SIUE Alum “Caches” in on Prosperous Technology Career
An accomplished, humble and creative professional, Bill Yue Luan, BSEE ’84, MSEE ’85, personifies the many values instilled in SIUE graduates. Bill has paired the education he received at SIUE with his personal interest in technologies to accumulate a long list of professional accomplishments, including time at Microsoft and Google, where he is currently working.
A native of Shanghai, China, Bill came to SIUE in 1980 to pursue a college education, and he selected electrical engineering as his major. Wanting to take advantage of study abroad opportunities, Bill connected with distant relative Dr. David Luan, a former professor in the Department of Economics and Finance at SIUE.
Bill vividly remembers his first day on campus as a new student: “The campus was covered in golden fall leaves and was so beautiful! As I walked to my class, I reminded myself to treasure the opportunity America had given me.”
Bill applied for a part-time job in the Lovejoy Library during his senior year. As a student worker, Bill’s primary duty was to count student usage of audio visual (AV) tapes at the library AV lab. During his employment, the library purchased its first batch of Apple computers for student use. He became curious about computer programming, and bought a BASIC programming language book and began to teach himself about programming.
This independent education opened a new world to Bill. He became fascinated by computer automation systems. Eager to put his new skills to the test, Bill offered to design a computer program to automate the AV material-usage tracking system and replace the manual punch card system. “My AV lab supervisor, Claudia Davidage, was such a wonderful and open-minded manager,” he said. “She gave me the green light to try it.”
Once developed, the system recorded student usage times by simply letting student workers enter usage data into the computer instead of counting them manually by hand and adding them up on calculators. This new program dramatically improved the efficiency of SIUE’s AV usage tracking system and helped the library submit more accurate data to various departments.
Bill’s efforts led to him being nominated by Davidage and then Library Director Bob Miller to the University for the 1984 Friends of Lovejoy Library Award. Bill was the first international student to receive the award, which was presented to him by the Chancellor at a special ceremony. Bill recalls the experience fondly. “I can't say enough about my gratitude to Claudia and Bob, and toward SIUE. This award was really not about me, but about Claudia and Bob giving a student the freedom to explore and create. It says a lot about their great management skills and foresight, and the encouraging learning environment at SIUE. Claudia was one of the best bosses I have ever had!”
Bill recalls the time when Claudia helped him find his first professional job after graduation, and Bob used a manual typewriter in Claudia's office to correct the English grammar errors on Bill's resume. “How often do you see a library director sitting at a typewriter helping an international student correcting his resume?" Bill exclaimed, "That was a true reflection of the graciousness and kindness of American people that I hold dear in my heart and will never forget!” Bill developed a close friendship with Claudia and Bob, and kept in touch with them for many years. "Claudia and I would still send holiday greetings after all these years.”
After graduating with a master's in the fall of 1985, Bill began his career in Toledo, Ohio, working for Owens-Illinois as a system engineer, designing automatic control systems to improve the furnace control system for glass bottle manufacturing. Three years later, he moved to Sheffield, Ala., to join Reynolds Metals Company, where he designed aluminum sheet manufacturing process automation systems. He became the chief designer of the soaking-pit control systems, aiding in the production of millions of soft drink cans each month.
“I designed and installed nine of these systems during my time at Reynolds. Each system is still in operation today,” he said. “Imagine how many soda cans have been made over the years by these systems!"
Bill moved to Atlanta, Ga., after working at Reynolds, to work as a senior system engineer for Siemens, a global electrification, automation and digitalization company.
In the mid-90s, Bill joined Motorola in Atlanta to design mobile device software. He became a product manager for the Motorola PageWriter 2000, a new product that enabled pager users to reply directly to paging messages.
"In those days, cell phones were not as pervasive as they are today,” he said. “A two-way pager was a life-saving tool for doctors, police officers, firefighters, truck drivers and others. They could reply to urgent calls to report live status and help coordinate important tasks."
It was a presentation Bill made at a product conference about his software which would catch special attention from Microsoft and change his career path significantly. In 1998, he was recruited to the Seattle area to work for Microsoft. He became the Program Manager for ActiveSync, a product connecting mobile Pocket PC devices to PCs to allow data synchronization between them.
"There’s a tradition at Microsoft that when a new product is released to market, the company creates a special plaque and puts it in the Product History Courtyard," Bill said. "The first of such plaques was for a product designed by Bill Gates for DOS 1.0. Over the years, Microsoft has placed more than 100 plaques and among them is ActiveSync!”
Many years later when hosting business visitors at the Microsoft campus, Bill liked to joke with them when touring the Product History Courtyard and say, ”There are only two plaques here worth looking at: Bill Gates’ creation DOS, and the ActiveSync which was made by another Bill.”
After working on the ActiveSync product for two versions, Bill became the program manager of a newly-created Microsoft Windows Embedded team in early 2000, an operating system which would enable developers to create many applications for embedded devices, ranging from store checkout machines and ATM terminals, to medical devices and much more.
"The most interesting product that came of this project was slot machines," Bill said. “If you go to Las Vegas now, you won't see the traditional, large metal-wheeled slot machines anymore. Everything is running on computers using the embedded operating system we created!”
Bill became a frequent speaker at technical conferences both in the United States and China. He also authored and published a best-selling book on software project management for China’s information technology industry in 2005.
Today, Bill works for Google as a regional lead for the Developer Relations team. He is responsible for providing training to developers who use Google technologies and other open technologies to create web and mobile applications for customers around the world.
"Open-sourced technologies are what the industry should rely on, which helps the innovation, and I see a strong value in our work for many innovations around the world,” he said. “At Google, we are constantly promoting this vision and believe it is the best strategy for innovation and for the industry. Just look at the countless apps and games available on Android, an open-sourced mobile platform, for example. These are the result of developers learning our technologies and applying their creativity. This is the power of open technology and what it can bring to end users globally."
Having now assisted in the creation of several key technology products, Bill is proud of the fact that the many high-tech products he contributed to creating have resulted in business opportunities for many companies, as well as provided convenience to countless consumers and made positive impacts on the world.
Now happily residing in Seattle, Bill and his wife, Jean, have raised two sons. The older son, Denny, runs a startup company in California called Experiment.com to help fund science research. The younger son, Alan, is currently on assignment in Europe as a member of the Peace Corps. Bill is very proud of his kids as the next generation of Americans making their difference in the world.
“All that I have been able to accomplish professionally, started at SIUE,” Bill said. “I have deep appreciation for the opportunity SIUE gave me, and to so many people for their mentorship and support. The learning experiences I gained at SIUE, especially at the Lovejoy Library AV Lab, have shaped the basis of my skills and are what enabled me to do what I have done throughout my professional career. From the bottom of my heart, my deepest gratitude goes to SIUE and to all of the people there who helped me!”
