Corrections or additions?
These articles by Barbara Fox and Peter J. Mladineo were published in
U.S. 1 Newspaper on July 22, 1998. All rights reserved.
Princeton Master’s Degree
Companies can now entice new hires with the prospect
of a one-year master’s from Princeton University, either part-time
or full-time. The new master’s in engineering program at Princeton
University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science is a
“professionally
oriented graduate program preparing students for careers in
engineering
practice and management” for those who have a B.S. in engineering,
physical science, or a closely related area. (See related cover story
on page 18).
Until now part-time students paid full-time fees, but now part-time
fees are available. For this master’s program, nevertheless, financial
aid is generally not available. A candidate’s potential is considered,
along with previous grades and the Graduate Record Examination
results.
Special attention is given to letters of recommendation from those
who can judge the applicant’s abilities, accomplishments, and academic
promise.
Each degree requires eight courses but can include a design project
as one of the courses. One of the degrees involves studying in a
specialty
(such areas as telecommunication and information networks, structural
engineering, financial engineering, and photonics) or in one of these
departments: chemical engineering, civil engineering and operations
research, computer science, electrical engineering, or mechanical
and aerospace engineering.
Another degree — suitable for those hoping to manage technical
enterprises or get involved in engineering economics — involves
combining technical courses with nontechnical ones such as corporate
finance, accounting, international economics, or public policy.
Those interested in entrepreneurship and management careers can take
four engineering courses plus four electives, including those taught
by corporate leaders in management and engineering jobs.
“The program on entrepreneurship is building some speed,”
says Joe Montemarano, an alumnus of Hopkins (Class of ’75 and
’83). As director of industrial liaison he aims to help companies
in the Princeton area feel welcome and be able to carry out their
business. He used the U.S. 1 Business Directory to generate a list
for mailing brochures on the new master’s program.
“It is a step out in the direction we have to go in
entrepreneurship
education. There are many more small technical companies then there
were 10 years ago,” Montemarano says, “but even the large
companies look more, organizationally, like small companies.”
For information, call 609-258-2890 or E-mail: MENG@princeton.edu.
Top Of PageNew at Middlesex: Mecomtronix
Today’s engineers spend an awful amount of time writing
computer programs and not as much time crunching equations as they
did in the past. Check out how one school has responded to these new
realities:
With a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation,
Middlesex
County College and the New Jersey Center for Advanced Technological
Education have created a new associate’s degree in mecomtronics, a
new multidisciplinary science that creates a new
half-engineer/half-computer
whiz hybrid.
The two-year, 64-credit program will be piloted at Middlesex County
College this fall and will be open to 24 students at each institution
that accepts it.
The program is developed by Jack L. Waintraub, chairman of the
physics and electrical engineering department at Middlesex County
Community College. Coordinated by Middlesex County College, NJCATE
is a partnership of community colleges, four-year colleges, and other
educational and professional organizations. Its partners include
Mercer
County Community College, New Jersey Institute of Technology, the
College of New Jersey, Raritan Valley Community College, Essex County
College, County College of Morris, and the Woodbridge Township Board
of Education.
The focus of the program is on engineering technology, says Edward
Allen, NJCATE’s center coordinator. “We’ve integrated four
different disciplines, mechanical technicians, electronic technicians,
computer hardware and software technicians, and telecommunications
technology.”
Students will be trained “to be part of an engineering team
fulfilling
an engineering technician role and they would be able to fulfill any
aspect from the breadboard all the way to product roll out,”
reports
Allen. “So they’re involved in the design, testing, development,
troubleshooting, and manufacturing of state-of-the-art products.”
The curriculum will also be presented using a “just-in-time”
delivery method. This modular curriculum will involve students in
projects suggested by the corporate world. “They provide us with
realistic industrial projects for the course,” says Allen.
Thus, Allen hopes, the students will leave school with fresh
engineering
skills immediately applicable in the workforce. “The educational
term is `concurrent educational delivery,'” he says. “The
industry people are telling us, `We need someone who is right out
of school, who is minimally in need of training, and can start
producing
by day one.'”
Middlesex County College proposed NJCATE when it learned that
employers
were in dire need for engineering technicians with multifunctional
talents, Allen reports. He points to a 1994 survey that asked 400
corporations what their needs were for engineer technicians. “They
indicated they needed somebody who is multifunctional but is also
a creative thinker,” says Allen. “There is an abundance of
openings out there. What we are doing is fulfilling the need for more
of a generalist.”
