954, I felt I had a thorough knowledge of engineering mathematics. By September
of that year, I was activated by the military service. During my service, two memorable events
occurred. In a nighttime nor’easter storm, our
radar antenna lost some of its coupling to the tower
and began to rock with the persistent wind gusts.
I and a couple of my service buddies approached
the tower, got into position, and tied the rocking
10/7/15 4:17 PM
CLASSNOTES
antenna to the tower with tough rope that secured
the antenna. It held the system until morning
when the antenna cavalry arrived. The second
event occurred in 1956 when I witnessed the chaos
involved in the sinking of the Andrea Doria.
“I then joined the research staff of Lawrence
Radiation Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., assigned
to electronic support of tests in Nevada. I then
went to the atomic ‘cross section’ investigation and
the accompanying circuit design and measurement. My contribution consisted of circuit design
of signal detection in an ambient noise environment. Our result was detecting signal approaching
minus 120dB below background noise level.
“I met Jane sometime between Nevada and
minus 120dB. We married, whereupon Janet and
Kimberly entered the scene. All skiers in the Sierra
Nevada. I then went to Motorola just in time for
Viking I and Viking II Mars landers. I preformed
the flight design of the ‘bit synchronizer’ (in-flight
digital ‘photo’ processor) on each of the Viking
units, for our 1975 schedule. Mars landing target
of July 1976. As my children heard over the years,
‘Once in your life you’re going to Mars.’
“Next, Brookhaven National Laboratory, where
one of my electronic support projects this time was
the quantum world of the neutrino, run by Dr.
Ray Davis. He won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his
accomplishments down through the years, isolating and detecting his illusive particle, on a worldencompassing scale.
“I retired in 1996 and currently live in New Jersey with my daughters Janet, Kimberly, and families, including my grandchildren Kelsea, Quinton,
and Justin. The two boys are reviewing colleges
now. A trip to RPI came up and I volunteered.”
Send news to: Bob Meyers ’54, c/o Class Notes,
Office of Strategic Communications, Troy Building, RPI, Troy, NY 12180; bnpmeyers@aol.com
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This is being written in June, and our
Class Reunion will be over by the
time you read it. I’ll put some notes on
the Reunion in the next issue. Meanwhile, hang in
there so I’ll still have someone to write about!
Richard Bach describes himself as a recovering
lawyer. “I never should have gone to engineering
school. I have a much better aptitude for law than
engineering.” Since retiring from his environmental law practice Dick has become that further RPI
anomaly, a novelist. He has published four novels
about the same group of characters and has just
completed a fifth novel. You can check out his
books at www.richarddavidbach.com, which refers
to the Common Denominator Erotic Thriller
Series. “If you don’t like my books I’ll give you your
money back.” Dick has been slowed by a bad hip
recently and was unable to attend his grandson’s
West Point graduation. “Air travel is no fun anymore.” His wife, Virginia, was very active as an
interior decorator until a few years ago.
Frank Barone has been adjusting his life after
the death of his wife in April. Since having a back
problem years ago, he walks regularly, 30 minutes
a day. He also gardens, lifts weights, and plays tennis three times a week. “It’s senior tennis. The ball
has to bounce once, and you serve underhand. It’s
a form of tennis and badminton. We laugh a lot.”
His other activities include reading mystery books
and oil painting with a couple of buddies.
It took me a while to catch up with Bob Beck.
“It’s complicated. I’m between three or four places.” Bob spends October through mid-May with a
daughter in California who is undergoing a divorce
and has two little boys who are his pride and joy.
He also visits his other daughter in Denver, visits
his cousin in Florida, spends summers in the Finger
Lakes area, and still keeps his house in Clarence,
N.Y. “I probably should sell it, but my son lives nearby.” When in California, “I sort of watch airplanes
at Edwards Air Force Base. They keep a model of
every plane they have tested.” This includes bunker busting bombs and a 1956-era drone designed
to launch from under a B-52 and carry an atomic
weapon. Bob was planning to attend our October
Reunion. “We voted Jim Ingle many years ago to
contact the Theta Xi’s.”
Donald Bunk has worn many hats. In addition to a career that included working at IBM and
teaching engineering at Union and RPI, he earned
an M.A. in theology and is a practicing deacon in
the Evangelical Church in America. “I still fill in
as needed. I also spend considerable time on systematic theology—critical analysis of scripture.
Being an engineer in theology is a bit of an oxymoron.” Don also enjoys playing the organ and piano
accordion. He and his wife have traveled widely in
recent years, including three RPI-sponsored trips,
and have been to Russia, Iceland, Switzerland, and
Brazil among other places.
When I spoke with Don Finkelston he was resting after installing carpet on his basement stairs.
“It’s easy except for trying to contort the body.”
Don has regular coffee groups at home in Illinois
and also in Naples, Fla., where he and Joan spend
winters. “I do a lot of talking and a lot of drinking of coffee.” They make frequent visits to their
daughter in California, where a grandson has just
graduated from high school. They also visit their
other daughter, who lives in China and is a VP of
the World Bank there, working with private companies in developing countries.
Apart from some hearing problems Bill Ford
continues in good shape. He and Jane gather annually with their five children and eight grandchildren for vacations at the Outer Banks, N.C. They
live in New Jersey, “but this is much cheaper than
the Jersey shore.” They were planning to attend our
60th Reunion in October.
Bill Gove reports that he and his wife are
“pretty good, healthwise.” Remarkably, he is still
working four days a week for Pennoni Associates,
designing HVAC improvements for clients. The
firm has been growing and is now active from New
York to Florida and out to Ohio. He plans to keep
on working “I guess a couple of years.” Bill enjoyed
taking his mint-condition 1978 Oldsmobile to
car shows, but last year the car was rear-ended by
a van—at a car show! The Goves were not hurt,
but the car was beyond repair. Bill has also cut back
on his hobby of building and flying free flight (no
radio control) model airplanes, as this requires
driving long distances to the few sanctioned sites.
And there are risks: “Last year I lost one. Flew out
of sight, straight up.”
Written up as “Octogenarians on the Road
Again” by their local newspaper, Jane and Ronald
Harris marked their 80th birthdays by driving their
motor home 21,000 miles across America—a sixmonth trip from Saranac Lake to Florida to Alaska
to Nova Scotia. In Tucson they visited Chuck
Parker, who was Ron’s roommate and best man at
their wedding in January 1956. The only mishap
was a soft tire. But road construction annoys Jane:
“I try to knit while we’re driving. Sometimes it’s
impossible.” Since then they have been on the road
again, California and elsewhere. After some health
issues, Ron looks forward to resuming skiing: “My
joints are all good now. If only my lungs were a little
better.”
Harry Howansky still manages to do some
cross-country skiing and ice skating. “It’s not bad.
It all depends on what you’re doing with it.” Harry
served for nine years as an elected town councilman in Colonie, N.Y., and also as a trustee for both
the town and county library systems. After retirement from the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority, he and Arlene ran a wallpapering and painting business, and both still serve as
Eucharist ministers in their church. “We’re homebodies. We have five kids and they come around.”
Alex Ivanov has walked almost all of the Civil
War battlefields, “but I’m not quite as mobile doing
it now.” His wife, Joy, whom he met at one of Mrs.
Warren’s tea dances, walks with him, “somewhat
reluctantly.” Alex also enjoys reading, gardening, and philately but does less now with stamps:
“I dabble with it, but I don’t know what I will do
with the collection.” I just learned that Alex came
to the U.S. in 1947 after spending World War II
in Czechoslovakia. “We got out before the Soviets
came in. My father had been a White Russian, and
it would not have been healthy to stay.”
Send news to: John Schmidt ’55, 11 Honey
Lake Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540-7435; h: (609)
737-1588; theschmidts2@hotmail.com
56
Our 60th Class Reunion is one year
away. I was speaking with Jerry
Reinert, class president, about planning for the
Reunion. I offered to chair the Reunion Committee and he appointed me to that task with him as
vice chair. I have also talked with Pete Wayner
and he had agreed to serve on the committee. I
am looking for additional volunteers. Talking with
people who have organized their 60th, it looks like
the best result for getting a good turnout is to contact people through their fraternities. I am looking
for volunteers who will call or email their fraternity
brothers encouraging them to attend. I hope, with
the help of others, to make this a truly memorable
Reunion. As some of you may recall, we had just
under 100 of our classmates attend the 50th. Let’s
try to at least equal that number. The committee
and staff of the Alumni Office will be in touch
with all of you in the near future.
Jerry Reinert adds: “Greetings to all. As class
10/7/15 4:17 PM
CLASSNOTES
president, I want to remind you that in October
2016 we will be celebrating our 60th Reunion.
I know that it’s hard to believe, but it is true. We
had a fantastic turnout for our 50th, and it turned
out to be a great weekend. So I’m asking each and
every one of you to make every effort to come to
the campus to celebrate our 60th. It would be wonderful to get as large a group as possible. I hope that
all of you and your families are well. I’ll be looking
forward to seeing and greeting you. If your travels
bring you to Florida, please call; let’s get together:
(561) 362-5900, Boca Raton, acob@bellsouth.net.”
Some of you may know that one of our classmates has been honored by RPI for his service to
the Institute and accomplishment in his professional career. I had a long chat with Hugo Ferguson, who received the prestigious Davies Medal for
Engineering Achievement in 2013. The medal recognizes a Rensselaer alumnus with a distinguished
career of engineering achievement, public service,
and technical and managerial accomplishments.
He founded Dynamic Systems Inc. (DSI) and
invented the Gleeble, a powerful simulation tool
that revolutionized the field of welding. In awarding
him the honor, the dean of the college stated, “Dr.
Ferguson’s vision, leadership, and achievements in
engineering have made an indelible impact on the
manufacturing economy of our nation. It is impossible to over-emphasize the role of his leadership
and vision in pushing forward the field of welding, and his influence is clearly visible in the way
we make today’s bridges, cars, ships, and anything
else requiring welding.” The announcement of his
honor stated: “Ferguson grew up on a small dairy
farm with no money available for college. After
high school he joined the U.S. Navy, and as a result
of the G.I. Bill, a small scholarship, and a job, he
was able to put himself through college. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics, and without any
debt. He returned
to the Institute and
earned his doctoral
degree in metallurgy
in 1962. Shortly
after
graduating
with his bachelor’s
degree,
Ferguson
collaborated
with
Hugo Ferguson
Rensselaer faculty
members Warren Savage ’43 and Ernest Nippes
’38 to invent the Gleeble, a powerful metallurgical
simulation system. The Gleeble enabled researchers, for the first time, to simulate realistic welding
processes in the laboratory under realistic thermomechanical conditions. The breakthrough served
as a foundation for many key advances in materials
science and engineering, and more broadly helped
to pioneer the emerging field of process simulations. Ferguson founded DSI in Poestenkill, N.Y.,
in 1957, and shortly thereafter developed the first
commercial Gleeble system. The Gleeble evolved
over the years, and in the 1980s was re-engineered
to incorporate computer control of testing and data
acquisition. The many products Ferguson brought
to market have revolutionized the welding industry, and enabled new research requiring previously
unattainable time-temperature conditions. He
holds 20 patents. In 1999 he was inducted as a fellow of the American Welding Society. He now lives
in Clearwater, Fla., with his wife, Evelyn. Three of
his sons graduated from RPI, and he has endowed
the Hugo ’56 and Evelyn Ferguson Fellowship as
well as scholarships in the Department of Materials
Science and Engineering and in the Department of
Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy.
I finally got Cris Hall to sit down with me and
talk about his life after Rensselaer. Chris and I were
in Alpha Phi Omega together and have kept in
touch over the years. After he graduated he went to
work for the New York State Department of Public
Works, where his father had worked for years. He
then spent two years with the Corps of Engineers
in England and Germany. He returned to work
with the DPW, and later DOT, bridge department,
for over 30 years. Near the end of his career he
spent some time designing repairs to the locks of
the New York State Barge Canal. He lived in his
parents’ old home until 2005, when he purchased
a town house in Troy. He continues to be active
in his church and many civic affairs. He traveled a
great deal internationally, with his favorite trip to
Turkey in 2006. He continues to serve as a class
representative to the 50 Year Club.
I received a nice long email from John Noyes
about his life after RPI, and what he is doing in
retirement. He wrote, “Well, it is over 58 years
since we spent time in civil engineering classes at
RPI. I, and my wife Joyce, moved back to New York
from Florida this past summer. Yes, weatherwise, it
was a big mistake, but family has a way of bringing
us back home when get to the point that we might
need some help. We did come north for about four
months in the summers, as we own a cottage on
the Great Sacandaga Lake. We are now living in
Queensbury, N.Y., in a rental, where we don’t have
to do any maintenance, and that is a great change
for both of us. We are both in very good health,
even though we do see too many doctors. I guess
we are into the preventative stage of life and we
hope to continue for a while. My wife’s mother
lives close by, and she is in her 99th year. Our married daughter, her two married children, and their
two children (our great-grandchildren) all live in
this area, along with other relatives. I took a job
out of RPI with ALCOA, Aluminum Company
of America, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Therefore, in July
1956, I moved there from South Glens Falls, N.Y. I
took a job in their Construction Department, and
my first assignment was in their Structural Design
Department, even though I at that time had hoped
to be in field construction. I started on the drafting
board, as we did in those days, and worked my way
up from there. I came back home to marry Joyce
in the fall of 1956, as Pittsburgh was really a new
big place for me and I was lonesome, of course. As
I progressed at ALCOA, in 1961, I was transferred
to Suriname, South America, to the construction of a large earthen dam that was necessary for
ALCOA to have electricity to construct an aluminum refining and smelting plant. The project
A small group of Pi Kappa Alpha brothers
from the Class of ’57 met in Wallingford,
Conn., in July to celebrate a milestone
birthday. From left, are Dave Coffin ’57,
Ralph Wilson ’57, Lou Jentzen ’57, and
John Campbell ’57. For more, see the
Class of ’57 column.
was in the jungle, 4 degrees north of the equator,
and we really got used to wonderful warm humid
weather, as the construction was a 24-hour per day
project. I enjoyed the opportunity, and after two
years, we returned to Pittsburgh. From then on I
was in design and worked up the ladder to the head
of the department. 1988 was a difficult year for
businesses, and the company decided to out-source
the design of new and revised manufacturing
facilities. I took retirement after 32 years of service.
However, I did work for a local consultant until July
1991, and that is when we retired to Florida.
“In Florida I found many volunteer opportunities and I remained busy. My primary activity was
genealogy research, where I researched my own
family and worked in the Sarasota Selby Library
and the Genealogical Society of Sarasota to help
others do their research. In addition, we became
involved with our church and singing in the choir
was the activity that my wife and I continued to
do as we had done together since we were married.
“I am still getting used to this move, as with
age, moves like this take a bit longer to sink in. I
keep my mind active by playing bridge, and my
wife keeps our social calendar full with family and
friend gatherings. I have not kept up with the evolution of electronics, but I can use my tower/desk
computer (no portables and handheld devices). We
really still depend on our hard-wired telephone, but
we do have OnStar in the car.
