1930–39 | 1940-49 | 1950-59 | 1960-69 | 1970-79 | 1980-89 | 1990-99 | 2000-09 | 2010-
Take a minute to send us your news: sandys@umich.edu.
(Earlier updates are directly below by graduation year)
Erin (Alderink) Grashoff (BSE ’15) recently got married to Alex Grashoff, who graduated from LSU, on June 27, 2020. She also started a new position at Dow as a production engineer for methacrylates in Houston, TX. (2020)
Tyler Berghorst (BSE ’14, BSE MSE ’14) just returned to the US after living in China for several years where he taught calculus at an international high school. In September, he will move to Barcelona, Spain to obtain his MBA from IESE Business School. Aside from that, he’s been travelling a lot, before COVID-19, and has recently have gotten into rock climbing. (2020)
College sweethearts Kailash (Kai) Brodeur (BSE ’15) and Samantha Raney (BSE MSE ’16) were engaged on the Summer Solstice, June 20, 2020 (socially distanced from others, of course). (2020)
Doug Douthitt’s (BSE ’79) firm, KayFlo Industries, was acquired by The Andersons in 2015, and Doug stayed on to assist in the integration until 2017. After leaving his job, he started DA Douthitt Consulting LLC, providing interim operational management and acquisition support (and some entertainment as he slides into retirement). With this change, his family has relocated from South Dakota back to the Asheville NC area. His wife, Karen, has started back into Kitchen Design. Their son, Isaac, is weathering the COVID situation via remote learning to get through middle school. Fortunately, he has an aptitude for PCs and the Internet. They are proud to note that their eldest daughter, Madison, has completed her stint in AmeriCorps and is now with the American Conservation Experience as the Eastern Region Member Coordinator for the National Park Service Division. (2020)
Damon Gatewood (ChE ’94) is teaching high school chemistry in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. He completed his MA in secondary science education in 2014 from Wayne State University and he is a Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellow. (2020)
Emily Gibara (BSE ’15) recently got engaged to Tyler Dejaeghere, They met her senior year at Michigan in 2014, and are now both working for Air Liquide in Houston, TX. (2020)
After having been retired from Procter & Gamble for 25 years, Tom Gougeon (BSE 58, BS Chem 58) became a great-grandfather for the first time on November 27, 2019, when Henry Thomas Schoch was born. (2020)
In 1959, after completing his master’s degree, George Grove (BSE ’58, BS Chem ’58, MSE ’59) took a job with Parke, Davis & Co in Detroit, near Belle Isle, and worked in their pilot plant on chemical processes to make chemical pharmaceutical products. One of the drugs he worked on was Chloroquine for malaria. He decided he didn’t want a career in manufacturing, so he made tablets (8 hours a day) for four years while studying law in the evening at the nearby University of Detroit Law School (now University of Detroit Mercy).
During his last year in law school, George was hired to practice patent law for General Motors in Detroit at the GM Building. He practiced patent law for GM for 36 years, retiring in March 2001. Until recently, he received patent work from GM but, at 84 years of age, is it now fully retired. He says he treasures the 55 years of patent work where he fully utilized his Michigan education and still appreciates his experience at Michigan. (2020)
Jules Hinske (BSE ’15) was recently recognized as one of AIChE’s 35 Under 35! She was awarded this recognition in the Process Safety category. (2020)
This past spring, Eric Jankowski (BSE ’05, MSE ’06, PhD ’12) was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering at Boise State University. (2020)
With a public yearning for more regional exploration, Steve Jermanok (BSE ’86) took advantage of this downtime to author a new book, New England in a Nutshell. He did a deep dive into the more than 700 articles he wrote on the region for The Boston Globe, Yankee, Outside, and many other publications during the past quarter century. Steve distilled those stories down to a readable round-up format that includes more than 50 categories and 300 entries. The book/ebook was published on July 2nd and you can order at Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089TB7FCY. (2020)
Hunter Krebs (BSE ’17) and Ashley Kuehne (BSE ’17) celebrated their marriage on August 8, 2020. The wedding was smaller than they originally intended with about 80 people in attendance. The ceremony and reception were both held outdoors to comply with Michigan’s executive orders and the bride and groom highly encouraged the use of facemasks. (2020)
Kelvin Lau (BSE ’02, MEng Pharm ’03) and his wife and two children, now 6 & 3, still live in Massachusetts and he continues to work at AbbVie, as a manufacturing engineer. He says he goes into work 3-5 times a week during COVID-19, as he supports active manufacturing. (2020)
Kevin DaJuan Lewis Jr. (BSE ’12) and his wife, Chae’ Lewis, had their fourth child on May 11, 2020, Olivia Lynn Lewis (5 lbs. 15 oz. 19 in), new sister to Kenneth (6), Michelle (4) and Calise (2). (2020)
Bo Mahjour (BSE ’18) is a PhD student at Michigan studying medicinal chemistry at the College of Pharmacy. He was recently had an article published in Nature as the first author. His lab also released work using AI to support the COVID drug supply chain (Preprint). He also created a website showing the results: http://covidroutes.cernaklab.com/ (2020)
It’s been a busy 2019 and 2020 for Jessica Mattis (BSE 04)! She married the love of her life, Joel Carolan, on May 4, 2019 and is happily now Jessica Mattis-Carolan. Also, Mrs. Mattis-Carolan received a national award from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) as Emerging Leader Award in Nov 2019: For enthusiastically taking on every and any challenge; for cross-functional leadership that effectively demonstrates teamwork, champions change, and delivers on-time quality results; and for steadfast advocacy of women engineers. In February 2020, Jessica was selected for a new manager role in Customer Experience to strategically lead a team to transform General Motor’s digital presence specifically for the mobile app. She is thankful for great colleagues and appreciative of her blessed life. (2020)
Julie (Messacar) Rivard (BS ’00, MBA ’03 Central Michigan) just celebrated 20 years with Dow/Dow Corning and is currently working as an innovation portfolio manager. In addition, she just celebrated her 18th wedding anniversary to Todd. Julie has three kids; Jocelyn (11), Quintin (8), and Dylan (8), who keep the family busy with various sports and activities. One of Julie’s fall traditions is spending a day with each kid at a Michigan Football game. Go Blue!! (2020)
Michael Oles (BSE ’13) is working as a project manager for Roeslein & Associates outside of St. Louis. He works primarily in the aluminum beverage can making industry, with projects completed for Anheuser Busch and Ball Corporation. Michael married his fiancée, Gretchen, on December 14, 2019, with 4 fellow Wolverines as groomsmen. (2020)
Deepak Pandya (MSE ’81) left KBC Advanced Technology after 8 years and took a job with Advisian as manager consulting services, Downstream & Market Services Group, responsible for project delivery in the APAC region. He continues to be based in Singapore. He says this job gives him an exciting and challenging role and leverages his experience in strategic consulting for the refining, petrochemicals and chemicals industries. (2020)
Kiran Prasad (BSE ’19) is completing an internship at Microsoft this summer as a master’s student in AI at Carnegie Mellon University. (2020)
Emily Robb (BSE ’10) works at Fiat Chrysler on autonomous vehicle advanced development in Lidar and Radar component engineering. She is married with two daughters, age 1 and 3. (2020)
Ellen (Schwab) Rospierski (ChE ’97) and her husband, John, welcomed their first child, Cass Jerome Rospierski, on December 20, 2019. Ellen is a patent attorney with Quinn IP Law in Northville, Michigan, and John, Ellen, and Cass live in Royal Oak, Michigan. (2020)
After working as a project engineer at Air Liquide for five years, Kanchan Swaroop (BSE ’13) left the company to pursue a graduate degree. In May 2020, she completed a dual master’s program in environmental engineering and environment and sustainability from Michigan. She is currently a technical advocacy associate for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy where she is assisting with the advancement of energy and water efficiency standards. She and her fiancé are based in the DC area and are planning to get married in Colorado in September 2021. (2020)
Agus Tjandra (BSE ’01, BSE MSE ’01) decided to join Intel about two years ago after working for 17 years at Applied Materials. He is currently working as senior staff diffusion engineer in the Non-Volatile Memory Technology Development Group within Intel. (2020)
Daniel Tresnak (ChE ’17) and his fiancée, Clare Romano (BSN ’18), were married on August 2020! (2020)
William Troske (BSE ’17) will begin work on his master’s in economics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. (2020)
Dana (Weimar) (BSE ’11) and James DeRosier (BSE ’11) welcomed their son, Tyler James, into the world on March 22. They are enjoying life as a family of three in Midland, MI with their 2 dogs. Dana is currently working at Hemlock Semiconductor Operators and James is at DuPont. (2020)
After his dear wife of 67 years succumbed to Alzheimer’s in 2006, Arthur Kohn (BSE ’34) started attending classes in history, art history, and geology at Kent State Geauga University. This has helped him keep his brain working!
Hugh O. McCormick (BSE ’39) passed away on November 2, 2018 in Clearwater, FL. He was a loyal Michigan alumnus. When he celebrated his 100th birthday in December 2017, he said that the University of Michigan was “not just my alma mater…it was the foundation for my life and career.” He often spoke of Michigan with obvious pride, and frequently talked about George Granger Brown, his favorite professor, as having left a lasting impression on him. After receiving his BSE degree, he accepted a commission as an Ensign in the US Navy, working through the coming World War as a munitions engineer. During the war year, Hugh married the love of his life, Lois McGucken. When Lois passed in 2000, she and Hugh had been married 54 years! Hugh worked briefly for Curtis-Wright Aviation, and then accepted employment at the Ford Motor Company, remaining with the automaker until his retirement in 1986. Hugh is survived by three sons and a grandson. The family has requested that donations may be made to the University of Michigan College of Engineering. (2019)
Frank E. Pavlis (MS ’39) died August 24, 2018 in Allentown, PA, at age 101. He was the first employee hired by Leonard Pool at Air Products Inc. when Pool founded the company in Detroit in 1940. (2019)
William M. Saltman (BSE ’38, BSE (Math) ’38, MS ’39) has now been retired for 30 years and doesn’t give much thought to chemistry, much less chemical engineering. He is curious to learn if any of his classmates still flourish or even just survive. He says that he and his wife moved from Akron, OH to San Diego in 1989 and never regretted it. (2013)
Professor John J. McKetta, Jr. (BSE ’43, MS ’44, PhD ’46) passed away on January 15, 2019, at the age of 103 in Austin, TX. McKetta received his PhD in 1946 from the University of Michigan, as well as an MS and BSE degree in 1943 and 1944, respectively. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and in 2009, was selected by AIChE as one of the “50 Chemical Engineers of the Foundation Age.” He also served as president of AIChE in 1962. (2019) See story from our Fall 2013 newsletter
Paul H. Schwan (BSE ’43) married in 1945 and has one son, born in 1956. After graduation he went to work for Standard Oil Co. (Ind.) /Amoco Oil Co and retired in 1981 after 38 years. Paul’s wife died in 2000.
Starting in 2002, he and his son have traveled extensively, visiting twelve European countries in five trips, also Alaska and the Yukon, did a seven day trek in Peru ending at Machu Picchu , and they just completed a trip to Hawaii. In Hawaii they spent a very emotional day at Pearl Harbor visiting the Arizona Memorial, the Battleship Missouri, on which the Japanese signed the surrender agreement, and the Bowfin, a WW II submarine. With the visit to Hawaii, he has now visited all fifty States.
Most people today do not know that after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the U.S. government granted automatic deferments, to juniors and above in engineering and medicine, which ended upon graduation. After two six-month deferments, while working for Standard Oil, he failed the eye test for Army service, and thus is not a veteran.
At age 93, he is enjoying good health and stays active in church and community. (2015)
Don Spink (BSE ’45) was a professor at the University of Waterloo for 20 years and retired in 1988. Life is great! He and his wife were blessed with 6 sons, 15 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren so far. He says his golf game is pretty bad but he still walks the course. He and his wife just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. (2011)
Joyce VanTuyl (BSE ’45) recently retired as the Braille coordinator at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library. Her specialty is the transcription of math and science into Braille. (2011)
Margaret Frank (BSE ’46) retired from Parke, Davis and Taylor in Michigan. She and her husband are preparing to move into senior housing. Over the years since returning to Tucson, Arizona, they have enjoyed participating in the programs of the University of Michigan Club of Tucson. (2011)
Paul Gann (BSE ’47) is retired after 34 years with Monsanto Chemical Co, Solutia. Of course, Monsanto is no longer listed as a chemical company. (2017)
Donald McKee (BSE ’47) is nearing 88 and is still going strong—at least, trying to do so! (2011)
Coral L. DePriester (MSE ‘48), author of DePriester Charts, celebrated his 90th birthday last April. (2013)
John Porter (MSE ’48) is healthy and is happily enjoying his 29th year in retirement. (2011)
Takeo Shirasawa (BSE ’48) received a master’s degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 in addition to his degree from Michigan. He says he is happy in retirement and has many great memories of his years at Michigan. (2011)
Calvin Cox (BSE ’49, MBA ’50) retired from BASF in 1986 after 36 years with Dow Chemical, Dow Badische, Badische, BASF, combined. His health is good and he’s an active golfer, yard man and conservative!
Raymond Czarnecki (BSE ’50) had a long career as vice president of Chem RID. He was also an adjunct professor in business at North Carolina State University. (2011)
After 25+ the years, the longest they’ve ever lived in one place, Marje (M.Mus ’51) and Marty Gluckstein (BSE ’50, MSE ’51, PhD ’57) sold their condo and relocated to Harwood Place, a senior community in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin in November 2016. So far, so good. (2017)
Ralph E. Hillman (BS ’50, MS ’53) and his wife celebrated the birth of their eleventh great-grandchild and also celebrated the wedding of their seventh (of nine) grandchild in late May. (2016)
Darwin E. Rhoads (BSE ‘50) moved from Hendersonville, North Carolina to Statesville, North Carolina in December 2012. (2013)
Ralph Robinson (MSE ’50) and his wife, Georgia, are splitting their retirement years between Lincolnshire, IL and Fort Myers, FL. (2014)
Vincent De Sena (BSE ’51) retired from Exxon in 1986. After retirement he became involved in volunteer work in a variety of projects including winning a seat on the governing body of his former home of Bethlehem Township, New Jersey where he lived for over 32 years. He has recently moved into the Hillview Retirement Community in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Virginia, live near their two daughters, who both have homes within sight of their back deck. Vincent and his wife enjoy as much time as they can with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who all live in New Jersey. Other than those visits, at 84 years, he says his traveling days are over. (2011)
Wayne Hamilton (BSE ’51) retired from Lockheed in 1994, and is still enjoying retirement. Singing bass in a barbershop chorus is his favorite activity. (2013)
Alan Molof (MSE ’51) transferred to environmental engineering in the Civil Engineering Department at Michigan and received an MS and PhD in this new area. The master’s was in 1953 and the PhD was completed in 1957 but not awarded until 1960 because he had to leave school—he and his wife had one child and another on the way! Alan joined New York University in 1962 after one year at Dore-Oliver and four years with Lederle Labs of American Cyrnard Co. He is now professor emeritus of environmental engineering. (2011)
Ralph Schatz (BSE ’51, MSE ’53, PhD ’57) is now fully retired after 31 years of employment and 21 years of consulting with Exxon Mobil Chemical Co. (2011)
Cunhao Zhang (MS ’51) was named a member of the China Academy of Science in laser chemistry. He is one of two Chinese scientists who received the top science and technology award in China in 2013. (2014)
Pete Lederman (BSE ’53. PhD ’61) and his wife Sue (BS ’58 LSA) celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on August 25. Pete is still active and has been reappointed to the New Jersey Department for Environmental Protection’s Science Advisory Board for three years. He also is a director of the Chemical Heritage Foundation and is finishing a term as past chair of the AIChE Foundation. Sue is a trustee of New Jersey Future, an NGO that works for sustainable development and planning. (2017)
Edward Niemiec (BSE ’53) retired from BASF Citing Co. in 1997 after 30-plus years of service. He and his wife have traveled the world many times with the alumni group, and are currently enjoying their grandchildren. (2011)
John Piazza (BSE ’53, BS MTL ’53, MSE ’59, PhD ’62) sold his house in Bethel Hts., AR, and now lives three miles west of his younger son, Leonard, and his wife, Leticia. (2017)
Jim Ryan (BS ’54) has relocated with his wife, Nicole to Shell Point Retirement Community southwest of Fort Myers, Fl. He retired from Koch Industries (Wichita) in 2000. (2016)
In view of the President’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris COP 21 Accords, Milton Meckler (MSE ’55) thought his ChE classmates might find his most recent e-book of interest. The book, “Frozen Legacy” is available on Amazon.com under his pen name: Mel Meckler. He says it has a wealth of useful references, statistics, and diagrams dealing with “serious negative climatic change outcomes.” Meckler has served as an adjunct professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at the School of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Northridge, having taught environmental science courses there for several years. He was a State of Oregon registered environmental P.E., and has had some of his work published in the “International Journal Of Global Warming.” (2018)
After retirement, Eugene Praschan (BSE ’55) worked and consulted with the auto trade association on government environmental regulations affecting automotive facilities. (2011)
Joseph Ray (BS ’55) is moving to the San Francisco Bay area. (2014)
In 1959, after completing his master’s degree, George Grove (BSE ’58, BS Chem ’58, MSE ’59) took a job with Parke, Davis & Co in Detroit, near Belle Isle, and worked in their pilot plant on chemical processes to make chemical pharmaceutical products. One of the drugs he worked on was Chloroquine for malaria. He decided he didn’t want a career in manufacturing, so he made tablets (8 hours a day) for four years while studying law in the evening at the nearby University of Detroit Law School (now University of Detroit Mercy).
