2025
Fourth Annual Neshaminy Alumni Achievement Awards
Dr. Rebecca Beadling, Neshaminy High School Class of 2009
Dr. Rebecca (Becki) Beadling graduated from Neshaminy High School in 2009 before earning dual degrees in Chemistry (B.S.) and Biology (B.A.), with a minor in Mathematics, from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her growing interest in the climate system led her to pursue an M.S. in Geoscience at the University of Arizona, where she investigated ocean circulation in the North Atlantic using climate model simulations.
Beadling continued her work on ocean circulation and the ocean’s role in the climate system, completing her Ph.D. in 2020 at the University of Arizona. She was subsequently awarded a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship, jointly hosted by NOAA-GFDL and Princeton University’s Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. She is now an Assistant Professor in Temple University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science, where she teaches courses on climate dynamics and climate change and leads the Ocean Climate Connections Research Group.
Beadling’s research combines observations and climate model simulations to advance understanding of the ocean’s role in Earth’s heat and carbon budgets, with a particular focus on Southern Ocean processes and their influence on global climate. She also works to identify and address biases in coupled climate models and contributes to national and international climate modeling efforts as a member of NOAA’s Model Diagnostics Task Force and the World Climate Research Programme’s CMIP Benchmarking Task Team. Most recently, she was selected as a Lead Author for Chapter 6, “Global projections of Earth system responses across time scales,” in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Seventh Assessment Report (IPCC-AR7). The IPCC is an international body tasked with assessing the science related to climate change. Considered the most authoritative source on climate science, “Assessment Reports” evaluate the current state of knowledge on climate systems, climate change and associated impacts and can form the basis for governments and decision makers to develop climate-related policies.
Mr. Chris Cechak, Neshaminy Maple Point High School Class of 1978
Mr Cechak holds a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University. He served six years active duty in the U.S. Navy as a submarine officer, serving on two nuclear submarines. He qualified in submarines, and was certified as Engineer on the nuclear power plant—equivalent to a civilian Professional Engineer (P.E.). After leaving active duty, he spent 14 years as a civilian supporting the Navy's submarine stealth initiatives, receiving the Navy Superior Civilian Service Medal—the second-highest civilian award presented by the Navy. After retiring from federal service, he joined Signal Systems Corporation (SSC), managing programs related to active sonar technology for the Navy’s airborne anti-submarine warfare platforms. SSC is the leader in applying machine learning technology to finding enemy submarines. He is married to his wife, Elaine, for 43 years. They reside in Charleston SC near their two daughters and five granddaughters. He has volunteered with the Appalachian Service Project to rebuild homes in Appalachia and with the TriCounty Veterans Association to renovate homes for veterans in South Carolina. Additionally, he is a certified beekeeper.
Colonel Bruce Cordelli, Neshaminy High School Class of 1979
Bruce Cordelli treasures his memories and long association with Neshaminy as his father, Pete Cordelli, was a teacher and football coach at Neshaminy. He graduated from Neshaminy High School in 1979 and was the President of his class and is a member of the Football Hall of Fame. Bruce attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and received a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1983 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army.
Bruce served in the Army with distinction in varying leadership positions for over 24 years. During his Army career, he earned numerous awards and led over a thousand people as he commanded four organizations while attaining the rank of Colonel. Bruce has a passion for learning, teaching and training, which was honed as a student in the Neshaminy School system, and thus spent a tour as an Assistant Professor of Military Science of ROTC at Kent State University, and later, another tour as the Department Head and Professor of Military Science at NC State University while also attaining an MS in General Administration. Most significantly, Bruce commanded a Field Artillery Battalion and successfully led 440 soldiers into combat without loss of life during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). His final stint during his Army career was as the Director of the Joint Deployable Training Group leading a team of Joint Service experts responsible for training the 2, 3 and 4-star General’s Joint Staff Headquarters, to prepare them to lead tens to hundreds of thousands of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. After the team trained the General’s Joint Staff Headquarters, Bruce and specialized members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to conduct operational effectiveness assistance to the Joint Staff Headquarters.
