A Publication for West Coast Alumni and Friends
Vol. 1, No. 1 / January 2001 - California Connection: Making a Difference Where Technology Meets Real Life

Alumni News Briefs

C. Gordon Bell of Los Altos, Calif., who received an honorary doctorate in engineering from WPI in 1993, has joined the board of directors and the technical advisory board of Cradle Technologies in Fremont, Calif.

Andrew S. Grove, chairman of Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, Calif., and a 1989 recipient of an honorary doctorate in science from WPI, received an honorary doctor of laws degree at Harvard University's 349th commencement in June 2000.

Audrey Carlan '57 (M.S., physics), WPI's first female graduate student, is a professor emeritus of mathematics and a former district director of computer science programs for the Los Angeles County community colleges.

Richard A. Kashnow '63, president of Tyco Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif., has been named to the board of directors at ParkerVision Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla., company that designs and manufactures communications technology for the wireless and video industries.

John H. Carosella '66 was recently named senior vice president of JMAR Technologies in San Diego, Calif., and managing director of the firm's recently established Advanced Light Business area.

Mark Geene '68 (M.N.S.) is now executive vice president for worldwide sales at Alventive Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif., a leading provider of collaborative commerce design-to-order solutions.

Two graduates recently made news within the High End Storage Division of Quantum Corp.'s Hard Disk Drive Group in Milpitas, Calif. John Joseph '86, a seven-year veteran at Quantum, was promoted to vice president of marketing. Tom Marmen '68 (M.N.S.) recently joined Quantum as a vice president and general manager.

Robert E. Hart '79 of Los Angeles, Calif., has joined Kennedy-Wilson Inc. in Beverly Hills as a senior vice president in the Residential Investments Group. He is responsible for acquisition of multifamily and other residential investments.

Alfred Spada '79 was recently appointed vice president of Pharmaceutical Development at Idun Pharmaceuticals Inc. in La Jolla, Calif.

Jerry Twomey '79 works for Fairchild Semiconductor in San Diego, Calif., as part of the company's Mixed Signal Design group. He also teaches courses in analog- and mixed-signal circuit design at the University of California, San Diego Extension.

Eric A. Hahn '80 of Palo Alto, Calif., founder of Inventures Group, has joined the board of directors at Disappearing Inc. in San Francisco, developer of e-mail policy and management systems and services.

Mark O'Neil '80 is president and COO of Greenlight.com, an online car-buying company based in Livermore, Calif. O'Neil was a co-founder of CarMax, Inc., a used-car retailer that achieved $2 billion in sales in its first six years.

Mark A. Carpenter '85 has been appointed vice president for marketing at Tut Systems in Pleasant Hill, Calif., the leading provider of multiservice broadband access systems for the multitenant unit market.

Geoff Charron '89 has been promoted to vice president of access management at Entegrity Solutions in San Jose, Calif.

Adam Pease '89 is program manager and director of knowledge systems at Teknowledge in Palo Alto, Calif. He leads a team of researchers using artificial intelligence technology to solve problems for commercial and government customers.