Unlike traditional competitive learning systems, this program would
use a “cooperative learning model.” “Traditionally the
knowledge in courses would be transferred from faculty to
student,”
he says. “Under this new paradigm we’re going to have a joint
construct between students and faculty, thereby putting the students
much more in charge of their own learning.”
Only 10 schools in the country were given NSF grants to create these
CATE centers and each of the 10 centers concentrates on a different
discipline. “In Washington (state) they’re doing something with
computer technicians, in California they’re doing something with
marine
technicians,” says Allen. “Here we’re working with
mecomtronics.
Mecomtronics is being developed only here in New Jersey.”
Top Of PageWeb-based Health Studies
Web-based instruction has moved into the allied health
arena. Thomas Edison State College and the University of Medicine
and Dentistry New Jersey’s School of Health Related Professions have
partnered to offer three general courses this fall: Cultural Issues
and Health Care, Principles of Scientific Inquiry, Legal and Ethical
Dimensions of Practice. A fourth course, Nutrition Education for the
Community, is for dietitians, and four more courses will be offered
in the spring.
“We jumped into distance education four years ago and learned
in a baptism by fire some of the do’s and don’ts of distance
education,”
says David Gibson, dean of UMDNJ’s School of Health Related
Professions.
He is a 1964 alumnus of St. Charles Seminary Borromeo in Philadelphia,
and his graduate degrees include an education doctorate from Seton
Hall.
Until now “distance education” meant attending classes at
farflung sites using video conferencing or audio conferencing. This
works well in a state like New Jersey, says Gibson. “The students
find it more convenient than having to travel to one location.
Increasingly
we added programs using this methodology.”
The school’s first forays into the distance education arena were in
dental hygiene, a bachelor’s program in psychiatric rehabilitation,
and a master’s of science in clinical nutrition. “What we are
adding will be the opportunity for students to pursue some of their
courses on the Web as opposed to at a particular site. We are joining
Thomas Edison State College so we can use our resources and their
expertise,” says Gibson.
Though any course requiring clinical competency needs on-site classes,
that doesn’t rule out geographically distant students. If you are
in Nevada, the school can affiliate with a clinic there, and someone
at that clinic can teach you and certify you meet the standards.
“We
would draw up a memorandum of understanding, as we do in a number
of states throughout the country,” says Gibson. Often the
supervising
institutions — hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home
health care agencies — do the supervising for free, because it
helps them to recruit needed personnel.
Gibson refers to a Florida nurse who is taking a nurse midwifery
program
at home but doing much of her practical experience in New Jersey.
“Once we assess the site from which she was working as
educationally
sound, she could do part of her practicum there.”
Gibson has had good fortune in recruiting more than 600 volunteer
faculty members for the various courses. These people teach and mentor
for free because, as he says, “in allied health programs, there
is a sense of giving back.” But he has had some “negative
downsides” in these numbers, perhaps due to the constraints of
managed care. Says Gibson: “It could be that there will be
pressures
from above.”
For information contact Ann Tucker, chair of interdisciplinary
studies and associate dean for southern New Jersey at E-mail:
or call Sheri L. Prupis at 973-972-5034; fax, 973-972-7412.
https://www.umdnj.edu/shrpweb/degree.
To prepare students for careers in information
technology,
Raritan Valley Community College starts a new certificate program
in PC Support this fall. The certificate requires 31 credits,
generally
accumulated in one full-time year, and the courses include UNIX,
microcomputer
applications, operating systems, and fundamentals of computer
networking.
Also required are English and interpersonal communications courses.
“The college added this certificate program to meet the needs
of people who are currently working but need additional training to
move ahead in their careers, or who want to make a change but do not
need a degree. This is a complement to our World Wide Web certificate
program which was added recently,” says Cary A. Israel,
RVCC president.
Students who complete this certificate will be able to troubleshoot
hardware, software, and network problems, set up a PC system, and
perform needed upgrades. For information call 908-218-8861.
Failure to correct latent Year 2000 software problems
might result in such malfunctions, experts say, as incorrect customer
billings to the shutdown of a company’s entire operation. “Y2
Care about Y2K: the Millennium Problem, Your Computers, and You!”
a project of several groups from the Princeton Chamber, will be
Wednesday,
July 29, from 8 to 11:40 a.m., at the Marriott. Cost: $50. Call
609-520-1776.
