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.


Mr. Bierly worked for Bell Telephone Laboratories from 1963 to 1977 designing switching systems for the Bell System’s national network. He was promoted to AT&T General Departments in 1977 to introduce new hardware and software technologies for switching systems for the Bell System. At Telcordia Technologies, he was Director of Switching Technical Analysis, supporting all aspects of switching systems for the Regional Bell Operating Companies. During his 33 year career in telephony switching, Mr. Bierly originated new processes for analysis and feature development in the post-divestiture era. He worked as a Consultant for five years to AT&T for software analysis of Provisioning Systems for Consumer Telephony and Business/Internet Services.

Mr. Bierly retired in 2002. He is the father of two Penn State graduates and a Penn State Football Season Ticket holder.

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