During his last year in law school, George was hired to practice patent law for General Motors in Detroit at the GM Building. He practiced patent law for GM for 36 years, retiring in March 2001. Until recently, he received patent work from GM but, at 84 years of age, is it now fully retired. He says he treasures the 55 years of patent work where he fully utilized his Michigan education and still appreciates his experience at Michigan. (2020)
Manesh Shah (MSE ’57) keeps active in a local AIChE section and is an AIChE representative in Silicon Valley Engineering Council where he was a director last year. He retired from IBM after 32 years of service 21 years ago. (2013)
After having been retired from Procter & Gamble for 25 years, Tom Gougeon (BSE 58, BS Chem 58) became a great-grandfather for the first time on November 27, 2019, when Henry Thomas Schoch was born. (2020)
William Rose (BSE ’58) retired from General Motors 1993. He has been married for 52 years and has two sons and nine grandchildren. He and his wife, Eleanor, enjoy classical music, the many arts in the area, traveling and playing golf. William tutors twice a week at the church. They live six months in Michigan and six months in Florida during the year. (2011)
Noel De Nevers (PhD ’59) spent most of his working life as a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Utah. He is best known for his engineering textbooks, the first, Fluid Mechanics for Chemical Engineers, 3rd ed., McGraw Hill, 2005, has been in print since 1970. It was the first fluids textbook to work primarily with mass and energy (not vectors) instead of the mass and momentum (a vector) used by previous fluids books written by civil and mechanical engineers. Others joined him in this field, including his U–M friend and classmate Jim Wilkes.
Since retiring in 2002, he has published revised editions of his three textbooks, and, after 14 years of effort, published The Kolob Tragedy: The Lost Tale of a Canyoneering Calamity, Canyoneering USA, 2016, http://www.ronwatters.com/KolobTragedy.html. He is no longer a vigorous outdoor person, but in his middle age he stood on the top of Kilimanjaro, Whitney, Rainier and Kala Pater, and was the official discoverer of Private Arch in Arches National Park. (2017)
Ivan A. Franson (BS ChE ’59, BS MetE ’59) and his wife, Barbara, celebrated 55 years of marriage with family (all 18 of us) by cruising in the western Caribbean over New Year’s Day weekend. It was an opportunity of a lifetime.
After leaving Michigan, Ivan travelled the metallurgical route, earning an MSc and PhD in metallurgy from Stevens Institute of Technology while working in research for International Nickel Company and Air Reduction Company. Market/product development positions with Airco Vacuum Metal, Titanium Metals Corporation, and Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation (ALCS) followed. Ivan’s position at retirement from ALCS was manager of Stainless and Alloy Metallurgy. His chemical engineering education was put to good use, particularly during the market/product development phase. Assistance with alloy selection for various unique corrosion problems being experienced on equipment in process plants, offshore platforms, etc., was a large part of his job experience.
One of Ivan’s most enjoyable experiences was participating in a bed-and-breakfast business that Barbara started and ran for five years in historic Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. People from many parts of the world stayed at the Main Stay B&B, leaving many fond memories.
Through many moves, Ivan and Barbara remained active in church activities, particularly singing in the church choirs. They also enjoyed participating in community choral groups. They have also returned to Ann Arbor for occasional football games with family and former U–M alums. (2016)
Robert Larkins (PhD ’59) is still in Houston but is downsizing to a retirement community. He enjoys following Men’s Glee Club activities as an alumnus of the group. Best wishes for continued ChE success. (2017)
Dave Stanton (BSE ’59) says it’s to believe but in June he’ll celebrate 22 years of retirement from a 34-year ChE career with Union Carbide. He and his wife, Pat, remain in their adopted hometown, Charleston WV. (2015)
Glen Smith (BSE ’59, MSE ’60, PhD ’65) retired from the Mead Corporation several years ago and recently moved to a continuing care retirement community called Bristol Village, where the members all live in individual homes. (2017)
Leonard Bloomfield (BSE ’60) retired on August 29, 2001 and was home recovering from a heart attack when the dramatic events of September 11 occurred.The following spring he got a job at the Chicago Botanic Garden as a Tour Tram guide and narrator, and continues such to this date. He says it is one of the most beautiful places on earth and certainly recommends any tourist visit it when in the Chicagoland area. (2013)
Dave Haartz (BSE ’60) and Gordie Sam (BSE ’60), roommates and chemical engineering graduates in 1960, reconnected in Washington DC last year to catch up on each other’s exploits since retiring from their respective engineering careers. Dave Haartz (BSE ’60) retired after 32 years with the title scientist; 16 years with the Procter and Gamble Company and 16 years with a division of Bristol Myers Squibb. (also see update for Gordie Sam (BSE ’60))
Dave spent most of his engineering days working on familiar household products. At P&G he worked on Crest toothpaste, first in the US, and then as a member of the team introducing Crest into Mexico, Venezuela, and the UK. His memorable contribution was being a member of the team moving Crest from lead tubes to plastic laminate tubes. Every tube still bears his signature sentence in red, first placed there in 1972. At Bristol, he worked on household names such as Drano and Windex. In retirement, he and his wife travel the world as members of the Travelers Century Club, visiting over 150 countries. In his spare time, he prepares tax returns for a diverse group of US tax clients living in the US and foreign countries. (2018)
Irv Miller (PhD ’60) and his wife are retired & enjoying life in Evanston, IL. He says, with the exception of the lakefront here, Evanston is a lot like Ann Arbor—one of the reasons they live there. He volunteers as an engagement manager for the Executive Service Corps of Chicago, which provides management consulting services for nonprofits in the greater Chicago area. He also writes poetry, takes classes at Northwestern, and enjoys family (wife, 2 kids & 4 grandkids who are growing up too fast). He would love to hear from his old (you can take that 2 ways) friends—by phone or e-mail, 847-328-8595, ifmiller@sbcglobal.net. (2017)
Gordie Sam (BSE ’60) retired from 27 years as a nuclear engineer with the US Navy in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was in DC to attend the National Convention of the Credit Union Association. He is in his 24th year as chairman of the Board of Pearl Hawaii Federal Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Several years ago he was inducted into the Hall of Honor of the Defense Credit Union Council, in honor of his many years of service to the credit union community. He ran the U-M Club of Hawaii for 30 years and is still active in recruiting students for Michigan. He is also active in the Special Olympics and was inducted into their Hall of Honor. (also see Dave Haartz (BSE ’60)) (2018)
George Tsao (BSE ’60) retired from Purdue after 32 years, after training 72 PhD students and 63 post docs, writing over 300 papers, receiving 18 patents and doing pioneer research in the field of biofuel and renewable resources. He was the recipient of a renewable energy award from Department of Energy, in addition to other national awards. (2011)
After Lloyd Uhler (BSE ’60) received his bachelor’s degree, he went on to complete two MS degrees from the University of Buffalo, one in ChE and one in computer science. He worked in high tech for many years. Now that he is retired, he plays chess, read books, and writes useful software. (2017)
Jim Wilkes (PhD ’60) has edited and published his grandfather Alfred Oscroft’s manuscript, Place-Names of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The book, 624 pages, 200 illustrations (many in color), hardcover, traces the names of all the villages and towns in Jim’s native county to their origins, mainly Anglo-Saxon. Jim has been named an Honorary Life Member of the English Place-Name Society. He and his wife, Mary Ann, are Joint Patrons of the New Victoria County History of Hampshire project in England. (2015)
Roger W. Campbell (BSE ’63) worked in a variety of positions at Marathon Oil. As technical director of Petroliber, Marathon’s Spanish refinery at La Coruna, he was responsible for the design and construction of the first delayed coker, the first cat cracker, the first ammonia burning sulfur plant, and first four-stage biological effluent water treating plant in Spain. After retiring from Marathon, Roger consulted on design and construction of sulfur recovery plants and tail-gas treating. His last consulting project was on the design and construction of waste motor oil recovery and re-use plants. Unfortunately, all these had to be built in Europe because the US EPA has classified used motor oil as a hazardous waste and doesn’t permit the reuse of used motor oil. (2011)
David Hellums (PhD ’61) went directly from Michigan to Rice University where he is now a Professor Emeritus. Over his 54 years at Rice, he has served as Chair of ChE Department, Chair of Bioengineering, and Dean of Engineering. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.(2014)
Eugene Kelly (MSE ’63, PhD ’67) celebrated his 90th birthday on January 18, 2011. (2011)
Max Legatski (BS ’61, MS ’63, PhD ’66) is semi-retired in Bartlesville, OK, but still working part time in the Petroleum Engineering business. He and his wife have two sons and two granddaughters. He says he’s glad he’s not old yet and he would like to hear from former classmates at MLegatski@aol.com. (2014)
Rafael V. Muñoz (BSE ‘63) is now retired and has moved north with his wife from San Marino, CA, to a small town, which is 20 miles south of San Francisco and six miles from Half Moon Bay to be close to their daughter. Their house is surrounded by McNee Ranch State Park (625 acres with glorious trails with Pacific Ocean views), Montara State Beach and Gray Whale Cove State Beach is a mile away; too cold for swimming but great for hikes. The town of Montara has no mail delivery to the houses so they have to go to the Post Office to get their mail! In 2012 they were blessed with the birth of their sixth grandchild. In addition to six grandchildren, they have two daughters and one son. (2013)
Douglas VanDerVoort (BSE ’64) has enjoyed the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s concert for many years. This year he and a colleague from Memmingen, Deutschland attended the concert in Vienna! (2014)
Thomas Kraska (BSE ’65, MBA ’66) is now retired from Dow, after some 44 years. He enjoyed many years in Midland as well as some other great locations (Coral Gables, FL, Ludington, MI and Sydney, NSW). Thomas now lives in Chapel Hill, NC most of the year, and has a summer home on Lake Superior in the Keweenaw. He says his Michigan ChE & MBA degrees prepared him for several great assignments in various functions and Dow business units. (2011)
Don Ray (BSE ’65) and Kay Ray (BSN ’67) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with their family on Mackinac Island. (2017)
John Garmus (BSE ’66) retired from Du Pont and relocated to Las Vegas. His wife of 40 years passed away five years ago. You can contact John at johngarmus@yahoo.com. (2015)
Karl Legatski (BSE ’66, MSE ’68) is semi-retired from Cel Tech, an industrial equipment business he started in 1991 that specializes in electro dialysis cells, ultra-filtration, and reverse osmosis. His son, Eric, is now president and majority owner of the company. (2011)
The 4th Edition of Warren Seider’s textbook (PhD ’66) has been published by John Wiley: Seider, W.D., D.R. Lewin, J.D. Seader, S. Widagdo, R. Gani, K.M. Ng, Product and Process Design Principles, 2017. He also delivered the keynote address in a memorial session to remember the contributions of Professor Stuart W. Churchill at the ASME-AIChE Summer Heat Transfer Conference in Bellevue, WA. He says that two memorial sessions are planned for the Minneapolis AIChE Meeting in October. Pete Lederman will be co-chairing the sessions with Seider, and Sharon Glotzer and Ron Larson will participate in the sessions. (2017)
Since retiring from Kodak in 2001, James Patton (BSE ’66, BS Chemistry ’66) has been busy with travel photography (www.jamespatton.com), volunteering with urban youth education, and club management at The Tennis Club of Rochester. He and Liz VanDyke (BS Chemistry ’66) will celebrate their 48th anniversary this year in Pittsford NY. Classmates can contact James at jpatton@rochester.rr.com. (2015)
Mike Downs (BSE ’67) recently finished a new app for iPhone and Android devices. It is a comprehensive guide to the animals and exhibits at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. You can download it for free at www.ks7d.com. (2015)
For the past couple of years, Marty Javinsky, (PhD ’67) has been participating in an AIChE online forum on climate change. Forum activity has ranged from evaluating the status of climate science to considering approaches to mitigation and adaptation. One of the main objectives has been to help AIChE update its policy statements regarding climate change. The sharing of members’ technical knowledge and sometimes conflicting interpretations of the science has created a stimulating and informative journey. If any fellow alumni would like to exchange views with Marty on this topic, he would welcome the opportunity at javinsky@umich.edu. (2019)
After a 40-year interlude, Peter Parker (MSE ’68, PhD ’74) and Dennis Stover (BSE ’67, MSE ’68, PhD ’75) got together in Oklahoma to recall their days in East Engineering under the respective guidance of Bob Kadlec and Frank Donahue. (2013)
Anthony Sartor (PhD ’68) has been a commissioner on the board of the Port Authority on New York and New Jersey (PANYNI) since 1999. He is the chair of the World Trade Center Redevelopment Subcommittee, charged with oversight responsibility for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center Site for the agency. (2011)
Barry Hollander (BSE ’69, MSE ’70) is practicing patent law in the Washington DC area at the law firm of Greenblum & Bernstein, P.L.C., in Reston, VA. (2011)
Robert Sander (BSE ’69) works as a process engineer for INEOS, a polyethylene and polypropylene manufacturer in Houston, TX. (2011)
Thomas L. Schwenk (BSE ’71; MD ’75) has been named vice president of the University of Nevada, Reno’s Division of Health Sciences and dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Schwenk was previously professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. (2011)
“To solve this problem, start by drawing a box around the operation and carefully label every energy and mass input and output….” John Burleson (BSE ’72) used this basic approach, drummed into his head at East Engineering, throughout his career. He says he became a master sleuth and problem solver in the R&D labs at AC Spark Plug Div, GMC and continuing at the spin-off, Delphi Corporation. While analytical chemistry is about as far as possible from his projected career in pilot plant operation, the engineering skills taught to him at Michigan let him solve many a situation where the rest of the chemists could never even figure out the right questions to be asking! (2011)
Thomas L. Gould (PhD ’72) was inducted into the Oregon State University Academy of Distinguished Engineers in February 2013. Gould has been recognized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers with the Ferguson Medal 1975, Distinguished Member 1983, Distinguished Lecturer 1988, Distinguished Author 1989, Forum Chair 1994, and Editorial Technical Review. Gould is currently a senior partner with an international petroleum reservoir consulting firm. (2013)
Robert Harrer (MSE ’72) has fond memories of his time in Ann Arbor. He retired from Chevron Corporation after 36 years with the company and still lives in San Francisco with his wife, Janis. They travel regularly, with trips to France almost annually. He is president of his neighborhood association, which is very involved in city politics. He has also been spending time working on his genealogy, which requires more analytical skills than expected. (2014)
Over the years, Paul Horst (BSE ’72) and his wife, Nancy, have logged over 40,000 miles cruising the world aboard their sailboats. After Paul retired in 1995 from Nematron, an industrial computer company he founded, they went sailing for two years, and then Paul worked five more years as president of DTE Energy Technologies, the alternative energy subsidiary of DTE Energy. More recently Paul has been chairman of Algal Scientific, a biotech company founded by his son and other U–M graduates. (2016)
