Paul J. Hutta | Engineering professor, 60

Philadelphia Inquirer

May 25, 2006 Paul J. Hutta, 60, of Warminster, an engineering professor at Pennsylvania State University, died of lung cancer Tuesday at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Hutta joined the faculty of Penn State's Abington campus in 1985. He had previously been an engineer at Betz Labs in Trevose and for General Electric's aerospace division in King of Prussia.

From 1997 to 2005, he headed Penn State Abington's Division of Science and Engineering, and he inaugurated the Information Sciences and Technology degree program in 1999. He received an outstanding teacher award from Penn State's Engineering Society and was past chairman of the campus' Technical Advisory Council.

A native of Coaldale, Pa., Dr. Hutta earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Penn State and a master's and doctorate in physics from Lehigh University. He completed postdoctoral studies at Texas A&M University.

He loved teaching, his wife, Faith West Hutta said, and enjoyed photography and reading mysteries. He had been a ham radio operator since his teens, she said, and was a member of the Warminster Amateur Radio Club.

In addition to his wife of 38 years, Dr. Hutta is survived by a son, Daniel.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. today at Wetzel and Son Funeral Home, 501 N. Easton Rd., Willow Grove. Friends may call from 10 a.m.

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