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Summer 1981 





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Vol. 85, No. 1 



1 Alumni Attitudes: Some Answers 

Preliminary results from the recent survey of alumni attitudes 
and opinions. 

2 EUREKA! an inventor's point of view 

Bob Brass, '57, discusses the joys and the sorrows of being an 
inventor. Those may be toys, but they're certainly not child's 
play! 

10 Technology is the answer— but that's not the question 

Melvm Kranzberg, historian of technology from Georgia Tech, 
discusses the place of WPI in the history of engineering educa- 
tion in his 1981 Commencement Address. 

14 "Daddy Wags " 

Although he can be as hard as the rocks and mountains he 
loves to climb. Chemical Engineering professor Robert Wagner 
can also be a real softy when it comes to "his kids." 

16 Chet Inman: Not afraid to talk up! 

40 years without a voicebox certainly haven't silenced this 
alumnus. 

18 REUNION 

That word pretty much says it all, but 1981 was one of the 
most enthusiastic reunions the WPI campus has ever seen. 

26 Your class and others 

27 Chapin Cutler receives IEEE Edison Medal 
39 Completed careers 

41 Notes from the Editor 



Editor H RiJSSEU. Kav 

Alumni Information E4iitoT: Ruth S Trask 

Designer: H RussEti Kay 

Typeseitiny County Photo Compositing, 
Inc , Icfferstm, Mass. 

Printing: Davis Press, Inc , Worcester, Mass 

AJumru Publications Committee Donald E 
Ross, '^, chairman, Rohfjit C Cosunc, '6ft, 
Sidney Maijwu), '49, Samuei W Mencow, 
'37; Stanley R NEcirs, |b , '^4; UmY NrrscH, 
'7$ 



Address all correspondence to the Editor, The 
WPI journal. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Telephone 
16I71 T^?>-\A\\ 

The WPI juumai is published tor the WPI 
Alumni A.ssociation by Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute. Copyright ^ 1981 by Worcester 
F'olytcchnic Institute All rights reserved. 

The WPI loumal (dsps i.ssn no. 0148-6128) is 
published live times a year, quarterly plus a 
catalog issue | identified as no 2' in Septem- 
ber. Second Class p(»stage paid at Worcester, 
Massachusetts 



WPI ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 

President: Peter H. Hor.stmann, '<;s 

Senior Vice President: Cij\rk Poi^xNf), '48 

Vice President: Harry W. TfeNNEY, JR., '^6 

Secretary-Treasurer: Stephen J. Hebert, '66 

Past President Iohn H McCabe, '68 

Executive Committee mcmhers-atlaige: 
Phild' B Ryan, '6s; Donaid E. Ross, 'S4; 
An.son C. Fyier, '4S; Walter Lankau, '64 

Fund Hoard Hinry Styskal, [r., '^O, chair- 
man, Ric hard B Kennedy, '6s, vice 
chairman; Gerald Finkle, 's7; Philip H. 
Pdddincton, '<iy; Richard A. Davis, '53; 
C. John Lindegren, '39; )ohn H. Tracy, '52 



Alumni Attitudes: Some Answers 



THE WPI alumnus: how does he or 
she feel about WPI in general 
and about the alumni program in 
particular? 

The WPI Alumni Association, in or- 
der to strengthen and improve its overall 
program, wanted to leam the answers to 
these questions. In March, alumni atti- 
tudinal surveys forms were mailed to 
11,716 WPI alumni, and the preliminary 
results have been very gratifying. By the 
April 20th deadline, 2,874 replies had 
been received. An excellent response! 
(Another 250 replies, as yet not ana- 
lyzed, were received after the April 
deadline.) 

The strong 25% response to the 
Alumni Attitudinal Survey is indicative 
of the interest, concern, and support for 
WPI and the alumni program found in 
the alumni body. 



A^fD WHAT ABOUT Current alumni? 
Who actually mailed back the 
questionnaires? The distribu- 
tion of responses to the survey pretty 
well followed the general alumni popu- 
lation, whether by class, age, or sex. In 
all, 2,743 men, 89 women— and another 
42 who apparently weren't sure- 
responded to the svirvey. The heaviest 
response came from the 1971-80 
classes, who account for 36% of all WPI 
alumni and whose responses were 35% 
of the total received. Just vmder half 
those who retiimed questiormaires cur- 
rently live within 200 miles of WPI. 

In the occupational category, the 
greatest number of replies came from 
engineers (30%), followed by managers 
(28%), and retired persons (13%)). 
Alumni engaged in sales and marketing 
accounted for 7% of the responses. 

The most prevalent salaries 
reported by alumni were in the $25,000 
to $50,000 range (52%), with 19% in 
the $15,000-$25,000 bracket and 12% in 
the $50,000 to $75,000 category. Sixty- 
five persons listed an income of over 
$100,000. 



TURNING TO the qualitative judg- 
ments expressed by the respon- 
dees, the college fared well in 
terms of general image, reputation, and 
prestige. For example, 1,118 alumni, or 
38.9%, gave WPI a "One of the Best" 
rating. 49% said above average, while 
7% graded WPI as average. Only 48 
people (just 1.7%) felt WPI was below 
average. 

A similar pattern evolved when 
alumni were asked how they would rate 
their WPI education when compared to 
that received by other engineering or 
science graduates. Nearly 90% rated 
their WPI education as superior. And 
two-thirds would definitely recommend 
a WPI education to a relative. 

When asked about WPI's relation- 
ship with its alumni, 22% of respon- 
dents felt it was excellent, 57% good, 
13% fair, and only 1.6% poor 

On the financial side of the picture, 
84% of the respondees had contributed 
financially to WPI, with 69% contribut- 
ing annually and 23% intermittently. 
64% replied they would be willing to in- 
crease (or begin) contributions in order 
to keep WPI a small, high quality pri- 
vate college. 

The quantity, quality, and effective- 
ness of WPI alumni mailings received 
Jiigh marks. Most felt the quantity 
was about right, with 25% noting its 
quality was excellent and 62% good. 
Overall, 70% believed the mailings 
were effective. 

Alumni news won the popularity 
contest as the topic alumni most 
wanted to see in college publications, 
being mentioned 2,134 times. Educa- 
tional topics drew 1500 replies; campus 
life, 1475; faculty profiles, 1357; and 
technical topics, 1257. Interest was also 
shown in athletics, 851, and financial 
information, 740. 

There seemed to be a general im- 
pression that alumni received more 
fund-raising mail than was actually the 
case. During a 12-month period, a typi- 
cal non-donor may receive 7 pieces of 
fund-raising literature from WPI, out of 
a total of approximately 28 pieces of 
alumni mail. While 56% believed 
(accurately) that one-fourth was fund- 
oriented, another 27% thought fund- 
raising accounted for up to half of 
alumni mail. 



IN ORDER TO SUMMARIZE and analyze 
the questionnaires received, the sur- 
vey committee, chaired by Paul Ken- 
nedy, '67, enlisted the support of the 
statistical group of the WPI mathemati- 
cal sciences department. WPI Seniors 
Bonnie Cook and Tom Hryniewicz pro- 
vided the computer programming, 
which incidentally, produced a printout 
eight inches thick! They used informa- 
tion provided by a group of ten under- 
graduate students who input the 
responses into the computer. 

Barbara Ziff, manager of informa- 
tion and support services in WPI's Uni- 
versity Relations office, reports that "it 
was interesting to watch the attitude 
and enthusiasm of these students, for 
not only did they enjoy what they were 
doing, they also showed considerable 
pride in WPI and reacted quite strongly 
when alumni responded with negative 
comments that they thought were 
inappropriate. "Adds Chairman Ken- 
nedy: "Perhaps this speaks well for the 
pride and concern being instilled in our 
undergraduates. Hopefully, it will carry 
over into their alumni days." 



THESE ARE ONLY the preliminary 
findings of the Alumni Attitudi- 
nal Survey. They show some defi- 
nite trends, and different patterns based 
on geography and age breakdowns. (One 
member of the Class of 1928 set a prece- 
dent, if not a trend. He included an un- 
solicited $1000 gift to the Alumni Fund 
with his completed svirvey!) 

In the next issue of the Journal, 
more complete data from the survey and 
the essay questions will be analyzed. 
Even at this preliminary stage, reliable 
data has been obtained which will ulti- 
mately help in the reevaluation of the 
WPI alumni program. Information re- 
ceived from the Alumni Attitudinal 
Survey is expected to provide the 
foundation and basis for increased effec- 
tiveness of alumni activities in the 
months and years to come. 



The WPI Journal / Summer I'^Hl 



EUREKA! 

an inventor's point of view 



by Robert Brass, '57 



THE QUESTIONS THAT POP into everyone's mind when 
talking with an inventor are: How do you get 
ideas? Once you have an idea, how do you sell it? 
Why are you an inventor? Why do you risk this? To an- 
swer some of these, I'd like to recount some significant 
events that have shaped my recent decision to cut the 
umbilical cord to the corporate world and become an in- 
dependent inventor. 

I did my first inventing at the age of 15, when I in- 
vented three board games, which I considered better 
than the commercial board games my friends and I sat 
around playing. Youth has a certain amount of enthusi- 
asm which is never dulled by reality. One of these 
games, called "Pirates," I submitted to Milton Bradley 
about 20 years later— with the expected result. They 
sent it back to me and said "Sorry, but we've seen this 
one before" — in nicer terms, of course. 

My first significant invention — a mechanized 
homecoming display — came while I was at WPI. For 
homecoming at Sigma Phi Epsilon, we created a rather 
large conveyor belt with a dummy of a Tech student, 
who went from station to station to station, one for 
each year of college. The junior station had a large screw 
that gradually descended into the student and then 
withdrew. Then the senior station, entitled "industry," 
was in fact just a cliff. That was my first "public" 
invention. 

I spent the summer of my junior year working at 
Bell Laboratories, where there were people whose names 
I had read about in books, people like Bodie, Nyquist, 
Shocklcy, etc. — all the so-called key names at that time. 
I did two significant things that summer — making a toy 
and joining the $10,000 Club. 

I have to explain about the $10,000 Club. When 
transistors were first delivered from Western Electric, 
they charged $100,000 per shipment. I was there at Bell 
Labs the summer the first shipment came in, with 10 
transistors in it. I had the distinction of dropping one on 
the floor. For the induction ceremony to the exclusive 
$10,000 club, I had to feed a goldfish to the pet piranha. 



Through a curious series of circumstances, I ended 
up as a computer designer. I want to state that up front, 
because there was no such thing as computer science 
back in 1957. In fact, there was just that funny company 
up in Poughkeepsie that kept coming up with these 
things called digital computers. At WPI it was the ana- 
log people vs. the digital people. 

We were working on something called electronic 
switching, where we used transistors to perform the 
switching functions previously done by relays. Very 
primitive by today's standards. I was asked to teach a 
course in designing what we call multifunctional cir- 
cuits. A gentleman named Clarence Lovell was listed as 
the instructor. I didn't realize that merely meant he 
would choose the instructor. I was very thrilled about 
taking the course, but he called me in one day and said. 




2 / Summer 1981 / The WPI Jnumal 



"By the way, congratulations; you're teaching it." I re- 
ally didn't know anything about the subject, so there I 
was in the fabled position — keeping just one lecture 
ahead of the class. To make it things even more diffi- 
cult, these students were my classmates. 

At Bell Labs our three-year program included two 
years to get a master's degree. My master's degree took 
one extra year. And since I'm talking about what inven- 
tors are like, I have to tell you why it took me that extra 
year. When I was in school, one of my most difficult 
challenges was to concentrate on learning. What I really 
wanted to do was to go out and create. 

When I graduated from WPI, my goals for the sum- 
mer were enjoying myself and going to the movies in 
the middle of the week. Like everybody else in this class 
entering Bell Labs, I was told I didn't have sufficient 
mathematical background so, guess what, I was to have 
a six week, high-pressure course to learn real and com- 
plex variables. 

But I was determined to enjoy my summer as 
planned, so, while everyone else prepared for real and 
complex variables, I worked on various electronic de- 
vices. As a result, I had to spend an extra year making 
up that course. 

This characteristic, in a sense, is a part of the curse 
of being an inventor. It's very difficult to accept what is. 
As a matter of fact, the key to being an inventor is that 
you have to reject what already exists. You have to look 
at something and say, "I reject that. It's inadequate. I 
can make something better." It takes a certain amount 
of arrogance sometimes, certainly a bit of ego, to think 
you can do something better — because most of the time 
it doesn't work out that way. 

Because I was still studying in that third year, I got 
to take courses not then offered in colleges — the design 
of computer circuits was a good example. This subject 
simply was not being taught in any college in the North- 
east. So, suddenly here I was teaching how to design 
computer circuits. 

When I was through with that course, I was asked 
to work on a little thing called an Autonomous Call 
Module. Now, in digital electronics, a flip-flop is one 
memory unit. Nowadays we have chips the size of your 
thumb which have 16,000 or 64,000 memory units in 
them. The device I was working on then had 75 flip- 
flops in it. Since I knew how to design computer cir- 
cuits, I got the assignment of designing this. It was a 
very low priority item at the time, but it turned out, 
through a series of flukes, that this one little thing with 
75 flip-flops ended up being a computer all by itself. And 
that's what really began my career of serious invention. 







I TALKED BEFORE ABOUT REJECTING WHAT ALREADY EXISTS. 
There's another way in which rejection plays a key 
role in the life of an inventor. Nine out of ten of the 
inventions that I have submitted have been turned 
down— politely, usually. At first this was very emotion- 
ally difficult to accept. Being able to live with rejection 
is one of the things that is necessary for invention. 

You may have played a machine game, called "Ski 
and Score," where you stand on top of a pedal-controlled 
device and monitor a little skier. As you move your feet 
back and forth, the little skier moves back and forth 
along the surface of a rapidly moving carpet. This was 
originally designed as a full sized unit called "Ski 
Deck." The investor behind the large device thought it 
would be great to turn that big deck into a little deck, 
put little people on it, and turn it into a coin-op game. 
That hit the market in 1962. 

The royalties from "Ski and Score" were the first 
tangible reward for any of my inventions. I netted 15 
percent of all the money that came in. Considering all of 
the time I put into developing the device, I ended up 
making something like $2 an hour. But it whetted my 
appetite. 

I was still enjoying working life at Bell Labs. But I 
had had a few promotions, and the next logical step be- 
camme going into management. I took that step reluc- 
tantly, because I was then accepting less time to invent 
and more time taking care of other people's problems. 



The, WPIfoumal / Summer 1981/3 



After eight years of managing, I felt that the fun had 
gone out of Bell Labs. An entrepreneurial spirit began to 
push at me. I'd always wanted to be independent. So I 
decided to leave Bell Laboratories, albeit with a great 
deal of regret. 

So I left. Realizing that Bell Laboratories was really 
an extension of college, that I did not truly have an un- 
derstanding of what the outside world was like, I de- 
cided to go into consulting. I joined a small company 
called Auerbach in Philadephia and was a principal con- 
sultant with them for two and a half years. I left them 
for Xerox corporate headquarters in Stamford. 



AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME, a very significant event 
occurred. I completed my first prototype board 
game, called "Coverup," a title which has since 
grown to mean something different from what I origi- 
nally envisioned. I have to share with you my reaction 
when I first realized that I had licensed it to Parker 
Brothers in Canada. The dominant question in my mind 
was, what was I going to do with my $10 million, be- 
cause Coverup was going to be a second Monopoly. 

Parker Canada, on the other hand, remembers the 
game very well for two reasons. One, it was not terribly 
exciting. Two, there turned out be another Canadian 
game named Coverup. Here I was faced with my first re- 
ality of the world of inventing: just because you've 
signed a contract and just because you can say, "that's 
my invention sitting on the shelf," your problems aren't 
over. Your problems are just beginning. 

I got a call asking, "What are we going to do? The 
other company is suing? So I hired a lawyer. My first 
$1,000 in legal fees uncovered the fact that the other 
company's Coverup was originally stolen from Parker 
Brothers! That took care of the problem. That game was 
sold, incidentally, on a night when three friends, with a 
quart bottle of Dcwar's on one side of them and my 
game on the other, decided my game was the best thing 
they had ever played. Luckily, one of the three was the 
chairman of the board of Parker Canada. 

One of the problems in life is knowing when to 
quit, and after the game bombed on the market, he re- 
vived it, maybe recapturing his own initial reaction. 
This was two years after the Nixon situation. But the 
name of the game stayed the same. Not only did this 
game fail once, it failed twice. 



The first toy I ever licensed traces how an inventor 
gets an idea. I went to a small toy company named 
Pressman. (You may know them for making Triomi- 
noes.) I was introduced to them, by the way, by the gen- 
tleman who poured the drink for the chairman of Parker 
Canada. Pressman had a preschool line and after the pre- 
vious year's production they found themselves with 
200,000 little wheels with nowhere to roll. Could I in- 
vent a toy that would use those wheels? That was the 
most imusual request I've ever had. Imagine, 200,000 
wheels! I told them I'd think about it. 

I went home and I came up with a toy. Now, any- 
one who is in the business of inventing and who imder- 
stands the toy industry as I do now would probably get 
hysterical over what I produced. It was made with two 
thick sheets of acrylic, which is very expensive, and 
some wood. The whole thing was rather large. What 
you did with it was to put the wheels in a slot at the 
top, and as you turned a crank it would pick up one 
wheel, drop it in another slot, and the wheel would go 
shooting across the floor. Not exactly thrilling and excit- 
ing, but I brought it to a very desperate company that 
had 200,000 wheels sitting aroimd. They would have 
done anything to get rid of those wheels. Or so I 
thought. 

I demonstrated my creation in the board room. The 
chairman was there, the top executives, all six of them. 
They said "Oh, that's tremendous. That's fantastic. 
That's great." And immediately in their minds 200,000 
wheels were rolling out the factory doors. 

Then, all of a sudden, someone said, "Well, 
wouldn't the kids get kind of bored with it?" 

By the time half an hour had gone by, the world's 
greatest idea was teetering on the edge of disaster An- 
other half-hour and it was dead. 

This board meeting took place on 5th Avenue and 
23rd Street. I decided to walk back to Grand Central Sta- 
tion to think it over What else could I do? After having 
imagined another million dollars net with this ridicu- 
lous little thing, I was a pauper again. 

I was tmdging along, when suddenly another use 
for the mechanism occurred to me: Why not a bank? I 
completely forgot about the 200,000 wheels, which I 
knew I couldn't use, and up came Cranky Bank. This 
was even more extravagant in its use of materials, but at 
least it was a little bit of fun. You would put some plas- 
tic coins into various tunnels, turn the crank, and it 
would go through the exciting routine of making noise 
and dropping the coin in. 

When I showed Cranky Bank to the people at Press- 
man, they were ecstatic. The heck with the 200,000 
wheels. They wanted to build a preschool line and here 



4 / Summer 1981 / The WPl fnumal 





was just the ideal machine for them. This toy hved 
about 45 minutes — until someone realized that children 
really don't like to save. Suddenly the toy was a host of 
problems. It wasn't educational; it might jam; it might 
break. I was really in trouble. 

Again, I decided on the therapeutic walk back to 
Grand Central. At about 35th Street I said "Aha! I know 
what kids love to do. They love to telephone." (Even at 
this stage I was still using the same slot idea.) We added 
a little more play value with three slots — a nickel, a 
dime, a quarter. You filled the slots, turned a crank, and 
watched the coin come around, hit the bell, and get de- 
posited. The slot gets filled, you turn a crank, the coin 
comes around, hits the bell and deposits. On this toy I 
hit a bullseye. 



AT Xerox I started on the Information Systems 
staff and, because I had done some programming 
as a consultant, I came in as a software expert. 
(By the way, that's a very important point. If you can 
maneuver yourself in industry to a title just before you 
leave, you can then enter the next company as an expert 
in that title.) I was involved with market planning and 
in critiquing other people's work. This was not exactly 
tough for me to do. I would harden myself and I could 
say, "Well, that's a terrible thing." However, since my 



entire corporate career started out as a critiquing func- 
tion, I balanced my personal equilibrium by putting 
more and more time into inventing. 

Up to today, I probably have close to 50 patents, 
and of those maybe three or four products are still on 
the market. I would not patent anything unless I had 
somebody to sign the license. I take a slight chance, of 
course, that my designs may appear under someone 
else's name, and that has happened to me several times. 
On the other hand, I save an enormous amount of 
money, since only one out of ten of my ideas becomes 
successful. If I patented everything, I would now have 
500 patents and probably quite a few lou's. 

So, I started inventing and putting in a lot of time — 
evenings and weekends and vacations. Being indepen- 
dent became more and more important. Then came the 
first of two events occurred that changed my mind and 
my life. First, the Arabs turned off the oil. As I had be- 
gun to be more experienced in pre-school, my toys be- 
gan to get larger and larger. Suddenly I realized that all 
of my inventing, all of my approaches, had dealt with 
plastic as though it were free. And suddenly I knew that 
plastic was going to be very expensive from then on. Ev- 
erybody was talking about economic disaster, and since 
the toy industry exists on people's "extra" money, I 
thought it would experience problems. I felt as if I had 
just begun to understand the game when somebody 
changed the rules. 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981/5 



One day I sat back one day and asked myself, 
"What can I invent with very Httle plastic in it?" I'd like 
to share with you a couple of things that emerged. I de- 
cided to invent items with relatively small proportions 
of plastic to keep costs down. One was called "Lost 
Gold", a game that featured a little device called a gold 
finder, inside of which was a detector. The "gold" nug- 
gets which you hid underneath the platform were mag- 
netic, and as the detector went over, it would flip into 
one position. You'd track the playing field to determine 
whether you'd imcovered gold or not — very much like a 
modem version of Battleships. I was very excited about 
this game. 

I remember at one point I thought that all I would 
really like to do, for my own self-fulfillment, was to 
have one game, just one game, licensed with Parker 
Brothers. As far as I'm concerned, they are the best toy 
company in the United States — in terms of their ethics, 
their approach, their professionalism. I got that game li- 
censed with Parker Brothers, and it was my first real 
break. Even though the price was high, himdreds of 
thousands of the games were sold, providing some nice 
royalty income. I had licensed quite a few things with 
Pressman, but now this was the big time. 

Another game I invented at that time was a plat- 
form board that rotated, with a series of magnets under- 
neath. When a turtle (which had a piece of metal in it) 
went over the magnet, his head popped in and the turtle 
"went to sleep." 




► On designing toys for children: 

I don't design toys for children. That 
isn't my focus. I design them for me. I 
have never designed a doll, because I 
don't enjoy playing with dolls. I in- 
vented these things I've talked about be- 
cause I enjoyed the concept of them. 
Maybe that's why nine out of ten are 
rejected — I liked them but the children 
didn't. 

► On royalties: 

How does an inventor get paid? Royal- 
ties are the key. Royalties are a delight — 
when you get them. The United States 
was built on the concept of the individ- 
ual inventor. The tax structure and the 
patent structure favor the individual in- 
ventor, because the inventor makes cap- 
ital gains. If you can possibly avoid it, 
you never sell an invention. You license 
it. And when you license an invention, 
the normal terms are S percent of the 
gross sales— not profit, but gross. This is 
all treated as capital gains. 



► On what you need to know: 

To me, the toy business is a microcosm 
of American industry. Product develop- 
ment cycles are about a year and a half 
long. Every single process in making an 
automobile, for example, is found in 
some of the smaller toys. Some of them 
get very sophisticated and very complex. 
If you're going to be involved in invent- 
ing, you should know law, accounting, 
taxes, you should be able to sit and 
work practically every machine tool. 
I took a summer course where I 
learned how to use every machine tool 
in Washburn Shops. The more informa- 
tion you can get about how industry 
works, every aspect of industry, includ- 
ing marketing, the better it is for you. 



► On how to find out what you need to 
know as an inventor (such as what sort 
of rubber to use in making Riviton 
rivets): 

I read a lot, and I ask a lot people a lot of 
questions. Shell Oil has somebody 
called the Shell Answer Man, whom 
you can call and say, "I'm interested in 
a plastic that does the following." If he 
doesn't know, he'll connect you to the 
people in the company who do know. 

Any information you want can gen- 
erally be gotten within five telephone 
calls. There's always somebody willing 
to give it to you. You can go to the fed- 
eral government — they're often very 
helpful, if you're willing to flatter some 
of the people there. On the other hand, I 
have found that private industry is ex- 
tremely interested in helping. 



6 / Summer 1981 / The WPI Journal 




To give you an idea of the fickleness of the invent- 
ing business, I brought "The Great Turtle Race" to my 
friend v^ho was vice president of research at Parker 
Brothers. He liked it immediately. I started counting my 
royalty checks again. Although the game lasted on the 
Canadian market for three or four years, it never ap- 
peared in the United States. The reason was that there 
was no established market at that time for a relatively 
high priced children's game. 

This are both positive and negative aspects to in- 
venting. One of the easiest ways to invent is to make 
something that resembles another item. For example, 
after Mastermind came out, there were copies all over. 
Lots of people copied Scrabble. Rubik's Cube is now a 
very popular game, and we'll be seeing all sorts of varia- 
tions and versions. For some reason, everybody feels 
safe doing that. On the other hand, me-too products of- 
ten become disasters. It is up to the inventor to con- 
vince companies to go into totally tmcharted areas. 




'/:9 



► On having ideas stolen: 

I'm aware of at least two inventions 
that were stolen from me. I have two 
ways of dealing with it. First, in making 
a large number of inventions, I assume 
some will be stolen. Second, I deal only 
with people I know are ethical. Now, 
how do I know that? I find out when 
they're not ethical. 

The industry I have dealt primarily 
with, the toy industry, has to thrive on 
ethics. As soon as a company is known 
as non-ethical, the independent inventor 
does not go there. 

The two ideas stolen from me were 
not taken by companies. Although you 
can say a company is not ethical, it is 
more often individuals within the com- 
pany who are the real culprits. I brought 
an idea to a major toy company. An 
R&JD person working for that company 
saw the idea, quit, suddenly became an 
independent inventor," and sold that 
idea to another company. It came out in 
the exact same configuration, and he 
even used the same name I had chosen. 



I did not bother to pursue that one, be- 
cause unfortunately it just wasn't worth 
it. On the other hand, if you have one 
good idea, like a Chester Carlson (inven- 
tor of the electrostatic photocopier), the 
best thing to do is to either get someone 
to underwrite you so you can get protec- 
tion, or just deal with people you know 
are ethical. As I've said, the problem is 
more often with individuals than com- 
panies, and I really don't know how to 
handle that. Being an inventor is some- 
times tough. 

I go to only five or six companies, 
and in them I have personal friends I 
see. I trust those people as individuals. 
One happens to be president of Schaper 
(the Cootie company), another is a vice 
president at Parker Brothers. These are 
usually key people whom I know and 
trust on a personal basis. 



The first time I go to any company, 
I will never bring something I think is 
really exciting. I always give something 
that isn't quite as exciting to see what 
the reaction is. If you trust your in- 
stincts towards people, and you deal 
with people you trust, you have a pretty 
good shot. 

► When a toy is rejected: 

I normally design a toy or game with a 
particular company in mind. Every com- 
pany has a personality. Quite often if I 
get rejected I just stop right there. I'd say 
half of my inventions are submitted to 
just one company. The rest of the time, 
I may try a second company; I've never 
gone to more than three. There are just 
so many bruises I can take! 



The WPIfoumal / SummeT 1981/7 




AT THIS TIME I should mention the significant 
event that changed my life. It involved a toy 
called Riviton. Let me describe Riviton, how it 
was created, what happened to it, and why it signifi- 
cantly altered my life— and why, because of Riviton, I'm 
here today. 

I've always enjoyed construction sets. When I was 
yoimg, I just couldn't wait for the newest Erector Set to 
come out. I made the parachute jump, and the walking 
robot, and I thought they were just terrific. A few years 
ago I got aroimd to looking at the available construction 
sets, and it seemed as if the Erector Set was the only re- 
ally flexible one. I said to myself, "Gee whiz, there's not 
much around." 

The inspiration came one very hot day, when I was 
having some beer from a quart bottle. After drinking 
half a glass, I decided I really didn't want any more. 
How could I seal the bottle? If you've every tried to put 
beer back into the refrigerator to drink the next day, you 
know the problem. Well, there is a handy little device, 
made of rubber, looks something like the top end of a 
hypodermic needle. You depress in the top, insert the 
stopper into the bottle, release the top, and the lower 
part expands. Eureka! Why not use that technique as a 
fastening device for an erector- type set? 



Four years elapsed between that decision and its 
coming out on the market. The Riviton set used little 
rubber rivets and plastic plates, with an erector set con- 
figuration. It was very easy to use. A little fastening tool 
would grab the rubber rivet, pull it back, stretch it and 
make it thiimer. When you put it into the hole and re- 
leased it, the rivet would expand. 

Parker Brothers introduced that set in 1976. It was 
one of the most successful introductions of a product in 
the company's history. 25,000 people wrote in imsolic- 
ited comments which were 99 percent favorable. Parker 
Brothers was headed toward a huge sellout in the next 
year, and all of a sudden my dreams for what I wanted to 
do were really about to be realized. Now my financial 
needs would be taken care of. Now I could go out and be 
independent. 

Riviton came out in 1976, and was a huge sellout at 
Christmas. Then in January, when I was working on the 
next year's models, a Parker Brothers manager called me 
in to say we had a slight problem. We couldn't tell if it 
would be serious. A child had swallowed a rivet, along 
with some food. It got into the child's throat, then 
lodged in the limg, and the child died. At that point the 
tragedy hit me just a little bit. I guess I rationalized it to 
myself, thinking it happened with food, the so-called 
restaurant syndrome. The problem really came home to 
roost later that year. A phone call three days before 
Thanksgiviing told me a second child had inhaled a rivet 
and died. 

Needless to say, a lot of things evaporated right 
then. First was my so-called financial freedom, my 
ticket to do whatever I wanted to do. Second, I had to 
deal with the thought of being indirectly responsible for 
the deaths of two children. Third, my shot at immortal- 
ity was gone. 

Riviton sales were heading towards the $10 million 
mark the second year alone, when my whole world 
came to a screeching halt. At that point, Parker Brothers 
asked me to stop receiving royalties. They withdrew the 
game from the market and offered a refund to everyone 
who owned the game. General Mills took an $11 mil- 
lion write-off. That, plus two human lives, was the cost 
of Riviton. 

I can talk about it in a relaxed way now, but for a 
year I couldn't talk about it at all. I couldn't go into a 
toy store, I couldn't consider inventing anything. But 
time soothed me, and I finally stopped worrying about 
it. I began to think about all the implications of my in- 
ventions, and why I was so distraught. Were my dreams 
of independence destroyed simply because a single toy 
didn't make it? So I did what a good pilot will do after 
he crashes: get back into an airplane. I promised myself 
to invent another construction toy immediately. 

I did it, and I brought the constmction set to a toy 
company. I feel very comfortable that it is not dan- 
gerous, or I would not have done it. I called them today, 
hoping I would be able to .say in this talk that they ei- 
ther accepted it or rejected it— and I'm very proud to an- 
nounce they said they'd tell me on Friday. 



8 / Summer 1981 / The WPI Journal 



MEANWHILE I HAD MADE somc dccisions mysclf . I 
wanted to go out and be an independent inven- 
tor. This whole process of having a huge suc- 
cess which turned into a huge failure shook me right to 
my foundations. It made me realize what I really 
wanted to do, that I wasn't getting any younger, and 
that now was the time to do it. So what if I couldn't ex- 
ist from now until I retire and then some, even if I never 
invented another thing. It would be imreasonable to as- 
sume that there would be no risk in future invention. So 
as a result, I made the decision. 

On December 18 last year I started doing my first 
electronic toy. I said to myself, "Look, you started out 
as an engineer; why don't you go back to being one?" 

This dungeons and dragons type of game did not 
sell. What I want to tell you, though, is that it was an 
intense learning experience for me. I went literally from 
December 18 to January 18, one full month, giving my- 
self a total immersion course releaming electronics, re- 
leaming how to program (in hexadecimal). I emphasize 
this because it is a very important point. If you want to 
be an inventor, this is the kind of commitment you 
have to make — immerse yourself for a month to leam a 
new area or refresh an old one. And I mean getting up at 
7 o'clock and working right through to 11 or 12 or 1 
o'clock in the morning. You may recall that Christmas 
fell in that interval I'm talking about, as did New Years. 
I think I took New Year's Eve and Christmas morning 
off, but that's all. I wanted to get finished in time for 
what I call "silly season," the time when the manufac- 
turers sign on their new toys and games. 

The primary areas I'm going into now have nothing 
to do with toys and games. When I received the 
royalties from Riviton, I decided it was time to retain a 
tax attorney, who suggested a legitimate shelter, solar 
energy. Up to that point, I had not been'involved in solar 
energy at all. I became involved, I became fascinated by 
it, I began to believe in it. And finally I founded a com- 
pany, became an investor in solar energy. One of the 
areas I plan to invent in, and I'm creating a laboratory 
for, is solar energy. I will be beginning that May 1 . 

Other areas are computers and computer printing. 
Fortunately, and again through knowing people, I have 
been able to get advances on royalties for things I have 
not yet done. This is an ideal way for an inventor to op- 
erate, because it removes some of the risk. I'm in the 
process of forming a new company to get involved in the 
computer area, a company that I will have nothing to do 
with once it's formed. This is an ideal option for an in- 
ventor. If I can't find the company that can handle a 
problem, I'll form the company. That's the approach 
now. I hope it works. 



ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I derived 
from working a decade at corporate headquar- 
ters at Xerox is an understanding of the way 
American business works. Sooner or later, every inven- 
tor has to face the chairman of the board of some com- 



pany, or face major segments of the corporation, and it's 
very nice to know how they operate, nice to have the 
confidence of being able to stand up there knowing 
you've done it a hundred times before. I think that's a 
very important attribute for any inventor. 

The motivation behind leaving the corporate world 
was 90 percent positive, in the sense that I'm going 
somewhere I want to go. Only 10 percent of the reason 
is negative, leaving something I didn't like. I want to 
emphasize those ratios before I describe the things I 
found I didn't like in corporations. (I don't mean in any 
way to denigrate Xerox, which is an excellent company, 
as are Bell Labs and Auerbach.) 

The longer I was there, and the higher I went in 
management, format became more and more important 
and content had less and less value. I saw around me 
something I refer to as the "velvet coffin": the higher 
someone went in the company, the more dependent 
they became on the company, the less flexibility they 
had to make independent decisions. I was very fortunate 
at Xerox in having a steady source of income from out- 
side the company, so that if I were suddenly fired it 
wouldn't be a crushing blow. But very few people in 
corporations have that kind of security. As a result, 
what they say, how they think, what they do, what they 
propose or don't propose, has job security as a very fun- 
damental element. 

I wanted to do two things. I wanted to invent for 
myself, yes, but I wanted also to create an environment 
in which inventors could flourish, an environment with 
a very special aspect. The longer an individual was 
there, the more independent he or she would become. 

I've always given a percentage of my gross revenue 
to the people who have helped me in my inventing — 
and there have been a lot of them: people who have 
done graphic design and machining. These people love 
to work for me, and they're devoted. The longer I've 
known them, the larger the percentage I have given 
them. 

It occurred to me that this would be a wonderful 
way to structure an organization. I realize inventing is 
somewhat unique, because success or failure is not a di- 
rect function of the number of hours you invest, but a 
function of how good the idea is and how well it sells. It 
is now my intention to create what I call an Inventors 
Guild: to create an environment to attract and nurture 
good inventors. It will be a place where they can start 
off working for salary, then salary plus a percentage of 
the gross from what they've worked on, and gradually 
build up until they're getting a significant portion of the 
gross. I want to provide administrative services that 
they need at cost. 

This would accomplish two things. First, the em- 
phasis is definitely where it belongs — on content, not 
format. But second and most important, the more that 
people work, and the more time they spend on what 
they're doing, the more independent they will become 
rather than more dependent. That has been an impor- 
tant element in my life. It's the kind of legacy I would 
like to be able to pass on to others. 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981/9 



Technology is the answer- 
but that's not the question 



by Melvin Kranzberg 

Callaway Piofessoi of the History of Technology 

Georgia Institute of Technology 



IT IS HTTiNG TO LOOK AT engineering education in his- 
torical perspective, to show WPI graduates where 
they fit into the continuum of the engineering 
profession — past, present, and future. The history of the 
Institute is extremely informative in that regard, be- 
cause WPI has played a major role in engineering educa- 
tion during the 115 years since its founding. 

The Worcester Free Institute of Industrial Science, 
as it was called in 1865, was involved from its very be- 
ginnmg in a controversy over what was the best kind of 
practical training for young men — not young women — 
in an America which was rapidly industrializing. The 
controversy was between the advocates of what were 
known as the "shop culture" and the "school culture." 
This latter view was represented by institutions such as 
Stevens Institute and mit, and where the focus was on 
mathematics, theoretical science, and original research 
as the major elements in engineering education. Worces- 
ter belonged to the "shop culture," stressing practical 
shopwork and producing graduates who would work as 
machinists and shop foremen, but who would not be es- 
pecially trained in engineering analysis. 

Robert H. Thurston, a leader in the mechanical en- 
gineering profession at the time, based the distinction 
between the two cultures on the argument that there 
were two different classes of people, requiring different 
kinds of education: one group, "brilliant of intellect," 
was best suited for intellectual pursuits and the profes- 
sions; the other, endowed with what Thurston called 
"constructive faculties," consisted of individuals suited 
for work with their hands. 

In establishing the Washburn Shops, where students 
were almost wholly engaged in practical training, 
Worcester became the national model for the shop cul- 
ture. It was a "trade" school, as distinguished from what 
Thurston labeled the "technical" school. "The machine 
|was| the principal text book" in the shop culture, and 
items made by students in the shop were sold to procure 
income for the school. 

10 / Summer 1981 / The WPI foumal 



So great was the success of the Worcester Free Insti- 
tute's Washburn Shops that, when the state of Georgia 
decided that there was need for a technical institution to 
build up the industrial base of Henry Grady's "New 
South," a delegation of prominent Georgian officials and 
educators visited the outstanding technical institutions 
in the Northeast and decided to follow the Worcester 
model in creating the Georgia School of Technology. At 
its opening ceremonies in 1888, one of the orators con- 
trasted the type of education to be offered at Georgia 
Tech with that provided at the University of Georgia in 
Athens, exclaiming: "The head is in Athens; the hands 
are here [in Atlanta]. We have here work versus thought; 
practice against theory; the shop against the study; 
the hammer against the book; the blouse against the 
cutaway." 

Alas, Georgia Tech's efforts to copy the WPI model 
ended in failure. For one thing, while Worcester drew 
students from a well-developed system of public high 
schools, Georgia's secondary schools were so deficient 
that Georgia Tech had almost immediately to initiate a 
sub-freshman class for remedial work, simply to bring 
its entering students up to a collegiate level. Further- 
more, the school did not succeed in luring to Atlanta 
those first-rate professors who had developed the 
Washbum Shops which had made the Worcester model 
so enticing. Also, the construction shop system antago- 
nized the local manufacturers in Georgia, who objected 
to the competition from state-subsidized, student-made 
goods. By the close of the 1890s, Georgia Tech was 
forced to abandon the Worcester model and turn to the 
"school culture" type of engineering education. 

But in that respect, too, Georgia Tech was again 
copying Worcester. Because a few years previously, the 
transition from a trade school to a college of engineering 
had begun in Worcester. By 1896, the Washbum Shops 
abandoned the hydraulic elevator business, hitherto 
their chief source of profit, and WPI was taking the lead- 
ership in the "school culture" which emerged trium- 
phant in engineering education. 




In the period from the beginning of this century 
through the Second World War, the old dichotomy be- 
tween "school" and "shop" educations disappeared, and 
WPI, in common with nearly all other engineering 
schools, produced the stereotypical engineer of the 
times. He was a man who wore a mackinaw and hip- 
boots, who built dams, bridges, mines, electric motors, 
transmission lines, industrial machinery, and factories. 
He had become an engineer upon receiving his bache- 
lor's degree from an engineering school, where his time 
was spent on good, practical courses, such as surveying, 
mechanical drawing, machine design, electrical circuits, 
and the like. 

However, during and since World War n, the scope 
of engineering practice enlarged greatly. Although we 
still need engineers to do all the things which engineers 
did before, they are also involved in lasers, solid-state 
circuits, and advanced electronic equipment. Specialist 
engineers design nuclear reactors, synthesize elaborate 
chemical and biochemical compounds, rearrange the 
molecules in the genetic code, devise sensitive teleme- 
tering systems. Their work ranges from subatomic parti- 
cles to the boundless realms of space, from mining the 
ocean's riches to gathering energy from the sun. 



THESE NEW FIELDS required engineers to solve differ- 
ent problems than they had faced only a few years 
earlier. The result was that the substantive con- 
tent of engineering education was transformed following 
World War n. Mathematics and physics, with which the 
engineer had needed but a passing acquaintance, became 
part of the basic core, while practical courses in survey- 
ing and mechanical drawing became subordinate or 
were relegated to sub-professional or, more accurately, 
paraprofessional, technical institutions — which now of- 
fer degrees in what is called "engineering technology." 



Many of the problems with which engineers con- 
cemed themselves— such as energy, the environment, 
transportation— were seen to have a "soft" side— to 
have social and human components. Hence the humani- 
ties and social sciences, only a miniscule part of engi- 
neering education before World War H, became 
recognized as essential to a complete engineering 
education. 

hi the 1970s, realizing that the world was changing 
and that engineers functioned in a social context which 
affected their engineering practice, WPI again took on a 
pioneering role by systematically revising the traditional 
approach to engineering education through the WPI 
Plan. Not only were curriculum requirements trans- 
formed, but a new project approach to learning was in- 
stituted, one "designed to develop a greater awareness of 
the relationship between science and engineering on one 
hand and social concern and human values on the 
other." 

Does such an approach make sense? Well, let us 
look at some of the problems which current graduates 
will confront in the future. Among the most important 
is the growth in the world's population, affecting the ra- 
tio of population to resources. During Classical Antiq- 
uity, there were probably fewer than 200 million people 
on the entire earth— and it had taken millennia to reach 
that figure. By 1650 it had grown to one-half billion, and 
scientific and technical developments allowed it to dou- 
ble to one billion aroimd about 1830. But then, with ad- 
vancing industrialization, things began moving faster. 
By the beginning of this century, the world's population 
had soared to over 1.5 billion. Then it took only eighty 
years to more than double to today's 4.4 billion, and it 
is expected to double again in the next 35 years. Indeed, 
a projected increase of 2.26 billion between 1975 and 
2000 means that the population rise during our present 
quarter-century would equal the entire world population 
increase from the time of Christ to 1950! 

A short time ago, our demographers reported some 
heartening news: a "perceptible decline" in the rate of 
increase in the world's population. Instead of growing at 
1.9 percent per year, as during the 1960s, the world's 
population increased only at the rate of 1.88 percent per 
year in the late 1970s. Sounds great, doesn't it? But that 
still amounts to 80 million more people each year. So, 
instead of doubling every 35 years, the world's popula- 
tion will now double every 37 years. Big deal! 

Providing food, clothing, and shelter for this unpre- 
cedentedly rapid population growth will put great 
strains on our natural resources. At current rates of con- 
sumption, some resources are already being exhausted. 
What will happen when an exploding world population 
with a growing expectation of material goods begins us- 
ing up resources faster than ever? Obviously, great chal- 
lenges will be posed to technology to eke out existing 
supplies, to recycle, and to develop substitutes. 

And don't think that this population problem af- 
fects only people in far-off places — in the Third-World 
countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. It is press- 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981/11 



ing upon our borders right now. Our neighbor Mexico 
has a population growth rate three times that of the 
United States; its present 68 milHon people might rise 
to 134 million by 2000. Already we are concerned about 
the problem of illegal immigrants to this country, most 
of them coming from Mexico, and we are wrestling 
with the problems — social, economic, education, and 
political — raised by this latest wave of immigration. 



OUR CITIES ARE IN TRANSITION ALSO. While many 
older cities strive to bring about a reversal of 
the urban deterioration of the past two decades, 
the situation in the rest of the world appears to be get- 
ting worse. A study by the World Bank points out that 
more crowding will take place in the world's poorer 
cities, just exactly the places which can least afford it. 
In 1950 only 29 percent of the world's population lived 
in urban areas, but slightly over half will be living in 
cities by the year 2000. Some of the predictions boggle 
the imagination, such as the one that Mexico City may 
have a population of 30 million by the end of this 
century. 

If the world's urban centers grow as predicted, not 
only will there be great strain on urban services — on 
transportation, sewage, housing, medical facilities, and 
the like— but there will also have to be tremendous agri- 
cultural development just to feed the growing number of 
people no longer engaged in food production on farms. 

The changing demographic profile in our own coun- 
try will also present technological problems. According 
to the 1980 census, the average age of Americans is 
higher than ever before. The median age is now 30, and 
it is expected to rise sharply over the next three decades. 
This changing age distribution of our population has 
major social and financial ramifications — already evi- 
dent in the problems regarding the funding of the Social 
Security system. But it has important technological im- 
plications as well, for it will impact upon our use of re- 
sources and our nation's productivity. 

Another problem involving population and the re- 
source base is the growing need for water. The world's 
population grows by almost 200,000 people per day, 
each requiring 500 tons of water per year. Last year's 
population increase alone created an additional annual 
demand of 36 billion tons of water, or the equivalent of 
a medium-sized river. 

Docs anyone seriously believe that we can meet our 
future water needs by cursing technology? Or does any- 
one truly object to our encouraging our technology so 
that wc can meet the energy and food needs of today 
and tomorrow? 

Nevertheless, some prf)ponents of a "new con- 
sciousness," or a "counter-culture," turned their backs 
on technology a dozen years ago. They gave us tren- 
chant criticism of our current society, but they didn't 
tell us what to do when the flowers broke through the 
concrete pavement. They advocated a lifestyle which 
was very beguiling and appealing to affluent college 

12 / Summer 19H1 / The WPl Journal 




youth. But they did not tell us how this lifestyle would 
solve problems like poverty and medical care distribu- 
tion and resource depletion and air pollution and the 
hunger of most of the people throughout the world. 

The problems have one thing in common: We need 
engineers to solve them, but the engineers cannot solve 
them alone. For these are "interface" problems. There is 
the interface between science and technology on the one 
hand, and society and humanity on the other. These 
problems can only be resolved — if they can be solved at 
all — with the aid of scientific knowledge, technical ex- 
^pertise, social comprehension, and humane compassion. 

You see, technology is the answer, but it is only 
part of the answer. The real question is. What do we 
value in our lives and do we possess the national will to 
act upon these values? Once we have answered that 
question, we can ask which technology or technologies 
will best meet our needs. 

Our modem, highly sophisticated technology gives 
us many different technological options wc can use to 
cope with the many problems which beset us. Unlike 
earlier days, when the level of technology was so low 
that mankind could make only limited use of resources, 
we now have many technical opportunities before us. 
Which opportunities we grasp will depend upon our 
value system, the institutions which embody our 
values, and our willingness to make the necessary trade- 
offs and decisions among competing social and eco- 
nomic pressures. 



THE INTRUSION OF SOCIAL AND VALUE QUESTIONS 
into the practice of engineering has blasted engi- 
neers out of their smug complacency about the 
triumphs of modem technology. For many years engi- 
neers could point out how they had increased productiv- 
ity, provided food, clothing, and shelter, quickened 
transportation, heightened communication, and the 
like. But over a decade ago there began a critical on- 
slaught on technology, questioning its benefits to 
mankind. 

When engineers could no longer shrug off questions 
about the worth of technology to the contemporary 
world, their professional societies sought to demonstrate 
that engineers are truly concerned about society's wel- 
fare. Sensitive to public opinion and social pressures, en- 
gineering societies within the past decade have gone to 
considerable trouble to strengthen their ethical codes 
and show their social concern. But when I ask the offi- 
cers of engineering professional associations if they have 
ever disciplined anyone for violating their beautiful new 
ethical codes, I discover that the only reason they ever 
kick a member out is for non-payment of dues! 

The second reaction of engineers to the public ques- 
tioning of technology was just what you might expect; 
namely, advocating more technology in order to over- 
come the troubles which had been brought about by 
technology in the first place, hi otherwords, they have 
sought a "technological fix," remedying matters by the 
application of more or better technology. 

It is not surprising that engineers should seek solu- 
tions for problems from their own field. After all, past 
technical solutions had resolved many problems of food 
and material production, transportation and commimi- 
cation, and so forth. Yet each solution seemed to call 
forth new and unforeseen problems because engineers 
remained blissfully unaware of the social implications of 
their actions or of the possibility that a benign technol- 
ogy might somehow turn sour when applied on a vast 
scale. 

Let me give you an example of how the scale of use 
can turn a technical panacea into a new disease. At the 
turn of this century the automobile was extolled as a so- 
lution to the pollution, congestion, and safety problems 
posed by horse-drawn transportation. That was the time 
when in New York City alone horses deposited some 2.5 
million pounds of manure and 60,000 gallons of urine in 
one day. The automobile promised relief from these 
problems, but, as we all know, pollution, congestion, 
and safety problems returned in altered and heightened 
form as a result of the large-scale use of the automobile. 
So what do we do? We angrily demand that Detroit 
employ a "technological fix" by changing engine design 
in order to do away with the dangerous exhaust and at 
the same time use less fuel. 

But such technical solutions give us only a tempo- 
rary respite from further problems, unless our technol- 
ogy is applied with some understanding and compre- 
hension of the social context in which it will be em- 
ployed. 

This means that we have a tremendous educational 



job on our hands. In addition to educating engineers to 
an understanding of society— which we have begun to 
do through such programs as the WPI Plan— we have 
the even more difficult task of educating non-scientists 
and non-engineers to an understanding of science and 
technology and their role in society. For solutions of the 
interface problems of the future problems will require 
the efforts of all of us, not just scientists and engineers. 

Do we have the courage to make difficult choices? 
Or have we become a nation of materialistic hedonists, 
as some critics say, unwilling to forego material goods 
and creature comforts regardless of the effects upon 
others now and in the future? 

It might well be. Indeed, Archibald MacLeish, the 
poet, once said: "America was promises." 



AMERICA was promises"? Have we lost the ability 
to fulfill the great promise that was America? 
I believe that America is still promises. One 
reason I believe that is that I am an historian of technol- 
ogy, and technological history has always been on the 
side of the optimist. After all, we call ours a man-made 
world. If that is so, I claim that man can remake it. We 
will need an enlightened technology to do so, one en- 
lightened by awareness of and sensitivity to human and 
social parameters. This means that technology is indeed 
the answer — but the real question is what kind of world 
do we want our technology to make. 

The second reason I believe that America is still 
promises is I teach young scientists and engineers. I am 
impressed with their concern for the good of mankind. 
Sure, they want well-paying jobs, but they also want to 
make the world a better place to live while pursuing 
their personal goals. This is exactly the same combina- 
tion of idealism and practicality which motivated the 
builders of our nation. 

That gives me confidence that we can meet the 
problems of the future, even though I recall that Alfred 
North Whitehead, the great British philosopher, once 
said: "It is the business of the future to be dangerous." I 
think that we can accept the risks with composure and 
confidence if we can educate our college graduates to 
make our technology contribute to the achievement of 
our human goals and the solution of the problems of our 
social and natural ecology. 

If we professors have done our jobs properly, then 
our graduates should be able to do theirs. I think that 
they can solve the socio-technical problems of the fu- 
ture. I am sure that, in so doing, their success will be 
only partial. They will create more problems for their 
successors, even as my generation has done for them. I 
think their successors will also solve those problems, 
and in tum create new ones, and so history will be 
made. And, as an historian of technology, let me con- 
clude by reminding you that the lesson of that history 

is HOPE. 



The WPI loumal / Summer 1981 / 13 



ii 



Daddy Wags'' 



by Ruth Trask 



THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT how StudcntS 
feel about him. The nameplate 
on his cluttered desk in Goddard 
says it all: 'Daddy Wags.' 

Officially, Dr. Robert E. Wagner 
is professor of chemical engineering. 
For 31 years, he has taught many 
courses at WPI, but his favorites are 
"Unit Ops" and "Thermo". He 
advises 60 students. But it is the 
unofficial side of Bob Wagner, his 
genuine, warm concern, which has 
drawn a generation of students 
to him. 

He received his nickname some ten 
years ago while giving impromptu lec- 
tures on the evils of drugs. One student, 
as deeply committed as Wagner, kept 
punctuating his points with, "That's 
right! You got it, Daddy Wags!" The 
name stuck. 

"Last summer, my commuters pre- 
sented me with the 'Daddy Wags' name- 
plate," he says. "They also gave me a 
birthday party I'll never forget. I'd been 
mountain climbing all day, and fell into 
bed before midnight. At 1:30 a.m., the 
doorbell rang, and I answered it in my 
shorts. There on the front lawn stood 20 
commuters. Well, we partied and shot 
off fireworks until 4 a.m. Luckily, my 
wife Ruth had warned the neighbors!" 
To say that Wagner loves climbing 
with a passion is an understatement. 
His enthusiasm for the sport is conta- 
gious, and over the years many of his 
students have caught the bug, especially 




during the treks he leads at Intersession. 
'This past January we had a ball," he re- 
ports. "In spite of the upcoming compe- 
tency exam, about 16 of us decided to 
climb in Crawford Notch. The weather 
was terrible. About 20 below most of 
the time, but the air was crystal clear. 
We managed to climb three Presiden- 
tials: Adams, Madison, and Clinton. We 
also took the bridle path to the ridge be- 
low Lafayette. Once on the ridge, all 
the chatter about girls and good 
times suddenly ceased. Before us 
was the panorama of Liberty, Hay- 
stack, and Lafayette. The sight was 
breathtaking!" 



glaciers, and climbed out of Zermatt. 
Along the way, they admired great wa- 
terfalls, summer snow fields, Alpine 
flowers, unique formations of soft lime- 
stone, and from afar, the Matterhom. 
("Hope to climb it next time.") 



Wagner, a registered professional engi- 
neer with degrees from Drexel and 
Princeton, is not always climbing 
mountains or teaching. For 17 years, he 
served as coordinator for the New Eng- 
land Gas Association School at WPI, and 
he's been a consultant for Common- 
wealth Gas for 24 years. 




Active with the Appalachian Moun- 
tain Club (amc), Wagner has served as a 
vice president of the amc in Boston and 
as past chairman of the Worcester chap- 
ter. He also belongs to the 4000-Footers 
Club, having often climbed the 46 
4,000-ft. peaks in the White Mountains, 
as well as seventeen others in Maine 
and Vermont, in summer and winter. An 
experienced guide, in 1971 he led eight 
people from the East on a 14-day trek 
through Teton National Park in Wyo- 
ming. "In 12 days, we did nine major 
summits," he says, "including the 
Grand Teton, a 14,()00-ft. peak. 

Four years ago, Wagner took the va- 
cation of his dreams. He and Ruth flew 
to Europe and camped in beautiful loca- 
tions throughout the Alps for $3 a night. 
In mid-vacation they were joined by a 
climbing companion and his wife. 
While the wives toured in their new 
Audi, Bob and iiis friend did the Do- 
lomites and Austrian Alps, tramped over 



His profession combined with dec- 
ades of outdoor life have made Wagner 
an expert on the dangers of camping 
equipment, especially lightweight 
stoves, which he has tested extensively. 
Back Packer magazine has published 
two articles about camp stoves written 
by Wagner and former WPI colleague 
Joseph Kohler. 

"The main danger is the lethal level 
of carbon monoxide given off by back- 
packing stoves in normal use," he ex- 
plains. "And cooking inside a closed 
tent only exacerbates the problem. 
Cooking should always be done in a 
level, safe, well-ventilated area." Some 
other Wagner hints for safe stove use: 
'Test the stove at home following man- 
ufacturer's directions; don't overfill or 
overprimc; use correct fuel and right- 
size potS; turn the stove off if it's not 
working properly; and, above all, keep 
cool! If something goes wrong, think 
before you act!" 



14 / Summer 19H1 / The WPI Journal 



In the beginning, Wagner was not a 
booster of the WPI Plan. "But my black 
hat is gradually turning to gray," he con- 
fides, flashing his quick smile. "For cer- 
tain math and engineering courses, I'm 
against the seven- week term, hi a sur- 
vey we've discovered that 90 percent of 
students feel the same way." 

According to Wagner, students cur- 
rently have too much freedom in course 
selection. For example, only 33 sopho- 
mores out of 73 took organic lab this 
year, the excuse being that it is too 
time-consuming. "There are some sub- 
jects that should be required." 

He feels that grading under the Plan 
is another problem, hi order to graduate 
with high distinction, a student must 
receive an ad (acceptable with distinc- 
tion) on both qualifying projects, the 
sufficiency, and on the competency ex- 
amination. To graduate with distinc- 
tion, the student must get ad's on three 
of the four degree requirements. 

"Note the inequity," he comments. 
"It's possible for a student to graduate 
with honors without having ever re- 
ceived a single distinction (ad) in any of 
his regular courses over a four-year pe- 
riod. Is this fair to the consistently out- 
standing student who has earned a 
majority of distinctions in his regular 
courses over the years, but who has an 
off-day on his competency?" 

The students, Wagner believes, 
quickly realize the heavily weighted im- 
portance of the projects and the compe- 
tency and tend to gravitate toward 
professors who are easy graders in these 
areas. "I also have difficulty equating 
the final selection of those who graduate 
with distinction with those who were 
chosen earlier on the basis of their regu- 
lar class work into honor societies such 
as Tau Beta Pi," he continues. He opens 
a couple of folders. "Look at the records 
of these two former students," he says. 
"Both graduated with distinction." One 
record is notable for its parade of ad's 
and lone ac (acceptable). The other is 
notable for its single ad, lost in a sea of 
Ac's. "Now," he says, "in spite of the 
'distinction' which appears on each di- 
ploma, which graduate do you think a 
prospective employer would prefer to 
hire?" 




When it comes to projects, how- 
ever, Wagner jumps on the Plan band- 
wagon. "Projects are the best part of the 
Plan," he enthuses. "They are interest- 
ing and generally fun. The motivated 
students make them very worthwhile." 
This year he advised 30 students with 
their projects. "This means that I have 
to carry a lot of things home, but I truly 
enjoy the work, as well as my associa- 
tion with the kids." 

. A member of Skull and the acs, Wagner 
has been commended for "his 26 years 
of outstanding leadership and devotion 
as advisor for the aiche student chapter 
at WPI. Another certificate on his wall 
recognizes him as "WPI Teacher of the 
Year — 1972." The teaching award is not 
surprising. Bob Wagner has always had 
an open-door policy in regard to his 
teaching and advisory duties. In class, 
he takes the time to explain difficult 
theories thoroughly, and to answer any 
lingering questions. His office door is 
never closed. In his busy schedule, he 
makes time for students and colleagues 
alike. 

There is little doubt about how Bob 
Wagner feels about his "kids." He 
speaks of them with affection and 
teaches them with dedication. In a nut- 
shell, 'Daddy Wags' loves teaching. "I 
couldn't have picked a nicer, happier 
way of life." 




The WPI Journal / Summei 1981 / IS 



Chet Inman: 
Not afraid to 
talk up! 



CHESTER Inman, '14, who ad- 
mits that he's "going on 89," 
lectures to student nurses 
and medical personnel in Worcester 
area hospitals. 

Is it so remarkable that a per- 
son of those years is still on the lec- 
ture circuit? Is it surprising that a 
man of his age should look so 
young? Well, what makes this al- 
most unbelievable is that this octo- 
genarian has spent a good part of his 
life talking without benefit of a 
voice box! 

Back in 1940, cancer attacked 
Inman's vocal cords, necessitating 
the removal of both his vocal cords 
and larynx. The operation saved his 
life, but his voice might have been 
silenced forever. During his recuper- 
ation, Inman decided that he 
wanted to communicate more di- 
rectly than with the note-writing 
that he had to endure. He was de- 
termined to speak, somehow. He 
drew strength from his family phi- 
losophy, "Know what you're up 
against and never give up." 

Inman reports that his opera- 
tion and recuperative period took 
several weeks. His diseased vocal 
cords and voice box were removed 
and a small opening was left in the 
throat where air is drawn into the 
lungs. A special bib was used to 
cover the opening (stoma) to pre- 
vent dust or water from entering. 

Following the operation, he 
used a mechanical aid, called a reed 
larynx, in order to speak. The 
gadget could be fitted into his 
mouth and throat whenever he 
needed to say something. It had a 




reed that vibrated, making a noise, 
and his lips and mouth would form 
words. Of this device, Inman says: 
"It was awkward and conspicuous, 
of course, but worst of all, it would 
get stuck every once in a while and 
fail me right in the middle of a 
sentence." 

Being an engineer, Inman set 
out to improve his gadget. It took 
him a year to design a base plate 
that wouldn't lock. After that, he 
got along all right. Whenever he 
wanted to talk, he'd whip out the 
aid, plug it in at his throat, and 
have his say. It was a nuisance, but 
it worked. 

For ten years, he used his me- 
chanical aid, telling himself that he 
was too busy to leam to talk with- 
out it. Finally, just before a trip to 
Bermuda, and with the encourage- 
ment of his wife and friends, he de- 
cided to look into a method called 
"esophageal speech." 

He began learning this non- 
mechanical method of speaking by 
taking lessons with the late Mrs. 
Mary Doehler at the Massachusetts 
Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. A 
speech and reading teacher who un- 
derwent a larynx operation, Mrs. 
Doehler taught herself to speak 
again, perfected the method, and 
produced nationwide guidelines for 
speech therapists. Her program still 
continues in Boston. 



Learning to speak again was 
very frustrating for Inman. Persis- 
tence and practice were the by- 
words. Although esophageal speech 
is probably the most natural 
method available to one without a 
larynx, it is also the most difficult 
to leam. It involves inhaling air into 
the esophagus and then emitting it 
in what Inman describes as 
"burps." The walls of the upper 
esophagus vibrate, creating sounds 
which can, with much practice, be 
formed into words and phrases. 

"A speech therapist is usually 
necessary," he says. "And a laryn- 
gectomee can more successfully 
teach another laryngectomee, be- 
cause he's been through it." Inman, 
a widower, used to practice his 
speech behind closed doors trying to 
say "Baaa" or "Mary had a little 
lamb." 

His present speech is strong, 
rather than husky, and easily under- 
stood. If you listen closely, you can 
hear the sigh of his breathing in the 
background. 

The new method of speech in- 
spired Inman to do things that he 
would never have done otherwise, 
such as helping others in the same 
boat. "One of the best things that 
ever happened to me." Talking and 
lecturing, Inman is representative of 
many laryngectomees who make up 
the Worcester Nu Voice Club, to 



16 / Summer 1981 / The WPI loumal 



which he belongs. These extraordi- 
nary men and women help and sup- 
port each other, or anyone like 
them, who needs friendship and 
help. They are members of an ex- 
clusive group — persons, who be- 
cause of cancer or accident, have 
had their voice boxes removed. 

In his personal desire to help, 
Inman has made a part-time career 
of his retirement speaking to medi- 
cal personnel. He's talked to more 
than 1,000 student nurses, and to 
groups of over 100 persons, for up to 
two hoiurs at a time. He says, "peo- 
ple even 30 feet away understand 
me, with no microphones." 

Since completing a series of 
four lectures for student nurses at 
Hahnemann Hospital, he is cutting 
down on road trips. However, he 
continues to help individuals faced 
with the same difficulties he has en- 
countered. He and other members 
of the Worcester Nu Voice Club of- 
fer the human, personal touch as 
medicine for the emotional trauma 
suffered by laryngectomees. "We've 
been there. We understand." 

Today, Chet himan counts his 
blessings, which include four chil- 
dren, nine grandchildren, and seven- 
teen great-grandchildren. And he 
can look back on a lifetime of ac- 
complishment that few can match. 

Professionally, he served as a 
partner in Pratt &. Inman, Worces- 
ter, hom 1923 to 1946, having 
joined the firm in 1917. A mechani- 
cal engineer, he instituted the first 
theoretical metallurgical course at 
WPI, where he was an instructor in 
1921-22. 

The 1922 Aftermath said of hi- 
man: "He knows the ins and outs of 
the heat treatment game from his 
outside experiences in connection 
with steel, and is well able to make 
his course interesting." 



His connection with WPI did 
not end in the classroom. His uncle, 
Edward Moore (deceased), graduated 
from WPI in 1911; his son-in-law, 
Frederick Swan, Jr., in 1935; his 
son-in-law. Prof. Owen Kennedy, Jr. 
in 1945; and his son, Chester In- 
man, Jr. in 1952. 

In 1974, he received the Her- 
bert F. Taylor Award for distin- 
guished alumni service from the 
WPI Alumni Association. His cita- 
tion reads in part: "You have 
worked for the good of your College 
as a concerned critic, as an officer 
(president) of the Worcester County 
Chapter and as a delegate to the 
Alumni Council. For almost a quar- 
ter of a century, you managed the 
investment program of the Worces- 
ter County Chapter which has re- 
sulted in scholarships for numerous 
Worcester County students. Your 
concern for improving the invest- 
ment return of Association funds 
has been constant and consistent. 
The investment policy of the Asso- 
ciation is the result of your dedi- 
cated labors. For all this, we proudly 
and gratefully honor and salute 
you." 

Inman, along with Herb Taylor, 
'12, and Alfred Rankin, '04, helped 
establish the Alumni Fund, in- 
■ augur ated in 1924. Also, he worked 
tirelessly for the Investment Com- 
mittee of the Alumni Association 
since its inception in 1973 through 
1976. 

In 1919, he assisted in the 
founding of the Worcester chapter of 
the American Society for Metals 
(asm), of which he is a charter 
member. For 35 consecutive years, 
he served on the chapter executive 
committee. In 1945, he was named 
chairman emeritus of the Worcester 
chapter, and in 1979, he received 
his 60-year membership plaque. 

He was elected a fellow in the 
ASM in 1970, being one of the first 
200 elected as fellows out of a what 
was then a nationwide membership 
of 45,000. The asm cited him as "a 
pioneer in educational and technical 
society activities and in the man- 
agement of metallurgical business." 



Civic-minded, Inman has been 
busy with Kiwanis and church 
work, as well as with his most im- 
portant "retirement" duties as a 
speaker and teacher in the cause of 
the laryngectomee. For many years, 
he has been active with the Cancer 
Society, living proof that cancer can 
be conquered. He has taken his 
message of hope to numerous 
public forums. 

Through all the difficult times, 
he has followed the philosophy of 
his grandfather whose last words 
were: "This is the way of life. Do 
not go into mourning. Continue on 
as usual." 

Chet Inman, although visited 
by adversity, has continued on as 
usual. He doesn't know how to 
give up. 

For 50 years he has kept the fol- 
lowing oath and prayer of 
Maimonides in his desk drawer and 
refers to it often: "Grant me the op- 
portunity always to correct what I 
have acquired, always to extend its 
domain, for knowledge is immense 
and man can enrich himself daily 
with new requirements. Today he 
can discover his errors of yesterday 
and tomorrow he may obtain a new 
light on what he thinks himself 
sure of today." 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981/17 



REUNION 1981 



1926's 55th Reunion 



The Class of 1926 observed its 55 th re- 
union on June 5th and 6th with festivi- 
ties held on the campus. On Friday 
evening, dinner was served in the dining 
room of the Wedge in Morgan Hall with 
19 classmates, 17 wives, and one guest 
in attendance. A social hour preceded 
the dinner, which featured roast beef or 
swordfish as entrees. 

Following the meal. President 
Harold A. Baines conducted a brief busi- 
ness session when new officers were 
elected to serve for the next five years. 
They are: James A. Robertson, presi- 
dent; Archie J. Home, vice president; 
and Raymond H. Bjork, secretary. Emer- 
son A. Wiggin was the nominating com- 
mittee chairman. 



Harold and others brought us news 
about members of the class with whom 
they had personal contacts. We were 
saddened to learn of the loss of 29 class- 
mates since our 50th reunion in 1976. 
Get well cards were signed to be sent to 
Phillip Delphos and Howard Thomson, 
who had planned to come but couldn't 
because of illness. 

Archie was chairman of the reunion 
committee composed of Worcester 
alumni. On Saturday, we joined with 
other alumni for various events sched- 
uled during the morning before the 
campus parade, followed by luncheon in 
the Harrington Auditorium. 

Present on Friday night were: Doris 



and Harold Baines; Christine and Ray- 
mond Bjork; Sally and Donald Hager; 
Phyllis and Charles Hardy; Elsa and 
Fred Hedin; Marion and Archie Home; 
Chandler Jones; Jane and Harold Kallan- 
der; and Marion and Carleton Maylott, 
and his sister, Alice Terrill. 

Also, Helen and Charles Moran; 
Alice and John Morse; Beatrice and Lin- 
wood Page; Betty and Armand Paquette; 
Miriam and Arthur Parsons; and Ethel 
and Lawrence Peterson. Also, Helen and 
James Robertson; Thelma and Francis 
Snow; Mabbott Steele; and Beatrice and 
Emerson Wiggin. On Saturday, Doris 
and Carl Bormer joined the group. 

—Raymond H. Bjork, Secretary 



1 93 Ts 50th Reunion 



The soth Reunion of the Class of 1931 
provided a wonderful three days for the 
41 class members and 31 wives (and 
lady friends) who attended. It was a real 
fun time, as the years were forgotten 
and we became "kids" on the Hill 
again. The Sheraton-Lincoln provided 
excellent facilities for reunion headquar- 
ters and for the class banquet on Friday 
evening, June 5th. The hospitality room 
there seemed as a great mixer. 

We are most grateful to President 
and Mrs. Cranch for their part in mak- 
ing the reunion a great success. The re- 
ception at their home on Thursday 
evening and the welcome dinner party 
that evening at the Higgins House will 
long be remembered President Cranch 
awarded fifty-year diplomas after the 
dinner These will be cherished for our 
lifetims along with our 1931 diplomas. 



We are deeply indebted to Ted Coe 
and his lady, Mary Jane, for the striking 
and unique uniforms each of us wore 
from moming to night for the three 
days. Hopefully, our maroon and gray 
pork pie hats will become traditional at 
Tech. 

Ted also was master of ceremonies 
for the banquet. All kinds of prizes were 
awarded, several of which ended in ties. 
One of the knots between Cliff Berquist 
and Phil Pierce (both of whom drove 
from Califomia) was broken when sharp 
Phil announced he lived on the east side 
of the street. 

Ed Odium (with the help of his 
Mary) put together a superb fiftieth an- 
niversary booklet which records class 
details over the years, with pictures of 
many of our reunions and reminders of 
oiu days on the Hill. 



We enjoyed greatly the general re- 
union parade on Saturday. We only wish 
that the gypsy moth caterpillars had not 
driven the luncheon from the Higgins 
House lawn for then the parade would 
have been longer. Harrington Audito- 
rium provided an excellent substitute 
location, however. The spectators ap- 
peared to enjoy our maroon and gray 
uniforms. We discerned their surprise, 
however, at the levity and youthful 
spirit of our group. 

Bob Barrett, long term chairman of 
the 50-year gift committee, made the 
presentation at the general reunion 
luncheon on Saturday. When the gift 
committee was originally organized at 
our 35th reunion in 1966, the motto 
was $31, ()()() for '31 . As we approached 
our 5()th, and considering the amoimts 
pledged, our motto was changed to 
$31,000 and $.50,000 for '31 in '81. We 



18 / Summer 1981 / The WPI Journal 






^^ 



V . 



'.i'df 



••••gJA.- 



-~T| 4 •'»•*' 



not only reached this new goal, but Bob 
announced that the class gift amounted 
to $192,000. This amount was realized 
through contributions hom many of our 
class members and through the generos- 
ity and love for our alma mater of one of 
our recently deceased class members 
and the widows of other well- 
remembered active members of the 
class. 

We were saddened when we learned 
through our telethon of May 3rd, that 
several of our classmates could not at- 
tend the reunion because of their inca- 
pacities or the Ulnesses of their wives. 
Our thoughts and best wishes were with 
all of them during the reunion. 

Those attending were: 

Mr. Idof Anderson, Jr. (Idof ) 
Mr. Frank H. Andrews* and Mary Faith 
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Barrett* (Bob/ 
Noriene) 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Bayon* (Ed/Ruth) 
Mr. Clifford A. Berquist (Cliff} 
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin R. Chadwick (Ben/ 
Marion) 

Mr. and Mrs. F. Dudley Chaffee (Dud/Jean) 
Mr. Joseph D. Chelauski 
Mr. Edward S. Coe, Jr.* (Ted/Mary Jane But- 
tles) 

Mr. and Mrs. Everett D. Collins (Everett/ 
Arline) 

Mr. and Mrs. Albert M. Demont* (Al/ 
Phyllis) 
Mr. and Mrs. John F. Devaney (John/Kathryn) 



Mr. and Mrs. Warren N. Doubleday (Bun/ 

Sigrid) 

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick A. Farrar* (Fred/ 

Lillian) 

Mr. and Mrs. John E. Fletcher (John/Arlene) 

Mr. Milton D. Gleason (Dex) 

Mr. and Mrs. A. Wallace Gove (Wally/Mary) 

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond H. Guenther (Ray/ 

Hilda) 

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin V. Haskell (Ed/Barbara) 

Mr. John H. Hinchliffe, Jr. (John) 

Mr. Ralph Hodkinson (Ralph) 

Mr. and Mrs. Everett E. Johnson (Everett/ 

Betty) 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Kennedy (Charlie/ 

Marion) 

Mr. Trescott B. Larchar (Tres) 

Mr. and Mrs. Otis E. Mace (Otie/Eleanor) 

Mr. and Mrs. Gustav E. Mangsen (Gus/ 

Bemice) 

Mr. Richard G. Marden (Dick) 

Mr. and Mrs. Roger W Mills (Roger/Marian) 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Odium* (Ed/Mary) 

Mr. and Mrs. J. Philip Pierce (Phil/Irma) 

Mr. and Mrs. Carl E. Rylander (Carl/Mary) 

Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. Sage (Carl/Valerie) 

Mr. and Mrs. George W Smith (George/ 

Evelyn) 

Mr. Michael C. Sodano (Mike) 

Mr. and Mrs. Hurant Tashjian (Hurant/ 

Diane) 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Taylor* (Bob/Marion) 

Mr. A. Francis Townsend* (Fran) 



Mr. and Mrs. Oliver R. Underbill, Jr.* (Red/ 

Patricia) 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Walker (Charlie/ 

Lucille) 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Williamson (Bob/ 

Ormell) 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Woodward (Chick/ 

Elizabeth) 

Mr. Trueman L. Sanderson (Sandy) 

Although John Tuthill and Russ Libbey 
had planned on being with us, illnesses 
prevented their attendance. 

It was a great reunion. We are look- 
ing forward to our next. 

—Ed Bayon, Class Secretary 
Reunion Committee Chairman 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981/19 





Counterclockwise, beginning at 
the bottom of this page: Highlights 
of Reunion, featuring the Grand Re- 
union Parade of the classes around 
the WPI quadrangle to the Reunion 
Luncheon in Harrington Audito- 
rium. The original route would 
have ended up on the lawn of Hig- 
gins House, but we were driven in- 
doors this year by the gypsy moth 
caterpillars. The parade was led by 
the pipes and drums of the Spring- 
field Kilty Band and by (what else?) 
a goat wearing the WPI banner and 
colors! (Goat and goat-handlers 
courtesy of Prof. James Demetry.) 



20 / Summer 1981 / The WPI foumaJ 









r 





The WPIfoumal / Summer 1981 / 21 



1 941 's 40th Reunion 



All 70 class members who attended 
made our 40th a wonderhil success. No 
distance of place or lapse of time les- 
sened the friendships renewed back at 
Tech. Many traveled far. The happy 
faces shown in our class picture attest to 
the fim that we had over the gala three 
days in early Jime. Some of the early ar- 
rivals (Bud &. Irene Boyd, Texas; Bill & 
Shirley Simmons, California; Bud & 
Nita Roberton, Spokane, Washington; 
and Stan and Peggy Majka, California) 
enjoyed a bit of New England again prior 
to reimion time. 

Some 35 classmates, most with 
their wives, enlivened two dinner ban- 
quets, dancing, receptions, limcheons, 
parades, and hospitality-suite time that 
carried into the wee hours of the morn- 
ing following afternoon and late evening 
gatherings, as time permitted. Time 
flew much too fast, for there was much 
to do and more to talk about. 

4rers really performed, parading 
with colorful umbrellas and handy 
ladies' tote bags behind a Kilty band and 
live goats to the all-alumni reimion 
luncheon, where a record turnout of 
more than 700 WPI alumni, with their 
families and friends, gathered for the 
celebration and festivities. The Class of 
4rs contribution to the College was 
$100,000, presented most warmly by 
Jim McGinnis, who worked hard along 
with others to ensure it. We were proud 
of our own Len White, who received the 
Herbert F. Taylor Award for Outstanding 
Service to WPI. 

Our '41 paraphernalia, favors, 
prizes, gifts, and more were well re- 
ceived. Anne Bcllos and Peggy Majka 
won prizes at golf competing with wives 
from other classes. Husbands Al Bellos 
and Stan Majka should have won, judg- 
ing from the scores wc heard they had. 

Marianne and Prof. Charlie 
McNulty were our guests. He brought 
the class up-to-date at our banquet, 
speaking primarily of activities in sports 
and changes brought about with female 
sports on campus. 

Everyone's participation throughout 
the entire weekend was something spe- 
cial, and it appeared that everyone had a 
real g(K)d time. The many who were un- 
able to attend were sorely missed, and 
yet we had the time to pass along all the 
messages and best wishes received by 
telegram, letter, and phone calls from 
the numerous friends wc heard from. 



What a memorable weekend you imfor- 
timately missed! Your chance will come 
again, though. Another five years or ten 
and we expect to see everyone there. 

We owe thanks to Bill Bowne of 
Schenectady, N.Y., for the 200 feet of 
8mm movies taken during imdergradu- 
ate years on campus and shovm several 
times during reunion. 

We thought of those no longer with 
us. The list is far too long. 

Your committee is grateful to all of 
the following who made such a fine ef- 
fort to attend, making our 40th the great 
weekend it was. Space does not permit 
our mentioning the most interesting 
bits of information we would like to in- 
clude about each and every one of you. 
It was great to see so many friends enjoy 
so much over so short but so eventful a 
weekend, and we do hope you all keep 
in touch. 

—F. Douglas McKeown 

1941 Attendees: 

Andy Anderson, Worcester 

Al & Anne Bellos, Glens Falls, N.Y. 

Bud &. Irene Boyd, Corpus Christi, Texas 

Jake & Dorothy Boyle, Shawnee Mission, 

Kansas 

Irv &. Ruth Breger, Silver Spring, Maryland 



Alex Davidson, Fair Haven, N.J. 
Ray &. Marie Delisle, Lunenberg, Mass. 
Ken &. Barbara Dresser, Burlington, Vt. 
Lloyd & Marcia Greenwood, Sun City West, 
Arizona 

Gordon &. Claire Gumey, Holden, Mass. 
John &. Ann Haran, Needham, Mass. 
Les &. Pat Harding, Atlanta, Georgia 
Harold & Ruth Holland, New London, N.H. 
Vic & Vickie Kolesh, Holden, Mass. 
Mac and Peg MacLeod, Centerville, Mass. 
Stan &. Peggy Majka, Walnut Creek, Califor- 
nia 

Jim &. Ruth McGinnis, Cohasset, Mass. 
Cout & Ros McKeown, Worcester 
Hank &. Eileen Medwin, Pebble Beach, Cali- 
fornia 

Henry Palley, Worcester 
George & Cleo Peck, Needham, Mass. 
Rich & Eleanor Ramsdell, Culver City, Cali- 
fornia 

Bud & Nita Roberton, Spokane, Washington 
Ed &. Jane Ryan, Alexandria, Virginia 
Fred & Harriet Sherwin, Hampton, N.H. 
Bill &. Shirley Simmons, San Rafael, Califor- 
nia 

Chas (cosine) &. Mary Smith, Omaha, Ne- 
braska 

Sid & Rhoda Soloway, Norwalk, Conn. 
Len & Arm White, Worcester 
Bill &. Esther Wiley, Waltham, Mass. 
Bob &. Jeanne Wilson, Longmeadow, Mass. 
John & Pauline Wolkonowicz, Worcester 
Paul CaruUo, Torrington, Coim. 

Your Committee: 

Andy Anderson 

Ray Delisle 

Vic Kolesh 

Len White 

John Wolkonowicz 

and Doug McKeown, chairman. 




22 / Summer 19H1 / The WPI journal 



Honors and Awards at Reunion 

At right: Walter J. Bank, '46, receives 
the Herbert F. Taylor Award for service 
to WPI. 

Below: Len White, '41, shown with Carl 
Backstrom, '30, chairman of the Cita- 
tions Committee, receives his Taylor 
Award. 

At light: Paul S. Morgan, chairman of 
the Board of Trustees, presents the Ro- 
bert H. Goddard Award for professional 
achievement to John Metzger, '40, and 
Harold S. Black, '21, as WPI President 
Edmund T. Cranch looks on. 
At right, below: Edwin B. Coghlin, Jr., 
'56, and Harry W. Teimey, Jr., 56, accept 
their Taylor Awards with characteristic 
enthusiasm. 




At left: Incoming Alumni Association President Peter H. 
Horstmarm, '55, is welcomed to office and congratulated by 
his predecessor, John H. McCabe, '68. 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981/23 



1956's 25th Reunion 



The true success of the weekend be- 
longs to each classmate who made that 
Uttle extra effon to participate. For the 
first time in WPI Reunion History, the 
25th Reunion Class earned the prized 
Attendance Cup, for the largest percent- 
age of members attending. To the Com- 
mittee, to the Alumni Office, to the 
Class Officers, to the great Class of 
1956, heany congratulations. 

The festivities began with Dave and 
Jill Pratt and Bob and Norma Allen tee- 
ing off late Friday morning at Worcester 
Country Club. The festivities ended 
with many classmates reluctant to de- 
part Sunday morning, as Joe Wahl and 
Dick McBride completed their challenge 
tennis match under the cloudless skies 
which made the weekend weather per- 
fect for our occasion. In between the 
sporting events, friendships were re- 
newed, actions good and bad were re- 
called, and the Class Yearbook 
thoroughly perused. Some of us have 
changed, and yet others were instantly 
recognizable as we walked through the 
doors of the Hospitality Suite or into 
Morgan Hall's registration area. 

Arnold Hall, our termis captain, 
said he had not had a termis racket in 
his hand for sometime but he certainly 
managed to exhibit his old form as he 
led the tennis players onto the court. 
Hank Nowick's Chowder hour was an 
outstanding success. For over eight 
months the Planning Committee had 
kidded Hank about his chowder hour, 
but Hank turned the tables on us by 
serving very delicious chowder along 
with cocktails and snacks at the Hospi- 
tality Suite. The Hospitality Suite in the 
Fuller Residence was so crowded, in 
fact, that we spilled out onto Schussler 
Road and the surrounding porches and 
terraces. The accommodations for our 
class were excellent. Many continued 
visiting into the wee hours after a deli- 
cious clambake, including clams, lob- 
ster, com on the cob, and all the fixings. 

The entertainment, after dinner and 
in the Sanford Riley Pub, was provided 
by the Ragtime Rowdies, a banjo band. 
At various times, classmates with a mu- 
sical flare went up to the bandstand and 
participated. Memories of fraternity par- 
tics and class events, where our talented 
musicians made great music, returned 
as they played. 

Saturday morning some slept in, 
while others were up bright and early to 
return to the Hospitality Suite, to do 



some more visiting, or to tour the 
campus and learn all about the WPI 
plan. The Reunion Limcheon was very 
well attended. Highlights of the limch- 
eon came in two parts, the first as WPI 
recognized, with the Herbert Taylor 
Award for service to the College and the 
Association, Harry Tenney and Ted 
Coghlin, and then when Jack McHugh 
and Ted Coghlin were called to the stage 
to accept from Steve Hebert the WPI 
Class of 1917 silver loving cup, includ- 
ing champagne, for the greatest degree 
of reimion attendance — 46 percent. 

President and Mrs. Cranch hosted 
1956 at a cocktail reception in the presi- 
dent's home on Saturday evening. We 
then attended the Class Dinner Dance 
at Worcester Covmtry Club, on the ter- 
race under the tent. Bemie Danti, the 
class officers, Hank Nowick, Jack 
McHugh, Paul Schoonmaker and Jerry 
Dyer along with the other committee 
members, really made the Dirmer 
Dance outstanding. The meal was su- 
perb, the speeches short, the prizes and 
recognitions to classmates very appro- 
priate. Everyone there had a great time. 



The goat's head spent the weekend 
with the class. Satiu-day night it disap- 
peared. Thanks to some good detective 
work. Jack McHugh thinks that he 
knows where the goat's head went. You 
might be interested to know that after 
the Class of 56 took part in goat's head 
competition, the goat's head was 
eliminated from campus life. A tradition 
started by the Class of 93 was finished 
during the Class of 56's years at WPI. It 
has been suggested that maybe a tradi- 
tion missirig for 25 years should be re- 
vived. 

The 25th Yearbook, given to all 
classmates who came, will be mailed to 
everyone who was unable to make the 
reimion. As you look through the year- 
book, you get to know your classmates 
and their families just a little better. To 
those who did not forward profiles, we 
certainly would welcome hearing from 
you. The Reunion Committee and class 
officers were voted to continue in office. 
Maybe the attendance cup should be re- 
tired by the Class of 1956, by 
continuing to have outstanding atten- 
dance at future Reunions. 




24 / Summer 1981 / The WPI loumal 



This reunion did not just happen. 
Many people devoted hours of time and 
energy to make it a success. The Hospi- 
tality Committee, chaired by Marcia 
Tenney, was given great assistance by 
Bob and Jean Farrar, Jim and Dot Prih;i, 
Win and Dotty Spofford, Roger Tancrell, 
and the 25 classmates and spouses who 
acted as hosts and hostesses during var- 
ious times that the Hospitality Suite 
was open. The special Class Gifts Com- 
mittee was ably charred by George 
Strom. 

The class gift was outstanding. The 
leadership in giving provided by Bob and 
Janet Foisie and all of the other contrib- 
utors meant that nearly 70 percent of 
the class took part in making a gift of 
over $87,000. The money will be used 
to help WPI remain in the forefront of 
technology, by providing space, facil- 
ities, and renovations to the Computer- 
vision CAD/CAM Laboratories which 
will be located in Higgins. The Compu- 
tervision firm gave $300,000 of equip- 
ment, which will be greatly enhanced 
by the use of our class gift to provide the 
peripheral equipment and facilities 



which will enable students to properly 
and effectively use the equipment. 

Sunday morning, tired, weary yet 
sparkling faces greeted one another as 
we departed for home. Many classmates 
who had only planned on coming for a 
short time stayed through Saturday eve- 
ning, and the Worcester area classmates 
were very much in evidence Svmday 
morning at the brunch, to say their last 
goodbyes. 

We had a super weekend. The com- 
ments about the activities were all ex- 
cellent. Next reimion we will plan an 
extra day, in order that those who can 
get away early will have just that much 
more time to enjoy being with their 
classmates. 

A list of all who attended the re- 
union is appended to this report. Some 
of our classmates unfortunately are 
missing. If any one knows the where- 
abouts off the missing classmates, Steve 
Hebert or the Committee would greatly 
appreciate hearing. Three of our 
classmates— Seth Ballard, Tony Chur- 
buck, and Les Keffe — have passed away. 
Use the updated directory of classmate 




addresses and information to keep in 
contact. We hope to see even better at- 
tendance at our next reunion. Mean- 
while, to you and your family, from all 
at WPI, best wishes for a great decade of 
the 1980's. 

—Ted Coghlin 

1956 25th Reunion Attendance 

Mr. &. Mrs. Alan M. Adamson 

Mr. Raymond K. Agar 

Mr. &. Mrs. Robert S. Allen 

Mr. &. Mrs. Christian S. Baehrecke 

Mr. Richard N. Bazinet 

Mr. & Mrs. David S. Becker 

Mr. Philip R Bedard 

Mr. &. Mrs. Ernest Bernstein 

Mr. Edward A. Blakeslee 

Dr. & Mrs. Howard H. Brown 

Mr. &. Mrs. Edwin B. Coghlin, Jr. 

Mr. &. Mrs. Christopher R. Collins 

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph J. Concordia 

Mr. & Mrs. Bernard R. Danti 

Mr. & Mrs. Henry J. Dumas, Jr. 

Mr. & Mrs. Gerald T Dyer 

Mr. &. Mrs. Robert H. Farrar 

Mr. &. Mrs. Robert A Foisie 

Mr. James W. Green 

Mr. & Mrs. Michael G. Gordon 

Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Gunn 

Dr. & Mrs. Raymond R. Hagglund 

Mr. & Mrs. Richard G. Hajec 

Mr. & Mrs. Arnold M. Hall 

Mr. Allan C. Hamilton, Jr. 

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas W. Hansen 

Mr. & Mrs. Charles R. Healy 

Mr. &. Mrs. Robert R. Heath 

Mr. &. Mrs. Lawrence B. Horrigan, Jr. 

Mr. & Mrs. William A. Johnson 

Mr. &. Mrs. James C. Kubik 

Mr. Sk Mrs. Alan G. Larsson 

Mr. &. Mrs. Fred H. Lohrey 

Mr. &. Mrs. Vilho A. Lucander 

Mr. &. Mrs. Raymond J. Lussiei 

Mr. &. Mrs. Robert W. Matchett 

Mr. Richard J. McBride 

Mr. &. Mrs. John M. McHugh 

Mr. &. Mrs. Henry W. Nowick 

Mr. &. Mrs. Joseph F. Paparella 

Mr. &. Mrs. Bruce F. Paul 

Mr. William P. Peterson 

Mr. & Mrs. Halbert E. Pierce lU 

Mr. &. Mrs. David A. Pratt 

Mr. & Mrs. James K. Prifti 

Mr. Robert Robinson 

Mr. &. Mrs. John H. Rogers, Jr. 

Mr. & Mrs. Richard L. Rotelli 

Rev. &. Mrs. Paul D. Schoonmaker 

Mr. Roy A. Seaberg, Jr. 

Mr. & Mrs. Harold F. Smith 

Mr. &. Mrs. Winslow M. Spofford 

Mr. &. Mrs. Peter J. Stephens 

Mr. &. Mrs. George P. Strom 

Mr. &. Mrs. Charles A. Sullivan, Jr. 

Dr. Roger H. Tancrell 

Mr. &. Mrs. Harry W. Tenney, Jr. 

Mr. &. Mrs. William C. Van Keuren 

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph G. Wahl 

Mr. Edward R. Wiot 



The WPI Journal / Summei 1981/25 




1903 



Henry Potter of West Dennis, Mass. cele- 
brated his 100th birthday on Feb. 22, 1981. 
He was honored by seventeen friends and rel- 
atives at a party held at his daughter's home. 
Mr. Potter retired in 1949 following 35 years 
with the Hartford Insurance Group. In 1938, 
he served as master of Washington Lodge No. 
70 in Windsor, Conn. He has two sons, a 
daughter, seven grandchildren, and three 
great-grandchildren . 



I9I2 



F. Holman Waring suffered a stroke early in 
lanuary after shoveling snow. His speech, 
right arm, hand, and leg were affected, but he 
is now able to get around using a walker. 



1915 



Correction: In the spring issue, the late Prof. 
Carleton Haigis was inadvertently referred to 
as Prof "Haig." 



I9I6 



Robert Lamb was the only member of the 
class to attend the dual funeral service for 
Harold Nutt and his wife last fall. 



1930 



A few classmates returned for our 51st and 
we had a good time. Hope we'll see more 
next year (June 51. 

Bill Davidson is spending the summer of 

'81 in Alaska Ed Delano says he is 

getting in shape for the Social Security set's 
non-stop cross country' cycling relay sched- 
uled for fime.Bob HoUick writes from Cam- 
bridge, England: "Here I'm continuing my 
education and seeing cousins and other rela- 
tives for the first time. It's been a great trip 
and I'll return directly to San Francisco." 

George Marston says: "Now it's time for 
our 51st reunion. Never had time to feel old 
at our 50th, especially after talking with Ed 
Delano." .... Jim McLoughlin hopes to 
make one of our reunions. (Let's plan on the 
55th, Jim. I .... Ed Milde reports he "en- 
joyed the 50th," and probably would have at- 
tended the 51st if he lived nearer WPI. 
.... Dan O'Grady's son, Dan, Jr., is a 
member of the Class of 1961, which cele- 
brated its 20th reunion this year. 

Fred Peters writes that his wife passed 

away on April 21st Pete Topelian 

had a hip replacement in February. "Still 
working at Boeing and enjoying every minute 
of it." 

The following wanted to come back, but 
couldn't make it: Ralph Gilbert, Norm But- 
terfield, John Conley, Christ Orphanides, Bill 
Locke, Paul Reynolds, Carm Greco, Stan Pil- 
lion, Henry Pearson, John Wells, and Ray 
Lewis. 

—Coil BackstTom, Class Secretary 



reunion: JUNE 3-6, 1982 

1932 

George Barks v^ites from Oceanside, Calif. 

that he has retired twice, "but will start 
something again." He and Barbara were mar- 
ried in April of 1980. 



1934 



Carl Hammarstrom was recently elected as a 
director of the National Society of Profes- 
sional Surveyors, a part of the American Con- 
gress on Surveying and Mapping. 

George Kalista just returned from seven 
weeks in Florida. He is retired from his old 
position after ^7 years. 



1935 



26 / Summer 1981 / The WPI Journal 



Richard Merriam has retired as controller of 
the I'l.iiit Iiigincering Division at the Stanley 

Works, New Britain, ("onn Harvey 

White has been a property risk manager for 
Risk Consultants, Inc. since last November 



1938 



Currently, Theodore Andreopoulos is a con- 
sultant on aeronautical structures for the 
New Japan Aircraft Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. 
'A new career step." 

Robert Day retired as chief project engi- 
neer at Industrial Risk Insurers on April 29th 
following more than 42 years of service with 
the company. He started at mj in 1938 after 
graduating from WPI as an electrical engineer. 
During his career, he was a resident engineer 
in Albany, N.Y. and Allentown, Pa.; chief en- 
gineer of the eastern regional office in the 
1960s; and a member of the mi national staff 
since 1976. Headquartered in Hartford, 
Conn., nu is a leading international imder- 
v^iter of commercial property insurance. 

Amet Powell recently returned from a 
business and pleasure trip to Japan and Aus- 
tralia. "It added up to a trip aroimd the world 
with other major stops in Hong Kong, 
Greece, and Egypt." 



1939 



Donald Houser has retired from usm Corp. 
.... John Peavey retired in February after 
35 years as a process engineer with John H. 
Breck/Shulton, a division of American 
Cyanamid in West Springfield. In March, he 
moved into a new seven-room brick ranch on 
a mountainside in Hendersonville, N.C. The 
basement is big enough for him to set up 
power tools in a woodworking shop. He 
v^Tites: "Hendersonville is a very active com- 
munity. Good climate. 2000 feet above sea 
level." Peavey is a retired lieutenant colonel 
in the usar. 



1940 



Howard Freeman, president and board chair- 
man of the Jamesbury Corp., was awarded an 
honorary degree by Central New England 
College, Worcester, at commencement exer- 
cises in June. 

Edward Goodrich writes that he plans to 

retire at the end of the year Bob 

Higgs is now manager of contract services at 
Joy Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Presently, Benedict Kaveckas serves as a 
fixture design engineer for printed circuit 
board automatic component insertion equip- 
ment at Wang Labs, Tewksbury, Mass. 

Norman La Liberte retired last July after 
33 years with the American Optical Co., 
where he was a senior research chemist. "I 
have been enjoying the lazy life ever since in 
Woodstock, Conn." At AC), he was actively 
involved in the development of the plastic 
lens that is common and useful today. In re- 
tirement, he is a tennis buff and likes playing 
at home as well as during winter vacations in 
Florida He and his wife have three daughters 
and four grandsons. 



Chapin Cutler 
receives 
IEEE Edison 
Medal 



The accomplishments of Thomas Alva 
Edison inspired the creation of the Edi- 
son Medal, which has been awarded this 
year by the Institute of Electrical and 
Electronics Engineers to C. Chapin 
Cutler, '37. 

The Edison Medal has a distin- 
guished heritage, the first one created in 
1904 to commemorate 25 years of elec- 
tric lighting following the invention of 
the electric light bulb by Thomas Edi- 
son. According to the founders of the 
award, "The Edison Medal .... 
should serve as an honorable incentive 
to scientists, engineers, and artisans to 
maintain by their works the high stan- 
dard of accomplishment set by the illus- 
trious man whose name and feats shall 
live while human intelligence continues 
to inhabit the world." 

Since 1909, 68 people have been se- 
lected by their contemporaries to 
receive this award, which consists of a 
small replica of the Edison Medal, a cer- 
tificate, and $10,000, in addition to the 
medal itself. 

This year, Chapin Cutler received 
the Edison Medal "in recognition of his 
creative contributions to microwave 
electronics, space communications, 
and technology of communication 
systems." 

Except for two short academic sab- 
baticals, he was engaged in research at 
Bell Laboratories in New Jersey from 
1937 until 1979. His research included 
contributions to short wave radio tech- 
nology for overseas communication, mi- 
crowave radar antennas, microwave 
amplifiers, satellite communication, 
digital signal coding, and the Pic- 
turephone®. He holds over 70 patents, 
including fundamental patents on dif- 
ferential pulse code modulation. In 
some circles, he is known as the inven- 
tor of the Cutler rear feed horn for para- 
bolic antennas, a device that was used 
widely in both theaters of World War H. 

Cutler is less well known as the in- 
ventor of the corrugated wave guide; 
cormgated antenna feed systems; and of 
a variety of multimode antenna feeds, 
because his work in these areas was not 



declassified by the U.S. government for 
many years. In his work, he received in- 
spiration and guidance from his associa- 
tion with John Schelleng, who had 
contributed so much to the imderstand- 
ing of short wave radio propagation. He 
is particularly grateful to Professor 
Emeritus Hobart Newell of WPI for 
stimulating his interest in electronics 
and radio, both in the classroom and 
outside. 

Following World War n, he worked 
on microwave amplifiers: first on cir- 
cuits using close-spaced triodes; and 
then on traveling wave tubes. His close 
association with Rudolf Kompfner, who 
invented the traveling wave tube, and 
with John Pierce, who contributed 
strongly to the theory of its operation 
and who invented the Pierce electron 
gun, was an important factor in Cutler's 
success. 

In 1957, with the advent of Sput- 
nik, his interests turned to the possibili- 
ties of satellite radio relay systems. He 
shared in the management, design, and 
operation of Project Echo, the passive 
satellite experiment (1969) and of the 
Telstar active satellite (1962). 

In 1952, he was named head of the 
Electronics Research Department at Bell 
Labs, where he was responsible for work 
on microwave electron tubes. Later, he 
was appointed assistant director of the 
Electronics and Radio Research Labora- 
bory; then director of Electronics Sys- . 
terns Research; and finally, director of 
Electronic and Computer Systems Re- 
search. In 1979, he retired from Bell to 
become professor of applied physics at 
Stanford University. 

His two sabbaticals were spent at 
the University of California at Berkeley 
(1957) and at Stanford (1975). He was 
associate editor of the Transactions on 
Electron Devices for many years, and 
editor of IEEE Spectrum for two years. 
In 1975, he received an honorary doctor 
of engineering degree from WPI. He is a 
fellow of the ieee and was chairman of 
the Awards Board of the Institute in 
1975-1976. He is a fellow of Sigma Xi, 
and a member of the National Academy 




of Engineering, and the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences. 

In spite of the demands of a busy 
career. Cutler has always found time to 
enjoy hiking and moimtaineering. Other 
interests are canoeing, gardening, and 
skiing, and working with gadgets. He 
has held most of the local posts of re- 
sponsibility in the Christian Science 
Chtorch, and has served WPI as a class 
agent, and his community as a Boy 
Scout volunteer. 

Presently, he and his wife, Virginia, 
reside in Palo Alto, Calif., home base for 
another of his pastimes, bicycling. This 
year he bicycled 100 miles on the Coast 
Highway, all the way from Carmel Val- 
ley to San Simeon! 

"We are loving our new life in Cali- 
fornia," he reports, "although it is not 
really relaxing." But then, it should be 
obvious that Chapin Cutler prefers an 
active rather than a passive life, both in- 
side and outside the laboratory. 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981 / 27 



I94I 



Dt George Cowan, former associate director 
for chemistrv', earth and life sciences, has 
been named a senior fellow at Los Alamos 
National Laboratory in New Mexico. In 1965, 
he was the recipient of an E. O. Lawrence 
Memorial Award for "meritorious contribu- 
tions in the field of atomic energy'." He is an 
authority on applying radiochemistry tech- 
niques to bomb debris for weapon diagnosis. 
Also, he was one of the pioneers in using nu- 
clear explosives as a neutron source for scien- 
tific experiments, and he played a key role in 
the first atomic bomb project. In 1945, he 
joined the laboratory' for one year and re- 
turned to stay in 1949, progressing from a 
staff member in the radiochemistry group to 
his current position. As a fellow, Cowan will 
be free to devote a large portion of his time to 
research topics of his choice. He will also be 
available to assist and advise others on se- 
lected research projects, thus allowing the sci- 
entific commimity to reap the benefits of his 
expenise. He holds a doctor of science degree 
in chemistry from the Carnegie Institute of 
Technology. 

Graham Douglass holds the position of 
manager of electric utilities at Pinehurst, 
Inc., Pinehurst, N.C. He is a retired colonel 
in the Marines. 



reunion: (une 3-6, 1982 
1942 

|ohn Bartlett has been named district sales 
manager for the New England area by Preci- 
sion Kidd Steel Co. The former general man- 
ager of New England High Carbon Wire 
Corp., Millbury, Mass., he will now be in 
charge of the Pennsylvania company's sales 
of cold drawn and cold finished carbon, alloy 
and tool steels. He attended Becker Jimior 
College and received a bsme degree from WPI. 



1945 



William Densmore was recently appointed as 
senior vice president of engineering and infor- 
mation systems at Norton Company, Worces- 
ter For the past two years, he has been 
Norton's vice president for abrasive opera- 
tions in the US. and Canada In his new 
post, he will supervise the company's corpo- 
rate engineering and construction services, 
manufacturing standards, computer systems 
and services, and purchasing and transporta- 
tion Also, he will support continuing im- 
provements in productivity and efficiency in 
all aspects of Norton operations, and will be- 
come a member of Norton's Corporate Man- 
agement Committee A graduate of WPI's 
SchfMil of industrial Management, he received 
the Albert | Schwieger Award for outstanding 
achievement in 1976 He is a registered pro- 
fessional engineer in Massachusetts. 



Densmore joined Norton in 1946 and 
held several industrial engineering positions 
before being named director of engineering 
and construction services in 1961. He was 
elected a Nonon vice president and became 
general manager of its Industrial Ceramics 
Division in 1965 and general manager of the 
Grinding Wheel Division in 1971 before being 
named to his current position in 1979. A di- 
rector of the Worcester Heritage Preservation 
Society, he has also been a member of the 
Massachusetts State Board of Education and a 
director of the Worcester Area Chamber of 
Commerce. 



1946 



Currently, Richard Anschutz holds the post of 
accoimt executive with E.F. Hutton &. Co. He 
is located in Tequesta, Fla. For many years he 
was with Pratt &. Whitney Aircraft, East 
Hanford, Conn., where he rose to executive 
assistant to the division president. He serves 
as a trustee of Florida Institute of Technology, 
as a director of the Civic Opera of the Palm 
Beaches and of the Greater West Palm Beach 
Chamber of Commerce, and as a vice presi- 
dent of the National Defense Transportation 
Association. Formerly, he was vice mayor of 
Jupiter Inlet Colony in Florida 
Bob Appenzeller uTites: "Beautiful wife, two 
beautiful kids, a beautiful mutt named 
"Chester", and a beautiful mortgage. Kids 
will be getting married this summer taking 
mutt, but leaving wife and mortgage." Bob is 
president of a 100-man company which engi- 
neers, designs, and manufactures special ma- 
chinery and does business world wide. He 
enjoys his job, golf, fishing, and flying. 

Ted Balaska's children are settling in 
Colorado and Utah, so he and "Bobbie" are 
looking for a western retirement site. During 
his career, he has been with Hartford Electric 
Co., Long Island Lighting, and Phelps Dodge. 
In 1971, he joined Bishop Electric, where he 
is now director of engineering services. He is 
very active with the ieee, serving on several 
committees. Besides golf and swimming, 
travel takes up about 75 percent of his time. 

Presently, Waher Bank is an alumni term 
trustee on the WPI Board of Trustees and na- 
tional chairman of WPI Alumni Admissions. 
From 1973 to 1975, he was president of the 
Alumni Association. In January, he became 
director of marketing at DCS Corp., 
Arlington, Va., where he is concerned with 
R&D in electro-optical systems (infrared, la- 
sers, etc.) Previously, he was with Systems 
Consultants, Inc., Control Data Corp., Tri- 
dent Laboratories, and Sylvania Electric. 



Surf fishing, woodworking, and garden- 
ing are Bernard Beisecker's favorite hobbies. 
He ser\-es as director of manufacturing for In- 
dustrial Fasteners on Long Island. Earlier, he 
had been with U.S. Steel, Booz Allen & Ham- 
ilton, and Central Screw. Last year, after 
nearly five years in Kentucky, the family 
moved back East. 

For 21 years. Gushing Bozenhard contin- 
ued in the construction business. In 1979, he 
sold the building in Worcester "for the good 
life of early retirement." Since his "retire- 
ment," he's become so involved in construc- 
tion consulting that he's tr>'ing to figure out 
how to retire again. Two of his hobbies are es- 
pecially unique: collecting rare books (which 
he rebinds in leather and cloth); and plans to 
take up bee-keeping. He still sails the same 
Pearson 35 out of Marion, Mass. "Have made 
five or six ocean trips, to and from Bermuda, 
Virgins to Bermuda, etc. A different kind of 
sailing and challenging to mind and body." 



1948 



In January, Malcolm Gordon retired from the 
Chemical Systems Lab., Aberdeen Proving 
Groimd, Md. Presently, he is an independent 
technical consultant to several industrial 
companies which have contracts with various 
organizations on Aberdeen Proving Ground. 
Most of the work involves engineering anal- 
yses of the technical productivity and direc- 
tion of R*iD programs. 



1950 



George Bama was recently promoted to vice 
president of Government Simulation Systems 
at Singer-Link Co. He has responsibility for 
operations in Simnyvale, Calif., Houston, 
Tex., and Binghamton, N.Y. 

Francis Kearney has been tr;msferred by 
Monsanto from plant manager of the Bircham 
Bend plant in Springfield, Mass. to director of 
environmental operations for Monsanto Plas- 
tics and Resins Co. in St. Louis, Mo 

Frank Pease continues to work for Stautfer 
Chemical Company as manager of purchasing 
for the corporate engineering department in 
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 



1951 



Bruce Bailey writes that over the past twenty 
years he has logged about 70, ()()() miles bicy- 
cling, "much of it commuting between 
Milton and Camhridge." He also enjoys 
tennis and singing in the local Episcopal 
Church choir. Both he ami his wife, Mary, are 
active in church work. One of his three .sons, 
Brownell, received a degree in urban and re- 
gional planning from WPI in 1980 after re- 



28 / Summer 1981 / The WPI Journal 



ceiving an ab in fine arts from Union College 
and teaching in France. 