Tim Donakowski (BSE ’73) retired in December 2015 after careers with the Ford Motor Company, Illinois Institute of Technology, the Minnesota Department of Health, and Minnesota OSHA. (2016)
Bruce Banyai (BSE ’74) is continuing to enjoy consulting for multiple clients in the chemical and biotech field. His five grandchildren keep life exciting! (2015)
Dennis Clifford (BSE ’74, MSE ’74, PhD ’76), a former department chair and director of environmental engineering at the University of Houston Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, became the Thomas and Laura Hsu Professor Emeritus in 2010. (2011)
Daniel Holloway (BSE ’74, MSE ’75) retired after 19 years with BASF Corporation and is now working with Miracle Hill Ministries as a volunteer. (2011)
Timothy Nelson (BSE ’74) retired from Chevron after 36 years in November 2010. He’s playing golf, traveling and enjoying the change in pace. (2011)
After a 40-year interlude, Peter Parker (MSE ’68, PhD ’74) and Dennis Stover (BSE ’67, MSE ’68, PhD ’75) got together in Oklahoma to recall their days in East Engineering under the respective guidance of Bob Kadlec and Frank Donahue. (2013)
Doug Vander Molen (BSE ’75) started work as a contractor for Matheson Gas, New Johnsonville, Tennessee as the plant engineer in October 2011. (2011)
Jeff Lievense (BSE ’76) was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering this year for his leadership in biomanufacturing of sustainable chemicals. He was also selected to receive the prestigious Raphael Katzen Award by the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB). (2019)
George Martin (BSE ’76) retired in July 2015 after nearly 38 years of employment with Exxon and ExxonMobil. George and his wife, Jennifer, will remain in Northern Virginia for the time being. (2015)
Robert Miller (BSE ’76) is in his 32nd year with Syngenta, and predecessor companies. After 17 years in plant process engineering and another 14 years in process technology (R & D support for supply chain), he has recently moved to the formulations engineering team at the Greensboro, NC site—so everything is new once again. He’s currently working in seed care applications. (2011)
Brian Mills (BSE ’76) retired after over 38 years with Union Carbide Corporation/The Dow Chemical Company. His career highlights include the design, construction and operation of many new chemical plants in Louisiana, Michigan, Texas, West Virginia and Montreal/Canada; leading a team to startup/operate the only chewing gum base resin facility in North America and; having the pleasure to work with great people over the years, many who also graduated from the University of Michigan. He says he enjoys being back in Michigan with its four seasons, and attending athletic events after spending most of his career out of state. (2015)
Doug Douthitt’s (BSE ’79) firm, KayFlo Industries, was acquired by The Andersons in 2015, and Doug stayed on to assist in the integration until 2017. After leaving his job, he started DA Douthitt Consulting LLC, providing interim operational management and acquisition support (and some entertainment as he slides into retirement). With this change, his family has relocated from South Dakota back to the Asheville NC area. His wife, Karen, has started back into Kitchen Design. Their son, Isaac, is weathering the COVID situation via remote learning to get through middle school. Fortunately, he has an aptitude for PCs and the Internet. They are proud to note that their eldest daughter, Madison, has completed her stint in AmeriCorps and is now with the American Conservation Experience as the Eastern Region Member Coordinator for the National Park Service Division. (2020)
Rhonda Germany-Ballintyn (BSE ’79, MBA ’88 Finance) retired on March 31, 2017, from Honeywell where she served as chief strategy officer and chief marketing officer reporting to CEO for 15 years. She says she is now in the “give back” years of her career and has relocated to Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City. Go Blue!! (2017)
David Brossard (MSE ’80) retired from Chevron Corporation earlier this year after 33 years. (2013)
Jim Lee (MSE ’80; PhD ’85) is professor and head of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department at the National University of Singapore. He is also a senior principal fellow at the Energy Studies Institute. He is pleased to see so many of his mentors still working in the department – Scott Fogler, Erdogan Gulari, Henry Wang and his advisor, Johannes Schwank. He is using Scott’s text for his undergraduate chemical reaction engineering. He would also like to add that he is pleased that Rodriquez is no longer coach of the Michigan football team! (2011)
Frank Palazzolo (BSE ’80) is a former mayor of Harper Woods, MI. His daughter, Erika, graduated from U–M in 2005, and his daughter, Lauren, will receive her dental school degree in 2013. (2011)
Dennis Cima (BSE ’81, BS ’81 Chemistry) is process control business improvement network (PC BIN) team leader at Chevron. As such, he is responsible for leading a standing team that addresses new, developing, and on-going process control opportunities on a global basis by developing strategic plans, provides the basis for sharing information, identifies business improvement/alignment opportunities, and leverages resources and work products across Chevron’s refining system. Dennis currently serves as chairman of the NPRA Plant Automation and Decision Support (PADS) Committees and serves on the board of directors of the AspenTech Advanced Control and Optimization World User Group. He and his wife, Brooks, reside in Katy, Texas. (2011)
Gary Graves (BSE ’81) was named a board member at Caribou Coffee and Einstein Noah Restaurant Group. He also serves on the board of Fusion Education Group. (2015)
Philip Kalson (PhD ’81) is employed the Israel Electric Corporation. He has been dealing with the chemical and environmental aspects of power station operation and design since 1987. (2011)
In June 2015, Jim Medalie (BSE ’81) joined SIMONA America Inc., as their president. The company is located in Scranton PA and is a manufacturer of plastic semi-finished products. (2016)
Alexander Pamphilis (BSE ’81) had his third child, a son, born on July 30, 2010. (2011)
Deepak Pandya (MSE ’81) left KBC Advanced Technology after 8 years and took a job with Advisian as manager consulting services, Downstream & Market Services Group, responsible for project delivery in the APAC region. He continues to be based in Singapore. He says this job gives him an exciting and challenging role and leverages his experience in strategic consulting for the refining, petrochemicals and chemicals industries. (2020)
After completing her degree, Joanne Reid (BSE ’81) went to medical school. Now, she is the medical director at a rural health clinic in Northern California. She never used her ChE education but it’s fun to mention at cocktail parties! (2011)
Sam Reddy (BSE ’81) retired in 2009 from General Motors R & D and started an engineering consulting company, Evaporative Emissions Consulting, Inc. (www.EvapConsulting.com). (2011)
Richard Schwartz (BSE ’81, MSE ’88, PhD ‘91) is the senior vice president of Process Development and Manufacturing at Synlogic in Cambridge, MA. He was formerly at the National Institutes for Health. (2017)
Oncobiologics, Inc. has named Scott Canute (BSE ’82), a former president at both Eli Lilly and Genzyme, to its Board of Directors. Over the course of his 30-year career, Mr. Canute played a vital role in leading Eli Lilly’s global manufacturing operations. Most recently, he spent more than a year as President of Global Manufacturing and Corporate Operations for Genzyme, where he led a major turnaround effort. Scott earned a MBA from the Harvard Business School. (2011)
Chet Joglekar (MSE ’82) was founder & CEO of Conarc, Inc., a software company. He left his company in 2016 after a successful sale to the Austin-based Versata group. (2018)
James Li Kiang (MSE ’82) has worked for several well-known multinational companies including Digital Equipment, Sun Microsystems, W. L. Gore and Associates. Currently, he is teaching in a Taiwan-based English Cram School, specializing in preparing students for TOEFL, GRE and GMAT standardized exams. James has been doing this part-time since 1986 and full-time since 2001. Every year, he teaches thousands of students who have the aspiration to study in the US. He is going to expand into China this year and is thinking about the possibility of a liaison between U–M and the local market in Taiwan. (2011)
Todd Miller (BSE ’82) retired in January and is splitting his time between Cavanaugh Lake outside Chelsea, MI and New Jersey. He’s keeping very busy with many lifelong hobbies and sports, travel, and U-M football and basketball.(2014)
Barry Oakes (BSE ’82) has worked for ConocoPhillips Co. for the last 29 years. Presently he is the manager of lease crude operations for the lower 48, a position he has held nearly five years. He’s responsible for buying and selling approximately 350,000 barrels per day. (2011)
Gary Greenberg (BSE ’83) is general manager of TTM Technologies in Anaheim, CA. Gary has been married to his wife, Dawn, since 1987 and they have two sons, Josh and Jeremy. Gary is also the manager for the rock/soul/funk band Sweet HayaH, from San Jose (http://www.sweethayah.com/). (2018)
Debra Keirce (BSE ’83) left engineering for a very rewarding career as a fine artist (www.DebKArt.com)! (2011)
Jay Seaton (BS 1982 LSA; BSECH 1982 ENG; MSE 1985 ENG) was named vice president of silicon operations at Netronome. Most recently, Seaton was the founder and managing member of Evolutionary Operations Consulting, a provider of consulting services to the fabless semiconductor industry with an emphasis on start-up and early- to medium-growth phase companies. Jay has more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry specializing in process engineering, manufacturing, quality systems, and global supply chain management. (2011)
James Anderson (BSE ’83) is in his 22nd year as president of A.J. Boggs & Company (19 employees), providing engineering consulting, IT systems, and hosted data services to customers across North America. (2015)
David B. Harwood (BSE ’83) is the director of DTE Energy’s Renewable Energy organization, which is responsible for project development, regulatory compliance, operation, and purchase power agreements representing almost 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy generating capacity in Michigan. DTE has invested over $1.5 billion in Renewable Energy since 2009 and has 100 megawatts of new renewable capacity currently under construction, including the largest utility owned sole array east of the Mississippi, located in Lapeer, MI. (2016)
Bob Ranger (BSE ’83) is working at Dow in Innovation, where he helps all Dow businesses to accelerate their growth and develop, and commercialize new technology. He recently served on the U-M ChE Alumni Board for 6 years, 3 years as chairman, and is currently on the U-M College of Engineering Alumni Board as vice chairman. He and his wife recently moved to Ann Arbor. (2017)
Mark A. Smith (BSE ’83) has retired from Eli Lilly and Company after 31 years of service. His final position was as Director Technical Services, Vaccine Network. He says it was a privilege to work in the biotechnology field for his entire career, beginning as a chemical engineer from Michigan and Missouri, and through multiple opportunities to bring new medical treatments for people and animals to market. He retired as of February 1, 2017 and will continue to live in Indianapolis with his wife, Alice Martina Smith. He credits his Michigan education, and particularly Dr. Henry Wang’s biochemical option in chemical engineering in the early 80’s, for providing him a start in an incredible career. He looks forward to more time devoted to travel with his wife and family, pursuit of hobbies (music & sports car restoration), and service. He also expects to continue to provide consulting and project management services to the biopharmaceutical industry. He wishes the best to his Michigan colleagues! (2017)
Dais Analytic Corporation, a green technology company, announced that Peter J. Termyn (BSE ’83, MBA ’92) agreed to join the Company’s Board of Directors. Termyn is the President and CEO of Parkinson Technologies Inc., Woonsockett, Rhode Island, a world-wide industry leader for developing, designing and manufacturing of web processing machinery for plastics, nonwovens, paper and specialty materials used in key markets including energy, healthcare, flexible/ridged packaging, automotive, and construction. (2012)
Julia (Boeker) Pepper (BSE ’84) is enjoying early retirement and working to relocate to Lake Norman, NC, after which she hopes to use all those previously developed corporate skills in the not-for-profit sector! (2016)
Rick Oakley (BSE ’84) is working in Dow AgroSciences based in Indianapolis as the Environmental Health and Safety Business Operations Leader. (2011)
Kevin Sobnosky (BSE ’84) is the director of compliance for Partners Environmental Consulting, Inc., in Solon, OH. The company provides environmental, health and safety consulting and sustainable solutions to industrial clients. (2011)
Ed Steins (BSE ’84) is the CEO of a solar panel system engineering and construction company, the Solar Center, based in New Jersey. He and his wife, Carrie, live in Manhattan and are expecting twins in June, their 4th and 5th children! (2011)
Bruce Vaughen (BSE ’84, PhD Vanderbilt ’89) began his new role as the “Lead Process Safety Subject Matter Expert” with the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in August 2017. He has had three process safety-related books published: a Wiley/CCPS Guideline on managing process safety systems and metrics, as a principal author in 2016; a CRCPress book on process safety, as a co-author in 2017; and, in March 2018, he was principal author for another Wiley/CCPS Guideline on siting and layout of facilities (another important process safety-related subject). In addition, he has been invited to speak at the Process Plant Safety Symposium (PPSS) at the 14th Global Congress on Process Safety (GCPS) this April at the 2018 AIChE Spring Meeting. (2018)
John Zavicar III (BSE ’84) recently retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico after a 15-year career there supporting national security and nuclear safety. He and his wife, Karen (a nurse who also retired from the Lab), are enjoying bike rides, running on the Corpus Christi beach, traveling, and spending time with their 4 children and 7 grandchildren. John is also playing classic rock in a band and starting up another martial arts school in their “Margaritaville” location. He says hello to his Michigan Wolverine family! (2014)
Karen (Cooke) High (BSE ’85) was named associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of Engineering and Science at Clemson University. (2015)
Frances Lim Eizember (BSE ’85) received her MD in 1997 from Duke University, completed an emergency medicine residency at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, and has been practicing emergency medicine in Asheville, NC for over 10 years. (2011)
George Fouras (BSE ’85) was installed as president of the San Francisco Medical Society on January 27, 2011. (2011)
Jim Lee (PhD ’85) is the head of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). (2011)
Paul Theisen (BSE ’85) is an Operational Excellence Leader at Dow Chemical Michigan Operations in Midland. He joined Dow in March 1986. He and his wife, Kristine, were married in June 1993 and have two daughters, Casey and Jessica. Paul still loves attending most U-M Football games each fall. The family has added two playful cats, Bo and Georgia. Now Paul is outnumbered 5 to 1 by the females in the house :>) (2014)
Ramona Ying (PhD ’85) is celebrating her 30th year at General Motors R&D working on batteries for electrified vehicles. She is proud all her children (Bryan, Derek, and Shaina Kwiatkowski) have graduated with their BS degrees from the University of Michigan, and are off to a great start in their careers. (2015)
Deborah Mielewski (BSE ’86, MSE ’93, and PhD ’98) won a 2014 Detroit Free Press Automotive Leadership award in the green category. When Mieliewski and her biomaterials team at Ford first proposed using new materials that didn’t rely on petroleum over 10 years ago, many in the company were skeptical. In 2008, after oil prices nearly tripled, management started to listen to their ideas. (2014)
Kathleen (Steilen) Hoffman (BSE ’86) is a senior vice president of EH&S and Technical Services for Sterigenics, a company that globally sterilizes medical products. She is married and lives in the Chicago area and has two teenage boys. She and her family have a lake house in Traverse City area so they can continue to enjoy the Michigan summers there. (2018)
