Richard F. Erdley received his B.S. degree in Engineering Science from Penn State in 1957. From 1957 to 1958, he was an engineer with Bendix Aviation Corporation in York, PA; responsible for design and development of the pulse coding and microwave sections of automatic pre-launch test equipment for the TALOS Missile. From 1959 to 1969, he was a staff engineer/program manager with HRB-Singer in State College responsible for the conception, design, development, fielding, and operation of numerous systems that included automatic real-time monitoring and reporting of aircraft and pilot parameters, sophisticated automatic light weight airborne reconnaissance receiving systems, and a world-wide reconnaissance and reporting program.

Eric B. Cummings is the founder of CoolEarth Solar, a company dedicated to making solar farming economically competitive; and the founder and CEO of LabSmith, Inc., a company that has sold logic and timing controllers and sequencers, high-voltage sequencers, motorized video microscopes, and other laboratory products internationally since 1997.

Derald O. Cummings received his B.S. in Engineering Science (1963), M.S. (1965), and Ph.D. (1972) in Electrical Engineering; all from Penn State. During this time, he and Barbara Yaw Cummings had four children, all of whom have graduated from Penn State: Heather (ESC ’87), Eric (ESC ’89), Sarah (LA ’92), and Laura (SCI ’94). Heather, Eric, and Laura are married to Penn State graduates. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have eight grandchildren (future Penn Staters!) who bring much joy.

John P. Condrasky received his B.S. in Engineering Mechanics in 1976. He accepted a position as Test Engineer with WABCO Transit Division immediately upon graduation, and he is currently Manager of Technical Support. Mr. Condrasky holds several patents for air brake control devices for passenger-carrying trains.

Mr. Condrasky is married to Marge Depsky Condrasky (1977, Alpha Gamma Delta). They have two children, one a graduating Senior in Biosystem Engineering and the other a Junior in Biological Sciences at Clemson University.

NOTE: Two of our Centennial Fellows are spotlighted each week.

Daniel J. Clement earned his B.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Penn State in 1966, his Juris Doctor Degree in 1969 from George Washington University, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1971; following admission to the bars of Virginia and the District of Columbia in 1970. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Union County Bar Association. Mr. Clement was a member of the Kury and Kury law firm in Sunbury, PA, from 1971 to 1974, and he was a partner in the firm of Clement and Knight from 1974-1998. He currently practices in Lewisburg, PA, emphasizing real estate and business law.

Lori Burskey graduated with a B.S. in Engineering Science in 1995 and started as a Quality Engineer with International Paper's Veratec division in Lewisburg, PA. Throughout the next five years, she supervised the Quality Testing Laboratory, served as Process Engineer for three different nonwoven fabric technologies within the plant, and received Six Sigma Black Belt certifications. In all of these roles, she completed safety, quality, productivity, and cost-saving improvement projects.

Charles W. Bierly Jr. earned his B.S. with Distinction in Engineering Mechanics in September 1963 from Penn State, completing his degree in 3 full years, and received his M.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Ohio State in 1966. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Tau, Phi Eta Sigma, and he won a 1961 Freshman Mathematics Award.

Ellen M. Arruda, Ph.D., is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She received her B.S. with honors in Engineering Science and M.S. in Engineering Mechanics from the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at The Pennsylvania State University, and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.