After two years at nasa's Langley Labora- 
tory, Bailey spent six very interesting years 
working in cryogenics with Arthur D. Little, 
Inc., where he had the opportunity to co- 
author and present to the American Vacuum 
Society the first paper to have the term "cry- 
opumping" in its title. ("We had used a he- 
lium refrigerator to freeze nitrogen at 20 
degrees K in near-vacuum to drive a hyper- 
sonic wind tunnel requiring very little 
power.") In 1959-60, he was assistant to the 
director of research and development at Air 
Products &. Chemicals developing in-house 
research programs for the company. In 1960, 
he joined the staff of the Laboratory for Nu- 
clear Science (lns) at mit as chief mechanical 
engineer, and he's been there ever since. Dur- 
ing that time, he was also a research fellow in 
mechanical engineering at Harvard; devel- 
oped and taught the first graduate courses in 
cryogenic engineering at Northeastern Uni- 
versity; managed the mechanical engineering 
for MIT-initiated projects at Stanford Linear 
Accelerator Center in Palo Alto, Argorme and 
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratories out- 
side Chicago, Brookhaven National Labora- 
tory on Long Island, N.Y., the European 
nuclear research laboratory (cern) at Geneva, 
and the German Electron Synchrotron (desy) 
in Hamburg, as well as mit's linear accelera- 
tor laboratory in Middleton, Mass. The mit 
experiment at Brookhaven from 1972 to 1975 
won for its leader, Prof. S. C. C. Ting, the 
1976 Nobel Prize in physics. 

Throughout his first 18 years at lns, 
Bailey enjoyed a deeply rewarding collabora- 
tion with Cy Tourtellotte, '40, who retired 
from MIT in 1978 after more than 30 years of 
leadership in the design-drafting area of the 
laboratory. In 1975, Bailey received his msme 
from Northeastern. 

Although he says that many of the WPI 
faculty are memorable to him. Prof. K. G. 
Merriam was the most memorable of all. He 
writes: "He truly inspired me to follow a ca- 
reer in engineering-research which turned out 
to be deeply satisfying." 

Walter Dennen serves as manager of 
commimications and information at RCA Na- 
val Systems Information Department in 

Moorestown, N.J John George has 

joined Bernard E. Lynch & Associates in 

Worcester Carl Johansson says that 

he's back in Connecticut after six years in 
California and Chicago. His daughter, Greta, 
graduated from Stanford on Father's Day last 
year. Daughter Lisa has been married for two 
years. Presently, Johansson is doing pharma- 
ceutical plant design with Crawford &. Rus- 
sell. He recalls that Bob Weiss, WPI's head 
football coach, "was my high school's foot- 
ball coach." 

Vartkes Sohigian is now with Wang Lab- 
oratories in Lowell, Mass., where he is in cor- 
porate persoimel administration. He 
continues to teach a course in WPI's evening 

program Bernard Ziobrowski is an 

RfiiX) chemist at Ciba-Geigy in Glens Falls, 
N.Y. 



reunion: JUNE 3-6, 1982 
1952 

Donald Adams has been elected senior vice 
president of Allendale Insurance, Johnston, 
R.I. He joined the Factory Mutual System in 
1952 as a loss prevention engineer. During his 
Allendale career, he advanced to hold a num- 
ber of management positions, including vice 
president-manager of Canadian operations, 
group vice president of regional operations, 
and his most recent position of group vice 
president of administration. Allendale Insur- 
ance is an international organization spe- 
cializing in loss control engineering and 
industrial property insurance. 

Stanley Berman was recently named vice 
president for Asia and Pacific in Norton Com- 
pany's Abrasives Group, Worcester. Formerly, 
he was vice president of abrasives manufac- 
turing. The Abrasives Group has been re- 
structured into four major operating units to 
strengthen worldwide coordination and plan- 
ning. 

Charles Reichert has had his own con- 
sulting business, Rikert Engineering Co., for 
three years. He writes: "I enjoy the varied 
work that I get involved with." The Reicherts 
have five children and three grandchildren. 



1953 



Formerly with nrl in Washington, D.C., Wil- 
lard Bascom, who has a pho from Catholic 
University, is now manager of composite re- 
search at Hercules, Inc. in Magna, Utah. 

Dave Estey writes that he's still with ge 
in the Washington, D.C. area, but now serves 
as district sales manager, Washington-Data 
Communications . 

In April, Ray Giguere became a grandfa- 
ther for the first time, when his granddaugh- 
ter was bom. 

Dave Hathaway sends word from Lexing- 
ton, Mass. He completed 21 years in the 
Navy with some pleasant memories: Taipei, 
Norfolk, Va., and even L.A. Less pleasant 
memories are associated with Guantanamo 
Bay, Cuba, and Viet Nam. He's now a hospi- 
tal engineer in charge of the physical plant of 
a 200-bed hospital. Son Stephen, 23, is finish- 
ing the Co-op program at Northeastern. 
Daughter Jeanne is a top student at unh and 
is probably headed for medical school. Dave 
sounds like a very proud father. The Hatha- 
ways are a "gunkholing family — using Dark 
Harbor, Maine, as our home port" for excur- 
sions in their Mariner. More recently, they've 
had the boat out to Long Island and to Mar- 
tha's Vineyard and from Kittery to the Isle of 
Shoals. Dave was headed for Worcester in 
Jime for a fairly unique event — a grand re- 
imion of choirs over the past 30 to 40 years at 
the Baptist Church. 

Dr. Mike Hoechstetter has been with 
Ashland Chemical in Columbus, Ohio since 
1974. His two oldest children. Rick and 
Sharon, are in college, whole Lisa is in high 
school. Most of the family is actively in- 
volved in camping, skiing, and sailing. The 
family "yacht" is a 4.5 meter Super Porpoise. 



A typical camping/sailing outing involves 
towing the boat behind an Airstream trailer 
which is towed behind the Olds, to a lake on 
the Pennsylvania border. The rig is 17 meters 
from bumper to stem. 

Bob Menard writes from Richmond, Va., 
that he is still with the corporate sales group 
of Nalco Chemical. His job is calling on the 
executive level of the paper industry — lots of 
travel and entertainment in which his wife, 
Betty, is involved much of the time. Both 
children attend vpi in Blacksburg. Mason is a 
junior in chemical engineering and daughter, 
Kelly, is a freshman in the business school. 
Both were ranked tennis players in Virginia 
before college, but studies have been more de- 
manding, so they have played only intramu- 
ral tennis at vpi. Bob and Betty, with the 
youngsters gone much of the time, have 
moved into a condominium in Richmond and 
have concluded that was a good decision. 
Their main hobby is also tennis, so "bring 
your racquet when you come through town." 

Don Post is a good deal closer — in Au- 
burn, Mass., although just back from a Ha- 
waii vacation, "our favorite comer of the 
world!" Don is director of marketing for the 
Plastics Division of American Hoechst Corp. 
(formerly Foster Grant). At the same time, 
Sylvia and the three children have developed 
a livestock farm where they raise purebred 
Polled Herefords. Oldest son. Bob, is married, 
has an mba from Northwestern, and is in Illi- 
nois with Kraft Foods. Gary graduated from 
the University of Massachusetts and is in 
management training with Consumer Value 
Stores, while raising feeder pigs on the farm. 
Cindy is a student at Assumption, and has 
her own flock of cheviot sheep at the farm. 

Alexander Skopetz, msee, reports that he 
is now classified as an aerospace electronics 
systems engineer with Reliability and Stan- 
dards at nasa/gsfc in Greenbelt, Md. Alex, 
who has been with nasa since '63, worked on 
the Aerobee rocket and orbiting solar observa- 
tory before moving into the standards office. 
He and his wife Louise stay busy with house, 
yard, car, church and commimity chores and 
with two dogs. ("Well dispositioned and do- 
mesticated. Know anyone who'd like two 
nice dogs?") 

Paul Snyder sent his business card from 
Tokyo, Japan. He's a "venture technical man- 
ager" for Mobil. He writes that they should 
be in Japan "imtil about this time next year 
when our project should move to Yanbu, 
Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea." Mobil is a 50/ 
50 partner with Saudi Arabia on a 250,000 
barrel a day refinery to be constructed along 
with several other major petrochemical facil- 
ities out of the desert just east of the fishing 
village of Yanbu. "Our three children are out 
in the world making their own living. One is 
a lawyer, one a chemist, and another a copy- 
writer. This appeared an ideal time in our life 
to take on an assignment of this type. I ex- 
pect to be involved in the construction, train- 
ing of Saudis, start-up and operation of the 
refinery for the next three or four years. We 
are enjoying Japan while we are here, learning 
why they are so productive and competitive 
as well as enjoying their imbelievable friendli- 
ness and gracious hospitality." 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981 / 29 



Tauno Wuorinen has sent a moving ac- 
count of his career, his family, and his retire- 
ment. Tauno worked, since graduation at 
CambridgeElectric Light, taking early retire- 
ment at age 61 in 1978. He still drops iii to 
visit the place, and is gratified to see systems 
he introduced being appreciated. He married 
Aino while at WPI. Aino was a dedicated 
evangelist, speaking in smaller Pentecostal 
churches across the U.S. and Canada, and pe- 
riodically in Finland. She was taken by cancer 
in 1965. In a subsequent trip to Finland, 
Tauno met and in three days became engaged 
to his "new" wife, (since 1967), Kristi. Kristi 
and Taimo have been blessed with three 
handsome children, Erika, 12, Anna, 11, and 
Philip, 9. The family is all involved in church 
activities, and with retirement, Tauno enjoys 
the less structured pace. "I usually walk from 
the post office, and if a mockingbird sere- 
nades me, I stop, listen, and thank another of 
God's wonderful creatures for allowing me to 
share its joy." 

Mike Zucker is now a senior engineer at 
IBM in Austin, Texas. He writes: "We moved 
to Texas in October of 1980. Love it here. I 
staned flying single-engine land planes in 
1977, and am currently a commercial pilot, 
instrument rated." 



1955 



1954 



In March, Owen Allen started a new job as 
project manager in the rail transportation 
group at Sanders & Thomas, Inc. in Potts- 
town, Pa. 

Ouri Cannil is director of sales and plan- 
ning for the electronics division of Israel Air- 
craft Industries, Ltd., Israel. He and Devora 

have four children Harry Mirick 

now serves as European comtroller of field 
service manufacturing for Digital Equipment 
Corp. in the Netherlands, a three-year assign- 
ment. He holds an accoimting degree from 
Franklin & Marshall College. 

Dr. Werner Neupert, o.ss-i mission scien- 
tist at Goddard Space Flight Center, Green- 
belt, Md., edited Office of Space Sciences- 1 
Experiment Investigation Descriptions. He 
has long been concerned with shuttle pay- 
loads integration and the rocket experiment 
project. 

In February, Richard Olson, professor of 
mathematics at WPI and scholastic advisor 
for Alpha Chi Rho, was honored by the 
brothers on the occasion of the 2Sth anniver- 
sary of his initiation into the fraternity. Two 
years ago, as faculty advisor for the former lo- 
cal fraternity. Delta Sigma Tau, he spear- 
headed the local group's joining with the na- 
tional fraternity. Alpha Chi Rho. The national 
secretary of the fraternity was a guest at the 
recognition dinner at which Ollie received a 
commemorative plaque. 



lames Clampett is employed as manager of 
process engineering at Fluor E&C in Irvine, 
Calif. 

Art Rudman has taken a new post as 
football coach at Madison High School in 
Madison, Me. Previously he coached at 
Cheverus High School in Portland, at Rock- 
land High School, North Yarmouth Academy, 
Millbrook (N.Y.) High School and at Worces- 
ter Academy, where for five years he also 
coached track and wrestling and taught math- 
ematics. Earlier, he served in the Army (avia- 
tion) and was a flight tester at Sikorsky 
Aircraft in Connecticut. Last August the Rud- 
mans purchased "The Elms," a boarding 
home for the elderly in North Anson, Me. 
One of the Rudman children, Carl, and his 
wife, help operate the home. Daughter Karen 
is finishing her junior year at Ithaca College 
in New York. Daughter Pam is in Augusta, 
where her brother. Bill, also lives and works. 



1956 



Donald Behringer was re-elected to a three- 
year term on the Ashbiunham (Mass.| Mu- 
nicipal Light Board in April. He is a senior 
engineer at GE in Fitchburg, and has been 
with the company since 1956. He is a regis- 
tered professional engineer. The Behringers 
have five children. 

John Derby has been appointed vice pres- 
ident of operations of StanChem, Inc. in East 
Berlin, Conn. Previously, he was with Air 
Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, 
Pa., where he directed overall efforts in mar- 
keting, sales, manufacturing, and research 
and development in two major business 
areas. He also worked in the production, mar- 
keting and operations fields for A.E. Staley 
Manufacturing Company, the Borden Chemi- 
cal Company, and U.S. Rubber Company. He 
has an mba from Northeastern and belongs to 
the American Institute of Chemical Engi- 
neers. Other activities include the Jaycees 
and the Commimity Chest Fimd Drive. Stan- 
Chem manufactures coatings and polymers 
for the industrial trade. The firm includes 
three divisions: Albi that produces fire retar- 
dant paints and fireproofing coating systems; 
Designed Products that produces paints and 
coatings for New England manufacturers; and 
Polymers that produces water-based polymers 
for the paint, paper, textile and adhesives 
industries. 

David Gilda holds the post of manager of 
resident engineering at GE in Allentown, Pa. 
He and Justine have two children and live in 

Emmaus Larry Horrigan has been 

named vice president of fossil power plant 
construction by Houston Lighting & Power 
Company in Texas In 1978, he joined HL&.P 
after working 20 years for Ebasco Services, 
Inc., of New York City. He had managed 
power plant constrtiction for Ebasco, includ- 
ing a number of HL&.P projects After gradu- 
ating from WPI in 1956, he served for a time 
with the Army ("orps of Engineers. Presently, 



he is a member of the Houston Business 
Roimdtable. With over one million cus- 
tomers, HL&P is the sixth largest electric 
utility in the nation in terms of electricity 
sales. 

Donald Olsen spoke on the subject: 
'Conversion to Coal, A Topic of Interest to 
All" at the Amherst (Mass.| Commimity Fo- 
rum in May. A generation mechanical engi- 
neer supervisor, he has been with Northeast 
Utilities for 12 years. Cim-ently, he is respon- 
sible for managing the company's efforts to 
modify generating plants to use coal, rather 
than oil for fuel. 



reunion: JUNE 3-6, 1982 

1957 

Robert Galligan was recently honored by the 
National Conference of Christians and Jews 
for outstanding leadership in human relations 
and community service in Des Moines, Iowa. 
He is vice president of Gibbs-Cook Equip- 
ment Co., president of the Dowling-St. Jo- 
seph Board of Education, and a trustee of the 
Catholic Diocese of Des Moines. In addition, 
he is a director at the Mercy Hospital Medical 
Center, the Central Iowa Health Association, 
and the Des Moines Area Hospital Consor- 
tium. A board member of the National Con- 
ference of Christians and Jews, Galligan also 
is a vice chairman of the Diocesan Commit- 
tee on Parish Coimcils, president of the Em- 
bassy Club board, and a sponsor in the 
Vietnamese Refugee Resettlement Program. 
He holds a master's degree from the Univer- 
sity of Coimecticut. 



1959 



Robert Allen has been promoted to captain in 
the U.S. Navy and reassigned to the staff of 
the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, 
D.C. 

Robert Basil is president of Basil Co., 
Inc., Milford, Conn. He and Sandra have four 

children Wilfrid Houde has been 

named general manager of the personal com- 
puter systems division of Apple Computer, 
Inc. Previously, he was director of distribu- 
tion and service operations. In 1979, he joined 
Apple after 15 years of management experi- 
ence in engineering, marketing and opera- 
tions with Hewlett-Packard, Inc. Also, he had 
worked for the Bell System in New Jersey. 

Philip Peirce serves as quality control 
manager for the Worcester Group, Worcester, 
Mass. The Peirces, who have two children, 

reside in Brookfield Ed Saulnier 

writes that he is still with ibm in the Worces- 
ter area, where he serves as a senior systems 
engineer in the Data Processing Division. 



30 / Summer 198} / The WPI Journal 



Gordon Sigman, Jr. has joined Norden 
Systems as vice president of systems and 
technology. Previously, he v^as deputy direc- 
tor for advanced technology at the Defense 
Advanced Research Projects Agency in 
Arlington, Va. At Norden, a subsidiary of utc 
in Norwalk, Conn., Sigman will help plan re- 
search and development programs for the 
company, v/hich is concerned v^ith military 
electronics and space systems. He holds a de- 
gree from Drexel University and was respon- 
sible at DAPRA for advanced technology 
programs in such areas as tactical, strategic, 
and air vehicles technology. He, his wife, and 
four children reside in Ridgefield. 



i960 



Kevin Burke heads the congressional policy 
section for the U. S. Navy at the Pentagon. 
.... David Haley has been named as a 
new trustee at Monson Savings Bank. Pres- 
ently, he is manager of Squier & Co., Mon- 
son, Mass. A chemical engineer, previously 
he was associated with Sprague Electric Com- 
pany, North Adams, and Scott Paper Com- 
pany in South Hadley. He has a master's 
degree in public administration from Western 
New England College. 

Correction: In the spring issue of the 
Journal, Peter Zilko's name was incorrectly 
spelled. 



I96I 



Currently, Dr. Jack Gabano holds the 
position faculty chairman of Harvard's Center 
for International Senior Management Studies 
in Mont-Pelerin, Switzerland, "an 
assignment which has provided a wonderful 
personal and family experience as well as a 
challenging professional one." He is on the 
boards of several academic journals and pro- 
fessional societies and consults or serves as a 
board member to a number of business organ- 
izations. Recent awards include the McKin- 
sey Foundation Prize and Xerox's "Best of 
Business" Award, both for contributions to 
the management literature. Jack and his wife, 
Marilyn, a graphic designer, have two chil- 
dren, Jana, II, and Jordy, 2. Their present ad- 
dress is: Avenue du Temple 21 b, I0I2 
Lausaime, Switzerland. 
Al Irelan's 12-year-old daughter, Lisa, quali- 
fied for the Eastern Ski Meet, Jimior Division, 
in March. She has been skiing since the age 
of five, has collected a number of medals and 
trophies, and shows promise of being Olym- 
pic material. Her father, an industrial engi- 
neer at Hollingsworth and Vose Co., West 
Groton, Mass., took part in skiing competi- 
tion while he was a student at WPI. Cur- 
rently, Betty, a nurse for the Groton- 
Dunstable Regional School System, comes in 
handy when there are cuts and bruises. Peter 
IS a member of the local Jimior Hockey squad 
and also skis competitively. Mad River Run in 
Vermont is the family's favorite ski resort. 



Joseph Janik has been named division 
manager in Network Systems at the Ameri- 
can Telephone & Telegraph Co., Basking 
Ridge, N.J. In 1 96 1, he began his career as as- 
sistant engineer with Southern New England 
Telephone. In 1971, he became engineering 
manager at at&t in New York City. He 
moved with the company in 1975 to Basking 
Ridge, where he now lives with his wife and 
three children. He holds a master's degree in 
management from Pace University. 

Jim Kachadorian has been named by the 
selectmen to fill a vacancy on the Woodstock 
(Vt.) Union High School Board. Jim, who is 
the owner-president of Green Moimtain 
Homes, Inc., holds a bsce from WPI and an 
MSCE from MIT. He belongs to Tau Beta Pi, 
Sigma Xi, and was a founder and charter 
member of Chi Epsilon. After graduating 
from MIT, he served with the U.S. Army in 
Germany, and rose to the rank of captain. He 
has been active as a member of the Wood- 
stock Finance Committee. 

Timothy Meyers, Jr., who has a dds from 
Howard University, is presently an assistant 
professor in the Department of Orthodontics 
at the Emory University School of Dentistry 
in Atlanta, Ga. He also has a private practice 
in Atlanta. 

Kenneth Parker is currently self em- 
ployed as a construction marketing consul- 
tant and "enjoys it." He says that he is in reg- 
ular contact with Norm Noel, Hank Allessio, 
John Powers, Len Johnson, Pete Natale, 
Svend Pelch, and Ed Wozniak. His son. Matt, 
hopes to be a member of the class of 1985 at 
WPI. 

Husein Pothiawala serves as production 
service manager at Pfizer, Inc., in New York 
City. He has an ms from Northeastern Uni- 
versity Dr. Charles Wilkes has been 

named director of corporate research for the 
B.F. Goodrich Company. From the firm's re- 
search and development facility in Breck- 
sville, Ohio, he will coordinate all long-range, 
multidisciplinary research into new technolo- 
gies, products and processes that support 
bfg's strategic business goals. He joined 
Goodrich as a chemist in 1964. Since then, 
he has held increasingly responsible positions 
in the areas of chemical physics research and 
technological assessment. A member of the 
American Chemical Society, he holds a doc- 
torate in physical chemistry from Princeton. 



HOMECOMING OCT. 2-3 



1962 



Charles Burdick, Jr. holds the position of 
manager of manufacturing analysis and con- 
tracts in test fibers at du Pont in Wilmington, 
Delaware. 

Robert Goretti has been named general 
manager of Lee's Manufacturing Company, 
North Providence, R.I. In his new post, he 
will be in charge of all operations at the plant, 
a manufacturer of jewelry components. 



.... Vaidotas Kuzminskas is employed as 
an assistant project engineer at United Tech- 
nologies Corp., Power Systems Division, 
South Windsor, Coim. He and Gloria have 
two children and reside in Glastonbury. 

Peter Martin was recently promoted to 
vice president of the Heavy Division of J.F. 
White Contracting Co., Newton, Mass. The 
firm has subway tunnels valued at $150 mil- 
lion under construction in Boston and Phila- 
delphia Bruce Simmon serves as 

director of business planning and analysis at 

CSC in El Segundo, Calif Stanley 

Strychaz is managing editor of R.S. Means 
Co., Inc. in Kingstowm, Mass. 

John Szymanski has been elected presi- 
dent of the New England chapter of the 
American Society of Travel Agents (asta). He 
was installed by the national chairman of the 
society at the International Congress of asta 
last winter in Manila, Philippines. He is pres- 
ident of Paradise Travel Service, Inc. of All- 
ston, Mass. 



1963 



► Married: Dr. William J. Savola, Jr. to Deb- 
orah F. Laprade in Longmeadow, Massachu- 
setts on May 9, 1981. Mrs. Savola attended 
Springfield Technical Community College 
and is employed as a general office manager 
and private secretary by the First Pentecostal 
Church. Her husband has an ms and pho in 
physics from the University of Connecticut, 
Storrs, and an mba from New York Univer- 
sity. He is a chartered financial analyst and a 
partner in WJS Associates in Longmeadow. 

Laurence Bascom serves as development 
associate at du Pont in Richmond, Va. He 
holds an mba from the University of Tennes- 
see in Chattanooga. The Bascoms have two 
children. 

Thomas Chechile is employed at Pratt &. 

Whitney in Jupiter, Fla David Kilike- 

wich is head of the test engineering section at 
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii. 
.... Roger Maddocks holds the post of su- 
perintendent of the Sensitizing Division at 
Eastman Kodak, Windsor, Colorado. He and 
his wife, Carole, are the parents of six chil- 
dren. 

Joseph Mancuso, who heads the Center 
for Entrepreneurial Management, Worcester, 
was in Dallas, Texas when cem seminars 
were being held in May. .... Donald Ro- 
bertson works as a construction superintend- 
ent for McNiff Company in Gloucester, 
Mass. He has an mba from Western New Eng- 
land College, is married, and the father of 
three children. 

Harold Taylor serves as program manager 
at the Hamilton Standard Division of United 

Technologies in Farmington, Corm 

Henry Torcellini is employed as chief engi- 
neer at Gardner &. Peterson Assoc, in Tolland, 
Conn. He, his wife Dottie, and two sons, 

Paul and Robby, reside in Eastford 

Mitch Weingrad is self employed in insurance 
in East Rockaway, N.Y. 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981/31 



1964 



1966 



Dennis Balog has been appointed general 
manager of miniature lighting products for 
GTE Lighting Products in Hillsboro, N.H. He 
will be responsible for engineering, manufac- 
turing, and marketing of a broad line of lamps 
for the automobile, aircraft, electronic, tele- 
phone, computer and other industries. In 
1964, he joined gte's operations in Waltham, 
Mass., as a field engineer and he has held a 
series of increasingly responsible engineering 
posts. In 1972, he was promoted to technical 
general foreman, and four years later became 
materials manager of miniature lighting prod- 
ucts. He has been plant manager of gte Light- 
ing Products automotive headlamp 
manufacturing facility in Seymour, Ind. since 
1978. His memberships include the ieee and 
the Illimiinating Engineering Society. 



1965 



Phil Baker was recently promoted to product 
manager of industrial products at Polaroid 
Corporation in Cambridge, Mass. This post, 
Ln the Tech Photo Marketing Division, fol- 
lows his previous positions within the Engi- 
neering Division. Phil lives in West Peabody, 
Mass. with his wife, )ane, and two children, 
Karen and Danny. 

Leo DeBlois, Jr., a senior engineer in Po- 
laroid's international division, received a 
master's degree in business administration 
from Boston University's School of Manage- 
ment on May 17th. He also holds a master's 
degree from the B.U. College of Engineering. 
He is a member of the American Society for 
Quality Control and the Society of Photo- 
graphic Scientists and Engineers. 

Dick Kennedy has been promoted to vice 
president and general manager of the Vitrified 
Grinding Wheel Division at Norton Com- 
pany, Worcester. Formerly, he was director of 
computer systems and services. He is vice 
chairman of the WPI Alumni Fund Board as 
well as chairman of the Class Agent Program. 

Henry Schneck continues to work for the 
Suffolk County Department of Public Works, 
where he is principal civil engineer in charge 
of traffic engineering and construction super- 
visor William Shields and his wife 

have moved from Beacon Hill in Boston to 
Manomet, just south of Plymouth, Mass. 
They now have a S.Vacre plot with two work- 
ing cranberry bogs and plan to plant vinifera 
grapes in the near future. 

Steve Sutker has loined Hazcltinc Corpo- 
ration, Grcenlawn, NY., where he is national 
sales manager of Computer Terminal Equip- 
ment Previously, he was the mid-Atlantic re- 
gional manager of the General Distribution 
Division for Data General (Corporation. He, 
his wife Carol, his dog, Oliver, and son, 
Nolan, reside in North Syosset, New York. 



Robert Levine is vice president and general 
manager of Huck Manufacturing Co., King- 
ston, N.Y. He has an ms from Northeastern 
University, is married, and has two children. 

John Petrie holds the position of manager 
of applications and business development at 
ITT Nonh Microsystems in Deerfield Beach, 

Florida Lawrence Pihl serves as a 

manufacturer's representative at bbc in 
Chelmsford, Mass. He received his mba from 

Northeastern Bob Shaw ovms Lisa's 

Auto Sales in Worcester. 

Thomas Shepelrich holds the post of 
chief estimator at Metric Constructors, St. 
Petersburg, Fla. He and Carol Lou have one 

child and live in Tampa Earl Sparks 

has been transferred to the fertilizer group of 
International Minerals &. Chemical in Chi- 
cago. He is a senior project engineer working 
on an ammonia transport project that in- 
volves two 35-mile pipelines, a 50,000-ton 
storage tank, and a 12,500-ton ocean-going 
barge to move ammonia from Louisiana to 
Florida. 

Robert Stemschein is now employed as 
manufacturing manager at Easco Hand Tools 
in Springfield, Mass. He and Norma Jean 
have three children and live in Simsbury, 
Corm. 

Maj. John Stockhaus is now post civil en- 
gineer at Camp Edwards. Formerly, he held 
the same post at Camp Grayling, Michigan. 
In his new position, he will be responsible for 
the maintenance and repair of facilities and 
will oversee construction of minor projects at 
Camp Edwards. Maj. Stockhaus is a veteran 
of 18 years, eight of those in the National 
Guard. He served two years in Vietnam with 
the 1st Cavalry Division. He and Becky have 
two children. 

Roman Sywak, who has an mba from 
Western New England College, is a senior 
product support engineer at Pratt &. Whitney 
Aircraft, East Hartford, Conn. 



HOMECOMING OCT. 2-3 

1967 

Charles Blake holds the position of manager 
of the Atlanta, Ga. office of Clayton Environ- 
mental Consultants in Marietta. 

James Braithwaite is a staff engineer at 
Hercules-Aerospace Division in Cumberland, 

Md Fernando Castillo was recently 

named manager of the Performance Analysis 
Section at Riley Stoker Corp., Worcester. 
With the company since 1970, he had been 

supervisor of engineering standards 

In February, Richard Court, Jr. was promoted 
to manager of quality control services for 
Boehringer Ingelhcim Ltd. of Danbury, Conn. 
His daughter, Katherine, was a year old in 

May John Facca is a self-employed 

sales representative in New Britain, Conn. 



Richard Gutkowski, associate professor 
of civil engineering at Colorado State Univer- 
sity, has wTitten a textbook, Structure: Fun- 
damental Theory and Behavior, recently 
published by Van Nostrand Reinhold. The 
book outlines for engineers the theory of 
structural analysis procedures, mathematical 
operations and storage techniques of com- 
puter programs, and offers new explanations 
of fimdamental theorems and assumptions 
that underlie the science. Gutkowski has a 
master's degree from WPI and a doctor's de- 
gree from the University of Wisconsin, Madi- 
son. He joined the Colorado State University 
faculty in 1973. Formerly, he was a structural 
designer and computer programmer at Harvey 
and Tracy, Worcester. 

Frank Jodaitis received his mba from rpi 
last August. 

James Lawson, Jr. holds the post of man- 
ager, MIS, at Simplex Time Recorder Co., 

Gardner, Mass Denis McQuillen has 

a new position as vice president of engineer- 
ing for a division of Gulf &. Westem Corpora- 
tion at their New York City headquarters. In 
this capacity, he will be responsible for corpo- 
rate engineering projects. His backgroimd in- 
cludes broad engineering project management 
responsibility on a diversity of construction 
projects throughout the world. For the past 
five years with E.R. Squibb & Sons in Prince- 
ton, N.J., he was a senior project manager and 
managed multi-million dollar pharmaceutical 
projects in New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and 
South Africa. Most recently, he began a pro- 
ject for the People's Republic of China. 
Denis, who lives with his wife Susan and 
their two children in Lawrenceville, N.J., has 
been listed in the 1981-1982 edition of Who's 
Who in the East. 

John Sonne v^ites: "I have been a 
partner in our practice for over a year. I've 
also enjoyed doing public affairs for the area 
veterinarians by writing news releases for ra- 
dio and newspapers, as well as doing a num- 
ber of TV interviews." 



1968 



► Married: Michael J. True and ludith A. 
Baker in Woodfords, Maine on May 2, 1 98 1. 
Mrs. True graduated from Portland High 
School and is employed by New England Tel- 
ephone. Her husband, who also studied at the 
University of New Haven and at the Univer- 
sity of Southern Maine, is with Overhead 
Door Co. of Portland, a division of Maine 
Building Specialties. 



32 / Summer 1981 / The WPI foumal 



Dr. Donald Aldrich is a research supervi- 
sor at du Font's Troy Laboratory in Michigan. 
He has a phofrom mix, is married, and has 

two children Recently, Kurt Benson 

became associated with the law firm of Salter 
and Michaelson in Providence, R.I. The firm 
is concerned with patent, trademark, and 
copyright kw. 

Robert Edge, vice president of Edge 
Wallboard Machinery Company, 
DowningtovkTi, Pa., was elected secretary- 
treasurer of the Pulp &. Paper Machinery 
Manufacturers' Association (ppmma) at its an- 
nual meeting in March. Edge, the outgoing 
president of the nationwide trade organiza- 
tion, was cited for his initiative in new mem- 
bership development, the increased activity 
of PPMMA in product liability reform, and the 
increased activity of the organization's board 
of directors and executive committee. He 
lives in Romansville, Pa. with his wife, Patri- 
cia, and two children. 

Kenneth Ekstrom works as an elec- 
tronics engineer at Comm-Term Corp., May- 

nard. Mass Robert Falciani holds 

the post of area office manager at ees. Inc., in 
San Francisco. He has an msme and an mba 
from Northeastern. 

Bert Gunter is a member of the technical 

staff at RCA Labs in Princeton, N.J 

Gerald Junevicus has resigned as assistant 
professor at the Higher Institute of Technol- 
ogy in Brack, Libya. He holds a master's and 
a doctor's degree from the University of Vic- 
toria, Canada Robert Lowell, a pro- 
ject physicist in electromagnetic technology 
at TRW Defense &. Space Systems, Redondo 
Beach, Calif. , is also working on his msee in 
commimications at the University of South- 
em California. 

Edward O'Hara serves as a senior piping 
engineer at rrr Grinnell Industrial Piping, 
Inc., Lycoming, N.Y. He and Debra have one 

child and reside in Oswego Last 

September, Richard Perreault left the Army. 
Presently, he is a project engineer with the 
Flood Control District of Maricopa County in 
Phoenix. ("Yes! It does flood in the desert!") 

Richard Sadowski was a featured speaker 
at the 69th annual convention and power 
show of the New England States Association 
of Power Engineers held in Sturbridge, Mass. 
in May. In his talk, he described how more 
and more industrial plants in New England 
are reintroducing coal as a more affordable 
fuel at a time when energy costs are a priority 
matter. 

Stephen Schwann is newly employed as 
a principal research engineer at the Foxboro 
(Mass.) Co. He is involved in corporate re- 
search Robert Smith serves as a 

computer management consultant with 
Computer Partners in Wellesley Hills, Mass. 
.... John Starsiak, Jr., who holds an ms in 
chemistry from Northeastern, is presently a 
student at the University of Kansas. 

Charles Trent has been appointed as 
market development manager for basic dyes 
by the Dyes and Chemicals Division of 
Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Char- 
lotte, N.C. In his new position, he will coor- 
dinate all marketing activities for c&k's line 
of Sevron® basic dyes which were formerly 
made by du Pont. Previously a technical serv- 
ices supervisor for the company at its Read- 
ing, Pa., laboratories, Trent will now be based 
at the division's marketing headquarters in 



Charlotte. He joined Crompton & Knowles as 
an analytical chemist in 1974, and holds an 
MBA from Lehigh University. A member of 
the American Association of Textile 
Chemists and Colorists, he also belongs to 
the American Chemical Society, c&k's Dyes 
and Chemicals Division is a major supplier of 
dyes and chemicals used by the textile indus- 
try for synthetic and natural fibers. Crompton 
and Knowles manufactures specialty chemi- 
cals and special industry machinery. 

Peter Walsh serves as associate director 
("head hunter") for Engineering Career Asso- 
ciates, Burlington, Mass. Last year, he re- 
ceived his MBA from Suffolk University. He 
and Marybeth live in Plymouth, Mass. and 
are the parents of three children. 



1969 



Richard Check is employed as a project man- 
ager at CH2M Hill Engineers in Atlanta, Ga. 
Presently, he is involved in the design and 
construction of water and wastewater facil- 
ities. He has an msce from Northeastern Uni- 
versity, is married, and resides in Stone 
Mountain. 

Michael Hart continues as a senior engi- 
neer at Raytheon's Missile Systems Division 

in Bedford, Mass Recently, Arthur 

Katsaros was named nitration products busi- 
ness manager for Air Products and Chemi- 
cals, Inc., Allentown, Pa. He is responsible 
for overseeing performance of Air Products' 
nitrations business. The company produces 
dinitrotoluene (dnt) and toluene diamine 
(tda) — intermediate materials used to manu- 
facture toluene diamine diisocyanate — at its 
plant in Pasadena, Texas. Prior to his appoint- 
ment, Katsaros was business development 
manager of nitration products for the com- 
pany, which he joined in 1973. He holds an 
"MBA from Lehigh. 

Edward Mierzejewski was a co-author of 
'Impacts of Elderly and Handicapped Transit 
Fare Policies", which appeared in the March 
issue of the ITE foumal. Recently, he was 
named director of transportation programs at 
Henningson, Durham & Richardson in hdr's 
Alexandria, Va. office, hdr is a nationwide ar- 
chitectural, engineering, and planning firm. 
In 1973, he joined crw, where he had broad 
responsibilities in transportation and environ- 
mental planning, including proposal prepara- 
tion, technical studies, client coordination, 
and report preparation and presentation. He 
has an msce (Transportation Systems Divi- 
sion) from MIT. He writes: "Together with 
Aline and children, Sara, 9, and Mark, 6, we 
are continuing to enjoy the good life in Vir- 
ginia, where we have been for ten years." 

Joel O'Rourke is a computer scientist at 
Computer Sciences Corp., Hemdon, Va. He 
writes: "Working on Saudi Arabian mis pro- 
ject." He and his wife, Kathy (Meehan), 
whom he married last October, reside in Fair- 
fax, Va. 



Dr. Donald Rule is now working for the 
Navy Department in the Naval Surface 
Weapons Center in White Oak, Md., where 
he does research in nuclear physics. He and 
other members of his team have been devel- 
oping a particle beam weapon for defense pur- 
poses. The particle beam is a stream of highly 
energetic atomic or subatomic-size particles 
such as electrons, protons, hydrogen atoms, 
or ions. Laser beams, conversely, consist of 
radiant energy photons. An electron beam 
would resemble a lightning bolt, while a laser 
beam would be an intense beam of heat. The 
major component for the beam weapon is the 
accelerator, which functions in a manner 
similar to a tv electron gun, although much 
more powerfully. Rule, who works on the 
material response interaction team, received 
his doctorate in physics from the University 
of Cormecticut. 

Last October, Joseph Senecal joined the 
corporate research department at Cabot Cor- 
poration, Billerica, Mass Joe Stahl is 

now engineering manager for the Pro Brush 
Division of Rexall Co. in Florence, Mass. 



1970 



► Bom: to Mr. and Mrs. Roger Henze their 
first child, Brian Matthew, on August 2, 
1980. Wife Judy is an English instructor at Sa- 
vaimah State College. 

Paul Akscyn serves as a consulting engi- 
neer at Crawford & Russell in Houston, 

Texas Henry Block is a real estate 

associate at Jack Thomas, Inc., Miami, Fla. 
He and Cathy have two children. 

Kenneth Brown has received his doctor 
of engineering degree in mechanical engineer- 
ing from RPI, Troy, N.Y. Currently, he is a re- 
search engineer in the structures technology 
group of the Commercial Products Division 
of Pratt &. Whitney Aircraft, a division of 
United Technologies. His wife is studying 
clinical dietetics at the University of Con- 
necticut. 

Ganeth Cooke serves as a design engi- 
neer at ge's Aircraft Instrument Division in 

Wilmington, Mass Daniel 

Czemicki serves as a project engineer at Nfusc 
in Newport, R.I. He and Mary Beth have one 
child and live in Saunderstown. 

Mark Gemborys is a research chemist at 
Sterling Winthrop in Rensselaer, N.Y. 

"The Electric Disco Chicken", an ani- 
mated short by Bob Goodness of Shrewsbury, 
Mass., represented the U.S. at the 1981 
Cannes International Film Festival. It was se- 
lected by the director of the festival from 
films in international competition and was 
the only super 8mm film from the U.S. se- 
lected to be screened there this year. Super 
8mm films have not been shown at Cannes 
in the past. Bob's film has previously won 
awards at the 1980 Toronto Super 8 Film Fes- 
tival and the 1980 New England Film Festi- 
val. It has also been screened at a number 
of festivals throughout North America and 
Europe. 



The WPI Journal / Slimmer 1981 / 33 



Jeffrey Manty has been named division 
engineer of the Saucon Mills Division of the 
Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Saucon Mills 
Division is the largest single structural steel 
shapes producing and shipping complex in 
the free world. Manty's wife, Christine, is an 
officer and branch manager of the Nazareth 
National Bank. The Mantys and their two 
children reside at Little Acre Estates in Naz- 
areth, Pa. 

Robert Mulcahy holds the post of district 
manager at New England Telephone in Bos- 
ton. The Mulcahy s reside in Manchester, 

Mass. and have one child Wah Sing 

Ng continues as a management consultant 
with Stone and Webster, New York City. 

Robert Rosenberg holds the position of 
president at Roben A. Rosenberg, Inc., 
Quincy, Calif. He is a graduate of the Realtors 

Institute Erik Roy has joined the ge 

Research and Development Center, Schenec- 
tady, as a specialist in technology transfer 
services. Prior to his Center appointment, he 
served for eight years with the Mohasco Cor- 
poration, first as an industrial engineer and 
later as manager of licensing operations. He 
has a master's degree in industrial adminis- 
tration from Union College. 

Robert Spiro, who is with DuBois Chem- 
icals of Cincinnati, sells both process and 
maintenance products to industrial market- 
places in maniifacturing, food, and transpor- 
tation. Also, he is into water treatment, 
including boilers, cooling towers, and effluent 
water, "not to mention polymer and syn- 
thetic energy-saving lubricants and equip- 
ment." He is located in Worcester. During 
the summer, he crews on a 40-h. racing sail- 
boat on Narragansett Bay, and in winter he 
enjoys Killington. 



1971 



► Bom: to Barbara and David Winer, a son, 
Jesse Lee, on June 29, 1980. 

Andrew Griffin works as a project engi- 
neer at Tau-Tron in Chelmsford, Mass. 
.... Dr. David Hobill, who holds an msc 
from the University of Calgary and a pho 
from the University of Victoria, both in Can- 
ada, is currently a post doctoral fellow in the 
Laboratory Physique Theorique, at Institute 
Henri Poincare in Paris, France. 

Ken Kowalchek is budget and manage- 
ment officer for the Department of State in 
Washington, DC. He has an mba from 
UMass, is married, and has two children. 
. Edward Lowe III has been promoted 

to manager of marketing programs for the In- 
stallation &(. Service Engineering Division of 
CF in Schenectady, N.Y. 

Gary Mason has the position of execu- 
tive vice president of Stevens Linen Assoc, 
Inc , Webster, Mass The Masons live in Dud- 
ley and have one child Joe Moia, Jr. 

is employed at Hughes Aircraft Co. as a 
member of the technical staff in El Scgundo, 
Calif Robert Payne is project man- 
ager of business development for the Standard 
Oil Co.-Vistron Corp. in Cleveland, Ohio 



William St. Hilaire holds the post of 
regional environmental engineer for Metro- 
politan Boston/Northeast Region, Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, in the Department 
of Environmental Quality Engineering, Wo- 
bum, Mass. He and Diane have three chil- 
dren and reside in Clinton. 

Francis Scricco has been named staff ex- 
ecutive for strategic planning and develop- 
ment in the ge consumer products section, 
Fairfield, Conn. He joined the company in 
1979 as manager of strategic planning and de- 
velopment. Formerly, he worked for the Bos- 
ton Consulting Group, Inc., a management 
consulting company. He holds an mba from 
Columbia and lives in Redding, Cotm. 

Bob Sinicrope teaches at Milton Acad- 
emy. He earned his master's degree in mathe- 
matics education at Boston University. The 
Sinicropes and their two children reside in 
Milton, Mass Frank Steiner was re- 
cently elected treasurer of Energy Manage- 
ment and Control Company, a consulting 
firm specializing in industrial gas turbines. 
He is located in Marlboro, Mass. 

Frederick Szufnarowski is now a project 
engineer-generation in the civil engineering 
department at Northeast Utilities, Hartford, 

Conn Bruce Tompkins works as a 

construction superintendent for C.H. Nicker- 
son & Co., Inc., of Torrington, Conn., and is 
concerned with water pollution control. 
.... Michael Weill works as a senior engi- 
neer at Union Carbide Corp., Tarrytown, 
N.Y. 

Glenn White v^rites: "I finally completed 
my pho in atmospheric sciences at the end of 
January. The thesis was entitled 'A Compari- 
son of the Summertime and Wintertime Cir- 
culations of the Extra Tropical Northern 
Hemisphere.' I am now a postdoctoral re- 
search associate here at the University of 
Reading (England) and hope to stay through 
the end of 1982. I am working on the global 
circulation of the atmosphere and every two 
weeks calculate several statistics describing 
the state of the atmosphere during the pre- 
vious two weeks. The computing is done at 
the European Centre for Medium-Range 
Forecasts." 



HOMECOMING OCT. 2-3 



1972 



► Married: Adrien Gaudreau and Linda Hole- 
man of Portland, Oregon on August 8, 1980. 
Mrs. Gaudreau has a bs in forest science, a bs 
in recreation planning, and an ma in environ- 
mental planning. She works for the Bureau of 
Land Management in Alaska, where she is 
concerned with environmental impact stud- 
ies James H. Purington and Chris- 
tine A. McHiigh in Waltham, Mas.sachusetts 
recently. The bride received her chemical en- 
gineering degree from Tufts University, Med- 
ford. Her husband, who has an ms in 
environmental engineering from Colorado 
State University, is with Recycling Industries 
in Braintree. 

► Bom: to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph G. 
Harkins a son, Joseph Gerald III, on July I, 
1980. Sister Kimberly Anne, is now fotir. 
Harkins is manager of the Large Systems Di- 
vision for Manufacturer's Business Systems, 
Inc , a Worcester-based iiw consulting firm. 



David Bailey is employed by General Dy- 
namics in Groton, Conn Charles 

Brine is currently a senior research chemist at 
FMC Corporation in Princeton, N.|. He has a 
pho from the University of Delaware. 

Gordon Chess is dean of the faculty of 
engineering science at the University of West- 
em Ontario in London. He and Margaret have 

three children Walter Mcllveen 

serves as chief mechanical engineer at Diaz, 
Seckinger Assoc, Tampa, Fla. He has an 
MSME from RPi and an mba from Wayne State 
University, Detroit, Michigan. 

David Meyer presently serves as manager 
of Arthur Young & Co. in San Francisco. 
.... Robert Pascucci is now overseeing the 
construction of the sixty-imit senior citizen 
apartment complex now imderway on Glen 
Street in Glen Cove, N.Y. He is a vice presi- 
dent of the Jobco Realty and Construction 
Company of Great Neck, redevelopers of the 
Glen Street property. He has a law degree 
from St. John's University. At one time, he 
was associated with a New York City con- 
struction company, and was later an engineer 
for the Glen Cove Urban Renewal Agency. He 
rejoined the Jobco firm in July of 1980. 



1973 



► Bom: to Bonnie and Chris Broders their 
first child, Sarah Elizabeth, on November 25, 

1980 to Donna and Dr. John H. 

Ward a daughter, Jessica Elizabeth, on May 2, 
1981. 

Tom Bileski is district sales manager at 
Texas Instruments in St. Louis, Mo. The Bi- 
leskis have a daughter, Lara Ann, and reside 

Ln Ballwin Peter Conti works as a 

lead geotechnical engineer for Stone &. Web- 
ster in Cherry Hill, N.J. The Contis live in 

Laurel Springs Kevin Crossen serves 

as a chemist for the Food and Drug Adminis- 
tration in Silver Spring, Md. 

William Elliott serves as manager of pro- 
gram development in the International Pro- 
jects Department at ge in New York City. 
Last year, he received his mba from Columbia 

University Jon Franson continues 

with the iJSAF Weather Data Requirements 
Section at raf Croughton, United Kingdom. 

Robert Haywood holds the post of direc- 
tor at Tcdelex Far East, Ltd., in Hong Kong. 
.... Next fall, Glen Johnson will rejoin 
the faculty at Vanderbilt University as an as- 
sociate professor of mechanical engineering. 
He is married to the former Kathryne A. De- 
Loach of lackson, Tenn. They have two sons, 
Edward and Eric 

Christopher Kralik is a process design en- 
gineer at C.E. Lummus, Hloomficld, N.J. 

... Since February, Peter McDermott has 
been employed as a patent attorney in the 
Patent Law Section of the Office of the Gen- 
eral C^ounsel at Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, 
Mich. He holds a in from Suffolk University 
Law School. 



34 / Summer 1981 / The WPI fouma] 



Kenneth Muccino has been promoted to 
senior engineer at Northeast Utihties in Hart- 
iord, Conn. He joined the Connecticut Light 
and Power Company, an nu subsidiary, as a 
cadet engineer in Norwalk in 1973. He held 
positions of increasing responsibility in the 
Norwalk district and in the utility's southern 
region headquarters office, Stamford, before 
transferring to >nj's general offices in Berlin in 
1979. At the time of the move, he was pro- 
moted to engineer in the Engineering and Op- 
erations Capital and Expense Management 
Department. A registered professional engi- 
neer in Connecticut and a member of the 
IEEE, Muccino also holds an mba from the 
University of Connecticut. He is married and 
the father of a son, Kenneth M. Muccino. 

Paul Parulis now works for Northeast 
Utilities Service Co. in the betterment con- 
struction group at Connecticut Yankee 

Atomic Power Station Daniel Prior 

in was recently appointed to supervisor of 
work methods at New England Electric, 

Westboro, Mass Rand Refrigeri has 

qualified as a professional engineer in Massa- 
chusetts. Presently, he is employed with the 
Carlson Corporation of Cochituate, Mass., 
where he is a mechanical engineer. 
Mark Richards owns Pizza Transit Authority 
m Durham, N.C. He v^nrites: "We have re- 
cently purchased the Durham franchise of 
P.T.A. and are enjoying the pleasures of self- 
employment." .... Wayne Schweiden- 
back is an electrical control engineer at Stone 
& Webster, Boston. He and feannette, who 
have three children, live in Norfolk, Mass. 
.... Russell Smith, Jr. is a project engineer 
at Texon, Inc., South Hadley, Mass. 

Presently, Steve Turo holds the post of 
process development engineer at Fiber Indus- 
tries, Inc., a manufacturer of polyester fila- 
ment yam in Greenville, S.C Ralph 

Veenema, Jr. has a new job in coal gasification 
development with Combustion Engineering 

Power Systems Group, Windsor, Ct 

Robert Yesukevich holds the post of superin- 
tendent of oil processing operations for UOP, 
Inc., Des Plaines, 111. He is presently located 
at the Riyadh oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. 



1974 



► Married: Capt. Donald W. Gross and Tracie 
F Tudor in McLean, Virginia on April 11, 
1981. The bride graduated from American 
University. The groom serves as a pilot for 

the U.S. Air Force Bruce Lackey to 

Ferry al Ghovanlou in Newport Beach, Cali- 
fomia on November 29, 1980. Mrs. Lackey 
attended Chapman College and the Univer- 
sity of California, Irvine, and currently works 
tor Gucci. Her husband is a senior account 
manager and regional analytical specialist for 
Taylor Instrument Company. The couple is 
residing in the San Francisco East Bay area. 



► Bom: to Belinda and James Asaro their 
second child, Jason Alexander, in Jime of 
1980. Asaro is temporarily a warehouse su- 
pervisor for Pepsi-Cola in Long Island City, 
N.Y., pending a flight officer position with a 

commuter airline to William and 

Paula Fragassi Delaney, '76 a daughter, Kate 
A. Delaney, on December 4, 1980. Last No- 
vember, Bill transferred to Norton in Worces- 
ter as a pilot plant engineer to Pat 

and David Packard a son, Brian David, on 
January 29, 1981. David is an engineer in the 
Production Division of the Public Service Co. 
of New Hampshire. Pat is now a full-time 
mother. 

Douglas Borgatti holds the position of 
process control engineer for the Passaic Valley 
Sewage Commission. This year he receives 
his pliD from Notre Dame. In 1976, he re- 
ceived his MSEE from Manhattan College. 
.... Robert Cikatz serves as a quality 
control engineer at NE Nuclear Energy Co., 
Waterford, Conn. He and Mary reside in 
Fitchville. 

Richard Corey, a former U.S. Postal Serv- 
ice employee, has written a book to help po- 
tential postal service employees score high on 
their competitive examinations. His book, 
The Guide to Postal Examinations-, was re- 
cently published by Reston Publishing Co. 
Written exclusively for postal service clerk- 
carrier and machine clerk exams, the 127- 
page guide offers study and practice exercises, 
as well as tips designed to increase a person's 
speed and accuracy on the tests. His Corey 
method of numeric translation is a system of 
remembering two-digit numbers. He used it 
to speed his former work as a mail sorter, and 
it is aimed straight at developing high scores 
in the memory section of postal examina- 
tions. By using his method, he scored 100 on 
the memory sections of tests given at White 
River Junction, Vt., Newark, N.J., and in 
Winsted and Hartford, Conn., and was offered 
postal jobs at each location. Currently, Corey 
owns a company that installs burglar alarms. 

Bill Gemmer is now an accotint engineer 
for Industrial Risk Insurers in Hartford, Conn. 
Bill, Lisa, and their daughter Lindsay Rose re- 
side in Canton Edward Gordon is a 

systems programmer FV at Racal-Milgo in Ft. 
Lauderdale, Fla. He is also working for his 

MSCS at Villanova University 

Dennis Howard received his master's degree 
in civil engineering from Tennessee Techno- 
logical University in March. 

Capt. Thomas Kielick, military science 
professor at Siena College, has been awarded 
the Meritorious Service Medal for outstand- 
ing service to the U.S. Army. A resident of 
Watervliet, N.Y., he has been on the Siena 

faculty staff since August of 1980 

Skip Leanna is employed as a construction 
project engineer at East Kentucky Power, 
Winchester, Ky. 

Ronald L'Heureux serves as a reliability 
engineer at RCA Automated Systems in 

Burlington, Mass David Nickless 

has graduated from law school and is now as- 
sociated with the Boston firm of Marullo and 
Bames, where he is hoping to specialize in 
energy law, especially as it relates to small- 
head hydroelectric facilities and cogeneration 
agreements. His wife, Debbie Phillips, will be 
teaching at Suffolk Law School next year. 
They live in Billerica, where Dave is active in 
the local youth soccer program. 



Mary Bollino Petry, who is married to 
Jeff Petry, '72, writes from Brighton, Mich, 
that Jeff is now 7, Tony, almost 6, and 
Laural, 4. 

Matteo Solitro is a project engineer at 
Mobay Chemical Corp., Pittsburgh. He and 
Clelia have three children and live in Cora- 

opolis. Pa Peter Walworth works as 

a senior facilities engineer for Applicon, Inc., 
Burlington, Mass. 



1975 



► Married: Jon T. Anderson and Elizabeth A. 
Dennis in Dallas, Texas on March 7, 1981. 
The bride holds a ba in Spanish from the Uni- 
versity of Texas and graduated from the Uni- 
versity of Texas School of Law in 1978. She is 
an Assistant Attorney General for the State of 
Vermont. Her husband graduated from Yale 
Law School in 1978. He is a lawyer with the 
firm of Paterson, Gibson, Noble &. Goodrich 
in Montpelier, Vt. 

► Bom: to Judy and Joseph DelPonte 
their first child, Jonathan Armand, on January 
12, 1981. DelPonte is a physicist at Boeing 
Military Airplane Co., Huntsville, Alabama. 

Michael Amaral is an electronics engi- 
neer at the Naval Underwater Systems 
Center in New London, Conn. He has an ms 

from the University of Connecticut 

Robert Apkarian serves an an electron micro- 
scopist at the University of Louisville in 
Kentucky. In January, he completed his MA 

requirements at Clark University 

Ronald Ballinger is an assistant professor at 

MIT. 

H. Scott Bicknell is now a senior indus- 
trial engineer in the General Motors Assem- 
bly Division in Warren, Mich. He and Brenda 

live in Sterling Heights William 

Booth, who has an ms from Cornell and a jd 
from George Washington University, is pres- 
ently an associate attorney with Fish & Rich- 
ardson in Boston, Mass. 

Steven Goes holds the post of adminis- 
trative assistant in the town of Seabrook, 
N.H. He and his wife, Betsyanne reside in 

Newfields Fred Cordelia is currently 

employed at Cullinan Engineering in Auburn, 

Mass Dr. Bruce Croft, who has a 

doctor of podiatric medicine from the Chi- 
cago (111.) College of Podiatric Medicine, now 
has two offices: one in Worcester and another 
in Cambridge, Mass. 

Currently, William DiBenedetto works 
as a production manager in the field service 
manufacturing operation at Digital Equip- 
ment Corporation. 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981 / 35 



In March, Judith Nitsch Donnellan was 

chosen by the Southeast District of the Mas- 
sachusetts Federation of Business and Profes- 
sional Women's Clubs, Inc., as its candidate 
for Young Career Woman. She represented the 
district at the state convention held in New- 
ton in May, and is a member of the Attleboro 
Area Business and Professional Women's 
Club, Inc. She serves as vice president of 
Freeman Engineering Company of Attleboro. 
A registered professional engineer in Massa- 
chusetts, she also belongs to the Boston sec- 
tion of the ASCE and the Society of Women 
Engineers |swe). In conjimction with the swe, 
she often lecttires to groups of girls on engi- 
neering as a career. She is co-author of a col- 
oring book, "Terry's Trip," which introduces 
engineering careers to grade school girls. 

Martin Fugaidi has accepted the position 
of vice president of engineering at the 
O. A. Peterson Construction Co., Montclair, 
N.J. The firm specializes in industrial, com- 
mercial, and institutional design and 
construction. 

James Law, a civil engineer, is with the 
U.S. Corps of Engineers in Waltham, Mass. 
He and his wife, Elaine, live in West Boyls- 

ton Dr. Joseph LeBritton v^ites that 

he has taken a new job as senior research fel- 
low in elementary particle physics at the Uni- 
versity of Arizona in Tucson. His 
experimental work will be performed at the 
National Accelerator Lab. in Batavia, Illinois. 

Philip Ledoux serves as a research scien- 
tist at Fisher Scientific Co., Orangeburg, N.Y. 
He and Katherine have three children and live 

in Spring Valley Richard Murray is 

with Aerojet Electro Systems in Azusa, Cal- 
if David Salomaki holds the position 

of engineering project manager at Hewlett- 
Packard, Cupertino, Calif Jeff Web- 
ber is a mechanization requirements analyst 
for GE Ordnance in Pittsfield, Mass., where he 
lives with his wife and one child. 



1976 



► Married: William P. Casey and Rhonda L. 
Johnson on April 25, 1981. The bride gradu- 
ated from Quinsigamond Commimity Col- 
lege, Worcester, and is a secretary for Riley 
Stoker Corp. 

► Bom: to Mr. and Mrs. Dick Crahs 
their first child, a daughter, Johanna Marie, 
on October 21, 1980. Dick is now superin- 
tendent at Occidental Chemical's Swift 
Creek sulfuric acid plants in White Springs, 
Fla. 

Richard Allen of New Hampshire and 
Michael Schultz, '75 of Cambridge, Mass. 
have formed the partnership of Allen 61 
Schultz to be headquartered in Lyme, N.H. 
TTie newly established firm will offer civil, 
environmental, and geotcchnical consulting 
cngmeering serves to clients throughout the 
Northeast Allen, who also graduated from 



the University of Washington, has had re- 
search experience at McGill University, regu- 
latory agency experience with the epa, and 
consulting-engineering experience with firms 
in New England and the Pacific Northwest. 
Schultz has a degree from mit and has had re- 
search and consulting experience including 
project work in New England, the Pacific 
Northwest, Alaska, and the Middle East. 
With the inclusion of two other principals, 
the firm holds professional engineering regis- 
tration in the States of Maine, New 
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, and Washington. 

Gary Anderson is a sales proposal engi- 
neer for CLncinnati Milacron-Heald, Worces- 
ter Raymond Calabro, Jr. holds the 

post of supervisor of pipe support engineering 
at Daniel Construction, Jenkinsville, S.C. 
.... Bill Clark has made a recent job 
change. Presently, he works for dbx. Inc. in 
Newton, where he is approvals engineer. The 
company is a manufacturer of professional 
and consumer audio equipment. 

Tony Clawson holds the post of financial 
manager at Digital Equipment Corp., Acton, 
Mass David Cordelia is now em- 
ployed as a senior engineer in the mass stor- 
age department at Data General in Westboro, 
Mass. He is manied, lives in Worcester, and 
has two children: a daughter, nearly 5, and a 

son, 18 months Val Danos holds the 

position of manager of the Planning & Pro- 
gram Development Unit at Arizona Depart- 
ment of Health Services in Phoenix. "Still 
moving arotmd like a gypsy." 

Chris Ford, who joined Procter & Gam- 
ble last November, now serves as a team 
manager at P&.G Paper Products, Cape Girar- 
deau, Mo. He left the Army as a captain in 
October The Fords are the parents of a son, 

Michael, who is almost a year old 

James Fountain is an associate engineer for 
Northeast Utilities Service Company, Water- 
ford, Corm Richard Isaacs, who 

works for the Boeing Company, is pursuing 
his MBA at the Albers School of Businesss at 
Seattle University in Washington. 

Stephen Jennette has been promoted to 
senior systems programmer for the Computer 

Services Department at Norton Co 

Thomas May is a district engineer at the Tor- 

rington Co. in Dallas, Texas Robert 

Milk, Jr. serves as a system engineer for Elec- 
tronic Data Systems, Dallas. He and Elaine 
have one child and live in Garland, Texas. 

Kestutis Pauliukonis, who received his 
MD from Georgetown University last year, is 
presently an anesthesia resident for the U.S. 
Navy at the National Naval Medical Center 
in Bethesda, Md. 

James Roberge recently received an msme 
from the University of Rhode Island. He is 
employed by ge, and is located in Erie, Pa. 
.... Edward Sawicki serves as a staff engi- 
neer at ees, Inc. in Boston. He and fanis have 
two children and live in Norton, Mass. 

Ashokkumar Shah holds the position of 
New York branch manager at Digital Equip- 
ment Corporation Brian Swanson is 

employed as manager of the finishing plant at 

Norton Co., Himtsville, Alabama 

Tom Wimbrow holds the position of design 
engineer at Brown &. Root in Houston, Texas. 
Also, he is working for his mha at the Univer- 
sity of Houston Capt Neal Wright 

was stationed in Korea in April and will re- 
main there until July of 1982. 



HOMECOMING OCT. 2-3 

1977 

Ed Acciardi is a senior design engineer at 
Data General Corporation in Westboro, Mass. 
He works in the mass storage division of cor- 
porate research and development. 

Stephen Akers, who received his ms in 
ocean engineering from uri last year, is now a 
civil engineer for the usae Waterways Experi- 
ment Station in Vicksburg, Miss - 

Brian Belliveau serves as a sales engineer at 
New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc., Peterbor- 
ough, N.H. He and Brenda have two children 
and reside in Jaffrey. 

Richard Blauvelt continues as director of 
marketing at Tme Trace in Whittier, Calif. 
.... Gary Bujaucius has been promoted to 
actuarial associate within the actuarial organ- 
ization at the Hanover Lnstirance Company, 
Worcester. Following graduation, he joined 
the company as an actuarial assistant. 
.... Gerard Chase serves as a boiler design 
engineer at Combustion Engineering in Wind- 
sor, Conn. He and Cynthia live in West 
Suf field. 

Wayne Civinskas is now a design engi- 
neer in the Digital Systems Development 
Group at rca Automated Systems in 
Burlington, Mass. He has an msee from WPI. 

Dr Ismael Colon was recently advanced 
to project scientist in the Coatings Materials 
Division of Union Carbide Corporation's 
Botmd Brook research facility in New Jersey. 
He holds a pho from WPI and a bs from Fair- 
field University. Prior to joLning Union Car- 
bide in 1977, he was an assistant professor of 
chemistry at WPI. 

Bill Cunningham has a summer job as a 
marketing consultant to the computer and 
telecommimications industries at Pactel, Inc. 
in Princeton, N.J. He attends Tuck School at 

Dartmouth Michael DiMascio is a 

fire protection engineer for the City of Red- 
wood City in California Richard 

Garstka was recently promoted to systems 
consultant within the systems organization at 
State Mutual Life Assurance Company of 
America, Worcester. He joined the company 

last year as a senior systems analyst 

John Harvey continues as construction man- 
ager at Francis Harvey & Sons, Inc., 
Worcester. He and Elizabeth have two 
children. 

John Hjort serves as an associate 
engineer-programmer at ibm in Essex Jimc- 
tion, Vermont Jeri Hodsdon is em- 
ployed as senior manufacturing engineer at 
Data Packaging Corp. in Cambridge, Mass. 
.... Robert Hyland is a research associate 
at Temple University in Philadelphia. He 
holds an ma in biophysics from |ohns 
Hopkins. 

Rafael Lai serves as ingeniero inspector 
for the City of Ciudad Bolivar in Venezuela. 
Last year, he received his msc:e from WPI. 



36/ Summer I9H1 / The WPI Journal 



.... Norman Marshall is a graduate re- 
search assistant at Thayer School of 

Engineering, Dartmouth College 

Fred Sowa is a senior project engineer at 

Clairol, Stamford, Conn Currently, 

Brian Sttatouly works as a design engineer at 
Santa Fe Engineering Service Co. in Orange, 
Calif. 

)er-Shi Ting holds the position of manag- 
ing director at K. Cotton &l Gauze Co., Ltd., 

Bangkok, Thailand George Whitwell 

writes that he has one more year at Cornell 
before receiving his pho degree in inorganic 
chemistry. 

McRea Willmert serves as a process engi- 
neer at Great Western Silicon, Chandler, 
Arizona. 



1978 



► Bom: to Marcy and Ronald E. Fish their 
first child, Seth David, on Jantiary 31, 1981. 
Fish is currently employed as an avionics de- 
sign engineer by Northrop Corp., Hawthorne, 
Calif. 

Lt/jg Bramwell Arnold, Jr. continues as a 
pilot with the U.S. Navy. Presently, he is fly- 
ing a Navy A-7E on board the uss Midway, 

homeported in Yokuska, Japan 

1/Lt, Richard Bourgault serves as an execu- 
tive officer for the U.S. Army in West Ger- 
many Richard Carpenter is a senior 

project engineer at Hamilton Test Systems, 
Tucson, Arizona. 

Jayne Franciose holds the post of biomed- 
ical engineer at the Hospital for Special Sur- 
gery in New York City. Last year, she received 

j her MS from WPI John Freebum, Jr. 

I works as an electrical design engineer at 
' Coulter Biomedical in Concord, Mass. He 
and Mary reside in Cherry Valley. 

Peter Gibbons is employed as a develop- 
j ment engineer at McLaren Engines, Livonia, 

I Michigan Jeffrey Hovhanesian is 

i employed at the Naval Underwater Systems 

Center in New London, Conn 

William Kaknes is a graduate student and 
; teaching assistant in the Department of 
; Mathematics and Statistics at the University 
of Massachusetts, Amherst. 

Dennis Kelly works for Bechtel Corp., 

Gaithersburg, Md Bob Kerry works 

as a project engineer for the Professional Serv- 
ices Group in Forestville, Md. He is involved 
in sewer system evaluation surveys and flow 
I monitoring programs in Washington, D.C., 

' Virginia, and Maryland Francis Lut- 

tazi works as a structural engineer at Camp 
Dresser & McKee, Boston. 

Stephan Mezak is now manager of soft- 
ware development for Compact Engineering- 
Comsat, in Palo Alto, Calif Rory 

O'Connor is a senior software editor at Com- 
puter Business News in Palo Alto, Calif. 



.... Robert Pierce, Jr. continues as an 
associate engineer at Babcock &l Wilcox, Bar- 

berton, Ohio Wiebe Postema still 

works with Rockwell International as a mem- 
ber of Technical Staff n on components re- 
lated to energy production. 

Robert Raslavsky now serves as a trans- 
portation plarmer in the Anne Anmdel 
County planning and zoning office in Anna- 
polis, Md. Formerly, he was pedestrian safety 

coordinator for Baltimore City 

Kermeth Rass works as a shift technical advi- 
sor at Mississippi Power & Light in Port 
Gibson, MS. He and Susan have two children 
and reside in Vicksburg. 

Newell Stamm, Jr. recently moved back 
to Connecticut to join the family business, 
Stamm Construction. He is chairman of con- 
tinuing education for the Cormecticut section 

of the ASCE Dan Tarpley is a marine 

engineer at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. 

Currently, Bettina Tuttle serves as a re- 
search engineer at Exxon Research & Devel- 
opment Laboratories in Baton Rouge, La. 
.... Wesley Wheeler is returning to 
Florham Park, N.J. to work for Exxon Re- 
search 61 Engineering Co. after completing 
two years in London. He was responsible for 
preliminary project planning and contractor 
foUowup for Esso refinery projects in Europe. 

Steven Wolfe is an O.S. engineer at hds 
Research in San Carlos, Calif. Last year he re- 
ceived his MS in computer science 

Randall Wyatt is an application engineer at ge 
in Schenectady. 

Sandra Wyman has joined Air Products 
and Chemicals, Inc. in Allentown, Pa., where 
she is a development engineer in the applied 

R&D group Greg Yeo works for Exxon 

Chemical Co., Florham Park, N.J. He and his 
wife reside in East Hanover. 



r979 



In January, John Arnold joined Digital Equip- 
ment Corporation as a programmer-analyst in 
the Distribution Systems Group located in 

Northboro, Mass Stephen Clarkin is 

a project engineer for Exxon Chemical Co., 
Florham Park, N.J. 

Richard Durand, Jr. is a second-year graduate 
student pursing his PhD in chemistry at Cali- 
fornia Institute of Technology in Pasadena. 
.... Mary Farren is studying for her mba at 

Union College Eugenia Fernandez 

works as a technical representative n for 
Kemper Group in Southfield, Mich. 

John Fitzgerald is a self-employed engi- 
neer with Erin Associates in Shelton, Conn. 
.... Michael Foisey is a wastewater 
consultant at the Providence wastewater 
treatment plant, affiliated with Charles J. 
Krasnoff &. Associates, Providence, R.I. 
.... Robert Hart serves as a sales engineer 
at Trane Co., City of Industry, Calif. He is 
chairman of the Los Angeles Jimior Chamber 
Pro-Star's basketball committee. 

Paul Henderson, who is married to Lisa 
Rawstron, daughter of William Rawstron, 
'57, is a research and development engineer 
at Raytheon Co., Equipment Division, Way- 
land, Mass James Hosford works for 

Western Electric in AllentovkTi, Pa 



Christine Ingalls works as a junior analysis 
engineer at itt Grinnell in Providence, R.I. 

Joseph Kintz is employed as a staff met- 
allurgist at Mass. Materials Research in West 

Boylston, Mass Robert Lamoureux 

holds the post of vice president of engineering 
at Omni Computer Resources, East Provi- 
dence, R.I Henry Lapa is presently a 

student Naval flight officer in Pensacola, Fla. 

In April, James MiDer received his msee 
from Stanford University in California. Pres- 
ently, he is a member of the technical staff at 

TASC, Reading, Mass Peter Morico is 

employed as a components engineer at 
Hughes Aircraft in Culver City, Calif. 
.... Stephen Olson is an associate engi- 
neer for Thiokol Corp. in Promontory, Utah. 

John Osborne is concerned with market- 
ing at GE in Roanoake, Va Stephen 

Prawdzik works as a sales engineer for ge in 
Denver Maria Rico is a graduate stu- 
dent in biomedical engineering at WPI. 

Formerly with Texas Instruments in 
Houston, Glenn Robertson was recently pro- 
moted to senior engineer at National Semi- 
conductor in Salt Lake City, Utah 

Thomas Soszynski, a pilot with the usaf, is 
being assigned to Plattsburgh afb, N.Y. in 
July. Last March, he received his aeronautical 
rating at Columbus afb. Miss. 

David Tellier works as an estimator- 
project manager at AC and S Contracting in 

Wethersfield, Conn David West 

holds the post of assistant track supervisor at 
Conrail. He is located in Rutherford, N.J. 
.... Karen Wright is employed as a soft- 
ware engineer at Simmonds Precision, Inc., 
Vergennes, Vt. 



1980 



► Married: Michael T. Bergeron to Kathleen 
M. Flanagan on May 2, 1981 in Barrington, 
Rhode Island. The bride has a degree in social 
service from Becker. She is employed by the 
Old Grist Mill Tavern. The bridegroom is 
with Leominster Tool Company, Inc. 
.... Constance P. Creedon and Robert J. 
Bartelson in Worcester on December 27, 
1980. Mrs. Bartelson holds a degree in coun- 
seling from Worcester State College and a 
master's degree in mathematics from WPI. 
She is a mathematics teacher at Shrewsbury 
Senior High School. The bridegroom has a 
master's degree from Worcester State, and 
also studied at Holy Cross, Newton College 
of the Sacred Heart, and Clark University. He 
teaches science at Medway High School. 



The WPI Journal / Summei 1981 / 37 



neer at E.D.S. Nuclear, a subsidiary of Impel! 
Corp., San Francisco. 

Ethan Luce is employed as a design analysis 
engineer at Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, CT. 

Brian McLane works as a design engineer at 
Lexidata Corporation in Billerica, MA. 

Jennifer Pollard is an assistant civil engineer 
for the New York State Dept. of Transporta- 
tion. 

Stephen Superson is a design engineer for 
Teledyne Engineering Services, Waltham, MA. 

Gary Sylvestre serves as a project manager 
at Barclay's American Business Credit, Inc., 
East Hartford, CT. 

Jeffrey Wakefield is product manager at 
Data Terminal Systems, Maynard, MA. 



1979 



MARRIED: Gary Doyle and Janet Stark last 
September. Both are senior associate engi- 
neers at IBM in Essex Junction, VT. . . . Earl 
B. Ingham and Cheryl L. Nugent on January 
9, 1982 in Granby, MA. The bride, an 
ophthalmic technician for Dr. Robert Dono- 
hue, graduated from Holyoke Community Col- 
lege. Earl is employed by Aetna Life and Cas- 
ualty Co., Springfield, MA. . . . George R. 
Tompsett, III, and Carla Ann Ranney in Broad 
Brook, CT, on April 24, 1982. Mrs. Tompsett 
graduated from Windsor Locks High School 
and is an operations clerk for Hamilton Stan- 
dard Division of United Technologies, Wind- 
sor Locks, CT. George is a process and meth- 
ods engineer at Hamilton Standard. 

BORN: to Andrea and William R. Herman 
a son, Bryan William, on March 31, 1981. Her- 
man is now a senior staff member at Arthur 
Andersen Company, Hartford, CT. 

Jeff Boike continues as a manufacturing 
process engineer at UOP in McCook, IL. He 
and his wife, Mary Lynn, reside in Hinsdale. 

Glenn Braunstein holds the post of devel- 
opment engineer at Goodyear Tire & Rubber 
Co., Akron, OH. 

John Donahue is employed as an electric 
studies engineer at Niagara Mohawk Power 
Company, Syracuse, NY. 

Donna Graves is systems marketing manager 
at Digital Equipment Corp., Merrimack, NH. 

Bruce Jenket, who was promoted to It.j.g. 
last November, has returned from deployment 
in which he visited Japan, Guam, Hong Kong 
and the Philippines. Currently he is an assistant 
in the Reactor Controls Division of the U.S. 
Navy, stationed at Pearl Harbor. 

Donald Larson works as a product marketing 
specialist at GCA Corporation. He is located 
in Bedford, MA. 

Jeff Mills designs oil refineries for UOP, Inc. 
He resides near Chicago. 

Gary Pearson serves as New England sales 
representative for Priam Corporation of Need- 
ham, MA. 

Ronald Roth is employed as a product en- 
gineer at Honeywell in Lexington, MA. 

Lt. Jason Tuell serves as a numerical pre- 
diction meteorologist for the USAF at Offutt 
AFB, NE. 

George Wespi continues as an associate en- 
gineer at Riley Stoker Corp., Worcester. 

Priscilla Young is studying for her master's 
degree in environmental engineering at Cor- 
nell University. 



1980 



MARRIED: Robert W. Dreyfoos and Martine 
B. Vray in Worcester on September 26, 1981. 
Mrs. Dreyfoos, a graduate of Worcester State 
College, is an inspector for the Palm Beach 
(FL) County Health JDepartment. He is a de- 
sign engineer for Photo Electronics Corp., West 
Palm Beach. 

Mihran Aroian is a research technician at 
WPI. 

Theodore Crowley holds the post of manager 
of language products at C.S.P. Inc., Billerica, 
MA. 

David Fox works as a software engineer at 
Digital Equipment Corp., Merrimack, NH. 

Currently, Richard Goldman is a student at 
the University of Connecticut School of Law 
in West Hartford. 

Michael Herberg continues with GE in Sche- 
nectady. Earher he had been assigned to the 
Waterford plant. 

Arthur Haggard, process engineer at Mon- 
santo Plastics & Resins, Springfield, MA, re- 
cently received the Monsanto Employee 
Achievement Award. 

Stephen Kmiotek is a chemical engineer at 
Cabot Corp. He is located in Billerica, MA. 

Kenneth Mandile holds the position of vice 
president at J.B.M. Swiss Screw Co., Inc., 
Waltham, MA. 

John Roche, still with Micro Networks, is 
now thin-film engineering supervisor at the 
Worcester firm. 

Doreen Savieira holds the post of planning 
engineer at Western Electric Co., North An- 
dover, MA. 

Jeffrey Smits continues as a member of the 
technical staff at Bell Labs in Holmdel, NJ. 

Mike Stone continues as associate editor of 
Car & Driver's Buyers Guide and Cars mag- 
azine. He is also vice president of TMS Com- 
puter Services and the author of two books: 
Mopedaller's Handy Manual and Your Four, a 
guide to four-cylinder motorcycles. The Stones 
reside in Danbury, CT. 

David Sulkin serves as a design engineer at 
Hamilton Standard, Windsor Locks, CT. 

James Torrey, Jr., serves as a maintainabil- 
ity engineer at Digital Equipment Corp. , Marl- 
boro, MA. 

Marianne Wessling continues as a doctoral 
candidate in the department of biophysics and 
theoretical biology at the University of Chi- 
cago. 

Lisa Wylie is a staff member at Western 
Electric Co., North Andover, MA. 



1981 



MARRIED: Richard F. Condon, Jr., and Linda 
J. Michaud in Townsend, MA, on April 24, 1982. 
Rich is a photographic engineer at Kodak, Roch- 
ester, NY. . . . David R. Lamborghini to Helen 
Aadland in Fairhaven, MA, on January 9, 1982. 
Mrs. Lamborghini graduated from Fairhaven High 
School. David is with Procter & Gamble, Ouincy. 
. . . Steven M. McDonald and Pamela J. Loftus 
on January 16, 1982 in Worcester. The bride is 
a student at Becker Junior College. Steve is with 
Data General in Westboro. . . . Joseph P. Nor- 
man, III, and Susan A. Bish in Springfield, MA, 
on December 27, 1981. The bride has an AS 



degree in medical assisting from Becker Junior 
College. Joe is a structural engineer at McDer- 
mott. Inc., New Orleans, LA. . . . Scott A. Sar- 
gis and Karen L. Richardson in Leominster, MA, 
on February 5, 1982. Mrs. Sargis graduated from 
Becker. Scott is a mechanical engineer with 
Chevron Chemical Corp. in New Orleans. 

Anthony Cabral is a student at Carnegie- 
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. 

Cindy Canistro works as a project engineer 
at GE Plastics in Pittsfield, MA. 

James Connor is a sales engineer for Ad- 
vanced Micro Devices in Sunnyvale, CA. 

Dan Doherty, Jr., works as a senior technical 
marketing specialist at Digital Equipment Corp., 
Marlboro, MA. 

Ethan Foster holds the post of programmer/ 
analyst at the Laboratory of Computer Sci- 
ence, Massachusetts General Hospital, Bos- 
ton. 

Currently, James Geib is a design engineer 
at Winchester Electronics. He is located in 
Watertown, CT. 

Robert Hess has joined the Methods/Facili- 
ties Branch in the Production Department, De- 
partment of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 
Portsmouth, VA. 

Peter Hinckley has been employed as a prod- 
uct engineer at The Torrington Company, Tor- 
rington, CT. 

Keith Mazzarese works as a field engineer 
for Stone & Webster in Waterford, CT. 

William Miller holds the post of sales engi- 
neer at Westinghouse Electric in Framingham, 
MA. 

David Oriol is now an associate at Manufac- 
turer's Business Systems, Inc., Worcester. 

Frank Polito is part of the technical staff as- 
signed to the digital lines department at Bell 
Laboratories, North Andover, MA. 

Timothy Shea works as a scheduling engineer 
for Crawford & Russell, Inc., of Stamford, CT. 

Jeffrey Smith is a planning and systems an- 
alyst-manager at Dresser Atlas in Houston, TX. 

Peter Tiziani is a design engineer for Com- 
bustion Engineering in Windsor, CT. 

David 'Valardi serves as a field engineer at 
Dresser Atlas in Rayne, LA. 

Robert Wright holds the post of assistant en- 
gineer at New England Power Service Com- 
pany in Worcester. 



School of 

Industrial Management 

Clifford Pontbriand, '58, continues as manager 
of frame operations at Pennsylvania Optical 
Co., Reading, PA. .. . William Barlow, '65, 
has been elected executive vice president at 
Wyman-Gordon in Worcester. He joined the 
company in 1943 and has worked in engineer- 
ing, manufacturing and senior management 
jobs. . . . Leo St. Denis, '65, has been pro- 
moted to manager of quality control at An- 
derson Operations-Bay State Abrasives Divi- 
sion, Worcester. He has an associate's degree 
in mechanical engineering from Worcester 
Junior College. . . . Ernest Anger, Jr., '78, has 
been appointed manager of system develop- 
ment at Bay State Abrasives Division, Dresser 
Industries, Westboro, MA. He graduated from 
Wentworth Institute and joined Bay State in 
1958 as an engineering technician. 



38 



WPI lOlJRNAL 



Natural Science 
Program 



In January Worcester State College physics 
professor Robert Kelley, '60, courtesy of the 
U.S. Navy, joined 36 college instructors from 
all over the country at Cape Canaveral to get 
a firsthand look at the "new nuclear Navy." 



One of the highlights of the visit was an op- 
portunity to witness a simulated missile launch 
from a nuclear-powered submarine. . . . Ralph 
Southwick, '66, teaches science at Jefferson 
(MA) Middle School. . . . Philip Wilson, '78, 
continues teaching at Lynnfield High School, 
Lynnfield, MA. . . . William Johnson, Jr., '81, 
is a teacher at Rockport High School, Rock- 
port, MA. 



COMPLETED CAREERS 



David E. Carpenter, '11, of Agawam, MA, a 
long-time employee of Westinghouse, died on 
April 1, 1982 at the age of 93. 

Except for four years with Buckeye Prod- 
ucts, Mr. Carpenter was with Westinghouse 
Electric Corp. from 1911 until his retirement. 
He earned the company's highest honor, the 
Silver "W" Order of Merit, and held a patent 
on a winding machine to automate the winding 
of motor stators and rotors. In 1955 he retired 
as a consulting manufacturing engineer. 

A. Hugh Reid, '11, of Worcester, class vice 
president, passed away recently. 

He was born on July 7, 1889 in Worcester. 
Graduated from WPI as a mechanical engi- 
neer, he was retired from CF&I Steel Corp. 
and belonged to the Tech Old Timers and Sigma 
Xi. 

Alfred R. Kinney, '12, of Blacksburg, VA, a 
long-time employee of the U.S. Forest Service, 
died February 3, 1982. He was 92. 

A Worcester native, he received a BSCE 
from WPI. During his career with the U.S. 
Forest Service, he served as examiner of sur- 
veys in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania and as chief land examiner in the Unaka 
and Pisgah National Forests situated in Vir- 
ginia, Tennessee and North Carohna. 

Roland H. Dufault, '14, of Wellesley Hills, MA, 
president of the Class of 1914, died on January 
31, 1982. 

"Mike" graduated with his BS in chemistry 
from WPI, then worked for three years at J. 
Russel Marble & Co. , Worcester. During World 
War I he was a major in the U.S. Army. From 
1919 until 1953 when he retired as branch man- 
ager in New York City, he was with du Pont. 

He had been a member of the New York 
Board of Trade, the Chemists Club of New 
York, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi. A native of 
Spencer, MA, he was 89. He was a former WPI 
Alumni Council representative from Philadel- 
phia and a member of the Tech Old Timers. 

William J. Becker, Jr., '15, of Kansas City, 
MO, passed away recently. He was 89. 

During his career, he was employed by But- 
terworth Judson, Midwest Refining Co., Gen- 
eral Engineering and Maintenance Corp. and 
Trojan Engineering Corp. From 1932 until he 
retired in 1957, he was with Long Island Light- 
ing Co., where he rose to superintendent. 

Mr. Becker, a Mason, was also a past pres- 
ident of his local Rotary Club. For 15 years he 
was active with the BSA, advancing to district 
director. He belonged to Theta Chi and was a 
World War I Army veteran. 



Simon Collier, '16, a retired executive from 
Johns-Manville Corporation and resident of Los 
Angeles, passed away in December. 

Following his graduation as a chemist from 
WPI, he joined the Boston Belting Company. 
Later employers were the National Bureau of 
Standards, Washington, DC, Johns-Manville, 
from which he retired as director of quality 
control in 1959, and UCLA, where he was an 
associate professor-lecturer. A nationally known 
authority in the field of industrial quality con- 
trol, he specialized in quality control consulting 
in asbestos fiber and products. Papers on his 
specialty were published in various profes- 
sional magazines. 

Mr. Collier was born on June 1 , 1894 in Salem, 
MA. 

Edwin W. Bemis, '19, of Brick Town, NJ, died 
recently. 

After graduating as an electrical engineer, 
he did part-time graduate work at WPI. From 
1920 to 1962 he was on the headquarters staff 
at American Telephone & Telegraph Co. He 
joined ITT in 1962 and retired in 1968. 

Mr. Bemis was born July 19, 1897 in Hol- 
yoke, MA. He was a senior member of IEEE 
and belonged to Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi. 
He served as secretary of the Class of 1919. He 
was a former secretary of the New York Chap- 
ter of the WPI Alunini Association. 

Roy H. Carpenter, '19, of Wooster, OH, died 
on July 4, 1981. 

He was born on September 11, 1897 in War- 
ren, MA, and graduated with a BS in chem- 
istry. In 1929 he received his MA from Colum- 
bia University. 

After teaching in several high schools in 
Maryland, Massachusetts and Connecticut, he 
taught at Ossining (NY) High School from 1929 
to 1945. From 1945 to- 1964, when he retired, 
he was principal at Roosevelt School in Ossin- 
ing. Mr. Carpenter belonged to the Masons 
and to the Ossining Board of Education. 

Dana D. Goodwin, '19, of Fitchburg, MA, the 
retired president of W. C. Goodwin, Inc., died 
April 17, 1982. 

A Fitchburg native, he was born on October 
5, 1897 and later studied electrical engineering 
at WPI. During his career, he was affiliated 
with the Rock Island (IL) Arsenal and Simonds 
Mfg. Co. For many years he was the self-em- 
ployed president of W. C. Goodwin, Inc., a 
retail shoe store in Fitchburg. 

Mr. Goodwin belonged to Phi Sigma Kappa 
and the Masons. He was a former vice presi- 
dent of the Worcester County Alumni Club of 
the WPI Alumni Association. 



Arthur W. Bassett, '20, of Lititz, PA, passed 
away on January 29, 1982. 

In 1962 he retired as chief of power engi- 
neering at Armstrong World Industries, where 
he had been employed since 1929. Previously, 
he was with Pennsylvania Power and Light Co. 
and New Jersey Zinc Co. 

He was born on January 4, 1897 in Heath, 
MA, and received a BSME from WPI. He be- 
longed to the Masons, the Shrine, the National 
Association of Professional Engineers and Sigma 
Phi Epsilon. Formerly he served as president 
of the local chapter of the American Business 
Club. 

David W. Dimmock, '22, died Christmas Day 
at his home in Hatchville, MA, following a long 
illness. He was 80. 

Before retiring in 1959, he taught mathe- 
matics in the Falmouth school system for 15 
years. For 40 years he operated a farm in 
Hatchville. He was born on February 21, 1901 
in Pocasset, MA. 

Austin J. Ball, '25, died March 9, 1982 in Hack- 
ettstown, NJ, at the age of 78. 

A native of Clinton, MA, he was born on 
May 28, 1903. In 1925 he graduated as an elec- 
trical engineer from WPI. For many years he 
was employed by Consolidated Edison of New 
York City. He retired in 1975. 

John J. McAuliffe, '25, of Walnut Creek, CA, 
passed away recently. 

A native of Massachusetts, he was born on 
January 31, 1903. He graduated from WPI as 
an electrical engineer. For a number of years 
he was with General Electric in Schenectady, 
NY, and Westinghouse in Sunnyvale, CA. At 
his retirement he was an operations analyst at 
Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park. He 
belonged to ATO and Skull. 

Theodore D. Schoonmaker, '26, of Northboro, 
MA, a retired sales manager for Massachusetts 
Electric Co., died on February 16, 1982 in 
Marlboro Hospital. He was 79. 

Following his graduation as an electrical en- 
gineer, he joined Maiden Electric Co. From 
1940 to 1944 he was an appraisal engineer for 
the North Central District of the New England 
Electric System. Later he was associated with 
the power sales department and then became 
commercial sales manager. He retired from 
Massachusetts Electric in 1967. 

Mr. Schoonmaker was a member of the Ma- 
sons, Trinity Church (former deacon) and the 
Tech Old Timers. He had served on the Mu- 
nicipal Code and Bylaw Committee of North- 
boro. He was the father of Paul Schoonmaker, 
'56, and was bom on February 18, 1902 in Hyde 
Park, MA. 

Albert A. Baron, '30, a retired manager for 
U.S. Envelope Co., died on March 16, 1982 at 
his home in Alhambra, CA. 

He joined the Kellogg Division of U.S. En- 
velope in 1929 and was made plant manager in 
Springfield, MA, when the plant had over 1000 
employees. He also was plant manager in At- 
lanta, GA, and Worcester and had been pro- 
duction control manager for the firm in Los 
Angeles, as well as western region sales rep- 
resentative. 

Mr. Baron, a member of AEPi, was born 
March 10, 1907 in Bristol, RI. He received his 



AUGUST 1982 



39 



Clarence A. R. Lundquist, '23, a retired gen- 
eral superintendent of Thompson Wire Co., 
died in St. Petersburg, Florida on October 7, 
1980. 

After receiving his bsm£ in 1923, he 
joined Wickwire Spencer Steel Corp. as de- 
partment superintendent. From 1925 to 1961 
he was general superintendent at Thompson 
Wire Co., Worcester. 

He belonged to the Worcester Engineer- 
ing Society, the Nonh Worcester Aid Society, 
the Masons, and the Elks. A native of Worces- 
ter, he wiLS bom on Jime 1, 1901. 

Clarence E. Anderson, '24, died in Charlottes- 
ville, Virginia on April 16, 1981. 

In 1965, he retired as general sales man- 
ager of the Virginia Electric and Power Co. 
He began in 1926 as the business manager for 
Virginia Public Service. When that company 
merged with Virginia Electric and Power Co. 
in 1944, he became the director of commer- 
cial and industrial sales for the company's 
western and nonhem divisions. 

After serving as a systems director in 
Richmond, Va., in 1956 he became manager 
of sales promotions. Later, he was made gen- 
eral sales manager. Early in his career, he had 
been with ge and ConsoUdated Power & 
Light. 

Mr. Anderson was bom on July 23, 1900 
in Worcester, and belonged to Phi Sigma 
Kappa. At one time, he was vice president of 
the Washington chapter of the WPl Alumni 
Association. 

Kenneth G. Broman, '25, of New Boston, 

New Hampshire died on April 5, 1981. 

He was a member of the Class of 1925. 
During his career, he was with Matthews 
Mfg. Co., Worcester, and Miniature Precision 
Bearing Co., Keene, N.H. 

Merle E. Hutchins, '25, died unexpectedly 
while visiting in San Francisco, California on 
May 7, 1981. 

He was bom on Jan. 28, 1903 in 
Haverhill, Mass. In 1925, he graduated as a 
mechanical engineer from WPI. From 1926 to 
1934 he was a metallurgist for the Aluminum 
Co. of America, New Kensington, Pa. He was 
then chief metallurgist for Mirro Aluminum 
Co., Manitowoc, Wise, from which he re- 
tired in 1968. 

Active in Masonic work, he was thrice il- 
lustrious master, an eminent commander, 
and a recipient of the Honorary Degree, 
Knights of the York Cross of Honour. A Royal 
Arch Knight Templar Priest, he wrote a book 
about his local hxlgc, A Century of Masonry 
I18S&1956) He belonged to Theta Chi. In 
1926, he received his ms from mix 

John S. Miller, '26, passed away in Tor- 
rington, Connecticut on May 17, 1981 He 
was 77 years old. 

IXiring his lifetime, he was employed by 
the New York, New Haven &. Hartford Rail- 
road and the Alfred B King Steel Erectors Co. 
in New Haven Prior to his retirement, he 
had been assistant manufacturing manager in 
the bearing division of The Tomngton Co 

Mr Miller was bom on April 20, 1904 in 
Worcester, and graduated with his bsf.f in 
1926 He was a former director of the United 
Way and the Tomngton C'ountry Club, as 
well as treasurer of the Northwestern Con- 
necticut Girl Scout Council 



Clarence W. Titus, '28, a retired chemical en- 
gineer, died March 4, 1981 in New Haven, 
Connecticut at the age of 75. 

He was bom on Ian. 5, 1906 in Morris, 
Conn., and later became a member of the 
WPI Class of 1928. Before retiring in 1968, he 
had been chief engineer with the former Con- 
necticut Koppers Coke Co. for over 40 years. 

Mr. Titus belonged to the Republican 
Town Committee, the Congregational 
Church, and the National Grange. 

Carl F. H. Au, '29, of Fon Lauderdale, Florida 
died of a heart attack on October 12, 1980. 

A Worcester native, he was bom on lime 
6, 1903. After graduating as a mechanical en- 
gineer, he worked for W. &. L.E. Gurley, then 
Carl H. Au & Son. From 1931 to 1960, when 
he retired, he was with the U.S. Department 
of Defense in Washington, D.C. 

Clyde T. Smith, '30, of Santa Rosa, California 
died on January 6, 1981. 

A native of Rah way, N.I., he was bom on 
April 2, 1907, and in 1930 received his BSME 
from WPI. For four years, he traveled for 
Conde Nast selling a new trade and fashion 
service to leading department stores through- 
out the country, and subsequently became a 
management specialist. At one time, he was 
associated with B. Altman in New York, as 
well as with Emerson Engineers, where he 
was a consultant. 

Eventually, he became shift engineer, 
then a radio transmitter engineer for rca 
Global Commimications in Rocky Point, 
N.Y. In 1972, he retired from rca. 

A member of spe and The American Mar- 
keting Association, Mr Smith also belonged 
to the Toastmasters' Club. Hobbies included 
a part-time vending business, stock and com- 
modity trading, and sailing. 

Francis M. Sullivan, '32, a research chemist 
who perfected vegetable oils, died in 
Wilmington, Delaware on April 27, 1981 at 
the age of 7 1 . 

His career centered upon chemical and 
engineering research, desisn and develop- 
ment. Major contributions included advances 
in technology of the processing of vegetable 
oils for conversion to food products, while he 
was with Lever Bros. Co. and developments 
in the manufacture of Vitamin Bl and Vita- 
min C, while with Hoffman LaRoche, Inc. 

Other firms with which he was asso- 
ciated were Allied Chemical Corp., du Pont, 
and Robertshaw Controls. After retirement, 
he was a self-employed consultant. He was a 
member of the ajche, American Chemical So- 
ciety, National Society of Professional Engi- 
neers, and Phi Kappa Theta. 

He was bom in Springfield, Mass. on 
March 15, 1910. In 1932, he received his bs in 
chemistry from WPI, and in 1933, his ms 
from MIT. He was a former president of the 
nonhem New Jersey chapter of the WPI 
Alumni A.ssociation. 



Robert C. Stickle, '38 of Parma Heights, Ohio 
passed away on Febmar>' 11, 1981. 

In 1938, he graduated as a civil engineer. 
His employers included Florence Stove Co., 
Niles (Ohio) Rolling Mill Co., and the Dow 
Chemical Co., Midland, Mich. At Dow, he 
progressed from junior engineer, to senior de- 
sign engineer, then to project engineer in the 
engineering section. 

He belonged to the nspe. Midland Engi- 
neering Society, and the Society of American 
Military Engineers. He was bom on Jan. 31, 
1917 in Brooklyn, N.Y. 

Harold L. Crane, '42, a former aeronautical 
engineer from nasa's Langley Research Cen- 
ter, died in Hampton, Virginia on January 20, 
1981. 

He retired in the fall of 1980, having 
completed 38 years at naca-nasa. He worked 
in the stability and control section of the 
Flight Research Division and was responsible 
for handling qualities studies on a number of 
World War H fighters and bombers. Most re- 
cently, he was concerned with instrument 
flight studies on general aviation aircraft. His 
own experience as a private pilot helped him 
evaluate the problems encoimtered. 

Mr. Crane enjoyed running and com- 
pleted two half marathons last year. He com- 
peted in and ran many model airplane events. 
He also played golf, sang in the Methodist 
Church choir, and played the piano in the 
Men's Bible Class for 25 years. 

He belonged to aiaa, the Academy of 
Model Aeronautics, spe, and Sigma Xi. A 
Worcester native, he was bom on Aug. 8, 
1920. In 1942, he received his bsme from WPI. 

James M. Femane, '42, died February 16, 
1981 at his home in Washington, D.C. He 
was 63 years old. 

From 1942, imtil he retired in 1976, he 
served as an electrical and radio engineer with 
the Federal Commimications Commission in 
Washington. He was a charter member of the 
Washington ymca and a life member of the 
American Legion and the Rifle Association of 
America. 

He was bom on December 11, 1917 in 
Worcester. In 1942, he received his bsee from 
WPI. A World War II Navy veteran, he be- 
longed to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Also, 
he was a member of the National Society of 
Professional Engineers, Aircraft Owners and 
Pilots Association, the Elks, and the Knights 
of Columbus. 

Dr. Raymond Wynkoop, '42, a former 
director of corporate research at Sun Oil Co. 
of Philadelphia, passed away at his home in 
West Barnstable, Massachusetts on March 12, 
1981. 

After graduating as a chemical engineer 
from WPI, he subsequently received his doc- 
torate as a Shell fellow from Princeton in 
1948. He belonged to .sae, Tau Beta Pi, and 
Sigma Xi. Also, he was a member of the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Sciences, the acs, and the Society of Auto 
Engineers, among others. He was past presi- 
dent of the Philadelphia Harvard Business 
School Club. 



40 / Summer 1981 / The WPI Inumal 



On the Cape, he belonged to the Barnst- 
able Radio Club, the Harvard Club of Cape 
Cod, and the Museum of National History. 

During his career. Dr. Wynkoop was 
with Publicker Industries of Philadelphia; S. 
D. Hicks &. Son Co., Boston; and Tufts Col- 
lege, Medford, where he was an associate pro- 
fessor. He attended DePaul University Law 
School at night and completed all of the de- 
gree requirements except for the final disser- 
tation. Later, he attended Harvard University 
as a member of the Advanced Management 
Program. 

In 1958, he joined Sun Oil, after having 
served as assistant to the president of the for- 
mer Houdry Process Corporation and as man- 
ager of sales for Catalytic Construction 
Company. He had also been with National 
Distillers and Chemical Corporation and 
Standard Oil. 

While with Sun Oil, he was assistant di- 
rector of Petrochemicals and retired as direc- 
tor of corporate research, moving to Cape 
Cod in 1977. He was bom on Aug. 3, 1916 in 
Bethayres, Pa. 

Lawrence F. McNamara, '43, a former presi- 
dent of Firematic Sprinkler Devices of 
Shrewsbury, Mass., died in Naples, Florida, 
on December 20, 1980. 

A Worcester native, he was bom on luly 
3, 1920. He received his bs in chemical engi- 
neering in 1943. During his career, he was 
with Rockwood Sprinkler of Worcester, fore- 
runner of Firematic Sprinkler, which he later 
served as president. He owned Astra Sprin- 
klers, Ltd., of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and 
Guardian Automatic Sprinkler Co. of 
Nashville, Tenn. 

Mr. McNamara beloned to Phi Kappa 
Theta and was a past president of the Lions 
Club. He was a registered professional engi- 
neer in Massachusetts. A veteran of World 
War n, he was an Army Air Force intelligence 
officer. He was a former veterans' service offi- 
cer in Leicester, Mass. 

Peter E. Talley, '44 of Pocono Summit, Penn- 
sylvania, passed away recently. 

He was bom in Wilmington, Delaware 
on Oct. 6, 1921. In 1944, he received his bs in 
chemical engineering from WPI. He had pre- 
viously attended Lafayette. For many years, 
he was a salesman for du Pont. 

Clinton C. Boone, '46, an intemational util- 
ity consultant with Ebasco Services, Inc., for 
the past 33 years, died of heart failure on Feb- 
ruary 7, 1981 m New York. 

Boone, a member of the Class of 1946, 
graduated from Yale University m 1947 and 
received his master's degree from New York 
University. He also attended Brov^oi Univer- 
sity and the Polytechnic Institute of 
Brooklyn. 

He was bom April 7, 1922 in Brooklyn, 
N.Y. A volunteer for service in World War n, 
he was assigned to motor torpedo boat duty 
in the Atlantic. He was promoted to radio- 
man first class, selected for officer's training, 
and served in the Navy v-i2 until 1946. 

While employed as an engineering con- 
sultant for Ebasco, he traveled to Turkey, 
Greece, Venezuela, and throughout the U.S. 
He belonged to Phi Sigma Kappa. 



Nestor Brown, Jr., '46, a 26-year employee of 
Carrier Air Conditioning Corp., passed away 
on February 3, 1981 at his home in East Syra- 
cuse, New York. He was 56 years old. 

A native of Springfield, Mass., he was 
bom on Oct. 10, 1924, and later received his 
BSME from WPI. He attended Columbia Uni- 
versity. From 1946 to 1954 he was with the 
Van Norman Co. in Springfield. After serving 
in the Navy in World War H, he joined Car- 
rier. At the time of his death, he was manager 
of the Engineering Systems Division. He be- 
longed to Lambda Chi Alpha and the 
ASHRAE.Normand R. Poirier, '48, a veteran 
journalist, died in New York City on February 
1, 1981 following a two-month illness. He 
was 53 years old. 

He was bom in Worcester on April 14, 
1927. He attended WPI imtil his education 
was interrupted for Navy cadet pilot training. 
For a time, he was a reporter for the Worces- 
ter Telegram and Gazette. Later, he graduated 
from Cornell. In 1950, he began work as a 
publicist in Los Angeles. Then, he was a re- 
porter for newspapers in Lafayette, La., Pott- 
stown and Reading, Pa., before joining the 
New York Post in 1961. 

Mr. Poirier also wrote for The Saturday 
Evening Post, Look, and Esquire. At the time 
of his death, he was a copy editor for News- 
day, the Long Island daily. He was a member 
of Phi Kappa Theta. 

William T. Mehalick, '52, died at his home in 
Orange, Texas on February 9, 1981. 

After graduating as a mechanical engi- 
neer, he joined du Pont, where he spent his 
career. He had been foreman, supervisor, and 
area supervisor for the company. One of his 
last assignments was with the Sabine River 
Works. 

He belonged to Phi Kappa Theta and 
Skull and had served with the U.S. Navy. A 
native of Elmira Heights, N.Y, he was bom 
on June 4, 1927. 

David A. Helman, '58, was stricken and died 
April 30, 1981, while leaving work at his San 
Francisco office. 

He was bom on Aug. 12, 1936 in Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., and graduated as a mechanical en- 
gineer in 1958. During his career, he was 
with Sperry Gyroscope, the U.S. Army, 
lamesbury Corp, the Torrington Co., and Ap- 
plied Radiation Corp. At the time of his 
death, he was the vice president for adminis- 
tration for the Institutes of Medical Sciences 
in San Francisco. He was a member of spe. 

John F. Highman, '76 was killed in a one-car 
accident in Holliston, Massachusetts on 
March 17, 1981, when his car struck a tree. 
Three years ago, his brother, Henry, was also 
killed in a similar accident on the same 
street. 

Bom m Framingham, Mass. on Sept. 1, 
1954, Highman later attended WPI. In 1976, 
he received his mscs with distinction. During 
his career, he was a systems assistant at Trav- 
elers Insurance in Hartford, Conn., and an as- 
sembly language programmer at Analogies, 
Inc. in Wakefield, Mass. He belonged to Phi 
Kappa Theta and Tau Beta Pi. 



Notes from the editor 



Several sharp-eyed readers have written 
in to comment on the cover of the Win- 
ter issue of the Joumal, a photograph 
which was identified as a snow scene 
near Higgins House. It was, of course, 
nothing of the kind. It was a snow scene 
near Skull Tomb. 

A word about 
typographical errors: 

Over the course of the last year and a 
half, typesetting of the WPI Journal has 
been transformed, from the traditional 
'send the raw manuscript copy off to 
the printer" to the point where now vir- 
tually all copy is directly input by Jour- 
nal editorial staff on a word-processing 
computer located in the University Re- 
lations Office. Typesetting codes are in- 
serted, the floppy disk is sent off, and 
the foumal copy is directly converted to 
typeset output. 

However, at the time we changed 
our procedures we inadvertently 
eliminated one very important proof- 
reading step right at the end. Most of 
the time, little harm was done, but the 
mistake finally caught up with us in the 
course of producing the Spring issue of 
the Journal. Far too many errors crept 
in, and they were either not caught or 
not corrected. Apologies are especially 
due TtcH Old Timers, because the 
article on their organization contained 
an egregious number of errors. 

In the wake of that typographical 
disaster, new procedures have been in- 
stalled so that we do not overlook proof- 
ing a piece of copy. My sincere apologies 
to all those who were affected by the 
errors. 

—Russell Kay 



The WPI Journal / Summer 1981 / 41 



00 



^ 



/ 

^ 



*^ 



^ 



V3 o , 



«> 



198^ 



HOMECOMING 1981 October 2 3 



\Un 



Friday, October 2: 

Saturday, October 3: 
morning 



afternoon 



evening 



Evening Concert 

Atwater Kent open house, tours, and Rededication 

Reunion Brunches— Classes of 1966, 1971, 1976 

WPI Alumni Soccer Game 

WPI Alumni Crew Race 

Tailgate picnic and barbeque 

Varsity Football— WPI vs. Colby 

5th Annual Alumni Road Race 

Rope Pull 

Happy Hour for Alumni and friends at Higgins House 
Concert 



Night Club Entertainment in Harrington Auditorium 

HOMECOMING 1981 



FaU 1981 



UIPp 



o 



HHuiin 



I ft V 




j.-infU 




Editor: In your recent survey of 
alumni, I indicated a superior rating 
for Tech's publications. The most 
recent publication with a featured 
article on a so-called "inventor" ap- 
palled me. 



In my opinion, the article was 
an expose of a patent seeker. As a 
holder of world-wide patents for ba- 
sic high speed taping systems 
mainly used in the wire industry, 
it is repugnant to me 
to denigrate the role of a true inven- 
tor whose patented achievements 
sufficiently add to the world's tech- 
nology base to warrant acceptance 
of royalty based licences throughout 
the world. 

Your article, again, in my opin- 
ion, did an extreme disservice to en- 
gineering students and young 
graduate engineers. While there cer- 
tainly is a warranted historical place 
in industry for leisure games, and 
fine national and foreign firms enjoy 



large markets for such products, 
most electronic games and toys are 
seemingly more representative of 
marketing applications of various 
assemblies and packaging of basic 
components wherein the fundamen- 
tal technology, or inventiveness 
exists. 

Finally, what especially exas- 
perates me is my view that the en- 
tire article could be construed as a 
sales pitch for the author's planned 
new endeavors. 

