Class Notes

1940s

Warren Spitz
(ARCH ’42, M.S. CRP ’68), Northbrook, Ill., is looking to reconnect with classmates from ’41, ’42, or ’43.

Robert DeBoo
(ME ’45, M.S. IE ’61), Stone Mountain, Ga., turned 90 this year and graduated from Illinois Tech at 18 while in the V-12 Navy College Training Program.

V. Robert Baird
(EE ’46), Elmhurst, Ill., worked as an electrical engineer for 25 years at Powers Regulator Co. and as an electronics engineer for 40 years at Underwriters Lab before retiring in November 2013. He taught night control courses at Triton College from 1990–2005.

William Burt
(EE ’46), Bloomington, Minn., turned 90 this year and would like to see an alumni group form in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Harris Levee
(ME ’49), Gaithersburg, Md., is going on 97 and says that he considers himself fortunate that he can still enjoy reading a newspaper occasionally.


1950s

Melvin Friedlander
(ME ’50), Menifee, Calif., graduated in June from California State University, San Bernardino, with a master’s in education. At 94 he may be the oldest student to receive this degree.  

Charlotte Decker
(PHYS ’51, M.S. ’53), Claremont, Calif., retired in 1998 after almost 30 years at Aerojet Rocketdyne, where she worked on the Defense Support Program.

Richard Ryan
(EE ’51), Barrington, Ill., retired in May 2015 after 37 years as a trustee of the Barrington Area Library, 25 years of which he served as board president.

James Albrecht
(FE ’53, M.S. ’55), Baltimore, continues to serve on the board of directors of the World Trade Center Institute, the board of trustees of the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs, and the board of advisors of Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Joyce “Jay” Foster
(ME ’53, M.S. ’59), Huntsville, Ala., spent 32 years at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center working on a variety of projects, including Redstone, Jupiter, Skylab, the Saturn V-Lunar rocket, the space shuttle, and the International Space Station. A close associate of the late Wernher von Braun, Foster also spent six years with the Canadian Space Agency and 15 years as an aerospace consultant. He is now a docent conducting tours of the United States Space and Rocket Center. Foster and his wife, Betty, who have been married for 66 years, have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Otto Harling
(PHYS ’53), Hingham, Mass., retired after a professional career of more than 50 years as a nuclear research scientist and educator. He is a professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he directed the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, an interdepartmental center of the university.

Paul Herrmann
(PHYS ’53), Chicago, and his wife, Phyllis, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last October. He retired in 1991 as senior programmer analyst at the American College of Surgeons.

Marilyn John (née Wolff)
(TD ’56, M.S. EG ’62), Shorewood, Wis., taught both full- and part-time at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM) for 30 years while obtaining her graduate degree, raising three daughters and a stepson, volunteering, and serving at her church. She retired in 1986 at the same time that her late husband, Richard John, retired as a 30-year UWM professor of accounting. Since her retirement John has traveled extensively and enjoys spending time with her  grandchildren.

Patrick Loftus
(CHE ’57), Charlotte, N.C., retired from sales at Texaco, Inc.

Edward Messal
(ME ’59, M.S. ME ’63, Ph.D. MAE ’70), Fort Wayne, Ind., retired as professor emeritus of mechanical engineering technology in 2003 from Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Darwin Simonaitis
(EE ’59, M.S. ’61), Elkhart, Ind., completed three years as president of the New York Central System Historical Society. He was employed at IIT Research Institute for 14 years, served as IIT evening division faculty for 10 years, and taught quality-engineering courses at Indiana University South Bend. Simonaitis retired from Miles Laboratories/Bayer Corporation after 28 years and is currently active with the American Society for Quality. He and his wife, Shirley, have three children and five grandchildren.


1960s

Arun Phadke
(M.S. EE ’61), Portland, Ore., was honored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) with the 2016 IEEE Medal in Power Engineering. A recipient of several other honors, including being named an IEEE fellow in 1980, Phadke previously worked in the electric power industry at Allis-Chalmers and American Electric Power.

Norbert Pointner
(ARCH ’61, M.S. CRP ’62), Wheaton, Ill., was interviewed by the American Planning Association on the grassroots public involvement program to name Chicago’s Pullman Historic District as a national monument. He served as chair of the original preservation committee for five years.