“One other side note. In 2006, my wife and I
celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in the
church where we were married in South Glens
Falls. Verne McGuffey was my best man in 1956,
and he and Barbara came to our 50th to help us
celebrate. Otherwise, I have not been in contact
with RPI alums in all these years. I am glad to read
about our class, as it really was a great bunch of
guys (no girls in those days).”
I got a letter from Dave Bonnar, who wrote, “I
recently got mail from the baseball coach on the
team’s progress. I was a baseball team member in
1953, 4 and 5. I graduated in 1956 with a BSAE.
10/7/15 4:17 PM
CLASSNOTES
I worked for 48 years in California with Douglas
and Boeing designing rockets for NASA and the
government. I am now retired in Viera, Fla. I play
lots of tennis. We have two leagues here in Brevard
County near Cape Canaveral.
“Last December, we entered a Florida state
doubles tournament and won the Gold Medal in
Ft. Myers. That qualified us to play in the National
Seniors Sports Program this summer. Sort of like
the Senior Olympics with many sports competitions. It is held every two years; this year in Minneapolis in July for a week. We entered to compete as
the representative from Florida, 80-84 age bracket.
“I loved RPI, being from Newton, Mass., and
played sports there, too. I was in Hunt 3, and Pi
Kappa Alpha. But, no more associations with
Greeks. Spending 48 years in CA working and
traveling the West was the life. I have not been
back to RPI, but flew over a few times, and see the
great new buildings and larger campus now to the
better, I hope.”
Got a brief email from Dave Richards, who
wrote, “My parents taught me how to play contract
bridge when I was a teenager. And, no, this ‘talent’
did not impinge upon my studies at RPI. Unfortunately, my playing through the years has been sporadic. I taught my wife to play. Anyways, long story
short, I have been a ‘director’ of three weekly duplicate senior citizen groups for more than 10 years.
No big deal, but it helps me keep track of the days
of the week! Elsie is very helpful in administrating
the activities. A different world. I don’t know about
the 60th anniversary. I’ll keep it in mind.”
Keep those letters and emails coming in and
start your planning for our 60th next October.
Send news to: Frank Griggs ’56, 30 Bradt
Road, Rexford, NY 12148; h: (518) 810-2957;
fgriggsjr@verizon.net
57
On July 10, I joined Mary and Lou
Jentzen at the Farms Country Club in
Wallingford, Conn., for the mini dinner
celebration of Lou’s big 80th. “Mini” as it was a small
group of his ’57 PiKA brothers and a prelude to a big
barbecue for family and friends the following day.
The group included Teddy and Dave Coffin, down
from Harvard, Mass., and Jan and Ralph Wilson,
who traveled from Westfield, N.Y. There was some
great storytelling around the bar before and during
the round table dinner. Mary and Lou regaled us
with the time they spent in Tehran, Iran, from 1976
to 1978, before the revolution there, upgrading Tehran’s long distance and international telephone system as part of an AT&T support contract with the
Iranian government. Lou, now retired, had an interesting career with the “Ma Bell Tel” system, starting with Southern New England Telephone, which
morphed into their tour in Iran. Lou retired from the
Bell System in 1988, got his master’s in teaching in
1995, then taught in the Cheshire, Conn., school
system before moving to Virginia, then Ormond
Beach, Fla., in 2001. Lou is an avid golfer, always
active in their church activities, and tended their
number of citrus trees when in Florida. They moved
back to Cheshire in 2013 to be near their two sons,
Lou Jr. and Peter and their families.
Dave Coffin is retired from the
Radar Systems group of Raytheon,
spending time at their farm and
apple orchard in Harvard, Mass.,
with winters split between Arizona
and Florida. Ralph Wilson is retired
from Welch’s Grape Juice Co. Ralph
and Jan have lived in the same house
since they were married and are very
active in their church and the doings
of Westfield, N.Y. It was a fun evening!
For 20 years Caroline and I have
spent a good part of our winters in
the Naples, Fla., area. While there
we see Peg and Tom Mason ’55
and Lynne and Ed Wilcox ’60, both
Pikes. Tom was my big brother, and
Ed my little brother at the ole PiKA
Three generations: Dave Messer ’60 and his son,
house on Burdett Ave., and both
Paul Jean Messer ’90, recently donated a paver at the
are avid golfers. Tom is very active
East Campus Athletic Village in honor of Paul Jean’s
with their bevy of grandkids; Ed still
daughter, Kelsea Messer ’15, who graduated in May
active with his M&A practice. We
with a bachelor’s degree in biology, after having played
visited Tom and Peg in June when
field hockey for four years.
they celebrated their 60th wedding
anniversary—which was a terrific
party!!
Send news to: J.R. “Buzz” Campbell ’57, 858 1 Division III national title.
Washington St., Ste. 302, Dedham, MA 02026;
Leo was with Xerox for 27 years, the U.S. Navy
JRCampbel2@gmail.com
for 33 years, and the annual Wegmans LPGA
Championship as facilities director, a volunteer
I received an email from Jo E. David- position, for 15 years. A Hat Trick.
son, who began his college experiThe change in venue for the tournament was
ence with us in September of 1958, quite a loss, not only for Leo, but also for the rest
but left RPI during our sophomore year, transfer- of the Rochester, N.Y., golfing community. On the
ring to Wayne State University in his hometown bright side, he continues to play golf with passion
of Detroit. He later transferred to Arizona State and with his new “spare time” has more opportuniUniversity where he received his EE degree. Jo has ties to realize his lifetime goal of “shooting his age.”
written a book titled Far from the Flagpole: An Engi- This year the LPGA was sponsored by KPMG at
neer Tells His Story, a vocational counseling book. Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y.
He wrote the autobiography, which concentrates
Along with golf, Leo and his wife, Jeri, still enjoy
on his work experiences, with the aim of enlight- traveling and spending time with their grandchilening high school students about engineering and dren. Later this year, they will celebrate their 50th
encouraging them to consider a career in the field. anniversary. Goodness, how time flies.
The book retells Jo’s career highlights through
Also heard from Bob Diefenbacher (Tau Kapselected case studies and includes information pa Epsilon), another U.S. Navy guy. Bob had a full
about all the countries where he worked and the slate of activities scheduled for this summer. First
interesting people he met during his career.
up was participation in the Heritage Chorale eightMichael Smolin reports that he attended the day concert tour of Ireland in late June-early July.
RPI Summer Garden Party in the Silicon Valley. Tour cities included Galway, Derry, and Dublin.
At that time he donated mint copies of the Poly
At the end of July, he participated for the eighth
(May ’54 through May ’55) to the RPI archives. time in Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week at
The donation also included a couple of copies of Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., as a volthe Bachelor from that time.
unteer “company adviser” to 400 HS juniors and
In need of your input for future columns.
seniors. The participants learn about American
Send news to: Jim Augstell ’58, 22 General’s free enterprise and much more in what many kids
Way, Clifton Park, NY 12065; h: (518) 383-1439; describe as “the best week of their life so far.” Bob is
augstj@juno.com
one of 24 advisers each week, who spend 10 hours
per day with the kids helping them compete to be
I heard from several of our class mem- the “top company” in a college-level business simubers. Leo Laskowski (Chi Phi) wrote lation and competitive marketing program. The
that he met with RPI’s baseball coach, kids are formed into several companies, where no
Karl Steffen, and watched the talented 2015 RPI one knows any of the other kids at the start.
baseball team play in the NCAA NY regional
They hear outstanding motivational speakers
tournament. Unfortunately, RPI eventually lost out during the week and celebrate Friday night with
to SUNY Cortland, which went on to win the No. an emotional wrap-up awards banquet. It’s one of
58
59
10/7/15 4:18 PM
CLASSNOTES
his favorite weeks of the summer because the kids
are so responsive. They have graduated 30,000 students over the 25+ years of the program.
If I might add a personal editorial note, I think
such programs as this one are of tremendous benefit to today’s high school students. We all should
do more, along the same lines, as skills, talents, and
interests dictate.—John.
Bob is also involved in coordinating the 60th
anniversary of his high school graduating class of
Southold, Long Island, N.Y. Of the 35 graduates,
29 are still with us. Heck of a percentage; must be
the salt water and ocean breezes.
My wife reminded me that Jim Angus (Theta
Xi) celebrated his birthday (77, 78, 79???) on Friday
night during our class dinner. A robust version of
“Happy Birthday” was forthcoming from his table.
Best wishes to Jim and Sue—and their family.
On a more personal note, I am pleased to report
the re-establishment of Delta Kappa Epsilon at
RPI. After a lapse of 50 years, RPI extended us the
invitation. An initial membership of 17 has been
established, and a stand-alone, dedicated, residential dormitory has been rented from RPI. DKE is
one of the four oldest fraternities on campus, originally established in 1867.
Send news to: John Lindsay ’59, c/o Class
Notes, Office of Strategic Communications, Troy
Building, RPI, Troy, NY 12180; britcards@alum.rpi.edu
60
In my previous class notes I wrote
about the holiday dinner that Jane
and Dick Rittelmann hosted. I
inadvertently stated that one of the guests was Joe
Abbott ’61. Joe Clancy ’61 was the guest. My apologies to both Joes.
Joe Clancy spoke at Dick Rittelmann’s celebration of life memorial honoring Dick’s many wonderful contributions to his family, his business, and
to Rensselaer.
Among our many Rensselaer volunteers from
the Class of 1960, Roger Orloff and Dave Messer
deserve a shout-out. Both have chaired the Annual
Fund Drive and Roger received the Rensselaer
Alumni Association’s highest award—the Distinguished Service Award—last October. Dave is
retired after 34 years in drug regulatory affairs for
Sterling Drug/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals. His son and
granddaughter—as of this May—make a threegeneration legacy at Rensselaer. See photo, page 50.
Costel Denson, Lehigh ’56 and Rensselaer
M.S. ’60, received an honorary degree from Lehigh
on May 17, 2015. Dr. Denson is the first AfricanAmerican student to graduate from Lehigh. He
also has a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. He
had a successful career in industry and academia.
Stay well, old friends. As I write this, I’m looking forward to our Reunion. Hey, I’ll probably stay
awake until 10:00 p.m.
Send news to: Bill Blanchfield ’60, 2610 Sunset Avenue, Utica, NY 13502-6009; bblanchfield@
hsettlement.com
61
Jay Webb, our class representative
and political savant, reminded me that
our 55th Reunion is coming up in October 2016. At
the moment, nothing formal has been planned, but
he has asked me to solicit comments and suggestions
on what, if anything, we might do. In the past, 55th
Class Dinners have often joined with other classes to
share their dinner. That certainly saves a lot of work
and would be one way to have a 55th Dinner. I was
in the area and attended the last two Reunions in
Troy, and the sporting and other collegiate events
were worth the price of admission (free or a very
nominal amount of money).
In the field of working longevity, Murray Edelberg is our current flag bearer. After working for
Wang Labs for about 10 years, he established
himself as an independent consultant. His main
customer for the last 23 years has been PepsiCo
International, located in Purchase, N.Y. He used
to travel internationally extensively for PepsiCo
but currently he sticks pretty close to home on his
four-day week in Purchase. He returns to Carlisle,
Mass., each week for a long weekend. His software
acumen has been noted by PepsiCo and they have
utilized his skills in finance, marketing, sales, and
accounting.
You might wonder when will they fire him? Never, in my opinion. This is the era of diversity, and
workers at Murray’s age (you all have a suspicion
of what this is) are very few and far between. And
above all, he gets the job done. Privately, Murray
runs (not walks) about two miles every day and is
looking forward to competing in the Old Home
Day 5-mile Marathon in Carlisle, Mass. He still has
his original knees. Even his automobiles have longlife characteristics. Commuting to Purchase runs
up the miles, and Murray’s last two cars showed
205 and 349 miles on the odometers when he disposed of them.
Send news to: Brian McManus ’61, 2109 Hidden Creek Road, Fort Worth, TX 76107-3510;
brian44@sbcglobal.net
62
I lived with my friend Richard Abrahams in Hunt I, Room 22, during my
sophomore year. Rich wanted a place
to store perishable foods, so he bought an ancient
refrigerator (wood frame, condenser on top) for $10,
and he and some sturdy students hauled it upstairs
and pushed it into his clothes closet. Some snitch
notified housing office personnel, and the refrigerator wound up at the W2SZ amateur radio shack.
Jose Castro (BEE ’62, M.S. Mgmt. ’69) wrote to
say that his wife and he traveled in April 2014 to
Normandy, France. It was the 70th anniversary of
the Allied landings. Jose included a photo of himself standing in the American military cemetery in
Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. The
trip was organized by a number of alumni associations. Jose was the only RPI graduate to attend.
Joe Corliss sent me a beautiful letter two-thirds
of which he dedicates to his involvement in hapless
(hopeless?) footfall at RPI and football at Abington
(Mass.) High School near Baaston [sic]. Joe was
voted MVP on a 1961 team that failed to win any
games. During a practice drill, he knocked out two
teammates. Several years ago, he was designated as
one of the top 10 athletes from Abington HS for
the past 75 years. Joe worked for the U.S. Public
Health Service for 44 years and was awarded five
patents “of his own.” He has worn his RPI ring for
more than 50 years. Enough said?
Send news to: Jay Winderman ’62, 1868
Bridgeport Ave., Claremont, CA 91711-2520; h:
(909) 624-9985; jbwrw@earthlink.net
63
I’ve heard that Stanley Robinson,
who earned his master’s in management in ’63, has written a new book,
The Underside of Management—What You Can’t
Learn in College. The book, released on August
9, explores the way negativism serves to hinder
achieving set objectives. Dr. Robinson also earned
his doctorate in management from the Lally School
of Management in 1994. Stan’s career included
serving in the Navy and retiring from Johnson &
Johnson as the VP for international operations.
Classmate Tyrone Duncan was named a fellow
of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). After Rensselaer, he earned a master’s and doctorate in EE from Stanford. Ty is a professor of mathematics at the University of Kansas.
As the Class of 2016 decides on buying a class
ring (if at all), we should remember that in 1961 it
was the Class of ’63’s Ring Committee that recommended standardizing the ring design. Committee
members Mike Spear, Juan Rionda, Jeff Lipton,
Jerry Li, Nick Humber, and Walt Costello felt
that a standard design with only one shank changing each year would help keep rings affordable. If
you still have your ring, our class motto is Audeste
Proficere. My high school Latin only helps a little:
We “Dare to Progress.”
Grades for the spring semester of 1961 showed
that 38 students earned 4.0 averages; of those we
had eight: Michael Aronson, Joseph Covello,
Edgar DeMeo, Richard Hirko, Richard Mateosian, Roger Mester, George Svetlichny, and
Ralph Thompson. Congratulations, guys! I think
that I was on the dean’s “other” list. Seems that
Chi Phi was the top fraternity with a GPA of 2.760
while all students averaged a GPA of 2.393. The
fraternity with the lowest GPA got just over a 2.0.
