Click here to return to home page.

Oktay Baysal is Dean of the Frank Batten College of Engineering and a professor and Eminent Scholar of Aerospace Engineering at Old Dominion University. Dr. Baysal is the author or co-author of over 150 full-length technical publications, and has edited or co-edited 11 technical books. For his research contributions, he has received the NASA Public Service Medal, two NASA Certificates of Recognition, and the NAMTAC Outstanding Project of the Year Award for Technology Transfer. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of numerous professional engineering societies. Recently, he was named to the Virginia Air and Space Center's Board of Directors. Dr. Baysal received his bachelor of science degree from The Technical University of Istanbul, master of science degree from the University of Birmingham, U.K., and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University.
  Mr. William K. Butler II was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hampton Roads Region of SunTrust Bank. The Hampton Roads Region serves businesses and consumers in Eastern Virginia markets making up the Hampton Roads SMSA. Mr. Butler joined SunTrust's predecessor Bank, United Virginia Bank, First & Citizens National, located in Alexandria Virginia in 1972 following four years of service in the United State Army. Mr. Butler was released from active duty in February of 1972 with a rank of Captain following a tour of duty in Vietnam. Then continued to serve in the Army reserves for 15 years and attained the rank of Lt. Col. before reverting to inactive status. At United Virginia Bank, First &Citizens National he served in several capacities including manager of the credit, commercial and retail divisions. He was named President, United Virginia Bank-Norfolk, in 1984 and President-Eastern Region in 1985. His current appointment became effective May 26, 2000 following Crestar's merger with SunTrust. Active in community affairs, Mr. Butler currently serves as President of the Alison J. and Ella W. Parsons Donor Advised Fund, Chair of Sentara Health Systems, and serves as a board member of Hampton Roads Partnership (past chairman), and Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance (past Chairman). He has served on the boards of the United Way where he is past President and campaign Chairman, Forward Hampton Roads, The Future of Hampton Roads, Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, ODU Deans Advisory Council, Virginia Opera, Chrysler Museum, Virginia Aquarium and Young Audiences and has previously served as President of the Greater Norfolk Corporation.
Sandra Jean DeLoatch is Professor of Computer Science and Dean of the School of Science and Technology at Norfolk State University (NSU). During her thirty-two year tenure at Norfolk State University has also served as Instructor of Mathematics, Computer Science Program Coordinator, Computer Science Department Head, and chair of numerous special committees and working groups. She worked for many years as a team chair and program evaluator for the Computer Science Accreditation Commission of the Computing Science Accreditation Board. She received her Ph.D. from Indiana University and Masters' degrees from University of Michigan and the College of William and Mary. Dr. DeLoatch has been awarded more than $11M in external funding for computer science and mathematics research and educational projects from agencies such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation, Department of Education, NASA Langley Research Center, Department of Defense (National Security Agency), Army Corps of Engineers, and others. She has authored mathematics textbooks and computer science research articles and technical reports. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has received the following honors and awards: NSU Roy A. Woods Teacher of the Year; National Technical Association Technical Achiever of the Year; NSU Administrator of the Year; and Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast Woman of Distinction Award. Through her efforts NSU's School of Science and Technology was awarded the Urban League of Hampton Roads Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award. Dr. DeLoatch is currently a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals in the City of Suffolk. She is a member of the board of the Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast and Chair of its Technology Task Force and Nominating Committee.
  Eric L. Fox is First Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager in the UBS Financial Services, Inc. Portfolio Management Program. He received a business management degree in 1973 after serving six years in the U.S. Army. Mr. Fox began his investment business career with Merrill Lynch in 1973. In 1975, he joined the Norfolk offices of Kidder/Peabody where he has remained through the PaineWebber acquisition in 1995. He also serves in various capacities on many boards of civic and non-profit organizations throughout the community.
Harold W. (Hal) Gehman, Jr., Admiral USN/RET, completed over 35 years of active duty in the U.S. Navy on 1 November, 2000. His last assignment was as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic and as the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, one of the United States' five regional joint Combatant Commands. Admiral Gehman was born in Norfolk, VA on 15 October, 1942 and graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1965 with a BS in Industrial Engineering and a commission in the Navy from the NROTC program. A Surface Warfare Officer, he served at all levels of leadership and command primarily in guided missile destroyers and cruisers. During the course of his career he was assigned to an unusual five command-at-sea tours in ranks from Lieutenant to Rear Admiral. Admiral Gehman served in Vietnam as Officer in Charge of a Swift patrol boat and later in Chu Lai, Vietnam, as Officer in Charge of a detachment of six Swift boats and their crews. His staff assignments were both afloat on a Battle Group Commanders staff and ashore on a Fleet Commanders staff, a Joint Combatant Commanders staff and in Washington, DC on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. Promoted to four star Admiral in 1996, he became the 29th Vice Chief of Naval Operations. As VCNO, he was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, oversaw the formulation of the Navy's $70B budget and developed and implemented policies governing the 375,000 people in the Navy. Assigned in September, 1997 as SACLANT and Commander in Chief, US Joint Forces Command, he became one of NATO's two military commanders and assumed command of all forces of all four Services in the continental United States, was responsible for the provision of ready forces to the other Joint Combatant Commanders overseas and for the development of new joint doctrine, training procedures and joint requirements. Immediately after retiring in 2000, Gehman was appointed Co-Chairman of the Department of Defense review of the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Aden harbor, Yemen. On 1 February, 2003 he was appointed Chairman of the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which reported its findings to the Nation on 26 August, 2003. Admiral Gehman is married to the former Janet F. Johnson of Cary, NC and the Gehmans have two grown children, Katherine and Christopher.
