Bob Bigge (r) receiving speakers gift from John McGoldrick

Robert Bigge

Graduate of the Michigan Technological University with a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and a B.S. in Engineering Administration. He worked extensively in the iron foundry industry before joining ICRI in 2000 as Technical Director. His areas of expertise include alloying and inoculation of cast irons, Ductile Iron treatment and inoculation practices, thermal analysis, metallurgy of cast irons, machinability of cast irons, green sand molding systems and testing, cupola design, operations and control, and statistical process control. Bob is a member of the American Foundry Society (AFS) Green Sand Committee (4-M), and ASTM Committee on Iron Castings (A-04).

Cesar Braga (r) receiving speakers gift from John McGoldrick

Cesar Braga

Graduated in 1981 as Metallurgical Engineer from the Escola de Engenharia da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. Cesar has eleven years of experience in forging, hot rolling and cold drawing of special steels and Nickel-Copper alloys, as Research and Development Engineer, Lab Manager and Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM), Vacuum Arc Remelting (VAR) and Electroslag Remelting (ESR) Manager, at Eletrometal Acos Especiais, Sao Paulo, Brazil, three years of experience as Quality Manager at Nordberg mining equipment manufacturer, at Belo Horizonte, Brazil, three years of experience as  Finishing Dept. Manager at Teksid Aluminum Foundry, Belo Horizonte, Brazil and eleven years of experience at Aarrowcast in Shawano, Wisconsin, as Quality Manager and Technical Director.

Jim Furness (r) receiving speakers gift from John McGoldrick

Jim Furness

Mr. Furness founded Furness-Newburge, Inc. in 1983 and remains its President. Over the years he has provided consulting services as well as design engineering for machinery for the metal casting industry always with the goals of reducing the environmental footprint of the foundries, improving foundry processes and saving costs. To that end, he conceived a foundry duty ozone generator and Furness-Newburge, Inc. began manufacturing those as a component for its Sonoperoxone® system. This system has its roots in the training and experience Mr. Furness received in ultrasonic and acoustic cavitation with the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War.

Mr. Furness also invented the Pneu-Col® technology. Both Sonoperoxone® and Pneu-Col® are currently in use at various foundries throughout the U.S.  Previously, he developed vertical blast furnace chemical injection systems to prevent the formation of soluble/hazardous heavy metals and machinery to recycle industrial sand used in the foundry industry.

Mr. Furness holds patents in advanced oxidation water treatment and perfected inventions in various industries.  He developed experimental systems for the deodorization of large-scale agricultural operations and also implemented large-scale scrubber operations to deodorize fumes from phenolic resin coatings.  In the 1980’s, Mr. Furness devised a chemical stabilization process in conjunction with the California Department of Health Services (now the California EPA) to stabilize lead, cadmium, zinc and copper.   This unique stabilization process successfully passed federal TCLP and the more stringent leaching requirements of the State of California.  During the mid 1990’s, his efforts with several Wisconsin foundries and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Air Management, formed the basis of regulations defining air pollution standards for foundries in Wisconsin.

Mr. Furness has published numerous articles and is a member of several professional organizations including the American Foundry Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Water Works Association and the International Ozone Association.

Jim DeVenne

No. bio available.

Pat Farver (r) receiving speakers gift from John McGoldrick

Pat Farver

As owner of Harrison Machine Co. Pat has taken on the transformation of the company’s product lines, dating back to the 1950’s, into State-of-the-Art core and mold making systems. With manufacturing remaining in Erie, PA HMC has advanced their core machine technology to be the first to not only quickly pay for itself also to provide foundries with a new competitive edge through significant improvements in flexibility, productivity, reliability, process & cost control, and reduced energy usage.

Pat has over 35 years experience in manufacturing and capitol equipment & systems starting out in Manufacturing Engineering , moving to machinery and systems sales then full management responsibility while serving on the Advisory Board of a major Japanese machine tool builder for 10 years, then to General Management and ownership of Harrison focused on providing the Foundry Industry with new technology that provides a Competitive Advantage to HMC customers, especially to small and medium size foundries.

