Stevens Review, Fall 2009

Technogenesis Scholars Research Program

THE MAGAZINE OF STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | FALL 2009

STEVENS NEWS | DEAN KAMEN CLASS OF 2009 EXCELS STEVENS ACROSS THE GLOBE CIESE | STEP PROGRAM CLASS OF ’59 RAISES THE BAR

Technogenesis Scholar Stephen Jack Stafford ’10

The purpose of this new publication is to inform the broader Stevens community about the critical courses, programs and campus events — and the thinking behind them — that shape our progress as a leader

in technological education and entrepreneurship.

As future challenges beckon in education, in science and technology, at the frontiers of engineering and systems thinking, and in various other emerging fields, the Review will put names and faces on the people and programs behind these compelling stories.

In this issue, we consider the impact of Stevens’ education and research programs, and that of the Technogenesis® environment, on the people most affected by them: our students.

For nearly a century and a half, Stevens has nurtured and inspired leaders in invention, entrepreneurship and industry. Furthering innovation by engaging our diverse campus community in the search for ingenious solutions to critical technological needs remains our fundamental mission.

We invite your active interest and participation in the life of the university.

Sincerely,

Fred ReganVice President for Advancement

Welcome to the premiere issue of Stevens Review, the magazine reporting the latest news from the Innovation University, Stevens Institute of Technology.

Office of AdvancementVice President and Chief Advancement Officer: Fred ReganAssociate Vice President: John Walker

University CommunicationsDirector: Patrick A. BerzinskiEditor & Assistant Director: Stephanie Mannino Editorial Writer: Tracey Regan

Media Assistant: Meagen Henning-HindsPhotographer: Jim CumminsInternet & Media Consultant: Randolph HoppeArt Direction & Design: Christian Drury

Stevens Review is published by Stevens Institute of Technology’s Office of Communications. All content, images and related information is the property of the Stevens News Service, Office of Advancement and Office of Communications at Stevens Institute of Technology. Any unauthorized use or replication is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2009 Stevens Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.

Send correspondence and magazine related inquiries to Stephanie Mannino, Editor, Office of Communications, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Contact Information: telephone (201) 216-5116 or email: [email protected].

Send name and address changes to Office of Advancement, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030 or call toll free: (888) 748-5228.

Castle Point on Hudson Hoboken, NJ 07030

THE MAGAZINE OF STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | FALL 2009

Fred ReganVice President for Advancement

Welcome

Stevens Review | fall 2009www.stevens.edu 3

ContentsFeaTures

8 Technogenesis Scholars Research ProgramUndergraduates scholars conduct research in biomedi-cine, nanotechnology, alternative energy and more.

12 CIESE Helps Educate Tomorrow’s EngineersNew Jersey teachers participate in programs emphasizing science, technology and engineering in the classroom.

14 Stevens Across the GlobeStevens’ international programs prepare students to thrive in a global marketplace.

16 The Stevens Technical Enrichment ProgramSTEP bridges the gap from high school to freshman year.

17 Class of 2009 Excels in the Job MarketDespite one of the bleakest job markets in decades, the class of 2009 fared exceptionally well in their search for work.

Check out more news on our website: http://www.stevens.edu/press/

DeparTmenTs

4 Stevens News Stevens sensors installed on Clearwater; Inventor Dean Kamen receives the Stevens Honor Award; Quantitative Finance program debuts; Vaccari published in Scientific American; Polemis elected to Board of Trustees.

18 Focus on Giving Class of 1959 raises the bar; Volunteer telethon callers build on banner year.

22 Stevens Events Alumni and friends gather at events around the country.

ON THE COVER:Technogenesis Scholar Stephen Jack Stafford ’10

Photo by Jim Cummins

Stevens Review | fall 2009 stevens institute of technology4

The famous sloop Clearwater sailing on the Hudson River.

Stevens News

There are fewer and fewer regions in the complex underwater world of New York Harbor and its connecting

waterways that escape the watchful eye of the Stevens Center for Maritime Systems, the nerve center of a growing network of marine sensors and computer-generated forecasts.

The center’s Urban Ocean Observatory provides real-time information critical to the river’s commercial vitality and environmen-tal stability, including data on water levels, temperature and salinity, concentrations of dissolved oxygen and organic matter, winds and currents. Researchers at the Center for Maritime Systems use computer models to forecast conditions, including storm surges and floods, for up to 48 hours.

This summer, Stevens expanded its range substantially by installing a sensor on the sloop Clearwater – the mobile centerpiece of musician and activist Pete Seeger’s 40-year-old environmental advocacy organization – which travels from New York Harbor to the northern reaches of the Hudson River near Albany.

The new sensor fills a gap in the network in the upper Hudson River, where there are few monitoring stations.

“This is a very large stretch of the river – about 250 miles – and there are not a lot of universities or people along it, particularly at the northern end. But it’s a very important

waterway, serving as the main conduit to the upper and lower Hudson and so it’s vital to understand what’s happening along it,” said Alan Blumberg, the George Meade Bond Professor of Ocean Engineering and Director of the Center for Maritime Systems.

Commercial shipping companies, recre-ational boaters and government transporta-tion and safety agencies rely on the center’s information to guide vessels safely through the harbor, which Blumberg describes as extraordinarily complex from a meteorologi-cal and oceanographic standpoint.

The harbor is subject to massive tidal currents, for example, through its two entrances to the ocean, at Sandy Hook at the southern end and at the East River to the east. The island of Manhattan exerts an unusual sheltering effect on wind conditions in the river. Man-made factors complicating conditions include crisscrossing wakes from the heavy volume of high-speed passenger and cargo ferries and the impact on waves and currents from the many piers and seawalls throughout the harbor.

The data collected from the Clearwater and scores of other marine sensors, deployed throughout the region by Stevens and its part-ners, are recorded, processed and displayed in a format that pilots and others can use through the center’s New York Harbor Obser-

vation and Prediction System web site (www.stevens.edu/maritimeforecast). The center’s computer models display not only current con-ditions, but projected changes as well, such as shifts in the speed and direction of currents.

“These conditions have a big impact on ships coming into the harbor and pilots want to know this,” Blumberg said.

Blumberg and his research team have recently expanded the site’s capabilities with Google Earth, an interactive graphics pro-gram that permits viewers to zoom in on a given section of the harbor to explore con-ditions more closely. In the future, this new feature will automatically generate naviga-tion routes for ships to guide them through the harbor’s entrance and interior waters.

The importance of real-time data became dramatically clear in the min-utes following the unprecedented mid-afternoon crash landing last January of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, part of one of the busiest sections of the harbor. Blumberg and his colleague Nickitas Georgas were able to provide res-cue teams a detailed summary of water conditions surrounding the crash site, including the direction of currents, as well as a forecast of conditions for the 48 hours following the accident.

The emergency response team heeded the center’s suggestions, for example, to deploy ambulances and apparatus downstream of the crash site, as the currents were carrying the airplane downstream at that time, and to

Stevens Sensors Installed on Clearwater

Center for Maritime Systems’ sensors will collect real-time data in New York Harbor and Hudson River.

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guide the plane eastward to the Battery area for salvage operations, since that section of the harbor has some of the weakest currents.

More recently, the center aided the National Transportation Safety Board in the search for debris following the deadly mid-air collision of a helicopter and private airplane over the Hudson River in early August.

“We worked closely for two weeks with the recovery team, helping to locate airplane and helicopter parts that are critical evidence in the crash,” Blumberg said.

The current monitoring system includes about 200 fixed and mobile sensors in the waters of New York and New Jersey – in the Hudson River, the East River, the New York/New Jersey estuary, Raritan Bay, Long Island Sound and the coastal waters of New Jersey – and got its start a decade ago. Stevens has 15 sensors of its own and continually looks for ways to enhance the system.

Five years ago, for example, the center installed a mobile sensor on the Pioneer, a schooner owned by the South Street Seaport Museum, that travels the lower harbor. Researchers had tried placing sensors on water taxis, but found that sailboats proved a better host than the fast-moving vessels, whose engines interfered with readings, said Don Chesley, a Research Engineer at the center.