Wayne Stewart
(CE ’61, M.S. CRP ’65), Portland, Ore., is chair of the Historic Columbia River Highway Advisory Committee, which is working to reconnect the first scenic highway in the United States.

Robert Thompson
(FPE ’61), Boxford, Mass., retired in 2013 from Thompson Consulting Group and in 2001 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Duane Anderson
(ARCH ’62), Summerfield, Fla., worked for Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1961–69. He has designed 43 Lutheran churches.

Lawrence Shelton
(ME ’62), Morton Grove, Ill., a holder of 23 patents, retired after 65 years as a research manager. Shelton is also a Holocaust survivor.

Roger Cooper
(M.S. MATH ’63, Ph.D. ’69), Menlo Park, Calif., served as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Wyoming and taught at various other colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. He has conducted extensive grant-funded research at Stanford University, SRI International, and the University of Oregon on a discovery he made involving spontaneous eye-movement responses to the meaning of spoken language.

Larry Darda
(EE ’63), Frankfort, Ill., a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, served as a survivability/nuclear weapons effects chief scientist at Hughes Aircraft Company.

John Watson
(BIOL ’64), Daly City, Calif., is a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

Robert Tingler
(LAW ’65), Palatine, Ill., retired Illinois Attorney General bureau chief, holds a National Rifle Association certificate and is an Illinois licensed firearm instructor.

Martha Luehrmann
(PHYS ’66), Berkeley, Calif., obtained an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College and was involved in a variety of business opportunities, including starting a publishing company, serving as the chief financial officer of a high-tech startup, and performing tech transfer for the University of California. She is now retired from business and is a professional actress.

Kenneth Rimkus
(CE ’66, M.S. CHE ’72), Willow Springs, Ill., had a 32-year career with BP working as a process designer, process superintendent, project manager, and manager of marketing and distribution engineering. He has been married for 48 years, and has two children and two grandchildren.

Michael Slifka
(FPE ’66), Middleton, Wis., since retiring in 2010 as president of PFS Corporation in Cottage Grove, Wis., has been able to fully concentrate on his professional engineering consulting as a fire protection engineer, fire forensics investigator, and expert witness. He has worked on projects as diverse as teaching a class on high-rise fire safety design in Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabian Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers to helping in trial testimony in Wyoming for his  clients to achieve the largest civil award in state history on a carbon monoxide exposure case. Slifka is currently consulting on the recent Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel fire.

Ronald Owen
(ME ’67), Kihei, Hawaii, acquired more than 20 patents, sold his company to Illinois Tool Works, and retired to Hawaii in 2006.

Norman Phoenix
(EE ’67, M.S. ’72), Chicago, works one day a week as a substitute teacher for Chicago Public Schools. He also volunteers in IEEE’s Science Kits for Public Libraries project as one of the three people running the program. The project provides grants to Chicago-area public libraries, enabling them to set up science kits for circulation. 

Joanne Gucwa

Joanne Gucwa

(CHEM ’68), Des Plaines, Ill., authored three BioFables children’s storybooks, which were published in 2015. The fourth book was released in early April.

Joseph Plankis
(BE ’69), Westfield, Ind., retired in 2010 from a career as an economic development director.


1970s

Dolores Aquino
(CHEM ’70), Houston, was named as an Outstanding Chemistry Teacher in a Two-Year College by the American Chemical Society, Greater Houston Section.

Jeanne Ladewig Goodman
(M.S. DSGN 70), Scottsdale, Ariz., continues to paint daily.

Robert Hoel
(BE ’70), Elmhurst, Ill., in his retirement, has been elected president of the board of directors of the Active Transportation Alliance, which serves the Chicago metropolitan area and is the largest regional advocacy group in the country for walking, biking, and public transit. He is also on the board of Ride Illinois, the state-wide bike advocacy group.

Lester McKeever
(LAW ’71), Chicago, has been featured in a number of media outlets, including The HistoryMakers African-American video oral history collection; Perspectives magazine; and the Junior Achievement 75th Anniversary video. Additionally, the Illinois CPA Society Advancing Diversity Award was renamed the Lester H. McKeever, Jr. Advancing Diversity Award.

Edward Resner
(CE ’71), Spring Grove, Ill., and his wife, Jeri, celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary at their son Jason’s home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Resner recently dissolved his consulting firm, Community Development Inc., and retired to a creative writing profession.