Seating is limited.
Christopher T. Mather, vice president of marketing for TransSys
on Emmons Drive, will open the program with a general introduction
to the Y2K problem at 8:35 a.m. With degrees from Stockport College
and the Cranfield Business School in the United Kingdom, he has 20
years of consulting experience and line management on four continents.
Two members of the WS&B Consulting Group will discuss technical
aspects
and potential solutions at 9:15 a.m. The group does financial
management
software application and system integration consulting. Located at
Princeton Overlook, it consults, implements, and supports multiple
financial applications, networks, and operating environments.
Bridgette
A. Hobart CPA, the president, is an alumna of Nazareth College
in Rochester and has a master’s degree from the State University at
Binghamton.
Jon C. Henbest is a CPA with WS&B Consulting Group and was
formerly
a tax associate with Withum Smith & Brown. An accounting major at
New York University, he is a Microsoft Certified Professional as well
as a CPA. At Withum Smith & Brown he was the network administrator
doing network design consulting and installation, SQL database
administration,
and financial application support.
William J. McNichol Jr. will discuss the legal aspects,
including
vendor letters, at 11 a.m. Based at Forrestal Village, he is an
attorney
at Reed Smith Shaw McClay and focuses on such intellectual property
issues as the prosecution of patent applications, re-examination and
re-issues and trademark registration applications, oppositions and
cancellation proceedings. He went to Villanova for his law degree.
Top Of PageTechnology Money Hunt
Young technology-based companies should hastily
investigate
filing a proposal by Friday, September 4, to get some of the state’s
just-announced technology transfer money.
The legislature has allocated $5 million ($4.4 million more than
before)
to the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology (NJCST) for
tech transfer, and at least two dozen companies could receive amounts
ranging from $50,000 to $250,000.
The program was announced last week by Jay J. Brandinger, the
executive director of NJCST, a semi-independent branch of the current
New Jersey Department of Commerce and Economic Development that
develops
and oversees policies and programs (609-984-1671; fax, 609-292-5920.
E-mail: njcst@njcst.gov_).
“The governor recommended and procured a nine-fold increase,”
says David Eater, NJCST associate director. “We expect to
see about 100 applicants and theoretically about 30 could be
funded.”
“It’s the first significant increase in at least six years,”
says Randy Harmon, director of the Technology Help Desk and
Incubator on Jersey Avenue in New Brunswick. “It is going to help
entrepreneurs who can’t get financing from even the seed funds to
move their technology ahead. If they eliminate the technology risk,
a year from now they may be able to attract the interest of a venture
capital firm.”
Presumably, the very tight application deadline (eight weeks from
the time it was announced) will enable the NJCST to successfully give
out most of the $5 million in time for it to apply to the legislature
for more next year. “Our assumption is that this $5 million
allocation
represents this administration’s ongoing commitment to this kind of
a program,” says Eater, an alumnus of Penn State, Class of 1983,
with a master’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson
School.
Official requests for proposal forms are available from NJCST or the
Technology Help Desk (800-432-1832). Funds may be used for project
costs including salaries, supplies, travel, or purchase of services.
The money may not be used for general overhead or for equipment
purchase
but can pay for equipment lease. Matching funds are required, but
these might be “soft funds” such as salaries and existing
equipment and other gifts-in-kind.
“The whole intent is to help entrepreneurs commercialize,”
says Harmon. “In the past they required a collaboration with an
academic institution, but now the money goes directly to
entrepreneurs.”
Instead of issuing guidelines for what kinds of projects or priorities
will be funded, the entrepreneur can “drive the topic.” The
main requirement is that the entrepreneur have a commercially viable
product. The state will not take a formal equity position, but the
successful entrepreneur is expected to repay the grant and replenish
the fund.
Firms must be for-profit New Jersey companies, or must be considering
relocation to New Jersey and be in the state at the time the grant
is made.
This money is not a grant because companies are not supposed to keep
it. It is not a loan because companies have to pay it back only if
they succeed. It is not an equity position, such as venture capitalist
would take, because even if the company is wildly successful, the
payback is capped. “Repayment is expected from company revenues
until our investment plus a reasonable rate of return is
recovered,”
says Eater. “We can’t make it free money.” Call it the state’s
“investment.”