The maritime center has recently added unmanned underwater vehicles to its fleet of sensors, devices which have advanced capabilities, such as the ability to hover and sit on the river bottom.

“In the future, these vehicles will be able to follow an event as it happens,” said Georgas, a Research Engineer at the center. He noted that the mobile sensors would have

the ability, for example, to track pollution plumes should a sewage treatment plant, overcome by coastal flooding, regurgitate its untreated waste into the river.

“Unmanned underwater vehicles are the future of ocean observation. They are the ocean’s weather balloons,” Blumberg said.

Stevens will be deploying sensors on more mobile platforms, including Circle Line boats, and on buoys in deep waters of the harbor, as it creates an enhanced navigation safety system over the next two years for the New Jersey Department of Transportation. The new system, NAVSAFE, will provide advanced, harbor-wide profiles with sophisticated sensors, including devices that use echolocation to measure currents from water surface to bottom.

“The use of the urban ocean is increasing markedly and we need to understand that marine environment and make it safer and more useful,” Blumberg said, noting, “There are so many competing uses, from sailboats and kayaks to cargo vessels and cruise ships.”

While the center’s primary mission is navigation safety, it also plays an important role as an environmental monitor by tracking water quality. The levels of dissolved solids and oxygen levels it measures are critical to the maintenance of marine life in the Hudson River ecosystem.

Environmental groups such as the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., which operates the Clearwater, keep track of these conditions as they urge state and federal lawmakers to adopt policies that protect the river’s ecosystem.

The 106-foot-tall Clearwater—a replica of the sloops that sailed the Hudson in the 18th and 19th centuries, was among the first vessels in the US to conduct science-based environmental education aboard a sailing ship at a time when data was not readily available.

“The exposure to the environmental and educational community through this new connection is tremendous,” Blumberg said of Stevens’ new alliance with the ship.

Stevens News

The importance of real-time data became dramatically clear in the minutes following the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, part of one of the busiest sections of the harbor.

Alan Blumberg, the George Meade Bond Professor of Ocean Engineering and Director of the Center for Maritime Systems, holds one of the center’s sensors.

David Vaccari, Associ-ate Professor and Director of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering, had his paper, “Phosphorus: A Looming Crisis,” published in Scien-tific American.

In the magazine’s June 2009 issue, Vaccari raised

the alarm about the depletion in US and global high-grade phosphorus resources. He writes: “The US is the world’s largest producer and exporter of phosphorus, at 23 percent of the total, but 80 percent of that amount comes from a single source: pit mines near Tampa, Fla. which may not last more than a few decades.

Meanwhile nearly 40 percent of global reserves are in a single country, Morocco, sometimes referred to as the ‘Saudi Arabia of phosphorus.’ Although Morocco is a stable, friendly nation, the imbalance makes phosphorus a geostrate-gic ticking time bomb.”

Furthermore, adds Vaccari, global supplies of high-grade resources may last less than a century.

“The world has enough potassium to last several centuries. But phosphorus is a different story. Readily available global supplies may start running out by the end of this century. By then our population may have reached a peak that some say is beyond what the planet can sustainably feed,” he writes.

Vaccari is a specialist in biological waste-water treatment and in modeling the effects of pollution in rivers and streams. He is a member of the Water Environment Federation (Technical Practice Committees for Wastewa-ter Biology Manual of Practice and for Instru-mentation and Control); American Institute

of Chemical Engineers; American Society of Civil Engineers (Clari-fier Research Technical Committee); Associa-tion of Environmental Engineering Professors; and International Asso-ciation of Water Qual-ity (Specialist Group on Computing).

David Vaccari Published in Scientific American

David VaccariAssociate Professor


Dean Kamen, a prolific inventor whose groundbreaking ideas have transformed the way people take

their medications, move about in daily life, and hope to one day produce energy and clean water, was this year’s recipient of the Stevens Honor Award.

Kamen, who holds more than 440 US and foreign patents, is best known for creating the Segway Human Transporter, an emissions-free transportation device that balances on two wheels, travels up to 12.5 miles an hour and is controlled by shifting body weight.

His powered wheelchair, the iBOT Mobility System, similarly uses sensors and gyroscopes to move and balance as it goes up and down staircases and navigates difficult terrain, while boosting its occupant to eye level with the ambulatory world.

Kamen first made his name in the medical device arena. While still in college, he invented an automatic, ambulatory pump that delivers precise doses of medication to patients with a variety of medical conditions. He later designed the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics.

After selling his first company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to Baxter International Corporation, Kamen and the team at his new company, DEKA Research & Development Corp., continued to produce life-changing devices such as the portable dialysis machine.

While his inventions span industry sectors, he said they all address a basic question: “Will this improve peoples’ lives?”

“I work on important problems that require a high degree of technical advance-ment in order to meet important human needs,” he noted.

Kamen said half of DEKA’s projects come from partners in research and industry looking for conceptual and technical advice on ventures they are undertaking.

He added, “The other half come from looking at the world and wondering why this or that is such a vexing problem. You ask yourself why, for example, millions of kids are dying because they have no access to clean water.”

In 2000, he received the National Medal of Technology from President Bill Clinton for his life-enhancing inventions as well as for his efforts to promote student interest in science and technology. Six years later, he was awarded the Global Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Association of the USA. In his remarks at the awards ceremony, then Secretary General Kofi Annan noted in particular Kamen’s ongoing efforts to bring cheap power and clean water to the poor.

Kamen has produced a modern version of the Stirling engine, a device first conceived in the early 1800s that can use almost any fuel to produce electrical power and clean heat.

“We’re still working on it to make it simpler, cheaper and more reliable. When we have made it simpler, cheaper and more reliable, we hope the big guys will spend money to put it into production,” he said.

He has also been developing water purification technology that would make nearly all source water safe to drink.

Kamen has inspired many Stevens students—from Technogenesis scholars already working on their first inventions to those just entering the field of engineering—in the hopes of emulating his success in finding ingenious and practical solutions to everyday problems.

He directly influenced some of these stu-dents to enter the field through his two-decade-old FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) pro-

grams in high school and elementary schools.The flagship program, the FIRST Robotics

Competition, joins professionals with stu-dents to solve an engineering design prob-lem. This year, the program will reach 42,000 high school students on close to 1,700 teams. Just over a decade ago, he created the FIRST LEGO League for younger children.

Kamen said it is up to programs like FIRST to fire the imaginations of students who would otherwise have little contact with the realm of science and technology and few chances to savor the joys of invention.

“I think it’s a cultural problem, not an educational one. Kids need to have passion and focus to decide to be smart, to study math and science. But they are smoth-ered by MTV and Hollywood and grow up celebrating nonsense,” he noted. “We need a cultural change agent.”

Ed Eichhorn, ’69, presi-dent of the Stevens Alumni Association, said his reasons for recommending Kamen for the award were twofold.

“I felt he should be honored for his many contributions as an inventor, but also for the programs he started to stimulate student interest in science and technology in schools,” Eichhorn

said, adding, “The younger alumni were very excited about his nomination. They really admire him, and many said that Dean Kamen and his programs were the reason they became interested in careers in science and engineering.”

Kamen received the award on November 6 at the annual Edwin A. Stevens Society Gala, held at the Liberty Science Center. Earlier that day, he addressed students and faculty on campus as part of the Heath Lecture Series. His speech focused on FIRST and, as he put it, “the power of technology and what it can and should do.”

First bestowed in 1945, the award was designed to honor “notable achievement in any field of endeavor.” Kamen joins a long and diverse list of distinguished recipients, including artist Alexander Calder, ’19, futurist and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller and Charles Stewart Mott, 1897, the industrialist and philanthropist.

Inventor and Entrepreneur Dean Kamen Receives the Stevens Honor Award

Stevens News

Dean Kamen

Photo: Adriana M. Groisman, courtesy of FIRST.


Stevens News

In September 2009, Stevens launched the first undergraduate program in Quantitative Finance in the region.