You all know which one that was.
Homecoming weekend that October in 1961
saw Bill Edwards, a halfback on the football team,
turn in an outstanding pass defense against Union.
Bill was named Athlete of the Week for his effort.
That same weekend the “new” Science Center was
dedicated as Mr. Erik Jonsson ’22 cut the “ribbon,”
actually a steel chain, with an acetylene torch. I
wonder, would we do that today? President Kennedy sent congratulations. As far as we students
were concerned the weekend’s attraction was Mr.
“Swing and Sway” Sammy Kaye’s big band at the
Field House. Sophomore class president Earl Sedlik ’64 commented that a professional decorator
draped the Field House in a Halloween theme.
Tickets were $5.50. And it was only 54 years ago!
Gentlemen, remember to send your promised
notes. Thanks.
Send news to: Jack Titley ’63, 151 Hamilton
Ave., Watertown, CT 06795-2402; h: (860) 2743897; rpi63@specialops.com
10/7/15 4:18 PM
CLASSNOTES
Bob Bard ’64 stands with his prototype
for a self-adjusting Christmas tree stand,
which locks the tree in place with no
tightening screws. He received a patent for
the device in March.
64
As I write this column, my wife and
I have just returned from a week in
Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik. It
was a really interesting trip; Iceland’s topography is
like nothing you have ever seen. Almost all of it is
volcanic, and much of the surface really does look
like the surface of the moon! Fascinating—and
pollution free. All the buildings are heated by hot
geothermal water pumped up from deep underground. If you have a chance, go. An easy flight—
and almost 24 hours of sunshine—in the summer!
And—while I am writing about myself—I
had dinner with Richard Koser (rkoser@att.net)
recently. He and I were the only ’64 guys at a dinner with a bunch of our Westchester County (N.Y.)
alum friends. The bad news is that we were the oldest two there!
And, speaking of Iceland, I had a long note
from my old pool-playing buddy, Tim Russell, who
remembered that back in his Army Reserve days
(almost 25 years ago) his unit had missions in Iceland. He had always hoped for one of the two-week
tours there, but no luck. But he has no complaints,
since he did get to see the isle of Grenada on a civic
action project building a medical clinic up in the
mountains behind St. George’s. He and his wife,
Chris, took a break last winter and they spent most
of February in the Tampa, Fla., area. En route they
stopped off in Aiken, S.C., to visit his brother and
later ran over to Ft. Pierce, Fla., to see his sister.
They’re both St. Lawrence grads—maybe driving
past RPI growing up on trips ferrying those two to
St. L was what first got him interested in the ’Tute!
Once back in PA (Upper Dublin, in Delaware Valley near Ft. Washington), life resumed at the usual
busy pace—Chris serves on the board of Historic
Rittenhouse Town, a national historic site honoring the site of the first paper mill in British North
America (1690). She also heads up their church’s
Flower Guild and likes to tend their flowering
shrubs at home as well as doing flower arranging.
She did the flower arrangements for a recent Rittenhouse Town fundraising event featuring Chris
Matthews of MSNBC. Tim is continuing his
woodworking hobby, and at church he is chair of
the Building and Hardscapes Commission. Family
doings included a wedding—granddaughter Nicole
married Dan in October (first of his grandchildren
to tie the knot)! Her older brother Kevin relocated
to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, early last year but
made it back to the wedding. Internationalism
and remote work via computer is alive and well—
Kevin works for a Swedish company on a project
in Washington, D.C., and their son Brian manages
his staff in Philadelphia, Texas, and India from his
home office in Bucks County. Find out more by
emailing him at trrussell@inovera.com.
Del Webster wrote in to report that all is well
with him in sunny (and hot) Florida. He reports
that his daughter spent the Memorial Day weekend with him, traveling from Vermont where she
lives with her husband and three sons. The oldest
just finished his freshman year with a 4.0 at Saint
Rose near Albany. She had not been to Florida for
over 20 years, and enjoyed the warm weather and
palm trees. A good father/daughter bonding experience. Del will give you more details if you email
him at commodore@embarqmail.com.
Barry Wintner wrote in to say that he and his
wife recently attended her 50th Reunion from
Cornell, which coincided with Cornell’s 150th
anniversary of its founding (note: not as old as the
’Tute!). They attended some lectures, toured the
art museum (where Margaret Bourke-White’s photos were on display), the rare books section of the
library (Gutenberg’s efforts are presented), a service
of remembrance at Sage Chapel (an unchanging
gem on a campus that is growing all the time), the
various gardens, and the Andrew White Museum.
There was music everywhere; Cornell is so wealthy
musically with many singing groups, including
“The Waiters,” the most famous of them all. You
can get much more info from him about the Cornell trip and much, much more by emailing him at
baloo222@verizon.net.
I can also report than Danny Gold finally
retired after 40+ continuous years with IBM. He
and Jeanne sold their house in Westchester County
and have actually moved into the building next to
my wife and me—on the East River in New York
City. Congratulate him at dannygold05@gmail.com.
Bob Bard wrote to say that he has just been
awarded a U.S. patent for a novel Christmas tree
stand that he believes will make all others obsolete. The patent number is 8,978,295 B2. Check it
out—and get more info from him at bobabard1942
@yahoo.com.
I had a sad note from Murray Calichman who
reported that his freshman-year roommate (and
high school friend) Jack Mastronardi passed away
on June 3. Jack, a member of PiKA, had been co-
captain of the basketball team, was a pilot during
the Vietnam War, and later had a successful career
with Delta Air Lines. Murray has more information; you can reach him at gbcmurray@verizon.net.
Finally, had a nice note from Charlie Wendel,
who reports that after RPI, he went to law school in
Washington, D.C., at night while working as a patent examiner. Later he worked at the USPTO in
the Office of the Solicitor (general counsel’s office),
and in the corporate office at Union Carbide. In
private practice he was for a number of years at
Parkhurst & Wendel in Alexandria, Va. Charlie
retired eight years ago. He married a fellow lawyer
who became an administrative trademark judge at
the USPTO. She’s retired, too, and they now spend
time at their health club, enjoying reading (he’s a
fan of, among others, H.L. Mencken, Hunter S.
Thompson, and Patrick O’Brian). Other activities
include taking literature classes at the local community college, enjoying his grandchildren (presently 12, 9, and 6). He is also a big Formula One
fan (which his wife barely tolerates). Find out more
from Charlie at candhwendel@comcast.net.
Send news to: Michael Wellner ’64, 25 Sutton
Place South, Apt. 3-K, New York, NY 10022-2458;
h: (212) 486-3064; captmike46@aol.com
65
Arne Aho has retired as Dana Distinguished Professor of Architecture and
program director at Norwich University. He also served with NCARB and the Vermont
State Board of Architects. He and his wife, Nancy,
now live in Boothbay and Damariscotta, Maine,
where they enjoy sailing, skiing, rowing, and paddling. Arne teaches with the Coastal Senior College.
He can be reached at ahoarcht@myfairpoint.net or
PO Box 4, Damariscotta, ME 04543.
David Korn reported that after his graduation
from RPI he earned a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from NYU and stayed there seven years working on transonic airfoil design. He then switched
to computer science and worked for 37 years at Bell
Labs and AT&T Research, where he is best known
as the creator of KornShell, ksh, a popular UNIX
shell. For the past year he has been working as a
software engineer for Google in New York City,
where two of his three sons also work. His third
son is a partner at Goldman Sachs. They all live
in Greenwich Village. David’s wife, Susan, whom
he met during his senior year at RPI, is a guidance
counselor at a Greenwich Village public school.
This issue of the class notes comes out after
our 50th Reunion. Our class reunion committee
of Rick Gordon, Ken Hoffman, Jack Meagher,
Jim Stevenson, Jay Stolzenthaler, and Howard
Wainer worked hard to plan a weekend well worth
the investment in time and travel to attend. I was
hoping to reconnect with many of you there, and
can report on the event in the next issue.
Send news to: Erik Pettersen ’65, 135 Island
View Drive, Annapolis, MD 21401-7225; w: (410)
571-0789; erik.pettersen@comcast.net
66
This issue, I’ve so much to share with
you of the big or fun variety, some-
10/7/15 4:19 PM
CLASSNOTES
times both. First, though, I’ll dispense with preliminaries. On August 13, lucky Bonnie Hepburn
was adjudged cancer-free. I didn’t share with you
all that I had Stage 3, so the news was especially
delightful.
What does one do with such news? To be completely honest, a bit of Bulleit was involved as an
immediate response, although there was no dancing on the bar. My new favorite watering spot has
an irregular polygon bar with level changes. Any
dancing thereon seemed ill-advised.
Longer term after receipt of such good news, one
could plan to make it worthwhile for others that
she’s occupying a certain amount of square footage
on the planet. I’m truly working on that.
Also, one could team-plan the best 50th
Reunion get-together yet held in Troy on October 6
through 9, 2016. Maybe even the elusive Bill Purdy
will appear. That is my hope. Who will commit to
bringing Purdy?
The 50th is no minor event. We will be honored
in a major way, including at a private dinner.
I’d like to see some really excellent activities.
Prizes would of course be required.
How about a pool party? I don’t mean the kind
disallowed in the rules for freshmen we received
before appearing on campus. Nude jumping into
the pool from the balcony was prohibited. (The
rule caught my attention in a what-the-heck-haveI-gotten-myself-into way.) Rather, I envision our
getting together to shoot pool. Given the wideranging skills of our classmates, there is probably a
Minnesota Fats among us.
Alternatively, we could take a class cruise on
the Erie Canal. Who among us doesn’t thrill at the
sight of locks in operation?
Or we could get dancing lessons from some of
our advanced dancers, you know who you are, and
do something other than stand still and shake to
’60s music. Oops, forgot. It was slosh and shake,
wasn’t it, back in the days when the New York
state drinking age was 18 and many parties were
awash in hops-based beverages. I suspect we have
classmates who do nothing on a dance floor but a
slow foxtrot-shuffle and do that only when goaded
by their wives. Wouldn’t a Funky Chicken lesson
improve your lives?
This might be the time for those of you who’ve
been wanting to learn more about number theory
to realize your secret dream, too. Back in 1991, prolific classmate Rob Kanigel wrote The Man Who
Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan (ruhMAN’-oo-jahn’).
Rob’s book has been made into a film starring
Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons. Since the famous
mathematician’s name doesn’t exactly roll off one’s
tongue, the film’s title has been shortened to “The
Man,” etc. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Wouldn’t you like to view the
film at EMPAC during our Reunion?
Denise Done (dohn) in the Alumni Office is
the point person for bringing together our 50th
Reunion. Please email her at doned@rpi.edu or
call her at (518) 276-4132 to join the team. She’s a
most enthusiastic and organized person and will be
fun to work with. Let her know you’d like to serve
on the planning committee. We’ll organize into
groups with specific charters.
I’d like to make sure, for example, that every
single classmate is contacted and notified of how
much we’d like to see him or her. Our database has
some gaps, so sleuths, er, data mining experts, are
needed.
Money should be involved, too. I’m thinking
more of the go-big-or-go-home variety. The reason
we’ve done so well financially in life has a lot to do
with our RPI educations. Any donation from this
moment on through the actual Reunion is counted
as part of our 50th Reunion gift, FYI.
Think in terms of what your entire RPI education cost and go from there. Most of us civilians
earned that back during our first two years of work.
Figure out your own gifting algorithm. That will be
part of the fun. Avoid the null set.
Please send news. More important, please cherish every day you’re gracing the world with your
presence, and don’t take it for granted.
Send news to: Bonnie Hepburn ’66, 549 S.
Palm Ave. #4, Sarasota, FL 34236-6760, h: (978)
264-4088; hepburn@moneysense.win.net
67
Willdan Group Inc. announced the
expansion of its leadership in energy
and sustainability services with the
appointment of Edward Saltzberg, Ph.D., as senior
vice president, in January. A 30-year energy and
environmental industry expert and adviser, he is
taking responsibility for diversification and expansion of the firm’s energy and environmental programs, and economic development services.
Your 50th Reunion Committee is asking as
many classmates as possible to produce individualized/distinctive “RPI memories/stories” documents
that can be shared with other members of our class.
Over the next several issues of our class notes, we
will publish excerpts prepared by members of your
Reunion Committee.
We start with one from your 50th Reunion
Committee chair, Lou Bellardo: “I decided to run
for freshman class treasurer and my roommate volunteered to be my campaign manager. He thought
a campaign slogan of Broads, Booze, and Bellardo
would be a hit, but I nixed that idea. I think my
posters had some version of “RPI” (responsibility,
progress, integrity). Needless to say I didn’t win; I
don’t even know how many votes I received.
“In the spring of our freshman year, I pledged
Alpha Chi Rho and made it. The basement of the
‘Crow house’ had a very low ceiling. I was one of
the few who did not have to duck to get from the
staircase into the room. We had some loud parties
(maybe that’s where the hearing went) down there.
I learned later on that Harry, our cook, was really
good; that was a huge plus for my fraternity experience.
“I was also accepted into the IBM co-op program in the spring. In those years, the co-ops went
to school in the summer (1964) following freshman
year and took the first semester sophomore courses.
I did so and lived in the fraternity house. There
were two of us—Bill Martinyak and me—in the
house that summer. John Carroll, Nick Donofrio,
Ray Hockedy, Charles Powers, Art Reilly, and
others were also part of the co-op program and
attended classes that summer.
“My best semester at RPI was spring of senior
year. All my courses seemed to ‘click’ and I remember spending a lot of time on the roof of the fraternity house enjoying the spring weather. During
that semester, I decided to apply to Stanford Grad
School. I was accepted and was offered a research
assistantship. After too many years of snow and
cold in Jamestown and Troy, I opted for California
and have been here ever since.”
Send news to: Stu Berg ’67, 99 Hickory Circle,
Ithaca, NY 14850-9610; h: (607) 273-9216; stuart
berg@alum.rpi.edu
68
Classmate Steven Ehrlich’s firm,
Ehrlich Architects, was awarded the
2015 Architectural Firm Award by
the American Institute of Architects (AIA) at its
national convention in Atlanta this spring. The
award is the highest honor that the AIA bestows on
an architectural firm in recognition of a practice that
has consistently produced distinguished architecture
for at least 10 years. The firm was cited for its ways
of blending California modernism with multicultural and vernacular design elements in its building
designs in subtle and complex ways. The firm has
designed a wide variety of award-winning residential,
commercial, institutional, and educational buildings
that contributed to the Architectural Firm Award.
(For more, see page 18.)
Barry Nussbaum was elected president of the
American Statistical Association for 2017 at its
annual meeting in May. Prior to the start of his
term he will serve one year on the organization’s
board of directors in 2016 as president-elect. In
2007 he was elected a fellow of the ASA in recognition of his contributions to statistics. Barry joined
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
in 1975 and has been the chief statistician at the
agency since 2007. His work at the EPA involves
using statistical analysis to promote health, determine environmental policy, and enforce regulations. After getting his bachelor’s degree at RPI,
he continued his education at George Washington
University for master’s and doctorate degrees.
