Class Notes

1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s

1950s

James N. Salapatas (IE ’55), Colorado Springs, Colo., has been included in the Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes.

Kanji Sahara (EE ’56), Torrance, Calif., was featured on CNN. As a kid, America sent him to live in a barracks with 18,000 others. Now, decades later, he’s getting an apology.

1960s

Pier C. Borra (MET ’61), Harbor Springs, Mich., gifted the Borra Family Learning Center as part of the Building Tomorrow Together campaign at North Central Michigan College.

Hayden M. Aronson (PHYS ’64), Corvallis, Ore., received the 2022 Majestic Spotlight Award from the Majestic Theatre.

Lewis Thigpen (M.S. MECH’67, Ph.D. ’70), Alexandria, Va., received the Illinois Institute of Technology Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Alumni Award on April 8, 2022.

Takao Kobayashi (M.S. MECH’69, Ph.D. ’72), Morgan Hill, Calif., was inducted into the SRI International Hall of Fame in October 2022 in recognition of his advancement of material fracture analysis techniques and development of FRASTA (fracture surface topography analysis).

1970s

Peter P. Hanik (CHE ’72), Houston, has written a book, Type 3 Solutions: Problem Solving for Competitive Advantage.

Rohinton M. Rivetna (M.S. IE ’74), Hinsdale, Ill., was featured on Zoroastrians.net on “The Good Minds Project-Roshan and Rohinton Rivetna.”

Elaine C. Thomopoulos (Ph.D. PSYC ’74), Burr Ridge, Ill., was the editor of Modern Greece, a thematic encyclopedia recently published by ABC-CLIO.

Steven M. Odre (LAW ’77), Westlake Village, Calif., was named senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Amgen.

Steven L. Glickman (ARCH ’78), Bethlehem, Pa., was elected chairperson to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and celebrated his 22nd year at his firm, Steven Glickman Architect.

Jeffery M. Leving (LAW ’79), Chicago, published the article “More Research is Breaking New Ground on Often-Overlooked Group: African-American Youth” in the ChicagoSun-Times on December 14, 2022, and was a guest on Daytime Chicago.

1980s

Heidi L. Rank (ARCH ’81), San Rafael, Calif., was promoted to senior project manager at Swinerton for construction renovation projects.

H. P. Morris (LAW ’83), Kenilworth, Ill., was an Advocate for Diversity Honoree at the 2022 Diversity Scholarship Foundation’s Unity Gala and Awards Ceremony.

Nancy E. Paridy (LAW ’83), Evanston, Ill., was quoted in the Chicago Tribune article, “Inside Streeterville’s Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the World-Renowned Rehab Facility Treating Patients like Danny Golden and Cooper Roberts” on August 27, 2022.

Stanley N. Schachne (ARCH ’83), Davie, Fla., was presented the 2022 Community Service Award from the Fort Lauderdale Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

James E. Muraida (ME ’84), Mokena, Ill., has been appointed vice president at Sargent & Lundy, an engineering firm in Chicago.

Naresh K. Shanker (CS ’85, M.A.S. BA ’86), Menlo Park, Calif., was featured in the Forbes article “Naresh Shanker has 100-Year-Old Xerox Thinking Like A Startup” on February 3, 2020.

Paul N. Krystosek (Ph.D. CS ’86), Murrysville, Pa., has retired.

Michael J. Bertucci (ARCH ’89), Chicago, was elected treasurer of the Justinian Society of Lawyers.

Craig S. Donohue (LAW ’89), Sea Island, Ga., was reelected to the Options Clearing Corporation  Board of Directors as executive chairman.

James P. Nagle (LAW ’89), Oak Brook, Ill., has restored the Drake Hotel and has it ready to reopen in Oak Brook, according to ChicagoBusiness.com and myinspiredesign.com.

1990s

Victoria K. Meyer (CHE ’90), Spring, Texas, hosts a weekly podcast, The Chemical Show, at thechemicalshow.com.

Scott M. Conwell (ARCH ’91), Naperville, Ill., was awarded the Cesery Award for his contributions to the ceramic tile industry by the Tile Contractors’ Association of America.

