St. Thomas resident Donald Stanford has won the 1999 Professional Achievement Award. The announcement was made by the Black Engineer of the Year awards selection committee.
Hundreds of the nation's top scientists, engineers and technologists compete every year for the award.
Stanford, a resident since 1954, said he didn't even know he had been nominated for the award until after the fact, according to the V.I. Independent.
Stanford is the chief technology officer and vice president of product development for GTECH Corp. in West Greenwich, R.I.
Stanford moved to St. Thomas with his family when he was 3 years old and attended Antilles School until 1962, when he transferred to school in Puerto Rico.
He earned a bachelor's degree in international relations and a master's in computer science from Brown University in Rhode Island.
Stanford maintains his family home in Estate Elizabeth and visits St. Thomas regularly.
He said he plans to go into semi-retirement here in 2000.