Rensselaer trustee Ed Zander recently joined
the board of directors of MobileCause. The organization provides cloud-based online fundraising and communications software for nonprofit
groups that improves the efficiency of their fundraising operations. Ed is presently serving on the
boards of Seagate Technology and NetSuite after
a career spanning mainframes, microcomputers,
and mobile wireless devices that included highlevel executive positions at Sun Microsystems and
Motorola.
Marvin Bubie has published a revised and
expanded edition of his book, On the Trails of Henry Hudson and our Dutch Heritage Through Municipal Seals in New York, about the Dutch historical
features in New York state municipal seals. He is
currently working on a book about seals related to
railroad history and has published two other books
on municipal seals with historical connections to
10/7/15 4:19 PM
CLASSNOTES
the Erie Canal and the American Revolution.
In retirement Dave DeWitt has been active in
promoting manufacturing and STEM education.
He founded Phase65, a media/communications
company that uses its website and social media for
this purpose and makes frequent visits to the ME
Department on campus related to the Manufacturing Innovation Learning Laboratory (MILL)
and STEM education. Dave became involved
with manufacturing at an early age through a
family business and spent his professional career
in the fields of manufacturing, automation, and
plant management. He now lives in southern New
Hampshire with his wife, Judy (Sage ’68).
Basil Washo, who received his doctorate in
chemical engineering in 1968, is still publishing
scientific papers. A skiing accident in 2007 left him
partially paralyzed and forced him to end his college chemistry and physics teaching career. Look
for his scientific papers on the Fermi Lab SPIRES
website and in the American Physics Journal.
Send news to: Mal Crawford ’68, 19 Ellison
Road, Lexington, MA 02421-7407; K1MC-Mal@
earthlink.net
69
Ralph Rascati retired from Kennesaw College (Georgia) last July.
He started as an associate professor of biology in 1985, where he was one of the
first to promote undergraduate research. In 1997,
he became chair of the
Department of Biology
and Physics and served in
that role until 2002, when
he became associate vice
president for academic
affairs. In 2006, he added
the position of dean of
University College and
served in that capacity
Ralph Rascati
until January 2014, when
he became founding dean of the Honors College.
Send news to: Henry Scheuer ’69, P.O. Box
535, Madison Square Station, New York, NY
10159-0535; Hscheuer@janney.com
70
Since it is our 45th, how many
remember the Incandescent Apricot,
Aunt Annie’s Garage (the first head
shop in Troy), the Music Shack, the best Sunday
night pizza from Gabriel’s Whitehouse Pizza delivered right to you in the Frosh Dining Hall; who
went to Alberto’s for veal parm, to Thornie’s or
to the Volcano for ???. Did you go to the Inside
Out Coffee House, the birthplace of the November 18th Movement? Where was your first drink
in Troy—the Hendrick Hudson Happy Hour or
at Petar’s, the Riveria, or Paul’s? Mine was at the
HHHH and it was straight vodka on ice (ugh).
And now on to updates:
Dave Bivans updated the family adventures
in central Maine. “For the past year Karen and I
have been a duet singing folk songs every month
at a coffeehouse in Belgrade Lakes, the location
On Golden Pond was written about. You remember
coffeehouses. In May we also sang three concerts
around Central Maine with the Skowhegan Community Chorus in German, French, and English.
“As our first winter in Maine, it was a real baptismal. This past February was the coldest single
month on record in Maine, at ~6 degrees average, almost 5 degrees on average lower than the
previous record month. We had, by my count, 125
inches of snow and missed an expected additional
24 by about 50 miles.
“Still trying to sell our property in PA. Once we
do, then expect to buy the boat I need to attack
the larger trout and salmon ponds and lakes. So
far the canoe has had to do. Also expect to have
our 20-foot-by-30-foot guest quarters completed by
next July, so if any RPI people want to get lost in
Maine, let us know. The doors are always open.”
Susan Alten sent me a Facebook message: “I
just found the instructions we received for our RPI
graduation in 1970. Just as I always tell people, all
of us including the women were told, ‘Wear dark
shoes, dark trousers, white shirts, and dark ties.’
Well, we had caps and gowns over whatever we
were wearing, but I remember actually borrowing a tie from some guy, and I went along with
the ludicrous instructions. I think I was the only
coed who did. From our first day learning the thengender-specific fight song (Sue Stevens Larsen had
to explain to me that it wasn’t the alma mater) to
the last day’s graduation instructions, I had a lot to
laugh at for those four years, and it really helped me
get through.”
Heard from Gordy Benoit: “Yes, I am one of
those delinquent alumni not communicating.
Read your 70 updates in the Rensselaer magazine
and thought I would reconnect with you. You do
a great job. Am trying to connect with Jim Detjen
since I am involved with Habitat, too.”
I also found out Gordy is a wood crafter. I think
that he and Charles Wilson should meet up and
share their beautiful wood crafting work with the
world.
Check out Ed Touchette’s very cool art work at
www.unclehams.com/artindex.html.
By now our 45th Reunion has passed and
hopefully lots of stories will flow in our next column. Many thanks to our alums Otto Zamek,
Bill Palmer, and Jack Kaplowitz and staff person
Denise Lynn Done in working to put together a
weekend where we could connect.
And, congrats to the Rensselaer Union on its
125th anniversary.
Look forward to hearing from all of you.
Send news to: Rick Hartt ’70, 192 North Lake
Avenue, Troy, NY 12180-6518; h: (518) 272-1430;
harttrm@aol.com
71
Gene Packer has been head coach of
the Fair Lawn (Bergen County, N.J.)
Fencing Club for 19 years. This year he guided the
boys to a 10-4 season, as reported by NorthJersey.
com. Gene first took up the sport at RPI, where he
specialized in foil under renowned coach Frank Collins. An experimental psychology major, Gene also
earned a master’s degree and fenced in Belgium’s
national championship tournament. After work-
ing in the mental health field for 12 years, Gene
switched to teaching chemistry and physics at Fair
Lawn. Gene is chairman of the New Jersey Division
of Fencing and a member of its executive committee.
Former RPI wrestling standout and cross-country runner Gerardo Brown (Arch. ’71) writes that
he hasn’t been able to get back into running due to
osteoarthritis. Gerardo, a faculty member at Miami
University, is temporarily posted in Luxembourg,
after which he will be traveling to Germany, Turkey, and Israel.
Former RPI distance ace Bill Pollock ran the
2015 Boston Marathon in a time of 3:50:37, good
for 60th place among men 65-69. Nice going, Bill!
I am still working as a computer science professor
at Rowan University; I completed the Broad Street
10-mile race in Philadelphia, May 3, in a time of
1:11:30, good for first place among men 65-69. I’m
looking forward to hearing from you, retired or not,
so let me know what you’ve been doing.
Send news to: Seth Bergmann ’71, 410 Villanova Road, Glassboro, NJ 08028-1558; bergmann@
rowan.edu
72
Mike Hoteling lives in northeast
Washington; he’s married and has
three grown children. He’s retired
from a career in the home hearth heating industry,
but still does some occasional consulting. Mike’s
hobbies include ham radio, fishing, hunting, gardening. gmhoteling@plix.com
A brief note from Jim Moe says he’d like to hear
from any of the C-wing crew of Burdett Hall from
September 1971 to May ’72. So brief that he didn’t
include any news. This does tell us that he’s out
there, somewhere. jmoe@alum.rpi.edu
A news item from New Mexico notes that Dan
Newman, of the commercial real estate services
firm CBRE, was named Realtor of the Year by the
NM realtors’ umbrella association. Dan moved to
New Mexico in 1976 and shifted to real estate a
dozen years ago after a career in architecture. Dan
has a wife and two daughters.
Another news item from D.C. announces that
Paul Hommert has been selected as a distinguished fellow of the Council on Competitiveness.
He is the recently retired director of Sandia National Laboratories and president of Sandia Corp. The
Council on Competitiveness is a diverse group of
corporate CEOs, university presidents (including
Dr. Jackson), labor leaders, and national lab directors who work to advance U.S. competitiveness in
the global economy.
KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency, reported
last winter that internationally renowned inventor of the digital camera Steven Sasson received
an award from the Sheikha Aida Salem Al-Ali
Al-Sabah of Kuwait. In her remarks Sheikha Aida
praised Sasson’s “genius creativity,” noting that that
invention paved the way for a variety of others.
In his remarks to the gathering, Steven indicated that he started in 1975 with the disassembly
and reassembly of used electronic equipment, seeking “to transform a picture into a storable digital
shape.” In December of that year, he succeeded in
taking “the first digital photo” with a camera he’d
10/7/15 4:19 PM
CLASSNOTES
On the Bookshelf:
RECENT BOOKS BY ALUMNI AUTHORS
Damian’s Workshop
Space Careers
Deborah Kaminski ’73 • CreateSpace, 2015
Scott Sacknoff ’89 and Leonard David •
Spacebusiness.com, 2015
Doctoral student Brooke
Laforge has her hopes set on
the Memex, a medical device
that stimulates the memory
centers of the brain, as a cure
for Alzheimer’s disease. Denied
permission for human subject
testing, Brooke decides to try
the Memex on herself. As the magnetic fields reach
deep within her brain, Brooke is cast into the body of
a goldsmith living in medieval times. While secretly
working to understand the science behind her “time
machine,” Brooke finds herself caught up in a momentous crosscurrent of history, directly in the path
of the Fourth Crusade.
Deborah Kaminski ’73 is professor emerita of
mechanical engineering at Rensselaer.
Fully updated for 2015, this book
is an in-depth resource for finding
careers in the space and satellite
industry. Whether the reader is
interested in satellite communications services, designing next
generation rockets, planning future
Mars missions, or monitoring the
Earth’s environment, Space Careers provides resources for students and job seekers, including university
programs, scholarship information, and advice from
industry leaders, with a foreward by Buzz Aldrin.
Scott Sacknoff ’89 is founder and president of the
International Space Business Council and publisher of
the history journal Quest: The History of Spaceflight.
An Invitation to Real Analysis
Perspectives on Defense Systems Analysis
Luis Moreno ’73 • MMA, 2015
William P. Delaney ’57 • MIT Press, 2015
This book explores a broad system analysis process useful for
grappling with complex technical
problems in national defense
and other venues. The goal of
defense systems analysis is not
necessarily to find a particular
solution but to provide a road
map to a solution, or an understanding of the relative
value of alternative solutions. In the book, experts
offer insights, advice, and concrete examples to guide
practitioners in the art of defense systems analysis.
William Delaney ’57 is the Director’s Office Fellow
at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense with responsibilities
for R&D in missile, air, and space defense.
An Invitation to Real Analysis is
written both as a stepping stone
to higher calculus and analysis
courses, and as foundation for
deeper reasoning in applied
mathematics. It also provides a
broader foundation in real analysis
than is typical for future teachers
of secondary mathematics. Over 600 exercises help
the learning process. A historical theme interweaves
throughout the book, with quotes and accounts
of interest to all readers. Several topics, such as
continued fractions, are included in the appendices as
enrichment material.
Luis Moreno ’73 is professor of mathematics at
Broome Community College in Binghamton, N.Y.
Brand Aid
Hands on Applied Finite Element
Analysis–Application with ANSYS
Mehmet Ali Arslan ’98 • Self-published, 2015
Hands on Applied Finite Element Analysis offers practical
ways of tackling FEA problems
in machine design and analysis.
In this book, a selection of 35
example problems are presented, offering students, both
undergraduate and graduate, as
well as professionals, the opportunity to apply their
knowledge to real engineering FEA problem solutions
by guiding them with real-life hands-on experience.
Mehmet Ali Arslan, M.S. ’93, Ph.D. ’98, is a professor of mechanical engineering at Gebze Technical
University in Turkey.
Brad VanAuken ’79 • AMACOM, 2014
This second edition of Brand Aid,
first published in 2003, covers
topics ranging from research
and positioning to brand equity
management and architecture
strategy. Bringing together case
studies, best practices, and the
latest research, Brand Aid offers
advice on every aspect of brand management including: six most powerful sources of brand differentiation,
five elements that trigger brand insistence, creating
“category of one” brands, brand storytelling, 60
nontraditional brand marketing techniques, and more,
and includes a new chapter on online brand building.
Brand VanAuken ’79 is the president and founder
of BrandForward Inc., a brand strategy consultancy.
assembled. He noted that teaching must not be
restricted to the dissemination of knowledge, but
should also encourage creativity. (Is that synonymous with Thoroughness?)
Send news and abuse to bobdvorak@hvc.rr.com.
Send news to: Bob Dvorak ’72, 12 Mill Lane,
Saugerties, NY 12477-1128; bobdvorak@hvc.rr.com
73
“Brooke Laforge [’73?] has only one
more year to finish her doctorate and
seems on the fast track to success. Her
hopes rest on Memex, a medical device that stimulates the memory centers of the brain...Brooke is running out of time and decides to try Memex on herself
(despite the University Board denying permission
on human testing). As the magnetic fields reach
deep within her brain, Brooke is cast into the body
of Damian, a goldsmith living in medieval times...”
So writes our new, budding novelist Deborah
Kaminski, who has just published her first science fiction novel: Damian’s Workshop (available
on Amazon.com, $2.99 Kindle and $11.48 paperback.) Reviews I read online indicate the book is
“remarkable”...“well written”...“I could not put it
down”...and “a moving intellectual journey.” You
should know that Deborah also has written an
engineering textbook (published by John Wiley &
Sons), numerous technical articles, and recently
retired as professor emerita of mechanical engineering at RPI. Congratulations on many fronts to
Deborah!
Another recently published author in our class
is Luis Moreno, who is professor of mathematics
at Broome Community College in Binghamton,
N.Y. His textbook, An Invitation to Real Analysis,
was published by the Mathematical Association of
America.
In other news, the Times Union last winter featured Ted Malin, who is a principal at Envision
Architects in Albany. Ted and his firm are deeply
involved with historic buildings in the area, including restorations of the Albany County Courthouse
and the William Hackett Middle School, both of
which won Preservation League awards. Ted and
his team also expanded both St. Peter’s Hospital in
Albany as well as the Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. At Siena College he helped design the Sarazen Student Union and has recently completed a
38,000-square-foot dorm at Union College. Ted’s
quote is “the fascinating thing about this work is it’s
highly rational, analytic data crunching followed by
creating a form out of material and color and light
and texture.” Spoken like a true RPI Arch-ie, Ted.
As always, check out our class website: www.
rpi73.org. See what’s going on with our class and
maybe post something for us all to read about you.
Send news to: Gary DiCamillo ’73, 477
Wianno Avenue, Osterville, MA 02655-1924; gary
dicamillo@gmail.com
74
I have always wanted to go to Russia
but the timing was always bad. Jayant
Baliga had that opportunity in June
when he was the recipient of the Global Energy Prize
for his work on the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor.