Constructively, please consider 
a future article based on the contri- 
butions Worcester Tech alumni true 
inventors have added to the world's 
technology base. A little research 
will give you quite a list. 

—John M. Townsend, '42 
Guilfoid, Connecticut 




Trustee nominations sought 

Every year, the WPI Alumni Associ- 
ation has the opportunity to nomi- 
nate three alumni to serve as 
alumni term members of the WPI 
Board of Trustees. Paul W. Bayliss, 
'6(3, of Harrington, 111., chairman of 
the Association's Trustee Search 
Committee, announces that the 
committee is now receiving peti- 
tions for consideration and nomina- 
tion for 8-year terms beginning in 
July 1982. 



1982 marks the second year of 
transition to the new 8-year alumni 
trustee term. Two trustees, Len 
White, '41 and Dick Davis, '53, will 
be completing their first five-year 
terms in June 1982. In accordance 
with the by-laws as revised in June 
1980, both have elected to seek sec- 
ond five-year terms and have the 
recommendation of the Trustee 
Search Committee of the Alumni 
Association. Anson Fyler, '45, com- 
pletes his second five-year term in 
June 1982 and is not eligible for an- 
other term. The Committee will 
recommend a candidate for an 8- 
year term to succeed Mr. Fyler. 

Until 1989 when the transition 
to eight-year trustee terms will be 
complete, the Committee will en- 
deavor to assure that at least one 
alumni term tnistceship will com- 
plete each year thereby assuring reg- 
ular and orderly introduction of new 
members to the board under the 
new term arrangements. 



The Committee seeks your 
suggestions concerning candidates 
for consideration for alumni trustee- 
ships. Alumni may submit petitions 
on or before December 1, 1981, and 
they should be mailed to Mr. Bay- 
liss c/o the WPI Alumni Office, 
Boynton Hall, WPI, Worcester, MA 
01609. Any questions regarding pro- 
cedures for the formal submission 
of proposals should be directed to 
Stephen J. Hebert, '66, alumni 
secretary-treasurer, at WPI 
(617-793-5600). 



The WPI journal / FaU 1981 / I 



lUPpXlMIlMJ 

Fall 1981 Vol. 85, No. 2 



2 AWPI asset who's concerned with liabilities .... 
product liabilities, that is 

An interview with Mechanical engineering professor 
Ray Hagglund, '56, who has added a second career in the 
courtoom to his first career in the classroom. 

12 Basically Bemie 

A profile of the man who has run student activities at 
WPI for the last decade. 

14 Your class and others 

15 It's in the bag for him 
31 Completed careers 

1 Alumni Association 
1 Feedback 



Cover: This mysterious-looking photograph of Boynton 
Tower was taken by Mechanical Engineering technician 
George Schmidt through a special prism lens. 



An important note to Journal 
readers: 

This is the 48TH and last issue of the 
WPI Journal which will be edited by 
H. Russell Kay. Russ has submitted 
his resignation to accept a position 
with the Computer Security Insti- 
tute in Northboro, Massachusetts, 
effective December 1, 1981. 

During the past eleven years as 
Director of Publications at WPI and 
as editor of the WPI Journal, the 
quality and scope of our college 
publications has increased im- 
mensely. A style has been developed 
which has been easily recognizable, 
aesthetically pleasing, and editori- 
ally effective, thanks to Russ's care- 
ful nurturing of the myriad number 
of publications he has been respon- 
sible for. In fact, during his years at 
WPI the number of publications he 
has produced annually has increased 
from approximately 50 to nearly 
300 this past year. 

We congratulate and thank 
Russ for the excellent job he has 
done for WPI and for the WPI Jour- 
nal and we wish him much success 
in his new position. 

—Donald E. Ross, '54 

Chairman, 

WPI Publications Committee 



Editor: H. Russell Kay 

Alumni Information Editor: Ruth S. Trask 

Designer: H. Russell Kay 

Typesetting: County Photo Compositing, 
Inc., Jefferson, Mass. 

Printing: Davis Press, Inc., Worcester, Mass. 

Alumni Publications Committee: Donald E. 
Ross, '54, chairman; Robert C. Gosling, '68; 
Sidney Madwed, '49; Samuel W. Mencow, 
'37; Stanley P. Negus, Jr., '54; Judy Nitsch, 
'75- 



Address all correspondence to the Editor, The 
WPI foumal, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Telephone 
(617) 753-1411. 

The WPI foumal is published for the WPI 
Alumni Association by Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute. Copyright © 1981 by Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute. All rights reserved. 

The WPI foumal (usps issn no. 0148-6128) is 
published four times a year, quarterly. Second 
Class postage paid at Worcester, Massachu- 
setts. 



WPI ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 

President: Peter H. Horstmann, '55 

Senior Vice President: Clark Poland, '48 

Vice President: Harry W. T^nney, Jr., '56 

Secretary-Treasurer: Stephen J. Hebert, '66 

Past President: John H. McCabe, '68 

Executive Committee members-at-large: Phi- 
lip B. Ryan, '6$; Donald E. Ross, '54; Anson 
C. Fyler, '45; Walter Lankau, '64 

Fund Board: Henry Styskal, Jr., '50, chair- 
man; Richard B. Kennedy, '65, vice 
chairman; Gerald Finkle, '57; Philip H. Pud- 

DINGTON, '59; RlCHARD A. DaVIS, '53; C. JOHN 

Lindegren, '39; John H. Tracy, '52 



Ray Hagglimd: 

AWPI asset 

who's concerned with liabilities 

• • • product liabilities, that is. 




MENTION THE WORDS products liability to some- 
one in the manufacturing industry, and 
chances are you '11 get a reaction of pain 
and frustration. Although it has been around for quite a 
while, only in recent years has products habihty — what 
might be called manufacturing malpractice— occupied a 
prominent place in American civil htigation. Because it 
is so recent a phenomenon, many engineers and man- 
agers don 't have much experience to go on, and they 
have to rely on instinct. That can be a dangerous course 
of action when entering the territory of the law. 

Mechanical engineering professor Raymond R. 
Hagglund, '56, has more experience in, more knowl- 
edge of this new area than most engineers or educators 
will ever dream of. Hagglund comes at products habihty 
from a unique perspective— the consulting technical ex- 
pert who testifies in court, a veteran of more than 300 
cases in the past decade. 

In the interview which follows, what is perhaps 
most interesting — even more than some of his "war 
stories"— is the way in which Hagglund uses his experi- 
ence to further his teaching at WPI; how he helps ensure 
that the next generation of engineers will be better able 
to cope with the legal implications of their professional 
work. 



2 / Fall 1981 / The WPI loiirnal 



X^« How did you first get involved with products 
liability? 

I have always been interested in consulting on technical 
problems, that is, applied problems rather than prob- 
lems involving pure research. I'm interested in systems, 
also — not just the calculations for a shaft, but the whole 
machine. That's just my nature. I handle systems which 
are interdisciplinary in their nature; I apply a lot of tech- 
nological knowledge, and where I don't have the knowl- 
edge required, of course, I can get someone to consult 
with me. That's how I like to address problems— wide 
open. I've always been that way. 

I have worked as a consultant since I graduated 
from WPI in 1956. (Of course, you're kind of limited in 
what you can do at that point in your career, and people 
don't call you because you can't do very much, but 
you're young; you live through it.) But I did find work, 
and I was successful at it, and I had fun too. 

In 1962, another teacher at WPI started a business 
called Massachusetts Materials Research. I agreed to 
work with him, and so I got involved with a lot of con- 
sulting. There came a time when I had to make a deci- 
sion, whether to go with the company full-time or stay 
in teaching. I decided to stay at WPI, and the company 
hired a technical director. I'm still a consultant to them. 

These were mostly quite technical problems that 
I encountered from 1962 to 1968 or so. A few of these 
consulting problems involved failure of a machine or 
an accident, where I had to go to a factory, determine 
what happened, and make a report (perhaps suggesting 
a design change) — which would go to an insurance 
company. 

Then a couple of those reports ended up in lawyer's 
hands too, and I found myself being requested to appear 
in court. Even though products liability law had been 
around for a long time, there was very little happening 
with it until the middle 1960s, when it started to be- 
come active. It didn't become a major area of law until 
the early 1970s, and at that time there were still very 
few lawyers in this field. 

X^« What was your first major products liability 
case like? 

In 1970, 1 was engaged to look at an automobile that had 
been involved in a rear-end collision. It was a 1970 Ford 
Maverick, and it had what is known as a drop-in fuel 
tank at the rear of the vehicle. The gas tank drops into a 
hole in the trunk floor and therefore becomes part of the 
stmctural strength of the rear of the car. By doing this. 
Ford saved a piece of metal, which saved some money. 
But in a rear-end collision, after the bumper gets hit, it 



doesn't take much to start hitting the trunk floor, which 
starts squeezing the fuel tank, which then shears, tears, 
and dumps raw gasoline into the trunk. The filler 
plumbing is located in the trunk, and that also separates 
to dump more gasoline into the trunk. 

I declared that this was terrible design, and I backed 
my statement with "state of the art" research that Ford 
itself had funded in 1967, where they found that this 
was bad design. Yet three years later they were still 
making the 1970 Maverick in the old, bad way. 

This sat for quite a while, and I didn't think any- 
thing more of it. But then, in 1973, it came to trial in 
Providence, Rhode Island. Suit was filed on behalf of the 
16-year old who had died in that accident. This became 
known as the Turcotte case, and it was the first major 
trial I was involved in. 

I explained to the jury that this particular fuel tank 
design was bad design, was negligent design. There were 
experts on the other side saying it wasn't. The jury 
made a finding for the plaintiff, awarding the estate 
$500,000. This was an important case, and it hit the 
newspapers across the country. The case was appealed, 
and the reviewing judge ruled that the original finding 
and award would hold. This case set a legal precedent in 
what is known as "second collision" theory. I made the 
grand sum of about $300 on that one. 

But my name began to be known, and I started re- 
ceiving phone calls from all over — Virginia, Alabama, 
Texas — anywhere someone had a similar accident case. 



Did all these cases involve Fords? 

No, in fact all of these others involved American Motors 
Corporation Gremlins, which had fuel tank designs that 
were much worse than the Fords. You know, at one 
time I got scared; I thought that amc might put out a 
Mafia contract on me, because I was involved in so 
much litigation against them. 

The AMC Gremlin had a terrible design. The fuel 
fnier neck is in the back of the car. When the car is hit 
at 15 miles an hour, the plastic upholstery will pop off 
and the rubber cormection will separate. At a little 
higher speed, the gas tank gets crushed against the dif- 
ferential, and the nozzle inside the car, pointing 
forward, will spray gasoline on the driver and the pas- 
sengers. The wires in the taillight, scraping against 
metal, will fray and spark. In seconds there will be an 
explosion and a fire. 

Sometime later in my products liability career, I 
flew down to Alabama to prepare for one trial against 
AMC. My first job was to gear up the trial attorney 
By this time, I knew what the attorney has to do for 
opening statements and trial organization. I selected. 



from material I had brought with me, documents for 
him to read and bum into his memory. I explained the 
important pieces of the documents, and then he could 
decide whether to incorporate that into his opening 
statements. 

On Wednesday, when the trial was proceeding, 
the defense thought they had me in a comer. I was 
asked, "Professor Hagglimd, you said there was a fire in 
the vehicle." 

I said, "There surely was a fire; some of this mate- 
rial has been damaged." 

"But the fire was at the front of the vehicle, 
wasn't it?" 

I said, "No, it was in the rear of the vehicle also." 

He continued, "Look at this photograph." It was a 
picture of the area to the left of the filler neck. "The 
floor paint isn't even touched by fire. Therefore there 
could not have been fire there. Would you not agree?" 

"No," I said, "that's faulty reasoning. There was a 
fire above the paint. The fire did not touch the paint. It 
didn't bum there because there was too much gasoline. 
The gasoline sloshed over there, and too much gasoline 
doesn't bum. Flammable vapors have to exist, and that 
means you have to have a certain proportion of gasoline 
to air to have a fire. Too much is like a flooded car. 
When you try to start your car, the engine won't fire. 
Too little is like an empty gas tank. You have to be in 
the right range." 

My attorneys were shocked. They had never heard 
this before, and they got scared. They came up to me as 
the day ended, asking what was I doing? 

"You don't understand what I'm talking about, 
do you?" I replied. 

"No way, it couldn't possibly be true. Gasoline 
bums; everyone knows that." 

"Listen," I said back to them. "You're not going 
to believe what I tell you. Before we do any more work 
tonight, I want you to get in touch with the local fire 
marshal. Ask him some questions and see what he says. 
Then we'll talk." 

They did that, and, to their amazement, found out I 
was right. When they came back, we started work on 
how to cross-examine the amc expert. "You have to box 
him into that same comer," I told them. I laid out the 
questions they had to ask. We talked and talked, and 
they couldn't quite grasp everything, hut at least they 
had the questions, the essence of what I was saying. 
They got the amc expert on the stand the next day, and 
they kept working and working on him, and finally, af- 
ter three hours, got the man to agree with me. At that 
point the case was settled, instantly. 




V^« You do a lot of work with automobile cases. Why 
is that? 

These early cases were automobile-related. Once started 
in this sort of thing, I became an "expert" I happen to 
have a keen interest in cars and in working on them; I 
do all my own car repairs, for example. I understand a 
lot about automobile systems, and I can match what I 
see with engineering theory. 



\^« In all this work with the legal system, in court- 
rooms and lawyers' offices, how did you cope as an 
engineer without legal training? 

Because of my courtroom work, I became fascinated 
with law. I started to collect and read law books, be- 
cause the lawyers I dealt with were talking a language I 
didn't understand. What was worse, I didn't understand 
the logic of what was going on. So I started my own law 
library in this new field of products liability, reading— 
with considerable effort at first— all the major books. 



4 / Fall 1981 / The WPI foumal 



V^« Can you discuss a non-automotive products 
liability case? 

I went up to St. Johns, New Brunswick, where the Er- 
ving Pulp and Paper Mill had a small pulp mill. (Small 
in this context means that it only cost $200 million and 
uses 3,000 cord of wood a day; big ones use 12,000 
cord!) This mill had a $30 million boiler that generated 
steam for the process. In this boiler was an economizer, 
a section that preheats water going into the boiler. This 
is a big bank of tubes — two inches in diameter, spaced 
just one inch apart, jammed together into a small area. 
The mill was experiencing tube failures, which meant 
water leaks, hi this particular type of boiler, when you 
have a serious leak you can have a violent explosion 
which will level the entire building and kill everyone in 
it. It's important not to have leaks. 

Two years after the boiler had been installed, these 
leaks were now coming once and twice a week. Each 
time it would take 24 to 48 hours to correct the prob- 
lem. This meant shutting down the system, finding the 
leak, cutting away good tubes in order to get to the leak- 
ing tube, then rewelding the bad tube and all the ones 
that had to be cut to get in there. It probably cost the 
company $250,000 a day, money they could never re- 
cover again. 

When I was called in to look at this, I made some 
calculations and determined that the tubes failed in fa- 
tigue because of a very sophisticated vibration problem. 
Gas flow through the tubes was leaving vortices behind 
each tube — like eddies in a stream — and the vortex fre- 
quencies matched the tubes' natural resonant frequency, 
and also matched the "organ-pipe" frequency across the 
walls. This created serious vibration, and it stressed the 
tubes until they started failing. 

I was there to solve a problem. There were another 
20 people from around the world, who were there not 
really to solve this problem but to save their asses be- 
cause they had helped build this boiler which kept 
leaking. 

My work on that case expanded over the next three 
years. I put together a major report in which I advised 
the company, on the basis of my calculations, to forget 
about welding and rewelding the tubes; but instead to 
make some changes and install a new $2 million tube 
module, after which they would have no trouble. (And 
indeed they have not.) Then I advised them to enter a 
products liability suit against Babcock & Wilcox, Ltd., 
in London, who had designed this boiler and done it 
improperly. 

To follow up on that, I had to go back and conduct 
major studies because there were so many different peo- 
ple involved, and each had a different viewpoint. I did 
mathematical analyses, ran experiments on the boiler 
system, and made videotapes. I went to London and met 



with B&W people, and then I presented my report. The 
first part of the report contains all my base calculations; 
the appendices contain what is called the "state of the 
art." This is what was known and published about 
boiler tube vibration, and prediction of boiler tube vibra- 
tion, at the time the boiler was made in 1972. 1 found 
that B&w did not use the state of the art— I think, in 
fact, that they just guessed at what they were doing. 

I was able to do all this for the paper mill because I 
had been studying law. I knew the structure of the law; 
the logic of law. Now I could produce a report suitable 
to be handed directly to an attorney. There is now a $4 
or $5 million damage suit pending in London. The 
mill's attorneys drafted a "complaint" (which details 
the particulars of the suit) and sent it to me for com- 
ment. I rewrote it completely, to eliminate technical er- 
rors and misunderstandings, and returned it to London. I 
expect I will have to go to London to testify before this 
case is finished. 

This is a case that involves every discipline of me- 
chanical engineering that you could put together; now I 
use the problem in my courses here at WPI as a vehicle 
for teaching. 



V^« How do you do that? What do you carry over from 
that case into the classroom? 

In the Interactive Qualifying Projects (iqp) I advise, I 
have my students read a legal book on products liability, 
including case studies that I have developed. I want to 
get them accustomed to the strange and dense language 
of the legal literature. I give them reports like the one 
on the boiler tubes to look at, and we discuss these in 
class. Then I give them a simple case and ask them to 
determine whether a particular product is reasonably or 
defectively designed and manufactured. We discuss that 
case and suddenly begin to see very different opinions in 
the classroom. I bring in a judge to discuss his role in a 
products liability case, then a plaintiff's attorney, a de- 
fense attorney, and maybe an insurance company repre- 
sentative, each presenting their sides of products 
liability. Then we'll go to an actual court case — visit a 
trial in progress, if possible. I'll have them sit in on ac- 
tual depositions to see what is involved. 

Finally, I'll give my students the raw material of a 
new case, perhaps something I've worked on which has 
already been to court, and they each have to produce an 
expert's report. 



The WPI Journal / FaU 1981 / 5 



Products Liability — 
definitions and a few 
recommendations 



IN ORDER TO clcarly understand 
some of the things mentioned in 
this interview please note some 
of these key concepts which are in- 
voked in products Habihty htiga- 
tion: 

WHAT IS PRODUCTS LIABIUTY? 

Products Uability is the name for a 
special branch of law which deals 
with suits alleging injury to a per- 
son (or his own product) as a result 
of an alleged defect in a product. 

NEGUGENCE. 

If the product was poorly designed 
or manufactured because care 
wasn't taken, then the manufac- 
tiu-er can be held responsible due to 
his negligence. 

STRICT LIABILITY. 

No matter what the reason for the 
product's failure, no matter how 
many precautions were taken by 
the manufacturer, he might be held 
responsible under the doctrine of 
strict liability if the defect was 
in the product when it left the 
manufacturer. 

IMPLIED WARRANTY. 

The fact that an item is offered 
for sale is an implicit statement that 
it will do its job and that it is rea- 
sonably safe. This doctrine of im- 
plied warranty helps protect the 
consumer. 

EXPRESS WARRANTY. 

Anytime the manufacturer or seller 
makes a specific statement of a 
product's properties or capabilities, 
this can be held to be an express 
warranty applicable to that product. 



6 / Fall 1981 / The WPI Journal 



BASED ON HIS WORK, Profcssor 
Hagglund suggests that any 
person involved in product 
development or manufacturing con- 
sider these 4 critical questions: 

1. How will the product be used? 

2. In what unusual but foreseeable 
ways will the product be used? 

3. How could a person be hurt 
while using the product? 

4. How could another company's 
product— a system— be damaged 
as a result of a defect in a com- 
ponent product? 



IN ADDITION, Hagglimd lists the 
following 10 common charges of 
negligence often encountered in 
the product development cycle. He 
notes that if these are considered 
early on in the design and manufac- 
turing processes, the chances of suc- 
cessful product liability litigation 
against the manufacturer are signifi- 
cantly reduced. 

Creating a design: 

1 . The designer did not foresee 
possible alternative use of the 
product. 

2. The design did not incorporate 
proper safety devices. 

Analyzing the design: 

3. The product was defectively de- 
signed. Examples— improper 
calculations; no calculations; 
improper use of codes and stan- 
dards; current state of the art 
not used; improper selection of 
materials. 

Preparing the design for manu- 
facturing: 

4. The product was not tested 
prior to being released to 
manufacturing. 



Manufacturing the product: 

5. The product was defectively 
manufactured. Examples — 
improper welding; improper 
fasteners; defective materials; 
improper heat treatment. 

Testing the product: 

6. The product lacked sufficient 
quality control testing. 
Examples — dimensions out of 
tolerance; a lower-quality sub- 
stitute component incorpo- 
rated; no x-ray testing; no 
testing of the final product as it 
will actually or foreseeably be 
used. 

Selhng the product: 

7. The product was improperly 
advertised. Examples — 
misleading claims; over- 
energetic salesperson. 

8. Instructions for proper and safe 
use of the product were not 
given. 

9. The product lacked proper 
warning signs. 

Post sales: 
10. The manufacturer did not no- 
tify all owners of the products 
that new safety devices were 
available or that a design modi- 
fication hadbeen made to im- 
prove the safety of the product. 



SUGGESTED FURTHER 
READING: 

General: 

Alvin Weinstein, et al.. Products lia- 
bility and the reasonably safe prod- 
uct (John Wiley & Sons, 1978). 

Legal: 

E.N. Swartz, "Hazardous products 
litigation," Chapter n of Theories of 
liability (Lawyers Cooperative, 
1973). 

Harry M. Philo, Lawyer's Desk Ref- 
erence, volumes I and n. 

Codes and Standards: 

Accident prevention manual for in- 
dustrial operations (National Safety 
Council, 1974). 

American National Standards Insti- 
tute (ANSI), 1430 Broadway, New 
York. NY 10018 



V^* In your products liability work, do you usually 
work for the defense? 

Of all the cases I look at, I would say they divide up 
pretty evenly — about one-third of the time I work for 
the defense, one-third for the plaintiff, and the remain- 
ing one-third I don't see a case to be made, so I don't go 
any further. 



V^« How involved do you get with the legal proce- 
dures involved in suits, other than just testifying? 

Look at a current case I'm working on. A well-drilling 
rig had been working on top of a mountain in Vermont. 
The driver started to take the rig down the hill when he 
heard an air leak in the cab. He felt around, trying to 
find the source of the leak. What it was, of course, was 
the air brakes, but the leak wasn't big enough to trigger 
the automatic emergency brakes. The driver tried to re- 
gain control of his truck; he was still traveling only 15 
miles an hour. But with a 15-speed transmission, you 
can't just downshift and upshift whenever you want. 
The driver couldn't get control. The main ("service") 
brakes wouldn't slow the truck, and the driver couldn't 
downshift ... he had to upshift, in fact, which only 
made matters worse, because it let the truck go even 
faster. The trucker had a mile to go down the hill. After 
he began really moving, he pushed the button to apply 
the emergency brakes. But this didn't slow him down 
much. He was driving this 44,000 pound well-drilling 
rig down the mountain, no brakes, taking turns on two 
wheels, with the speedometer pegged at 80 miles an 
hour. He finally made it down the mountain to face a T- 
intersection. He saw ahead of him a field, so he went 
straight ahead. But it wasn't a field; what he thought 
were bushes were the tops of trees. He went down a 70- 
foot drop, about 300 feet into the woods. 

I went up to Vermont and ran physical tests using a 
comparable rig on those same mountains. It turned out 
the braking system for that truck was totally inade- 
quate; it had been defectively designed. This was a 1965 
truck, and the accident occurred in 1976, only two 
months after the truck had been refurbished and resold. 
I declared that it was refurbished improperly, because 
the brakes had never been touched. On level ground, 
this truck took 90 feet to stop from 20 miles per hour. 
(And with the emergency brake it went almost 200 
feet.) All laws require that a vehicle stop in no more 
than 40 feet from that speed using the service brake. 



I had to construct the entire legal case: the basic el- 
ements of the demand and the interrogatories — 
questions to the companies being sued for the purpose of 
getting information which I needed and which should be 
available. By law, they have to answer these within 30 
days. I prepare these, and then the lawyers put in the 
necessary legal language at the beginning and the end, 
but they leave the technical material the way I write it. 

I word these interrogatories so they are quite spe- 
cific, so there is a definite answer which must be given. 
For this case I put together perhaps 100 questions. After 
reviewing the answers to this first set of interrogatories, 
I put together a second set, aiming at getting more re- 
fined answers. In this case we have not received the 
signed answers to the second set, because they will not 
answer one of my questions— and they don't want to do 
it because their answer will nail together my entire 
case. 

Depositions are another area. After you know a lit- 
tle about a case, you want to find out specifically what 
the expert at a particular company knows about what 
that company did. So a deposition is taken from that ex- 
pert, under oath, and it can be used in the courtroom. I 
prepare the attorneys carefully for each deposition. I 
write out the questions for them to ask. We talk about 
what they want to cover, get the logical framework 
right, then I sit with them at the deposition to hear the 
answers. Based on the answers, I write out subques- 
tions, where we need further probing. This way we get 
the information we need, on target. Most depositions 
which are taken by an attorney alone, without technical 
support, are so broad and ramble all over the place, that 
the information is often of no use. When I see that, I 
wish they could take another deposition; but under the 
law they only get one chance at it. Technical backup is 
extremely important here. 



X^« In a case like this, who is actually being sued? 

Here we first have a company that sold a drilling rig 
consisting of a drilling unit mounted on a truck. To 
produce this they needed a truck, which they ordered 
from a track manufacturer according to their own speci- 
fications. For example, no front brakes. For example, 
emergency brakes only on one of the two rear axles. For 
example, the small size of the brakes to be used. Yet the 
company which issued these specifications had no ex- 
pertise whatsoever in brake technology or in the stop- 
ping of vehicles. 



The WPI Journal / FaU 1981 / 7 



The truck maker builds the truck. Now we're deal- 
ing with ethical questions. Is it proper for the truck 
maker to build the truck according to the specifications 
of the purchaser, knowing full well that this vehicle will 
be driven on the roads of the United States and that it 
does not meet, and has no chance of meeting, any state 
requirements for braking performance? The maker of the 
truck is negligent. He should not have taken that order 
unless he convinced the customer to do things differ- 
ently. It iust happens that truck maker built trucks of a 
similar type for other companies during that same year, 
1965, and in those other trucks it employed the best 
brake technology available at that time. 

So the truck maker is at fault. The company that 
ordered the truck and put on the drilling unit is at fault. 
Now another company comes into the picture, some 
eleven years later. In 1976 we have an old truck, with an 
old drilling package. This latest company painted the 
old truck and put a brand new drilling package on it. 
This truck is sold, again to be driven on the highways, 
but it has no chance of being properly registered in any 
state. The braking system doesn't even begin to comply 
with the newer, more stringent requirements in effect 
for truck braking systems. 

This company says that they don't build trucks, 
so it's not really their problem. But I say that they sold 
the truck, and they should have had the brakes repaired 
and upgraded, because it was possible to do so. This rig 
sold for $100,000 in 1976, and it would have cost only 
an additional $240-$500 to upgrade the braking capacity 
of that truck so that it would have been able to stop 
properly. 



\^* You've talked about the technical side of your 
cases. What happens, though, when these cases come to 
court? How do the attorneys on the other side counter 
your testimony? 

If you know the system, you're really in business. I 
went to Sandusky, Ohio, to testify about an accident 
that took place in Worcester. A boy was hurt in a shear- 
grmding machine which required that the operator place 
his hand very near the grinding wheel when he turned it 
on. It took four seconds for the machine to grind off two 
fingers. To expose a person to this kind of injury is bad 
design. 

I arrived in Sandusky to discover that the trial attor- 
ney had just been selected, and he didn't know anything 
about the case. I met with him on Sunday to prepare 
him to make his opening statements to the jury on 
Monday. I had to be sure that he knew what to ask of 
witnesses, to elicit the right answers which would to set 
the basis of fact on which I could then speak and render 
an opinion. If the factual base isn't set right, then no 
opinions can he given 



I worked with the attorney through Tuesday, when 
the case hit a severe snag. The law of Massachusetts had 
to be applied there in Ohio, and they didn't know which 
law that was. Fortimately I had my law books with me, 
and I could give them the proper legal citations so they 
could find the actual law. The case continued without 
delay. 

I was on the stand testifying, when this question 
was put to me: "Professor Hagglund, wouldn't a reason- 
ably prudent person have pressed the stop button?" 'Rea- 
sonably prudent' are the magic keywords here— you just 
have to know that. I said "No"; and it happened that 
the judge recessed the trial until the next day. The de- 
fense attorney came over to me and said that he was not 
going to call me in the morning, and that I was free to 
return to Massachusetts. I could leave that night, in 
other words. I knew this had to be a set-up, so I quickly 
went to see my trial attorney. I told him, "I guess I'm 
going home tonight, Tom, because I've just been given 
permission to leave." He almost flipped because of the 
imethical nature of that defense attorney's behavior. 

Of course I didn't leave. I stayed to tell the jury my 
side of the case, and it resulted in an award of $60,000, 
which was a big award then for two fingers. This case, 
after review, set a legal precedent in the area of machine 
design. 

V^* The other side doesn't always want you to be 
there, do they? 

No. That was one tactic that has been used to get me 
out of the courtroom. A different one was used in the 
Turcotte case in Rhode Island. I was asked to identify 
the accident car in some photographs handed me by the 
defense attorney. I had taken my own photographs in 
the case, some three years earlier, but I hadn't looked at 
them in a long time. So I told the judge I needed more 
time to study the pictures before I could give my an- 
swer. The defense attorney pressed hard for an immedi- 
ate answer, but I said I needed to compare these new 
pictures with the ones I had taken, looking at scratches 
and so forth. The judge recessed the jury to give me 
time to study the pictures. They were pictures of a dif- 
ferent car, not the one involved in this case at all. 
Clearly, the defense attorney wanted me to identify the 
pictures as showing the accident vehicle, and then he 
could discredit my identification and thus all of my 
testimony. 

Another case happened in Worcester. An attorney 
whom I'd run into before didn't want me to testify in a 
punch press case. He brought in his own expert, who 
worked for the maker of the punch press. This lawyer 
then asked his witness, "By the way, this machine was 
made in 1943. When were you bom?" And the fellow re- 
plied, 1937. "My gracious, then you were how old when 



this machine was built? Six years old? You didn't have 
an engineering degree then, did you? Did you know very 
much about engineering? Did you do any engineering at 
that time?" Well of course the answers were all No. He 
then looked at the judge and said, "Your honor, I move 
that my witness, my own expert, be discredited, dis- 
qualified, for he did not know anything about the prac- 
tice of engineering at the time this machine was built." 
The judge said, "Of course." 

Then I was called to the stand. "Professor Hagg- 
lund, when were you bom?" 1934. "How old were you 
in 1943? Did you have a degree? Did you practice engi- 
neering? Were you employed by any engineering com- 
panies?" Of course not. "Judge, I move that this witness 
be disqualified." I was off the stand in a flash. 

That brought the case into a state of limbo. There 
were no witnesses to testify. How could the case go on? 
It either had to be settled, or there had to be a motion 
for a new trial. I recommended a settlement in this case. 
But it certainly was a cute tactic. 



I think what the system needs is more people from 
the academic world, who don't make their entire living 
this way, and who therefore can be more objective, more 
free to take a position or not take a position . . . and 
they also have more expertise than most of the experts I 
see. The only trouble is, the academic people don't want 
to get involved because of the pressures that accompany 
the legal process. Some people's emotional systems can- 
not stand that pressure. I happen to have the chemistry, 
the temperament, to take it and give it back. I enjoy the 
confrontation. I wish we had more people who did. 

About 1975 or 76, 1 thought seriously about 
quitting WPI and going to law school. I could sense that 
I had an affinity for the legal work, and I knew I could 
put it together with my engineering background. But 
that would have involved three years of law school, and 
then I'd have to start to build a law practice from 
scratch. I decided not to become a lawyer, finally, be- 
cause I enjoyed and was successful at what I was already 
doing. 



V^« It sounds as if you really enjoy the cut and thrust 
of the courtroom. 

I do, and I can accept the pressures. My absolute rule, 
whether I'm working for the plaintiff or the defense, is 
that I handle my own case completely, with no restric- 
tions from anybody imposed on me. And when I take a 
position — which might be 'there is no case here' — that's 
it. If I decide there is a case, then I insist it has to be 
fully developed, with no loose ends at all. And good at- 
torneys only want it that way. 

The problem is that, when you do a thorough job, it 
costs money. However, if you don't do a thorough job, 
you're made to look like a fool, and I don't like that. I 
won't be made to look a fool. I won't even touch a case 
unless I have full rein. 

I have a lot of respect for attorneys. Some of them 
are incredibly brilliant, super people. A lot of engineers 
take the position that they don't like attorneys; there- 
fore they won't work with attorneys. They won't do 
products liability work. 

Well, I've worked with attorneys all over the coun- 
try, and I would say that, out of several hundred, there 
are only three I have encountered who are unethical in 
the way they handle things. I cannot say, on the other 
hand, that I have seen many ethical experts. Instead, 
I've seen unethical and unprepared experts, people who 
are simply not qualified. There are many experts — I 
could name names — who will give you any opinion you 
want so long as you pay for it. That's terrible. And they 
are engineers. 



V^* Are there times when your technical findings are 
ignored or not used by your clients? 

There was a fire, outside of Yosemite National Park, 
where a person was terribly burned, and it was charged 
that an improperly designed gas hot water heater control 
was at fault. I flew to St. Paul, Minnesota, to look at the 
actual control and take photographs. I could see that 
this control had been totally abused. Abuse is a valid de- 
fense. An engineer has no obligation to build a totally 
accident-proof device, but he does have to build a rea- 
sonably safe product. 

The plaintiff, I knew, would argue that the product 
was defective and unsafe. I would argue that it had been 
abused and was, in fact, safe. I did tests to show that. 
Then I met over a weekend with the defense attorney 
from San Francisco. We talked the case through, and 
knew there was a solid defense case. But he called me 
back at 1:30 in the morning and said, "Ray, I've thought 
about it, and we're not going to have you deposed. We 
don't want to put the plaintiff's attorney through col- 
lege. They have called in five experts, who are not 
knowledgeable at all. They have done no testing, they 
don't have any theory about how the accident 
happened, they just contend that anything made out of 
plastic is bad. That's their position. Since they don't 
have a theory, and since they don't have any physical 
test evidence, and since their lawyer doesn't even seem 
to know just where he is going, all we could do with 
this type of defense would be to educate our opponents. 

"And besides, even if this attorney doesn't use the 
information in this case, we know that he will seek out 
other gas hot water heater cases just so that he can 
make use of it." 



Therefore I was not deposed. On that Monday 
morning, the plaintiff's attorney of the questionable 
ethics telephoned me and wanted me to five him a sum- 
mary of what I would have said if we'd gone through 
with the deposition. That is totally unethical behavior. 
I've run into this man two times, and he has acted un- 
ethically twice. 

hi this case, the court strategy is rather strange to 
me: we have a solid case, but we don't want to use it 
because it would give the plaintiff attorney ideas for his 
next case, and my testimony would become public in- 
formation. However, the defending company attorneys 
know how to cross-examine the other side, based on 
what I have explained to them in private, and so here I 
am retained strictly as a consultant. Conceivably, at 
trial time I could fly to California to consult with them 
and help direct the attorney in his cross-examination of 
the witnesses. We'll have to see. 




V^« In the cases you've been discussing so far, they 
appear — the way you present them — to be fairly clear- 
cut examples of liability or not, even though some in- 
volve fairly sophisticated technical knowledge. Do you 
find most cases are this way? 

When I look at a case, if I find there is a legitimate de- 
fense, I will work for them. If I find there is not a good 
case, I will advise them to get out and settle. I iust call 
it as I see it. 

Once I decide there is a case, I do my utmost to pull 
together the complete logic that will be used in the 
courtroom, to show the clarity of the case. Remember, 
there is somebody on the other side who is (hopefully) 
doing the same kind of thing. Because of these two 
viewpoints, the case may become quite unclear now to 
the jury. It isn't black and white. In fact, if a case is to- 
tally black and white after everyone has done their 
homework, the case will settle outside of the court. 
Through depositions, the defense and the plaintiff each 
have a pretty good idea of what the other side is going to 
say. If they can all see that it will work to the advantage 
of the plaintiff, there will be a settlement. If it will 
work for the defense side, the trial may go on, or there 
may still be a settlement (a lower one). But if both sides 
are well balanced, and they each believe in their cases, 
it will go to trial and the jury will make the final deter- 
mination. 



That's another ball game, of course, because of the 
jiny. They have no special skills in calculation, no spe- 
cial knowledge of technology or whatever else may end 
up being introduced into that courtroom. They generally 
don't take notes, and a long products liability trial can 
last three to six weeks. They can't even talk to one an- 
other during the trial until the very end, when they de- 
liberate. An awful lot of testimony must get lost in the 
process, because they can't possibly remember all the 
important statements. I've been on the stand for as long 
as four days in a row. That's a lot of testimony. How 
can jurors possibly retain all that's important? They 
can't, of course, and so it becomes more an issue of the 
witness's credibility. 

For example, take an accident case that occmred in 
New Hampshire, where a motorcycle hit a Cadillac. Af- 
ter examining the police report, I was able to calculate 
that the motorcycle hit the Cadillac at 84 miles per 
hour, and that it was accelerating at the time. I did this 
on the basis of the trajectory of the simglasses the mo- 
torcyclist had been wearing. 

This was a $1 million lawsuit. When we went to 
trial, I gave the jury a course in calculus and a course in 
dynamics. I derived every single equation that I used. I 
explained fully to the jury that I didn't expect them to 
follow what I was doing to the point where they would 
become engineers, but I wanted them to sec that there 
was logic behind all the final equations, and the other 
expert was free to shoot them down if he could. Either 
they had to show Isaac Newton was wrong, or I made an 
error. 

We won that case. It took a major amount of effort, 
and the jury surely didn't imderstand all they heard, but 
they had somehow to believe in what I was doing. So 
they were in college for four days. 



10 / Fall 1981 / The WPI Journal 



V^« It sounds like the fact that you're a professor and 
used to teaching is a distinct advantage at times. 

I think that's true when you're trying to explain some- 
thing to a jury. Trials can be very complicated. Products 
liability is one type of thing, and accident 
reconstruction is another, but they kind of blend to- 
gether in motor vehicle cases, where you need to use dy- 
namical calculations and mathematics to determine the 
speeds of vehicles. The real question often is, was it the 
speed of the vehicle or the defect in the automobile that 
really led to the injury? In most of these accident recon- 
struction cases, or cases involving calculations, some 
lawyers really get lost — particularly the ones who ma- 
jored in English or history, hi those cases, I write out all 
the questions the attorney is to ask, then I give them 
the answers they should expect, and if they don't get the 
right answer, then they have to probe around until they 
do come up with the answer we need. That kind of di- 
rection helps even a non-skilled witness come across in 
a convincing way, because the questions have an order 
to them that makes things work out. 

I don't want you to get the impression I'm always 
on the winning side. I lose cases too, and that takes get- 
ting used to. Juries can be quite peculiar. As firmly as I 
may believe the facts point inescapably to one conclu- 
sion, sometimes I know the jury finds the other way out 
of sympathy for the person involved. That's hard on me 
as an engineer and as a person, because it seems to vio- 
late everything I stand for. When I lose a case like that, I 
get kind of depressed and discouraged, but I have to be 
able to get back to work and pull myself out of it, and in 
a couple of weeks the depression will pass. 



X^* You seem to do just about everything, don't you? 
does that make you the "technological humanist" we 
talk about at WPI— the person who can temper his tech- 
nical skills with judgment, and relate his professional 
work in a meaningful way to social concerns and 
human values? 

Maybe. I do know that I have a lot of respect for the In- 
teractive Qualifying Project (iqp) which we require of all 
WPI undergraduates. In the iqp we have our students do 
a project where they have to relate their technical skills 
to the real needs of society. Sometimes I'm not sure just 
how many students or even professors really understand 
what the iqp is all about. But I consider myself to be an 
acting professional in the field of iqps (in the area of 
products liability). It's an exact match of technology to 
law to IQP to what we do here at WPI. I think my work 
provides an example, a role model, of what one person 
at WPI can do, what the iqp is in the technology-law 
area, what one engineering professional does in this field 
as a consultant. 

My iqp students do their projects in the field of 
products liability, and they leam all that that entails. 
Humanities Professor Tom Shannon teaches a course on 
ethics, and I visit that class and talk about what I do: 
the tough professional decisions, the ethical decisions 
you have to make when you can't use equations — the 
judgment calls. 

A few years ago, I presented a talk at the University 
of Massachusetts on ways of introducing products liabil- 
ity into engineering education. It frightened the profes- 
sors I addressed even to consider this a part of their 
responsibility. They'd never thought about it. It wasn't 
their job. 

As far as I'm concerned, it's an important part of 
my job. 



The WPI Journal / FaU 1981 / 11 



Basically Bemie 



by Ruth Trask 



a 

comm^fre 



UOTE FROM A PARENT of an in- 

reshman after attending 
the newly instituted WPI parent- 
student summer orientation pro- 
gram held on campus in Jime: "I 
posed a question to the program di- 
rector [Dean Brown], which he had 
to research and answer. He sought 
me out among the crowd and an- 
swered my question. I thought to 
myself, 'Now that's incredible.' " 

Add approachable, imaginative, 
and irmovative to that parent's 'in- 
credible,' and you'll get the basic 
Bernard H. Brown, Dean of Stu- 
dents at WPI. During Bemie's 15- 
year career at WPI, he's had plenty 
of opportunity to display his many 
talents, but perhaps, never to such 
advantage to WPI as this summer 
during his shepherding of the all- 
new orientation program. 

"The program was purely vol- 
untary," Bemie explains. "We se- 
lected a cross-section of 150 
incoming freshmen and their par- 
ents to spend a weekend on 
campus. Among the people who 
spoke to the parents and students 
during the weekend were staff 
members from Student Affairs, var- 
ious department heads, professors, 
and project advisors. Of special im- 
portance were the student orienta- 
tion leaders, who were available to 
give first-hand information from the 
student perspective about WPI's ac- 
ademic program, the faculty, staff, 
and student life in general." 

On two consecutive weekends, 
different sets of parents and stu- 
dents were housed in separate resi- 
dence hails and served traditional 
meals. They attended orientation 



sessions and engaged in lively post- 
lecture discussions. One of the 
most popular features was a non- 
scripted video-taped session dealing 
with typical campus situations, 
such as roommate adjustment, peer 
pressures, academic concerns, and 
parents' anxieties. (A number of 
parents had not attended college, 
and they found the tapes as infor- 
mative as did their sons and daugh- 
ters.) The tapes were created by the 
Instructional Media Center on 
campus with WPI students from 
theater-related courses role-playing 
the various situations. 

The orientation effort was the 
initial step in a totally new parents' 
program which will include a com- 
plete Parents' Day in November, 
communications throughout the 
year to parents, and a Parents' 
Handbook to assist in their under- 
standing of WPI and the environ- 
ment their son or daughter is about 
to experience. 

The summer program will be 
evaluated by the Office of Student 
Affairs, and a recommendation 
given to the President's Advisory 
Council some time this fall. Says 
Bemie, "The problem with creating 
a successful program like this is 
that it puts greater demands on an 
aheady overworked staff to do an 
even better job the next time." 

Overall comment following the 
fledgling program was highly favor- 
able. Over 60 percent of the parents 
and incoming students returned 
evaluation questionnaires. One par- 
ent wrote: "Everyone involved was 
most helpful .... We felt privi- 
leged to be a part of it .... It 
was the most rewarding and profit- 
able one-and-a-half days that we've 
spent in a long time." Another said: 
"The manner in which the faculty 
and students conducted themselves 
is excellent advertising for WPI and 
gives parents a nice feeling about 
the school." 

The incoming freshmen were 
also impressed. Said one, "There 
was an unusual atmosphere of 
friendliness in everyone I met." An- 
other agreed: "One of the best parts 
of the program was meeting new 
people, both staff and students." Yet 



another summed up what most of 
the prospective students indicated: 
"I feel the summer orientation pro- 
gram is an excellent idea and should 
continue to be offered .... I 
learned a great deal about the aca- 
demics, programs, activities, and 
student life. If I had not partici- 
pated, I think I would be like a 
chicken running around without its 
head in the fall." 

According to the evaluation 
sheets, the number of headless 
chickens at WPI should be far fewer 
this fall, thanks to Bemie Brown's 
progressive-looking orientation 
program. 



A 



.N EARLIER BrOWN VENTURE is 

Cinematech, a program in which 
many of the best contemporary in- 
ternational films available are 
shown free to the campus and 
Worcester community. "Actually, 
one of our early social chairmen ap- 
proached me with the idea about 
eleven years ago," he says. "He was 
interested in showing some interna- 
tional films, and had discovered a 
'gem' by the name of Minnie 
Levenson, who had previously been 
affiliated with films at the Worces- 
ter Art Museum. Minnie has been 
with us ever since. The first couple 
of years we had to drag students in 
as they passed by Alden Memorial 
Auditorium. This past season was 
Cinematech 's finest hour, as we had 
two showings of all the films and 




J2/FaU 1981 / The WPI loumd 




turned people away practically ev- 
ery showing. The program has such 
a good reputation now, thanks to 
Minnie Levenson's expertise and 
hard work, that the Canadian con- 
sulate has offered us a film for this 
year's series at no charge. They 
want very much to be a part of such 
a prestigious program." 

Besides using his innovative 
touch with the orientation program 
and Cinematech, Bemie has helped 
inject new ideas into the 1981-82 
Student Handbook. "Last year we 
scrapped the freshman directory, 
at least the kind we used to have," 
he says. "We opted for an all- 
student type of publication which 
would serve the entire campus. 
And this year we've added a touch 
of humor." 

A perusal of the new handbook, 
which Bemie has worked on with 
Charlotte Wharton, graphic designer 
from Publications, proves his point. 
Interspersed with nuts and bolts rn- 
formatipn about everything on 
campus from academics to activi- 
ties, are off-beat illustrations and 
old-time movie photos with new, 
WPI-related captions. For example, 
under a photo of Laurel and Hardy 
costumed as elves in Santa's work- 
shop runs the caption: "The Project 
Center is open every weekday eve- 
ning for students to research their 
IQP's." 



Along with his recent promo- 
tion, Bemie, who came to WPI via 
Springfield College and the Univer- 
sity of Connecticut, continues with 
his long-term responsibilities for in- 
ternational students and student 
government. "I have always advised 
the international students," he re- 
ports. During the Iranian crisis, he 
helped Iranian students who had 
difficulty getting money out of their 
country, and who had lost contact 
with their families. "We had an ob- 
ligation to them. We still do." 

Currently, Bemie is involved in 
establishing an international house 
for students on campus. "We should 
be able to use a school-owned house 
adjacent to the campus by Novem- 
ber," he says. "It is one of the most 
exciting opportunities we have had 
and should allow for an easier as- 
simulation to our culture and our 
way of life for the international 
population." 

At present, there are about 230 
international graduate and under- 
graduate students at WPI. They 
come from different backgrounds, 
and have different needs and con- 
cerns: English as a second language; 
orientation to our academic process; 
culture shock; housing and medical 
information. Bemie helps the stu- 
dents prepare for any eventuality. 

He still heads the club sport 
program, which now includes 22 



various clubs, many with coaches of 
their own. The crew team partici- 
pated at the Henley Royal Regatta 
in England this summer. A few 
years ago, the WPI club bowling 
team won the national collegiate 
championship, and the lacrosse 
team has recently had a number of 
successful seasons. The club sport 
program has come a long way. At 
present, over 400 participants are 
enjoying a competitive, healthy, 
athletic experience, which could 
lead to a lifetime of recreational 
sports participation. 

Bemie's recent promotion to 
dean means that he can concentrate 
on planning and on the more crea- 
tive areas, while still retaining some 
association with his former activi- 
ties. He continues to advise the stu- 
dent government and the officers of 
all four classes, and he oversees all 
the activities of the Senior Class. 

There have been other recent 
changes in the Office of Student Af- 
fairs (osa). Currently, Bemie reports 
to Robert Reeves, Vice President for 
Student Affairs, who joined WPI 
two years ago. Janet Begin is Assis- 
tant Dean of Students, and Glenn 
DeLuca, Assistant Director of Stu- 
dent Activities. Both report to Ber- 
nie. Additionally, Patty Lewis, 
Coordinator of Residence Opera- 
tions, also reports to the osa. 

As Dean of Students, Bemie 
deals with some student counseling 
and a variety of other situations in 
his campus office, but he doesn't 
have to be there to know what is 
going on. Since last year the office 
has installed a 'beeper' system to be 
able to keep in constant touch with 
everyone, to take care of breaking 
developments and emergencies, no 
matter where they might be. "Just 
ask my wife, Gayle, about the new 
system," he says. "I forgot to tell 
her I had the beeper at home one 
weekend, and when it went off, she 
thought it was the smoke alarm and 
started to rush the kids out of the 
house. It's that loud!" 

He chuckles. "Looks like 
the beeper is one Student Affairs 
innovation that still needs some 
refining." 



The WPI journal / Fall 1981 / 13 




I9I7 



Russell Callahan writes that he still sings 
tenor in the church choir. He also serves as 
music committee chairman and deacon for 
the church. 



1930 



Carl Backstrom, long-time chairman of the 
Citations Committee has stepped down from 
being top man to a committee member. 
'Time for a yoimger man," he says. Prof. Ken 
Scott, '48 will be the new chairman. As the 
father steps down, the son steps up. Carl's 
son, Gregory, '70 is now the president of the 
Worcester County Chapter of the WPI 
Alumni Association. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Williamson cele- 
brated their fiftieth wedding anniversary on 
June 28th at a reception planned by their 
daughter and son-in-law at the Florida Insti- 
tute of Technology in Mclboiune. 



1931 



Warren Doubleday and Roger Lonergan, were 

not only classmates at WPI, they both be- 
came closely associated with the Quabbin 
Reservoir project in Massachusetts during the 
Depression. I>)ubleday, who lost his family 
home when the town of Dana was flooded to 
make way for the reservoir, worked as a civil 
engineer on the project starting in 19.13. He 
was sad about the loss of his home, but in the 
depth of the Depression, he really needed the 
job. "I always |{K)ked at it from an engineer- 
ing standpoint. There was no question it was 
a g(Kxl place to put a reservoir" For the last 
two years, Lonergan has served as the MDC 
supervisor of the reservoir His involvement 
in the project began in 1928 with a summer 
job, and he has worked as an engineer for the 
MDC ever since. He is also a town clerk for 
four towns. 



Phil Pierce, who came the greatest dis- 
tance (drove!) to attend his 50th reunion this 
summer writes: "Two others came from Cali- 
fornia, Red Sage and Cliff Bergquist, but I was 
introduced to spherical trigonometry by 
'Happy' Gay, and I believe that 'great circle' 
distances would prove me correct even 
though I do live on the east side of our street 
here." 

He says that he and his wife Irma, "en- 
joyed the 50th golden reunion beyond 
words— one of life's memorable highlights." 



1932 



Constantine Orfanos' yoimgest daughter re- 
cently graduated from the University of Cali- 
fornia at Irvine. She received a BA in fine arts. 

Leon Skuropat is still located in Sao 
Paulo, Brazil. 



1933 



In May, Alexander Alves was awarded an hon- 
orary doctor of engineering degree during 
commencement ceremonies at Tri-State Uni- 
versity in Angola, Indiana. Bom in Brazil, he 
earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical 
engineering from Tri-State in 1931, and re- 
ceived his second BSME from WPI in 1933. 
Alves, who is chairman of the board of Engi- 
neered Sinterings and Plastics, Inc., has 
published a number of technical papers on 
sintered metals, including magnetic proper- 
ties of sintered powder and on plastics. He 
served as secretary and chairman of the 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 
Waterbury, Conn, section, and has been listed 
in Who's Who in New England and Who's 
Who in Engineering. In 1974, he received the 
Distinguished Service Award from the Tri- 
State National Alumni Association. 

Bill Slagle writes that he is in over his 
head in church work. He serves as church 
clerk and had to prepare reports and statistics 
for the annual April meeting. Also, he has 
served as chairman of a committee rewriting 
the church by-laws and as chairman of the 
music committee. He is located in Mcdford, 
Mass. 



1937 



In lune, Gordon Crowther retired after com- 
pleting nearly 44 years of service with Indus- 
trial Risk Insurers, formerly the Factory 
Insurance Association, a leading international 



underwriter of commercial property insiu'- 
ance. He joined IRI following his graduation 
from WPI, and has held a variety of engineer- 
ing supervisory positions throughout his long 
career, culminating with his post as engineer- 
ing personnel administrator in the home of- 
fice. Recently inducted into the Society of 
Fire Protection Engineers, Gordon has long 
been associated with the Honorable Order of 
the Blue Goose International (an insurance 
group), which he served as a past Most Loyal 
Grand Gander (i.e., president). He has been 
active with the WPI Alumni Association in 
many capacities, including that of executive 
committee member, fimd-raising committee 
member, and president of the local alumni 
chapter. In 1977, he received the Herbert F. 
Taylor Award "in recognition of distinguished 
service to WPI." In retirement, Gordon and 
his wife Ivye will continue to live in Hart- 
ford, Conn. Although they have already vis- 
ited 49 states and much of Canada, Greece, 
Bermuda, and England, they hope to do more 
traveling, principally on the North American 
continent. Gordon plans to remain active 
with the Masons, ATO, and with WPI alumni 
activities. 

Dana Woodward continues as president 
of American Shoe Machinery Co. His firm de- 
veloped the American Tru-Fit Shank System, 
a machine which automatically cuts the ma- 
terial to the correct length, positions it on the 
insole to an exact fit, then bonds it and cures 
it with heat, making it a rigid shank. The sys- 
tem quickly became recognized and accepted 
by most major shoe manufacturers, one rea- 
son being that it cut the cost of the shanking 
operation. Currently, the company is the U.S. 
agent for shoe-making equipment produced in 
Germany, Denmark, Italy, and Mexico. 



1938 



John Despo is now retired and lives in West- 
lake, Ohio. 



1939 



George Yule recently sold the long-time fam- 
ily business, Leominster (Mass.) Granite and 
Marble Works. Over the years, the firm de- 
signed and built a number of monuments in 
Leominster, including the World War I vet- 
erans' monument, the Spanish War veterans' 
monument, the Johnny Applcseed monu- 
ment, and the Indian mortar monument. A 
bell commemorating the Korean War was de- 
signed by Cieorge. 



14 / FaU 1981 / The WPI journal 



I940 



Herbert Morse writes: "In February GE asked 
me to consider working at a new satellite 
plant in Wilmington, N.C. This plant is start- 
ing to make components for jet engines that 
were previously machined in Cincinnati. I 
had worked with these parts in a similar ca- 
pacity for over 25 years, and the experience in 
systems, methods, problem areas and unique 
operations was needed in this new facility." 
Currently, he holds the post of senior engi- 
neer for quality control in Wilmington. "This 
is an interesting phase of the business with 
many challenges and opportimities to apply 
past experience to a growing area. The move 
to a totally different climate, farther south 
and near the ocean, is a noticeable change 
and is very rewarding." Morse expects to be 
in North Carolina for two years, and then re- 
tire to Cinciimati. 



1941 



Robert Brautigam continues as technical 
manager for Durez Plastics Division of Cana- 
dianOxy Chemicals, Ltd. in Ft. Erie, Ontario, 
Canada. The firm is concerned with phenolic 
molding compounds and resins. Bob, who 
says he enjoys excellent health, plays golf and 
teimis, and hopes to take up skiing again, hi 
the summer, he and his family vacation in 
their rustic cabin at Georgian Bay on Lake 
Huron. Last year, he had an exciting reimion 
with his brothers, Mike, '43, and Lawrence, 
'49, and their families in Frankfurt, Germany. 
Stanley Ribb has been named senior vice 
president at Blackstone Valley Electric Co., 
where he recently stepped down as president. 
It is expected that he will retire later this 
year. Blackstone is a subsidiary of Eastern 
Utilities Associates. Ribb was president of the 
utility for the past ten years. A resident of 
Cumberland, R. I., he is married and the fa- 
ther of two sons. 

For career-long excellence in teaching de- 
sign. Dr. Charles Smith, former professor of 
engineering at the University of Nebraska, 
has been awarded the first Fred Merryfield 
Design Award from ASEE. The award is spon- 
sored by CH2M Hill. Smith, whose career in 
education spans 40 years, is credited with a 
pioneering program at the University of De- 
troit that "raised engineering design educa- 
tion to the master's and doctoral levels." A 
former student said Smith's design courses 
differed from the traditional ones by his use 
of unstructured real-world issues. Ln addition, 
the majority of his courses enlisted outside 
clients, who brought not only their problems 
to the classroom but also their active partici- 
pation in the design process. The City of De- 
troit was a client. Smith wrote nearly 90 



research papers and 15 ASEE engineering case 
studies, ranging from "To Pinch or Not to 
Pinch" to "Problem of the Perverse Pinion." 
His recently-received award consists of 
$1,000, a plaque, and a $500 stipend for travel 
to the Annual Conference. In addition, his 
former department at Nebraska will receive 
$500. This fall, he will take up a new post on 
the faculty of Rose-Hulman Institute of Tech- 
nology in Terre Haute, Indiana. 



1942 



Bob Allen is with the Pump Group at 
higersoll-Rand in Phillipsburg, N.J. 



1943 



Robert Schedin continues as president and 
chief executive officer at Fairlawn Hospital, 
Worcester. Fairlawn is one of three hospitals 
in Worcester which pioneered same-day sur- 
gery. Although the smallest hospital in the 
city, it has by far the busiest same-day pro- 
gram in the area. Schedin, who promoted the 
irmovative program, has an unlikely back- 
groimd for hospital administration. Prior to 
joining Fairlawn in 1972, he had designed 
looms at Crompton & Knowles Corp. for 28 
.years, rising to director of engineering. 



1944 



In June, Earl Harris was honored by the board 
of directors of Rodney Himt Co. following his 
25 years of service as president of the firm. 
The board presented him with a resolution 
acknowledging his contribution as chief exec- 
utive officer to the success and growth of the 
company, his service to the community, and 
his contribution to the cause of professional 
management. He joined Rodney Himt in 
1946 and became president in 1956. He at- 
tended Dartmouth, MIT, WPI, Babson histi- 
tute, Lowell Tech, and the University of West 
Virginia. During World War E, he served in 
the U.S. Army with overseas service in the 
China-Btirma-India theater. Currently, he is a 
director of the Blue Shield of Massachusetts 
and a member of the Business Advisory 
Coimcil of the University of Massachusetts. 
Also, he is a trustee of the Orange Savings 
Bank. Formerly, he served as director of the 
American Management Association, director 
of the Presidents' Association of AMA, and 
treasurer of the New England Chapter of the 
Young Presidents' Association. 




It's in the bag 
for him 

WPI Trustee Ray Forkey, '40, walked off 
with some handsome luggage at the Bel- 
leview Biltmore Hotel in Clearwater, 
Florida last April. But instead of beiaig 
arrested, he was applauded! 

The story? Ray and his partner, Flo- 
ridian Dr. George Dickinson, won sec- 
ond prize at the Southern Seniors Golf 
Association 54 Holes Team Stroke 
Championship held on the Biltmore golf 
cotirses. Their team of two, best ball, 
gross score was: 70-72-69, for a total of 
211. "We finished just one stroke higher 
than the winners." 

Ray, who is chairman of the current 
WPI Capital Program, has played in this 
particular tournament before, but this 
was the first time he took home a prize. 
This year, the second prize winners 
were awarded large flight bags. 

Previously, Ray has won the 
Worcester Country Club Golf Club 
Championship twelve times. Recently, 
he qualified for the Massachusetts State 
Amateur Championship, which is slated 
for mid-July at the Taconic Golf Club in 
Williamstown, Mass. 

The Southern Seniors Golf Associa- 
tion accepts members who are 55 and 
over. It has a membership of 1,800. The 
Association sponsors a number of tour- 
naments annually throughout the 
South. Tournaments are scheduled this 
year in Southern Pines, North Carolina, 
Pine Mountain, Georgia, and Orlando, 
Florida. 



The WPI Journal / Fall 1981 / 15 



1946 



Willaid Adams continues as general manager 
of operations, eastern region, of the American 
Telephone & Telegraph Co., Long Lines, 
Oakton, Virginia. 

Last year, John Lott Brown was elected 
to the board of directors of the Public Broad- 
casting Service. He is president of the Univer- 
sity of South Florida. 

George Button II writes that he has 
switched from wholesale office machines to 
building and investing in Florida real estate. 
Located in Boca Raton, he still collects and 
restores antique automobiles. 

John Carpenter, Jr. is a manufacturers' 
representative in Walloon Lake, Mich. Pres- 
ently, he represents Wick Homes of Mazoma- 
nie, Wis. in North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Colo- 
rado. He enjoys world travel, especially in the 
Orient. Last year he went to China for the 
third time. 

Ken Chafin serves as major project direc- 
tor in the corporate engineering department 
at Monsanto Company in St. Louis. Recently, 
he spent 18 months in Florida and six months 
in Australia. 

Henry Chin is vice president at Drexel, 
Bumham, Lamben in Los Angeles, a member 
of the New York Stock Exchange. He belongs 
to the Shrine and is a post commander for the 
American Legion. Last year, he toured in 
Scandinavia. 

Robert Davis has spent all of his career as 
a member of a family commercial printing 
company, Davis-Delaney-Arrow, in New York 
City. He has been president since 1968. He 
writes: "Had a marvelous trip on Auggie Kel- 
lemian's sailing yacht. He's a great captain, 
but I kept my eye on the shoreline!" 

Currently, Wilton Ericson serves as 
principal process engineer at Blaw-Knox 
Co., Chemical Plants Division, where he 
started as a process engineer in 1946. The 
firm is now pan of Dravo Engineers and 
Constructors. 

fames Evans, Jr., who has been with Bell 
Telephone Labs since 1949, has been supervi- 
sor since 1958. He enjoys amateur radio He 
and his wife have four boys and four girls and 
live in Andover, Mass. "The two years my 
family and I spent in Iran for GTE building 
the national microwave system were perhaps 
the most exciting we have had," writes 
Robert Farwcll of Stamford, Conn At the 
present time, he is vice president of market 
development in the Ciommunications Prod- 
ucts Group at GTE, He has served on the 
school committee and participated in many 
civic and church activities, especially in Lex- 
ington, Mass., where the family lived for 28 
years 

Leslie Flood holds the post of vice presi- 
dent of Hutton I'ubiishing, which is a small 
company specializing in annual catalog/ 
directories H<- !•- located m Ndrifi Kings- 
town, R.I 



Howard France is president of Wood In- 
dustrial Products Company, Conshohocken, 
Pa., manufacturers of pressure vessels, a post 
he has held since 1971. Active in community 
affairs, he is director and past president of the 
local Chamber of Commerce; past vice chair- 
man and director of the Conshohocken Bi- 
centennial Commission; and past president of 
the Northampton Township Civic Associa- 
tion. He was appointed to a subcommittee of 
a committee of the ASME. 

Last year, Donald GUmore retired from 
Rodney Hunt Co., Orange, Mass., after nearly 
30 years of service. He is a registered profes- 
sional engineer in Massachusetts and past 
master of a Masonic Lodge. "At 50 I became a 
motorcycle enthusiast." In four years he and 
Althea toured through 40 states and five Ca- 
nadian provinces on his R/90 BMW, ulti- 
mately chalking up some 50 thousand miles. 
Paul Gorman is director and group vice 
president of engineering and design at Chas. 
T Main, Inc., Boston. Besides being a cor- 
porator of Wentworth Institute of Technology 
and of Peoples Savings Bank of Brockton, he 
is a member of the Executive Club of the 
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. 

William Grogan, dean of undergraduate 
studies at WPI, was recently appointed a 
member of the Board of Investment at Bay 
State Savings Bank, Worcester. He has been a 
trustee since 1973. 

Since February of 1979, the Rev. Prescott 
Grout has entered "active retirement" from 
pastoral ministry. He is a design drafter at Ri- 
ley Stoker in Worcester. The Grouts live on a 
9-acre farm in Dudley, where they raise beef 
cattle and chickens, keep horses, and tend a 
garden. 

Since 1948, Walter Hatch has been with 
Exxon Research and Engineering Co. Follow- 
ing overseas duty in the 1960's and early 
'70's, he is currently licensing coordinator in 
the petroleum department of ER&E in the 
main engineering offices in Florham Park, 
N.j. He enjoys skiing. 

Robert Hayward says that he has served 
20 years as a Presbyterian clergyman and 10 
years as an investment advisor and director of 
several companies. Civic minded, he has 
been a board member for numerous commu- 
nity and educational institutions. 

Gary Hovhanesian, over the years, has 
served GE in many capacities, including that 
of design engineer, laboratory supervisor, de- 
velopment engineer, and product planner. At 
one time he was president and managing di- 
rector of a housewares manufacturing plant 
in Singapore. "Planned, built, staffed, and op- 
erated from ground up." Back in Bridgeport, 
he has been involved with overseas support 
operations, and worked as product quality 
manager, and quality systems manager. He is 
a registered professional engineer in Massa- 
chusetts, a Mason, and a Sunday School 
principal. 



Family histor>' and genealogy are the ma- 
jor hobbies of Robert Hull. He owns an Apple 
n computer for word processing, and he is 
now in the process of writing three books and 
publishing a Hull family newsletter. At Pratt 
&. Whitney and Lockheed he has made a ca- 
reer out of the propulsion engineering end of 
aircraft and missiles. "I designed, analyzed, 
and programmed for the propulsion imits for 
two out of three legs of the Triad." Now he is 
engaged in the preliminary design for Trident 
n solid rocket motors. He has invented sev- 
eral fuel control systems, some of which are 
still in use on most commercial planes flying 
today. Hull's wife, Barbara, is a member of 
the Sweet Adelines, an international champi- 
onship barbershop chorus (Mission Valley 
Chapter), San Jose, Calif. 

Foster Jacobs is director of planning and 
plant at Southeastern Massachusetts Univer- 
sity in North Dartmouth. He says that he's 
still pursuing a life-long interest in philology. 

A professional engineer in California, Al- 
lan Johnson belongs to the Society of Fire Pro- 
tection Engineers. During his career, he has 
served as senior vice president and director of 
Kemper International Insurance Co. and of 
the American Prot. Insurance Co. Currently, 
he is located in Libertyville, 111. 

Joe Johnson is in his 35th year with Pratt 
&. Whitney Aircraft /United Technologies, 
where he holds the post of group supervisor of 
support equipment engineering. He is in- 
volved with solar house designs for a Cape 
Cod retirement home. 

For 18 years, Wilbur Jones has been asso- 
ciated with what is now the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. 
His present post is that of public utilities spe- 
cialist. He collects sports publications for a 
hobby. 

August Kellermann is vice president of 
international operations at Conoco Chemi- 
cals Company in Stamford, Conn. For pas- 
times he enjoys golf, sailing, swimming, and 
tennis, as well as dining. "Am master of my 
own boat." 

Since 1967, John Knibb, Jr. has been pas- 
tor of Hampton |Va.) Christian Church. He 
still loves to fly in all kinds of aircraft, includ- 
ing Navy torpedo bombers, DC-9's, Cessna 
150's, Piper Cherokees, gliders, Boeing 747's, 
and the Concorde SST In 1978, he flew north 
of the Arctic Circle over Baffin Island. He is 
listed in a number of editions of Who's Who. 

As a result of the missile and space cut- 
back, Frederick Kull changed jobs and is now 
administrator of the grade crossing signaliza- 
tion program for the Southern Railway Co. 
He is a liaison between the railroad and states 
on the programs in the 13 Southeastern 
states. Among his hobbies are gardening and 
travel. 

This is M. Daniel Lacedoni^'s 25th year 
at Hamilion Standard Division/United Tech- 
nologies, Windsor Locks, Cxmn. For the last 
decade, he has been chief of materials control 
and test Active in civic affairs, he has been 
involved with the ambulance service, various 
town committees, and the Lions Club. He 
writes: "Frustrated Red Sox fan!" 



For 33 years, Arthur Lagadinos has been 
with ISO (Insurance Services Office), Boston, 
where he is staff supervisor of pricing serv- 
ices. He is on the national board of trustees of 
the Order of AHEPA, the board of directors of 
St. Spyridon's Greek Orthodox Church, and 
he does part-time teaching of fire science 
covirses at Quinsigamond Community Col- 
lege. His wife, Helen, is secretary for the bio- 
medical engineering department at WPI. 

Richard Lawton is president and trea- 
svirer of Buell Automatics, Inc., an automatic 
screw machine products company specializ- 
ing in high-volume work l/8"-3/4" diameter. 
Buell currently employs 53 people, with sales 
approaching $3 million spread throughout the 
country to automotive, business machine, ap- 
pliance, ordnance, and ball bearing firms. 
Lawton serves as director of the Rochester 
Automatic Training Center. 

Bo Lutts is owner-publisher-editor of 
"The Cabot Market Letter", a financial news- 
letter relating to the stock market. Lutts, 
who is located in Salem, Mass., writes that 
he is still playing the clarinet, usually in a 
couple of local traditional jazz bands. He and 
Nancy have five children. 

With the Foxboro Company since 1967, 
Kenneth Lyons is now a systems specialist in 
the human resource function of EDP. He was 
involved in the organization of Sigma Phi Ep- 
silon chapters at MIT and BU. Active with 
the Masons, BSA, and teaching data process- 
ing at Chamber layne Junior College, he also 
serves as director of the Braintree Historical 
Society. He served on former Gov. Volpe's 
(Mass.) Management Engineering Task Force. 
He is a 10th generation descendant of John 
Alden, and has become a member of the 
Mass. Society of Mayflower Descendants and 
the Alden Kindred of America. 

Jim Maloney holds the post of area man- 
ager of the marketing department at Geo. J. 
Meyer Manufacturing in New Jersey. He 
keeps several of his owm horses at his horse 
farm in Moorestown. 

After 25 years with Hughes Aircraft, 
Frederick Marvin has retired, and has started 
full time with Hughes Helicopters, a com- 
pletely separate company from the aircraft 
company. He is doing liaison engineering on 
the missile firing system of the YAH-64 2- 
place attack helicopter, which is due to go 
into production for the U.S. Army by 1982. 
He keeps busy with church work, too, rides 
his bike to work, and jogs several times a 
week. He has served recently as a WPI class 
agent. 

Pont for 35 years, is now a vice president re- 
sponsible for the company's worldwide opera- 
tions in photographic materials, products for 
the electronics industry, and instruments, 
mostly for the health care and research fields. 
He is on the national board of directors of 
Junior Achievement. 



Stanley Morris continues as director of 
engineering at Columbus Coated Fabrics, a 
division of Borden Chemical, in Columbus, 
Ohio. He and Gail have six children and 
three grandchildren. 

Wah MuUer has completed 32 years with 
the Chevrolet Division of General Motors 
Corporation. During those years he has lived 
in many areas of the coimtry, including To- 
ledo, Ohio; Massena, N.Y.; and, Detroit, 
Mich. Currently, he is at the Chevrolet Cen- 
tral Office, where in 1977 he was promoted 
to regional plant manager. He is responsible 
for the operation of five plants located in 
Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. The plants 
assemble trucks, manufacture axles, and 
produce manual and automatic transmis- 
sions. Muller and his wife enjoy traveling, 
especially overseas. 

Donald Nichols has retired as associate 
technical director, Naval Underwater Systems 
Center, and has moved to Oxford, Me. He is 
a free-lance consultant in management and 
engineering, and part-time lecturer at Mohe- 
gan Commtmity College, Norwich, Conn. 
Old house restoration, woodworking, garden- 
ing, and nmning are among his pastimes. 

Edmund Oshetsky was recently pro- 
moted to senior vice president of operations 
at Erving Paper Mills, Erving, Mass. He will 
continue to serve as a member of the execu- 
tive committee. He joined the firm in 1977 as 
general manager of the Manufacturing Divi- 
sion. Previously, he had held a variety of 
posts with Lincoln Pulp &l Paper, Boise Cas- 
cade, and Scott Paper. In 1978, he was pro- 
moted to the new post of vice president of 
operations and was appointed to the Erving 
executive committee. The Oshetskys and 
daughter, Ellen, reside in Greenfield. Erving is 
a leading manufacturer and converter of paper 
products, including napkins, towels, printed 
specialties, health care products, and pack- 
aged industrial papers. It maintains operating 
facilities in eight states. 

Norman Padden serves as eastern re- 
gional marketing manager for Singer-Kearfott, 
Little Falls, N.J. He is involved with aircraft 
navigation systems, communications, and 
computers. 

Julius Palley continues with the family 
business. Commonwealth Stationers, in 
Worcester (Fuller Office Furniture in Con- 
necticut). Also, Commonwealth Manage- 
ment acquires old industrial buildings for 
redevelopment. "Trade association and WPI 
functions are about my only extras. We have 
acquired several acres of marsh and riverside 
areas in Centerville on Cape Cod. Cultivating 
and restoring this beautiful area has brought 
us back to days of the good healthy outdoor 
life and it's a great homing area for our 
family." 

Thomas Passanisi holds the position of 
principal engineer for Raytheon in Wayland, 
Mass. For the past 16 years, he has been in- 
volved with facilities: reviewing construction 
plans and specs and monitoring construction. 
Cabinet-making is one of his hobbies. 



Carl Pritchett, Jr. continues as president 
of his Ford dealership in Albany, Ga. He likes 
tennis and model ship construction. 

Dick Propst is vice president of market- 
ing for Maydwell &. Hartzell in Brisbane, 
Calif. The firm sells electric power equip- 
ment to utilities. The Propsts like to travel, 
but also find their home area 25 miles south 
of San Francisco "fantastic." 

Melvin Rabinovitz holds the position of 
president of Chelsea Bottle Co., Inc., Waban, 
Mass. The company distributes plastic and 
glass containers. 

Allan Raymond is now employed as an 
environmental engineer by the South Caro- 
lina Department of Health and Environmen- 
tal Control. He is singles champ of "B" Club 
tennis at Coldstream Country Club. 

Daniel Rice serves as marketing manager 
for Advanced Electronic Warfare Programs at 
Westinghouse. He is located in Columbia, 
Md., and says he belongs to the Association 
of Old Crows. 

Charlie Richardson was slated to present 
a talk at the national conference of the Read- 
ing Reform Foundation in Houston in 
August. In January, he had an article 
published in the "Journal of Leaming Disabil- 
ities." In 1970, he started his own business as 
a franchisee of Learning Foundations Intema- 
tional. Charlie, who is located in Huntington 
Station, N.Y., has a patent on a self-bagging 
attachment for lawnmowers, which accumu- 
lates leaves and cuttings directly in a dispos- 
able plastic trash bag. ("Still looking for 
means of manufacturing and marketing.") 

Ten years ago, Donald Soorian left indus- 
try. Currently, he teaches full time at 
Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he 
is a full professor. His courses include 
Control Systems, Transistor Circuits, Applied 
Field Theory, Linear Circuits, and Active Fil- 
ter Design. For the past 18 years he has been 
building a cottage (weekends) in the Buz- 
zard's Bay area. 

James Sullivan is vice president of In- 
ryco, Inc., Milwaukee, Wise, a wholly- 
owned subsidiary of Inland Steel Company. 
He is a member of the board of directors at 
Inryco. Also, he is chairman of the Metal 
Building Manufacturers Association, which 
he also serves on the executive committee. 

E. G. Tamulevich is retired and living in 
Paxton, Mass. Irving Versoy is the owner- 
president of Faire Harbour, Ltd., a company 
which he foimded. He is located in Scituate, 
Mass. Among his hobbies are orchid growing, 
antique restoration, and clock building. 

Del Wahon, of D. E. Walton Co., is a 
self-employed manufacturer's representative. 
This year he visited Africa, again, the perfect 
locale for one who enjoys photographing wild 
animals and insects, and studying their char- 
acteristics. M. J. Waclawek serves as director 
of engineering at B&M Automotive Products 
in Chatsworth, Calif. He and Marcella reside 
in Thousand Oaks. 



The WPIfoumal / Fall 1981 / 17 



lack Wexler is manager of public affairs 
at ESSO Eastern Inc., Houston, Texas. Frank 
Wotton continues with White-Westinghouse 
Corp. He belongs to the Wilbraham (Mass.) 
Tennis Club and the Holyoke Canoe Club. 
Thomas Zajac, chief of materials and struc- 
tural integrity at Hamilton Standard /UTC, 
believes that he must have the longest title in 
the division. The company is involved with 
propellers and various aircraft components 
and systems, in space from the limar program 
to the current shuttle. This year he expects to 
see their first 250-ft. diameter all glass 
filament-woimd wind turbine blades generat- 
ing electricity in Sweden. 



1947 



Russell Smith attended the annual meeting of 
the International Electrotechnical Commis- 
sion in Montreux, Switzerland in Jime. Russ 
is the U.S. delegate to the committee on elec- 
tric traction. He currently is manager of ad- 
vanced locomotive systems engineering for 
GE in Erie, Pa. Skiing and sailing are his two 
avocations. He lives with his wife, Allene, in 
Nonh East Pa. His daughters, Penny and 
Tracy, are both married. 



1948 



Paul Evans was recently elected as new direc- 
tor and chairman for Region I of the 
American Society of Heating, Refrigeration 
and Air Conditioning Engineers for a one-year 
term. (Region I includes New England, New 
York State, and Northern New Jersey.) A 
member of the Society since 1970, Evans has 
served in various offices for the Western Mas- 
sachusetts Chapter, including president. Na- 
tionally, he was chairman for the Research 
Promotion Committee and a member of the 
Long Range Planning Committee. A regis- 
tered professional engineer in Massachusetts, 
he serves as vice president for Hammill- 
McCormick Associates, Inc., in Springfield, 
Mass 

Edward Wainshilbaum is manager of the 
equipment design department in the RF Sys- 
tems Lab. at Hughes Aircraft Co., Los 
Angeles. 



1949 



Dean Amidon has resigned as commissioner 
of the Depanment of Public Works in Massa- 
chusetts. He plans to return to his former po- 
sition as district highway engineer in western 
Massachusetts near his home town of Monte- 
rey. Recently he was elected vice president of 
the Northeast Association of State Highway 
and Transportation Officials (NASHTO) for 
1982. NASHTO is the regional representative 
of the American Association of State High- 
way Transportation Officials. Amidon, a 32- 
year career employee with the Mass. DPW, 
received the American Public Works Associa- 
tion Award as one of the country's top ten 
public works leaders last year. 



1950 



Carl Davis has retired as a psychologist from 
Perkins School for the Blind in Watertovm, 
Mass. He writes: "Recent publication - 
Perkins-Binet Tests of Intelligence for the 
Blind." The Davises now reside in West 
Burke, Vermont. 



1951 



Thomas McComiskey has been promoted to 
division general manager of the Buffalo Tank 
Division in Bethlehem Steel Corporation's 
steel operations department, Bethlehem, Pa. 
Following his graduation from WPI, he joined 
the firm as a field engineer in the former fab- 
ricated steel construction division. In 1953, 
he received a military leave of absence to 
serve in the U.S. Army, from which he was 
discharged in 1955 as a staff sergeant. After 
serving as a field engineer for Bethlehem in 
Pottstown, Pa., McComiskey held various 
engineering and management positions with 
the fabricated steel construction division in 
Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, as 
well as in Bethlehem. In 1976, he joined the 
corporation's Buffalo Tank Division, subse- 
quently holding sales and management posi- 
tions in Chicago, Towson, Dunellen, N.f., 
and in Buffalo, N.Y. 



1953 



George Abdow has opened a new Abdow's 
Big Boy Restaurant in Westboro, Mass., the 
twelfth in the chain owned by him and his 
brother, Ronald. The brothers also own the 
Ivanhoe Restaurant in Springfield, Mass. 

Walter Levine was the author of "New 
Developments in Spray Nozzles . . . The 038 
Story", which appeared in the May-June issue 
of Die Casting Engineer. Presently, he is man- 
ager of spray products for Acheson Colloids. 
Previously, he worked as a research engineer 
for Worthington Corp. and as project engineer 
for Edwards Co. before switching to market- 
ing with Dresser Industries, and then to Con- 
solidated Controls. Before joining Acheson in 
1979, he moved to Port Huron as engineering 
manager for Bindicator Co. 



1954 



W. Richard Byrnes has founded a company 
called Chemex, Inc., located in Wayne, Pa. 
The company buys and resells products, pri- 
marily in the plastics industries, and offers 
materials worldwide. 

Richard Scott holds the post of senior 
lead estimator at Mellon-Stuart Co., Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. He previously obtained a state of 
Rhode Island professional engineer's license. 



1955 



Since graduation, Dave Bagley has been in- 
volved in control engineering. In 1971, he 
joined New England Controls, hi addition to 
specific account responsibilities, he is power 
systems application specialist for the finn. He 
is concerned mostly with the Boston area and 
northern Massachusetts. 

Richard Sieron, vice president of R&D 
at Dual-Lite, Inc., Newton, Conn., v^Tote 
'Improve Emergency Light Design With 
Lumens/Sq. Ft. Method", which appeared in 
the May issue of Specifying Engineer. A 
member of the Illuminating Engineering Soci- 
ety, Sieron has considerable experience in au- 
dio and power engineering and is a frequent 
lecturer on a variety of lighting subjects. Pre- 
viously, he was Dual-Lite's chief engineer. 



1952 



Paul O'Neil is presently plant manager for 
du Pont-Berg Electronics, in New Cumber- 
land, Pa. 



18 / FaU 1981 / The WPI Journal 



1956 



Currently, Alan Adamson manages the New 
York Power Pool planning staff, which plans 
generation and transmission facilities for the 
next 15-year period. Before joining NYPP ten 
years ago, he worked with the Long Island 
Lighting Co. Besides managing Little League 
teams, he has been involved with the YMCA 
Indian Guides. 

loseph Alekshun, Jr. is a graduate student 
in the School of Engineering and Applied Sci- 
ence at the University of California in Los 
Angeles. During his career, he has served as a 
patent attorney for Instrumentation (Draper) 
Laboratories and as a consultant in environ- 
mental areas. In 1978, he returned to elec- 
tronics, joining Litton Industries in Calfomia. 

Robert Allen is the president-owner of 
Robert S. Allen Associates, Inc., Wichita, 
Kansas. The company does professional de- 
sign engineering for the refining, chemical, 
petrochemical industry. He holds several pat- 
ents and is listed in Who's Who in Engineer- 
ing. 

Christian Baehiecke holds the post of 
president of the R. L. Whipple Co., Inc., 
Worcester. He was project manager of the AIA 
award winning projects at Shepherd Knapp 
School, Boylston, in 1972 and at Mechanics 
Hall, Worcester in 1979. He specializes in res- 
toration work and in design/build projects. 
Active in Paxton community affairs, he also 
has served on United Way and church com- 
mittees. 

David Becker is program manager for 
the GTE Sylvania Systems Group, Commu- 
nications Systems Division, in Needham, 
Mass. With Sylvania, since 1959, he also did 
some consulting work for four years for 
Sanders Associates. He has a PhD in solid 
state physics from MIT. His work has in- 
cluded space cabin design and much simula- 
tion. He has served as chairman of the youth 
committee at his temple and on the local 
BSA troop committee. 

Ernest Bernstein is engineering manager 
for the United Technologies Power Systems 
Division in Farmington, Conn. After gradua- 
tion, he joined UAC and did nuclear applica- 
tions research for a space vehicle. He 
obtained a patent for a once through potas- 
sium boiler. Later, he was involved with gas 
turbines in land-based applications. 'Tlying 
has really become a thing with me." He re- 
ceived his license a couple of years ago and is 
now working on his instrument ticket. 

Laurence Blomstrom continues as man- 
ager of environmental engineering of the 
General Electric Space Division in Philadel- 
phia. He holds an MSME from the University 
of Southern California, and enjoys golf, spec- 
tator sports, and community affairs. 



Howard Brown holds the position of 
Dean of the School of Business at Ithaca Col- 
lege, Ithaca, N.Y. Previously, he taught and 
chaired the Management Department at 
Southeastern Massachusetts University for 
five years. He is rebuilding a three manual 
Mason and Hamlin reed organ at home. 

John Bums has spent 25 years with Shell 
U.S.A.: 12 years with Shell Oil Company in 
marketing and 13 years in Shell Chemical in 
marketing and sales management. For the 
past four years, he has been manager of Shell 
Chemical's Eastern Region in West Orange, 
N.J. He is active in the Drug, Chemical & Al- 
lied Trades Association of New York and the 
National Paint &. Coatings Association. 

Clifford Burwick is vice president of au- 
tomation planning for Bank of America in 
San Francisco. Earlier, he was with IBM, 
Space General Corp., and Shell Oil Co. Out- 
side interests are backpacking, running, 
tennis, investments, and real estate. 

William Casey, an employee of the 
Badger Co. for 18 years, is now assistant to 
the vice president of European &. Middle East 
Operations in Cambridge. He has managed 
several projects for engineering, procurement, 
and construction of petroleum and petro- 
chemical projects. A member of the Concord 
Band Association, he plays the baritone horn. 

Ted Coghlin, Jr., chairman of the 25th re- 
union committee, was named as a recipient 
of the Herbert F. Taylor Award in Jime. (The 
Class of '56 had the largest attendance for a 
25th reimion to date at WPI.) Ted has been 
with Coghlin's, Inc., Worcester, the family 
business since graduation, and now serves as 
president. During the years, he has been pres- 
ident of Shepherd Engineering and Fred Wal- 
ters Commimications Company, both of 
which are now sold. Long associated with the 
BSA, he has served as Coimcil president, and 
has been involved with Boys' Club work. He 
was president of the Worcester Coimty 
Alumni and the Poly Club, as well as the 
Young Businessman's Association. He is the 
current president of the Worcester Engineer- 
ing Society, director of the Mechanics Bank of 
Worcester, and a corporator of the Worcester 
Science Museum. Among his awards are the 
Outstanding Young Man Award from the Jun- 
ior Chamber of Commerce; the Silver Beaver 
and St. George Medal from the BSA; and the 
Honor Service Medal from the Boys Club. 

"An on-going hobby is our house, which 
we built in 1968 and are still finishing," 
writes Chris Collins, who resides in Arnold, 
Md. He is a fellow engineer for Westinghouse 
Oceanic Division in Annapolis, and was re- 
sponsible for sonars on the Navy MK 27 tar- 
get torpedo. Besides coaching soccer, he is 
currently on the board of directors of the 
Greater Arnold Recreation Association. He 
and his family live on Chesapeake Bay and 
enjoy sailing, crabbing, and crewing in races. 

For the past ten years, James Colton has 
been a maintenance mechanic at Phillips Exe- 
ter Academy, Exeter, N.H. Previously, he was 
with the U.S. Army in Korea, and two years 
in the Peace Corps in India. Among his out- 
side interests are ballet, baroque music, 
snowshoeing, and motorcycling. 



Bemie Danti writes he is "king" of 
Bernard R. Danti, Inc., Bedford, Mass. The 
company is involved with product and ma- 
chinery development. "Still searching for the 
perfect wave." Earlier, he was with Millipore, 
Polaroid, and Pneumatic Scale. Son, Greg, 19, 
is studying mechanical engineering at WPI. 

Robert Delahunt continues as corporate 
vice president at Polaroid Corp., Waltham, 
Mass. He and his wife, Jean, have two daugh- 
ters: Caren, 18, and Susie, 14; and a son, 
Bob, 17. 

Robert Diamond is president and owner 
of Robert Diamond, Inc., an electronic sales 
company in Bayside, N.Y. The family has a 
home at Stratton Moimtain in Vermont and 
enjoys skiing and tennis. 

Distance skating and photography are 
among the hobbies of Henry Dumas, Jr., He 
serves as vice president of sales at General 
Scanning, Inc., Watertown, Mass., where he 
is responsible for the sale of precision electro- 
mechanical and electro-optical systems de- 
sign. He is a full member of Sigma Xi. 

After sixteen years with Polaroid, Gerald 
Dyer is now involved in the firm's chemical 
marketing activity as part of Polaroid's diver- 
sification activities. He is programs manager 
of the Chemicals Division. Previously, he 
was with National Starch for ten years. Out- 
side interests include tree farming, wood 
burning stove, and solar energy. His daughter, 
Cindy, graduated from WPI in biochemistry 
in 1980. 

Robert Edsall writes that he and his wife, 
Barbara, have two "homemade" children and 
five adopted children of various racial back- 
grounds. They live in Perkiomenville, Pa. 
"on five acres in the woods giving lots of 
room for our children, four dogs, four cats, 
and two goats." Currently, he is a supervising 
engineer engaged in related studies for ballis- 
tic missile defense for GE in Philadelphia. 

Norman Fischer, a project superintendent 
for Turner Construction Company, is now 
building a $38.5 million hospital in Brooklyn, 
N.Y. for the firm. He plays and teaches the 
trumpet and is director of church music min- 
istry when at home in Tennessee. 

Robert Foisie holds the position of presi- 
dent at Matik North America, West Hartford, 
Conn. He formerly was with Technical Tape, 
Inc., Smyth Manufacturing Co., John Marsh 
Co., and United Technologies. For a number 
of years he was associated with the West 
Hartford Boys Football League. 

Arthur Freedberg is executive vice 
president of Newman Data Services in 
Wayne, N.J. 

For the past four years, Mike Gordon 
has served as director of marketing at The 
Singer Co.-Kearfott Division, Little Falls, 
N.J. He says, "This is a high technology in- 
dustry dealing in guidance, navigation, and 
control systems for aircraft, space, surface 
and missile systems. Essentially government 
contracts." 



The WPI Journal / Fall 1981/19 



Charles Gunn has worked for United II- 
luminating Co., New Haven, Conn, since 
graduation, except for four years at RPI where 
he was an instructor and obtained his MSEE. 
Currently, he is senior test engineer for the 
electric utility, his duties including revenue 
metering and testing of equipment. He is a 
member of the Planning and Zoning Com- 
mission in Nonh Branford, which he has 
served as Town Cotmcil member and mayor. 
Hobbies include fumittire making and re- 
storing his '34 Ford sedan. 

Richard Hajec writes: "My entire career 
has been devoted to moving air and gases." 
He's been involved in designing, building, 
selling, and planning fans, compressors, and 
exhausters of all sizes and shapes. He likes 
golf, skiing, hiking, sailing and plain walking. 

Still a senior search specialist for Man- 
agement Recruiters, Inc., Arnold Hall also 
performs engineering consulting and manages 
his own yacht brokerage, "Seacure," part 
time. Earlier in his career, he was with Elec- 
tric Boat Division, Groton, Coim., where he 
was technical director in a Navy surface effect 
ship configuration development program. He 
helped form Hovermarine Transport Ltd., an 
international shipbuilding company. He sings 
bass in a chorus and choir, likes carpentry, 
and is a member of the Watch Hill Yacht 
Club. 

Allan Hamilton, Jr. has been with West- 
em Electric since 1956. He is now depart- 
ment chief of plant and facilities planning 
engineering for the company in Richmond, 
Va. He says of his early career, "After my 
stint in development, I found that trenches 
were much more to my liking and I am now 
responsible for the latest expansion at our 
Richmond works." During the last eleven 
yeara, he has been associated with the manu- 
facture of printed circuitry. He holds a certifi- 
cate of completion of the half-marathon from 
the 1980 Richmond Newspapers Marathon. 

Charles Healy is active with commtmity 
affairs and his church council. Since 1978 he 
has worked in the Philippines, where he is a 
project manager for Ebasco Overseas Corpora- 
tion. For many years he was involved with 
electric power generation and design with the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "Moved 1 1 
times to date." 

[ust before his present assignment, Rob- 
ert Heath was program manager of the large 
format camera built for NASA-JSC to be car- 
ried on the Space Shuttle. One 9" x 18" 
frame can cover all of Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, and Rhode Island, and resolve every 
house! Heath, director of aircraft systems for 
Itek Optical Systems, Lexington, Mass., is 
now responsible for both domestic and for- 
eign programs, building aircraft cameras from 
6" to 72" focal length for reconnaissance, sur- 
veillance, and mapping He is a numismatist 
and has published catalogs of Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire commemorative 
medals. 



Often busy with church work, Lawrence 
Horrigan, Jr. and his wife also enjoy golf. 
"The Texas climate permits us to enjoy the 
sport year 'rotmd." After graduation he went 
with Ebasco Services in New York, where in- 
side 22 years, he rose to construction man- 
ager. He then joined Houston Lighting and 
Power Company in the same position. Cur- 
rently, he is general manager of the power 
plant construction department. 

John Hyde is a salesman for Avantek in 
Santa Clara, Calif., doing sales and marketing 
for high technology companies. He also sails, 
teaches, and coimsels. 

John Jolda is director of engineering at 
Geo. J. Meyer Mfg. Division in West Boyl- 
ston, Mass. Before joining Meyer in 1967, he 
worked at Hamilton Standard in Connecticut 
for 11 years. He teaches evenings at Central 
New England College. 

William Jordan, Jr. serves Synertek, Santa 
Clara, Calif., as vice president. Pastimes in- 
clude skiing and tennis. 

Kevin Joyce is a partner in Cushman, 
Darby, &. Cushman in Washington, D.C. He 
is a patent, trademark, and unfair competi- 
tion practitioner. Ice hockey, horses, and 
farming are among his outside interests. The 
Joyces reside in Davidsonville, Md. 

Gardening and raising livestock (hogs, 
chickens, steer] are pastimes of William 
Knoblock, who has a coimtry home near 
Bowling Green, Ohio. He is project engineer 
at Cambpell Soup Co., Napoleon. At the 
present time, he is number 2 man in the engi- 
neering department at the largest of the 
Campbell soup plants, which has 2300 em- 
ployees. 

Hans Koehl serves as trustee of the Con- 
necticut Public ExpenditLU'e Cotmcil; director 
of Connecticut Business and Industry Associ- 
ation; and director of Danielson Federal Sav- 
ings & Loan Association. He is chairman of 
Spirol International Corporation, Danielson, 
Conn., where he has been employed since 
graduating from law school in 1959. 

Alan Larsson, who has been 20 years at 
Raytheon, Waltham, Mass., is now depart- 
ment manager of the airborne department 
in EEG, Power Tube Division. Wife Dorothy 
is a member of the technical staff at Mitre. 
"We divide our time between Sudbury and 
our vacation home in Moultonboro, N.H." 
This year, he is commodore of their sailing 
association. 

Last year, Donald Lathrop went on a 
three-week tour of Soviet cities and met with 
five Soviet Peace Committees. Since his re- 
turn, he has had extensive speaking engage- 
ments. He is professor of philosophy and 
peace studies at Berkshire Commtmity Col- 
lege, Pittsfield, Mass. 

William Lloyd has been with Bethlehem 
Steel in Johnstown, Pa. since 1956. Today he 
is mechanical foreman in the coke depart- 
ment. "The flood of 1977 wiped out 80% of 
our coke operation." The plant is now install- 
ing an electric steelmaking facility which will 
eliminate the coke department, the blast fur- 
naces, and the open hearth department. 



Fred Lohrey writes that he is conducting 
a life-long experiment to see how long some- 
one can play golf without getting any better 
at it. For 22 years, he has been with IBM near 
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and is now advisory engi- 
neer. He does circuit and semiconductor logic 
chip design. 

Vilho Lucander, a registered professional 
engineer, is supervisor of results engineering 
at New England Power Co., Westboro, Mass. 
Formerly he taught math in the Worcester 
Jtmior College evening division. He is active 
with the Masons, the Shrine, and town and 
church affairs. 

Louis Marsella holds the post of senior 
vice president at Guardian Packaging Corp., 
Newark, Calif. He is concerned with flexible 
packaging R&D, manufacturing, and general 
management. In his leisure time, he enjoys 
flying. 

Robert Matchett is president of Fibre- 
dyne, Inc., Dover, N.H. The filter cartridges 
produced by his company are sold to OEM's 
and stocking distributors for both residential 
and electroplating applications, usually on a 
private label basis. New construction is imder 
way to double Fibredyne's capacity. Previ- 
ously, while with Hammermill Paper, Mat- 
chett developed a process (at home) for 
wet-molding activated carbon filter cartridges 
and in 1972 incorporated Fibredyne to 
produce the units. When he finds the time, 
he likes to golf, fish, and cross-county ski. 

"Carpenter's elbow is much worse than 
tennis elbow," says Richard McBride, who is 
into house renovation and tennis, as well as 
competitive swimming. With Communica- 
tions Satellite Corp., Washington, D.C, for 
16 years, he is glad that his new assignment 
as director of project management will keep 
him more or less desk botmd for the near fu- 
ture. "No longer travel all over the world. 
Thank goodness!" 

At present, John McHugh is the owner 
and president of Royal Screw Machine and 
Waterbttry Carbide Tool in Waterbury, Conn. 
Earlier, he had been a test engineer at Pratt & 
Whitney Aircraft for five years. He is past 
president of Smaller Mfgs. Business Associa- 
tion and Exchange Club of Waterbtiry. He re- 
ceived the Outstanding President's Award for 
the Exchange Club in 1976. 

Joseph Morgan, Jr. serves as senior mis- 
sile dynamics engineer at Raytheon in Bed- 
ford, Mass. Weapons systems experience 
includes the Spartow, Hawk, and Sidewinder, 
missiles and the F-18 fighter aircraft. He 
heads Pyramid Coins, a part-time Egyptian 
coins business, which he plans to go into full 
time after retirement. "The most complete 
inventory of minor milliemes and piastres 
this side of the pyramids." 



20 / fail 198} / The WPI Journal 



Since 1959, Henry Nowick has worked 
for Monsanto in various assignments in man- 
ufacturing and technology. Currently, he is a 
senior specialist for the firm in Indian Or- 
chard, Mass, He has traveled extensively 
throughout the world, and entered into some 
technical negotiations in Russia. At the 
present time, he is hazardous waste coordina- 
tor and the Associated Industries of Massa- 
chusetts representative on the Massachusetts 
Hazardous Waste Facility Safety Siting Coim- 
cil. Recently Nowick studied environmental 
engineering at Berkeley on a Monsanto tech- 
nical academic assignment. During the fam- 
ily's year in Fremont, Calif., they visited a 
nvmiber of WPI alumni and enjoyed a variety 
of side trips. 

Joseph Paparella serves as general man- 
ager of Latin American Operations for the 
Foxboro Company, Foxboro, Mass. He joined 
Foxboro in 1963, and started 12 new overseas 
operations for the company, traveling over 
two million miles. His present operation has 
factories in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. 

Bruce Paul is director of plant engiiieer- 
ing and energy specialist for the USM Ma- 
chinery Group-Emhart Corp., Beverly, Mass. 
He has served on the boards of the Beverly 
Area YMCA and of the Merrimac Valley Tex- 
tile Museum. In Ipswich, he has been active 
with the Energy Advisory Commission and 
the Industrial Development Commission. 

William Peterson, an adjimct professor at 
the College of St. Francis, is also president of 
William R Peterson & Associates, Inc., Nar 
perville. 111. During his career, he has been a 
"slide rule pushing" engineer,- has had a stint 
in contract research and development; and 
another in management consulting. For five 
years he was with the DOE, becoming a re- 
gional representative of the secretary, Region 
V. He was named to the White House 
speakers program (energy and anti-inflation). 
In 1979, he returned to his engineering and 
management consulting practice. 

Continuously involved with church ac- 
tivities, Robert Philhower has been a ruling 
Elder in the Presbyterian Church, a Sunday 
school teacher, and a chairman of several 
committees. He was director for the Newark 
Day Nursery and helped to start a day care 
center in Wilmington. Also, he has received 
photography awards. A senior specialist engi- 
neer for du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware, 
for the past three years he has been project 
leader for the Auto-trol Interactive Graphic 
System. 

With Hooker Chemical, Niagara Falls, 
since 1956, Halbert Pierce is now manager of 
energy conservation. He received the Scout- 
master's Key from the BSA, likes cross- 
country skiing, and was a former chairman of 
the Industrial Division of the local United 
Way 



After spending four years with Standard 
Oil of Ohio, Dave Pratt joined L. H. Waldrip 
Company, and is still with the firm, although 
it is now called M.A. Blankenburg & Co. 
Blankenburg is a manufacturers' representa- 
tive firm in chemical process equipment cov- 
ering northern Ohio. Although Pratt nms 
some 1500 miles a year, he says, "No interest 
in marathons." 

James Prifti is a supervisory mechanical 
engineer in the Food Systems, Equipment Di- 
vision at the U. S. Army Natick Labs, in Mas- 
sachusetts. "We work on improving the 
methods and equipment used to feed our mil- 
itary troops." He has an MSME from North- 
eastern University. 

Richard Rodin serves as chairman of the 
science department at Montclair (N.J.) High 
School. He belongs to the Montclair Society 
of Engineers and has invented an instruc- 
tional chemistry game which is marketed na- 
tionally. The Rodins have three children. 

Richard Rotelli holds the position of de- 
partment manager for Raytheon in the Mis- 
sile Systems Division, Bedford, Mass. During 
his career he has been with Macalaster Scien- 
tific Co., Metrologic Instruments, Inc., and a 
small company in Littleton, Mass. He hopes 
to MTite a book in retirement. "I am fasci- 
nated with the origins of everyday expres- 
sions with obscure beginnings." 

Describing himself as a "corporate wan- 
derer" for du Pont, Anthony Scancella, now a 
plant manager for the firm in South San Fran- 
cisco, says that he previously was headquar- 
tered in Connecticut, Tennessee, 
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. 

The Rev. Paul Schoomnaker writes that 
sons Peter, '80 and Stephen, '84 "have fol- 
lowed their father and grandfather to WPI." 
Recently, with some help from his sons, he 
built a hybrid electric car. Two years ago he 
received the "Rosa O. Hall Award" from the 
American Baptist Churches. In 1977, his 
book. The Prison Connection (Judson Press) 
was published. He is pastor at the Royersford 
Baptist Church in Pennsylvania. 

Winslow Spofford holds the post of vice 
president and treasurer at Wachusett Engi- 
neering in Holden, Mass. "Have worked from 
designing looms to testing flow meters at Al- 
den Labs. Also built houses and have been in- 
volved with weldments." He is a registered 
professional engineer and land surveyor in 
Massachusetts. Also, he is a licensed firearms 
dealer and enjoys collecting Civil War vintage 
guns. 

George Strom continues as vice president 
of operations at Speidel in Providence, R.I., a 
position he has held for two years. Previously, 
he was with Johnson & Johnson, Procter &. 
Gamble, and Honolulu Iron Works. 

Recently, Dr. Roger Tancrell lectured at 
Harvard Medical School. He is principal sci- 
entist at Raytheon Research Division in Wal- 
tham, Mass., has been granted several 
patents, and has published a number of tech- 
nical papers and textbook chapters. Some of 
his projects were surface acoustic waves for 



radar; medical electronics; and coded aper- 
tures for imaging in nuclear medicine. Early 
in his career, when he was at MIT Lincoln 
Labs, he worked on the first transistorized 
computer. Active with the IEEE, he is on the 
committee planning the annual Ultrasonics 
Symposium. During his free time, he teaches 
basic reading to English-speaking adults who 
have low reading ability. He helped organize 
and officially incorporate the all-volunteer 
reading group. 

"I'm the only guy I know who has 
worked for three different companies without 
changing jobs," writes Harry Tenney, Jr., of 
the WPI Alumni Executive Committee. Cur- 
rently, he is director of marketing for the 
Polymer Materials Division of Georgia-Pacific 
in Newark, N.J. Earlier he was with XCEL 
Corp. (acquired by G-P), and Celanese Plas- 
tics, which later became XCEL Corp. He has 
served as chairman of the West Long Branch 
Zoning Board of Adjustment; as director of 
the Shore Area YMCA; and past president of 
the Northern New Jersey Chapter of the WPI 
Alumni Association. 

Edward Wiot serves as coordinator of fuel 
cycle licensing for NUS Corporation in Rock- 
ville, Md. During his career, he has been a 
consulting nuclear reactor safety engineer 
specializing in nuclear reactor safety and li- 
censing. Also, he has been involved in other 
aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Among his 
outside interests are singing with the 
Oratorio Society of Washington, D.C. and 
with the Montgomery County chapter of the 
Barbershop Harmony Society. Wife Lou is a 
member of the Sweet Adelines. 

Thomas Wright continues as senior sys- 
tems engineer for IBM in Montoursville, Pa. 
He spent over seven years in management po- 
sitions with Western Union, "then switched 
from Morse Code to computer code and have 
been in systems engineering with IBM ever 
since." 



1957 



After 22 years of working as an engineer, Mi- 
chael Spiegel decided to get his PhD in order 
to teach at a university. He enrolled at West- 
em Connecticut State College and is now at 
Oregon State University in Corvallis. During 
his engineering years, he also pursued a side- 
line of raising, training, and showing horses, 
so his new direction in school is in animal 
science and more specifically genetics and re- 
productive physiology. The Spiegels have 
three children: Jessica, 9; Zachary, 6; and Ca- 
leb, almost 5. 



The WPI Journal / Fall 1981 / 21 



1958 



C. Stewart Gentsch is now division president 
of the Roller Chain Division of Rexnord, Inc., 
Springfield, Mass. He first joined the com- 
pany in 1958 as a sales correspondent. He 
was factory manager of the bearing division 
in Downers Grove, 111. from 197 1 to 1972, 
and was promoted to operations manager of 
the Roller Chain Division in 1972. He be- 
came president of the division in 1978. Ear- 
lier, he attended the Carnegie Mellon 
University Program for Executives. 



1959 



Robert Berg has been elected president and 
chief executive officer of Wesley Manufactur- 
ing Company, Inc., Scottdale, Ga. Earlier, he 
had senior management positions with 
Scovill, Inc., American Standard Inc., and 
Rexnord, Inc. He holds an MBA from the 
University of Chicago. Wesley is an intema- 
tional marketer and manufacturer of material 
handling equipment including Pallet Mule, 
Pallet trucks, and the Crusader electric 
vehicles. 

Frank Cohee holds the position of direc- 
tor of quality assurance and management sys- 
tems at Eldec Corp., Lynnwood, WA. He has 
an MBA from Harvard. 

Michael Hertzberg, president of Michael 
A. Hertzberg Consulting Engineers, Inc., 
Waitsfield, Vt., has been appointed a director 
of the American Consulting Engineers Cotm- 
cil Research and Mangement Foimdation in 
Washington, D.C. He will also serve as a vice 
president of the Council, and will oversee re- 
search projects of the Foundation. Of particu- 
lar current interest is a major national study 
of building regulations. The analysis, which 
is being conducted for the National Institute 
of Building Sciences, Washington, DC, will 
document the proliferation of federal codes, 
rules, etc., which affect the design and con- 
struction of new and renovated buildings. 
Hcrtzbcrg's Waitsfield firm specializes in me- 
chanical, electrical, alternate energy and en- 
ergy conservation engineering services. A past 
president of ACEC/Vermont, his firm re- 
ceived awards for engineering excellence from 
the state consulting engineering organization 
in 197S for the lighting and mechanical engi- 
neering design of the Berlin branch of the 
Howard Bank, and in 1978 for the mechani- 
cal engineering design of the domestic hot 
water generation and distribution systems at 
the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. 