— Barbara Fox
Top Of PageU.S. 1 Computer Showcase
Set your computer’s alarm clock to leave work early
on Thursday, July 23, so you can be on time for the first seminar
at the U.S. 1 Computer Showcase from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at Novotel on
Route 1 North. These annual showcases are a great way to meet and
greet folks in Princeton’s scientific and technical community. At
4:15 p.m. Rachel Lilienthal Stark and John MacDonald of
Stark & Stark will discuss Internet law, and at 5:15 p.m. Michael
Wynblatt of Siemens Corporate Research and Mary Evslin of
ITXC Corp. (the Internet telephony firm) will talk about using the
Internet without a computer.
The just-announced moderator for that panel will be Mark Meara,
president of Princeton Internet Group (PiNG) on Roszel Road. Meara
teaches at Central Michigan University’s graduate program and at
Mercer
College. It’s all free, but please register by faxing your name,
company,
address, and phone to 609-452-0033 by Wednesday, July 22. U.S. 1 will
have your name tag ready on Thursday. Here’s what you will find at
the showcase exhibits:
Get a sneak peak at the very latest in electronic boardroomequipment at the Haverford Systems table, which will have animpressive array of equipment — Toshiba multimedia projector,an Intel team station videoconferencing apparatus, and a HaverfordSystems multimedia control system. The president, Hugh Richards,will be there, with Margaret Craft and Rashid Ochaya alsorepresenting the firm located at 152 Robbins Road, Downingtown, PA19335, 800-486-5276; fax, 610-518-2201. URL:https://www.haverford.comand https://www.havavision.com.Those who deplore buying Windows 98 until the kinks are workedout will find an ally at Renaissance Computer Associates. LarryAdamo will have a demo of Windows 98, showing how users must accessInternet Explorer IV in order to view documents stored on their owncomputers. “Your own documents look as if they are on the WorldWide Web, and you cannot delete Explorer,” says Adamo, founderof the firm based at 186 Princeton-Hightstown Road, Building 3-B,Princeton Junction 08550. 609-799-8595; fax,609-799-8561.Check out computer classes from Dow Jones TrainingServices ,which will have details on any of Microsoft’s programs plus certifiedprograms in Solaris and Adobe. Look for Cheryl Badger, assistantmanager, and Roy Evans, education coordinator for the trainingcenter located on the Dow Jones campus on Route 1 North, Box 300,Building 3, Box 300, Princeton 08543-0300. 609-520-5111;fax,609-520-5479.URL: https://www.dowjones.com/training.If you are a current or future Adobe user and are curious about– or are having problems with — Photoshop 4.0, get aminitutorialfrom Joe Brady at Digital Arts and Graphics, based atPrinceton Service center, 3490 Route 1, Princeton Service Center Suite8B, Building 12, Box 8678, Princeton 08543. 609-452-6446;fax,609-452-6494.URL: https://www.digitalag.com. Brady will give tips onscanning and retouching.Just out last April is the 30-page-a-minute multifunctionaldigital device from Xerox, the Document Company. See it print,scan, fax, and copy. Fully networked, it can access the Internet.So if you want to send good-looking copies across town or around theworld (when E-mail and faxes just won’t do) you can zap out copiesthrough a DC230 located in another office, across town or around theworld. It costs up to $700 a month, fully loaded. Princeton’s officeis at 100 Overlook Center, CN 5249, Princeton 08543. 609-987-5596;fax, 609-987-5654. URL: https://www.xerox.com.An unusual approach to the Year 2000 problem is to empower yourown employees to join the analysis effort. STG International LLCoffers PC-AID 2000 (at $50 per employee) so that corporations andlearning institutions can do education on, management of, andassessmentof the problem. Thomas D’Innocenzi, president and CEO of thefirm at 4365 Route 1 South, Princeton 08540, also offers a distancelearning software tool that is in wide use. VLearn costs from $10to $100 per copy, depending on volume, and it can actually measurewhat person looked at what page, very useful if you want to certifythat each and every worker has had, for instance, sexual harassmenttraining. 