Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints in our hearts, and we are never, ever, the same.                                                       - Flavia Weedn ____________ Links to Mike's Life Tributes Music Pictures Matt Alles's Tribute Page Mike's OGI Web Page Published Papers

An Assistant Professor in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department at Oregon Graduate Institute from 1996 to 2000, Mike taught digital signal processing and performed research on speech synthesis.   He had a significant impact on his field in the four short years of his career, both by his scientific contributions and his activities in national and international speech technology organizations.

But not only was he highly regarded for work in his field, he was also highly regarded as a human being. The tributes given by friends and colleagues are testimonial to this.    May we continue to bask in his afterglow for the rest of our lives.

Mike was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 11, 1968 and grew up there. He graduated second in his class from Thomas More High School in 1986 and went on to study electrical engineering at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1991. Graduate studies took him to Georgia Tech in Atlanta where he received a Masters in Electrical Engineering in 1993 and a Ph.D. in 1996.

On June 28, 1997 he married Amy Marie Zepp, the love of his life.

An avid musician, Mike played keyboard and accordion in a number of bands, most notably Soup in the southeast U.S. and Soul Patrol Mission in the Portland area.    Other interests included hiking with Amy and their Golden Retriever, Sammie.

Mike was diagnosed with lymphoma in October, 2000 and passed away on March 15, 2001 as a result of complications from the cancer treatment. He was 32.