8th Annual Curriculum Workshop - Faculty Bios

July 11 - 14, 2005, Springfield, MA

	Babak D. Beheshti Babak D. Beheshti joined School of Engineering and Technology, New York Institute of Technology as a member of faculty in 1986. Since then he has pursued his academic and consulting activities in the areas of embedded systems, and telecommunications and wireless systems design and implementation. He has had numerous papers and presentations on these topics. Babak has been an active member of IEEE since 1991 having held positions such as Chair, Long Island Section, Region 1 Membership Development Chair, R1 Student Activities Chair, IEEE Tellers Committee Chair, and Signal Processing Chapter Chair. Babak is a recipient of the IEEE Millennium Medal and two IEEE Region 1 Award. Babak earned his BEEE and MSEE from Stony Brook University in 1985 and 1987, respectively.

	Steve Budd Steven Budd, CFRE, is the Assistant Vice President for Grants and Development at Springfield Technical Community College, where he is responsible for developing external resources from both public and private sources. He is a member of the CRD National Board of Directors, serving as liaison to the CRD/NSF faculty development workshop program. Steve sits on several non-profit boards and frequently consults in the area of comprehensive resource development. He has successfully secured millions of dollars in federal and private funds for community college and public school initiatives. His background includes extensive experience leading a community college public relations and marketing department. Steve is also highly accomplished in developing workforce development programs and funding streams. He has more than 30 years of experience in writing proposals, designing and managing campaigns for advancing community college initiatives. He holds a master's degree in Business Administration and is currently enrolled in doctoral coursework at the University of Massachusetts.

	Dr. Yakov E. Cherner Dr. Yakov E. Cherner, a Founder and President of ATEL, LLC, combines 20+ years of research and teaching practice with extensive experience in writing curricula and developing educational software. He introduced an innovative concept of multi-layered simulation-based conceptual teaching of science, engineering, and technology. This instructional approach uses real-world objects, processes and learning situations that are familiar to students as the context for virtual science and technology investigations. To facilitate this methodology for corporate and military training, and academic education, his company ATeL has developed new ground-breaking e-learning solutions, as well as relevant assessments and authoring tools. Dr. Cherner published over 70 papers in national and international journals and gave dozens of presentations at national and international conferences and workshops. Dr. Cherner has served as a Principal Investigator for several government-funded educational projects.

	Michael Connolly Michael Connolly is a native of Las Vegas, NV. He graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a degree in Physics and spent the next four years in the Air Force. He then went to work for E.G.& G./Energy Measurements and worked in support of the Nevada Test Site Facility for 21 years as an Alpha Technician, Assembly Language Maintenance programmer, Electronic Technician and Help Desk/Networking technician before coming to the Community College of Southern Nevada where he teaches PC Repair & Troubleshooting and Networking (CCNA & CCNP, etc.).

	Siben Dasgupta Siben Dasgupta, B.S., M.S., M.S. ENG MGMT, E.E., P.E., is an Assistant Professor in the Electronics Department in the Day College at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He teaches an array of courses for DPCS, including Digital Communication, Feedback Control Systems and Microcomputer Control Systems. Prior to his employment at Wentworth, Dasgupta worked at Boston Edison Company, where he was a Plant Supervisor in the System Engineering Department.

	Jeff Davis In 1975 Jeff enlisted in the US Navy and serverd aboard the USS McCloy. Jeff received his BS in Mathematics from SUNY Fredonia and in 2003 earned an MS in Network Security from Capitol College in Maryland. Jeff has earned two computer certifications: CompTia A+ and an MCSE. Currently Jeff is teaching Computer Science and Mathematics at Jamestown Community College in Olean, NY. He is a father of four children and for fun really enjoys participating in triathlons.

	Dr. Chance M. Glenn, Sr. Dr. Glenn received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland. He received his Master's and Ph.D in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently an associate professor of telecommunications engineering technology for Rochester Institute of Technology and the Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Communications Technology as a part of the Center for Advancing the Study of CyberInfrastructure. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in engineering technology and his research involves the application of new physics techniques, such as to the nonlinear dynamical systems theory, to the development of advanced communications technologies.

