Class Notes
The 1950s and ’60s featured a Winter Weekend hosted by the junior class, which included all sorts of winter fun.
1953
Robert Goldberg and his wife, Marge, are now in an independent facility in Portland, Maine. “As with most of the other residents, it is because a child or other relative is close by. We don’t travel too much anymore but we both still drive. Here’s to old RPI.”
Posted 2024-01-10
1954
Gerald H. Brody says that Marvin Menzin’s letter triggered some memories. “Before COVID, Marvin and Peggy used to host a gathering at his cape house for a few of his RPI/AEPI schoolmates and wives. Attendees included Jerry Olderman (’58), Ken Lissak (’54), Stan Shaffran (‘57), and myself. One year, a contingent (with wives) from New York/New Jersey drove up to join us, including Bob Meyers (’54), Murray Boden, Jerry Alderman, and Sheldon Kozlowski. In recent years, we have lunched annually with Marvin and Jerry Olderman. I retired from Raytheon in 1994 after 40 years of design and program management assignments, half on commercial projects and half on government contracts, mostly Navy. They included two years of overseas airport cutovers involving reservation and boarding activities for multiple airlines. My last assignment was deputy program manager for NESP, a $500 million-plus contract for the Navy’s portion of the Milstar program. We designed, developed, and manufactured ground terminals for ships, submarines, shore stations, and a transportable system used in Desert Storm to provide secure communications between the Pentagon and commanders in theater.”
Posted 2024-01-10
Bill Neuberg says that at RPI, he studied things he was interested in, but didn’t care about marks and graduated next to last in the class. He went into the Navy flight training program and was the first in the class to graduate. He did active duty as a flight instructor, flew in three reserve squadrons, and went back in for the Cuban Missile Crisis in the ferry squadron. That got him involved with the flight information system called NOTAMs, where he made a significant contribution. He then got out of the Navy and developed a process to make Cream of Tartar with his father. He next got involved with printing ink, where he developed micronized wax and later the use of micronized PTFE, better known as Teflon. This was just prior to 1970. Since then, he developed the five-man company into one of 250 people with worldwide sales and manufacturing. “I met my wife, Ricki, 60 years ago. She taught school and had the riding club. We now live on a horse farm in New Jersey. I go to work in Newark three days a week and still play with chemistry and horse around. I hope to be last in the class to retire.”
Posted 2024-01-10
1955
1959
1966
1968
Ira Goldman had a hip replaced in 2020 and a knee replaced in April 2023, but is back to sailing, swimming, and other summer activities and will try skiing. In July, he completed 10 years on the Board of the Keuka Lake Association, including four years as secretary, but is still on the Finance Committee for the Hillside Family of Agencies in Rochester, New York, and chairs the monthly Eagle Scout Board of Review in Clifton Springs, New York.
Posted 2024-01-12
1969
1970
Rick Hartt reports that since moving to Rochester, he has continued working with his therapy dog ALLY, who is certified by Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs. Since 2015, ALLY and Rick have now done over 550 therapy dog visits. The Rochester Area Administrators of Volunteer Services awarded ALLY and Rick their 2023 Award for Volunteer Service. ALLY and seven people were nominated, ALLY being the only dog. Julia MacDonald ‘72 and Rick spent time in March in the Caribbean on the island of Grenada celebrating both their birthdays and their 47th wedding anniversary. In Rick’s spare time, he was appointed to the Rush New York Zoning Board of Appeals in January 2022 and was appointed chairperson in January 2023. He continues to volunteer with the Rensselaer Newman Foundation and is very supportive of the re-invigoration of student leadership activity in not only the Student Union but on the campus with the support of President Schmidt. “If you are on Facebook, go to the private RPI Class of 1970 page created by Steve Valentine and you will be added to the group, which now has 90 members.”
Posted 2024-01-12
1971
Steven Naumann, M.S. ’72, wrote an opinion piece titled “We must act now to protect the electric grid from drones,” which The Hill published on January 10, 2023.
Posted 2024-01-12
1973
1974
James Wernicke reports that the Class of 1974 is beginning to prepare for the Golden Reunion in 2024. “We could use help from all Class of 1974 alumni. Let us know if you are coming and can help with planning (planning not required). Tune in to the Facebook page at RPI 74 or thru LinkedIn at RPI ’74. Note the apostrophe.”
Posted 2024-01-17
1975
Bob Dowgwillo is now one-year retired from a 42-year career as an aerodynamicist with McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. With the three kids long out of the house, he and his wife downsized into their 115-year-old duplex in the historic Skinker DeBalieviere neighborhood in St. Louis. In January, they became proud grandparents for the first time.
Posted 2024-01-17
1976
Ken Schmalz started right out of RPI with Kimberly-Clark Corp. The first third of his career was in engineering roles, the middle third in plant manager/operations roles, and the final third in supply chain and logistics roles. He retired in May 2015 after 39 years with the same company. He then bridged into his encore career as an instructor/consultant in Lean Leadership/Manufacturing techniques for the local technical college. He did that for three years before retiring completely in June 2018. He and his wife were married in 1984. Their daughter graduated college and is now married and working in Minnesota. “Raising a family and career took us through Connecticut, Texas, South Carolina, and Wisconsin (three times) before ending up just a few miles south of the hallowed, frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. Go Packers! We’ve settled into a place overlooking a local lake for some peace and tranquility for a while anyway. Our address is W5473 Meilke Rd., Menasha, WI 54952.”
