Alumni Notes

Alumni updates from various former students from across time and disciplines.

Bob Biros (B.S. Computer Science, ‘80) of Newark, DE, reports that he qualified for the 2011 Senior Olympics to be held in Houston in June 2011. Bob earned a bronze medal in both the 100m and 200m Track and Field events in the recent State of Delaware qualifying games. He works as a Senior Business Analyst with AstraZeneca in Wilmington, DE.

Edward Fisher (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’56) of Mt. Pleasant, MI, reports that he has embarked on a new career. After a career in the U.S. Air Force as a systems engineer at Cape Canaveral and the Pentagon and professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and as a professor of MIS at Central Michigan University where he is now a professor emeritus, he has written six books of fiction. The latest is Lands of In-KO-8: Trilogy, a science fiction adventure. His website is WWW.GreatCreativity.net. Edward earned his Ph.D. at RPI in ’69.

Bruce Green (B.S. Chemical Engineering, ’80) was recently certified to the Superior Court panel for Massachusetts representing indigent individuals accused of committing crimes. After 12 years as an aerospace engineer Bruce graduated with honors from Rutgers School of Law in 1995. He has had a practice in Westfield, MA for 15 years and does solely criminal defense representation.

Fazal Mahmood (M.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’79) of Des Plaines, IL, tells us he had an opportunity to design the mechanical (building services) system of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai now Burj Khalifa while working with Skidmore Owings and Merrill in Chicago.

Eugene Ostreicher (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’58) has enjoyed a multidisciplinary career in new product development in the field of filtration and separation technology. He is an inventor with 34 U.S. patents and pioneered the development of surface chemistry modified filter and separation media. Eugene retired in 2000 as Vice President of Membrane Technology for Cuno, Inc.

Yuriy V. Shlapak (M.S. Electrical Engineering, ’07) is teaching mathematics both on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Marshfield and for the UW Colleges Online program. He earned two M.S. degrees, in mathematics and electrical engineering with emphasis on communication systems, as well as his Ph.D. in mathematics from UConn. Before coming to the UW Colleges, Dr. Shlapak worked as an assistant professor in residence at UConn. He currently is as Assistant Professor within the Mathematics department.

Mark P. Vergnano (B.S.E. Chemical Engineering, ‘80) was elected Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Safety Council during its 2010 Congress & Expo in San Diego. Mark is Executive Vice President of DuPont, where he is responsible for six of the 13 DuPont businesses, including Building Innovations, Protection Technologies, Sustainable Solutions, Electronics & Communications, Chemicals & Fluoroproducts, and Titanium Technologies. In addition, he leads the science company’s Safety, Health and Environment, Sustainability, Marketing & Sales, and Communication functions. Read an earlier story about Mark here.

Karl R. Wurst (Ph.D. Computer Science, ’04) has been promoted to Professor of Computer Science at Worcester State University. He continues to serve as Chair of the Computer Science Department.