As Bruce launched a second career his education, leadership experience and Military acumen have been crucial in every successive role. His first stint was as a Military Senior Consultant for the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Training advising the director on joint warfare readiness. His next position was at Boeing Defense Phantom Works, where Bruce eventually became the Director of Army systems and low altitude analysis and experimentation. He built a special classified capability and led a select, diverse and distributed team of engineers, analysts, military subject matter experts and models and simulations specialists. The team informed strategy and conducted analyses, trade studies, and military-focused experimentation to gain insights into future military capability needs and guided Boeing investment toward those technologies. In 2023 Bruce took over as the President of Ace Electronics Defense Systems a Service-Disabled Owned Veteran Small Business manufacturing company. Ace Electronics produces custom cables, electro-mechanical assemblies, and platform installation kits for vehicles, communications, and robot operations. In two short years, through streamlining operations and refocusing the sales team’s efforts, Bruce has improved the performance of the company and earned the companies first two small business supplier of the year awards from Lockheed Martin and British Aerospace Systems.
Bruce enjoys spending time with his family, reading, music and golfing. He is most proud of his family. He has been happily married to Deb Cordelli for 35 years and they have two amazing children. Bruce Cordelli Jr. (married to Jenna Hopkins) and Cassidy Cordelli-Kennedy (married to John Kennedy) and one grandson Brooks Kennedy. Bruce Jr has an MBA and is senior strategy manager for a Fortune 100 company and Cassidy has a BSN and is a NICU nurse. They have been a source of joy and inspiration through many military deployments and 13 moves.
Ms. Lori Ozoroski, Neshaminy High School Class of 1983
Lori Ozoroski, Neshaminy HS Class of 1983, is an Aerospace Engineer who currently manages the NASA Commercial Supersonic Technology Project. She has 35 years of experience researching technologies and design methodologies related to Supersonic aircraft while working at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Over the past decade, she served as the NASA airframe design lead for NASA’s X-59 Low Sonic Boom Demonstrator experimental aircraft. In 2019, she took over management of the research project that will use the X-59 to prove the ability to design quiet supersonic aircraft and then conduct testing with the X-59 to gather human annoyance data to enable future international regulations for commercial supersonic aircraft.
Lori is recognized as an international expert in commercial supersonics. She chairs the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics Supersonics Integration and Outreach Committee and has received numerous NASA Group Achievement Awards throughout her career.
Lori has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and is married to Tom Ozoroski, also a Neshaminy HS Class of 1983 graduate.
Dr. Hawthorne (Hawk) Smith, Neshaminy High School Class of 1983
Dr. Hawthorne Smith is a licensed psychologist, and the Director of the Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture (PSOT). He is an Associate Clinical Professor at the NYU School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry, as well as the President of the National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs (NCTTP). Dr. Smith received his Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University (with distinction). Dr. Smith had previously earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, an Advanced Certificate in African Studies from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, as well as a Master’s in International Affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. Among his clinical duties, Dr. Smith has facilitated a support group for French-speaking African survivors of torture for the past 29 years. He supervises psychiatry residents, psychology interns and externs as well as social work trainees. He also speaks extensively at professional conferences and seminars on providing clinical services for survivors of socio-political violence and enhancing cross-cultural clinical skills among therapeutic service providers.
Dr. Smith has been recognized for his work with such awards as: the Robin Hood Foundation’s “Hero Award”; the “Frantz Fanon Award” from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health; the “W.E.B. DuBois Award” from the International Youth Leadership Institute; the “Distinguished Alumni – Early Career Award” from Teachers College; the “Man of Distinction Award” from the National Association of Health Service Executives; the “Union Square Award for Community Advocacy” from the Fund for the City of New York; and a “Humanitarian Award” from the Cousul General of the Republic of Haiti . Prior to coming to Bellevue, Dr. Smith was a youth counselor to “court involved youth” in Washington, DC during the height of the crack epidemic. He then coordinated care at a shelter for homeless families in San Francisco prior to, and in the aftermath of 1989 earthquake. Dr. Smith was also a co-founding member of Nah We Yone, Inc. (a non-profit organization working primarily with refugees from Sierra Leone, as well as other displaced Africans in New York), and helped to coordinate the International Youth Leadership Institute (IYLI), a leadership program for marginalized New York City teens. Currently, Dr. Smith provides forensic evaluations, human rights consultations, and mitigation services on capital cases for private legal firms and public entities such as the US Department of Defense and the US Office of the Federal Defender.
Dr. Smith played in the Neshaminy Middle School Jazz Band under the direction of Leroy Nelson. He also played in the Neshaminy High School Marching Band under the direction of Dr. Ronald Daggett. Dr. Smith is now a professional musician (saxophonist and vocalist) with national and international experience. His band, Casa Mantequilla, gigs regularly across New York City and is currently in residence at the “Shrine” – one of Harlem’s iconic live music venues.
Past Neshaminy Alumni Achievement Award Winners