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Principal Investigator Dr. Don Engelberg holds a B. S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M. A. and Ph. D. degrees in physics from Columbia University. In addition to coordinating the entire TechASCEND project, he served as instructor for the fiber optics unit. Dr. Engelberg has served as P. I. for two previous NSF grants related to fiber optic telecommunications. In addition to his publications related to physics education, he has published on nuclear and particle physics and the history of physics. He has also directed grants under the Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Educations Acts, in particular, in recent years related to the Laser and Fiber Optics Academy. Dr. Engelberg recently retired as Professor of Physics at Queensborough Community College after 38 years of service, during six of which he served as departmental chairperson.

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Dr. Cheryl Bluestone holds a B. A. degree from the City College of New York and M. A. and Ph. D. degrees in psychology from New York University. She serves as the inside evaluator for the project. She developed several questionnaires and administered a variety of instruments to evaluate the project. Dr. Bluestone is Professor of Psychology in the Social Sciences Department at the College. She is also PI or co-PI on several other NSF-funded projects.

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Co-PI Dr. Amy Bieber holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. degree from the Institute for Optics of the University of Rochester. She also held a post-doctoral fellowship at Sandia National Laboratory, working in photonics research and nanostructure and semiconductor physics. She developed the laser and general optics segments for TechASCEND. Author of two books for students, Dr. Bieber has published articles on several laser-related topics. She is currently coordinator of the Laser and Fiber Optics Technology AAS degree program at Queensborough, where she is Associate Professor of Physics. Before coming to Queensborough, Dr. Bieber worked as an associate engineer for Grumman Corp. and as a scientist for several photonics firms.

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Co-PI Dr. James V. Valentino holds a BS degree in Aerospace Engineering and MS and Ph. D. degrees in Applied Mechanics from Polytechnic University of New York. He is Professor and Chairperson, Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology/Design Drafting at Queensborough. Over the last 24 years he has directed several projects under the Vocational and Technical Education Acts to improve technology education at the college. Before coming to Queensborough, Dr. Valentino served as Chief Stress Engineer, Sedco Systems Corporation (a subsidiary of Ratheyon). Dr. Valentino is author or co-author of four books, including Introduction to Computer Numerical Control that the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) designated as the best book in its field for its year of publication. Dr. Valentino developed the CAD segment and oversaw the development of the CNC segment for TechASCEND.

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Dr. Patrick Wallach, associate professor in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department of Queensborough received his MS and DA degrees from Adelphi University. He developed and presented the mathematics workshop for TechASCEND. He has been involved in multiple grants and programs that concern the use of technology by underprivileged students, high school students and adult students. In addition to departmental and college duties, he also serves on the City University’s Steering Committee for Online Resources and Education. Patrick has also been teaching a mathematics course in hybrid and fully online formats for several semesters, and has produced on online textbook.

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Joseph Goldenberg developed and presented the CNC segment of the program. Mr. Goldenberg holds a diploma as Engineer from Lvov Polytechnic Institute (Russia) and a Master’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Polytechnic University of New York. He serves as director of the manufacturing processes laboratory at Queensborough, where he is associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology and Design Drafting. Before coming to the college, Mr. Goldenberg worked as an engineer for more than 25 years, primarily in the aerospace industry. With Dr. James Valentino, he is co-author of two books related to manufacturing.

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Dr. Clara Wajngurt conducted the mathematics anxiety workshops for the project She holds a BS degree in mathematics from the City College of New York, an MA from the Belfer Graduate School of Science, and a Ph. D. degree in number theory from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has attended lectures and workshops at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and the Cornell University Institute for Leadership Development, and has served as an administrative Fellow for the American Association of Community Colleges, where she conducted a program dealing with pedagogical research. She has published articles on number theory, and mathematics anxiety and has published a book on remedial mathematics (McGraw Hill Co.)

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Dr. Paul Marchese served as instructor for the laser and general optics segments of TechASCEND for 2004-05. He holds Ph.D. and M. Phil. degrees in Earth and Environmental Science and M.S. and B. S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University. Dr. Marchese is Assistant Professor of Physics at Queensborough. He has held three successive ASEE administered Naval Research Laboratory summer fellowships doing research on oceanography. Dr. Marchese has published in several fields, including science education. He currently serves as PI or coPI on two NSF grants.

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