P O L Y T E C H N I C

The Alumni Magazine of Polytechnic University Fall 2005 Vol. 32 No. 4

Celebrating150 Years

Jerry MacArthur Hultin Inaugurated as Polytechnic’s 10th President

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Receives Polytechnic Honorary Degree

Celebrating150 Years

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Robing DistinguishedGuestsPrior to the convocation,representatives from morethan 30 colleges and univer-sities across the countryjoined Polytechnic trustees,administrators, honorarydegree recipients and dis-tinguished guests, whoarrived for robing in theupper level of the BrooklynAcademy of Music.

1. Violet Jacobs and her daughter,Linda Jacobs, chair of the NearEast Foundation and Polytechnictrustee.

2. Richard Thorsen ’63 ’67ME, vicepresident for development anduniversity relations and sesquicen-tennial executive director.

3. Chancellor David Chang shares alaugh with Cecilia Meza-Chipps’98AE, who received a sesquicen-tennial medal earlier in the day in aseparate ceremony. Meza-Chipps isthe first woman flight test engineerfor Northrop-Grumman Corpora-tion, working on the E-2C Hawkeyeaircraft for the Navy.

4. Michael Hora, vice president(retired), A.T. Kearney, Polytechnictrustee and chairman of theSesquicentennial ConvocationCommittee, recognizes the accom-plishments of the sesquicentennialmedalists.

5. Charles Camarda ’74AE, left,accepts a proclamation from NewYork State Senator Frank Padavan’55EE.

6. Dr. Arthur Oliner, professor emeritus of electrical engineering.

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Poly Celebrates 150th Anniversary

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The Sesquicentennial Convocation

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7. Capturing a moment in Poly-technic history, President JerryHultin is joined by former presi-dents, Chancellor David Chang,far left, Board Chairman CraigMatthews ’71MG and PresidentEmeritus George Bugliarello.

8. The invocation is offered byMonsignor John Strynkowski ofSt. James Cathedral-Basilica,founded 1853—the same yearPolytechnic’s charter was drafted.

9. Konstantinos Kostarelos, assis-tant professor of environmentalengineering, leads the Poly-technic faculty into the HowardGilman Opera House at theBrooklyn Academy of Music.

10. The official delegates from over 30 institutions of highereducation process into theopera house.

11. Polytechnic trustees processdown the aisle of the HowardGilman Opera House in theBrooklyn Academy of Music.From right: Jeffrey Lynford, vice chairman of the board andchairman of Wellsford Real Properties Inc.; Arthur Martinez’60ME, vice chairman of theboard and chairman and CEO(retired), Sears, Roebuck andCompany; Henry Singer ’57ChE’64MG, trustee and president,Reg-Nis LLC; and Board Chair-man Craig Matthews ’71MG,vice chairman and COO(retired), KeySpan Energy Inc.

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Delivering the keynoteaddress and accepting an honorary Doctor of Laws

degree at the convocation,The Honorable Michael R.Bloomberg, Mayor of the

City of New York, said that

Bloomberg Receives Honorary Doctor of LawsDelivers Keynote Address

“Your graduates and faculty play an importantrole in our economy. You’ve also been astrong partner of the city, helping our policeand fire departments improve their prepared-ness in the post-9/11 world, while also closelyadvising the Metropolitan TransportationAuthority as it revamps our transit system.”

—The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg

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“Poly is the dominant engineering schoolin New York City.”

1. Mayor Michael Bloombergdelivers the keynote address.

2. Mayor Bloomberg, PresidentJerry Hultin and Board ChairmanCraig Matthews during the convocation proceedings.

3. Mayor Bloomberg listens asHenry Singer reads the citationbefore receiving a honoraryDoctor of Laws degree.

4. Chairman Craig Matthews andChancellor David Chang prepareto hood Mayor Bloomberg, whowill sign the Golden Book.

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The University also awarded honorary degrees to Joseph Bordogna,the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and former deputy director of the National ScienceFoundation; William Friend ’56ChE, chairman of the President’sCouncil on the National Laboratories, University of California; ArthurOliner, professor emeritus of electrical engineering, Polytechnic Uni-versity; and Paul Soros ’50 ME, engineer, entrepreneur and privateinvestor, Paul Soros Investments.

Bordogna, Friend, Oliner and Soros Degree Recipients

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1. Dr. Oliner is hooded by BoardChairman Craig Matthews andChancellor David Chang.

2. Dr. Bordogna signs the GoldenBook after receiving an honoraryDoctor of Engineering degree.He is assisted by ChairmanMatthews and Chancellor Chang.

3. Arthur Martinez reads the hon-orary degree citation to Paul Soros.

4. President Hultin, center, joinshonorary degree recipients, fromleft, William Friend, Paul Soros,and Drs. Joseph Bordogna andArthur Oliner.

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1. The president delivers his inaugural address, “A New University for a New Age.”

