NEUTRON NEWS 2011

(Updated 12/31/2011)

DELIVERED BY THE ELECTRON EXPRESS           PUBLISHED BY THE PROTON PRESS

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Alumni News 

[Editor note:  If you don't like what I said about you...email me something better.  If I missed an update you sent to me, sorry.  Send it again.  The NN will be ever changing now that I have it on the web....so check often for updates.  My goal will be once a month -- near the first of the month.  Also to shorten the NN I will delete your info from the current NN if it is more than two years old...so to be included keep me updated.

Due to the email address changes and the spam robots, I have decided to remove Alumni emails from my NN.  If you want to contact an alumni, please email me at molesrus@yahoo.com  and I will let you know if I have an email address available.  This helps protect your account and makes my "retired" life easier.]

For fast access to the decade of your choice:  '70s   '80s   '90s   '00s   in our memories

The '70s

Scott Burns (74) -- retired in 2009 after 30 years of service to the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign as an engineering professor; has now returned to school and is an undergraduate senior in the College of Fine and Applied Arts specializing in ceramic sculpture; has been exhibiting math-based artwork for 21 years Note: I have a piece of his artwork hanging in my home - very nice!!); married with three kids, oldest is grad student in library science, middle is with the Peace Corp in Kenya, youngest is junior undergrad at U of I, wife is head K/1 teacher at University Primary School (one of U of I's laboratory schools); interests include mechatronics as an artform and enjoying nature.  PICS  [10/23/11]

Barb (Armaroli) Butler (74) -- full-time mom and part-time free lance writer '10; married; kids: Adam '93 and Greg '94; worked for Argonne, U of C Med center and Arthur Andersen; grad from Drake in journalism and biochem '78.  [06/14/10]

Russ Carlson (74) -- living in Cave Creek, AZ and has owned a horse business since '83 with a developing passion for show jumping; worked in stealth technology for aircraft engines; favorite college course - differential equations; kids: Justin '83 and Danny '80 (both engineering grads from ASU); MBA from ASU '82; grad UIUC in engineering '79.  PICS   [07/08/09]

Tony Wesley (74) -- Chief Financial Officer of Diversapack LLC in New York; planning on selling his 31 acre farm in PA and moving to Cleveland '10 to retire and have better school choices for Cate; kids: adopted Cate in '06 and started being a dad at age 49!!!; been with his partner, Al (an attorney) since '86; lived in Cleveland for 15 years (founded an accounting firm and did lots and lots of volunteer work with arts and ecumenical organizations); spent 7 years in a monastery; spent a study year in France; grad Notre Dame '79.  [04/18/10]

Cyndi (Brown) Cuppernell (75) -- using her nursing experience on the hospital’s EMR (electronic medical record) team - her hospital was the 11th in the nation to reach HIMSS level 6, which means about the only thing they have left on paper are the consent forms - Level 7 is the highest and to get there they would need to have signature pads like you use to sign for a credit card; she also built the documentation setup for the neonatal intensive care physicians to work with the EMR system and now is a national consultant for that software; works at Carle Hospital in cardiovascular ICU and does recoveries for heart surgeries and teaches Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS); grandkids: Tyler and Alexis; kids: Rebecca '86 and Victoria '90; married: Tom '83; grad Parkland College '93 in nursing; grad UIUC '84 in home ec.  PICS  [07/24/10]

Paul Pomes (75) -- doing relief work as an independent contractor under the DBA Furry Friends Veterinary Service; having his DVM means a lot of 12-hour days and constant learning; licensed to practice in Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, California and soon to be in Hawaii; living in San Diego but spends lots of time on both coasts; spent some time in OR to learn about Llama care - wants to have a couple for pets!!!; retired from Qualcomm in CA; kids: Dylan '88 (joined the military), Alanna '91, Andrew, Ben, and Joshua; married to Martha Lachmayr Pomes (an engineer) of San Diego; travel: ski trip in Andorra '08; Dr of Veterinary Medicine '07; grad UIUC in CS '80.    PICS    [10/29/11]