	Warren Hioki In six years at CCSN, Associate Dean Warren Hioki influenced engineering enrollment tenfold, growing it from 120 to 1,200 students. He pioneered educational partnerships with industry giants Sprint, Cisco Systems, Bechtel Nevada and Cox Communications to create one of the nation's leading telecommunications training programs and help satisfy the region's 1,000 annual job openings for electronics technicians. He is also credited with CCSN's latest technology coup, becoming an accredited and certified Federal Aviation Administration technical training institute in ceremonies March 13 at the Cheyenne Campus. In 1999 Hioki earned Nevada's Technical Education Leadership Award and received CCSN's Most Outstanding Faculty Award. He holds a master's in electrical engineering and taught at San Jose City College chairing the Computer Technology and Telecommunications Department. His telecommunications textbook has been a leading seller at colleges for a decade.

	Karl M. Kapp Karl M. Kapp, Ed.D is the Assistant Director at Bloomsburg University's Institute for Interactive Technologies and a Professor in the Instructional Technology program at Bloomsburg, He is heavily involved with integrating learning and technology in academic, government and corporate settings. He received his Doctorate of Education in the Instructional Design program at the University of Pittsburgh. The field of Instructional Design primarily focuses on the systematic design, development, delivery, and evaluation of instruction in a corporate environment.

	David Liroff David Liroff joined Boston’s WGBH in 1979, and during his tenure with the station has had senior management responsibility for broadcasting, local program production, creative services, membership, major gifts and capital campaign fundraising for WGBH-TV2 and WGBX-TV44/Boston, and for national "how-to" program production. In his present position, to which he was appointed in October, 1995, he is responsible for production services, engineering, information technology, telecommunications, digital asset management, the WGBH Media Archives and Preservation Center, and audience research, and he has senior management responsibility for overseeing WGBH's transition to digital production and broadcasting. WGBH is the premier producer of programming distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and also operates a strong public radio service. Dr. Liroff is on the board and is past professional vice-chair of the the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), a former member of the CPB TV Future Fund Advisory Panel, and member of the CPB Digital Consultation Panel, the PBS Technology and Distribution Committee, the APTS/PBS MSO and DBS advisory committees, and the Association of Moving Image Archivists. Additionally, he was a member of the core working group of the CPB Digital Distribution Implementation Initiative during its two-year existence from 2001 - 2003 and has been a member of numerous other industry panels. Liroff holds a PhD in radio, TV and film from Northwestern University, a master's in speech and theater from Brooklyn College/City University of New York, and a bachelor's in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

	Gina Potenza Gina Potenza has been working in the Information Technology industry since the 1990s. Currently she is working as a Business Systems Analyst for Laboratory Alliance of Central New York. In addition, she is a recent graduate of the SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica, NY with a Master's degree from the Telecommunication's program.

	Laura Qaissaunnee Laura Qaissaunee is the Director of Grants and Institutional Development at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, New Jersey. She is also a member of the Mid-Atlantic Institute for Telecommunications Technologies (MAITT, an NCTT Regional Partner) team to ensure compliance with NSF agency requirements, among other related duties.

	Michael Qaissaunee Mike Qaissaunee is the Principal Investigator for the Mid-Atlantic Institute for Telecommunications Technologies (MAITT, an NCTT Regional Partner) and Department Chair for Engineering and Technology at Brookdale Community College. Under his leadership, the Engineering and Technology faculty has grown by two-thirds, and a variety off new courses and programs have been created. These include the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), and many technological certificates. He also has worked extensively to foster relationships and forge agreements with a number of community colleges, post-secondary and secondary institutions, and industry.

	Sala Qazi Salahuddin Qazi holds a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Technology, Loughborough, England, United Kingdom. He is currently a Professor in the School of Information Systems and Engineering Technology at the State University of New York Institute of Technology. Dr. Qazi teaches and conducts research in the area of fiber optics, optical and wireless communications and Nanotechnology. He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of American Society of Engineering Education.

