Electrical and Computer Engineering Board Members

From academia, to entrepreneurial pursuits, to military programs, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering's board members collectively provide decades of rich experience and perspective to leverage in furthering our programs.

Our award-winning members have attained technology leadership roles in organizations such as IBM, DARPA, Merck and BAE Systems, while some have built wide-spanning patent portfolios.

What's more – ten alumni comprise our department's board, helping to influence the success Stevens students enjoy when searching for employment.

Meet the board members who help steer the department's direction and academic priorities in accordance with our strategic plan:

Our Board

Nirwan Ansari.Nirwan Ansari
Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)

Nirwan Ansari, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University, an MSEE from the University of Michigan, and a BSEE (summa cum laude with a perfect GPA) from NJIT. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). 

He authored Green Mobile Networks: A Networking Perspective (Wiley-IEEE, 2017) with T. Han, and co-authored two other books. He has also (co-)authored over 700 technical publications, with more than half of them published in widely cited journals and magazines. He has served as a guest editor for  numerous special issues on various emerging topics in communications and networking. Currently, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Wireless Communications and has been on the editorial/advisory board of over ten journals. His current research focuses on green communications and networking, edge computing, drone-assisted networking, and various aspects of broadband networks.

He was elected to serve on the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Board of Governors as a member-at-large. He has served as the Director of ComSoc Educational Services Board, chaired various technical and steering committees within ComSoc, and has served on many committees such as the IEEE Fellow Committee. He has actively participated in organizing numerous IEEE International Conferences/Symposia/Workshops. Among his many recognitions are several excellence in teaching awards, multiple best paper awards, the NCE Excellence in Research Award, several ComSoc TC technical recognition awards, the NJ Inventors Hall of Fame Inventor of the Year Award, the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, the Purdue University Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering Award, the NCE 100 Medal, the NJIT Excellence in Research Prize and Medal, and designation as a COMSOC Distinguished Lecturer. He has also been granted more than 40 U.S. patents.


Anthony Bianco.Anthony T. Bianco Jr. '03 M.Eng '06
Director, System Engineering L3Harris, Space and Airbourne Systems

Anthony Bianco is the director of system’s engineering for L3Harris’ Mission Systems organization. The Mission Systems organization is a diverse organization spanning multiple technology disciplines and locations. This includes Electronic Warfare, Avionics, Displays, Radio Frequency technologies, Processors, Cloud Based Architectures, System Security, Maritime Sensors, etc. Over the past 20+ years Anthony has worked a variety of roles as a System Engineer for L3Harris Corporation. In this capacity he has been responsible for developing and deploying various Electronic Warfare (EW) and Communication, Navigation, and Identification (CNI) Systems. This includes variants of the ALQ-211 and a CNI system for the F-22.

Anthony Bianco’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering (’03), Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering (’03), and a Master of Engineering in System Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology (’06). Anthony also has a Graduate Certificate in Wireless Communications and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Additionally, Anthony Bianco was commissioned as an Engineering Duty Officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Since being commission Anthony has supported various roles within NAVSEA. He was also mobilized to the Combined Joint Engineers, Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan (CJ-Eng, CSTC-A) in support of Operation Resolute Support (RS). He was stationed RS Headquarters in the heart of Kabul. While mobilized he served as the directorate Resource Coordinator and a Senior Program Manager.


Charles Buscarino.Charles Buscarino '85
Founder and CEO, The Clarient Group

Charles Buscarino is a recognized leader in the design and implementation of integrated smart building systems and has over 35 years of experience in the development of technology solutions in real estate projects. He founded The Clarient Group (TCG) in 2002 to focus on the holistic implementation of technology solutions for projects of all types with a focus on how technology can be leveraged to enhance the lives of occupants and property owners. Under his leadership, the firm has developed innovative solutions for more than 120 clients and 80 million square feet of properties, including many well-known signature projects. The firm's visionary work includes headquarters, higher education, experimental entertainment/retail, healthcare, etc. for a variety of world class clients seeking to maximize their strategic and operational goals.

Mr. Buscarino holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology. Upon graduating Stevens, he joined Hazeltine Corporation as a digital design engineer supporting the development of a Microwave Landing System (MLS) for the FAA. Mr. Buscarino later moved to Cosentini Associates to create and head the firm's Information Technologies Division. Under his direction, the division grew to become a strategic component of the firms' professional services offering technology consulting and design solutions to clients worldwide.