This fast-growing, multi-disciplinary field is based on applying modern science, math-ematical and engineering methods, and advanced technology to model and execute decisions in the financial domain. Quantita-tive Finance applications extend from clas-sical investment portfolio management and the design of sophisticated hedging strate-gies to mitigate business risks.

“Quantitative Finance is becoming essen-tial in the business world,” said George M. Calhoun, Executive-in-Residence at Ste-vens. “It is not simply enough to stand on the trading floor. The next generation of

finance experts will come up with ways to out think the market.”

Quantitative finance is at the heart of all modern financial strat-egies and operations, from managing pen-sion funds and insur-ance companies to controlling operational

risks at manufacturing companies and mod-eling the behavior of financial markets.

Offered through Stevens’ Howe School of Technology Management, the four-year Bachelor of Science undergraduate program has a heavy emphasis on math and

statistics, but will also teach students of the underlying economic substance of financial decision making, said Calhoun.

“This is a program where being smart gives you an advantage. This is where the employ-ment growth is going to be,” said Calhoun.

“Risk is going to be the name of the game for the next 20 years,” said Calhoun, “and Quantitative Finance will be key.”

Dr. Germán Creamer and Dr. Jonathan Kaufman have been jointly employed by the Howe School of Technology Management, where they will teach in the Quantitative Finance Program, and the School of Systems and Enterprises, teaching in the graduate Financial Engineering Program.

Stevens Launches First Undergraduate Quantitative Finance Program in the Region

George M. CalhounExecutive-in-Residence

spyros M. Polemis, a widely respected international busi-ness leader who has spent

more than 45 years as a prominent figure in the global shipping indus-try, has been elected to serve on the Stevens Institute of Technol-ogy Board of Trustees. Polemis was named to the board during its spring meeting, May 20-21, 2009. He is a class of 1961 graduate of Stevens.

Polemis’ family has roots in ship-ping that date back several centuries. He is chairman and managing direc-tor of Seacrest Shipping Co. Ltd., the London representative of a large group of shipping interests in the business for more than 200 years. His company helps to operate the ships of the world, from “tween-deckers” to tankers, and manages building and repair projects in shipyards around the globe.

“We are very pleased that an alumnus of such prominence will be working with us to advance the ascent of Stevens Institute of Technology among the world’s leading technological universities,” said Stevens President Harold J. Raveché. “As a historical leader in maritime architecture, design and security, Stevens will benefit greatly from the outstanding expertise of Mr. Polemis,

who stands as an illus-trious figure in global maritime commerce, shipping, and yacht-building, as well as in the world of competi-tive sailing, in the grand tradition of the Stevens family who founded our institution.”

Polemis also serves as chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the international trade

association for merchant ship owners concerned with all regulatory, operational and legal issues. He is also president of its sister organization, the International Shipping Federation, the international employer’s organization for the industry that deals with labor affairs and training issues. These organizations – the leading shipping organizations in the world – represent the collective interests of ship-owner associations from 40 countries, including the US, most of Europe, Japan and Australia. ICS membership consists of national ship-owners’ associations representing more than 70 percent of the world’s merchant fleet.

As head of the ICS, Polemis works with shipping associations and governmental agencies, most notably the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency with responsibility for safety at sea and the protection of the marine environment. Another associated government agency is the US Coast Guard.

As a Stevens student, Polemis served as president of Pi Lambda Phi and belonged to the Interfraternity Council and the Yacht Club. After college, he did his National Service with the Greek Coast Guard as an Officer/Ships’ Inspector. Thereafter, he worked for the family business until 1970, when he formed his own company.

Polemis established a Stevens family legacy, as his son Leonidas S. ’90, and nephew, Peter L.G. Louloudis ’85, are Stevens graduates, as was his late son, Michael S. Polemis ’84, M.Eng. ’85. He has two daughters, Anna and Katerina. He and his wife, Anastasia, live in London.

The Stevens Alumni Association presented to Polemis the Stevens Honor Award in 2007.

In addition to Polemis, two young alumni named to the board include Katherine Freed ’08 and Frank Sorrentino ’08. Freed holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Stevens. She is currently attending Seton Hall Law School and is a member of its class of 2011. Sorrentino holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Technology.

Spyros M. Polemis elected to Board of Trustees

Spyros M. Polemis ’61

Junior Tenzin Bista ’12, a Biomedical Engineering major, worked with advisor Professor Xiaoguang Meng on the removal of phosphate in wastewater using agricultural waste biosorbant.


On an early weekday morning in July, two students in a basement lab in the McLean building are engaged in animated discussion as they float back and forth between a spiky object that resembles a robotic sea urchin and

diagrams of electrical circuits on their computer screens.

The peculiar-looking structure is a prototype of a cancer imaging device they hope will some day provide better and safer breast tumor images than are now available through standard x-ray mammography. Studded with electrodes, it assesses the density and contours of objects by measuring their impedance, or resistance, to low amplitude electrical currents pulsed through them.

The students, juniors Lauren Griggs ’11 and Paige Armstrong ’11, are both Biomedical Engineering students. They are demonstrating real progress on a promising device devised three years ago by a team of Stevens Biomedical Engineering seniors, led by Kate Freed, in their Senior Design class.

continued on page 10

Undergraduate scholars conduct research in biomedicine, nanotechnology, alternative energy and more.

TECHNOGENESIS

SCHOLARS RESEARCH PROGRAM

Juniors Lauren Griggs ’11 and Paige Armstrong ’11, Biomedical Engineering majors, with cancer imaging prototype.


They are among 31 undergraduates across diverse disciplines to secure coveted spots in Stevens’ Technogenesis Summer Scholars Research Program. Twice that many students applied to the annual program, which offers the chance to work closely with professors, in addition to a stipend and free housing.

“The proposal process was intense. I did several revisions,” Griggs said, adding, “I was so happy to have the opportunity to do research.”

She and her partner spent the first two weeks of the summer getting up to speed on their predecessors’ research and teaching themselves about breast cancer and electrical circuits. They then tested the device on objects such as metal balls, while varying the number of electrodes they used to measure the response.

Stevens has filed a patent for the device. In the meantime, researchers at Stevens, from faculty to graduate students to undergraduates, “are evaluating the prototype in more depth by rebuilding it and gathering more data,” said faculty advisor Vikki Hazelwood, a Professor of Biomedical Engineering.

Griggs and Armstrong worked on a sec-ond project this summer with advisor

Antonio Valdevit, a Senior Lecturer in the Biomedical Engineering department. Also begun as a Senior Design project, it is a spinal cage that will take the place of damaged vertebrae, while providing sup-port and stability to the spinal column. It improves on existing models by adding a locking rotational insert that gives sur-geons more flexibility in expanding the cage to a desired final height and angle.

Hazelwood and Valdevit were both instructors in the Senior Design class. They mentored the seniors through the invention process and served as co-inventors as well.

Griggs’ and Armstrong’s work on the spinal cage tapped an entirely different skill set, although one critically important in the arena of scientific entrepreneurship and to the Technogenesis program. They conducted market research on cages that perform a similar function and put together a test budget to determine how much it will cost to get the Stevens device through Food and Drug Administration regulatory reviews. Stevens had planned to apply for a patent on the technology by the end of summer.

“Lauren and Paige were able to see the business aspect of a device – to understand that devices don’t just show

up on the market, that there is a rationale behind them,” Valdevit said. “This is real-world experience.”

David Peacock, Director of Intellectual Property Management in the Office of Academic Entrepreneurship, said the Summer Scholars program is designed to reinforce the links between research, technology and commerce promoted by the university’s Technogenesis program.

“The emphasis over the past several years has been to take research and to overlay aspects of entrepreneurship and commercial value, rather than simply doing ‘off the shelf’ projects,” he said.

The projects chosen each year by a Technogenesis committee reflect the diverse research on campus, from nanotechnology, to materials science, to systems engineering, to biomedicine, to alternative energy.

