At the May 20, 2013 commencement, the Clark School celebrated Golden Terp Engineers from the classes of 1963, 1958, 1953, and so on. Read about their accomplishments, and view event photos.

Bios

Walter Beam, BS ’47, MS ’50, PhD ’53 Electrical Engineering
Dr. Beam earned his B.S. in 1947, an M.S. in 1950, and Ph.D. in 1953 majoring in Electrical Engineering. He was the first student who earned a Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland. While on campus, he was a member of the Clef and Key Club, served as President and produced the show “Pardon Me, Senator.” He was also a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi Honor Societies. Dr. Beam worked at RCA Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey from 1952-1959, first as a Research Engineer, then appointed to Manager, Microwave Advanced Development. From 1959-1964 he served as Professor of Electrical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He was with IBM from 1964-1969 as Manager of Exploratory Memory and Director of Engineering Technology. He was self-employed as a Consultant in Computer Systems from 1969-1974, then became Deputy Assistant Secretary, Advanced Technology at the Pentagon, for the U.S. Air Force until 1981. Dr. Beam joined Sperry Corporation in Great Neck, New York as Vice President of R&D from 1981-1983, was a full time Visiting Professor of Systems Engineering at George Mason University from 1985-1989, and was a Consultant in Manufacturing Data Systems until he retired in 1997. Dr. Beam published the textbook “Electronics of Solids” in 1965, two systems engineering textbooks in 1988 and 1989, and has published more than 30 refereed papers. He resides in Chester, Virginia and was accompanied by Marian Beam.

Robert Adams, BS ’53 Electrical Engineering
Mr. Abrams earned his B.S. in 1953 majoring in Electrical Engineering. He worked as a structural engineer in the aircraft industry for three years, then seized an opportunity to attend Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS) and served on active duty for three and a half years, and another 20 years in the reserves retiring as a Commander. As a civilian he worked for the Navy Department for 30 years primarily in the management of the Navy laboratory system in various functions including facilities management, recruitment and selection of Technical Directors of laboratories, and providing guidance for the supervision of engineers and scientists. He took numerous graduate courses in Engineering Administration at George Washington University for professional development. Since retirement in 1989, he elected to take on community activism as a way to repay society for what it has given him, and has focused on urban planning. Mr. Abrams enjoys senior softball leagues in the county, reading, visiting his sons and grandchildren in Chicago and Kansas City, and hosting family and friends in the D.C. area. Mr. Abrams resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Charles Adams, Jr., BS ’53 Mechanical Engineering
Mr. Adams earned his B.S. in 1953 majoring in Mechanical Engineering. While on campus, he resided in Calvert Hall, Room D403, and was a member of Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society. After graduation, he returned home to be involved in his family’s farming and canning business. He later enlisted in the Army before being drafted by the Local Draft Board and was sent to Army Teletypewriter Repair School in Camp Gordon, Georgia, and then to the Crypto Equipment Repair School in Fort Devans, Massachusetts. Before being shipped to Frankfurt, Germany, he married one of his high school classmates, Wilma Diamond, and both managed to travel all over Europe while he served in the Army. They returned to Trappe, Maryland and was again part of the family and canning business, Defender Packaging Company, Inc. In 1982, he opened his own business, the Char-Wil Canning Company, and canned tomatoes which were marketed by the A.W. Sisk Food Brokers of Preston, Maryland. Mr. Adams obtained a Real Estate Agents License in 1991 and has been active as an agent with Powell Realtors of Cambridge, Maryland ever since. In 1995, Wilma passed away, and shortly thereafter, Charles married another classmate, Mary Rae Russ. They are both involved with the Trappe United Methodist Church and the Rural Museum. Mr. Adams resides in Trappe, Maryland and was accompanied by Mary Rae Adams and Newton Williams.

Ray Cole, BS ’53 Electrical Engineering
Mr. Cole earned his BS in 1953 majoring in Electrical Engineering. He participated in ROTC and spent his first two years after graduation with the U.S. Air Force in North Dakota leading a group of radar maintenance technicians. He then joined Bendix Radio in Towson, Maryland and worked on radar design for five years, followed by a 34-year career with Westinghouse Electric. Mr. Cole worked on various radar programs, went to Iran to start an electronics industry, and worked as Systems Engineering Manager and in-country Manager for an air defense system in the Kingdom of Morocco. Since retirement in 1994, he has worked on various volunteer projects and is taking courses at a community college in non-technical areas. Mr. Cole resides in Columbia, Maryland.