Posted 2024-01-17
1977
Emmett Partain has retired after 39 years of company service from his R&D position at the Dow Chemical Company. He and his wife (Karen Wisniewski, Class of 1980) are spending some of their retirement time traveling around the U.S. and Canada on their bucket list to visit each NHL arena.
Posted 2024-01-17
1979
Mark Eagle had his second grandchild in June. He continues to mentor, advise, and invest in startups and does fractional CTO work in Denver, Colorado. He received his pickleball certification and has started teaching. His motto is make a difference, have fun, and oh, by the way, make some money.
Posted 2024-01-17
1981
Miki (l) and Joe (r) in Canada skiing the Kootenays in BC.
1983
Doug Robinson has returned to work for Rensselaer as the IP Manager. Doug has been a practicing patent attorney for 37 years and most recently was the executive director of Intellectual Property at Lenovo.
Posted 2024-01-17
1984
Dr. Charles A. Sternbach, ’84 Ph.D., will receive the Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) IMAGE 2024 event. The Halbouty Award is given in recognition of outstanding and exceptional leadership in the petroleum geo-sciences. It is the AAPG’s most distinguished leadership award.
Posted 2024-01-17
1985
1988
Suzanne Cano Meeker, MBA ’93, just celebrated 27 years of marriage and 13 years in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is a process engineer for Bank of America/Global Operations and, after a long and winding career, loves every minute of her current role! Her two children have both finished college and are well on their way with their careers. Tennis, pickleball, dance lessons, cooking, and volunteering with nonprofit boards fill her time when she is not working or traveling the world with her husband. The 11th address can be “written in ink!” #emptynestlife
Posted 2024-01-17
1989
Richard Monda continues to progress in his second career. He has received tenure and has been promoted from instructor to assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York.
Posted 2024-01-17
1994
Michael Dinsmore has been promoted to vice president of platform technology at Editas Medicine. In the new role, Michael will oversee the informatics, computational biology, sequencing, and screening teams at the company, which is focused on developing CRISPR-based genomic medicines. Editas Medicine is currently conducting clinical trials for the treatment of sickle cell disease, where his leadership and expertise in these areas will contribute to the advancement of this cutting-edge field.
Posted 2024-01-17
1997
1998
Elyse Santic was presented with the National Hispanic Business Group Corporate Leadership Award at their 36th Annual Gala Awards & Scholarship Presentation at Cipriani Wall Street.
Posted 2024-01-17
1999
2001
2002
Michael Choe has retired from the U.S. Navy after a 20-year career as a pilot. He is now a first officer on the 737 for United Airlines and resides in Northern Virginia with his wife and two children.
Posted 2024-01-17
2004
Last Energy’s 20 MWe micro power plant.
Megan Prucnal was selected as an associate technical fellow with The Boeing Company. As a structural analyst, her areas of focus are optimization and additive manufacturing. Her husband, Rich Davis ’04, is a production engineering manager with Boeing. They have two sons, 8 and 11, and reside near Philadelphia.
Posted 2024-01-17
Katie Karaffa reports that Amanda Camadine and Neeraj Joshi had a son named Nolan Atlas Joshi on March 26. They are both in love with him and overjoyed.
Posted 2024-01-17
2006
Rian Bahran, Ph.D., currently serves as assistant director for nuclear technology and strategy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), leading policy development and providing advice to the president and the executive office of the president on issues related to nuclear energy, security, and emerging technology. OSTP is led by a Senate-confirmed director, who also serves as assistant to the president for science and technology, a member of the President’s Cabinet. Dr. Bahran recently served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a senior science and policy adviser. For his exemplary performance during his time at the Pentagon, he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. He began his career at Los Alamos as a postdoc in the X Computational Physics Division, and went on to become a program manager and R&D Scientist in the Nuclear Engineering Division, where he was a recipient of the prestigious “Most Promising Asian Engineer of the Year” for leading the development of transformative nuclear technology solutions.
Posted 2024-01-17
2014
Emily Mastropiero joined firm ownership and was subsequently promoted to partner at Square Feet Studio. Established in 2001, SFS is an architecture, planning, and design firm based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Posted 2024-01-17
2019
Kristen Anderson has become a registered architect in the State of New York after passing the six Architect Registration Exams and documenting 5,000+ experience hours. In recognition of her licensure, the firm she has been with since graduating (Hoffmann Architects + Engineers, NYC office) has promoted her to staff architect.
Posted 2024-01-17
Lila Sferlazza has been promoted to associate at Pickard Chilton, an award-winning architecture studio. Sferlazza is currently a key designer for a 1.25 million-gross-square-foot corporate mass timber campus in California. Recently, she was a designer for 325 Main, Google Cambridge’s next-generation headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Posted 2024-01-17
