2002 Recipients
Curtis R. Carlson '67
Curtis Carlson, you are renowned nationally and internationally for your technological and entrepreneurial acumen and leadership. Your success brings pride and recognition to this university.
Your career began in 1973 at RCA's Sarnoff Laboratory, where, as head of ventures and licensing, you helped found more than a dozen new companies. You started and led the high-definition television program at Sarnoff that became the U.S. standard, and you won an Emmy for outstanding technical achievement in 1997. Another team you started and led won an Emmy in 2000 for a system that measures broadcast image quality. You have led technological innovation in the fields of image quality, image coding and computer vision, with more than 15 U.S. patents and more than 50 technical publications.
In 1998, after more than 20 years with Sarnoff Corporation, you became president and chief executive officer of SRI International. While providing enlightened leadership to SRI, you have aided WPI, embracing first the concept and later the physical embodiment of WPI's Silicon Valley Project Center, established in 1999.
Your wisdom has garnered the respect of the nation's leaders and you have been tapped to serve on several government task forces, including the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and the Defense Science Board. You serve as a member of the Highlands Group, which makes recommendations to senior government officials about technologies of importance to the U.S. government. The industrial community, for whom you have served on numerous boards, has similarly recognized your intellect. Currently, you are a member of the board of directors of Nuance Communications, a leading speech recognition company.
Curt Carlson, your record of achievement has distinguished you among your peers. It is with great pride and admiration that WPI recognizes your distinguished achievements by presenting you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
Daniel A. Funk '77
Daniel Funk, your successes in the field of orthopedic surgery have made you a source of great pride to Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
After graduating from WPI in 1977, you attended the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where you received your M.D. in 1981. You then served your internship and surgical residency until 1986 at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minn., where you were presented with the faculty award for excellence in research.
During your residency at Mayo, you completed a master's degree at the University of Minnesota and did research in elbow muscle dynamics. That work earned you the Charles Neer Award for Outstanding Research in 1984, an annual award given by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons-one usually reserved for senior academic faculty.
You have completed fellowships in sports medicine, knee reconstruction and arthroscopy and, most recently, advanced training in the treatment of foot disorders.
In 1986 you and your wife, Jill, returned to Cincinnati to complete a fellowship in sports medicine. In 1987 you took a post as assistant professor of surgery at Ohio State University, assuming the responsibility of teaching residents and conducting basic research in the mechanics of upper extremity motion.
It was during this time that your father, Ed Funk, Class of '46 and a former WPI trustee, started a medical company known as Danninger Technology, a successful manufacturer and distributor of post-surgical recovery items and spinal stabilization instruments.
Since 1990 you and your family have lived in Cincinnati, where you feel most at home. As an orthopedic surgeon at Peak Performance Orthopedics, you have assisted countless individuals. As one of the many highlights of your career, you assisted in the care of the Cincinnati Reds the year they won the pennant.
Dan Funk, your outstanding career truly makes you a star among your peers. WPI is very fortunate to count among its alumni a man of your professional caliber. It is an honor to present you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.
Paul A. Lacouture '72
Paul Lacouture, you are one of the leaders who has revolutionized the telecommunications industry. For three decades, you have directed your energy and your visions to innovations in technology and service that have impacted the way we all do business as well as the way we all live. We salute you for the positive changes telecommunications bring to our world.
Today, you serve as president of Network Services Group for Verizon. Your group designs, builds and delivers network solutions-ranging from voice dial tone to high-capacity data services-for Verizon's retail and wholesale customers. The group includes those organizations responsible for network operations, engineering and planning, corporate sourcing, technology, real estate, and wholesale services and marketing for Verizon's U.S. Wireline Network.
Your career began after graduation in 1972 as an engineer in Network Design for New England Telephone. After serving in a variety of engineering and operations positions, in 1987 you became vice president, for the Vermont region. You were elected a New England Telephone officer in 1991, when you were named vice president of engineering and construction.
At the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX in 1997, you took on added leadership responsibilities as first chief technology and engineering officer for Bell Atlantic, and later as president of Network Services.
Your leadership and technological expertise have benefited numerous community, civic and business organizations, including the Business Roundtable and the United Way. Here on campus, you have contributed greatly to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as a member and now chair of the department's advisory board.
Your enthusiasm for innovation and your ability to make changes work date back to your days as an undergraduate, when you were one of a few "guinea pigs" singled out by Dean Bill Grogan to test the new project activities being incorporated into the WPI Plan. Your commitment was appreciated by WPI then and now, and we are proud to have the university name so ably carried into the forefront of the telecommunications industry.
Paul Lacouture, it is with great pride and appreciation that WPI awards you the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
Bruce D. Minsky '77
Bruce Minsky, we are proud to honor you today for your work as a physician and scholar. As an internationally recognized expert in the field of radiation therapy in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer, countless patients, students and other medical professionals have benefited from your knowledge.
Upon graduation with distinction from WPI in 1977, you went on to the University of Massachusetts Medical School. After receiving your M.D. in 1982, you completed your internship at New England Deaconess Hospital and your residency at the Harvard Joint Center for Radiation Therapy. In 1986 you joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where you served as a clinical assistant, assistant and associate radiation oncologist, and as an attending radiation oncologist. You are currently vice chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology and a professor of radiation oncology at Cornell University Medical College.
You have been a visiting professor at some of the most prestigious universities in the country, including Yale, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Georgetown, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and New York University. You are a frequent contributor to numerous medical journals and textbooks and have been invited to lecture both nationally and internationally regarding your research and work with cancer patients.
At Memorial Sloan-Kettering you demonstrated your leadership by volunteering to serve in a number of different roles, including chair of the Institutional Quality Assessment Committee, associate chair of the Institutional Review Board, and director of Graduate Medical Education for the Department of Radiation. At WPI you have shown your leadership as a longtime member of the President's Advisory Council. You have also been instrumental with the university's career placement effort, speaking with WPI seniors about your work.
Bruce Minsky, in recognition of your dedication and commitment to the prevention and treatment of cancer, we are pleased to present you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.
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