ralph sturgen

esl tutor

About

A skilled tutor of English as a Second Language (ESL) with a broad educational, employment, and life background. Particularly helpful to medical and scientific professionals after 45 years in science, technology, and health care. A culture guide with many years of helping foreigners understand and fit into US life. Experienced at helping immigrants plan and execute their US job searches and prepare for job interviews. Native speaker of American English with no strong regional accent. Brings these skills to the job: Strong English grammar, vocabulary, and spelling Willing to discuss any topic Comfortable with cultural differences Familiar with other countries Allows the student to guide their own learning Able to shift approaches as needed Business English Medical English Scientific English Patience and gentle humor

Country

united states

City

easthampton

Industry

medical devices

Skill

leadership, team building, customer service, public speaking, fda, root cause analysis, creative problem solving, collaborative problem solving, teaching, training, thinking outside the box, teamwork, transactional analysis, healthcare, hematology, medical technology, laboratory, human resources, hardware diagnostics, biomedical engineering, iso 13485, field service, chemistry, technical support, troubleshooting, management, quality assurance, listening skills, teaching/mentoring, software documentation, program management, quality control, capa, team leadership, data analysis, medical devices, validation, dealing with "difficult" customers, defusing situations, outstanding customer service, translating technical knowledge for non technical people, understanding systems, innovative problem solver

Experience

laboratory manager

pocono medical center

1982-1 - 1984-1 · 2 yrs 1 mo

Directed the personnel, fiscal, and administrative management of the laboratory.

product coordinator

beckman coulter

1987-1 - 1990-1 · 3 yrs 1 mo

* Provide in-house technical support with responsibility to: * Help hot-line and field service technical workers resolve instrument hardware, software, and quality control issues. * Help management resolve ongoing instrument problems. * Serve as a technical/hardware consultant to sales representatives. * Help dispatchers decide who to send to an account with which parts.

customer technical specialist

beckman coulter

1984-1 - 1987-1 · 3 yrs 1 mo

* Took customer's initial calls about their hematology or chemistry instruments. * Resolved the problem immediately or initiated a service call. * If after-hours service was needed, dispatched teh appropriate field service engineer. * Assisted field service engineers with ordering parts and closing service calls. * Helped field service engineers think through teh problems they were working on.

various medical and environmental laboratory positions

us army

1976-1 - 1981-1 · 5 yrs 1 mo

* Trained as a medical laboratory technician. 1976 * Lab Tech and Supervisor at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Denver, CO. 1977 * Water and Wastewater Chemist at the Army Environmental Hygiene Agency, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 1978-1979 * Chief of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Officer at the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany 1979-1981

league cycling instructor

league of american bicyclists

2005-1 - Present · 21 yrs 9 mos

For generations past and to come, THE LEAGUE represents bicyclists in the movement to create safer roads, stronger communities, and a Bicycle Friendly America. Through education, advocacy and promotion, we work to celebrate and preserve the freedom bicycling brings to our members everywhere.

esl tutor

jones library

2012-2 - Present · 14 yrs 8 mos

Tutor native speakers of other languages in English.

senior clinical systems engineer

beckman coulter

1990-1 - 2011-1 · 21 yrs 1 mo

* Working unsupervised, listened to customer concerns with their hematology and hemostasis analyzers and attached computers and took appropriate action. Frequently, this action was hardware repair or maintenance but might be: * Suggesting changes to specimen handling or workflow in the laboratory. * Providing additional operator training. * Investigating the electrical power provided to the instrument. * Recommending new instrumentation. * Assisting with interfacing the instrument to a laboratory information system. * Assisting with the interpretation of patient or quality control data. * Initiating investigation of FDA-reportable incidents involving our instruments. * Additional duties and accomplishments included: * Serving as the team's leader for nine years. * Serving as the team's technical leader for eleven years. * Mentoring field service engineers who were newly hired or newly trained on an instrument. * Invented a troubleshooting technique which was published as a worldwide technical update.