I possess an academic education and industrial experience that are highly integrated. The practical application of my university studies began in1968, when I worked under the auspices of IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience) with IBM Research Laboratories in Switzerland. I took part in the "Autocoder Speech Processing" Project. The project basically utilized a hardware frequency filter approach for automated speech recognition. Thereafter I returned to the U.S. where I assisted Dr. Madsen of St. Luke's Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago to implement software to identify EKG patterns using an adaptive learning algorithm.

In 1970 I completed my Information Engineering studies at the University of Illinois with the BSE (Bachelor of Science in Engineering) carrying the distinction "summa cum laude". I graduated as the 3rd best student and my name is engraved permanently on the "Honor Bell" in the Hall of the College of Engineering. I was designated an Edmund J. James Scholar and received stipends from Bodine Electric and Automatic Electric.

The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis invited me to continue on to graduate studies at their institution. I was bestowed an "Institute of Technology Corporate Associate Fellowship" and provided academic service as a "Teaching Associate" in the Department of Electrical Engineering. My main areas of study were in "Automatic System Control Theory", "Electromagnetics" and "Applied Mathematics". In 1972 I received the MSEE (Master of Science in Electrical Engineering) and successfully passed the preliminary doctoral foreign language exams in German and Russian.

Because of my foreign language abilities, the international personnel director of Honeywell, Mr. Becker, recommended that I attend the Control Data Institute in Frankfurt, Germany where I received computer technology training as a "Customer Engineer". In 1973 I found a position as a Process Analyst with the German-French firm Vereinigte Glaswerke in Stolberg/Rhineland. The company sent me to a 4-month training period on the IBM 1800 process computer at SGN (St. Gobain Techniques Nouvelles) in Paris. My task was the development of real-time measurement programs controlling the production of treated glass for the building industry.

In 1976 I was sent to a 2-week training course on the PDP-11 mini-computer in Munich to DEC (Digital Equipment Company). The school director, Mr. Kempin, offered me a Computer Instructor staff position. I then held courses in German, English, and Czech at various industrial sites and technical universities in Europe. Dr. Döbner of MBB from Augsburg was an active participant in my IAS (Interactive Application System) class and convinced me to become a System Coordinator in the NATO Tornado Aircraft CIAM (Computer Integrated Automated Manufacturing) Project. Our collaborative work with PSI (Prozess Steuerung Institut) in Berlin led to the development of dual computer fail-safe software operation.

Rapid progress in the computer field brought me back to Chicago in 1979 in order to pursue additional graduate studies in "Digital Automatic Control", "Digital Filters", "Pattern Recognition" and "Computer Vision". As a "Pre-Doctoral Fellow" I received a 2-year stipend and was put in charge of the Microprocessor and Digital Electronics Lab. After successfully finishing the curriculum in 1981, I took up employment with the national publisher R.R. Donnelley & Sons as a Data Base Analyst. In this position I was responsible for the "Corporate Database & Data Dictionary System".

I obtained experience in system requirements and software specifications with Bendix Field Engineering Corporation in Greenbelt, Maryland (Goddard Space Flight Center) as a System Analyst on the TDRSS (Transmission Data Relay Satellite System) Project. A year later, in 1983, I was employed as a Senior Engineer by Chrysler Military-Public Electronic Systems in Huntsville, Alabama. I provided in-house training for test engineers on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor. In addition I developed the "Power Director Manual" for the Amtrak SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) operations personnel at the "Northeast Corridor" Train Traffic Control Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Between 1985 and 1993 I worked for Raytheon Service Company as a Senior Programmer at various locations in Massachusetts (Radar Equipment Division), California (TRW), Georgia (Robbins AFB) and New Jersey (Aegis Naval System), solving software problems. My knowledge of Spanish allowed me to complete the development, coding and installation of a translator of Ada flight plan programs for Ceselsa in Torrejon, Spain as part of the "International Air Traffic Control" Project.

In 1994 I took the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) national exam at the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville and achieved a score of 1430/1600. I took courses at WTI Institute in Windows, Excel, Word, AutoCAD, Lotus 1-2-3, and Accounting in order to attain new PC skills. In 1997 I went to Puerto Rico to use the modern computer facilities of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez to learn C++, Visual Basic, Java, and HTML. Then in 1998 I received a temporary contract to instruct computer courses in Spanish at the Universidad Interamericana in Ponce. At the end of this contract I traveled to Prague in the summer of 1999 in order to take advanced Slavic Linguistics at the Czech Foreign Institute and to find continuing work abroad...