VINCENT J. CATALANO

OBJECTIVE

A challenging and fulfilling job in the field of computer or electrical engineering

EDUCATION

Illinois Institute of Technology                                                                Chicago, IL

B.S., Computer Engineering                                                                     December 2004

B.S., Electrical Engineering                                                                     December 2004
GPA: 3.816

M.A.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering                                      May 2006

GPA: 3.857

EXPERIENCE

Jan. 2001 – Present

        Petsmart, Burbank, IL

        Operations Manager

·         Manages inventory levels using reports and any other available resources

·         Maintains a passion for pets while creating a culture of educating customers

·         Ensures that all merchandise is displayed in a proper way to produce maximum sales

·         Develops all associates to perform at optimal levels to achieve sales and customer satisfaction

·         Assists in hiring activities including interviewing, selection, and training all associates

·         Uses knowledge and understanding of P&L, budgeting, inventory management, merchandising, and scheduling to manage all departments of the store

1998-2003                                                                                                      
        St. Laurence High School, Burbank, IL

        Teacher’s Assistant

 

·         Helped teach Computer Concepts and Applications and Physical Education

·         Taught Windows 98 and MS Excel night classes to adults and other students

·         Installed software and hardware on individual and networked computers

·         Resolved various computer-related problems in all areas of the school

Summer 2000                                                                                
        Mercury Electric, Palos Heights, IL

        Assistant for Electric Contractor    

·         Interpreted prints for potential jobs with such companies as Ameritech and Gingiss Formalwear

·         Wrote take-off sheets showing the inventory of necessary items for each job

·         Compared the prices of items from various manufacturers and helped choose which manufacturer to order the supplies from

COMPUTER SKILLS

·         Programming: C, C++, MS Visual Basic, Pascal, HTML, PHP, SQL

·         Operating Systems: Windows 3.1/95/98/2000/XP, DOS, UNIX

·         Engineering Software: PALASM, PSPice, MATLAB, Maple, Mathematica, Verilog, VHDL, Cadence, Xilinx, ModelSim

·         Productivity: MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, MS Works, WordPerfect

·         Internet Tools: MS Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, FTP, Outlook Express,  Frontpage

·         Installing computer hardware and software

·         Basic networking

PERSONAL PROJECTS

• A Comparison of 32-Bit Parallel Prefix Adders: 32-bit Kogge-Stone and Brent-Kung prefix adders were designed using Verilog HDL and simulated using Verilog.  The important properties of delay, size, amount of hardware, and power consumption were compared.  The adders were also placed and routed into a Magic schematic.
   
• Sequence Pair placement: A variable number of integrated circuits were placed in a minimum area on a board (implemented using C).  Simulated Annealing was the optimization technique used in this program.
   
• Circuit Retiming: A program was written in C to add registers between logic gates in a circuit that would minimize the critical path delay of the circuit.  The goal was to minimize the number of registers (extra hardware) and the clock period of the circuit.
   
• Fault detection: A manual derivation of a fault-free circuit and the expected results of the same circuit with several faults added were obtained.  The fault-free circuit was designed in Verilog and tested to be functioning properly using the Verilog simulator.  The faults were introduced and the results were compared to the manual results.
   

•  A Comparison of 32-Bit Ripple Carry Adders in the Styles of CMOS Logic and Pass-Transistor Logic: Using Cadence’s Virtuoso Schematic drawing program, the two 32-bit ripple carry adders were designed.  The properties of area, speed, and number of transistors were compared for the two designs.
   

•  The Turn Signal Finite State Machine: A finite state machine was designed using VHDL and simulated a turn signal on a vehicle using.  The program was downloaded onto an FPGA board that had switched and LED’s on it.  Depending on the inputs (switches) to the circuit (left signal, right signal, or both) the appropriate output would seen on two of the LED’s (left blinking, right blinking, or both blinking)
   

•  Traffic Light Controller: Two different traffic light controllers were designed in VHDL, downloaded to an FPGA board, and simulated.  The first controller was based off a timer only and the lights would change after a certain amount of time.  The second one added traffic sensors that would change the light only if there were cars waiting in the opposite direction in addition to the time expiring.  The results could be seen with two sets of three LED’s that represented the green, yellow, and red lights for the two directions in an intersection.
   

•  8-bit Slice CPU: The CPU was comprised of many components: a 16 x 8 memory file, an ALU that performs arithmetic and logic functions, various multiplexers, decoders, and tri-state buffers.  The operation of this CPU was generally specified by external control signals.  An external clock synchronized the circuit.  There were also external signals that determined which memory words to operate on, which arithmetic or logical operation to perform, whether memory addresses or external data were passed to the ALU to be used in arithmetic or logical operations, whether the ALU results should be written to a memory address, and whether the output of the ALU could be read outside of the CPU.  The CPU was implemented using Verilog Hardware Description Language (HDL).  It was then synthesized into a circuit design that can be viewed in Magic.
   

• Serial Communication using the ACIA: An Assembly program was written for two machines running a complete MC68000 Microprocessor system to transfer data to and from each serially when connected together.
   

•  MC68000 Operating System: An Assembly operating system was written to perform certain functions on an MC68000 microprocessor.  Some of the functions included: moving a block of memory to another location, filling a block of memory with data, searching for data in a certain memory block, displaying the contents of each memory address in a certain block.
   

• ATM: As part of a software engineering class, a requirements document, design document, and test document were created that would lead to the design of an ATM.  The ATM was eventually designed and tested using Visual C++ and Flash
   

•  Battleship:  Using C++ and Windows API, a graphical version of Battleship was designed that could be played over a network against a computerized or human opponent.
   

• Monopoly: Using C, classes, and data structures, a text-based version of Monopoly was created.  It included all of the rules of Monopoly, such as Chance, Community Chest, Jail, buying properties, adding houses and hotels, etc.
   

• Calendar: Using C++, a calendar for any year could be created.  I also had the options of using pictures and adding notes to the calendar.

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