David Roth
(CE ’71), Des Plaines, Ill., retired after working for the Chicago Park District for 32 years and the Monahan Landscape Co. for 15 years. He has been married for 52 years, and has four children and nine grandchildren.

Mohamedusman Baki
(M.S. ENVE ’72), Chicago, is a retired Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago plant manager. Along with several former colleagues, Baki and Commissioner Frank Avila traveled to India in February to conduct international workshops on “Innovative and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment.”

Neda Saravanja Fabris
(M.S. MAE ’72, Ph.D. ’76), Glendale, Calif., coauthored Materials and Processes for NDT Technology, Second Edition (American Society for Nondestructive Testing, 2016).

Gordon Ramsey
(M.S. PHYS ’72, Ph.D. ’82), Frankfort, Ill., has been elected to the presidential sequence of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). He will serve as vice president, president elect, president, and past president for one year each. Ramsey, professor of physics at Loyola University Chicago, is an AAPT fellow and lifetime member. He and his wife have a son and three grandchildren.

Jeffrey Anderzhon
(ARCH ’73), Clive, Iowa, is a contributing author for the building environmental chapter of Managing the Long-Term Care Facility, a textbook for individuals approaching licensure as health care administrators. Anderzhon has co-authored two additional books on designs for the aging as well as numerous periodical articles on architecture and aging.

Robert Haskins
(M.S. IE ’73), Woodstock, Ill., retired to a life of tree farming. He also designed and built a timber truck barn from oak that he harvested, and does wood turning.

Joseph Olechno
(CHEM ’73), Sunnyvale, Calif., was recently a guest editor for the Journal of Laboratory Automation. The special edition covered the use of acoustic liquid handling across a wide range of applications including drug discovery, personalized medicine, proteomics, genomics, and mass spectrometry. (Through a grant, all of the articles in this special issue are available without charge online at http://jla.sagepub.com/content/21/1.toc.)

Dana Broach
(PSYC ’74), Norman, Okla., served as a panelist discussing strategic job analysis at the 31st annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology in April. His research for the Federal Aviation Administration focuses on job/task analysis, personnel selection, and performance assessment for occupations such as pilot and air traffic controllers.

John Houck

John Houck
(Ph.D. PSYC ’74), Skokie, Ill., integrates psychotherapy and spirituality in his practice. He obtained a Master of Arts in Religion and Personality from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1968, and served as chaplain and campus minister at Illinois Tech while studying for his Ph.D. He is now semi-retired and plans to move this year to Orlando, Fla., where he hopes to continue a part-time private practice as well as work as a psychologist in several nursing homes.

Joseph Mowbray
(M.S. EE ’74), Homewood, Ill., retired from Sargent & Lundy in April 2008 after nearly 38 years.

Christopher Wiatr
(M.S. BIOT ’74), Collierville, Tenn., retired from Buckman Laboratories International after receiving his 26th patent. He has five children and five grandchildren.

Marc Bern
(LAW ’75), Garden City, N.Y., after 19 years as a founding partner of Napoli Bern LLP, has formed Bern Ripka LLP, headquartered in New York City. Bern is representing 27 families of the victims of the 2012 Aurora (Colo.) Cinemark theater shooting in a civil trial this year.  

James Horn
(EE ’75), Bingen, Wash., is senior electrical engineer at UTC Aerospace Systems, designing autopilots and stabilized camera systems in the Columbia River Gorge.

Rick Vanden Boogart
(FPSE ’75), Kaukauna, Wis., is enjoying his retirement.

Robert John Zagar
(M.S. PSYC ’75), Chicago, had the paper “Finding High-Risk Persons with Internet Tests to Manage Risk: a Literature Review with Policy Implications to Avoid Violent Tragedies, and Save Lives and Money” published in the Review of European Studies (Volume 8, 1–31).  

Praful Kulkarni
(M.ARCH. ’76), Irvine, Calif., president and chief executive officer of gkkworks, has been elected vice chairman of the Design-Build Institute of America. He also served as the chair of the board of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2015.

James Shelby
(CRP ’76, M.A.S. ’88), Atlanta, recently retired from the City of Atlanta after 11 years as commissioner of the Department of Planning and Community Development. He is now a substitute instructor at a technical career academy.