Aaron Lembo ’10, a senior Civil Engineer-ing major, worked in a very different sort of lab – among surfers, fishermen and beachcombers in the city of Long Branch on the New Jersey shore. He and a team of researchers monitored erosion and sand redistribution along a stretch of the coast where the Army Corps of Engi-neers recently deposited tons of fill. They


surveyed dry beach and points offshore using stationary and roving GPS systems and importing the data into a computer software program to analyze changes over time.

Lembo worked on the data sets the surveys generated back at Stevens, while undertaking more practical tasks at the beach.

“One of my jobs was to come up with a way to do the survey more efficiently, using jet skis and ATVs,” he said. “I was looking, for example, at better ways to attach the GPS to these moving vehicles.”

Since the program’s debut in 2001, more than 600 undergraduates have applied for summer research positions, while just over 250 students have secured them.

Following last year’s program, about 75 percent of the projects moved on to the next stage of research, such as a senior design team project or through contin-ued funding by the university or other sources, Peacock said. Since 2005, under-graduates in the Technogenesis program, including Summer Scholars and senior design students, have filed 27 invention disclosures with the university docu-menting a discovery that they believe to be unique. These disclosures serve as the

initial legal document for what may even-tually become a patented technology.

“This program has real teeth. It’s got success stories,” Peacock said.

Some notable examples of undergraduate ingenuity are SPOC, Inc., a Stevens spin-off company whose core technology is a hand-held biomedical device that

pinpoints the precise location of muscle pain, and Attila Technologies, a wireless communications device.

While most students don’t get to see their research converted into a successful startup company before they graduate, they describe the experience as an unparalleled opportunity to take up intellectual and professional challenges, while boosting their chances of achieving the next step along the career path.

“A lot of our students want to have a leg up in their search for jobs or admission to graduate school, and research jobs certainly help,” said Arthur Ritter, Associate Director of the Biomedical Engineering department, who also supervised Griggs and Armstrong. “They’re also able to get very good references. They have showed that they can work with minimal supervision.”

A primary source of funding for the annual Technogenesis Summer Scholars Research Program comes from a bequest to Stevens Institute of Technology from Allen and Marcelle G. Kadell. The funds were earmarked for undergraduate entrepreneurial and research opportunities.

Since 2005, undergraduates in the Technogenesis program have filed 27 invention disclosures with the university documenting a discovery that they believe to be unique.

Technogenesis Scholars in Action(left to right, starting opposite page)

1 Alex Pollara ’12 (Physical Model Tests to Evaluate Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Amphibious Assault Vehicles, advisors: Dr. Raju Datla and Michael Morabito).2 Amanda DiGuilio ’11 (Optimization of Lysis Conditions for Investigation of Newly Developed Nucleoporin Antibodies; advisor: Dr. Joseph S. Glavy). 3 Kristina Wilson ’11 (Drug Resistance for Cancer Treatments; advisor: Professor Jiahua Xu). 4 Aaron Lembo ’10 (Improving Methods of Bathymetric Surveying of Coast; advisors: Dr. Thomas Herrington and Dr. Jon Miller). 5 Krishna Amin ’11 (Effects of Blood Substitutes on Cells; advisors: Dr. Nuran Kumbaraci and Dr. Xiaogun Yu). 6 Stephen Jack Stafford ’10 (Quantum Cryptography using Single Photon Sources; advisor: Dr. Stefan Strauf).


after the earthquake struck Josephine DiGennaro’s fourth-grade classroom at Connors

Primary School in Hoboken, her student-architects rushed to examine their recently constructed buildings. Many found devastation.

It came as little surprise that several had tumbled down when hit with a violent jolt: they were made out of toothpicks and marshmallows on foundations of jello. The students were encouraged to experiment with a wide range of designs to determine what constructions could

withstand the simulated quake. They eagerly rebuilt the ones that fell to better stabilize them.

“In some cases, we had to do go back and do some re-engineering,” DiGennaro recalled.

DiGennaro is one of 50 teachers from northern New Jersey elementary schools to learn innovative, hands-on teaching strategies from the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education’s (CIESE) at Stevens. The center’s Partnership to Improve Student Achievement program brings teachers

to Stevens for two weeks in the summer over three years to improve their understanding of science, technology and engineering design and to teach them problem-based methods for conveying these subjects to students.

CIESE instructors follow up with the teachers at additional workshops during the school year, and by visiting their classrooms to coach them as they implement the lessons they’ve learned. They also observe the students and assess their progress.

CIese helps eDuCaTe Tomorrow’s engIneersNew Jersey teachers participate in programs emphasizing science, technology and engineering in the classroom.

Josephine DiGennaro teaching her fourth grade engineers at Connors Primary School in Hoboken.


Carving out a role for Stevens in strengthening math and science education in schools was a top priority for President Hal Raveché when he joined Stevens in 1988 and founded CIESE to expand the pool and capabilities of students who pursue science and engineering degrees.

Since then, CIESE has received more than $30 million in funding from the state and federal government, public agencies such as the National Science Foundation and from corporate and private foundations. The center has worked with more than 25,000 teachers in New Jersey and across the US on science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives at every grade level.

More recently, CIESE has begun offering programs that bring students to campus.

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, a program called Build IT challenges middle and high school students to construct submersible robots from LEGO and other parts that can perform complex underwater tasks. More than 2,000 students from 36 schools throughout New Jersey and New York City have participated in the program, which grew out of research at Stevens’ Davidson laboratory.

Each spring, they bring their vessels to campus to compete.

Dee Guarino, an eighth-grade science teacher at the Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick, is one of the more than 70 teachers to embrace the program as a way of supplementing textbook science.

“We’re looking at real-world applications, using scientific tools,” she said of the program, in which student submersibles are tested on their ability to speed across a pool, maneuver around obstacles and pick up objects. “The students love it, because it’s hands-on. They can go off on their own creative tangents.”

She added, however, that courses such as Build IT emphasize the importance of scientific and engineering discipline. “We test nothing without documentation, either written or in a diagram.”

Guarino said it is not just the programs, but the engineers her students meet who make an impact on their view of the field.

“The people who come to speak here, from Stevens and from our community, are not just people wearing lab coats. They are all kinds of people. We go from 23-year-olds in jeans to a 65-year-old mechanical engineer who builds remotely controlled planes,” she said. “This impacts the girls greatly. They understand that there are engineers in many fields.”

Her school district has responded enthusiastically to the program. The high school now offers electives in engineering, including a course next year that requires her science class as a prerequisite.

CIESE evaluates the success of its pro-grams through several methods, includ-ing testing teachers and students before and after they use a new curriculum, and by reviewing their work.

Beth McGrath, CIESE’s Director, said that in two programs in particular, teachers and students showed very significant learning gains over comparison classrooms when tested on the science and engineering concepts they had learned through hands-on projects. The evaluations also showed substantial increases in interest and motivation, particularly among girls and disadvantaged students.

Enticing a more diverse group of students to enter these fields is one of CIESE’s primary aims.

“We’re teaching basic engineering tech-niques and concepts to students who might not get it in their schools,” said Pietro Vardro, a senior at Stevens majoring in biomedical engineering, who worked for two years with the Build IT program.

“The students who participate are incredibly diverse. They’re from every background, race and creed,” he said. “They’re very open to new ideas – simple, complicated, even crazy ideas.”

Attracting a diverse pool of students to engineering is a central concern of the program’s many funders, who believe it is important to the industry’s future vitality that it draw from all demographic groups.

“There’s a recognition among industry, government and universities that the US must do more to produce homegrown engineering talent that is representative of the US population,” McGrath said.

CIESE also invites students to campus for a chance to see the next stage in a possible career in technology and engineering. A recent Student Innovation Day in June brought 60 middle school children from northern New Jersey to Stevens to meet with young entrepreneurs who had designed patented technologies and secured funding from venture capitalists.

“This was a first exposure to a university environment for many of these young men and women and gave them a chance to visit a lab and interact with researchers,” McGrath said. “This program, which was sponsored by Honeywell, also provided students with real-life examples of young entrepreneurs, recent Stevens graduates, who are just a few years older than they are and who – because of their Stevens education – have designed a technology that addresses a market need and has potentially great economic value.”