After 6 years as a Sales Development Manager with Solvay Specialty Polymers, Greg Poterala (BSE ’86) became a Global Automotive Marketing Manager and continues to be based in Greater Detroit. His wife, Anne Marie, retired from the U-M School of Nursing in April 2019 and they embarked on the trip of a lifetime this past September, highlighted by summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro. WHEW! (2019)
With a public yearning for more regional exploration, Steve Jermanok (BSE ’86) took advantage of this downtime to author a new book, New England in a Nutshell. He did a deep dive into the more than 700 articles he wrote on the region for The Boston Globe, Yankee, Outside, and many other publications during the past quarter century. Steve distilled those stories down to a readable round-up format that includes more than 50 categories and 300 entries. The book/ebook was published on July 2nd and you can order at Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089TB7FCY. (2020)
Steve Schwendeman (BSE ’86, PhD ’92 Pharmaceutics) was appointed as chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Michigan in January 2011, when he was also named to the first Ara Paul Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences based on his outstanding work in exploring the use of mechanistic approaches to microencapsulate and control the release of biomacromolecular drugs and vaccine antigens from biodegradable polymers. (2011)
Ira D. Finkelstein (BSE ’87, JD ’98) is currently employed as senior patent counsel at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Deerfield, IL. (2011)
Tony Orlando (BSE ’87) was appointed Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Alumni Board last year. He and his wife just had a new baby (Ella Caroline) on June 5! (2013)
Debbie Feldman Singer (MSE ’88; PhD ’91) daughters are both at Michigan; the oldest is in the School of Architecture and the middle is studying mechanical engineering. Her son is in 9th grade. Debra is no longer a practicing engineer. She worked for DuPont for 10 years and then took a turn as a full time stay-at-home mom and now has her own personal computer training business: Apple a Day. She helps all those who need personal and onsite training. (2012)
David Goldblum (PhD ‘88) recently retired from the Air Force Reserves as a bird colonel, with 25 years of service. (2013)
Russell Moy (PhD ’89) was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Fellows are recognized for their scientifically or socially distinguished contributions to the advancement of science or its applications. Dr. Moy is a graduate of the Wayne State and Georgetown law schools and currently serves as the general counsel of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, the management and operating contractor for the Jefferson Lab, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory. (2018)
Carl Shubitowski (BSE ’89) is now living in Somerville, MA and is married to Julia Kim who graduated from North Carolina. He recently started a new job as a senior quality engineer at an MIT startup called Third Pole Therapeutics. (2018)
Randy Stier (BSE ’88) is Valero’s director of Refinery Heater Best Practices, serving as chairman of the API/CRE/Subcommittee on Heat Transfer Equipment (SCHTE), for a three-year term effective January l, 2013. Randy has been an active participant in SCHTE activities as an “operator-user” since he joined Valero in 2008 and was a “general interest” user of the SCHTE standards for 14 of his 19 years at UOP. (2013)
Margaret Gilligan (BSE ’89) has transitioned as a principal engineer from Coca-Cola Refreshements to Great Lakes Coca-Cola. She currently supports capital projects within Great Lakes Coca-Cola. This is her 29th year of engineering in the Food and Beverage Industry. (2018)
Manos Mavrikakis (MSE ’89; MS ’93 LSA; PhD 1994 RACK) was one of the “Top 100 Chemists, 2000-2010” listed in Science Watch (Thompson Reuters) in February 2011. The Top 100 is intended to celebrate the achievements of chemists and chemical engineers whose papers made the highest impact in the discipline published since January 2000. Professor Johannes Schwank was his doctoral advisor. (2011)
John Rakowicz, (BSE ’89), recently completed upgrading the controls on the #6 turbo blower on Zug Island, which feeds one of Motown’s blast furnaces. (2011)
David Erfert (BSE ’90) is still working with Phillips66 and recently relocated to Houston, TX as manager in Refining Services. His family is good but the hardest thing he’s had to do was sending his daughter to Penn State for her first year! At least Professor Savage is there. (2015)
Cynthia (Robertson) Essenmacher (BSE ’90) is working happily in West Virginia with husband, Phil, and their two school age children. She has achieved a milestone with DuPont of 25 years of service. (2015)
Debbie Feldman Singer’s (PhD ’91) oldest daughter, Jessica Singer (BS ’13), is engaged to be married to her fiancé, Tom Brady. No jokes here! Tom is a Michigan Dearborn EE. It’s nice to have another engineer in the family. Stephanie, her middle daughter (BSE ’14, MSE ’15), is currently in Louisville with Ford working on the launch of the Navigator 2018. Her youngest, Maxwell, will be a junior at Michigan and is working towards an economics degree. She says that although her family all bleeds blue, not all are engineers. (2017)
Ben Maxey (BSE ’91) and his family have returned from Ethiopia after successfully completing a six-month global fellowship with the Atlanta-based International Trachoma Initiative. (2011)
Gina Shreve (PhD ’91) has been on the chemical engineering faculty at Wayne State University for 15 years. (2011)
Karsten E. Thompson (MSE ’91; PhD ’96) is the new chairman for the Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering (PETE) at Louisiana State University. Thompson, the Lowe Professional Development Professor, is also on the faculty of the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering. Professor Scott Fogler was his doctoral advisor. (2011)
Brad Foerster (BSE ’92) has been appointed a Taubman Emerging Scholar at the University of Michigan and will receive a 3-year grant from the Taubman Institute. Foerster, an assistant professor of radiology at the medical school, is working to develop a more definitive imaging test for ALS in the hopes that earlier diagnosis will lead to more effective intervention. He also has a clinical practice and evaluates patients with aneurysms, strokes, multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. The award will allow him to study inflammatory changes in the brains of ALS patients and has the potential to reveal new opportunities for effective treatments. (2013)
Scott Schneider (BSE ’92) and Lori (Barnard) Schneider (BSE ’93) both work for SABIC Innovative Plastics in Charlotte, North Carolina. Scott is a senior supply planning analyst and Lori is a senior project manager. They have two children, ages 16 and 12, and enjoy watching them play their respective sports. They are also both black belts in Tae Kwon Do and enjoy training. (2015)
Ali Siahpush (PhD ’92) is now working at Dendreon at Seattle as vice president of product development.
Liz (Batesole) Hainey (MSE ’85, PhD ’93) is still a tech director / engineering fellow at Raytheon in Richardson, TX. Her older son is finishing his BSEE degree at Texas and starting his opera career with an internship in Berlin this summer. He also was one of 10 finalists in a French singing competition that had over 200 entries from all over the US and Canada. Her younger son is a junior at LSU studying vocal performance, and has an internship in Italy this summer. He is also sang recently in a professional production of the Hunchback of Notre Dame in New Orleans. (2018)
Doug Olds (BSE ’93) joined EPAY Systems, Inc. in July 2015 as CFO. Based in Chicago, EPAY Systems is a growing SaaS provider of human capital management solutions. (2015)
Lori (Barnard) Schneider (BSE ’93). See, Scott Schneider (BSE ’92)
Sean A. Connors (BSE ’93) passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination (PE Exam) for Chemical Engineering in October 2012 and is now licensed as a Professional Engineer in the State of Illinois. (2013)
Michael Ferrante (BSE ’93, MBA ’98) was named head, R&D Business Capabilities, at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Princeton, NJ, where he is accountable for enabling R&D planning, operations, and decision making through project, portfolio, and clinical study management tools, analyses, business process design, and consultative support. (2018)
Kim (Gors) Frazier (BSE ’93) is nearly retired! She and her husband, George, both retired in 2012; Kim from ND Industries, Inc. (her first employer after graduation) in Troy, MI, and George, from United States Gypsum (USG) in River Rouge. They moved to Mikado in northeast Lower Michigan, near Oscoda, and started a consulting and managing business, and are working on projects, mainly environmental ones so far, for the USG quarry facility in Alabaster, Michigan. Last year, they created wetlands on the property, and started a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water project. This year, they are removing a marine bin from Lake Huron that has been there since 1929. The huge rectangular structure and building way out in the lake is visible to anyone who has driven US 23 in the Tawas area. There used to be towers on the structure, with a trolley system that conveyed gypsum rock to the bin, to be loaded on ships. (2014)
Jonathan Lanfear (BSE ’93, MS ’95) is a licensing and business development executive in the pharmaceutical industry. He and his family recently relocated from the East Coast (working for Pfizer Inc. in NY) to join Takeda Pharmaceuticals in the Chicago area. The Lanfears (wife, Sarah, along with sons, Jude and James) have enjoyed the move back to the Midwest, reconnecting with friends, and especially their renewed access to football Saturdays in Ann Arbor. (2013)
Casey Logan (BSE ’93) has joined Anaphore’s senior management team. Casey will work with senior management to execute Anaphore’s strategic business plans, including securing additional partnerships and potential future fundraising activities. He previously worked at Anadys Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Company. (2011)
In June 2014, Michael Pisarczyk (BSE ’93) was appointed Treasurer and Finance Director for the Hemlock Semiconductor Group. Hemlock is a majority owned joint venture of Dow Corning Corporation where Michael has worked since 2009. He continues to reside in Midland, MI with his wife, Jennifer, and their three children. (2014)
Michael Schultz (BSE ’93) recently took a position with Lanza Tech, outside of Chicago. His 2- and 4-year-old sons keep him happily busy in his free time. (2011)
Homer Sun (BSE ’93, JD ’96) leads the investing business in China for Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia. (2011)
After graduating from Michigan, Victor Thomas (BSE ’93) went to Wayne State for medical school and did his residency in ophthalmology in Pittsburgh. After residency, he moved to Orlando where he has been since. He has not been back to A2 since medical school. (2011)
Matt Birchmeier (BSE, ’94) and his wife, Amy, welcomed their newest addition, Ryan Birchmeier, to their family last October. He joins his older brothers Luke, Tyler and Eli, at their home in Kalamazoo, where Matt works for Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health). (2018)
Jim Cleland (BSE ’94) moved back to Ann Arbor several years ago from Chicago and is practicing intellectual property law as a partner in the firm of Brinks Gilson & Lione. He and his wife of 17 years have three kids; sons ages 12 and 10, and a daughter who is 6. They love Ann Arbor and are actively involved in the community. (2015)
Damon Gatewood (ChE ’94) is teaching high school chemistry in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. He completed his MA in secondary science education in 2014 from Wayne State University and he is a Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellow. (2020)
Matt Gdowski (BSE ’94) is in his 20th year with the Parker Hannifin Corporation, currently as a continuous improvement manager based out of Metamora, OH. This coming fall his oldest son, Zachary, will be attending the University of Michigan to study engineering. (2016)
Jeff Gray (BSE ’94), Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at at Johns Hopkins, was this year’s recipient of the AIChE’s David Himmelblau Award for Innovations in Computer-Based Chemical Engineering Education. Jeff was recognized for creating the PyRosetta biomolecular modeling and design platform and its teaching materials, including interactive workshops, videos and support material. (2017)
Chris Hermanson (BSE ’94) along with his wife (and dog) moved from San Diego, CA to Raleigh, NC in September 2011. Chris is now employed at Cree where he works in the RF Product Development group as a packaging engineer. (2011)
Serena Hung (BSE ’94) recently moved from academics to industry. She is now working for Biogen Idec (a biotech company) in Cambridge, MA as an associate medical director, working on multiple sclerosis drug development. Although she is no longer seeing patients on a regular basis, she will be looking for opportunities to provide free care to patients with Huntington’s disease. She would love to meet up with fellow ChEs in New England. (2011)
Manos Mavrikakis (PhD ’94) was appointed the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Wisconsin and was also elected chair of Chemical & Biological Engineering Department. (2015)
Pete Valianatos (BSE ’94) recently celebrated 21 years at E Ink in September and has switched positions in the company from Material and Process Development to Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives. He is responsible for aligning internal and external programs and looking for industry partners to further E Ink’s influence in the world of Electronic Paper Displays. He welcomes all U-M alumni who want to work with E Ink to contact Pete at: pvalianatos@eink.com. (2019)
Michelle (Zimmerman) D’Couto (BSE ’94) and her husband, Chris, just welcomed their second child, Danielle. They also have a 4-year-old son, Lucas. After 15 years working in the Silicon Valley, Michelle now runs a successful small patent firm. She is studying to take the patent bar and would then work as a patent agent performing patent prosecution work with the US Patent and Trademark Office. Most of their clients are small to midsize technology companies so her engineering degree comes in handy! (2011)
Ryan Aguirre (BSE ’95) has been married almost six years and has a 4-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. He received his MBA in supply chain management from Arizona State University in 2001 and has been working in procurement at MillerCoors for the last five years in Golden, CO, managing packaging materials suppliers. (2011)
Ken Benjamin (BSE ’95, PhD ’04) has been promoted to associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. (2013)
David A. Beuther (BSE ’95, MD ’99) is an assistant professor of medicine, and director of biomedical informatics at National Jewish Health He is also pursuing a PhD in clinical sciences, health information technology track, at the University of Colorado in Denver. David is married, has a 3-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter. (2011)
Kendrick Curry (PhD ’95) is enjoying his job as a pastor in Washington, DC. (2011)
Christopher W. Jones (BSE ’95) was recently recognized with the 2016 Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering by AIChE. One of the ‘big three’ AIChE Awards, he was recognized for his research on supported molecular catalysts, CO2 capture and sequestration, and his leadership of the journal ACS Catalysis. Jones is a member of the U-M ChE Alumni Board, and works at Georgia Tech where is a Love Family Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Associate Vice President for Research. (2016) Story from our 2015 ChE Newsletter
N’Jeri (Jones) Laird (BSE ’95) is married and the mother of four children. She is a community and ministry leader, and is board secretary and treasurer of Bradford Academy Schools. (2011)
Tracy Onufer (BSE ’95) was selected for a feature story, “Women on Top”, in the magazine Marie Claire in their October 20, 2011 online issue. Tracy is in the Air Force Special Ops and is only the second woman operational commander. (2012)
Jim Waldecker (BSE ’95; PhD ’00) has been doing hydrogen fuel cell research at Ford Motor Company for seven years, and has recently been promoted to the position of Technical Expert – Fuel Cell Systems with an emphasis on membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). Before coming to Ford, he worked at both ExxonMobil and NASA Glenn Research Center. He spent two years as the industry co-chair on the FreedomCAR Fuel Cell Tech Team, working with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the other American automotive OEMs to set research targets and evaluate projects funded by the DOE.