Salvatore Biardo
(CS ’77, M.S. ’83), Park Ridge, Ill., is chief executive officer of Technology Advisors, Inc.

Tyler Patak
(ARCH ’77), North Fort Myers, Fla., has been named a principal of Parker/Mudgett/Smith Architects, Inc. as it begins its 50th year in business. Patak is one of the first 20 professionals in the country to receive the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design professional designation.

Joseph Stypka
(ARCH ’77), Chicago, vice president of director specifications at JAHN LLC, was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2016 for his work “establishing industry standards, educating professionals, and supporting development of signature buildings worldwide.” He was also named a fellow in the Construction Specifications Institute in 2006.

John Brophy
(ME ’78), Valencia, Calif., was responsible for the development and delivery of the Ion Propulsion System for NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, which is now in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. In March the National Aeronautic Association announced that the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dawn team was awarded the Robert J. Collier Trophy for 2015. The Collier Trophy is awarded annually “for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year.”


1980s

David Fleener
(ARCH ’80), Chicago, worked with Dirk Lohan on the rennovation of Illinois Tech’s Engineering 1 Building, now the John T. Rettaliata Engineering Center. His company, David Fleener Architects, has joined ICL Architecture, whose founder and president is Mo Riahi (ARCH ’82).

Raymond Grill
(FPSE ’80), Clifton, Va., principal at Arup Group Limited, is an industry expert on National Fire Protection Association codes and Chapter 24, and was a featured speaker for the live webinar Xtalks—Mass Notification Simplified: The Critical Principles of Delivering Robust Protection.

Edmund Rieger
(M.P.A. ’80), Madison, Conn., is a principal consultant with Cognizant Technology Solutions focusing on IT strategy. He received his Ph.D. from Wayne State University, and lives with his wife and sons in Connecticut.

Tod Desmarais
(ARCH ’81), Wilmette, Ill., has been appointed senior associate by the Chicago office of global design firm Gensler, where he has been directing the design of mixed-use, high-rise, office, retail, and multi-family residential projects across the Midwest. Desmarais was named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2008.

Mathai Varghese
(MATH ’81), Adelaide, Australia, was appointed associate editor of the Journal of Geometry and Physics.

Brian Doran
(CHE ’82), Washington, D.C., is a retired U.S. Air Force major.

Gary Cathey
(CE ’83), El Dorado Hills, Calif., chief of the Division of Aeronautics for the California Department of Transportation, was elected chair of the National Association of State Aviation Officials for FY 2015–16. He is also a member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Subcommittee on Aviation, and is an ex-officio member of the Technical Advisory Committee on Aeronautics for the California Transportation Commission.

John Sheerin
(CE ’83, M.S. ENVE ’86, LAW ’94), Oak Lawn, Ill., is the director of End of Life Tire Programs for the Rubber Manufacturers Association, the national trade association of tire-manufacturing companies.

Mark Sidote
(CHE ’83), Keller, Texas, is a contributing author to a newly published book, Innovating Lean Six Sigma (McGraw Hill, 2016.)

Robert Theel
(ARCH ’83), Chicago, was recently elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. The honor recognizes his contributions to the profession over his 34-year career with the U.S. General Services Administration. As the GSA's first regional chief architect, Theel established the strategic vision and leadership to create a national model for achieving excellence in federal architecture for public buildings across the nation overseeing more than $3 billion in construction.

Monique Jones
(BIOL ’87), Country Club Hills, Ill., is a physician at Women’s Wellness World and was recognized this spring for providing outstanding safety, quality, and service.

Francisco Barillas
(EE ’88), Isabela, Puerto Rico, is chief operating officer for AM Inc. The company is a food industry leader on the island, introducing best-in-class gourmet, all-natural, and organic products. He also oversees human resources, organizational development, construction and maintenance, and IT functions.

Jeffrey Harris
(LAW ’88), Chicago, co-founded the company Run the Call, an app that functions as an on-demand legal services technology company for lawyers. It connects legal professionals to cover court appearances and will be available for iOS and Android.

Michele Hunter

Michele Hunter
(ARCH ’88), Chicago, is a principal with the architectural design firm Architrave, Ltd.

Praveen Gupta
(M.S. EE ’89), Palo Alto, Calif., has been named Quality Magazine’s Quality Professional of the Year for 2016.