Mr. Buscarino currently serves as a Charter Trustee on the Stevens Board of Trustees, as a Board of Trustees Representative to the Steven Alumni Association, and on the Stevens Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Board. He had previously served as an Alumni Trustee.

Additionally, he serves on RealComm's IBcon Advisory Council and has served on InfoComm's Integrated Buildings Task Force. He has spoken at numerous industry events for leading organizations in the design, real estate, and technology fields.


Vin D’Agostino.Vin D’Agostino, '82
Founder and Principal, D'Agostino Industries Group, Inc.

Vin D’Agostino is a BEEE graduate of Stevens Institute from 1982. He has spent most of his career in OEM product development, focused on embedded systems. His roles in business have brought him around the world, experiencing the role of engineering in many different markets: from consumer electronics to industrial controls, from medical products to LED lighting, IoT and embedded AI, and much more.

He has worked in small and large companies alike, and, as a serial entrepreneur, has founded engineering, manufacturing, and consulting companies.

In his new consulting agency, he helps companies who are adopting new technologies understand the overall impact of technology on their business, including market demands, value propositions, product lifecycles, and supporting infrastructure. Mining the “tribal knowledge” embedded in the company, he often helps them build customer-facing eLearning solutions.

He is named engineer on 5 patents and is the recipient of the prestigious Emerson Electric Technology Award. Along with his Stevens degree, he has done his masters work in Computer Science at PINY, holds a Six Sigma Black Belt from Villanova, and is a certified Scrum Master from Big Visible.

Vin has spoken and given keynote addresses at industry conferences and has been a regular guest on podcasts such as “The Peggy Smedley Show” at Connected World Magazine. Vin co-hosts a podcast called “Dev Talk with Rich and Vin” at Embedded Computing Design magazine. He has conducted summer technical workshops at Stevens and is adjunct faculty at Santa Clara University in CA.

Vin sits on the advisory board for the ECE departments at Stevens and Santa Clara, where he is the chair, and sits on the board of the charitable organization “Art Is Good.”

In his spare time, he enjoys family and friend time, playing the piano, cycling, woodworking and cooking.


Ken Finnerty.Ken Finnerty
President, UPS IT Infrastructure and Data Analytics

Ken is responsible for UPS’ global IT Infrastructure, Telecommunications, Computer Operations, Unified Communications, Data Management & Advanced Analytics.

In his role Ken manages a budget of over $500 Million annually. He leads a global team of over 1,200 technology professionals supporting UPS worldwide operations including 3,000 network connected sites, two “Tier 4” Data Centers, four mainframes, 87 Petabytes of storage, 69,000 servers, and over 230,000 workstations and laptops.

Over the years Ken has led wide scale digital transformations at UPS such as creating a consumer digital product used by over 100 million people. Additionally, he has managed the migration of large mainframe applications to the cloud – significantly reducing IT operating costs. Ken has also established the UPS data strategy and created a cloud-based data mesh and analytics platform for rapid ideation.

Ken is a graduate of Penn State University. He is QTE certified (Qualified Technology Executive) for digital and cyber security Board level governance. He is on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Northern NJ and the Stevens Institute of Technology Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Advisory Board. He has been recognized with various industry awards including the “Constellation Research Business Transformation 150” award, the “Computerworld CIO Premier 100” award, and the “Informatica CDO Analytics Champion” award.


Richard Ivins.Richard Ivins M.S. '16
President, Pure Power Engineering

Richard is the president of Pure Power Engineering, where he leads a team of 100+ engineers and has designed thousands of large-scale solar and energy storage projects.

His education includes a M.S. in Construction Management from Stevens, an MBA from New York University Stern, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Villanova, and BS in Computer Engineering from The College of New Jersey.


Lin Lin.Lin Lin
Consultant for Wireless Telecommunication and Electronics Manufacturing

Dr. Lin has over 25 years of experience in wireless communication and signal processing industries. From 2018 to 2024, he was employed at Jabil as Chief System Architect for wireless technology. In this role, he spearheaded Jabil’s advanced wireless product manufacturing solutions. Prior to his work at Jabil, he held senior technical leadership positions at several world class companies, including Nokia/Alcatel-Lucent, CommScope, and Ericsson.