The award was presented to him in St. Petersburg,
pgs44-63_ClassNotesFall15.R.indd 55
10/9/15 11:37 AM
CLASSNOTES
by the president of Russia. Jay was also inducted into
the RPI Hall of Fame back in October of 2013.
Bill Roberts was given an Honor Award by
the American College of Sports Medicine due to
his work on marathon injuries. And talk about
the family that plays together, Bill’s wife and three
daughters are all in the practice of health care. You
can reach Bill at rober037@umn.edu.
On another and much sadder note, Steve
Racioppo died in an accident on May 29.
Down here in Florida (which is now more populous than New York), Governor Rick Scott has
announced that Robert Scaringe will be a member of the Florida Polytechnic University board of
trustees. Bob is also a sponsor of the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Since I travel a lot I like to know who runs
things at the airports and I’m glad to see that Larry
Serafini is now the acting airport director of John
Wayne Airport. He previously began there as deputy director in 2001. Now I feel safer when I go to
Disneyland.
Ruth and I often drive between Florida and
New Mexico and on the last trip we had a chance
to visit with both Steve Levy, who has moved to
Rowlett, Texas, from Laguna Nigel, Calif., and
Claudia Seligman, who still resides in Mandeville, La. Steve was really enjoying his new custom
lakefront home and after 25 years of dating he
finally married Jill Jeffrey in April. Some guys know
a good thing right away and others take 25 years.
Speaking of beauties, Steve showed me his impressive Hiro Yamagata collection. If you are a collector, I’m sure he would like to talk to you.
Claudia met us at the Mandeville branch of
Café Du Monde, which makes beignets as good as
the French Quarter original. She says things have
really been picking up for her and can’t wait for the
next Reunion in 2019.
Don’t forget our Facebook page.
Send news to: James C. Wernicke, P.E. ’74, 5485
David Blvd., Port Charlotte, FL 33981; wernickejc
@yahoo.com
75
This issue of class notes will be published after our 40th Reunion, so
news of the event will have to wait
for a future issue.
The Rensselaer Alumni Association (RAA)
and Office of Alumni Relations have launched an
exciting new career and professional development
program—Rensselaer Alumni Career Services.
Featuring an alumni-exclusive job board and networking platform, RensselaerAlumniConnect.com
should be your new stop for career resources.
Type “http://bit.ly/1wxtwOS” into your browser to
expand your network, grow your career options,
and find jobs posted by your fellow classmates and
friends in the RAA. If you are wondering what the
RAA Endowment supports, this is it. Check it out!
Tom Moyer recently retired from politics and
teaches a political science course once a year as an
adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Tom wrote in an email: “Reading the article
‘State of the Lake’ based on data collected by RPI’s
Darrin Fresh Water Institute in the Winter 2014-
2015 alumni magazine issue reminded me that
I worked on a Lake George water quality project
during my college days many years ago. I had been
accepted into RPI’s master’s program in interdisciplinary urban and environmental studies starting
fall 1974. In the weeks before I started classes, I
worked for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation in Lake George...That practical
experience and my degree from RPI helped get
me my first job, at the Environmental Protection
Agency, in Washington, D.C.” Read his letter in
full in the Mail section, page 5.
Frank Pitts continues to make news in the
world of architecture. He was the plenary speaker
at the International Summit on Health Care Planning, Design, and Construction in San Antonio in
March. His presentation, “Creating a Legacy for
2040,” explored the context within which hospitals
and architects create meaningful future change
in current projects. Also, Frank’s firm, Architecture+, designed the Vermont Psychiatric Care
Hospital, which was honored recently for Mental
Health Project and Interior Design Project by the
International Academy of Design and Health.
Mark Dunlea, the executive director of the
Hunger Action Network of New York State, has
decided to step down after 29 years of fighting hunger in New York to concentrate his efforts on combating climate change. An article on Mark was
published in the Troy Record in January. You can
find it at the following URL: http://www.troyrecord.
com/general-news/20150104/dunlea-to-leave-longtime-post-at-hunger-action-network-at-ny.
Send news to: David Stark ’75, 616 Sandray
Terrace, Bel Air, MD 21015; dcstark@hotmail.com
76
You may remember Scott S. Gordon (sgkiss@aol.com) as the doctor
who co-wrote the movie script RoboDoc and composed, arranged, and produced its original music
soundtrack. An orthopedic surgeon who always
loved physics is releasing a book titled The GOD
Entity: Gordon’s Theory of Everything (www.thegod
entity.com). The content of his book is the actual
solution to the theory of everything, where GOD is
an acronym. Scott projects that the book will put
the entire field of physics back on the right track.
John “Jack” Marmion (peelmonu@gmail.com)
has been in the financial securities business for
more than 30 years and currently works at UBS
Financial Services. Prior to that he had a 15-year
career with Albany International, a textile company. Jack and his wife, Johanna, enjoy wintering
in Arizona and any time they can spend with their
three grandchildren.
Send news to: Michael Mino ’76, 110 Merrifield Court, Greenville, SC 29615-3434; h: (864)
234-2526; w: (864) 297-7661 x26; mmino@property
boss.com
77
Jim and I returned from a great family
trip to Peru, Ecuador, and the Galápagos Islands in late June. We took our
three adult children and a boyfriend and girlfriend on
the trip, so there were seven of us traveling together.
We had to plan it a full year ahead to get everyone
together at the right time—scheduling conflicts are
a bear with adult children. I thought it was all supposed to get easier as we went along. As I think of
how rare it is when everyone gathers together, I must
tell you to start planning now for our 40th Reunion.
October 2017 is a lot closer than we think. Since the
alumni office is having a much greater attendance
for fall reunion/homecoming events, I expect it will
stay that way for awhile.
I had news in my inbox from a former WRPI
colleague, Steve Carrellas. He used to do the
popular Friday afternoon show “TGIF” to get us
ready to start our weekend—do you remember?
He received a prestigious award from the National
Motorists Association—the Sentinel Award—to
recognize over 30 years of tireless advocacy for
New Jersey drivers. The list of accomplishments
is very long but for sure you should be mentally
thanking Steve every time you see a speed limit
sign that is 65 instead of 55, since he had a major
hand in getting it changed. Steve also has worked
on major auto insurance
reform, banning photo
radar, and helped ensure
New Jersey’s flawed red
light pilot camera program
was not implemented on a
permanent basis. He also
worked on data privacy
issues when the E-ZPass
system was implemented.
Steve Carrellas
It is very clear from reading the article that he has
been influential in public advocacy policies in all
driving issues. His passions include on-road, offroad, and on-track test driving. Congratulations,
Steve!
I’ve seen Facebook posts from our class president, Bill Gordon, about his son Christian’s new
venture as president of Long Island Boat Rentals.
It’s obvious Bill takes a keen interest in the business
as he has helped at some of the trade shows and
events. He and Christian have even been featured
on TV! They are based out of Port Washington on
Lower Main Street; so check them out!
Do please send me your news of what your new
ventures are, what you are doing, what trips you are
taking, and how your family is growing!
Send news to: Maureen H. Regan Robinson ’77, 5015 Young Deer Drive, Cumming, GA
30041; h: (678) 232-7279; maureen7221@aol.com
78
John Kelly III received an honorary
degree from the University of Notre
Dame at their 170th commencement
ceremony in May. John has been actively engaged in
several initiatives of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering and was instrumental in the semiconductor
process and device fabrication clean room. He was
also recently elected chairman of Union College’s
board of trustees. John is senior vice president, solutions portfolio and research, for IBM, and a member
of Rensselaer’s board of trustees.
Had a nice trip to Portugal for work recently.
Took my wife (Janet) and we spent a day sight-
10/7/15 4:20 PM
CLASSNOTES
seeing in Lisbon. A very nice visit with wonderful weather and dinners of fresh grilled fish and
Vinho Verde. Vinho Verde (green wine) is refreshing young white (not green) wine that hasn’t been
aged—delicious! Look forward to your news and
items of interest.
Send news to: Mark Keough ’78, 4 Longview
Drive, East Granby, CT 06026-9797; mark.keough
@cox.net
79
The Association of American State
Geologists has recognized the executive director of the American Geosciences Institute, P. Patrick Leahy, with its prestigious
Pick and Gavel Award. The award was initiated in
1999 to recognize distinguished friends of geology
who have made major contributions to advancing
the role that geoscience plays in our society.
Sue (Bloomer) Chasnov and husband Bob
(’78) are expecting their third grandchild in
November. Sue is in her 10th year as the clerk/treasurer of the village of Clifton, Ohio.
Rick Behun retired from IBM in summer 2013
after 33 years of service. Gary Videlock and his
wife, Holly Prentice ’81, were at commencement
this year. Their older daughter, Maggie, graduated
with her B.S. in biomedical engineering.
Michael Carroll has been named CEO and
president of CHA, an engineering and construction firm with over 30 offices nationwide. Mike
had previously spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.
Send news to: Paul Sicard ’79, 1424 Kenilworth
Parkway, Baton Rouge, LA 70808-5737; h: (225)
769-7781; w: (225) 381-3666; psicard@entergy.com
80
81
Send news to: Kathy Pratt Harrington ’80, 179 Wyman Road,
Groton, MA 01450; kpharrington@
gmail.com
John LaFemina was named interim
deputy director for science and technology at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL) in April. He has more than 25 years of
research and management experience at institutions including Penn State, the U.S. Military
Academy, Battelle, and PNNL. He has published
more than 60 peer-reviewed papers on topics ranging from the photophysics of conducting polymers
to the atomic and electronic structure and dynamics of semiconductor and oxide surfaces.
Marc Glasser has been promoted to director of
metallurgical services for Rolled Alloys, in Temperance, Mich. In this capacity he will lead a staff of
metallurgists, the metallurgical laboratory, technical marketing, and technical training of all personnel. He will also represent the company in various
technical societies and trade associations.
Send news to: Marc Glasser ’81, 14689 Wood
Creek Court, Perrysburg, OH 43551; h: (419) 8735136; marcglasser@gmail.com
82
In a nod to the majority of our classmates having started college 37 years
ago this fall, I thought I’d share a
Christine Furstoss ’86 Named GE Company Officer
hristine Furstoss ’86 has been appointed
vice president and technical director
of manufacturing, chemical, and materials
technologies at GE Global Research, making
her one of only 195 of GE’s 300,000-plus
employees who are company officers.
Furstoss joined GE in 1989 and has held a
series of leadership roles in GE Power & Water
and GE Global Research.
Most recently she was global technology
director for GE Global Research focused on
manufacturing and materials, where she led
more than 450 technologists in the company’s
advanced manufacturing technology initiative
called the Brilliant Factory.
C
poem titled “Autumn and New Beginnings” by
Chantelle Fazzalori. But to be honest, my now
shiny head couldn’t get past the first line: “Feeling
the cool breeze blowing through my hair it guides
me to show me my past and future.” Okay, that’s
about all I can offer from the world of H&SS!
Here’s what you and your classmates have to offer:
Marci Sindell shares that she is now the chief
external affairs officer at Atrius Health, the largest
independent and nonprofit medical group in the
Northeast. She’s happily married to Gary Goffin
for 21 years. Their daughter Rachel, 18, is starting
at Cornell University, and their son Andy, 15, is a
sophomore in high school.
Colleen Dargie provides this quick update from
Farmington Hills, Mich. “I have been an anesthesiologist for Henry Ford Health System for 24 years.
I have been married to David Roggenkamp ’85
since 1988. He is an engineer at Chrysler. We have
two daughters. Susan is a Class of ’15 environmental engineering co-term student at RPI. She will
get her master’s in December of 2015. We therefore have been visiting RPI quite a bit the last few
years. Reunion weekends are a lot of fun when you
have a student to show you around campus. Many
things are new while other things (like the freshman dorms) seem the same. Our other daughter,
Karen, graduates from high school in 2016 and isn’t
sure yet what she wants to do. She keeps us very
busy with all her sports and music activities!”
Ken Laprade notes that he and his wife, Maria
Agon ’83, still work for Harris Corp., living in the
same house they built after moving to Florida over
30 years ago. He continues: “Last June, our son,
Tyler, graduated from MIT. Our other son, Rudy,
is in his second year at Cal Berkeley. The four of us
toured Peru after the graduation. Our trip began
with several days in the Amazon Basin jungle and
culminated with two days on Machu Picchu.”
Simon Tung (Ph.D. ’82), Global OEM technology manager with Vanderbilt Chemicals, won
the 2015 SAE International Leadership Citation.
Simon’s Ph.D. is in chemical engineering, and he
holds an MBA from the U. of Michigan. He has
been involved in the automotive industry since
In the “brilliant factory,”
equipment and
computers talk to each
other over the industrial Internet in real
time, share information,
and make decisions to
preserve quality and
prevent downtime. “The
brilliant factory is more than 3-D printing parts
from digital files,” says Furstoss. “We can build a
factory that can make itself better.”
Furstoss earned bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in materials science and engineering at
Rensselaer.
joining General Motors Research Labs in 1982.
Arthur Ross offers up this insight from Florida:
“My choice of hobbies these days is model trains—
there’s a pretty big group of retirees in Jacksonville
that is active, so they get together on a regular
basis.” Arthurs adds that he “…just set up a microscopic vegetable garden, complete with high-tech
watering system. Automation is awesome!”
Craig Mucher leads a group at Air Products
in Allentown, Pa., that supports plants in Wichita, Kan., among others. He works often with
Lisa (McMillan) Tremblay ’03, who joined the
Wichita plant in March 2014, on the scale-up of
several new processes and products, as well as plant
improvements and safety reviews. On his trips to
Wichita, which can be as frequently as monthly,
Craig has enjoyed exchanging notes with Lisa
about the city and its vicinity as she and her husband also learn the area.
On a somber note, I received a phone call from
Lynda Albright letting me know that her husband,
Eugene Albright (MBA ’82), had passed away.
That’s it for this edition. Please consider sending
in an update—inquiring minds want to know!
Send news to: Mark Bowers ’82, 4344 N.
Witchduck Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455; (571)
331-8609; mark.bowers@lighthouse-one.com
83
Michael Weisberg joined Garnet
River LLC in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.,
as vice president of information security and assurance services. Michael most recently
served as chief information security officer for the
NYS Office of Information Technology Services.
Prior roles include CIO and managing director
of information technology for Global Technology
Solutions LLC, senior information security architect for Federal Reserve Information Technology
at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and
vice president of information security for Bank
of America, where he designed and coordinated
deployment of the bank’s first intrusion detection
system. Michael also serves as the director of the
Cyber Security Program at The Sage Colleges in
Albany, a program he began in 2014. He is a cer-
10/7/15 4:20 PM
CLASSNOTES
tified information systems security professional
(CISSP) and a certified scrum master (CSM).
Doug Lyon recently co-hosted a workshop at
Fairfield University on Kickstarter. Doug is chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department at Fairfield, a licensed professional
engineer, a senior member of IEEE, president of
DocJava Inc. and CTO of Lyon-Ratafia, and president of the Inventors Association of Connecticut.