2. Dr. John La Rosa, president,SUNY Downstate Medical Center,offers greetings from the academicand scientific community.

3. President Hultin receives the President’s Medal from ChancellorDavid Chang, Polytechnic’s ninthpresident.

4. David Harman, headmaster of thePoly Prep Country Day Schoolcongratulates President Hultin.

5. Ainsley Stewart Jr. ’06, studentcouncil president, accepts thePolytechnic banner that accom-panied Charles Camarda’74AEon the Discovery space shuttle.

6. President Hultin accepts congratulations from PresidentEmeritus George Bugliarello.

7. Brooklyn Borough PresidentMarty Markowitz with the procla-mation and the citation hepresented to President Hultin.

8. Richard Wener, associate professor of psychology andspeaker of the faculty, joinedthe president after offeringgreetings from the faculty.

9. President Hultin and BoardChairman Craig Matthews singthe alma mater.

“ feel privileged to havebeen chosen to be yourpresident,” declared Jerry

MacArthur Hultin following hisinstallation as Polytechnic’s 10thpresident at a convocation cele-brating the University’s 150thanniversary.

With students, faculty, staff,city and state officials and repre-sentatives from over 30 collegesand universities filling theHoward Gilman Opera House atthe Brooklyn Academy of Music,Hultin’s inaugural address entitled“A New University for a NewAge” laid out an ambitiousagenda. “We are eager to grow;we excel at ‘social mobility;’ weare agile, smart and innovative;our diversity mirrors the world;we are urban and global,” notedHultin in his address. “We havewhat it takes to create a new uni-versity.” (Read the inaugural addressat www.poly.edu/president/speeches.)

Brooklyn Borough PresidentMarty Markowitz presented theUniversity with a proclamationnaming Thursday, September 29,2005 as Polytechnic University150th Anniversary Convocationand Jerry MacArthur Hultin Inau-guration Day in Brooklyn, USA.Markowitz commended the Uni-versity for being one of the nation’spreeminent educational institutionsin science, engineering and tech-nology and a vital part of the fabricof life in Brooklyn.

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Jerry MacArthur Hultin Installed As 10th President

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nation and the world. He urgedstudents to think about how theyare going to build on the basethat the alumni medalists haveprovided. “Shake their hands, listen to their stories and learnfrom them,” Hultin said. “Wewant to be able to celebrate youraccomplishments one day.”

Medalist Charles Carmada’74AE, a crew member on the his-toric mission of the space shuttle

Talent, imagination andpersistence graced thestage of the Dibner

Auditorium as 16 PolyThinkerscame to the MetroTech campusand were awarded the Univer-sity’s Sesquicentennial Medalcommemorating Poly’s 150thanniversary.

President Jerry M. Hultinthanked the medalists for all theyhave done for the school, the

Discovery, credits Poly for hiscareer as an astronaut. “The edu-cation I received at Poly,” he said,“started it all for me.”

Cecilia Meza-Chipps ’98AE,the first woman flight test engineerfor Northrop-Grumman Corpora-tion, spoke about the rigors offlight school and noted: “Poly gaveme the perseverance and dedica-tion to pursue my career inaeronautical engineering.”

University Trustee WilliamFriend ’56ChE Hon’05, recalledhis mother and father and beingraised in modest circumstances.“Poly is home to the AmericanDream,” he declared.

The selection of the medalistswas based on nominations fromadministrators, faculty and staff.The Sesquicentennial Committeereviewed the nominations andselected 39 alumni to receive theaward.

Receiving sesquicentennialmedals at the award ceremony onSeptember 29 were: Daniel Berry ’74EE Franklin Blecher ’49 ’50 ’55EE

Martin Bloom ’46 ’49 ’51AECharles Camarda ’74AEJoseph Castellano ’64 ’69ChemRandy Frey ’79EE William Friend ’56ChE Hon’05S. Steve Greenfield ’43MERichard Gross ’86Chem Joseph G. Lombardino ’57Chem Cecilia A. Meza-Chipps ’98AEHerbert Morawetz ’51Chem Eli M. Pearce ’58Chem Joseph C. Salamone ’61 ’67Chem William Schuster ’73EE andPaul Soros ’50ME Hon’05.

The following were also awardedmedals, but were unable to attendthe event: Leonard Bergstein ’59PH Bruno Boley ’45AA Vincent Calarco ’63ChE John Farber ’57Chem Rachelle Friedman ’71ChemJohn Gilbert ’53 ’55ME Jay Greene ’64EE Shelley Harrison ’66 ’71ELRudolph Marcus Hon’86 Rajiv Mody ’82InSE Joseph Owades ’44 ’50ChemSang Kuen Park ’77 ’80EE

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The Sesquicentennial Medals

Medalists onstage in the Dibner Auditorium. Front row, left to right: Franklin Blecher, Joseph Castellano, Randy Frey, Charles Camarda, Richard Gross,Cecilia Mezza-Chipps, Herbert Morawetz and Paul Soros. Back row, left to right: Martin Bloom, Daniel Berry, William Friend, S. Steve Greenfield,Joseph Lombardino, Eli Pearce, William Schuster and Joseph Salamone.