Russ Spinelli (75) -- insurance agent with State Farm in Chicago; plays guitar in a band and actually gets paid for it; likes to read, hike, sail and family activities; kids: Mike '86, Tess '92, Dave '95; married: Cindy; travel: planning a family trip to the big island of Hawaii '09; grad U Iowa in computer science '81.   PICS   [02/18/09]

Steve Carnes (76) --  working as a independent consultant for defense industry, robotics and biomedical; living in economic depressed Michigan, remodeling his house and working on his "bucket list" now that he crossed the 50 yr old mark; travel: Epcot, mammoth cave, Atlanta, Jimmy Buffet concert in WI, Oshkosh Fly-in, Loveland, CO,Berne Switzerland (complete with hiking in the Alps), France, Germany, Netherlands, Vegas, PA-NJ-VT-ME; ,kids: Andrew '88, DJ '91 and Kelli '94: married: Cindi '04; MSEE from UC San Diego '96; worked in Japan (90-93); MME from NU '90; MBA from Kellogg '89; BSChE from NU '84.   PICS   [10/23/11]

Elizabeth Eklund (76) -- working of a project with Narissa Nonzee '01 at the VA hospital in Chicago; managed to keep funded during the past very painful 8 years of NIH and VA budget cuts; currently doing cancer research at Northwestern Hosp and Lakeside VA in Chicago; granted tenure at NWU '05; serves on committees for the VA and NIH regarding grants for research; worked at Univ of Alabama, Indiana Univ and Mayo Clinic; grad med school from Rush '83; grad UIUC in Bio '80.  [10/23/09]

Tom Hoffman (76) -- living in VA and working for Cisco '10 and "runs the software release process and tools teams for one of the Cisco router operating systems (IOS-XR)"; worked for 3 different startup companies, as a defense contractor and for Shell; kids: two daughters '90 and '85; married: Robin; grad SIU-Carbondale in Physics/Math/CS '81.  [07/24/10]

Marcia (Lacy) Dettloff (77) -- enjoying being an empty nester and able to work in a cruise to Alaska, trip to CA/Yosemite and Christmas cruise to the Bahamas - all in the fall of '08; Doctor of Optometry since '85 and has had her own office since '87 and has a new building '08; kids:Scott '83, Holly '86, Michelle '90; married: Wayne '80 who is working for Rambus; very busy with family vacations to Costa Rica '00 , Yucatan '01 and Alaska '03.   PICS   [06/29/10]

John Kall (77) -- working in private practice at Alexian Brotheres Medical Center in Elk Grove Village '10; specialty is cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmia management-characterized several specific arrhythmias and developed several tools to facilitate the ablation (elimination with intravascular radiofrequency cautery or surgical excision) of several types of cardiac arrhythmias; worked as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago; kids: daughter '05 and Joey '03; races a Porsche 996 for fun and restores old cars; grad Loyola University Chicago Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology '92; grad Mayo Clinic Internal Medicine '88; medical school '84; Loyola University Chicago undergrad in chemistry '81.  PICS  [07/24/10]

Robert Pomes (77) -- looking at retirement soon and wants me to teach him to sail and play bridge; works for BPAmoco in Chicago but changing to SAIC soon; married; kids = Luke '03 and Elana '01; grad Bradley in CS.  [12/25/09]

Matt Ross (77) -- working for Central Dupage Hospital as a neurosurgeon; did his internship and residency with UIC; grad from UIC medical school.   PICS   [01/01/09]

Bill White (77) -- elected to the District 99 school board; he has finished writing his first Sci-fi book "On a Higher Hill" about the Mormons colonizing Mars and is working on his next book; doing some sailing and playing chess online; law practice in DG; married: Karen '90; kids: Kelsey '93 and Kyle '00; Law degree from Loyola; grad U of C '81.  [01/31/10]

