June 19, 2013 | Eli Freund - School of Engineering

Alumni Notes

What are UConn Engineering graduates up to? Read about the recent career highlights of alumni like Joshua Aferzon, Richard J. Colangelo, Jr., Michael Georgiopoulos, Margo Martin, Brian Timm and James Towey.

Stay in touch with fellow UConn engineering alumni. Visit our Engineering LinkedIn alumni page and fill us in on your latest activities or learn what your college friends are doing nowadays!  Some recent alumni news follows:

Joshua Aferzon (B.S.E., Biomedical Engineering ’11) has founded his own medical device company, Orthozon Technologies, LLC, in Stamford, CT.  The company launched its first minimally invasive tool for spine surgeons, the Lumiere surgical retractor, in March 2013 and the tool is being used in a number of Connecticut hospitals already. The tool uses patented fiber optic lighting and maintains a minimally invasive design to allow for faster and less painful recovery for patients after a surgery.  Orthozon has received grant and pre-seed funding from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and Connecticut Innovations Inc., the state’s quasi-public financing entity. He has since generated private matching funds and is working on the designs for his next device, a spinal implant.

Richard J. Colangelo, Jr. (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ’89) received the Norwalk Community College Distinguished Alumni Award during the college’s commencement exercises held in May. He is a Senior Assistant State’s Attorney in the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk. Richard graduated from Norwalk State Technical College in 1986 with an associate degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and has taught in the Criminal Justice program at NCC since 1995.  He received his J.D. degree from the Quinnipiac School of Law. Richard is Chairman of the Connecticut State Board of Examiners for Psychologists, Chairman of the Easton Police Commission, Vice President of the Human Services Council Board of Directors in Norwalk, President of the Boys and Girls Club of Redding-Easton Board of Directors, and a member of the Eyewitness Identification Task Force.

Michael Georgiopoulos (M.S., Ph.D. Electrical Engineering ’83, ’86) has been selected Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Georgiopoulos joined the CECS in 1986, and the college boasts approximately 7,900 students. In 2010, he was named a Pegasus Professor honoring extraordinary contributions to the UCF community through teaching, research and service. His research expertise is in the field of machine learning with special emphasis on neural network algorithms. At UCF, he has served as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI in research funding exceeding $16 million. Dr. Georgiopoulos led UCF’s highly successful EXCEL program, an NSF-funded science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) talent expansion program.

Margo O. Martin (B.S. Management & Engineering for Manufacturing ‘06) was appointed Global Account Manager for Dymax Corporation. In this position, she focuses on several key global accounts to help them solve their most complex application problems and reduce manufacturing costs. Margo previously served as Territory Sales Manager and was the North America Top Producer for 2012. Earlier, she was an Application Engineer.

Brian W. Timm (B.S. Civil Engineering ‘98), P.E., recently joined DiPrete Engineering as a Senior Project Manager.  He will lead the company’s Dedham, MA office.  His specialties include commercial, residential, and multi-family development, municipal peer reviews, and regulatory permitting.  Before joining DiPrete, Brian gained 15 years’ experience as a Senior Project Manager at Meridian Associates, Project Engineer at Commonwealth Engineering, Inc. and Staff Engineer at Langan Engineering & Environmental Services. 

James Towey (B.S. Electrical Engineering ’87) joined data logging equipment manufacturer Onset Computer late last year. He joined Onset with more than 25 years of extensive technology and business leadership experience to Onset. Most recently, he served as vice president of engineering for Empirix, and previously spent six years at Starent Networks as director of IP multimedia development. In addition to his BSEE, James received his MBA at UConn and an M.S. from RPI.