PolyThinkers Awarded the University’s Sesquicentennial Medal

Martin Perl ’48ChE Hon’96 Stanley Prill ’53CE Richard Santulli ’66 ’67MA Vincent Santulli ’63EE ’70MGJoseph Singer ’53 ’57AA Hon’83James Smith ’71EE Shivan Subramaniam ’72OR andJerome Swartz ’63 ’69EE.

Posthumous medals were presentedto the families of: Bern Dibner ’21EE Hon’59;Jerome Lemelson ’47 ’49AA

’51IE Hon’95; andJoseph Jacobs ’37 ’39 ’42 ChE

Hon’86.

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1. Charles Camarda and CeciliaMeza-Chipps meet at the Sesqui-centennial Medalist Ceremony.

2. President Hultin with ProfessorHerbert Morawetz.

3. President Hultin shows a copy ofthe New York Times featuringthe University’s new ad campaignto, from left, Fletcher Griffis,provost, vice president anddean, engineering and appliedsciences; Thomas Mauro, ’67PH,president, POLYTECHNIC ALUMNI;and Professor Eli Pearce.

4. From left, Paul Soros, WilliamFriend, S. Steve Greenfield andJoseph Lombardino at themedalist ceremony.

For a list of medalist accomplish-ments, visit www.poly.edu/news

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Inaugural Gala Following the convocation,

200 invited guests enjoyeddinner, dancing and enter-

tainment at an inaugural galacelebration at The Palm Housein the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.The highlight of the evening wasentertainment by the BubbyGram Dancers and Don K. Reed,a former disc jockey for WCBS-FM radio in New York. Thetroupe performed popular dancenumbers from the mid-19th century can can to the modernfreestyle of 2005. Performersfrom the Coney Island Side Showamused party goers during thecocktail reception. Each guestreceived a souvenir booklet thathighlighted in text and picturessignificant historic events overthe past 150 years.

1. The Palm House.

2. From left, Professor JovanMijovic; Linda Jacobs; VioletJacobs; and Professor RichardGross ‘86.

3. From left, David C. Chang;Ronnie Nagler; Stewart G.Nagler ’63; Catherine andAnthony Nozzolillo ’72.

4. Jill and Jerry Hultin.

5. Mary Lou and Robert Dalziel ’56.

6. Lee and Steve Rittvo ’69 ’71.

7. Bubby Gram Dancers.

8. Lea Bowie and the snakecharmer from the Coney IslandSide Show.

9. Steve Rittvo joins a performerfrom the Coney Island SideShow.

10. Guests take to the dance floor.

11. Jerry Hultin joins Poly studentsat the gala.

12. Jerry Hultin and Ralph Alexander’77 ’78.

13. From left, Carol and CraigMatthews ’71; Michael Hora;Richard Thorsen ’63 ’67; Barbara Thorsen; David Conklin’52 ’59; and Ruth Conklin.

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Dinner Dance

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acclaim as coauthor along withPoly Professor Nathan Marcuvitz’35 ’41’47EE of Radiation and Scat-tering of Waves, considered thequintessential work regarding spec-tral analysis in electromagnetics.Using the geometrical theory ofdiffraction, Felsen demonstratedthe importance of the systematicclassification of spectral contribu-tions and their spatial and physicalmanifestations. This research hascritical application in modelingdesign and performance of anten-nas, guided and leaky wavestructures and practical communi-cation systems. His researchformed the groundwork for thestudy of wave behavior in complexinterdisciplinary settings such asmobile communications, buriedland mine detection and imaging.

Leopold Felsen, Universityprofessor emeritus andworld-renowned expert in

electromagnetic theory, died onSeptember 24, 2005 in Boston,Massachusetts. He was 81.

Felsen gained international

David Dibner, corporateexecutive, Polytechnictrustee, benefactor and

friend of the University, died onSeptember 28, 2005. He was 78.

At the time of his death, Dibnerwas chairman of the Dibner Fund,a family foundation, and chairmanemeritus of the Burndy Corpora-tion, a manufacturer of electricaland electronic connectors. Beforejoining the firm, he completed a

tour of duty in the Navy andearned a Bachelor of Science inEngineering before performingpost-graduate work at the LondonSchool of Economics. Dibner’stenure at Burndy spanned over 30years and saw him rise throughpositions of increasing responsibil-ity to become chairman of theboard. The company was foundedby his father, Bern Dibner ’21EEHon’59, a noted inventor, biblio-phile, engineer and businessman.

