Career Profiles

Andrew Kovach

Andy Kovach wasn’t sure what he wanted for a career. He chose Industrial Engineering because he liked the combination of engineering and business.

Bart Aitken

When Aitken came to WVU, he didn’t have an idea of what he wanted to do for a career. The fact that an older brother was an engineer led him to engineering.

Dan Tunacik came to WVU from Weirton, WV. He had read about Industrial Engineering and had talked to the father of a friend who was the head of IE at Weirton Steel. Dan was especially interested in the business side that Industrial Engineering offered.

Daniel Groves

Dan Groves came to WVU with intentions of being an Industrial Engineer. He liked math and science, but wanted a degree that would give him a chance to directly impact people.

David Hesse

Dave Hesse came to WVU thinking his career path would be an Air Force pilot. He joined AFROTC and decided to major in Aerospace Engineering. During his freshman year, he heard a presentation on Industrial Engineering and said to himself: “That’s me.”

Gregory Cominos

As a freshman coming from a blue collar family in Pittsburgh, Greg Cominos never imagined that he would have a career that would take him to all parts of the world.

Gregory Nailler

Greg Nailler knew he wanted to be an engineer, but wasn’t sure what type. What helped him decide was the freshman presentation on Industrial Engineering.

Jay Perkins

Jay Perkins gained both a career and his future wife while at WVU. His future wife, Beth, was a classmate. Jay followed Beth to Columbus and began his career at Scientific Columbus. He did traditional Industrial Engineering work.

Jeffrey Kenny

Jeff Kenny knew he wanted to run a business, and determined that an engineering under-grad would provide a good technical foundation toward that goal.

John Knorr

John Knorr grew up on a small farm in Southwestern Pennsylvania. While neither parent was able to go to college, education was the priority in his family.

Kim Brenner

When Kim Brenner was thinking about college, he wasn’t sure about a major. His parents had blue collar careers and just didn’t have the awareness of choices he could pursue.

Logan Hartle

Logan Hartle always knew he wanted a business career and originally enrolled in Business Administration at WVU. He was also fascinated by manufacturing.

Mary Messuti

When Mary Messuti came to WVU, she was originally a pre-med student. Biology lab turned her off so she started looking for another major. She always liked math and physics, so she considered engineering.

Michael Show

Coming to WVU was a last minute decision for Mike Show. “I was an average student in high school and unprepared for college,” Mike says.

Ray DeSabato

Ray DeSabato was destined to be an entrepreneur. In fact, he started his first business when he was in the sixth grade. He made cinnamon toothpicks.

Ron Parrish

Ron Parrish was both a full-time WVU-IE student, a father, and full-time night-shift technician at the Westinghouse plant in Fairmont WV during his college years from 1960 to 1966.

Suzanne McNamara

Suzanne never had a doubt that she would get a college degree. She was the oldest of five children with parents who never went to college. A college education was a fulfillment of her parent’s dreams. She learned about Industrial Engineering from a summer program at Notre Dame.