William H. Graves is Dean of the Darden College of Education and a professor of Educational Leadership and Counseling at Old Dominion University. Dr. Graves is the author or co-author of research articles, technical publications, and books in counseling and disability policy and research. He served as the director of the nation's only Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision. His research in blindness and low vision was funded by state and federal agencies for over ten years. For his research contributions, he has received the Distinguished Service awards from the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association and the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers. He also received the Warren C. Bledsoe Award for Outstanding Contributions in Research in the Field of Blindness and Low Vision. He has held national leadership offices in numerous professional associations and certification bodies. He has been appointed to disability policy and state educational licensing bodies by the governors of Mississippi and Virginia. He was appointed as the Director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research by President George H. W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate of the United States. Dr. Graves received his bachelor of arts degree from Wake Forest University and his master of rehabilitation counseling degree and doctoral degree in student personnel from the University of Florida.
Col. Jack Hilgers (USMC, Ret.) currently is a legislative consultant in the Virginia House of Delegates and is active in community service. Previously (1993-8), he was associate director of the International Maritime, Ports and Logistics Management Institute in the College of Business and Public Administration at Old Dominion University. He retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1988 as an infantry Colonel after 31 years of service with experience in the international, maritime and transportation fields in more than two dozen countries. Col. Hilgers holds bachelor's degrees from San Jose State University and the University of California, Berkeley. He earned masters degrees in systems management from the University of Southern California and in urban studies from Old Dominion University. He also has a PhD. from Old Dominion University with concentrations in both urban services management and applied research and a cognate in international relations.
Page Johnson, a lifelong resident of Chesapeake and a graduate of Old Dominion University, is a Certified Public Accountant and is Vice-President of Harmony Investments which owns the Hampton Roads Mariners and the Norfolk and Atlantic City Admirals. Mr. Johnson is also a partial investor in the Norfolk Tides professional baseball team. Mr. Johnson’s business interests also include local hotels, shopping centers and office complexes.
Mohammad A. Karim is Vice-President for Research of ODU. He serves on the Governor's Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission (VRTAC), and in the board of the Southern Universities Research Association (SURA).He is North American Editor of Optics and Laser Technology, an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions of Education, and a Member of the Editorial Board of Microwave and Optical Technology Letters. He has been serving as chair of the international program committee of the International Conference in Computers and Information Technology (ICCIT) since 2000 and as technical program chair of International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Technology & Automation (IETA) since 2005. Prior to joining ODU, Mohammad Karim served as Dean of Engineering at the City College of New York of the City University of New York (2000-2004), Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Tennessee (1998-2000), and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1994-1998) and Founding Director of Electro-Optics (1990-1998) at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Dr. Karim is author of 8 text and reference books, over 325 research papers, 6 book chapters, 10 book reviews, 2 US patents, and of numerous technical reports. Dr. Karim has served as guest editor of 16 journal special issues. The list of his research sponsors include Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation, US Air Force, Naval Research Laboratory, US Army, NASA, US Department of Education, Ohio Aerospace Institute, US Department of Defense, and Avionics Laboratory of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He served as research mentor of over 55 MS/PhD students during his career. He is an elected fellow of the Optical Society of America, the Society of Photo-Instrumentation Engineers, the Institute of Physics, the Institution of Engineering & Technology, and the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences. Mohammad Karim received his BS Honors degree in physics from the University of Dacca, Bangladesh, in 1976, and MS in physics, MS in electrical engineering, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering degrees from the University of Alabama respectively in 1978, 1979, and 1981. His areas of research encompasses optical computing, information processing, pattern/target recognition, night vision, displays, electro-optical systems, and sensors.
  Richard D. Lutz is a vice president for Gannett Fleming, based in the firm's Newport News office. Mr. Lutz serves as the national accounts manager for the Site Remediation Practice. His marketing and sales initiatives promote Gannett Fleming's remediation services to public and private clients nationwide and abroad. Working with Gannett Fleming's regional site remediation offices, he focuses on expanding brownfield redevelopment, guaranteed fixed-price remediation, remedial design at Superfund sites, and performance-based contracts. With more than 20 years of project and program management experience, Mr. Lutz previously served as the chief executive officer of a full-service environmental consulting and remediation. He received his bachelor's degree in science & geology from the College of William and Mary and his master's degree in geological sciences from Old Dominion University. He is certified as a professional geologist. During construction of the Monitor Merrimac Bridge Tunnel project he served as Senior Environmental Scientist for the Applied Marine Research Laboratory. In November 1999, he was elected as President of the Virginia Environmental Business Council, a not-for-profit organization representing the environmental industry in Virginia.