609-514-5000; fax, 609-452-7009. URL:https://www.stgcorporate.com.Questions about the World Wide Web? Sergio Heker can tellyou anything you want to know about the Internet, from corporatenetworking to interactive media. NextGen Internet, 311 EEnterprise Drive, Enterprise Business Center, Plainsboro 08536.609-419-0531; fax, 609-419-0530. URL:https://www.nextgeninter.net.Information technology staffing services are available fromSnelling Personnel Services for both companies and candidates.Eric Krause and Tara Keever, information technologyrecruiters,and Benni Gerstenberg, account manager, will represent thebranchof the national firm at 350 Alexander Street, Princeton 08540.609-683-4040;fax,609-683-5621. URL: https://www.snelling.com/Princeton.For a networking consultation, check with Princeton ComputerSupport. Jonathan M. Sneedse, vice president of sales, andGeneGoroschko , network engineer, will also have a “tools of thetrade” display of routers, hubs, patch cables, panels, a laptop,and a video camera. The firm is located just off Route 518 at 5CrescentAvenue, Building F-1, Box 787, Rocky Hill 08553-0787. 609-921-8889;fax, 609-921-7691. URL: https://www.pcsi-usa.com.Pick up information on the latest Canon digital copiers andcolor printers from Paul Toto at the ABS Canon exhibit,300 Commerce Square Boulevard, Burlington 08016, 888-ABS-4000; fax,609-239-6489. This subsidiary of Canon U.S.A. has offices inPhiladelphia,Horsham, and Wilmington.Mark Meara and Bob Lane of Princeton Internet Group(PInG) will bring examples of their firm’s latest work, which includesstrategic internet consulting, web site design, development, andhosting,software application development, network consulting, and multimediadesign for such clients as AT&T, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile, EngelhardCorporation, McGraw-Hill, and American Home Products. Meara is alsogoing to moderate the 5:15 p.m. panel, “Use the Internet withouta Computer.” PInG is located at 13 Roszel Road, Suite C-222,Princeton08540. 609-452-1667; fax, 609-452-0063. URL:https://www.PInGsite.com.Investigate your future in the IT industry at the CittoneInstitutebooth, which offers courses for help desk analysts, programmers, andPC & business administrators. Randi Lipkin, public relationsrepresentative, and Leo Urso, director of admissions, willrepresentthe school, based at 100 Canal Pointe Boulevard, Princeton 08540,609-520-8798; fax, 609-520-8830.Paragon Computer Professionals has the distinction of beingan employee-based computer consulting firm that does not useindependentcontractors. Michael Alicastro, vice president, will open a ForrestalVillage office of the Cranford-based firm on August 1 at 116 VillageBoulevard, Suite 200, 800-462-5-582. URL:https://www.paracomp.com.The 1,100-person firm has nine offices and does both staffing andintegrated solutions. Alicastro and sales and marketing directorTammyAlvarez , plus marketing reps Debbie Polley and NeilLungariahope to meet and greet their Princeton friends and clients.If you are an IT professional with particular experience inbanking, government, medical centers, or healthcare, visit the boothof another employee-based firm, NovaSoft Information Technology.It’s a national systems integration and application development firmwith more than 350 employees across the United States, but it is basedat 707 Alexander Road, Princeton 08540. 609-419-4200; fax,609-419-4242.URL: https://www.novasoft.com. Look for ThomasStelma ,director of business development, to ask about core competencyprofessionalservices, education, and training.Glenn Paul, founder of Clancy Paul Computers, willdemonstratehis unusual “virtual receptionist” invention, a wall unit,a flat panel screen, with an attached phone and a touch screen thatwill introduce visitors to people and places in the company and caneven go out to the Internet. Anyone offsite can E-mail to the kiosk,and building managers can change the rosters easily. David Zboray,Ryan Farley, and David Smith will also represent the computerstore at 301 North Harrison Street, Princeton Shopping Center,Princeton08540. 609-683-0060; fax, 609-683-0071, URL:https://www.clancypaul.com.A free copy of Win Straube’s fascinating biography(beautifullyillustrated, with a sale price of $9) is yours when you visit theStraube Centers International Corp booth. Located at 106 WestFranklin Avenue, Pennington 08534 (next to the Pennington Post Office)the Straube Center offices are technology friendly because they areso well connected to the information highway. 609-737-3322;fax,609-737-3787.URL: https://www.straube.com.Find a little levity by watching the sleight of hand of MitchGeier , who in his past life was the house magician at Caesar’sPalace in Las Vegas. His real business — networking administration– requires no magic, he assures us, just knowledge and hard work,for a fixed rate. Computer Help, Service of CECG Inc., 201ThrockmortonLane, Old Bridge 08857. 800-367-2324, fax, 732-679-9344.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