Throughout the years, Dibnerproved a loyal friend and benefac-tor to the University. In 1992, the Dibner Fund supported therelocation of the library on theMetroTech campus and the newbuilding was renamed the BernDibner Library for Science andTechnology in honor of his father.Additional support was providedin 2000 to enhance the library’scapabilities as an outstandingprovider of computerized servicesfor research and scholarship atPolytechnic.

“David Dibner had a very spe-cial relationship with Polytechnic,”said Jana Richman, director oflibrary services. “He understood

Leopold Felsen, c.1974

David Dibner

Leopold Felsen ’48 ’49 ’50EE Hon’05, Expert in Electromagnetic Theory

David Dibner, Trustee and Benefactor Dead at 78

His career at Polytechnic Uni-versity where he was dean ofengineering from 1974 to 1978 andprofessor of electrical engineeringuntil his retirement in 1994spanned over 40 years. After retir-ing, he joined the faculty of BostonUniversity to be close to his familyand continued to teach there untilhis death.

A prolific writer, Felsen wasthe author or coauthor of over350 papers and several books.

He was a member of theNational Academy of Engineeringand a life fellow of the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engi-neers (IEEE), which honored himin 2003 with its prestigious IEEEElectromagnetics Award. He wasalso a fellow of the Optical Soci-ety of America and the Acoustical

Society of America and recipientof the Heinrich Hertz Medal, theBalthasar van der Pol GoldMedal, the Antennas and Propa-gation Society DistinguishedAchievement Award and threeDistinguished Faculty AlumnusAwards from Polytechnic.

Felsen earned his bachelor’s,master’s and doctoral degreesfrom Polytechnic University in1948, 1949 and 1950, respectively.He received an honorary PhD inengineering from the Universityin 2005 as part of its year-longsesquicentennial celebration.

He is survived by a son,Michael, of Boston, a daughter,Judith, of Bartlett, NH, andthree grandchildren. His wife,the former Sima Laks, died in1975.

the importance of a library inrelation to an academic institu-tion. Virtually every program orinitiative undertaken by thelibrary bore his signature. Ourinformation literacy programs, thedigital library, our many exhibitswere made possible by the gen-erosity of David Dibner and thesupport of the Dibner Fund.”

Dibner was a dedicated civicleader whose interests includedthe business, academic and phi-lanthropic sectors—areas wherehe generously offered his counselto many organizations. Amongthe organizations, which bene-fited from his expertise wereWilton High School, NorwalkHospital, the American BusinessConference, of which he was afounding member, the Commit-tee for Humanities at MIT, theCouncil of Foundations and theAspen Institute. Dibner servedtirelessly as a member of Poly-technic’s Board of Trustees forover 25 years and on the boardsof Columbia University’s Schoolof Engineering and the AmericanTechnion.

Following the death of his father

in 1989, Dibner assumed the presi-dency of the Dibner Fund andthe Burndy Library, one of theworld’s outstanding repositoriesfor rare books, manuscripts andobjects relating to the history ofscience and technology.

Through the Dibner Fund, heand his wife, Frances establishedthe Dibner Institute for the His-tory of Science and Technology, acenter for advanced study locatedon MIT’s campus. He also over-saw the fund’s national andinternational grant allocations inthe areas of science education,humanitarian aid, the environ-ment, peaceful coexistence,Jewish heritage and culture andlocal community organizations.

Dibner is survived by his wifeof 55 years, Frances, his sons anddaughters-in-law: Brent andRelly (Wolfson) Dibner, Danieland Victoria (Clark) Dibner andMark and Rachel (Zax) Dibnerand his grandchildren, Gil, Tal,Carmel, Aurora, Avalon, Bern,Sage and Skye.

Edmund R. Altonji ’51Andrew J. Anthony ’51

John E. Cronin ’51Richard J. Wengraf ’51

Charles E. Ziehl ’51William V. Creighton ’52

York P. Phillips ’53Jerome Daen ’54

Warren G. Dopman ’58Arieh Zahavi ’61

Vincent Bellucci ’62 ’70Richard H. Brown ’67

Bob Moog Hon’84 Gordon Gould Hon’92

Robert L. Byers ’94William A. Clary – facultyDavid Dibner – trustee

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In Memoriam

Gordon Gould Hon’92,inventor of the laser andPolytechnic professor of

electrophysics from 1967 to 1974,died on September 16, 2005.He was 85.

Over a weekend in November1957, Gould wrote and sketchedthe basic design for constructing adevice that transmitted a narrowbeam of intense light. Accordingto Gould, the “light amplificationby stimulated emission of radia-tion” or laser, could be used forwelding, cutting or heating. Hepredicted lasers would transformthe field of optics in much thesame way as transistors hadchanged electronics. His ideaswere notarized and kept in a note-book—a move that proved pivotalwhen his claim to be the original

Gordon Gould

While thinking about how to welcomeyou to the new era at Poly, I began

looking over my notes fromthe faculty and administra-tion workshop, “Drawing aPicture of Our Future,” whichPresident Jerry Hultin con-vened on the Brooklyncampus on September 9 and10, 2005. This is what Iwrote: “Buy stock in engi-neering firms! Envy youengineers who are the cor-nerstone of our developingnew world.” The workshop summed upPoly’s accomplishments and pointed tothe new initiatives that lay ahead.