Joe Bularzik (78) -- leaving Abu Dhabi University and starting a new job at the largest university in UAE, Higher Colleges of Technology and will become the Dean of Applied Arts and Science. It will have divisions of Applied Health, Science, Communications and Education. The university has 14 campuses in 7 cities (lots of travel required) and most of the campuses are gender segregated; moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates '09 and set up a science department at Abu Dhabi University; taught at Purdue extension, Notre Dame, Arizona and in Pennsylvania; worked for Inland Steel several years; married: Lenny; kids: Kristin '88 and Nicholas '84; visited China and Japan in '94; PhD from Berkley in chem.  [12/25/10]

Raju Chandra (78) -- VP, Marketing and Sales for Tecom Industries Inc.; worked as marketing product manager for EDO Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems; kids: daughter Roopa '98, son Neeraj ''92, son Nishant '89 ; married: ??; lives in LA area; grad '83 from UIC in MSEE; grad '81 from UIC in BSEE.   [10/23/11]

Sam Meyer (78) -- living in San Francisco; started his own company, Sourdough Painting, in San Fran, CA (contractor/painting houses); playing lots of golf (played golf with a couple of guys who were working out at Lawrence Livermore Labs, demolishing the bevatron machine, that they said had been used to discover several elements- Berkelium, Lawrencium, Californium); went to Prague and Berlin in '03, Budapest '99 and '03, Ireland, England, and France in '01; grad with MS from UC Davis in community development '96; volunteered with Native Americans in CA in the early '90s.   [06/14/10] 

Keith Rose (78) -- had major water damage to his basement (in Woodridge) from the IKE rains in '08 - impromptu renovation project!!!; took a two week trip to Alaska '03 - saw whales, fished/caught salmon, loved Denali; builds high performance computer systems for fun; working for CITGO Petroleum Corp. in Cicero, IL since ’87; presently responsible for all of R&D (fluids), Technical Service (fluids), and In-Service Oil Monitoring (Stationary Gas Engine and Heavy Duty Engine) -manages 3 laboratories all at this location.; still plays some chess; coaches youth football and assists at wrestling in spare time; kids: Jennifer '89 (DGS '06), Eric '91 (DGS '09), Matthew '95 (DGS '13); married: Sandy Duffin '87 (DGS '77); worked for Amoco; grad Cornell college.   [10/23/11]

Pam (Marrs) Simon (78) - working part-time as youth minister at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Westmont and being a full-time mom (So far, main goal of keeping youth ministry and pharmacy completely separate is a success!); kids: Stacia Marie ’90, Christopher Aaron ’93 and Hannah Ruth ’00; married Matt Simon ’86; PharmD ’86 UIC.  [07/18/11]

Bob Weatherly (78) -- a faculty member in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City and serves as the Residency Program Director, which is a very educationally challenging (and rewarding) job; kids: Rob '93 and John '96; grad Baylor, TX med school; grad IBC '86.   [01/01/09]

Dave Dallemolle (79) -- getting to help his kids with chemistry at home - oh, those moles never go away; went back to DGS for a swim meet to watch his daughter and realized he hadn't been there for 20 yrs!!!; vacationed (bike trip to Utah &CO, TX, KS, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon '08) & (Badlands, Black Hills, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons '06); still with BP, but has moved into a role in Business Development in the Pipelines Business. Quite interesting change after 18 years in chemicals technology, operations, and commercial roles; was the Product Manager for the North American Styrene Business (Moving moles of styrene around the country as cheaply as possible) - he encourages everyone to buy more cars, computers, and plastic toys; works with Corey Correnti '80; married: CC; kids: Bryan '93 and Marie Elise '95; grad U of Texas for Masters and PhD; grad UIUC in Chem Eng.   PICS   [03/15/11]