“There’s a recognition among industry, government and universities that the US must do more to produce homegrown engineering talent that is representative of the US population.”

— Beth McGrath, CIESE’s DirectorBeth McGrath


Junior Dana Barrasso spent three weeks this summer immersed in sus-tainable energy studies with Ronald

Besser, a Chemical Engineering professor and expert in alternative fuel production. By the end of the course, she had designed a model house powered entirely by a hydro-gen fuel cell.

What distinguished the course from the typical Stevens summer program was that it took place in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Besser, accompanied by five undergraduate engineers from Stevens, took his course to Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPOL), a technical university in the hills above Guayaquil, the country’s commercial hub. His students shared classes and designed their model systems with mechanical engineering students at ESPOL, communicating in a spirited mix of English and Spanish.

“Spending three weeks in another country will do a lot for your language skills. You can compare it to several months in a classroom,” Barrasso said.

This intensive course is part of a concerted push by Stevens to expand international educational offerings for students, par-ticularly for engineering undergraduates who historically have been among the least likely to embrace them.

Only about five percent of engineering students at Stevens now study abroad before earning their degrees, said Keith Sheppard, Associate Dean for Engineering and Science. Their reluc-tance is explained in part, he said, by logistical challenges such as fitting

in the many core courses the major requires and the difficulty in transferring credits.

“We have set a goal of substantially increas-ing that number,” he noted, in order to prepare students to thrive in increasingly global industries.

“Project design is often done in the US, working with design teams around the world. But prototype development and supply chains are spread all over the world. As an engineer, you have to be comfortable working in that environment,” he said. “You also need to understand that culture has a huge impact on the way people work together in terms of developing and delivering products in a globally networked industry. It has an impact as well on how products and services are marketed in different countries.”

“We would like our students to get a true global perspective by seeing cultures that are quite different from theirs, including

places where English is not spoken,” he added, noting that students preparing for a stint abroad have free access to the foreign language program Rosetta Stone for one year.

Stevens is working toward that goal on several fronts, expanding the number and types of programs that both send students abroad and bring foreign students to the Hoboken campus.

One approach is to build on existing relationships at schools where Stevens has programs in place.

Stevens has established a graduate program with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, for example, and both schools have expressed an interest in an exchange of undergraduate students.

Stevens undergraduate Stefan PremDas recently completed a four-week course on the conservation and sustainable development of natural resources in tropical Malaysia at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Kuala Lumpur. He spent two weeks in class and two weeks visiting rainforest, mountain, coastal and indigenous regions. UKM is currently sponsoring two recent Stevens alumni from Malaysia, who have been offered UKM faculty positions, to remain on campus to pursue doctorates and recently hosted Athula Attygalle, a Stevens Chemistry professor, as a guest lecturer.

STEVENS ACROSS THE GLOBEStevens’ international programs prepare students to thrive in a global marketplace.

Keith SheppardAssociate Dean for Engineering and Science


“We are looking to offer more overseas summer research experiences at universities where our faculty are involved in research collaborations,” Sheppard said.

Another route is to send students abroad with Stevens faculty. Stevens’ Business and Technology program arranges these sorts of trips, such as a faculty-led global management seminar over spring break that includes visits to foreign companies.

Stevens is also expanding its global ties by bringing foreign students to the Hoboken campus.

The university has a longstanding relation-ship with Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Malaysia which sends top-performing, government-sponsored undergraduate stu-dents to Stevens every year. Twenty students from UiTM graduated this spring, nearly all with honors or high honors, mostly in engi-neering. Edward Blicharz, a Stevens profes-sor, taught two engineering design classes at UiTM this summer and 11 of the students in his courses transferred to Stevens this fall.

“Not only do these exchanges add to the diversity of our campus, but they become a catalyst for broader relationships,” said Edwina Fleming, Director of International Graduate Admissions. She noted that two Malaysian students who just graduated from Stevens served as Blicharz’s teaching assistants this summer.

Stevens is building on an existing relationship with Beijing Institute of Technology by adding an undergraduate exchange program. The first group of five students arrived this fall.

International students, who for the most part must pay their own way to attend Stevens, come for courses they can’t find at their home universities, such as engineering classes in design, and for the exposure to American culture, Fleming said.

“These students leave with very warm feelings about the US and this is a wonderful by-product of the program,” she noted. “Many are going to be leaders in their countries.”

Stevens has longstanding undergraduate exchanges with the University of Dundee in Scotland and with the naval engineering program at University College London. These programs expose students to “a very different culture and a different approach to teaching. They open students’ eyes to the world,” said Erol Cesmebasi, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academics.

Cesmebasi noted that Stevens also works closely with students to facilitate their individual study abroad arrangements, mostly through Stevens’ academic consortiums with overseas universities. Over the past 10 years, numerous Stevens students have studied in Sydney, London, Madrid and Hong Kong, only a few places among many.

“A number of students have studied art in Florence, for example,” he said. “We had a mechanical engineer who graduated with a B.S. in Engineering and B.A. in Art. We’ve also sent students to the Netherlands to do medical research.” He noted that Stevens is working with students and foreign partners to set up internships for students who want to combine study abroad with work.

Stevens must approve all foreign courses in advance, he said.

“Before signing off, we make sure students are in good academic standing and that they are mature and flexible. We deal with each student one-on-one.”

Sheppard, who chairs a task force on global education, said the institute is trying to help students fit foreign study into their undergraduate schedules. He pointed to recent changes in the engineering curriculum that allow students to earn up to six general education credits, equal to two courses, in relevant studies overseas that would not otherwise be transferable.

“In 2007, for example, we started a program in Norway in which students spent three weeks in academic programs related to systems engineering. They got credit for it,” he said. The changes have also generated interest in Malaysian universities.

Sheppard said the task force is considering adding a global component to the curriculum as a required educational “outcome” for Stevens graduates. It could take several forms, he said, including international study or courses at Stevens that place subjects such as engineering within a global context.

“You also need to understand that culture has a huge impact on the way people work together in terms of developing and delivering products in a globally networked industry.” — Keith Sheppard Associate Dean for Engineering and Science


after playing tutor, coach, big brother – and, occasionally, nag – to a dorm full of incoming freshmen this

summer, sophomore Tony Dominguez, an Electrical Engineering major, was rubbing his eyes with exhaustion. But his fatigue was distinctly laced with pride.

The students were taking their last exam after an eye-opening, six-week immersion in college-level courses such as calculus and computer programming, and he was confident in their skills, despite the last-minute jitters. He still clearly recalled his own pre-exam nerves the summer before – and the happy conclusion.

Now a self-assured veteran, Dominguez signed on this summer as a resident tutor for the Stevens Technical Enrichment Program (STEP). Founded in 1968, it is one of the oldest continuous programs in Stevens’ history and one of its most important.

Responding to the pressing need to expand the country’s base of scientists and engineers, STEP identifies talent in communities that are historically underrepresented in these fields, including students from minority, immigrant and low-income families.

Each year, STEP’s Bridge program brings about 50 students to campus for six weeks in June and July to familiarize them with the rigors and pace of a freshman-year course load and introduce them to campus life. They take courses throughout the week, meet key administrators and professors, and in their time off, start identifying recreational outlets and building a network of friends.

“I thought of it as a mini fall semester. It was stressful at times, but it gave me a preview of what was to come as a college student, particularly about time management – something I hadn’t learned in high school,” said Dominguez, who grew up in Hudson County. “I had never spent that amount of

time studying, never had to work that hard, and never been pushed that hard.

“But I had a great experience and wanted to share it. I felt I went in not knowing anything, but then I came out of it very confident,” he said, noting in particular his difficult, but ultimately successful first encounter with calculus.

He said it was clear that many STEP students had never faced an academic challenge that truly taxed their abilities, and he wanted to share strategies for coping.

“Students at Stevens are very hard workers. They seek help when they need it. One of the reasons I did this pro-gram was to reach out to the new kids who weren’t used to asking for help. In high school, they never needed it,” he said.

