Vrbancic, Walland: - Walland Philip Vrbancic, Jr., received his BS degree in Zoology in 1970 from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1973 he obtained a post-graduate degree as an Orthopedic Physician's Assistant from the University of Southern California Medical Center. While he worked at a local hospital as an OPA for over nine years, he studied Electrical Engineering at California State University in Long Beach. In 1980 he was graduated with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from CSULB. He joined the Space Shuttle Simulation Laboratory at Rockwell International in November, 1980, which was about five months before the launch of STS-1. His team could simulate the Space Shuttle flight path from MECO to landing. It was at this time he became fascinated with the Apple ][ computer. Mr. Vrbancic left Rockwell to pursue his new interest in high speed graphics animation on an Apple ][ bit-mapped screen. He was hired by Ken Williams of Sierra On-Line to design, develop, and program utility software on that computer. However, his next passion became aerospace simulation software and he sought employment with Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo, California. At Hughes he developed real time assembly language executive software in the Digital Simulation Laboratory. He utilized Gould SEL mainframe computers in this laboratory. When Hughes was sold to Raytheon Mr. Vrbancic began designing and developing very high speed data transcription software for tactical radar and sensor systems on SGI high-end graphic computers. His data transcription software systems had an aggregate throughput of a minimum of a terabyte per second which included AES encryption. When Mr. Vrbancic retired, he returned to programming on his most favorite personal computer, the Apple ][ whose motherboard circuits he modified, built peripheral cards for its slots, and designed and developed advanced disk operating systems that included half-phase tracking. As Mr. Vrbancic observes "I have always viewed software development as a set of very complex strategies involving highly developed problem solving techniques. To develop such programming skills requires passion, perseverance, and practice. One cannot be expected to perform a Fiorillo Caprice overnight without expending a little passion, a little perseverance, and a little practice. Only with passion, perseverance, and practice will the Apple ][ completely reveal itself and yield its computational power to that software & hardware engineer."