Darrilyn (Albright) Fraser (79) -- living in Hull, Georgia '08; director of two Master Seed Labs for Merial Animal Health in Biologics R&D which is co-owned by the human pharmaceutical companies Merck and Aventis, with their primary location being in Lyon, France. Merial is one of the two leading companies (the other being Pfizer) producing anti-parasite, anti-helminth and vaccines for both production and companion animals. Their best known products to the general public are probably FRONTLINE (flea and tick), and also HEARTGUARD (heartworm) for dogs and cats, She is happy to be working in the science research field again; travel: Accra, Ghana '08, Seattle; spent '01-02 as a postdoc at WSU in Pullman, WA; working on equine virus similar to human AIDS; PhD '98 and MS '89 from U of Kentucky; spent yr in Eng '94; worked at Smithsonian Instit.   PICS   [11/08/08]

Bob Hayden (79) -- spent 12 days on an Alaska cruise due to his wife being "Teacher of the Year" for her district-Congrats to her- '03; had dinner with Bob on our spring break trip to CA...great time '02; being "Mr. Mom" while making some career changes; married '96 to Kathe and with a son Steven '99 and a daughter Brenna '03; grad of UIUC in EE '83.   PICS   [06/05/08]

Rob Plotke (79) -- did a bit of traveling, sailing and skiing '08, but no major mountains (nothing over 15,000 ft!); spent the summer '08 road-tripping around a bit: wis, minn, nd, sd, wy, utah, ind, ky, tenn -- did a bit of hiking, biking, paddling, camping and of course sailing; trip to Las Vegas '07; climbed some volcanoes in Ecuador; living in Chicago in a semi-retired state (sailing, ran in Chicago marathon, volunteer work-helped with Katrina clean-up); thinking about becoming a teacher; climbed Mt. McKinley '07; climbed the tallest mount in Europe (Mt. Elbrus in Russia) in July '03; climbed Mt. Everest in May '02; extensive travel-ALL seven continents; 7 years in SE Asia '91-98; grad UIUC '83 and '85.   [01/05/09]

Laura (Albee) Schroeder (79) -- works for the State of IL at the Tinley Park Mental Health Center since '94; worked in hospital pharmacy '83-'94; kids: Stephen '96 and Julia '99; married: Kurt '04. travel: Grand Canyon '03,- Washington DC, Virginia Beach and Shenandoah National Park '08 - Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Black Hills '08.- and Minnesota every year in between with occasional trips to Florida; grad Drake University '83.    [01/16/09]

Mary (Plotkowski) Skibinski (79) -- graduated from nursing school '06 with her RN and working at Mercy Hospital in Aurora; worked for Lucent; enjoys yoga, ballroom dancing, piano and gardening; kids: Kimberly '90 and Caroline '94; grad North Central in CS '83. [02/03/11]

Chris Troscinski (79) - a dentist (since '88) in the Seven Bridges Complex in Woodridge (since '03); says "life and career good even though I am turning 50!!!"; married: Diane Foster (DGS grad); kids: Christine '94 and Steven '90; dental residency at Evanston Hospital / Northwestern; grad UIC with DDS '87 and UIUC with BS in biology '83.  [07/19/11]

Vince Versaci (79) -- dentist in Western Springs since '89; married '85 to a nurse (Jean) at Good Sam; kids-Vince Jr '87, Mary Beth '90, Joseph '93, Theresa '95 and ???;D.D.S from UIC '87; BS in bio from UIUC '83.  PICS  [12/25/11]

Sara (Bush) White (79) --  lives in Charleston, SC and is working at Wal-Mart pharmacy part-time (has worked for Rite-Aid and Eckards); I surprised Sara by dropping into her work when we visited SC in Nov '06; married: Roy '86 who works for MBT International (Musiccorp); Roy travels in the US extensively and the family took vacations to CO, KY, Las Vegas, UT, WI and NC; kids: Daniel '90 and Andrew '94; grad from Purdue in pharmacy '84.   PICS    [06/14/10]

The '80s

Emily Cheng (80) -- attended an interesting conference in San Francisco (Cleantech XXI Forum) '09 - she said "great to see lots of serious investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and water purification/desalination. Amazingly, there were quite a few of the VC's and investors there that are interested not only for the potential in making money, but actually because they are very concerned about the world that they're leaving for their kids and grandkids."; working for National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado.  [03/01/09]