In 2002, he identified the technical challenges and business opportunities that came with digital audio broadcasting and 3G/2G networks collocation. He co-founded Metricomp to provide cost effective solutions to meet these challenges by exploiting technological breakthroughs in RF and DSP. He established two product/service lines for the company, wireless and audio and setup operations in NJ, USA and Guangzhou, China. Under his leadership, Metricomp penetrated and broadened its customer base to more than 20 companies before its IPs and assets being acquired in 2009. His algorithms on transmitter linearization and audio coding were widely adopted throughout the wireless communication and digital audio broadcasting industries. Dr. Lin received his PhD degree from McGill University and B.Eng. degree from Tsinghua University - both in electrical engineering.


Kevin LoughranKevin Loughran M.S. ‘85
Vice President and Wireless Chief Technology Officer, Jabil

As Wireless CTO, Kevin is responsible for setting strategy and direction for Jabil’s products and services in the 5G Wireless space. This includes driving the technology roadmap, establishing strategic relationships with customers and ecosystem partners, and leading Jabil’s global R&D centers. Kevin is also a Stevens alumnus: B.E., M.S. ‘85.

Kevin has extensive experience leading large global teams in complex technology innovation projects.

He spearheaded the development and introduction of the first 4G LTE wireless product globally, back before 4G was a market and 5G was cool. Kevin later established an incubator project to introduce the first LightRadio™ CUBE technology to market. This product was awarded the 2012 recognition for Best Mobile Infrastructure Equipment, and was quoted as being “the iPhone of Mobile Infrastructure”. Kevin’s patent portfolio spans Radio Communication to Cyber Security to Aerial Robotics.

In addition to driving such cutting-edge innovations, Kevin has extensive expertise leading complex, global teams. He lived and worked in Europe for several years, and has worked and traveled extensively throughout China. Some of his most important leadership contributions have been maturing small start-up teams and their products, helping them to make the turn to efficient, mid-sized organizations.

Kevin is currently the Wireless CTO for Jabil, a leading edge, global manufacturer of Wireless Systems. A significant focus of this role is developing an ecosystem inclusive of both large and small wireless players, and identifying innovative technology and promising start-up companies in the 5G wireless space.


Virginia Mayo.Virginia Mayo
Vice President, Security & Resiliency Architecture, Distinguished Engineer, Kyndryl

Virginia Mayo is a Kyndryl (formerly IBM Services) Vice President, Security and Resiliency Global Delivery Practice, Distinguished Engineer, and The Open Group™ Distinguished Technical Specialist. She is a globally recognized technical expert for her outstanding history of leadership in enterprise infrastructure automation, security and resiliency.

In her tenure as Chief Engineer of the IBM Services Chief Engineer of Security Patch and Vulnerability Management Service, she patented technical innovations that transformed IBM's security and compliance solutions to standardize the service, converging on a best-of-breed architecture and strategy. This led to her appointment as a Distinguished Engineer in 2020 becoming the first ever Filipino-American technical executive in IBM corporate history. As Kyndryl customers strengthen their business continuity, Virginia provides technical leadership in Security and Resiliency Global Delivery Practice to ensure secure and compliant systems are built to protect clients' business with resilient, adaptive and flexible solutions.

Virginia holds a dual Bachelor of Science Degrees in Computer Engineering and Information Technology and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She is currently a student at the New Jersey City University pursuing a Doctor of Science (DSc) in Civil Security Leadership, Management & Policy with focus on Cybersecurity. She is the recipient of the prestigious juried award, "Outstanding Technical Contribution in Industry - Security" at the 2019 Women of Color STEM Conference. As a recognition of her career achievements, Virginia was awarded the prestigious ©TOFA Award (The Outstanding Filipino in America) at Carnegie Hall in October 2021. In June 2023, Virginia was honored by her alma mater NJIT with the Alumni Achievement Award.

Virginia is a Board Member of the NJIT Murray Center for Women in Technology since June 2021 and Metropolitan Family Health Network since 2016.