He teaches engineering entrepreneurship and has
brought one successful Kickstarter project to market. Doug has previously worked at AT&T Bell
Laboratories and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and has authored or co-authored three books and
over 49 journal publications.
Anthony Urillo continues to put his engineering degrees to work during the day in the information technology field. After work, it’s a different
career—in acting. Over the past 20 years, he’s
landed roles in several movies, TV shows, and
commercials. His biggest role was in the 2011
remake of “Arthur” in which he played a wedding
photographer in a scene with Jennifer Garner. He
also was in the FX Networks’ TV series “Rescue
Me” playing a police officer, and on the Audience
Network series “Damages” playing an attorney at
a corporate party. Recently, Anthony has been
playing the lead role of “Danny Lambrusco” in
“Murder at a Mob Wedding,” an interactive dinner
theater in Southington, Conn.
Okay, fellow classmates. Anyone have a hobby
or side occupation that can top that?
Send news to: Don Hubicki ’83, 2955 Hunt
Valley Drive, Glenwood, MD 21738; hubicki.don@
gmail.com
84
It is with sadness in my heart that I
write this note. Mark Samitt, beloved
family man, devoted friend, and successful business professional, died peacefully in
Woodcliff Lake, N.J., after a long and valiant fight
with cancer. Always the “overachiever,” he earned
his B.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer,
an M.S. from University of Rhode Island, and later
an MBA from Harvard Business School. During his
career, Mark started work at Raytheon, served as a
management consultant with Deloitte & Touche,
was an executive promoted to chief operating officer of North American and Global Supply Chain for
Movado Group, and became COO and then president for Steuben Glass. In 2011, he created his own
consulting firm, RD Management Group. More
impressive than his professional career was Mark’s
commitment to family, friends, and community. His
determination to help others drove him to partner
with the Melanoma Research Foundation to create
“Mark the SPOT,” a campaign designed to educate
hairstylists on unusual moles and lesions during a
normal styling procedure for early detection. Even
through his struggle, Mark took time to help with
our 30th Reunion class fundraising activities. Mark
leaves behind his wife, Gayle, and two daughters. If
you wish to honor Mark, the family suggests donations to Melanoma Research Foundation at www.
melanoma.org/MarktheSPOT.
A few more details to go with last issue’s picture
of Mike, Lou, and Sean being as nerdy as it gets on
Pi Day. Mike Hurle and his husband, John, enjoy
entertaining in their Riverside Drive apartment in
NYC. Lou Agro, charming and funny as always,
and his wife, Camille, live in Irvington, N.Y. They
spent hours digging out of the snowstorms last winter but enjoyed lots of outdoor activities with their
sons Louis and James. Sean Lydon and his wife,
Louise, live near their children and grandchildren
in Washington, D.C. Chuck Bucci was unable to
make their get-together. He lives in Rutland, Mass.,
with his wife, Shannon, four children, two dogs
and a cat. Charlie is celebrating his 30th year at
Allegro Microsystems (formerly Sprague Electric)
in Worcester, Mass.
Gerry Pesavento is working for Yahoo in downtown SF after they purchased his latest business.
His two daughters, Risa and Sara, are both in
college and apparently when called always at “the
library.” Hmm. Gerry caught up with Chris Witt
recently who is on an entrepreneurial tear of his
own. Chris recently helped found Café Velo (www.
coloradospringscycling.com), a coffee, cycling, and
triathlon shop in Northern Colorado Springs.
Tracey Dunlap was promoted to deputy city
manager for Kirkland, Wash. During her time
at Kirkland, Tracey served as director of finance
and administration as well as numerous subcommittees. As a licensed PE, she has worked with
jurisdictions throughout the Northwest to develop
and implement cost recovery and fee strategies, set
utility rates, and improve organizational efficiencies
and effectiveness.
Dewberry, a nationally recognized professional
services firm, hired Katherine Dewkett, P.E., as a
senior transportation project
manager in the New York
City office. Prior to Dewberry, Katherine served as
a senior project manager
at Erdman Anthony and
Associates and was the
founder and president of
Dewkett Engineering for 20
Katherine Dewkett years. Katherine received
her master’s in civil engineering from RPI.
To end on an inspirational story, Marie Sayre
Cole is highlighted in a “My Health Quest” video
produced by Vassar Brothers Medical and easily
accessible online. Take the time to watch it. Marie
is a two-year survivor of invasive ductal breast cancer that was found during a routine mammogram.
(A good reminder for all women; don’t put those
exams off.) Now in remission, Marie successfully
tackled the Great Newburgh to Beacon Hudson
River swim, a race she consistently competed in
prior to her cancer. Marie swam for the RPI women’s swim club and has continued to swim and take
on challenges since her college days. She also was
in the RPI Pep Band and I saw a note that she performs with the Southern Dutchess Concert Band.
If you happen to be in the Poughkeepsie area,
check it out!
Send news to: Diane Updegrove ’84, 3002
Colonial Ridge Drive, Brandon, FL 33511; c: (775)
450-7941; kupde@sbcglobal.net
85
Hello from the scenic Boston Harbor! I hoped to see you at our 30th
Reunion. Yes, that’s right; it has been
30 years since we walked the campus as a student.
If you were there, I hope you had a memorable
time. I’ll report back in my next communique.
Congratulations to Scott Bibaud (EE). In January, Foundation Capital of Menlo Park, Calif.,
named him as one of its new entrepreneurs-inresidence because of his expertise in financial and
marketing strategy developed through his executive positions at Altera and Broadcom. Foundation
Capital is dedicated to the idea that one entrepreneur’s ideas, with the appropriate support, can
become a business that changes the world. Scott
should find some excitement in that challenge.
In March, Volpara Solutions, a leader in the
development of quantitative breast imaging tools,
named John Pavlidis (BiomedE) to its board of
directors. Volpara Solutions is the marketing arm
of Matakina Technology Limited of New Zealand.
John has over 25 years of technical and executive
management experience in the medical industry
where he has spent 15 years as CEO of organizations both large and small. He has broad management experience in breast imaging and across a
variety of medical imaging modalities.
Are you looking to expand your teams or network with other RPI alums? See how the site
RensselaerAlumniConnect.com, a new career and
professional development program launched by the
Rensselaer Alumni Association, may assist you.
I’m working on the second building in the University of Houston’s developing biomedical campus.
It will be the new home for the College of Pharmacy, provide new research labs and consolidate
the university’s clinical programs into a facility to
better serve the community. You can view a video
my team prepared to help the client understand
the design’s development at www.uh.edu/plantops/
projects/in-design/HBSB2/.
Send me your news!
Send news to: Patricia DeLauri ’85, 478
Winthrop Street, Medford, MA 02155; pdelauri@
sbra.com
86
The University of Pittsburgh appointed Gregory Reed (M.S.) director
of the Center for Energy at their Swanson School
of Engineering. Gregory is a professor of electrical
and computer engineering and director of the Grid
Technologies Collaborative for the U.S. Dept. of
Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.
In 2012 he was named an inaugural member of the
National Academies of Science and Engineering’s
Energy Ambassador Program. He received a B.S.
from Gannon University and a doctorate in electric power engineering from Pitt. An avid triathlete, he has three children with his wife, Chantal.
Vizinex RFID (radio frequency identification)
was founded in 2012 by Robert Oberle (B.S. Phys.)
and specializes in building durable RFID tags,
primarily for rental, oil and gas, medical, and IT
10/7/15 4:20 PM
CLASSNOTES
B09.05
Subcommittee,
and is a member of the
A01 (steels), B07 (light
metals), and F42 (additive
manufacturing) committees. She has co-authored
two recent standards
dealing with powder metallurgy and hot isostatic
pressing of ferrous castings.
Graham
Architectural Products Curtain
Wall Systems announced
Ken Schmidtchen (B.S.
Mech.E) as their new engineering manager in MerA mini-reunion was held in Turks and Caicos where the following
rill, Wis. Previously Ken
alumni vacationed together: Back row, from left: Rich Forlano
held positions, including
’87, Dave Chaput ’86, Greg Gorton ’88, Russ Welsch ’87; front
engineering manager, for
row: Carol Perrie Welsch ’88, Kyle Kristel Forlano ’88, Chris
20 years at Kalwall Corp.,
Friedman Marion ’88, Elaine Harkins ’88, and Cathy Klunk
and was also a senior
Gorton ’88.
manufacturing engineer
with the Voltek Division of
Sekisui Chemical.
Send news to: Jane LaGoy ’86, 28 Nashua
equipment. It has enjoyed nearly 40 percent annual
growth since its inception. Robert earned a mas- Road, Pepperell, MA 01463; argon18@verizon.net
ter’s and Ph.D. in materials science and engineerJan Helge Bohn, associate profesing from Johns Hopkins and previously was techsor of mechanical engineering in
nology development manager at Engelhard Corp.
the College of Engineering at VirLisa Butterfield writes that she is a professor of
medicine, surgery, and immunology at the Univer- ginia Tech, received the university’s 2015 Alumni
sity of Pittsburgh. Her lab develops cancer vaccines Award for Excellence in International Outreach.
for melanoma and hepatocellular cancer and inves- He has developed an extensive portfolio of educatigates immune function in cancer patients, includ- tion-abroad programs in Germany, Australia, and
ing participating in national immunotherapy stud- China that generate more than 50 student semesies. Lisa was elected vice president of the Society for ters abroad each year.
Send news to: Peter Quinones ’87, 30 Marie
Immunotherapy of Cancer and will become its first
female president in 2016. She recently celebrated Heights, West Sand Lake, NY 12196; pjquinones1@
hitting her fifth decade by traveling around France yahoo.com
with former RPI roommates and fellow ’86ers Judy
David Bruns (B.S., M.S. EPE), CEO
Jarnefeld and Susan Sargeant.
of Bruns Realty, LLC, is developing
Marcella David, J.D. (B.S. C&SE) was appointa 156-unit apartment community
ed provost at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). As provost, Marcella using state-of-the-art, eco-friendly renewable and
leads FAMU’s academic operations comprised of energy-efficient technologies expected to produce
seven schools and seven colleges, including numer- as much or more energy than it uses. This new conous institutes, academic support programs, and 700 cept is accomplished with the use of high-efficiency
faculty. Prior to this appointment, she served as appliances and heating and cooling systems, airprofessor of law and international studies and asso- tight insulation, a heat recovery ventilator, solar
ciate dean at the University of Iowa College of Law. panels, and a design intended to foster passive solar
She is a member of the New York Bar and is rec- heating. Known as netZero Village, the complex is
ognized as a legal scholar in international law and located in Rotterdam, N.Y.
William “Bill” Cooley (MechE) was promoted
human and worker rights. She received her doctor
of jurisprudence from the University of Michigan to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Air
Force March 1. He entered
and was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Public Interthe Air Force through RPI’s
national Law at Harvard Law School.
ROTC program. After comPaul Hess is a 2014 recipient of the Rensselaer
pleting a master’s degree
Alumni Association Alumni Key Award. Thanks
at the University of New
to Paul for his outstanding service and commitMexico, he went on to earn
ment to our alma mater!
a Ph.D. in engineering physJane LaGoy (B.S. Matls.E.) is one of two 2015
ics from the Air Force Instirecipients of the ASTM International President’s
tute of Technology. GenLeadership Award, which recognizes extraordieral Cooley is currently the
nary leadership within the first five years of ASTM Bill Cooley
director, GPS Directorate,
membership. Jane serves as secretary of the B09
(metal powders) Committee, chairman of the Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space
87
88
Command, Los Angeles Air Force Base. The $32
billion GPS program, with a $1 billion annual budget, maintains the largest satellite constellation in
the Department of Defense.
Bill’s twin brother Thomas Cooley (EE), who
has worked at Kirtland, N.M., Air Force Research
Laboratory since 2000, was promoted to scientific professional (ST), the highest rank a civilian
technical leader can receive from the Air Force,
in April 2015. He will conduct research on space
debris as a senior scientist for Space Situational
Awareness at the research laboratory.
Jim Baum (M.S. MechE) has joined OpenView
Venture Partners, an expansion-stage venture
capital firm in Boston, as a venture partner. Before
joining OpenView, he served as president/CEO at
Netezza, a data warehousing and analytics company. During his 25 years in the technology sector, he
also served as president/CEO at Endeca, which was
ultimately acquired by Oracle, and served at PTC
as executive vice president and general manager.
Neil Fishman (C&SE) has been appointed vice
president of connected products engineering at
UIEvolution Inc., a global leader in highly scalable
connected device software solutions for enterprise
companies. A 22-year veteran of Microsoft, Neil
is now responsible for all engineering and development functions for the company’s Connected
Products Team, focused specifically on efforts in
the hospitality, cruise, and retail verticals.
Andrew Sears (CompSci) has been named
dean of the College of Information Sciences and
Technology at Penn State University. He was formerly dean of the B. Thomas Golisano College of
Computing and Information Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. During his tenure at
RIT, he founded the first academic department in
the U.S. dedicated exclusively to computing security and attended the recent White House Summit
on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, where
President Obama signed an executive order to promote information sharing about cyber threats.
Amy Schacterle (BiomedE) has joined SAGE
Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company developing novel medicines to treat lifethreatening, rare central nervous system disorders,
as vice president of regulatory affairs and quality
assurance. She most recently served as VP of regulatory affairs at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals (previously Sepracor), where she worked for 10 years.
On a lighter note, a mini-reunion was held in
Turks and Caicos where multiple RPI grads vacationed together. See photo, above.
Send news to: Grace Vitagliano Roth ’88, 917
Fanwood Avenue, Westfield, NJ 07090-4212, c:
(908) 415-0225; grace@abcworldvacations.com
89
After spending another four and a
half years on campus, Michael Levy,
now the proud owner of eight GM
Week mugs, graduated in December 2014 with a
Ph.D. in mathematics. Earlier in 2015 he relocated
to the Dayton, Ohio, area.
Mark Chadwick wrote in: “... spent the last year
or so working on GPS stuff in the AF with Brig.
Gen. Bill Cooley ’88 at Los Angeles AFB... When
10/7/15 4:20 PM
CLASSNOTES
I first met him, I was thinking I’d seen him before,
but couldn’t place him. Then at his promotion
ceremony (to BGen) someone mentioned he had
graduated in ’88 from RPI...”
Scott Sacknoff (MechE) published his latest
book, Space Careers. Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin provided the foreword.
Prof. Steven Doty (’89, M.S ’91, Ph.D. ’95)
received the Charles A. Brickman excellence
award from Denison University, recognizing his
teaching efforts in physics and astronomy during the college’s Awards Convocation. He joined
Denison in 1990 and is the director of the preengineering program. Much of Steven’s research
is in computational astrophysics, particularly in
self-consistent modeling of high- and low-mass star
formation, and he has published over 58 international journal articles and has given more than 80
national and international presentations.