You have already seen our new“Power of Polythinking®” campaign,which reminds us of our past glories.The strength of Poly today is our fellowalumni and our accomplished facultywho continue to do great things. Didyou see the work of brother mathemati-cians, David and Gregory Chudnovsky,which was featured on PBS-TV’s “Nova”last spring? These two world-renownedmathematicians solved a problem thatstymied scientists and engineers at NewYork’s Metropolitan Museum of Art foryears. Using a supercomputer whichthey fashioned themselves at Poly, theChudnovskys created a faithful digitalreproduction of a priceless and complextapestry known as “The Unicorn in Cap-tivity.” They did it by optimizing 290million pixels and making 7.7 quadrillioncalculations.

Did you know that among our currentalumni are those who played leadingroles in the development of the L4 andL5 long haul telephone carrier systemsfor AT&T, the liquid crystal display (LCD)for RCA, laser radar (LADAR) and laservision correction (LASIK), the soft con-tact lens and satellite global imagingsystems? They also built the NationalHolocaust Museum, the Sackler Gallery ofAsian Art and the National Museum ofAfrican Art for the Smithsonian, flew onthe space shuttle Discovery and becamethe first woman flight test engineer forNorthrop-Grumman Corporation.

On September 29, 2005, at theSesquicentennial Medalists Ceremony andthe Convocation at the Brooklyn Academyof Music, we honored these and manyother distinguished alumni. We inaugu-rated Jerry MacArthur Hultin as theUniversity’s tenth president and heard hisincisive inaugural address. I urge you toreview the convocation proceedingsfound on Poly’s new web site and in thisedition of Cable.

The torch has been passed to thenext generation of Polythinkers. Down-town Brooklyn is booming and Poly’scampus is on the cusp of a remarkabletransformation that will present a greatchallenge to the POLYTECHNIC ALUMNI. We

Edgar Messing ’29Alfred M. Harwood ’37Wilbur R. Eriksen ’38Carl A. Dahlbom ’41Mario F. Messa ’42

Frank C. Spinner Jr.’43Mario A. Caruso ’44

Walter Strack ’45Richard T. Davies ’47

Leopold Felsen ’48 ’49 ’50Hon’05

Harold Gushin ’49Robert F. Smalley ’49Robert F. Tisdale ’49

Charles A. Bittman ’50Berthold Sheffield ’50 Edward J. Zillian ’50

can only meet this challenge with yourhelp. Why should you help? The answer,

of course, is obvious. Scienceand technology are leadingthe way in our new flat world,empowering individuals whohave been given the tools tocreate unprecedentedadvancement, growth andprosperity. We have thosetools; they were given to usat Poly.

Poly is well within thetop 100 engineering univer-

sities nationally and is an engine ofsocial mobility unmatched by any otheruniversity in the country save the Uni-versity of California at Los Angeles. InSeptember, the Washington Monthly’scollege guide ranked the Universitysecond in the country in the area ofSocial Mobility Universities, and U.S.News & World Report ranked us 6th indiversity among all national universi-ties. We have an excellent faculty,talented and motivated students, a newspirit of independence and confidencespawned, in part, by the rejection ofthe proposed NYU merger and dynamicnew leadership replicates Poly’s tradi-tional formula for success. Let us helpyou become a part of it.

I would like to point out one specificway you can help. One of our new initia-tives is to identify promising engineeringand science students across the countrywho would like to study in New York Cityor who would benefit from attendingPoly. We not only want to identify thesestudents, but to mentor them throughtheir undergraduate career and providefinancial assistance. There is no groupbetter suited to do this than our alumni.We are in the very early planning stagesof this initiative and I invite your com-ments. Let’s work on this together.

I will end as I have done in my earlier messages. Come and see what weare doing and join us. Come to our boardmeetings on January 21, 2006, andMarch 25, 2006, both Saturdays, andmark May 21, 2006, on your calendarnow! This will be the date for the AnnualMeeting of the POLYTECHNIC ALUMNI. Wehave revamped the format and changedthe day to the weekend to make it easierfor you to attend. May 21st is a Sunday.The meeting will be held in the after-noon. The program will be designed toshow you what is happening at Poly, howyou can help and how you can benefit asan alumnus. Meanwhile, write or call atany time.

Welcome to a new era in Poly history.

President’s Corner

Thomas A. Mauro

inventor of the laser was chal-lenged. For more than threedecades, Gould mounted legalbattles to gain recognition as theinventor and to resolve disputeswith companies regarding hispatents. He received his firstpatent for fundamental laser tech-nology in 1977 and his firstroyalties in 1988.