Kevin Fok (BSE ’96, MBA ’02) is sales manager at LG Chem. He has over 17 years of business and engineering experience in renewable and alternative energy. Kevin is responsible for energy storage solutions for electric grid applications, ranging from residential systems up through utility-scale systems. He led the efforts to secure the Tehachapi Wind Energy Storage Project with Southern California Edison (SCE) for North America’s largest battery energy storage system. He is currently the local project manager. Kevin also secured a project with Southern California Edison for its Irvine Smart Grid Demonstration project and successfully led a team in delivering residential energy storage units to SCE. (2013)
Tanya (Manson) Sullivan (BSE ’96) and her husband, Tom, welcomed daughter, Sophia Elizabeth Sullivan, on March 10, 2016. Sophia has two big sisters, Amelia (6), and Alexandra (4). (2016)
Dieter Schweiss (MSE ’96) and his family moved from Wisconsin to Ohio nearly four years ago when he joined TriHealth, a Cincinnati-based healthcare system. As a lead programmer/analyst for their electronic medical record software, he specializes in providing custom solutions for enterprise-wide projects. Thankfully, his wife and sons have more modest expectations of him, and they’re happy to call the Cincinnati area home. (2014)
Kristyn (Bohl) Masters (BSE ’97) is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was recently elected Vice Chair of the Biomedical Engineering department and was inducted as a Fellow in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She lives in Madison, WI with her two daughters. (2018)
Domenic DeCaria (BSE ’97) is living in the Cleveland area (Beat Ohio!!) and has been with Lubrizol Advanced Materials for 13 years, most recently in a global business development role. He has a strong interest in finding new and challenging separations applications, and would invite anyone who shares that interest to contact him or connect with him on social media. After all, separations can truly bring us together… . He says his wife and daughters (7 and 14) would cringe if they saw that in print. Go Blue!! (2017)
Ryan Gilbert (BSE ’97), assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has won a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
In early 2012, Anish Goel (BSE ’97) and his wife left Washington, DC and moved out to “bonny” Seattle, where he now works for the Boeing Company. They both love thePacific Northwest, and say it’s been great to meet so many other Michigan alums at Boeing. (2013)
Tommy Golczynski (BSE ’97) was named one of the “40 under 40” young professionals in 2014 in the Houston area by the Houston Business Journal. All honorees have started their own companies or successful charities and are “setting the bar high for young professionals across the nation with their job creation and impact on society.” Tommy is the owner and managing partner of Assured Flow Solutions LLC. (2014)
Honesty Johnson (BSE ’97) has been working at Amcor Rigid Plastics for 15 years as an injection tooling engineer. (2016)
Nikolaos K. Kazantzis (PhD ’97) has been promoted to full professor of chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. An internationally recognized authority on the nonlinear control of dynamical systems, Kazantzis has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented his research around the world through many invited talks. His work has applications in the sustainable design and control of chemical processes, environmental and energy systems (including fuel cells), and process safety and chemical risk analysis. (2012)
Ellen (Schwab) Rospierski (ChE ’97) and her husband, John, welcomed their first child, Cass Jerome Rospierski, on December 20, 2019. Ellen is a patent attorney with Quinn IP Law in Northville, Michigan, and John, Ellen, and Cass live in Royal Oak, Michigan. (2020)
Lisa Blount (BSE ’98) is currently working for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, in the Environmental Protection Division. (2011)
Erin Cavusgil (PhD ’98) is teaching marketing at the University of Michigan-Flint, after working in the pharmaceutical industry as a chemical engineering for many years. She was recently promoted to associate professor with tenure.
Sarah (Cunningham) Kusisto (BSE ’98) accepted a new position this year within Pfizer, moving from an API production engineering role to a combination engineering and management role in environmental operations. This new role offers new challenges, learning a new set of regulations and a new aspect of doing business in pharmaceutical manufacturing. (2017)
Michelle (Field) Hutchinson (BSE ’98) lives in Chapel Hill, NC and works as a bioprocess applications specialist for GE Healthcare, supporting biotech companies in NC’s Research Triangle Park. She has 3 kids, Elliot, Henry and Annie, ages 8, 6 and 4 respectively, with her husband, Ryan, a Yale biomedical engineer. (2018)
After 18 years in IT product development, Lisa Ingall (BSE ’98), has launched the next chapter of her career with Couragecopia, a leadership coaching practice focused on helping managers and executives become more effective in the new world of work while truly enjoying their leadership roles. Contact her at lisa@couragecopia.com or check out https://couragecopia.com for more information! (2017)
Blia (Kue) Ramirez (BSE ’98) and her husband, Tele, live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, just 20 minutes outside of DC. Blia works as an Applications Architect for CapitalSource, a lending firm. They are busy raising their two children, Luca (9) and Lola (4).
Stephanie (Schultz) Coleman (BSE ’98) was recently promoted last year to Quality Control Supervisor in the IT department at Ford Motor Company. She has been with the company for over 11 years and has made business trips to Germany, China, and just recently to India. (2014)
Tom Warren (BSE ’98) and Marianne (Hindelang) Warren (BSE ’99) live in Hinsdale, IL. Tom is still with INEOS and Marianne recently “retired” from BASF. They have three boys—born in 2008, 2009, and 2010—and a very active household! (2011)
Suzanne (Barber) Balko (BSE ’99) recently finished a Fulbright Research Scholar grant in France and, a few years before that had a Chateaubriand Fellowship, a fellowship offered by the French government for Americans to perform research in France. (2011)
Jennifer Braganza (BSE ’99, IOE ’01) relocated to Hanover, Germany with Continental AG, an automotive supplier, in January 2004. She currently works in Portfolio Management for the Passenger and Light Truck Division. The past two years have been filled with making new friends from all over the world and travelling around Europe. The summer will be filled with lots of excitement as Germany hosts the World Cup.
Marcos Delgado (BSE ’99) and Sapphire Energy are working to turn algae into biofuel. (2011)
Marianne (Hindelang) Warren (BSE ’99). See, Tom Warren (BSE ’98)
Matt Liening (BSE ’99) and his wife, Lisa, are living in Washington, IL. They have a daughter, Grace, and a son, Tommy. Matt has been working as the engineering supervisor for the Large Engine lines design team at Caterpillar Inc., since 2015. (2017)
Johanna E. Rovira (MS ’99) is working for Eli Lilly (Lilly del Caribe) in sunny Puerto Rico. Drop her a line at johannar@umich.edu or on LinkedIn. (2015)
Andy Rusiniak (BSE ’99, BME MS ’01) is in his 17th year working at Eli Lilly (Indianapolis) developing biologic therapeutics for clinical investigation. For the past four years, Andy has worked in the Chorus organization at Lilly, with the specific role of managing the development and manufacturing of biologic molecules at external contract manufacturing organizations. Andy enjoys spending time with his wife, Lani Pascual (MPH ’02), and their two children, Jonah (8) and Samuel (4), who are all now all avid Michigan fans. Andy has stayed active by rekindling his love for running and exercise with his new friends of November Project Indianapolis. (2018)
Matt Skindzier (BSE ’99) has been living in Chicago, IL since graduation. Matt graduated from the MPDP (Manufacturing Professional Development Program) at Abbott Laboratories in 2003 and has spent the last year as a Materials Management Supervisor in Abbott’s Hospital Products Division. Matt was recently accepted to the MBA and TMI programs at Michigan, and will be returning to Ann Arbor this summer.
Megan (Taack) Raines (BSE ’99, MS ’99) was recently promoted to global director – safety and training for Dresser-Rand, and was also named one of the Rising Stars of Safety by the National Safety Council. She has been published in Professional Safety and will be a presenter at the National Safety Council Congress and Expo later this year. Megan, along with her husband Jonathan and 11-year-old son, Austin, just relocated to northwestern Georgia. (2015)
Eric Bernath (BSE ’00) has recently decided to depart Los Angeles and embark on a 20,000-mile motorcycle journey from Alaska to Patagonia. Along the way, he intends to engage with local health clinics to champion innovative approaches to healthcare delivery in the developing world. His adventure will be posted on TwoWheelsOneJourney.com and on Instagram @twowheelsonejourney. (2016) Story from 2017 ChE Newsletter
After a brief stint at Procter & Gamble after graduating in 2000, Jahi Chappell (BSE ’00) returned to U-M and earned his PhD in ecology & evolutionary biology in 2009, with a focus on conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, and the right to food. He is currently the senior research fellow for agroecology and agriculture Policy at the Centre for Agroecology, Water & Resilience at Coventry University in the UK. His first book, Beginning to end hunger: Food and the environment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and beyond, was released in January 2018 from University of California Press. (2018)
Jennifer (Chen) Morikawa (’00) gave birth in October 2016 to her second child, a baby boy, Dawson. Life has been very busy with dad, Robert, and big brother, Jason, in Livonia, MI. (2017)
Neel Chokshi (BSE ’00) is currently in Philadelphia with his wife, Puja, and two daughters, Alia (5) and Mila (2). They moved there from NYC in 2013 when he joined the cardiology clinical faculty at University of Pennsylvania. He is involved in seeing patients, teaching and health innovation, and routinely references his ChE background in stomping out heart disease. (2018)
Katie Gilhool (BSE ’00) got married to Matthew Dolliver on June 25, 2016. He attended the University of Florida. (2017)
Darren Golomb (BSE ’00) married Kelly Hooi Lyn Quah, an alumna of Western Michigan University, on June 26, 2014 in Calistoga, CA. Both are excited to embark on life’s journey together beginning with home visits to Detroit, MI in August and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 2015. (2014)
Kalyan Handique’s (PhD ’00) new startup company, DeNovo Sciences, which is developing an improved system for cancer detection that is an alternative to traditional biopsies, won first prize overall and $500,000 recently in the Accelerate Michigan Competition. (2012)
Dan Merenda (BSE ’00) has taken a new position with RUAG Space USA as the Country Manager of US Operations. RUAG Space is the leading supplier of products for the space industry in Europe, with a growing presence in the United States. He will be based out of the Huntsville, Alabama area, where he lives with his wife and three children (20, 17 and 2). (2019)
Julie (Messacar) Rivard (BS ’00, MBA ’03 Central Michigan) just celebrated 20 years with Dow/Dow Corning and is currently working as an innovation portfolio manager. In addition, she just celebrated her 18th wedding anniversary to Todd. Julie has three kids; Jocelyn (11), Quintin (8), and Dylan (8), who keep the family busy with various sports and activities. One of Julie’s fall traditions is spending a day with each kid at a Michigan Football game. Go Blue!! (2020)
David Nickelson (BSE ’01)competed at the 2018 Walt Disney World Marathon this past January. He placed first in handcycle and was the first overall finisher! Dave crushed his back in 2002 so his lower legs are paralyzed and he competes using a handcycle. He’s been working as an attorney in the field of patent law with Cardinal Intellectual Property where he’s been since 2007. (2018)
Nick Ortiz (BSE ’00) and his wife, Heather ,welcomed their third child, Elena, in July 2017. Her older brothers are well on their way to being full-blooded Michigan fans, and are helping their sister along, too. (2018)
Matt Ross (BSE ’00) completed his PhD at Wayne State University, moved to Kalamazoo, and accepted a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of finance at Western Michigan University. Go Broncos! Go Blue! (2014)
Kimberly Sarquis (BSE ‘00) married Kenny Mejia on September 8, 2012. Kim continues to live in San Francisco and work at Genentech as a senior engineer in the Global Biologics Manufacturing Science and Technology group. (2013)
Sameena N. Ahmed (BSE ’01) and Jason J. Akbar (LS&A BS ’01) were married on July 27, 2002 and welcomed their first child, Amir Jamal Akbar, on August 3, 2005 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, OH. The couple recently brought their son to visit the university where his parents met eight years ago, on their first day on campus as freshmen! They look forward to many more wonderful visits to Ann Arbor. Sameena is a project engineer for L’Oréal USA and Jason is completing his residency in radiology at the University of Cincinnati.
Carly Bosco (BSChE ’01) and her husband, Jacob, and big sister, Celia, welcomed a new daughter to the Bosco Family, Maria Susannah, who was born July 3, 2015. The Boscos remain in Hampton Roads, VA, where Carly works as a research director for NASA Langley Research Center. (2016)
Brandon (BT) Cesul (ChE ’01, MEngSpSys ’02) and his wife, Karen, welcomed their third child into the world, Lianna Marie, in February. She joins her two siblings, Ella & Cazzie, and is excited to be the first Cesul child not only made of Michigan parts, but born in Michigan as well! BT is continuing to work at his new employer, Integrity Applications Incorporated, as a senior scientist out of their Ann Arbor office. He and his family moved into their newly built house in Saline in August. (2016)
Julie Champion (BSE ’01) was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She and her husband, Kevin Boulware, also welcomed their son, Cooper Vic Boulware, into the world just a few hours after watching U–M win the 2016 Citrus Bowl. (2016)
Rosabel Chang (BSE ’01), see David Moler (BSE ’02)
Liz (Fernandez) Kamali (BSE ’01) was married in November 2010. She and her husband, Ashkan,currently reside in Boston where she works in environmental, health and safety at Merck pharmaceutical. They welcomed a baby boy, Kamron, in October 2011. (2012)
At the beginning of November, Darren Goetz (BSE ’01, MSE ’06 Manufacturing Engineering) transitioned into the role of Stable Isotopes Global Business Unit Manager, within 3M’s Advanced Materials Division (AdMD). The primary products his business manufactures are isotopic neutron absorber and control materials—if you’ve seen the “Chernobyl” series you’ve seen some of his products in use! He says he is dedicating significant time to learning about nuclear engineering, and promise he won’t defect. (2019)
Nate Hoffman (BSE ’01) and his wife had twins on December 11, 2011–a boy and a girl. (2012)
Efy Karagiannis (BSE ’01) joined GE Plastics after graduation and settled in upstate NY, just outside of Albany. She’s recently become a manager in a small manufacturing operation and bought a small cottage on a lake in the country.