Mary Kisinger
(M.B.A. ’89), Fitzwilliam, N.H., lives in the Boston area and is the senior business analyst in Information Systems and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rescuing dogs, gardening, and interior design are her passions, but she also spends time in her side business of buying, rehabbing, and renting houses in the Pittsburgh area.

Steven Lenz
(M.B.A. ’89), Naperville, Ill., is co-inventor of Sproing Fitness, listed by Conde Nast Traveler as one of the nine “coolest fitness trends in the U.S.” Sproing Fitness combines the movements of a treadmill with the benefits of a beach workout.  In addition to the Chicago location, Sproing Fitness has gyms in Baltimore and Hollywood.

Jean Rogers
(Ph.D. ENVE ’89), Oakland, Calif., is founder of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, whose mission is to develop and disseminate sustainability accounting standards that help public corporations disclose material, decision-useful information to investors.


1990s

Daniel Dube
(AE ’90), Plainville, Conn., is director of IT project managment and support services at Turner Construction Company.

Frank Naeymi-Rad
(Ph.D. CS ’90), Libertyville, Ill., is chairman and chief executive officer of Intelligent Medical Objects, Inc., the market leader in medical terminology services for electronic health record systems.

Stephen Lesavich
(Ph.D. CS ’91), Kenosha, Wis., was selected as a business leader and entreprenuer to serve on the Business Community Partnership Committee for Lakeview Technology Academy, in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. The committee is a collaborative partnership of business leaders, government leaders, and parents for discussing issues related to educating high school students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Timothy Collins
(M.S. EE ’92), Lockport, Ill., was appointed chief technology officer for RF IDeas. He has filed 35 patents and has authored five professional publication pieces within the engineering community. 

Ahmed Elmoaty
(M.A.S. CE ’93), Cairo, Egypt, is retired after 36 years of working on electromechanical installation projects.

Felicia Rosemond
(EE ’93), Douglasville, Ga., is senior software engineer at Sharecare.

Cara Duffy (née Bartley)
(BA ’94), Arlington Heights, Ill., and her husband, Rob Duffy (MATH ’95), have two children, ages 8 and 11. As a parent she became passionate about the need for better education for preschoolers and began part-time teaching and curriculum development. Duffy then became a substitute teacher for preschool through 8th grade, and hopes to create a program to get early-childhood students excited about math.

Yan Margulis
(M.A.S. MAE ’95, M.B.A. ’01), Santa Clara, Calif., is vice president of sales at Foxconn Interconnect Technology, Ltd. (FIT). FIT and Photonix Technologies have announced the launch of a joint solutions and collaboration effort on delivering new technologies within the optical access.

Kelly Franznick
(M.DES. ’96), Bainbridge Island, Wash., is chief executive officer at Blink UX, an R&D firm specializing in the user experience of digital products that has been named to the list of “The Best Small Companies in America, 2016” by Forbes magazine.

Bipin Sen
(AE ’96, M.S. MAE ’98), Lansing, Ill., had lunch with Melanie Standish (PSYC 3rd year) after learning about her in the Rewind article from the spring 2016 issue of IIT Magazine. Sen, the 1996 Illinois Tech Union Board president, had much to talk about with Standish, who is current Union Board president.

Dierdre White
(LAW ’96), Seffner, Fla., senior vice president and general counsel for Grow Financial Federal Credit Union, was named the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2016 Top Corporate Counsel in Financial Services and Overall for the Tampa Bay community. For her ongoing professional and community contributions, she was also named by the Florida Diversity Council as one of 10 Most Powerful and Influential Women 2016. White also serves as the chair of the board of directors of PACE Center for Girls-Hillsborough, a statewide community-based prevention and early intervention program for girls who are not excelling in traditional public school settings.

Michael Jansma
(ME ’97, M.A.S. MAE ’00), Eureka, Mo., facilitated the sale of Enlogic, a high-tech global startup he founded in 2011 to CIS Global, a major original equipment manufacturer supplier of IT data center and consumer appliance industry products. He has become global vice president of technology for the newly combined CIS Global organization.

Robert Brevelle
(CS ’98, M.S. ’98), Rowlett, Texas, has been appointed managing director and chief operations officer of Tech Wildcatters.

Howard Huntington
(LAW ’98), Naperville, Ill., was selected for inclusion in Illinois Super Lawyers for civil litigation defense in 2016. He is a partner at Bullaro & Carton, P.C. in Chicago.

