Ichabod Washburn Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement: 2000 Recipients
Paul Bergantino '85
Paul Bergantino, you have delivered outstanding performance in the fast-paced, high-intensity electronic communications industry.
In 1994 you founded Maker Communications with William Giudice '76. As an upstart company with a novel approach, Maker set out to develop products that are versatile, cost effective and fast. You conceived and developed a revolutionary segmentation and reassembly layer device for ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networking. At 622 megabits per second, it was not just the fastest chip on the market, but the first to be reprogrammable. Your visionary designs have earned you five patents and kept your company at the forefront of a demanding marketplace.
From the start, Maker Communications was clearly a company to watch. Geared for growth and responsive to customer demands, it earned citations from such industry watchers as Red Herring, Upside magazine and EDN. Maker went public in May 1999 and not long after was acquired by Conexant Systems Inc. Today you are vice president of technology and architecture for Conexant's Broadband Internetworking Systems division.
Paul Bergantino, your innovative microchip architecture has set a new benchmark for success in the field of network communications. It is with great pride that we honor you for your career success and present you with the Ichabod Washburn Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.
Edward Cheung '85
Edward Cheung, you have come a long way since your first experiments with spacebound containers as a student at WPI. As chief engineer for the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, you have helped assure that the Hubble remains one of the "crown jewels" of the space program.
You joined NASA in 1991, after completing master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering at Yale University. After completing pioneering work in robotics, you joined the Hubble team in 1996. Working from Earth, you have solved in-flight problems in the telescope's cooling system, gyroscopes and vital data-recording devices. Working within a tight time frame, you designed and installed the HOST Controller -- an elegant, low-cost computer to command all of these instruments and provide a data link to ground control.
But even as you have worked long shifts at mission control, you always made the time to share your experiences with family and friends. You gave your wife and children the rare experience of witnessing a space shuttle launch, and your e-mail bulletins and Web page have brought us all a little closer to the final frontier.
Edward Cheung, your dedication and vision have advanced NASA's mission and the scientific standing of the United States. It is indeed an honor for WPI to present you with the Ichabod Washburn Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.
Jonathan Bird '90
Jonathan Bird, your spectacular photography has touched millions of viewers and readers, and taught them to treasure the beauty that lurks beneath the sea.
After taking up scuba diving while a student at WPI, you founded Oceanic Research Group in 1993. Armed with a camera and a master's degree in ocean engineering from the University of New Hampshire, you have crusaded against threats to the aquatic ecosystem. With your business partner, fellow WPI graduate Thomas Krasuski, you have dedicated your talents to your organization's mission: conservation of the world's oceans and marine life through education.
WPI is proud to count you among its award-winning alumni. You have received two Emmy awards for your television and film work, three prestigious CINDY awards, and a host of other honors and endorsements from educational and environmental foundations. Your scientific programs for schoolchildren and your captivating television specials have entertained and educated viewers of all ages. Your work has appeared in scholarly journals and popular magazines, and in 1996 your first hardcover book, Beneath the North Atlantic, was published by Tide-Mark Press.
Jonathan Bird, it is with deep pleasure that we present to you the Ichabod Washburn Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.
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