Carl Lenker (BSE ’01) and his wife, Alyssa Beach, are looking forward to the birth of their baby boy in June 2013! (2013)
Aashish Maheshwari (BSE ’01, MENG ’02) see Prerna Chaudhry (BSE ’01)
Palencia Mobley, P.E. (BSE ’01, MS Civil Eng, Wayne State) was awarded the 2014 Emerging Leader Award by the University’s Detroit Center this July. She was honored for her extensive volunteer work and leadership in various organizations to improve the conditions of her fellow Detroiters. In September she received Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program’s (DAPCEP) Chairman’s Award for her commitment to the qualities inherent in DAPCEP programming and her investment in the community that DAPCEP serves. (2014)
Brian Teller (BSE ’01) has recently completed his MBA and MS finance degree at the Kelley Business School. He has taken a new position at ITW as the category manager for films & chemicals. He and his family are relocating to the Chicago area. (2016)
Agus Tjandra (BSE ’01, BSE MSE ’01) decided to join Intel about two years ago after working for 17 years at Applied Materials. He is currently working as senior staff diffusion engineer in the Non-Volatile Memory Technology Development Group within Intel. (2020)
After completing his MBA at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, Ben Wong (BSE ’01; MSE ’03 IOE) started working as a management consultant at BASF at their headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany. (2011)
Michelle Wu (BSE ’01) and her husband, Dan Hodge, welcomed their second child, a son on Christmas 2012. Michelle continues to work at Ximedica, a medical device design, development, and manufacturing service provider as the head of quality. They live in Providence, RI. (2013)
Kenneth (K.C.) Chomistek (BSE ’02, MSE ’06) and his wife, Andrea, celebrated the birth of their third daughter on August 30, 2016. Her name is Eva Marie Chomistek. She and everyone else at home seems to be doing well despite a significant increase in entropy. K.C. was recently promoted to the director of quality control and development at Singota Solutions in Bloomington, IN. (2017)
Philip Dooley (BSE ’02, MD ’07) has been named program director of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita Family Medicine Residency at Via Christi. He and his wife, Joia, have lived in Wichita with their three children since July 2014. (2016)
Anne (Ehrenberger) Ballard (BSE ’02) recently became a technical sales representative for HunterLab in the Great Lakes Region. She lives between Cincinnati and Dayton with her husband and three step boys. Despite living in the Buckeye state, she is still a true Wolverine! (2015)
Laura (Komjathy) Dellal (BSE ’02, MEng ’03) spent her summer traveling around Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, and attending the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. She and her husband, Shlomo (PhD ’08), left Los Angeles and now live on the Upper East Side in New York City. Laura is the senior patent attorney for Kohn & Associate’s New York City office. (2013)
Kelvin Lau (BSE ’02, MEng ’03 PharmE) and Grace Lau (BSE ’04 EE) are thrilled to announce the birth of their second child, Johann Chung-Tin Lau. Mom, Dad, and big brother Caleb are all doing well. (2017)
In January 2013, Tracy (Matson) Brusewitz (BSE ’02) and her husband Andy welcomed their first child, Natalie Grace Brusewitz! Tracy says that Natalie has been a blessing! Tracy was also recently promoted to the Category Operations Leader for Materials Supply Management for the Paper sector of Procter & Gamble. Tracy, Andy and Natalie are still located in the Cincinnati, OH area. (2013)
David Moler (BSE ’02) and Rosabel Chang (BSE ’01) got married in June 2007 and son, Miles, was born July 2010. (2011)
Jessica (Motyl) Gilliam (BSE ’02) is celebrating her 5-year anniversary as a supply chain program manager at HP. She and her husband, Troy, welcomed daughter, Maeve, on January 30, 2014. The family spends their free time enjoying the La Jolla, CA coast. (2015)
Aaron Napier (BSE ’02) was recently promoted to staff measurement engineer at Chesapeake Energy He married to Cheryl Napier in 2002 and they live in Edmond, OK. They have four girls, Olivia (9), Emma (8), Aubrey (5), Adelynn (4). They have one dog, Bo, who is 4 and named for the late great Glenn “Bo” Schembechler. (2018)
Adam Wilson’s (BSE ’02, MSE PharmEng ’06) website, BioPharmGuy.com, received its one-millionth unique visitor in April 2015, In October 2014, he and his wife, Kelly, who has a 2002 bachelors degree from U-M in psychology and communications, welcomed their third daughter, Arbor Wilson. (2015)
Tamika L. (Young) Banks (BSE ’02) completed her MS in engineering management from Eastern Michigan University in April 2015. She is currently employed at Toyota Technical Center in York Township (Saline) as a project engineer. She and her husband, Terrence, are raising their four very active future Wolverines, Takima (11), Terrence, Jr. (8), Tamia (5) and Tiana (3) in Ypsilanti. In her spare time, Tamika serves as a baseball/softball mom, football mom, cheer coach and Girl Scout troop leader. (2015)
Paul Albertus (BSE ’03) finished his PhD in chemical engineering in 2009 at UC-Berkeley. He joined the Robert Bosch Research and Technology Center in Palo Alto, CA after graduation, where he continues to work on modeling and experiments on advanced batteries for transportation and grid-scale storage applications. Also in 2009, he married a fellow Berkeley student, and has been happily enjoying his first few years of marriage. Paul’s been acclimating to the California weather now for about six and a half years, but his brother and parents are still in Michigan, so he does get to hear about the lovely Michigan winters! He says he does miss spring in Michigan, though.(2011)
Leroy Covington (BSE ’03) and his wife had a son, Maxwell Joshua Covington, on July 13, 2017. Maxwell weighed 10 lbs., 4 oz., and was 22 cm. long. (2017)
Jennifer (Brand) Henning (BSE ’03) has recently received a promotion to engineering supervisor. She will be responsible for her team and business development to support their client, NextEra Energy, at the northern three of their five nuclear energy sites. She will also be relocating from metro Atlanta to the Washington, DC area. (2016)
Cathy (Ehehalt) Way (BSE ’03) completed herMaster’s in business and administrationfrom St Bonaventure University in May 2011. She recently accepted an operations engineer position for BASF in Michigan so she and her husband, Lucas Way (CSE ’03) and son, Andrew, have relocated from Allegany, NY back to Michigan. (2012)
Matt Gessford (BSE ’03) and wife, Stephanie (BS ’04 LSA), and their two children recently relocated to Texas for a new opportunity with Dow Chemical. They are looking forward to the mild winters, but not the hot, humid summers. (2011)
Angela Harris (BSE ’03, MSE ’08) was selected for a feature story, “Women on Top”, in the magazine Marie Claire in their October 20, 2011 online issue. Angela is a research engineer at Ford and pioneered the creation of the “EnviroSeat,” with soy-foam cushions. Angela has recently been on campus, presenting at a Society of Women Engineers regional conference and at a Omega Chi Epsilon meeting. (2012)
Kelvin Lau (BSE ’02, MEng Pharm ’03) and his wife and two children, now 6 & 3, still live in Massachusetts and he continues to work at AbbVie, as a manufacturing engineer. He says he goes into work 3-5 times a week during COVID-19, as he supports active manufacturing. (2020)
Amit Nagar (BSE ’03) is living in Chicago and he and his wife welcomed their first child in June 2016, a baby girl named Zara. He remains in the strategy consulting field but recently switched firms and is now a principal at Bain & Company. (2017)
Rishi Narayan (BSE ’03, MSE ’05), co-founder of Underground Printing (UGP), started a podcast, South U Stories, his ode to Ann Arbor. Each episode centers around engaging stories told by various personalities connected to the University of Michigan community. He says, “Don’t let the easily consumable length of each podcast fool you – these memorable stories are worth remembering and repeating.” You can subscribe to South U Stories on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or YouTube! (2019)
Sara (Rickson) Haas (BSE ’03) was made partner at McGarry Bair, a law firm specializing in intellectual property law. She and her husband, Brian, welcomed daughter Ella on 1/24/2014 and are expecting a second baby girl in July of 2015. Go Blue! (2015)
Eric Roeder (BSE ’03) and Hilary Alpert Roeder (BS ’03, MD ’07) moved to San Diego, CA in 2011. Eric is working in manufacturing strategy for Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Hilary is completing her fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at UC San Diego. Eric and Hilary are proud to announce the arrival of their son, Calvin Daniel Roeder, born on September 10, 2013! Calvin made his first trip back to Michigan in December for his baptism, the Christmas holiday, and to see some snow! (2014)
Erik Schroeppel (BSE ’03) and his wife had a baby boy in January! Easton Frederick Schroeppel was born on January 16, 2018. They have relocated to Winslow, ME, where he and his wife have accepted new roles with Elanco Animal Health. He was previously in Eli Lilly’s clinical trial supply chain organization. He has rejoined Elanco as a consultant in their Global Supply Chain organization supporting the vaccine network. (2018)
Tawnya Sowerwine (BSE ’03) is a staff advance product quality planning engineer at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Asheville, North Carolina. In June of last summer, she was in her little brother’s wedding, Ken Sowerwine (BSE ’13), as he married his long-time sweetheart in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They reside near Tawnya where he works as a continuous improvement engineer at Gill Industries. (2018)
Doug Urquhart (BSE ’03, MSE ’04) and his wife had a baby in February, Wesley James Urquhart, who is growing up fast in Blacksburg, Virginia. Doug is working at CHA Consulting as a project engineer in the water/wastewater group. (2013)
Brett Acker (BSE ’04) and his wife, Elizabeth, welcomed their first child, Byron William, on March 1, 2011. (2011)
Jeff Baxter (BSE ’04, MSE ’04) was promoted to senior vice president in recycling operations for World Oil Corp last year. He and his wife, Rachel, and live in Long Beach, CA with their two children, Zeke (4) and Zara (2), and their dog, Biscotti. (2018)
Adam Cole (BSE ’04) married his girlfriend of four years, Amanda Newman. Amanda graduated in 2008 from U-M with a degree in psychology and is now in her final year of law school at Wayne State. Adam is graduating next semester with his PhD in pharmaceutical sciences. He worked on magnetically targeting nanoparticles to brain tumors and plans to pursue a postdoctoral position so that he can continue his quest to become a faculty member. Adam is not sure yet where he will do his postdoc.
Mike Doornbos (BSE ’04, MSE BME ’05) recently completed his 9th year at Dow Corning in Midland, MI. Earlier this year, he moved from his role as a manufacturing team leader to the finance department as a corporate economic evaluator. On June 19, Mike and his wife, Amy, welcomed their third child, Nolan Michael, who joins their twin sons, Andrew and Myles. (2014)
Elizabeth (Elsner) Nahavandi (BSE ’04) had a baby girl, Aria Rayne, on December 13, 2010. (2011)
It’s been a busy 2019 and 2020 for Jessica Mattis (BSE 04)! She married the love of her life, Joel Carolan, on May 4, 2019 and is happily now Jessica Mattis-Carolan. Also, Mrs. Mattis-Carolan received a national award from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) as Emerging Leader Award in Nov 2019: For enthusiastically taking on every and any challenge; for cross-functional leadership that effectively demonstrates teamwork, champions change, and delivers on-time quality results; and for steadfast advocacy of women engineers. In February 2020, Jessica was selected for a new manager role in Customer Experience to strategically lead a team to transform General Motor’s digital presence specifically for the mobile app. She is thankful for great colleagues and appreciative of her blessed life. (2020)
Ali Mohraz (PhD ’04) spent a four-month sabbatical in Barcelona, Spain, where he enjoyed amazing food and went to exciting soccer games at the Camp Nou. He also reunited with Chris Lorenz (BSE ’97, PhD ’02) during a visit to King’s College London, where Dr. Lorenz is doing cutting edge research, teaching, and looking like a physicist. (2016)
Bob Morgan (BSE ’04) is now in his 12th year with L’Oréal, where he has held various positions within operations including manufacturing, supply chain, and purchasing. He is now the director of purchasing and is responsible for the integration of new acquisitions. After eight years in New Jersey, he had the opportunity to move back to the Midwest in 2015 and now lives in the Cleveland area with his wife, Katie-Lynn, and their two children, Henry (4) and Emily (1). (2016)
Adam Redstone (BSE ’04, MEng ’05) completed 3 years at IBM in the Strategy & Analytics consulting practice on April 30 and moved to Ernst & Young to join their Life Sciences Strategy consulting practice on June 15. (2015)
Terrence Rindler (’04) has recently joined a new Seattle-based biotech company, Juno Therapeutics, where he is the associate director of validation engineering. Even more recently, he and his wife, Lindsay, had their first child, Lena Evelyn, who was born on May 4, 2015. (2015)
Jason VanRoeyen (BSE ’04) is living in Louisiana with his wife and working for Motiva (Shell/Saudi Aramco joint venture). He supports the day-to-day operation of a 120 MBPD FCCIE and gasoline hydrotreater. (2011)
Though not currently in the engineering profession, Jonathan West (BSE ’04) has been active in entertainment, working on independent films and commercials, in theatre in Michigan and New York, and regional commercials and print advertisements. He’s living in the Bronx, NY, but active in the Midwest as well, where his twelve-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter live in Allen Park, MI. (2014)
Karen Andrews (BSE ’05) is an operations leader at Dow Chemical, working in Houston, TX. She and husband, Greg, welcomed their son, Christopher, on September 12, 2015. (2016)
Nicole (Arnold) Bartlett (BSE ’05) and her husband Joshua (BSE CE, EE ’04) proudly announce the birth of their second son, Colin Paul on January 6, 2015. He was welcomed home by big brother Cameron. Nikki resides in Essexville, Michigan with her family and continues to work for SC Johnson, where she is a production manager for a film and Ziploc plant in Bay City. (2015)
Gary Chia (BSE’ 05) just finished his PhD in chemical engineering at MIT in May 2011, and just started a master’s program in classical composition at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. (2011)
Ryan Dunn (BSE ’05) received a master’s in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University in May 2010. (2011)
Andrew “Bean” Getsoian (BSE ’05, MSE ’07) and Elizabeth (Ranney) Getsoian (BSE ’06, PhD ’11) welcomed their first son, Zachary Richard Getsoian, on May 6, 2014. Look for him to be part of the University of Michigan Chemical Engineering graduating class of 2036! (2014)
Jeff Henrikson (PhD 2005) recently completed his third novel, Do the Gods Give Us Hope? (A Prayer for Peace Book 3), which came out in November 2018. For more information about Jeff’s novels, go to www.jeffhenriksonauthor.com. (2018)
Lin Ho (BSE ’05) is currently living in Australia and doing a post-doc at the University of Melbourne. (2011)
This past spring, Eric Jankowski (BSE ’05, MSE ’06, PhD ’12) was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering at Boise State University. (2020)
Heidi Knickerbocker (BSE ’05). See, Brian Reger (BSE ’05)
Nikki Little (BSE ’05) is an intellectual property attorney at the Chicago IP boutique of Fitch Even Tabin and Flannery, focusing on patent litigation and advertising, branding and marketing law, among other areas. She and her husband, Matthew, (BS ’03) welcomed a daughter, Kenzie Irene Burns, on July 12, 2014. Nikki was also recently appointed to be a board member on the U of M Club of Greater Chicago. (2015)
Sanjeev Mullick (MSE ’05) is working at AspenTech in Houston as the director of industry marketing for their engineering solutions. (2011)
Catherine (Reesman) Doyle (BSE ’05) is working as a power plant engineer on water treatment and air quality control systems for two 677MW coal-fired supercritical boilers in Oak Creek, WI. (2011)
Andrea (Sterling) Trimmer (BSE ’05) married Scott Trimmer in Sept 2013. They currently live in Findlay, OH. Andrea is busy growing her business, The Midwest Open Rhythm Exchange, which promotes tap dance in the Midwest (tapdancingengineer.blogspot.com) and teaching tap dance at multiple dance studios in the area. She also writes a snarky science/engineering/tap dance blog: midwestopenrhythmexchange.weebly.com. (2014)
Mike Szoke (BSE ’05) and his wife, Abby, welcomed their second child, Olivia, last September. Mike resides in Portage, Michigan and works for Allnex, where he is the site manager of a 70 Mlbs methylated amino resins plant in Kalamazoo. (2016)
André Taylor (PhD ’05) has been promoted to Associate Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at Yale University. (2013)
Karis (White) Faust (BSE ’05) and Randy Faust (BS ‘04) had their fourth child, Penelope Joy, in December 2016. Karis works part time as a project manager for Applied Safety and Ergonomics, Inc. in Ann Arbor. (2017)
Katherine (Adler) Cook (BSE ‘06) got married on October 27, 2012! (2013)
Kyle Allison (BSE ’06) is an assistant professor in biomedical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. (2018)
Joseph Cheng (BSE ’06; MSE ’08) completed his PhD in chemical engineering at the end of 2016 at UT-Austin and currently is a postdoctoral fellow with Seattle Children’s Research Institute at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. (2017)
