John Cole is president and chief operating officer of Parkwood Engineering Development Corporation in Westland, Michigan. Previously, he was vice president of engineering and development for Kolene Corporation in Detroit and a member of Kolene's Board of Directors.

Cole received a bachelor of science in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1976. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the states of Michigan and North Carolina. He received the State of Michigan's Professional Engineers in Industry Outstanding Engineering Award in 1994 and the Detroit Metro Chapter's Engineer of the Year Award, also in 1994.

Cole is involved in many industrial, trade, and professional organizations, including NSPE, SME, SAE, PCI, and the Industrial Heating Equipment Association, where he served as national president in 2003.

"When looking back on the education provided to me by the University of Michigan-Dearborn, what I remember most was the small class sizes and the fact that, not only did the professors teach the classes themselves (vs. teaching assistants), they were always available for consultations before and after classes. This is what makes the Dearborn campus so special"

Ronald Modreski received dual degrees in mechanical engineering and engineering mathematics from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1965. He also earned a master's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 1968.

Modreski took early retirement from Vickers Incorporated (currently Eaton Corporation) Aerospace-Marine-Defense Group in 2000 after holding a number of management positions. He served as vice president/general manager of the Electromechanical Division in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1989 to 2000. He was responsible for marketing/sales, product/design engineering, program management, finance, contracts, manufacturing operations (multiple plants), quality, and human resources. Modreski had full P&L responsibility for over 450 employees. He is currently the owner of RAM Management Group and a principal in the firm PM&I, management consulting.

"My education and training at UM-Dearborn was very important in the early, middle, and later part of my career. As an engineer I was trained to use systems thinking and problem solving techniques and work as part of a team in the classroom and labs. These were skills that I used over and over during the years as I moved up the ranks of management, worked in different parts of the country, and traveled around the world. Probably the most important element of this experience at UM-Dearborn was my co-op experience. I learned about the real world of work and was able to better prepare myself for what I really wanted to do.

The most fun was the perception that engineers were not very skilled socially (geeks is the term used today). Well, the engineering classmates I hung around with got a reputation as "party animals" (remember Animal House?) and either got invited or threw some of the best parties in the Western Wayne county area. Sorry, I have been sworn not to give details."

Henry Hojnacki, who earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1981, is currently advanced development manager, Interior Parts, at The Woodbridge Group in Troy, Michigan. Previously, he worked as a principal engineer at Enerflex Solutions LLC, where he was responsible for advanced development of automotive occupant protection countermeasures.

During his 25 year career, Hojnacki has been employed by Concept Analysis (an engineering consulting company), BASF, Trico (a windshield wiper manufacturer), Hoff & Associates (another engineering consulting company). His expertise is in engineering thermoplastics and structural analysis.

Hojnacki is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. His spare time is spent experimenting with websites and creating engineering programs using Linux.

"My most valuable experience with the university was definitely my co-op positions. This is where I found out how the things I was learning in class were applied in the real world. The most important secondary skills that my college education taught me were foosball and pinball, which I picked up in many hours spent in the ROC."

Bob Lust received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1978. Later that year, he joined the General Motors Research and Development Center as a staff research assistant, where he worked as a member of a team that developed GM's first CAE-based structural design optimization tool. In 1981, he entered graduate school at the University of California-Los Angeles, receiving his Ph.D. in engineering in 1986.

After graduate school, Bob returned to the GM R&D Center as a senior research engineer. For the next 10 years he conducted research in structural optimization methods and robust design, publishing more than 20 papers on those topics. In 1996, he became a laboratory group manager and was responsible for leading research in the areas of noise and vibration, probabilistic analysis and design, and test/analysis uncertainty quantification.

Since 2003, Bob has been an engineering group manager in the GM advanced vehicle development organization. In his current job, he and his team support GM's global deployment of Design for Six Sigma, providing training, certification, and technical support.

Bob has been an active member of the CECS Alumni Affiliate Board since 2000. He has been a member of the interview team for the alumni scholarship program, has represented the affiliate at the Engineering/Computer Science Experience, and has been a volunteer at the UM-Dearborn Open House.

"My education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn was an outstanding foundation for my job as an engineer and my graduate education. And, the opportunity to participate in the cooperative education program made it possible for me to afford my college education as well as providing real-world engineering job experiences that supported my classroom learning."

Robert Matsura graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and earned a master of business administration from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 1977.