President Jerry Hultin recallsGould as “a real example of Poly-Thinking—a classic Americansuccess story—in that he had tofight to be a success.”

Gould earned a Bachelor ofScience in Physics from UnionCollege in Schenectady, NY in1941, and a master’s degree fromYale University. He left his pro-fessorship at Polytechnic to foundOptelecom, a manufacturer offiber optical equipment.

He was the recipient of Inven-tor of the Year Award by thePatent Office Society in 1973, theJohn Scott Award for LaserDevelopment in 1983 and he wasinducted into the National Inven-tors Hall of Fame in 1991. Hereceived an honorary doctoratefrom Polytechnic in 1992. Hislife is chronicled in Nick Taylor’sLaser: The Inventor, the Nobel Lau-reate and the 30-Year Patent Wars.

Gould is survived by his wife,Marilyn Appel.

Gordon Gould, Laser Inventor Dies

the editors write: “While otherguides ask what colleges can do forstudents, we ask what colleges aredoing for the country.” Poly alsoranked in the top 100 nationalresearch universities cited byWashington Monthly magazine.

U .S. News & World Reportand Washington Monthlymagazine have promi-

nently recognized PolytechnicUniversity for its social mobilityand racial diversity.

The Washington Monthly maga-zine college rankings namedPolytechnic #2 in the nation inthe area of social mobility, ratinga school’s success in recruitingand graduating lower- to middle-income students. U.S. News &World Report ranked Poly sixth inthe nation among national uni-versities for its racial diversity.Poly was the only school in NewYork State to rank in the top six.In addition, U.S. News & WorldReport ranks the Universityamong the top of all nationalengineering schools.

The Washington Monthly collegeguide measures higher education’scontributions to society. In sum-marizing the magazine’s approach,

President Jerry Hultin notesthat historically Polytechnic hascreated opportunities for brightambitious men and women ofmodest means to pursue careersin science and engineering. “Our distinguished roster ofalumni, many from low-incomefamilies, began their pursuit ofthe ‘American Dream’ at Polyand then went on to literallychange the world.”

It was Pulitzer Prize winninghistorian, James Truslow Adams,Poly’s class of 1898, who firstdeveloped the concept andcoined the phrase “The Ameri-can Dream” in 1931. For morethan 75 years, the University hasbeen the embodiment of theconcept and is recognized as aleading conduit for tens of thou-sands to realize its promise.

The Washington Monthly rank-ings appear in the Septemberedition. The U.S. News & World

Report rankings appear in themagazine’s 2006 edition of“America’s Best Colleges.”

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Poly Scores in National College Rankings

Donor Snapshot

Dr. Jerry M. Sudarsky ’42ChE Hon’76

Chairman, Alexandria Real Estate

Equities Inc.

$5,000 to the 2005Promise Fund Dinner

“POLY was a marvelous experiencefor me, especially studying andworking under the guidance ofProfessor Paul Bruins, who wasthe best teacher that I have everhad. He used to stay with me,sometimes until midnight, while Iwas working in the lab to com-plete my thesis. I also was able toconsult with Dr. Othmer andother professors. It was a wonder-ful experience to study in thisenvironment and to use the excel-lent facilities that were available. Iowe much of any success that Ihave had in my career to the atmo-sphere at Poly. It is a wonderfulschool. It is so important to helpPoly financially, and I have triedto do my share over the last 60years. I also am leaving a substan-tial donation in my will for Poly.”

Looking for a tax shelter…Help yourself and Polytechnic by investing in a PolytechnicUniversity Gift Annuity. Annuities guarantee an enviablerate of income that lasts a lifetime—a portion of which istax-free—as well as an attractive income tax deduction(pro-rated based on age. See the chart below for variablerates.) The process is easy—the contributor signs a one-page contract. For a free and confidential estimate of yourguaranteed income and a brochure detailing the benefitsof annuities, please contact Thomas Daly, director of development, at 1-800-765-9929 or e-mail him attdaly@poly.edu.

To discuss a contribution to Polytechnic, contact Thomas Daly, director of development, at 800-765-9929 or tdaly@poly.edu.

ONE LIFE TWO LIVESAge Rate

55 5.5%60 5.7%65 6.0%70 6.5%75 7.1% 80 8.0% 85 9.5%

Ages Rate

55, 55 5.0%60, 60 5.4%65, 65 5.6%70, 70 5.9%75, 75 6.3%80, 80 6.9%85, 85 7.9%

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40sRoy Harrington ’49Chem enjoystraveling, genealogy, photographyand reading. He and wife, Cate,celebrated 53 years of marriage andhave three children—two of whomare chemists—and five grandsons.