STEP’s support does not end after the summer session. Throughout the year, STEP students are offered a host of services, from progress reviews, to tutoring, to personal and academic counseling, to advice on resume writing, career workshops, professional contacts and social events.

Deborah Berkley, STEP Director, invites program alumni back to campus to present workshops and seminars on a variety of topics. Some alumni conduct mock interviews for students preparing to hit the job market, either for internships or post-graduation positions.

“I always knew there was a family on the 10th floor for me,” said Christopher Farmer ’99, of the STEP office, located in the Howe Center. “I felt like I always had a resource – that this was a place set up to secure peoples’

success. The peer tutoring in particular was extremely helpful. It’s a very comfortable way to get help.”

Some of that support was informal, growing naturally out of the social network students developed over the six-week Bridge session, Farmer said.

“There were students with different levels of preparation and people started partnering up and helping each other,” he recalled. “Some schools like to create an atmosphere of competition, but I found Stevens to be more cooperative.”

STEP students end up doing well. Their graduation rate, at 76 percent, is slightly higher than that of the population as a whole.

While STEP students are mostly from New York and New Jersey, the population is increasingly diverse geographically and ethnically. This year’s class, for example, includes students from as far away as Arizona, North Carolina and Virginia, Dominguez noted.

“The program is not so much about ethnicity, but about the many different experiences these students bring to campus,” said Berkley, adding, “They are involved in every aspect of campus life, from student government to

athletics.”For Farmer, the con-

nection continued long after he graduated and took his first job at Col-gate Palmolive.

He ended up rooming with Dorian Tisdale, his roommate at the Bridge session, and later asked him to be a groomsman at his wedding.

He also kept in touch with Berkley.

“There is a great resource center for help on resumes and Deborah would put all of these red lines through mine. I used her as a sounding board even after I left.”

Farmer is now the director of manufacturing for luxury skincare products for L’Oreal, responsible for the Lancome, Ralph Lauren and Kiehl’s brands.

He had initially intended to major in robotics but focused on manufacturing instead. STEP played a role in this transition as well, by helping him secure an internship at Polaroid.

“I love what I do. I see the entire process – from the raw materials to the finished consumer product – and then get to see the impact.”

STeVens TeChnICal EnrIChmenT Program

STEP bridges the gap from high school to freshman year.

Tony Dominguez ’12 Deborah Berkley STEP Director


Defying national trends in one of the bleakest job markets in decades, Stevens graduating seniors in the

Class of 2009 fared exceptionally well this year in launching their careers.

The vast majority of graduates, about 80 percent, either accepted full-time jobs or opted to pursue graduate degrees at universities such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Stevens. Indeed, nearly 60 percent of seniors who accepted job offers received more than one.

By contrast, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) recently reported that just less than 20 percent of college seniors nationally who applied for jobs had secured them before graduating.

“Even in the midst of a downturn, companies still need engineers, software developers, engineering managers and, in general, analytical thinkers,” said Pamela Cohen, Assistant Director of Career Development. “When companies have to do more with less, that’s when Stevens students are in even higher demand.”

Stevens graduates found jobs across industry sectors, at Johnson & Johnson, the consumer products giant, at Hamilton Sundstrand, the aerospace company, and at JPMorgan Chase, the global financial services firm. Five graduating seniors went to work for ExxonMobil Corp.

“ExxonMobil has had an ongoing pres-ence recruiting at Stevens for many years because the institute has always provided a solid engineering education to its students,” said Frank Roberto, energy planning advi-sor for ExxonMobil Chemical Company.

The average starting salary for the class of 2009 is $62,400, as compared with the national average of $57,751, according to NACE, which also reported that engineers entering the job force commanded the highest starting salaries.

Stevens students boosted their job prospects by aggres-sively pursuing work experience while earning their degrees. About 90 percent of undergrad-uates incorporated work experi-ence into their time at Stevens, through summer internships, cooperative education assign-ments and faculty-mentored research, Cohen said.

Almost half of engineering students take part, for example, in the institute’s five-year Coop-erative Education program, which alternates semesters of full-time paid work with study on campus.

“In a weak job market, this sets them apart from other stu-dents,” said Catherine Rooney, Director, Cooperative Educa-tion. “Experience has become almost a necessity today for any competi-tive entry-level position.”

Employers nationally concur. When asked about job candidates in NACE’s Job Outlook 2009 Survey, they reported a strong preference for college graduates with relevant work experience.

“More than three-quarters of employers say they would prefer to hire new college graduates who have relevant work experience. For college students, that experience is most typically gained through an internship or co-op assignment,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.

Cassidy DeSchryver ’11, a junior Mechan-ical Engineering major in the Cooperative Education program, spent the past several months at BMW outside of Munich, Ger-

many, evaluating the strength of materi-als used in the company’s motorcycles and Formula 1 team race cars, including during crash tests.

“My project is specifically on the energy absorption of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers, which will hopefully give some empirical results for more applications of the material,” said DeSchryver, a mechanical engineer. “I definitely think it will be useful moving forward, because not only am I learning so much technically, but I’m also broadening my horizons by learning the difference between the American and German workplaces. I hope to take the best lessons from both and incorporate them into my work habits.”

She credits the Cooperative Education program with “giving me a clearer idea of what I’m looking for, what jobs interest me,

my skill set and strengths, and how I can make a positive impact on projects.

“I feel that taking the extra year of college and getting acquainted with the industry that I will be working in has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my academic career.”

Stevens emphasizes career planning. Every student at Stevens is assigned a career counselor freshman year.

“One of the strengths of this office is the one-on-one attention we give to students,” Cohen noted. “We work closely with students so we know what they are looking for. And when an employer calls, I know exactly which students are looking for jobs in that area. I can have several resumes out before I even hang up the phone.”

Class oF 2009 exCels In The Job markeTDespite one of the bleakest job markets in decades, the class of 2009 fared exceptionally well in their search for work.

Stevens National Major Average Average

Biomedical Engineering $58,900 $55,679***

Business and Technology $61,200 $47,552*

Chemical Engineering $66,900 $65,403

Civil/Environmental Engineering $59,150 $51,793

Computer Engineering $62,300 $61,017

Computer Science $68,200 $57,693

Electrical Engineering $63,500 $57,600

Engineering Management $63,100 $58,581**

Mechanical Engineering $61,050 $58,749

Total Survey $62,400*** $57,751***

* The average for Business majors is used for comparative purposes. ** The average for Industrial Engineering majors is used for comparative purposes. *** This number is a weighted average.

National Average data reprinted from the Spring 2009 Salary Survey, with the permission of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, copyright holder.

INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN

Below are the industries in which 2009 Stevens graduates entered the workforce:

ACCEPTED SALARY OFFERS

Manufacturing/Pharmaceutical

20%

Aerospace/Defense17%

Financial13%

Government13%

EngineeringServices12%

Technology/Telecom12%

Construction

8%

Energy

3%

Business

2%


Fiftieth reunions are typically a time to look back and celebrate: friendships long cemented, careers

successfully concluded and good deeds decently done. But on occasion, vital new memories are made.

It was in this forward-looking spirit that Leo Collins ’59 and several classmates approached their milestone anniversary last year, when they resolved to revive a sluggish fundraising campaign and succeeded in sparking never-seen levels of commitment and camaraderie among class members.

“Our class never had a reputation or record for being a good contributor, although we had a handful of loyal supporters. I took this very much to heart. I felt challenged. At 50 years, you should be thinking about a legacy, about giving something back,” Collins observed.

So he and a handful of like-minded classmates formed a committee, set a scholarship fund goal of $100,000 and began writing letters and making calls to old friends and acquaintances.

Responses trickled in at first, but by spring, momentum began to build.

“People volunteered who had never participated. By Alumni Weekend, we were changing the goal,” Collins recalled, noting how quickly they approached the $100,000 mark as last-minute gifts and pledges poured in. By the Class of 1959 dinner, kicking off the weekend, new targets – and fundraising strategies – were eagerly entertained by the 50 or so class members who attended. Dolf Strom, for example, urged his classmates to contribute an amount equal to the salary they earned the first year after graduation.

