The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/277771
60 Spring 2014 class notes 1988 Mike Basmajian celebrated 25 years with Ingersoll Rand in 2013 and recently relocated with his family to IR's headquarters in North Carolina. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Rob Provost and his wife, Cindy (Lt. Col., USAF), moved back to their home outside Colorado Springs this past summer. Rob is the founder and owner of Grand Slam Fly Fishing Destinations (grandslamfyfshing. com) and will enroll in cooking school at the Colorado Culinary Academy in Denver in April. Cindy works in the Admissions Department at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Rob was also the frst president of the WPI Jazz Alumni Association. Cheryl (Hagglund) Caffrey writes, "For the past 23 years I have been working at the U.S. EPA NVFEL in Ann Arbor, Mich. I am currently in charge of mass reduction evaluation (technology and cost) for the greenhouse gas rulemaking standards of 2017–2025. It's been fun seeing the results of our work on the roads with more effcient vehicles! My husband (Peter Caffrey '86) and I own a car wash and laundromat as an investment with another couple. In March of 2012 our business was hit by a tornado and destroyed. We have rebuilt the business and reopened in June 2013. The business was over 40 years old, so it is very nice to have new, effcient, good-looking buildings. You can see our rebuild story on Facebook (Dexter Village Car Wash and Laundry)." Rod Shaffert, VP, Scholastic Division, for Cutler Associates, was recently named board chairman of the Design-Build Institute of America's New England Region. Rod has been with Cutler for 25 years. He has been a DBIA member for 10 years and on its Board of Directors since 2006. 1989 Jeffrey Goldmeer is currently the fuel fexibility manager for GE's Heavy-Duty Gas Turbines. His role was expanded in 2013 to include all of GE's large-frame gas turbines. "I develop solutions for customers who are interested in using non-traditional fuels (i.e., fuels other than natural gas or distillate oil) in a gas turbine for power generation. This year I was able to visit South Africa, helping me come closer to my goal of visiting all seven continents (still missing are South America and Antarctica)." At Johannesburg's Lion Park Jeff enjoyed some close encounters with wildlife. "We also attended the FIRST Robotics Regional Competi- tion held at WPI, and had the joy of cheering my son's team, Shaker High School. It was an exciting event, as Shaker was the #1 seed heading into the fnals. Although they did not win, they did receive the Engineering Excellence Award. It was great to have the family at my alma matter for the competition." David Sunderland has been employed as a production system analyst at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Waterbury, Vt., for the past four years. This follows two years in the aerospace industry, and 18 years in the mineral processing industry with Omya Inc. in Florence, Vt., and Lucerne Valley, Calif. David also serves as the state chair of the Vermont Republican Party. His role includes providing strategic guidance and leadership for Vermont Republicans, recruiting and training candidates for offce, and raising funds to support political races. Prior to this role, he served in Vermont's House of Representatives, 2003–2007. He was appointed to an open seat by then-governor Jim Douglas and later won re-election twice from his district in Rutland Town, where he still resides with his wife, Theresa, and their four children. 1990 After 16 years in its Chicago offce, Paul Gibbons joined the Boston offce of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, where he continues as a trial lawyer, trying patent infringement and intellectual property cases. Kyle Petersen writes, "After a two-year tour in Peru as executive offcer, I assumed command of U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 in 2012. NAMRU-6 is a biomedical research lab with a $19M budget and 300 employees engaged in developing vaccines and medications to treat diseases such as malaria, dengue, diarrhea, and leishmaniasis that affect deployed warfghters and local children in the developing world. We also are a global surveillance site for pandemic diseases, such as infuenza or coronaviruses, that can emerge in the tropics and spread to the rest of the world rapidly. We collaborate with governments, NGOs, and universities in 12 countries in Latin America on almost 140 research protocols. My family has enjoyed visiting most of Peru as well as Easter Island, Buenos Aires, and Iguassu Falls. I will be in command until August 2015." 1991 After serving as CEO for USRobotics and Data2Logistics, Gerry Burns has come back home to the region. He was appointed executive vice president of Columbia Tech, a Coghlin Companies frm headquartered in Westboro, Mass. Gerry will be merging two businesses into one for Coghlin Companies to help Columbia Tech grow and deliver "Concept to Commercialization" services in the contract manufacturing sector with a focus on time to market (TTM). Gerry is a WPI TAN (Technology Advisors Network) member and, among other teams, leads WPI's very own Gompei's Goat Cheese business. The TAN is an incubator for the WPI community (students, faculty, and alumni) that flls gaps at the earliest stages of venture development. Chris Kinkade founded Green Bee Soda in 2010 to share his belief that soda can be healthy and tasty, and support a critical link in our food system, the honey bee. See his story in the Wπ section at the front of this issue. 1992 Bechara Samhara (MSCE) is president of the Lebanese Council for Research and Development. Ed Paluch says, "I was in the area and was able to stop by campus for the frst time in several years. I love the improvements that have been made. I took the chance of catching Professor Emanuel and was lucky enough to fnd him in his offce. He is a very important and special person in my life, and we are lucky to have him as a part of our great school." 1993 Andy Hodgkins and family recently moved to Japan for his latest Air Force assignment. Andy is a civilian employee of the Air Force and is also a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. He and his wife, Katie, and their two-year old son, Nolan, climbed Mount Fuji in July 2013. "It was a really great experience, defnitely worth a spot on everyone's bucket list!" he says. 1994 Len Belliveau was promoted to director of northeast operations at Hughes Associates, a fre protection engineer- ing and code consulting frm. He is directly responsible for the performance of the company's offces in Warwick, R.I., Marlborough, Mass., Armonk, N.Y., and New York City. Prior to that, Len served as the director of the Rhode Island offce, where he supervised 10 people, most of whom were graduates of WPI's FPE program: Mark Blackburn '03, '04 (MS FPE) (who succeeds him as director for Rhode Island), Joe Watson '99, '01 (MS FPE), Kevin Toomey '06, '08 (MS FPE) , Chris Cummiskey '11 (MS FPE), Charles Mason '06 (MS FPE), Eric Camiel '11 (MS FPE), and Dennis Sullivan '11. WPI_classnotes_final.indd 60 3/9/14 2:42 PM