NEIL BURKE was recently appointed as the new director of special projects for the Syracuse Department of Public Works (DPW). In his new role, Burke is responsible for transportation initiatives, managing ongoing projects, staff, and daily operations within DPW. He oversees numerous infrastructure projects geared toward making transportation in the city safer, easier, and more equitable, including the municipal sidewalk program, traffic calming installations, and the Traffic Management Center. He reports directly to Jeremy Robinson, commissioner of DPW. Since 2016, Burke has served as a transportation planner for the City of Syracuse. His work involved coordination and implementation of planning projects, design review and analysis, and project management of various initiatives including the Municipal Sidewalk Program, Pavement Rating Program, and the Syracuse Bike Share Program. Prior to working for the City of Syracuse, Burke earned his master’s degree in landscape architecture from the SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry and his bachelor’s degree in adolescent education from SUNY Oswego.

AMINE HILA, M.D., was recently appointed to the new position of VP for digestive services at UHS. Dr. Hila has been a member of the UHS medical staff since 2006 and has served since that time as a provider with UHS Gastroenterology. He brings to his new role an “exceptional background” in clinical knowledge and team building, and a deep appreciation for the patient-centered values of UHS, the health system said. Hila will serve in a key position for the ongoing management and strengthening of UHS’ services in the diagnosis and treatment of digestive diseases, one of the organization’s most important service lines. He has led UHS’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) since 2013. Hila significantly contributed to the growth of the GME, including the addition of cardiology and gastroenterology fellowship programs, and is committed to the ongoing improvement in the quality of UHS residency programs. Hila was born in Italy and grew up in the nearby Mediterranean country of Tunisia. He earned his medical degree in 1998 from the Faculté de Médecine de Tunis. Hila then completed an internal-medicine internship and residency in 2002 at the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia and a clinical and research gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship in 2006 at the Medical University of South Carolina.

MICHAEL FIORE has joined Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS), a Baldwinsville–based market-research firm, as its newest research analyst within the research analytics department. Fiore comes to RMS from the Schenectady Jewish Community Center, where he was director of enrichment programming. Before that, Fiore, who has a master’s degree in educational psychology, was a graduate assistant working at the University at Albany, honing his business-communications prowess. It was there that Fiore conducted extensive research for the university, which included both survey creation and implementation, data analysis, as well as creating and presenting reports. At RMS, Fiore will focus on custom client projects, designing surveys, survey programming, interviewing, analyzing data, and summary reporting. He works with the research team to interpret primary and secondary data, helping to identify key findings and trends. Fiore also assists in preparing custom-tailored proposals, facilitating client meetings, and kick-off conferences.

MICHAEL BUTLER has been promoted to supervisor of research analytics at RMS. He first joined the firm as a research analyst within its analytics department and has quickly proven himself to be a “highly regarded research professional and outstanding member of the team.” Butler’s new preliminary focus encompasses designing surveys, programming, interviewing, analyzing data, and developing reports that identify key findings and trends to inform future strategy and growth across a variety of industries. 

SRC, Inc. announced that it has named SEAN O’HARA and HARVEY SCHUMAN as SRC fellows. In that role, both O’Hara and Schuman will provide technical mentorship and expertise in their respective business areas to SRC’s employees. The designation of SRC fellow recognizes the “outstanding contributions of an exclusive group of technical professionals,” the company says. Fellows must meet strict criteria including “superior demonstration of engineering or scientific expertise, leadership, and innovation which have advanced the state of the art within a specific technical domain.” The individuals are well-known to customers and employees as leaders in their field. Over the past 25 years, O’Hara has enhanced SRC’s technical reputation by “continuing to push the limits and developing state-of-the-art technology of national significance.” He is widely seen as a technical and cultural role model, mentoring SRC employees and guiding people to “push the limits” of what’s possible. In addition, he instructs numerous SRC technical courses and

is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University. O’Hara has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Syracuse University, and an associate of applied science degree in engineering from Onondaga Community College. He has received the Technology Alliance of Central New York’s (TACNY) technologist of the year award, has received the annual outstanding thesis award from Syracuse University, and received the presidential eagle award from the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials. Schuman, in his 25 years at SRC, has “used his stellar technical prowess and vision to advance the company’s systems and capabilities.” His expertise in signal processing and electromagnetics has contributed to numerous development projects for ground, airborne, and space-based systems. Schuman has authored dozens of papers and presentations and holds seven patents. In addition to being recognized as an expert in his field, “everyone who knows Schuman can attest to him being a great person to work with — always willing to share his knowledge and assist to find a solution,” SRC says. Schuman earned his doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering from Syracuse University. He is a member of a variety of professional affiliations including Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.       ν