John Charles Laberge, BS ’53 Chemical Engineering
Mr. LaBerge earned his B.S. in 1953 majoring in Chemical Engineering. He joined E.I. Dupont in Niagra Falls, New York immediately after graduation, and was called into service as an Air Force 2nd Lieutenant to school at the Lowestry AFB in Denver, Colorado, and received training in Munitions and as a Chemical Biological Radiological (CBR) Officer. He was assigned as CBR Officer on the 4th Fighter-Bomber Wing staff reporting to the Chitose AFB in Hokkaido, Japan. He returned to Niagara Falls in 1956 as a Process Engineer and was soon transferred to the Dupont Plant in Perth Amboy, New Jersey as the Formaldehyde Process Supervisor. In 1958, Mr. LaBerge joined RCA in Somerville, New Jersey as a Process Engineer in their Semiconductor Division. During his 30 years with RCA, he held Engineering Management positions at their plants in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania, Liege, Belgium and Findlay, Ohio. He worked with silicon based semiconductor products including power rectifiers, controlled rectifiers, bipolar and MOS transistors and integrated circuits. Mr. LaBerge retired from GE / RCA in 1989 as Manager, Quality Control and Reliability Assurance for Commercial and High Reliability Products. Mr. Laberge resides in Findlay, Ohio with his wife of 62 years, Caroline. They have three children, six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. He was accompanied by his oldest son, Dr. E.F. Charles LaBerge.

Walter McKee, BS ’58 Electrical Engineering
Mr. McKee earned his B.S. in 1958 majoring in Electrical Engineering. While attending school he worked part time for Harry Diamond Labs, now part of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, on test programs.  From 1959-1964, Mr. McKee worked as a Field Engineer for the Hughes Aircraft Company, working on air defense command and the MA-1/F-106 program.  From 1965-2000 he was with Comcast Corporation as Senior Director of Satellite Operations where he worked on the Intelsat/Comsat satellite programs. Walter married Mary McKee in 1958. Together they had 5 sons, who in turn gave them 16 grandchildren.  He lives in Potomac, Maryland and was accompanied by his granddaughter, Caroline McKee.

Gail Diane Salzman, BS ’58 Aeronautical Engineering
Mrs. Salzman earned her B.S. in 1958 majoring in Aeronautical Engineering. She was the first woman to graduate with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Maryland. She started her career as a Structural Engineer on the Aerial Jeep Program at Chrysler Corporation. Mrs. Salzman then worked at PRC as a Test & Evaluation Engineer on Naval Intelligence Process Systems (NIPS), then at GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin as a System Engineer on Landsat (Earth-observing satellite) and Manager of Development Engineering on Classified Programs. She currently resides in Marion Station, Pennsylvania and was accompanied by Sheldon Salzman. They have four children and two have Doctors degrees.

Sanford Sternstein, BS ’58 Chemical Engineering
Dr. Sternstein earned his B.S. in 1958 majoring in Chemical Engineering. After graduation, Sandy entered graduate school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he earned a Ph.D. in 1961 also in Chemical Engineering. He joined the faculty at RPI as an assistant professor in chemical engineering with research and teaching interests in fibers and polymers. He was appointed as an associate professor in 1965, became a full professor in 1969 and transferred to the Materials Science and Engineering Department because of his interests in polymeric materials and composites. In 1974 he was appointed to an endowed chair named the William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering. The High Polymer Physics Division of the American Physical Society elected him a Fellow in 1976. In 1986 Professor Sternstein became the Director of the newly formed Center for Composite Materials and Structures at RPI, which he directed for 10 years. He has served on a variety of committees including several from NSF, AFOSR, AROD and the National Materials Advisory Board of the NAE. He is a past chairman of the Gordon Conference on Composites and was one of the founders of this conference over 35 years ago. He has served as the thesis advisor to over 50 M.S. and Ph.D. students. He became Professor Emeritus in 2006 and continues to publish research articles and lectures on the subject of the mechanism of nanofiller reinforcement in polymers. Dr. Sternstein resides in Schenectady, New York and was accompanied by Gail Sternstein.

Michael Jones, BS ’63, MS ’75 Civil Engineering
Mr. Jones earned his BS in 1963 and MS in 1975 majoring in Civil Engineering. He devoted almost his entire engineering career with the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command where he served at their headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Jones was the specialist in the airfield pavements for many years with the Navy. In 1979, he was promoted to the position of Consultant in Geotechnical Engineering and Paving and later served as the Deputy Chief of Engineering. Mr. Jones is a registered Professional Engineer in the District of Columbia and Virginia and is a Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He currently resides in Springfield, Virginia.

Robert Madey, PhD ’63 Nuclear Engineering
Dr. Madey earned his PhD in 1963 majoring in Nuclear Engineering. He earned his BS from MIT majoring in Electrical Engineering. He joined Grumman Corporation as Director of Nuclear & Space Programs and was responsible for the planning and technical direction in the area of high energy physics, astronomy payloads, space environmental studies, radio astronomy investigations and nuclear systems applications. Dr. Madey later served as Vice President for Grumman’s Energy Systems division and was responsible for the planning, management and direction of energy related technology programs, government and commercial projects as well as domestic and foreign business development operations. After retiring from Grumman, he joined the DASI Corporation as Vice President for R&D with responsibility for product development. Since then Dr. Madey has been working with several academic institutions, including the Middle East Libraries Association to preserve and document literary material. He has been an invited speaker, lecturer and panelist for numerous industry, government and community sponsored conferences, and has authored and co-authored numerous papers, reports and public speeches in the field of renewable energy, radiation effects, space borne hi-energy physics/ astronomy, energy conservation and uranium enrichment. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society of Sigma Xi and American Nuclear Society. Dr. Madey lives in Melville, New York and was accompanied by Gloria Madey, Frieda Shama and Michelle Kildun.