The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/456562
66 Winter 2015 class notes "Let's all hoist one to the breezes," writes Jim Leonardo '83, who attended the Aug. 2 wedding of Michelle and Chip Bienia in Southeastern Mass. "A good time was had by all," says Chip, including Bob Bursiewicz, Roger Uszakiewicz '84, Nick Pirog, Jim Houskeeper. Jim works as a project engineer for Dyno Nobel Inc., a business of Incitec Pivot Limited, in Simsbury, Conn. Don Montgomery is a managing partner in a marketing agency, WinGreen Marketing Systems, headquartered in Downingtown, Pa. He and his wife, Denise, live in Upper Uwchlan Township and have recently welcomed their frst granddaughter, Dakota Jae McCullum, to the family. 1984 Desiree Awiszio writes, "I worked on an interesting CPLD chip design project for a life sciences product that recently went to production: a Fluorescent Molecular Tomography (FMT) system that is used for cancer research. Working with a great team of people with perseverance and enthusiasm, focused on a design that will help people…. It all came together and was a wonderful experience." Joan (Marler) Morra writes, "I recently had the opportunity to attend a Materials Engineering seminar at WPI for a presentation on additive layer manufacturing with the department graduate students. The seminar was an excellent opportunity to learn about current research and to see how much has changed in the facility. Of course, it was also a great excuse for a reunion with Professor Rick Sisson!" 1986 Nick Tsapatsaris was co-developer, builder, architect, and engineer of the Center City Mall in Paterson, N.J., a 320,000-square-foot urban center with 650 underground parking spaces. Since divesting his interests in the completed mall last year, he is now embarking on new downtown mixed-use projects. He lives in Ridgewood with his wife, Stacey, and their three daughters, who are 14, 13, and 10. 1987 Tom Riley, Jon Pratt '88, Rick Fisette '89, and Bryan Outlaw '89 have participated in the Rhode Island Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society annual 150-mile bicycle ride every year for about the past 20 years. This year, Tom's brother Andrew '98 (MS CS) joined them, taking over for his father, George (a former adjunct professor of economics in WPI's SSPS department), who rode along with them up until last year. Tom was an avid racer throughout his college years and a member of the WPI bicycle team. In October Donald Walker celebrated six months as controller for BigR.io LLC, a technical consulting and placement frm in Boston. He lives in Brighton with his wife of fve years, Marybeth Porcello Walker, and their cat, who will be 14 in March. Donald and Marybeth were married July 8, 2009, at the Mendon Twin Drive-in—exactly 10 years to the day after their frst date at the same location. 1988 John Lamach celebrated his 15 th anniversary with Schneider Packaging Equipment, where he serves as a design engineer. He lives in Pennellville, N.Y., with his wife, Linda. 1989 Kimberly Kuzmitski Beaulieu is now working at GE Healthcare in Westboro, Mass., as a supplier quality lead engineer. Kim was previously at Smith & Nephew as a senior quality systems engineer for 10 years." Jeff Goldmeer writes, "I received the 2014 Paper of the Year Award at the POWER-GEN International Conference, one of the largest events in the power generation industry. My paper was titled "Gas turbine fuel evaluation process: A case study on the application of Arabian Super Light Crude Oil for use in GE 7F-class Dry Low NOx (DLN) combustion systems." The paper detailed the process used by GE to evaluate new fuels for use in large power generation gas turbines, and then presented a case study in the evaluation of Arabian Super Light crude oil. This is signifcant milestone in the power generation industry as it was the frst time that a crude oil was operated in an advanced gas turbine." Jeff works at GE Power & Water in the Power Generation Products group, along with Rich Symonds '67. "Rich works in Engineering, specifcally in Combustion; I work in the Gas Turbine Product Management organization, as the Fuel Flexibility leader. Together we, with the global GE sales teams, help determine if a new fuel can be used by customers in a GE gas turbine. This activity has large impact on power generation globally, as many countries don't have access to affordable natural gas and must, therefore, use less expensive fuels that, in many cases, are of lower quality." Clarinetist Adam Pease was guest soloist for the Saratoga Symphony's all-Scandinavian program in October. He lives in the Bay Area of California, where he is a member of Quintillion, a group that also includes a string quartet. Adam has also been a member of the Bay Winds woodwind quintet and the Loma Verde Chamber Players. After graduating from WPI, Andy Siegel spent nine years of active duty in the Navy. His tours included postings as a division offcer in the Reactor Department on USS George Washington , as fag lieutenant to the commander of Naval Base Pearl Harbor, and as operations offcer on USS Hewitt . "Since leaving the Navy in '98, I have worked at IDT as a sales engineer; at (then) start-up NetLogic Microsystems (IPO in '04); and as an area sales manager and VP for American sales at (then) start-up Provigent Inc. (acquired by Broadcom in '11). I'm now at Broadcom, where I continue as director of business development for microwave and millimeter-wave backhaul semiconductors." Andy lives in Livermore, Calif., with his wife and twin boys. 1990 Al Alonzi writes, "In July 2014, I was appointed to the federal senior executive service position of Texas Division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration. As a key member of the agency's leadership team, I exercise executive direction over the $3.2 billion annual federal aid allocated to Texas, which has one of the largest and most complex federal aid programs in the nation. I lead a multidisciplinary staff of more than 50 professionals in Austin to provide guidance to state and local funding recipients unifed in their primary objective of remaining a relevant partner in Texas while advancing national transportation goals. I continue to live in Austin with my wife, Susan, and three kids, Edward (10), Elizabeth (8), and Patterson (3)." Col. Brian Foley has served as garrison commander for Fort Meade in Maryland since August 2013. He holds an MBA from Webster University and a master of science from the National War College. His previous assignments include serving as information management offcer with the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) and as the Sensitive Activities Information Management Support team leader for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. His service also includes several deployments overseas and in combat zones, including Afghanistan. He also served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Send your class note to classnotes@wpi.edu. Images welcome!