Carl Nordberg, P.E. (’89, M.S. ’91) has joined
N.K. Bhandari, Architecture & Engineering, P.C.,
as senior project engineer.
He will focus on structural analysis and design
including project management for preparation
of structural design calculations.
Naveed Hussain was
among 14 recipients in the
Asian American EngiCarl Nordberg
neers of the Year program,
sponsored by CEI-USA. He is vice president of
aeromechanics technology and leader of the Boeing Research & Technology Center in Southern
California. Nick Pellegrino, senior vice president
of operations at Inmar Supply Chain Network,
was named to the 2015 Supply & Demand Chain
Executive Pros to Know by Supply & Demand
Chain Executive magazine.
If you watched Jeopardy’s 7,000th episode (May
20), you may have noticed our fellow classmate,
Ben Hom, was a contestant(!). He helped host a
party with the RAA’s D.C./Baltimore Chapter
with a presentation on how the audition process
works, behind the scenes info, and a Q&A session
after the show. Great job, Ben!
In case you’re not aware, we have an “RPI Class
of 1989” Facebook page. Come by and join us!
Send news to: Joseph Hom ’89, 342 Westchester Ave. 31E, Port Chester, NY 10573; joehom@
flash.net
90
Greetings, Class of 1990! Please continue to reach out and send me any
and all news that’s fit to print.
Greg Evans (MBA), president and COO of
Indium Corp., was presented with the 2014 Cheongju City Business Award in Cheongju, South
Korea, in recognition of Indium’s support of the
Cheongju City economy. Indium is a materials
manufacturer and supplier to the electronics and
semiconductor industries, among others.
Sam Guhan (Ph.D., ChemEng), vice president
of process and product engineering at Amgen and
site head for Amgen Massachusetts, was recently
elected to the board of directors of MassBio. MassBio, the oldest biotechnology trade association in
the U.S., represents and provides services to the
biotechnology industry in Massachusetts.
Colonel Don Davis (B.S. Mgmt) recently relinquished command of Marine Corps Logistics Base
– Albany (Ga.), a position he held for the last three
years. He will continue his career with U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs.
Paul Jean Messer is a systems engineer for
Lockheed Martin in Moorestown, N.J. He and his
dad, Dave Messer ’60, recently donated an ECAV
paver in honor of his daughter, Kelsea Messer ’15,
who played field hockey at Rensselaer for four years
(see photo, page 50).
I did hear from Pete Michels (B.S. ChemE ’90,
and Ph.D., UC Berkeley). Pete helped to build
EnzyMed Inc., which was subsequently acquired by
Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI). Pete is
a senior director at AMRI and has contributed to
more than 18 patents and applications and more
than 55 publications and invited presentations.
I exchanged emails with Sixto Orosa, one of
our Hall Hall co-conspirators. Sixto is working
for Symantec, married and living in the San Jose,
Calif., area. I’ll have a more complete update once
I’ve had a chance to talk with him on the phone.
I’ll have some ’splaining to do for not reaching out
sooner, as I was in and out of Sixto’s neighborhood
this summer before I realized he works within a
block of where my son was interning.
Dianne and I visited Marion and Matt Lamantia (ChemE) at their lovely home in Georgetown,
Texas. We enjoyed catching up over good food and
good drink and look forward to hosting them when
Matt’s New York Jets visit the Houston Texans.
Send news to: Rob Sherman ’90, 5927
Hawthorne Garden Way, Katy, TX 77494; robj
sherman@hotmail.com
91
Send news to: Richard Vehlow
’91, 10 Catherine Place, Latham,
NY 12110, c: (518) 577-3822 (main phone, text);
h: (518) 713-4789; rev1969@gmail.com (primary
email); vehlor@alum.rpi.edu
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Send news to: John Trammell ’92,
P.O. Box 15633, Minneapolis, MN
55415; johntrammell@gmail.com
Lots of new things to share: Keisuke
Hoashi has plenty of updates for us.
Here is a sampling of the TV gigs he
has been on this year: Bob’s Burgers (FOX), season
finale “Hawk and Chick,” playing Kojima (former
movie star of samurai/monster movies); Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC), playing Steve Wada, Hello Kitty
Rep; Jane the Virgin (TheCW), midseason finale,
“Chapter 10,” playing ER Dr. Elliott; Mike and
Molly (CBS), ep “Sex Lies & Helicopters,” playing
Coroner; Hot in Cleveland (TVLAND), w/ Betty
White and Valerie Bertinelli, episode “The Young
and the Restless”; Chasing Life (ABC Family), season finale “One Day,” playing oncologist Dr. Takahashi; and many more! He was also fortunate to be
interviewed by the writers of Bob’s Burgers on their
show “Behind Bob’s Burgers,” episode 11, and is
now a voting member of the Television Academy,
which votes on the Emmy Awards. All of his credits are on the Internet Movie Database site at www.
imdb.me/keisuke.
He graduated from RPI in 1993 with an M.S.
in technical communications w/ graphics certificate. He worked at NCR Corp., IBM Corp., AT&T
Global Information Solutions Corp., and Teradata
before retiring in 1998 to become a full-time actor
in Hollywood, Calif.
Jeffrey Clark has recently joined RETTEW as
a senior electrical engineer, working in the firm’s
Mechanicsburg, Pa., office. Part of RETTEW’s
energy and environmental engineering group, he
brings more than 20 years of experience in electrical, automation and controls design, as well as system integration for facility operations. He’s worked
with industrial, wastewater, energy, and municipal
clients, and has extensive experience designing
and modifying supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.
Louis Guerci has joined Bead Electronics, an
innovative manufacturer of custom contact pins
for the automotive, telecom, connector, PCB, and
lighting industries, as director of sales and marketing to help position the organization for rapid
growth in the very competitive interconnect industry. He has 20 years of experience in the electronics
industry, having worked in engineering, marketing,
product management, and business development
roles at Winchester Electronics and Amphenol.
Mark Geraldi was promoted to colonel in the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He has served
three tours overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. He
first joined the Army Corps of Engineers in May
of 1993, when he was commissioned as an ROTC
Distinguished Military graduate from RPI.
Federal Computer Week announced their 2015
Federal 100 Awards, and Col. Rob Lyman, the
Air Mobility Command’s director of communications and chief information officer, was among this
year’s winners. Rob is a graduate from the ROTC
program at RPI, with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Among his many accolades, he is
an alumnus of the White House Fellows Program,
and was recently selected for an assignment as
628th Air Base Wing commander at Joint Base
Charleston, S.C.
On a personal note, I have started working as
a quality engineer on brake calipers for Mando
America Corp. in Hogansville, Ga.
Send me an update!
Send news to: Ileana Gonzalez ’93, 486 Riva
Ridge Lane, Newnan, GA 30263; (404) 409-4044;
igonzalez@alum.rpi.edu
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95
Send news to: Bill Wheeler ’94, 832
W. Agatite Ave., Unit 1N, Chicago,
IL 60640; h: (773) 271-8205; w: (312)
353-2639; William_Wheeler@yahoo.com
I am pleased to share the following
updates. David Mitlin was recently
recognized in the media for using pea-
10/7/15 4:21 PM
CLASSNOTES
nut shells to bridge the gap between conventional
ion batteries and supercapacitors in his role as professor at Clarkson’s Wallace H. Coulter School of
Engineering.
Kenneth Karklin was recently promoted at
AeroVironment Inc. from director of quality systems, manufacturing engineering and services, to
general manager for the EES business segment.
Michael Betts was recently selected as CUR
Media’s chief technology officer.
Francis X. McDonald was recently selected at
Massachusetts Maritime Academy to be the 38th
president of the school.
Mike Garceau was recently selected by AIG
Inc. to be the chief operating officer for its Europe,
Middle East, and Africa region.
Congratulations to all on significant accomplishments. Please keep the updates coming.
Send news to: Michael Van Poots ’95, 275
Oak Grove Drive, Stoneville, NC 27048; c: (336)
932-0011; Michael@Vanpoots.com
96
Greetings, classmates! Mark your calendar for our 20th Reunion, October
6-9, 2016. It will be here before you know it, so plan
to attend now.
Congratulations to Ismail Fidan, who received
the Faculty Fellow in Innovation and TechnoEntrepreneurship Award from Tennessee Tech
University. Ismail organized a service learning
exchange between Tennessee Tech and Celal
Bayar University in Turkey. This exchange provided business and engineering students a chance
to develop packaging and plan a market launch of
Turkish products in the U.S.
Edward White joined FBR & Co. as senior
vice president, senior research analyst in its Equity
Research Department. In this role he is focusing on
analysis of the biotech sector. Edward has been an
equity analyst for the health-care sector for nearly
20 years.
After graduation, Micah Abelson moved to
California for the aerospace industry. While there
he’s continued his education, completing an M.S.
in aerospace engineering from California State
University, Long Beach, and an M.S. in astronautical engineering from the University of Southern
California. Micah currently lives in Lakewood,
Calif., and has been working for Northrop Grumman for the past 12 years. After working on the
F-35 Lightning II project, he moved over to the
space side of the company and is currently the lead
designer of the Spacecraft Bus for the James Webb
Space Telescope. He just completed his eighth
year on the program and still has three more years
before launch. In the last few years Micah got into
dragon boat racing and now travels the West Coast
for different races. Next year he plans to compete
in several international races as well. He completed
his first triathlon last year and had plans to compete in a half-Ironman in September in San Diego.
That’s all of the updates for this issue. Send in
your own update and be sure to plan to attend our
Reunion October 6-9, 2016!
Send news to: Hank Carbone ’96, 701 Cot-
tage Avenue W, St. Paul, MN 55117; h: (651) 3402451; hcarbone@hotmail.com
97
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Send news to: Kristen Fitzpatrick
’97, 57 Union Street, Watertown, MA
02472; h: (617) 848-8870; kfitzpatrick
@mba2003.hbs.edu
Mehmet Ali Arslan, Ph.D. ’98,
recently published the textbook Hands
on Applied Finite Element Analysis Application with ANSYS. He is a professor of mechanical engineering at Gebze Technical University.
Send news to: Mike Johnson ’98, 116 Catlin
Ave., Port Allegany, PA 16743; mjohnson@alum.rpi.edu
99
00
01
02
03
Send news to: Erica Kulesza ’99, 161
West Kinzie, Apt. 1110, Chicago, IL
60654-4742; erica.kulesza@yahoo.com
Send news to: Bridget Olson ’00,
1505 Monroe St. NE, Washington,
DC 20017; Bridget@alum.rpi.edu
Send news to: Mike Cooke ’01, 906
Lake Shore Ranch Drive, Seffner, FL
33584; themikecooke@yahoo.com
Send news to: Elizabeth Trawinski
’02, 738 S. 4th Ave., Apt. A, Pocatello, ID 83201; ejello@alum.rpi.edu
Congratulations to Marisa and John
Blauvelt on the birth of their daughter, Veronica Margaret Blauvelt,
born June 6 and weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces.
Lisa (McMillan) Tremblay ’03 joined Air
Products at its Wichita, Kan., plant in March 2014.
She has worked with Craig Mucher ’82, who leads
a group in Allentown, Pa., that supports Wichita
and other plants, on the scale-up of several new
processes and products, as well as plant improvements and safety reviews. They have enjoyed
exchanging notes about Wichita on his frequent
visits to the city.
Krista Pallay has joined Hydrotex, a leader in
sustainable industrial lubricants and fuel improvers, as sales support engineer. Previously she worked
at Air Liquide and Dyno Nobel in roles that have
taken her from the laboratory to the plant floor,
and from planning to production.
Send news to: Ed DerGurahian ’03, 37 Clifford
Road, Menands, NY 12204; (c): (518) 649-2962;
dergue@alum.rpi.edu
04
Adam McFarland’s company, Pure
Adapt, has been named to the Inc.
5000 for 2015, a ranking of the
fastest-growing private companies in the United
States. Pure Adapt was founded in 2006 as a Web
development company by Adam and two other
Capital Region alums (from Union and UAlbany) in
Altamont, N.Y., just west of Albany.
Other than that item—no one had anything
to update this issue (not even me)! That can’t be
true. New marriage? New child? New job? New
location? Let me know and we’ll get you updated
next quarter.
Send news to: Tom Reale ’04, 54 Pointview
Drive, Troy, NY 12180; realet@gmail.com
05
06
Send news to: Shannon Hitchcock
’05, 5526 Woodlawn Ave., Lowville,
NY 13367; smhitchcock@gmail.com
07
08
Send news to: Alex Salinsky ’07,
5029 Congress Ave., Oakland, CA
94601; alexsalinsky@gmail.com
Ashley (Phillips) and Doug Rivers joyfully welcomed their first
child into their family on August 4 at 12:41 a.m.
Gavin James Rivers weighed in at 8 pounds, 2.6
ounces, and 19.75 inches long, and he is a happy
and healthy baby! On April 13, Colin Bryan and
Christine Bryan welcomed their daughter, Grace
Audrey (Colgate ’37).
Send news to: Meghan (Kate) McMonagle
’06, 11 Nicholas Road, Deerfield, NH 03037;
meghan.mcmonagle@gmail.com
The Class of 2008 is welcoming some
new members of the RPI family!
On April 16, 2015, Karen (Kraft)
McAllister and her husband, Quinn McAllister,
welcomed twin girls, Charlotte Mae and Olivia
Grace, into the world. Their middle names are
the matriarchs on each side of their family. Congratulations on the beautiful new additions to your
family!
Trent Gillaspie and his wife, Anne Gillaspie,
welcomed their beautiful firstborn daughter,
Emeryn Dorothy Gillaspie, on July 16, 2015.
Watch out, RPI Class of 2037! Looks like the
ratio may be turned upside down.
Please keep your updates coming and make sure
to like our Facebook page at facebook.com/RPI
ClassOf2008.
Send news to: Trent Gillaspie ’08, 1820 Carlson Drive, Austin, TX 78741; trent@alum.rpi.edu
09
A few notes about up-and-coming
’09ers...Joseph Choma has been
turning heads recently with his
recently published guidebook, Morphing: A Guide
to Mathematical Transformations for Architects and
Designers. The guide, lauded as visually striking,
targets architects, designers, and anyone else with
a desire to understand the link between shapes and
the equations behind them.
In other news, Snehal Antani was selected as
the chief technology officer of Splunk Inc. The
company is an operational intelligence software
platform provider. According to the press release,
Snehal was chosen for his reputation of being a
keen strategist and bold thinker with deep knowledge of the value Splunk software can deliver.
And congratulations to architecture student
Caitlin Daly, who recently went on to grad school
at the Architectural Association in London. She
10/7/15 4:21 PM
CLASSNOTES
graduated this spring with an M.A. in history and
critical thinking. Nice!
Finally, I recently had the pleasure of witnessing
another RPI wedding. Alumna Tara Clancy met
her husband, Leon, during their graduate studies
at the University of Michigan, and the two married in Colorado on the Fourth of July this year. In
attendance for the ceremony and some good oldfashioned line dancing afterward were fellow alums
Kristen Clark, Elizabeth Frank, Ali Kennicutt,
Lisa Muscanell-DePaola, and yours truly.