Roy Goodman (80) -- says that "Avogadro appears as a character in the latest "Professor Layton" game for Nintendo hand-held devices"; working for Axioma in NYC; living in Greenwich Village; worked for Instinet and Digital; kids: Rose '00 and Isabelle '98 - have worked on Kodak commercials, the Maury show and in local plays; married: Catherine Alise Boursier is an actress (has roles in computer games, commercials, Shakespeare plays); grad from Grinnell '84. PICS   [12/25/10]

Amy Person (80) -- pediatrician in Milwaukee and supports a colony of 5-6 cats.  [01/11/10]

Benita Walker (80) -- spent some time in GA with her brother Jerry but doesn't like the heat of the south - enjoys Wisconsin; learning Spanish and using her gym and love of walking to stay in shape; coordinates mental health workshops for the Wisconsin National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and volunteers with several organizations; walked six marathons: Durango, Colorado '03, Columbus, OH '04 and GA; married: Joe Senulis '89 (works for the DNR and Red Cross), no kids but one very fat cat and a new kitten; Masters in Social Work '99 and BS in Political Science and Environmental Studies '89 from University of Wisconsin-Madison.   [03/31/09]

Reg Williams (80) -- joined a clinical practice called Graystone Ophthalmology (10 docs) in Hickory, North Carolina '96; kids: Chris '87 (grad Notre Dame and attending Law School), Tommy '90 (at Wake Forest), David '92 (at USC in Columbia, SC) and Eric '96 (in HS); married: Charlotte '85 - a professor and dean at Lenoir-Rhyne University; did his retina fellowship at the University of Nebraska - Omaha; for fun: into bicycling and inline hockey - has a passion for performance driving, and likes to take hot laps up at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and down at Road Atlanta - most recently, has gotten together with a bunch of other eye docs to form a Classic Rock Band called "20/20"(played for a crowd of thousands - not a mole yet- at the Hickory, NC Octoberfest); did his ophthalmology residency at the University of Kansas, and became intrigued with the retina; grad UIC Medical School and did quite a bit of Biochemistry research (including protein sequencing of an enzyme called Aldose Reductase, which plays a role in diabetic complications.) - the research had many applications in Ophthalmology, and eventually he got the eye-bug; did marine bio research involving cold-water fish that produce peptide and glycoprotein antifreeze) got fascinated with Medicine; grad UIUC in biology '84.  PICS  [10/23/11]

Asif Yusuf (80) -- living and working in Oak Brook; ran for Village President '07.  [12/25/11]

Jon Grussing (81) -- recently enjoyed a 25th College reunion and received a nice fountain pen to mark 25 years at Credit Suisse; relearning chemistry as his daughter quizzes him on the periodic table; visited a possible new school with one of his daughters and was in heaven in the science lab complete with Erlenmeyer flasks, burettes and Bunsen burners. "Those were the days!!"; did a fun 120 mile bike ride called the Dunwich Dynamo '07 -- from London to a coastal village on the Saturday with the fullest moon in July in pouring down rain; working in London for Credit Suisse First Boston Bank; Easter '04 flew around the world with all four kids and his wife - made stops in LA, Auckland, Christchurch NZ and Sydney-(Tim Danielson, a DGS 81, lives in Melbourne and he flew over to join us for a day)-great trip-saw every movie more than once; kids: four of them; married: Kathleen '91; grad Dartmouth '85 in Econ.  [12/25/10]

Tasso Kaper (81) -- keeping in shape playing soccer (played on Mole Day '11 and tried to score a mole of goals) - wears #25 for Mike Lowell of the Red Sox - thinks that makes him "younger" (part of his denial about turning 44!!!); coaches youth soccer teams year-round; family vacation at Isabela, Puerto Rico '08; currently working with his dad (now 69) on math models for chemical reactions in a joint effort with Argonne chemists; also playing in the yard until dinner, and a video and books after dinner until bedtime with the weekends filled with soccer practice, t-ball, tiny tumbler gymnastics (can you tell he is a DAD); prof at Boston U.; married to Antonella Cucchetti `93, kids: Julia '02 & Marco '99; grad Caltech with PhD '92; grad U of C '86 in math. [10/23/11]