50sPaul Soros ’50ME and his wife,Daisy, received honorary degrees

from BatesCollege. Theywere recog-nized for their$50 millioncharitablefoundation,which annu-ally supportsgraduate study

for immigrants and children ofimmigrants. Soros is the founderof an eponymous firm that devel-oped ports and offshore terminalsin 90 countries. He is now a pri-vate investor and a Polytechnictrustee. ! Werner Nufer ’54EE isactive with the Suffolk Countymaster gardener program. ! Fred

Dispigna ’55 ’60EE plays golfonce a week at age 84. His wife,Grace, died this year, after 58 yearsof marriage. ! Robert R. Hintze’55EE is retired after a career withSperry Rand and Unisys, workingon shipboard radar systems. ! JoelA. Miele ’55CE is commissionerof the New York City Board ofStandards and Appeals. He wasformerly the NYC Commissionerof City Planning, Buildings andEnvironmental Protection. !Dimitri Gidaspow ’59ChE is adistinguished professor of chemicalengineering at the Illinois Instituteof Technology and the recentrecipient of the American Instituteof Chemical Engineering’s 2005Ernest Thiele Award. Gidaspowwas recognized for his contribu-tions to computational fluiddynamics, multi-phase flow andfluidized bed systems.

60sLarry Narici ’62 ’63EE ’66MAretired after 40 years as a collegemath instructor—two at Poly-technic and 38 at St. John’sUniversity. He continues to col-laborate with Ed Beckenstein’62EE and organized the func-tional analysis section for aconference in July. ! VincentVitto ’62PH is president andCEO of Charles Stark DraperLaboratory in Cambridge, Mass.! Andrew Kayser ’63EE waspromoted to associate at SchoorDePalma Engineers. His duties,as senior project manager,include instrumentation and con-trols, vulnerability assessmentsand security. ! Robert W.Hanna ’64ChE recently retiredas professor of management fromthe College of Business and Eco-nomics at California StateUniversity in Northridge. !Ralph J. Johnson ’65AE wasselected as the chief engineer ofthe Air Force Seek Eagle office

following a two-year appointmentto the Joint Strike Fighter Inte-grated Test Force. ! James V.Peters ’65 ’67MA had threemathematics papers published injournals in the last 12 months. Heteaches at the C.W. Post campusof Long Island University. !Richard Santulli ’66 ’67MA ischairman of NetJets, a BerkshireHathaway Inc. company thatowns the world’s largest and mostdiversified fleet of private aircraftsfor fractional ownership. !Marvin Blecker ’67 ’67MA’70SyS was named president ofQualcomm Technology Licens-ing. He has been at Qualcommsince 1992. ! Maurice Heitt’67MA is an actuary in the per-sonal automobile department atInsurance Services Office.

70sFrank A. Frega ’72TP was pro-moted to principal of SchoorDePalma, in addition to his posi-tions as vice president of thehighway department and managerand chief highway engineer. !Peter K. Raimondi ’72EEretired after 33 years at the Depart-ment of Defense. He holds severalpatents for night-vision devicesand received the National Intelli-gence Medal of Achievement, theDefense Intelligence AgencyDirectors Award for ExceptionalService and the U.S. Army Com-mendation Medal. Daniel T. Lee’78CE celebrates 25 years as a res-ident engineer for the U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers. ! Barbara A.Bergnan Siefken ’78OR is direc-tor of sales at Stilwell Baker, Inc.Her oldest son, a sophomore atOregon State, won a math award.! Philip H. Demp ’79AM is anadjunct clinical professor of podi-atric medicine and an adjunctprofessor of mathematics at Tem-ple University. His research is inthe field of mathematicalmedicine. He presented a paper,“Morphometric Evolution of theMetatarsal Length Pattern fromNonhuman Primates to ModernHumans,” at the National Confer-ence of the Society of Industrialand Applied Mathematics inFebruary. ! Mario R. Faillace’79EE retired as team leader ofthe Philadelphia district of theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers,

after more than 25 years of ser-vice. ! Marsha Moroh ’79CS isinterim provost and vice presidentfor academic affairs at CaliforniaState University in Monterey Bay.

80sVictor Simuoli ’82 ’84EE is asenior program manager atUrban Engineers of New York,responsible for program manage-ment oversight of $1.1 billion ofsignals and systems projects forNew York City Transit. ! IdoniMatthews ’86MG is founder,managing director and CEO ofDecision Technologies Interna-tional, a computer-systems designand consulting company in NewYork. Matthews’ company wasrecently hired to manage theonline services for Nigeria’s Cor-porate Affairs Commission. !Aron A. Abel ’87ME is a plan-ner/analyst at PSE&G’s HudsonPower Generation Station in Jersey City. ! Gary S. Popkin’87OR produces a weekly politi-cal talk show, “Hardfire,” shownon Brooklyn Community Accesstelevision. ! Anthony Castro-giovanni ’88ME ’91 ’96AA isgeneral manager of Allient Tech-systems’ GASL in Ronkonkoma,N.Y., which built the engines forNASA’s X-43A Hyper-X pro-gram. ! Robert Miklosko’88ME is vice president of world-wide engineering for ThalesNavigation, manufacturer ofhigh-precision navigation andpositioning systems based onGPS and GNSS technology.

