Spring 2023

Equalizing the Environment

Cynthia Ferguson (LAW ’00) was known for wearing walking shoes to community meetings, where she stayed late to ask neighborhood residents how she could help with environmental complaints. Now, after decades working for the United States Department of Justice, she has been selected by the White House to head the department’s new environmental justice office.

Inside this Issue

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The chief alumni publication of Illinois Institute of Technology, Illinois Tech Magazine is published as a print/web edition each spring and fall, and as a web-exclusive edition each summer by the Office of Marketing and Communications in collaboration with the Office of Advancement. It showcases outstanding Illinois Tech alumni who...

President’s Message

Letter from the President

When I first arrived at Illinois Institute of Technology, I was thrilled to take my place in a growing, innovative community with such incredible potential. Now, after nearly two years serving as president, I can honestly say that the opportunities and innovations I’ve seen flourish on campus have far exceeded my expectations.

On Campus

Letters

Excerpts from a handwritten letter from reader Ronald A. Dickman (BE ’67) , who supplied many comments about the fall-winter 2022 issue of Illinois Tech Magazine. Here is a selection of some of Dickman’s commentary on this issue. “The letter from Charles Ticho (EE ’48) brought back many memories. I...

On Campus

Students Design Homes for Chicago’s Englewood Neighborhood

Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture students are partnering with a Chicago developer and alderman to build homes in the city’s Englewood neighborhood for what is called a “missing” demographic in the home building world: middle class families.

On Campus

Showing Chicago-Area Kids the Sky Is Not the Limit

In February 2023 AeroStar Avion Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit that serves as an educational pipeline for underrepresented groups, teamed up with Illinois Tech for an event titled Engineering HER Future in Space in which 40 middle school and high school students engaged in individual and team activities such as drawing planetary orbits and learning how to use design thinking to draft a rocket.

On Campus

Grainger Prize Awarded to Stablecoin Benefitting Mexico’s Unbanked

The second annual Grainger Computing Innovation Prize was awarded to a team of Illinois Institute of Technology students for its invention of a cross-compatible, simple-to-use stablecoin payment solution that would address the financial access gap for millions of Mexico’s unbanked.

On Campus

Headliners

What The Last of Us did for U.S. games is it showed that we could handle tremendous complexity in a narrative structure about social issues. And in an action game, a game historically made for the ‘hardcore player,’ The Last of Us starts helping us rethink what we can do in AAA games.

On Campus

Students’ ‘Tree of Life’ Takes International Prize

A team of Illinois Institute of Technology students took the top prize in the 2022 Keysight Innovation Challenge for its novel “Tree of Life” Internet-of-Things device, which collects data from the soil and the atmosphere around it to determine the best trees to plant for maximum carbon dioxide capture and optimum growing conditions.

Athletics

Researching the Playing Field

Former Illinois Tech Athletics Director Joe Hakes had a dream. He led an energetic athletics department, one that is part of a tech-focused university that is on the cutting edge of numerous emerging fields. Hakes saw opportunity, in the labs and playing fields around him.

Research Briefs

AI-Enabled

When OpenAI released its chatbot, ChatGPT, in November 2022, it seemed to take over the internet. Every day someone was demonstrating what the language processing tool was capable of—including almost passing the bar exam.

Research Briefs

Who Says Jets Need Tails to Fly?

Illinois Institute of Technology Professor David Williams and his team have demonstrated the first use of a novel control method in an aircraft with no tail.

Features

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.

Features

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.

Features

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.”

Features

Michael Buonanno

Like some prodigious inventors, Michael Buonanno (AE ’01) truly understood the importance of his project when his first child was born.

Features

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.