Anuradha Rangarajan
(M.S. CSEE ’98, M.S. CS ’05), Harvard, Ill., is a software engineer/IT consultant.


2000s

Priya Rudradas
(M.S. CS ’00), Gainesville, Fla., chief operating officer of Shadow Health, Inc., was named among the Florida High Tech Corridor’s 2016 “Faces of Technology.”

Andrea Smith (née Gorss)
(CE ’00, M.A.S. MAE ’01), Chicago, completed training for Project Lead the Way’s Introduction to Engineering course, a national curriculum that gives students a chance to experience engineering before getting to college. She also teaches mathematics at the Friedrich W. Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center, where she has worked since 2005.

Heather Weaver
(PPPS ’00), Lansdale, Penn., was promoted to director of student engagement at Philadelphia University in February. She also became Group 4 commander of the Pennsylvania Wing Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in August 2015. Weaver celebrates 25 with CAP this year.

Hazem Dawani
(CPE ’01), Chicago, is chief executive officer of OptionsCity Software, a provider of futures and options trading and analytics solutions. The company recently released its cloud-based futures and options trading platform, CityTrader.

Morgan Dugan

Morgan Dugan

(ME ’01), St. Louis, was promoted to senior director of supply chain management for The Maschhoffs, LLC. He and his wife, Katie, have two daughters, ages 5 and 3.

Henry Hill
(CE ’02), New Lenox, Ill., is chief executive officer of Lenox Hill Construction, a premier Chicago-area construction company within the senior health care, retail, and municipal markets that has expanded into a new 4,000-square-foot office space.

Elizabeth Kalin
(ARCH ’02), Minneapolis, has been appointed associate by the global design firm Gensler. A registered Minnesota architect, she is working on the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies Headquarters, providing sustainable solutions to bring the project to LEED Platinum status. Kalin was also selected as a member of the 2016 AIA Minnesota Leadership Forum.

Rania Mousa
(M.B.A. ’02), Evansville, Ind., completed a Ph.D. in accounting information systems from the University of Birmingham in England in 2010. She is an associate professor of accounting at Schroeder School of Business, University of Evansville, Indiana.

Jason Sposeep
(LAW ’03), Oak Park, Ill., married Kristen Carey (LAW ’10) in August 2014; moved to Oak Park; and had a son, Griffin Louis Sposeep, in November 2015. Both Carey and Sposeep are divorce lawyers, working at Kamerlink, Stark, Powers, & McNicholas, LLC and Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP, respectively.

Chip Herro
(M.S. ENVE ’04), Phoenix, was featured in the article “Meritage Homes V.P.: Adding Solar While Building Home Helps Save Money” in February in the Orlando Sentinel.  

Vivek Jain
(M.S. EE ’04), Haryana, India, was appointed chief executive officer of CA Media Digital India Private Limited, the digital business of CA Media.

Lindsay Anderson (née Hansen)
(LAW ’05), Chicago, recently left McGuireWoods to join the University of Illinois system as executive director of the Office of Governmental Relations. The office serves as the university’s liaison to members of the Illinois congressional delegation, the Illinois General Assembly, the governor’s office, federal and state agencies, key local officials, and major higher-education associations.

Anahita Wadia
(M.S. MCOM ’05), Mumbai, India, leads the business-to-business group in Sikich’s Marketing and Public Relations Practice and was recently elected a partner at the firm.  

Amanda Kastern
(M.P.A. ’06), Hillsborough, N.J., and Steven Beitzel (CS ’00, M.S. ’01, Ph.D. ’06) are the proud parents of Samuel Patrick Beitzel, born in March. Samuel, at 8 lb. 13 oz., and 21 in., joins Abby, 5, and Nate, 2.

Dhairya Mehta
(M.A.S. MAE ’06), Baroda, India, employed in principal device development at Shire, was a featured speaker at the Pre-Filled Syringes West Coast Conference and Exhibition in June in San Diego.

Justin Odom
(ARCH ’06, M.A.S. PWR ’15), Chicago, a general engineer at ComEd, is a member of the New Business Design Team and has designed primary power-distribution systems for multiple buildings within the Chicago area. He is a member of Cigre, an international electrical-engineering professional group, and is one of two Americans on an international Cigre working group studying issues related to large surpluses and deficits of renewable energy resources on the electrical grid.

