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

WPI to Dedicate Silicon Valley Project Center

Silicon Valley is known as a legendary center for high technology and the entrepreneurial spirit. What better place for students interested in Information Age careers to learn how today's good ideas can become tomorrow's breakthrough technologies and hot companies.

That was the thinking behind the establishment of WPI's Silicon Valley Project Center, which was launched a year ago by nine undergraduates completing Major Qualifying Projects for three Silicon Valley companies: Kana Communications Inc. in Redwood City, the leading provider of enterprise relationship management solutions, Microbar Inc. in Sunnyvale, a maker of safe cost-effective chemical management systems for the semiconductor industry, and Sparks.com, an online greeting card company in San Francisco.

The idea for the center was born in discussions that WPI President Edward Alton Parrish, Provost John F. Carney III and other senior administrators had with a number of alumni who have had successful careers as entrepreneurs and executives with Silicon Valley companies.

They included Charles A. Tyson '57, associate director of the Toxicology Lab at SRI International, Wilfrid J. Houde '59, president of W.J. Houde & Associates, James S. Tyler '59, retired president and CEO of Optivision, Bruce M. Juhola '64, chairman and CEO of Microbar, Malcolm B. Wittenberg '68, partner with Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May, Robert J. Harvey '70, business consultant and author, and David Tyler Emerson '75, associate with Cooley Godward LLP.

The group urged the University to take advantage of the wealth of opportunities for building links to the Valley's burgeoning computer industry and to tap into the considerable experience represented by West Coast alumni.

On Jan. 30, WPI will formally dedicate the Silicon Valley Project Center with a special evening at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park. The event will feature an address by Ronald L. Zarrella '71, president of GM North America and chairman of the WPI Board of Trustees, and a talk by President Parrish. Guests will also hear from the WPI students who will be completing work on several new projects in Silicon Valley this winter under the guidance of project center director David Finkel, professor of computer science.

The Silicon Valley event will be one of four WPI events in California that week. President Parrish and other members of the WPI family will also meet with alumni and friends during receptions in San Francisco (Jan. 29), Los Angeles (Jan. 31) and San Diego (Feb. 1).

"WPI will be working hard in the months ahead to bridge the miles that separate our East and West Coast communities," Parrish says. "California is home to the third largest concentration of WPI alumni in the United States. We want to help the more than 1,200 men and women there feel more connected to and informed about their alma mater. This newsletter, our upcoming events, and the Silicon Valley Project Center are all part of a plan to accomplish that."