John Wolfe was recently named senior 
vice president of North American operations 
for EG&.G Sealol, Inc. In his new position, he 
will be responsible for all U.S. operating divi- 
sions as well as EG&G Sealol Canada. Previ- 
ously, he was vice president and general 
manager of the Engineered Products Division. 
EG&G Sealol, based in Warwick, R.I., manu- 
factures and m.arkets mechanical seals, valves 
and bellows devices. It has three plants in the 
U.S. and manufacturing facilities in ten other 
countries. 



i960 



The William Bontas make their home in 
Phoenix, Md. Bill is with the Federal Bureau 
of Air Quality and has recently seen his re- 
sponsibilities expanded into other environ- 
mental areas. One of the Bontas' two 
children is a budding track star. 

Don Cloud of Guilford, Conn, has sold 
out his first condo development and is devel- 
oping another. 

Donaldson Dow is a senior engineer at 
AIDE in Richmond, Va. His daughter, Julie, 
who has finished jiuiior college, was married 
in lime. 

Ken Halvorsen serves as a senior supervi- 
sor with the Naval Ship Engineering Center. 
Recently, he was associated with the Cruise 
missile program. The Halvorsens have five 
children and a son in medical school. 

Ivan Kirsch has completed 17 years at 
Analogic in Wakefield, Mass. His son, Robert, 
just graduated from MIT and is going to the 
UMass Medical School. His middle daughter, 
Ellen, is a junior at Framingham State. His 
yoimger son, Stuart, is a sophomore at 
Harvard. 

Dick Kischell is responsible for radio and 
TV transmission engineering for Southern 
New England Telephone. 

Pete Lajoie holds the position of national 
sales manager for Disc Instruments, a firm 
specializing in optical encoders for the OEM 
market. He travels a great deal while building 
a national sales force for the fast growing 
business. The Lajoies arc located in Mission 
Viejo, Calif. 

David Westling serves as a sales repre- 
sentative at National Standard Co. in Santa 
Fe Springs, Calif. 



I96I 



Hank Allessio continues as supervisor in the 
New York office of Hayes/Hill, Inc. The firm 
provides corporate long-range strategy, mar- 
keting and new product development, acqui- 
sition planning, and executive compensation. 
Automotive components have been a 'pel.'" 



His various assignments have taken him 
around the world, and Forbes, Business 
Week, and the Wall Street Journal have used 
quotes from several of his speeches. About 
twice a year Hank and his family get together 
with several other WPI alums and their fami- 
lies for an informal reunion. 

Last year. Bob Beaudry was named direc- 
tor of the design office for the Federal High- 
way Administration, Delmar, N.Y. Leisure 
time activities include skiing, biking, wood- 
craft, the theater, and travel. 

William Calder ID, manager of corporate 
quality assurance at the Foxboro Company, is 
the vice president-elect of the Standards and 
Practices Department of the Instrument Soci- 
ety of America |ISA). His most significant 
professional involvement has been in design 
problems associated with the use of Foxboro 
products in explosive atmospheres. This spe- 
cialty has brought about a patent, worldwide 
travel, teaching for the ISA, and representing 
the USA on several international committees. 
In 1975, he was selected Yoimg Engineer of 
the Year at Foxboro. He has two PE licenses. 
The Calders have four children, imd have re- 
stored an old New England house. 

A year ago, Joe Calzone was promoted to 
manager of advanced engineering at GE in 
Utica, N.Y. Except for a term in the Army, he 
has been with GE since 1961. In his spare 
time, he enjoys skiing, fishing, and racquet- 
ball. 

Since 1975, Joseph Carpentiere has been 
self-employed as a software consultant. Re- 
cently, he formed Decisions, Inc., a consult- 
ing firm with two partners and "expanding." 
Besides their two daughters, Marcella and 
Christa, the Carpentieres have a Colombian 
son, Carlos, who joined them as an AFS ex- 
change student in 1974, and who now holds a 
degree from the University of New Haven. 
Besides serving as chairman of the Planning 
&. Zone Commission, Carpentiere has taught 
religious education. 

Currently, Richard Davis is involved in 
strategic planning for the Military Products 
Group and is product marketing manager for 
the military microprocessors and peripherals 
at Intel, which has just relocated to the Phoe- 
nix, Arizona area. Earlier, as editor for the 
electronics magazine "Micro Waves", he won 
a Neal Award, the trade press equivalent of a 
Pulitzer prize, for his iu-tiele on Electronic 
Countermeasures. While serving as executive 
editor for EW Communications, he received 
his MBA from Pepperdinc University in Cali- 
fornia. 

Edward Desplaines is now employed by 
t:-E Incorporated, a manufacturer of fossil 
fired power boilers and nuclear reactors. Pre- 
viously, while chief engineer of the Interna- 
tional Boiler Works Co., he designed some 
unique tubular heating boilers from scratch. 
Flying, hunting, and fishing are among his 
pastimes. 

After a stint with GE, Nino Dipilato 
joined his present employer, IBM, m 1965. 
During his IBM career he has had assign- 
ments in Germany, Fishkill, N.Y., and Char- 
lotte, N.C. 



22 / Fall 1981 / The WPI Journal 



Currently, Kenneth Engvall serves as a 
selectman in Boylston, Mass. For a number 
of years, he was on the town finance commit- 
tee. He is involved with a small civil 
engineering-land surveying firm doing varied 
things from straight survey to sanitary design 
and from site planning to subdivision design. 
Robert Fitch holds the post of business 
systems manager at Collyer Insulated Wire, 
Lincoln, R.I., where he is developing comput- 
erized manufacturing systems. "Oh, yes. I 
once took a first class 'red-eye' from LA to 
NY. In the seat in front of me was Paul New- 
man. We both slept all the way!" 

Bill Gill enjoys the California lifestyle 
and most outdoor activities including camp- 
ing and hiking. Active with the youth soccer 
league and the BSA, he also has been presi- 
dent of the local section of the ASCE and 
chairman of the California State Council of 
Civil Engineers. He helped co-foimd Gill &. 
Pulver Engineers Inc., (water development, 
etc.), which he serves as president. 

Martin Gordon heads up the patient 
monitoring group at Analogic Corp., a firm he 
joined four years ago. Previously he was with 
Transition Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., 
and EG&G. He is located in Wayland, Mass. 
Stuart Kazin was recently named general 
manager of the Burlington Center of Foxboro 
Analytical in Burlington, Mass. He joins Fox- 
boro from Dynamics Research Corporation in 
Wilmington, where as general manager of the 
Precision Measurement Division, he was re- 
sponsible for marketing, engineering, manu- 
facturing, quality, service, and controller 
functions. Previously, he was a group leader 
for the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory of 
Cambridge, Mass. In 1967, he received his 
MS in aeronautics and astronautics from 
MIT. A former lieutenant in the U.S. Army 
Signal Corps, he is married and the father of 
two children. 

Digital Equipment Corporation, May- 
nard, Mass., has annoimced the promotion of 
Ward MacKenzie to vice president of the 
Technical Volume Group. This new group is 
comprised of Digital's Technical OEM and 
Microcomputer Groups. MacKenzie also be- 
comes a member of Digital's Operations 
Committee. He started at the firm in 1967 as 
DECsystems-IO operations manager. He has 
held a number of posts in Digital's U.S. and 
European operations, including that of Euro- 
pean marketing manager, and later, that of 
European manufacturing manager. Prior to 
his recent promotion, he was technical OEM 
Product Group manager. 



1963 



1962 



Bruce Dudley continues with the Rome Air 
Development Center, at Griffiss Air Force 
Base. 

John Rupprecht holds the post of presi- 
dent of Sullair of New Mexico in Albuquer- 
que. The company sells industrial, mining, 
, and construction equipment in New Mexico, 
West Texas, and in Juarez, Mexico. 



Stuart Batstone is senior vice president of The 
Giving Tree in Houston, Texas. He has a new 
position with a franchise opening Christian 
bookstores in major malls nationwide. He has 
an MA and a master's of divinity degree. 

Harry Hoyen is ctirrently in the Research 
Labs at Eastman Kodak, Rochester, N.Y. Dur- 
ing the past year, he was invited to deliver a 
plenary lecture at an international sympo- 
sium in Varna, Bulgaria, as well as in the cap- 
ital, Sofia. He has travelled extensively in 
Europe, having given papers in England, 
France, Belgium, and Switzerland. In July, he 
was general chairman of an international 
symposium in Lake Placid involving over 100 
scientists carrying out research in photo- 
graphic science and light induced effects at 
semiconductor interfaces. Technically, the 
meeting was a resounding success, with ap- 
proximately forty presentations and with rep- 
resentation from over thirteen coimtires. The 
social highlight of the meeting was a wine- 
tasting atop the Olympic ski jump. 

John Machonis, Jr. has been promoted to 
the newly-created position of manager of new 
polymers R&JD for Chemplex Company, Roll- 
ing Meadows, 111. Previously, he was assistant 
manager. In his new post, he will be responsi- 
ble for all new polymer research activity for 
the company and will continue to direct the 
research efforts for Plexar, a proprietary adhe- 
sive resin. He started with Chemplex in 1968 
as a senior research engineer. He, his wife, 
and two children reside in Schaumburg, 111. 

Presently, Robert Mellor serves as district 
superintendent of the North Shore District of 
the Massachusetts Electric Co. 

Charles Menzigian, a planning engineer 
for Western Electric in North Andover, Mass., 
is presently on a three-year temporary assign- 
ment with AT&T Long Lines in El Segundo, 
Calif. 



1964 



Peter Baker serves as an alcohol counselor 
at Howard Mental Health in Burlington, Vt. 
He holds an MBA from the University of 
Cincinnati. 

Recently, Wflliam Kaszeta was elected to 
the board of directors of the Radiation Divi- 
sion of the American Section of the Interna- 
tional Solar Energy Society. 

Sterling McFee is employed as manager 
of packaged products production at Marathon 
Oil Company, Robinson, 111. 

Jack Ryder holds the post of chief engi- 
neer at Maier & Assoc, in North Canton, 
Ohio. 



George Spires works as a senior mechani- 
cal engineering consultant at Brown & Root 
in Houston, Texas. He has an MBA from 
Northeastern. 

Frank Stone is vice president of engineer- 
ing for Automata in Reston, Va. 



1965 



>■ Married: Desha Beamer and Matireen De- 
long on February 28, 1981 in San Francisco, 
California. Al DiPietro, '66 served as best 
man. Al and his wife Karin flew in from 
Pennsylvania to attend the wedding. 

At the present time, Maj. David Coombe 
is a student at the U.S. Army Command &. 
General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Ks. 

U.S. Air Force Major Gene Dionne has 
been reassigned from SAMSO-Space and Mis- 
sile Systems Operations in Redondo Beach, 
Calif, to a totir at the Air Force Command 
and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama. 
From there. Gene, his wife. Peg, and their 
son, Jeremy, will move to his next assign- 
ment at the Pentagon. 

Dr. Bennett Gordon, Jr. has been pro- 
moted to associate professor of mechanical 
engineering at WPI. 

Pat Moran writes that about a dozen WPI 
alums attended a cookout held in honor of 
the Paul Covecs', '64 rettim from their recent 
ten-month sailing adventure. (They sailed in 
their Morgan 46-ft. ketch from San Francisco 
to Boston.) The celebration was held at the 
home of Bill Shields in Manomet, Mass. in 
July. Among those attending besides the 
Covecs were Dave McCaffrey, Walt Lankau, 
Duke Gale, Dick Ryczek, and Stan Szy- 
manski, all of the Class of 1964. Also, from 
the Class of '65 were Host Bill Shields, Pat 
Moran, Jim Fee, and Paul Giusti. Malcolm 
MacGregor and Mike Portanova represented 
'66. According to Moran, the Shields' house 
is similar to "an updated Higgins House." 

Gerald Morris has been elected vice pres- 
ident and treasurer of the Foxboro Company, 
having come from a post as assistant vice 
president and director of corporate planning 
at Textron, Inc., Providence, R.I. Earlier, he 
had served as Textron's corporate assistant 
treasurer. Foxboro's new chief financial offi- 
cer received his MBA from Harvard in 1970. 
He belongs to the North American Society for 
Corporate Planning. The Morrises have two 
daughters and a son. 

Dr. Richard Reynolds, who has his PhD 
in oceanography from the University of Ha- 
waii, is now an oceanographer for the Na- 
tional Weather Service (NOAA) in 
Washington, D.C. 

Dr. Bruce Yung, who received his PhD in 
biomedical engineering from the University 
of Virginia this year, is currently a resident 
engineer at Armak Co., McCook, 111. 



The WPI journal / Fall 1981 / 23 



1966 



Ron Hayden continues with New England 
Controls, which he joined in 1976. Previ- 
ously, he was an assistant sales manager with 
Fisher Controls with ten years of control ap- 
plication experience. His specialty is digital 
systems. His profile appeared in a recent New 
England Controls promotional brochure. 

|ohn Kopchik works as strategic planner 
and director of United Vintners in San Fran- 
cisco. He and Diane have two children and 
Uve in Walnut Creek. 



1967 



>■ Married: Alan W. Couchon to Paula L. 
Smith in Milford, Connecticut on May 16, 
1981. The bride has a BS degree from South- 
em Cormecticut State College and is a 
bookkeeper. Her husband serves as a manu- 
facturer's representative. 

Joseph Cieplak continues as product 
manager in the Measurment Systems Divi- 
sion at ACCO Industries, Bridgeport, Conn. 
This year he received his MA in communica- 
tions from Fairfield University. 

David Collette of South Hadley, Mass. 
has been selected by District No. 2 Prudential 
Board as water commissioner. A registered 
professional engineer, he has worked as a 
maintenance construction supervisor at Mon- 
santo Co. in Springfield since 1977. He will 
serve in the post until the next district elec- 
tion in February. 

Allen Griswold is product manager for 
Ocean Research Equipment, Inc., Falmouth, 
Mass. 

Mitchell Koziol holds the position of 
president at Mitchell Machine Screw Co., 
Glastonbury, Conn He and Hannelore have 
three children and live in Colchester. 

Jack Rahaim is now corporate manager of 
personnel admmistration at Digital Equip- 
ment Corporation in Maynard, Mass. He is 
responsible for providing quality data 
methods and support procedures. 

Thomas RJcchi serves as a computer ap- 
plications engineer at GE Ordnance Systems, 
Pittsfield, Mass. 



1968 



Robcn Bradley serves as vice president of 
manufacturing at OZ/Ciedney Co., Terryviilc, 
Conn. The firm is a subsidiary of General 
Si>^al. 



24 / FaU 1981 / The WPI loumal 



Dr. Richard Formato continues as princi- 
pal engineer in electromagnetics at Data Gen- 
eral in Westboro, Mass. In March, he received 
a U.S. patent on an apparatus and method for 
measuring the velocity of a moving dielectric 
(poorly conducting) material. The invention 
constitutes a means for measuring the veloc- 
ity of a moving dielectric material from 
which a flow determination may be made. In 
May, he was issued another patent on an im- 
proved automotive ignition system. The in- 
vention is a non-mechanical system whereby 
the high voltage pulses in a multi-cylinder 
spark-fired engine are selectively distributed 
to the individual spark plugs in time with en- 
gine operation. Both inventions are being 
evaluated by industry and are slated to be 
subjects of upcoming magazine articles. Dr. 
Formato is also associated with Orion Associ- 
ates of Shrewsbury, Mass. 

Paxson Gifford was recently appointed as 
manager of trading at Texaco Oil Trading and 
Supply Company in Harrison, N.Y. He has a 
master of management degree from North- 
westem (Ill.| University. In 1968, he joined 
Texaco as a process engineer in the U.S. refin- 
ing department at Port Arthur, Tex. After as- 
signments in Eagle Point, N.J., Lockport, 111., 
and in New York City, he received several 
promotions, and was named a senior coordi- 
nator in 1979. 

Dr. Roger Pryor has been named manager 
of physical sciences for Pitney Bowes corpo- 
rate operations. He joined the company in 
1976 as senior physicist for its mailing sys- 
tems division. He went with the advance 
mailing machine and meter systems depart- 
ment in 1978, and was appointed group man- 
ager of that department in 1979. Dr. Pryor, 
who has had several articles published in 
technical journals, received his master's and 
doctorate degrees in physics from Pennsylva- 
nia State University. He belongs to the Amer- 
ican Physical Society, Sigma Xi, and the New 
York Academy of Sciences. 

Richard Scaia is district manager of the 
Torrington Co. in Dayton, Ohio. 

Did you happen to catch the picture of 
Marshall Taylor on the back cover of the Au- 
gust 3rd issue of Business Week^ Ryder, the 
big name in truck rentals, was featiu-ed in a 
Continental Bank ad, and two Ryder execu- 
tives (including Taylor) were pictured. Marsh 
holds the post of vice president and treasiu-er 
of Ryder System, Inc. 

Michael True holds the position of vice 
president at Maine Building Specialties, a di- 
vision of Overhead Door Company in Port- 
land, Maine. 

Ken Tumbull serves as fire safety engi- 
neer at Texaco, Houston, Texas. 

Malcolm Wittenberg is an attorney with 
Limbach, Limbach <lf<. Sutton in San Fran- 
cisco. He holds a ]ut\s Doctor degree from 
George Washington University. The Wiltcn- 
bergs and their three children reside in Corie- 
madera. 



1969 



Alfred Freeberg is now at the Naval Postgrad- 
uate School in Monterey, Calif. 

This fall, Stephen Legomsky joined the 
Washington University School of Law faculty 
as an assistant professor. He teaches courses 
in torts, criminal law, and restitution, as well 
as a seminar on immigration law. Since April 
of 1980, he has served as chief of Division n. 
Central Legal Staff of the U.S. Court of Ap- 
peals for the Ninth District, San Francisco. 
His responsibilities included general supervi- 
sion and editorial review of all v^itten work 
of the legal staff assigned to Division H. He 
also drafted bench memoranda and proposed 
opinions and performed varied administrative 
duties. Previously, he was court law clerk for 
the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 
from September 1979 until April 1980. hi 
1977, he received his JD degree from the Uni- 
versity of San Diego, graduating first in a 
class of 237. After graduation, he studied at 
Oxford University, where he was in residence 
from 1977 to 1979. He expects to receive his 
PhD in comparative immigration and com- 
parative administrative law next year. He is 
an associate in the Society of Actuaries, and 
was employed earlier by John Hancock Mu- 
tual Life Insurance, Boston, and by the Pacific 
Fidelity Life Insurance Company, Los 
Angeles. 

Michael Nowak is now analytical group 
leader for Sinclair &. Valentine in West St. 
Paul, Minn. 

Dr. Mahendra Patel, P.E., was recently 
elected to the office of treasurer by the Engi- 
neering Societies of New England. He is a 
mechanical engineer in the Engineering, Plan- 
ning and Research Department at Boston Edi- 
son Company, where he has been associated 
with engineering, design, constmction and 
management of projects in fossil fueled power 
plants since 1969. Also, he has been involved 
with studies in air pollution control, environ- 
mental regulations, and fuels. Active with the 
Boston section of the ASME, he currently 
serves as chaimian of honors and awards in 
ASME's Region 1. 

Robert Perkins works as a senior systems 
programmer at Guy F. Atkinson in South San 
Francisco, Calif. 



1970 



Dr Maria Alio is assistant professor of 
surgery at tlic University of Colorado Health 
Sciences C'enter in Denver. She received her 
Ml) from the University of Michigan Medical 
School. 



i 



David Brown has been elected vice presi- 
dent of engineering at Rodney Hunt Co., Or- 
ange, Mass. He joined the company in 1971 
as a project engineer in the Water Control 
Equipment Division. In 1977, he became 
chief product engineer and in 1978 was pro- 
moted to manager of Water Control Equip- 
ment Engineering. Last year, he w^as 
appointed director of engineering with overall 
responsibilities for Rodney Himt's application 
engineering, quality assurance, field service 
and product engineering. He is also a member 
of the company's executive group. Currently, 
he is completing work for his MS in engineer- 
ing management at WPI. The Browns, who 
have a son and daughter, live in Holden. 

John Galvin was recently promoted to 
senior systems consultant within the systems 
organization at State Mutual in Worcester. He 
became associated with the firm as an actuar- 
ial assistant in 1970, and was named systems 
analyst in 1972. In 1976, he was promoted to 
senior systems analyst, and in 1978, was 
named systems consultant. He has an MBA 
from Clark University. 

William HilLner is now senior project en- 
gineer at Exxon Co., U.S.A. in Houston, 
Texas. 

Kalvin Ngoon is a senior systems analyst 
at Syntex, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. 



1971 



^-Married: Daniel E. Demers to Judy A. 
Ouellette on Jime 6, 1981 in Marion, Massa- 
chusetts. The bride, a home economics 
teacher at the Greater New Bedford Regional 
Vocational Technical High School, graduated 
from Framingham State College. Her 
husband is employed by the Aircraft Engine 
Group at GE in Lynn. 

>-Bom: to Mary and David A. True a 
son, Joshua David, on November 18, 1980. In 
June, True was named as chief chemist at 
Narragansett Electric Co., Providence, R.I. 
Previously, he was chief chemical technolo- 
gist for New England Power Co., Bray ton 
Point Station. 

J. Lee Cristy works as a quality engineer 
at Litton-Amecom in College Park, Md. He 
has been elected recording secretary by the 
Order of the Sons of Italy in Laurel. 

Dr. George Gardner holds the post of 
clinical automation officer at Walter Reed 
Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. hi 
1979, he received his PhD firom WPI, after re- 
ceiving his MA from Assumption College. 

Michael Gitlen serves as a senior auditor 
at Kaman Corporation in Bloomfield, Conn. 

Charles Harrison continues as a methods 
and procedures analyst at Union Camp Cor- 
poration in Wayne, N.J. 

Capt. and Mrs. Chris Johnson are now 
stationed on the Presidio in San Francisco, 
Calif. Chris is the chief of quality assurance 
at Letterman Army Institute of Research. 



John Landahl holds the post of project 
manager, NATO Project Section, Corps of En- 
gineers, Europe Division. Located in West 
Germany, he is presently working as a civil- 
ian employee managing the design of various 
facilities for NATO forces in Europe. He and 
Nancy have two children. 

Scott McCandless is a partner in HMM 
Associates, Waltham, Mass. He has a mas- 
ter's in urban affairs from BU. 

Dr. Richard San Antonio is now an in- 
ternist and cardiology fellow for the U.S. 
Army at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort 
Sam Houston, Texas. He and Pamela have 
two children. 

Stephen Sergio, a U.S. Army captain f>ta- 
tioned in West Germany, was married on 
April 1 1th. He has an MS in chemistry from 
the University of Delaware and an MBA from 
Florida Institute of Technology. 

Dr. Noel Totti III is a pulmonary disease 
fellow at Bames Hospital in St. Louis, Mis- 
souri. He v^rrites: "Finally out of the Air 
Force. Have become board certified in inter- 
nal medicine." The Tottis have two children 
and reside in St. Louis. 

Currently, Donald Usher holds the post 
of regional representative at Babcock &. 
Wilcox in Houston, Texas. To date. He and 
Annie have two children. 

Steve Watson serves as a controller for 
DEC in Geneve, Switzerland. He received his 
MBA from Harvard. 

Currently, Robert Wright is employed at 
Central Labs in Worcester. 



1972 



^Bom: to Mr. and Mrs. Neil C. Herring a 

daughter, Kate, on Valentine's Day, 198 1. 
Last year. Herring was elected vice president 
of finance at Path Lab., Inc., Portsmouth, 
N.H. 

John Burke is a hydraulic engineer for 
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boulder 
City, Nevada. 

Robert Dorf continues as a logistics plans 
officer with the U.S. Army. He is located 
with the HQ Atlantic Command in Norfolk, 
Va. He and Deborah, who reside in Virginia 
Beach, have two children. 

Bill Kamb still works for Turner Con- 
struction in Cleveland. 



1973 



^Married: Stephen P. Cole and Susan J. Geist 
recently in Roslindale, Massachusetts. Mrs. 
Cole graduated from Northeastem-Tufts Den- 
tal Assisting Program and is a dental office 
manager in West Roxbury. The bridegroom 
was an employee of Hartford Hospital. 



.... Peter C. Conti to Carol Latta on June 
27, 198 1 in Fairfax, Virginia. The bride, a 
dental hygienist, graduated from the Univer- 
sity of Vermont School of Dental Hygiene in 
Burlington. Her husband is a geo-technical 
engineer for Stone & Webster Engineering 

Co., Cherry Hill, N.J John F. Sta- 

saitis and Ann M. Brown in Shrewsbury, 
Massachusetts on May 30, 1981. Mrs. Sta- 
saitis, who works at the University of Massa- 
chusetts Medical Center, Worcester, 
graduated from Providence College. The 
bridegroom is with Stone & Webster, Boston. 

Peter Bonaccorsi is employed with the 
planning and engineering division of Fairfax 
Co. Water Authority in suburban 
Washington, D.C. A professional engineer, he 
also has a master's degree from George Wash- 
ington University. 

Formerly with Digital Equipment Corp., 
Ron Bohlin recently joined the management 
consulting firm of McKinsey &. Company. He 
now works in McKinsey's Stamford, Corm. 
office, and spends a lot of time in the firm's 
New York City office. 

Thomas Ferguson serves as a senior for- 
mulations engineer at Eli Lilly & Co., Green- 
field, Indiana. This year he received his PhD 
from Iowa State University. 

Bruce Foster is a development engineer 
with GE Ordnance Systems, Pittsfield, Mass. 

Greg Stamper continues as a pilot with 
United Air Services. He is located in Char- 
lottesville, Va. 

John Weigele is a medical student at the 
School of Medicine, University of Pennsylva- 
nia, Philadelphia. He holds a PhD in bio- 
chemistry from the University, and expects to 
receive his MD next May. 

Michael Zack holds the position of man- 
agement consultant at Touche Ross &. Co., 
Boston. He has an MBA from Northwestem. 



1974 



Bom: to Gretchen Lapidus Lobo and Ricardo 

Lobo a son, Rodrigo Javier, on April 22, 1981. 
The Lobos still work for the Metropolitan 
University in Mexico City. 

Alden Bianchi has resigned his position 
as an associate in the Washington, D.C. law 
firm of Rivkin, Sherman & Levy to open a 
practice of his ov^m in Worcester. Presently, 
he is located at 390 Main St., Suite 659. 

Gary Carver is a member of the research 
staff at Westem Electric, Princeton, N.J. Last 
year, he received his PhD in optical sciences 
from the University of Arizona. 

During the past few months, Steve Dacri 
has appeared with the Mills Brothers in Den- 
ver, with Tony Orlando at Caesers Palace, At- 
lantic City, N.J., and on the Mike Douglas 
TV show. In October and November he will 
entertain at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, 
Calif. 



The WPI Journal / Fall 1981 / 25 



The White House has named William 
Delphos vice president of operations and mar- 
keting of the Overseas Private Investment 
Corporation (OPICI. As part of this newly- 
created position, Bill will be responsible for 
the operations of the insurance and finance 
departments, marketing, and operations stra- 
tegic planning. OPIC is the self-sustaining 
government agency that provides political 
risk instirance and finance services to encour- 
age U.S. private investment in more than 90 
developing nations. During the past two 
years, the Corporation has issued $1,929 bil- 
lion in insurance and made commitments for 
proiect financing totalling over $244 million. 
In fiscal 1980, OPIC's net income was $65.8 
million. Prior to joining OPIC, Bill held a 
number of key management positions with 
Gould Inc. of Chicago, most recently that of 
managing director-international for the Indus- 
trial Products Group. 

Charlie Dodd has been promoted from 
manufacturing engineer V to the position of 
senior manufacturing engineer at Hitchiner. 
He joined Hitchiner in 1977 after having been 
employed with Connecticut Investment Cast- 
ing Company. 

Donald Gross, who is stationed at 
Homestead AFB, Florida, is a captain in the 
Air Force. 

Robert Hodgson holds the post of mar- 
keting specialist at Wang Laboratories in Lo- 
well, Mass. He has an MBA hom Amos Tuck 
School, Dartmouth College. 

David Lapre serves as manager of product 
design and development at American Can 
Co., Greenwich, Conn. 

Dr. Mark Mahoney is an emergency 
room physician at Parkwood Hospital in New 
Bedford, Mass. He holds an MD from the 
University of Connecticut. He and Kathryn 
have one child and reside in Mattapoisett. 

William McBride, a project engineer in 
instrumentation for the Engineering Division 
of VECO, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska,, has just 
spent ten months working at Pmdhoe Bay on 
contract to ARCO-North Slope Projects Qual- 
ity Assurance Group: Functional Checkout 
Group. He spent the summer building a cabin 
laltemative energy-technology dwelling) in 
Oregon. In September, he was slated to spend 
a week back East. 

Harvey Neilson, who received his MBA 
h-om BU this year, is presently with IBM 
Corp., Burlington, Vt. 

Stephen Rubin continues as president of 
Computer Control Systems, Inc. in Norton, 
Mass. 

Michael Tanca is now a coal gasification 
process development unit project engineer for 
Combustion Enginecrmg of Windsor, Conn. 

Dr Stephen Thibodeau has been selected 
by the science committee of the American 
AssfKiation for Clinical Chemistry to share 
the 1981 Young Investigator Award for his-re- 
search involving breast cancer therapy He 
was cited for his development of a hormone 
receptor assay that will aid physicians in pre- 
dicting the success of a mode of therapy for 
breast cancer patients He was recently a 



postdoctoral fellow in the clinical chemistry 
training program at the Mayo Clinic. Along 
with others at the clinic, he developed a new 
test which is a modification of several exist- 
ing hormone receptor assays. In the new test, 
the concentration of both the estrogen and 
progesterone receptors are measured simulta- 
neously and used to establish the hormone- 
dependency of the tumor. The Young 
Investigator Award, sponsored by Boehringer 
Mannheim Diagnostics, Inc., consists of a 
scroll and honorarium. Ctirrently, Dr. Thibo- 
deau is associated with Children's Hospital, 
Denver, Colorado. 

Mark Wendell works for Dell Mfg. Co., 
Farmington, Conn. He has an MSEE from 
WPI. The Wendells reside in Avon. 



Frank Sundermeyer is a design engineer 
at Siemens Medical Systems, Cheshire, 
Conn. 

Jeffrey Yu holds the position of general 
manager for King Machinery, Inc., Compton, 
Calif. 



1975 



^Married: Geoffrey R. Chester to Lauren L. 
Adkins on May 16, 1981 in Rowayton, Corm. 
The bride holds a BA from Fairfield Univer- 
sity and an MA in demography from George- 
town Graduate School. Currently, she is with 
the Population, Health, and Nutrition De- 
partment at the World Bank in Washington, 
D.C. Her husband works for the National Air 
and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution lames K. Garvey and Lynelle 

M. Kolwicz in Danbury, Connecticut on 
April 25, 1981. Mrs. Garvey graduated from 
Danbury High School and is a secretary at 
Consolidated Control Corp., Danbury. The 
groom serves as an engineer and group super- 
visor for Perkin-Elmer Corp., Optical Tech- 
nology Division, also located in Danbury. 
.... Walter H. Wiegert, ]i. to Regina R. 
Peretti on June 13, 1981 in West Springfield, 
Massachusetts. The bride has a BS in biology 
degree from Westfield State College. She is 
with the Old Saybrook Press, Saybrook, 
Conn. Her husband is a metallurgist for 
United Nuclear Corp., Norwich. He has an 
MS degree in metallurgy from WPI. 

^Bom: to Santa and Norton Bonaparte, 
Jr. a son, Norton Nathaniel ID, on May 23, 
198 1. Bonaparte serves as director of program 
development with the American Society for 
Public Administration in Washington, D.C. 

Marty Burgwinkle is with Turner Con- 
struction, Cleveland, Ohio. 

On June 22, Mark Drown joined Coordi- 
nated Systems, Inc., a consulting engineering 
firm in West Hartford, Conn. 

Peter Hatgelakas is a geologist- 
geophysicist with Peoples Natural Gas of 
Pittsburgh. Currently, he is drilling gas wells 
in Pennsylvania 

Gordon Henley serves as a system engi- 
neer at Intermetrics, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. 
He and Carol Ann live in Sudbury. 

Leo Letendre is a senior research chemist 
at Monsanto Agricultural i'roducts Co., St. 
Louis, Mo. This year, he received his PhD in 
chemistry from Harvard. 



1976 



► Married; Lloyd A. Boyden ID and Patricia L. 
Gancarz on July 18, 1981 in Holden, Massa- 
chusetts. The bride, a library clerk, attended 
the University of Massachusetts. Her hus- 
band works for the Newport News Shipbuild- 
ing, Atomic Power Division Bruce 

G. Haffty and Theresa M. Malloy on Jime 14, 
1981 in Worcester. The bride, a registered 
nurse, graduated from St. Vincent Hospital 
School of Nursing. The bridegroom is a medi- 
cal student at Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn. 

^Bom: to Ellen and Michael Menesale 
twin daughters, Sarah Ann and Arm Marie, 
on March 1, 1981. Menesale, who has an 
MBA from the University of New Haven, is 
employed as a wire rope engineer at U.S. 

Steel Corp., Trenton, N.J to 

Kathleen and William Ruoff a son, Bryan Mil- 
lard, on June 2, 198 1. 

Charles Bohling works as a senior ana- 
lyst at Weathercaster, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Susan Valinski Bryan is a process engi- 
neer for Uniroyal Chemical in Naugatuck, 
Conn. The Bryans have one child and live in 
Middlefield. 

Continuing with Turner Constmction, 
John Dewine is now with the firm in Charles- 
ton, West Virginia, where he holds the post of 
project superintendent. 

Stephan Divoll serves as a product spe- 
cialist at Texas Instalments in Attleboro, 
Mass. 

John Hamilton continues with Raymond 
International Builders in Saudi Arabia. He is a 
project manager for the cement mortar lining 
of steel pipes used for the Riyadh water trans- 
portation system. The twin pipe line will ex- 
tend from the port city of Jubail and carry 
desalinated sea water to the capital city of 
Riyadh 471 KM away 

Kevin Hastings was recently promoted to 
engineer at Northeast Utilities |NU| in Hart- 
ford, Conn. He joined NU in 1979 as an assis- 
tant engineer and was named associate 
engineer in 1980. Currently, he is studying for 
his MS degree in management at the Hartford 
Graduate Center 

Sulekh lain holds the position of techni- 
cal director at Beaumont Well Works Co., 
Houston, Texas. 

Peter Krupinsky, a graduate of Loyola 
Law School, is a public defender for Los 
Angeles t bounty in California. 

M. |. McGuirc is a marketing consultant 
at GE in Bridgeport, C^onn. 



26 / Fall 1981 / The WPI Inumal 



Kathleen Morse now holds the position 
of principal software engineer at Digital 
Equipment Corp., Nashua, N.H. "Just bought 
a house. Finally got a sportscar — an Alfa- 
Romeo. Have traveled to Australia and Eu- 
rope for work." 

Charles Moulter works as a quality con- 
trol engineer in system testing at GE in Pitts- 
field, Mass. 

Delmar Salomon heads R&lD at Esquim, 
S.A., Cuemavaca, Mexico. 

Peter Tordo is a senior loss prevention 
representative for Liberty Mutual Insurance 
Co., Norwich, Corm. 

Andrea Tyson has been named market 
manager of professional services for the 
Carlson Group, Inc., an international engi- 
neering, architectural and construction man- 
agement firm headquartered in Cochituate, 
Mass. Her responsibilities include develop- 
ment, management, and promotion of the 
professional services market of the various 
Carlson companies. A registered landscape 
artist, she received her BS from UMass and 
her MSCE from WPI. She has lectured for the 
ASCE, WPI, and for the Center for Profes- 
sional Advancement in East Brunswick, N.J. 
Also, she has been a visiting critic and lec- 
turer at Harvard University, Radcliffe Insti- 
tute. At Carlson, she has been involved in all 
projects, including major national and inter- 
national industrial, commercial, and medical 
facilities. 



1977 



^-MaiTied: Daniel A. Funk and Jill Samp- 
son of Cincinnati, Ohio last November. In 
April, they traveled to Switzerland, where 
Dan studied under a surgeon who specializes 
in fracture fixation with implantable devices. 
In June, he returned to this coimtry to receive 
his medical doctor degree from the University 
of Cincinnati. In July, he started his residency 
in orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic. 
.... Kim M. Mohanty and Carolyn C. 
Meinecke on July 25, 1 98 1 in Stillwater, Min- 
nesota. The bride, a teaching assistant, is 
studying for her MS degree as an oboist at the 
State University at Stony Brook, N.Y. She re- 
ceived her BA degree in music in 1978. Her 
husband is a scientific computer programmer 
on the Isabelle Project at Brookhaven Na- 
tional Laboratory. He plans to study for his 

doctorate in physics Linda S. Weiss 

and Paul. B. Makowski in Fairfax, Virginia on 
July 25, 1981. The bride received her MSCE 
from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 
University this year. The groom has a BSCE 
from Northeastern and works for the Illinois 
Institute of Natural Resources, State Water 
Survey Division, Champaign, 111. 

Currently, Joan Adamaitis broadcasts 
news beginning at 5 a.m. for radio station 
WHEB, Portsmouth, N.H. Formerly, she 



worked for a Worcester radio station and 
taught high school in the Worcester area. (She 
holds teaching certificates in English, French, 
Spanish, and Russian.) Widely traveled, she 
was once a govemess for a Massachusetts 
couple who taught at the Anglo-American 
School in Leningrad. 

Raymond Baker is a chemical engineer 
for utilities at Coming Glass Works, Com- 
ing, N.Y. 

Mark Breton works as an estimator at 
Gilbane Building in Clinton, N.J. 

Richard Clapp has taken a permanent 
transfer from du Pont's Engineering Services 
Division-field engineering section to the Engi- 
neering Services Division-constiltant section 
in Nashville. He is responsible for supplying 
materials engineering assistance to du Pont 
plants in Louisville, Ky, Montague, Mich., 
and Belle, West Virginia. "Phi Kappa Theta 
grads are about everywhere." The plant man- 
ager at Montague is a WPI Kap. Dan Kenne- 
fick, '79 is an engineer at Louisville and Bob 
Yule, '80 is an engineer at Belle. 

Thomas Cloft works for Sundstrand 
Fluid Handling in Arvada, Co. In May, he re- 
ceived his MSME from RPI. He and Penny re- 
side in Denver. 

Asta Dabrila serves as a pipe support de- 
signer at Stone & Webster, Boston. 

Chuck Johnson has just graduated from 
Cornell University Graduate School of Busi- 
ness, where he received his MBA. Currently, 
he is employed as a product specialist at 
Texas Instruments in Attleboro, Mass. 

Henry LeBlanc is currently on leave of 
absence from his job with Mobil Chemical, 
and is now working in the promotions-PR 
department of the Summer Repertory Theatre 
in Santa Rosa, Calif., about an hour from San 
Francisco. As a promotions assistant, he's 
been doing a lot of fund raising, group sales 
promotions, and TV interviews. Active in 
theater at WPI, since graduation he has acted 
in numerous commimity theaters and dinner 
theaters on both coasts. "Fortunately for me, 
Mobil was kind enough to release me from 
my responsibilities for the summer so I could 
try something new here at SRT" He says that 
the company of 31 actors, aged 17 to 24, will 
each perform in three of six shows this season 
for over 50,000 people. Shows include "West 
Side Story," "The Crucible," and "Chicago." 
He writes that Santa Rosa is in the heart of 
the wine tasting coimtry, and that he's be- 
come a familiar face on the wine-tasting 
circuit. 

James Lunney is a field engineer for GE 
Ordnance Systems, assigned to Holy Loch in 
Scotland. 

Scott Shurr holds a new post as systems 
analyst with the business systems group of 
Atex, Inc., Bedford, Mass. 

Scott Sieburth works as a research 
assistant at Stanford. He holds an MA from 
Harvard. 



1978 



►Marned; Rodney C. Dill and Sally Arm 
Stredny in Nashua, New Hampshire on June 
6, 1981. The groom serves as a field engineer 
for GE Ordnance Systems and is currently lo- 
cated at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 

Karen E. Hayes and Willie F. Althammer in 
Fairhaven, Massachusetts on July 18, 1981. 
Mrs. Althammer is an engineering systems 
analyst. The bridegroom, an aerospace engi- 
neer, graduated from the University of Mary- 
land Harold L. Jacobs to Susan 

Stratton-Crooke in Scarsdale, New York on 
July 12, 1981. The bride, a graduate of Katha- 
rine Gibbs School, is a legal secretary. Her 
husband is with the family business, A. Ja- 
cobs Industries, in Westchester and New York 
City. .... Douglas R. Parsons to Karen E. 
Lucey on May 9, 1981 in Enfield, Cormecti- 
cut. The bride graduated from Thompson 
School of Nursing, Brattleboro, Vt., and is 
employed by Choate Memorial Hospital, Wo- 
bum, Mass. The bridegroom serves as a 
programmer-analyst for the EDP Corporation, 
Needham, Mass. 

Robert Brown is employed as a project 
engineer at Harris Corp. in Dover, N.H. 

Ralph Chapman is a programming con- 
sultant at Baha'i World Centre, Haifa, Israel. 

Currently, Andy Corman works for 
Turner Constmction in Columbus, Ohio. 

George Fredette holds the post of district 
engineer for Halliburton in Cortland, Ohio. 

Frank Leahy, who has his master's degree 
in operations research from the University of 
California, Berkeley, is now designing a new 
planning system to coordinate production, in- 
ventory and marketing at Intel Corp., where 
he is a senior planner. 

Paul Lefebvre is a mechanical engineer at 
the Naval Underwater Systems Center in 
Newport, R.I. 

Dimitrios Promponas holds the post of 
senior computer analyst at Prime Computer, 
Inc., Natick, Mass. 

Stephen Robichaud is manager of printer 
production at Data Printer Corp., Maiden, 
Mass. The Robichauds live in Gardner. 

Barry Rogers is with the Austin Com- 
pany in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Reginald Roome n is a structural engi- 
neer at LeMessurier Assoc, Cambridge, 
Mass. This year he received his MS from 
WPI. 

Currently, Margaret Stanik holds the po- 
sition of senior systems analyst at State Mu- 
tual in Worcester. She and her husband, 
Harry, have two children and reside in 
Holden. 

Brian Timura has completed his second 
year at Tufts Medical School in Boston, and 
has begim his rotations as a clerk at Boston 
area hospitals. Among the various clerkships 
are: surgery. New England Medical Hospital; 
psychiatry. Veterans' Administration Hospi- 
tal; and medical, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, 



The WPI journal / Fall 1981 / 27 



1979 



>• Married: Keith C. Bonn and Emily N. 
Strohm in Chappaqua, New York on May 30, 
1981. The bride graduated hom State Univer- 
sity at Delhi Jeffrey Bouyea and De- 
bra G. Calaf on May 23, 1981 in Springfield, 
Massachusetts. The groom ser\'es as a project 
manager for Wackworth Properties in Hous- 
ton, Texas Arthur A. Foutsitzis and 

StavTOula Pappas on March 8, 1981 in 
Worcester. The bride graduated from Worces- 
ter State College and was a foreign languag*. 
teacher in the Nonh Middlesex commimity 
schools, Townsend, Mass. Her husband, who 
holds a master's degree from WPI, is em- 
ployed as a development engineer by Univer- 
sal Oil Products, Process Division, Chicago, 

111 Robert E. Guigli and Charlene M. 

Tagliamonte on Jime 7, 1981 in Wellesley 
Hills, Massachusetts. Mrs. Guigli graduated 
from Boston College. The groom is employed 
by Ernest Guigli and Sons, excavating con- 
tractors, in Wellesley. 

► Married: David E. Largesse and Judy 
Bagdis, '77, in Grafton, Massachusetts on 
April 11, 1981. The bride is an electrical engi- 
neer at Polaroid in Cambridge, Mass. The 
bridegroom holds the post of New England 
district manager of Balston, Inc., Lexington. 
.... Peter Simonson to Lynne S. Barriere 
on [une 6, 1981 in Sterling, Massachusetts. 
Mrs. Simonson, formerly a pasteup artist for 
Achom Graphics, Worcester, graduated from 
Arma Maria College. Her husband is an elec- 
trical engineer for Sanders Associates, 

Nashua, N.H Edward C. Tidman III 

to Cheryl Ann Bagdonovich on August 8, 
1981 in Worcester. The bride graduated from 
Assumption College and is personnel coordi- 
nator at Medical Personnel Pool. The groom, 
a group-insurance underwriter at State Mu- 
tual and editor of the Worcester Airport 
Newsletter, is studying for his MBA at Bab- 
son College, Wellesley Hans Van De 

Berg to Carrie L. Davis on August 8, 1981 in 
Newington, Connecticut. Mrs. Van Dc Berg 
graduated from Briarw(H)d College Her hus- 
band is employed by Combustion Enginecr- 

mg. Power Systems, Windsor Robert 

Wroblewski and Karen Ann Adamski in 
Ludlow, Massachusetts on lune 20, 1981. 
Mrs Wroblewski graduated from Notre 
Dame High Schf)ol and works as a reception- 
ist for the Credit Bureau of Western Massa- 
chusetts. The gr(K)m is employed as an 
electrical engineer for Honeywell, Inc , 
Lexington 

Diane Curren Bird, who visited the me- 
chanical engineering department at WPI on 
June 3()th, reports that she is still with Wes- 
tinghouse in the manufacturing engineering 
division working on reactor c(M)ling pumps 
She IS the lead engineer for controlled linkage 
seals She and her husband, an Episcopal min- 
ister, are both planning additional graduate 
study at Duquesne University starting this 
fall. 



Richard Bonci works as a process engi- 
neer at Burlington Industries in Clarksville, 
Virginia. He and Karen have two children. 

Gail D'Amico has been accepted at Tufts 
University in the School of Veterinary Medi- 
cine, where she will pursue a degree in large 
animal medicine and research. Currently, she 
is a doctoral student in pharmacology at 
Moimt Sinai School of Medicine in New York 
City. 

Thomas Dinan is a research assistant at 
the University of Illinois in Urbana. 

Dan Grossman is now a software engi- 
neer in the network products group at Codex 
Corp., Manfield, Mass. He lives in Attleboro. 

Steve Kapurch has begun his fourth as- 
signment in the third and final year of the 
Navy Logistics Engineering Program. The last 
year will be spent at the Fleet Weapons Engi- 
neering Directorate, Pacific Missile Test Cen- 
ter at Point Mugu (Calif. | Naval Air Station. 
'Point Mugu may be best knouTi as the Na- 
val Air Station which President Reagan flies 
to for his western vacations in Santa Bar- 
bara." Earlier this year, Steve was stationed at 
the Naval Technical Representative Office at 
Inter State Electronics Corporation in Ana- 
heim, with assignments including a review of 
engineering changes on the FBM submarine 
(Polaris, Poseidon, Trident] subsystems. Pre- 
viously, he was assigned to the Naval Plant 
Representative Office in Burbank at the Lock- 
heed Aircraft Corporation and at the Fleet 
Analysis Center in Corona, where he began 
his engineering intern program. 

David Mangini works as a staff assistant 
at Southern New England Telephone in New 
Haven, Conn. 

Michael McDonald is employed as a nu- 
clear engineer II at Combustion Engineering. 
He resides in Palmer, Mass. 

Jeff Michaels is now a process engineer at 
Borden Chemicals in Leominster, Mass. 

Having received his MBA from Babson 
College last year, David Smith continues as a 
manufacturing operations analyst at GcnRad, 
Inc., Bolton, Mass. 

Marine second lieutenant Gregory Van 
Houten has reported for duty with the 2nd 
Amphibian Tractor Battalion, Marine Corps 
Ba.se, Camp Lejeuene, N.C. He joined the 
Marine Corps in 1978. 



1980 



>■ Married: Timothy A. Andrews to Valerie I. 
Cummings in Dighton, Massachusetts on 
lime 21, 1981. The bride is a clinical psychol- 
ogist with McLean Hospital and Mystic Val- 
ley Mental Health (xnter She graduated 
from Dartmouth and Indiana University of 
Pennsylvania. C'urrently, she is doing ad- 
vanced doctoral work at Harvard The groom, 
who also graduated from Dartmouth, has an 
MS from WPI I W is doing grailuate work at 



Sloan School of Management at MIT. He is 
employed by Honeywell Information Sys- 
tems, Billerica, where he holds the post of 

senior programmer Robert F. Berlo 

and Eve L. Martin on fune 6, 1981 in Wey- 
mouth, Massachusetts. Mrs. Berlo graduated 
from Salve Regina College and is an RN at 
Quincy City Hospital. Her husband works as 
a sales engineer at Hinds & Coon Company 
of Boston. 

>- Married: Timothy M. D'Arcy and Pa- 
tricia Ann Leemann in Somers, Connecticut 
on Jime 6, 1981. Mrs. D'Arcy graduated from 
the University of Connecticut School of 
Nursing and is employed by Hartford Visiting 
Nurse, Hartford. The groom holds the post of 
territory manager for Parker Hannifin Corp., 

Cleveland, Ohio Peter J. Foha and 

Kathleen M. Kennedy on Jime 26, 1981 in 
Massachusetts. Mrs. Folta attended Holyoke 
Community College and is a manager for 
Burger King in Springfield. The groom is a 
rate engineer at Commonwealth Energy. 
.... Anthony E. Jaimetta and Catherine A. 
Jeffords on June 6, 1981 in New London, Con- 
necticut. The bride graduated from the Uni- 
versity of Connecticut School of Pharmacy in 
Storrs. Her husband is with Harris RF Com- 
munications in Rochester, N.Y 

Robert J. Pearson to Jamie E. Giguere on May 
16, 1981 in Worcester. The bride is a student 
at Assumption College. The bridegroom is a 
chemical engineer for Pfizer, Inc., Groton, 

Conn Mark S. Tino to Pamela Hig- 

gins in South Easton, Massachusetts. Mrs. 
Tino attended Aquinas Junior College. The 
bridegroom is a systems consultant for Arthur 
Andersen &. Company. 

Michael Aghajanian is associated with 
manufactiuing management at GE in 
Chicago. 

Theresa Metcalf Catanach continues as a 
financial analyst at Norton Co. 

Raymond Cronin serves as a sales engi- 
neer and technical accounts representative 
at Megatest in Whitehall, Pa. He is opening 
a new district office for the finn in Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Thomas Egan is employed as an engi- 
neering staff member at Rocketdyne Division 
of Rockwell International in Canoga Park, 
Calif. Also, he is president of High End 
Boardsailing, Sailboard Sales (!k Lessons. 

David Gura works as a field logging engi- 
neer for Schlumberger of Corpus Christi, 
Texas. 

Daniel hse is an associate engineer at Ri- 
ley Stoker in Worcester. 

Pat Keough serves as a staff biochemical 
engineer at Merck t^hemical, Danville, Pa. 

Garcth Kucinkas is employed as an appli- 
cations engineer al tlie Lee Co., Westbrook, 
Conn. 

John Letoumeau, who has received his 
MS degree from USt!, is now a member 
of the technical staff at Bell Labs in Piscata- 
way, N.|. 



Donald May holds the post of field engi- 
neer for Raymond International Builders of 
New Jersey. 

Fred Mirabelle continues as a design en- 
gineer for Harris Corp., Dover, N.H. "Recent 
business move from Harris/Westerly, R.I. to 
Harris/Dover. Division split." 

Marguerite O'Keefe serves as an indus- 
trial territorial sales engineer for Westing- 
house Electric Corp., Hillside, N.J. She is 
located in Roslindale, Mass. 

Mark Pankoski is a programmer-analyst 
for the American Society of Civil Engineers in 
Nevkf York City. 

Touiadj Pourrahimi is with Macrodata 
Corp., Woodland Hills, Calif. 

Angelo Scangas works as a maintenance 
supervisor for National Starch &. Chemical in 
Plainfield, N.J. 

Philip Suomu is a telecommunications 
section chief at AVCO, Wilmington, Mass. 

William Taber works as a process engi- 
neer at Fairchild in South Portland, Me. He 
and Margaret reside in Yarmouth. 

John Tasse is employed as a reactor per- 
formance engineer at Knolls Atomic Power 
Labs in Schenectady. 

John 2^ara works as a system engineer 
at Bunker Ramo, Trumbull, Cotm. 



1981 



>■ Married: Ruth Adams to Manuel Teixeira 
in Norton, Massachusetts on Jvme 20, 1981. 
The bride is a structural engineer for Stone &. 
Webster, Boston. Her husband graduated from 
Norton High School and is employed in the 
shipping department of the Foxboro Com- 
pany Scott T. Cloyd and Rose Mary 

Jackson on August 22, 1981. The bride, a 
graduate of Southern Illinois University, is a 
high school business education teacher. The 
groom is an associate engineer with the Water 
Reactor Division of Westinghouse Electric 

Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa Steven 

Dupont and Andrea Nelson in Mattapoisett, 
Massachusetts on July 5, 1981. Mrs. Dupont 
graduated from Becker and attended South- 
eastem Massachusetts University. She is a 
physical therapist assistant. 

^Maiiied: David E. Green and Roberta 
M. Lepak in Massachusetts on June 27, 1981. 
The bride, a graduate of Mount Holyoke Col- 
lege, is a graduate student in psychology at 
the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 
The groom is with S. R. Green and Sons, Ho- 
lyoke Leon J. Laviolette and Pamela 

Lynch on Jime 12, 1981 in Thomdike, Massa- 
chusetts. Mrs. Laviolette graduated from 
Palmer High School. Her husband is a 
contact engineer with Exxon Corp. in Bay- 
town, Texas Bruce W. MacLeod and 

Lynne Goldworthy on July 11, 1981 in South 
Ponland, Maine. The bride graduated from 
Portland High School. The bridegroom is a 



civil engineer for Los Angeles (Calif.) 

Coimty Francis G. Polito to Paula L. 

Bisson in Worcester on June 20, 1981. Mrs. 
Polito graduated from Assumption College, 
and through New York University, spent her 
junior year at the Sorbonne in Paris. The 
bridegroom is a teaching assistant enrolled in 
the MS /PhD program at Comell University. 

Raymond Aubert has joined the Tor- 
rington (Conn.) Company, where he is a bear- 
ing engineer. 

Currently, Daniel Beliveau is a second 
lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry. From 
March through May, he attended the Ranger 
course given at Ft. Benning, Ga. In May, he 
was stationed at Ft. Stewart, also in Georgia. 

David Briggs is with International Data 
Sciences, Lincoln, R.I Richard Buck- 
ley works for Harris Corporation-RF Comm. 
Division in Rochester, N.Y 

Radian Corporation, Durham, N.C. has 
employed Suzanne Call as a chemical engi- 
neer. 

Currently, Paul Chetham is studying for 
his MD at the University of Massachusetts 
Medical School, Worcester. 

Thomas Clark has begun work for Bell 
Telephone Laboratories, Naperville, 111. 

Katherine Coghlan serves as a second 
lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. 

Bonnie Cook is with the Air Force at the 
Pentagon in Washington, D.C. 

Thomas Cotton has been serving as a 
teaching assistant in the WPI electrical engi- 
neering department. 

Eleanor Cromwick has been employed 
by Turner Construction, Boston. 

Scott Grossman holds the post of applica- 
tions engineer at Fafntr Bearing, New Britain, 
Conn. 

Robert Daley, Jr. works for Brown & 
Sharpe Mfg. Co., North Kingstown, R.I. 

Richard Darcy works for Eastman Kodak 
Co. He is located in Pittsford, N.Y. 

Daretia Davis, who currently resides in 
Houston, Texas, works for Exxon Production 
&. Research. 

Laurence Dean is an associate engineer 
for Westinghouse Power Generation Group in 
Lester, Pa. 

Norman Delisle was recently named as a 
software research engineer at Tektronix, Inc., 
Beaverton, Oregon. He holds an MSCS from 
WPI. 

Michael DiCostanzo is a graduate stu- 
dent at WPI. 

Currently located in Dallas, Texas, John 
Eagan, Jr. has been employed by Texas Instru- 
ments, Inc. 

Beverly Elloian works as a civil engineer 
at Bechtel Northem Corporation., Gaithers- 
burg, Md. 

Robert Endres has been hired as an elec- 
trical engineer by du Pont in Ingleside, Texas. 

Lisa Feam is employed by Varian/Extrion 
Division, Gloucester, Mass. 

At the present time, Patricia Ficociello 
serves as a process engineer at Coming Medi- 
cal & Scientific. She is headquartered in East 
Walpole, Mass. 



The U.S. Department of Defense, Wash- 
ington, D.C. employs Paul Filosa as a mathe- 
matician. 

Mark FitzMaurice has been named an 
electrical design engineer at Texas Instru- 
ments in Dallas, Texas. 

Walter Flanagan HI is a structural engi- 
neer at Camp Dresser &. McKee, Boston. 

William Fletcher is now with Hewlett- 
Packard. He is located in Lexington, Mass. 

Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, 
Mass., has employed Catherine Giiouard as a 
quality control engineer. 

Mary Goodrow works for GE in Schenec- 
tady, N.Y. 

Anestis Halkidis has joined Digital 
Equipment Corp., Maynard, Mass. 

A. Kent Hamois is currently a main- 
tainability engineer at DEC in Marlboro, 
Mass. 

John Harris holds the post of develop- 
ment engineer at American Hoechst Corp., 
Leominster, Mass. 

Robert Hawkins, who is located in 
Shreveport, La., works for Schlumberger Well 
Services. 

John Healy works for Anaconda Metal 
Hose, Waterbury, Conn. 

Dick Hennessy is currently employed by 
Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. in North Kings- 
town, R.I. He is in the management training 
program in the Manufacturing Engineering 
Department. 

Lee Hevey, a mechanical engineer for 
Coming Glass Works, resides in Painted Post, 
N.Y. 

Peter Hicks has been named as manufac- 
turing engineer for the Connector Systems 
Division of Texas Instruments in Mansfield, 
Mass. 

Leonard Hinds is a product quality engi- 
neer at Eastman Kodak. 

Susan Hoffma works for Badger America, 
Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. 

Joseph Horvath is now with Hughes Air- 
craft Company's Ground System Group, lo- 
cated in Fullerton, Calif. A member of the 
technical staff, he has a programming assign- 
ment with the System Development pro- 
gram. The II,000-man Hughes Fullerton 
facility specializes in defense programs for the 
U.S. military. 

Litton Data Systems has named Dennis 
Houle as a design engineer in Van Nuys, 
Calif. 

David Ireland is a member of the techni- 
cal staff at Bell Labs in North Andover, Mass. 

David Jacobs has been with the depart- 
ment of physics at WPI, serving as a research 
assistant. 

Deborah Johnson is a graduate teaching 
assistant at the University of Michigan, Ann 
Arbor. 

Donna Johnston is a design engineer for 
du Pont, Wilmington, Delaware. 

Roger Keilig has been accepted at 
Camegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, 
where he will pursue his MS in geo-technical 
engineering. 



The WPI Journal / Fall 1981 / 29 



William Kiczuk has joined the Equip- 
ment Group at Texas Instruments in Dallas. 

Hone>'w'ell Information Systems has 
named Deborah Kinne as a member of the 
Advanced Engineering Program in Billerica, 
Mass. 

Brian Klinka works for Westinghouse in 
Philadelphia. 

Robert Kuldlnski is a student actuary for 
Simlife of Canada, Wellesley Hills, Mass. His 
wife, Anne Haselton Kuklinski, '80, works 
for Chas. T. Main, Boston. 

David LaPotin, who has received his 
MSEE from WPI, is a design engineer with 
GTE Laboratories, Waltham, Mass. He gradu- 
ated with a BSEE from Temple University, 
Philadelphia. 

Glenn Lawton serves as an associate de- 
velopment engineer at Honeywell-Electro Op- 
tics Operations, Lexington, Mass. 

Stephen Leslie has joined Travelers Insur- 
ance, Hartford. 

Mark Malenbaum is a second lieutenant 
in the U.S. Air Force. 

Jim McCall is employed as a professional 
research engineer by Chevron in California. 

Richard Molongoski serves as environ- 
mental engineer in Boston at Camp Dresser 
& McKee, Inc. 

Bernard Mongilio has been named sys- 
tems analyst at State Mutual, Worcester. 

Peter Nemiroff holds the position of di- 
rector of research and development at The 
Nemiroff Corporation, New York City. He be- 
longs to the New York Academy of Sciences, 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, and the Sons of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. 

Scott Nisula has accepted a post as pro- 
fessional research engineer at Chevron Re- 
search Co., Richmond, Calif. 

Douglas Norton is with the International 
Systems Corp. at GTE in Waltham, Mass., 
where he is an associate systems applications 
engineer. 

lay Norwood has joined Chevron. He is 
located m California. 

Dave Patrick, who works for Texas In- 
struments, resides in Dallas. 

Raymond Perigard has been named as a 
chemical engineer at Union Carbide Corp., 
Tarrytown (NY.) Technical Center. 

Automation Inc., Burlington, Mass., has 
employed Gregory Phipps as an applications 
engineer 

Marylou Place is with Exxon Research 
and Engincermg Co , Florham Park, N.j. 

Michael Pugh works as an associate engi- 
neer for NBI in Boulder, Colorado. 

Roland Roberge is a field engineer at GE. 

Kurt Ross contmucs at WPI, where he is 
going to graduate sch(K)l. 

Fred Rucker has accepted the post of op- 
crations supervisor at ATficT Long Lines in 
Manchester, N H 

Richard Rykosky has joined Gatx Temii-- 
nals as a proiect engineer. The firm is located 
m Chicago. 



Jeffrey Smith is associated with opera- 
tions engineering at Dresser Atlas Industries, 
Houston, Texas. 

Greg Stanford is attending Carnegie- 
Mellon University, Pittsburgh. 

James Steele continues at WPI, where he 
is studying for his master's degree in mechan- 
ical engineering. 

Brian Stoffers works for Honeywell/ 
Small Systems and Terminal Division, Bil- 
lerica, Mass. 

Combustion Engineering has employed 
Peter Tiziani as an engineer I. The company 
is located in Windsor, Conn. 

Jeff Trask is a professional research engi- 
neer at Chevron Research Co. (Standard Oil) 
in Richmond, Calif. He lives in Rodeo. 

Jeffrey Wade serves as a product manager 
at Adage, Inc., Billerica, Mass. 

Andre Walker has been named a develop- 
ment engineer at UOP, Des Plaines, 111. 

Mali Weiderpass serves as a second lieu- 
tenant in the U.S. Army. 

Thomas Woodbury has joined Fluor Engi- 
neers & Constructors, Irvine, Calif. 

Dennis Wysocki is now a project engi- 
neer at Clairol in Stamford, Conn. 



School of 
Industrial 

Management 

Frank Ashe, '68, recently received the Presi- 
dent's Award as sales specialist of the year for 
American Optical's safety products business. 
He serves as manager of special accounts, and 
came to AO in 1945. In 1946, he joined the 
Safety Products Division. He has held his cur- 
rent post since 1972. He is a member of the 
American Society of Safety Engineers, the 
American Industrial Hygiene Association, and 
the Veterans of Safety. 

On July 1st, Samuel Sotir, '72, opened 
his own business. The Office Center, a com- 
pany offering office space and business serv- 
ices in Auburn, Mass. The center provides 
such administrative services as secretarial 
help, mini-computer operations, telephone 
answering, mail service, and Telex transmis- 
sion. It also rents office space, including re- 
ception and conference rooms, with furniture 
and equipment being available. The company 
caters to consultants, regional sales persons, 
researchers, and job hunters who need part- 
time office space and help, and to businesses 
which need additional office space to accom- 
modate peak work loads. Sotir is also founder 
and president of The Phoenix Corp. of Au- 
burn, a financial management consulting 
company. He lectures on financial manage- 
ment at Assumption Ciollege. 



Natural Science 
Program 

>-BoTn: to Edwina and Michael E. Lewan- 
dowski, '74 a son, Brian Michael, on July 12, 
1981. The Lewandowskis, who live in Somer- 
set, Mass., have another son, Scott, 3. 

Charles Ferris, '74 has been appointed 
the new headmaster and manager of the high 
and middle schools in Shrewsbury, Mass. He 
will be responsible for overseeing the transi- 
tion from the current jimior high and high 
school system to one comprising middle and 
high schools. Formerly guidance department 
chairman at Shrewsbury Senior High School, 
he helped coordinate the self-help for achiev- 
ing personal excellence and the sex education 
life in the family programs at the high school. 
Also, he served as chairman of the staff devel- 
opment and drug abuse committees and 
wrote the "Counselor's Appointment and Ac- 
tivity Guide." He received degrees from 
Clark University and has attended Worcester 
State College. He is enrolled in an educa- 
tional leadership and administration program 
at Worcester State. 

Richard Stevens, '81, continues as a sci- 
ence teacher at East Jr. High School, Andover, 
Mass. 



30/ Fall 1981 / The WPI Journal 




Ronald E. Greene, '17, died in Royal Oak, 
Michigan on April 26, 1981. 

A native of Stow, Mass., he was bom on 
March 1, 1893. He graduated as an electrical 
engineer from WPI in 1917. Following gradua- 
tion, he served as an ensign in the U.S. Navy 
during World War 1. 

For seven years, he worked for GE in 
Schenectady, N.Y. In 1926, he joined the De- 
troit Edison Co., and remained with the firm 
until his retirement as assistant manager of 
construction in 1958. 

Mr. Greene belonged to Tau Beta Pi, 
Theta Chi, the AIEE, and the Engineering So- 
ciety of Detroit, as well as to the Economic ' 
Club of Detroit and the American Legion. 

James Apostolou, '18, of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania, a long-time employee of Westinghouse, 
died on February 19, 1981 at the age of 88. 

He was bom on Dec. 28, 1892 in 
Kavalla, Greece. In 1918 he received his BSEE 
from WPI. During his career, he was with 
Westem Electric and Westinghouse Electric 
in East Pittsburgh, Pa., and Buffalo, N.Y. He 
had served as a general electrical engineer, 
application engineer, and sales engineer in 
various locations. In 1958, he retired from 
Westinghouse. 

Howard L. Brooks, '19, a former chairman of 
the board of Ferro Enameling Co., Oakland, 
Califomia, died on May 3, 1981. 

He majored in chemistry at WPI, and 
later became a member of the Class of 1919. 
Early in his career, he was with Lewis She- 
pard Co., manufacturing engineers in Boston, 
Mass. In 1918 he served as a seaman second 
class in a special detail of chemical engineer- 
ing (chemical warfare). 

Mr. Brooks, who also studied at MIT, 
was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He was 
bom on Aug. 9, 1896 in West Springfield, 
Mass. 



Joseph J. Morrow, '25, a retired vice president 
of Pitney-Bowes, Inc., died in Atlanta, Geor- 
gia on June 21, 1981. He was 78 years old. 

During his 25 years with Pitney-Bowes, 
he served as director of personnel relations, 
was elected vice president for personnel rela- 
tions in 1958, and then promoted to vice 
president for administration in 1963. As an 
administrator, he helped the firm extend fair 
employment opportunities to blacks, and as 
an Urban League board member, he made na- 
tionwide speeches on the subject of imple- 
menting a program to integrate blacks in 
industry. In 1968, he retired from Pitney- 
Bowes. 

Civic-minded, he was officially asso- 
ciated with the National Conference of Chris- 
tians and Jews, the Cormecticut Equal 
Employment Opportunity Council, and the 
Business Equipment Manufacturers' Associa- 
tion. The late President Johnson appointed 
him to serve on the National Citizens' Com- 
mittee for Community Relations. In 1958, he 
was named Citizen of the Year in Stamford, 
Conn. 

Mr. Morrow was bom on March 15, 1903 
in Greenwich, Conn., and later became a stu- 
dent at WPI and MIT. At one time he oper- 
ated his own building contracting firm. He 
belonged to ATO. 

Arthur S. Chavoor, '28, died in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts on May 27, 1981 following a 
long illness. 

A native of Syria, he was bom on Aug. 
16, 1904. He enrolled as a civil engineering 
student at WPI. For 41 years he was with the 
Metropolitan District Commission in Boston, 
which he served as associate civil engineer 
and assistant director of engineering in the 
Sewerage Division. He helped design the 
Deer Island pumping station, and retired as 
chief engineer of the division. 

Mr. Chavoor was a professional civil en- 
gineer and land surveyor in Massachusetts. 
He was active with the Society of Massachu- 
setts State Engineers, the Professional Engi- 
neers Association, and the Boston Society of 
Civil Engineers, as well as the Engineering 
Societies of New England. 

Arthur W. Olcott, '28, retired vice president 
of the Property Owners' Service Corp., died 
in Damariscotta, Maine on July 12, 1981. He 
was 76 years old. 

After studying civil engineering at WPI, 
he joined the New England Power Co. for two 
years. From 1930 to 1965 he was employed 
by the Highway Department of the State of 
Connecticut, where for three years before his 
retirement, he served as director of the Bu- 
reau of Rights of Way. 

During his retirement, he was a consul- 
tant for real estate appraisal in Connecticut 
and became vice president of the Property 
Owners Service Corp. of Farmington, retiring 
again in 1976. He was chairman of the board 
of tmstees of the Central Baptist Church, 
Hartford, Conn., and a member of SAE. He 
enjoyed making stained glass lamps as a 
hobby. 



A Hartford native, he was bom on June 
4, 1905. At one time, he was consultant for 
the beautification program for highways in- 
spired by Lady Bird Johnson. 

Dr. James H. Williams, '29, a developer of 
sulfa drugs, died at his home in Ridgewood, 
New Jersey on June 11, 1981 following a long 
illness. 

He was bom on Jan. 1, 1908 in Manches- 
ter, England, and came to the U.S. in 1921. In 
1929, he graduated from WPI with his BS in 
chemistry, and in 1933, he received his PhD 
in organic chemistry from New York Univer- 
sity He was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma 
Xi, and Lambda Chi Alpha. 

Early in his career, he was employed by 
the Patent Division of Allied Chemical Corp. 
In 1937, he joined the American Cyanamid 
Co. research laboratories in Stamford, Conn. 
In 1945, he was transferred to the Lederle 
Laboratories Division of American Cyanamid 
in Pearl River, N.Y, where he was adminis- 
trative director of research, hi 1948, he was 
named director of research of Lederle Labora- 
tories, including the pharmaceutical and me- 
dicinal research. He retired in 1973. 

Dr. Williams participated in and contrib- 
uted to the development of sulfa drugs, folic 
acid, and Aureomycin, among many other 
life-saving products. He is credited with hav- 
ing named the drug, Aureomycin. 

In 1945, he was chosen as one of 200 top 
U.S. scientists by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to 
study conditions in the chemical and pharma- 
ceutical industries in Europe immediately fol- 
lowing World War H. For this service, he was 
awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the 
U.S. Army in recognition of his accomplish- 
ments as a technical observer. 

In 1958, Dr. Williams was awarded a 
Certificate of Appreciation for his assistance 
with the American program for the Brussels 
Universal and International Exhibition held 
that year in Belgium. The award, presented 
by the U.S. Commissioner General of the Ex- 
hibit, particularly cited him for his arrange- 
ment, organization, and direction of the 
displays and backgroimd material featuring 
achievements on behalf of the U.S. pharma- 
ceutical industry. 

He was a life fellow in the New York 
Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Ameri- 
can Institute of Chemists, a fellow in the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Sciences, and a 50-year member of the 
American Chemical Society. 



The WPI journal / Fall 1981 / 31 



Dr. Herman W. Dom, '33, of Champaign, Illi- 
nois passed away on June 11, 1981. 

He was bom on Sept. 14, 1911 in New 
York City. After studying chemistry at WPI, 
he later received his AB, MA, and PhD from 
Clark University. He was a post-doctorate fel- 
low in biochemical engineering at the State 
University of Iowa in 1943-44. 

During his career, he was associated with 
International Minerals & Chemical Corp., 
Owens-Illinois Glass Co., h^in, Neisler & 
Co., Picttire Craft Co., and the U.S. Army 
Chemical Research &. Development Labs. 
Also, he was employed by Lanpar Company 
and Parmae Labs, Mills Pharmaceuticals, 
Physicians' Medical Laboratory, Inc., and 
Glencoe Research. For a number of years, he 
was president of his own company, Dom &. 
Co., St. Louis, Mo. (food and drug consul- 
tants). 

A registered, professional chemical engi- 
neer, Dr. Dom was a fellow of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, 
the American Institute of Chemists, and the 
New York Academy of Sciences. He was also 
hsted in a number of Who's Who publica- 
tions. He had served as president of the Fro- 
zen Food Institute of New York City and 
belonged to numerous professional societies. 

Edmund M. Fenner, '38, who officially retired 
from lohns-Manville in January, died in Den- 
ver, Colorado on April 4, 1981, following a 
long illness. 

With the company since 1940, he retired 
as director of the Department of Environmen- 
tal Control, hi 1949, after four years' service 
with the Navy, where he rose to Lt. Com- 
mander, he was promoted to chief of JM's Re- 
search Mechanical Section. In 1962, he 
became project manager in the Plant Engi- 
neering Department, a post he held until his 
final appointment. 

Mr. Fenner was a registered professional 
engineer in New Jersey. He was a member of 
Theta Chi, and was bom on Jan. 4, 1916 in 
Orange, N.J. In 1938, he graduated as a me- 
chanical engineer from WPI. 



Robert H. Field, '38, president of Field Con- 
crete Pipe Co., Inc. and a civic leader, died 
unexpectedly on July 26, 1981 at his home in 
Brooklyn, Connecticut. He was 66. 

Bom in Brooklyn on July 1, 1915, he be- 
came a member of the Class of 1938. During 
his lifetime, he was with Wickwire Spencer 
Steel, and the American Thermos Bottle 
Company, prior to founding Field Concrete 
Pipe Co., Inc., Wauregan, Conn., about 25 
years ago. The company also has plants in 
Rhode Island and New Hampshire. 

He was a former director and president of 
the American Concrete Pipe Association, and 
chairman of the American Society of Testing 
Metals. Previously, he was president and di- 
rector of Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam, 
and chairman of its building and planning 
committees. He founded the Mortlake Fire 
Company. Active with the Boy Scouts, he 
also had served on the Brooklyn Board of 
Finance. 

Mr. Field belonged to PSK. He had been a 
member of the President's Advisory Council 
at WPI and had been involved in several WPI 
ftmd raising programs. 

Morey L. Hodgman, '50, died in Westwood, 
New Jersey on March 23, 1981. 

His employers included Garden Turn, 
Long Island, N.Y.; Chance- Vought, Dallas, 
Texas; and Bendix Aviation Corp., Teterboro, 
N.J. He belonged to SPE. During World War 
n, he served as a pilot with the U.S. Army Air 
Force. 

A native of Richmond Hill, N.Y., he was 
bom on Jtme 27, 1920. hi 1950, he graduated 
as a mechanical engineer from WPI. 

J. R. Normand Casaubon, '55, a retired elec- 
trical engineer for the New England Tele- 
phone Co., died July 2, 1981 at his home in 
Wellesley, Massachusetts at the age of 49. 

He was bom on Jan. 11, 1932 in 
Southbridge, Mass. In 1955 he received his 
BSEE from WPI. He had been employed by 
Bell Telephone Co. of New Jersey, AT&.T, and 
New England Telephone. His posts included 
that of business research analyst and assistant 
engineering manager. 

George E. Hammond, '64, passed away in 
Plymouth, Massachu.sctts on July 18, 1980. 

In 1964, he graduated with his BS in 
physics from WPI. He received his MS degree 
from Northeasiem University in 1967. He 
was bom on April 13, 1942 in Worcester. 



32 / Fall 1981 / The WPI loumal 






WPI winter sports schedule 



BASKETBALL 


TRACK 




Alumni 


Dec. 2 
Dec. 4CI 
Dec. 4-5CI 


Wesleyan 

City tournament 

Nichols, Clark, Worcester State 


Dec. 2 
Dec. 6 
Feb. 10 


Tufts 
MIT 
Worcester State, Holy Cross 


Basketball 


Dec. lOri 


Thomas 






•«-¥-« f 


Dec. 12CI 


Bowdoin 






hhaht 


Dec. 15 


Amherst 






1 \1XJ-L L 


Dec. 191*1 


St. loseph's 






^m^ ^ 


Ian. 9 


Springfield 






X /I f"! 7 TVl /IT 7 


Jan. 12 


Babson 


SWIMMING 


ouiuiuciy 


Jan. 15 


Middlebury 






y^ 


Ian. 16 


Norwich 


Dec. 1 


Babson 


t/ /> K^f*f "f /^TT T /^ 


Ian. 21|'| 


Connecticut College 


Dec. 40 


Holy Cross 


rt^UIuury O 


Ian. 23C) 


Bates 


Dec. 9(*) 


Boston College 


•^ 


Ian. 28r) 


Brandeis 


Dec. 11 


Clark 




Ian. 30C) 


Lowell 


Jan. 23 


Lowell 


/ '/''~7T\ 


Feb. 2 


Trinity 


Ian. 30 


Coast Guard 


h)( ) 


Feb. 50 


Coast Guard 


Feb. 40 


Trinity 


L;v_vLy 


Feb. 6C) 


Colby 


Feb. 6 


Southeastern Massachusetts 




Feb. IOC) 


Williams 


Feb. 11 


Brandeis 




Feb. 13 


Tufts 


Feb. 13(*) 


Tufts 




Feb. 18 


MIT 


Feb. 20O 


Keene State 




Feg. 200 


Suffolk 








Feb. 230 


Nichols 








Feb. 27 


Clark 












WRESTLING 








Dec. 20 


Bowdoin 




WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 


Dec. 80 


Boston College 








Dec. 120 


Harvard, New Hampshire, Mass Maritime 


Dec. lO 


Framingham State 


Dec. 16 


Brown 




Dec. 4 


City tournament 


Ian. 16 


Williams, RPl 




Dec. 5 


Clark, Holy Cross, Worcester State 


Ian. 20 


Amherst, Union 




Dec. 7 


Merrimack 


Ian. 25 


Western New England 




Dec. lOO 


Connecticut College 


Jan. 30O 


Lowell 




Dec. 120 


Emmanuel 


Feb. 3 


MIT 




Dec. 14 


Western New England 


Feb. 6 


Wesleyan, Hartford 




Ian 10 


Fitchburg State 


Feb. 90 


Coast Guard 




Ian 21 


Gordon 


Feb. 16 


Trinity 




Ian, 230 


MIT 


Feb. 18 


NECCWA tournament 




Ian 25 


Coast Guard 


Feb. 25 


NCAA Division in tournament 




Ian. 270 


Anna Maria 








jan 29 


Trinity 








Feb. lO 


Suffolk 








Feb. 20 


Wheaton 








Feb S 


North Adams 








Feb 6 


RI'I 




O indicates a home game. For more 


informa- 


Feb 10 


Brandeis 




tion on times and places, please contact the 


Feb 120 


Babson 




WPI Department of Physical Education and 


Feb 16 


Amherst 




Athletics, (617) 793-5243. 




Feb. I80 


Nichols 








Feb 220 


Clark 








Feb 25 


Curry 








Feb 27 


MAIAW tournament 












Winter 1982 





1 


. ■ ::: 




/ 


*5 


-i 


> 




i 











An Editorial 



IN THE PAST DECADE, there havc 
been only a few editorials of any 
kind in the pages of the WPI four- 
nal. I wrote my first, by way of 
introduction, for the very first issue 
I produced, Spring 1971. This one 
will be my last, and its purpose is to 
say goodbye. 

A magazine is a strange thing. It 
prints the work of many people — 
writers and photographers, faculty 
and staff, alumni and outsiders. It is 
shaped by the character of its audi- 
ence and by the nature of the or- 
ganization which publishes it. And 
yet, if a magazine is to be successful 
from any standpoint, it also reflects 
the character and personality of its 
editor. 

As announced in the last issue 
of the Journal I have left WPI after 
eleven years as director of publica- 
tions. The new editor. Ken McDon- 
nell, will introduce himself in due 
course. I am very conscious, as I 
write this, not only that am I saying 
goodbye to my readers . . . but that 
"my" magazine is also saying good- 
bye, fournals to come will surely be 
different than I could or would pro- 
duce, because they will reflect the 
presence of a new editor. I wish him 
well. 

THIS MAGAZINE in your hand is 
the 49th and last issue of the 
WPI lournal on which I have 
served as editor. That's a lot of 
pages, a lot of stories, and a lot of 
years. It has been a significant part 
of my career and of my personal and 
professional growth. 

During that time, I have been 
helped by a great many people, and I 
would like to express my thanks to 
a few of them at this time: 

to Roger Perry, '45, WPI direc- 
tor of public relations, who was an 
unfailing source of counsel and con- 
solation over the years; 



to Steve Hebert, '66, with 
whom I shared many a late-night 
and weekend conversation as we 
both worked strange and long 
hours; 

to Ann McCrea, Pat Korch, and 
Charlotte Wharton, three capable 
and delightful assistants who 
helped make my work on the Jour- 
nal possible by keeping up with so 
many other WPI publications; 

to Ruth Trask, who has so care- 
fully compiled the class notes — 
probably the most important job on 
the magazine, and certainly the 
hardest as well; 

to Ralph Kimball and the late 
Bob Kerr of Davis Press, who have 
so capably printed the Journal for 
many years, often pulling the fat out 
of the fire at the last minute; 

to Jim Reidy and Kathy Swift at 
CPC, who were so patient in help- 
ing me implement the typesetting 
of the Journal from word-processing 
equipment, and who never lost 
their cool, even when my instruc- 
tions resulted in setting an entire 
article in 36-point boldface headline 
type; 

to the members of the Alumni 
Publications Committee over the 
years, particularly Bob Gosling, '68, 
a member from the first meeting; 
Larry Larson, '22, an unfailing yet 
constructive critic; and Don Ross, 
'54, current chairman of the com- 
mittee and a good man to work 
with; 

and finally, very special thanks 
to Walter B. Dennen, Jr., '51, first 
chairman of the Alumni Publica- 
tions Committee, critic and confid- 
ant, who demanded from me the 
very best magazine I could produce, 
and who for so many years was the 
perfect liaison between the WPI 
Journal and the WPI Alumni Asso- 
ciation. 

IT WAS Walter Dennen who pointed 
out recently that the time I came 
to WPI and to the Journal marked 
the confluence of a great many 
changes taking place at WPI and 
within the Alumni Association. 
The WPI Plan was being conceived, 
adopted, and implemented, mark- 
ing a radical break with educational 



tradition. Women undergraduates 
had been admitted to WPI for just a 
couple of years. The Alumni Asso- 
ciation was in the process of merger 
with the college administration. 
Many alumni were concerned over 
the future of the college and of the 
Association, and the Journal's im- 
portance as a communications ve- 
hicle was recognized by all. 

The new editor — me — was the 
first non-alumnus to hold that 
position — and I wasn't even an en- 
gineer, either. Those differences, 
together with the events of the 
times, helped put me in the glare of 
a spotlight that wasn't always fa- 
vorable. The Alumni Publications 
Committee was formed in those 
turbulent days to provide a kind of 
sea anchor for the Journal to help 
keep it on course. In the eleven 
years since, the college has pros- 
pered and gained a national recogni- 
tion unparalleled in its history; the 
Alumni Association has also pros- 
pered, with increased activities and 
participation by alumni, and 
record-setting, award-winning 
alumni funds year after year. As for 
the Journal . . . you be the judge. 

The WPI Journal has been a 
source both of frustration and of 
pride for me. It has called for more 
energy, more agony, and ultimately 
more creative inspiration than any 
other part of my career at WPI. I 
have cursed its unrelenting de- 
mands, issue by issue, and then sat 
back to take pride in the finished 
product and the awards it won from 
time to time (though there were 
some real clunkers in there too, in 
eleven years). It will be a kind of 
relief for me, knowing there won't 
be any more Journals to make . . . 
and yet in many ways I'll miss it. It 
has been too big a part of my life, too 
long, for things to be otherwise. 

So goodbye, /onrncj/ readers. I 
wish you well too. 

-Russell Kay 



UIPp 



O 



Vol. 85, No. 3 



Winter 1982 



2 A Homecoming for Atwater Kent Laboratories 

A remarkable old building is made even more remarkable. 

12 The alumni attitudinal survey: A final report 

Steve Hebert discusses what you had to say about WPI, 
the Alumni Association, and more. 

15 You went to WPI to become a doctor? 

Ruth Trask examines the growing number of WPI 
graduates who go on to careers in the medical professions. 

24 Your class and others 

39 Completed careers 



Guest Editor: H. Russell Kay 

Alumni Information Editor: Ruth S. Trask 

Typesetting and Printing: Davis Press, Inc., 
Worcester, Mass. 

Alumni Publications Committee: Donald 
E. Ross, '54, chairman; Robert C. Gosling, 
'68; Sidney Madwed, '49; Samuel W. 
Mencow, '37; Stanley P. Negus, Jr., '54; 
Judith B. Nitsch, '75. 



Address all correspondence to the Editor, 
The WPI Journal, Worcester Polytechnic In- 
stitute, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. 
Telephone (617) 793-5600. 

The WPI Journal is published for the WPI 
Alumni Association by Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute. Copyright © 1982 by 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. All rights 
reserved. 



The WPI Journal (usps issn no. 0148-6128) is 
published four times a year, quarterly. Sec- 
ond Class postage paid at Worcester, Mas- 
sachusetts. 



WPI ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 

President: Peter H. Horstmann, '55 

Senior Vice President: Clark Poland, '48 

Vice President: Harry W. Tenney, Jr., '56 

Secretary-Treasurer: Stephen J. Hebert, '66 

Past President: JohnH. McCabe, '68 

Executive Committee members-at-large: 
Philip B. Ryan, '65; Donald E. Ross, '54; 
Anson C. Fyler, '45; Henry P. Allessio, '61 

Fund Board: Henry Styskal, Jr., '50, chair- 
man; Richard B. Kennedy, '65, vice chair- 
man; Gerald Finkle, '<;7; Philip H. Pud- 

DINGTON, '59; RlCHARD A. DaVIS, 'S3; C. 

John Lindegren, '39; John H. Tracy, '52 




sii \r Kciscnthal 



2 / WwtcT i9H2 The Wl'l lournal 



A Homecoming for 
Atwater Kent Laboratories 



By Russell Kay 



THIS WAS THE YEAR, 1 98 1, when "Homecoming" 
meant something extra special for the Electrical 
Engineering and Computer Science departments 
at WPI. The major event of the day was the official 
rededication of Atwater Kent Laboratories, which had 
been vacant for all of 1980-8 1 while being renovated. 

Featured speaker at the rededication ceremonies on 
Homecoming Saturday, October 4, was Dr. Joseph Ker- 
win, a physician and NASA astronaut who took part in 
the Skylab missions. Dr. Kerwin, a philosophy graduate 
of cross-town neighbor Holy Cross, spoke of his delight 
in reading about WPI's educational program, seeing it as 
just the sort of program that this nation needed. Ker- 
win's remarks were delivered to an enthusiastic 
audience — so large, ironically, that the ceremonies had 
to be moved to Alden Memorial Auditorium. Not even 
the refurbished and renamed Hobart Newell Lecture 
Hall in Atwater Kent could accommodate the hundreds 
of people who turned out. 

The new Atwater Kent 

Atwater Kent has been changed dramatically, both 
inside and out. The architects who masterminded the 
transformation — Goody, Clancy &. Associates, Inc., of 
Boston — radically changed the inside and also created a 
brand new addition to the building for faculty offices. 
The addition, situated on what used to be the "back 
end" of the building, facing Salisbury Laboratories, is a 
striking piece of work. It echoes the older two-story- 
high arched windows that lined the original trolley 
barn, but it makes them an even stronger design ele- 
ment (as they play against the modern, less embellished 
brickwork) than they were in the original structure. The 
sides of the addition, done in square panels of black 
glass, reflect dimly the ends of the older section of the 
building. Taken together, the new and the old, Atwater 
Kent Laboratory is (in the author's opinion) the hand- 
somest building on the WPI campus except for Boynton 
Hall. 



The WPI Journal I Winter 198213 




The old meets the new, above, as the 
Atwater Kent addition is spliced into 
the original's roof. On the facinfi pa^e, 
the addition is wrapped up like a gigan- 
tic Christmas present, as work pro- 
ceeded through the winter on the reno- 
vation. 



The inside of the building is a far cry from the old 
Atwater Kent, which was, in recent years, characterized 
by awkward large spaces that could not always be used 
effectively . . . and by older, sometimes seedy small 
offices and labs that also were not as useful as they could 
have been. Remember that Atwater Kent was originally 
built to handle the engineering of such things as large 
electric generators and motors — and the famous trolley 
car, of course — which were extraordinarily large pieces 
of equipment to be housed and cared for. 



i 



4 . Winter 19H2 ' The Wl'l Imirnal 




While those motors and generators are still an 
important part of the world of electrical engineering, 
there has been a significant impact on the discipline 
made by the electronic computer revolution. Work in 
the areas of computer engineering and programming, 
control systems, instrumentation, and communica- 
tions is centered around ever-smaller pieces of equip- 
ment, down to the fingernail-size integrated circuits 
and microprocessors that run everything from digital 
watches, stereo radios, and auto ignitions (shades of A. 
Atwater Kent's days!) to spacecraft control and satellite 
monitoring systems. The new Atwater Kent takes full 
advantage of these trends to offer a variety of medium- 
scale laboratories for the study of modern-day electrical 
engineering and computer science. 

For EE, Homecoming 8 1 marked the return to a 
modernized, more effective version of the home they 
had occupied for 73 years. For Computer Science, Atwa- 
ter Kent is the first real home they have ever had, from 
their start in makeshift quarters in the basement of 
Salisbury, then to makeshift quarters in Higgins 
Laboratories, then to the second floor of Washburn. This 
rapidly growing department finally has room for its 



people and room in which to develop effective labora- 
tory work. (And the recent arrival of a Data General 
MV/8000 32-bit computer, a gift from the manufacturer, 
will add significantly to that laboratory capability, too.) 

Atwater Kent was a priority goal of WPI's current 
Capital Program, which seeks to raise $16 million in 
new capital resources, chiefly to provide physical 
facilities commensurate with the quality of WPI's cur- 
riculum. Major contributors to the Atwater Kent project 
included the George I. Alden Trust, the Kresge Founda- 
tion, WPI trustees and others, the classes of 1929, 1930, 
1941, 1954, and 1955, plus numerous friends in the 
corporate and industrial community. 

Noting the exemplary generosity of corporate and 
business donors, campaign chairman Raymond J. For- 
key, '40, said that members of his committee were 
enthusiastically received by most corporate executives, 
who expressed their universally high regard for WPI 
graduates employed by their companies. Most of them 
indicated that WPI's excellent reputation was a signifi- 
cant factor in their decisions to support the Atwater 
Kent renovation. 



The WPI Journal I Winter 198215 




IJH • 
II • 



A historical perspective 

Atwater Kent Laboratories is an important part of the 
WPI campus. Only Boynton, Washburn, and SaHsbury 
are older. 

Shortly after the turn of the century, The Worcester 
Magazine reported that "the trustees of Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute have recently taken a most impor- 
tant step in deciding upon the immediate erection of a 
new building to be used exclusively for electrical en- 
gineering purposes." 

The decision came none too soon for the faculty of 
the young department, which had started as a branch of 
the Physics Department in 1897 and soon found itself 
caught between burgeoning enrollments and inade- 
quate facilities. By 1905, the number of students major- 
ing in electrical engineering equalled the total number 
m all other departments, and the faculty was sub- 
sequently forced to "limit" the number of departmental 
course offerings. In the same year. Professor Harold B. 
Smith wrote a dramatic report to Institute President 
Edmund Engler in which he suggested that "complete 
strangulation" of his young department was imminent. 

"It IS my hope," he wrote, "that the first decade of 
this department may be closed by the dedication of a 
suitable building and equipment for the work of this 
department." 

Fortunately for him (and for WPI today), that hope 
was fulfilled. The Institute's 1907 Commencement 
exercises were held in the new (and nameless) building, 
which was constructed in the shape of a symbolic "E". 
Faculty, students, and visitors enthusiastically pro- 
claimed the new facility "the largest and best in the 
world." 

It was built at a cost of $ 1 2.S,000. 



THE NEW electrical engineering laboratory was a 
genuine showplace of its era. It housed the most 
modem equipment of the day — a traveling crane; 
balconies of dynamos and motors; and, best of all, a 40 
foot trolley car named "1907". This car was fully 
equipped to test speed, voltage, current, and resistance 
automatically, along with a variety of other tasks. The 
"Tech Trolley" eventually tested nearly 4,000 miles of 
New England's extensive network of electric railways 
before it was scrapped in 1937. Until then, probably no 
piece of laboratory equipment had ever been so 
valuable — or so much fun — for students and faculty 
alike. 

Carefully planned and handsomely equipped, the 
new laboratories fulfilled the fondest hopes of Professor 
Smith and his colleagues. Designed for the large space 
requirements of that era's electrical and power 
technologies, it served the college's needs adequately 
for 50 years. In 1958, work began on extensive renova- 
tions which provided more than 7,000 square feet of 
additional space for laboratories in the emerging fields 
of electronics, computers, servomechanisms, micro- 
waves, and high frequency circuits. 

When the building was reopened in 1959, two new 
floors had been added in the open space above the old 
electrical machinery laboratory; there was laboratory 
space that would eventually house WPI's first educa- 
tional computer; faculty offices had been altered and 
redecorated, classrooms modernized, all new heating, 
lighting and ventilation installed; and there was a new 
entrance on the south side of the building, facing the 
main campus. Honored guest at the ceremonies of the 
day was A. Atwater Kent Jr., son of the benefactor whose 
generosity had made possible those sweeping im- 
provements. 

But the changes made then have been completely 
overshadowed by the latest renovation of the building. 
The total cost of the remodeling of Atwater Kent last 
year was $3.2 million. 

It seems appropriate to consider this outlay a pru- 
dent investment in the future, much as did the Insti- 
tute's trustees who authorized construction of the orig- 
inal building in 1907. Their foresight, conviction, and 
courage has been more than amply rewarded, for WPI 
graduates have been on the cutting edge of devel- 
opments which have led to contemporary "high 
technology." 

If we agree with Shakespeare that "What's past is 
prologue," then the reopening of Atwater Kent 
Laboratories may well mark the start of another era of 
technological progress whose accomplishments will 
beggar the imagination. 



/S Winirr 1W2 11)1- WI>1 lournal 




Steve Rosenthal 



The WPI Journal I Winter 19H2I7 



An architect's perspective 
on Atwater Kent 



The original 1907 "Electrical 

Laboratory," with its handsome 
facade, large arched windows, 
and expansive interior, presented 
Goody, Clancy &. Associates 
with a sound basis with which to 
satisfy the needs of WPl's Com- 
puter Science and Electrical En- 
gineering departments — as well 
as a challenge. 

Over the years, the need for 
the high open space used in the 
great laboratory for work and 
practical instruction on such 
equipment as electric street rail- 
way cars and turbines dimin- 
ished. So gradually, the space was 
partially divided with floors and 
walls to create room for newer, 
specialty areas such as elec- 
tronics and computers. When 
WPI made the decision to house 
both Computer Science and Elec- 
trical Engineering in this fine old 
building, it was obvious that it 
would have to be made more effi- 
cient and that a new addition of 
several thousand square feet was 
needed. 

A major design goal from the 
beginning was to preserve the 
character and quality of the orig- 
inal Peabody and Stearns build- 
ing. The north facade of Atwater 
Kent Laboratories, facing Salis- 
bury Street, marks a major en- 
trance to the WPI campus. In 
addition, it is laden with WPI 
tradition: in the college's early 
years the front entrance and 
stairs were an important meeting 
place for students — important 
enough to be held off-limits to 
freshmen — and for decades class 
pictures were taken there. 

Working closely with the 
WPI administration and facuhy, 
and after numerous studies. 
Goody, Clancy &. Associates de- 
veloped a design that placed the 
new addition on the south side of 
the building, creating a new en- 
trance (across the building from 
the original) facing into the cam- 
pus and accessible to the major 




*AA^^^ '^ ^ ^ ^ #% 



flow of student traffic. The brick 
window arches along the length 
of the building were retained as 
interior corridor walls, and the 
rhythm of those two-story-high 
arches was echoed on the ex- 
terior, in more contemporary 
form, as part of a new masonry 
wall pulled out from the existing 
building and enclosing the 
addition. 

Faculty offices were pro- 
vided in the new space adjacent 
to the labs in the existing build- 
ing, allowing closer supervision 
of student projects. The third 
floor was more efficiently used, 
vdth additional laboratory and 
office space placed beneath a 
new, raised roof. To facilitate fu- 
ture changes and maintenance, 
service ducts, pipes, conduits, 
and equipment were left exposed 
and accessible. The entire build- 
ing was made energy-efficient, 
with careful attention being 
given to the new thermal win- 
dows, both in the addition and 
the old building, to ensure their 
aesthetic compatibility. 

GC&A is proud of the result- 
ing design of the new Atwater 
Kent Laboratories, which has 
preserved its architectural heri- 
tage while bringing it up-to-date, 
creating a pleasant and efficient 
environment for the continua- 
tion of WPI's high educational 
standards for many years to 
come. 

-Goody, Clancy &) 

Associates, Inc. 

Boston, Massachusetts 



Steve Rosenthal 



Steve Rosenthal 




Above, the student lounge, highlighted 
by the old power distribution panel, no 
longer used for its original purpose but 
still effectively tying the building to its 
past. Also contributing to the feeling of 
the old building are the second-floor 
arches, once window tops. On the fac- 
ing page, two more aspects of Atwater 
Kent: faculty offices and laboratories. 



H I Winter I9H2 The Wl'l lournal 




;% 



i 




mi 



At left, Henry Styskal, Jr., '50 waves the 
CASE-U.S. Steel award (that's three in 
a row), to an appreciative crowd at the 
Homecoming football game, while 
university relations vice president Tom 
Denney congratulates him for the 
award-winning Alumni Fund. 






jL.__£. 





At top, Harold S. Black, '21, inventor of 
the negative feedback concept and 
honorary chairman of the rededication 
festivities, unveils the plaque with 
Raymond f . Forkey, '40, chairman of 
the Capital Program which raised 
funds for the renovation. At right top. 
Dr. Black is shown along with retired 
EE Professor Hobart Newell, who was 
responsible for introducing electronics 
into WPPs EE curriculum and after 
whom the Atwater Kent lecture hall is 
named, and Prof essor Donald Eteson. 
At left and above, NASA astronaut Dr. 
Joseph Kerwin addresses the audience 
of alumni and students. 



The WPI Journal I Winter 19H2 I U 



The alumni attitudinal survey: 
A final report 



By Stephen J. Hebert, '66 

In the Summer 1981 issue of the 
Journal, a preliminary report sum- 
marized statistical results of the 
Alumni Attitudinal Survey directed 
by Paul Kennedy, '67, and Jack 
McCabe, '68. Since then, the writ- 
ten comments have been sum- 
marized and they have added depth 
and breadth to the statistical re- 
sponses. 

By definition and necessity, a 
significant portion of the com- 
munication for WPI's alumni pro- 
gram is through the mail. Thus, one 
of the early questions in the survey 
focused on an evaluation of the 
quality, quantity, and effectiveness 
of that mail. Approximately 800 
people responded v/ith written 
comments. Many thought the 
quantity was appropriate, although 
one person said it could be cut in 
half, and a few people even 
suggested it could be increased. In 
terms of quality, there were a few 
superior comments, while most 
rated the quality of the publications 
as good to excellent. 

Several alumni felt there is too 
much fund-raising material, and 
these comments correlated well 
with the statistical results. Some 
people felt that 50 to 75 percent of 
all WPI mail asks for a gift. To the 
contrary, approximately 75 percent 
of all WPI mail to alumni is non- 
fund-raising in its purpose, includ- 
ing the loLirnal and Newsbriefs. 



Some 100 people commented 
on the Journal. About half said it 
was excellent but the other half 
appealed for a broadening of the 
scope of the quarterly magazine. In 
general, the comments were posi- 
tive and constructive such as: "[I] 
would appreciate more in-depth re- 
porting on faculty activity and 
alumni actions," while on the other 
side of the coin was the comment 
that "communications show a lack 
of sensitivity." That last statement 
targets an area we must work on. 

The survey was originally con- 
ceived to determine alumni at- 
titudes and impressions with the 
hope that the alumni programs — 
and perhaps the operations of 
WPI — could be improved as a result. 
Thus, a question about how WPI 
could improve its alumni relations 
was logical. Two major ideas 
emerged. A surprising response — 
surprising at least to Alumni Asso- 
ciation officers and staff people — 
was that regional programs and ac- 
tivities should be improved and ex- 
panded upon. In recent years, re- 
gional activities have tended to be 
somewhat informal, but it seems 
clear from the response that there is 
renewed interest in this area. Thus, 
we have already taken steps to fos- 
ter and promote the regional club 
program. Only time will tell if the 
response will justify the renewed 
emphasis, but initial indications are 
very positive. 

A greater concern than the re- 
gional alumni program was the de- 
sire of a large segment of our re- 
spondents that WPI should be more 



widely recognized by the general 
public. There was a strong expres- 
sion of desire to expand and im- 
prove the WPI public relations pro- 
gram to place WPI's name in front of 
more people with greater frequency. 
This would, at least partially, an- 
swer the question heard so fre- 
quently outside New England: 
What's WPI?" It is clear from the 
survey that our alumni are very 
proud of their Alma Mater, they 
want WPI to be recognized, and they 
believe WPI as an institution should 
be known and respected by a 
broader spectrum of the general 
public. Thus, an effort is underway 
to enhance the public image of WPI 
and its alumni. 

Along the lines of improving 
the image and profile of WPI, one 
person responded that there is "a 
need to build loyalty in the current 
student body in the hope that the 
investment will pay off in a few 
years." Similarly, "wider press 
coverage — i.e., national news and 
business magazines — is especially 
important in telling alumni (and 
non-alumni, too) about the unique- 
ness and excellence of the WPI 
Plan." Others: "Stimulate and re- 
port local/regional clubs — provide 
programs on current activities on 
the Hill and tie in with Alumni 
Admissions recruiting. (Make] a 
special effort to involve recent 
grads." One person said, "some 
years ago I complained that WPI 



«0 / U/.n>«> lOUO I TUt, \A/I>I l/wirn^/ 



lack McCabe, '68, and Paul Kennedy, '67, pore over survey questionnaires and computer printouts. 








was generating high quality 'tech- 
nicians,' not engineers. The Plan 
bias gone [a long way] toward im- 
proving that situation, but I believe 
more can be done . . . Alumni are a 
powerful source of well-informed 
help. Exploit us!" Finally, someone 
said, "increase personal letters from 
the President to alumni." It was 
clear from the responses that 
alumni want to be involved, they 
want to know what's going on, and 
they want their Alma Mater to be 
appropriately recognized by every- 
one. 

Another item that surfaced was 
the expressed desire to know more 
about individual alumni. Expand- 
ing class notes m the fournal and a 
new issue of the Alumni Directory 
were popular suggestions. 

The larger question of the col- 
lege itself and its perceived 
strengths and weaknesses evoked 
the largest response in the ques- 
tionnaire. More than two-thirds of 
all respondents, or over 2,000 
people, wrote an answer to this 
question. 




A^ ^ 



Significantly, respondees cited 
WPI strengths much more fre- 
quently than weaknesses. Over half 
of the responses acknowledged 
WPI's reputation as a basic strength. 
Another 25 percent mentioned the 
quality of the education, the dedica- 
tion of the faculty, the student- 
faculty ratio, the small size of the 
institution, and the WPI Plan as 
very real strengths. The perception 
of the Plan as a strength varied 
somewhat with age. That might 
normally be expected, since 
younger graduates have actually 
experienced the Plan, while people 
who graduated prior to the 1970s 
perceive it according to what they 
have heard and read about the Plan, 
or how they have had contact with 
it through working with Plan 
graduates, or by knowing someone 
who studied under the Plan. 



Most people who responded to 
the strengths question listed at least 
two strengths. Some people actu- 
ally omitted weaknesses. However, 
about one-sixth of the respondents 
mentioned the same point (the 
largest single weakness cited), say- 
ing that WPI does not receive 
enough recognition, that the school 
is not well enough known. This 
response seemed more prevalent 
the further people live from 
Worcester. Other items suggested 
as weaknesses were the high cost of 
a WPI education today, athletic 
support, the WPI Plan, the size and 
quality of the graduate program, the 
humanities program, the current 
grading system, and social life on 
the WPI campus. 

Perhaps the most striking as- 
pect of these answers was their sur- 
prising consistency: there was very 
httle contradiction. 490 people 
thought the WPI Plan was a 
strength sufficient enough to be 
mentioned by name, while only 75 
individuals mentioned the Plan as a 



77?^ WPI kmrnal Wmtfr 19H? I Hi 



weakness. Still another 241 cited a 
good curriculum as a WPI strength. 
If nothing else, this may indicate 
the continuing need to describe the 
workings and philosophy of the WPI 
Plan to all alumni — and the general 
populace — so they might better 
evaluate its impact and effective- 
ness as the educational philosophy 
of their Alma Mater today. 

Some comments from the 
strengths and weaknesses question 
included, as strengths: "The educa- 
tional trainmg, tradition, faculty, 
expertise and career counseling"; 
"WPI treats undergraduates with a 
great deal of respect and under- 
graduate placement is super"; and 
"the academic stimulation poten- 
tial of the Plan." Under the weak- 
nesses section, one comment of- 
fered was "the way the competency 
exam is handled." This has been 
recognized as a problem in some 
departments and has been ad- 
dressed and hopefully resolved. 
Other mentioned weaknesses: 
"The advisor system — too many 
holes and cracks to fall through"; "a 
stronger graduate program is 
needed"; and "improved promo- 
tional efforts should be made." 
Many of the weaknesses described 
raise valid points, while others re- 
flect situations which have long 
since been addressed and corrected. 



This attitudinal survey is only 
a beginning. According to Paul 
Kennedy, '67, "it gives us much to 
consider and evaluate as we deter- 
mine directions for the alumni pro- 
gram in the months and years 
ahead. I was extremely pleased by 
the total response to the program; 
the 3,000 responses far exceeded our 
best expectations. We might ques- 
tion the validity of these results, 
because they were so positive, but I 
have every reason to believe they 
accurately reflect the views, opin- 
ions, and attitudes of the WPI 
alumni body in 1981. We believe 
that every alumnus who wanted to 
had the chance to respond, to air his 
or her views. We appreciate the 
time everyone took to answer the 
survey. We hope our actions in re- 
sponse to your comments will be 
judged by everyone to be positive 
and significant, and we welcome 
your ongoing commentary, input, 
and advice." 

In reflecting upon the survey. 
Alumni Association President 
Peter H. Horstmann, '55, indicated 
that several steps have been ini- 
tiated to address areas of concern 
identified in the survey. Among 
these steps is the formation of two 
task forces. One is addressing the 
regional program and its impact 
throughout the country. That task 
force is chaired by Harry W. Ten- 
ney, Jr. '56, vice president of the 
WPI Alumni Association. He ex- 
pects to present a final report and 
specific recommendations to the 
March 1982 meeting of the WPI 
Alumni Council. 

The area of image and public 
relations is a much broader topic 
and is being addressed by a task 
force chaired by Philip B. Ryan, '65. 
It is expected this will take much 
longer to complete than will the 
regional task force assignment. 



However, their end results may be 
more extensive and have a greater 
impact for WPI over the longer 
term. Said Mr. Horstmann, "I'm en- 
thused by the activity of these two 
groups, and I expect some very posi- 
tive action from them. They have 
been meeting now for several 
months, and I look forward to re- 
porting the results of their activity 
to all alumni." 