Michael Chisholm (BSE ’06) and his wife, Kristin, an Eastern Michigan graduate, married in 2016 and had their first child. In June 2018, he completed an MBA at the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business, specializing in sustainable business as well as leadership & advanced strategy. During his MBA, he founded a startup called Feros to develop a battery electric trailer to overcome the barriers to adopting EV’s in the freight industry. They have won 13 awards in four countries, including first place at the Department of Energy Cleantech University Prize hosted by UC Berkeley. He came back to the Ann Arbor area in July looking to expand his engineering team to develop his company’s product. (2018)
Carrie (Christensen) Lykowski (BSE 06) is pleased to announce that she and her husband, Joe, welcomed their first child, a son, into the family on May 25, 2012. Lucas Joseph has been a non-stop joy and blessing, and they had an especially memorable first Christmas with him. Carrie and Joe continue to work at Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan, where Joe is in I/S as a service manager and she is a process engineer in the Dow AgroSciences Technology Center. (2013)
Elizabeth (Fiorani) Thoma (BSE ’06) and her husband, Christopher, welcomed their third child, Imogen Ruby Fiorani Thoma, on October 29, 2017. Big brother Everett Oberon Fiorani Thoma, who was born January 7, 2016, loves singing “Let’s Go Blue!” We lovingly remember biggest brother Oberon Christopher Fiorani Thoma, born on November 24, 2014. (2018)
Chereese Foster (BSE ’06) recently completed an MS in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester. (2013)
Brian Gilan (BSE ’06) graduated from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with a master’s degree in business administration, concentrating in health sector management, product management, and market analysis & strategy. He now works for Medtronic in Los Angeles, CA in a global marketing role, as a member of their Leadership Development Rotational Program. (2014)
Bobby Glied (BSE ’06, MSE ’07) recently wrapped up a 6-year tenure at McKinsey in February and started with Platinum Equity in March as a Vice President of Business Transformation at one of their portfolio companies, Yak Access. He and his wife were married January 2019, and along with their two great danes, are still based in Chicago IL. (2019)
Seth W. Kahle (’06) launched CGK Consulting Group, Inc, a technical consulting and engineering group based in San Diego, CA with satellite offices in Phoenix, and Chicago. CGK focuses on chemical process engineering, process control automation systems, and custom software solutions for engineering and manufacturing. July marks the second anniversary of incorporation, and they are excited to see what the next year brings. (2015)
Evan Kostishak (BSE ’06) married five years ago and he and his wife, Claire, have three children: 2-year-old, Iona, and twins, Violet and Calvin, born May 30, 2018. They still live in Midland where he works at Dow. (2018)
Carrie (Lykowski) Christensen (BSE ’06) and her husband, Joe, welcomed their second son on April 23, Noah Douglas. Big brother, Lucas, loves his baby brother and enjoys helping take care of him. (2016)
Ashley (Phillips) Walton (BSE ’06) recently started as a manufacturing engineer with JAC Products in Saline Michigan in January of this year. She works in the assembly unit assembling roof racks for SUVs. (2015)
Elizabeth Ranney Getsoian (BSE ’06; MSE ’08; PhD ’11). See, Andrew (Bean) Getsoian (BSE ’05; MSE ’07)
Bruce Schiamberg (PhD ’06) has been working as an independent consultant. His work focuses on evaluating new technologies in alternative energy and life sciences. (2011)
Karlene Soltesz (BSE ’06, MBA ’10) recently became engaged to Marc Kaplan (BSECE ’05, MSE, BME ’05, JD ’10) and relocated to Chicago to take a position in Pricing Intelligence with Walgreens. Karlene says she enjoys hearing about what is going on in the department and appreciates the frequent communications. (2011)
Scott Taylor (MSE ’06) moved back to Michigan this year with wife (and dog) to raise their new baby girl, now 4 months old. He is now paid by the state to offer guidance to MI-based tech startups. (2015)
Ashley Walton (BSE ’06) is a working wife and mom and is enjoying the benefits of attending U–M! Go Blue! (2011)
Andy Wang (BSE ’06 is pleased to announce that a baby girl will be joining his family in February 2020. (2019)
Samih Zaman (BSE ’06) married Kiran Lodhie in June 2014. They reside in the Twin Cities metro area where Samih works for General Mills. (2014)
Navin Bora(BSE ’07) relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, from Chicago, to join Weaver, Austin, Villeneuve & Sampson, LLP, a boutique intellectual property law firm based in Oakland, CA. He would be very happy to hear from ChE alumni in the Bay Area and looks forward to developing a professional network here. (2017)
Jeffrey Carey (BSE ’07) got engaged to Michael O’Brien on June 14, 2015. They currently reside in Philadelphia, PA, where Jeffrey is pursuing his PhD and veterinary degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. He presented a portion of his dissertation work on aerobic metabolism of trimethylamine oxide by E. coli at the Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages Meeting in Madison, WI in August. (2015)
Joe Casler (BSE ’07) has been working as a senior test engineer at Molex Automotive since January 2017. He oversees testing and validation of various connector products for automotive and industrial applications. (2017)
George Cater (BSE ’07, MSE’08) is a fourth year medical student at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He would like to thank Dr. Montgomery and the ChE Faculty for their part in his undergraduate education. (2011)
After working for Schlumberger in Australia and the Middle East, Rob Chockley (BSE ’07), has joined Halliburton, back in the US. For both oilfield service companies, he has been performing reservoir evaluation on wireline. He says it’s been an adventure, and anyone interested in an exciting career can feel free to contact him about opportunities. (2014)
Halley Crast (BSE ’07) recently joined a startup called Sila Nanotechnologies located in Alameda, CA as a development operations manager. She was recruited for the job by a U–M alum! Sila focuses on making materials that will dramatically improve energy storage. (2017)
Stephanie (Fraley) Goodell (BSE ’07) recently joined General Motors as a senior analyst. Stephanie lives in her hometown of St. Clair, MI with her husband, Justin, and their two children, Evelyn (3) and Carter (1). (2016)
Erin Knight (BSE ’07, MEng ’09) founded her company, Engineering Radiance, to teach people with migraine headaches how to use root cause analysis to solve the underlying issues in their environment, lifestyle and biology (who knew learning about process control models and heat exchangers would help someone understand hormonal swings?). This past year she hosted the Chronic Headache and Migraine Summit, which gave hope and practical solutions to tens of thousands of migraine sufferers. She is eternally grateful for the foundation she got at Michigan. Go Blue! (2018)
Andy MacMillan (BSE ’07) is celebrating his 5th year anniversary at Rogers Corporation as a senior process engineer. He is living in suburban Chicago with his wife of five years, Karri, with whom he recently welcomed daughter, Mia, on April 14, 2015. (2015)
Justine (Tesch) Madonna (’07) married another U-M engineering student (CSE) right after graduation in 2007 whom she met her freshman year at Bursley Hall. She initially worked at an engineering consulting firm near Ann Arbor. After she obtained her P.E., she took a job as a project manager for the Wyandotte Engineering Department at BASF where she has managed projects up to$15million to date. (2012)
Irene Brockman (’08) and her fiancé, Brandon Reizman, both recently completed their PhDs in chemical engineering at MIT and are looking forward to celebrating their marriage in June. (2015)
Anthony Campbell (BSE ‘08) recently moved to California to pursue a cosmetic consulting career for Levlad, LLC. He consults with personal care companies about the best ways to manufacture their cosmetic products. He says this is a career change for him from his time at Johnson & Johnson where he working on product development. (2013)
Kevin Dahlberg (BSE ’08, PhD ’14) married Carmen Allen (LSA ’13) in May 2014. The two welcomed their first child, Rebekah Cherith, on August 23, 2017. Kevin is a research scientist at XALT Energy in Pontiac, Michigan. (2018)
Nikki and Kyle Goszyk (BSE ’08) were married on March 10, 2012. (2012)
Semant Jain (PhD ’08) started a Quant Hedge Fund in August 2014, which was invited to the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Oct 2014. He was in the Forbes 30 Under 30 issue in January 2015. (2015)
Laura (BA ’08, MPH ’10) and Stephen Kerns (BSE ’08 & MSE ’09) welcomed a future little Wolverine Benjamin to our family on Feb 6th 2017!
Johnson Mark (BSE ’08) and his friend and colleague, Sunbo Hwang, interviewed for Tesla on the same date in 2017 and have, since then, been working together on Li-ion cell technology and battery pack manufacturing at the company. Interestingly, he found out later that Sunbo graduated from Michigan in December 2009. (2018)
Ashley (Sullivan) Velez (BSE ’08) got married on June 4th 2011! (2011)
Christina Conlin (BSE ’09) says Dr. Montgomery and the entire ChE faculty prepared her well for handling the “real world”. She thanks them all for running a great program at the best University in the world! (2011)
Rob Damitz (BSE ’09) recently started a company (aqUV) with two fellow graduate students at University of Florida to address the over 780 million people across the globe without regular access to clean drinking water. They have developed a water purification device that is powered completely by hand for use not only in developing nations and for disaster relief but also for military and outdoors enthusiasts. In May, aqUV was selected as winners of UF’s “Next Big Idea” business plan competition with an award of $25,000 in startup funding. The award funding will help them implement their beta prototypes in Haiti by 2015. (2014)
Danielle (Kapala) Williams (BSE ’09) and Matt Williams (BSE ME ’09) welcomed their second son, Asher Josiah Williams, on January 18, 2017. (2017)
Stuart Krueger (BSE ’09) and Abby (Vonck) Krueger (BSE ’09) had a baby girl, Emma, on Dec 26, 2011. (2012)
Anthony (Tony) J. Lachawiec Jr., (PhD ’09) will be getting married this summer to Claudia Torres Garibay, who was a post-doc in the Materials Science & Engineering Department at Michigan while Tony was working on his PhD. They will settle in Hillsboro, OR. He is still with Intel Corporation, working as a gas systems process engineer, and Claudia is an assistant professor at Oregon Institute of Technology in their renewable energy engineering program. (2011)
Sarah Ledford (BSE ChE ’09), now Sarah Targosz, was married in December 2014 and recently moved to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area from Michigan. She is the owner of SLK Company, LLC, a government affairs, IT, and political consulting firm and is an activist for sustainable electronics and CFL bulb recycling, particularly safe toxic chemicals disposal. (2016)
Katie (Libich) Trongo (BSE ’09), currently living in Houston, TX, is celebrating 7 years of marriage to her high school sweetheart. They have a one-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son, and two dogs. She is celebrating one year in her new role as lab supervisor at Shell Oil Company. Shell has been a great place to work the past eight years and hopefully many more to come! (2017)
Ryan McKee (BSE ’09) is finishing his first year in the full-time MBA program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he’s specializing in marketing, entertainment, and technology. This summer, he will be interning at Blizzard Entertainment as a brand manager for World of Warcraft. (2015)
Drew Ross (BSE ’09) was married to Tiffany Pong (LS&A ’08) on July 25th, 2015 in northern California. They reside in the Berkeley, CA, where Drew works to improve the state of food process technology. (2016)
Stephanie Snoblen (BSE ’09) married Jacob Palosaari on May 27, 2017 during a Michigan “destination” wedding in Lake Leelanau & Traverse City. (2017)
Abby (Vonck) Krueger (BSE ’09). See, Stuart Krueger (BSE ’09)
Sara Yacob (BSE ’09) got married in August of 2014 to Charles Carr. They live in Chicago, IL. (2015)
Abdullah Awamleh (BSE ’10) took a new job within his company, AbbVie. He was a project engineer at AbbVie in Wyandotte, MI and is currently a senior process engineer at AbbVie in North Chicago, IL. (2014)
Jon Bauer (BS ’10) proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Amanda McAdams (LSA ’09). Jon proposed on New Year’s Eve while the two were traveling in Iceland. They currently live in Philadelphia with their cats while Jon is finishing his PhD at the University of Delaware. Jon & Amanda are in Iceland in the photo, after Jon proposed. (2014)
Derrick Boroski (BSE ’10) and Nicole Lesnau (BSE ’10) were married on June 14, 2014. (2014)
Daniel Byrd (BSE ’10) has been volunteering in the penguin colony at the New England Aquarium for a few months now. He is also working for Dow Chemical in Marlborough, MA, but that’s obviously less exciting than “playing” with penguins every week. (2011)
Alexander Cohen (BSE ’10, MENG PharmEng ’12) got married on September 9, 2017, to Amy DeLozier, a Michigan grad from the School of Public Health. They live in Indianapolis. (2018)
Christine (Curran) Maher (BSE ’10) has changed positions at ExxonMobil, and is now a planning advisor in Upstream Business Analysis & Reporting. (2017)
Michael D’Hondt (DDS Dentistry ’13) is now a dentist. Read Dental Economics article about how he started a dental implant clinic. (2017)
Alex Dowling (BSE ’10) will start a new position in Fall 2017 as an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Notre Dame. (2017)
Ted Farrand (BSE ’10) is a first year medical student at UC San Diego. He hasn’t decided which specialty he wants to go into yet. (2016)
On May 13, Alexander “Alec” Harris (BSE ’10) graduated from medical school. He will spend a year as an intern at Michigan State University on the Grand Rapids campus before he heads out to do his residency in radiation oncology at Loyola University in Chicago. (2016)
Sunbo Hwang (BSE ’10) is living in San Jose, CA and working for Tesla in Li-ion cell technology. He was surprised to meet colleague, Johnson Mark Johnson (BSE 2008) during an interview on the same day for the same position! They are working together now. (2018)
After 8 years in Houston, Jessica Ho (BSE ’10) has started a new role at Shell as a senior production technologist in Brisbane, Australia. (2018)
Joseph Janiak (BSE ’10) started a new job as a manufacturing engineer with Medplast in Grand Rapids, MI. (2017)
Kevin Kasunic (BSE ’10) was married to Maggie Wurzer on June 10, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Kevin graduated with his MBA from Rice University in 2016 and works as a product marketing manager in the chemicals industry. (2017)janiamk
Katherine (Koterba) Pacynski (BSE ’10) and her husband, Steve (BA ’06), welcomed their daughter, Charlotte Jane, on November 11, 2019. She joins big sister Claire, who was born in 2018. Katherine is currently a shareholder and patent attorney at the Dobrusin Law Firm in Pontiac, Michigan. She also serves as the president-elect of the Women’s Bar Association, and recently graduated from the Leadership Oakland Cornerstone program. (2019)
Nicole Lesnau (BSE ’10) and Derrick Boroski (BSE ’10) were married on June 14, 2014. (2014)
Charles Machi (BSE ’10), see Priya Thyagarajan (BSE ’12). (2019)
Alon Mandel (BSE ’10) has relocated from Israel to Denver to work at Noble Energy as an environmental engineer, where he will be fighting fugitive leakages from oil well production in their air pollution group, He returned to Israel after graduation to complete his army service. (2014)
Dustin Meldrum (BSE ’10, MSE ’11) left his job working for Equatorial Guinea Reservoir Engineering with ExxonMobil, to take a job as business development coordinator for Murphy Exploration & Production Company. (2014)
David Mui (BSE ’10) is a project manager for onsite gas generation systems In the Airgas Floxal group in Houston Texas. (2018)
Stephanus “Oscar” Oscar (BSE ’10) lives in Indonesia and works for a data center company. He is getting married in September 2016. (2016)
Jessica (Rilly) Schmitz (BSE ’10) works as a chemical engineer at Terumo Cardiovascular Systems in Ann Arbor. She got married in April 2015 and she and her husband, Greg, just bought a house on the west side of Ann Arbor. They love walking downtown and being able to attend Michigan football and basketball games! (2015)
Emily Robb (BSE ’10) works at Fiat Chrysler on autonomous vehicle advanced development in Lidar and Radar component engineering. She is married with two daughters, age 1 and 3. (2020)
Claire Amelia Robinson was born on November 13, 2019 to parents Matt Robinson (BSE ’10, MSE ’11) and Katherine Carlton Robinson (U-M alumna). Everyone is happy and healthy and enjoying our new life as a family in Indianapolis. Claire’s favorite outfit is her Michigan onesie! (2019)
Reggie Rogers (PhD ’10) has recently been granted tenure and promoted to associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology. (2018)
Max Rutz (BSE ’10) and his wife had a baby girl, Maria, in February 2017. He has recently moved into a new position at Delta Air Lines as a safety director. (2017)
Huey Shann Sue (BSE ’10, MSE ’11) recently celebrated her three-year anniversary as an environmental consultant at Trinity Consultants in Chicago, IL. She got married recently and her husband will be graduating from the PhD program in Microbiology and Immunology at Michigan! (2015)
Arshat Xembayev (BSE ’10) is working for TengizChevrOil (TCO, a Chevron subsidiary) in Kazakhstan as a process engineer. On a volunteer basis, he is also involved with a non-profit foundation in Kazakhstan aimed at bringing high- quality education to rural areas and good medical/rehabilitation services to disabled children. (2011)