Joe Muniza

No bio available.

Dr. Richard Wolfe

Dr. Wolfe earned his BS degree at Virginia Tech in Chemical Engineering and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Cincinnati.  He served as program manager with the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. before joining United Coal Company in Bristol, Virginia in 1979 as Vice President of Research and Development.  In 1988, he formed Coal Technology Corporation in Bristol, Virginia.  He has been appointed by five different Governors of Virginia to the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission.  He has served on the energy research staffs at the University of Kentucky, West Virginia University, Appalachian State University, and currently serves on the Board at Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research.

Rick Gundlach (r) receiving speakers gift from Kathy Hayrynen

Richard Gundlach

Rick is the Senior Metallurgical Engineer at Stork Climax Research Services, a metallurgical engineering and testing laboratory located in Wixom, Ml. Climax Research Services was co founded by Rick in 1987 and was recently purchased by Stork SMT in 2006. Prior to the formation of CRS, Rick was a Metallurgical Engineer and Research Supervisor for 18 years at Climax Molybdenum Company (AMAX) in Ann Arbor, Ml. Rick holds his BS and MS degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from the University Of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Ml. Rick is widely recognized expert in the field of casting metallurgy.  He has authored & co-authored more than 50 papers published in AFS Transactions, Metallurgical Transactions, Metals Progress, International Cast Metals Journal, Casting Engineering, and various conference proceedings. Rick is a recipient of the Award Of Scientific Merit and the Howard F. Taylor Award by AFS, and 2 of Rick's papers won the best paper award in the gray iron division of AFS. He has co-authored a handbook on abrasion-resistant white irons, Chapters in 2 ASM Handbooks on Cast Irons and a chapter in the AFS Ductile Iron Handbook.  Rick is a member of the ASM and AFS.

Prem Mohla

Prem obtained his metallurgical engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT) in Bombay, India. He then obtained his PHD (doctorate) from the University of Sheffield, England. He has over 40 years of industrial experience in the technology of gray & ductile iron casting production and the development and marketing of specialized foundry alloys. The companies he has worked for include Tata (in India), Ford, Intermet, Globe Metallurgical and now Hickman, Williams & Company. He has served actively as a member of the AFS, Institute of British Foundrymen, Institute of Indian Foundrymen, DIS and FEF boards.

Brian Dickinson (r) receiving speakers gift from Kathy Hayrynen

Brian Dickinson

Brian obtained his Bachelor of Science from Kent State University College of Technology in 2004.  Brian majored in Manufacturing Engineering.  Brian is currently employed at Foseco in Cleveland, Ohio as the Ferrous Filtration Product Specialist.  Brian has been with Foseco for the last 4 years on the Filtration Marketing Team.  He has also served as the Chairman of the Northeast Ohio AFS Recognition Committee, past NEO-AFS Membership Committee Chair, past FEF CIC student and an Fef scholarship recipient.

Eugene Muratore (r) receiving speakers gift from Kathy Hayrynen

Eugene C. (Gene) Muratore

Gene obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgy from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1970.  Gene was an FEF Scholar under Prof Jack Wallace.  Gene spent the first ten years of his career at General Motors’ Defiance, Ohio foundry in various capacities of gray and ductile iron melting and metallurgy.  This foundry produced 4000 tons of liquid iron per day, producing automotive blocks, heads, crankshafts, brake calipers and steering knuckles.  Gene then moved to Texas where he worked as the Chief Melter and Metallurgist for American International Manufacturing in Fort Worth.  After six years, Gene moved to Lufkin, Texas to become the Chief Metallurgist for Texas Foundries. 

Gene has been the Senior Foundry Metallurgist for Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium America since 1991.  As such,  Gene is responsible for technical service to the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.  He serves on seven AFS technical committees, is a member of the Ductile Iron Society’s Research Committee, Marketing Committee, Board Member and is a member of the Chicago chapter of the AFS.  He has received the CMI Director’s Award and the AFS Service Citation.  Gene was also honored with the Ductile Iron Society’s Annual Award in 2006.