To address the concern of 
alumni to know more about their 
fellow alumni, a new edition of the 
WPI Alumni Directory is currently 
being initiated. A questionnaire to 
verify biographical information on 
file was mailed to all alumni in 
early January, and the book will be 
available for distribution by June 1. 
The Directory will be available for 
sale to all alumni and can be ordered 
directly through the Alumni Office 
or through the questionnaire which 
was sent to each alumnus. 

Horstmann, in conclusioi;!, said 
that he and the entire Association 
Executive Committee was stimu- 
lated by the response of everyone 
and he encouraged their continued 
involvement, interest, and partici- 
pation. We're all working to make 
WPI a better and stronger institu- 
tion, and a strong and active alumni 
body is a key ingredient in that 
process." 



f/t I \A/,r,l..r lOUO TU.. \A/ni //.iirn^/ 



You went to WPI 
to become a doctor? 



By Ruth Trask 



FOR OVER A CENTURY, WPI has graduated engineers 
who have helped keep the wheels of industry turn- 
ing; plan cities, dams, and highways on an interna- 
tional scale; and contribute to advancements in science. 
For the last ten years, WPI has also been graduating 
students who entered the college already knowing that 
engineering was not their life goal, or who changed their 
minds along the way. Many of these graduates ulti- 
mately went on to professional schools, and many are 
now doctors, dentists, or veterinarians. 

The following article tells the story of several of 
these graduates who marched to different drummers. It 
also tells how WPI helped shape their careers. 



WHEN David Hubbell, '73, first set foot "on 
the hill" as a freshman, going to medical 
school was not uppermost in his mind. "I was 
going to be an electrical engineer," he says. It was WPI's 
wide-ranging curriculum and the advent of the Plan, he 
believes, that eventually led him into medicine. 

"I started out as an electrical engineering student 
under the old [pre-Plan] system," he reports. "At the end 
of the first year, I began to get interested in biomedical 
engineering, then a new department at WPI. At the 
beginning of my junior year, I made the decision to apply 
to medical school. By that time, I was a WPI Plan 
participant. 

"It was when I participated in my major Plan 
project — sensory aids (electronic) for the blind — that I 
realized how much interest I had in medicine in general, 
an interest I had not recognized before. If I had been 
stuck in a traditional engineering curriculum, I would 
not have had the opportunity to make this discovery." 

Hubbell says the Plan was helpful in other ways. 
The less structured course selection allowed him the 
freedom to quickly get the rest of his premed require- 
ments out of the way so that he had plenty of time to 
apply to medical school. When WPI lacked premed 
courses that he needed, he took them at Clark and Holy 
Cross through the Worcester Consortium. 

"Most importantly," he explains, "my participa- 
tion in an engineering school and more specifically, the 
unique aspects of the Plan, afforded me a definite 
advantage in the medical school admissions game. I am 
firmly convinced that with the huge numbers of appli- 
cations to medical school, one needs a 'gimmick' — a 
way to have one's application stand out from the crowd. 

"Every place I interviewed, I was asked to explain 
my Plan project in detail. It was easy to tell that the 
interviewers were impressed with the Plan and with my 
involvement in it. Satisfactory performance at WPI 
under the Plan means the ability to operate indepen- 
dently and to work through a real problem in the real 
world. Medical schools, as well as other professional 
schools, look very favorably on this concept." 

Once in medical school, Hubbell found the course 
work tedious but relatively easy. He feels it was easy for 
him because his scientific background at WPI "more 
than stood up to the test." 




Dave HubbelL 73 



Hubbell gives credit to Dr. Robert Peura, '64, coor- 
dinator of WPI's biomedical engineering program, for 
facilitating his entrance into medical school. "He was 
my advisor and assisted me with my project, course 
selection, and medical school application process. I 
have since been associated with several other colleges 
and medical schools, and I can honestly say that I have 
not seen the kind of personal attention and dedication 
that WPI's faculty demonstrated." 

In 1973, Hubbell graduated from WPI with the first 
class to include Plan participants. In 1977, he graduated 
from Boston University School of Medicine. From 1977 
to 1981 he did an internship and residency in obstetrics 
and gynecology m San Diego, Calif. Currently, he is a 
staff obstetrician and gynecologist at the Naval Re- 
gional Medical Center in the Philippines. 

Recapping the value of his WPI premed experience, 
Dave Hubbell says, "I feel that a college should teach a 
person how to approach problems and to work them 
through logically and creatively. The specifics of any 
particular course are lost with time unless they are 
continually reinforced. It is not the course material per 
se that IS important, but this process of acquiring and 
applying new knowledge. I believe that WPI's program 
affords a unique environment in which this process can 
be mastered. Given this key to continued learning and 
creative thinking, I believe that a successful WPI stu- 



dent is prepared for the pursuit of any field. I believe that 
WPI's past and future performance will bear this out. 

"In short, I would say that a WPI education serves as 
an excellent background to the field of medicine, and its 
unique educational program can act as a key to open the 
door." 



RAYMOND Dunn, '78, like Dave Hubbell, believes 
that the flexibility of the WPI curriculum turned 
him in the direction of medical school. 

"In retrospect," he says, "I feel that, had I attended 
an institution with a structured premed curriculum, I 
would not have chosen to go to medical school." 

After discussing undergraduate education with 
several of his colleagues, he concludes that their more 
traditional curriculum (basic medical sciences) "did not 
allow them other educational experiences which, I 
believe, are more critical in the long run for the clinical 
years in medical school and subsequent residency train- 
ing and practice." 

Dunn, who is at Albany Medical College, believes 
that WPI's basic educational philosophy forced him to 
think on his own and mature as a student. "Independent 
thinking," he comments, "is paying off now and will 
continue to do so." 

He says that his WPI advisor was very helpful with 
his application to medical school and in outlining his 
basic course requirements, although a few extra under- 
graduate courses might have helped him during his first 
year at med school. All in all, Raymond Dunn is very 
happy with the preparation he received at WPI. 

So is Dr. Francis Kiernan, '75, a senior resident in 
internal medicine at Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn. 
He reports, "I feel that the rather concentrated seven- 
week courses under the WPI Plan are similar in struc- 
ture to the courses at medical school, which consist of 
studying one particular area of medicine (i.e. biology or 
cardiology, etc.) in a concentrated fashion for a few 
weeks." 

Also, his school, the University of Connecticut 
School of Medicine, required each student to complete a 
research project prior to graduation. "This project was 
in many respects similar to the major qualifying project 
(MQP) required at WPI." 

Kiernan did his MQP at St. Vincent Hospital, 
Worcester, where he studied abnormalities in red blood 
cells caused by an enzyme deficiency and used WPI's 
scanning electron microscope (SEM) to observe the 
surface morphology of defective cells. He spent so much 
time with the SEM that his project advisor, the associate 
director of hematology at the hospital, once remarked, 
"Kiernan has become more proficient than I and most 
other faculty in its operation." 

Following his current training in internal medicine 
in Hartford, Kiernan will begin a fellowship in 
cardiology. 



/6 Winter l'^H2 The Wl'l loinnal 



BESIDES HuBBELL, DuNN, AND KiERNAN, there are 
numerous other WPI graduates who have gone on 
to professional schools and careers. Dr. Daniel 
Funk, '11 , for instance, is now a resident in orthopedic 
surgery at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. "My 
interest in engineering continues, since this program 
has an outstanding biomechanics laboratory which spe- 
cializes in joint replacement," he says. Funk received 
his MD from the University of Cincinnati in 198 1 . 
Recently he returned from Switzerland, where he 
studied under a surgeon who specializes in fracture 
fixation with implantable devices. 

He says of his WPI premed background, "During 
my first two years of medical school, I was unprepared 
for letter grades, fourteen- week semesters, and final 
exams." 

Believing that the study of medicine does not stop 
with the classroom. Funk continues, "It is in this regard 
that the Plan has greatly helped me to compete in the 
professional world. Daily I have to make decisions for 
which there are no answers, choosing among options 
that aren't listed in a textbook. I use communication 
skills constantly, both in presenting cases to colleagues 
and in consulting patients and families. It is not the 
knowledge of medicine which enables me to 'compete' 
in this sense, but rather the way I make decisions and 
how efficiently I use my time. And these are the skills 
that are intrinsic to the educational process of the Plan." 
He says that, in some respects, the preprofessional 
program at WPI is not as adequately directed or financed 
as it is at some other schools. "This is understandable 
when examined by supply-side economics. It is impos- 
sible for WPI to provide the same backing for candidates 
as those colleges which rely on professional school 
placement for a large percentage of their graduates. WPI 



does not need this, because the majority of alumni 
establish immediate careers after graduation; the or- 
ganization to help those graduates seems active, 
healthy, and politically powerful." Almost as an after- 
thought he adds, "there are times when I wish WPI had 
an Old Boy network like the Ivy League schools." 

One of Dan Funk's classmates, Bruce Minsky, '11 , 
feels somewhat differently about WPI's preprofessional 
setup. "WPI is not a premed factory like some colleges," 
he says. "I like the idea of its not having a premed 
committee to screen applicants. It's to the advantage of 
the goal-oriented individual not to be prescreened, not 
to be judged on an arbitrary grade scale." 

Being goal-oriented himself, Minsky also approves 
of the more or less unstructured premed advising avail- 
able at WPI. "It gives the motivated, self-starting stu- 
dent more options in the end." 

Minsky, who has been attending the University of 
Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, will soon 
begin his residency in radiation oncology at the Harvard 
Joint Center for Radiation Therapy, which coordinates 
cancer treatment for most Harvard teaching hospitals. 

"Radiation therapy is a very technical field," he 
says. "And even though I was a life sciences major, I 
learned a lot of physical principles by 'osmosis' at WPI. 
My technical background has definitely helped me all 
along the line. For example, I was recently involved 
with the Massachusetts General Hospital cyclotron 
project in which cancer patients receive proton beam 
therapy." He also feels that WPI's compact, seven- week 
terms forced him to form good study habits that have 
carried over into medical school. 

"One of the most rewarding facets of my under- 
graduate education was the project work," he declares. 
For one project, he performed a transmission electron 




Bruce Minsky, 77 



The WPI journal I Winter 1982117 



microscopy study of urinary bladder fusiform mem- 
brane vesicles and their dependence upon urine concen- 
trating ability. A report of that work was published in 
the Journal of Cell Biology. In 1977, another article 
concerning summer research he did in the Department 
of Radiation Therapy at Harvard Medical School ap- 
peared in an issue of Radiation Research. 

"Every medical school application I filled out in- 
quired about projects and publications," Minsky re- 
ports. "At WPI I was privileged to have been involved 
with both. As a matter of fact, some of the work I did in 
medical school was based on my early WPI papers and 
projects." 



PAUL Johnson, '79, another WPI graduate at the 
University of Massachusetts Medical School 
(UMMS), says, "With so many applications, medi- 
cal school admission committees tend to seek criteria 
with which to distinguish candidates. I feel that the 
project-oriented WPI curriculum plus the competency, 
exam gave me an edge in the premed competition. 
Furthermore, the individualized plan of study stressed 
at WPI prepared me nicely for medical school studies. 
Much of the first two years of basic science as well as 
present and future clinical endeavors is self-learned. 
Medicine is a continually evolving specialty requiring 
constant learning and review. WPI provided me with the 
essence of this self-discipline and motivation, and I will 
be ever grateful." 

While at WPI, Johnson's project work was involved 
with American literature, practice teaching in music, 
and diabetes research, the latter being carried out with a 
staff member at the biochemistry department at 
UMMS, and Dr. D. T. Browne (chemistry) and Dr. T. C. 
Crusberg (life sciences) on campus. "Dr. Crusberg also 
did a superb job as my premed advisor," he adds. 

At the present time, Johnson is a third-year student 
at UMMS. Recently, he completed a summer clerkship 
in anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital. He 
extended his WPI project work on diabetes during his 
freshman summer (1980), and it has just been accepted 
for publication by Metabolism . Earlier, his MQP results 
were presented at the International Diabetes Federation 
Meetings in Vienna, Austria. "Obviously, the research 
experience offered at WPI has been invaluable in devel- 
opmg both my scientific interest and clinical attitude." 



MARK Mahoney, MD, 74, believes that going to 
n small college was to his advantage because 
at WPI individual attention is given to stu- 
dents trying to get into med school. "Although I may 
have needed a bit more guidance in course selection 
from my specific department advisor, Dr. Crusberg was 
most helpful as my premed advisor. Also," he con- 
tinues, "at WPI there isn't that high degree of cutthroat 
rivalry that exists m colleges with larger premed pro- 
grams." 



He feels that the freedom of the Plan allowed him to 
tailor a curriculum that prepared him for medicine. "At 
the same time, I learned enough biochemistry so that I 
could have gone on to graduate work, had I not gotten 
into medical school." 

After graduating from the University of Connect- 
icut School of Medicine in 1978, Mahoney did a three- 
year family practice residency in Abington, Pa., just 
outside of Philadelphia. During his final year, he served 
as the chief resident. Since July, he has been living in 
Mattapoisett, Mass. and working as the director of 
emergency services at Parkwood Hospital in New Bed- 
ford, as well as the part-time campus physician at 
Southeastern Massachusetts University. 

"In a year or so I'll be going into private practice 
with a friend in the New Bedford area." 



CURRENTLY, Gail D'Amico, '79, is in her first year 
at the Tufts University School of Veterinary 
Medicine in Boston. Since competition for ad- 
mission to veterinary school is exceptionally keen, her 
preprofessional advisor at WPI suggested that she begin 
applying several years before she actually planned to 
enroll. 

Prior to her admittance to veterinary school, 
D'Amico entered a PhD program in pharmacology at the 
Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, 
where she was an N.I.H. trainee. During her second year 
at Mount Sinai, she applied to Tufts, where she was 
accepted the second time around. 

She reports, "I regretted leaving before completing 
my PhD, but I decided to enter Tufts since it was likely 
to be a once-in-a-lifetime offer. Mount Sinai graciously 
awarded me a master's degree in pharmacology and a 
leave of absence should I decide to return at a later date." 

D'Amico gives her WPI advisors a lot of credit for 
guiding her into veterinary school. "They helped me 
plan my undergraduate program and tailor my projects 
towards medicine. They compiled a composite pre-vet 
recommendation from a committee of 12, which was 
praised during many of my graduate and vet school 
interviews." 

She found a few drawbacks with her WPI Plan 
background, however. "I was at a disadvantage with 
respect to my background in premedical basic science 
courses, as compared to other applicants. In this respect, 
I do not feel that seven-week courses are adequate in 
providing the depth and amount of subject coverage that 
most students obtain in semester-length courses." 

She also had to get used to board-type exams in both 
graduate and veterinary schools. Since most of her 
exams at WPI were take-home research types, she was 
unfamiliar with the typical exams used at most medical 
schools. 



18 i Winter I9H2 The WI>1 hnirnal 




Gail D'Amico, 79 



"However/' she goes on to explain, "I was able to 
really push the advantages of WPI in my essays, as well 
as in my interviews. I feel that the individuality of my 
program added considerably to the strength of my 
application. My research projects were much more 
extensive than those of most other applicants, and I was 
already familiar with standard 'protocol' in literature 
searches, as well as with presentation of scientific 
material. Because of this, I was able to converse in a 
sophisticated manner with my interviewers in many 
related research fields, and I was aware of many current 
problems facing medicine and basic science research." 



Finally, D'Amico feels that WPI contributed to her 
independence as a student in science. "It taught me how 
to find answers, where to find them, how to contact 
people who would know. I consider this more important 
than rote memorization of course work, since there is 
such a high probability of obsolescence in a fast-paced 
discipline like medicine." 



The Wri journal I Winter 1982119 



I OHN Smith, '76, is now attending the State Univer- 
I sity of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo (PhD 1982) and 
J SUNY at Stony Brook (MD 1984). In Buffalo, he is 
completing a doctoral degree in the Department of 
Experimental Therapeutics at Roswell Park Memorial 
Institute, the comprehensive cancer institute of New 
York State. He has finished research on his project 
regarding the effects of cancer chemotherapeutic agents 
on human immune responses and is currently writing 
papers for publication ... as well as his doctoral thesis. 

Smith says, "Roswell Park receives approximately 
100 applications for its five funded graduate positions 
each year. All accepted applicants must have done 
undergraduate research. At WPI, I worked on two differ- 
ent projects. The first, with Dr. Peura in biomedical 
engineering, studied the feasibility of impedance 
plethysmography in diagnosing peripheral vascular dis- 
ease. On this project I was a member of the clinical 
testing team which interacted directly with the pa- 
tients." 

His other project involved the preparation of 
human erythrocyte vesicles [small fragments of red 
blood cell membrane] under the direction of Dr. Theo- 
dore Crusberg m life sciences. "This particular project 
provided a smooth transition into graduate school, as I 
became involved in an application of this work — the use 
of erythrocyte [red blood cell] vesicles to carry drugs. I 
found my academic advisor, the late Dr. Richard 
Beschle, and my project advisors very supportive of my 
plans to go on to graduate and medical school." 

A second-year medical student at Stony Brook, 
Smith also serves on the admissions committee. "The 
committee likes to see evidence of interest m medicine 
beyond the classroom. This is usually satisfied by an 
undergraduate research project and/or clinical exposure. 
My projects at WPI gave me both." 

Smith's present plans are to complete a residency in 
medicine following graduation and possibly to continue 
on for subspecialty traming. Eventually he hopes to 
combine clinical practice with part-time research 
and/or teaching. 



ONE FORMER WPI PREl'ROFESSIONAL STUDENT, Dr. 
Bruce Croft, '7S, has branched out into a unique 
area of medical practice. He recently opened 
offices in Worcester and Holden for the practice of 
podiatry, sports medicine, and surgery of the foot. He 
graduated from the Illinois College of Podiatric 



Medicine in Chicago and completed his surgical resi- 
dency at Edward J. Hines Veterans Administration 
Hospital, Chicago, where the hospital's chief of surgery 
appointed him senior podiatric resident. 

The author of several articles regarding his spe- 
cialty. Croft says it was largely due to the WPI plan that 
he completed a fellowship program at Worcester Foun- 
dation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury. 

"While working on my MQP, I was offered a Junior 
Fellowship at the Foundation," he explains. "Later I 
received a full fellowship." His experience at the Foun- 
dation led him to a stronger interest in medicine and 
finally to his chosen profession of podiatry. 

Bruce Croft feels that his WPI preprof essional back- 
ground has been an important stepping stone in his 
medical career. 

Paul Chenard, '79, believes that his involvement with 
the preprofessional curriculum at WPI was a positive 
one. "My project work resulted in my being given much 
more responsibility and independence in conducting 
the research project on which I worked throughout my 
recent stay at Yale," he reports. "In addition, it was easy 
for me to settle into the project-oriented environment I 
found myself in there. ... I strongly believe that my 
performance at this research job and the subsequent 
recommendation I received from my employer influ- 
enced my being accepted to medical school." 

At the present time, Chenard is a medical student 
at the University of Connecticut, where he was ac- 
cepted last year. Prior to his acceptance, he worked as an 
assistant in research in a laboratory at Yale University 
School of Medicine, where he did research in renal 
physiology. He was hired as an assistant in research at 
Yale a month after graduating from WPI, and he re- 
mained there until he entered medical school. 

Chenard says that his WPI preprofessional back- 
ground was a definite plus. "I don't think I could have 
received better premed training anywhere." 

Brian Timura, '78, agrees. "WPI was extremely 
beneficial, not only in helping me gain entrance into 
medical school, but also in helping me obtain the best 
from my medical education." 

Currently, a third-year student at Tufts University 
School of Medicine, he admits that medical school 
admissions officers were not always aware of what WPI 
has to offer the preprofessional. Invariably he was asked 
during his interviews, "knowing in high school that you 
wanted to enter medical school, why did you choose 
WPI for your undergraduate education?" 

Timura had the answer. Basically, he was attracted 
to WPI because of its unique curriculum. "All three 
projects, as well as the competency exam were valuable 
and challenging," he'd explain. "The general experience 
of planning my own curriculum, tailored to my project 
work, and not having to choose courses to merely fulfill 
credit hours, as is true in most colleges, was an educa- 
tional experience in itself." 

Timura appreciated his advisor's efforts in assisting 
[iim with his program plan. "He encouraged me to do at 



20 Winter 1W2 The Wl'l lotirnal 



least one project in a hospital setting. This enabled me 
to become familiar with physicians outside of the WPI 
community and allowed me to ask pertinent questions 
about gaining entrance into medical school." Since the 
physicians Brian worked with were in academic 
medicine, associated with the University of Mas- 
sachusetts Medical School, Timura was able to get 
first-hand knowledge about medical education. 

Timura reveals that his experience of taking the 
competency exam at WPI has been a decided asset. 
Much of his work takes place in hospital wards, where 
he has to take a history and perform a physical exam on a 
patient, and then, in a limited amount of time, write a 
report and read up on his patient's problems. 

"Because of the limited time, I have to be selective 
in what to read," he reports. "Then, I may have to 
present the patient's history and physical to a group of 
physicians. I sometimes have to answer their questions 
about the history of the patient, as well as questions 
about his or her diseases. This procedure is many ways 
similar to taking and preparing for the WPI competency 
exam. I am grateful that I had that opportunity as an 
undergraduate." 



BESIDES THE "hands-on" EXPERIENCE gained 
through the projects and the competency, there are 
many other opportunities for the preprofessional 
student at WPI, according to Dr. Theodore C. Crusberg 
of the Department of Life Sciences, who is the premedi- 
cal advisor. The student is made aware right from the 
beginning, that he may pursue any degree program at 
WPI. If necessary, he may take specific courses for 
admission to the professional school of his choice. 

"There are no hidebound rules concerning majors 
for the preprofessional student at WPI," Dr. Crusberg 
says. "Not everyone who plans to go on in the medical 
field concentrates in chemistry, biology, or the life 
sciences. Just last year, for example, Nancy Berube, '8 1, 
graduated with a degree in humanities (dramatic litera- 
ture). She is now at the University of Massachusetts 
Medical School." 

Generally, students planning a premedical, preden- 
tal, or preveterinary education at WPI take two courses 
each in life sciences, physics, introductory chemistry, 
organic chemistry, English composition, and calculus, 
all of which are typical admissions requirements at 
most medical schools. Additional specific courses, such 
as psychology, biochemistry, genetics, embryology, and 
certain laboratory courses may be required by various 
medical schools. 

"Veterinary schools may also require that under- 
graduate students work with both small and large 
animals in addition to their normal college experience," 
Crusberg adds. "We try to let our advisees know early on 
just what courses and experiences are necessary so they 
can plan their curriculum accordingly." 



Nancy Berube, '81 





^MM ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


■ 


I^^HHA ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^K 4 


^ 




1 



There are a number of criteria used by professional 
schools in making admissions decisions. "Documenta- 
tion of scholastic ability is one important aspect," says 
William R. Grogan, '46, dean of undergraduate studies 
at WPI. "Grades in courses for sophomore through 
junior years are most important, since applications are 
usually filed between the junior and senior years. At 
WPI, preprofessional students should set a goal of at 
least 50 percent distinctions in grades for medical and 
dental schools — as a minimum effort." 

Although WPI does not use a traditional grading 
system, the registrar, if necessary, will compute a 
nationally-recognized Quality Point Average (Accepta- 
ble = 2.75; Distinction = 4.0) and forward it to the 
medical, dental, or veterinary school to which the 
student applies. Grades in specific courses, especially in 
organic chemistry, may often be considered important 
criteria by medical schools in making a decision on a 
student's application. Completion of all preprofessional 
course requirements is advised during the student's first 
three years as an undergraduate, so that he or she may 
take the standardized examination required of virtually 
every applicant to professional school. 



The WPI Journal I Winter 1982121 




Prof. Ted Crusberg 



Another criterion by which an aspiring professional 
is judged is his or her score on the Medical College 
Admissions Test (MCAT); the Dental Aptitude Test 
(DAT); the Veterinary Aptitude Test (VAT); or the 
Graduate Record Examination (GRE). These tests are 
the only criteria which serve as common yardsticks for 
all applicants and, as such, may be considered important 
in decision-making by many admissions committees. 

How do WPI students score on these difficult, 
standardized tests? "Remarkably well," comments 
Crusberg. "I recently received a summary of the latest 
MCAT results. Students who earned their BS at WPI and 
took the test were consistently above the national 
average in every single area: biology, chemistry, 
physics, science problems, reading skills, and quantita- 
tive skills. What particularly impresses me," Crusberg 
remarks, "is that the average reading skills score is 15 
percent above the national average, which indicates this 
is a very literate group of young people. So far, those 
taking the test and applying to medical schools have 
been exemplary." 



22 Winter I9H2 The Wl>l loiirnal 



BESIDES TESTING, letters of recommendation are 
another important factor in the apphcation pro- 
cess. During terms C or D of the junior year, 
students meet with the preprofessional advisor and 
estabhsh a committee consisting of several faculty. 
This committee is usually made up of the academic 
advisor, the IQP advisor, the MQP advisor, and the 
sufficiency advisor. Also included are other faculty, 
acquaintances, and supervisors who have been able to 
observe the student under a variety of conditions. 

The number of people serving as the student's 
committee is determined by the student. Off-campus 
people, including professionals (doctors, dentists, vet- 
erinarians), may be committee members. After deter- 
mining the committee, the preprofessional advisor con- 
tacts each person directly and provides a form on which 
a paragraph or two concerning the student's personality, 
motivation, character, creativity, integrity and several 
other qualities is written. From these forms a final, 
single letter of recommendation is generated. 

"These letters are a prime element in the admis- 
sions process," Crusberg says. "They give the profes- 
sional school admissions officer personal evaluations 
that don't show up in the student's transcript or MCAT 
score." 

The application process itself is not too 
difficult — merely tedious. Most medical and dental 
schools now demand that the student apply through the 
American Medical Colleges Application Service or the 
American Association of Dental Schools Application 
Service. These services permit a student to make out a 
single application, report his or her MCAT or DAT 
scores, and submit one transcript. That information is 
then sent to each medical or dental school as designated 
by the student. 

After reviewing credentials, a professional school 
may wish to have the student visit for an interview. The 
interview is generally conducted by faculty, clinicians, 
and students of the host school, and the format can be 
variable and often unpredictable. 

Crusberg advises: "The student should have several 
experiences related to medicine such as working as a 
medical or hospital technician, or service in a public 
agency or other relevant people-oriented activity to 
discuss. Project efforts, especially in the area of 
medicine, should also be spotlighted." 

Following the interview, the applicant may have to 
wait from a few days to several months before learning 
of the decision of the professional school admissions 
committee. For almost everyone, rejections far out- 
number acceptances. For every two qualified candi- 
dates, one is rejected in medicine, and there is even a 
smaller acceptance rate at veterinary schools. The com- 
petition for dental schools is not as intense, and the 
chances of admission there are better. 



Since only one out of two qualified applicants is 
accepted to medical school, planning an alternative 
career is essential. About 70 percent of those from WPI 
who receive the highest recommendations are accepted 
into medical school. "This is why," says Crusberg, 
"each preprofessional student should be concerned 
about other career plans, which might include graduate 
school, teaching, or business." 

The future for seniors who are not accepted right 
away at medical school can have a silver lining. Many 
WPI students find that admission is possible after two or 
three years of graduate school or research activity. Also, 
a few WPI students have entered foreign medical 
schools in Mexico, Greece, Poland, and the Dominican 
Repubhc, with the hope of returning to the U.S. to 
complete their clinical training or as residents or 
interns. 

"Financial need should not deter a student from 
obtaining a medical or dental education," Crusberg 
continues. "Funds may come through family resources, 
loans, and scholarships. More than half of all students 
enrolled in U.S. medical schools receive financial as- 
sistance. There is money available for those wanting to 
go into medicine." 



AND THOSE STUDENTS who find their way into 
medicine along the preprofessional route at WPI, 
will discover that their "untraditional" premed 
background can make them more adaptable to change. 
Not only will they have been well versed in the basic 
sciences, they will have had to face and master the 
unpredictables that inevitably crop up in project work 
and in the competency exam. In a world of expanding 
medical technologies, the WPI premed student turned 
doctor may be less likely than most to suffer from future 
shock. 

"Technology is here to stay," says Ted Crusberg. 
"Ten years from now, medicine will be profoundly 
changed by advancements in engineering and computer 
science. I feel a doctor needs an engineering type of 
education to keep up with the state of the art." 



The WPI jouinal I Winter 1982123 




I9i8 



Currently, George Gove, who is retired from 
Behr-Manning Corp., resides in Holden, 
Mass. His wife, Helen, passed away in Au- 
gust. She was the sister of the late Ned 
Nutter, '13. 

The Atwater Kent lecture hall has been 
named the Newell Lecture Hall as a tribute 
to Professor Emeritus Hobart H. Newell, 
who served on the WPI electrical engineering 
faculty from 192 1 to 1965 and, who since his 
retirement, has served as consultant to the 
Alden Research Laboratories. Throughout 
his professional career. Prof. Newell was a 
well-known consultant to radio stations. He 
is credited with developing the electrical 
engineering department's program in elec- 
tronics. 



1927 



Charles Moore recently received a 450-mile 
Red Cross certificate for swimming 450 
miles in Cleveland's Cudell Recreation Cen- 
ter pool. He swam that distance in the pool 
between October of 1971 and [une of 1 98 1 . 



1928 



The John Driscolls visited Bermuda last fall. 
While on vacation, they enjoyed swimming. 
John writes: "Peg and I were in the water 
mommgs at eight to whet our breakfast 
appetites." 

Charley Durbin says, "Looking forward 
to 'H.3 and our 55th." He and Sue exhibited 
antiques at 16shows this year, down from 19 
last year. "The economy is hurtmg the an- 
tique business." They did most of their 
traveling around the New England States, 
but did get to the Heisey collectors' conven- 
tion in Newark, Ohio last June. 

In addition to such hobbies as gardening, 
woodworking, and furniture refinishing, 
Mildred and Ted Englund continue to travel. 
In I9H0 they visited their son, Paul, and his 
family in Nairobi, Kenya. "Paul was on loan 



from the Johns Hopkins Medical School at a 
research lab in Kenya." While visiting their 
son, the Englunds had an opportunity to 
enjoy several safaris "which turned out to be 
fantastic experiences." During the past 
summer, they spent several days in 
Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, and con- 
tinued by train to Jasper, and through the 
Canadian Rockies to Glacier National Park. 
"A truly marvelous trip!" 

W. Bigelow Hall and his wife are living 
in retirement in Redington Beach, Fla., 
where "Big" spends much of his time golfing, 
tending 20 rose plants, bird carving, and 
walking the beautiful gulf beach between 
swims. He has served as the head of the local 
civic association, as chairman of a commit- 
tee to rewrite the town charter, and for the 
past two and a half years as chairman of the 
town park board. "We summer in Winchen- 
don every year or two. This year we went to 
the canyon country in Arizona and Utah." 
The Halls have been married for over 52 
years. 

Frank King continues as president of the 
Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Elec- 
tric Company (MMWEC), and is currently 
concerned with the nearly completed Stony 
Brook Intermediate Project in the Ludlow 
area. The first municipally-owned power 
plant. Stony Brook is large enough to light up 
the cities of Springfield and Worcester com- 
bined and is a milestone in New England's 
electric power industry. It is reported that 
the plant will be able to supply municipali- 
ties with power priced 20 percent lower than 
that from private utilities. King says that the 
plant will also save New England thousands 
of gallons of fuel because of the efficiency of 
its new combined cycle turbines. 

Early on, the plant came under criticism 
when it was learned that it would be using 
No. 2 oil, a commodity considered both 
expensive and not always plentiful. King 
noted. He pointed out, however, that the 
plant's technology actually reduces the 
amount of oil being used by New England 
utilities because of its efficiency. He esti- 
mated that for every one percent conserved 
through efficiency, about $ 1 million is saved. 

When the plant is fully operational by 
the end of 1982, it will be able to provide 
enough power to run one million automatic 
washing machines, or more than five million 
100 watt light bulbs. It was dedicated in 
November by Gov. Edward J. King in a cere- 
mony attended by a host of dignitaries. 

In October, Fred Knight rounded out ten 
years of retirement, and says "have become 
so happy with it that I don't miss my job in 
the least, much as I enjoyed it for 34 years." 
He and his wife take part in home town 
activities. They escape from Coming, N.Y. 
to southern California for the three worst 
months of winter. 

Ralph Lundberg has been doing consult- 
ing work ever since he retired. He also serves 
as a volunteer helping some of the neigh- 
borhood widows with their house and yard 
problems. He is on the board of directors of 
his neighborhood association and is in charge 
of the neighborhood road committee, which 
IS responsible for keeping area roads in good 
shape. Periodically, he serves on the night 
watch in his vicinity. Weather permitting, he 
does a lot of biking, walking, swimming, 
golfing, bowling, gardening, and house paint- 
ing. He and his wife have traveled to Scan- 



dinavia, California, Florida, and Bermuda, 
among other places. This winter, they plan to 
go to Florida. 

Andy Maston plays golf several times a 
week. "But already, this fall, I've started 
shoveling snow. Three inches yesterday. " He 
also walks and exercises. He has been in- 
volved for some time with local politics, and 
has spent a few years on the local hospital 
board. He has five children, with two being 
engineers and three, teachers. A couple of 
years ago he served as an Alcoa consultant for 
seven weeks at the same GE plant in 
Pittsfield, Mass., which his class had visited 
when he was an EE student at WPI. 

James McCarthy sends his best to all 
who plan to make the reunion. His wife is an 
invalid and requires much care. "No travel 
time forme." 

Karl Penney reports that the following 
class members regularly attend Tech Old- 
Timers meetings: Ted Englund, Karl Penney, 
Les Sarty, Roger Tarbox, Chet Doe, Forrest 
Nelson, and Donald Reed. "Gabe Bedard 
comes from Springfield at least once a year to 
check on the treasurer of the 1928 55th 
Reunion Fund." 

Hal Voigt's wife, Helen, passed away 
last September. In December, he was slated 
to leave Dayton to visit his daughter and 
grandchildren in Burbank, Calif. He was also 
planning to visit his son and grandchildren in 
Portland, Oregon. He hopes to attend the 
55th. 

Winslow Wentworth has just started his 
eighth term as president of the Franklin 
County Home Care Corporation which 
serves the 26 Franklin County towns and 
four towns in Worcester County. In addition, 
he is a trustee of the Farren Memorial Hospi- 
tal, where he is chairman of the building and 
maintenance committee. 



1929 



Wayne Berry writes from Spring Hill, Fla. 
that there are so many activities in his 
apartment complex "there are no dull mo- 
ments." He serves as editor of the Evergreen 
Woods News, which comes out once a 
month. He and his wife, Julia, have a one- 
bedroom apartment in the planned retire- 
ment community. 

The couple enjoys the social and group 
activities at the retirement center, including 
monthly birthday parties and wedding an- 
niversaries. (They celebrated their 50th in 
1980.) 

Before moving to Evergreen Woods, 
Wayne taught Sunday School at the 
Methodist Church. He plans to resume some 
teaching soon at the complex. His booklet 
summary of Henry George's book. Progress 
and Poverty, is now in its second printing. 

Until his retirement a few years ago, 
Wayne was an electrical engineer at Under- 
writers Laboratories for 40 years. During his 
last 25 years with UL, he and his wife were 
volunteer workers at Long Island's Nassau 
County Hospital for eight years, and in 1971 
they received a plaque as the hospital's out- 
standing volunteers. Wayne was awarded a 
gold pin for 1,000 hours of service. 



4^4 . Winter 19H2 The WPI lournal 



I930 



Charlotte and Charles Cole celebrated their 
golden wedding anniversary on August 23, 
1981 in the same setting as their marriage in 
1931 in HoUiston, Mass. The house, now the 
Holliston Historical Society, was formerly 
the home of the bride's family. Mrs. Cole 
graduated from Mount Holyoke College . Her 
husband graduated from WPI and Harvard 
Business School. For many years he was with 
Standard Oil of New Jersey. In 1950 he 
moved his family to Venezuela to become 
head of the Creole Petroleum Corp., a sub- 
sidiary of Standard Oil Co., now Exxon. The 
Coles have four children and 1 1 grandchil- 
dren. Mrs. Cole has long been interested in 
sculpture in stone and steel, oil painting, and 
ceramics, and has had several one- woman 
shows. She is the current wdnner of a first 
place in sculpture at the Hyannis Members' 
Art Show and an honorable mention winner 
in the New England Show at Hyannis. Her 
husband was active in church and civic af- 
fairs. Since his retirement, he has become an 
enthusiastic tennis player, woodcarver, and 
carpenter. 

The four daughters of Mabel and Pete 
Maisaw held a reception on August 29, 198 1 
in Worcester in honor of their parents' 50th 
wedding anniversary. Over 150 people at- 
tended the celebration. Pete is still doing 
some consulting work. 

J. Lloyd Richmond (Jack) writes that he 
was responsible for recruiting Cookie Price, 
'30 for WPI in 1925. Both Jack and Cookie 
were from West Palm Beach, Fla. Jack is now 
back in the same function as area chairman 
of the Miami Alumni-Admissions program. 
He is charged with overseeing the admis- 
sions recruitment activities of Miami 
alumni. 

Dan O' Grady and Carl Backstrom repre- 
sented the Class of 1930 at the dedication of 
the new Atwater Kent building on Oct. 2, 
1981. 

You will recall that our 50th anniversary 
gift was to be used for a new classroom in this 
building. A very nice plaque is on the wall of 
this large second floor classroom marked: 
"Given by the Class of 1930 on the occasion 
of their 50th anniversary." Make sure you 
visit the new modem Atwater Kent building 
on your next visit to WPI, and check on our 
room. 

After our 50th banquet in June 1980, we 
had a few dollars left over and they have been 
on deposit in the bank. Since the alumni 
office will take care of any mailing we wish 
to put out, I have talked to Dan O'Grady and 
we decided to close the account, and donate 
the money to the WPI alumni fund for 1981- 
82. So, with a little help from Dan and me, we 
will show a $100 gift to the fund from our 
class. 
Call Backstrom, Class Secretary-TreasureT 



1931 

Phyllis and Al Demont were injured in a 
head-on crash with a car load of teenagers on 
Sept. 5th, but are recovering nicely. Al suf- 
fered, among other things, five broken ribs 
and multiple bruises. He says, "Phyllis was 
bruised severely, from the seat belt, proba- 
bly, but with little doubt would have been 
pitched through the windshield without the 
belt." Both are now home from the hospital. 



1933 



John Magee continues with his consulting 
and research assignments with Elevator Re- 
search Co., New York City. He holds four- 
teen elevator patents. 



1934 



Luther Leavitt, who has served as vice 
chairman of Melrnz Industries since 1977, 
also likes to create speeches. His "Biggest 
Little Battle Bunker Hill" has been given 
many times in the New England and Cleve- 
land areas. 

Paul Sullivan spends his winters in En- 
glewood, Florida and his summers in South 
Harwich, Mass. 



1935 



Alfred Cantor owns Altun Enterprises in 
Greenbrae, San Rafael, Calif. 

Guests may find it a bit difficult to sleep 
or even sit at the home of Sue and Ted 
McKinley in Wilmington, Delaware. That's 
because every available inch of space is filled 
with McKinley's retirement hobby, 
strawflowers that he grows at the back of his 
large plant-filled yard. And 35,000 individual 
strawflowers set in white plastic tubs would 
certainly take up plenty of room. 

By the time of the first killing frost, 
McKinley will have picked more than 
150,000 flowers from nearly 900 plants, 
placed in long rows and held in place by more 
than three miles of twine. 

McKinley says he got into strawflowers 
because his wife was in charge of flower 
arranging at a nearby museum. Now, what 
started as a hobby, has grown into a business 
called Barley Mill Bouquet. And what a busi- 
ness! His strawflowers can be found at 
Longwood Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg, 
and Old Sturbridge Village, to name a few 
places. One Main Line flower arranger orders 
about 1,500 flowers a week. 

Of some 300 test plants, McKinley has 
18 new varieties that he is testing. He plans 
to introduce six next year, but they won't 
appear on the market. He wants to keep them 
for himself. 



The McKinleys separate their flowers 
into two groups, the color-coordinated ones 
and the mixed bouquets, which are sold to 
various museums and gardens. Serious 
flower arrangers buy the former group, pay- 
ing up to $78 a thousand, plus transportation. 
Most customers, however, pick them up at 
the McKinleys'. Along with the strawflow- 
ers, McKinley raises German statice in 
another plot and harvests about 300 pounds 
of this popular flower for drying. 

Ted McKinley retired as a pigments re- 
search supervisor for du Pont some time ago, 
but he never did stop working. 



1936 



Scott Goodwin writes that he is very busy 
taking care of his own place, helping build a 
two-car garage for his son-in-law, and help- 
ing the Hartford Insurance Group on a design 
and construction problem. He also works 
with the American Nuclear Insurance Co. on 
occasion. 

Ed Guild is employed part time at the 
Reynolds Metals Co. fabrication plant which 
is part of the can division. The plant makes 
equipment to manufacture millions of cans 
for the beer and soft drink industries. 



1937 



William Carew, president of the Class of 
1937, has been elected president of the Na- 
tional Council of Engineering Examiners. 
Also, he recently received the NCEE Distin- 
guished Service Award. 



1938 



Recently, Louise and Dick Burke retumed 
from a trip to Acapulco, the Panama Canal, 
Columbia, Santo Domingo, BVI, St. Thomas, 
and San Juan. 

Warren Spofford has retired as account 
executive from Norton Co. and is residing in 
Nashua, N.H. 



1939 



John Backes retired last August from Water- 
bury Farrel-Textron and currently lives in 
Mesa, Arizona. 

Robert Hamilton, former manager of 
fleet sales for Mobil Oil Corp., retired re- 
cently. He is currently located in Bridgton, 
Maine. 

OJ. Kama is a senior project manager at 
Rust Engineering Co., Birmingham, 
Alabama. 



The WPI Journal I mntei 1982125 



I940 



Richard Mayer retired in August and is now a 
resident of Intervale, N.H. He had been a 
purchasing specialist for Monsanto. 



1941 



William Carroll, Jr. is retired and living in 
Tarpon Springs, Flonda. 

George George and his son, Doug 
George, '69, have taken over the manage- 
ment of the new, totally renovated "9-20" 
Motel in Northboro, Mass. and of the West 
Boylston Motel in West Boylston. The "9- 
20" features hght housekeeping units and 
Diamond Jim's Restaurant, as well as a 
heated indoor pool and can clearly be seen by 
driving on Rte. 9. The Georges, who manage 
other properties in eastern Massachusetts, 
are also home builders. 



1942 



WPI Prof. Roy Bourgault has been selected by 
the Michelin Tire Company to provide his 
failure analysis expertise in accident cases 
involving their tires. 



1943 



Arthur Grazulis holds the post of principal 
process control engineer at Diamond Sham- 
rock Corp., PainesviUe, Ohio. 



1944 



Dr. Kenneth Cashin resigned as associate 
dean of engineering at UMass in August. He 
will return to the Chemical Engineering De- 
partment for three more years. 

John Chandler has been named a vice 
president of Borg- Warner Corporation's 
York-International operation. He is respon- 
sible for all marine, military and government 
sales of the company's air conditioning and 
refrigeration equipment in the U.S. and in 
international markets. Additionally, he 
heads York's government relations activities 
in Washington, DC. He loined the York 
division of the firm in 1944 and has served in 
increasingly responsible capacities. Most re- 
cently, he was director of York-Inter- 
national's Marine, Military and Government 
IX'partment. 



Chandler is active in several 
Washington area professional and commu- 
nity organizations, including the Govern- 
ment Contracts Council of the Machinery 
and Allied Products Institute. He is a director 
and chairman of the government relations 
committee for the Alliance for a Responsible 
Chlorofluorocarbon Policy. Also, he is a 
member of the Society of Naval Architects 
and Marine Engineers, the American Society 
of Naval Engineers, and the American Soci- 
ety of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Condi- 
tioning Engineers. 

Associated with the Kiwanis, he directs 
the activities of that organization's or- 
thopedic chnic at Sibley Hospital. He serves 
as treasurer of the University Club of 
Washington, D.C. and belongs to the New- 
comen Society of North America, the U.S. 
Navy League, and the Propeller Club. 

Harold Davis continues as president and 
general manager of Electro-Flex Heat, Inc., 
Bloomfield, Conn. His firm has concentrated 
on two specific types of flexible heating 
elements: flat elements and molded ele- 
ments, both stock and custom. It provides a 
complete line of drum and pail heaters, based 
on well developed capabilities in the flexible 
heating element area. It also offers a series of 
indicating and non-indicating temperature 
controllers for the precise control of pro- 
cesses to 500 degrees P. 

There are many applications for 
Electro-Flex heating elements in industry. 
For example, Rockwell installs flexible 
neoprene rubber heating elem.ents on some 
of its aircraft at the duct inlet point to keep 
the generator cooling duct open when icing 
conditions are encountered in flight. A flexi- 
ble silicone rubber blanket on the Better 
Pack 555 Electric Tape Machine (Better 
Packages, Inc.), makes gummed tape glue 
stickier. A molded silicone rubber heater 
used by Martin Marietta on the Viking 
spacecrafts ensured the maintenance of the 
fuel temperature. Electro-Flex heaters are 
also used in personal products, such as foot- 
baths. 

Everett Johnson, manager of the Beacon 
Research Laboratories of Texaco, Inc., has 
been elected to the board of directors of the 
United Way of Dutchess County in New 
York State. He will assist in making policy 
decisions that will affect the operations of 
the United Way, including the allocation of 
funds, and community planning. In other 
areas, Johnson serves as director of the 
Council of Industry of Southeastern New 
York and has been busy with a number of 
civic, social, political, and religious organi- 
zations. He belongs to the Society of Au- 
tomotive Engineers and to the Southern 
Dutchess County Chamber of Commerce. 

Eriing Lagerholm's corporate offices 
(Norwood Group International) have been 
moved from Boston to Bedford, N.H. 

Paul Pressel serves as a senior staff en- 
gineer for Bendix Electric in Sidney, New 
York. 

Dr. Jack Queijo has been named director 
of the NASA Langley Visitor Center in 
Hampton, Va. He retired from NASA's 
Langley Research Center in 1980 after .^6 
years of service, and brings a wealth of expe- 
rience to his new post. In the early days of 
America's space program, he worked closely 
with the original seven astronauts and to 



some extent with Dr. Wernher von Braun. At 
NASA he played a key role in determining 
lunar orbit rendezvous techniques, worked 
with the earliest simulated lunar landings 
and was involved with simulations for the 
Gemini missions. Later, he dealt with re- 
search in aerodynamics of swept-wing air- 
craft, stall/spin problems and unsteady 
aerodynamics. 

Queijo finds his new position "ex- 
tremely interesting because of all the 
changes and advances that are still occurring. 
The most impressive thing about the Visitor 
Center is that it's a living organism rather 
than a museum. It's constantly being 
changed and kept up-to-date." He looks for- 
ward to "making the public more aware of 
Langley and NASA-wide contributions to 
aeronautics, to technology and to the econ- 
omy." 

Bill Raymond has held his current post 
as chief of Gannett Fleming's Traffic Section 
since 1967, following a three-year stint as 
manager of the firm's Pittsburgh office, and 
years of highway design work. He will soon 
be celebrating his 25th anniversary with the 
company. One of his duties during the past 
fifteen years, has been keeping careful plot- 
tings of traffic volumes on the South Bridge 
in Harrisburg, Pa. He gets quarterly data on 
traffic counts for other areas througliout 
Pennsylvania, and wanted to see how the 
volume would grow. 

Initially, three alternate schemes for 
traffic maintenance were developed for the 
bridge. The plan eventually adopted required 
fewer changes in traffic patterns. Says Bill, 
"People get used to the traffic patterns. If 
patterns are constantly being changed, 
there's more chance for confusion." 

Last year. Bill served as a member of the 
conference committee at the Specialty Con- 
ference on Rehabilitation and Reconstruc- 
tion of Major Highways held in New Or- 
leans, La. 



1945 



John Bayer, as a guest columnist, wrote an 
article about the American automobile in- 
dustry for the Patriot, a newspaper in Web- 
ster, Mass. in August. He is president of 
Bayer Motors, Inc. and treasurer of the Bayer 
Leasing Corp. of Dudley. Currently, Bayer's 
GM dealership is one of the oldest GM out- 
lets in New England. He handles Cadillacs, 
Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, as well as American 
Motors vehicles. 

Robert Buck, who retired from the Fed- 
eral Aviation Administration in 1979, re- 
sides in Bethesda, Md. He holds a master's 
degree from George Washington University. 

Burton Hinman serves as vice president 
of Parajett AB of Landskrona, Sweden. He is 
located in Palatine, Illinois. 

Roger Perry, director of public relations 
at WPI, has been elected a regional director of 
the New England chapter ot the Public Rela- 
tions Society of America. He recently be- 
came a certified giaphoanalyst, receiving his 
diploma from the International 
Graphonana lysis Society. 



26 . Winter l'>fH2 The WPI hnirnal 



1946 



1952 



1953 



Rodney Chase is with Rodel, Inc., Newark, 
Delaware. 

Alfred Wood serves as a bridge engineer 
for the Southern Pacific Transportation Co., 
San Francisco. 



1947 



John Hambor is now president of his own 
company, HV Component Associates, Inc., 
in Howell, N.f. The company just finished a 
very successful first year manufacturing high 
voltage rectifiers and multipliers for use on 
CRT's and X-ray machines, and other 
equipment. 



1948 



Harold Devlin serves as a project manager at 
Brown & Root, Inc., Houston, Texas. 



1949 



John Yaeger has been named manager of 
marketing communications in the Modicon 
Division at Gould, Inc., Andover, Mass. In 
this post he supervises all advertising, sales 
promotion, market research, visual aids, in- 
dustry shows, and technical exhibits. Ini- 
tially, he joined the Modicon Division as 
manager of marketing communications. 
Previously, he was account executive for an 
advertising agency in Philadelphia for five 
years. From 1954 to 1967 he was on the 
corporate marketing staff of Ametek, Inc., 
performing market research and product 
planning for the company's line of mechan- 
ical testing equipment and fluid controls. 



1950 

James O'Connor holds the post of vice presi- 
dent of finance at Hill Holiday Connors 
Cosmopolos in Boston. 



Frank Flood, Jr. is chief estimator at Perini 
Corporation in Framingham, Mass. 

Lee Tuomenoksa has been elected vice 
president of Customer Services II, Area 44, at 
Bell Laboratories. In this newly-created post, 
he will be responsible for developing busi- 
ness communication products and services 
for the Bell System. He joined Bell Labs in 
1954, developing the database and switching 
network control for an experimental elec- 
tronic central office in Morris, 111. In 1966, he 
was named head of the Electronic Switching 
Maintenance Planning Department, and 
oversaw the design of program and circuit 
facilities for detecting and analyzing troubles 
in No. 1 ESS. After becoming assistant direc- 
tor of the No. 4 ESS Switching System Labo- 
ratory in 1974, he was promoted to director 
of the laboratory in 1976. Subsequently he 
was named director of the local ESS Applica- 
tions Laboratory, director of the Digital 
Terminal Laboratory, and executive director. 
Transmission Terminals and Maintenance 
Division. In 1979, he was appointed execu- 
tive director of Data Communications, the 
post he held prior to his most recent ad- 
vancement. 

As a new vice president, Tuomenoksa 
says that he has two goals for his company: 
"To work more closely with Western Elec- 
tric and AT&T and to become known as 
leaders in good management and leaders in 
how well we treat people." Earlier in his 
career, while working as a department head 
responsible for No. 4 ESS system design and 
operational program development, he be- 
came aware of how critical "people" issues 
are. "I started to realize the technical prob- 
lems were often a lot easier to solve than 
were the people problems." 

Possessed of a wry sense of humor, 
Tuomenoksa has put out a 16-page guideline 
for achieving a project failure. One guideline 
is "Always establish a schedule before you 
know what the project requirements are." 
Another is "When people come to you with 
their problems, make it clear that you do not 
want to hear them." 

Married and the father of three, he tries 
to keep his weekends open for sailing (a 
16-footer), building doll houses, and photog- 
raphy. "I try to limit my hours at work so I 
leave time for other things. I can be more 
effective that way." 

Lee Tuomenoksa reflects with emotion 
on his rise at Bell Labs. "To come to America 
(from Helsinki, Finland) not knowing any 
English and with only 20 bucks in my 
pocket, and I'm now a vice president of Bell 
Labr! I'm flabbergasted! Not in any other 
country in the world could this happen, 
except America." 



Dr. John Coupe has been appointed as vice 
president for finance and administration at 
the University of Maine at Orono. He has 
been serving as acting vice president since 
October 1, 1979. In that capacity, he is re- 
sponsible for the overall financial affairs and 
the non-academic administrative affairs of 
UMO. He also supervises the operations of 
the physical plant, police and safety, em- 
ployee relations, public information and cen- 
tral services and the business manager while 
maintaining a financial responsibility in 
physical education and athletics. He first 
became a member of the faculty in 1 958, and 
holds the academic rank of professor of eco- 
nomics. From 1969 to 1976 he served as 
chairman of the economics department. In 
1961-62 he was an assistant professor of 
economics at Kent State University. He 
holds a master's degree and PhD in econom- 
ics from Clark University. 

Dick Davis is now president of CCI, Inc., 
Waterford, Conn. He is a WPI trustee. 

Phil Simon writes that he is in his 24th 
year with IBM and loves it. "I hit the com- 
puter business just at the right time." Cur- 
rently, he has responsibility for all of IBM's 
business with Rockwell nationally and in- 
ternationally. The job keeps him traveling. 
He has quite a few salesmen, technical sup- 
port personnel, and managers working with 
him. He says that he and his wife, Pat, are 
golf nuts. "We will go anywhere to play in a 
tournament." They particularly enjoy play- 
ing in Hawaii. 

Donald Taylor is the self-employed pres- 
ident of his own business in Bumsville, N.C. 



1954 



Robert Labonte serves as associate depart- 
ment head at Mitre Corp. in Bedford, Mass. 

Robert Luoma continues as a senior sys- 
tems engineer at GE in Sunnyvale, Calif. He 
and his wife, Alice, now reside in San Jose. 

Donald E. Ross has been promoted to 
executive vice president and chief operating 
officer of MPB Corp., Keene, N.H. He joined 
the company in 1962, most recently serving 
as vice president and general manager of 
MPB's split ball bearing division in Lebanon. 
He is a director of the National Bank of 
Lebanon and of the Lebanon Industrial De- 
velopment Association. Also, he is a corpo- 
rate member of the Mary Hitchcock Memo- 
rial Hospital. A past president of the Lebanon 
Chamber of Commerce, he has been a direc- 
tor of the Upper Valley United Way and of 
the local Boy Scout Council, as well. 



195 1 



Dr. Robert Zimmerer serves as a consultant 
at Scientech, Inc., Boulder, Colorado. He 
writes: "I have retired from an active role in 
the company I founded in 1968." 



The WPI journal I Winter 1982127 



1955 



Brian Kelly was recently appointed vice pres- 
ident of customer services at Bell Telephone 
Company. In his new post he directs some 
18,000 employees in construction, engineer- 
ing, installation, repair, and business offices. 
He is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa. Previ- 
ously, Kelly was Bell's vice president and 
general manager of its western Pennsylvania 
region. He now is in charge of all of Pennsyl- 
vania for the company, an area which ser- 
vices some eight million Bell telephones. In 
1955 he joined Bell and was subsequently 
promoted to various posts. He holds a mas- 
ter's degree from MIT and attended LaSalle 
College and Cornell University. Earlier he 
served in the Army Signal Corps. Currently 
he is a captain in the Army Reserves. 



1957 



Dr. Robert Crane serves as research professor 
of engineering at Thayer School of Engineer- 
ing, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. 

Stuart Hamilton has been appointed 
product manager of Aritech Corp. in Fra- 
mingham, Mass. He comes to Aritech from 
Fenwal where he was a project engineer 
involved in smoke and fire detection. Prior to 
that he operated his own alarm installation 
company. Aritech manufactures intrusion 
detection systems and equipment and a wide 
range of other burglar and fire alarm prod- 
ucts. 

lames Richards serves as president of 
Flo-Lube Inc., Sanderson, Fla. 

Richard Silven was recently appointed 
group vice president for components of 
Bumdy Corporation, Norwalk, Conn. In his 
position he is responsible for world-wide 
operations of the company's Components 
Group, which designs and manufactures 
electronic connectors for commercial, con- 
sumer, and industrial products. Formerly, he 
was international group vice president for 
Harvey Hubbcll. Before joining Hubbell, he 
was vice president and general manager for 
Bumdy in Detroit. He has an MBA from 
Harvard Business School. 



1958 



Prof, fames Demetry, chairman of the divi- 
sion of interdisciplinary affairs and professor 
of cicctncal engineering at WPI, was recently 
elected selectman in Holden from a field of 
five candidates. The special election was for 
the eight months left in the three-year term 
of a selectman who resigned for health rea- 
sons. In his first bid for elective office, [im 
received 599 votes, 224 more than the second 
plate candidate Previously, he was a 
member of the Holden Planning Board for 
nine years. 



Carlton Staples, professor of mechanical 
engineering at WPI, is on leave of absence at 
the Colorado School of Mines. During the 
summer, he attended seminars in Salt Lake 
City, worked on computer graphics software 
at the University of Utah and Brigham Young 
University, and spent time at the Air Force 
Academy and the University of Colorado. 

William Wesolowski holds the post of 
section manager for Raytheon Co. in Sud- 
bury, Mass. 



1961 



1959 



Dr. Mohammad Amin serves as supervisor of 
the stress and probabilistic analysis section 
for Sargent and Lundy Engineers, Chicago, 
111. 

William Bailey is an account manager at 
Lubriquip in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Roberto Jaramillo holds the position of 
ambassador-consul general for the Colom- 
bian government in New York City. 

Don Kirk, on a year's sabbatical leave 
from his post as chairman of the electrical 
engineering department at the Naval Post- 
graduate School in Monterey, Calif., is now 
at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. He writes: It 
has been enjoyable and educational for my 
three daughters, Kara, 18, Valerie, 15, and 
Dana, 13, to leam about New England after 
having grown up in California." 

Peter Peloquin currently serves as glue 
room supervisor at Seaboard Folding Box 
Corp., Fitchburg, Mass. 

Lee Smith, Jr. is assistant plant manager 
for du Pont in Ft. Madison, Iowa. 

Edwin Tenney continues as manager, 
mechanical collector market, at GE En- 
vironmental Services, Lebanon, Pa. 



i960 



Paul Johnson is still regional director of the 
MIT Alumni Association. He has an AB from 
Colgate University and a master's degree 
from Boston University. He also attended the 
Harvard School of Business, from which he 
holds a certificate. 

Raymond Levesque is now employed as 
plant and manufacturing manager in the 
Engineered Products Department at Ameri- 
can Cyanamid, Havre De Grace, Md. 

Robert Norton of the WPI mechanical 
engineering department attended the 
Hewlett-Packard Seminar dealing with 
Dynamic Analysis Equipment in September. 



Prof. Roger Borden of the WPI mechanical 
engineering department has received a cer- 
tificate of advanced professional studies in 
religion from Assumption College for the ten 
courses and thesis which he has completed 
beyond his master's degree in religious 
studies. 

James Fogarty is president of Plastic 
Engineering Assoc, Inc., Boca Raton, Fla. 

Currently, Brad Hosmer holds the post 
of vice president of group services at AMF, 
White Plains, N.Y. Previously, he was with 
Branson Sonic Power Company, Booz Allen 
&. Hamilton, and Kodak. Active with the 
WPI Alumni Association, Brad also has been 
busy with community affairs, serving as 
chairman of the Church Council. In 1976 he 
was elected to the school board in West 
Redding, Conn. His wife, Nita, has had her 
own business as a freelance fashion designer 
since 1967. 

Larry Israel's company, Visualtek of 
Santa Monica, Calif., is the world leader in 
the electronic reading aid market. His prod- 
uct, an electronic magnifier, is used by the 
"legally blind." Currently, Visualtek, has 
over $4,000,000 in annual sales. "It's been 
nice to have a successful small business, but 
it's especially nice to simultaneously be able 
to bring such a blessing to thousands of 
visually impaired individuals around the 
world." Among those people are a world- 
famous trial attorney, a well-known actor, a 
number of judges, etc. "But the most plea- 
sure comes from helping someone you 
know." 

Asjed Jalil continues as a senior engineer 
in the rolling mill department at Morgan 
Construction Co., Worcester. Early in his 
career, he worked as a sales engineer for 
ESSO in India. Outside interests include his 
association with technical societies, com- 
munity affairs, tennis, and travel. The Jalils, 
who reside in Holden, have one child, a 
daughter. 

Currently, G. Leonard Johnson holds the 
post of director of generation engineering at 
Northeast Utilities Service Company in 
Connecticut. He is responsible for numerous 
projects on operating nuclear units, coal 
conversion of several fossil plants currently 
burning oil, and a few hydroelectric projects. 
He joined Northeast as a "charter member" 
in 1966 when the company was formed. 

The James Kachadorians of Woodstock, 
Vt. recently returned from a trip to England, 
France, and Switzerland. While on tour, |im 
presented a paper on passive solar energy at 
the World Solar Forum in Brighton, England. 
During the forum, representatives from 74 
countries met and exchanged ideas and pur- 
sued common interests in methods of utiliz- 
ing solar energy. The trip was highlighted by 
visits to a family friend in Bath, England, and 
to relatives in St. Cyr-Lyon, France. |im's 
wife, who does all of the advertising for his 
manufactured passive solar home business, 
holds the U.S. unofficial record for vertical 
feet skied in one day by a woman. Last year 
|im bagged two bucks in the same season. He 
also enjoys travel, skiing, camping, fishing, 
and engaging in community activities. 



28 ! Wmlct 19H2 The Wl'l lourruil 



Wood chopping, hiking, and cross coun- 
try skiing are favorite pastimes of Peter 
Kuniholm, who, with his wife and children, 
usually resides in Pound Ridge, N.Y. Cur- 
rently, he writes: "Enjoying an interesting 
experience in Egypt working on long range 
planning and doing a design study for 
waste-water systems in cities along the Suez 
Canal. Will be here for 18 months, but we'll 
be glad to be back in New York next fall. " He 
is with Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., Consulting 
Environmental Engineers. 

Charlie Mello continues as a facilities 
planner and plant engineer for Coppus En- 
gineering. A resident of Paxton, Mass., he 
enjoys town politics and youth activities, as 
well as tennis. He is married to Ann Mcin- 
tosh (sisterto Bob, '62 ) and has four children . 
His career has sent him to Rio de Janeiro and 
Lisbon. "Hope to spend more time in 
Europe." 

For the past 14 years Dick Miczek has 
been with The Fort Miller Co., Inc., a manu- 
facturer of precast concrete products. He is 
now executive vice president of the firm, 
which has branched out into commercial and 
residential fencing products (Anvil Fence & 
Supply Co.). Activities include vegetable 
gardening, ice fishing on Lake George, and 
involvement with church activities. "Have 
volunteered many years of time in girls' 
Softball, serving on the board of directors, 
coaching, managing and winning a iew 
trophies to boot." 

John Ogorzalek is currently employed as 
a production manager at Henkel Corp., 
Hawthome, Calif. He holds a JD from West- 
em State University and he passed the 
California bar exam in 1976, although he 
does not now practice law. Active in support 
of various handicapped associations, in 1976 
he was named Man of the Year for California 
Communities Pool for the Handicapped. 

Yesugey Oktay serves as division head 
in charge of civil and structural engineering 
at Boston Edison Company. Also, he teaches 
structural steel design at Northeastem Uni- 
versity. Oktay's wife, Shirley, is a pediatri- 
cian associated with Boston University Med- 
ical School. They have a four-year old son, 
David. 

Won Park writes from Seoul, Korea, that 
he enjoys relaxing at his wonderful home in 
the suburbs with its mountain view. For the 
past eleven years, he has served as managing 
and planning director of the Duksung School 
Foundation. The Foundation, which in- 
cludes a women's college, a girls' middle and 
high school, and a kindergarten, recently 
celebrated its 61st aimiversary. Park's wife 
teaches at the women's college. The couple 
has a daughter, Elisa, 11. "We also have 15 
dogs." 

Ken Parker's son, Matt, is a freshman at 
WPI. After working for U.S. Steel, Gilbane 
Building Co., and Fletcher-Thompson, Inc., 
he became a real estate investor- 
entrepreneur in 1978. "The hours are longer, 
but I love the freedom." At last count his 
firm, Monmat Enterprises, Inc, Warwick, 
R.I., owned or operated 70 apartments, seven 
offices, two shops, and a laundromat. 



Bill Peirce teaches full time at Cape Cod 
Community College,- teaches part time at 
Northeastern; and serves as director of de- 
velopment for Falmouth Academy, while he 
and his wife, Marilyn, continue to run a small 
consulting business on the side. The Peirces 
and their children enjoy life on Cape Cod. 
They sail Hobie 16's in national and interna- 
tional competition, as well as lasers, sunfish, 
and windsurfers. They continue competing 
in water skiing. (In 1964, Bill and Marilyn 
won the U.S. National championships in 
mixed doubles water skiing.) 

John Powers continues as assistant chief 
engineer at Tighe &. Bond, Springfield, Mass. 
He has been responsible for the preliminary 
planning, final design, and construction 
supervision of numerous sanitary engineer- 
ing projects including sewers, pumping sta- 
tions, and wastewater treatment plants, 
water distribution and treatment systems. 
His wife, Julie, has a BA in social work and is 
a registered nurse. 

John Quagliaroli, who founded Fowler, 
Anthony & Co. in 1976 (mergers, venture 
capital, etc.) has recently started a second 
operation to set up national marketing 
facilities for high-technology startups in re- 
turn for equity/cash. Previously, he was with 
EBM, Multitone Electronics, an-d F.L. Mannix 
&. Co., Inc. He has published over 200 pages 
of marketing/financial studies and has served 
on the board of directors of private firms as 
well as a children's home. Fie is listed in 
"Who's Who", as is his wife, an IBM manager 
and 1980 finalist for a White House Fellow- 
ship. 

David Raab now works for C.S. Draper 
Lab., in Cambridge, Mass. He returned to his 
home in Belmont recently after more than 
two years assigned as a field engineer at 
Rockwell in Downey, Calif. Earlier he had 
taught for two years at Wentworth Institute. 
One year he backpacked around Europe from 
the North Cape of Norway to the southern 
tip of Israel, with an excursion to Leningrad 
.and a ski trip in the Swiss Alps. He writes, 
"Most of my activities in California centered 
around the schedule of the Sierra Club." 

Still with his wife's family oil business 
in Maine, Leo Robichaud is also busy as a 
member of the Caribou planning board and 
as a director for the local Rotary Club. In 
business he is in charge of all construction 
and maintenance and manages a branch of- 
fice. "I enjoy this, because I design all the 
projects and build them acting as superin- 
tendent." From 1961 to 1973, he worked for 
the USDA's Forest Service. 

Sheldon Rothstein practices corporate 
law with Polaroid Corporation. Early in his 
career, he was a patent examiner at the U.S. 
Patent Office. In 1965, he received his JD 
from Georgetown University. He says, "Lori 
keeps busy managing the family vineyards in 
the Rhone Valley and overseeing our homes 
m Framingham and Antibes." The Roth- 
steins have three children. 

Since joining The Burke Co. seven years 
ago, Ned Rowe has managed sales and distri- 
bution organizations, worked in marketing, 
and is now selling heavy construction 
equipment. He enjoys travel, and took a 
six-month trip around the world, later going 
to Russia and Africa. "I've worked on the ski 
patrol, and used to be kind of fanatic about 
skiing, but it gets increasingly difficult to 
make the time for it." He is located in 
Oakland, Calif. 



Golf, tennis, racketball, and paddle ball 
are some of the pastimes of Robert Ruberti. 

He and his family also like camping, cross 
country skiing, and travel. Currently, he is 
chief of the Command Intelligence Section 
at Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss 
AFB, N. Y., where he has worked since gradu- 
ation. He helps develop intelligence infor- 
mation systems, including the new intelli- 
gence component of the Space Defense 
Center in Colorado and the National MiH- 
tary Intelligence Center at the Pentagon. 

John Ryerson has worked at IBM in 
various staff and management, technical and 
planning jobs for 20 years. Now headquar- 
tered in White Plains, N.Y., he is concemed 
with marketing requirements. He serves as a 
deacon and trustee for the Baptist Church in 
Suffern, N.Y. The family is involved with 
children's sports. 

Bob Schomber serves as T&D manager 
for the southeastern division of Florida 
Power &. Light, a position controlling 550 
employees and a $20 million expense budget. 
Previously he had been with Fuqua Indus- 
tries Company and Owens Coming Fi- 
berglas, serving the boating market. He has 
been active as vice chairman of the school 
board audit committee. "We live on the 
water and are all addicted to the fishing, 
diving, water skiing and camping activities 
in Florida." 



1962 



Dr. Michael Davis is currently professor of 
radiology and nuclear medicine at the Uni- 
versity of Massachusetts Medical School in 
Worcester. 

Clifford Engstrom has been employed as 
general manager of the Massena (N.Y.) Elec- 
trical Department. He says, "I started Sept. 
1st as the first general manager of Massena 
Electric. Massena is the first new municipal 
electrical system created in many years. I 
have to start the business almost from 
scratch." 

Richard Frost holds the position of dis- 
trict superintendent and transmission and 
distribution at Narragansett Electric Co., 
Providence, R.I. 

Philip Pilibosian was recently named 
assistant vice president in sales by Pacific 
Telephone. In his new post, he is responsible 
for sales activities in the professional ser- 
vices and utilities market in Southern 
California. He began his Bell System career 
in 1975 at AT&T in the marketing depart- 
ment. He served as an industry manager and 
was responsible for accounts in the printing 
and publishing field. He held several mana- 
gerial positions at AT&.T before joining New 
England Telephone's marketing department 
in 1980. Until he assumed his current as- 
signment, he was a division manager for the 
company's accounts in the health care and 
lodging segment. He has an MBA from Clark 
University. 



The WPI Inurnal I Winter 19H2I29 



1963 



Dr. Robert Behn continues as an associate 
professor at Duke University Institute of 
Policy Sciences in Durham, N.C. 

WPI Prof. Allen Hoffman placed second 
in the Frank Sannella Alumni Race held Oct. 
3rd. 

Russell Hokanson is a design liaison 
supervisor at du Pont in Newark, Delaware. 

Dr. Stephen Nagy has joined the senior 
professional staff at the Mary Imogene Bas- 
sett Hospital, CooperstowTi, N.Y., where he 
is a radiation physicist. His primary respon- 
sibility is treatment planning and dosimetry 
for the Radiation Therapy Department. He 
also serves as radiation safety officer for the 
institution. He received his MS and PhD 
degrees from the University of Connecticut. 
From 1969 until 1975, he was an assistant 
professor of physics at the University of 
Vermont. 



as well as other countries. In addition, he has 
accepted an assignment to act as special 
liaison for Occidental Petroleum, Hooker's 
parent organization in Poland and Hungary. 



1964 



Stuart Bowen is the owner-manager of Len- 
ora Restaurant on Massachusetts Avenue in 
Cambridge, Mass. He holds a BSCE from 
Northeastern and a PhD from the University 
of Massachusetts. The Bowens live in Win- 
chester and have two children. 

William Cote holds the position of vice 
president and general manager at TRC-Env. 
Consultants in Englewood, Colorado. 

Harry Pager, Jr. is chief of a management 
office for the USAF at Tinker AFB in Ok- 
lahoma. 

Ronald Gemma works as a market de- 
velopment manager at Digital in Merrimack, 
N.H. He has an MBA from Babson. 

|. Richard Lundgren is now an associate 
professor at the University of Colorado at 
Denver. He has an MS and PhD from Ohio 
State University. He and Linda live in 
Lakewood and have two children. 

Dr. Robert Peura, coordinator of 
biomedical engineering at WPI, was the au- 
thor of a paper presented at Kyoto (lapan) 
Medical School in August. It was titled: "A 
Biomedical Engineering Analysis of Impe- 
dance Plethysmographic Measurements of 
the Extremities — The Nature of the 
Physiological Signal and the Impedance 
Samplmg Field." Currently, Peura is on sab- 
batical leave until next September. Dunng 
the academic year he will be at MIT studying 
under an NSF faculty professional develop- 
ment grant. 

Stan Szymanski has been appointed 
manager of Chlor-Alkali Systems in the 
newly formed Technology Licensing De- 
partment of the Industrial Chemicals Ciroup 
at Hooker Chemical Company, Niagara 
Falls, N.Y. The new department will be re- 
sponsible for technology licensing and acqui- 
sition in the Industrial Chemicals Clroup's 
maior business areas of chlor-alkali, sodium 
chlorate, and specialty chemicals. Stan will 
have responsibility for marketing, sales, and 
technical service for his division His previ- 
ous worldwide responsibilities as interna- 
tional business development manager, have 
taken him to Norway, Tanzania, and Russia, 



1965 



^■Married: James F. Fee to loan Frelich in St. 
Louis, Missouri on August 16, 1981. The 
bride has a BA from Skidmore College and a 
master's degree from Boston University. She 
works as a therapist at Beaverbrook Child 
Guidance Center in Waltham, Mass. Her 
husband continues as a product manager at 
Accutest in Chelmsford, Mass. 

Marvin Berger has joined the manage- 
ment consulting group of Bigelow & Com- 
pany, Manchester, N.H. He previously had 
been with several major corporations, in- 
cluding IBM, where he held sales, marketing, 
and management positions. He has an MBA 
from Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth. 

Denis Berube holds the post of manager 
of advanced engineering at GE in Bingham- 
ton, N.Y. He has an MSEE from Union Col- 
lege. 

Michael Boyd continues as a senior pro- 
grammer at Sperry Univac in Roseville, 
Minnesota. He holds both his master's and 
doctor's degrees from the State University of 
New York at Binghamton. 

Tolga Cubukcu works as a structural 
engineer for the Pyramid Companies in De- 
witt. New York. 

George Mitschang, a commander with 
the U.S. Navy, is currently located in 
Washington, D.C. He holds an MS from 
Cornell and a PhD from the Naval Post- 
graduate School. 

Gerald Morris, vice president, treasurer, 
and chief financial officer of the Foxboro 
(Mass.) Company, was recently elected to the 
Boston chapter of the Financial Executive 
Institute. The Institute is a professional or- 
ganization of over 1 2,000 executives repre- 
senting more than 6,000 firms in the U.S. and 
Canada. Morris has a degree from Harvard 
Business School. Before joining Foxboro, he 
was assistant vice president of the Textron 
Corp. 

Burton Shair is involved with project 
management at Stone dk Webster, Houston, 
Texas. He is a registered professional en- 
gineer in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
York, Texas, and Alaska. 



1966 



Walter Chang is employed as manager for Far 
East Market Development at AEG, General 
Electric C^o., Lynn, Mass. 

Alan George holds the position of divi- 
sion training manager at Teradyne, Inc., 
Northbrook, Illinois. 

Keith Knowlton serves as vice president 
of Fiberoptics Technology in I'omfret, Conn. 
He helped found the company and is also a 
partner. 



Jan Moren, who returned from Belgium 
in November of 1980, is now at Fort Mon- 
mouth in New fersey. His wife, Ann, is a 
physical therapist at Monmouth Rehabilita- 
tion Hospital. 

Laurence Shea holds the position of su- 
perintendent of engineering for Stone & 
Webster at Nine Mile Pt. 2 Nuclear Power 
Station, Lycoming, New York. He has an 
MBA from Northeastern. 

Robert Zahnke holds the post of man- 
ager of engineering development at Pepsico, 
Inc., White Plains, N.Y. 



1967 



>■ Married: Joseph R. Pyzik and Mary E. 
Cahillane in Northampton, Massachusetts 
on August 1, 1981. Mrs. Pyzik graduated 
from Elms College and received a master's 
degree in education of the deaf from Smith 
College. She is employed by the Capital 
Region Education Council for the Hearing 
Impaired in Wethersfield, Conn. Her hus- 
band has a master's degree in business ad- 
ministration from the University of 
Hartford. He is an engineering account 
executive for The Travelers Insurance Com- 
pany. 

Ron Gordon works as a product strategy 
and planning engineer for IBM. Currently he 
is holding a temporary position with the 
company in Germany. 

Charlie Proctor continues as president 
of The Ski and Scuba Shoppe, a retail busi- 
ness specializing in instruction, sales, repairs 
of scuba and cross country ski equipment. 
Recently he was promoted to program man- 
ager of all T53/TS5 commercial aviation and 
marine turbines for AVCO Lycoming. Previ- 
ously he was in charge of production en- 
gineering support. He has completed his 
MBA at the University of Bridgeport and is 
now enrolled in the ID of law program. In his 
spare time, he enjoys diving, fishing, and 
hunting with his Labrador retriever. "Of 
course I'm still building high performance 
vehicles. The latest is a 1954 military jeep 
with a fuel-injected Chevy 350 and the usual 
hne-up of goods." 

Deputy District Attorney Howard Shore 
has been named the first prosecutor to head 
the California State Bar's 15-member com- 
mission on correction. An expert in psychi- 
atric issues in criminal trials, he has said the 
reported link between nutrition and violent 
behavior will draw top priority for examina- 
tion by the commission in the upcoming 
year. He says, ". . . our goal is to help reduce 
violence in state prisons through changes in 
prison diet." Previously, Shore had been on 
the panel for the last three years, last year 
serving as vice chairman. The commission is 
charged with examining issues concerning 
jails and prisons, and making recom- 
mendations to the state Bar and its legisla- 
tive representative. 

Shore has been with the DA's office 
since 1974, Also, he is a professor in the 
University of San Diego's graduate law pro- 
gram, teaching classes in scientific evidence 
and advanced evidence. 



.W I Wintt'r /VKP Thf Wl>l Imirnul 



Charles Sisitsky has been named the 
permanent planning director of Natick, 
Mass. Previously, he was a city planner in 
Medford for eleven years, and had served as 
assistant planning director, planning direc- 
tor, and community development coor- 
dinator. He has a master's degree in planning 
from the University of Rhode Island. 

John Yang is a senior engineer at Lock- 
heed Electronics Co. in Plainheld, N.J. 



1968 



1. 



^-Married: Dr. John J. Hudak and Ann C 

Lermardtz in Worcester on October 24, 1 
The bride, a reference librarian at the 
Worcester Public Library, has a BS degree 
from the University of Minnesota, as well as 
a master's degree in library science. Her 
husband is a physicist with the Department 
of Defense in Washington, D.C. He has a 
doctorate degree in solid state physics from 
the University of Maryland. 

^Born: to Betty and Bob Meader a 
daughter, Rebecca, on August 28, 1981. Bob, 
a civil engineer (study manager) with the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has returned 
to Mobile, Alabama following a year of spe- 
cial training in Washington, D.C. 

Ivan Beggs has been promoted to assist- 
ant general supervisor of cup and cone grind- 
ing at the Timken Company's Canton, Ohio 
bearing plant. He holds master's degrees in 
both industrial engineering and business 
administration from Ohio State University. 
In 1979, he joined Timken as a manufactur- 
ing analyst in bearing operations, the posi- 
tion he held prior to his recent promotion. 

Robert Hickey holds the post of princi- 
pal software engineer at Honeywell in Den- 
ver, Colo. 

Ali Koseatac is now the principal en- 
gineer at International Engineering Co., Inc., 
Darien, Conn. 

Gary Palulis was the winner of the 
Frank Sannella Alumni Race held at WPI in 
October. 

Frank Posselt works for TAD Tech in 
Cynwyd, Pa. 

Raymond Racine serves as assistant 
coordinator in the alternate energy depart- 
ment at Texaco, Inc. in White Plains, N.Y. 

Scott Ramsay is now a merchandising 
manager for Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc. in 
Newington, N.H. 

Geoffrey Tamulonis holds the post of 
manager of applications marketing at Digital 
Communications Corp., Germantown, Md. 
He is working for his MBA at George 
Washington University. 

Bruce Tupper is currently a resident in 
the department of surgery at the University 
of Florida in Gainesville. He holds an MSEE 
from Stanford University. He has just re- 
ceived his MD from Rutgers Medical School. 

Stan Urbanowski works as a senior en- 
gineer at Yankee Atomic Electric Co., 
Framingham, Mass. He and Claire have three 
children and hve in Sutton. 




1969 



Warren Anderson was recently promoted to 
major in the USAF and transferred to Hick- 
am AFB in Hawaii. Previously, he was a pilot 
instructor for the C-5 Galaxy, the world's 
largest aircraft. 

Francis Archambeault has been named 
associate professor of electronic engineering 
at Central New England College, Worcester. 
He has been with the college for eight years. 

James Atkinson is assistant director of 
legislation in the Office of Policy Analysis at 
the New Jersey Department of Transporta- 
tion in Trenton. He has a Juris Doctor degree. 

Ralph Eschborn II works as a senior sales 
representative at du Pont in San Francisco. In 
1980, he received his LLD from Delaware 
Law School. He and Ellen have one child and 
reside in Laguna Hills. 

Arthur Evans has been appointed project 
manager for Arabian American Oil Co. 
(Aramco), of Goulds Pumps, Inc., Seneca 
Falls, N.Y. He will be responsible for the 
preparation of all proposals to Aramco, as 
well as acting as the coordinator of the 
worldwide sales efforts to this account. 



Doug George and his father, George 
George, '41, have taken over the manage- 
ment of the "9-20" Motel in Northboro, 
along with the West Boylston Motel and 
other properties in eastern Massachusetts. 
"We have completed a total rehab of all the 
'9-20' rooms, function space and restaurant," 
Doug says. Their construction business has 
slowed, but is still doing well "despite the 
economy." The Georges, who have a daugh- 
ter, Jamie Lynne, 3, are active with the Con- 
gregational Church. 

Dr. Roy Johnson is employed as an as- 
sociate engineer at Mobil Research &. Devel- 
opment Corp., Dallas, Texas. Formerly, he 
was associate professor of civil engineering 
at Auburn University in Alabama. 

Dennis Murphy serves as a system en- 
gineer for ESL, Sunnyvale, Calif. 



The WPI lournal I Winter 1982131 



I970 



I97I 



^Married: Daniel B. Bentley to Daria B. 
Eckle in Guilford, Connecticut on Sep- 
tember 17, 1 98 1 . The bride graduated from 
Sacred Heart University, Bridgeport. The 
bridegroom is employed as a field engineer 
for the Riley Stoker Corporation. 

Last year William Coblenz received his 
PhD m ceramics from MIT, where he re- 
ceived his master's degree in 1977. He has 
taken a job as a ceramic engineer vdth the 
Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, 
D.C. 

James Ford was recently promoted to 
associate actuary within the pension actua- 
nal orgamzation at State Mutual Life Assur- 
ance Company of America, Worcester. He 
earned an MS in actuanal science degree 
from Northeastern in 1973. In 1977, he re- 
ceived the fellow. Society of Actuaries pro- 
fessional designation. After joining State 
Mutual as an actuarial assistant in 1970, he 
became an actuarial associate in 1972. In 
1975, he was named senior actuarial as- 
sociate and was promoted to assistant ac- 
tuary in 1977. 

T.J. Lelek holds the post of national sales 
manager for Gill & Duffus Chemicals, New 
York City. 

Cyril Musson is a mechanical process 
engineer at R.M. Parsons Co., Pasadena, 
Calif. 

Chet Napikoski works as an electrical 
engineer for Arizona Public Service, 
Phoenix. 

Craig Olmsted has been appointed direc- 
tor of engineering at Cutler Associates, Inc., 
Worcester. Previously, he worked for Chas. 
T. Main, Inc. and Stone and Webster En- 
gineenng Corp. A registered professional en- 
gineer in Massachusetts, he holds both a 
bachelor's and master's degree from WPI. 

Currently, Lenny Polizzotto holds the 
post of director of research and development 
at Bnox Technologies, Inc., Worcester. 

Laurence Vallee is employed as a project 
manager at Cygna Energy Services in Boston. 
He says, "Am presently managing Cygna's 
site office at the Midland nuclear power 
station, Midland, Michigan." 

Hans Van Den Biggelaar, who holds a 
PhD from WFI, was recently named a profes- 
sor of computer science at St. Anselm Col- 
lege, Manchester, N.H. Previously, he was a 
member of the faculty at Southeastern Mas- 
sachusetts University, Skidmore College, 
andRPI. 

Ross Weaver continues as president of 
Gurncy Engineering Corp., Millbury, Mass. 
He writes, "New house under construction." 



^MaTued: Thomas F. Mirarchi to Ellen T. 
Murley in Worcester on luly 18, 1981. Mrs. 
Mirarchi graduated from the University of 
Massachusetts, Amherst, and received her 
master's degree from Worcester State Col- 
lege. She is an assistant education supervisor 
of the Head Start Program in Worcester. The 
bridegroom, who has a master's degree from 
RPI, is a senior development engineer at 
Amencan Optical Corp., Southbridge, Mass. 

>-Boin: to Beverly and Paul Ash a daugh- 
ter. Dawn Marisa, on September 17,1981.... 
to Annie and Donald Usher their third child, 
Cory Denis, on November 13, 1981. Don is 
now a regional representative for Babcock & 
Wilcox in Houston, Texas. 

Recently, William Beloff was promoted 
to the position of associate at Goldberg- 
Zoino & Associates, Inc., a geotechnical and 
geohydrological consulting engineering firm 
in Newton Upper Falls, Mass. Since joining 
the ftrm in 1973, he has been involved in a 
variety of geotechnical instrumentation pro- 
grams for rapid transit systems, underground 
powerhouses, nuclear power plants, and deep 
foundations. He has worked in 26 states and 
in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and 
Paraguay. As associate, he will be in charge of 
all the firm's work, which includes a study of 
ground subsidence over a full extraction coal 
mine in West Virginia. He will also continue 
in his capacity as chief engineer. A registered 
professional engineer in Massachusetts, he 
belongs to numerous professional societies 
and has published several papers in the field 
of geotechnical instrumentation. 

Paul Cleary, who graduated from the 
University of Tulsa Law School last May, 
was sworn in as a member of the Oklahoma 
bar in October, however, he is not practicing 
law. Previously the political editor of the 
Tulsa World, he was recently named as an 
editorial writer at the newspaper. He joined 
the "World" as a part-time reporter while 
attending the University of Tulsa, later be- 
coming a full-time reporter and political 
editor. His wife graduated from the Univer- 
sity of Missouri Journalism School and "cov- 
ers the courthouse beat for the paper." 

Paul Furcinitti serves as a research as- 
sociate in biophysics for Columbia Univer- 
sity, Radiological Research Accelerator 
Facility/Brookhaven National Laboratories, 
Upton, New York. He has an MS and PhD in 
physics from the University of New Hamp- 
shire. 

Jack Greenshields holds the post of divi- 
sion purchasing manager at Monsanto in St. 
Louis, Mo. He has an MBA from the Univer- 
sity of New Haven. 

Dr. Amrik Pabley is an ophthalmology 
resident at U.C. Davis Center, Sacramento, 
Calif. He received his MD from the Univer- 
sity of Louisville in Kentucky in 1980. 

Thomas Pandolfi works as a develop- 
ment engineer at Hewlett-Packard in Palo 
Alto, Calif. 

John Petrillo participated in the place- 
ment seminar held at Wl'i in November. He 
IS district market manager for AT^T Long 
Lines. 



Paul Popinchalk, who just returned from 
Nebraska, is now a mechanical designer for 
Dubin-Bloome Asso., West Hartford, Conn. 
He and his wife, Nancy Wood Popinchalk, 
'73, live with their two children in Norwich. 

Edward Sherman has been promoted to 
product manager of Lighting Products at 
American Sterihzer Company (AMSCO), 
Erie, Pa. His product responsibilities include 
AMSCO's surgical lighting product line, au- 
diovisual systems, and AMSCOPE support 
columns. He joined AMSCO Systems Divi- 
sion in 1974 as a field superintendent and 
subsequently served as manager of special 
projects and product manager of building 
systems. His most recent position was that 
of assistant product manager, Sterilizer 
Products Department. He has an MBA from 
Gannon University. 

Thomas Weil is employed as a project 
engineer at Badger America, Inc., Cambridge, 
Mass. He has an MBA from the University of 
Houston and an MS from UMass. 



1972 



>-Married: Dr. Roy Lindblad and Mary- 
Margaret Bayko of Garfield Heights, Ohio on 
September 19, 1981. The groom is a dentist 
in Cleveland. In 1980 he received his DDS 
from Case Western Reserve University. . . . 
Bradshaw B. Lupton, Jr. to Paula S. Jakubiak 
in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts on June 12, 
198 1 . The bride graduated from Quin- 
sigamond College and UMass, Amherst. She 
is conservator of works of art on paper for the 
Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Center 
for British Art, New Haven, Conn. Her hus- 
band serves as a software analyst for Hon- 
eywell Information Systems, Billerica, Mass. 

David Cummings has been elected 
executive vice president of the Lowell Cor- 
poration, Worcester. He is a fifth generation 
family member of the firm's founder. In 1977 
he joined Lowell and has been serving as 
treasurer and director. He has a master's 
degree in business administration from Bab- 
son College. 

Jean Eraser continues as a senior planner 
for Land Use Consultants in London, En- 
gland. 

William Kamb is a job superintendent at 
Turner Construction in Cleveland, Ohio. 

David Meyer is now employed as a 
senior consultant for Rath &. Strong, Inc., 
Lexington, Mass. 

George Oliver works as a senior engineer 
at Exxon in Florham Park, N.J. 

Wesley Pierson is employed as a clinical 
research associate at du Pont - Biochemicals 
in Wilmington, Oelaware. 

Brian Savilonis of the WPI ME depart- 
ment took third place in the Frank Sannella 
Alumni Race at WPI in October. 



32 I Winter 1982 1 The Wl'l lournal 



1973 



^■Married: Thomas P. Cawley and Maureen 
I. Sullivan in Dorchester, Massachusetts on 
September 26, 1981. Mrs. Cawley is a teacher 
and holds a master's degree in education 
hom Boston State. The groom continues 
with Stone & Webster of Boston. . . . Philip 
N. Ciarlo and Lisa B. Plonski in Erie, 
Pennsylvania on September 4, 1981. Mrs. 
Ciarlo is a student at Gannon College in 
Pennsylvania. The bridegroom is a manager 
of materials at GE in Erie. . . . John F. Cirioni 
and Diana E. Gather in Massachusetts re- 
cently. The bride graduated from Leicester 
Junior College and Northeast Missouri State 
University. She is director of recreation for 
the City of Pompano Beach, Florida. Her 
husband serves as a supervisor for Cumber- 
land Farms Stores in Pompano Beach. . . . 
John F. DiGregorio to June A. Soldato on 
October 24, 1981 in Pittsfield, Mas- 
sachusetts. The bride attended Berkshire 
Community College. The groom is a super- 
visor of Pittsfield projects at GE plastics 
technology department. Besides WPI, he at- 
tended the University of Evansville in In- 
diana and Union College. 

^■Manied: Timothy Jurzynski to Kath- 
leen Franzis in Seymour, Connecticut on 
November 7, 1981. Mrs. Jurzynski graduated 
from New Haven Academy of Business and is 
a secretary for Naugatuck Glass Co. Her 
husband, who has an MBA from the Univer- 
sity of Bridgeport, is an operations analyst for 
Naugatuck Glass. . . . Kenneth Lexier and 
Sue D. Jordan in Attleboro, Massachusetts 
on September 5, 198 1. The bride graduated 
from the University of Maine and was a 
teacher in Attleboro. The groom began his 
new post as principal of Wells Elementary 
School in Maine last July. . . . Warren F. 
Smith to Jill Carpenter on August 8, 198 1 in 
Teaneck, New Jersey. The bride graduated 
from Duquesne University and has a master 
of social work degree from Rutgers. She is 
employed by the Continental Insurance 
Company as a computer programmer. Her 
husband has an MS in management science 
and engineering from WPI. He is a senior 
engineer with Air Cruisers Company. . . . 
Francis J. Yopak and Mary Ellen Reed on June 
27, 1981 in Massachusetts. The bride 
graduated from St. Anselm's College and is a 
graduate student in nursing at the University 
of Connecticut. The groom works for United 
Technologies Research Center in East 
Hartford, Corm. 

>-BoTn: to Stephen and Deborah La- 
plante Goodwin a son, Matthew, on August 
4, 1981. Beth is 5 and Andrew is nearly 3. 
Steve is still employed as a project engineer 
at J.E. Sirrine. The family is busy at home, at 
church, and with other activities. ... to 
JoArm and Richard Silvestris a son, Jeffrey 
Robert, on August 27, 1981. Jeffrey has an 
older sister, Julie Marie. Silvestris holds the 
post of production engineer in the Chemical 
Division at Polaroid in Waltham, Mass. 

Thomas Beckman continues as a struc- 
tural engineer for Gilbert Associates of Read- 
ing, Pa. He and Donna have two children and 
reside in Richland, Washington. 

Nora Blum is a senior engineer at 
Bechtel Power Corp., Norwalk, Calif. 



David Cirka is currently on leave from 
his post with Public Service Co. of New 
Hampshire, while working on his master's 
degree at RPI. 

Rick Garagliano is a senior process en- 
gineer at Thiokol/Dynachem in Tustin, 
Calif. 

Glen Johnson is an associate professor at 
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Term. He 
has an MSME from Georgia Tech and a PhD 
from Vanderbilt. 

Joel Loitherstein serves as a project en- 
gineer at Coffin & Richardson, Inc., Boston. 

Last May, Stephen Martin graduated 
from the University of Rochester School of 
Medicine and Dentistry. He received his MD 
and his PhD in biochemistry, and was 
elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, a medical 
honor society. His PhD work has been pub- 
lished in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 
Currently, Steve is doing an internship in 
internal medicine at Rochester General 
Hospital. He will begin a residency in oph- 
thalmology at the university's Strong 
Memorial Hospital in July. His wife, Cheryl, 
is teaching in a gifted program for grades 3-6 
in a Rochester suburb. 

Dr. Bill Penney, assistant professor of 
biomedical engineering at WPI, was co- 
author of "An Overview of the Theory and 
Some Applications of Impedance Plethys- 
mography," which was presented at the 3rd 
Annual Conference of IEEE Engineering in 
Medicine and Biology Society, Frontiers of 
Engineering in Health Care, in Houston last 
September. 

Michael Peterson is a consumer services 
engineer at Massachusetts Electric Co., 
Leominster, Mass. 

William Rutherford serves as a con- 
struction engineer for Stone and Webster in 
Shippingsport, Pa. at the Beaver Valley nu- 
clear site. 

Charles Scopelitis was recently pro- 
moted to computer operations supervisor at 
Northeast Utilities (NU), Millstone Station. 
• In 1974, he joinedNU as assistant engineer at 
Millstone. Later he was promoted to as- 
sociate engineer and engineer. He is a regis- 
tered professional engineer in Connecticut 
and a licensed electrical contractor. He be- 
longs to the IEEE and NU's Nuclear Speakers 
Bureau. In the community, Scopelitis serves 
as secretary of the Mohegan Volunteer Fire 
Company and is a past member of the 
Montville (CT) Board of Education. He coor- 
dinates internship programs at Millstone for 
local high school students who are interested 
in engineering careers, and coordinates and 
teaches educational programs for junior and 
senior high school students. 

Robert Sykes is a project engineer at 
Foster-Miller Associates, Inc., Waltham, 
Mass 



1974 



Garry Balboni took part in the fall 
placement seminar held at WPI. He is project 
manager at Perini Corp., Framingham, Mass. 

Erik Brodin now holds the post of senior 
industrial engineer in the assembly division 
at General Motors in Warren, Michigan. The 
Brodins have a daughter, Christina, 2. 

Paul Colby is a research assistant in the 
physics department at the University of Wis- 
consin in Madison. 

Richard Corey, who recently came out 
with a successful system for achieving high 
postal exam scores, is now writing a 
consumer- oriented book about security 
alarm systems. (He has his own security 
alarm business.) For five years he's been 
working on a police projectile gun to disable 
the electrical system of any vehicle being 
pursued by authorities. Doc" thinks he's 
close to having it perfected and ready for 
marketing. 

Last fall, Steve Dacri performed at the 
Magic Castle in Hollywood; at Maxine's in 
Worcester; and with Red Buttons in 
Anaheim, Calif. 

Mathew DiPilato has been appointed as 
district manager at Goldberg- Zoino &. As- 
sociates, Inc., a geotechnical-geohydro- 
logical consulting firm in Newton Upper 
Falls, Mass. Since joining the firm in 1977, he 
has been associated with deep and shallow 
foundations projects, slope stabihty and pro- 
tection problems, seepage, dewatering, and 
groundwater control projects. He was re- 
sponsible for the geotechnical aspects of de- 
sign and construction of the surface and 
cut-and-cover sections of the Buffalo Light 
Rail Rapid Transit Project. He was the prin- 
cipal author for a recently completed re- 
search report for the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, entitled "Design and 
Analysis for Railroad Track Substructures." 
A member of the ASCE, he also belongs to 
the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, and 
the National Water Well Association. He is a 
registered professional engineer in Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Joe Downey serves as a product market- 
ing specialist at Foxboro Analytical in 
Plymouth, Mass. 

Bob Foley now holds the post of man- 
ufacturing supervisor at Texas Instruments 
in Attleboro, Mass. He recently left the U.S. 
Marine Corps following seven years of ser- 
vice. 

Bill Frazier is a design engineer for Vir- 
ginia Electric &. Power Co. in Richmond, Va. 

Thomas Frink continues as an electrical 
engineer at Maiden Mills, Inc., Lawrence, 
Mass. 

James Grenier is currently a math 
teacher at Sunapee (N.H.) High School. He 
holds an MS in mathematics from WPI. 

Leon Kassel holds the post of senior vice 
president at Multibanco Comermex in 
Mexico City. 

Bruce Lyon serves as an analyst for 
Schlumberger in Houston, Texas. 

David McGuigan continues as a 
member of the technical staff at Bell Tele- 
phone Labs in Holmdel, N.J. 



>-BoTn: to Anne and Christopher Cigal their 
first child, Stephen Matthew, on May 19, 
1981. Chris, an Army captain, has been an 
assistant professor of military science at 
Washington &. Jefferson College in 
Washington, Pa., since 1979. 



The WPI loiiwal I Winter 1982133 



David Nickless was recently admitted to 
the Massachusetts bar, after receiving his 
Juris Doctor degree from Suffolk University 
School of Law. Previously, he spent nearly 
five yeais in the U.S. Army from which he 
resigned as a captain. Currently, he is a 
member of the firm of Marullo and Barnes in 
Boston. 

Mark Ostergren is an engineering coor- 
dinator at Babcock &. Wilcox, North Canton, 
Ohio. 

Stanley Purington is an engineer- 
programmer at Kentron International in San 
Diego, Calif. 

Lawrence Saint, Jr. holds the position of 
plant manager for George Schmitt ik Co., 
Suffolk, Va. 

Glenn Yee is commercial manager for 
the Asia-Pacific region of Continental Can 
International Corp., a wholly-owned sub- 
sidiary of Continental Group, Inc. He is 
located in Hong Kong as an expatnate on an 
overseas assignment. 



1975 



^Married: Allen G. Downs and Donna M. 
Mericnyak on August 29, 198 1 in Hun- 
tington, Connecticut. Mrs. Downs attended 
the University of New Haven, West Haven. 
The groom is a student at Harvard Business 
School. He has a master's degree in chemical 
engineering from the University of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Kent Berwick holds the post of manager 
of customer service at Aviation Simulation 
Technology, Bedford, Mass. He is also a 
C- 130 pilot and lieutenant in the USAF Re- 
serve. 

Richard Bloom was recently elected 
president of Independent Glass Company of 
Rhode Island, Inc. With the firm for seven 
years, he has been vice president for the last 
four. Also, he is president of Auto Security 
Systems of Rhode Island and a general part- 
ner in Independent Realty Company. Inde- 
pendent Glass is located in Providence. 

Louis Christoforo works for Tech HiFi 
in Randolph, Mass. 

Bradford Esten is an actuarial associate 
at Transamcrica-Occidental, Los Angeles, 
Cahf. 

Henry Fitzgerald holds the position of 
program manager at Data Packaging Corp., 
Cambndge, Mass., for the consumer and 
medical divisions. 

David Giddings serves as a research 
chemist at Ferro Corp. Technical Center in 
Bedford, Ohio. He will soon receive his PhD 
from Brandcis. 

Steven Harvey is a first-year MBA stu- 
dent at the Wharton School at the University 
of Pennsylvania. 

Robert Hickey is a program analyst at 
GE in Springfield, Va. 

Louis Isgur serves as a senior manufac- 
turing engineer at McDonnell Douglas Corp. 
Astronautics C'o , Huntington Beach, Cahf. 
He has an MBA from Suffolk University 
Graduate School of Business. 



Gary Kiontke has been elected assistant 
actuary at Monarch Life Insurance Co., 
Springfield, Mass. He joined the actuanal 
department in 1977. Previously, he was 
senior actuarial assistant. Recently named a 
fellow of the Society of Actuaries, he is also a 
member of the American Academy of Ac- 
tuaries. He attended the University of Con- 
necticut's School of Insurance. 

Stephen Murphy is employed as a sys- 
tems engineer at GTE in Needham, Mass. 

Peter Schwartz holds the position of 
director of marketing at MFE Corp. in Salem, 
N.H. 

Margaret St. John continues as a re- 
search assistant at the University of Ne- 
braska Medical School. She is doing research 
in cancer. 

Paul Varadian, who has a degree in con- 
struction management from WPI, is working 
with a partner and several investors (North 
High Associates) in Worcester converting 
the former North High School into con- 
dominium units. Renovations were sched- 
uled to start in late November with a ten- 
month construction schedule planned. 
When complete, Varadian says that the $5.6 
million renovation project will yield 54 lux- 
ury condominiums selling from $90,000 to 
$190,000 each. The showpiece unit will be 
the one that includes the tower of the old 
building, which will boast 18-ft. ceilings. 
The development will be called North High 
Gardens. 

David Williams works as a transporta- 
tion planner for the city and county of Den- 
ver, Colorado. He has been with the Denver 
planning office since last March. 



1976 



^■MaTried: Mark P. Barry to Michelle 
Nejaime recently in Goshen, Connecticut. 
The bride graduated from Becker and is em- 
ployed at Formley and Martin in Boston. The 
bridegroom currently attends Northeastern 
University. . . . Robert R. Cormier and 
Donna M. Larose in Nashua, New Hamp- 
shire on September 19, 1 98 1 . The bride, a 
graduate of Nashua High School, is em- 
ployed as a sales correspondent by Nashua 
Corp. Her husband is a civil engineer at Allan 
H. Swanson, Inc. . . . Kevin B. Hastings to 
Kathleen Kelly in Princeton, Massachusetts 
on August 23, 1981. Mrs. Hastings graduated 
from Assumption College and is a nursing 
student at St. Francis School of Nursing, 
Hartford, Conn. The bridegroom, a student 
at Hartford Graduate Center of RPI in Gro- 
ton. Conn., serves as a contracts adminis- 
trator at Northeast Utilities Service Co., 
Waterford. 

>Married: Joseph T. Martowski to 
Dawn M. Baird recently in Gilbertvillc, Mas- 
sachusetts. Mrs. Martowski attended Si- 
mons Rock College and graduated with a BA 
in psychology from North Adams State Col- 
lege. She was employed by Valley Human 
Services in Ware as a caseworker, and is 
currently a representative of the Mutual of 
Omaha insurance Co. Her husband is a qual- 
ity control engineer forGE in I'lttsfieki, 
Mass. . . , James A. Morocco and loAnn 
Berthiaume on lune 6, 198 I in Worcester. 



Mrs. Morocco graduated from the former St. 
Peter's Central Catholic High School and is 
employed in the accounting department of 
Home Federal Savings & Loan Association. 
Her husband is a civil engineer with the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers in Waltham, Mass. 
. . . Michael P. Petrishen and Debora M. 
Abraham in Salem, Massachusetts on Sep- 
tember 12, 198 1. Mrs. Petrishen graduated 
from North Shore Community College. She 
is lead singer in "Portraits in Sound," a 
general business band. The bridegroom is a 
computer programmer at Massachusetts 
Mutual Life Insurance Company and is also a 
sax player for the same band. . . . William B. 
Wood to Elizabeth A. Hanlon, '78 on June 6, 
198 1 in Worcester. The bride is with the 
research and development department at 
Sylvania Corp., Needham, Mass. The groom 
works as a civil engineer at J.M. Cashman 
Co., Weymouth. 

William Baker, a major in the U.S. 
Army, is currently assigned as a full-time 
student in the master's program at Florida 
Institute of Technology, Ft. Lee branch. 

Charles Bellemer is employed as a 
chemical process engineer at Multiwire, 
Nashua, N.H. 

Noreen Borys serves as a senior project 
engineer for Exxon USA in Los Angeles, 
Cahf. 

William Burke is currently employed at 
the Lahey Clinic Foundation Department of 
Neurosurgery in Burlington, Mass. He holds 
a BS as a physician's associate from the 
George Washington University School of 
Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, 
D.C. 

John Casey works as a general foreman 
at Electric Boat/General Dynamics in Gro- 
ton. Conn. Last year he received his MBA 
from RPI. 

Mark Coulson is a staff engineer at 
PSNH, Seabrook Station, Seabrook, N.H. 

David DeMeo is a first-year student at 
Wharton Graduate School of Business, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Richard Enos is an associate planner for 
Brevard County, Fla., Merritt Island. He and 
Marsha hve in Cocoa. 

Bruce Lamarre works as a project en- 
gineer at Roy F. Weston, Inc., Concord, N.H. 
He and Julie have three children and reside in 
Boscawen. 

Wayne Lundblad is employed as man- 
ager of engineering at R.D. Brew Co., Inc., 
Conord, N.H. 

Thomas McAloon is now a senior sani- 
tary engineer at the New Hampshire Water 
Supply and Pollution Control Commission. 
He is actively involved in ballet and theatre, 
the most recent production being "Gypsy" 
with the Concord Community Players. 

William Mullen is a hydraulic engineer 
for the U.S. Geological Survey, Lakewood, 
Colorado. 

Dr. Earl Myers is president and founder 
of Precision Materials, Inc., Rochester, N.Y. 
The firm was incorporated on May 19, 1981. 
It deals with laser systems for use in heat 
treating, cutting, drilling, welding, alloying, 
cladding, and similar types of materials pro- 
cessing activities. Currently, it is in the 
process of purchasing a $ 1 .5 million laser 
system, and it expects to spend around three 
million dollars more on equipment in the 
next few months. The company employs 
engineers, mamifactunng people, and tech- 



34 I Winter 19H2 The Wl'l lournal 



nicians. It plans to have about 130 people on 
the payroll with a 12 to 15 million dollar 
gross business within the next year. 

Raymond Robey serves as a senior re- 
search engineer at Air Products and Chemi- 
cals in Allentown, Pa. He leads a technical 
program in supercritical fluids extraction 
technology at the company. 

James Russo is a project manager at 
Charles Jewett Corp., Glastonbury, Conn. 

Dr. David Sawyer works as a senior 
research engineer in the Solar Energy Divi- 
sion at Chevron Research Co., Richmond, 
Cahf. 