Linnea Meyer (81) -- physician at a community health center in Lowell, MA; started acupuncture school '02; psychology degree in medical school at the ripe age of 32! she says "just finished residency this past summer in family practice up in Lawrence, Massachusetts at a community health center serving the underserved. I've continued on there and am overall enjoying it but life gets quite hectic at times. However, it does fund my favorite past time which continues to be martial arts and Chinese medicine."  [01/10/10]

Kathy (White) Rheintgen (81) -- Kathy says "my 14 year old son Matthew was diagnosed with Leukemia (AML) on September 26, 2008. He battled this terrible disease for 10 months, but unfortunately he lost the battle on July 26, 2009 after 2 relapses. He was schedule for a bone marrow transplant but was not able to get it due to his second re-lapse. He was started on a new and essentially untried antibiotic treatment after being discharged from the hospital to Hospice. The treatment appeared to be working, but unfortunately the damage done to his body by the previous 6 rounds of chemo was too great. I am however hopeful that the data that the doctor pioneering the new treatment obtained may help him get the medical community to listen to him. His belief, which is backed up with evidence, is that a parasitic bacterium invades the body’s stem cells causing the DNA mutation that results in Leukemia. This bacterium is killed by Rifamprim - an antibiotic commonly used for TB."; has a new husky; attention all inventors: Kathy does patent law and would be happy to help you with your invention; equity partner with Husch Blackwell Sanders Welsh & Katz law firm in Chicago doing patent and trademark law; kids: Matthew '94 and Christine '96; grad Loyola Law School; Biochem grad from UIUC '85.   PICS   [08/10/09]

Diane Tarkowski (81) -- currently working for DePaul Univ researching new technologies and teaching faculty, staff and students how to use them -- does the system administration for iTunes U as well -- doing software licensing also -- and was the manager of the ID Card Services offices as well as the software consultant; worked at Computer City as a sales clerk on the floor and educational sales; worked in immunology/virology (Rush Presbyterian); worked for Amoco in inorganic and organic chemistry and liked to do long-term research, but not quality control; got an MBA and did new product research and then marketing communications (all still for Amoco Chemical); worked for a software firm doing marketing and really early web site design '95, but they went bust; grad University of Chicago (BS in Chemistry) and Benedictine College (MBA.   [01/31/10]

Scott Bush (82) -- working for Motorola in Champaign, IL as a software developer for cell phones; traveled to China in ’03 and turned on the TV in Beijing and saw an interview with Mary McDowell (also ’82 alum) who had been in Hong Kong the week earlier and had taped the interview for CNBC-Asia. You just never know where you will see Chem alumni; two kids Jessica ‘92 and Trevor ’95; married to Karen (a UCC campus minister) in ’89; grad UIUC.  [06/14/10]

Roger Lo (82) -- living in Taiwan and started a GPS company which he sold but still involved with GPS/LBS related business activities; MBA from the UCLA Anderson School '05; PhD from UCLA in MEMS apps for EE '00; grad UIUC in EE '86. [05/27/08]

Ken Kus (82) -- working in USFilter, HPD Products, a division of Veolia Environment - VE; in charge of the engineering group at HPD in Plainfield, IL -been working there since '86; had a 2011 family trip to Italy and cruised the Med(Italy, Sicily, Turkey, Greece): been doing lots of international work and been traveling the globe overseeing the project managers; recently went to Brazil, Australia, Eastern Europe(toured Auschwitz), Qatar, Egypt, Dubai, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zhongshan, China, Beijing, Shanghai, Paris, and Sydney. Had the chance to see the Bridge over the river Kwai in Thailand, rode a train on the death railway near the Burma/Thai border (WW II), and hiked the Great Wall of China in July. saw a concert in the Sydney Opera House and went to Tiananmen Square. (Claims he did a lot of work during these trips too!!); other travels have included trips to Kuala Lumpur, Sao Paulo, Rio De Janeiro, Santiago, London, Manchester, Paris and Tokyo (lots of frequent flyer miles!!!); kids: Aaron ’00, Bradley ’97; Married: Ellen ’90; grad UIUC in Chem Eng ’86.   PICS   [12/25/11]