“When we talked about the plan, you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Everyone listened and peoples’ responses were very personal. It was astonishing, like we had broken through a barrier,” Collins recounted. “We embraced this opportunity to come together again as a class, to show our commitment and to have an impact on students.”

Indeed, support for student scholarships could not be timelier, as college costs across the country, from public schools to

private, continue to fast outstrip growth in wages, noted Frederick Berenbroick, who served on the fundraising campaign committee with Collins and is a regular contributor to Stevens.

“We need to keep giving to future generations, because the cost of higher education has gone up tremendously. People need help in this day and age. They can’t always do it all themselves,” said Berenbroick, who added, “I appreciated the education I had, am fortunate to have funds available to make contributions and want to share.”

Collins noted that he and fellow alumni met formidable graduates at Commencement, such as the 2009 valedictorian, Michael Bertucci, who is now pursuing a doctorate in Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. They were impressed by the students’ ability to shoulder weighty academic loads while playing on athletic teams, working long hours in internships and leading campus organizations.

“We see their dedication and we want to support that,” he said. “We’ve made helping students the theme of our giving campaign.”

The Class of ’59 established an endowed scholarship fund a decade ago, but it was underfunded and had little ongoing sup-port. As they worked their way through the class list last winter, the campaign commit-tee members discovered that many of their classmates were unaware of the fund.

“There may be a very simple explanation for the response and increase in support: The class was never asked to support the scholarship fund by fellow classmates,” Collins said.

“What made the difference this time were the personal contacts from class members – people of the same age and interests, in many cases, making a personal solicitation,” Berenbroick said.

They are determined this go-round to keep the contacts alive, and are now planning strategies to grow the fund to $200,000.

“We are seeing progress, and I expect that going forward there will be more donations,” Berenbroick said.

“We don’t want to lose this spirit,” Collins said.

Class of 1959 Raises the BarThe 50th reunion class revives a sluggish fundraising campaign, surpassing its goal.

Left to right: Fred Paulson, Dave Minchin, Leo Collins, Tony Arturi, Harold J, Raveché, Ron Baenninger and Fred Berenbroick.

Focus on Giving

Phot

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In the annals of economic history, the 2009 fiscal year will go down mostly in the loss column.

But for the Stevens students and graduates who conduct the telethon, the semi-annual fundraising and alumni outreach campaign, it was a banner year. The spirited team managed to raise $200,000 – its most successful effort in five years – despite the grim economic backdrop. Now, well into a new academic year, the telethon program is once again underway and the students are seeing even greater success.

The donations, raised from alumni and friends of Stevens in the course of thousands of calls, support vital Stevens programs, including financial aid and student scholarships, and, more generally, underwrite initiatives that directly enrich students’ educational and extracurricular experiences. Many of these donations are directed to the Stevens Fund providing Stevens the nimbleness, for example, to pounce on programmatic and enrichment opportunities that come up in the course of the academic year that were not budgeted at the outset, noted Susan Kerge Scherman, Director of the Annual Fund.

In the past 20 years, the university has greatly expanded its programs, recruited new faculty members, hosted guest lectur-ers, established speaker series and substan-tially increased the numbers of both its undergraduate and graduate stu-dents. Stevens continues to develop cutting edge academic programs, including extraordinary research opportunities, a burgeoning Divi-sion III athletics program, and a robust performing arts program – all with the purpose of delivering to all students an outstanding academic, social and recreational experience that will prepare each for the tech-nological and leadership demands of the workplace. Supporting this rich array of opportunities is the responsibility of the Stevens Fund, which depends on the generosity of alumni committed to giving back.

“The Stevens Fund provides critical support every year, help-ing the institute maintain its edge

as a leader in technological education,” said Scherman. “It allows us to invest more deeply in the kind of academic programs and campus activities that help Stevens retain and attract top-notch students. Come to campus today and you will see the Stevens Fund at work. It impacts everything from financial aid, to aca-demic programs, to maintaining the beautiful campus.”

The telethon runs for six to eight weeks each semester, and is conducted largely by under-graduates telephoning from the Wesley J. Howe Center. Call-ing this semester began the last week of September and will con-clude mid-November.

“The students are great fund-raisers for us. They are enthu-siastic about Stevens and do a great job explaining how alumni donations, whether to scholar-ships or to academic programs, impact their lives on campus,” said Scherman. “However, that is not the only benefit of the program. It’s a great method for communicating to alumni the great things that are happening at Stevens. There are no better ambassadors for the university than these students.”

Jonathan Matos ’08, a former Telethoner and now a donor, said his conversations with alumni deepened his appreciation for both the richness of his undergraduate life and the vital role alumni play in supporting it.

“Alumni who choose to support the school realized while they were still undergraduates that being a member of the Stevens community doesn’t end when you graduate. It continues with the memories you have with classmates, through the stories you share with the current undergraduates, and through

visiting Stevens to make new memories,” he said.

Now a project engineer with Hamilton Sundstrand, he chose to support the telethon the year after graduation “to show that I appreciated what I learned at Stevens and

that I knew why I had been offered the job: because of my hard work and because of the distinction of being a Stevens student. I wanted the students at Stevens to continue the programs I had been part of not long ago.”

“Many of the people we call have donated before, and we keep them up-to-date on what’s happening on campus that year so they can be assured their money is going to a good cause,” said Carolyn Brady ’12, a Biomedical Engineering major who worked for the telethon during the last spring and fall semesters and plans to do it again this fall. “Alumni are happy to know that they are investing directly in students.”

The Telethon, students say, reconnects alumni to the university while linking them to a wider Stevens world off-campus, as well as to the university’s past.

“At first I was a little nervous about calling, but I found it was great talking to alumni about their real-world experiences,” said Brady.

“Some of the older alumni, including people who graduated in the 1940s, had really interesting stories to tell about what life was like at Stevens when they were students,” said John Wright ’12, a Mechanical Engineering major. “I learned a lot about Stevens itself from talking to them.”

Volunteer Telethon Callers Build on a Banner YearGifts support and strengthen key university programs.

“Some of the older alumni had really interesting stories to tell about what life was like at Stevens when they were students. I learned a lot about Stevens itself from talking to them.” — John Wright ’12

John Wright ’12 Carolyn Brady ’12

Focus on Giving


as an undergraduate, Bissinger served as editor-in-chief of both The Stute and The Link.

After receiving his Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1933, Bissinger worked as an instructor in the Chemistry department, studying chemistry and working toward a master’s degree during the day, and attending Fordham Law School at night. He earned his Master of Science degree from Stevens in 1936 and his law degree from Fordham in 1938.

Bissinger became a member of Stevens’ Board of Trustees in 1963, and served as its chairman from 1971 to 1983. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Stevens in 1973 and was the recipient of the Stevens Honor Award in 1974.

“Fred Bissinger, during a lifetime of high achievement, continued to give selflessly of his time and resources to his beloved alma mater, Stevens Institute of Technology. He remained active and engaged in the affairs of the university as a student, alumnus, trustee and finally a trustee emeritus for more than 75 years – a remarkable record of devotion to our institution,” said Stevens’ President Harold J. Raveché.

In 1936, Bissinger joined the law firm of Pennie, Davis, Marvin & Edmonds as a patent attorney. He then joined the Industrial Rayon Corporation, where he served in several executive positions, including president. After a merger, Bissinger became group vice president of the Midland-Ross Corporation. Later, he served as vice president and director of the Stauffer Chemical Corporation. In 1965, he joined Allied Corporation, retiring as vice chairman in 1976. Following his retirement, he served as counsel to Pennie & Edmonds.

Bissinger held directorships with the National Association of Manufacturers, Midland National Bank, Otis Elevator Company, Societe De Chimie Industrielle, Walater Power Corporation and the Selas Corporation of America. In addition, he served as a trustee and member of the executive

committee for Fordham University, as a trustee of the Foundation of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and as a member of the New York State Economic Development Board.

