2000 Recipients
Edward Sydor '50
Ed Sydor, you are a leader and mentor to your family, your professional colleagues and your classmates. Your gentle yet determined nature has served you well, inspiring those around you to excel. And always, your hallmark has been your ability to tackle problems of any magnitude with style and humor.
Your parents instilled in you at an early age a strong work ethic and a belief in the value of education. Ukrainian immigrants, they ran a neighborhood grocery store where you learned commitment to family. You began your career at Graton & Knight Co., a tanning firm in Worcester, at the same time continuing your studies in math and chemistry at Northeastern University and MIT.
In 1944 you joined the Army. On your only furlough before you sailed for Europe, you married your high school sweetheart, Milly Nideur. After the war you returned to Auburn and with the help of the GI Bill and a scholarship from Graton & Knight, you earned your degree in chemical engineering at WPI in 1950.
You spent the early part of your career rising through the ranks at Raybestos-Manhattan and Chrysler Corporation. In 1967 you became vice president and general manager of National Friction Products Corporation, a startup in Logansport, Ind. There you developed a niche market: friction products for washing machines and clutches for the mining industries. Your purchase of the company in 1984 and its subsequent sale in 1989 marked the pinnacle of your career.
You have supported WPI through the years and have been a strong advocate of the educational experience it provides. Presidential Founders since 1992 and lifetime members of the President's Advisory Council, you and Milly established the Edward J. and Mildred P. Sydor Scholarship Fund, which has helped some 35 students further their education. As chairman of your class's 50th Anniversary Gift campaign, you provided the leadership that enabled the class to set a new giving record.
Ed Sydor, it is with great pride and admiration that we recognize your distinguished achievements by presenting you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
David Cyganski '75
Dave Cyganski, Henry Adams said, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." The same can be said about your influence on your alma mater, your discipline and your students. Over the course of nearly three decades, you have amassed an awe-inspiring record of accomplishment and made an indelible mark on this institution.
After earning your bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at WPI, you joined the faculty full-time in 1981. Showing exceptional promise as a teacher and a scholar, you received the first Joseph Samuel Satin Distinguished Fellowship the following year. Two years later, you received the Trustees' Award for Outstanding Teaching, the youngest faculty member ever to receive this honor. These early tributes were harbingers of many others to come, among them the Trustees' Award for Outstanding Research and Scholarship and the Weston Hadden Professorship in Electrical Engineering.
As a teacher, you are renowned for your enthusiasm and your dedication to helping students develop a passion for learning. As a researcher, you are known for your wide-ranging interests and for the elegance of your methods. Over the years, you have made fundamental contributions to such fields as automatic object recognition, distributed and fault-tolerant computing, and Internet security. This work has garnered the support of many leading corporations and government agencies.
Despite the demands of your teaching and research, you have stepped forward often to serve WPI, and each time your contributions have helped shape the future success of the University. As a member of an advisory committee in the early 1980s, you helped computerize the campus. As chief information officer and vice president for information technology, you oversaw the creation of the campus computer network and laid the groundwork for a modern, integrated administrative computing system. As vice provost, you developed a model that helped the University weather a serious financial aid challenge. Most recently, as chair of the Planning and Implementation Committee, you led a campuswide effort to develop goals for WPI's future.
Dave Cyganski, for your exemplary accomplishments in the many roles you have played through the years, WPI is proud to present you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
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