Matsura is presently a senior applied specialist working at EDS and has been there for 23 years. Currently, he is an availability manager supporting the GM Information Systems contracts with EDS. He transferred from GM to EDS after 12 years at GM, holding positions as a senior systems analyst, industrial engineer, and material handling engineer.

Matsura is also a certified Project Management Professional, certified in ITIL Foundations, a certified Manufacturing Engineer, and is certified in production and inventory management (CPIM) by the Association for Operations Management.

"My two years in UM-Dearborn's co-op program gave me the work experience and the academic excellence that allowed me to prosper throughout my 35-year career with the biggest automaker in the world and still stay technologically up-to-date. I am amazed at how large UM-Dearborn has become and that it is a nationally ranked four-year university, compared to when I was there for just my junior and senior years. I am extremely proud that my son Greg is now attending UM-Dearborn and will have even better facilities and state-of-the-art equipment to work with than I did 36 years ago."

Janelle North graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in industrial and systems engineering

While earning her undergraduate degree, she worked at Yazaki North America Inc. (formerly SY Systems Technologies) for three years (as a co-op student). During that time, she received a Special Recognition Award for creating the co-op handbook that is currently used at Yazaki. A month after graduation, she was hired by Yazaki as a full-time engineer, working on the Ford Taurus platform and the Ford Fusion platform.

In January 2008, North began her graduate degree in engineering management at UM-Dearborn, which is scheduled to be completed by the winter 2010 semester. North is very active as a professional member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)-Detroit Chapter and volunteered to help plan the first annual Girls’ Engineering Exploration Day, a workshop where girls learn about engineering by participating in different events such as making lip gloss (as an example of chemical engineering) and boat building (showcasing mechanical and industrial engineering).

"My success is due to my family, especially my mom, for always encouraging me.

Throughout my college career, I was involved with Society of Women Engineers, serving as president and vice president, and the Institute of Industrial Engineers, serving as membership chair. I traveled to many conferences throughout the country to attend seminars, workshops, and job fairs on behalf of both groups. As a result, I gained valuable networking experience and learned about engineering outside of the automotive industry in southeastern Michigan. One of my proudest accomplishments as SWE president was acquiring a women's lounge, which helped to increase membership in the SWE chapter at UM-Dearbo."

Keith Talbot earned a bachelor's degree in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1980 and has a master's degree in business administration from the University of Northern Iowa.

Talbot is an executive with more than 20 years of progressive field, corporate, and entrepreneurial experience. He has worked in key positions for such well-known firms as John Deere, Frito-Lay, Avery-Dennison, Neodata, SourceOne Worldwide, Inc., and Form House Innovations. He rapidly rose through the ranks as plant manager, director, general manager, president/CEO and chairman.

Entrepreneurial by nature, Talbot has more than 13 years of experience in startup and turnaround management. He has utilized his operations and business development expertise to build businesses. He has increased sales, reduced costs, and streamlined operations in a wide range of situations. Talbot has consistently met and exceeded company objectives by achieving double-digit revenue and profit gains. He has been successful in acquiring and selling companies, creating new companies and business units, expanding into new industries and new markets, building organizations, expanding and streamlining operations, designing distribution and manufacturing networks and establishing alliances with customer and supplier partners.

Talbot attributes many of his career achievements to the training received from the University of Michigan-Dearborn's engineering and co-op programs. He felt strongly enough about his experience here to commit a significant portion of a recent contribution to the university toward assisting students with their living expenses while on out-of-state co-op assignments.

Aisha Yousuf received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2006. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in electrical engineering, also from UM-Dearborn, and working as a research assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

In addition to her involvement with CECS Alumni Affiliate since 2007, she serves on various regional and international committees of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She is also a member of various honor societies, including Eta Kappa Nu, the National Scholars Honor Society, and is a member of the International Neural Network Society and the Michigan Council of Women in Technology.

Yousuf's research interests are in the areas of pattern recognition, machine learning, and image/sensor processing. She has experience with multimodal biometrics, LADAR/RADAR data, and biomedical image processing and target detection. She has also received multiple scholarships, including the Michigan Council of Women in Technology 2007 Graduate Scholarship.

"My years as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan-Dearborn were invaluable. Being able to interact and learn from full-time faculty in small classes had a great impact on my career. The student activities were also remarkable and were a great way to get involved in my profession. Through the support of the university’s faculty and staff, I not only received a good education but also gained excellent leadership skills."

Communications to the alumni affiliate chair should be directed to cecs_aa@umich.edu.