90sWilliam Tetzlaff ’93 ’98CS waselected vice president–Americas

of the IBMAcademy ofTechnology.The academycomprises IBMtechnologistswho investigateand advise ontechnical issuesaffecting IBM’s

future. Bill works at IBM’sAlmaden and Thomas J. Watsonresearch centers. !

AA Aeronautics & AstronauticsAE Aerospace EngineeringAM Applied MathematicsCE Civil EngineeringChE Chemical EngineeringChem ChemistryCS Computer ScienceEE Electrical EngineeringMA MathematicsME Mechanical EngineeringMG ManagementMOT Management of TechnologyOR Operations ResearchPH PhysicsSyS Systems ScienceTP Transportation Planning

& Engineering

Major CodesRefers to the academic discipline listednext to alumni’s class year. A full key tomajor abbreviations is available atwww.poly.edu/alumni/cable.

CLASSNOTESClass years are determined by the year the Office of the Registrar certified the granting of the degree. Alumnireceiving multiple degrees from Polytechnic are listed under the first graduating degree only.

William Tetzlaff

Paul Soros

Richard S.ThorsenVice President for Development

and University Relations

John F. KellyManaging Director of Communications

and Media Relations

Donald IvanoffDirector of Alumni Relations

Michelle KerrDirector of Communications

Cable EditorHolly A. Block

Art DirectorMarian Goldman

Elena OlivoPrincipal Photography

Address editorial correspondence to:Michelle Kerr, Cable Editor, Office of Communications and Media Relations

Polytechnic University, Six MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201or call 718-260-3400.

Change of address:Alumni Relations, Polytechnic University,Six MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201

e-mail alumni@poly.edu, or call 718-260-3885.Polytechnic website: www.poly.edu.

Polytechnic University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

cableFall 2005 Vol. 32 No. 4

Jerry MacArthur HultinPresident

NonprofitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDNew York, NYPermit #2405

Six MetroTech CenterBrooklyn, NY 11201Address service requested

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of its founding, Polytechnic University has

published a comprehensive history book:

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY:CHANGING THE WORLD—THE

FIRST 150 YEARS

NOW AVAILABLE! (272 pages, hardcover)

GET YOUR COPY TODAY!

Enclose this form in an envelope to:Polytechnic History Book

Office of Alumni Relations Polytechnic University

Six MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201Fax your order: 718-260-3449 • Attention: Polytechnic History Book

Method of Payment (Please do not send cash)" VISA " Discover " American Express" MasterCard " Money Order " Check Make check or money order payable to Polytechnic University

Account No. __________________________ Exp. Date ____________Name on Card __________________________________________________Signature__________________________________________________Daytime Phone No. __________________________________________________________E-mail Address _____________________________________________

Billing Address for Credit CardName __________________________________________________________Address ___________________________________________________City, State, Zip _____________________________________________

Ship to Address (only if different from Billing Address)Name ____________________________________________________Address_________________________________________________________City, State, Zip_______________________________________________

Quantity ______ (Book Price: $39.95) Subtotal $_________

($6.95 plus $2.00 for each additional Shipping $_________book in same order)

TOTAL $_________

Shop, save and support your alma mater

Buy a new computer, help Poly.J&R Music & Computer World

has teamed with the University tooffer a special deal to the Polycommunity where you can shop formusic and electronics online at www.jr.com/poly at thesame low prices J&R is known for, and a portion of yoursale will benefit Poly.

J&R was founded by Poly alumna and trustee RachelleGross Friedman ’71Chem and her husband, Joe, and isNew York City’s leading family-owned seller of consumerelectronics, software, music and more. This special pro-gram is open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni andfriends of Polytechnic and is available only through thewebsite and not for purchases made at the retail store.

www.jr.com/poly

Special Discounts on InsurancePoly alumni are eligible for special discounted rates on auto and home-

owner’s insurance through Liberty Mutual’s Group Savings Plus(r) Program. The program, offered by the POLYTECHNIC

ALUMNI, features access to a dedicated agent.For a free, no obligation rate quote, call RojanaChhim at 1-800-486-6189, extension 223. Evenif you are a current Liberty Mutual customer,

you may qualify for additional discounts through this program.

An Invention in Boxes

Unscramble the tiles to reveal Prof. Gordon Gould’s invention. Answer: Light Amplification by Stim-ulated Emission of Radiation (LASER)

The winner is: Philip Shapiro Steele ’62Chem

Answer:Spiral GearPowered Fuel BurnerCanal LocksFire-Resistant PolymersLight Beer

Touch Screen ATMSearch LightsCamcorderFax MachineThe Power of PolyThinking

P O L Y P U Z Z L E W I N N E R S

Unscramble the Alumni Inventions

The winner is: Michael Reames ’86TIM