About Us

lnitial Management/Technical

Personnel

The Management Team

Principals and Directors:
Robert J. Burke, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board
Charles E. Helsley, Ph.D., President and Board Member
Robert A. Bartolini, Ph.D., Board Member
Patrick J. Modugno, Board Member
Alexander Burke, Ph.D., Secretary and Board Member
Harold V. Helsley, MA, Treasurer and Board Member


Advisors:
Ray E. Kidder, Physicist; Retired Nuclear Fusion Specialist
Donald C. Leonard, Strategic Business Development




Biographical sketches of key individuals in the Corporation management/technical structure are listed below.  These include managing scientists, engineers, and administrators who have had substantial management experience in their previous endeavors.



Charles E. Helsley

Charles Helsley is a retired researcher at the University of Hawaii. He has lived in Hawaii for 32 years, was formerly the Director of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and was the Director of the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program at the time of his retirement. He is an expert in energy matters, especially in oil and gas resources and is knowledgeable about the effects that the of burning carbon-based fuels has on the earths ocean and atmosphere. He has been involved in many fields of research, from paleomagnetism, to seismology, to marine geology and more recently in free electron laser research and in open ocean aquaculture research under the banner of the Hawaii Offshore Aquaculture Research Program (HOARP) of which he was the principal investigator. He has published more than 100 papers in scientific journals during his career and still publishes papers every few years. He holds BS and MS degrees in Geology from the California Institute of Technology and a PhD in Geology from Princeton University.

During his four-year tenure as the University of Hawaii Sea Grant director, he spear-headed Hawaii’s first experiment in open-ocean aquaculture, which successfully demonstrated the feasibility of farming fish in an open-ocean environment and has become a national model for offshore cage culture. His work was partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oceanic Institute, and Cates International, Inc.

Prior to his 1995 Sea Grant appointment, Helsley served as director of the UH Institute of Geophysics for 18 years. He also held a post as professor in the UH Department of Geology and Geophysics, and served as interim Dean, during the formative year, at the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, now the third largest oceanographic research institute in the country by grants awarded.

 

Robert J. Burke

Robert Burke has developed technologies regarding energy supply, the environment, and national security as a manager, physicist and engineer at Rockwell International, Westinghouse, and National Laboratories operated for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Hertz Foundation supported his graduate work in the field of plasma physics for fusion energy at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1964-1972. At the Argonne National Laboratory, he conceived and developed the concept of the low-radiation and long-lived fusion chambers for the World Energy system in 1973, and led ANL's Heavy Ion Fusion Team from 1976-80, drawing upon results of his studies of the total resource requirements and potential costs of a world energy system based on various fusion reactor configurations, 1972-1976 also at ANL.

After the heavy ion fusion program in the USA was diverted in 1979 away from the accelerator technology on which it had been founded, he worked on the Fusion Materials Irradiation Testing Facility (FMIT) at the Hanford nuclear complex 1980-1985, adding specific experience in management of large projects with responsibilities including the safety analysis report, neutron irradiation test cell, lithium target system, and the accelerator. After the FMIT was rescinded, he proposed design improvements to increase its capabilities for advanced neutron scattering research and explored collaboration with the Julich Laboratory near Aachen, Germany in 1984-85.

At the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International, he led teams and consortia developing applications of accelerator and laser technology to SDI, space propulsion, and environmental research from 1986 to 1996. He conceived the Integrated Transportation System concept in 1987 and the IBus vehicle in 1992. He is Chairman and President of ITS Bus Incorporated and lives part-time in Shanghai, China.

He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova and a Ph.D. in Applied Science from the University of California at Davis/Livermore.

 

Robert A. Bartolini

Dr. Robert A. Bartolini retired from the Sarnoff Corporation in 2005 after 40 years of service. He joined Sarnoff (formally RCA Laboratories) in 1966 and at the time of his retirement, was Senior Vice-President with responsibility for Sarnoff’s Commercial and International Business Operations (which included Sarnoff Europe, a subsidiary of Sarnoff Corp.). Throughout his career at Sarnoff, he was involved with a variety of programs in both R&D and innovative product development.

During his R&D days, Dr. Bartolini made major technical contributions to the field of optoelectronics including: Optical Memory Applications, which included development of materials and systems for high density data storage applications using semiconductor diode lasers and Holography, which involved development of novel optical recording materials for relief-phase and volume-phase holograms. In 1986, he was the recipient of RCA's highest technical honor, the David Sarnoff Medal for this body of work.  Much of this work is now embodied in present day products such as DVD’s, CD-ROM’s and smart credit cards.

From 1989 to 1998, he led Sarnoff’s semiconductor business and latter was the Senior VP of Commercial Business Operations.  He also served on the Board of Directors of several Sarnoff spin-off ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries. He presently continues on the Board of Directors of the David Sarnoff Museum & Library Collection.

Dr. Bartolini holds a BSEE from Villanova University, an MSEE from Case Western Reserve University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.  During his career, he has received numerous Professional Honors and Awards;  the most recent award, in 2002, was Villanova University’s College of Engineering highest honor, the J. Stanley Morehouse Memorial Award, for his many significant professional achievements in technology development and business leadership.  He has also been granted 22 U.S. Patents, and published or presented over 100 technical papers.  Dr. Bartolini is a Fellow of both Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the Optical Society of America.