Cassandra Ballert (BSE ’11) is currently traveling the world with her partner on a tandem bicycle in 2018. Apart from cycling, she is living in Augsburg, Germany and working at Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences as a research assistant with the Sustainable Engineering and Management group. Cassandra recorded her travels on her blog: talkie-walkie.us. (2018)
Cassie Cooke (BSE ’11), see Brian Weeden (BSE ’11) (2017)
James DeRosier (BSE ’11) see Dana (Weimar) DeRosier (BSE ’11)
Bernie Liu (BSE ’11) just started his MBA for professionals at Rice University in Houston, TX. (2017)
Danielle Mai (BSE ’11) is starting as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. The Mai Research Group will engineer biopolymers at the molecular scale to develop functional biomaterials and to enhance understanding in soft matter physics. (2019)
Chris Rausch (BSE ’11) completed the PDP (Professional Development Program) rotational program for BASF Chemical Company and accepted a position in the corporate innovation group as facility and operations coordinator at our Chemical Engineering and Technology Complex in Wyandotte, MI. Chris is responsible for the day-to-day issues in the facility and supervises the small scale and specialty production area, which is a service group for BASF North America that mainly deals with new products and product development. He lives in Royal Oak, MI. (2013)
Amanda Whalen (BSE ’11) recently started a new position as a business analyst within her company, Air Liquide. She moved to Dallas, TX and bought her first home. (2014)
Brian Weeden (BSE ’11) and Cassie Cooke (BSE ’11) were recently engaged and are getting married in August 2017! They are both living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Brian works at Chevron and Cassie works at The Clorox Company. (2017)
Dana (Weimar) (BSE ’11) and James DeRosier (BSE ’11) welcomed their son, Tyler James, into the world on March 22. They are enjoying life as a family of three in Midland, MI with their 2 dogs. Dana is currently working at Hemlock Semiconductor Operators and James is at DuPont. (2020)
In November, Jessica Ho (BSE ‘12) finished her time as a production engineer on the reservoir performance team for Shell’s Haynesville shale asset in Northwest Louisiana. She is now a production engineer on the surveillance and technical team for Shell’s Delaware basin asset in West Texas. She continues to be based in Houston, but makes frequent trips out to the Midland/Odessa area. She is currently serving as the social director for the U-M Alumni Club of Houston. (2013)
Kevin DaJuan Lewis Jr. (BSE ’12) and his wife, Chae’ Lewis, had their fourth child on May 11, 2020, Olivia Lynn Lewis (5 lbs. 15 oz. 19 in), new sister to Kenneth (6), Michelle (4) and Calise (2). (2020)
Stuart Marshall (BSE ’12) recently started a new position at AK Steel as a process engineer. He got married to Amber in 2014 and they live in Canton, MI. (2018)
Eric Raynal (BSE ’12) graduated from medical school at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in 2017), and started his residency at Indiana University / Riley Hospital for Children in pediatrics, in Indianapolis. (2017)
After 5 years of teaching Pre-AP Chemistry, AP Chemistry, and AP Environmental Science along the Texas-Mexican border, Josh Lumley (BSE ’12), returned to the wonderful state of Michigan. In July 2017, He started as an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) Product Development Engineer at Hanon Systems. (2017)
Priya Thyagarajan (BSE ’12) and Charles Machi (BSE ’10) met in 2010 when they were both peer advisors at the Engineering Advising Center. They are getting married on September and still live in the Ann Arbor area! (2019)
After graduating with his PhD in Chemical Engineering in August and traveling the world for a few months, Alex Wang (BSE ’12, BSEMS ’12) has relocated back to Michigan. He is currently working at AGC in Ypsilanti, a glass supplier for the automotive industry, where he is an R&D engineer. (2018)
After working for Intel Corp. in Arizona for about three years, Avi Wolf (BSE ’12) relocated to the East Coast to begin graduate school at Princeton University. He has just completed his first year of doctoral studies in the Tissue Morphodynamics Laboratory, advised by Professor Celeste Nelson from the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering. (2016)
Alex Wong (BSE ’12) had been in grad school at UC Berkeley since he received his bachelor’s degree and now has graduated with a PhD in chemical engineering! He and his wife, a fellow Wolverine, will travel this fall to Iceland, France, Poland, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand. After that, in December, they will return to Michigan and hopefully find work near their families in Southeast Michigan—Ann Arbor would be nice :). (2017)
Ted Zaroff III (MSE ’12) accepted a new job in technical services with Epic Systems, a healthcare software company. (2016)
Sarah Chronister (BSE ’13) has enjoyed exploring new cities while in BASF’s Professional Development Program. Sarah started the program in Florham Park, NJ and is currently living in Charlotte, NC. Sarah has enjoyed connecting with local Michigan alumni through the U–M Alumni Association. (2014)
Meredith Citkowski (BSE ’13) was a finalist in Ford’s brand-new Thirty Under 30 program. It’s an opportunity for her to enroll in a ‘hands-on’ course in leadership/community engagement, learning about corporate/non-profit relationships, and helping partnering non-profits assess and strengthen their current operations. (2016)
Betsy Gast (BSE ’13) recently graduated from Wayne State University with her master’s in chemical engineering from the Process Engineering and Project Management Program. She is moving to Davenport, IA to start her career with Nestle Purina PetCare as a production management trainee. (2016)
Nicholas Hadjicharalambous (BSE ’13) got married last summer. His wife is a pediatric resident at Detroit Children’s Hospital. He is working on an MBA at Ross in the part-time weekend MBA Program. He is eager to connect with any other ChE’s currently pursuing their MBA! (2018)
Alex Kolb (BSE ’13) and Emily Carroll (BSE ’14) were engaged on February 10, 2018. They met in ChE 230 in their first group homework. They both currently live and work in Baton Rouge, LA. (2018)
Rachel Mallinger (BSE ’13) has spent the last year working with Air Liquide as a participant of the ALLEX Program. In this time she has relocated from Ann Arbor, to Albany, NY, and to Houston, Texas, where she worked as a Project Engineer. She moved to Paris in August for her next role and is looking forward to exploring new opportunities abroad. (2014)
Michael Oles (BSE ’13) is working as a project manager for Roeslein & Associates outside of St. Louis. He works primarily in the aluminum beverage can making industry, with projects completed for Anheuser Busch and Ball Corporation. Michael married his fiancée, Gretchen, on December 14, 2019, with 4 fellow Wolverines as groomsmen. (2020)
Corey Peterson (BSE ’13) was engaged to Taylor Jacobs on January 2017, and on April 14, 2018, they got married in Austin TX. Corey works as an application engineer for AVL providing on-site support for GM in Pontiac MI. Taylor Jacobs, CRPC, works for Richard W Paul & Associates as a client service advisor in Novi. They recently bought their first house in Wixom MI and are going through all the joys and pains of their first renovation. They also have a little monster, Luna, a 3-year-old Husky, who is the joy of their lives. (2018)
Eric Robbins (BSE ’13) is an improvement engineer at Dow Chemical in New Orleans, LA. (2016)
Spencer Scolnick (BSE ’13) is still with Shell. He finished up his offshore field assignment on the Perdido Spar and returned to the office for seven months as a drilling engineer for the Gulf of Mexico TLP/Spar group. He is now on a 12-month broadening assignment in The Hague, Netherlands, working for the central performance and planning team for the Wells Organization. (2018)
Ken Sowerwine (BSE ’13), see Tawnya Sowerwine (BSE ’03)
After working as a project engineer at Air Liquide for five years, Kanchan Swaroop (BSE ’13) left the company to pursue a graduate degree. In May 2020, she completed a dual master’s program in environmental engineering and environment and sustainability from Michigan. She is currently a technical advocacy associate for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy where she is assisting with the advancement of energy and water efficiency standards. She and her fiancé are based in the DC area and are planning to get married in Colorado in September 2021. (2020)
Sita Syal (BSE ’13, ESE ’14) and Zach Fetters (LSA ’13) got married in East Lansing, Michigan on August 11, 2018. (2018)
Carolyn Yarina’s (BSE ’13) start-up company, Sisu Global Health, was a finalist in the Saving Lives at Birth Grant and presented at the DevelopmentxChange in Washington DC on August 1, where they won a $250,000 seed grant from the organization. You can visit the her company’s website at www.sisuglobalhealth.com for more information. (2014)
Molly Adolph (BSE ’14) is excited to announce that she got engaged on vacation in San Diego in December and will be getting married in October 2018! (2017)
Amanda Ashworth (BSE ’14) and her fiancee welcomed a baby boy on March 25, 2018. Everyone is healthy and doing very well! They reside in Dallas, TX. (2018)
Tyler Berghorst (BSE ’14, BSE MSE ’14) just returned to the US after living in China for several years where he taught calculus at an international high school. In September, he will move to Barcelona, Spain to obtain his MBA from IESE Business School. Aside from that, he’s been travelling a lot, before COVID-19, and has recently have gotten into rock climbing. (2020)
Cassandra Boston (BSE ’14) has been working for Black & Veatch in Kansas City. She was engaged in December 2016 to a firefighter in Lenexa, KS and the couple is busy enjoying every minute of planning their wedding and fixing up their new house. She recently resigned from her position as a chemical engineer to pursue a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She and her husband are excited about this career change and look forward to the adventures that lie ahead. (2017)
Maggie Bridgewater (BSE ’14) and Joe Potter (BSE AERO ’13) were married on the 2017 winter solstice in Florida. They met in The Dude while Maggie was working as a barista at Mujo Cafe. Joe and their hound dog, Layla, live in Los Angeles, and Maggie plans to join them after finishing her PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. (2018)
Andrew Campbell (BSE’14) and Cindy Lee (BS ’14) were married on April 13, 2018. Andrew is working as a chemical engineer in the power generation industry at Black & Veatch in Ann Arbor while Cindy is finishing her 4th year at the University of Michigan Medical School and applying to residency programs in Obstetrics & Gynecology. If all goes well and Cindy matches at the University of Michigan, Andrew will begin the Weekend MBA program at the Michigan Ross School of Business starting in May of 2018. Go Blue! (2018)
Emily Carroll (BSE ’14), see Alex Kolb (BSE ’13)
Isabel Cosnahan (BSE ’14) was recently engaged to, Craig Brissman. He is a 2012 Purdue graduate and they both work for P&G in the Cincinnati area. (2017)
Marcus Deloney (BSE ’14, MSE ’16) was recently engaged to his long-time boyfriend, Brandon Oselio (EE PhD) on May 12, 2018 on the Michigan Diag. They met while Marcus was finishing his bachelor’s and have since moved to Sacramento so he can finish his PhD in BME. (2018)
David Fillinich (BSE ‘14) has been working as a technology consultant to the Federal government in Washington, D.C., for Accenture ever since graduation. (2017)
Joshua Kempfer (BSE ’14) has a new position at BASF as a process engineer in West Memphis, AR. (2018)
Keith Minbiole (BSE ’14) is back in school pursuing a master’s in medical science in anesthesiology from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He will be a certified anesthesiologist assistant in 2 years—it is kind of like a PA but solely for administering anesthesia. (2018)
Ryan Moody (BSE ’14) and fellow 2014 ChE alumna, Liz Lippie, travelled around Hawaii, where Liz, as a former ROTC member, has been stationed since graduation. Liz is off to Nuclear Power School with the Navy and Ryan will be backpacking in South America before she joins Shell on an oil platform somewhere near the Gulf of Mexico. (2016)
Jack Poberezny (BSE ’14) and Erica (Tiedeman) Poberezny (BSE ’14) were married on September 4, 2016 in Michigan. They currently live in Reston, VA and both work at Bechtel. (2017)
Jackie Reimann (BSE ’14) was engaged to William Snyder this past summer and will be getting married in September 2017. (2017)
An Shi (BSE ’14) moved to LA to work for Originclear in September 2015. (2015)
Vijaynaren “Vijay” Subramaniam (MSE ’14) lives in Dallas TX and works for GHD Services Inc., as an air emissions project engineer. (2018)
Erica (Tiedeman) Poberezny (BSE ’14). See, Jack Poberezny (BSE ’14)
Amanda Walsh (BSE ’14) got married September 28, 2019 to her college sweetheart Matt Gutknecht, also a 2014 grad! (2019)
Kayla Zabowski (BSE ’14), a graduate of Avery Dennison’s Operations Leadership Development Program, is a manufacturing product optimization engineer at the company. She is still traveling with the friends from her 2014 ChE class, Amanda Walsh, Megan Egbert, and Somya Sharma. (2018)
Erin (Alderink) Grashoff (BSE ’15) recently got married to Alex Grashoff, who graduated from LSU, on June 27, 2020. She also started a new position at Dow as a production engineer for methacrylates in Houston, TX. (2020)
College sweethearts Kailash (Kai) Brodeur (BSE ’15) and Samantha Raney (BSE MSE ’16) were engaged on the Summer Solstice, June 20, 2020 (socially distanced from others, of course). (2020)
Emily Enzerra (BSE ’15) is currently working for Michelin NA in Greenville, SC as a quality engineer. (2016)
After Mahesh Ganesan (PhD ’15) received his doctoral degree, he worked as a post doc with Professor Mike Solomon. Since March 2016, he has been working as a research scientist with Avery Dennison in their performance tapes business division. He is heavily involved in studying rheology of polymer adhesives, their glass transition behaviors, their ability to dampen vibrations etc. So, the work he did at U-M and the coursework he did with Professor Ron Larson and others are all being used in his job! He is living in Cleveland, OH and got married in September 2015. His wife is a machine-learning, computer-vision graduate student at Case Western. Mahesh is proud that his days at Michigan taught him so many things about handling stress, decision making, multitasking etc., that he is able to share with his wife as she is going through grad school. (2017)
Emily Gibara (BSE ’15) recently got engaged to Tyler Dejaeghere, They met her senior year at Michigan in 2014, and are now both working for Air Liquide in Houston, TX. (2020)
Jules Hinske (BSE ’15) was recently recognized as one of AIChE’s 35 Under 35! She was awarded this recognition in the Process Safety category. (2020)
Brian Lu (BSE ’15) is working in Wausau WI for Kraft Heinz as a plant operations risk management/continuous improvement manager. (2018)
Brooke Meyers (BSE ’15) see Dennis Paul (BSE ’15)
Dennis Paul (BSE ’15) and Brooke Meyers (BSE ’15) met in orientation on their first day at Michigan. They were married in September of 2017. Dennis currently works in Findlay, Ohio at Marathon Petroleum as a planning engineer and Brooke is working in Columbus at Anheuser-Busch as a brewing manager. (2018)
Christopher Rockwell (BSE ’15) started at Tokyo Electron America in Boise, ID working as a process engineer in plasma etch. (2018)
Delfina Sitar (BSE ’15) received her master’s degree in engineering design innovation in December from Northwestern and is moving to San Francisco to accept a position at SAP. (2017)
Jake Jordahl (PhD ’16) and Stacy Ramcharan (PhD ‘17), who met while doing graduate research in Joerg Lahann’s lab, were married on September 1, 2018. They are both working for ExxonMobil in polymer product development in Houston, Texas. (2018)
Maria (Ligeski) Best (BSE ’16) completed her degree in December 2016 and took a sales engineer position with Johnson Controls Inc., in January at their Ann Arbor office. She married Michael Best in May, her college sweetheart and a ChE from Michigan Tech. (2017)
D’Arcy Cook (ChE ’17) started working at GHD, an environmental consulting firm last summer. She still lives in Ann Arbor. (2018)
In July, John Joseph DeBono Jr. (BSE ’17) accepted an associate engineer-production position with DTE Energy at the Belle River Power Plant. This is his first job as an engineer.
Hannah Ettenberg (BSE ’17) recently started her first job! She has relocated to Saratoga Springs, NY and is working at Plug Power. (2017)
Hunter Krebs (BSE ’17) and Ashley Kuehne (BSE ’17) celebrated their marriage on August 8, 2020. The wedding was smaller than they originally intended with about 80 people in attendance. The ceremony and reception were both held outdoors to comply with Michigan’s executive orders and the bride and groom highly encouraged the use of facemasks. (2020)
Ashley Kuehne (BSE ’17) see Hunter Krebs (BSE ’17)
Andrew Long (BSE ’17) lives in Houston, TX and is working at the NASA Johnson Space Center as a project engineer. He is also a part-time University of Houston Law School student. (2017)
Stacy Ramcharan (PhD ‘17), see Jake Jordahl (PhD ’16)
Daniel Tresnak (ChE ’17) and his fiancée, Clare Romano (BSN ’18), were married on August 2020! (2020)
William Troske (BSE ’17) will begin work on his master’s in economics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. (2020)
Bo Mahjour (BSE ’18) is a PhD student at Michigan studying medicinal chemistry at the College of Pharmacy. He was recently had an article published in Nature as the first author. His lab also released work using AI to support the COVID drug supply chain (Preprint). He also created a website showing the results: http://covidroutes.cernaklab.com/ (2020)
Andrew Pfarr (BSE ’19) moved to Chicago last summer to start his new role in the Management Development Program at McMaster-Carr. (2019)
Kiran Prasad (BSE ’19) is completing an internship at Microsoft this summer as a master’s student in AI at Carnegie Mellon University. (2020)
Take a minute to send us your news cheme@umich.edu.
Chemical Engineering