Matthew P. Walsh (LAW ’92), Indian Head Park, Ill., was elected to the Chicago Bar Association’s Board of Managers and was named co-chair of CBA’s 2022 Pro Bono Week.

Junjian Tang (ARCH ’93), Lisle, Ill., appeared on a podcast by Business Office Systems discussing immigrating to America, architectural excellence, and paying it forward.

David G. Wiatrowski (M.S. EE ’93, C.E.R. COMM ’04, M.A.S. ECE ’08), Woodstock, Ill., was awarded the 2021 Motorola Solutions Business Patent of the Year by Motorola Solutions, Inc. on March 11, 2022.

Jonathan P. Atwood (CHE ’96), West Linn, Ore., has joined Trillium Engineering as chief executive officer.

Kelly L. Franznick (M.D.S. DSGN ’96), Bainbridge Island, Wash., had the company that he co-founded, Seattle UX company Blink, acquired by India-based information technology services giant Mphasis.

Grace Hsu (ARCH ’96), Corte Madera, Calif., designed a seismic buildout for Stanford Health Care Hospital.

Gregory T. Wyler (LAW ’96), Stuart, Fla., raised $50 million in funding for his new startup E-Space.

Nafisa I. Bhojawala (DSGN ’97), Seattle, Wash., started as the UX leader for Google Kubernetes Engine and Anthos in September 2020.

Jonathan A. Carson (LAW ’’97), Los Angeles, rebranded Bankruptcy Management Solutions as Stretto.

Ray C. Schrock (LAW ’98), Rye, N.Y., was named a top restructuring lawyer for 2022 by Business Insider.

2000s

Gwenn Peters (ME, AE ’02), Milwaukee, was named one of Milwaukee’s 40 under 40.

Claudette Soto (ARCH ’02, M.A.S. STE ’05), Evergreen Park, Ill., has been appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to serve on the Chicago Plan Commission. The City Council subsequently approved the appointment on September 21, 2022.

Kavin Ammigan (ME ’04, M.S. MAE ’07, Ph.D. ’12), Naperville, Ill., received the United States Department of Energy Early Career Award for his research at FermiLab.

Julie A. Chandler (CE ’07, ME ARCE ’16), Aurora, Ill., started a new position at Resource Innovations as an energy engineer IV.

Margaret P. Battersby Black (LAW ’08), Elmhurst, Ill., was named managing partner of Levin & Perconti, a law firm specializing in nursing homes, medical malpractice, and catastrophic injury and death cases.

Whynde Kuehn (M.S. EM ’09), Chicago, published her first book, Strategy to Reality: Making the Impossible Possible.

Chia Jui Wang (M.A.S. ITO ’09), Northville, Mich., is now the vice president of global supply chain for Terumo Cardiovascular.

2010s

Evan W. Jahn (EM ’10), Chicago, unveiled his new brand, Jahnunbounded by convention/ energized by the future.

Param I. Singh Pal (M.A.S. MAE ’10), Inverness, Ill., has launched a new product through Enterprise Atlas.

Kirtiprakash Kondiparty (Ph.D. CHE ’12), Sugar Land, Texas, has moved to Houston to work for ChampionX.

Bruno R. Marasso (LAW ’12), Chicago, was installed as the 2022–23 president of the Justinian Society of Lawyers.

Rei C. Schultz (ARCH ’14), Bothell, Wash., has married Erik Schultz (ARCH ’13).

2020s

Michael J. Rivich (BA ’20, M.S. MANL ’20), Whiting, Ind., has become part owner of Rivich Auction & Estates.

Urvi Chandreshkumar Sheth (M.A.S. CS ’20), Chicago, hosted a webinar on November 2 about racial/ethnic disparities in the observed COVID-19 case fatality rate among the United States population.

Meredith B. Ludlam (ARCH ’21), Omaha, Neb., has joined CPL, an architecture, engineering, and planning firm, as an architectural designer.

Hitanshu R. Rami (CS ’21), Schaumburg, Ill., has joined Amazon as a software development engineer.

Michael Wojcicki (CS ’21), Schaumburg, Ill., who graduated summa cum laude in May 2021, has joined Google as a software engineer.