Colleen Platt
(LAW ’06, M.A.S. BIOL ’06), Reno, Nev., left the Nevada Attorney General’s Office in July 2015 and opened a law practice.  She specializes in administrative law and sits as general counsel to a handful of Nevada licensing boards and state agencies. Platt has four children.  

Jaime Aubry
(ARCH ’08), Chicago, and Curtis Aubry (AE ’09) married in October 2010 and moved to Colorado. They welcomed their son, Jackson Aubry, into the family in November 2014.

Timothy Nunes
(M.S. MCOM ’09), Lisle, Ill., had his short story “Smart Bomb” featured in the literary journal Foliate Oak.

Nastasja Terry
(ME ’09), Chicago, is field service manager at UTC Aerospace Systems in San Diego and the customer representative for Alaska Airlines. She also flies to different airlines around the world to train mechanics on their newly delivered aircraft. Terry’s main focus is on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but she is also involved with the new Airbus A350.

Carmen Aguilar-Wedge
(CE ’10), San Francisco, co-founded the Hyphen-Labs interaction studio. The company’s interactive installation Prismatic_NYC constructed at the High Line in New York City responds to environmental data.

Elena Buhay
(CPE ’12), Houston, is an IT manager at NASA Johnson Space Center. Last November she married Adam Naids, a space center project manager.  

Michael Mastriano
(M.A.R. ARC3 ’13), Hillsborough, N.J., is employed at the New York office of EYP Architecture and Engineering. He and his fiancée, Sarah Cunningham, are planning a spring 2017 wedding.

Jodi Watson
(M.D.M. ’13), Grand Rapids, Mich., is senior vice president at Petco Direct, responsible for leading the company’s multi-banner e-commerce businesses. 

Tameka Flowers
(M.P.A. ’14), Los Angeles, and her teenaged children relocated to California. She works in a leadership role for Goodwill Industries.

Dane Christianson
(ME ’15), Batavia, Ill., the inventor of the X-Cube “shape-shifting logic puzzle,” enlisted a new team member to help with business development. They scaled production of the X-Cube, landed several large customers, including Barnes & Noble, and resurrected a logic puzzle collectors item called the “Boob Cube,” which features just three shiftable parts.

Lucas Dahlin
(LAW ’15), East Palo Alto, Calif., represented Radware Ltd., an Israeli networking company, in a high-stakes patent litigation trial in the Northern District of California. The jury returned a multi-million dollar verdict in favor of Radware on all counts, finding that Radware’s patents were valid and willfully infringed.

Saba Dasadawala
(M.S. CS ’15), Chicago, is a software engineer at Cerner Corporation, which provides intelligent solutions for the health care industry.

Katrina Errant (née Clifford)
(INTM ’15, M.ITO. ’15), Bedford Park, Ill., works for Patrick Engineering and is contracted out to Argonne National Laboratory as a site floor manager for the installation of two new supercomputers, Aurora and Theta.

Sara Glade
(CHE 15, M.A.S. ENVE 15), Sleepy Hollow, Ill., received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for her work at the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Johannsen
(EMGT ’15), Stickney, Ill., developed BarTap, a mobile app that allows users to order a drink, pay for, and know when a drink is ready as well as buy someone else a drink at the bar. BarTap placed second at TechNexus IIT and was a semifinalist in the Future Founders 2015 U. Pitch College Elevator Pitch Competition and Showcase.

Cynthia Mendes
(EMGT ’15), Chicago, is employed at Rubinos and Mesia Engineers, Inc.

Kevin Roemer
(ITM ’15), Franklin Park, Ill., runs the full-service creative agency, Brandless Group, which offers services such as web design, brand identity, and mobile-application development. In addition, he helped start the FUND Conference, a thought-leadership event that pairs small startups with early stage investors. The first conference was held last fall and hosted more than 60 speakers, 100 startups, and 800 participants.

Fariha Wajid
(ARCH ’15), Villa Park, Ill., launched the startup INKMADE from an idea utilizing laser-cut wood-block print designs that she developed in an Illinois Tech product design course. She runs the popular business producing paper products and scarves with her husband, Afroz.

Sunny Patel
(AE ’16, M.E. MAE ’16), Pittsburgh, is in a two-year rotational engineering program at Eaton Corporation, a power management company.