Steven Schoen is employed as assistant 
group actuary at Sun Life of Canada in 
Wellesley Hills, Mass. After becoming a fel- 
low of the Society of Actuaries in 1980, he 
was promoted to his present post in February 
of 1981. 

James Sieminski is a computer systems 
consultant for Computec in Simi Valley, 
Cahf. 

Paula Stratouly holds the post of as- 
sociate mechanical engineer at Fluor En- 
gineers & Constructors, Houston, Texas. 

Kevin Wall is now a student at Yale 
University. He has a master's degree from 
RPI. 

Edward Wright serves as a research en- 
gineer for Caterpillar Tractor Co. in Peoria, 
111. 

Yinmin Yang is currently a graduate 
student at Carnegie-Mellon University, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., where he is working for his 
PhD. 



1977 

^Married: William L. Collier to Janice E. 
Caminiti m Portland, Maine on October 10, 
1 98 1 . The bride graduated from Deering 
High School and works for Bar Harbor Air- 
Unes. Her husband is employed at Collier's 
Nursing Home, Ellsworth. . . . Paul D. Curdo 
and Joy M. House in Westford, Mas- 
sachusetts. Mrs. Curdo graduated from Bur- 
bank Hospital School of Nursing, Fitchburg 
and is an RN at Kaiser Permanente, San 
Diego, Calif. Her husband is a structural 
engineer with General Dynamics, San Diego. 
. . . David Kinder and Cynthia Bouvier, '78 in 
Webster, Massachusetts on August 30, 1981. 
The bride was formerly with the North 
Carolina Department of Transportation. The 
groom, who had been with Data General, is 
now a senior apphcations engineer for Intel 
Corp., Alhoa, Oregon. . . . Ralph Sacco to 
Carol Bliss in Cranston, Rhode Island on 
September 20, 1 98 1. Mrs. Sacco graduated 
from Rhode Island Junior College and is 
employed by Co-Op Tech. Her husband is 
with Westinghouse of Framingham. . . . 
Michael L. Wagner and Eileen B. Brill in 
Burhngton, Vermont on September 12, 1981. 
The bride attended Edinburgh University in 
Scotland and graduated from Cornell Uni- 
versity. She is a free-lance writer. The groom 
is a development engineer at Honeywell 
Electro-Optics Center, Lexington, Mass. 



>Born: to Claire and Albert DeFusco a 
son on April 24, 198 1 in Burlington, Ver- 
mont. DeFusco, who received his PhD in 
chemistry from the University of Vermont 
last June, has received a National Research 
Council post-doctoral award at the China 
Lake Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, 
California. 

John Albernaz is an R&D engineer for 
GTE Sylvania, Waltham, Mass., and is cur- 
rently working on site at Kwajalein in the 
Marshall Islands. 

Fred Baker has been promoted to CRT 
design engineer at Tektronix, Inc. His job 
involves developing low cost manufacturing 
methods for portable oscilloscope tubes. 
Also, he is pursing an MS degree in applied 
physics at the Oregon Graduate Center. "In 
my spare time, I am raising sunflowers and 
ducks." 

David Bolin is a senior scientist at 
Hoffmann-LaRoche, Nutley, N.J. He re- 
cently received his PhD from MIT. 

Leonard Clow is a freshman student 
doctor at the New England College of Os- 
teopathic Medicine in Biddeford, Maine. 
Previously, he received a master's degree in 
biochemistry from Kansas State University, 
Manhattan, Kansas. 

Stephen Coleman was recently pro- 
moted to senior actuarial associate within 
the group pension actuarial organization at 
State Mutual in Worcester. Following his 
graduation from WPI, he began work at State 
Mutual as an actuarial assistant. In 1978 he 
was promoted to actuarial associate. 

Bill Cuimingham, Ron Howard, and 
Henry LeBlanc participated in the placement 
seminar held on campus in November. Bill is 
at Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth. Ron is 
president of DatabiHty Software Systems, 
New York City, and Henry is project man- 
ager at Mobil Oil's Chemical Division in 
Macedon, New York. 

Asta Dabrila is now a naval architect at 
Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard. 

Kurt Eisenman serves as a product sales 
manager at Parker Hannifin in Metamora, 
Ohio. 

William Farrell, Jr. is with Exxon Co. 
USA in Houston, Texas. 

Subash Ganguli works as a program 
manager at PS Ltd. in Fairfield, N.J. 

Stephen Golden is employed as a direc- 
tor at Highland Imports, hic, Marlboro, 
Mass. 

Capt. Michael Gregory has graduated 
v/ith honors from U.S. Air Force pilot train- 
ing and has been awarded his silver wings at 
Holloman AFB, New Mexico. He will now 
fly the F- 1 5 at Holloman. 

John Nyquist continues with Procter & 
Gamble in Cincinnati. He holds a master's 
degree in chemical engineering from the 
University of Michigan. 

Judith O'Brien serves as a coordinator of 
electronic controls at GE in Columbia, Md. 
Ron O'Connor works as a research as- 
sistant at St. Vincent Hospital, Worcester. 
Last May he received his master of pubhc 
health degree from the University of Michi- 
gan. 

Mark Puputti continues as a production 
engineer at Polaroid Corp., Waltham, Mass. 
H. P. Ruefenacht is assistant vice presi- 
dent at SGI, Consulting Engineers, Geneva, 
Switzerland. 



Edward Smith works as a senior project 
engineer at Astra Pharmaceutical Products, 
Inc., Worcester. 

Theodore Tamburro works as a systems 
engineer at IBM in Waltham, Mass. Last year 
he received his MS from American Univer- 
sity in Washington, D.C. 

Mike Thorogood, who was married last 
April, is currently a research engineer (R&.D) 
at National Steel Corp. in Weirton, West 
Virginia. He recently completed a three-year 
tour as an Army officer. 

Linda Weiss is currently in the PhD 
program at the University of Illinois with a 
research assistantship through the Illinois 
State Water Survey. 

John Zimmerman works at the Marine 
Sciences Research Center at SUNY, Stony 
Brook, N.Y. 



1978 



^Married: Kevin S. Ingle and Sandra L. 
Pisarski in Worcester on August 8, 1981. 
Mrs. Ingle graduated from Becker and 
Worcester State College. She is a sales secre- 
tary at Commonwealth Gas Co., Southboro, 
Mass. The bridegroom serves as a financial 
and electronic-data-processing analyst at 
Jamesbury Corp. He has just completed his 
MBA at Babson College. . . . Steven McLaf- 
ferty and Leslie Anderson in Northampton, 
Massachusetts on September 12, 1981. The 
bride, who holds a BA in Spanish and English 
from the University of New Hampshire, is a 
marketing specialist for major accounts at 
Wang Laboratories, Inc., Lowell, Mass. Her 
husband holds the post of electrical design 
engineer at CSPI in Billerica. . . . Paul A. 
Peterson to Mary Ann Keefe in Worcester on 
June 20, 1981. Mrs. Peterson graduated from 
Assumption College and is a day-care 
teacher at the Living and Learning School. 
The groom serves as a chemical engineer at 
American Hoechst Corp., Leominster. . . . 
Reginald Roome II and Susan J. Santora on 
September 12, 1981 in North Grafton, Mas- 
sachusetts. The bride, a graduate of the 
Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, 
Worcester, is a student at Worcester State 
College. She was an RN at Memorial Hospi- 
tal. Her husband serves as a structural en- 
gineer at LeMesseurier Associates, Cam- 
bridge. . . . David Tate and Linda Fisk on 
September 19, 1981 in Amherst, New Hamp- 
shire. The bride graduated from the Univer- 
sity of New Hampshire and from Framing- 
ham State, where last year she received her 
MS in nutrition. She is employed at the 
Manchester Veterans Administration Medi- 
cal Center. The groom works as a senior 
software engineer at Sanders Associates, 
Nashua, N.H. 



The WPI Journal I Winter 1982135 



William Alexander continues as a proj- 
ect engineer at Cincinnati-Milacron, Heald 
Division, Worcester. 

Michael Almeida is an engineer- 
estimator at Perim Corp., Framingham, 
Mass. 

Paul Avakian is now senior product 
marketing engineer for NEC Electronics 
U.S.A., Inc., in the Microcomputer Division 
inNatick, Mass. 

Michael Beaudoin is a student at Purdue 
University, West Lafayette, Ind. He has 
taken a leave of absence from Golden Assoc. 
in Atlanta, Ga. to pursue his master's degree 
in civil engineering. 

Ralph Castriotta is a student at the Med- 
ical University of South Carolina in 
Charleston. 

Mae Wright Dameron is the new Energy 
Roundtable program manager at Westing- 
house Corp. in Pittsburgh, Pa. Pnor to her 
current appointment, she was a participant 
in Westinghouse's Campus America Pro- 
gram and technical advisor at the Salem 
nuclear plant in New Jersey. 

Mary Donovan was recently appointed 
to the Conservation Commission in Acton, 
Mass. For the past two years she has been a 
civil engineer with the Army Corps of En- 
gineers. Earlier, she was a member of Mary- 
land's Soil Conservation Service. 

Mark Duchesne works as a project en- 
gineer at Harris Corp., NPD, Dover, N.H. 

Pierre Fleurant is now an electrical en- 
gineer in the products development depart- 
ment at High Voltage Engineering, Bur- 
lington, Mass. He is also a category IV senior 
in the United States Cycle Federation 
(USCF), and rides with the New England 
Bicycle Club (NEBC). He finished ninth out 
of nearly 100 racers in the New England 
Championships held in Charlestown, R.I. 
over Labor Day. 

Dean Giacopassi has left his position as 
a lead engineer in CAD CAM at the Boeing 
Commercial Airplane Company, Seattle, 
Washington, to return to WPI as a teaching 
assistant. He is studying for his master's 
degree in mechanical engineering. 

Herbert Holmes continues as a highway 
engineer for the Federal Highway Adminis- 
tration in Tallahassee, Florida. 

David Jones serves as a liaison engineer 
for du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware. At the 
present time, he is working on renovations to 
restart a mothballcd defense nuclear reactor. 

Carlton Klein has been working as a 
strategy analyst at GE in Fairfield, Conn. In 
September he took a leave of absence to 
finish his last year at Harvard. 

Ruth Lipman, a graduate student at WPI, 
attended the Symposium on Ocular and Vis- 
ual Development m Philadelphia last lune. 
That same month she also attended the Tis- 
sue Culture Association meeting in 
Washington. 

Robert Lundin received his doctor of 
dental medicine degree from Tufts Univer- 
sity in lune. Currently, he is a general dental 
officer for the Department of Health and 
Human Services, Public Health Service, in 
Rockville, Md 

Francis Marchand works as a product 
engineer at MPB Corp in Keene, N.H. 

David Markey is a research engineer at 
Wyman-Gordon, North Cirafton, Mass. Last 
year he received his MS from RPL 



Joseph Maslar continues as an MBA stu- 
dent at the University of California at 
Berkeley. 

I Lt. Marc McCalmont has reported for 
duty with the Marine All Weather Attack 
Squadron 224, Marine Corps Air Station, 
Cherr>' Point, N.C. He joined the Marine 
Corps in 1978. 

Lou Nay is CSSE manager for Digital 
Equipment Corp., Marlboro, Mass. The Nays 
live in Wayland and have two children. 

Woodrow Saccoccio has been promoted 
to associate engineer at Northeast Utilities 
in Connecticut. He joined NU last year as an 
assistant engineer in the generation en- 
gineering instrumentation and control de- 
partment. Besides WPI, he attended Ripon 
College in Wisconsin. 

Last year, Joseph Sage received his mas- 
ter's degree in architecture from the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. He is now 
an architect-planner for the Ehrenkrantz 
Group, New York City. 

John Vestri, Jr. works as a production 
control administrator at Hughes Aircraft 
Co., Fullerton, Calif. 

Dean Wilcox is one of the first four 
employees of the Electric Boat Division of 
General Dynamics selected to participate in 
a new executive training course called the 
Advanced Career Development Program. 
The program is designed to support the ship- 
yard's upper management needs and re- 
quirements. In the two-and-a-half year pro- 
gram, the participants will undertake three 
special assignments with assistant general 
managers and two shipyard assignments in 
such areas as trades, testing and engineering. 
At the conclusion of the program, they will 
be placed in key shipyard management posts 
at headquarters in Groton, Conn. Wilcox 
joined Electric Boat in 1978. 



1979 



^■Married: Annemarie Bernard to Ernest G. 
Nelson on October 10, 1 98 1 . The bride is a 
programmer/analyst at Norton Co., and is 
studying for her MBA at WPI. Her husband is 
an industrial engineer at Norton. He has a BS 
in engineering from Lowell Tech and an 
MBA from Clark. . . . Douglas C. Clark and 
Deborah Megill in Naugatuck, Connecticut 
on September 26, 198 1 . Mrs. Clark graduated 
from Becker with a degree in physical 
therapy. Formerly, she was employed in the 
office of American Refining and Chemical. 
The bridegroom is a computer design en- 
gineer for Pratt &. Wliitncy Aircraft in East 
Hartford. . . . Thomas O. Converse and Hol- 
lie I. Guettler on June 20, 1 98 1 in Adams, 
Massachusetts. The bride attended Berkshire 
Community College, Pittsfield. Her husband 
is with W.C. Grace & Co. . . . William P. 
Donoghue toMary E. Morelli in New Britain, 
Connecticut on October 17, 198 1 . The bride 
graduated from St. Joseph College and is 
employed in the Office of Grants Adminis- 
tration and Welfare Department for the City 
of New Britain. The groom serves as an 
electrical design engineer for Hamilton 
Standard, Windsor Locks. 



^Married: William H. Englemann and 

Phyllis Ann White in Arlington, Mas- 
sachusetts. The bride graduated from Ar- 
lington High School and is employed by 
Raytheon Corp., Lexington. The groom 
works for Analog Devices, Norwood, Mass. 
. . . Thomas McCoU to Beth DiMaggio on 
August 22, 198 1 in NorwichtowTi, Connect- 
icut. The bride graduated from Assumption 
College, Worcester, Mass. The groom is with 
Electric Boat-General Dynamics in Groton, 
Conn. . . . Donald O. Patten, Jr. and Janice L. 
Costello on August 29, 198 1 in Morris, New 
York. Mrs. Patten graduated from Becker and 
has been studying for her BS degree in physi- 
cal therapy at the University of Connecticut 
at Storrs. Her husband is employed in man- 
ufacturing management by Procter & 
Gamble. 

^■Marned: Jeffrey L. Sauer to Deborah F. 
Spear in Danbury, Connecticut on October 
24, 198 1. The bride graduated from Westem 
Connecticut State College with a BS in biol- 
ogy and secondary education. She teaches 
science at Westhill High School, Stamford. 
The groom is with Perkin-Elmer Corp. in 
Danbury. . . . Lt. Thomas H. Soszynski, 
USAF. and Lt. Christine M. Aziz in Leomin- 
ster, Massachusetts on August 22, 1981. The 
bride graduated from Leicester Junior Col- 
lege, received her BS from Worcester State, 
and was enrolled in the ROTC program at 
Holy Cross, where she received her commis- 
sion in 1980. The groom earned his wings in a 
USAF ceremony in Columbus, Miss, last 
March, and previously received his ROTC 
commission at Holy Cross. Currently, he is 
stationed with the Strategic Air Command 
in Plattsburgh, N.Y. 

^Married: Craig H. Thompson and 
Shari A. Anable in Westboro, Massachusetts 
on August 29, 1981. The bride, a graduate of 
Westboro High School, was a nurse's aide at 
Westboro Nursing Home. Her husband is a 
student at Syracuse University. He was em- 
ployed by Bigelow's Nursery, Northboro. . . . 
Susan M. Turner and William C. Dass in 
Auburn, Massachusetts on October 10, 1981. 
Mrs. Dass holds a master's degree in 
geotechnical engineering from Cornell Uni- 
versity. She is a geotechnical engineer for 
D'Appolonia in Albuquerque. The bride- 
groom has a master of engineering degree 
from Cornell and is a research geotechnical 
engineer for Apphed Research Associates, 
Albuquerque. 

Bob Avarbock serves as a senior 
firmware engineer at Digital in Hudson, 
Mass. 

Phil Cameron, who is with Clairol in 
Stamford, Conn., took part in the placement 
seminar held at WPI last fall. 

Jih-Tseng Chang served as a guide and 
interpreter for Prof. Donald Zwiep in August 
when he was in Taipei, Taiwan for the 
ASME. 

Tony Doornweerd is a highway engineer 
for C.E. Maguirc, New Britain, Conn. 

For the next three years. Ken Fast will be 
doing missionary work in Europe. 

General Electric in Hendersonville, 
N.C. employs Michael Galierani as a spe- 
cialist in management enginccnng. 



36 / Winter 19H2 The Wl'l lournal 



Recently, Jim Grant completed the Edi- 
son Engineering Program at GE in Schenec- 
tady, N.Y. The two-year program consists of 
rotating engineering assignments and tech- 
nical education through GE's Advanced 
* Course in Engineermg. He calls the program 
"demanding, but worth it." A product design 
engineer, he is also finishing up his master's 
degree at RPI. 

Kevin Grealish now works for Martin- 
Marietta Co., Denver, Colorado. 

1/Lt. Robert Gregorio serves as a platoon 
leader for the U.S. Army at Ft. Irwin, Cahf. 
"In the middle of the Mojave Desert." 

Richard Keirstead is currently pursuing 
his master's degree at WPI. 

Stephen Lefemine is a field sales en- 
gineer at Warren Pumps, Inc., Atlanta, Geor- 
gia. He and Francyne reside in Dunwoody. 

David Lodigiani is a technical service 
engineer at Loctite Corporation in Aurora, 
111. 

Eugene Ogborn has been promoted to 
senior project manager in the systems devel- 
opment organization of State Mutual Life 
Assurance Company of America. He joined 
State Mutual as a systems analyst in 1972 
and was promoted to senior systems analyst 
in 1975 and to project manager in 1978. He 
has a master's degree in management from 
WPI. 

Paul Peterson is a senior underwriter at 
State Mutual, Worcester. 

Bill Razeto is employed as a stress en- 
gineer on the 757 program at the Boeing Co. 
in Seattle, Washington. 

Robert Schifiliti, a systems consultant 
for Mass Fire Alarms, Lowell, Mass., is pres- 
ently enrolled in the WPI master's degree 
program in fire protection engineering. 

Joseph Silva works for GE in Wil- 
mington, Mass. 

Jack Tracy, Jr. works as an operations 
analyst at Exxon in Norwalk, Conn. 

Felix Vargas continues as a test equip- 
ment design engineer at Prime Computer, 
Inc., Framingham, Mass. He has an MSEE 
from WPI. 

Neil Volkmar is an appUcations en- 
gineer for GE Information Service, Oakland, 
Cahf. 



1980 



> Married: Keith J. Backman and Shaileen 
Zukowski on August 22, 1981 in Milford, 
Connecticut. Mrs. Backman holds a scholar- 
ship for graduate study at Catholic Univer- 
sity for her master's in social work. She 
graduated from Assumption College. Her 
husband is a civilian engineer for the U.S. Air 
Force in the Washington, D.C. area. . . . Brian 
F. Biemacki and Lucille D. Lovely in Worces- 
ter. The bride, formerly a recorder in the 
registrar's office at WPI, graduated from 
Quinsigamond Community College. The 
bridegroom is a field engineer at Dresser 
Atlas Wireless Services in Seminole, Ok- 
lahoma. . . . Charles H. Crowley to Linda M. 
Martin in Hudson, Massachusetts on August 
1, 1981. Mrs. Crowley graduated from Becker 
and is an administrative assistant at Business 
Journals, Inc., Norwalk, Conn. The bride- 
groom serves as a chemical engineer at Poly- 
cast Technology Corp., Stamford, Conn. 



^■Married: Michael J. Herberg and 

Cheryl A. Pettis in Aubum, Massachusetts 
on August 15, 1981. Mrs. Herberg attended 
Fitchburg State College and is now a student 
at Russell Sage College, Troy, N.Y. Her hus- 
band is a chemical engineer for GE in 
Schenectady and a student at RPI. . . . 
Stephen A. Kossakoski to Eileen M. Cole in 
Glastonbury, Connecticut on August 1, 
198 1 . The bride graduated from Keene (N.H. ) 
State College. The groom graduated from 
Keene State College last year. They are both 
teachers in Kingston. . . . Robert J. Martinek 
to Laurie E. Benjamin on October 10, 198 1 in 
Torrington, Connecticut. The bride attended 
Mattatuck Community College and Western 
Connecticut State College. Her husband 
serves as a design engineer at the Raytheon 
Company in Sudbury, Mass. 

^Married: Rosemary A. Murphy and 
Timothy C. O'Brien in Housatonic, Mas- 
sachusetts on September 19, 1 98 1. The bride 
is a process development engineer for Arthur 
D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. The bride- 
groom holds the post of project engineer at 
Stone &. Webster Engineering, Boston. He 
graduated from RPI. . . . Elaine C. O'Neill to 
Michael S. Yamall in Needham, Mas- 
sachusetts on August 22, 1981. The bride- 
groom graduated from RPI as a chemical 
engineer. Both the bride and groom work for 
Clairol in Stamford, Conn., and attend 
graduate school: she at the University of 
Connecticut and he at New York University. 
. . . Aivars Reks to Christine O'Malia in 
Norton, Massachusetts on August 15, 1981. 
Mrs. Reks attended Dean Junior College. Her 
husband is employed by Hughes Aircraft in 
California. 

Douglas Beller works as an associate 
engineer at Yankee Atomic Electric Co., 
Framingham, Mass. 

John Caola of the WPI mechanical en- 
gineering department attended the Virginia 
Polytechnic Institute and Virginia State 
University Conference program co- 
sponsored by NASA Lewis Laboratories in 
September. 

Garry Crane is with General Electric in 
Utica, N.Y. 

Grace Crooker currently works for the 
EPA in Denver, Colorado and is concerned 
with hazardous waste. Before her transfer, 
she was with the EPA in Lexington, Mass. 

John Cybulski continues as a supervisor 
in the manufacturing and management pro- 
gram with GE in Holland, Michigan. 

J.A. DeMauro holds the post of division 
manager at AT&.T in Lisle, Illinois. 

Paul Doherty is a graduate student at the 
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 

In August, Bill Durkin broke his ankle 
while climbing Mt. Washington in New 
Hampshire. He was climbing the 6,288-foot 
mountain with David Beech. Durkin man- 
aged to complete the trip by tightening the 
straps on his boots even though the fall 
occurred more than a mile from the end of 
the hike. 

Perry Esposito now holds the post of 
operational service engineer at Matsco Fermi 
II, Monroe, Mich. 

Edward Johnson continues as a sales 
engineer at Torrington Co., South Bend, In- 
diana. 

Chandrashekhar Joshi recently received 
his MSME from MIT. He is with Thermo 
Electron Corp., Waltham, Mass. 



John Kennedy is a technical staff 
member at Charles Stark Draper Lab., Cam- 
bridge, Mass. 

David Konieczny works for Bechtel 
Power Corp., Berwick, Pa. 

Peter LaBelle serves as an electrical 
software design engineer at Texas Instru- 
ments in Dallas, Texas. 

James Lafferty is employed as a product 
engineer at Foster Pump Works, Westerly, 
R.I. 

Don Maki works as a resins production 
supervisor at Borden Chemicals, Inc., Fay- 
etteville, N.C. 

John Moriarty recently accepted a trans- 
fer from the Victoria plant to the Deer Park, 
Texas plant at du Pont. 

John Neilon is a planning technician for 
Dade County Planning Department in 
Miami, Fla. 

Eric Northrop is a member of the techni- 
cal staff at Bell Labs, Naperville, 111. In 
December he was slated to receive his MSEE 
from Purdue. 

Capt. Thomas Nowak serves as a project 
engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, 
Dayton, Ohio. 

Richard Stephens is a sales engineer in- 
volved with mobile fluid product sales at 
Dana Corp., Paramus, N.J. 

Louis Travaglione works as an associate 
engineer at Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., 
Sunnyvale, Calif. 

Chuong Le Vu serves as a member of the 
advanced engineering program at Honeywell 
Information Systems, Billerica, Mass. He is 
slated to receive his MS in computer sci- 
ence from BU in 1982. 

Francis Walsh, Jr. is a plant engineer lor 
W.R. Grace &. Co., Chicago. 

Mary Westberg serves as an industrial 
engineer at Rochester Products, Division of 
GM, Rochester, N.Y. 



1981 



^■Married: Jeffrey C. S. Alexander and Pa- 
tricia M. Pinette in East Falmouth, Mas- 
sachusetts on August 29, 1981. The bride 
attended Bridgewater State College. Her 
husband is an industrial engineer with 
Hughes Aircraft in Fullerton, Califomia. . . . 
Robert R. Breault to Doreen A. Rossi in 
Pawtucket, Rhode Island on September 19, 
1981. Mrs. Breault graduated from Bryant 
College and is employed in the CPA office of 
Keenan, Tripp, and Company, Ltd., Provi- 
dence. The groom serves as a junior indus- 
trial engineer at Chesebrough-Ponds, Inc., 
Clinton, Conn. . . . Mark J. Burzynski and 
Cynthia J. Lunt on September 26, 1981 in 
Southbridge, Massachusetts. The bride 
graduated from Eastern Connecticut State 
College and Worcester State College. She is a 
special education teacher at Laurel Hill 
School, Norfolk, Conn. Her husband works 
for Torrington (Conn.) Co. . . . Robert C. 
Fuller and Mary E. Whitelaw on August 15, 
1981 in Centerville, Rhode Island. Mrs. Ful- 
ler attends Holy Cross. Her husband is with 
G.M. Industries in Seekonk. 



The WPI loarnal I Winter 1 982 1 37 



^Maihed: Richard E. Grimley to Donna 
M. Sansoucie in Northbridge, Massachusetts 
on August 22, 1981. The bride, a registered 
nurse, attended Worcester State College and 
graduated from City Hospital School of 
Nursing. The groom is a production engineer 
at IBM Corp., Manassas, Va. . . . Trevor Jones 
and Lori Vertucci in Trumbull, Connecticut 
on September 26, 1981.. . . James D.Lafferty 
II and Elizabeth A. Rososky in Westboro, 
Massachusetts on July 11, 1981. The bride is 
a student at Southeastern Massachusetts 
University, North Danmouth. The groom 
serves as a mechanical engineer at General 
Dynamics, Electric Boat, Groton, Conn. . . . 
Jeffrey F. Regan and Mary Beth Koran in 
Monson, Massachusetts on August 1, 1981. 
The bride, a registered nurse, is employed in 
the coronary thoracic intensive care unit at 
UMass Medical Center. 

>Mained: Alan M. Rodrigues and 
Donna E. Jobson on September 12, 1981 in 
Wilbraham, Massachusetts. The bride, who 
graduated from Holyoke Community Col- 
lege, has been an assistant manager for The 
Gap Stores, Inc., Enfield. The bridegroom 
works as a mechanical engineer in El 
Segundo, Calif. . . . Joseph M. Sobol and 
Barbara A. Anderson, '80 on October 17, 
1981 in Rochdale, Massachusetts. The bride 
is a civil engineer with Elson P. Killam 
Associates, Inc., Millbum, N.J. Her husband 
works as a geotechnical engineer with 
Mueser, Rutledge, Johnston &. DeSimone 
Consulting Engineers, New York City. . . . 
James Waclawski to Joan E. Shoaf in 
Wethersfield, Connecticut on August 21, 
1981. Mrs. Waclawski graduated from Clark 
University. The groom is an associate en- 
gineer with Westinghouse in Baltimore, 
Maryland. 

Currently, Nancy Berube is a first-year 
medical student at the University of Mas- 
sachusetts Medical School in Worcester. She 
is married to John F. Stevens of Ontario, New 
York. 

Valerie Boynton works in the informa- 
tion systems department at Pratt & Whitney 
Aircraft, East Hartford, Conn. 

James Bozeman serves as a teaching 
assistant at the University of California in 
Santa Barbara. 

Gary Brown has accepted a post as pro- 
duction engineer at Allied Corp. in 
Hopewell, Va. 

Mark Caldwell serves as an ensign in the 
U.S. Navy. He is based at the Naval Aviation 
Schools Command, Pensacola, Fla. 

Joe Colangelo has been employed as an 
electncal design engineer at Texas Instru- 
ments in Dallas, Texas. 

Steve Dellaporta, who recently received 
his PhD from WPI, has accepted a research 
post at Cold Spring Harbor Research 
Laboratones on Long Island in New York. 

Joseph Desjardins has joined Motorola 
in Ft Lauderdale, Fla. 

For the next two years, David Dom- 
browski plans to study for his MSME at MIT, 
where he serves as a graduate research 
assistant. 

Continuing with Bechtel Power Corp., 
Beverly Elloian is currently working on the 
Three Mile Island protect. 

Joseph Gionfrtddo serves as a team man- 
ager for Procter &. Gamble in Mehoopany, Pa 

Mary Goodrow is now with GE in leffer- 
son, Ohio. 



Casey Gordon continues as a develop- 
ment chemist at Hercules, Inc., Wilmington, 
Delaware. 

Timothy Gottlieb works as a field en- 
gineer at Schlumberger Well Service, Laredo, 
Texas. 

Marshall Houskeeper has been em- 
ployed by Dresser Atlas as an operations 
engineer in Houston, Texas. 

David Ireland, a member of the techni- 
cal staff at Bell Laboratories, North Andover, 
Mass., is currently a student at Stanford 
University. 

Amanullah Khan is a teaching assistant 
at WPI in the ME department. 

Lisa Kosciuczyk is a civil engineering 
assistant for the Los Angeles County Flood 
Control District in California. 

Bruce MacLeod serves as an assistant 
civil engineer for the County of Los Angeles, 
Los Angeles, Calif. 

Ralph Malboeuf works at General In- 
strument of Fiicksville, N.Y. 

Steven McDonald holds the post of as- 
sociate test engineer at Data General Corp., 
Westboro, Mass. 

Anthony Napikoski has accepted a post 
as a distribution protection engineer at 
United Illuminating in New Haven, Corm. 

Brita Nelson has been appointed to a 
process engineering position with Interna- 
tional Paper Company's Hudson River mill, 
Corinth, N.Y. 

Ali Reza Paravar is studying for his PhD 
in the chemical engineering department at 
Cleveland State University, Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

Thomas Perry is employed as a mechan- 
ical engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 
Portsmouth, Va. 

Gary Poole works as a research engineer 
at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y. 

Lisa Reis has joined Eastman Kodak as a 
manufacturing engineer in Rochester, N.Y. 

Richard Rempe is employed by Exxon 
Corp., Houston, Texas. 

James Ricci has been employed as a 
plant manager by Eastman Kodak. 

Roland Roberge has accepted a field en- 
gineering position with GE's Installation and 
Service Engineering Division (I&.SE) in 
Schenectady, N.Y. He will receive technical 
training at I&.SE's Field Engineering Devel- 
opment Center and on-the-job assignments 
with I&.SE and GE products departments as a 
member of the company's field engineering 
program. 

Scot Robertson has been named as a 
design engineer at Texas Instruments in 
Houston. 

Richard Rodgers continues as a teaching 
assistant in the mechanical engineering de- 
partment at WPI. 

Frederick Rook is studying for his MS in 
electrical engineering at the University of 
Virginia in Charlottesville. 

Frank Silveira has joined Polaroid Corp., 
Cambridge, Mass. 

Bradford Steinka works as an associate 
engineer at Codex Corporation in Mansfield, 
Mass. 

Grant Swan serves as a cost engineer at 
IBM in San lose, Calif. 

Anne-Marie Sylvia is employed as a 
manufacturing engineer at IBM in Charlotte, 
N.C. 

Michael Teague works as a process 
supervisor at Pfizer, Inc., Groton, Conn. 



James Thurber has been named an as- 
sociate engineer at Baltimore Gas & Electric, 
Baltimore, Md. 

William Ure is a second lieutenant in 
the U.S. Air Force out of Dayton, Ohio. 

Richard Urella works as a purchasing 
manager at U.S. Gasket &. Shim Corp., 
Danielson, Conn. 

For the past three years, William Waller 
has been employed as a science writer at the 
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astro- 
physics in Cambridge and at Northeastern 
University in Boston. Prior to that he re- 
ceived his BS from the University of Arizona. 
He recently received his MS in physics from 
WPI, and is now pursuing a doctoral program 
in astronomy at the University of Mas- 
sachusetts, Amherst. 

Thomas Wamick serves as an associate 
manufacturing engineer at Honeywell Elec- 
tro Optics in Lexington, Mass. 

Dave White has been named an electri- 
cal designynuclear engineer I at Combustion 
Engineering, Inc., Windsor, Conn. 



School of 
Industrial 

Management 

Paul Mitchell, '57 holds the post of product 
manager at Dresser Industries, Monrovia, 
Calif. 

Theodore Strojny, '61, has been named 
executive vice president and general man- 
ager of Anderson Operations (Bay State Abra- 
sives) in Worcester. He has been manufactur- 
ing manager at Anderson since last year. In 
19,S0, he joined Bay State Abrasives. During 
his career, he has served as plant manager 
and managing director of the company's 
manufacturing plant in Steinsel, Luxem- 
bourg. The Anderson Operation makes wire 
brushes, hole saws, and non-woven abrasive 
wheels. 



Master of Natural 
Science Program 

William Morse, '68 has been appointed as a 
physics teacher in the Science [department at 
Pinkerton Academy, Salem, N.H. He holds a 
PhD in natural science from Brownell Uni- 
versity and has 14 years' teaching experi- 
ence, the last three of which have been at 
Nute High School. He also has a B.Ed, from 
Keene State. 

Ralph Wordcn, '74 was recently pro- 
moted to safety director for Kingsbury Ma- 
chine Tool Corp. of Keene, Nil. He will 
continue as environmental protection coor- 
dinator, a job he has held since )oiningthe 
company last year. 



.3« Winter l'^H2 The WPI lotimal 




Frank Sannella, long-time cross country and 
track coach at WPI, died on August 26, 198 1 
in Webster, Massachusetts at the age of 82. 

For 29 years, he served as cross country 
coach at WPI. From 1945 to 1954 he was 
track coach. In recognition of his many years 
of service, the alumni road race held during 
Homecoming in October, was renamed the 
"Frank Sannella Alumni Fun Run." 

Mr. Sannella was bom in Italy and lived 
in Oxford, Mass. for 51 years. He attended 
Bates College in Maine where he was a 
member of the track team. In 1926 he was 
named a teacher-coach at Oxford Senior- 
Junior High School. He coached all sports, 
including varsity and junior varsity and 
junior high basketball and baseball. 

He helped organize a small school debat- 
ing league. Also, he coached drama, debating, 
and public speaking, continuing after he be- 
came principal of Oxford's senior-junior high 
school in 1930. 

Mr. Sannella did graduate work at sev- 
eral colleges and received a diploma for foot- 
ball and basketball coaching at Washington 
and Lee University. In 1937 he received his 
master's degree in school administration 
from Boston University and was certified by 
the State Department of Education. He did 
further graduate work at Calvin Coolidge 
College in Boston. 

In 1954, he became superintendent of 
the Oxford schools, after serving as high 
school principal for 24 years. In 1965 he 
retired as superintendent. 

He was on a research committee that led 
to the construction of the Southern Worces- 
ter County Regional Vocational School in 
Charlton. Civic-minded, he was active with 
the Lions Club, the Red Cross, District Nurs- 
ing Association, Learned Entertainment 
Committee, and the Oxford Chapter for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He 
pioneered the Oxford playground and recrea- 
tion program. 

For several years he was educational 
advisor to Hahnemann Hospital School of 
Nursing. He was a past president of the 
Worcester County Teachers' Federation and 
of the Worcester County Principals' Associa- 
tion, as well as a former area chairman of the 
Committee on Athletics for the Mas- 
sachusetts Principals' Association. 

Mr. Sannella was a founder and first 
chairman of what is now the Clark Univer- 
sity Basketball Tournament, and he orga- 
nized the first league for track and cross 
country for small schools in the Worcester 
area. 



Harold M. Somerville, a former research 
technician at WPL died on September 8, 1981 
in Worcester. He was 74. 

From 1938 to 1965 he owned and oper- 
ated the Lake Ripple Garage in North Graf- 
ton. Until his retirement in 1975, he was a 
research technician in mechanical engineer- 
ing in the intemal combustion laboratory at 
WPI. 

A well known chinchilla breeder, in 

1969 he won the Breeder's Award Plaque for 
18 prize winners out of 20 entered at the 
Standard Live Animal Show in Boston. In a 

1970 newspaper article, he was described as 
one of the biggest New England breeders of 
the top-flight fur. Empress chinchilla. 

Mr. Somerville was a member of the 
Episcopal Church, the Masons, and the 
Mendelssohn Singers. He was a native of 
Windsor, Vt. A resident of North Grafton for 
43 years, for the last two years he lived in 
West Bradenton, Fla. 

Paul E. Twiss, '10 died in the Americana 
Health Care Center, Winter Park, Florida on 
October 21, 1981. 

Before retiring in 1948, he was a devel- 
opment and design engineer for General 
Electric Co., West Lynn, Mass. for 38 years. 
He was a 50-year member of the Masons and 
belonged to the AIEE and the Odd Fellows. 

In 1910 he graduated with his BSME 
from WPI. He was bom in Jaffrey, N.H. on 
April 7, 1888. 

Frank M. McGowan, ' 12, a retired owner and 
treasurer of William M. Bailey Company, 
died in a nursing home in Brain tree, Mas- 
sachusetts on September 12, 1 98 1 . He was 9 1 
years old. 

He was a trustee emeritus of New En- 
gland Deaconess Hospital in Boston, and a 
recipient of the BSA Silver Beaver Award. A 
trustee of the King Family Trust of Quincy, 
he also belonged to the ASCE and Theta Chi 
and was a 50-year member of All Souls Men's 
Club in Braintree. He was a 32nd degree 
Mason. 

Mr. McGowan was bom on March 5, 
1 890 in Swansea, Mass. He received his 
BSCE from WPI in 1912 and was a profes- 
sional engineer in Massachusetts. He was a 
World War I Army veteran. 

J. Arthur Planteroth, '13 of Hightstown, New 
Jersey passed away recently. 

He was bom on June 1 1, 1886 in New 
York City. In 19 13 he graduated as an electri- 
cal engineer from WPI, after having received 
his BA from the College of the City of New 
York in 1906. He also was a student at the 
University of Chicago, Adelphi College of 
Brooklyn, and Columbia University. 

During his career, Mr. Planteroth was 
with New York & Queens Electric Light & 
Power Co. and Consolidated Edison Co., 
New York City. For several years he taught 
in the New York public school system. 



Charles S. Howard, '18 of Los Altos, Califor- 
nia died on October 28,1981. 

A native of Townsend, Mass., he was 
bomonJuly21, 1896. In 19 18 he graduated as 
a chemist from WPI. In 1957 he retired from 
the U.S. Geological Survey after 37 years. He 
had served as district chemist for the Survey. 

Dr. Howard, who received his MS and 
PhD in chemistry from American Univer- 
sity, Washington, D.C., was known as an 
authority on the chemical quality of water of 
the Colorado River and on the sediment load 
of the Colorado and other southwestern 
streams. 

He was the co-author of a series of papers 
dealing with density-current flows in Lake 
Mead and he prepared many other papers for 
publication by technical journals and the 
Geological Survey. During his lifetime he 
was in charge of the water resources labora- 
tory in Albuquerque, N.M. He belonged to 
Phi Sigma Kappa, the American Chemical 
Society, the ASCE, American Water Works 
Association, and the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science. He was a 
veteran of World War I. 

Lewis F. Lionvale, '18 died in the Veteran's 
Hospital in Reno, Nevada on July 21, 1981, 
following a long illness. 

He was bom on Feb. 8, 1897 in Hartford, 
Conn. In 1918 he graduated from WPI as a 
mechanical engineer, then joined the U.S. 
Navy and served as a lieutenant-chief en- 
gineer on a minesweeper. Later, he was em- 
ployed by U.S. Rubber Co., S.I. Ward & Co., 
Shell Co. of California, General Petroleum 
Corp., and Associated Oil Corp. 

From 1933 to 1963 he was an adminis- 
trative assistant and fire prevention engineer 
in the office of the California State Fire 
Marshal. He belonged to the National Fire 
Protection Association, the Society of Fire 
Protection Engineers, and Tau Beta Pi. 

He was a past president of the Golden 
Gate Angling Club (San Francisco) and of the 
State Men's Club in Sacramento. He enjoyed 
fishing in the Northwest and foreign travel. 

Herbert E. Brooks, '20, former chairman of 
the board and owner of the Conant Ball 
Company, Gardner, Massachusetts, died in 
Henry Heywood Memorial Hospital on Oc- 
tober 23, 1981. He was 83. 

Mr. Brooks was associated with the fur- 
niture manufacturing firm for 61 years, hav- 
ing joined the company in 1920 as assistant 
superintendent. From 1933 to 1936 he was 
assistant treasurer. In 1936, along with other 
family members, he purchased control of the 
business. He served as president from 1936 to 
1949, and became company treasurer when 
his father retired in 1949. He was chairman 
of the board from 1974 until his retirement in 
1979. 

A Gardner native, he was bom on May 
12, 1898. He graduated as a mechanical en- 
gineer from WPI in 1 920 and belonged to SAE 
and Skull. He was an Army veteran of World 
War I. 

He was a member of the New England 
Association of Fumiture Manufacturers, 
which he had served as director. A leader in 
his field, he was called to testify before the 
World War II Price Control Board in 
Washington, D.C. 



The WPI lourng] I Winter 1982139 



Mr. Brooks was a former vice president 
of the Worcester Chapter of the WPI Alumni 
Association, as well as a representative to the 
Alumni Council. Active in the community, 
he was affiliated with the Boy Scouts and 
had belonged to the Monomonoc Sporting 
Club, the Rotary Club, and the Congrega- 
tional Church. He was a director of the First 
National Bank of Gardner and a past presi- 
dent of the Gardner Home for Elderly People, 
and of the local United Fund. He was a 
50-year Mason and the father of Stephen 
Brooks, '46. 

E. Daniel Johnson, '21 died in a Nashua, New 
Hampshire hospital on October 6, 1981 fol- 
lowing a brief illness. He was 82 years old. 

In 1965 he retired after 41 years as New 
England sales engineering representative for 
Buffalo Forge Company, working out of the 
Boston regional office. Prior to joining Buf- 
falo Forge, he was with AT&T. 

Mr. Johnson served with the U.S. Navy 
during World War I and later in the Naval 
Reserve. He was a Mason, a Shriner, and a 
director of Lions International, as well as the 
founder and first chairman of the Mas- 
sachusetts Lions Eye Research Foundation. 

He was a trustee of the Amherst Library 
and a volunteer clerk for the Wilkins School 
additions. A member of the Congregational 
Church, he also was active on numerous 
Amherst town committees. He belonged to 
SPE and Tau Beta Pi, was a former president 
of the Boston Chapter of the Alumni Associ- 
ation, and a past member of the Executive 
Committee, the Fund Board, and the Alumni 
Council. 

A native of Manchester, N.H., Mr. 
Johnson was bom on Jan. 1, 1899. In 1921 he 
graduated from WPI as an electrical engineer. 



Roy G. Bennett, '22 of Melrose, Mas- 
sachusetts recently passed away. 

He was bom on Sept. 15, 1900inGroton, 
Mass. In 1922 he received his BSME from 
WPI. For 43 years he was with General Elec- 
tric, spending his last twenty years in the 
marine sales office in Boston. He retired in 
1965. 

A member of the Society of Naval Ar- 
chitects and Marine Engineers and the Amer- 
ican Society of Naval Engineers, Mr. Bennett 
also belonged to the Masons, SPE, and Tau 
Beta Pi. He had been president of the Specta- 
cle Pond Association and a deacon of the 
Congregational Church. He was a former 
president of the Boston Chapter of the 
Alumni Association, and an Alumni Council 
representative. 



I. Norman Alberti, '24, a WPI trustee 
emeritus, died in East Harwich, Mas- 
sachusetts on August 20, 1 98 1 . He was 80 
years old. 

Besides serving WPI as a trustee, Mr. 
Albcrti had also been a member of the Fund 
Board and the Alumni Council He was a past 
chairman of the development program for 
the Connecticut Valley area, and past presi- 
dent of the Connecticut Valley Chapter of 
the WPI Alumni Association. He was class 
gift chairman for his 50th reunion. 

In 1966, following 42 years with General 
Electric, he retired as Springfield manager of 
the firm He belonged to the GE management 
group, the Elfun Society. He was a former 



president of the Springfteld YMCA and Ro- 
tary Club. For many years he served as water 
commissioner in Longmeadow. 

He was an officer of the Engineering 
Society of Western Massachusetts, the AIEE, 
and Goodwill Industries. Other community 
involvements were with the Chamber of 
Commerce, Junior Achievement, and the 
United Fimd, as well as with the 
Longmeadow Men's Club. 

A 50-year member of the Old First 
Church, Mr. Alberti was active as a church 
moderator, deacon, and teacher. Also, he was 
chairman of the financial board and was on 
the Board of Education and World Services. 
He belonged to the building and music 
committees. 

Mr. Alberti was a vice president of the 
Springfield Council of Churches and served 
on the Council's Board of Finance and Urban 
Ministry Committee. At one time he was 
vice president of the former MacDowell 
Male Choir. 

He was bom in Greenfield, Mass., and 
received his BSEE h-om WPI in 1924. He 
belonged to Theta Chi and was a registered 
professional engineer. 

Stephen J. Vouch, '24 of Vero Beach, Florida 
died on November 1, 1981 after a brief ill- 
ness. He was 79 years old. 

From 1924 to 1964, when he retired, he 
was with General Electric Company, Erie, 
Pa., where he served as a sales engineer. 

He graduated with his BSEE in 1924. A 
native of Peekskill, N. Y., he was bom on Jan. 
13, 1902. 

Harold Hansen, '25, a long-time employee of 
Champion International, died in Canton, 
North Carolina on October 20, 1981. 

He was bom on April 23, 1902 in Kro- 
ken, Sweden and came to America at age 5. In 
1 925 he received his BSEE from WPI. Follow- 
ing graduation, he worked for Riley Stoker in 
Worcester for three years. In 1928 he joined 
the Champion Fibre & Paper Co. (now 
Champion International) where he was em- 
ployed until his retirement as superintend- 
ent of the firm's steam and power plant in 
Canton. 

Mr. Hansen belonged to the Engineering 
Club of Western North Carolina, the Ameri- 
can Pulp and Paper Superintendents' Associ- 
ation, Tau Beta Pi, and the Knights of 
Pythias, which he served in various offices. 
He was a registered professional engineer in 
North Carolina and Ohio, and a former 
member of the Western North Carolina Air 
Pollution Control Board. 

After retiring in 1 964, the Hansens 
traveled in Europe and throughout the U.S. 
Mr. Hansen enjoyed gardening. Besides writ- 
ing and editing an outline for a two-year 
vocational course in practical electricity, he 
contributed brief articles to Power and 
Power Plant Engineering. 



Vahan B. Kurkjian, '26, a retired engineer for 
NASA, passed away in New Haven, Con- 
necticut on July 12, 1981 at the age of 8 1 . 

He was bom on Jan. 1, 1900 in Arabkir, 
Armenia. He graduated from WPI with a BS 
in electrical engineering. Before retiring in 
1969, he worked for the U.S. Navy for 25 
years in Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, 
D.C. His last assignment was as contracting 
officer for the Naval Ordnance Systems 
Command. 

Earlier in his career, Mr. Kurkjian 
worked for Dennison Mfg. Co., American 
Tube Works, the Massachusetts Department 
of Public Safety, and the War Department. 



Arthur M. Cheney, Jr., '28, a retired engineer 
from Heald Machine Co., died on November 
6, 1981 in Worcester at the age of 75. 

A native of Orange, Mass., he was bom 
on Sept. 7, 1906 and later received his BSME 
from WPI. During his career he was with 
Rodney Hunt Machine Co., SW Card Co., 
and Heald Machine-Cincinnati Milacron, 
from which he retired in 1968 following 27 
years of service. 

Mr. Cheney belonged to SPE and the 
Massachusetts Professional Engineers Soci- 
ety. He was a past master of the Masons and a 
former member of the Westboro Finance 
Committee and of the Episcopal Church 
building fund committee. In World War II he 
served in the U.S. Army. 

Donald C. McLeod, '34 died unexpectedly on 
October 31, 1 98 1 at his home in Dartmouth, 
Massachusetts. He was 70. 

Bom in South Dartmouth, Mass., he 
later became a member of the Class of 1934. 
Until his retirement, he was a tool engineer 
at Morse Cutting Tools. He belonged to the 
Grange, the Masons, and the Society of Man- 
ufacturing Engineers. 

For 20 years he was treasurer and for 30 
years the organist for the Smith Neck Friends 
Meeting. Also, for 20 years he was clerk of 
the Sandwich quarterly meeting of Friends of 
New England yearly meetings. 

Richard W. Rhodes, '34 died in a rest home in 
Signal Mountain, Tennessee on September 
15, 1981 at the age of 69. 

He was head chemist for Dupont Bis- 
coloid Co., Chattanooga before retiring in 
1970. He belonged to the ACS. 

Mr. Rhodes, a member of Sigma Xi, was 
bom on May 12, 1 9 1 2 in Worcester and 
received his BS in chemistry in 1934. In 
World War II he was a second lieutenant with 
the U.S. Navy stationed in Washington, D.C. 
Later he was a lieutenant commander in the 
USNR. 

Philip W. Stafford, '34, a retired U.S. Navy 
engineer, died on October 26, 1981 at Cape 
Cod Hospital, Hyannis, Massachusetts fol- 
lowing a lengthy illness. He was 68. 

For nearly 40 years he was a naval en- 
gineer for the U.S. Navy Department Bureau 
of Ships. During World War II, he was with 
the Navy in the Pacific. 

He belonged to the Society of Naval 
Engineers, the Wandcrbirds Hiking Club of 
Washington, DC, and Tau Beta Pi. He was 
bom on Jan. 5, 1913 in Middleboro, Mass. In 
1 934 he graduated from WPI as a mechanical 
engineer. 



40 1 Winter 19H2 / The WPI journal 



Preston H. Hadley, Jr. '35 died of ALS (Lou 
Gehrig's Disease) at his home in Crofton, 
Maryland on August 22, 1 98 1 . He was 68 and 
a native of Bellows Falls, Vt. 
^ He joined Gibbs & Cox, Inc. (naval ar- 

chitects and engineers) in 1935 after receiv- 
ing his BSME from WPI. He participated in 
the design of the "S.S. America" as well as 
many U.S. destroyers, and during World War 
II was involved in the design and production 
of British cargo ships, several classes of U.S. 
Navy ships, and the U.S. Coast Guard WIND 
Class icebreakers. 

After World War II, he worked on the 
design and engineering development of the 
"S.S. United States" until 1947 when he 
joined Almon A. Johnson, Inc., as a marine 
engineer, later becoming the firm's general 
manager in 1950. He continued with the 
latter firm until 1959. 

Mr. Hadley then returned to Gibbs & 
Cox as a special assistant to the president, 
subsequently being appointed vice president 
in 1 96 1 . As vice president he was responsible 
for surveying Canadian shipyard capabilities 
to build destroyers, among other important 
projects. Later, after having helped establish 
the firm's Washmgton area office, he became 
vice president for marketing. In 1978 he 
retired. 

A member of Phi Gamma Delta, Mr. 
Hadley also belonged to the American Soci- 
ety of Naval Engineers, which he served two 
terms on the National Council. He was a 
former chairman of the Society's New York 
Metropolitan Section, as well as past presi- 
dent of the Westfield (N.J.) Glee Club. 

Thomas J. Healey, '36 passed away recently. 
He was bom Nov. 5, 1912 in Worcester. 
In 1936 he graduated as an electrical engineer 
from WPI. Formerly, he was with New En- 
gland Telephone &. Telegraph Co. He be- 
longed to SAE and was a veteran of World 
War II. 



Charles C. Tanona, '44, an engineering 
executive at Union Carbide Corp., died on 
October 2, 1981 in Charleston, West Vir- 
ginia. He was 58. 

A Worcester native, he was bom on 
November 21, 1922. He graduated from WPI 
as a chemical engineer and received his MS 
in 1948. An associate director of engineering 
in the hydrocarbon division of Union Car- 
bide, South Charleston, he was employed 
there for 33 years. 

Mr. Tanona joined Union Carbide in 
1948 and spent most of his time with the 
engineering department of the Chemicals 
and Plastics Division. Over the years he held 
a number of posts including that of group 
leader in engineering and engineering man- 
ager for silicones. He belonged to ACS, 
AIChE, and he was a registered professional 
engineer in California, Texas, and West Vir- 
ginia. He was an Army veteran of World War 
II. 



David E. Estey, '53 died at the home of his 
sister in Natick, Massachusetts on October 
1, 1981. 

He was a district manager for General 
Electric in Washington, D.C., where he had 
been employed since 1962. Early in his career 
he was a sales engineer for Minneapolis Hon- 
eywell. 

In 1953 he graduated as a chemical en- 
gineer from WPI. He belonged to the Congre- 
gational Church, and he served in the U.S. 
Army from 1953 to 1955. He was bom in 
Worcester on May 28, 1929. 

Lt. Col. Howard D. Stephenson, '60 of the 

U.S. Air Force, for many years reported 
missing in action, has recently been declared 
dead. 

He was bom on Oct . 6, 1 93 7 in Concord, 
Mass. In 1960 he graduated with a BSME 
from WPI. Following graduation he entered 
the U.S. Air Force Officer Training School. 
During his career he was a navigator and an 
electronic warfare officer and instructor at 
Castle AFB in California. 

Bruce R. Webber, '65 died September 12, 
1981 at Preston Beach, Swampscott, Mas- 
sachusetts in a scuba diving accident. He was 
38 years old. 

Police reported that Webber was diving 
for lobsters with four other divers, when he 
became separated from the group. The body 
was later discovered washed up on the beach. 
Following an autopsy, Webber was ruled to 
have died of drowning. 

For the past 13 years he was employed as 
an electrical and computer engineer at the 
Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in 
Vernon, Vt. A resident of Greenfield, Mass. 
he was past president of the local YMCA 
Men's Club and of Parents Without Partners. 
He was a former town meeting member and 
Greenfield Minor Leagues assistant man- 
ager. Also, he belonged to a snowmobile 
club, the Elks, and was a manager for the 
.Babe Ruth Baseball League. 

In 1978 he was the recipient of the 
Rotary Foundation Group Study Exchange 
trip to Norway. Active with the BSA, he was 
a troup treasurer. 

Webber was bom on March 28, 1943 in 
Worcester. In 1965 he received his BSEE. He 
belonged to Sigma Phi Epsilon and the IEEE. 

Ronald Gusowski, '77 of Westboro, Mas- 
sachusetts died unexpectedly in August fol- 
lowing a two-day illness. 

He was bom on Feb. 10, 1954 in New 
York City. In 1977 he graduated from WPI as 
an electrical engineer. He was a design en- 
gineer at Data General, where he had been 
employed since graduation. 

William W. Demont, '78, a student at the 
University of Massachusetts, Boston cam- 
pus, died July 6, 1981 in Carney Hospital, 
Dorchester, Massachusetts at the age of 24. 
He was bom in Gardner and later was a 
student at WPI. He belonged to the Episcopal 
Church. 



. STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP. MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION j 






THE WPI JOUSHAL 


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The WPI Journal I Winter 1982141 



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WPI Journal 

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC ^INSTITUTE 



VOLUME 85 NO 4 



APRIL 1982 



Staff of The WPI Journal 

Editor, Kenneth L. McDonnell 
Alumni Information Editor, Ruth S. Trask 

Alumni Publications Committee: Donald E. 
Ross, '54, chair; Robert C. Gosling, '68; Sidney 
Madwed, '49; Samuel W. Mencow, '37; Stanley 
P. Nesus, Jr., '54; Judy Nitsch, '75. 

The WPI Journal (ISSN 0148-6128) is pub- 
lished quarterly for the WPI Alumni Associ- 
ation by Worcester Polytechnic Institute in co- 
operation with the Alumni Magazine 
Consortium, with editorial offices at the Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218. 
Pages I-XVI are published for the Alumni 
Magazine Consortium (Franklin and Marshall 
College, Johns Hopkins University, Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Polytech- 
nic Institute) and appear in the respective alumni 
magazines of those institutions. Second class 
postage paid at Worcester, MA and additional 
mailing offices. Pages 1-12, 29-40 © 1982, 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Pages I-XVI 
© 1982, Johns Hopkins University. 

Sta^ of the Alumni Magazine Consortium: Ed- 
itor, Elise Hancock; Business Manager, Rob- 
ert Hewes; Production Coordinator, Wendy 
Williams; Associate Editor, Mary Ruth Yoe; 
Designer, Allen Carroll; Magazine Fellow, 
Kevin Bjerregaard; Contributing Editor, Gina 
Maranto; Editorial Assistant, Elaine Langlois. 

Advisory Board for the Alumni Magazine Con- 
sortium: Franklin and Marshall College: John 
Synodinos and Judy Durand; Johns Hopkins 
University: Ross Jones and Elise Hancock; 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Lynn Holley 
and Robert M. Whitaker; Worcester Polytech- 
nic Institute-: Thomas J. Denney and Kenneth 
L. McDonnell. 

Acknowledgments: Typesetting, Foto Typeset- 
ters, Inc.; Printing, John D. Lucas Printing 
Company; Mailing, Circular Advertising Com- 
pany. 

Opinions expressed in this publication are those 
of the individual authors and not necessarily 
policies of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 
Address correspondence to the Editor, The WPI 
Journal, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 
Worcester, MA 01609. Telephone (617) 793- 
5609. Postmaster: If undeliverable please send 
form 3579 to the address above. Do not return 
publication. 



CONTENTS 



Cleaning Up the Campus 6 

WPI uses chemicals by the hundreds 
for research and education. 
What happens to the wastes? 
Kenneth L. McDonnell 



Hazardous Wastes I 

Dangerous by-products of U.S. industry, 
hazardous wastes can't be buried and forgotten 

James C. Wood 



An Almanack of 

(Almost) Mundane Objects IX 

Or why you shouldn't take chairs, salt, 

ball bearings, toilet paper, and more for granted. 



Ways to Photograph the World 
In his lab at WPI, George Schmidt 
photographs microstructures in 
black-and-white. Outside, he turns to color. 



Departments 

News from the Hill 3 
Projects 10 
Case in Point 12 
Alumni Notes 30 
Ampersand Inside back cover 








Ui 



On the cover: A study of light and texture. The 
dynamic portrayal of Higgins House by WPI's 
George Schmidt. 



APRIL 1982 1 




Make Plans Now 
to Attend 

mm 

HOMECOMING 
1982 

September 24-26 



From Donald E. Ross, '54, 
Publications Committee Chair 



It is indeed a pleasure, on behalf of the 
Publications Committee and the entire 
WPI Alumni Association, to welcome 
Kenneth L. McDonnell to WPI as Direc- 
tor of Publications. In addition to pro- 
ducing myriads of catalogs, brochures and 
other WPI publications. Ken has the 
enormously important responsibility of 
serving as Editor of the Journal. 

Ken comes to WPI from the Wharton 



School's Applied Research Center, the 
University of Pennsylvania, where he was 
Senior Editor. A graduate of the Penn- 
sylvania State University with additional 
training in journalism and graphic design, 
he brings much very appropriate experi- 
ence to his new position at WPI. 

Please join me in welcoming Ken 
McDonnell aboard and wishing him suc- 
cess as a member of the WPI community. 



A Note from the New Editor 



Let me first thank you for your continuing 
interest in the WPI Journal. In taking over 
as editor. I am impressed with the fine 
tradition established by my predecessors 
and the opportunities presented to me. 
Credit for much of the Journal's quality 
must go to Russell Kay, who, for 11 years 
was instrumental in bringing to the Jour- 
nal sustained improvements in both con- 
tent and style. 

Inevitably, a change at the helm of any 
magazine carries with it a change in the 
look and, to a greater or lesser degree, in 
the focus of the publication. Throughout 
the change process, however, continuity 
in the direction of the Journal is a com- 
mitment I intend to maintain. 

As a change agent, I am dedicated to 
upholding WPI's tradition of excellence 
as well as to breaking new ground. With 
this issue, we join with three other col- 
leges in a collaborative venture to pro- 
duce our respective alumni magazines. This 
Alumni Magazine Consortium embraces 
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 
where the magazines will be produced; 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, 
New York; Franklin and Marshall Col- 
lege, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and now, 
WPI. Economy of scale is one advantage 
of the consortium arrangement. In addi- 
tion the member schools are working co- 
operatively to produce material for a 16- 
page "core" which becomes part of each 
school's magazine. 

Here's how it works. In the Journal 
your're holding, for example, pages 1-12 
are printed only for the WPI Journal, as 
are pages 29-40. Obviously, publishing 
material specific to WPI, like alumni news 
and profiles, in any other school's alumni 
magazine would be ludicrous. But readers 
from each consortium school are at this 




moment browsing the very same articles 
that appear on pages I-XVI — the core — 
of this issue of the Journal. 

Much of this issue, for example, ad- 
dresses the topic of hazardous waste man- 
agement, an issue which affects each of 
us in one way or another. You'll find ar- 
ticles that deal with this controversial sub- 
ject written from perspectives that are both 
broad-based and specific to the interests 
of WPI. 

We believe you'll like what you see. 
But please, let us know what you think 
of this arrangement. And if you have an 
idea begging for a forum that reaches far 
beyond the Journal's audience, let's talk 
about it. It may find a home in the core 
of a future issue. 

Communication, if it is to be effective, 
must be a two-way street. I invite your 
suggestions regarding topics of interest and 
editorial focus — suggestions that you be- 
lieve will help us in our drive to become 
an even better WPI Journal. 

Editor 



2 WPI JOURNAL 



NEWS FROM THE HILL 



Worcester Consortium's 
Economic Impact Reported 

Employment of 6,744 and expenditures of 
$575 million. These are the figures re- 
ported recently by the Worcester Con- 
sortium for Higher Education in the re- 
port, "Economic Impact of Worcester 
Higher Education, 1981." Collectively, the 
nine colleges or universities and one med- 
ical school that make up the Consortium 
are the second largest employer in 
Worcester after the city of Worcester it- 
self, according to the study. 

The operating budgets of the Consor- 
tium's members amounted to more than 
$230 million during academic year 1981- 
82. A significant portion of the revenues 
necessary to sustain these budgets was 
generated from out-of-state sources, e.g., 



federal grants, contracts, private gifts and 
tuition from out-of-state students. 

The Consortium report details employ- 
ment as consisting of 5,492 full-time and 
1,252 part-time facuhy and staff mem- 
bers. WPI's portion of these totals is re- 
ported to be 504 full-time and 40 part- 
time employees, or 8 percent of the Con- 
sortium's total employment. 

The magnitude of the Consortium's im- 
pact on the area's economy is most im- 
pressive if viewed in relation to overall 
figures for the area. For example. Con- 
sortium employees constitute 7 percent of 
Worcester's (92,000) total workforce. 

Revenues and the employment they 
generate are vital statistics in an assess- 
ment of economic impact. But they tell 
only part of the story. Typically, revenues 
and employment are considered direct im- 
pacts or benefits. But since most revenues 



and salaries are spent by Consortium in- 
stitutions and their employees in and 
around Worcester, indirect or "spillover" 
benefits to the community's economy — 
revenues, salaries and expenditures of the 
industries and merchants which serve the 
Consortium, as well as the antecedent 
businesses serving those firms — amount 
to far more than the $230 million in rev- 
enues reahzed by Consortium members; 
thus the $575 million reported in the study's 
findings.' 

Often, "impact" studies also explore the 
consequences of removing the specified 
contributions from the economy. The 
Consortium's report, however, makes no 



' Total impact is measured by applying an 
economic multiplier^n this case 2.50 — to 
the direct contributions figure. 



1981 Economic Impact Statistics* 

1981 1981 Faculty/Staff Students 

Operating Capital Full Part Full Part 

Budget Budget Time Time Time Time 



Annual 

Visitors 



Capital 
Expense 
1965-1981 



Anna Maria College 


$ 3,412,904 


$1,202,548 


64 


161 


457 


1,152 


2,600 


$ 3,799,548 


Assumption College 


10,982,000 


190,000 


179 


129 


1,550 


1,124 


10,000 


5,060,000 


Becker Junior 
College 


4,600,000 


350,000 


95 


35 


1,302 


150 


4,500 


7,000,000 


Central New 
England College 


3,900,000 


350,000 


61 


110 


701 


1,125 


12,000 


4,233,000 


Clark University 


24,586,000 


2,900,000 


474 


130 


2,334 


900 


20,000 


18,700,000 


College of the 
Holy Cross 


26,965,000 


500,000 


670 


75 


2,510 





185,000 


22,250,000 


Quinsigamond 
Community College 


5,163,000 





190 


80 


2,266 


3,527 


10,000 


9,623,000 


University of 
Massachusetts 
Medical Center 


111,000,000 


1,500,000 


2,925 


487 


442 


5,900 


83,000 


135,000,000 


Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute 


31,768,000 


2,500,000 


504 


40 


2,457 


300 


58,000 


24,084,323 


Worcester State 
College 


7,790,000 





330 


5 


2,735 


3,130 


2,250 


14,300,000 


Totals 


$230,166,904 


$9,492,548 


5,492 


1,252 


16,754 


17,308 


387,350 


$244,049,871 



'Institutional data are self-reported. 



APRIL 1982 



mention of these hypothetical events. Nor 
does it specifically address the indirect ef- 
fects of expenditures by the more than 
34,000 full- and part-time students at- 
tending the Consortium institutions. 

WPI's operational budget, as reported 
in the report, was nearly $31 million in 
1981-82, or 14 percent of the Consor- 
tium's total. Only the budget of the Uni- 
versity of Massachusetts Medical Center 
was larger. In fact, the Center accounted 
for almost 50 percent of both the Con- 
sortium's overall budget and its total em- 
ployment. 

Expenditures for capital goods among 
Consortium institutions totaled $9.5 mil- 
Uon in 1981-82. By comparison, in 1980, 
the most recent year for which statistics 
are available, Worcester-area firms in- 
vested over $158 million in land and new 
buildings and equipment. What's more, 
between 1965 and 1981 Consortium mem- 
bers spent some $244 million for capital 
items — nearly a quarter of a billion dol- 
lars. 

But what of the more qualitative im- 
pacts of education on the community? John 
W. Ryan, the Consortium's director, calls 
the Consortium "a most desirable" mem- 
ber of the community. Few would argue 
this point. Education is an environmen- 
tally clean, labor-intensive industry. The 
Consortium provides Worcester-area res- 
idents with outstanding opportunities for 
art, music and the humanities. And it of- 
fers counsel and assistance to all Worces- 
ter citizens through community services 
and continuing education programs. 

Since its inception in 1967, the Worces- 
ter Consortium for Higher Education has 
been recognized throughout the nation as 
a leading example of cooperation among 
institutions of higher learning. Cross-reg- 
istration, free shuttle bus transportation 
and collaborative academic programs in 
medicine, engineering, business, law, ed- 
ucation and communications distinguish 
the Consortium arrangement. In addi- 
tion, the three million volumes housed in 
the libraries of Consortium institutions 
serve as a vital community resource. 

"And an element that's too often over- 
looked," says Ryan, "is the contribution 
in time and effort given by Consortium 
students, faculty and staff as volunteers 
and appointed and elected officials at lo- 
cal schools, hospitals and agencies serving 
the handicapped and aged. These are im- 
pacts which don't lend themselves well to 
econometric analysis, but they are essen- 
tial to the well-being of the community 
and the myriad publics which we serve." 

— KLM 



Winter Sports Update 

WPI's star continues to rise on the athletic 
horizon. Last fall the football team (6-2) 
and the field hockey team (12-7, sixth in 
the nation) reached meteoric heights, at- 
taining respect and admiration through- 
out New England and beyond. 

As we went to press, the men's bas- 
ketball, hockey and wrestling teams were 
also enjoying sustained successes. 

Men's basketball, under the direction 
of coach Ken Kaufman, got off to the 
fastest start in the school's 64-year history 
of the sport. The Engineers won their first 
five games, including an 88-78 victory over 
Clark in the finals of the first annual 
Worcester Four Tournament, hosted by 
WPI. That opening season streak cata- 
pulted the Engineers to the top of the 
Division III polls, ranking WPI No. 1 in 
New England and No. 13 in the nation! 

But after a spectacular start, the team 
slipped, losing two of their next three 
games (one to Springfield, the nation's 
No. 14 Division II team). However, with 
a 6-2 record, WPI was still ranked No. 3 
in New England and No. 17 in the coun- 
try. 

In statistics, the Engineers are led by 
six-feet five-inch center Russ Philpot, a 
sophomore mechanical engineering ma- 
jor from Somerville, Massachusetts. He 
is averaging 20 points and nine rebounds 
per game. But as everyone knows, one 
player doesn't make a team. Four players 
are averaging double figures, and the team 
leads the country in offensive output with 
89.5 points a game. 

"The first part of the season has been 
very enjoyable," says Kaufman. "We won 
our first five games, won our own tour- 
nament, and we've been included with the 
best teams in the country. It's gratifying 
to see WPI receive that kind of noto- 
riety." 

The hockey team has not gotten the 
same national attention, but it has be- 
come a dominant force in the newly formed 
New England Small College Hockey As- 
sociation. Despite the fact that as a club 
sport, the WPI hockey team competes 
against varsity competition, the Engi- 
neers are currently enjoying a perfect 9- 
record. 

Led by a trio of seniors from Hudson, 
Massachusetts — right wing Pete Millett, 
center Jim O'Keefe and defcnseman 
George Oliver — WPI has outscored its 
opponents by nearly three goals per game. 

"We've been blessed with some out- 
standing talent," says coach Len Bowen, 
"We have people who can skate, check. 



handle the puck and score. I don't know 
if we can continue to win at this pace, but 

1 feel we have one of the best teams in 
the league." 

As expected, WPI's wrestling team is 
off to another good start. The perennially 
strong Engineers are right where coach 
Phil Grebinar expected them to be at this 
point in the season — 4-2 and ranked No. 

2 among Division III New England teams. 
Both losses came at the hands of Division 
I schools: Harvard (rated No. 1 in New 




Russ Philpot (20), WPI's All-New 
England center, against Clark at 
Harrington Auditorium. 

England) and the University of New 
Hampshire (No. 9). 

"We're off to a start similar to past sea- 
sons," says Grebinar, whose team fin- 
ished just 3/4 point out of first place a 
year ago in the New England College 
Conference Wrestling Association Cham- 
pionships. "Now we're going into the Di- 
vision III part of our schedule, and we'll 
be setting our sights on the best possible 
dual meet season and a victory in the tour- 
nament." 

Halfway through the season, the swim- 
ming team is 1-3, women's basketball is 
3-4, and indoor track is 2-4. 

Mark Mandel 
Sports Information Director 



WPI JOURNAL 





WPI Engineers Spring 1982 Sports Schedule 


DATE 


Sport 


Opponent 


Time 


April 2 


Golf 


Coast Guard Academy at Clark 


1:00 p.m. 




Baseball 


Bates 


3:00 p.m. 


3 


Baseball 


at Wesleyan 


2:00 p.m. 




Tennis 


Bentley 


2:00 p.m. 


5 


Softball 


Assumption 


4:00 p.m. 


6 


Golf 


Bentley at Providence 


1:30 p.m. 




Baseball 


Lowell 


3:00 p.m. 


7 


Softball 


at Clark 


4:00 p.m. 




Tennis 


at Holy Cross 


3:00 p.m. 


8 


Baseball 


Clark 


3:00 p.m. 




Softball 


Coast Guard Academy 


4:00 p.m. 


9 


Golf 


Babson/MIT at Babson 


12:30 p.m. 


10 


Baseball 


Hartford 


2:00 p.m. 




Tennis 


at Babson 


2:00 p.m. 




Track 


Wesleyan/Eastern Connecticut at Wesleyan 


1:00 p.m. 


12 


Softball 


at Merrimack 


4:00 p.m. 


13 


Baseball 


A.I.C. 


3:00 p.m. 




Tennis 


at Clark 


2:00 p.m. 




Golf 


Holy Cross/Assumption at Holy Cross 


1:00 p.m. 




Track 


Holy Cross/Assumption/Clark/ 
Worcester State at Holy Cross 




14 


J.V. Tennis 


at Clark 


3:00 p.m. 




Softball 


at Nichols 


4:00 p.m. 




Baseball 


Alvernia 


3:00 p.m. 


15 


Golf 


at Mass. State 




16 


Track 


M.l.T. 


4:00 p.m. 




Softball 


Anna Maria 


4:30 p.m. 




Golf 


Clark/Tufts 


1:00 p.m. 


17 


Baseball 


Amherst Double-Header 


1:00 p.m. 




Tennis 


Suffolk 


2:00 p.m. 


20 


Softball 


at M.l.T. 


4:00 p.m. 




Golf 


Lowell 


1:00 p.m. 




Tennis 


Bates 


3:00 p.m. 




Baseball 


at Trinity 


3:00 p.m. 


21 


Softball 


Stonehill 


3:30 p.m. 




Track 


at Coast Guard Academy 


3:00 p.m. 


22 


Tennis 


Nichols 


3:00 p.m. 




Baseball 


at Assumption 


3:00 p.m. 


23-24 


Softball 


M.A.l.A.W. 




24 


Tennis 


Assumption 


1:00 p.m. 




Baseball 


at Coast Guard Academy Double-Header 


1:00 p.m. 


27 


Softball 


Bryant 


4:00 p.m. 


28 


Tennis 


at Lowell 


2:00 p.m. 




Track 


at Trinity 


3:00 p.m. 


29 


Softball 


Regis 


4:00 p.m. 




JV Tennis 


Becker at Leicester 


3:00 p.m. 




Golf 


Springfield 


1:00 p.m. 




Baseball 


Suffofk 


3:30 p.m. 


May 1 


Track 


Tufts/Brandeis 


1:00 p.m. 




Softball 


Holy Cross Double-Header 


10:30 a.m. 




Tennis 


at Brandeis 


2:00 p.m. 




Baseball 


at M.l.T. Double-Header 


1:00 p.m. 


3 


Softball 


at Brandeis 


4:00 p.m. 




Golf 


A.I.C./Nichols 


1:00 p.m. 


4 


Baseball 


at Tufts 


3:00 p.m. 


5 


JV Tennis 


at Dean JR. 


3:30 p.m. 


6 


Softball 


Curry 


4:30 p.m. 




Tennis 


A.I.C. 


3:00 p.m. 


7 


Baseball 


Mass. Maritime 


3:00 p.m. 




Golf 


at Trinity 


1:00 p.m. 


8 


Softball 


Emmanuel Double-Header 


10:30 a.m. 


10 


Baseball 


at Bentley 


3:00 p.m. 


12 


Baseball 


at Northeastern 


4:00 p.m. 


14 


Baseball 


Brandeis 


3:00 p.m. 




Critical Acclaim 
for Menides 

"A lover of poetry" 
is how she describes 
herself. Laura Meni- 
des is that and more. 
She's a noted poetry 
critic, author of chil- 
drens' books, an 
English Professor in 
WPI's Humanities 
Department — and a 
poet. Two of her recent poems will be 
published in the forthcoming Anthology 
ofWomens' Poetry, the Laurel Press. 

Recently, Professor Menides was elected 
president of the Worcester County Poetry 
Association. In a recent interview she de- 
scribed the Association as a local group 
begun 11 years ago in order to sponsor 
poetry readings and other special events. 
The Association is sponsored in part by 
the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and 
Humanities. 

Archibald MacLeish, Donald Hall, 
Carol Oles and Maxine Kumin, each an 
internationally recognized poet, have read 
their work locally through Association 
sponsorship, as have local poets Fran 
Ouinn, David Barron, Louise Monfredo 
and Malcolm Parkinson, himself a teacher 
in WPI's Humanities Department. 

In addition, WPI and the Association 
recently co-sponsored an evening of po- 
etry and music: poems by Emily Dickin- 
son and e.e. cummings set to music by 
WPI Professor David McKay. Spring pro- 
grams will include appearances by Carlos 
and Gloria Fuentes and Czeslaw Milocz. 

Commenting on the receptiveness of 
WPI students to poetry in general, Laura 
Menides says, "Given a chance — they're 
very bright people — many get caught up 
in the poetry, sometimes in spite of them- 
selves. 

Besides poetry. Professor Menides 
teaches advanced essay writing — "today 
it's typically crisp and breezy, but without 
neglect for vocabulary;" American liter- 
ature, her specialty; and Existentialism. 
Previously she taught at Holy Cross, the 
University of Chicago, Finch College, and 
New York University, where she earned 
her PhD. 

Her stories for children have appeared 
in Basic Reading, a Harper and Row pub- 
lication. 

Her favorite poet? T.S. Eliot. "His work 
is intellectual as well as passionate. It's 
that combination that attracts me." 

— KLM 



APRIL 1982 



Cleaning Up the Campus 

Is WPI becoming a wasteland of hazardous materials 

and procedures? Those in the know offer a resounding reply. 

By Kenneth L. McDonnell 



I sat upon the shore 
Fishing, nith the plain behind me 
Shall I at least set my lands in order? 

— T.S. EUot' 

^^ ^k s I recall, I'd been at a New 
/ ^ England Patriots game that 
JL JLafternoon. When I returned 
home I got a call from campus security. 
'Better get down here, Al. We've got a 
leak of something out back of God- 
dard.' " 

The incident, a chemical spill from a 5- 
gallon barrel, brought Worcester fire 
fighters, state and federal officials, and 
curious students rushing to the scene. To 
the scene also rushed Allan F. Harper, 
WPI's Business and Academic Technical 
Services Administrator and member of the 
Campus Safety Committee (CSC), which 
for months had been systematically re- 
moving chemical wastes from many aca- 
demic departments. For Harper, the Pa- 
triots' win that day quickly lost its shine. 

But when the scene had cleared and the 
panic subsided, Harper's analysis showed 
that far from being overly hazardous, the 
spill amounted to no more than three gal- 
lons of ethylene glycol — common anti- 
freeze — awaiting pickup and disposal by 
a contractor licensed by the Environmen- 
tal Protection Agency (EPA). 

It's no secret that WPI — no less than 
the companies and government agencies 
for which many of our graduates later 
work — utilizes chemical substances by the 
hundreds for education and research. Many 
of these chemicals EPA calls "hazard- 
ous." And, like the private and public 



' From "The Waste Land" in Collected 
Poems 190H-1962 by IS. Eliot, copyright 
C 1936 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Inc. 
copyright € 1%3. 1964 by T.S Eliot. Re- 
printed by permission of the publisher. 



organizations that use or manufacture 
hazardous materials, teaching and re- 
search often produce chemical by-prod- 
ucts which, again, EPA labels hazard- 
ous — in common parlance, hazardous 
wastes. 

It is reasonable, then, to probe the haz- 
ardous materials situation at WPI as well 
as the larger issue of safety on campus. 
These are aspects of the college experi- 
ence which are demanding ever greater 
attention by administrators, faculty, stu- 
dents, parents and friends of nearly every 
academic institution. At WPI, the issue 
hits especially close to home. 

We need to ask questions like: 

• To what extent does the quality of the 
WPI experience depend on the use of haz- 
ardous materials and procedures? 

• What safeguards are in place to en- 
sure safe acquisition, storage, handling and 
disposal of chemicals and radioactive ma- 
terials by students and faculty? 

• What is WPI's future with respect to 
the hazardous materials issue? 

• Is WPI becoming a wasteland of haz- 
ardous materials? 

Chemical waste management has 
long been an issue of concern at 
WPI. As early as 1968 the mem- 
ber schools of the Worcester Consortium 
for Higher Education saw the need for 
conscientious long-term management of 
hazardous wastes generated by the mem- 
ber schools. Collectively, they attempted 
to enlist the good offices of the City of 
Worcester to designate a site to be used 
specifically for hazardous waste disposal. 
The Consortium's cradle-to-grave system 
would have predated even that of EPA. 
Unfortunately, the proposal fell on deaf 
ears at City Hall. 

The inception in 1970 of the WPI Plan 
and its consequent changes in academic 



requirements boosted the school's han- 
dHng and generation of hazardous mate- 
rials. Formerly, a limited number of de- 
partments required a senior research 
project. "But the Plan changed all that," 
says Harper. "It led to a logarithmic in- 
crease in the number of students partici- 
pating in project work." Conservative es- 
timates indicate that 35 to 40 percent of 
undergraduates are now engaged in Ma- 
jor Qualifying Projects (MQPs) and In- 
teractive Qualifying Projects (IQPs) at any 
one time. 

Says Dennis J. Lipka, Projects Admin- 
istrator and CSC chairperson. "That's lit- 
erally hundreds of projects going on si- 
multaneously, utilizing virtually every piece 
of equipment on campus." And, as proj- 
ect topics cut more and more across the 
bounds of academic disciplines and the 
scope of students' "majors," the potential 
for exposure to hazardous materials jumps. 

This implication of the Plan soon sur- 
faced. Growth in project work was ex- 
panding the need for greater varieties and 
quantities of chemicals on campus. More- 
over, as never before, the school was pro- 
moting an open-door policy on supervised 
use of laboratories and workshops. But 
far from merely reacting to the conse- 
quences of this shift, WPI's then-presi- 
dent George Hazzard and others recog- 
nized that failing to anticipate and influence 
change, failing to monitor the types and 
quantities of hazardous materials ac- 
quired and generated on campus, might 
be courting disaster. To avoid this situa- 
tion, the college instituted a safeguards 
program based on instruction, supervi- 
sion, secure storage, and proper disposal. 

Today, the safety program looks and 
works much as it did ten years ago. Its 
strength lies in the level at which it is di- 
rected — professors and staff who work with 
students. Beyond this, key individuals in 



WPI JOURNAL 



each department are designated to man- 
age any chemical wastes until they can be 
properly disposed. 

Although the focus of project work var- 
ies as much as the disciplines involved, 
the program is based on the following 
broad guidelines. Prior to beginning any 
project, each student is counseled in: 

• The scope of the project, in detailed 
terms 

• The maximum types and amounts of 
chemicals to be used as well as appropri- 
ate standards for handling and storage 

• What to expect should utility services 
shut down during an experimental pro- 
cedure 

• The proper disposal of all end prod- 
ucts 

• Other concerns, as called for in each 
project 

Many academic departments have also 
adopted guidelines for after-normal-hours 
access to buildings, such as a buddy sys- 
tem and periodic checks by campus po- 
lice. In addition, unneeded end products 
can sometimes be utilized by other de- 
partments. 

^^ ^k s we see it, safety is really a 
^i^k question of risk," says Lipka. 
JL jL"Appropriate risk for one 
person may not be appropriate for some- 
one else." 

As Projects Administrator, Lipka is in 
an ideal position to observe the magni- 
tude and diversity of MQPs and IQPs pro- 
posed, under way and completed. And in 
dealing with so many students and faculty, 
he gets a close look at the many elements 
of safety on campus. Little wonder he was 
named to head CSC when the committee 
convened its first meeting last December. 

CSC identifies and develops solutions 
to the broad issues of day-to-day safety 
and, to some extent, security on campus. 
These range from responding to random 
comments from campus and community 
residents concerning safety; to developing 
campus-wide policy recommendations on 
toxic waste management and use of fa- 
cilities; to encouraging safer working hab- 
its among WPI's many constituencies. 

"Here's the situation confronting us," 
says Lipka. "We have in our shops and 
labs the same types of equipment found 
in many industrial settings. But often, rel- 
atively few incoming undergraduates have 
extensive experience with this equip- 
ment." Plus, projects — IPQs in particu- 
lar — can require students to use proce- 
dures which they may not soon replicate. 
All this can lead to a potentially hazard- 
ous situation. It's the job of CSC to man- 




**Safety is a state of 
mind, to be nurtured in 
all students, faculty 
and staff." 

— Dennis Lipka, 

Campus Safety Committee 



age this risk. "Short of simply barring use 
of a lab or workshop, we must try to pro- 
tect everyone who has access to these and 
our many other facilities." 

That CSC even exists is the result, in 
part, of the Goddard Hall spill. Before 
the incident, says Lipka, there had been 
no real vehicle for addressing specific safety 
issues as they arose. "Suddenly, we be- 
came aware that any number of problems 
could show their heads, and we found that 
a variety of safety and security concerns 
didn't have a home." Issues like these have 
come before CSC: 

• Cases of students working alone in 
machine shops or laboratories 

• Availability of telephone service be- 
tween labs and campus police 

• Updating safety and instructional 
manuals 

• Incorporating WPIC, the campus tel- 
evision system, into a security monitoring 
unit 

Add to these and numerous other con- 
cerns the question of security in places 
like dormitories and public areas, and you 
begin to realize the magnitude of the is- 
sues to be managed. 

Lipka points out, however, that normal 
security is the domain of the Campus Po- 
lice Department. "Duly appointed and 
well-trained," he says, "day-to-day se- 



curity matters reside logically in Stratton 
Hall." 

As Derinis Lipka and Allan Harper will 
quickly tell you, cooperation is the name 
of the game in the safety business. But 
too often, says Anthony Ruksnaitis, Cam- 
pus Engineer, WPI Safety Officer and CSC 
member, the campus community has paid 
little more than lip service to past safety 
campaigns. In his 25 years at WPI, he's 
seen safety committees come and go. 
Usually they've resembled old warriors, 
he says. They kick up a lot of dust, but 
in the end are still toothless. 

All that may be changing, however. Late 
in 1981, CSC set out to investigate am- 
bient air lead levels at the Alumni Gym- 
nasium rifle range. The findings of a U.S. 
Army analysis of the situation confirmed 
the suspicions of Col. Roger Carney, head 
of Military Science at WPI: Due to sub- 
standard ventilation in the old facility, lead 
levels in the air — the result of countless 
bullets being fired — were unacceptably 
high. Confronted with this situation, CSC 
faced the first real test of its authority. 

The outcome? Following CSC recom- 
mendations, the range was closed for two 
months while lead levels were systemat- 
ically reduced in accordance with govern- 
ment guidelines. Recalls Lipka, "On this 
one we expected a real tug of war — peo- 
ple telling us their lungs and blood are 
their business, not ours." However, he 
says, cooperation couldn't have been bet- 
ter. 

But hand-holding is not the role Lipka 
sees as the best casting for CSC. "Safety 
starts with the facility users," he believes. 
"The most effective long-term impact we 
can have is to make the WPI community 
more aware of the importance of safety, 
appreciate the risks that may accompany 
use of our facilities, and help develop pol- 
icies for operating safely in this environ- 
ment." The track record of faculty and 
technicians, he says, is outstanding, but 
with students moving through in four-year 
cycles, ensuring safety and security is an 
ongoing campaign. 

Faced with the fact that the work of 
many teachers, students and re- 
searchers at WPI often requires the 
use of hazardous materials, should we as- 
sume that we have a hazardous waste 
problem on our hands? 

"The chemicals we use here," says 
Lipka, "number in the hundreds." WPI 
has declared itself a generator of hazard- 
ous materials and now participates in fed- 
eral regulations of toxic wastes. "We han- 
dle many of the substances to which these 



APRIL 1982 7 



regulations apply, but not in significant 
volumes." 

Theodore C. Crusberg. Associate Pro- 
fessor of Life Sciences, sees things this 
way: "Our work calls for the use of scores 
of chemicals. But we don't generate enough 
chemical wastes — not even close — to 
qualify under even Massachusetts regu- 
lations." 

The state guidelines to which Crusberg 
refers call for generators of over 100 Kgm 
per month to obtain a state Hazardous 
Wastes Disposal Permit. Federal regula- 
tions call for similar licensing, but the 
threshold is ten times the state level. 

Says Harper, who manages hazardous 
wastes at WPI. whether or not the college 
qualifies under the state regulations de- 
pends on whether or not Professor Al 
Weiss of Chemical Engineering is oper- 
ating his coal degasification project in a 
given month. When in operation, this 
project alone puts out more than 100 Kgm 
of chemical wastes a month. 

Prior to obtaining these permits, recalls 
Harper, the college had decided to meas- 
ure its chemical wastes. This effort — cam- 
puswide collection, identification, label- 
ing and disposal — began in June 1981. The 
materials outside Goddard Hall, those that 
leaked from a sun-drenched and thus 
overheated steel container, were part of 
that clean-up program. The spill, he says. 
had an interesting effect on the normally 
slothlike EPA licensing procedure. Fol- 
lowing the Goddard incident, a telephone 
call from Harper to EPA netted a verbal 
authorization that WPI had been granted 
a disposal permit number. But to date. 



no permit has been received by WPI of- 
ficials. 

Crusberg's policy for handling hazard- 
ous materials in his labs is one of caution. 
Consider, for example, the work done on 
bacteria. "Our philosophy is to treat 
everything as a pathogen, more like Esch- 
erichia sp. than Salmonella sp." When 
students are handling any bacteria, an ex- 
perienced professor or graduate student 
is always on hand. "And it's a policy we 
enforce." 

Beyond self-management, many pro- 
jects in Life Sciences are overseen by WPI's 
Biohazards Safety Committee (BSC), 
headed by Professor Douglas T. Browne, 
Associate Professor of Chemistry. Some 
observers believe, however, that the ef- 
fectiveness of BSC, a federally estab- 
lished body, may face setbacks due to 
budget cutting by the Reagan Adminis- 
tration. 

While hazardous materials man- 
agement is a major concern of 
CSC, management of radio- 
active materials is an animal of a different 
breed. 

Dr. Raymond Goloskie. Associate Pro- 
fessor of Physics, chairs WPI's Radiation, 
Health & Safeguards Committee (RHSC). 
He is also his department's CSC repre- 
sentative. When he holds up NRC-10- 
CFR20, the four-inch-thick bible of the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 
you get the distinct impression that the 
NRC means business. It's the job of the 
four-member RHSC to ensure WPI's 
compliance with the guidelines so pains- 




takingly detailed in NRC-10-CFR20. 

Most use of radioactive materials on 
campus, he says, takes place in Life Sci- 
ences, Physics and, of course, the nuclear 
reactor. For his part, Professor Goloskie 
conducts research in intermediate particle 
physics, a pursuit, he says with tongue in 
cheek, that helps keep physicists off the 
street. 

According to Goloskie, radiation is "not 
particularly problematic" at WPI . In fact, 
he says, a single battery of X-rays exposes 
an individual to more radiation than WPI's 
reactor or laboratory procedures possibly 
can. 

But NRC's acceptable radiation levels 
are very low. Case in point: During a rou- 
tine inspection in his own lab, the Com- 
mission found unacceptable amounts of 
radioactive dust on ceiling and walls. The 
problem, explains Goloskie, was the re- 
sult of a long-term procedure using trit- 
ium, the radioactive isotope of hydrogen, 
where it mixed with dust and adhered to 
most surfaces in the several rooms of the 
laboratory. Tritium is not an overly dan- 
gerous isotope, and the measured levels 
of radiation were not great, he says, but 
NRC's stringent guidelines called for a 
moratorium on use of the facility while it 
received a thorough scrubdown. 

The work of Crusberg and his associ- 
ates and students often calls for low-level 
radioactive isotopes as well. For example, 
isotopes are an integral part of procedures 
for labeling certain portions of DNA chains 
in plants. "The major problem we have 
with these substances," he says, "is or- 
dering them in small enough quantities to 
meet our needs." All such substances are 
stored and labeled in the proper con- 
tainers, and their use is restricted to a 
controlled environment in the lab. 

A key figure on RHSC is Thomas P. 
White. He serves as WPI's Radiological 
Safety Officer (RSO) as well as Nuclear 
Specialist in Mechanical Engineering. He's 
also senior operator of WPI's nuclear re- 
actor. As RSO he oversees all procure- 
ment, use and disposal of radioactive ma- 
terials on campus. "That's a lot of 
responsibility," says Goloskie. 

But White seems up to the task. He 
trained as a nuclear reactor operator 
aboard a U.S. Navy submarine, before 
serving as a nuclear quality assurance in- 
spector for Yankee Atomic Electric Com- 
pany. 

NRC, he says, runs a tight ship, "They 

c 

s Splittinfi Atoms. WPI's nuclear reactor is 
X open to the public. 



WP! JOURNAL 



inspect our reactor facilities unan- 
nounced, and their guidelines are among 
the toughest ever devised." But the re- 
sponsibility for safe operation of nuclear 
reactors, he adds, really rests with the op- 
erator. "In many cases, our own policies 
are even more strict than those of NRC, 
but not to the extent that we hamper the 
process of federal approval of WPI's pro- 
curement of radioactive materials." 

The heart of the radioactive materials 
question is most likely the issue of waste 
disposal. But because of the specific types 
and amounts of materials on campus. 
White explains, "We can hardly call dis- 
posal a problem." Legally, he says, many 
radioactive substances can be put down 
the drain or out in the trash. Sulfur 35, 
for example, is an isotope used commonly 
in Life Sciences. But the quantities on 
hand — only microcuries — and its charac- 
teristics — including a half-life of only 86.7 
days — allow its users to dispose of it like 
household garbage. Similarly, though it 
has a half-life of 5730 years, the quantities 
of Carbon 14 utilized on campus can be 
legally disposed of in the sameway. 

"In fact," says White, "we have a 
household-sized Sears kitchen compactor 
at the reactor. If a radioactive substance 
is spilled somewhere on campus, we com- 
pact the cleaning cloths and containers, 
store the material in steel cylinders, and 
eventually put it out with the trash." The 
compactor hasn't been run since 1973. 

White acknowledges the controversy 
surrounding nuclear power. But he be- 
lieves that while the college prefers a low-- 
profile approach to publicizing the facil- 
ity, it is in the best interest of both WPI 
and the public to clarify any misconcep- 
tions people may entertain concerning nu- 
clear power. White: "Some people think 
we heat WPI's swimming pools or light 
buildings or power the stoves at food serv- 
ice. But on guided tours of the facility — 
by some 1,000 visitors last year alone — 
we do out best to dispel such misunder- 
standings while satisfying people's curi- 
osity." (See box on this page.) 

"Low profile" describes the facility it- 
self, a 10 Kw open-pool research reactor. 
"Ten kilowatts is about the electricity 
drawn by two pop-up toasters," he says. 

Although WPI doesn't offer a degree 
program in nuclear power, many students 
as well as faculty use the reactor for proj- 
ect work. For example, MQPs and IQPs 
often call for examination of materials 
under the influence of a radioactive field. 
This procedure provides students with 
hands-on experience with a reactor, val- 
uable credentials for employment after 



graduation. Still, utilization of the reactor 
is relatively light. It operates for only three 
to four hours per week. Other times, it is 
completely shut down. 

Since it went critical in 1959, the reactor 
facility has been directed by Dr. Leslie C. 
Wilbur. The fuel enlisted in 1959, says 
White, is the same fuel, Uranium 235, 
you'll find here today, so little has the 
reactor been used. At today's rate of uti- 
lization, this same fuel should last another 
300 years. Corrosion of other parts of the 
reactor will occur long before the need to 
transport and dispose of any spent fuel. 
In practical terms, this situation exempts 
the college from the myriad regulations 



governing the disposal of nuclear waste. 

Today, the facility's license to operate 
is due to be renewed for another 20 years. 
But of late, small research reactors like 
t^at at WPI have been placed on the back 
burner at NRC, what with all the atten- 
tion focusing on Three Mile Island. 

But White has every reason to believe 
that his operation will comply with the 
Commission's increasingly exacting 
standards. To be licensed, the operator 
must demonstrate in a simulated emer- 
gency that the reactor can be shut down 
in 600 milliseconds. Says White, "The 
grades we've gotten from NRC have al- 
ways been, let us say, glowing." 



Lunch, Anyone? 

"Our most popular exhibit," says Thomas 
P. White, Senior Operator and Nuclear 
SpeciaUst of WPI's nuclear reactor facil- 
ity, "could be as close as your own pan- 
try." 

In the early 1900s, reports White, var- 
ious uranium compounds were used to 
produce brilliant orange-red glazes for ce- 
ramic ware. The best-known brand, Fies- 
taware, was manufactured by the Homer 
Laughlin China Company of East Liver- 
pool, Ohio, at one time the largest pottery 
plant in the world. Due to its rugged con- 
struction, Fiestaware could be found in 
countless homes across the country before 
World War II. But when the war effort 
placed stringent controls on uranium ores, 
the company was forced to halt produc- 
tion of the orange-red dishes. The com- 
pany went out of business in 1973. 

Today, Fiestaware is a prized collect- 
able. And because uranium presented 
certain production problems, the orange- 
red plates, cups, saucers, etc. are espe- 
cially valuable. 

Official studies make little mention of 
any risk these ceramics present to their 
users, because most of the radioactivity 
emitted is beta particles, and the dose is 
normally confined to the hands. 

But, says White, "We have found that 
many of these dishes have become worn, 
which increases the chances of ingestion 
of some of the glazes." On contact each 
plate reads about 6 millirems per hour on 
the Geiger counter. "You can compare 
this to the 200 or so millirems that mem- 
bers of the general public receive each 
year — to the entire body — from normal 
background sources. 

"We emphasize to our visitors that these 




"Look at but don't eat from orange 
Fiestaware dishes," cautions Tom White. 



dishes are no longer in production and 
that today any use of radioactive sub- 
stances is strictly controlled by the Nu- 
clear Regulatory Commission with the 
public's safety always in mind." 

He recommends that, although no im- 
mediate health hazards exist due to Fies- 
taware, people who use these ceramics — 
the orange-red colored variety only — might 
consider replacing them with another color, 
but not necessarily discarding them. "They 
are valuable collectors' items," White adds, 
"but any unnecessary exposure to radia- 
tion should be minimized." 



APRIL 1982 



PROTECTS 



A review of MQPs, IQPs and research 
by WPl faculty and visiting professors 



Whether at the undergraduate, graduate or 
faculty level, projects play an integral role 
in the WPI experience. Projects help in- 
dividuals learn to evaluate information, 
identify problems and implement solu- 
tions. Mastering this process is marked by 
growth in experience, self -discipline, re- 
sourcefulness and self-confidence. In this 
and subsequent issues of the Journal we 
will feature the projects of several members 
of the WPI community . We hope you will 
find these briefs thought-provoking and 
helpful in the endless process of solving 
problems in the real world — a process we 
all share in. 

Hazardous Wastes 

at Boston Edison: 

The Impact of Coal Firing 

By Michael P. Brousseau, '83, ME; 
and William J. Thorpe, '83, ME 
Prof. K. Keshavan, CE, Advisor 

Residual fuel oil is now the nation's most 
widely used fuel for the generation of 
electrical power. Since 1970, however, the 
cost of oil has shot up from $2 to over $30 
per barrel, making fuel costs over 50 per- 
cent of the total cost of oil-fired electricity 
generation. Due to this better than fif- 
teen-fold jump in oil prices, many power 
companies are investigating the relative 
costs and benefits of alternative fuels. A 
leading candidate, especially in the 
Northeast, is coal. Boston Edison is but 
one of many energy producers consider- 
ing the switch — in part or entirely — to this 
cheap and plentiful fuel. 

But while coal offers major advantages 
in cost and availability to producers in 
New England and elsewhere, the threat 
of environmental contamination from 
burning coal can be significantly greater 
than that from oil firing. Consequently, 
more elaborate and costly pollution-con- 
trol measures are necessary to meet cur- 
rent federal, state and local regulations. 
And as coal replaces oil, the additional 



disposal costs and site demands also rise. 
Very soon, coal's luster may begin to fade. 

To help Boston Edison evaluate the en- 
vironmental and economic feasibility of 
converting its Mystic Station in Everett, 
Massachusetts, from oil to coal firing, two 
WPI students are investigating the many 
facets of this controversial and far-reach- 
ing issue. Their interdisciplinary ap- 
proach includes not only a cost-benefit 
analysis of alternative pollution-control 
and waste-disposal technologies, but also 
a thorough consideration of the regula- 
tions pertaining to coal firing. 

Coal firing itself can present problems 
of type as well as degree. It creates three 
kinds of wastes: bottom ash, or unburned 
coal; fly ash, minute particles drawn into 
the atmosphere by exhaust gases; and 
scrubber sludge, a precipitate of calcium 
sulfate or calcium sulfite resulting from 
the processing of flue gases before they 
leave the plant. Fly ash and bottom ash 
are common to both oil- and coal-burning 
processes, but coal produces much greater 
amounts of this by-product than oil. 

Collecting and disposing of coal-fired 
by-products would not be so costly if one 
technique could accommodate all three 
wastes. Unfortunately, this is not the case. 
On top of all this, current regulations dic- 
tate with amazing specificity what proc- 
esses can be used to dispose of each type 
of waste. 

Taken together, the problem facing 
Boston Edison and Brousseau and Thorpe 
can be structured as a three-by-three ma- 
trix, where waste collection, processing 
and disposal each impact upon and are 
influenced by economic, technological and 
regulatory issues. 

Untangling this web of confounding 
variables requires a solid grounding in each 
element of the matrix. The project will 
incorporate close communication be- 
tween WPI and Boston Edison, with a 
thorough analysis of waste amounts gen- 
erated, collection and disposal techniques 
and locations available, the short- and long- 
term economic and environmental im- 



pacts of each alternative, and the nuances 
of the Resource Conservation and Re- 
covery Act. Finally, Brousseau and Thorpe 
will present their findings and recommen- 
dations to Boston Edison. 



Monitoring Hazardous 
Wastes in Wobum 

By John F. Paladino, '83, EE; John 
Summers, '83, ME; and Michael 
Treglia, '83, CE 

Prof. Malcolm FitzPatrick, CE, and 
Prof. Richard V. Olsen, Mathematical 
Sciences, Advisors 

In its formative years, Woburn, Massa- 
chusetts, grew rapidly as a center for in- 
dustry and commerce, due largely to the 
completion in 1803 of the Middlesex Canal, 
connecting Lowell with Boston. Woburn 
sat at the midpoint of this waterway. Easy 
access to the Boston and Maine Railroad 
also contributed to the town's growth. 

The next century was to see chemical 
and tanning firms lead Woburn's eco- 
nomic expansion. But it was not until the 
end of the nineteenth century that the fed- 
eral government acted to regulate the 
growing volume and diversity of industrial 
waste products. For many years the Ref- 
use Act of 1899 provided for permits for 
the burial of, for example, animal hides 
and tanning chemicals. Conventional wis- 
dom at the time had it that industrial by- 
products thus disposed would simply de- 
compose and be acted upon by the good 
earth's natural filtration. 

But as business and populations grew 
in Woburn and countless other eastern 
industrial cities, so too did industrial 
wastes. The legacy of this growth and the 
realization that early disposal methods 
were pitifully inadequate are only now be- 
ginning to surface. 

In fact, in 1979 the EPA ordered two 
of Woburn's supplies of drinking water 
closed due to trace amounts of carcino- 
genic substances found in them. And not 



10 WP! JOURNAL 



long ago, toxic materials containing ar- 
senic and lead were found in a lagoon near 
the old Merimac Chemical Company site. 

Recognizing the potential for repeated, 
perhaps even more insidious scenarios 
throughout the nation, WPI students John 
Paladino, John Summers and Michael 
Tregha decided to respond with some 
strong medicine. Currently they are de- 
veloping a practical method for tracking 
the production, transportation and dis- 
posal of hazardous wastes in Woburn. They 
intend to apply this model to the problems 
of other communities. 

The WPI model utilizes the Standard 
Industrial Classification (SIC) system to 
categorize potential and known hazard- 
ous waste producing industries and spe- 
cific firms therein. Interviews, investiga- 
tions of company records, and on-site 
inspections will yield a list of industries 
and companies by SIC code which gen- 
erate regulated amounts of hazardous 
wastes. 

After further case-by-case analysis, the 
model will enable investigators to identify 
systematically, quickly and accurately the 
factors which distinguish known from 
merely potential producers. In the end, 
the WPI team believes the model will en- 



hance regulatory activities by providing 
an effective tracking method at minimal 
cost to government — and to the public. 

Ocean Waste Disposal 
in the New York Bight 

By Stephen M. LaFrance, '83 CE 
Prof. Malcolm FitzPatrick, Advisor 

For nearly 100 years the principal means 
of disposing of New York City's wastes 
has been ocean dumping. Each year an 
estimated 1.2 x 10^ cubic meters of mu- 
nicipal wastes, sewage sludge, dredge spoils 
and acid wastes are dumped at sea. Only 
recently have the environmental impli- 
cations of ocean waste disposal begun to 
emerge. 

The area of ocean known as the New 
York Bight — roughly the sea from Mon- 
tauk Point, Long Island, to Cape May, 
New Jersey — is one ofthe nation's most 
important coastal regions. The Bight not 
only contains vital shipping routes and 
major fishing banks; it also provides boat- 
ing, recreational fishing, beaches and 
swimming waters for 20 million people. 

One more point about the Bight: It, 




Student projects — MQPs and IQPs — can lead to new and exiciting endeavors. 



and specifically its 2,500 square mile 
northwestern corner near the City, — the 
apex — contains the designated dumpsites 
for the whole of New York City. 

There's more. On top of New York's 
waste dumping in this area is added sew- 
age from outfalls and heavy shipping traffic. 
But these dumpings are difficult to mon- 
itor, and little baseline data exist on aquatic 
life and water quality. Hence determining 
the short- and long-term effects of heavy 
metals, coliform bacteria and other chem- 
icals and toxins — the more hazardous ele- 
ments of dumpings — has been effectively 
frustrated. But the impacts of these ma- 
terials continue unabated: drastic reduc- 
tions in photosynthetic productivity, det- 
rimental increases in nitrogen and 
phosphate, lower oxygen content of the 
water, wholesale death to ocean and pos- 
sibly land life of all kinds. 

Last summer, WPI's Stephen LaFrance 
set out to build a body of knowledge on 
the effects of ocean dumping on the Bight. 
From aboard the research vessel West- 
ward, operated by the Sea Education As- 
sociation of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 
LaFrance collected water samples to test 
for concentrations of copper, various nu- 
trients, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and 
coliform bacteria. His findings, which agree 
with those of other researchers, revealed 
that ocean dumping has made a significant 
contribution to ocean pollution in the apex 
of the Bight. How far beyond the apex 
these effects are felt was not within the 
scope of this project. 

LaFrance also compiled data on the en- 
vironmental impact, cost and technolog- 
ical feasibility of alternative disposal 
methods. Land filling, incineration, com- 
posting and land spreading were the op- 
tions evaluated. As might be expected, 
tradeoffs among these techniques can be 
enormous, not only economically and 
environmentally, but politically and emo- 
tionally as well. Presently, the several land- 
based disposal options appear to be prom- 
ising. But considering the premium placed 
on land in and around New York, it is 
difficult to consider these as serious al- 
ternatives. 

Authorities expect New York's wastes 
to triple by the year 2000. Hence the cor- 
roborating findings of LaFrance and others 
like him make New York's waste disposal 
decision only slightly less wrenching. 
Nevertheless, as he plot thickens, it is this 
type of research that will enable decision 
makers to cast prudent, cost-effective reg- 
ulatory policies — policies which may in- 
pact upon aquatic and land populations 
far from the Big Apple. 



APRIL 1982 



11 



CASE IN POINT 



Toxic Wastes in Massachusetts: 
The View of One Citizen-Engineer 

By John R. Mortarelli, 79, MS. BE 



An honest solution to the toxic waste dis- 
posal problem should not jeopardize the 
pristine lands left in this or any other state. 
But in Massachusetts, legislation on the 
books does not adequately address this 
concern. As a biomedical engineer and 
Massachusetts resident. I am deeply con- 
cerned about the state's ability, through 
its regulatory agencies, to guarantee ef- 
fective and appropriate safeguards for the 
health and well-being of its citizens. 

