Fall 2023 The Authentic Self The Authentic Self By Tad Veznerr PHOTOS BY NICOLE CALDWELL “I’m just in this perpetual state of transition,” says Brooks Atwood (ARCH ’99). He’s not kidding. Even before Atwood became a star of Netflix’s Hack My Home , which recently hit the streaming platform’s top-10 most-watched list in 67 countries,...
Fall 2023 Hydrogen Proselytizer PHOTO BY SEBASTIAN CASSET Hydrogen Proselytizer By Tad Vezner M ike Graff (CHE ’77) didn’t simply find himself in the hydrogen business—a business he’s now focused on to such a degree that he’s actively shaping its course. Rather, his journey into the world of an element he firmly believes will...
Fall 2023 Selling Nostalgia PHOTO BY SCOTT BENBROOK Selling Nostalgia By Casey Halas D uring his first year at Illinois Tech, Yuta Katsuyama (M.Des.+M.B.A. ’21) was shocked to find that the food mecca of Chicago was missing the triangular-shaped Japanese food staple he’d enjoyed his whole life. Onigiri—handheld balls of soft, sticky rice stuffed...
Fall 2023 A National Practitioner PHOTO BY EDGAR ARTIGA A National P ractitioner By Tom Linder G rowing up on Chicago’s South Side, Georges Benjamin (BIOL ’73) dreamed of a career in science. “I wanted to be a scientist, whatever that was,” says Benjamin. “I lived in the Museum of Science and Industry as my...
Fall 2023 Mission: Impactful PHOTO BY TONY RINALDO Mission: Impactful By Steve Hendershot F or most law students learning about contracts, patents, and corporate acquisitions, the subject matter is impersonal and future-focused—faraway stuff that they might someday apply on behalf of a client. Not for Greg Wyler (LAW ’96). When Wyler studied at Chicago-Kent...
Summer 2023 Juan De La Mora There have been numerous instances in Juan De La Mora’s life where he felt torn between two worlds. Take his career, for instance.
Summer 2023 Ruth Lopez-McCarthy Right after college, Ruth Lopez-McCarthy (LAW ’09) started doorknocking. It was the community organizing, block club kind of outreach: pushing for more alley lights, safety patrols, better garbage pickup.
Spring 2023 John Katsoudas As a young boy, much to his dismay, John Katsoudas (M.S. PHYS ’03) had a clearly defined role in the family business. It started with wrapping doughnuts.
Spring 2023 Cynthia Ferguson When Cynthia Ferguson (LAW ’00) received a governmental promotion of seismic proportions, she did exactly what those who know her expected her to do: She told no one.
Spring 2023 Michael Plesniak Growing up on the Northwest Side of Chicago, Michael Plesniak (ME ’83, M.S. ’84) found himself following in the footsteps of his father, a machinist who immigrated to the United States. He spent much of his adolescent and teen life working on cars or “taking stuff apart.”
Spring 2023 Michael Buonanno Like some prodigious inventors, Michael Buonanno (AE ’01) truly understood the importance of his project when his first child was born.
Spring 2023 Kris Sorich Watching an idea transform from a design on paper into a beautiful and integral part of a community is what keeps Kris Sorich (M.A.S. LAND ’14) in the landscape architecture business.