Keep in touch at jhagaman@alum.rpi.edu!
Send news to: Jordan Hagaman ’09, 117 Brookwood Ave., Wilmington, NC 28403; jhagaman
@alum.rpi.edu
10
After five years at Columbia University,
Robert Margolies received a Ph.D. in
electrical engineering by defending his
thesis on wireless resource allocation for the Internet
of Everything. For his research, Robert has received
numerous awards including the NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship, and will begin work this fall
for AT&T Research in New York/New Jersey as a
senior-inventive scientist.
Kevin Del Bene sent a photo and the following note: “On the weekend of July 17, a group of
RPI grads got together for an annual camping trip
at Hickory Run State Park, Pa. We had grads come
from the D.C. area, CT, NJ, and one even flew in
from France! We had a great time on what was
for a few their first camping trip ever; we weathered two severe thunderstorms, went hiking and
scrambling across a boulder field, cooked six-hour
ribs over the campfire, and made s’mores.” Joining Kevin were Brandon Dolly, Matt Chmura,
Alan Longhini, Andy Zink, Amit Kumar, Krista
Mora, Christina Dinh, and Julie Zink.
Send news to: Meghan Lenihan ’10, 24 Mitchell Street, Apt. 3, Boston, MA 02127; lenihm@
alum.rpi.edu
11
Reunion & Homecoming weekend is
upon us again, officially one year until
our five-year reunion. Your alumni class officers are
hard at work planning events for the Class of 2011,
so feel free to send me your thoughts on what you’d
like to be part of in October 2016!
Lauren Sacks continued her success in mixed
martial arts this spring with a silver medal in the
Blue Belt Light Weight Women’s division at the
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation Pan
American Tournament. Lauren is the program
director at Marin MMA in San Anselmo, Calif.
Chris Maher got engaged to Rachel Ferebee in
Paris, France, earlier this year. They both currently
live in Pittsburgh, where Chris works for H.F. Lenz
Co. as a mechanical engineer and Rachel is planning to graduate from Carnegie Mellon University
in the fall with her Ph.D. in materials engineering.
Congratulations to Nathanael Jensen and Elizabeth Leimer who got married in January 2015.
In career news, Ben St. James, M.S. ’11, is now
a project manager at Polaris MEP in Providence,
R.I., Heather Higgins is a customer service engineer at Blasch Precision Ceramics in Albany, N.Y.,
and Jay Zalinger, Ph.D. ’11, has been making news
on his real world perspective when it comes to
teaching his career development class at the University of South Florida.
Finally, congratulations to John Philip Trasatti
for successfully defending his dissertation and
graduating with his Ph.D. in chemistry this past
May from Rensselaer. JP will continue his postdoctoral career in drug discovery and biomedical
device research.
Send news to: Michael Zwack ’11, P.O. Box
100, Stephentown, NY 12168; zwack@alum.rpi.edu
12
Adria Finch joined the newly created
Office of Innovation in the city of Syracuse, N.Y., serving as a project manager.
Adria and her team will look for creative and datadriven improvements to city operations. The initiative is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and will
cover salaries for the team over three years.
After working three years as an operations
engineer, Albert Park will begin taking classes at
Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., to pursue a master’s in engineering management. Albert’s
classmates told me he’s excited to join the vibrant
Boston community and has even been working
hard on his dance moves.
Shortly after graduating, Gregory Vernon
was employed by Honeywell in Kansas City as a
mechanical engineer in their simulations department. In February he received a Honeywell Outstanding Engineer award for his efforts in 2014.
Congratulations!
A Schodack, N.Y.-based startup founded by class
member Brent Solina has taken up office space at
the Maple Hill Middle School as part of an innovative partnership between small businesses and
the school. In exchange for office space, tenants
share their skills and time with the school through
internships and classroom presentations. Brent is
the founder of MICROrganic Technologies and is
working to create applications for wastewater treatment plants to create energy out of wastewater.
Please continue to submit your professional and
personal updates that you’d like to share with the
rest of the class. To stay connected with the Class
of 2012, remember to like our Facebook page,
RPI Class of 2012, and follow us on Twitter, @rpi
class2012.
Send news to: Rob Sobkowich ’12, 15 Kessler
Farm Drive #278, Nashua, NH 03063; sobkor@
alum.rpi.edu
13
With a few years under our belts, the
accolades and advancements have made
their way to my inbox.
Recently completing a master’s in medical physics, Derek Fiedler began his clinical residency in
July at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y.
Also climbing the ranks, Army Spc Katherine
Stone graduated from basic combat training at
Fort Jackson, S.C. Congrats to these two on major
milestones.
Annual camping trip: A group of alumni
from the Northeast, Washington, D.C.,
and France met in July at Hickory Run
State Park, Pa., where they enjoyed
hiking, campfires, and thunderstorms.
From left, back row, are Kevin Del Bene
’11, Brandon Dolly ’10, Matt Chmura ’10,
Alan Longhini ’10, Andy Zink ’10, and
Amit Kumar ’10. Front row: Krista Mora,
Christina Dinh, and Julie Zink ’10.
We also heard from Brian Nock, who transferred within Google to become an associate engineer for the Google Fiber project in Nashville, one
of eight cities currently in the Fiber rollout.
In nearly the same neighborhood, Dawn Burstein married Patrick Sallet on April 25, 2015. Patrick is a soldier in the U.S. Army. Dawn is working
at Gresham, Smith and Partners as a marketing
coordinator, also in Nashville. They currently
reside in nearby Clarksville, Tenn.
I’m eager to hear about other engagements and
promotions, or if you just want to let your classmates know where you’re living, working, or studying, send news to me, at the address below.
Send news to: Stephen Nock ’13, 15A Dimick
Street, Somerville, MA 02143; stephenpnock@
gmail.com
14
15
Send news to: Thomas Thayer ’14,
8B4 Sheridan Village, Schenectady,
NY 12308; t.thayer802@gmail.com
Eric Novak has started pharmacy
school at the University of Buffalo
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Jackie Rabadi has started graduate
school at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Dental Medicine.
Ben Cotten will be starting flight school to
serve as a Naval officer. Mattie Rosi-Schumacher
is studying medicine at the University of Buffalo
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Kelsea Messer, who majored in biology and
played field hockey at Rensselaer, has been accepted into a master’s program at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Send news to: Sarah Spellane ’15, 201 River
Street, Apt. 30, Troy, NY 12180; sarahspellane@
gmail.com
10/7/15 4:21 PM
CLASSNOTES
I N
Robert A. Hedstrom ’39, former manager and a director of the
Hedstrom Co., active in Dothan,
Ala., civic organizations and charities; June 5. Harold W. Huntley
Jr. ’41, former chief engineer at
Northrop, and program manager at
Lockheed, who worked on the Flying Wing, Navajo Missile Project,
Agena booster, and Space Shuttle;
March 29. Samuel Josefowitz ’42,
D.Eng. ’09 (hon.), chemical engineer, co-founder of mail-order book
and record clubs in 21 countries,
and world-renowned art collector,
especially works of the Pont-Aven
school; July 30. Richard M. Mandle
’43, founder of W.R. Grace division
Rare Earths, executive vice president
at Electro Nucleonics, patent holder,
lifelong inventor, and WWII Army
veteran; Aug. 30. Herbert Rothman
’44, chairman emeritus, Weidlinger
Associates, where he established
the transportation division, expert
on suspension bridge cables and
design analysis, and NAE member;
July 26. Peter Wallack ’46, retired
vice president, General Bearing
Corp., and Hyatt Mfg. Co., Feb. 10.
Thomas D. Hinkelman ’47, former
executive director, Semiconductor Industry Association, following positions with Eckert Mauchly,
GE, Motorola, and Fairchild, and
WWII Navy veteran; July 24.
James S. Perry ’49, retired president, Command Systems Division,
Eaton Corp., recipient of the IEEE
Pioneer Award, and Navy League
member; June 15. John S. Warner
’49, retired research leader, Battelle
Memorial Institute, planning board
member, and nature lover; March 7.
Charles R. Haggett ’50, retired
senior staff engineer, Lockheed Martin and Space Co., where he worked
on various space programs, some
still classified, and Army Air Force
veteran; July 13. Ralph L. Lichtfuss
’50, retired president, Tooling &
Production Sales Co., formerly with
Kaiser and B&W Nuclear Energy
Div., cattle farmer, and WWII Navy
veteran; Aug. 3. Richard S. Sambol
’50, retired founder and president,
Sambol Construction, who served
widely on civic, government, and
philanthropic organizations, and
M E M OR I A M
WWII Navy veteran; May 23. Peter B. Brumberg ’51, retired vice
president, Felton International, RV
traveler, sports and bridge enthusiast, and U.S. Navy veteran; Aug. 23.
Michael A. Cocca Sr. ’51, M.S.
’59, retired metallurgical engineer,
GE, active in Green Island, N.Y.,
civic affairs and RPI alumni activities, and WWII Navy Air Corps veteran; July 4. Paul W. Vapnek ’51,
former engineer and longtime attorney, Townsend & Townsend, author,
teacher, mentor, and volunteer to
legal societies; Feb. 28. Edmond F.
Bagdonas ’52, retired mechanical
engineer, GE Corp., softball coach
and math tutor, and WWII Army
Air Corps veteran; Jan. 4. Francis
W. Day ’52, retired captain, U.S.
Navy, and engineering project manager with Kellar & Gannon and
Lester B. Knight; Nov. 25, 2014.
Mark A. Delamater ’52, retired
senior engineer, NYS Department
of Environmental Conservation
Division of Air Resources, active
in sports, and WWII Navy veteran;
June 9. Marshall W. Barnes ’53,
retired architect, Valus and Carpenter Associates, former scout master,
who enjoyed sailing and cycling on
Cape Cod in retirement, and WWII
Army veteran; July 26. H. Russell
Kunz ’53, M.M.E. ’58, Ph.D. ’66,
engineer performing research on
turbine engines, rockets, and fuel
cells for United Technologies Corp.,
adjunct professor, Hartford Graduate Center, and consultant; March
4. Charles P. Susen ’53, retired
member of technical staff, Bell Telephone Laboratories, ham radio operator, Civil Defense volunteer, and
U.S. Army veteran; Jan. 26. Robert
S. Browne ’55, architect, city planner, interior designer, and vintage
clothing collector; Jan. 7. Gordon
R. Peterkin ’55, retired director of
research programs, Bell Canada, and
RPI Athletics Hall of Fame member
who scored the winning goal in the
1954 national hockey championship; Sept. 21, 2014. Christopher
O. Riddleberger ’55, retired after
a career at Bell Labs, active in IEEE
Power Electronics Society and Communications Society; May 2015.
Francis A. Combar ’56, retired
metallurgical engineering supervisor,
Special Metals Corp. and Homogeneous Metals Inc., avid skier and
hiker, and U.S. Navy veteran; May
25, 2008. Richard E. Singer ’56,
retired after a career with Airborne
Instruments, Booz Allen, Joslyn, and
Erico, patent holder, and hospital
volunteer honored for his service;
Feb. 23. Denis A. Mueller ’57, retired manager, advanced product
planning, Westinghouse Electric
Co., patent holder and recipient
of innovation awards, and U.S.
Navy veteran; March 18. Leonard
A. Barnstone ’58, retired chemical engineer and manager, Exxon
Research and Engineering, tennis
player, woodworker, and jazz musician; Nov. 19, 2011. John F. Hoyt
’58, Internet pioneer and aerospace
engineer, retired lieutenant colonel,
U.S. Air Force, retired from UTC
Hamilton Standard, and avid ballroom dancer; May 19. Leslie S.B.
Kirschner ’58, retired vice president, Citicorp; May 3. Lawrence A.
Rader ’58, former vice president,
Merrill Lynch, president, L.A. Rader
Management Inc., and donor to
scholarship funds at Rensselaer; Aug.
14. Herbert H. Wakamoto ’58, retired engineering specialist, Rockwell Aerospace Co.; July 2015. Peter
D. Plath ’59, retired vice president
and general manager, Austin Co.,
traveler, and avid sports fan; May 21.
Marcel J. Grenier, M.M.G. ’60,
retired after a 38-year career with
General Electric, and WWII Army
veteran; Jan. 24, 2014. Donald Cohen, M.S. ’61, co-founder of The
Math Program, known as “The
Mathman,” teacher, author, watercolor artist, and U.S. Army veteran;
June 26. Robert M. Dressler ’61,
co-founder and vice president, Polaris Wireless, previously with SRI,
Systems Control, and ESL, patent
holder, and sports enthusiast; May 3.
Alan W. Dix ’63, Ph.D. ’71, retired
aerospace materials engineer, General Electric, and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and his church;
July 12. Robert J. Hagler, M.S. ’63,
former president, American Vulkan,
senior vice president, Meritor Savings, career center business manager, and avid sailor; Jan. 23. John A.
Mastronardi ’64, retired captain,
Delta Air Lines, and Vietnam War
veteran; June 3. Lawrence K. Anderson ’65, retired cost engineer,
General Dynamics, Electric Boat
Division, and home builder and
craftsman; Jan. 29. James L. Cuddihee ’65, former senior industrial
engineer, Eastman Kodak Co., April
8. John F. (Jack) Canty Jr. ’66,
retired attorney at law, and public
policy specialist in Washington,
D.C., who recently lived in Youghal
in County Cork, Ireland; April 5.
Charles J. Haughney ’66, retired
captain, U.S. Navy, and retired
chief, fuel cycle safety branch, and
former acting director, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission; July 12.
Frank B. Gwozdz Jr. ’70, retired project management engineer,
Agricultural Research Service of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Rensselaer Annual Fund
volunteer; May 19. Donald E. Joslyn, M.E. ’72, retired engineer
and senior manager, American
Electric Power, avid traveler and
photographer; March 31. Stephen
G. Racioppo, B.S. and M.E. ’74,
former senior managing director
at Accenture, where he led the financial services business in North
America and Asia Pacific, author, speaker, and member of civic
boards; May 29. Richard A. Busse
’77, former energy engineer with
Sealed Power Corp. and Howmet
Turbine Components Corp.; July 12.
Hassan G. Hamedani ’81,
founder, Arch Bridge Contracting
Corp., structural engineering for
roads and bridges, former structural
engineer for nuclear power plants,
and talented chef; May 4. Mark D.
Samitt ’84, former COO and president at Steuben Glass, former executive at Movado Group, management
consultant with Deloitte & Touche,
and active class volunteer; May 6.
Kevin Steinfeld ’87, employed
by Ernst & Young LLP; April 8.
Richard P. Riendeau, head football coach, 1963-1972, who took a
football program that had the longest losing streak in college football
to several winning seasons, and developed a football aptitude test now
widely used in pro sports; Sept. 20.
10/7/15 4:21 PM

Senior attacker Angela Cascio is co-captain, for

Transcription

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