	Vladimir Riabov Vladimir V. Riabov is an associate professor of Computer Science at Rivier College. He teaches Networking Technologies, Software Engineering, and System Simulation and Modeling. His research interests are Complexity Code Studies, Networking Software Test Strategies, Object-Oriented Embedded System Design, and Computational Algorithms. The author received a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and M.S. in Computer Information Systems from Southern New Hampshire University. He is a member of ACM, IEEE, and AIAA.

	Pete Saflund Peter Saflund was the associate director of the nationally renowned NWCET (National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies) at Bellevue Community College in Washington State. He brings his considerable knowledge and experience in technology and workforce development and a dedicated team of expert associates together in the service of technology educators in community colleges and high schools throughout the USA.

	Scott A. SaintOnge Scott A. SaintOnge has been the Webmaster for the National Center for Telecommunications Technologies (NCTT – www.nctt.org), a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Resource Centers of Excellence, since January of 2000. He was an instructor of the Web Authoring course (WEBS 324) for the School of Continuing Education at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), Springfield, MA in 2000 and 2001. Scott has also presented at numerous professional development workshops on web design, usability and assistive technology for both high school and college faculty members. Scott’s diverse background includes work as an Assistive Technology Technician for the Office of Disability Services at STCC. This experience helped solidify skills and methods for implementing Universal Design techniques to ensure the accessibility of information for all users. Scott has an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts from Holyoke Community College and is an active life-long learner.

	Linda Scott Linda Scott works with Dr. Joyce Malyn-Smith on the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) project Information Technology Across Careers (ITAC) at Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, MA. As Project Coordinator, Ms. Scott works with a network of leadership organizations, partners, and faculty teams providing technical assistance on the ITAC scenario lesson development process. She also directs the project’s online validation studies and writes and develops materials and resources for the project. She has represented the project at numerous national conferences, including the League’s Conference on Information Technology. Previously, she worked on the IT Career Cluster Initiative project (U.S. Department of Education, OVAE) and continues to co-represent the IT cluster with Joyce Malyn-Smith for the States’ Career Clusters Initiative.

	Mohammad Shanehsaz Mohammad Shanehsaz has been an Associate Professor for the Engineering and Technology department at Brookdale Community College for the past 15 years. He is the Assistant Director of the Mid-Atlantic Institute for Telecommunications Technologies (MAITT). Mr. Shanehsaz teaches and is certified in Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), and A+ Computer Repair. Mohammad Shanehsaz received his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University. Prior to Brookdale, Mr. Shanehsaz worked many years in industry and taught at the Cittone Institute (Edison, NJ).

	Diane D. Snyder Diane D. Snyder is a professor in the Electronics Systems Engineering Technology Cluster at Springfield Technical Community College. She has done extensive work in the delivery of distance education courses pioneering student use of Tablet PCs on the STCC campus. Before coming to STCC she worked as an electrical engineer for General Electric Corporation. She holds a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Western New England College and a Masters Degree in Education from Westfield State College.

	Dennis G. Vaillancourt Dennis G. Vaillancourt is the Project Director, National Center of Excellence for High Performance Computing Technology (NCEHPCT) located in Maui, HI. Prior to joining the NCEHPCT, he was Manager of Processor & Networking Systems Development for Hewlett Packard’s NonStopTM Enterprise Division in Cupertino, CA. During his thirty-year career, he has been a development manager, designer, research associate and entrepreneur for a diverse group of companies such as Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Odetics Broadcast, Viking Components, Network Devices, Fibronics International, TGL Engineering Consultants, Avanti Communications and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He holds a MS Telecommunications degree, Wireless Concentration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, as well as a BS degree in Electrical Engineering Technology, Highest Distinction and an AS degree in Electro-Mechanical Technology from Bristol Community College, MA. His principal interests are high performance computing, telecommunications, fiber optics and wireless technologies. The NCEHPCT is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Center sponsored in part by the University of Hawaii and Maui Community College. The center is a consortium of four community colleges: Contra Costa College, CA, Maui Community College, HI, Pellissippi State Technical Community College, TN and Wake Technical Community College, NC. Developing community college curricula and a national certification for HPCT are the NCEHPCT’s principal objectives.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those
of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation.

This material is based on work
supported by the
National Science Foundation
under Grant Number DUE 0302548.

Springfield Technical
Community College

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