  Robert M. McCombs graduated with a doctoral degree from Syracuse University in 1964. Since then he has held a large number of faculty and administrative appointments including Professor of Virology at Baylor College of Medicine, Executive Associate Dean at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and as EVMS Director at Norfolk’s Magnet High School for the Health Professions. Dr. McCombs has also served on numerous community service boards including the American Cancer Society, the Chesopeian Colony League, and Norfolk State University’s Medical Records Advisory Committee.
Owen B. Pickett recently retired from the U.S. House of Representatives after 14 years of elected service. While in the House, Mr. Pickett served on numerous committee and subcommittees, including the Armed Services, Merchant Marine and Fisheries and Resources Committees. For the 15 years prior to being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Pickett served in the Virginia House of Delegates. He was also senior partner in the law firm of Pickett, Lyle, Siegle, Drescher and Croshaw of Virginia Beach. He holds a BS from VPI and a LLB from the University of Richmond. Mr. Pickett is active in many local civic organizations and is a current member of the American Bar Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Dr. Roseann Runte is the seventh President of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She is an Associate to the Council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, a board member of the National Bank of Canada, and a member of the executive committee of the Club of Rome. Dr. Runte has served as past president of three universities. She currently serves on numerous commissions and boards in support of UNESCO, the Humanities Federation of Canada, the National Library, ACFAS-Toronto, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Board of Associated Medical Services, the Foundation for International Training, and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Author of five volumes of creative writing, she has edited nine books and has written over one hundred articles and book chapters on topics including literature, education and economic and cultural development. Dr. Runte has a Ph.D. in French from the University of Kansas and has received honorary degrees and awards from numerous universities.
Carol Simpson joined Old Dominion University in January 2008 as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences. She obtained her Ph.D. at the ETH-Zurich, Switzerland in 1981, and taught on the faculty of Brown University, Oklahoma State University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Johns Hopkins University before moving to Boston University in 1995 to chair the Department of Earth Sciences. She became Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Education at BU in 1999 and in January 2005 moved to Worcester Polytechnic Institute as Provost and Senior Vice President. Dr. Simpson is an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America and is a member and past Spring Meeting Chair of the American Geophysical Union. She has served on the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy's National Solar Observatory oversight committee and was a 2-term Program Director at the National Science Foundation in addition to her service on numerous federal, professional, and academic review panels and editorial boards. She has authored over 50 refereed publications and 80 conference papers with her students on the application of material science principles to deformation, kinematics and vorticity analysis of rocks. Dr. Simpson received the Geological Society of America's Best Paper Award in Structural Geology and Tectonics in 1988 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1997. Having previously worked in mountain ranges on 4 continents, her current research is focused on ancient tectonic plate boundaries in central Argentina.
Anthony W. Thomas - Jefferson Lab Chief Scientist. Dr. Thomas comes to Jefferson Lab from the University of Adelaide (Australia) where he held positions of the Elder Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics and Director of the Special Research Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter and the Physics. Upon completion of his PhD in 1973 at Flinders University, Dr. Thomas' career took him to the University of British Columbia, TRIUMF, and CERN before returning to Australia in 1984. The positions he held at the University of Adelaide has ranged from the Chair of Physics to Head of a new Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics to the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science and an election to the University Council from 1991 to 1997. Dr. Thomas is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and was President of the Australian Institute of Physics from 1991 to 1993. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1987 and a Fellow of the (UK) Institute of Physics in 1996 and received the Harrie Massey Medal (IoP) in 2000, the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal (AAS) in 1997, a Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation in 1992 and the Walter Boas Medal (AIP) in 1987. He was Secretary of Commission C12 (Nuclear Physics) of IUPAP from 1996 to 2002 and has just completed a term as Chair of the National Committee for Physics (AAS). At TRIUMF, he served as Chair of the Experiment Evaluation Committee for five years. More recently, Thomas chaired the IUCF Visiting Committee for two years and he also serves on the Beirat at the Nuclear Physics Institute of FZ-Juelich. He is currently Chair of the Committee on International Cooperation in Nuclear Physics, recently established by the Nuclear Physics Commission of IUPAP.
Admiral Harry D. Train, III is a Senior Fellow at the Joint Advanced Warfighting School at the Joint Forces Staff College. He was the first Professor of Military Professionalism in the Henry Clay Hofheimer II Chair of Military Professionalism, Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk. He has previously served as a Senior Fellow at CAPSTONE, National Defense University and as a Senior Mentor for the Defense Science Study Group. He has been appointed to and served full terms as a member of the Curriculum Advisory Board of the U. S. Naval Academy, the Academic Advisory Board of the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School and the Board of Academic Advisors of the NATO Defense College in Rome. And He has served on the Boards of Directors of Aydin Corporation, Research-Cottrell Corporation, Gould Defense Business Systems and the American Cancer Society.

