Bill Abramson was one of the founders of COE and was the President of COE for 12 years. He worked for Grumman Aerospace for 31 years pioneering many aspects of CAD/CAM development. Bill worked in Grumman's lines group, developed CAD/CAM software, developed CAD/CAM training materials, headed the CAD/CAM training department, headed the software development group and worked in management overseeing the operations of our CAD/CAM organization. Presently, Bill is a CAD/CAM consultant providing guidance to organizations with strong Dassault affiliations on consumer issues and directions. In addition to acting as the COE NewsNet editor, Bill is also supporting the COE Board of Directors in organizing COE conferences and many other Board activities.

John M. Switlik came to COE from IIUG and has a special interest in knowledge as it pertains to life-cycle control. His experience has bridged all aspects of the product stream (Conceptual, Define, Produce, Maintain). John has a Technologist's role involving many methodologies: applied/computational mathematics (representation and numeric processes, NURBS, FEA/M,  simulation, dynamics), knowledge modeling and management (since 1983), advanced computational techniques (AI, adaptive approaches, machine learning, categorical modeling). His software engineering practices have met SEI/CMM Level 5 requirements. John's applied research emphasizes the characteristics of the quasi-empirical approaches required for believable systems (capable, consistent, predictable, provable, stable, standard).

Bill and John can be reached for comment and suggestions at newsnet@mail.coe.org.