The IEEE-USA community is deeply saddened to learn that Harry T. Roman, beloved IEEE volunteer, author, educator and inventor, passed away recently after a prolonged illness. He will certainly be remembered for his legacy of tireless devotion to engineering, invention and teaching.
One of Roman’s greatest passions was working with children and young adults at local schools and universities in his home state of New Jersey. With extensive knowledge and unmatched enthusiasm for learning and discovery, he inspired future generations by bringing the excitement of real-world problem solving into the classroom.
In 2014, Roman, and IEEE Life Member, penned his first E-book for IEEE-USA, entitled Engineers Working With Teachers, to help other engineers discover the joy and professional skill-building experiences of working with teachers and students in the classroom.
Over the next decade, Roman authored 55 more IEEE-USA E-Books and E-Comics on a broad array of topics, including project management, creativity, a series on Thomas Edison (his favorite inventor), public speaking, transitioning from student to engineer, R&D, working with teams, engineering activities for the classroom, and much more.
Prior to retiring in 2006, Roman worked as a R&D engineer at PSE&G for 36 years, and received 12 US patents for robots used for utility work. For his innovations, the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame named him Inventor of the Year in 2005. His experiences became the inspiration for his award-winning series of IEEE-USA E-Comic books on engineers using robots to solve real-world problems. In 1996, IEEE honored Roman with a Meritorious Achievement Award for developing continuing education products for IEEE members; and in 2015, he received the IEEE Region 1 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Active in retirement, Roman was a docent/special lecturer at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, in West Orange, New Jersey, and author and advisor for the Edison Innovation Foundation. In addition to his classroom work, he was a prolific writer, not just for IEEE-USA, having published more than 600 scientific papers, articles, monographs, books, and even poems and short stories.
Paul Rosengren, a former colleague at PSE&G who wrote summaries of many of his books, says, “Harry T. Roman will be remembered for many things. For me, I will remember him as the quintessential passionate (and talented) engineer.”
Roman’s IEEE-USA E-Book, The Passionate Engineer, which features a sampling of his poems and short stories, will be published in November.
IEEE-USA is forever grateful to Harry for sharing his passion, knowledge and insight with our members.
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