As a state, our solution to hazardous 
wastes must tackle the issue at its roots, 
at the source of generation. This means 
discouraging unnecessary production of 
toxic materials. Today, however, we have 
no enforceable "carrot and stick" legis- 
lation to induce industry to alter produc- 
tion methods and materials to include less- 
or non-toxic materials. 

Still, in a statewide environmental im- 
pact report released in 1981, the Massa- 
chusetts Department of Environmental 
Management (DEM) predicted that a 50 
percent reduction in the generation of 
hazardous wastes could be achieved in ten 
years. In fact, some industries were re- 
ported promising to reduce such wastes 
by 80 percent in that time. But in the 
absence of effective financial incentives. 
is it reasonable to expect achievement of 
these goals? Incorporating disposal costs 
into the market prices of products is one 
solution, and an approach suggested by 
the Environmental Protection Agencv 
(EPA). 

Whatever the solution to toxic waste 
disposal, it should embrace only those 
technologies which are at the outset 
deemed most safe rather than least costly. 
For to "treat" a waste is not necessarily 
to detoxify it. Consider, for example, so- 
lar evaporation, a relatively inexpensive 
procedure that greatly reduces the vol- 
ume of a material, but which also allows 
the volatile components ot the waste to 
be evaporated into the atmosphere. The 
remaining sludge has been treated but may 
well be more toxic following, rather than 
prior to, disposal processing. 

Toxic waste facilities have never been 



good neighbors. As recently as Septem- 
ber 1981, the General Accounting Office 
released a report evaluating the perform- 
ance of hazardous waste facilities oper- 
ating under EPA interim status. The re- 
port concluded that interim status, under 




which Massachusetts has disposed of its 
toxic wastes since 1980, "... cannot rea- 
sonably be expected to provide the gen- 
eral public with necessary health and en- 
vironmental assurances." But when state 
officials conducted similar inspections, they 
did not identify as serious problems such 
items as leaking drums, storage of incom- 
patible wastes, or containers stored with- 
out leachate collection systems. 

In effect, then, the Massachusetts Haz- 
ardous Waste Siting Law (MGL-21D) puts 
the fox in charge of the hen house. It 
assumes that a hazardous waste industry 
allowed to compete in a free market econ- 
omy is presently endowed with sufficient 
expertise and adequate technologies to 
dispose properly of hazardous wastes. 
Operating under this premise, the legis- 
lation encourages industry to site any- 
where in the state. 

What's more, M(}L-21Ddoes not man- 
date that only enough facilities be created 
to match projected Massachusetts off-site 
disposal needs. To date, three companies 
have been granted "feasible and deserv- 
ing" status as developers of toxic waste 
treatment centers. But a brief look at waste 



magnitudes generated nationally should 
raise a bright red flag. Of the nearly 40 
million dry metric tons of toxic wastes 
generated in the United States annually, 
some 60 percent is produced by only ten 
states. Not one of these is a state in New 
England. 

If a substantial hazardous waste indus- 
try develops in Massachusetts, more than 
likely it will process great amounts of ma- 
terials generated well beyond our bor- 
ders. In fact, the rotary kiln incinerator 
proposed by one of these "deserving" de- 
velopers will operate with a nominal feed 
stock of about 15 tons per hour. This is 
an amount so large relative to our pro- 
jected needs, that for every ten barrels 
incinerated, roughly nine must come from 
out of state. What's more, the firm's no- 
tification of intent (NOI) states that it is 
proposing a de facto regional facility. 

Obviously, nobody wants a toxic waste 
facility in his/her backyard. But is Mas- 
sachusetts, New England's most populous 
state, the best site for one? Is this the most 
appropriate place to build a $100 million 
plant, the largest in the nation, when we 
produce so little of the wastes that would 
be needed to make this operation cost- 
effective? Do we want to handle 300,000 
to 400,000. tons of hazardous wastes a year, 
being fed by a convoy of 100 to 200 trucks 
a day traveling over rural roads? 

Our state is sometimes referred to in 
jest as Taxachusetts. Would the joke be 
less biting if we were known as Toxachu- 
setts? Because toxic waste management 
is so controversial an issue, a politically 
expedient solution is at least as likely as 
a well-conceived, prudently engineered 
one. especially in an election year. But in 
our eagerness to do what is right and just, 
we must guard against taking an irrever- 
sible plunge into a toxic waste water stream 
without a sufficiently buoyant legislative 
lifejacket. 

Case in Point is a forum for discussion; 
therefore its contents do not necessarily re- 
flect the views of Worcester Polytechnic or 
the staff of The WPI Journal. Please write. 



12 WPI JOURNAL 



Midnight 
dumping is not 
the heart of 
the problem. 
Dealing with 
hazardous 
wastes is 
tougher than 
catching the 
outlaws. 



United States industries generate 
many millions of tons of waste 
each year — slag, ash, scrap ore, 
solvents, paper, and what have you. Of 
this total, some 10 to 15 per cent is haz- 
ardous — poisonous, carcinogenic, in- 
flammable, reactive, or corrosive. In 1980, 
according to the Environmental Protec- 
tion Agency (EPA), hazardous wastes 
came to at least 57 million wet metric tons. 
Most commonly the materials are 
dumped or buried. Some are in landfills 
approved by local health departments, 
some in "temporary storage" in 55-gallon 
drums, and some dumped by the wayside. 
Hazardous wastes are not necessarily 
exotic substances. They are often an in- 
tegral part of industries producing items 
that we use every day, such as cellophane, 
chrome coatings, leather goods, news- 
papers, ice cream and asphalt. Such prod- 
ucts — and their wastes — are obviously a 
permanent part of modern living. What 
is to be done about them? 

Ambiguity is the operative word. 
It is uncertain how much haz- 
ardous waste is in fact gener- 
ated. That 57 million metric tons is a brave 
guess, but only a guess. Under EPA reg- 
ulations that came into effect in Novem- 



HAZARDOUS 
WASTES 



By James C. Wood 




ber 1980, all hazardous wastes must be 
tracked "cradle-to-grave" by a system of 
manifests, which is supposed to ensure 
that all wastes go to appropriate sites. 
Manifests work much like shipping re- 
ceipts, copies of which wind up at state 
agencies. But not all states have enforced 
uniform reporting procedures: Maryland, 
for example, began a manifest system in 
1977, while New York State did not re- 
quire manifests until January 1982 and 
Virginia has no system of manifests. 

Even in states with such systems, man- 
ifests are not required for material that 
stays on-site, often in a "pit, pond, or 
lagoon" near the factory. If the pit or pond 
is deeper than it is wide, it is called an 
injection well. Nobody knows how much 
waste is in pits, ponds, lagoons, or injec- 
tion wells, or what it is, or how serious a 
problem it will create, if any. Some of it 
has been there for years, on abandoned 
industrial properties, and nobody even 
knows it's there. Old dumpsites can look 
innocuous, a bit of bumpy ground over- 
grown with grass. 

Also, even the most accurate counts on 
toxic wastes do not account for all envi- 
ronmental toxins. Such things as Drano, 
gasoline, motor oil, road salt, nitrates from 
fertilizers, and trichloroethylene (a de- 
greaser that is still sometimes used to un- 
clog septic tanks): all these find their way 
into groundwater and drinking supplies, 
not because someone is directly disposing 
of them but via normal runoff, leakage, 



f^'iM 



and household use. Exposure is critical, 
for toxic chemicals are no threat to biota 
or human populations unless there is op- 
portunity for direct contact. 

How might that contact occur? Toxic 
chemicals can move to the surface if a 
disposal trench is flooded, in which case 
exposure could occur through direct phys- 
ical contact. Some hazardous wastes are 
volatile, and nearby people and animals 
might breathe contaminated air. Or the 
wind can stir up dust and fumes from a 
landfill. These airborne particles could 
settle out nearby and accumulate in the 
soil and food chain. If the disposal site is 
located near a stream or pond, an acci- 
dent or spill could contaminate the water — 
perhaps a source of water supply. Or per- 
haps the dumpsite percolates all too well, 
like an old gravel pit. In that case, con- 
tamination of groundwater would be the 
major long-term exposure route. The po- 
tential health damage would result from 
drinking contaminated water. 

Exposure then requires a pathway and 
a population. Given these two conditions, 
the effects would depend on the concen- 
tration of the toxic material at the point 
of exposure. 

Of all these possibilities, contam- 
inated groundwater is in some 
ways the worst possible case, be- 
cause it is so intractable. 

Groundwater is one part of the earth's 
water circulatory system — the hydrologic 
cycle — and can be thought of crudely as 
underground conduits and reservoirs. It 
occurs in the void spaces between sub- 
surface particles. Groundwater moves 
slowly under pressure until it reemerges 
at the surface in springs or through dis- 
charge to rivers and streams. From place 
to place, both pressure and the under- 
ground materials vary widely. Clay, for 
instance, consists of extremely small par- 
ticles which leave very little room for water; 
clay is virtually impermeable. In gravel, 
on the other hand, groundwater moves 
extremely fast. In rock it moves at speeds 
varying with the type and geologic struc- 
ture of the rock, varying again with pres- 
sure. 

An aquifer is any subsurface formation 
that yields significant amounts of water to 
wells and springs. Aquifers are not self- 
contained, like tanks of water held un- 
derground; rather, groundwater moves in 
and out of aquifers, and between aquifers, 
by complex routes. 

Approximately 50 per cent of all U.S. 
residents rely on aquifers as their primary 
source of drinking water — more so, nat- 




Aerial view of a licensed landfill: At Maryland's Solley Road dump, waste haulers 
hand over manifests before dumping their hazardous cargo in the site's active portion 
(upper left). Trees buffer the dump from nearby neighborhoods. Note the clay cap 
on the older landfill (lower right). Rising 40 feet, it keeps moisture from entering the 
landfill. Nothing will grow on the cap until a layer of topsoil is added. 



urally, in rural areas where wells are still 
used. But many urban communities also 
depend on aquifers. Some regions of the 
country have no alternative water source. 
Long Island's 2.5 million residents get all 
their water from three aquifers. 

Once contaminants enter an aquifer they 
may remain for long periods of time — 
decades to geologic time. Conditions vary, 
but groundwater may move from one to 
100 feet a year, carrying the contamina- 
tion with it. 

Treatment methods, still crude, consist 
of pumping out and filtering the contam- 
inated water, or simply of pumping until 
the measured concentration of contami- 
nants reaches lower levels. For example, 
when two water supply wells in Pennsyl- 



vania showed contamination from chro- 
mium (VI) in concentrations at .35 mil- 
ligrams per liter, it was necessary to pump 
half a million gallons each day for two and 
a half years. That brought contaminant 
levels below .02 milligrams per liter. 

In a more expensive form of cleanup, 
however, a waste treatment facility must 
be constructed at the site. The pumped- 
up liquid is filtered through activated car- 
bon, which removes organic contami- 
nants. Such an effort is extremely expen- 
sive and is normally avoided by closing 
the wells. In such a case the pollutant plume 
will remain in the aquifer, movin^g invis- 
ibly underground. It may possibly con- 
taminate other, deeper aquifers or may 
discharge into streams and rivers. 



II ALUMNI MAGAZINE CONSORTIUM 



Although the best solution is dif- 
ficult to identify, it is possible to 
^characterize the alternatives, 
which are not simple. For example, the 
Allied Chemical Company in Baltimore 
generates over 100,000 tons a year of 
chrome ore sludge, classified as a hazard- 
ous substance because it contains 1.3 per 
cent by weight of chromium (VI) — chro- 
mium in its positive six-valence state, which 
seems to be associated with cancer and 
renal damage. 

The chrome ore sludge is the residue 
from extraction of elemental chromium 
from chromite. The dry sludge is a black, 
granular material with the consistency of 
sand. It is non-burnable, so incineration 
is not possible. Additional processing to 
extract the chromium (VI) residue offers 
httle promise, which is the very reason 
Allied considers the sludge a waste and is 
willing to pay for disposal. Is there a pro- 
cess that will solidify, stabilize, and en- 
capsulate the solid material so that the 
hexavalent chromium won't leach out? 
There are claims of such techniques. 

However, at a Maryland Environmen- 
tal Service Laboratory, lab workers have 
tested samples that were "encapsulated" 
and "stabilized" by various methods, and 
they have been unable to confirm that any 
technique really works. The samples rest 
in rows of glass containers that had been 
filled with distilled water; the water has 
now turned yellow, showing the presence 
of chromium (VI) ion in solutiorj. 

Another alternative is to produce less 
waste. Allied Chemical is now changing 
its production process to a form that should 
reduce the annual waste by over a third. 
The most radical alternative is to eliminate 
or restrict the use of chromium — the less 
ore is processed, the less waste. But con- 
sider the consequences: chromium im- 
parts heat and corrosion resistance to 
stainless steels, plumbing, hardware, and 
metal trim. Could we do without it? 

This example illustrates all four major 
alternatives to land disposal: resource re- 
covery, incineration, physical or chemical 
treatment, and source reduction. And in 
this example, we are left with an irreduc- 
ible minimum of material that must be 
disposed of on land. Although new tech- 
nologies are being developed, this dis- 
concerting answer generally holds true. 

Physical or chemical treatment: Stabi- 
lization is a treatment often advocated for 
wastes like mixed heavy metal sludges, 
which contain concentrations of zinc, 
chromium, lead, or copper sufficient to 
make them hazardous wastes. (Especially 
hazardous because heavy metals accu- 



mulate in body tissues.) The sludges are 
in a sense already solidified: they often 
result from treatment of liquid waste, re- 
quired under clean water regulations. 
There are ways to "mine" sludges and 
extract the small concentration of metals 
remaining, but for sludges with multiple 
contaminants such processes remain at the 
laboratory stage. Solidification involves 
mixing the materials with cement or ash 
or other materials to make them more 
solid, which slows down the leaching 
process when wastes encounter water. 
However, the effect is not permanent. It 
merely delays the eventual escape of 
leachate. Normally, stabiHzation makes 
the material both heavier and more bulky, 
and it must still be disposed of on land. 

Chemical detoxification treatments for 
wastes include oxidation, precipitation, 
and acid neutralization. For example, 
through an oxidation reaction, adding 
bleach to liquid cyanide solution yields 
nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and a sodium 
chloride salt — all harmless. Heavy metals 
can be precipitated out of cleaning waters. 
Acids can sometimes be neutralized (al- 
though the result may still be toxic). These 
techniques are already widely used in in- 
dustry; major companies normally treat 
vast quantities of chemical waste on site, 
so that it never enters calculations on toxic 
waste. 

Resource recovery: In some cases, wastes 
generated by one firm might be useful to 
another in Heu of virgin chemicals. As 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute engineer 
William Shuster cautions, however, "Only 
specific waste streams are candidates for 
resource recovery." Among these are spent 
acids, solvents, and dilute solutions of 
heavy metals. 

Sometimes material can be directly re- 
covered. For example solvents become 
wastes only because they have been con- 
taminated; if the contaminant can be re- 
moved, the solvent is ready for use again. 
Nitric acid wastes, a by-product of etching 
silicon wafers in the electronics industry, 
can be neutralized and detoxified with lime 
to produce calcium nitrate, a high-grade 
Hquid fertilizer. 

Resource recovery is not always more 
costly than landfilling, nor does it require 
new techniques. But most industry ob- 
servers believe that the best of such op- 
portunities have already been realized, at 
least within particular industries. Be- 
tween industrial groups, the problem is 
that Firm A rarely knows what uses its 
waste could have for Firm B. An exper- 
imental waste exchange clearinghouse in 
the San Francisco Bay area has been suc- 



cessful, however, and New York State's 
plan for centraHzed treatment and recov- 
ery should increase such opportunities. 

Incineration: The alternative that raises 
the most passion is high-temperature in- 
cineration, burning at 600-800°C. It is 
commonly thought that perhaps all wastes 
should be burned. Why not just get rid of 
them? Why leave them around in a land- 
fill for future generations to worry about? 
High temperature incineration breaks apart 
toxic organic hydrocarbons into harmless 
substances. Incineration reduces the 
amount of wastes we have to dispose of. 
This seems to be the way to go, people 
often think. 

A closer look indicates some problems. 
For one, not everything burns. Solvents 
burn well. But waste oils, which would 
appear to be good candidates, pose a 
problem: one reason they are hazardous 
substances is that they are contaminated 
with trace metals — and metals, of course, 
do not bu/n. 

Incineration can be extremely expen- 
sive: the EPA estimates that the process 
can cost from $75 to $2,000 a ton. Why 
the variation? Costs vary with fuel costs 
and air pollution control costs. Burning 
material with low energy content means 
much higher fuel consumption. And some 
materials require a more elaborate 
"scrubber" system to ensure that no toxic 
gases escape. (Scrubbing itself generates 
a sludge, which is a hazardous waste that 
will require land disposal.) Perhaps most 
important, the method is not foolproof. 
If incineration is incomplete, toxic gas can 
escape. 

At our present state of technology, there 
is no single recovery method that works 
for an entire class of wastes, far less for 
all wastes. Alternative methods can re- 
duce the burden on landfill, but for the 
foreseeable future they cannot eliminate 
it. Landfill, then, becomes a topic of some 
urgency. 

In 1972 a municipal landfill, licensed 
to receive septic tank wastes and sew- 
age sludge, opened in Jackson Town- 
ship, New Jersey. By 1976 residents of the 
surrounding community (four square miles) 
complained of foul-smelling and bad-tast- 
ing water. Some people got rashes after 
they showered. 

Most homes drew water from shallow 
wells, 30 to 50 feet deep. After testing by 
the New Jersey Department of Public 
Health found heavy metals and organic 
hydrocarbons at levels that violated state 
drinking water criteria, the state ordered 
the community to close its wells. 



APRIL 1982 III 



A hydrogeologic analysis shows that the 
Jackson dumpsite rests on sandy, highly 
permeable soil. Moisture in the form of 
runoff or precipitation can enter the site 
and move through the toxic chemicals, 
dissolving and carrying off hazardous res- 
idues. The contaminated liquid, also called 
leachate. then moved easily through the 
porous soil into the shallow aquifer that 
gave the community its drinking water. 
At Jackson Township, no cleanup is under 
way. The community now gets water from 
a well into a deeper aquifer, while the 
contaminant plume remains, moving sldwly 
through the groundwater. 

Contamination of groundwater is not 
the only risk from improper hazardous 
waste disposal. At Love Canal contami- 
nated fluids moved to the surface, then 
sidled into the basements of homes bor- 
dering the site. Soil condition reports from 
the site show that the top 1.2 to 1 .8 meters 
of soil consist of relatively permeable silt 
and sand, the next 9 to 12 meters of rel- 
atively impermeable clay. Migration oc- 
curred through the soil's top layer. People 
living nearby were exposed either through 
physical contact with surface chemicals, 
or when volatile organics were present in 
the basement air of affected homes. 

Love Canal is perhaps the most cele- 
brated case of improper handling of 
chemical wastes. In 1953, one year after 
Hooker Chemical Company ceased 
dumping chemical wastes into the aban- 
doned canal, construction began on an 
elementary school at the site's border. 
(Hooker argued against the plan, and sold 
the land to the school board for one dollar 
only after it became clear that otherwise 
the site would be condemned and ac- 
quired anyway.) During construction, the 
dumpsite's clay cap, important in con- 
taining the wastes, was disturbed. Soon a 
suburban community surrounded the old 
canal. 

All seemed well for more than 20 years, 
but in 1977, after a series of heavy rains, 
residents began to complain of strange and 
pungent smells in their basements, and of 
a high rate of cancer, birth defects, and 
general malaise. The New York State De- 
partment of Health investigated and de- 
clared the site an "environmental disas- 
ter." Residents were evacuated. 

Spurred by the atmosphere of emer- 
gency, a number of groups began studies 
to document health damage, but in the 
flurry the truth seems to have fallen be- 
tween the cracks. An EPA-sponsored 
study, for example, claimed to show ge- 
netic damage but sparked immediate con- 



troversy. Not all cytogeneticists agreed that 
the data proved chromosome breaks. And 
even if the original interpretation was 
correct, it was not clear that there were 
more breaks than "normal"; there was no 
control group; measles can cause chro- 
mosomal breaks, too. These objections 
proved well-founded. 

There were other epidemiological stud- 
ies, testing for excess risks of cancer. To 
date, even well-controlled studies have 







Edward Beutner, a Franklin and Mar- 
shall College geologist, belongs to a citi- 
zens' committee in Pennsylvania formed 
to keep an eye on a firm 's plans for a 
hazardous wastes landfill. 



been unable to prove that exposure to 
chemicals at the dumpsite has definitely 
damaged the health of any former resi- 
dents. Meanwhile, many of the former 
residents of Love Canal have become so 
demoralized and disgusted that they will 
no longer participate in medical studies. 
So monitoring for long-term effects — such 
as cancer — will be difficult if not impos- 
sible. Residents still do not know what 
health effects they may face in the future, 
and the studies did not diminish 
public concern, but rather 
increased it. 



In 1980 the Tennessee Department of 
Public Health approached environ- 
mental scientists at the Johns Hop- 
kins School of Hygiene and Public Health 
with an urgent request: Residents of a 
Memphis neighborhood feared the health 
effects of living near an abandoned chem- 
ical landfill, the North Hollywood dump — 
one contaminated with pesticides. Could 
Hopkins design a valid study to determine 
the actual health risks? The Hopkins group, 
aware of deficiencies in the Love Canal 
health studies, wanted to draft an ap- 
proach that recognized the immediate 
concerns of the community, while also es- 
tablishing groundwork for identifying long- 
term health effects. 

The Velsicol Chemical Company had 
used a parcel of land in North Hollywood 
to dispose of pesticide manufacturing res- 
idues. People in the neighborhood, a black 
working-class community, had lived by the 
dumpsite for years, unaware of potential 
health risks. Yet EPA environmental 
sampling at the site has located more than 
20 priority pollutants, principally chlori- 
nated hydrocarbons and heavy metals, at 
concentrations of more than 10 parts per 
million. Identified chemicals include 
chlordane, heptachlor, and endrin. All 
have recognized toxic effects. 

These toxic substances were found in 
surface soil samples, in water from the 
Wolf River which flows along one edge 
of the site, and in several ponds on the 
dumpsite property. However, EPA sam- 
pling did not provide enough detail to tell 
the team exactly how the substances mi- 
grated from the site. Who was exposed? 
Did sampling detect all potentially harm- 
ful substances? What was the most likely 
exposure route? 

Identifying health effects can be diffi- 
cult, even if you know for sure what's in 
the site. There were no records kept at 
North Hollywood dump, so the team didn't 





know everything buried there. Even if the 
site could be meticulously mapped, pro- 
ject head Morton Corn says, "There is 
still the question of exposure. Once you 
know what's on the lot, you need to know 
what's getting off. That requires an inti- 
mate knowledge of the possible pathways 
of every chemical dumped." 

Yet complete knowledge of the way 
chemicals moved off the site would not 
eliminate the problem of detecting ex- 
posed individuals. For instance, chlori- 
nated hydrocarbons such as chlordane were 
found, which are likely to cause liver dys- 
function if ingested. A blood test for cer- 
tain liver enzymes should therefore indi- 
cate exposure to the dump. "Anything 
you measure, though, is likely to show up 
in some of the people," says Allen Kim- 
ball, a Hopkins biostatistician. The resi- 
dents could have been exposed to chlor- 
dane someplace else; the question is 
whether any damage that shows up is re- 
lated specifically to the dump. 

And what about people who have moved 
away, or people who have recently moved 
into the area? Should they be included in 
the study, and if so, how? It's nearly im- 
possible to reconstruct a neighborhood as 
it has existed for 20 years or more, but 
without such perspective, it's unlikely that 
the long-term effects of chemicals can be 
spotted. 

And, as with any epidemiological study, 
a control group is needed. Memphis is a 
chemical manufacturing center, and aer- 
ial photos have revealed 200 to 300 in- 
dustrial disposal sites, some 40 to 60 of 
which may contain toxic chemicals. So the 
chances of finding an unexposed popu- 
lation are slim. But without such a control 
group, statisticians cannot satisfy them- 
selves that there are more miscarriages, 
or bad livers, or cancers, or birth defects 
among people who live near the North 
Hollywood dump than are "normal" for 
Memphis residents of comparable age, 
class, and racial mix. 

Whatever the city of Memphis decides 
to do, the Hopkins effort has highlighted 
the difficulties of dealing with toxic chem- 
icals. The group has designed a study with 
a well-defined goal, to see if people living 
within a certain distance of the North Hol- 
lywood dump show specific signs of ex- 
posure to chemicals: elevated tissue levels 
of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides and 

James C. Wood is a doctoral student in 
the Department of Geography and Envi- 
ronmental Engineering at the Johns Hop- 
kins G.W.C. Whiting School of Engi- 
neering. 



heavy metals, or higher frequencies of 
certain illnesses linked with those chem- 
icals. The report recommends using ques- 
tionnaires, physical examinations, and lab 
tests; and the study would cost at least $3 
million. Whether or not it will be carried 
out, or by whom, has not yet been decided 
by authorities in Memphis. Meanwhile, 
Velsicol has come in and covered the site 
with a few inches of dirt, which has helped 
alleviate community concern. 




Morton Corn, of the Johns Hopkins 
School of Hygiene and Public Health, 
directed a study designed to assess health 
risks in a neighborhood near an aban- 
doned pesticide dump in Memphis. 



Future safe management of toxic 
wastes depends upon well-selected, 
well-designed, and well-built land- 
fill sites — and on effective monitoring of 
engineered containment systems. To be- 
gin at the beginning, planners must con- 
sider a site's geological features, features 
which predict whether and how wastes will 
move from a landfill. 

The permeability of underlying soil strata 
measures the earth's capacity to transmit 
fluids; low perq:ieability, like that found 
in clay-rich soils, is desirable. Yet the 
Jackson Township municipal dumpsite, 
for example, rests on porous sandy soil 
that does little to halt the flow of leachate. 
A site also should have little potential 
for surface water penetration. The North 
Hollywood landfill in Memphis, never- 
theless, lies in the flood plain of the Wolf 
River. Dumpsites are often placed on such 



marginal land — parcels no one wanted. 

The location and movement of ground- 
water are other considerations. To pro- 
tect aquifers, groundwater should be very 
low beneath the site, and the "travel time" 
for polluting fluids to reach an aquifer 
should be very long. Predicting travel times 
depends somewhat on the nature of the 
wastes. For example, heavy metal and acid 
wastes are sometimes buried together. The 
acids can lower the natural pH of the soil; 
unfortunately, the more acid the soil, the 
more mobile the heavy metal. Certain or- 
ganic substances, such as trichloroeth- 
ylene (a solvent and a carcinogen), seem 
to move very quickly through the soil. 

An ideal site is hard to find. Local geo- 
logical conditions can vary considerably 
over short distances — even feet. Within a 
region of low permeability clay, pockets 
and fissures of sand or gravel can act like 
an escape chute for leachate, giving it an 
ideal passage to deep groundwater. These 
cracks or lenses are not unusual. 

Perhaps a more fundamental problem 
is unavoidable conflict among objects 
which individually appear quite reasona- 
ble. To reduce chances of exposing resi- 
dents near disposal sites, an environmen- 
tal planner would favor a remote location, 
one unUkely to be subject to development 
pressures. (At Love Canal developers be- 
gan to build houses adjacent to the dis- 
posal trench only three years after the 
dumping had stopped.) Yet residents near 
remote sites are also more likely to de- 
pend on groundwater as a sole source for 
drinking water. Locating landfills away 
from urban areas means that trucks car- 
rying the waste have farther to travel, in- 
creasing the chances of spills or accidents. 

The ideal site being rare, landfills must 
be engineered to overcome local imper- 
fections. The engineer's objective is "to- 
tal containment," with two essential com- 
ponents: (1) prevent the flow of moisture, 
whether rainfall or surface water pene- 
tration, into the landfill proper and (2) 
collect and treat any leachate that does 
develop before it escapes. 

Such a secure landfill system includes 
an impermeable cap or cover; an artificial 
lining at the landfill's base; an under- 
ground drainage system that collects 
leachate; and a pumping and storage sys- 
tem for collecting and evaluating leach- 
ate. It works something like a covered 
bathtub. Within the basin, the leachate 
collection system drains off any contam- 
inated water and keeps it from moving off 
site. Leachate collects in holding tanks, 
and is analyzed and treated. 

What can go wrong? In effect, the con- 



APRIL 1982 V 



tainment can work all too well. The land- 
fill cover, though in theory impermeable, 
will allow moisture to enter the "tub." 
(Over time environmental stresses such as 
plant growth and freeze-thaw cycles will 
open more cracks in the cover.) If the 
drain clogs, excess moisture can fill the 
trench and move upward, much hke water 
overflowing a bathtub. The phenomenon 
is so common that environmental engi- 
neers have a name for it — the "bathtub 
effect." That is what happened at Love 
Canal. The native clay soil at the base of 
the trench kept leachate from moving into 
deep groundwater — but at some cost. 
When water got into the trench, wastes 
had no place to go but up toward the sur- 
face. 

Evidence from the past is not reassur- 
ing. Once wastes are buried and out of 
sight it is too easy to forget that they are 
around. Yet land disposal does not end 
when the landfill is capped. The site must 
be monitored, to make sure no waste 
moves off site. Someone must ensure that 
the drainage and treatment systems in the 
ground continue to work. Who will pay? 

Proposed federal regulations require 
landfill operators to purchase insurance 
sufficient to maintain leachate collection 
plumbing and monitor wells for 30 years 
after closure. But EPA acknowledges that 
hazardous waste landfills will need "per- 
petual" monitoring. Perpetuity is a long 
time. The technology for containing wastes 
in a secure landfill may not be an insur- 
mountable problem. However, the long- 
term institutional commitment from state, 
local, and federal governments may be 
more difficult to secure. 

Industries continue to produce haz- 
ardous wastes, and the nation is ex- 
hausting the present land disposal fa- 
cilities. Where will the necessary new 
facilities go? What communities will ac- 
cept such feared and unwanted neigh- 
bors? "No one wants toxic wastes dumped 
in his backyard," says Franklin and Mar- 
shall College professor Marvin Kauff- 
man. 

Conflicts are emerging that reflect the 
national problem of adjusting to the les- 
son of Love Canal. The public interest 
inevitably conflicts with local fears. 
Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), for in- 
stance, operates a hazardous waste land- 
fill on a 53-acre site in Anne Arundel 
County. Maryland. In November 1981, 
the company announced its plan to buy 
an adjoining 2(X)-acre lot for expansion. 
Two community meetings organized to 
protest this proposal attracted more than 



600 residents of the surrounding com- 
munities of Cadillac, Point Pleasant. Mar- 
ley, Suburbia, Country Club, and Twin 
Coves. 

The dumpsite, known in the area as the 
Solley Road landfill, has been open since 
1963. In 1977 the State Department of 
Natural Resources gave its owners per- 
mission to receive designated hazardous 
substances. Business boomed. Only a few 
miles from the Baltimore beltway and 
within easy access of industries concen- 
trated around Baltimore harbor, the land- 
fill accepted 173,800 metric tons of haz- 
ardous wastes in 1980. 

The Solley Road landfill is not part of 
the underground network of midnight 
dumping, but an example of the kind of 
faciHty Congress had in mind when it 



not happy to have the dumpsite for a 
neighbor. They're concerned about truck 
traffic to and from the facility, about dust 
and fumes from the site, and about the 
presence of a large concentration of toxic 
chemicals within several miles of their 
homes. Nor do residents like the fact that 
Solley Road accepts wastes from out-of- 
state. Why should their community be re- 
sponsible for someone else's mess? 

People in Smithfield Valley, Pennsyl- 
vania face similar concerns and are pi- 
oneering a new approach. When lU Con- 
version Systems, Inc. announced its plan 
to use property there for a dumping 
ground, Valley residents protested with 
billboards, placards, and televised town 
meetings. The uproar goaded lU to set 
up an unusual committee — a board made 




In this makeshift incinerator, exhau.^i ,;,<,i,uA 
escape, so waste disposal becomes air 
pollution. RPI's William Shuster advises 
New York State on a master plan that 
includes incineration— saiQ incineration. 



passed the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976: it is a 
secure landfill operating under the super- 
vision of the state health department. 
Browning-Ferris Industries screens its 
clients. The landfill accepts only solids and 
sludges, and BFI requires potential cus- 
tomers to send samples of their wastes to 
the company's Houston laboratory for 
chemical analysis before they agree on a 
disposal contract. The landfill is well-con- 
structed and well-monitored. 

Nevertheless, community residents are 



VI ALUMNI MACJAZINE CONSORTIUM 



up of nominees from local organizations 
(among them Franklin and Marshall Col- 
lege) — to look over the company's shoul- 
der as it went about evaluating sites. 

F&M structural geologist Edward 
Beutner is on the committee which, he 
says, will take part in the site selection 
process from start to finish. The commit- 
tee will evaluate geological reports and 
will make suggestions to lU. "We can make 
strong recommendations," he says, "which 
won't be binding, but lU would probably 
have a difficult time pushing the thing 
through if the committee didn't approve. 
The public outcry would be large enough, 
I think, to stop the dump." 

lU Conversion Systems doesn't pro- 
duce toxic chemicals, but is one of the 
handful of recently-formed companies 
turning wastes into profits. Beutner ex- 
plains that waste producers send samples 
to lU, which determines whether it can 
stabilize or otherwise treat the waste. Ma- 
terial will be spread in on-site landfill, 
which will be engineered for total con- 
tainment. 

Beutner and fellow F&M geologist 
Marvin Kauffman agree that lU's Narvon 
property — the preferred dumpsite — has a 
complex geology. The land within Penn- 
sylvania's border, like much of the East- 
ern seaboard, is ribboned with layered 
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, lay- 
ers which have been folded, uptilted, and 
eroded. Kauff man's map of the area, 
patched from various sources (including 
maps produced by the U.S. Geological 
Survey and some done by F&M students), 
indicates that the proposed site does haVe 
faults running near it. 

Kauffman says that "it's a touchy issue. 
Anyone living in the area would be con- 
cerned. The drinking water has been very 
pure, but now there's a fear of its being 
tainted. The person with property is biased 
because he thinks there's a danger that 
the property values around a dump might 
go down; the state of Pennsylvania is con- 
cerned about finding sites because other- 
wise industry will move elsewhere." 

RCRA limits federal presence in waste 
disposal to designating hazardous sub- 
stances, defining requirements for cradle- 
to-grave tracking, and establishing per- 
formance standards for landfill sites. 
RCRA relies on the private sector to de- 
velop and expand existing treatment and 
disposal facilities (under EPA standards). 
The theory is that mandatory guidelines 
will stimulate private development: If im- 
proper waste disposal is illegal, and is 
penalized, waste generators will have to 
pay for proper disposal, and waste-service 




Corrosive chemicals eat their way through storage drums. Containing hazardous 
wastes is not a one-step job, even at well-designed landfills. 



firms will therefore enter the disposal 
business. EPA regulations based on RCRA 
leave to states and local governments the 
problem of finding landfill sites. The en- 
forcement arm of the EPA has recently 
been dismantled, and such compHance as 
the law requires now rests with the good 
will and strong arm of the individual states. 

In an ideal world, each type of waste 
would be considered alone and dis- 
posed of individually, in the most 
economical manner that avoided every 
important adverse effect. Such an ideal 
solution is useful as a point of reference, 
but little help in making complex assess- 
ments of risk-benefit. For example, if only 
$1,000 is available, would it yield greater 
benefits to destroy a ton of organic pes- 
ticide wastes through careful incinera- 
tion? Or would it be better to spend the 
same amount to encapsulate ten tons of 
non-burnable heavy-metal-contaminated 
sludges? In the real world, a state planner 
might have 50 different wastes originated 
in 30 different sites. Given shipping costs. 



where should the central facility be? What 
facilities will handle the largest portion of 
hazardous wastes, at a cost low enough 
that manufacturers will not be driven to 
midnight dumping? 

Suppose we can determine that incin- 
eration is feasible for a particular waste. 
Is there enough burnable waste in a state 
to justify investment in a complex incin- 
eration plant? Where should it go? Wil- 
liam Shuster of RPI has described the 
complication of this type of evaluation, 
now going on in New York State. "We 
have a number of questions to wrestle with. 
Should there be one plant or many plants? 
With more plants the hazards of accidents 
during transport would be lower. On the 
other hand, construction and operating 
costs would be much higher for a multi- 
ple-plant network than for a single cen- 
tralized facility. With a number of plants 
scattered through the state we would 
spread the hazards from accidents and spills 
to more regions." 

To resolve the inevitable conflicts over 
the choice of future land disposal sites, 



APRIL 1982 Vll 



In Stow, 
Massachusetts: 
tracking 
the backyard 
polluter 

Groundwater pollution can originate in 
sources other than landfill, and major in- 
dustries are not the only culprits. Small 
towns and rural communities all over the 
United States have traced polluted well 
water to leaking gasoline storage tanks, 
to pesticide containers dumped beside a 
barn, to overloaded septic systems — all 
places where no one thought to look until 
the damage was done, and all places that 
escape EPA or state regulations. 

Malcolm FitzPatrick, Associate Profes- 
sor of Urban and Environmental Planning 
at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 
Worcester, Massachusetts, is hazardous 
waste coordinator for the town of Stow, 
Massachusetts. Residents of Stow. pop. 
5,148, get their water from wells, their 
sewage disposal through septic systems. 
And they're worried about their water. 

FitzPatrick wants to identify practices 
that may lead to underground water pol- 
lution before the problem gets serious. He 
has, for example, found piles of road salt, 
stored by the road. Water inevitably finds 
its way into some of the piles, and the salt 
melts and makes its way down into the 
aquifer. It is not toxic in itself, but its slow 
accumulation is undesirable: no one wants 
municipal water that is undrinkably salty, 
or that corrodes pipes and kills lawns. 

Many rural areas, like Stow, rely on 
septic systems to dispose of waste from 




kitchens and bathrooms. In such systems, 
water carries the waste into underground 
tanks, where solid particles settle out. The 
effluent then moves through a series of 
perforated pipes. These spread the leak- 
ing fluids throughout the area, to be 
cleansed by the natural filtering capacity 
of the soil. This filtering capacity, how- 
ever, can be overtaxed. In the particular 
case of Stow, there is a cottage industry 
of assembling small-scale components of 
electronic devices. These businesses use 
septic systems to dispose of small amounts 
of hazardous acids. 

In addition, both homes and small busi- 
nesses still use trichloroethylene and sim- 
ilar solvents to break up scum and prevent 
clogs in their septic system. Trichloro- 
ethylene is linked with liver and kidney 
disorders and is a suspected carcinogen, 
and its chemical cousins do not seem to 
be much better. 

So far, FitzPatrick says, Stow's prob- 
lems are not serious. But he is watching 
the situation. He has begun mapping the 
local aquifer to locate recharge zones, 
places where surface water enters the 
ground to replenish water supplies. This 
map will be used, he hopes, to redraw 
local zoning so as to restrict construction 
in certain critical zones, or to require waste 
treatment and containment rather than 
septic systems. 



the state of Maryland has created a Haz- 
ardous Waste Facilities Siting Board. The 
Board has the power to issue a "certificate 
of public necessity" overruling local zon- 
ing objections to disposal sites. 

The Board may soon review BFI's ap- 
plication to expand the Solley Road land- 
fill. From a geological perspective Solley 
Road looks like a good site. It rests on 
the naturally impermeable native Arun- 
del clay. Groundwater in this region is 
very deep and well protected by overlying 
strata which provide a natural confining 
bed. It would be difficult for significant 
quantities of leachate to migrate from the 
site and contaminate the aquifer. 

Local residents view the matter differ- 
ently. They feel they are carrying an un- 
fair share of the environmental risks cre- 
ated by hazardous wastes. The Facilities 
Siting Board must consider the broader 
public interest of the state, its need to 
provide a secure waste disposal site near 
major waste generators. Availability of 
state-monitored landfill is certainly criti- 
cal to the state's plan for safe disposal. 

Robert H. Roy, Dean Emeritus of En- 
gineering Sciences at Johns Hopkins and 
now chairman of the Maryland siting 
board, agrees in principle with the resi- 
dents: "Landfilling should only be used 
as a last resort." But, he adds, "we don't 
have any alternative. People realize we 
must have jails, power plants, and haz- 
ardous waste landfills, yet no one wants 
these in a nearby neighborhood. No one 
really understands toxic chemicals. But 
the pervasive fear on this subject has be- 
come a national paranoia. We have to act. 
Everyone is looking for a no-risk society. 
It doesn't exist." 

Most states, naturally, are reluctant to 
drive out industry; at the same time they 
are under pressure from residents to elim- 
inate pollution. New York State, attempt- 
ing a compromise, is conducting an in- 
depth study, with Shuster's help, on the 
availability of technology for treating 
wastes and producing energy from waste 
incineration. According to Shuster, the 
state is dedicated to the idea of doing 
something about its serious pollution 
problem. The governor is behind the 
project, as is the legislature. Yet "there's 
a sensitivity to being too tough," says 
Shuster. "The state doesn't want to drive 
anyone out. The legislature is leaning in 
the direction of tax incentives and tech- 
nical help for small companies." Mary- 
land's Robert Roy echoes the warning: 
"If we don't make it feasible for industries 
to do this economically, then generators 
will resort to illegal methods." 



VIII ALUMNI MA(3AZINE CONSORTIUM 



50 li^ 



^ Id I 1" 



67 



92 193 (^ 



An Illustrated 

Compendium of 

Commonplace 

Objects 

Fancies are dispelled, facts revealed* 

The surprising histories of these 

everyday objects are here unveiled, 

except the boring parts* 




66 



70 



0^ 



9< 



HI 



113 



119 



TisUi^lK/ 



J L 



1 Across 

The first U.S. crossword puz- 
zle was prepared by Arthur 
Wynne and pubHshed in the 
Supplement to the Sunday New 
York World on December 21, 
1913. 



Ball Bearings 

"In those days we anxiously 
asked ourselves how soon the 
enemy would realize that he 
could paralyze the production 
of thousands of armaments 
plants merely by destroying five 
or six relatively small targets," 
wrote Albert Speer, the archi- 
tect who became Hitler's Min- 
ister of Armaments and War 
Production. The five or six tar- 
gets were factories turning out 



more than two million ball 
bearings a month. 

Several times during 1943, 
British and American squad- 
rons did hit the main bearing 
works in Schweinfurt, but they 
dropped most of their bombs 
on airplane factories and dams. 
Had Allied forces bombed 
bearing plants consistently, 
Speer concluded, Germany's 
cars, trains, tanks, trucks, and 
planes would have ground to a 
halt. At war or in peace, in- 



dustrial countries can be said, 
quite literally, to run on bear- 
ings. 

The bearing — any device 
which eases friction between 
surfaces moving in relation to 
each other — has been around 
since the beginning of re- 
corded history. Ancient ox- 
carts, chariots, waterwheels, 
screwjacks, and the like all had 
bearings, usually wooden 
troughs or sleeves in which the 




axle sat, but friction soon broke 
the axle shafts and wore down 
the bearings. Tallow and oil 
were poured over these early 
bearings, but to little avail: in 
one 16th-century waterworks 
in Toledo, Spain, the major ex- 
penses recorded were tallow, 
for lubrication, and charcoal, 
for repairing worn parts at the 
forge. 

Efficient bearings, particu- 
larly ball bearings, weren't 
widely used until the 19th cen- 
tury, but quite a few ways of 
cutting down friction had been 
devised by Leonardo da Vinci. 
Most of da Vinci's innovations 
stayed in his notebooks, only 
to be discovered with astonish- 
ment by people who had re- 
invented his bearings 500 years 
later. 

For axles which made com- 



APRIL 1982 IX 



plete revolutions, Leonardo 
first improved on traditional 
trough bearings by adding a top 
bushing. This clamp could be 
tightened, so that even as the 
trough wore down, the axle 
would not jump around. Then 
he suggested that the same ar- 
rangement, an adjustable 
"mother" holding the axle firm, 
would offer far less resistance 
if it were not made of wood. 
One could be cast from mirror 
metal, "three parts copper and 
seven parts tin." Two centuries 
later, Robert Hooke suggested 
the same clever idea to the 
Royal Society of London. 
Leonardo was the first to de- 
sign ball bearings in a race which 
kept them from touching but 
let them turn freely. He also 
devised a way to mount a ver- 
tical axle on three conical bear- 
ings — a method reinvented in 
the 1920s for use in blind-flying 
instruments. 

At first metal bearings had 
to be made at the forge, one 
by one. Not until 1868, after 
Bessemer had invented a way 
to blow air through molten pig 
iron to make high grade steel, 
was a method for mass-pro- 
ducing bearings patented. In 
1898, when bearings were first 
used in hubs and headsets, there 
was a boom in bicycle sales. 
The bearing industry really got 
rolling. 

Today bearings are among 
the most accurately machined 
objects in the world. In a pre- 
cision factory, same-size bear- 
ings may differ from one an- 
other by as little as five one- 
thousandths of an inch, or 13 
thousandths of a millimeter. 
Beanngs can perform under 
high speeds (in an average tur- 
bofan jet engine, at l().f)()0 spins 
per mmute), high heats (tem- 
perature about 600°F), and 
heavy loads (say, 2,5fX) pounds 
per cubic inch). 

Still, there are some cases 
where the old ways prove best: 
on many propeller-driven ships, 
shafts rest in self-lubricating, 
water-repellent sleeve bear- 
ings made, not of metal, but 
rather of resinous lignum vitac 
wood. 



Hypodermics 

In the 1660s the English archi- 
tect Christopher Wren, best 
known for designing St. Paul's 
Cathedral, convinced Oxford 
chemist Robert Boyle that a 
pipe could be inserted into an 
animal's blood vessels so that 
drugs could be injected di- 
rectly into the bloodstream. The 
two men used a quill attached 
to a syringe to inject opium into 
a dog. (It lived.) 

Nearly two centuries later the 
hollow hypodermic needle 




came into general use. Some 
say the inventor was Francis 
Rynd of Ireland; others cite 
French surgeon Charles Ga- 
briel Pravaz. In the earliest 
models, the puncture through 
the patient's skin was made with 
a lancet or, wrote Rynd, "with 
the point of the instrument it- 
self, pressed through the skin 
to the depth required." By the 
mid- 1850s, syringes were mar- 
keted with graduated scales, for 
accurate control of doses. 



Coffee 

"It fortifies the members, it 
cleans the skin, and dries up 
the humidities that are under 
it, and gives an excellent smell 
to all the body." So wrote a 
10th-century physician of the 
bunchum bean. Healers as- 
cribed to it improbable povs'- 
ers; goats and saints figured in 
legends of its discovery; relig- 
ious leaders issued it to follow- 
ers that they might stay awake 
during nightly devotions. 

Discovered growing wild in 
Ethiopia more than a thousand 
years ago, coffee was first grown 
commercially in Arabia's 
Yemen district during the 15th 
and 16th centuries. The Arabs 
kept others from trading in cof- 
fee by drying or boiling the 
beans before export, so they 
would not germinate. But cof- 
fee berries were still smuggled 
out, often by pilgrims to Mecca, 
and grown. 

Arabs gathered in coffee- 
houses — "schools for the 
wise" — to hear news, listen to 



storytellers, play chess, and 
dance. Coffee soon became 
known as "the wine of Araby" 
because some Muslims re- 
garded it as a substitute for 
wine, which their religion for- 
bade. Because coffee was 
sometimes considered intoxi- 
cating, and because coffee- 
houses often were sites of re- 
ligious and political arguments, 
certain 16th-century Muslim 
officials banned the beverage. 
So drinkers gathered in back 
rooms to drink a bootleg brew. 
Coffee nearly suffered similar 
persecution in Europe; certain 
priests appealed to Pope Clem- 
ent VIII (1535-1605) to forbid 
it to Christians as the drink of 
infidels. The Pope tried it, 
liked it, and baptized it "a truly 
Christian beverage." 

The lift one gets from a cup 
of coffee comes, of course, from 
caffeine, which affects the cen- 
tral nervous system. Small 
doses — the amount in one or 
two cups of coffee — stimulate 
cerebrocortical areas associ- 
ated with conscious mental 



Messages Found on a 
Beer Can — ^and Other 
Object Lessons 



Perhaps it is a measure of the 
human condition that we ac- 
cumulate objects — from the 
simplest tools to complex and 
expensive works of art. These 
objects are cultural artifacts, 
as is the entire man-made en- 
vironment: the shape of our 
cities and towns, the build- 
ings we inhabit, the images 
that bombard us from the 
streetscape or the cathode 
tube — all are richly symbolic 
attempts to inform or bring 
order to society. 

Artifacts are non-verbal: they communicate in the language 
of semiotics, the meanings that signs and symbols convey to 
the mind of the viewer. And the language of artifacts changes 
over time. The Latin phrases of the Great Seal of the United 
States, for example, were readily understood by educated 




X ALUMNI MAGAZINE CONSORTIUM 




processes; ideas become 
clearer; thoughts flow more 
readily, and fatigue decreases. 
"Caffeinism," associated with 
ingesting more than 1 ,000 mg/ 
day (about ten cups of coffee), 
causes such excessive stimula- 
tion that it may produce symp- 
toms like those of anxiety neu- 
rosis, including nervousness, 
irritability, agitation, head- 
ache, and muscle twitches. 

European coffee merchants 
tried to capitalize on the invig- 
orating effect of coffee by pro- 
moting it as a fad health bev- 
erage. One advertisement in 



1657 
claimed it 
did everything 
from making 
the heart "lightsom" 
to fighting eye sores. 
Medical opinion differed 
sharply on coffee's virtues. 
"Syrop of soot and Essence of 
old shoes," sniffed one doctor. 
But William Harvey appar- 
ently saw it as a panacea; he 
bequeathed the Royal (then 
London) College of Physicians 
a 56-pound bag of coffee ber- 
ries that they might assemble 
and drink to his memory. 

Most English physicians 
agreed, however, that coffee 
"helpeth digestion and procu- 
reth Alacrity" — and that it was 
a cure for drunkenness, then 
the root problem in the ma- 
jority of cases treated. Coffee 
not only cleared the head; but 
it also gave people an alter- 



native to the tavern, until then 
the only center for socializing. 
Coffeehouses sprang up all over 
Europe and rapidly became 
centers for gossip, gambhng, 
literary and political talk, and 
even business deals. Lloyd's 
Royal Exchange and Registry 
of Shipping grew out of Ed- 
ward Lloyd's modest coffee- 
house. Napoleon Bonaparte, 
then a young artillery officer, 
was so fond of coffee that the 
proprietor of the Cafe de Pro- 
cope once made him leave his 
hat as security while he went 
out seeking funds to pay his 
coffee tab. 

Of non-alcoholic beverages, 
coffee has always been the U.S. 
favorite. It's followed, in order 
of popularity, by soft drinks, 
milk, juice, and tea. People buy 
a particular coffee for its dis- 
tinctive taste. Each brand has 
its own secret formula for 
blending beans, but to ensure 
that its trademark taste ap- 
pears in every batch, each 
company employs coffee tas- 
ters, or cuppers. Cuppers pour 



hot water over prepared 
grounds, then inhale the aroma 
of the foam. They quickly take 
the mixture into their mouths, 
tasting for acidity, body, and 
the brand's special flavor, then 
spit the grounds into a cuspi- 
dor. The most skilled cuppers 
can identify the country and al- 
titude a bean comes from, 
blindfolded. 

Fifty-six per cent of the U.S. 
population drinks coffee reg- 
ularly, at an average of 3.41 
cups per day. Half of all coffee 
consumed in the U.S. is drunk 
at breakfast, one-third be- 
tween meals, and the rest at 
lunch and dinner. The pre- 
ferred style is black and un- 
sweetened, brewed as opposed 
to instant. Half of all coffee 
drinkers use an electric drip 
coffeemaker. One out of seven 
imbibes the decaffeinated va- 
riety — compared with one in 
25 in 1962. In 1980, U.S. coffee 
drinkers consumed one-third 
of the world's output, mostly 
from Brazil and Columbia — 
some 2,456,072,300 pounds. 



Americans at the beginning of the 19th century. "Annuit 
Coeptis" and "Novus Ordo Seclorum" informed readers that 
since the year of its creation Providence has been watching 
over the nation that would establish a new political order for 
the ages. The seal's iconographic language — a seeing eye, the 
pyramid, the eagle with constellation overhead — conveyed this 
message even to illiterate Americans. 

Today, of course, the imagery of 18th-century republicanism 
is as foreign as Sanskrit. Few people notice, and fewer com- 
prehend the meaning of, the Great Seal, even as it passes 
through their hands daily on the dollar bill. Yet these symbols, 
and the neoclassical design of the public buildings constructed 
in the nation's capital, reassured Americans of the revolution- 
ary generation that theirs was a government that would not 
tyrannize liberty. 

Another object, the Victorian sideboard, is vastly different 
in function but also celebrated tradition at a time of great 
change. The manifest functions of the sideboard were to dis- 
play silver, china, and glass, and to hold serving dishes and 
platters. These sideboards dominated the dining room, not 
only because of their size but also because of their ornately 
carved panels of fruits, grains, fish, and game. The most ex- 
travagant examples depict the hunt, the primitive chase of wild 
animals once essential to the provisioning of family or group. 
Some Renaissance revival examples of the 1880s even incorpo- 
rate carvings of hunting dogs and dying stags. Who, one is 
tempted to ask, could enjoy a meal while surrounded by the 
rehcs of barbarism? 

Although this iconographic program seems alien today, most 




,J^i^^ 



such sideboards adorned the dining rooms of middle and up- 
per class families. For these people, the new differentiation of 
places of work and residence led to the enshrinement of the 

home as a domestic Utopia, 
protecting women and chil- 
dren, and gave the dining 
room special significance: 
here the husband and father 
presided, carving the meat 
and acting as intermediary 
between the family's closed 
world and that of outsiders 
entertained at the table. 
Moreover, the sideboard's 
panels celebrated man's tradi- 
" tional role as provider — at 

JjJ^^^^^iV the very moment when the 

^^^HT^^^B^^; husband was no longer bring- 
^^^^ ^^^Sb^ *"^ home the produce of the 
fields or the prizes of the 
hunt but their symbolic 
equivalent, the weekly wage. 

Other objects attest to 
what Kenneth Ames has 
called changing "social strate- 
gies." The caUing card of the 
19th century, for example, contained only a name. Anything 
more would have been superfluous: everyone knew everyone 

Continued on next page 



Sue Ribbon 







APRIL 1982 XI 



Toilet Paper 

Five hundred sheets of un- 
bleached, pearly, manila hemp 
paper sold for 50 cents in 1857, 




when Joseph C. Gayetty of New 
York City became the first U.S. 
manufacturer of toilet tissue. 
Gayetty's "Medicated Paper" 
was "a perfectly pure article for 
the toilet and for the preven- 
tion of piles." The maker stood 
behind his product: every sheet 
was watermarked with Gayet- 
ty's name. 




Chairs 

You are not a king or a god, 
and you may not even be a 
prominent person. Neverthe- 
less, chances are that you are 
reading this while seated in a 
chair. "In" gives an idea of how 
the chair has evolved. Impor- 
tant people were enthroned 
"on" the earliest versions. 

In ancient Egypt, chairs — 
simple rectangular seats that 
often had folding X-shaped 
frames — were used by the rul- 
ing class and by travehng of- 
ficials. Greeks and Romans re- 



clined on cushioned couches at 
formal gatherings, but also used 
folding chairs and stools — which 
again came in handy for gen- 
erals and traveling officials. 
Medieval faldstools descended 
from these. 

Chairs as we know them were 
seldom seen in medieval Eu- 
ropean households. People 
squatted on the floor, or sat on 
benches, on upturned wicker 
baskets, on chests, or whatever 
else was near. By 1600, when 
ordinary people started to use 
chairs, the head of the house- 
hold would be enthroned upon 
the family chair, essentially a 
stool with an upright back. 

Through the 17th century, 
furniture in general had a 
moveable quality: the French 
meubles means just that, 
moveable. Even a traveling 
nobleman would carry his 
household goods with him, or 
do without. In 1649, for ex- 



ample, the King of France's 
daughter once had to sleep on 
straw: her bed had been left 
behind. 

By the 18th century, chairs 
were being designed for the sit- 
ter's comfort. Uprights were no 
longer so upright. Slanted, they 
invited sedate lounging. Curves 
and double curves gave a sin- 
uous grace to the frames, and 
cushions were no longer an af- 
terthought, heaped on a bench 
or chest, but were designed with 
the frame. Fads in clothing 
changed chair design. To make 
room for hoop skirts, for in- 
stance, chair arms receded. It 
became possible to loll. 

In the 19th century, metal coil 
springs became the base for 
upholstery and new methods 
of weaving made it easier to 
stuff and cover cushions. The 
chair frame disappeared under 
mountains of bloated uphol- 
stery. In France, the chair 



else in a particular social group. By contrast, the contempo- 
rary business card identifies the individual by occupation and 
company or institution. Thorstein Veblen anticipated this phe- 
nomenon a century ago in his remarkable book. The Theory 
of the Leisure Class. According to Veblen, the change from 
intimate communities to modern mass society created the need 
for vicarious forms of identification. Most obviously, we stake 
our claim to status by the things we own. But in a more subtle 
way, as every casual introduction affirms, we define ourselves 
not by what kind of person we are. but by our job and our 
institutional affiliation. The business card, one of the most 
ubiquitous manifestations of corporate America, has become a 
token of identity within the impersonal structure of modern 
society. 

The most commonplace objects carry a message, even as 
they serve their mundane functions. A can of Pabst Blue Rib- 
bon Beer, which is made of rolled and stamped aluminum, is 
admirably adapted to hold its contents without altering the fla- 
vor. And, for those of us who could never find an opener, it 
has a convenient top that pops. But the design of the can, an 
inheritance from the labels on glass bottles, reflects the history 
of product and nation. The red, white, and blue design ap- 
peals to patriotism, the representation of barley and hops in- 
forms the buyer of the beer's ingredients, and the blue ribbon 
attests to quality. The script at the bottom boasts that Pabst 
was selected as America's finest in 1893 — at the World's Co- 
lumbian Exhibition, held in Chicago to commemorate the four 
hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the New World; the 
script at the top claims that the brewery was established in 
Milwaukee in 1844. when many Germans were fleeing their 
native land because of political instability. Not coincidentally. 
the blue ribbon identifies the product's merit even to a con- 
sumer who cannot read English. 

The historicism of this beer label is seldom seriously consid- 



ered, but as with many other objects, historicism itself is the 
point. The images and objects of one era often appeal to suc- 
ceeding generations as quaint reminders of a simpler age, per- 
haps a golden one. Herein lies one important function of the 
cultural artifact in the contemporary world. We use history, or 
at least chosen aspects of history, to address current issues or 
psychological demands. 

The 1920s, for example, are usually described as a decade of 
dramatic, even traumatic change. And yet the '20s witnessed 
the creation of such notable monuments to the American past 
as the Henry Ford Museum, John D. Rockefeller's restoration 
and reconstrucfion of Colonial Williamsburg, and Henry Fran- 
cis Du Font's collection of paintings and decorative arts at 
Winterthur. Significantly, these men were all associated with 
technologies that transformed American society. Nevertheless, 
as if recoiling from the implications of their acfions, they 
looked to the agrarian, pre-industrial past — to their own back- 
grounds — as the source of national greatness. The objects they 
collected, high style or low, beautiful or useful, served as a 
tangible contact with history and provided a sense of place and 
time. 

Today Americans visit museums in record numbers and col- 
lect artifacts of every type. As a culture we seek reassurance 
in the past, answers to questions of identity and tradition. 
John Ruskin, the 19th-century English critic, once defined ar- 
chitecture as the "lamp of memory," the collective heritage of 
a nation. "We may live without her. and worship without 
her," Ruskin wrote, "but we cannot remember without her." 
Commonplace objects also serve this purpose, establishing 
continuity with the past at times of great change. 

David Schuyler 

Assistant Professor, American Studies Program, 

Franklin and Marshall College 



XII ALUMNI MAGAZINE CONSORTIUM 



Photography 
by 

William 
Denison 




known as the confortable 
evolved. 

In the United States, chang- 
ing technology had another 
effect, as the age of patent fur- 
niture dawned. Every reason- 
able mechanical variation had 
already been explored by the 
Age of Reason: chairs had been 
made to raise and lower, to 
swivel, to roll, to lean when the 
sitter moved. But now the im- 
pulse arose to make the chair 
more than a chair. Like other 
furniture, chairs sprouted le- 
vers. A chair became a lounge, 
a piano housed a bed, a bed 
became a wardrobe. 

Another technological ad- 
vance, tubular metal, ap- 
peared in chairs as early as the 
1850s: the tubes were shaped 
and painted to resemble wood. 
In Britain, a cantilevered rock- 
ing chair appeared — a frame of 
strong, flexible tubing curving 
upward in a lazy S from the 
floor. But the idea didn't catch 
on until the 1920s, redesigned 
by Marcel Breuer (and others) 
and usually called the Breuer 
chair. 

The new chairs at first seemed 



shocking, almost truncated. But 
many design awards later, such 
chairs, with their clean, strong, 
almost industrially precise 
shapes, "almost seem to speak 
for the 20th century. 



Synthetic Suds 

On October 10, 1933, a sodium 
alkyl sulfate made from chlo- 
rosulfonic acid and a fatty al- 
cohol went on the market for 
use in the home. A Cincinnati 
firm named Procter & Gamble 
gave the first synthetic deter- 
gent a catchier name: Dreft. 



Ballpoint Pens 

The first workable ball-point 
pen was invented and patented 
in 1938 by two Hungarian 
brothers, Ladislao and Georg 
Biro. When World War II 
broke out the brothers moved 
to Argentina, where they set 



up the first ball-point pen com- 
pany. 

A few years later, Milton 
Reynolds, a shrewd U.S. busi- 
nessman, bought several Biro 
pens while visiting Buenos 
Aires. With the help of an en- 
gineer, he redesigned the pen 
just enough to claim his own 
U.S. patent. The original Rey- 
nolds ball-point is simple in 
concept: a small ball rolls in a 
socket on the tip of the pen, 
transferring ink to paper. The 
ball is lubricated by the ink it- 
self, which gravitates to the pa- 
per from a reservoir in the pen's 
body. The reservoir does not 
dry out because, when the ball 
is not moving, it acts as a seal. 

Both the British Royal Air 
Force and the U.S. Air Force 
used ball-point pens during 
World War II. Flight crews 
needed a convenient and ver- 
satile pen, and the traditional 
fountain pen was just too 
sloppy. 

After the war, the ball-point 
pen became a fad. It was, after 
all, guaranteed to last for two 
years, "a veritable camel of a 
pen." On October 29, 1945, 
thousands of people lined up 
outside Gimbels' New York 
store to pay $12.50 for "The 
Fantastic Atomic Era Miracu- 
lous Ball-Point Pen — guaran- 
teed to write underwater." 
Macy's imported Biro pens 
from Argentina and sold them 
for $19.98. Some people flew 
in all the way from the West 
Coast to buy these marvelous 
utensils. 

Still, the fountain pen and 
the inkwell endured into the 
mid-'50s. Ball-points were far 
too inconsistent. The ink 
leaked, smudged, or faded, and 
the pen certainly did not last 
two years. Ball-points were 
banned from schools. Banks 
refused to accept checks writ- 
ten with a ball-point, fearing 
the signatures might fade. 

But in 1949, an Austrian 
chemist named Fran Seech had 
developed the first successful 
ball-point ink, in his California 
kitchen. The Paper Mate Com- 
pany formed; its success was 
based on Seech's ink. 



In 1980 alone, 1.9 billion ball- 
points were sold worldwide. 
These items which 20 years ago 
sold for $12.50 can now be 
found scattered and half-empty 
everywhere. 

Early Reynolds pens exist, 
says collector George James, 
president of the National Cap- 
ital Chapter of the Pen Fan- 
ciers' Club; they are plain alu- 
minum, as distinguished from 
red or blue anodyzed alumi- 
num. Only one original Biro is 
known. 




George Schmidt, 
Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute 



Double Vision 

Using two pairs of spectacles 
was troublesome, Ben Frank- 
lin decided. He was tired of 
switching glasses to read or to 
look at distant objects. So he 
had the lenses cut up, and half 
of each lens set together in a 
circle. The result: the first pair 
of bifocals. 

In 1785 Franklin wrote a 
friend from abroad, "This I find 
more particularly convenient 
since my being in France, the 
glasses that serve me best at 
table to see what I eat, not being 
best to see the faces of those 
on the other side of the table 
who speak to me; and when 
one's ears are not well accus- 
tomed to the sounds of a lan- 
guage, a sight of the move- 
ments in the features of him 
tnat speaks helps to explain; so 
that I understand French bet- 
ter by the help of my specta- 
cles." 

The bifocal idea was sug- 



APRIL 1982 XllI 



Division of Medical Sciences 

National Museum of American History 

Smithsonian Institution 




gested in 1716 by a man named 
Hertel and had been experi- 
mented with in London as early 
as 1760. Advances in bifocals 
paralleled a growing need for 
them as p)eople lived longer and 
as they turned from farming to 
industry and business. In the 
1800s, the lenses' popularity 
contributed to developing vi- 
sion examination procedures 
in the nascent field of optom- 
etry: the wide range of bifocal 
lens combinations made it no 
longer possible to select ready- 
made glasses off the shelf or 
from a peddler's wagon. 

Dissatisfaction with bifocals 
for such activities as reading 
music — farther away than a 
book, but not that distant — may 
well have contributed to a 
growing use of trifocals in the 
mid-1930s. In the '70s, the 
preference among wearers of 
bifocals shifted to "invisible" 
bifocals — those that had no 
visible demarcation between 
lens powers. 

One out of every two Amer- 
icans (113 million people) wears 
corrective lenses. Of this num- 
ber, 40 per cent (45 million) 
wear bifocals and five per cent 
(six million) wear trifocals. Re- 
cently two companies began 
selling bifocal contact lenses. 
In January, the Food and Drug 
Administration started talks 
with the two companies, which 
may halt safes for more testing 
on the lenses — a temporary 
setback, say the companies. 



Vending Machines 

Forerunner of those contem- 
porary machines which dis- 
pense coffee, soup, or cola — 
usually two seconds before the 
paper cup meant to receive the 



liquid has plopped into place — 
was the Automatic Clerk. Built 
by T. S. Wheatcraft of Rush, 
Pennsylvania, it was the first 
vending machine to sell from 
bulk. A six-foot-high wooden 
cabinet equipped with heater, 
bags, bagger, and weighing de- 
vice, the Automatic Clerk 
proffered bags of hot peanuts. 



Pipes and Tubing 

Shopping carts, automobile 
exhausts, house plumbing, bi- 
cycles, electrical conduits. 



channels, the earliest aque- 
ducts, were vulnerable to con- 
tamination. The first real pipes 
may have been pottery vessels 
wath their bases broken off, laid 
end to end. In 1958, a 150-year- 
old pipeline was unearthed near 
Honolulu. It was a mile long 
and consisted of 6,500 ceramic 
liquor bottles each 10 inches 
long. The neck of each had been 
inserted into the broken bot- 
tom of the next in line, the gaps 
plastered over with clay. 

An early form of copper pipe 
has been found at Abusir, 
Egypt, and dated from about 
2750 B.C. It was formed from 



chine that continually rolls it 
into a tube and welds the re- 
sulting seam. Seamless tubing, 
a better class of product, starts 
out as a round bar of steel. It 
is then forced between fast- 
spinning heavy rollers onto a 
mandrel, in effect impaling it — 
all at some 1300° Centigrade. 

Tubing is used for anything 
that needs to be lightweight, 
yet strong: airplanes, auto- 
mobiles, some bridges — and 
bicycles. In a bicycle frame, 
tubing is "butted," meaning it's 
beefed up where subject to 
higher stress, left thin — per- 
haps just a sixty-fourth of an 
inch — where it's not. Such a 
frame, custom-made from an 
exotic alloy of manganese-mo- 
lybdenum steel, may cost up- 
wards of $500. But it will with- 
stand the punishment of 200 
pounds hurtling down a bumpy 
Alpine road at 50 miles an hour, 
and yet weigh in at only SVi 
pounds. 

The owners of such ma- 
chines — which actually bear 




handrails, and air conditioners 
all use tubes. Or pipes, which 
are the same thing. 

Well, not quite: "The dif- 
ference between pipe and 
tube," notes one construction 
materials text, "is a complex 
thing to explain." Each lets 
something — like water or wire 
or steam — pass down its hol- 
low length. And each boasts 
impressive strength for its 
weight. "Tube," though, seems 
to emphasize the latter quality, 
"pipe" the former. 

Pipes have been around a 
long time. Earthenware jugs 
balanced atop the head could 
carry only so much water. Open 



thin sheets bent into circular 
tubing, the resulting longitu- 
dinal seam simply folded over 
and hammered tight. 

"Pipes," then, carry water 
to our homes, Alaskan oil to 
the Lower Forty-Eight; 
"tubes," though, are light yet 
strong. Take a wire coat han- 
ger and untwist it to its full 
yard's length; it will bend and 
flap uncontrollably. But take 
the same weight of material and 
fashion it into a thin-walled tube 
of the same length, and it will 
stand rigid, supporting its own 
weight and more. 

Fashion it how? Today, 
welded pipes are made by 
feeding steel strip into a ma- 



manufacturers' decals testify- 
ing to the pedigree of their tub- 
ing — are wont to sneer at lum- 
bering department store bikes 
that weigh twice as much. 
"Lead pipe specials," they call 
them. 

A Future in Ivory 
Substitutes 

A shortage of elephants in 1863 
resulted in the invention of 
plastics. John and Isaiah Hyatt, 
inventors of celluloid, were the 
winners of a $ I (),()()() award of- 
fered by a Philadelphia billiard 
ball manufacturer seeking a 
material to substitute for ivory. 



XIV ALUMNI MAGAZINE CONSORTIUM 



Flashlights 



When Joshua L. Cowan, in- 
ventor of the toy electric train, 
connected a dry-cell battery 
with a light bulb at one end of 
a metaltube and a switch at 
the other, he'd invented the 
flashlight. But Cowan didn't 
realize it; he wanted a device 
that would light up flowers in 
their pots. 

Seen as a toy or novelty, the 
first commercial flashlight was 
made by the American Electric 
and Novelty Manufacturing 
Company, later known as 
American Eveready Com- 
pany. In 1898 the New York 
City firm produced its initial 
crude model. The tube was pa- 
per, with metal fittings. In- 
stead of a lens, its light was re- 
flected by a rough brass shield. 

Early flashlights were hardly 
light. The dry cell was six inches 
long and the whole tube 
weighed about six pounds. 





Buttons 

Buttons with buttonholes are 
of little advantage without tai- 
lored clothes. Ancient Greeks, 
Romans, Chinese, and Egyp- 
tians kept their flowing robes 
in place with clasps, buckles, 
sashes, arid fibulae (ancestors 
of the modern safety pin), and 
early buttons seem to have been 
strictly ornamental. Still, some 
scholars contend that buttons 
and buttonholes date from pa- 
leohthic days. 

Whatever its beginnings, the 
button's first utilitarian ap- 
pearance in western Europe 
came as the Dark Ages were 
brightened by Persian spoils 
from the Crusades. Metal but- 
tons, often of gold or silver, 
were worn by 13th-century 
royalty and nobility. (A French 
law required clerks and people 
of lower ranks to wear cloth- 
or thread-covered buttons.) 

By the reign of Louis XVI, 
buttons fashioned of precious 
metals, ivory, diamonds, and 
other gems were desired; many 
were one-and-one-half inches 
in diameter. Some buttons fea- 



tured elaborate and often 
bawdy scenes of court and 
courting life. Fops coveted 
them; republicans despised 
them. 

Across the Channel, the 
Enghsh government, seeking 
to protect its button industry, 
decreed in 1688 that only metal 
buttons were to be made and 
worn. The French, contrari- 
wise, to protect the silk indus- 
try of Lyons, had laws to en- 
courage the manufacture of 
fabric-covered buttons. The 
English law was eventually re- 
scinded, in 1727, but mean- 
while English advances in but- 
ton making — machine dies for 
pressing, stamping, and deco- 
rating — were applied to pro- 
ducing all types of metal ob- 
jects, including parts for clocks 
and weapons. 

By the end of the 19th cen- 
tury, the first plastic buttons had 
appeared. One early patent, in 
1879, went to William Niles of 
Jersey City, New Jersey. Niles's 
ornamental buttons were made 
from a mixture of materials that 
included blood. During World 
War II, a U.S. manufacturer 
treated buttons chemically to 
produce a variety that glowed 




t t 



in the dark for blackouts. By 
day, they were plain and un- 
assuming. 



Salt of the Earth 

Common table salt contains at- 
oms of chlorine, and more than 
half of U.S. salt production goes 
toward making that poisonous 
gas — which serves as a raw ma- 
terial for solvents, plastics, and 
"automotive fluids." As it hap- 
pens, not eaters but the auto- 
mobile may account for the 
largest use of salt, from chlo- 
rine-derived antifreeze and 
plastics to the road salt that 
helps keep icy highways clear. 

Chemically, a salt is the 
product of an acid and a base. 
Common table salt can be 
viewed as the mating of a par- 
ticular, very strong acid (hy- 
drochloric) with a particular, 
very strong base (sodium hy- 
droxide, or lye). 

The resulting compound 
helps melt snow by depressing 
its freezing point. It preserves 
meat and fish by establishing 
an environment hostile to bac- 
terial life. It is used to manu- 
facture dye and soften hard 
water. And it seasons food — 
but too much of it can upset 
the body's fluid balance and 
help cause hypertension. 

Salt is found in vast under- 
ground deposits that occasion- 
ally thrust up to the surface, as 
in Hungarian Transylvania. It's 
found in beds left behind by 
extinct ancient seas. It's found 
in the oceans of the world, so- 
dium chloride along with less 
common salts, at a little-vary- 



APRIL 1982 XV 



ing concentration of 35 parts 
per thousand. There are whole 
mountains made of salt, natu- 
ral "pillars" of salt, lakes and 
inland seas that are 10, 15, 20 
per cent salt and more. 

So there's no great problem 
finding it; transporting it's the 
trick, because the need is al- 
ways for great heaps of it: pre- 
serving a pound of bacon takes 
a full pound of salt. Humans 
typically consume about 10 
pounds of table salt a year; in- 
deed, salt consumption figures 
have been used to estimate 
population . . . And these days, 
just keeping the nation's roads 
clear of snow takes more than 
fifteen billion pounds of salt a 
year. 

Blood is a saline solution: 
plasma is 90 per cent water, 9 
per cent protein, and .9 per cent 
salts. That sodium chloride is 
necessary because it helps pro- 
teins dissolve. So vital is salt to 
human digestion, in fact, that 
as the nomad evolved into the 
farmer, its use became daily. 
The nomadic hunters got 
enough salt from raw or roasted 
flesh, but people on a diet of 
vegetables, cereals, or boiled 
meat need salt as a condiment. 
Salt became truly the salt of 
life. 

Cakes of salt were used as 
money; a Roman soldier re- 
ceived a satarium, an allow- 



ance of salt (later the money 
to buy salt). In some Oriental 
lands, taxes on salt were so ex- 
orbitant that the substance was 
cut with other look-alikes, as 
are controlled substances to- 
day. The gabelle (salt tax) of 
18th-century France com- 
pelled every person above the 
age of 7 to buy seven pounds 
of salt from the government 
each year. An average family 
of four worked 19 days per year 
to pay for its salt. "In Nor- 
mandy," reported one official, 
"unhappy wretches who have 
no bread are daily seized, pros- 
ecuted, and their property 
seized for not buying salt" — a 
festering injustice that fueled 
the French Revolution. 




Zea mays everta 

Popcorn was introduced to the 
Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiv- 
ing dinner on February 22, 
1630. One of the dinner guests, 
Quadequina, brother of Mas- 
sasoit, brought as his contri- 
bution a deerskin bag contain- 
ing several bushels of the 
popped corn. 



2 



Invasion of the 
Body Patchers 

On December 6, 1917, Earle 
Dickson married Josephine 
Francis Knight. Without this 
marriage, the adhesive band- 
age might never have been in- 
vented. 

Josephine was prone to fum- 
bUng in the kitchen, especially 
while dicing and chopping. Fi- 
nally Earle decided to rig up 
some small prefab bandages by 
attaching gauze to adhesive 
tape, and he bragged about the 
idea at work. His employer, 
Johnson & Johnson, manufac- 
tured household products, in- 
cluding gauze and adhesive. As 
Dickson would later say, "The 
boys in the front office loved 
the concept." 

They loved it so much that 
he eventually became a vice 
president of the company. 

The first adhesive bandages 
were made by hand from gauze 
and cotton adhesive tape. Sales 
were brisk; by 1925, the ad- 
hesive bandage machine had 
been introduced. 

In the late 1940s, Johnson & 
Johnson switched to an elastic 
backing, so the bandages would 
stretch and adhere better 
around joints. The new band- 
ages came in assorted shapes, 
including a T for the fingertip 
and an H for knuckle scrapes. 



{ 



Compiled by Kevin Bjerregaard, 
Robert Kanigel. Elaine EanffloLs, 
Gina Maranio, and Mary Ruth Yoe. 




Later, these 
shapes were aban- 
doned in favor of a circular de- 
sign. 

At first, the gauze was treated 
with Mercurochrome antisep- 
fic. During World War II, sulfa 
was used. Recently, the use of 
antiseptic was outlawed be- 
cause of possible allergic re- 
actions. 

Early Band-Aid Brand Ad- 
hesive Bandages were white, 
glaringly obvious on any skin. 
Later came pinkish "flesh-col- 
ored" products and, for a short 
time, clear ones. Explains Tom 
Murphy, director of Johnson 
& Johnson's Kilmer Museum, 
"Skin colors vary so drasti- 
cally, we decided it would be 




economically infeasible to pro- 
duce different colored band- 
ages for the different ethnic 
groups. But it is an appealing 
idea to some people." 

Latest developments: the H- 
shaped bandage is back, with 
an hourglass-shaped cousin (for 
the injured fingertip). 



XVI ALUMNI MAGAZINE CONSORTIUM 



A Closer Look 
at George Schmidt 



In case you haven't already noticed, pho- 
tographs by WPI's George Schmidt grace 
this issue of the Journal, on page XIII and 
on the front cover. Small wonder. 

Schmidt, Engineering Assistant in the 
ME department, is considered by many 
who've seen his work to be WPI's resident 
photographic expert. Strictly an amateur, 
he's shown his work widely and received 
many awards, incuding first place in the 
prestigious Boston Globe photo contest, 
worth $1,000 — "the only one that's ever 
paid off," he says. "But these days, that 
doesn't buy much film." 

In a recent interview, Schmidt ex- 
plained how he got started in photogra- 
phy. Materials sciences, where he's worked 
for most of his career, can require a great 
deal of photography to record microstruc- 
tures of all sorts of things. After serving 
in World War II, he recalls, he took a job 
at the Naval Research Laboratory in 
Washington, D.C., in the metallurgy de- 
partment. "It was there that I was intro- 
duced to the darkroom." 

Since joining WPI in 1963, Schmidt has 
been deeply involved in electron and op- 
tical microscopy, photomicrography and" 
technical illustration for books and re- 
ports. That he works almost exclusively 
with color slides serves to distinguish his 
professional from his leisure-time pho- 
tographic interests. In the lab, he ex- 
plains, "we work only in black and white," 
though through the miracle of polarized 




light, false color can be added to photo- 
micrography. "I just like color," he says. 

That becomes vividly evident when you 
walk into Schmidt's Washburn office. Walls 
lined meticulously with oversized prints 
reflect the precision with which he treats 
his subjects, but they stand in sharp con- 
trast to nature's random effects on these 
subjects — architecture, fields and sea, man- 
made artifacts. 

Schmidt attributes much of his success 
to a summer photographic program he at- 
tended some 15 years ago. There, he be- 
lieves, he learned "how to look at things," 
finding more picture opportunities, seeing 
ordinary things as interesting and beau- 





Left, George Schmidt with WPI's scan- 
ning electron microscope. Above, Talc 
Mill in Bethel, VT. Below, Summer 
House Boarded Up for Winter, 
Cape Cod. 

tiful, probing through his pictures how 
things are put together. 

It was at that Vermont photo school 
that he also met his wife, Willa, who is 
herself an accomplished photographer. 
Though their styles differ considerably, 
mostly in the intensity with which they 
treat light and color, they travel exten- 
sively together, usually shooting the same 
subjects but seldom coming home with 
the same pictures. 

Schmidt is also active in the WPI foot- 
ball program. For nearly 20 years, he's 
been atop the windiest and wettest of press 
boxes from Lewiston to New London fill- 
ing miles of film with team movies. 

He is president of the Gateway Camera 
Club of Framingham and the Boston 
Camera Club. He and Willa host an In- 
tersession course on photographic tech- 
niques. They also conduct 25 to 30 pro- 
grams per year at photo clubs and judge 
camera club competition across New Eng- 
land. Both George and Willa are recipi- 
ents of the Excellence International Fed- 
eration of Photographic Art (EIFAP) 
Award, given for outstanding exhibitions 
of their work. They also each hold the 
distinguished title of MNEC — Master 
Member of the New England Council of 
Camera Clubs. 

Asked if he's ever freelanced, the char- 
acteristically modest reply is: "Well, it's 
something I might do after I retire. But 
for now, I'm having too much fun." 



APRIL 1982 



29 



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"Mr. Electronics" 
Honored 

John Burgarella. '50. a key figure in the 
development of many "firsts" m mstant 
photography, has been appointed a cor- 
porate officer by the board of directors of 
Polaroid with the title of senior engi- 
neering fellow. 

Currently the assistant division man- 
ager of the Equipment and Facilities En- 
gineering Division, he was recently hon- 
ored for his technical contnbutions during 
his 21 -year career with the firm. 

At Polaroid. Burgarella is known as "Mr. 
Electronics" for his leading-edge work in 
the Color Pack-2 and the SX-70 system. 
Most of his 25 patents are in electronics 
and magnetics, with several in mechanics. 
His pioneering contributions include the 
electronic exposure control, the electron- 
ically-programmed camera, the electron- 
ically-sequenced and electronically-fired 
flash unit, and use of photodiodes and 
power transistors on integrated circuits. 

In 1950 Burgarella received his BSEE 
with distinction at WTI. and later received 
his master's degree. His son. Steven, a 
mechanical engineering major, is cur- 
rently a member of the Class of 1984. In 
1979 his other son. Paul, graduated from 
WPI as an electrical engineer. 

His two daughters are also in scientific 
fields. Jane is working toward her mas- 
ter's degree in food science at North Car- 
olina State University, and Carol will 
graduate in May as a physics major from 
Mt. Holyoke College. 

Burgarella attends most of the Sudburv 




John Burgarella, 50. demonstrating the 
SX-70 Land camera which he helped to 
develop at Polaroid. 

town meetings, a form of government he 
strongly endorses. He enjoys summer gar- 
dening, and in winter his free time tends 
toward energy conservation. His house, 
which he built himself in the late 1950s, 
is highly efficient thermally, but he's done 
some heat exchanger development on his 
wood stove. 

Says Burgarella. "Year-round, auto 
mechanics is a hobby (necessity?), with 
so many children in college who have old 
cars to be kept alive." 



can't beat "the old man." In spite of his -Way 
golfing weeks. John remains active in com- 
munity affairs, goes fishing, pla\^ bridge, trav- 
els, and attends meetings of the 1500 U.S. Steel 
annuitants in the Tampa area. John, who was 
with U.S. Steel for 42 years. lives with his wife. 
EveivTi, on the 18th fairway of one of the two 
golf dubs to which they belong. 

Since his retirement in 1971 , Edward Perkms 
and his wife. Mildred, have built a summer 
home in Vermont, wintered in Tavares. FL. 
and traveled to the Canadian Rockies. Scan- 
dinavia, the national parks, the Canadian 
Rockies, and been around the worid in 45 days. 
They plan to go to Europe this year. Ed still 
finds time to play golf and claims that building 
the Vermont house helped him to withstand a 
heart attack from which he has made a good 
recovery. 

The Emil Ostlunds opted to convert their 
summer house in Pocasset. MA. on Buzzards 
Bay into an all-season retirement home. "Right 
in front of our house there is the best shell 
fishing on the Cape with plenty of clams, qua- 
hogs. scallops. o>-sters and mussels, as well as 
finny tvpes such as flounder and blue fish " 
Thev have causht so manv lobsters in their 



traps that they are tired of eating them. Emil. 
a consultant, recently completed a job in Spain 
for a steel company. He also takes on some 
local jobs. Both of the Osdunds play golf, but 
like the change of seasons and don't plan to 
join the folks in Florida. 

John Scliatz and his wife. Lillian, enjoy trav- 
eling. To date, they have been to Italy, the 
Caribbean, .\ustria. Bermuda, Florida and 
Hawaii. During a 15-day trip to Germany, they 
attended the Passion Play at Oberammergau. 
When not touring, thev reside m Wvnantskill. 
NY. 

Smniier Sweetser retired from Exxon in 1976 
and divides his time between Summit. NJ. and 
Manomet on Cape Cod Bay When queried as 
to how long it takes to get used to redrement. 
his standard answer is. ".About two days." In 
Summit the local Red Cross Chapter, the Old 
Guard (an assocation of retired business- 
professional people) and tennis and swimming 
keep him busy . .At Manomet he fishes and tries 
to keep "all the paint from gettmg blowii off 
of the house." An occasional fishing trip with 
Buck Whjttum is always enjoyable. He says. 
■" Sub" found it necessary to grab the nearest 
salt shaker when reading Osdund's news!" 



Gordon Whittum and his wife, fcay, settled m 
Eaicnarr. on Cape Cod after his retirement from 
Amencan Steel and Wire. "Buck" is active with 
the US. Coast Guard Au.xiliary and Kay works 
for the Society for the Preservation of Cape 
Cod. He has a boat and trailer for fishing. "But 
the fish haven "t been very cooperative for the 
last couple of years." Last year the Wluttums 
finally made it to the Canadian Rockies via 
plane, rail and bus. They found Canada to be 
a big. beautiful country with congenial people 
and wildlife everywhere. Enthusiastic about 
Cape Cod. also, they heartily endorse bike rid- 
ing on the new Cape Cod Rail Trail. "16 miles 
of dehghtful scenery with no hills. "" 

SoBraier B. Sweetser, Class Secretary 



1934 



George KaUsta recendy retired from the re- 
search and development center located at the 
Naval Weapons Station Earle after 31 years. 
He had held the positions of ordnance, me- 
chanical, general, industrial and misale sys- 
tems engineer in the guided mis^e programs. 
(The Weapons Station Earie was named in 
honor of the late Admiral Ralph Earle. for- 
meriy the chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and 
a past president of WTI. ) 

Over the years, George has been employed 
by Commonwealth Brewing Corp., U.S. En- 
velope, Pratt and Whitney .Aircraft, and 
Springfield (NLA) .Armory, where he was an 
ordnance engineer for development and test 
engineering in the research department. .Active 
with WPI alumni affairs, he served as vice pres- 
ident and secretary-treasurer of the Connect- 
icut \'alley chapter of the Alumm .Association, 
as well as a high school contact for the former 
Techni-Forum program. 

Currendy. George plans to spend the winter 
months in a "'warm climate." He is concen- 
tratmg on golf with the objective of scoring his 
age. "T improve on the techniques, but there 
is still the time shppage factor, so I'll have to 
be around for a long time " 



1936 



HJ. Erickson. who is retired from Bethlehem 
Steel, resides in St. Michaels. MD. 



1937 



Reunion 



June 3-6. 1982 



!▼«• Rosenhind has retired from du Pont. He 
lives in Kimberton. PA. 



1938 



Leo Crooin, a member of the Presidents .Ad- 
visory Council at WPI. has been selected to 
appear m the I3ih (1*^81-198^2) edition of Who's 
Who in California. He received a scroll fR">m 
the Society "in recognition of e.\ceptional 



APRIL 1982 



31 



achievement, leadership and service." During 
his career, he has been with U.S. Gypsum; 
RCA; Raytheon; and Semicon of California. 
Inc. In 1963 he founded Spectra-Mat. Inc., which 
he continues to serve as president and chair- 
man of the board. His firm makes components 
used in lasers, cancer treatment, satellites, etc. 
He is also associated with Spectra-Flux, SC Ca- 
bhng and Relmag Division of EEV. Inc. He 
has served as president of the Chamber of 
Commerce and the Rotary. Last year he was 
named a Paul Harris Fellow. Active in church 
activities, he also enjoys golf, bowling, biking 
and jogging. 



1942 



Reunion 



June 3-6, 1982 



1943 

Robert Schedin. president and chief executive 
officer of Fairlawn Hospital. Inc.. was elected 
to the board of trustees of Becker Junior Col- 
lege, Worcester. Formerly he served as direc- 
tor of engineering at Crompton & Knowles. 



1945 



Sidney Wetherhead has been named marketing 
director, a new position in the abrasives mar- 
keting group at Norton Co., Worcester. Prior 
to his latest appointment, he managed Nor- 
ton's technology sales and licensing activity 
throughout the world. 



1946 



Paul Gorman, executive vice president of Chas. 
T. Main. Inc., Boston, has been elected as a 
fellow by the American Consulting Engineers 
Council (ACEC) in recognition of highly dis- 
tinguished professional service and accom- 
plishments. He joined Main in 1975 as vice 
president and manager of the nuclear power 
division. He has since served in the same ca- 
pacity for the thermal nuclear division and as 
group vice president in charge of engineering 
and design. Active in Brockton civic affairs, he 
also is a lecturer in power plant economics and 
design at the Northeastern University Gradu- 
ate School of Engineering. Prior to joining Main, 
he was vice president of the Boston Power De- 
partment of United Engineers & Constructors. 
Inc. and vice president-manager of the Power 
Department for the Jackson & Morcland Di- 
vision. The ACEC, to which he has been named 
a fellow, is the nation's largest organization 
devoted exclusively to advancement of con- 
sulting engineering firms in private practice. 



1947 



Reunion June 3-6, 1982 

Last year Andrew (ioettman was honored as 



"Plant Engineer of the Year" in North Caro- 
lina by the American Institute of Plant Engi- 
neers (AIPE) in recognition of his outstanding 
contributions to the plant engineering field 
throughout his 35-year career. Currently, he is 
plant engineer at Lorillard in Greensboro. NC. 
where he is responsible for maintenance, con- 
struction, security, power plant operation, en- 
ergy conservation, groundskeeping and waste 
management. 

At the present time, he is a registered profes- 
sional engineer in several states. He is a cer- 
tified plant engineer and a past president of the 
Piedmont Chapter of the AIPE. He serves on 
the board of governors for the North Carolina 
Professional Engineers and is a director of his 
local chapter and chairman of the nominating 
committee. 

Of his job, Goettman says. "Plant engi- 
neering is the complaint department. My prin- 
cipal challenge is making our services timely 
and satisfactory to all the other departments." 

Goettman and his wife, Dorothy, who enjoy 
playing golf, are the parents of four daughters 
and one son. In his spare time he likes to re- 
store old cars, and is especially fond of 1960- 
65 Chrysler products. "With five children I get 
plenty of practice maintaining and servicing all 
the family vehicles." 



1948 



Carl Hershfield recently received the Elec- 
tronic Industries Association's 1981 engineer- 
ing award of excellence. He is an engineering 
support manager at GTE Sylvania. Needham, 
MA. 



1949 



Homer MacNutt, Jr., vice president for man- 
ufacturing of the Morgan Construction Co., 
has been elected a new trustee of Hahnemann 
Hospital, Worcester. 



1950 



Last July the Bill Bowens spent two weeks 
cruising Alaska and had a seaplane flight over 
the ice cap. Bill is opening up a consulting busi- 
ness. 

Francis Norton continues as a construction 
superintendent at Monsanto in Alvin, TX. 



1952 



Reunion 



June 3-6, 1982 



William Cimonetti. still with GE, is now gen- 
eral manager for the firm in Burlington, VI. 



1954 



Milton Meckler of the Meckler (jroup, Encino, 
CA. was slated to speak at the Third Inter- 
national Symposium on Energy Conservation 



in the Built Environment in Dublin, Ireland, 
in March. He was to discuss his firm's manual 
computation program originally developed for 
estimating building energy requirements for the 
California Energy Commission. In January he 
spoke on the opening day of the Fourth Inter- 
national Conference on Thermal Insulation in 
Millbrae. CA. His new book. Retrofitting for 
Energy Conservation, which he co-authored, is 
scheduled for publication in 1982. Recently he 
was appointed to the part-time faculty in the 
Mechanical and Chemical Engineering De- 
partment at California State University, North- 
ridge, where he teaches a course called "The 
Environment in a Technological Society." 

Edwin Prantis serves as construction man- 
ager at Ebasco Services Incorporated in New 
York City. 



1957 



Reunion 



June 3-6, 1982 



1958 

Dr. Shelden Radin, a member of the Physics 
Department at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, 
PA, is the co-author of a textbook titled Phys- 
ics for Scientists and Engineers just published 
by Prentice-Hall. The book is meant to be used 
for the introductory physics course taken by 
most college engineering and science students 
in their first years in college, or by high school 
students in calculus-based advanced placement 
physics courses. As a co-author Radin writes; 
"In our experience some students are over- 
whelmed by physics because they treat each 
topic as if it were a separate subject. To try to 
overcome this tendency, we point out the in- 
terrelationships that emphasize the unity of 
physics." 



1959 



On January 1st, Dr. Joseph Bronzino became 
chairman .of the Engineering Department at 
Trinity College in Hartford, CT. He remains 
director of the Greater Hartford Center for 
Biomedical Engineering Education which in- 
cludes Trinity College, the Hartford Graduate 
Center, Hartford Hospital, Saint Francis Hos- 
pital and Medical Center, and the University 
of Connecticut Health Center. Joe is looking 
forward to the publication of his second book. 
Computer Applications for Patient Care, by 
Addison-Wesley this spring. 

Oscar Hawley is dean of St. Katharines- St. 
Mark's School, a high school in Bcttcndorf, lA. 

Peter Nelson has been named the 1981 En- 
gineer of the Year by the Westmoreland County 
Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Profes- 
sional Engineers. 



1960 



William Fenwick is director of operations at 
Trans-National Technologies, Inc., New York 
City. 



32 WPI JOURNAL 



Sang Ki Lee, an attorney for the Interna- 
tional Division of Motorola, Inc., writes "I have 
had to orchestrate a situation in Korea for our 
management over the last seven months which 
involved shuttling back and forth between Chi- 
cago and Seoul. Now the situation is on track 
and we are making progress. It was one of my 
most challenging and rewarding experiences." 
His wife, Helen, is very much concerned with 
her work at NW Community Hospital. 

Bob Mercer continues as principal in Mercer 
Associates, a manufacturer's representative or- 
ganization for the power generation and en- 
vironmental systems industries. Bob and Janet, 
who have a son, 16, and a daughter, 14, live 
in "beautiful" Charlotte, NC. "We would like 
to make the 25th." 

Paul W. Bayliss, Secretary 



1962 



Reunion 



June 3-6, 1982 



John Peterson, Jr. continues as a tire devel- 
opment scientist at BF Goodrich in Akron, OH. 
The Rev. Andrew Terwilleger of Lexington, 
KY, started a one-year term as Kiwanis lieu- 
tenant governor in October. In this capacity he 
is responsible for administration of the Kiwanis 
Division, which includes 15 Kiwanis clubs in 
six counties. Andy is head agent for the Class 
of 1962. 



1963 



With the Kodak Research Laboratories, Roch- 
ester, NY, since 1968, Dr. Harry Hoyen, Jr. 
has participated in a broad spectrum of re- 
search activities in basic studies of silver halides 



and in applied research for product develop- 
ment. In sohd-state technology, Harry has ap- 
plied the concept of space charges to the study 
of ions of silver halides. He has an MS in chem- 
istry from WPI, as well as a PhD in materials 
science and engineering from Cornell. 



1964 



Christopher Almy recently returned home after 
a stint at Ft. Monmouth, NJ. He still attends 
classes once a week and has two weeks of active 
duty once a year. He continues with Knolls 
Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY. 
He and Margie have three children, all in 
"gifted" programs, and reside in Scotia. 

Richard Ryczek has been named as the re- 
cipient of the Frank Quinn Memorial Award 
awarded by the Purchasing Management As- 
sociation of Syracuse and Central New York. 
Ryczek, who was cited for his work on the 
education committee , serves as manager of sys- 
tems purchasing at Niagara Mohawk Power 
Corp. , Syracuse. He has been a member of the 
association since 1974 and has held the post of 
chairman of the committee on certified pur- 
chasing management for the' past three years. 
A licensed professional engineer, he also holds 
an MS degree in industrial administration from 
Union College. 



1965 



Dr. Donald Kerr continues with the Black-and- 
White Photographic Division at Kodak Re- 
search Laboratories in Rochester, NY. Since 
joining the laboratories in 1969, his activities 
have ranged from computer modeling studies 
for instrumentation design for a blood analyzer 




Dr. Richard lacobucci, '63, surveying part of Nature Preserve, Inc, Pembroke, MA, 
which he serves as director. He is using his Harvard law degree "to battle myopic 
town assesors who refuse to grant tax-exempt status to a deserving wildlife sanctu- 
ary. " He is president of Roctronics Entertainment Lighting. 



to investigations of film processing kinetics. The 
author of several papers, he also has a patent 
application pending. He has a PhD in chemical 
engineering from the University of Delaware. 



1966 



MARRIED: William R. Nims to Christine E. 
Hazlett on October 24, 1981 in Winthrop, MA. 
Mrs. Nims graduated from Katharine Gibbs 
School. 

Joe Acker was recently promoted to plant 
manager at the FMC Corp. plant in Nitro, WV. 

Woody Adams is now vice president of 
Kleinschmidt & Dutting, Pittsfield, ME. 

Bill Baker serves as production manager at 
the American Hoechst nylon plant located in 
Manchester, NH. Says Bill: "My primary re- 
sponsibility is providing clean towels for union 
stewards to cry on." 

For the past five years Brian Belanger has 
been a member of the technical staff at Mo- 
torola's Government Electronics Division in 
Scottsdale, AZ. He works in the area of radar 
systems design. 

Lynn Biuckie is currently project manager 
for the design and installation of a new contin- 
uous heat treating line for the Corporate En- 
gineering Department of Bethlehem Steel in 
Bethlehem, PA. 

Previously with Beecham Products, Rock- 
wood, MI, Paul Castle now holds the post of 
vice president and general manager of William 
C. Meredith Co., East Point, GA. He has an 
MBA from Tuck School at Dartmouth. 

Bob Coates is employed as a district sales 
engineer covering the southeast from Virginia 
to Florida for the Special Products Division of 
The Torrington Company. 

Last year, after 14 years with Raytheon, Jeff 
Cheyne accepted a post at the Foxboro (MA) 
Co., where he is involved with advanced proc- 
ess automation and test. 

Jim Cocci continues as a program manager 
with Sanders Associates, Nashua, NH. His as- 
signment includes management of the subma- 
rine business area of the Special Program Di- 
vision, which specializes in signal exploitation 
systems for military applications. 

Bill Collentro is an elected town meeting 
member from North Falmouth, MA. Profes- 
sionally, he serves as the New England regional 
manager of Vaponics in Plymouth. He per- 
forms consulting engineering and design work 
for water purification systems. 

Ron ("The Hawk") Crump writes: "Went 
with Combustion Engineering out of college, 
and I'm still with them." During his career he 
has started up electrical power plants in the 
U.S. and overseas. Now he is a project man- 
ager at the home office in Windsor, CT. 

Sig Dicker holds the titles of principal en- 
gineer in the Facilities Engineering Depart- 
ment and facilities program manager for the 
Saab-Fairchild 340 Aircraft Project at Fair- 
child-Republic Co., Farmingdale, NY. He and 
his wife are the founding and managing part- 
ners in Dicker Associates and HD Associates, 
"two up-and-coming related companies deal- 
ing with real estate investment and property 
management." 

Al DiPietro, who lives in a passive solar home 
that he planned, is now a senior construction 



APRIL 1982 33 



A Better Mousetrap? 

You know that old saw about a better 
mousetrap? Well. Frederic Stevens, '61. 
and his Vantage Computer Systems have 
definitely come up with a better one. 

Vantage, a small but growing Hartford- 
area firm, designs computer programs for 
some of the newest insurance investment 
plans of insurers such as Prudential. John 
Hancock and New England Mutual. Van- 
tage is spearheading software for the in- 
dustry's new "universal life" plan, which 
allows the buyer to obtain death benefits 
as part of a high yield investment pack- 
age. 

"Vantage has the jump on all of its 
competitors in universal life program- 
ming," says an industry executive. "They 
have no peers." 

To date, some 31 insurers have bought 
Vantage-designed computer programs for 
universal life plans. Another 100 use Van- 
tage programs for annuities, recording the 
payments which annuitants make into the 
funds they plan to draw upon in the fu- 
ture, and tracking the interest earnings 
built up by those funds. The firm's client 
list has been growing by about 15 com- 
panies a year. 

Vantage was started in 1970 when Rob- 



ert S. Maltempo. now president, and 
Frederic Stevens, executive vice presi- 
dent, left jobs at Aetna Life & Casualty 
and pooled their $12,500 savings to stake 
their new venture. Maltempo, who holds 
an MBA from the University of Con- 
necticut, became Vantage's chief sales- 
man, while Stevens, with a degree in 
physics from WPI and a master's in com- 
puter science from the Hartford Graduate 
Center, became the technical expert. 

The enterprising pair put Vantage into 
the forefront of computer programming 
design, creating systems that made the in- 
surers* in-house systems technically ob- 
solete. Said one insurance company vice 
president of his own in-house setup, "As 
variations on annuity products began to 
be marketed, the turnaround time to build 
them into the system became greater than 
the traffic could bear. We found that the 
design concepts and cost advantages we 
wanted to move toward were already em- 
bodied in the Vantage system." 

The bottom line for Vantage? Flour- 
ishing revenues, leaping from $750,000 in 
1978 to over $4 million in 1981; and a 
payroll supporting over 90 employees, up 
from just 12 in 1976. In fact, senior pro- 
grammers have been signing on at a rate 
of three a week. 



engineer at Limerick Nuclear Generating Sta- 
tion for Bechtel Power Corporation. He is lo- 
cated in Boyertown. PA. 

Gary Dyckman enjoys his new post as man- 
ager of projects in the Boston offices of Cygna 
Energy Services, which provides engineering 
services to the electric utility industry. In a little 
over a year he's helped increase the Boston 
staff from 35 to 135. 

Steve Erhard is concerned with digital hard- 
ware and software at Fairbanks Scales in St. 
Johnsbury, VT. In his spare time he goes win- 
ter camping and is active with Big Brothers of 
America. 

Ralph Fiore. who joined Western Electric. 
North Andover. MA, after graduation, is now 
a department chief. His group supports a va- 
riety of computer-based systems deployed 
throughout the Bell System. 

Kit Foster has been employed at the Naval 
Underwater Systems Center, New London, CT, 
since 1966. At the present time, he is a systems 
engineer for the Submarine Integrated Com- 
munications System for future generation sub- 
marines. At home in Gales Ferry, he is treas- 
urer of the Volunteer Fire Company. 

Brendan (ieelan has spent his career to date 
with Lni Royal ( hcmical. where he is currently 
group leader for process development in the 
New Products Department. 

Since graduation. .lohn (iilberl has been with 
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft loday he heads a 
group of quality engineers charged with up- 
dating quality control techniques not only lor 
his firm, but for all critical parts made by its 
suppliers He holds a Juris Doctor degree from 
Western New England C ollege School of Law 
and IS a member of the ( onnecticut Bar. 



George Grimmell continues with the Service 
Division at Bethlehem Steels Burns Harbor 
plant in Indiana, where he's been employed 
since 1966. Two years ago he was promoted to 
assistant master mechanic of the hot strip mill. 

Ron Hayden, the current president of the 
Boston Section of the Instrument Society of 
America, still works in the area of process con- 
trol instrumentation. For the past five years he 
has been with New England Controls, Mans- 
field. MA. a firm which represents Fisher Con- 
trols and other companies. 

Bob Holt, who has three marathons to his 
credit, hopes to someday run a "5()-miler." He 
serves as senior associate with Ocean Data Sys- 
tems Inc., Rockville, MD. The firm provides 
programming analysis, software engineering, 
and consulting services to the Navy in the field 
of sonar performance prediction modeling. 

Phil Hopkinson still holds the post of man- 
ager of engineering for the Specialty Trans- 
former Department at GE in Fort Wayne, IN. 

Dave Johnson has been named general fore- 
man of electronic services at Armcos Middle- 
town (OH) Works. 

After more than three years as assistant su- 
perintendent of schools-business manager. Ed- 
ward Kazanjian has resigned from the Biller- 
ica. MA, school system to take a post in private 
industry. 

Chuck Knothe is a system development proj- 
ect leader for du Pont in Wilmington. DE. A 
couple of years ago he received his JD from 
Delaware Law School. Having been admitted 
to the state bar. he is now developing a private 
practice. 

Continuing with Niagara Mohawk Power 
Corp., Andy Kudarauskas now holds the post 



of supervisor of gas distribution. He is respon- 
sible for all natural gas construction and main- 
tenance. 

Recently Grant Maier was promoted to pro- 
ject engineer at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, where 
he has been employed since graduation. He is 
responsible for heat transfer, cooling, and per- 
formance optimization important to the suc- 
cess of the company's advanced gas turbine 
engines. While under contract with the FAA, 
he co-authored a book on design and testing 
of anti-icing systems for turbine engines. 

Jim Maroney serves as president and treas- 
urer of Francis H. Maroney, Inc., mechanical 
contractors. He is also president of the Kiwanis 
Club in Haverhill. MA. 

Andy Moran. who during his career in public 
administration has worked for the courts, po- 
lice, and district attorney, is now director of 
budget and analysis for the Public Utilities 
Commission in San Francisco. 

Dick Nelson's company. Nelson Oil & Gas 
Co., is located in Shreveport, La. His business 
is concerned with leasing, drilling and produc- 
ing oil and gas properties in North Louisiana 
and East Texas. Dick operates two rigs capable 
of depths from 5000 to 12,000 ft. 

Stu Nelson continues as principal in his man- 
ufacturers' representative business, Nelson- 
Scribner Associates, Norwood, MA. 

Currently, Ray O'Connell, Jr. serves as pro- 
ject manager for displays in the ultrasound im- 
aging group at Hewlett-Packard, where he has 
been employed since graduation. He holds an 
MBA from Northeastern University and lives 
in Andover. MA. 

For the past three years Ted Pero has been 
coordinating the installation of Pratt & Whit- 
ney Aircraft jet engines with Boeing, Douglas. 
Lockheed and Airbus. "This has taken me from 
San Diego to France." He and his family reside 
in Somers, CT. 

At the present time, Paul Peterson holds the 
post of manager of the field support staff for 
Software AG of North America. A resident of 
Evergreen, CO, Peterson writes: "Our house 
is located near the top of a mountain at 8,400 
feet above sea level. The air is thin, but the 
fishing, hunting and skiing are excellent!" 

Jay Segal has been with Rosenman Colin 
Freund Lewis & Cohen in mid-town Manhat- 
tan since graduating from St. John's University 
Law School. He also holds an MBA degree 
from Long Island University. 

