Dr. Paul Coyne, professor of engineering science, remembered best as a dedicated teacher, friend

On January 27 a Memorial Mass was celebrated in honor of Paul J. Coyne, Jr., Ph.D., professor of engineering science, who died at the age of 61 on January 23, 2010.

The service took place in the Alumni Memorial Chapel; it was presided by Coyne's former colleague Fr. Frank Haig, S.J. and gathered students and faculty from different disciplines. Engineering students from each grade served at mass. Students and colleagues shared stories and experiences with Dr. Coyne and the great impact he had in their lives.

He was known for being a reserved, kind and intense teacher, who would always jump in to help anyone who needed it. He is survived by his mother, Teresa Coyne and his wife, Rose; brother Robert; sister-in-law Holly; as well as two nieces.

Coyne earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware. In 1976, he completed his Ph.D. in Applied Sciences-Metallurgy/Materials Sciences. He joined Loyola as an assistant professor in 1976 and was the director of the University's master's in engineering science program from 1983-2001. From 1984-1992, he was the founding chair of what was then known as the department of electrical engineering and engineering science.

Coyne also acted as a consultant at the Brimrose Corp. of Baltimore, as research associate at the Office of Naval Research, and as materials research engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. Coyne retired with the rank of Captain from the Army Reserves in 1981. He worked in the physical properties of rocket fuel and some Loyola colleagues remember him as their "resident rocket scientist."

"He was a quiet person, very efficient and very effective, a competent engineer and dedicated teacher," said Robert Pond, Ph.D., associate dean of natural sciences and former chair of the engineering science department.

Pond also said that Dr. Coyne had a great sense of humor, "Not outlandish, even though he was a big man, he didn't have a boisterous laughter. His was a quiet sense of humor, with lots of smiles."

A sports lover and avid golf player, Dr. Coyne was respected and admired by his fellow professors and students, who saw him as a genuine, laid-back, capable professional and a caring person.

"He was a good friend, a good person to have on your team," saidPond. He considered Coyne a mainstay for the department. Professor Coyne had the quality to remain calm and poised, never letting any situation get the better of him.

Robert Bailey, Ph.D., chair of the engineering science department, considers Coyne a great man inside and outside the classroom. He said that Coyne also cared for his younger brother and mother. A devoted son, Coyne spoke to his mother every day and visited her in New Jersey once a week, often bringing her home cooked meals.

According to Bailey and Pond, one of the testimonies of Coyne's life was that engineering students almost exclusively put the memorial together, and that afterwards a lot of students gathered around his wife, Rose.

Sophomore Laura Borowski one of the students who put together Wednesday's memorial mass remembers Rose saying that his students were his children.

Coyne would especially be remembered as a tremendous teacher, who would work restlessly for his students.

"Dr. Coyne was an incredible mentor," said Lisa Coote,'10. "I never hesitated to go to him with my problems, because he always came through for his students."

Coote was referred to Dr. Coyne in her first year when she and another student were having problems to go abroad in Newcastle because of the engineering curriculum. Coyne didn't just rework the curriculum to make this possible, "he also took the initiative and found engineering course equivalents that we could take at the University of Newcastle," said Coote.

"He was great to me and other students. I would go to his office to chat. He was very open and would stop what he was doing to help," said recent graduate Cen-Bi Liu, '09.

"He liked to keep a low profile but he meant a lot to the students."

Dr. Coyne was Liu's advisor for his senior project in 2007 - Liu did this project in his junior year. Coyne always provided Liu high-level guidance and also wrote countless recommendation letters for all of his fellowships and grad school applications.

Borowski said that, even after 33 years teaching at Loyola, he would still try to do everything he could to get students to learn - like spending a summer to change his lecture slides to PowerPoints and starting from scratch if the students did not find the new format as helpful.

"In his teacher evaluation [for the engineering department] he would still ask 'How can Dr. Coyne be a better professor?'" said Borowski.

His colleagues said that he would push the students hard, but they appreciate it, especially when they entered the workforce. "He expected a lot from the students and they rose to the expectations," said Bailey.

"Dr. Coyne was a great professor.  Coyne had to present some tough 'stuff,' and did it with ease and understanding," said Andrew McCauley, '11, one of Coyne's advisees. He remembers Coyne always ready to help, in and outside of class.

"In addition to the help he provided for his classes, we would often go to Coyne for help with Analog Communication, a class that he did not teach."

Dr. Coyne was also invested in the Hauber Summer Fellowship Program. He enjoyed giving his Hauber students real research experiences. Helping students with their research was uncompensated -he mentored them in its own time because of his passion for teaching his field.

One of Coyne's latest projects was his work on innovative transducers for measuring ultrasound and he had students working on that as well. His commitment to the students was constant at Loyola for 33 years. He served in any way he could.