He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences and the executive committee of the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. Bissinger also was a member of the Chemists Club, The Economic Club of New York and the Sky Club.

Throughout the years, Bissinger gave generously to the university and supported Stevens through regular contributions, including a major donation to renovate the Bissinger Room, located in Stevens’ Wesley J. Howe Center.

Bissinger was married to Julia Stork Bissinger, who died in 1989. He is survived by his second wife, Barbara Simmonds Bissinger; a daughter, Elizabeth J. Vianna; a son, Frederick L. Bissinger, Jr.; and several grandchildren.

Frederick L. Bissinger ’33Frederick L. Bissinger, an alumnus of Stevens and a past member and chairman of its Board of Trustees, passed away on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. He was 98.

In Memoriam

Frederick L. Bissinger ’33

“Fred Bissinger, during a lifetime of high

achievement, continued to give

selflessly of his time and resources to

his beloved alma mater, Stevens

Institute of Technology. He remained

active and engaged in the affairs of the

university as a student, alumnus, trustee

and finally a trustee emeritus for more

than 75 years — a remarkable record of

devotion to our institution.”

— President Harold J. Raveché


after graduating from Stevens in 1942, William Cuming went to work in Massachusetts at Monsanto Chemical Company, where he met another young

engineer, Cherry L. Emerson. The two would keep in touch and reunite at the end of the war to write an important chapter in American industrial history.

Cuming joined the US Navy in late 1942 and was sent to the new top-secret Navy radar school on the waterfront in Boston. Upon graduation, he was sent to the Pacific, serving as radar officer on the USS Gambier Bay.

On October 25, 1944, Japanese Vice Admiral Kurita’s Center Force opened fire on the US Third Fleet off Samar Island. In the ensuing action, the USS Gambier Bay came under relentless fire. Despite the courageous intervention of three US destroyers, the Gambier Bay rolled over and sank; there were nearly 800 survivors.

Along with many of his surviving shipmates, Cuming drifted in the Pacific for two days before being rescued. The USS Gambier Bay received four Battle Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for her service in World War II.

Cuming and the crew remained close through the decades. Cuming was on hand when the group was welcomed to the Oval Office in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, who was presented with a copy of the history of the escort carrier, The Men of the Gambier Bay.

After the war, Cuming used the GI Bill to earn his MBA from Harvard. In 1948, after reconnecting with Emerson, they established Emerson & Cuming Co., eventually Emerson & Cuming, Inc.

Cuming’s work at the Navy radar school and Emerson’s MIT history brought many opportunities while the electronics industry was coming to life. They didn’t know what their product lines would be, but the two never doubted their instincts. Their investigations were in the direction of encapsulating compounds, coatings, adhesives and dielectric materials. This led to their first lab in Boston, where they began formulating a line of epoxies and resins that formed the basis for a variety of new plastics.

There was a growing interest in electronics in the defense industry. Cuming learned about the need for microwave absorbers. This, coupled with his understanding of radar,

enabled the company to help when the Navy and Air Force began looking at radar camouflage (the beginnings of the Stealth program) in the early 1950s.

Their work with the Naval Research Laboratory continued to grow. The spherical, optical Luneberg Lens enabled a microwave feed located on the surface of the lens to create a plane wave diametrically opposite that feed; it was useful both in receiving and transmitting microwave energy. Thousands of these lenses and derivative devices were eventually produced.

In a gamble, Emerson & Cuming purchased patents and technical information from Standard Oil of Ohio concerning a partially developed product called “microballoons.” From this came a new composite of glass microballoons in epoxy resin known as syntactic foam. Syntactic foam was found to have important applications. It could withstand high pressure, but was lightweight, thereby providing underwater buoyancy that proved useful to companies such as ESSO and

Shell for oil rig and marine applications. In 1978, Bill and Cherry agreed to sell

Emerson & Cuming, Inc., to W.R. Grace & Co. In 1980, Cuming founded the Cuming Corporation, which manufactures radar absorbers and underwater buoyancy mate-rial for the offshore oil industry. Cuming also became more involved in a field in which he had always participated: philanthropy.

He also turned his attention to the advancement of his alma mater. A former trustee, in 1997 he donated graciously to Stevens’ Materials Science Department. In 1999, he began what would become a tradition among the members of the Class of ’42, when his generous gift renovated the first new undergraduate labs, including the freshman undergraduate

design laboratory, now designated the William R. Cuming Engineering and Design Lab.

In recent years, Cuming had reaffirmed a major commitment to the undergraduate engineering program, ensuring the continuation of Stevens’ tradition of a rigorous, well-rounded engineering education.

Stevens has also recognized Cuming’s achievements with a series of high honors, including the Stevens Renaissance Engineering and Science Award, an Honorary Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering, and the Stevens Honor Award.

Like many entrepreneurs of his generation, Cuming never officially retired, though in his later years, increasingly he delegated business operations to his son, John. He and his wife Ruth spent most of their time at home in Massachusetts, where Ruth served as a gracious hostess at many Stevens social and fund raising events on Cape Cod.

In addition to his wife and son, Cuming is survived by his brother Alfred of Athens, Ga.

William R. Cuming ’42William R. Cuming, an alumnus and past member of Stevens’ Board of Trustees, passed away on May 28, 2009. He was 88.

In Memoriam

William R. Cuming ’42


Alumni Events

It’s a Shore Thing Event in Beach Haven, NJ Alumni and guests had a great time at events in Beach Haven and Wildwood as part of the “It’s a Shore Thing” beach event. They met for a cocktail party in Beach Haven hosted by Howie Brecher ’70 and Ed Eichhorn ’69 on Saturday, August 22.

The Heartland Brewery, New York, NY In August, Mark LaRosa ’93 hosted alumni and friends at the Heartland Brewery in Times Square. The evening included a presentation from Professor Phil Leopold, Director of the Chemical Biology and Biomedical Engineering department, on the theoretical Eve, which traces human genetics back to one individual female. The group also enjoyed a visit to the Discovery Times Square Exposition to view the Lucy Exhibit. Left: Phil Leopold, Chemical Biology and Biomedical Engineering Director and Professor; Greg Kramer, Assistant VP for Advancement; and alumnus Mark LaRosa ’93. Right: Michael Pungente, Weil Cornell Medical College in Qatar, who is collaborating on research with Leopold; Angie Hankins ’95; guest Wanda Rene.

It’s a Shore Thing Event in Wildwood, NJ New connections were made and fond memories were recalled in Wildwood as alumni mixed at what will become an annual event.

Cincinnati Alumni Dinner Members of Stevens’ Cincinnati Alumni Group gathered in September for an alumni dinner, hosted by Michelle Schleibaum, Associate Director of Major Gifts at Stevens.

Castle Point on HudsonHoboken, New Jersey 07030

NON PROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDHOBOKEN, NJPERMIT NO. 4

Dec 2 SAA West Coast Florida Club* Luncheon at Crab & Fin. Hosted by Don Landmann ’51, presentation on the renovation of the Sarasota Yacht Club, by Tom Denslow, DSDG Associates of Sarasota

Dec 2 SAA Washington, D.C. Club* Holiday Dinner Meeting at the Congressional Country Club. Hosted by club president, Ray Durante ’50, M.S. ’57. Guest speaker: Stevens President Harold J. Raveche

Dec 5 Stevens Band (Music Series)** 8:00 pm DeBaun Auditorium, Edwin A. Stevens Hall.

Dec 6 Stevens Choir (Music Series)** 3:00 pm DeBaun Auditorium, Edwin A. Stevens Hall.

Dec 9 Stevens Jazz Band (Music Series)** 7:00 pm Bissinger Room, 4th Floor, Wesley J. Howe Center.

*For information on these or any other upcoming alumni club events please visit http://alumni.stevens.edu/events/default.asp or contact the Alumni Office (201) 216-5163 or [email protected].

**For information on these or upcoming DeBaun Center for Performing Arts events, please visit www.debaun.org.

December 2009 Alumni Clubs and Arts Schedule

Stevens Review, Fall 2009

Documents