Bob Shaw owns and operates a small used 
car business in Worcester. 

Tom Shepelrich holds the position of chief 
estimator at J. A. Jones Construction Co. and 
its sister company. Metric Constructors. 

Robert Sinuc is now the production section 
manufacturing manager for the GE Silicone 
Product Division, which he says concentrates 
on high quality Silly Putty. 

Currently. Pete Sommer. a graduate of 
American University Law School, is in private 
practice specializing in patent, trademark, 
copyright and unfair competition law in Buf- 
falo, NY. He has passed the Patent Office bar 
exam and the New York State bar exam, and 
has been admitted to. among others, the U.S. 
Supreme Court and several Courts of Appeals. 

Dave Stone, a plastics processing engineer at 
Rohm and Haas Co., Bristol. PA. specializes 
in the technical service requirements for injec- 
tion molding markets related to the company's 
acrylic and soda bottle resins. 



34 WPI JOURNAL 



Bob Thompson now heads an 18-man Civil 
and Structural Engineering Branch for the 
Chesapeake Division of the Naval Facilities 
Engineering Command. He has been em- 
ployed by the Navy in Washington, DC, area 
in several different capacities since graduating 
from WPI. 

Jerry Toupin serves as plant manager for the 
Torrington Division of Ingersoll-Rand Co. at 
the firm's bearings plant in Cairo, GA. Married 
and the father of two daughters, he enjoys skiing, 
sailing and golf. 

"Graduate work at Penn State led to an MS 
and PhD in biophysics, as well as five years of 
excellent golf and football mania," reports Doug 
Vizard. Currently he is assistant physicist and 
assistant professor of biophysics at the M.D. 
Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and at 
the University of Texas Graduate School of 
Biomedical Sciences in Houston. 

Leonard Weckel is employed by Spotts, Ste- 
vens, and McCoy, a consulting engineering firm 
in Wyomissing, PA. 

At the present time, Joe Whalen holds the 
position of senior program director of an ASW 
technology group in ORI's Strategic Systems 
Division. He has a PhD in physics from the 
University of Florida. 

Malcolm White, who married his wife, Nancy, 
two years ago, enjoys living by the ocean in 
Marblehead, MA. He continues as a lieutenant 
commander in the Naval Reserve, Profession- 
ally he is a supervisor of a pilot coating oper- 
ation for Polaroid in Cambridge. 

Bob Wilson serves as a process engineer at 
Arwood Corp., Tilton, NH. The firm produces 
aluminum, copper and magnesium base in- 
vestment castings for aerospace and commer- 
ical markets. 

J.K. Wright holds the position of national 
marketing manager of food phosphates at 
Stauffer Chemical Company and recently cel- 
ebrated his 15th anniversary with the firm. 

Joe Wright writes: "Our family is heavily 
involved in competitive, long-range shooting." 
He is second in command of the Massachusetts • 
shooting organization, the IHMSA. For the past 
six years he has been chief engineer of ball 
valves at Jamesbury Corp., Worcester. 



1967 



Roger Binkerd won first place in a recent Na- 
tional BMW Motorcycle Contest. As a result, 
Roger and his wife, Janet, spent 23 days last 
summer touring in Europe through the Alps 
on a motorcycle. Roger is still with Aquatec, 
Inc. in South Burlington, VT. 

Lt. Col. David Heebner, his wife, Bonnie, 
and children, Heather and Jason, are looking 
forward to returning to the States this summer 
after spending three years with the U.S. Army 
in a small town near Frankfurt, Germany. 

Denis McQuillen was the author of "Design 
and Testing of Pharmaceutical Sterile Rooms" 
which appeared in the November issue of Phar- 
maceutical Technology. He is vice president of 
corp)orate engineering at Gulf & Western Corp.. 
New York City. Most recently he was senior 
project manager for E.R. Squibb & Sons. He 
holds an MSME from WPI, as well as a BS, 
and formerly served as a graduate assistant at 
Alden Research Labs. A member of the Amer- 
ican Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- 



Conditioning Engineers and the American So- 
ciety of Medical Engineers, his principal re- 
search interest is the design and testing of ster- 
ile rooms. 



1968 



Robert Najemy, Jr. is director of the Helian- 
thos Yoga Union in Athens, Greece. 

Dr. Louis Strong was recently appointed by 
Harvard University as director of the Gordon 
McKay Laboratory and assistant director of the 
Division of Applied Science. Previously, he was 
research scientist at MIT. He holds degrees 
from Brown and the University of Michigan, 
as well as from WPI. 



1969 



Currently Leslie Hatch serves as group director 
of environmental studies at Engineering-Sci- 
ence, Inc., Atlanta, GA. 



1970 



BORN: to Sally and Frank Vernile a daughter. 
Heather Ann, on September 25, 1981. The 
Verniles still live in East Hartford, CT, with 
their two-year-old daughter, Sarah Marie. 

The J. Geils Band performed to a standing 
room only audience at E.M. Loews Center for 
the Performing Arts in Worcester in Decem- 
ber. One reviewer wrote that the performance 
"rivaled The Rolling Stones' guerrilla concert 
held last fall at Sir Morgan's Cove." 

James George is a process control engineer 
at General Electric Plastics in Selkirk, NY. 

Daniel Lewis works as a development engi- 
neer at Fiber Industries, Florence, SC. 

Howard Norcross has been appointed to a 
three-year term on the town finance committee 
in Chatham, MA. A native of Chatham, he is 
a partner with his father in C.E. Norcross and 
Son, a building firm. He has an MBA from 
Purdue University. Before returning to his home 
town some ten years ago, he worked for Mobil 
Oil in New York City. 



1971 



Joseph Bellino holds the post of program man- 
ager of automation systems at GE in Bridge- 
port, CT. 

Todd Benjamin serves as manager of gas tur- 
bine service at GE in Schenectady, NY. He 
and Wendy have two children and live in Sco- 
tia. 

George Block, Jr. has been promoted to di- 
rector of engineering at New Haven (CT) Water 
Co. He joined the utility in 1971 and was pre- 
viously deputy director of engineering. His new 
responsibility includes management of the 
company's long-range engineering planning and 
capital improvements program, which amounted 
to more than $11 million in 1980. The past 
president of the Connecticut Society of Profes- 
sional Engineers, Block is a registered profes- 
sional engineer in Connecticut. He belongs to 



the American Water Works Association and 
the Connecticut Water Works Association, 
whose conservation committee he chairs. He 
is president of the Jaycees in Southington, CT, 
where he lives with his wife, Bethany, and two 
daughters. 

Joseph Carter, MD, continues with the Eu- 
clid Clinic Foundation, Euclid, OH. 

Greg Dickson is involved with adult soccer, 
men's slowpitch softball, volleyball, rowing, 
running and hunting. He is still with Dow 
Chemical in Midland, MI. 

Dr. Baljit Gambhir works for Shell Oil Co., 
Houston. 

Leo Gillis, Jr., a registered professional en- 
gineer with the New England Power Service 
Company, Westboro, MA, is a member of the 
N.E. Power Golf League. 
Sailing, skiing, and traveling are some of the 
pastimes of Michael Gitlen, an employee of 
Kaman Corporation, Bloomfield, CT. He has 
a CPA, an MBA and an MS in accounting. 

William Helliwell, Jr. continues with Riley 
Stoker in Worcester. He received his MBA 
from the University of Denver. The Helliwells 
have one child, Allison, 2. 

Bhagat Indravadan is still with Corrosion 
Control Services in Bombay, India. He has an 
MBA in management information systems, is 
married, and the father of one. Tennis and 
swimming are two of his favorite activities. 

Philip Johnson has returned from Bermuda 
where he attended an Optical Manufacturers 
Association meeting. He works for Gentex 
Corp. in Dudley, MA. 

Stephen Katz of Intel Corp. recently facili- 
tated WPI's receiving a complete Intellec floppy- 
disc based computer system for developing 
software and testing microprocessor designs 
from Intel, which is located in Santa Clara, 
CA. The system is worth over $20,000 and will 
be available to all WPI students. 

Coaching soccer, chemical safety and travel 
are some of the interests of Dr. James Kauf- 
man of the Science Division at Curry College, 
Milton, MA, 

Myles Kleper, who has an MBA from North- 
eastern, works for Abcor in Wilmington, MA. 

Mark Koretz is employed at Advanced Mi- 
cro Devices, Burlington, MA. He earned his 
MBA at Northeastern University. 

Joseph Laptewicz's pastimes include sailing, 
golf and travel, as well as running. He has a 
baby son, Nicholas, and works for Pfizer in 
Groton, CT. 

Currently, Bruce Leffingwell is employed by 
Olin Corp. of New Haven. He and his wife, 
Karen, live in Wilton and have three children. 
After hours he enjoys woodworking. 

Bill Light holds an MS and PhD from the 
University of California at Berkeley. He con- 
tinues with Abcor, Wilmington, MA. 

Jay Linden of Cape Cove Corp., Rotonda 
West, FL, reports that his interests lie with 
racquetball, softball, football, coaching and the 
Tampa Bay Bucs. He is a professional civil 
engineer. 

Richard Lisauskas works for Texas Instru- 
ments in Attleboro, MA. He has a master's in 
ceramics from MIT and is now studying for his 
MBA at Bryant. 

Sailing and camping are some of Ed Lowe's 
leisure time activities. He continues with GE 
in Schenectady. He and Judy have a daughter, 
Beth, 3. 

John Marino and his wife, Patricia, have a 



APRIL 1982 35 



baby daughter. Lisa. Marino is with UNC Re- 
sources in the Naval Products Division at Un- 
casviile. CT. 

Richard Mattes belongs to the Hanover So- 
ciables Club and participates in model ship- 
building, tennis and "most other sports." Lo- 
cated in Hanover. MA. he is employed at New 
England Telephone in Boston. 

Thomas Mirarchi. who has an MBA from 
RPL works at American Optical Corp.. Fra- 
mingham, MA. He and Ellen were married last 
July. 

Building passive solar houses is one of the 
pastimes of John Moore lU. a resident of Men- 
dota Heights. MN. He is employed at MTS 
Systems Corp.. Minneapolis. 

Andy Muir, Jr. serves as a sales represent- 
ative for Buffalo Forge Company. Kansas City. 
MO. After hours he enjoys golf, skiing and 
tennis. 

The Worcester Art Museum, classical music 
and carpentry are some of the interests of Fred- 



eric Mulligan, who is with Cutler Associates. 

John .Niestemski continues with General 
Electric in Syracuse. NY. 

Gerald Orre is president of Audio Visual 
Service Co., Inc., Worcester. He serves as a 
captain with the U.S.A.R. and enjoys scuba 
diving. 

"My major activity seems to be commuting 
to and from work." writes Robert Payne. He 
lives in Solon. OH. and commutes to Standard 
Oil in Cleveland. He also reports that he shov- 
els plenty of snow and is interested in piano 
and voice, as well as basketball and history. 

Robert Pettit works for Doron Precision Sys- 
tems. Binghamton. NY. He is active with his 
church, foster parents program and model rail- 
roading. 

John Plonsky scouts football for his local high 
school. He also belongs to the American Hel- 
icopter Society. Professionally, he is with the 
Sikorsky Aircraft Division of UTC. He has an 
MBA. 




Cdr. Peter Kudless, ''>'> in;^li!) receiving colors from Cdr. Kenneth Olsen. '63 (left). 



Kudless Takes 
Seabee Command 



When the colors were passed in the im- 
pressive Seabee change-of-command cer- 
emony held at the Naval Air Engineering 
Center (NAEC) in Lakehurst. New Jer- 
sey last September, they passed from one 
WPI alumnus to another. Cdr. Peter J. 
Kudless, '66. Civil Engineer Corps, USNR- 
R. received the colors and the command 
of 762 officers and men of Reserve Naval 
Mobile Construction Battalion 21 from 
Cdr. Kenneth Olsen, '6.1. 

During the ceremony, outgoing Cdr. 
Olsen was praised by his superiors for his 
achievements and leadership durmg the 
past two years as commanding officer. In- 



coming Cdr. Kudless then took command 
of the largest Navy activity at NAEC: Re- 
serve Naval Mobile Construction Battal- 
ion 21. 

Previously, Cdr. Kudless served with 
the Public Works Department at Perth 
Amboy, New Jersey and held various bil- 
lets with RNMCB-13. Among his many 
decorations are the Navy Commendation 
Medal with Combat "V" Meritorious Unit 
Commendation, Vietnam Service Medal 
with Silver Star and the Vietnam Cam- 
paign Medal. 

In civilian life, Kudless, a professional 
engineer, serves as the Project Con- 
struction Manager at the Hope Creek 
(ienerating Station in Salem County for 
New Jersey Public Service Electric and 
Gas. Ken Olsen is a patent attorney for 
Schlumberger Limited. Ridgefield, CT. 



Playing and teaching jazz music are pastimes 
for Bob Sinicrope. He is with Milton Academy. 
Milton, MA. 

Donald Swartz, a doctor of chiropractic, has 
opened his practice on Main Street in Newport, 
NH. He is a graduate of the National Chiro- 
practic College in Lombard. IL. one of the 
country's few accredited chiropractic colleges. 
He holds a BS degree from the University of 
Massachusetts, where he spent four years doing 
graduate research in genetics. 

Robert Trachiniowicz works for Ebasco 
Services in Houston and is married and the 
father of Timothy, 4, and Matthew, 2. 

Michael Torek, often involved with golf, 
swimming and home projects, is with Mon- 
santo in Lima, OH. 

Last year William Verrelli received his BA 
in English at Framingham State College. He 
works for Dennison Mfg. Co.. Framingham. 
MA. Activities include running, chess, wine 
collecting and bowling. 

Francis Wehner, Jr. continues with General 
Dynamics Electric Boat Division, Groton, CT. 

Thomas Werb, also with Electric Boat, re- 
sides in Warwick, RI, with his wife, Marsha, 
and daughters, Jennifer and Allison. He enjoys 
racquetball and model trains. 

Robert WooUacott works for Curjtis 1000, Inc., 
Smyrna, GA. He holds an MBA from the Uni- 
versity of Connecticut. 



1972 



Thomas Huard is employed as a technical rep- 
resentative at Waters Associates, Inc., Mil- 
ford, MA. 



1973 



BORN: to Janice and Robert J. Zawada their 
second daughter, Rachel Elizabeth, on Janu- 
ary 7, 1982. Bob is currently an assistant ac- 
tuary in the Pension Trust Department at Sun 
Life of Canada's U.S. headquarters in Welles- 
ley, MA. He and his family reside in Ashland. 

William Catlow holds the post of manager 
of bucket and rotor development at General 
Electric in Fitchburg, MA. 

Leon Home is an analyst at Sonalysts, Inc., 
Waterford, CT. 

Recently Warren Smith accepted a post with 
Atlas Supply Company in Springfield, NJ. He 
specifies and tests tires, batteries and other au- 
tomotive replacement parts. 



1974 



Alden Bianchi has become an associate with 
the Worcester law firm of Gilbert & Coblcntz. 
He holds degrees from Suffolk University Law 
School and the Georgetown University Law 
Center. Previously he practiced in Chicago and 
Washington, DC, and served as an assistant 
counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on For- 
eign Relations. He specializes in lax and re- 
lated business law. 

Mehrdad Habib serves as a structural de- 
signer at Stone & Webster in Boston. 

Lt. Linda W(M)dward, who was commis- 



36 WP! JOURNAL 



sioned a 2/Lt. in the USAF on December 3rd, 
is now attending the University of Missouri and 
studying for her EE degree. 



1975 



MARRIED: Toby Reitzen and Jim Sachen in 
Denver, CO. on June 27, 1981. The bride, who 
holds a master's degree in chemical engineer- 
ing from MIT, works as a reservoir engineer 
for Mobil in Denver. The groom, a planning 
analyst, also is employed at Mobil and has de- 
grees in physics and petroleum engineering from 
UCLA and Louisiana State University. Vicki 
Cowart was an attendant at the wedding. 

BORN: to Barbara and Richard Newhouse a 
daughter, Jessica Marie, December 29, 1981. 
. . . Barbara and Charles Riedel a son, Michael 
Charles, on March 23, 1981. Riedel serves as 
a traffic engineer for the New York State De- 
partment of Transportation, where, under a 
federal grant, he wrote the department's Traffic 
Signal Installation Manual. 

After a year in England with Esso Engi- 
neering, John and Virginia Giordano Fitz- 
Patrick were looking forward to a visit to the 
States over Christmas. Ginny writes: "We're 
really enjoying being so close to Europe. Our 
plans are to ski in Switzerland this winter. If 
that goes smoothly with the two children, we'll 
try to see as much of Europe as possible before 
returning to the U.S. next fall." 

Last year William Kelly received his PhD in 
chemistry from Dartmouth College. His thesis 
was entitled: "Conformational Studies of H-F 
and C-F Spin-Spin Couphng." Currently he has 
a postdoctoral post at Purdue University where 
he is pursuing further studies. 



1976 



MARRIED: Stephan R. Divoll to Michele E. 
Naujalis recently in Taunton, MA. Mrs. Di-- 
voll, a rehabilitation counselor at Paul A. Dever 



State School, received her degree in psychol- 
ogy from Southeastern Massachusetts Uni- 
versity. The groom is employed by Texas In- 
struments, Inc., Attleboro, MA. . . . John 
Kowalchuk III and Dianne Budney on October 
9, 1981 in Sutton, MA. The bride is a man- 
agement consultant in EDP for Arthur Young 
& Co., Worcester. She graduated from Holy 
Family College, Philadelphia, and Worcester 
State College. Her husband is a communica- 
tions engineering consultant for Mitre, Bed- 
ford. MA. 

Kent Baschwitz is now a senior sales engineer 
at Mobil Oil Corporation, Special Products 
Department, Scarsdale, NY. 

Jeremy Brown has been promoted to direc- 
tor of group pension product development at 
State Mutual in Worcester. In 1980 he received 
the fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) 
professional designation. He joined State Mu- 
tual as an actuarial assistant in 1976. Two years 
ago he was promoted to assistant actuary. 

Gary Helmstetter serves as a project leader 
at Redac, Littleton, MA. 



1977 



Christopher Baker is with Andrews & Clark in 
Nashua, NH. 

Paul Cullen serves as a consultant in robotics 
at GE in Schenectady. 

Bill Cunningham recently returned from an 
18-day trip to Japan to investigate the Japanese 
computer industry for Pactel. "I arrived in the 
middle of a holiday and industry was totally 
closed down for several days," he reports. He 
spent his unexpected free time sightseeing and 
getting a taste of Japanese culture. When not 
traveling or skiing ("Snow is great up north"). 
Bill attends the Tuck School at Dartmouth. 

Brian Kisiel continues as a technical spe- 
cialist for Betz Laboratories. He and wife Donna 
are located in North Hampton, NH. 

William Lee holds the position of a program- 
mer-analyst at McFann-Gray & Assoc, San 
Antonio, TX. 




Tony Theoharides has been commissioned a 
captain in the Army's Medical Service Corps. 
Recently he received his PhD at Clark Uni- 
versity. 



1978 



MARRIED: Robert A. DeBoalt to Patti-anne 
Madden on May 22, 1981 in Middleton, MA. 
The bride graduated from Burdett Business 
School, Boston, and is employed in the Adop- 
tion Unit of the State Department of Social 
Services. Her husband is with Varian Beverly, 
Beverly, MA. . . . Thomas J. Dow and Carolyn 
B. Colby on October 11, 1981 in Swampscott, 
MA. Mrs. Dow, a musician and flute instruc- 
tor, graduated from Ithaca College and Boston 
University. The groom teaches at Saugus High 
School. 

Rick Diamond, who has been with Fafnir 
Bearing for nearly four years, was recently pro- 
moted to shipping center manager of the firm's 
Pulaski, TN, plant. 

Peter Hayden is staff manager of marketing 
at AT&T Long Lines, Bedminster, NJ. 

Russell Warnock is currently an engineer of- 
ficer at Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, NJ. An 
officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
since graduation, he will be released from ac- 
tive duty in June. 



1979 



Paul Blackmer is an industrial engineer with 
GE in Utica, NY. 

William Donoghue works as an electrical de- 
sign engineer for Hamilton Standard in Wind- 
sor Locks, CT. 

Thom Hammond serves as a sales engineer 
for the Masoneilan Division of McGraw Edi- 
son Co., Norwood, MA. "Recently finished a 
business related tour of the U.S. Total time on 
the road: eight months." 

In January John Mortareili and his wife. Dr. 
Elizabeth Smola, both affiliated with the Stop 
It group hoping to discourage the building of 
a hazardous waste treatment plant in Warren, 
MA, spoke before a group of concerned citi- 
zens in Wales, MA. Mortareili holds a BS in 
physics from the University of Massachusetts, 
Amherst; a master's in math from the Univer- 
sity of Connecticut, Storrs; and a master's in 
biomedical engineering from WPI. 

Donald Patten works as a process supervisor 
at Procter & Gamble Mfg. Co., Quincy, MA. 



1980 



MARRIED: William P. Durkin to Barbara C. 
Strahan in Arlington, MA. on October 14. 1981. 
Mrs. Durkin has a degree in computer infor- 
mation systems from Bentley College. The 
groom serves as a mechanical engineer at The 
Foxboro Company. . . . Arthur J. Flagg III 
and Maureen F. Haggerty in Worcester on Sep- 
tember 11, 1981. Mrs. Flagg attended Worces- 
ter State College and is a manager at landoli's 
Food Village. The bridegroom did graduate 
work at Northeastern University and is cur- 
rently with GTE Products Corps., Needham, 



APRIL 1982 37 



neer at E.D.S. Nuclear, a subsidiary of Impell 
Corp., San Francisco. 

Ethan Luce is employed as a design analysis 
engineer at Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, CT. 

Brian McLane works as a design engineer at 
Lexidata Corporation in Billerica. MA. 

Jennifer Pollard is an assistant civil engineer 
for the New York State Dept. of Transporta- 
tion. 

Stephen Superson is a design engineer for 
Teledyne Engineering Services, Waltham, MA. 

Gary Sylvestre serves as a project manager 
at Barclay's American Business Credit, Inc., 
East Hartford, CT. 

Jeffrey Wakefield is product manager at 
Data Terminal Systems, Maynard, MA. 



1979 



MARRIED: Gary Doyle and Janet Stark last 
September. Both are senior associate engi- 
neers at IBM in Essex Junction, VT. . . . Earl 
B. Ingham and Cheryl L. Nugent on January 
9, 1982 in Granby, MA. The bride, an 
ophthalmic technician for Dr. Robert Dono- 
hue, graduated from Holyoke Community Col- 
lege. Earl is employed by Aetna Life and Cas- 
ualty Co., Springfield, MA. . . . George R. 
Tompsett, III, and Carla Ann Ranney in Broad 
Brook, CT, on April 24, 1982. Mrs. Tompsett 
graduated from Windsor Locks High School 
and is an operations clerk for Hamilton Stan- 
dard Division of United Technologies, Wind- 
sor Locks, CT. George is a process and meth- 
ods engineer at Hamilton Standard. 

BORN: to Andrea and William R. Herman 
a son, Bryan William, on March 31, 1981. Her- 
man is now a senior staff member at Arthur 
Andersen Company, Hartford, CT. 

Jeff Boike continues as a manufacturing 
process engineer at UOP in McCook, IL. He 
and his wife, Mary Lynn, reside in Hinsdale. 

Glenn Braunstein holds the post of devel- 
opment engineer at Goodyear Tire & Rubber 
Co., Akron, OH. 

John Donahue is employed as an electric 
studies engineer at Niagara Mohawk Power 
Company, Syracuse, NY. 

Donna Graves is systems marketing manager 
at Digital Equipment Corp., Merrimack, NH. 

Bruce Jenket, who was promoted to It.j.g. 
last November, has returned from deployment 
in which he visited Japan, Guam, Hong Kong 
and the Philippines. Currently he is an assistant 
in the Reactor Controls Division of the U.S. 
Navy, stationed at Pearl Harbor. 

Donald Larson works as a product marketing 
specialist at GCA Corporation. He is located 
in Bedford, MA. 

Jeff Mills designs oil refineries for UOP, Inc. 
He resides near Chicago. 

Gary Pearson serves as New England sales 
representative for Priam Corporation of Need- 
ham, MA. 

Ronald Roth is employed as a product en- 
gineer at Honeywell in Lexington, MA. 

Lt. Ja.son Tuell serves as a numerical pre- 
diction meteorologist for the USAF at Offutt 
AFB, NE. 

George Wespl continues as an associate en- 
gineer at Riley Stoker Corp., Worcester. 

Pri.scilla Young is studying for her master's 
degree in environmental engineering at Cor- 
nell University. 



1980 



MARRIED: Robert W. Dreyfoos and Martine 
B. Vray in Worcester on September 26, 1981. 
Mrs. Dreyfoos, a graduate of Worcester State 
College, is an inspector for the Palm Beach 
(FL) County Health Department. He is a de- 
sign engineer for Photo Electronics Corp., West 
Palm Beach. 

Mihran Aroian is a research technician at 
WPI. 

Theodore Crowley holds the post of manager 
of language products at C.S.P. Inc., Billerica, 
MA. 

David Fox works as a software engineer at 
Digital Equipment Corp., Merrimack, NH. 

Currently, Richard Goldman is a student at 
the University of Connecticut School of Law 
in West Hartford. 

Michael Herberg continues with GE in Sche- 
nectady. Earlier he had been assigned to the 
Waterford plant. 

Arthur Huggard, process engineer at Mon- 
santo Plastics & Resins, Springfield, MA, re- 
cently received the Monsanto Employee 
Achievement Award. 

Stephen Kmiotek is a chemical engineer at 
Cabot Corp. He is located in Billerica, MA. 

Kenneth Mandile holds the position of vice 
president at J.B.M. Swiss Screw Co., Inc., 
Waltham, MA. 

John Roche, still with Micro Networks, is 
now thin-film engineering supervisor at the 
Worcester firm. 

Doreen Savieira holds the post of planning 
engineer at Western Electric Co., North An- 
dover, MA. 

Jeffrey Smits continues as a member of the 
technical staff at Bell Labs in Holmdel, NJ. 

Mike Stone continues as associate editor of 
Car & Driver's Buyers Guide and Cars mag- 
azine. He is also vice president of TMS Com- 
puter Services and the author of two books: 
Mopedaller's Handy Manual and Your Four, a 
guide to four-cyhnder motorcycles. The Stones 
reside in Danbury, CT. 

David Sulkin serves as a design engineer at 
Hamilton Standard, Windsor Locks, CT. 

James Torrey, Jr., serves as a maintainabil- 
ity engineer at Digital Equipment Corp., Marl- 
boro, MA. 

Marianne Wessling continues as a doctoral 
candidate in the department of biophysics and 
theoretical biology at the University of Chi- 
cago. 

Lisa Wylie is a staff member at Western 
Electric Co., North Andover, MA. 



1981 



MARRIED: Richard F. Condon, Jr., and Linda 
J. Michaud in Townsend, MA, on April 24, 1982. 
Rich is a photographic engineer at Kodak, Roch- 
ester, NY. . . . David R. Lamborghini to Helen 
Aadland in Fairhaven, MA, on January 9, 1982. 
Mrs. Lamborghini graduated from Fairhaven High 
School. David is with Procter & Gamble, Quincy. 
. . . Steven M. McDonald and Pamela J. Loftus 
on January 16, 1982 in Worcester. The bride is 
a student at Becker Junior College. Steve is with 
Data General in Westboro. . . . Joseph P. Nor- 
man, III, and Susan A. Bish in Springfield, MA, 
on December 27, 1981. The bride has an AS 



degree in medical assisting from Becker Junior 
College. Joe is a structural engineer at McDer- 
mott, Inc., New Orleans, LA. . . . Scott A. Sar- 
gis and Karen L. Richardson in Leominster, MA, 
on February 5, 1982. Mrs. Sargis graduated from 
Becker. Scott is a mechanical engineer with 
Chevron Chemical Corp. in New Orleans. 

Anthony Cabral is a student at Carnegie- 
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. 

Cindy Canistro works as a project engineer 
at GE Plastics in Pittsfield, MA. 

James Connor is a sales engineer for Ad- 
vanced Micro Devices in Sunnyvale, CA. 

Dan Doherty, Jr., works as a senior technical 
marketing specialist at Digital Equipment Corp., 
Marlboro, MA. 

Ethan Foster holds the post of programmer/ 
analyst at the Laboratory of Computer Sci- 
ence, Massachusetts General Hospital, Bos- 
ton. 

Currently, James Geib is a design engineer 
at Winchester Electronics. He is located in 
Watertown, CT. 

Robert Hess has joined the Methods/Facili- 
ties Branch in the Production Department, De- 
partment of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 
Portsmouth, VA. 

Peter Hinckley has been employed as a prod- 
uct engineer at The Torrington Company, Tor- 
rington, CT. 

Keith Mazzarese works as a field engineer 
for Stone & Webster in Waterford, CT. 

William Miller holds the post of sales engi- 
neer at Westinghouse Electric in Framingham, 
MA. 

David Oriol is now an associate at Manufac- 
turer's Business Systems, Inc., Worcester. 

Frank Polito is part of the technical staff as- 
signed to the digital lines department at Bell 
Laboratories, North Andover, MA. 

Timothy Shea works as a scheduling engineer 
for Crawford & Russell, Inc., of Stamford, CT. 

Jeffrey Smith is a planning and systems an- 
alyst-manager at Dresser Atlas in Houston, TX. 

Peter Tiziani is a design engineer for Com- 
bustion Engineering in Windsor, CT. 

David Valardi serves as a field engineer at 
Dresser Atlas in Rayne, LA. 

Robert Wright holds the post of assistant en- 
gineer at New England Power Service Com- 
pany in Worcester. 



Schcx)l of 

Industrial Management 

Clifford Pontbriand, '58, continues as manager 
of frame operations at Pennsylvania Optical 
Co., Reading, PA. . . . William Barlow, '65, 
has been elected executive vice president at 
Wyman-Gordon in Worcester. He joined the 
company in 1943 and has worked in engineer- 
ing, manufacturing and senior management 
jobs. . . . Leo St. Denis, '65, has been pro- 
moted to manager of quality control at An- 
derson Operations-Bay State Abrasives Divi- 
sion, Worcester. He has an associate's degree 
in mechanical engineering from Worcester 
Junior College. . . . Ernest Anger, Jr., '78, has 
been appointed manager of system develop- 
ment at Bay State Abrasives Division, Dresser 
Industries, Westboro, MA. He graduated from 
Wentworth Institute and joined Bay State in 
1958 as an engineering technician. 



38 WPI JOURNAL 



Natural Science 
Program 

In January Worcester State College physics 
professor Robert Keliey, '60, courtesy of the 
U.S. Navy, joined 36 college instructors from 
all over the country at Cape Canaveral to get 
a firsthand look at the "new nuclear Navy." 



One of the highlights of the visit was an op- 
portunity to witness a simulated missile launch 
from a nuclear-powered submarine. . . . Ralph 
Southwick, '66, teaches science at Jefferson 
(MA) Middle School. . . . Philip Wilson, '78, 
continues teaching at Lynnfield High School, 
Lynnfield, MA. . . . William Johnson, Jr., '81, 
is a teacher at Rockport High School, Rock- 
port, MA. 



COMPLETED CAREERS 



David E. Carpenter, '11, of Agawam, MA, a 
long-time employee of Westinghouse, died on 
April 1, 1982 at the age of 93. 

Except for four years with Buckeye Prod- 
ucts, Mr. Carpenter was with Westinghouse 
Electric Corp. from 1911 until his retirement. 
He earned the company's highest honor, the 
Silver "W" Order of Merit, and held a patent 
on a winding machine to automate the winding 
of motor stators and rotors. In 1955 he retired 
as a consulting manufacturing engineer. 

A. Hugh Reid, '11, of Worcester, class vice 
president, passed away recently. 

He was born on July 7, 1889 in Worcester. 
Graduated from WPI as a mechanical engi- 
neer, he was retired from CF&I Steel Corp. 
and belonged to the Tech Old Timers and Sigma 
Xi. 

Alfred R. Kinney, '12, of Blacksburg, VA, a 
long-time employee of the U.S. Forest Service, 
died February 3, 1982. He was 92. 

A Worcester native, he received a BSCE 
from WPI. During his career with the U.S. 
Forest Service, he served as examiner of sur- 
veys in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania and as chief land examiner in the Unaka 
and Pisgah National Forests situated in Vir- 
ginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. 

Roland H. Dufault, '14, of Wellesley Hills, MA, 
president of the Class of 1914, died on January 
31, 1982. 

"Mike" graduated with his BS in chemistry 
from WPI, then worked for three years at J. 
Russel Marble & Co., Worcester. During World 
War I he was a major in the U.S. Army. From 
1919 until 1953 when he retired as branch man- 
ager in New York City, he was with du Pont. 

He had been a member of the New York 
Board of Trade, the Chemists Club of New 
York, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi. A native of 
Spencer, MA, he was 89. He was a former WPI 
Alumni Council representative from Philadel- 
phia and a member of the Tech Old Timers. 

William J. Becker, Jr., '15, of Kansas City, 
MO, passed away recently. He was 89. 

During his career, he was employed by But- 
terworth Judson, Midwest Refining Co., Gen- 
eral Engineering and Maintenance Corp. and 
Trojan Engineering Corp. From 1932 until he 
retired in 1957, he was with Long Island Light- 
ing Co., where he rose to superintendent. 

Mr. Becker, a Mason, was also a past pres- 
ident of his local Rotary Club. For 15 years he 
was active with the BSA, advancing to district 
director. He belonged to Theta Chi and was a 
World War I Army veteran. 



Simon Collier, '16, a retired executive from 
Johns-Manville Corporation and resident of Los 
Angeles, passed away in December. 

Following his graduation as a chemist from 
WPI, he joined the Boston Belting Company. 
Later employers were the National Bureau of 
Standards, Washington, DC, Johns-Manville, 
from which he retired as director of quality 
control in 1959, and UCLA, where he was an 
associate professor-lecturer. A nationally known 
authority in the field of industrial quality con- 
trol, he specialized in quality control consulting 
in asbestos fiber and products. Papers on his 
specialty were published in various profes- 
sional magazines. 

Mr. CoUier was born on June 1 , 1894 in Salem, 
MA. 

Edwin W. Bemis, '19, of Brick Town, NJ, died 
recently. 

After graduating as an electrical engineer, 
he did part-time graduate work at WPI. From 
1920 to 1962 he was on the headquarters staff 
at American Telephone & Telegraph Co. He 
joined ITT in 1962 and retired in 1968. 

Mr. Bemis was born July 19, 1897 in Hol- 
yoke, MA. He was a senior member of IEEE 
and belonged to Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi. 
He served as secretary of the Class of 1919. He 
was a former secretary of the New York Chap- 
ter of the WPI Alunini Association. 

Roy H. Carpenter, '19, of Wooster, OH, died 
on July 4, 1981. 

He was born on September 11, 1897 in War- 
ren, MA, and graduated with a BS in chem- 
istry. In 1929 he received his MA from Colum- 
bia University. 

After teaching in several high schools in 
Maryland, Massachusetts and Connecticut, he 
taught at Ossining (NY) High School from 1929 
to 1945. From 1945 to- 1964, when he retired, 
he was principal at Roosevelt School in Ossin- 
ing. Mr. Carpenter belonged to the Masons 
and to the Ossining Board of Education. 

Dana D. Goodwin, '19, of Fitchburg, MA, the 
retired president of W. C. Goodwin, Inc., died 
April 17, 1982. 

A Fitchburg native, he was born on October 
5, 1897 and later studied electrical engineering 
at WPI. During his career, he was affiliated 
with the Rock Island (IL) Arsenal and Simonds 
Mfg. Co. For many years he was the self-em- 
ployed president of W. C. Goodwin, Inc., a 
retail shoe store in Fitchburg. 

Mr. Goodwin belonged to Phi Sigma Kappa 
and the Masons. He was a former vice presi- 
dent of the Worcester County Alumni Club of 
the WPI Alumni Association. 



Arthur W. Bassett, '20, of Lititz, PA, passed 
away on January 29, 1982. 

In 1962 he retired as chief of power engi- 
neering at Armstrong World Industries, where 
he had been employed since 1929. Previously, 
he was with Pennsylvania Power and Light Co. 
and New Jersey Zinc Co. 

He was born on January 4, 1897 in Heath, 
MA, and received a BSME from WPI. He be- 
longed to the Masons, the Shrine, the National 
Association of Professional Engineers and Sigma 
Phi Epsilon. Formerly he served as president 
of the local chapter of the American Business 
Club. 

David W. Dimmock, '22, died Christmas Day 
at his home in Hatchville, MA, following a long 
illness. He was 80. 

Before retiring in 1959, he taught mathe- 
matics in the Falmouth school system for 15 
years. For 40 years he operated a farm in 
Hatchville. He was born on February 21, 1901 
in Pocasset, MA. 

Austin J. Ball, '25, died March 9, 1982 in Hack- 
ettstown, NJ, at the age of 78. 

A native of Clinton, MA, he was born on 
May 28, 1903. In 1925 he graduated as an elec- 
trical engineer from WPI. For many years he 
was employed by Consolidated Edison of New 
York City. He retired in 1975. 

John J. McAuiiffe, '25, of Walnut Creek, CA, 
passed away recently. 

A native of Massachusetts, he was born on 
January 31, 1903. He graduated from WPI as 
an electrical engineer. For a number of years 
he was with General Electric in Schenectady, 
NY, and Westinghouse in Sunnyvale, CA. At 
his retirement he was an operations analyst at 
Stanford Research Institute in Menio Park. He 
belonged to ATO and Skull. 

Theodore D. Schoonmaker, '26, of Northboro, 
MA, a retired sales manager for Massachusetts 
Electric Co., died on February 16, 1982 in 
Marlboro Hospital. He was 79. 

Following his graduation as an electrical en- 
gineer, he joined Maiden Electric Co. From 
1940 to 1944 he was an appraisal engineer for 
the North Central District of the New England 
Electric System. Later he was associated with 
the power sales department and then became 
commercial sales manager. He retired from 
Massachusetts Electric in 1967. 

Mr. Schoonmaker was a member of the Ma- 
sons, Trinity Church (former deacon) and the 
Tech Old Timers. He had served on the Mu- 
nicipal Code and Bylaw Committee of North- 
boro. He was the father of Paul Schoonmaker, 
'56, and was bom on February 18, 1902 in Hyde 
Park, MA. 

Albert A. Baron, '30, a retired manager for 
U.S. Envelope Co., died on March 16, 1982 at 
his home in Alhambra, CA. 

He joined the Kellogg Division of U.S. En- 
velope in 1929 and was made plant manager in 
Springfield, MA, when the plant had over 1000 
employees. He also was plant manager in At- 
lanta, GA, and Worcester and had been pro- 
duction control manager for the firm in Los 
Angeles, as well as western region sales rep- 
resentative. 

Mr. Baron, a member of AEPi, was born 
March 10, 1907 in Bristol, RI. He received his 



Besides sening on the WPI President's Ad- 
visory Council. Mr. Coghlin had held the post 
of president of the Worcester County Alumni 
Club, and was a former member of the Alumni 
Fund Board. He was chairman of the Class of 
1923 50th Reunion Committees. In 1975 he 
received the Herbert F. Taylor Award for dis- 
tinguished service to WPI. He was the father 
of Edwin B. Coghlin, Jr., '56 and the late John 
P. Coghlin, a member of the Class of 1963. 

For the past twenty years. Mr. CoghUn pro- 
vided the J. P. Coghlin Manager's Award to 
recognize the outstanding student manager of 
athletic teams, an action which typified his con- 
cern for others and his generous heart. 

Victor N. Colby, '31 passed away on November 
27. 1981 in Hanover. NH. at the age of 73. 

For 18 years he operated a poultry farm. He 
had also been employed by Jones Express. Sul- 
loway Mills and Gile's Dairy. In 1976 he retired 
from T and S Vending in Franklin. NH. 

Mr. Colby was born on June 24. 1908 in 
Franklin. In 1931 he received his BS in general 



science from WPI. He belonged to the Con- 
gregational Church and the Odd Fellows. He 
was past grand patriarch of the New Hampshire 
Grand Encampment and the current depart- 
ment commander of the New Hampshire Pa- 
triarchs Militant. 

Thomas S. Johnson '39 of Framingham. MA, 

died in December. 

He was born March 2. 1915 in Rockport. 
MA. and later became a member of the Class 
of 1939. For many years he was with Emhart 
Corp. (United Shoe Machinery), where he rose 
to administrative assistant in the Machinery Di- 
vision. Boston. He was a member of Theta Chi. 

Donald R. Bates, '40. a lifetime member of the 
President's Advisory Council at WPI. died in 
California on October 5. 1981. 

A native of Norwich. CT. he was born on 
Dec. 16. 1917. He graduated as a civil engineer 
from WPI in 1940. During his career he served 
as a senior production engineer at Lockheed 
Aircraft, as vice president and partner of the 




Worcester 

Polytechnic 

Institute 

presents 

A One-Week 



ALASKAN CRUISE fr°-3;i,299* 

DEPARTING FROM BOSTON AND OTHER U.S. CITIES AUGUST 17, 1982 
RETURNING AUGUST 24, 1982 

Your delightful Alaskan vacation includes 

• Round-trip airfare to Vancouver, B.C., Canada 

• Cruise through the Alaskan island passage aboard the 
Cunard Princess 

• Ports of call will tDe Ketchican, Juneau, Glacier Bay and Sitka 

• Price includes airfare, cruise, cabin accommodations, meals 
aboard ship, transfers and normal travel agency service charges 

*From Boston, plus 15% ,M,299 upward, depending on cabin 
space seleaed Prices vary depending on city of origin. 
For additional information, please call 
WPI Alumni Office 617/793-5600 or TransNational Travel (Boston) 
Alaskan Cruise Department 617/262-9200 
in Massachusetts dial 800/952-7477 



Roll Forming Co. . vice president of Daystrom, 
president of the Vista Furniture Co.. president 
of Vista-Costa Mesa Furniture Co. (a division 
of Dictaphone Corp.). and president of Vista 
Travel, from which he was retired. 

Mr. Bates belonged to Lambda Chi Alpha 
fraternity. He was active in fund raising for the 
WPI Alumni Association and had also been 
vice president of the Los Angeles chapter of 
the Alumni Association for many years. 

Frank B. Stevenson, '40. a retired marine en- 
gineer, died unexpectedly in Lawrence (MA) 
General Hospital on December 1. 1981. 

After graduating as a mechanical engineer 
from WPI. he worked for a short time for Ve- 
deer-Root. Inc.. Hartford. CT. He then served 
many years as a marine engineer at the Boston 
Navy Yard, retiring in 1973. 

Mr. Stevenson was a member of Theta Chi 
and the Free Christian Church. He was born 
on July 1, 1915 in Lawrence. MA. 

Melvin H. Knapp, '41 died in the University 
of Massachusetts Hospital. Worcester, on De- 
cember 24. 1981 after a long illness. 

For the last 20 years he was chief metallurgist 
at Reed Rolled Thread Die Co.. Holden. MA. 
For 20 years prior to that, he was an experi- 
mental engineer and metallurgist for Brown & 
Sharpe Manufacturing Co.. Providence, RI. 

Mr. Knapp. who graduated with his BSME 
from WPI in 1941, belonged to Phi Gamma 
Delta and the Congregational Church. A mem- 
ber of the American Society for Metals, he had 
served as chairman of the Rhode Island Chap- 
ter before transferring to the Worcester Chap- 
ter. In 1976 he qualified as a life member of 
the Appalachian Mountain Club. He was chair- 
man of the Worcester County Chapter. 

Born on April 1. 1918 in Worcester, he was 
the brother of Walter Knapp, '38. 

Paul M.A. Schonning, '50 died in St. Vincent 
Hospital, Worcester, on December 25, 1981 
after being stricken at his home. He was 58. 

With Norton Co. for seven years, he had 
previously been employed by Jamesbury Corp. 
and Wyman-Gordon, both of Worcester. He 
had served as a project engineer and senior 
engineer for Norton. 

Mr. Schonning was born in Worcester on 
June 25,. 1923. In 1950 he graduated as a me- 
chanical engineer from WPI. He belonged to 
Lambda Chi Alpha, the American Legion, and 
the Masons, as well as the Aletheia Grotto, 
and the Society of Professional Engineers. For 
40 years he was a member of the Ouinsigamond 
United Methodist Church choir. 

In World War II he served in England with 
the U.S. Army Signal Corps. 

Charles H. Bidwell, Jr., '57 of East Hartford, 
CT, died as the result of an accident on July 
17. 1981. 

He was born on Nov. 29, 1934 in Hartford, 
CT, and received his BSCE in 1957. During 
his career he was with Jackson and Moreland, 
Inc.. the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy 
Reserve, and Burton & VanHoutcn Engi- 
neers. A member of A TO. he had also served 
as secretary, vice president and treasurer of the 
Hartford Chapter of the WPI Alumni Asso- 
ciation. 

He was the son of Charles H. Bidwell, Sr. 
of the Class of 1925. 



40 WI'I JUURNAL 



AMPERSAND 



Visions of Youth 



What awaits us 10, 25, 50 years into the 
future? For those of us who can find the 
time to ponder such things, the imagin- 
ings of children may appear incredible 
yet marvelous. But we who grew up with 
Buck Rogers or even the crew of Star 
Trek's fantastic Enterprise might well re- 
call our childhood rumblings and the ex- 
tent to which many of them have be- 
come — with amazing speed and 
likeness — today's household terms. 

We feature here award-winning essays 
by Worcester-area children, grade 6 
through age 16, on "Our Future 
World. " A classroom project, the contest 
is sponsored by the Worcester Telegram. 

So take heed, problem-solvers of the 
world, for it was not long ago — but for 
childhood fantasies — that "common- 
place" events like space travel might re- 
main inconceivable and heart transplants 
impossible. 



Advanced Technology 

By Carina Wong, 1 1 

I think our future world will be basically 
the same as the present, though the tech- 
nology may be a bit more advanced and 
there will probably be more use of it. 

There are ideas for building domes over 
large cities and plans for a "super train" 
that can travel much faster because there 
will be no wheels to cause friction. This 
train will be moved by magnets. There is 
also a debate about the use of solar power 
for heating homes. 

However easier or less work the future 
world may bring, I would still prefer na- 
ture and being outdoors in the fresh air 
over having a computer or robot do my 
work for me. 

Machines 

By Suzanne Lampson, grade 6 

I think our future will be with machines. 
If we could get something we wanted by 



pushing buttons, that would be something 
everyone could do. We could have our 
household needs done for us. 

I also think machines would be greatly 
appreciated by the elderly. If they could 
do more by machines they could get around 
easier. 

We think we own machines, but we 
don't, they own us. If we didn't have any 
machines, what would we do? We would 
have no transportation and wouldn't have 
good meals. We just don't notice how much 
we have. Maybe in the future we will have 
new and better machines. 



Robots 

By Caron Engstrom, 1 1 

I think the future world will be full of 
electronics, computer technology, robots 
and space cities. 

The electronics will be nothing like our 
games today. That would be neat and fas- 
cinating. 

The computers would be more ad- 
vanced than you ever thought of. The ro- 
bots would be wonderful. Some will only 
be two inches tall and will be able to pick 
up tables and chairs. Best of all they would 
have a little computer in them and could 
give you any answer you wanted. 

The greatest thing would be the cities 
in space. They would be man-made and 
have all the human basic needs on them. 

I would like to work on a computer or 
a robot. Maybe even live in a space city. 
I think it would be really neat. 

Floating Cars 

By Betsey Bentley, 11 

In our future world we will have cars that 
will float on air. We'll just have to pump 
air in it to make it go. The houses will be 
so far up they'll be in space. The houses 
will all be condominiums. Instead of tar 
sidewalks and streets, we will have mov- 
ing sidewalks and streets so we won't have 
to walk. We'll just stand there and if your 



car won't pump up, just use the moving 
street. Instead of staircases we would have 
escalators or elevators. And finally, 
everyone will be a millionaire. 

Trips to the Moon 

By Keith Higgins, 1 1 

In the future world, the United States will 
be having people living on the moon. They 
will live in dome cities. It will be a lot like 
we live today. The cars would have thrust 
rockets and the speed would be 105 miles 
per hour. 

The sports fields would be within the 
main dome, that has a gravity machine to 
hold everyone on the ground. The um- 
pires and referees would be robots. 

People would own space shuttles to fly 
wherever they want. Everyone would have 
their own robots. Children wouldn't have 
to go to school because they would have 
been born with great brains. 

All this will happen in the future. 

No Wars 

By John Fitzgibbons, grade 8 

I hope that in our future world there will 
be no clashes among our people and that 
there will be peace in the world to come. 
I hope the democracy in our new world 
will be equal for all people. I hope that 
people who are thirsty will be given some- 
thing to drink, and those who are hungry 
will be given food to eat and those who 
are homeless will be given shelter. 

No Inflation 

By Reinaldo Torres, 1 1 

I hope my future world does not have 
inflation and or other money problems. I 
hope laws will be fair. I also think our 
future world should have space colonies. 
Our future world should have cures for 
everything. I also think our future world 
is going to have peace. 



COME ON BACK 




WPI 

REUNION 
1982 

June 4-6 



special Events and Get- 
Togethers for the Five- 
Year Reunion Classes 

1917 

1922 

1927 

1932 

1937 

1942 

1947 

1952 

1957 

1962 



PLAN NOW TO ATTEND 



WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC •'^ INSTITUTE 




!•«; 



WOflCESTER 
POLYTECHNIC KjSIITUni 

SEP I me 
GORDON LIBRARY 



"^ ♦ 



pngineenng 
"iresafe Buildings: 
rheiWPI Approach 

<euiion 1982 

rhe CAD-CAM Connection 



Reunion 
Sampler 



For a photographic 
tour of 1982's reunion 
weekend, turn to 
page 8. 




At the annual 

Reunion Luncheon, 

Father Peter Scanlon 

gives the invocation. 



I he 60th Reunion 
(lays of 1922 



' 



WPI Journal 

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC ^INSTITUTE 



VOLUME 86 NO 1 



Staff of The WPI Journal 

Editor, Kenneth L. McDonnell 

Alumni Information Editor, Ruth S. Trask 

Alumni Publications Committee: Donald E. 
Ross, '54, chair; Robert C. Gosling, '68; Samuel 
W. Mencow, '37; Stanley P. Negus, Jr., '54; 
Judy Nitsch, '75. 

The WPI Journal (ISSN 0148-6128) is pub- 
lished quarterly for the WPI Alumni Associ- 
ation by Worcester Polytechnic Institute in co- 
operation with the Alumni Magazine 
Consortium, with editorial offices at the Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218. 
Pages I-XVI are published for the Alumni 
Magazine Consortium (Franklin and Marshall 
College, Hartwick College, Johns Hopkins 
University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute) and appear in 
the respective alumni magazines of those in- 
stitutions. Second class postage paid at 
Worcester, MA and additional mailing offices. 
Pages 1-12, 29-40 © 1982, Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute. Pages I-XVI © 1982, Johns 
Hopkins University. 

Staff of the Alumni Magazine Consortium: Ed- 
itor, Elise Hancock; Business Manager, Rob- 
ert Hewes; Production Coordinator, Wendy 
Williams; Associate Editor, Mary Ruth Yoe; 
Designer, Allen Carroll; Magazine Fellow, 
Kevin Bjerregaard; Senior Writer, Robert Ka- 
nigel; Editorial Assistant, Elaine Langlois. 

Advisory Board for the Alumni Magazine Con- 
sortium: Franklin and Marshall College, John 
Synodinos and Judy Durand; Hartwick Col- 
lege, Philip Benoit and Merrilee Gomillion; 
Johns Hopkins University, Ross Jones and Elise 
Hancock; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
Lynn Holley and Robert M. Whitaker; 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Thomas J. 
Denney and Kenneth L. McDonnell. 

Acknowledgments: Typesetting, Foto Typeset- 
ters, Inc.; Printing, John D. Lucas Printing 
Company; Mailing, Circular Advertising Com- 
pany. 

Opinions expressed in this publication are those 
of the individual authors and not necessarily 
policies of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 
Address correspondence to the Editor, The WPI 
Journal, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 
Worcester, MA 01609. Telephone (617) 793- 
5609. Postmaster: If undehverable please send 
form 3579 to the address above. Do not return 
publication. 



CONTENTS 



12 



IV 



AUGUST 1982 



The CAD'CAM Connection 

From drafting board to plant floor, 
computers are showing the way. Here's the 
WPI story on this remarkable field. 
Kenneth L. McDonnell 

Welcome Back! 

A pictorial voyage through a wet but 
wonderful Reunion Weekend 1982. 

Dougal Drysdale: Fire Man 

In short order, this flying Scot has come 
to WPI and left his mark in firesafety 
engineering — worldwide . 
Kenneth L. McDonnell 

The Fire Next Time . . . 

. . . could be predicted or prevented if a new 
discipline — fire safety — has its way. 
Robert Kanigel 

An Empirical Discussion 

In which a panel of experts ponders the 
rise and fall of empires past and present. 

Departments 

News from the Hill 2 



PAO/C 
NC DEM 

3-17- 



\ 



I. 



Page 4 





Page 8 



Projects 11 
Alumni Notes 



29 



Page IV 



On the cover: A five alarm Boston pier fire. Photo by Bill 
Noonan, Boston Fire Department. 




AUGUST 1982 



NEWS FROM THE HILL 



A Unique Approach 

to Alumni Communication 

Remember your very first job after grad- 
uation? For most of us, embarking upon 
a career was an adventure filled with both 
great anticipation and more than a little 
apprehension: leaving friends, moving to 
a new city — perhaps across the country — 
beginning new professional and personal 
ties — a new life. 

If the WPI Corporate Contacts pro- 
gram had been in place when many of us 
were coping with these changes, we would 
have found the adjustment less harrow- 
ing. Corporate Contacts, you ask — what's 
that? 

In 1977, an alumni study group had the 
foresight to recognize that a graduate's 
relationship with WPI did not have to end 
on graduation day or reoccur only at re- 
union gatherings. At major corporations 
across the Northeast, WPI began a pro- 
gram where alumni could interact on a 
professional basis at their places of em- 
ployment — a program that is still the only 
one of its kind in the country. 

Clark Poland, '48, was enlisted to head 
the fledgling program, and new programs 
were initiated at a few corporations. To- 
day, Mark C. Dupuis, '72, serves as na- 
tional chair. "Corporate Contacts," he 
says, "is now in place at 16 corporations, 
and the programs are as varied as the 
alumni constituencies they serve." 

For example, the program at Eastman 
Kodak in Rochester has proven to be ex- 
emplary. Since its founding, most of 
Kodak's 75 WPI graduates have gathered 
at frequent Corporate Contacts lunch- 
eons and other welcoming activities. 

Closer to home, Riley Stoker Company 
and Norton Company both have devel- 
oped successful alumni programs and have 
served as a major link between WPI and 
the alumni employed at these companies. 
At Norton, for example, widely popular 
informal get-togethers to discuss technical 
matters have been held on a regular basis. 
In addition, WPI faculty visit the com- 



pany to inform alumni of recent happen- 
ings on campus. What's more, the in- 
volvement of both Stoker and Norton in 
sponsoring student projects has been ex- 
tensive. 

According to Ralph Mongeon, '55, who 
chairs Riley Stoker's Corporate Contacts 
program, "The beauty of this program is 
that it is structured so that there's no need 
to have a highly organized program, yet 
it offers such a natural affinity and con- 
venience within the corporations that par- 
ticipation and involvement of alumni are 
very high." 

Dupuis adds, "Improved communica- 
tion is still a primary goal of the program, 
but one of the most positive results is one 
which was not anticipated by its founders: 
Today, many major universities are look- 
ing at the WPI Corporate Contacts as a 
model program, worthy of duplication at 
companies across the country." 

WPI invites your inquiries on establish- 
ing a Corporate Contacts program at your 
company. For details, write Deborah Scott, 
Assistant Alumni Director, WPI. 

KLM 



The Winning Attitude 
of Bob Weiss 

"A resurrector of doldrum football pro- 
grams, a strong fundamentalist and a 
builder of men." 

That's how well-known New England 
sportscaster Dave Connors describes WPI's 
Bob Weiss. Those who've witnessed the 
sustained success of WPI's head football 
coach could hardly disagree. For prior to 
bringing renewed life to the WPI gridiron, 
Weiss performed a string of miracles at 
the high-school level and served under 
some of the finest college coaches in New 
England. When he arrived on the scene 
at WPI in 1978, in the wake of the schooPs 
renewed commitment to football, Weiss's 
mission was simple enough: to produce a 
"respectable" football program. But con- 
sidering WPI's record — the bleakest all- 



time winning percentage of any Division 
III team in New England — it seemed that 
this miracle worker had met his match. 

Four years later Weiss has a new five- 
year contract under his belt, and the 
scoreboard tells the story. Following pro- 
gressively improved seasons in 1978 and 
1979, Weiss's 1980 Engineers compiled 
their first winning season in 12 years. And 
in 1981, but for six points, WPI would 
have finished the season undefeated. In 




"Success is a matter of priorities." 

the end, Weiss had to "settle" for a 6-2 
season. At one point, WPI was ranked 
No. 1 and No. 5 in two prestigious football 
polls. There was even talk of an NCAA 
tournament bid, something no other Di- 
vision III team in New England had ever 
been offered. 

A key to Weiss's success at WPI has 
been his tireless recruiting. "Bob is a very 



2 WPI JOURNAL 



effective, aggressive spokesman for WPI," 
says Roy Seaberg, '56, Director of Ad- 
missions. "He understands our many pro- 
grams very well and is thorough in fol- 
lowing through." 

Weiss's reputation for ambitious foot- 
ball objectives and the Institute's com- 
mitment to exacting academic standards 
force him to compete on the recruiting 
circuit against schools with good football 
and academic reputations. Bob Bois, for 
example, a senior Bio-Med major from 
Salem, Massachusetts, who'll return in 
September as team captain, was courted 
by Harvard, Cornell and UMass, but came 
to WPI. "Coach Weiss was the differ- 
ence," says Bois. "He sold me on all of 
WPI's merits." 

Last year alone, Weiss's recruiting net- 
ted more than 400 football admissions ap- 
plications. Though not all of these were 
what Weiss considers prime football pros- 
pects, each possessed qualities he felt could 
benefit the school. 

Recruiting can be slow and tedious. But 
as Weiss sees things, "We're competing 
for student-athletes against some very 
prestigious schools, so we've got to be 
painstakingly persistent. Often we meet 
with the kids on several occasions at any 
combination of places — at their homes, 
their high schools or here at WPI." 

But unlike some of the larger colleges, 
the personal contact doesn't end when the 
student enrolls and his WPI career begins 
for real. Weiss makes himself available to 
all his players and gets involved with every 
element of their college experience — from 
academics to athletics to personal prob- 
lems. "I feel strongly about the total in- 
dividual; that is, his progress toward grad- 
uation and his personal growth at WPI. 
And I'm proud of the fact that very few 
of my players get into hot water academ- 
ically." 

A 1958 graduate of Tufts University, 
Weiss was a standout halfback and base- 
ball catcher. He also worked with two of 
New England's most respected football 
powers, Dartmouth College and the Uni- 
versity of Connecticut, before taking the 
reins at WPI. Twice in his four years at 
UConn, the Huskies won the Yankee 
Conference championship. 

Last January, Weiss was extended the 
opportunity to remain at WPI under terms 
of a five-year contract, an arrangement 
he prefers to the tenure system that ex- 
isted for football coaches prior to his ar- 
rival. "Tenure is for teachers, not coaches," 
he says. "In football, wins and losses are 
what really count." 

The 1982 Engineer football squad will 



be the first composed entirely of players 
that Weiss recruited personally. He'll have 
17 returning starters from last season's 6- 
2 team, including seven All-New England 
performers. On paper, it looks like WPI 
should enjoy its third consecutive winning 
campaign. But Weiss, though confident, 
is the first to admit that sustained excel- 
lence in WPI football shouldn't be re- 
garded as a given at this point. 

"Certain ingredients make for a sound 
and consistent program," he contends. 
"We'll continue to push our sights higher 
to ensure WPI's football future." 

Mark Mandel 
Sports Information Director 



Alumni Term 
Trustees Elected 

Richard A. Davis, '53, S, Merrill Skeist, 
'40, and Leonard H. White, '41, were 
elected on May 29 by the WPI Board of 
Trustees as Alumni Term Trustees effec- 
tive July 1, 1982. 

This election continues the transition to 
an eight-year Alumni Trustee term. As 
incumbents, Davis and White will each 
serve a second five-year term, until June 
30, 1987. Skeist's eight-year term will end 
June 30, 1990. None can be reelected when 
his present term expires. Skeist will fill 
the seat of Anson C. Fyler, '45, who has 
served as an Alumni Trustee for ten years 
and as Secretary of the Corporation since 
July 1, 1978. 

Richard Davis is President of CCi, Inc. , 
a computer • sales and software firm in 
Waterford, Connecticut. He is active in 
community, church and business affairs, 
serving as Director of the United Way of 
Southeastern Connecticut, past Warden 
of St. John's Episcopal Church and past 
Director of the Greater Portland (Maine) 
Chamber of Commerce. 

He serves on ,the WPI Alumni Fund 
Board, is a member of and chairs the Pres- 



ident's Advisory Council and was Vice 
President of the Alumni Council from 1975 
to 1976. 

Merrill Skeist is President of Spellman 
High Voltage Electronics Corporation, 
Plainview, New York. He is a leader in 
religious affairs, serving on the Board of 
the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New 
York, on the Board and Planning Com- 
mittee of the Long Island Jewish Hospital 
and on the Board of the Long Island Jew- 
ish "Y". He also chaired the Class of 1940 
40th Reunion Gift Committee and is a 
member of WPI's President's Advisory 
Council. 

Leonard White is President and Treas- 
urer of R. H. White Construction Co., 
Inc., Worcester, President of the Milford 
(Mass.) Water Company and President of 
the Whitinsville (Mass.) Water Company. 
He is actively involved in the commercial, 
civic and religious life of the Worcester 
area, serving as Director of the Mechanics 
National Bank, Incorporator of the 
Worcester Hahnemann Hospital and 
Trustee and member of the Board of 
Managers of the Episcopal Diocese of 
Western Massachusetts. 

At WPI he is a member and past Chair 
of the President's Advisory Council and 
Chair of WPI's Physical Facilities Com- 
mittee. 

Alumni Term Trustees account for 15 
of the 33 seats on the WPI Board. Alumni, 
through the Alumni Council, have the op- 
portunity to propose fellow alumni for 
Alumni Trustee nominations. Two chan- 
nels facilitate such proposals. First, alumni 
clubs or other alumni groups may submit 
to the Council a valid proposal with the 
appropriate number of signatures. Sec- 
ond, the Trustee Search Committee of the 
Alumni Association can propose candi- 
dates. In either case, the Alumni Council 
then meets to act on the proposals and to 
make mominations to the WPI Board of 
Trustees, which votes to elect the Alumni 
Term Trustees. 

Congratulations are due Messrs. Davis, 
Skeist and White. KLM 




Davis 



Skeist 



While 



AUGUST 1982 



The C AD'CAM 
Connection 



From drafting board to plant floor, 
computers are showing the way. 
Here's the WPI story on this 
remarkable field. 



By Kenneth McDonnell 




A current television commercial 
boasts: "If you had a favorite air- 
L.liner, the all-new Boeing 767 will 
soon be taking its place. Coming in Sep- 
tember." Wider, softer seats, more of them 
along aisles and windows, quieter ride, 
and improved performance are the antic- 
ipated benefits. 

First time you settle into one of these 
flying armchairs, consider the technolog- 
ical advances required to lift, fly and land 
the 767 and the seemingly endless list of 
entrants into the race for airbus suprem- 
acy. The DC-10, for example, contains 
three miles of hydraulic tubing that bends, 
turns and cavorts throughout the airframe 
in triplicate — each a further measure of 
safety. 

In the past, fabrication of such a system 
would have required literally man-years 
of slow, expensive handwork, construct- 
ing mock-ups of the plane's tubing with 
craftsmen bending and fitting each piece 
as they proceeded. Once fitted, the tubes 
were dismantled and stored to serve as 
templates for other pieces of tubing, many 
of these also bent by hand. 

Today, computers handle much of this 
formerly painstaking work at a fraction of 
the cost and time. Designers can, using a 
graphic display terminal and fiber optic 
pen, conceive and draw the configuration 
of hydraulic tubing for the entire aircraft 
based on design, manufacturing and cost 



parameters held in the computer's mem- 
ory banks. Instead of retrieving master 
tubes from a warehouse, the designer re- 
trieves key structural elements from the 
computer's memory. Then, pressing a 
button, his design specifications are trans- 
mitted electronically to another com- 
puter, which controls tube bending ma- 
chinery nearby. Finally — presto — out 
comes the tube, ready for assembly. 

The most dramatic benefit of these new 
technologies — computer-aided design 
(CAD) and computer-aided manufacture 
(CAM) — has been that the tubes de- 
signed and fabricated under computer 
control fit into the airplane better, with 
fewer adjustments. Three years ago, as 
many as 100 tubes bent by hand for each 
McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighter didn't fit. 
Now, using CAD-CAM, an average of 
just four tubes per plane need readjust- 
ment. Where 12 craftsmen used to do the 
bending for each plane, now the job takes 
just three — a computer technician and two 
assemblers. 

Says WPI's Professor Kenneth E. Scott, 
'48, ME, "The emerging capabilities of 
CAD-CAM place us at the threshold of 
an industrial revolution of uncharted pro- 
portions. At WPI, we're in a position with 
our newly acquired CAD lab to prepare 
our engineers and scientists for the tre- 
mendous opportunities the CAD-CAM 
industry offers." 



Since its installation in August 1981, 
the WPI CAD Laboratory, with Ken 
Scott as its director, has provided 
hands-on teaching and research experi- 
ences in CAD for over 130 students and 
faculty. "Our goal," he says, "is not so 
much to train operators, but to integrate 
CAD into the WPI educational program 
so that graduates will be familiar with the 
technology and have the know-how to ef- 
fectively manage those who do operate 
CAD-CAM systems." 

While the more exotic CAD and ro- 
botics technologies and applications may 
share most of the limelight in the popular 
press and in technical circles, CAM con- 
tinues to play a leading role in manufac- 
turing technology, as it has for over 20 
years. "Robotics," says Ben Gordon, '65, 
Associate Professor of ME and technical 
director of the Manufacturing Engineer- 
ing Applications Center (MEAC), "is but 
one small part of CAM." Actually, he 
explains, CAM is the application of com- 
puter capabilities to manufacturing. There 
are still many common operations — as- 
sembly of intricate, high-volume parts, for 
instance — which today's industrial robots 
simply cannot handle very well. But in all 
cases, with or without robotics, CAD and 
CAM share a common raison d'etre: to 
increase productivity, reduce lead times, 
improve accuracy and quality, and make 
design and manufacturing less costly. 



WPI JOURNAL 



At left: an example of a computer- 
created three-dimensional surface. It 
represents the corner of a pocket on a 
typical forging. 

Many observers believe that truly in- 
tegrated CAD-CAM systems, where the 
best of CAD and the most advanced of 
CAM are connected — both physically and 
through integrated computer program- 
ming — may provide America's best chance 
for competing successfully with the super- 
productive Japanese in the global indus- 
trial ball game. 

"The U.S. is falling behind the Japa- 
nese in productivity," says Professor 
Arthur Gerstenfeld, "and only through 
the use of advanced automation can this 
trend be reversed." Gerstenfeld, Robert 
H. Stoddard Professor of Management, 
is particularly interested in robotics ap- 
plications of CAM.' So far, say most ex- 
perts, the U.S., not its Japanese counter- 
parts, has made the most dramatic CAD- 
CAM breakthroughs. But with Japan's 
ability to apply new technologies, those 
who have pioneered CAD-CAM devel- 
opments cannot afford to rest on their 
laurels for long. 

"The rules of the game are changing 
constantly," Scott maintains, "and vir- 
tually with the speed of light. Our com- 
mitment is to give students at minimum 
a solid grounding in CAD-CAM, so they 
can respond effectively to change — how- 
ever great." 

The CAD of CAD-CAM is essen- 
tially drafting and designing with 
computer graphics displayed on a 
television screen. Anything that the de- 
signer can do with pencil, compass, and 
straightedge can be done mathematically 
with CAD. The big advantage, Scott says, 
is that the computer communicates with 
the designer through pictures. This ena- 
bles the mind to absorb the information 
contained in the diagram much faster than 
it could through a conventional comput- 
er's format, numbers and words on the 
screen or on paper. "This," he adds, "and 
the ability to make changes at any stage 
in its development — this interactive ca- 
pability — have been shown to improve 
design productivity by a factor of up to 
5." 

Unfortunately, he says, many industrial 
users don't tap CAD's full potential, re- 
maining content to do simple drafting. Al- 



ready, many systems are capable of con- 
ducting other operations, like determining 
mass properties, modeHng finite ele- 
ments, and simulating temperature and 
mechanical stresses. In the future, such 
capabihties will become common, ena- 
bhng the computer's huge data banks to 
churn out lengthy calculations and de- 
tailed analytical resuUs. This will add sig- 
nificantly to CAD's time and cost savings 
over conventional methods of design and 
manufacturing. 

The real heart of every CAD system — 
and of all CAM operations for that mat- 
ter — is programming of the computer that 
drives the graphics displays and analytical 
operations or, in CAM, the automated 
manufacturing machinery. It is not un- 
common for legions of programming wiz- 
ards to labor long on one program for one 
CAD system, writing and typing in the 
sometimes millions of commands re- 
quired for each operation. All this, so that 
when the user pushes a keyboard button 
or uses a light pen on the system's graphic 
tablet, the thousands of lines and spHnes 



(curves) that form the graphic display can 
appear on screen. 

Despite the substantial benefits at- 
tributable to CAD, say many ob- 
servers, the real harvest will only 
be reaped by linking computer-aided de- 
sign and manufacturing functions. CAD 
assists the design engineer to develop, de- 
sign, analyze, and describe products. CAM 
helps the production engineer to plan the 
method of manufacture; to design tools, 
fixtures, testing rigs, and gauges; to pre- 
pare factory planning layouts; to keep track 
of inventory; and — perhaps most impor- 
tantly — to drive computer numerical con- 
trol (CNC) machine tools, measuring 
equipment and, ultimately, robotics. 

The basic idea behind most CAM 
equipment has been with us for over two 
decades: to instruct machines to do te- 
dious, repetitive manufacturing tasks — 
"the things humans are worst at," says 
Ben Gordon. NC milling machines, lathes, 
injection molders, and other equipment 
produce the same part over and over, re- 



An industry in transition 



'For the story of robotics at WPI, see "Get- 
ting a Gripper on the Future," coming in 
the February 1983 WPI Journal. 



CAD-CAM vendors may constitute the 
fastest growing industry around. In 
1981 Merrill Lynch predicted overall in- 
dustry sales of $750 million, soaring to 
$2.2 billion by 1984. Presently, some 5,000 
CAD systems are in use worldwide. By 
1985, that number should jump to 80,000, 
and new combatants for CAD-CAM's 
bonanza are sure to emerge in the battle 
for larger bites of this expanding pie. 

Besides designing and drafting for man- 
ufacturing applications, CAD finds new 
applications in a host of other fields, such 
as integrated circuit design, plant design 
and documentation, wiring design, and 
mapping. 

Presently, the utility mapping, carto- 
graphic and demographic portions make 
up only 3 percent of the CAD-CAM in- 
dustry. But the expected annual growth 
rate of this segment is the largest. 

Turnkey seems to be the catchword in 
CAD-CAM today. Turnkey refers to sys- 
tems for which vendors provide the com- 
puter and the graphics display and pe- 
ripheral devices needed for data storage 
and manipulations and "hard" (paper) 
copy output. Also supplied is the appli- 
cable software, or programming, which, 
when coupled with the graphics hard- 



ware, forms the interface between the user 
and the computer. 

At Autofact III, a mind-bogghng trade 
fair of turnkey CAD-CAM hard- and 
software held in November 1981, dozens 
of vendors brought the future of design 
and manufacturing to a Detroit conven- 
tion hall. At this one show alone, Com- 
putervision Corporation, the industry 
leader, introduced 36 new products. The 
show's offerings ranged from the com- 
paratively mundane to the exotic — from 
mechanical and VLSI design and numer- 
ical control tool path generation to ar- 
chitectural and structural design . . . from 
systems offering X-ray windows display- 
ing the inside of a designed part, to color 
displays capable of generating over 1,000 
combinations of hues and intensities . . . 
from systems with solid geometric mod- 
eling with color, to those capable of such 
analytic techniques as vibration tolerance 
tests on automobiles under simulated per- 
formance conditions. 

All this and much more was new at Au- 
tofact III — and all in the name of pro- 
ductivity gains. Yes, it would appear that 
the U.S. is indeed serious about — de- 
pending on your viewpoint — regaining or 
honing its productivity edge. 



AUGUST 1982 




In WPI's CAD lab, director Ken Scott works at a terminal, 
predicts, "will open whole new fields." 



'This technology," he 



ceiving their marching orders automati- 
cally by reading and re-reading coded in- 
structions from paper or metallic tape 
perforated with holes that translate into 
three-dimensional machine motion. 

Formerly punched manually by expert 
machinists, these tapes are now coded di- 
rectly from the computer, eliminating much 
of the error-prone and inefficient human 
factor. Today, a competent computer 
programmer is involved in the coding. But 
already this step is being eliminated. "Ul- 
timately," says Gordon, "we'll generate 
an idea on the CAD screen, and zing, 
through intergrated CAD-CAM the out- 
put from that system will not be a punched 
tape, but the machined part itself." 

"In the first five years of the CAM lab," 
says Gordon, "we've grown from ten stu- 
dents and one teacher — me — to 46 stu- 
dents, several master's degree candidates, 
and three instructors." Physically tying 
CAD to CAM is the logical objective of 
the WPI program. Presently, he says, CAD 
and CAM at WPI are essentially separate. 
The CAD lab is located in Higgins Labs, 
with the CAM and robotics lab situated 
in Washburn Shops. But when renovation 
of Washburn begins (planned for early 
1983), CAM will move to Higgins Labs, 
bringing the two into close enough prox- 



imity to allow "hardwire" (electronic) 
connection. "With installation of the new 
CAD lab and the planned relocation of 
CAM," says Scott, "we have an oppor- 
tunity to create a learning environment in 
which our CAD and CAM facilities are 
fully integrated." 

"Actually," says Stephen Morgan, '82 
ME, of Worcester, "the present physical 
layout of the labs led me to choose my 
Major Qualifying Project (MQP)." As- 
sisted by Robert Neville, '82 ME, of 
Holyoke, he refined a system by which 
WPI's CAD and CAM labs can be more 
easily linked. "Before our Bridgeport three 
axis CNC milling machines can compre- 
hend the computer signals of our Com- 
putervision Interactive Graphics Sys- 
tem," he explains, "we must put the signals 
through a post-processing unit, which 
conditions the computer program signals 
to the needs of the Bridgeport." 

Now, says Morgan, who has since gone 
to work for Pratt & Whitney, "by 'dump- 
ing' the post-processed signals onto the 
floppy disk of an Apple minicomputer and 
carrying it to a similar system wired to the 
CAM equipment, we've effectively elim- 
inated the need for manual coding of the 
Bridgeport CNC" system." Successful de- 
.sign and manufacture of a machined part. 



using WPI's CAD-CAM labs, was the 
product of his MQP. 

"The designer could also hardwire the 
two computers and the post processor," 
says Gordon, but in either case the goal 
is to go from idea generation to machined 
part without having to use manual inter- 
vention. 

Similarly, using integrated CAD-CAM, 
Bruce Qlsen, '78, a CAM group robotics 
instructor, has programmed one of 
MEAC's robots to recreate (with pen on 
paper) the signature he wrote with the 
light pen on the system's graphic tablet. 

WPI's CAD program has re- 
ceived the sustained support 
of both public and private 
groups. Start-up monies for the CAD lab 
were provided by the Bay State Skills 
Commission and the 25th Reunion gift of 
the Class of 1956. WPI funds have been 
used to prepare the 620-square-foot lab, 
including installation of climate control 
equipment. 

But the heart of the lab — the computer 
itself, the terminals, the video screens, 
paper printer and program software — 
constitute the generous gift of Compu- 
tervision Corporation of Burlington, Mass. 
The CAD lab is already providing grad- 
uates with the kind of hands-on knowl- 
edge employers actively seek. 

Local support of student projects link- 
ing CAD and CAM has also been grat- 
ifying. Says Scott, "Our CAD program 
provides a natural interface between stu- 
dents' educational objectives and the needs 
of area companies interested in exploring 
applications of CAD-CAM to their own 
operations." Already, Wyman-Gordon 
Company, Jamesbury Corporation, Mor- 
gan Construction Company, and New 
England Electric have sponsored MQPs, 
with additional interest widening. Proj- 
ects normally involve using the Compu- 
tervision system to solve existing engi- 
neering design problems. 

Working with Wyman-Gordon, for ex- 
ample, Stewart Farnham, Jr., '82 ME, of 
Spring Hill, Fla., is studying the use of 
CAD to expedite the manufacture of 
forgings. 

According to Farnham, conventional 
die manufacture requires construction of 
wood and clay models, from which a fi- 
berglass mold is made. Then, a tracer 
milling machine produces the actual forg- 
ing die. Without CAD, the entire process 
can take months to complete. But by de- 
signing the geometry of the die on a CAD 
system, the die can be machined directly 
on a CNC milling machine, eliminating 



WPI JOURNAL 



the entire modeling procedure and cutting 
design and production time dramatically. 

Comments Sanjay Shah, research proj- 
ect engineer at Wyman-Gordon, "The type 
of cooperative relationship we've estab- 
lished with WPI is highly beneficial to both 
education and industry." 

Besides local project interest, plans are 
under way to offer a series of intensive 
mini-courses to practicing engineers, de- 
signers, drafters, and managers. Three to 
five days long, these workshops will com- 
prise lectures, demonstrations, and, says 
Scott, "lots of laboratory exercises." 



Where, one might ask, is CAD- 
CAM headed? 
"At the rate things are 
going," says Ben Gordon philosophically, 
"one would be foohsh to suggest that the 
computer's capabilities are either limited 
or boundless. We sometimes tend to for- 
get that computers are no more than ma- 
chines of and for their builders. But it's 
clear to me that we've only scratched the 
surface of computer technology in all its 
applications." 

In design and manufacturing, he says, 
the ultimate is the factory of the future — 



the human-less manufacturing plant. Al- 
ready the Japanese use robots to produce 
other robots, in a factory where auto- 
mation has virtually eliminated the need 
for human labor; where castings (which 
are manufactured using integrated CAD- 
CAM methods) are stored in automated 
warehouses; where unmanned carriers 
transport these castings to CNC milling 
machines, from which they return by more 
unmanned carriers to yet another auto- 
mated warehouse, there to await auto- 
mated assembly and shipping. 
One man runs the show. 



People and Computers: Part 1 



Paul Bresten looks Uke a union man. 
Then again, he looks like a manage- 
ment type. Truth is, he is — or has been — 
both at General Electric Company's Wil- 
mington, Mass. plant. Bresten, '83 EE, 
of Lynn, systems operator and proctor of 
the WPI CAD lab, has seen both sides of 
the fence and has walked, little to his de- 
light, the middle ground. 

Prior to taking leave from GE to attend 
WPI in 1981, he was a unionized com- 
puter drafter. As a loyal member of the 
International Federation of Professional 
and Technical Engineers, he served first 
as recording secretary and then as chief 
steward for two plants. Then, while at 
WPI, Bresten was offered a summer post 
at the Wilmington plant supervising 12 
CAD designers while also conducting a 
special GE project interfacing the CAD 
system with a computer-controlled circuit 
board tester. 

Suddenly, he found himself facing his 
former colleagues, not as a union brother 
but as their supervisor. "In a few cases," 
he says, "I found myself the target of 
grievances!" 

People problems surfaced, he recalls, 
when company officials determined that 
round-the-clock utilization was required 
to make the expensive CAD equipment 
cost-effective. Real fears surfaced among 
union drafters, who had ascended the sen- 
iority system using conventional, non- 
computerized drafting equipment and 
techniques. Suddenly these men, many of 
them middle-aged, faced a two-pronged 
threat — the need to modernize their work 
methods and the looming possibility of 
having to work the dreaded second or third 
shift, from which their long climb up the 
seniority ladder had, they presumed, ex- 
empted them. 

Meanwhile, management, faced with 



the need to fill two additional shifts, hired 
draftsmen — many of them younger and 
more adaptable — who saw the need to 
learn new skills not as a threat but as an 
opportunity. As these new men grew more 
proficient, management felt pressure from 
both camps to award promotions based 
on either seniority or productivity. 

Eventually, through the grievance pro- 
cedure, many of the major personnel 
problems were ironed out. Today a con- 
ventional drafting system to update older, 
manually produced drawings exists side 
by side with the CAD operation, used to 
make new designs. The CAD operation 
runs both first and second shifts, while the 
manual drafting runs first shift only. 

And, oh yes, Bresten plans to return to 
GE after graduation, this time as a prod- 
uct design engineer. 



Part 2 



The human element in CAM differs 
somewhat from CAD," says Ben 
Gordon. CAM operators normally tend 
to CNC tools, he says. And because the 
technology has been around longer than 
CAD, the labor force has had more time 
to adapt to the changing technology. 
Hence, replacing perforated paper tape 
with computers tends to be a much less 
harrowing experience than replacing pen- 
cil and straightedge with video screen and 
keyboard. "It's the automation, the ill- 
perceived notion that CAD operators must 
also be computer programmers — that 
scares the uninitiated." 
Further developments in CAM, he be- 

Professor Ben Gordon demonstrates 
integrated CAD-CAM applications. 



lieves, won't displace CNC operators, but 
many jobs will be upgraded to system- 
monitoring or sophisticated maintenance 
posts. Many workers will require addi- 
tional training, almost always at the com- 
pany's expense. 

He adds: The initial cost of CAD-CAM 
systems — often in the millions — coupled 
with management's attention to short-run 
performance curves, creates tremendous 
pressure to make capital expenditures cost- 
effective within a relatively short time 
frame. "Despite these pressures," he says, 
"CAD-CAM promises the brightest fu- 
ture for many manufacturers." 




AUGUST 1982 



You'd think that the rain would have 
drenched our spirits as it did our slick- 
ers. But one look at the multitude assem- 
bled told otherwise. This was Reunion 
1982, a wet but wonderful weekend when 
a near-record number of alumni families 
returned to the Hill to renew friendships, 
savor a touch of nostalgia — and stories 
that have grown with the years — catch up 
on the latest news about their alma mater, 
and simply enjoy themselves. 



The celebration began with a bright sky 

overhead, but in no time the monsoons 
clamped down on all of New England, 
dumping eight inches of the wet stuff on 
Worcester in three days. So, with the out- 
of-doors effectively off-limits, hospitality 
suites quickly became focal points for 
sometimes years-awaited greetings of 
classmates, creating a place of real warmth 
in the eye of the storm. Throughout the 
weekend, emotions ran high: 



Welcome 
Back! 




Peter H. Horstmann, '55, president 
of the WPI Alumni Association 




At the 70th Reunion of the Class of 

1912 are (from left) J. Francis 

Granger, Henry Rickett and Eugene 

Powers — with Mrs. Ruth Taylor, whose 

late husband is remembered with the 

annual Herbert F. Taylor award for 

service to WPI. 



}Vhat else can you 
_ ' say? The weatk 

wasn 't the best, but for the L 
Toomajians and everyone else, ti 
weekend was brigi 
with good cheei 



-Sf i ta^ 



8 WPI JOURNAL 




A pictorial 

voyage through a 

wet but wonderful 

reunion weekend 



• On Friday evening, when everyone en- 
joyed the timeless sounds of the Ragtime 
Rowdies, both at the annual New Eng- 
land clambake and at the Goat's Head 
Pub. 

• On Saturday, when, between tours of 
the campus and a host of demonstrations 
and panel discussions, the General Re- 
union Luncheon was held in Harrington 
Auditorium. Highlights were presenta- 
tions of two Goddard Awards for out- 



standing professional achievement, two 
Taylor Awards for service to WPI and the 
Alumni Association, and presentation of 
three major gifts to the college from the 
25th, 40th and 50th reunion classes. 
• And finally, at Sunday brunches, where 
pledges to keep in closer touch could be 
heard from all quarters. 

This and much, much more the hearty 
will keep as memories of Reunion Week- 
end 1982. 




Len Huntoon, '62 (left), and Brian 
O'Connell, '62, with Pat Moran, '65 (center). 
General Reunion Chair. 




WPI Trustee Raymond J. Forkey, 

'40 (left) and President Cranch 

(right) congratulate John M. 

Townsend, Jr., '42, and C. 

Chapin Cutler, ' 37— recipients 

of the Robert H. Goddard award 

for professional achievement. 



The 50th Reunion 
Class of 1932 



The Jack Herrs—he's Class of '22— 

stock up on WPI memorabilia at 

the bookstore. 



With Professor Kenneth E. Scott, '48, on hand, 
G. Albert Anderson, '51 (left) and Julius A. Palley, '46, 
accept the Herbert F. Taylor A ward for Distinguished Service 
to WPI from President Edmund Cranch. 




10 WPI JOURNAL 




PROTECTS 



Models of 
Mystic Memories 

John F. Salzig, '83, ME, and 
Eric R. Schade, '83, ME 
Prof. Herbert Beall, CM, and 
Prof. James P. Hanlan, 
Humanities, Advisors 



In her heyday, Socony IV was one of 
hundreds of tugboats that plied the har- 
bors of New York City. Built in 1912, she 
was special only because she typified the 
transfer tugs that have played a role in 
industry wholly inconsistent with their 
modest size. Next to the behemoths they 
so effectively push around, tugs are, after 
all, cute. 

Mystic Seaport, perhaps Connecticut's 
finest monument to America's past, is the 
site of several models conceived and built 
by WPI students. If you've been lucky 
enough to visit the Mystic museum lately, 
you may have seen scale models of an old 
Uft dock — a device that raised large sailing 
vessels above the water line for construc- 
tion and repair — and a 19th century rope 
manufacturing plant. Both are working 
replicas, and both were constructed at 
WPI. And if you can manage a trip to this 
authentic village of yesteryear, you'll find 
on permanent display Mystic's first scale 
model of America's most beloved and sto- 
ried watercraft — the tugboat. In this case, 
a model of Socony IV. 

Constructed on a 1:46 scale at a "cost" 
of 300 to 400 working hours, the model 
is a labor of love and the IQP of two WPI 
seniors, John Salzig, of Leonia, New Jer- 
sey and Eric Schade, of Glastonbury, 
Connecticut. 

To accomplish what turned into more 
of a venture than they had anticipated, 
Salzig and Schade reHed on their individ- 
ual talents and some captivating twists of 
fate. Salzig, an experienced wood-carver, 
fashioned the solid hull of laminated pop- 
lar from the blueprints supplied by Mys- 
tic; while Schade, who plans a career in 



models design, produced the cabin and 
deck from bent basswood, plexiglass and 
tooled brass. 

But after extensive preparatory re- 
search on Socony IV, several unknowns 
remained. Where, for instance, is she sta- 
tioned today? Notes Schade: "Though we 
still don't know, we were able to find an 
old tugman who worked her in the New 
York harbor decades ago and remem- 
bered much of her history." 

What's more, in each of the five times 
she was sold, her color scheme changed 
to suit her new owner. So what would suit 
her modelers? "By sheer luck," recalls 
Salzig, "in talking with friends about my 
project, my dad met up with an old-timer 
who worked her when she was maroon 
and grey, with yellow trim — as it turns 
out, pretty appropriate for a couple of 
model builders from WPI." 



Life Questions at NASA 

Paul Maselbas, '83, CE 

Prof. Herbert Yankee, Advisor 

Quick! True or false: The fire suppressor 
Halon 1301 completely extinguishes all 
types of fires. 

If you don't work around computers or 
other essential electronic equipment, you 
might not have the foggiest suggestion of 
an answer to this query. But don't feel 
alone. As WPI sejiior Paul Maselbas 
learned during his recent IQP, engineers 
and technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space 
Center (KSC), who work with some of 
the nation's most sophisticated and ex- 
pensive electronics and who are protected 
by the agent, often don't know what you 
may not know: the capabilities and op- 
eration of Halon 1301. 

Since 1973, NASA has used Halon 1301, 
a revolutionary fire extinguisher, in com- 
munications, computer and electronic data 
storage areas. To be sure, protection of 
ground-based electronics facilities de- 



mands the utmost in fire protection tech- 
nology. For NASA, Halon 1301 meets the 
agency's exacting standards. 

Though the mechanism by which Halon 
1301 works is not yet completely under- 
stood, most fire protection experts be- 
heve the agent acts chemically with a fire, 
actually breaking the complex chain of 
hundreds of separate events which occur 
in the burning process. (Other, more 
common agents, like carbon dioxide or 
water, act physically by smothering or 
cooling the fire.) Upon discharge, the col- 
orless, odorless gas completely floods the 
room, developing its effectiveness very 
rapidly. 

The advantages of Halon 1301 over car- 
bon dioxide or water are significant. 
Though much more expensive than either, 
Halon 1301 can penetrate areas inacces- 
sible to these agents, such as cabinets or 
sub-floor spaces; electronic equipment can 
remain operational during discharge; and 
equipment cleanup is virtually elimi- 
nated. 

When Maselbas made the trek down to 
Florida's KSC, his objectives numbered 
four: to research Halon 1301 and its use 
at KSC; to test, through a short ques- 
tionnaire, the knowledge of NASA per- 
sonnel about Halon 1301; to educate these 
employees, should their knowledge be 
found lacking, by means of an informative 
brochure; and, in the process, to get closer 
to the nation's space program than he ever 
dreamed possible. 

In general, he learned that most of the 
60 workers surveyed were quite unin- 
formed about Halon 1301 systems — in fact 
nearly 20 percent weren't even aware that 
their areas were protected by Halon 1301. 
Clearly, Maselbas's resulting pamphlet, 
"Halon 1301 Fire Suppression Systems," 
was needed to supplement NASA's vital 
employee-training program. 

As to Maselbas's fourth objective, to 
get really close to the space program, he 
recalls, "It was an unreal experience. I 
gained maximum civilian security clear- 
ance, got to see a space shuttle Columbia 
take-off up close, and actually climbed all 
over the shuttle soon after it returned from 
space." The NASA people, he says, are 
very receptive to the types of projects em- 
bodied in the IQP program. 

And, if you're like the 52 percent of the 
survey respondents who said that, yes, 
Halon 1301 does completely extinguish all 
types of fires, you'd join this majority in 
being incorrect. The effectiveness of the 
agent on a Class A, or "deep-seated," fire 
is questionable, though research is now 
under way to solve this shortcoming. 



AUGUST 1982 



II 



This was not a delivery of scientific 
gospel according to a Nobel laureate. 
Nor an emeritus professor returned for a 
guest lecture. Nor even the final appear- 
ance of a retiring professor who'd won the 
respect of legions of students through de- 
cades of teaching. 

Still, when Dr. Dougal Drysdale drew 
to a close the final lecture of his four- 
month stay at WPI, he removed his glasses, 
looked up at his graduate class in fire dy- 
namics and simply said, "I guess that does 
it." 

For a long moment his students made 
no move to query the professor, or even 
to leave the classroom. Silence. Then, one 
by one, chairs shuffled, students rose, and 
the applause that met Drysdale head-on 
fully captured the sentiment that the en- 
tire WPI community has come to own for 
this gentle, brilliant man from Scotland. 

Drysdale. Lecturer (equivalent of our 
Assistant Professor) at the University of 
Edinburgh, is one of the world's literally 
handful of authorities on fire dynamics — 
the study of how materials ignite and burn, 
how heat is transferred in fires, how smoke 
moves in buildings, how fire grows from 
ignition to full-room involvement, and so 
on. 

His mission at WPI? Professor David 
Lucht, Director of WPI's Center for 
Firesafety Studies, explains: "Through a 
generous grant from Connecticut General 
Corporation/Aetna Insurance Company, 
Dougal is here to write a textbook for 
graduate-level study in fire dynamics. In 
addition, he has now completed teaching 
WPI's first graduate course in this vital 
field." 

Adds Professor Robert Fitzgerald, '53, 
who provided the spark for establishing 
the WPI Center, "WPI and Edinburgh 
have developed an ongoing partnership in 
offering master's degree programs in Fire- 
safety Engineering. But until now, not one 
textbook has been written at a level that 
covers fire behavior principles in the form 
needed for engineering education." 

According to Drysdale, in firesafety en- 
gineering it is essential not only to rec- 
ognize fire risks, but also to assess their 
significance — to quantify, model and pre- 
dict these risks. "Only then can buildings 
be designed, built and renovated to max- 
imize firesafety in a cost-effective way." 

Drysdalc's interest in modeling com- 
bustion stems from his years of research. 
Having earned his baccalaureate degree 
at Edinburgh and his PhD at Cambridge 
and worked as a postdoctoral research fel- 
low at the University of Toronto, Drys- 
dale jomed a leading-edge research group 



12 WPI JOURNAL 



at England's University of Leeds in 1967. 
For seven years, he and his colleagues 
conducted exhaustive experiments to bring 
together the principles, data, and mod- 
eling techniques that would enable engi- 
neers and designers to better predict fire 
behavior. 

He expands: "In the oxidation of a fuel — 
gasoline, for example— the end products 
are carbon dioxide and water. But be- 
tween these two phases, hundreds of in- 
dividual reactions occur, some fast, some 



Dougal 

Drysdale: 

Fire Man 



by Kenneth McDonnell 




In short order, 

this flying Scot has 

come to WPI and left 

his mark on firesafety 

engineering — worldwide. 



slow, some which control the rates of other 
reactions." The Leeds group has been 
working to systematize all of these single- 
step reactions to make more reliable the 
combustion-modeling process. "So when 
we put it all in the computer and turn the 
handle, we can predict how the combus- 
tion we're trying to measure will behave." 

The firesafety program at the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh, now well established, 
wasn't always so, says Drysdale. "In 1973, 
the University granted the program a ten- 
year trial run, so to speak. If the subject 
we proposed teaching proved to be aca- 
demically worthwhile, we would become 
a permanent department in the Univer- 
sity." Initially called Fire Engineering, the 
department soon renamed itself Fire- 
safety Engineering. "Under the old name," 
he says wryly, "people outside the de- 
partment couldn't decide whether we were 
there to start or to put out fires." 

Drysdale says he's very favorably im- 
pressed with WPI. "The ideal," he notes, 
"is great, and it seems to be working," 
producing engineers and scientists who 
have been "stretched" in the appropriate 
areas, particularly through MQPs and 
IQPs. "As undergraduates they're doing 
work often associated with graduate-level 
studies, generating thesis-like documents 
over a long period of time, and passing a 
test of their competency in an entire field 
of study. This is a valuable experience, 
demonstrating to students the relevance 
to the outside world of what they're doing 
at WPI." 

Dougal flew back to his beloved Scot- 
land in May. But he leaves behind the 
manuscript for the first-ever textbook on 
fire dynamics, which, according to Bob 
Fitzgerald, will be welcomed for its lit- 
erary quality as much as for its content. 

But Dougal leaves behind much more. 
He leaves with all who came to know him — 
whether in the classroom, in our homes, 
in the WPI glee club or on the jogging 
circuits of Worcester — the distinct feeling 
that we are fortunate to have known him. 

We'll remember his uncommon good- 
will and sensitivity when we recall his 
farewell picnic at the home of WPI As- 
sistant Admissions Director Doug ('67) 
and Carolyn Pike. Attired in his clan 
kilt, Dougal concocted the traditional 
Scottish delicacy, haggis — "You boil the 
devil out of a sheep's entrails, add oat- 
meal and herbs, and serve it with boiled 
turnips from the stomach sack of the 
sheep." (Yum!) Then, after serving it to 
the guests assembled, he proceeded to 
"strut his stuff" with this Scot's version 
of America's disco hustle. 



Fire. Thick, choking smoke billows 
up through a high-rise hotel in Chi- 
cago. "A classic, one-room mat- 
tress fire" touched off by a smoldering 
cigarette, says the local fire commis- 
sioner. It kills four people, injures 20. 

In Baltimore, a candle tips over in a 
rowhouse where the gas and electricity 
had been shut off just the day before. The 
city's worst fire in 30 years claims 10 lives. 

Three days later, across town, seven 
people are left dead in another rowhouse 
fire. Again, careless smoking. The chil- 
dren, all five of them, die of smoke in- 
halation. A next-door neighbor remem- 
bers, "You could just hear them screaming 
. . . right through the walls. It was really 
a hurting thing." 

The U.S. has the highest per capita fire 
death rate among industrialized nations — 
quadruple, for example, that of Italy. Some 
600 Americans a month die by fire. Thou- 
sands more are hurt, some of them being 
grossly disfigured or left in unrelenting 
pain. "You want to die," says a burn vic- 
tim. "There is nothing that makes that 
kind of pain worthwhile." Flames con- 
sume billions of dollars worth of property 
each year. Billions more go to fire de- 
partments, or are spent on alarms and 
sprinklers, extinguishers and standpipes, 
to limit the toll. 

But not all the billions are wisely spent. 
Well-meaning people meet in committee 
rooms to hear manufacturers, suppliers, 
contractors, unions, and civic groups lobby 
for particular points of view, then vote on 
safeguards — like insulation and sprinklers 
and fire doors — they think ought to b"e 
part of the building code. And sometimes 
they vote wrong. 

Other people conduct tests, often at 
$25,000 a shot, to rate how well various 
building components stand up to heat, or 
how well particular materials promote or 
retard the spread of flames. But some- 
times the tests designed for old materials 
don't work for new ones. 

All in all, much time and money goes 
into reducing the toll taken by fire. Much 
of it is worthwhile; some is not. In any 
case, the problem could certainly be tack- 
led more systematically. A more analyt- 
ical approach might yield reduced costs, 
greater benefits. The age-old scourge of 
fires burning out of control and causing 
loss of property and of life — You could 
hear them screaming . . . right through the 
walls — could, in short, become an area of, 
well, serious study. 

And that is what the people at the Cen- 
ter for Firesafety Studies at Worcester Pol- 
ytechnic Institute in Massachusetts have 




Mastering 

FIRE 



In 1871, Mrs. O'Leary's 
cow set Chicago on fire. 
Today, people still die in 
fires — despite modern 
building methods. Why? 

by Robert Kanigel 




aBii 



in mind to do. They're trying to gather 
up the scattered mass of scientific re- 
search and folk knowledge, the gritty ex- 
perience of generations of firefighters and 
the accumulated wisdom of the building 
codes, and make of it all a discipline. 

David Lucht, director of the WPI 
firesafety center, has a model for 
how he'd like to see firesafety 
engineering make its mark in the world. 
His model is an allied discipline that's al- 
ready respected, professionally "ma- 
ture." His model is the specialty known 
as structural engineering. 

"Go ahead, open up a building code," 
urges Assistant Director Jonathan Bar- 
nett. He's referring to the bulky volume 
in which each town or city sets forth its 
special requirements for new construc- 
tion. Typically, the code will be three or 
four inches thick, with fire safety provi- 
sions occupying most of it. Rules govern- 
ing structural design may take up barely 
a finger's width. 

Plainly, it's no less life-threatening for 
a building to collapse than to be con- 
sumed by fire. It's just that when it comes 
to how thick a structural column should 
be, Barnett observes, the building codes 
trust the engineer: We won't tell you how 
to do it, they say. Just assure us it will be 
safe, affix your signature and your seal as 
a professional engineer to that effect, and 
that's good enough. 

Back at the turn of the century, before 
structural engineering came into its own, 
Barnett goes on, this wasn't the case at 
all. Then codes dictated every structural 
detail. The code-writers would hear that 
a 6-inch concrete slab had collapsed? Well, 
they would demand 12-inch slabs — no 
matter that careful analysis might reveal 
eight inches to be enough. 

Though well-intended, it was a cum- 
bersome way of doing things, and one ul- 
timately discarded as structural engineer- 
ing's predictive powers grew more 
respected. Yet fire safety for buildings to- 
day, lament Barnett and Lucht and others 
at the WPI firesafety center, is mostly 
handled in the same, too-rigid way. Apply 
so many inches of insulation to a column, 
says the code. Or, Space the seats in the 
auditorium just so widely. Or, Make the 
wall sheathing material just so thick. The 
code becomes a mass of detail, piled up 
over the years, varying immensely from 
community to community, the product of 
innumerable local battles lost and won. 
"It's design by committee," says David 
Lucht. 

The codes, of course, came about for 



AUGUST 1982 



a reason. In 1871. Mrs. 0"Leary"s cow 
kicked over a lantern and Chicago burned, 
the fire taking 250 hves and obliterating 
three-and-a-half square miles of the city. 
The next year. Boston burned. After a 
succession of big. costly fires around the 
turn of the century, the insurance com- 
panies were, as David Lucht says, "going 
broke. . . . The way those cities were built, 
they had all the ingredients for tremen- 
dous conflagrations." Periodically, they 
got them. 

So beginning in 1905 came the first of 
the underwriter-inspired "model codes." 
Wood construction was out, firewalls in. 
And the fact is, Lucht points out, "We 
don't have Chicago burning down any- 
more." 

But people are still dying in building 
fires, in brick, concrete, steel, and glass 
structures no less than in wood ones. How 
come? For one thing, as Dougal Drys- 
dale. a visiting professor from Scotland, 
points out, "It's not the building that burns, 
it's the contents.'" Carpet and drapes and 
furniture and paper do burn, and archi- 
tects exert no control over them. 

Another factor is the heavier use of 
plastics. As Lucht recently told viewers 
of the Nova television documentary "Why 
America Burns," the new plastics have 
"caused problems that the fire codes 
haven't caught up with yet." Plastics-fueled 
fires burn faster, with more smoke, and 
churn out prodigious quantities of poison 
gases like phosgene, chlorine, and cya- 
nide. Of course, adds Lucht, "the carbon 
monoxide kills you in any case." 

To make matters worse, standard tests 
developed on older building materials like 
cotton, wood, and wool often fail to re- 
veal the dangers of the synthetics. In one 
demonstration aired for the Nova docu- 
mentary, for example, a plastic rated high 
by one such test — the "Steiner tunnel test," 
originally developed to rate the fire po- 
tential of wood panels — was consumed by 
flames within a minute and a half. A low- 
rated plywood, on the other hand, would 
have taken 20 minutes to become simi- 
larly engulfed. This kind of thing, says 
Jonathan Barnett. is a classic example of 
a test being used "poorly, blindly." 

Still another problem ignored by the 
old code-restricted approach to fire safety 
is the change in building construction since 
World War II. Modern materials make 
for lighter, cheaper construction — but for 
poorer fire containment, too. And while 
architects often do specify fire-resistant 
flooring materials, for example, builders 
sometimes poke holes in them for air con- 
ditioning and other building-wide sys- 




Fire Facts: 



One in three fire deaths and injuries 
can be ascribed to careless smoking, 
one in four to arson (which has gone 
up 400 per cent in the last ten years). 
Eliminating just these two causes of 
fire, together with installing smoke 
alarms in every home, would cut fire 
losses in half. (Jonathan Barnett re- 
members once leaving an electrical 
wire near the pilot light, after cleaning 
his stove. "It was about an hour be- 
fore it heated up enough to melt the 
insulation," he recalls. A fire did start, 
but his smoke detector alerted him to 
it. "The smoke detector saved my 
life," he says, "and the fire extin- 
guisher made it easy to put out the 
fire.") 

How tall should buildings be from the 
standpoint of fire safety? "As tall as 
you like," says Jonathan Barnett — 
given intelligent design. The two usual 
approaches to high-rise fire safety are 
sprinklers or compartmentalization. 
Intelligent design involves a judicious 
mixture of both. 




terns, without going back to plug them up. 
All in all, declares Jonathan Barnett, 
"We're spending millions a year for fire 
safety we don't need" — leaving millions a 
year unavailable for fire safety we do need. 

There is no shortage of research" 
on how fires start, catch, and 
spread, says David Lucht. "You 
could fill this building with papers about 
fire." The National Bureau of Standards 
has a Center for Fire Research, and key 
work has been done in Japan, Germany, 
and Sweden. But the material is scattered. 
The problem is getting at it, making sense 
of it, applying it. As a matter of fact, de- 
clares Lucht, there is "not a single hard- 
cover text on fire behavior, anywhere." 
That lack is precisely what Dougal 
Drysdale has been trying to overcome, 
and why the University of Edinburgh pro- 
fessor has been at WPI for the past months. 
Working under a grant from a New Eng- 
land insurance company, the sandy-haired, 
woolly-looking Scot, whose temporary of- 
fice in the basement of WPI's Higgins Lab 
was graced with bicycle and loaded back- 
pack, has been putting together the first 
comprehensive text on fire dynamics. Not 
surprisingly, he's awash in the chemistry, 
physics, and mathematics of fire that he's 
been trying to distill into the book. "Fire 
is really a feedback process between the 
flame and the surface" of the burning ma- 
terial, he says. It represents "quite a del- 
icate heat balance." 

Heat balance. It's not just how hot 
something gets that determines whether 
it will sustain a flame; it's whether the 
burning generates enough heat to offset 
that carried away by heat transfer pro- 
cesses like conduction and radiation. 
(Water extinguishes a fire, notes Drys- 
dale, by absorbing its heat.) You are apt 
to have trouble igniting a log with just a 
match — however hotly it may burn — be- 
cause a match simply doesn't supply 
enough heat to make up for that con- 
ducted away by the log's considerable mass. 
You need kindling, burning furiously, to 
get your fire going. 

A haystack, on the other hand, can burst 
into flames spontaneously, with no exter- 
nal source of heat at all. In a slightly moist 
haystack, Drysdale explains, bacteria find 
an ideal setting for growth. And as they 
multiply, they generate heat — not much, 
but the mass of the haystack itself serves 
for insulation, and the temperature slowly 
climbs. Finally, the hay may start to smol- 
der — and, upon finding enough oxygen to 
support combustion, to burn. 

Assistant director of the firesafety cen- 



ter Jonathan Barnett has been using com- 
puter modeling to study the structural 
burdens fire imposes on buildings: When 
a steel structural member gets up to about 
1100 degrees Fahrenheit, it weakens 
markedly, losing its structural integrity. 
Or this, as Barnett says, has been the rule 
of thumb behind code provisions speci- 
fying how much insulation structural 
members must have, the idea being to 
ensure they never reach the forbidden 
temperature. 

But this is just the kind of rigid for- 
mulation Barnett wants to see replaced 
with a "rational engineering approach to 
design similar to that used in all the other 
engineering disciplines." Such an ap- 
proach, he says, can pay substantial div- 
idends. Swedish researchers who pi- 
oneered the techniques he hopes to refine 
have found that through them they rou- 
tinely "save 10 per cent on the cost of fire 
protection for a building." 

The fact is, steel does not simply turn 
to jelly upon reaching 1100 degrees Fahr- 
enheit. For one thing, it responds differ- 
ently depending on whether it's heated 
quickly or slowly. Moreover, fire not only 
weakens it, but may apply additional loads. 
For example, a column not free to expand 
is squeezed by heating. And a beam sub- 
ject to one-sided heating may bend out of 
shape. But perhaps such loads are small 
compared to others the building faces and