Timothy M. Phelan.Timothy M. Phelan '89 M.Eng. '93 Ph.D. '04
Strategic Initiatives Lead, Organon

Tim, a seasoned biopharmaceutical professional with over three decades of experience, began his career as an engineer after graduating from Stevens Institute of Technology. He took on key roles overseeing capital projects across North America and Europe, focusing on innovating laboratory and vivarium design, and improving aseptic manufacturing operations.

Alongside his professional journey, Tim pursued academic excellence, earning a PhD in Engineering from the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science and becoming a licensed professional engineer. His career progression spanned Manufacturing and Supply, Strategic Planning, and Commercial, ultimately leading to his involvement in new product development, overseeing sizable teams in various therapeutic areas.

His global career included managing teams in Japan and China, and he played pivotal roles in Merck's acquisitions of Schering Plough, Idenix, and Cubist. Tim also diversified into Technology, steering initiatives across the organization, culminating in leading a $100 million Digital Transformation across the ten largest markets.

Recognizing the potential of AI, Tim assembled and led a dedicated team of data scientists, engineers, and programmers. Within three years, this team deployed and operated over 250 robots, resulting in a $30 million reduction in annual operating costs and demonstrating the viability of ephemeral servers.

In 2021, a transformative chapter unfolded as Merck's primary care and women’s health portfolio spun off. Tim joined Organon to optimize business processes, harmonize systems, and leverage analytics to drive value.

Beyond his professional pursuits, Tim prioritizes family time with his wife Lucia and their children Gabriella, Marco, and Gianluca. Their granddaughter, Emilia, holds a special place in their lives, and they particularly cherish moments together at the beach.


Richard Prego.Richard Prego '13 M.Eng. '15
Senior Engineering Manager, Coherent Aerospace & Defense

Richard Prego is a Senior Engineering Manager at Coherent Aerospace & Defense in Warren, NJ where he leads technical teams developing advanced laser systems for aerospace and defense applications. His experience spans embedded systems architecture and software development, personnel management, proposal development, and program management. His past projects have included advanced R&D programs for customers such as NASA and DARPA.

Prior to joining Coherent, he held roles as a Senior Technical Manager at CACI and a Software Engineer at BAE Systems. From 2016 to 2018, he taught the course CPE-555 Real-Time & Embedded Systems at Stevens Institute of Technology, which covered a broad range of topics across software and hardware engineering in embedded systems, and real-time system analysis.

Richard holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering, Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in embedded systems, and a Graduate Certificate in Wireless Communications, all from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.

Richard has been a member of the Stevens Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s External Advisory Board since 2016.


Sara Puleio.Sara Puleio '09 M.Eng. '12
Program Manager, BAE Systems

Sara graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, before starting her career at BAE Systems as a participant in the Engineering Leadership Development program. During the three-year development program, Sara held rotational positions engineering and software engineering tasks.

Sara completed a master's degree in Electrical Engineering, with a focus on Wireless Communications, and received graduate certificates focusing on Software Engineering and Systems Engineering Management, also from Stevens.

Following ELDP, Sara took on roles of increasing responsibility in Software Engineering. From 2015 to 2020 she worked as a Software Project Lead, working closely with both her team and customer to ensure program success.

Sara also spent two ears as the Year One Software Manager. In this people-focused management role she was responsible for hiring and developing entry-level software engineers, to help recent graduates successfully integrate with the workforce and create a solid foundation for their careers at BAE Systems.

In 2020 Sara took on a new role as a Program Manager. Since then she has led programs that span the product lifecycle - from Technology Maturation developing new capabilities, to Engineering Development bringing enhancements to established programs of record, and Production programs focused on building and shipping products to customers.


Dr. Mary R. Schurgot.Dr. Mary R. Schurgot '06 M.Eng. '08 Ph.D. '12
Chief Engineer, Network and Communications, U.S. Army DEVCOM C5ISR Center

Dr. Mary R. Schurgot joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in March 2020 as a program manager in the Strategic Technology Office (STO). Her research interests include secure and efficient data sharing, automated decision aids, and the design of new networking and communication paradigms.

Prior to DARPA, Schurgot was technical director of machine learning and edge capabilities at CACI, previously LGS Innovations, where she developed and led programs at the intersection of analytics, cyber, and networking. She has served as principal investigator and technical lead for DARPA programs and transition efforts. Prior to CACI, Schurgot held research roles with BAE Systems, Inria, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Schurgot earned her bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.