During the four years prior to his retirement from active duty in the United States Navy, Admiral Train served as:
NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic; (Before its transformation to Allied Command, Transformation), as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command (Before its transformation to the Joint Forces Command), and as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Note: The title "Commander-in-Chief", by order of the Secretary of Defense, is now reserved exclusively for the President of the United States.

His prior operational commands included:
Command of the U.S. SIXTH Fleet in the Mediterranean,
Command of the John F. Kennedy Battle Group,
Command of Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla EIGHT,
Command of the guided missile destroyer CONYNGHAM, and
Command of the attack submarine BARBEL.

His principal staff duties have included assignments as:
Director of the Joint Staff, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Director of the Systems Analysis Division of the Navy Staff,
Director of the East Asia-Pacific Region in the Office of the Secretary of Defense,
Executive Assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Executive Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations,
Administrative Aide to the Secretary of the Navy, and
Assistant Military Secretary, J2, The Joint Staff

Admiral Train retired from his position as the Manager, Hampton Roads Operations, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the nation's largest employee owned research and engineering company, in September 2006. He was a member of the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century, also known as the Hart - Rudman Commission, which completed its 2 ½ year study in April of 2002.Bio current as of Oct 2006
William J. Wasilenko, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean for Research at Eastern Virginia Medical School and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology at EVMS. He is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Council of University Research Administrators and the Society of Research Administrators. His academic and professional honors include the National Research Service Award as a postdoctoral fellow, from the National Cancer Institute and a National Institutes of Health predoctoral trainee from the Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Wasilenko currently serves on several research committees. He has also been active in his community, serving on his neighborhood civic association and baseball association.
Doug Weiss is Vice President of Web Development for ForRent Media Solutions, and General Manager of Apartment Web Tools.com. and Resite Online In these positions, Weiss oversees product development, technical support, software quality assurance and engineering for ForRent.com and its sister sites, ParaRentar, Senior Outlook, Corporate Housing and Florida Condos. In addition he manages Apartment Web Tools and Resite Online which provide property management software and web service solutions for the multifamily industry.

Weiss brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his position. As the Senior Vice President of System and Station Development, for The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) where he served for more than a decade, Weiss oversaw the transition of the 367 US Public Television Stations to Digital Broadcast, founded OnCourse, an online education and professional development resource in partnership with major universities, teachers associations and state departments of education and managed a 65 million dollar R&D fund investing in revenue producing and operational initiatives on behalf of Public Broadcast radio and Television stations.

Prior to joining CPB, Weiss was a vice president in the mergers and acquisitions branch of Triumph Capital, a private investment bank, and founder of three start-up companies: NDG/Phoenix a software development and networking company in Washington, DC, Capitol Video/CapDisc one of the US' leading interactive game companies, and Group Andre Perry, LTD a Canadian based CGI and Video Production firm.
© 2005 Old Dominion University Research Foundation