Dennis Marr (82) -- from Dennis "Still here in California. But now I'm Senior Director of R&D at Thoratec Corporation. I joined Thoratec in January of this year, and I head up R&D on the west coast for the company and have R&D groups in 2 locations: one in Sacramento and one in Pleasanton (near San Francisco). I spend 4 days/week at Thoratec headquarters in Pleasanton and 1 day/week in my office in Sacramento. Pamela started our real estate investment and property management companies (First Line Solutions, Inc. and First Line Solutions, LLC) in 2007, and she is doing this full time. We own several rental and investment properties in Sacramento. I have merged my own product development company First Line Ventures, Inc. with a new California product development company named DHT Ventures, LLC that I started earlier this year with 2 other partners.  New product HomeStar Pocket Personal GPS"; married: Pamela '05; travel: Hawaii '08, Las Vegas '08, China '86; grad PhD U of Wisc-Madison '93; grad UIUC in chem engineering '86.  PICS    [12/25/11]

Mary McDowell (82) -- working for Nokia running the mobile phones business (feature phones), which has a strong emerging markets focus; she says "there are sites are all over the place so I continue to fill up my passport. It's fun to work on this end of the business for a change and see how even very low cost devices can have a huge impact on people's lives."; gave the graduation address to the U of I College of Engineering '10; worked for Compaq/HP in Houston, TX for 17 years and still trying to fight off the southern accent; married: Kevin-an art dealer, representing fine art photographers; emailed me from Singapore for Mole Day '07 - moles are EVERYWHERE; traveled to Helsinki, Lisbon, Stockholm and Singapore '07; grad from UIUC in CS '86.   PICS    [12/25/11]

Ellen (Whowell) McKirdy (82) -- a stay-at-home mom and living in Madison, WI; worked at Dickson Mounds Museum in Havana, IL; worked as a retirement plans analyst in the corporate world; kids: Ryan '99 and Ethan '03; married: Stuart; graduate school in archaeology at SMU in Dallas; BS in math and anthropology from UICU '86.  [04/12/11]

Sumita Nandi (82) -- works at JPL in radio tracking and spacecraft navigation - current project=doing navigation for the lunar mission LCROSS, which has a goal of measuring the surface composition of the lunar polar region. It launches spring '09 and impacts the moon summer '09; married: Charles Dunn (also a physicist); kids: Corina '03 and Maya '95; PhD from Cornell in physics '91; U of C physics grad '85.  [03/31/09]

Maria Person (82) -- continues to work as the director at the College of Pharmacy, U of Tex. in Austin on proteomics and small biomolecule analyses in the mass spectrometry core; visited India and saw the Taj Mahal in Agra and the place where Vishy was born in Varanasi, where she stepped in a cow patty which is supposed to bring good luck!!!; involved in local middle school, politics, and book clubs; kids: Anita '99 & Maya '97 & dog Henry; married: Vishy '95; PhD from U of C in PChem '91; grad from Carleton in Chem '86.  [01/12/10]

Rich Stoltenberg (82) -- general surgeon with the All Saints Medical Group in Racine, WI since '96; has taught both of his kids to BEAT him at chess; trips: Disney, Outer Banks, Mt. Vernon; married: Anne (a ICU nurse) '97; kids: Hailey '01 and Devin '04; Internship at U of Wisc; grad UIC Med School; grad UIUC '86.   PICS   [12/26/09]

Janet Stoneking (82) -- sent me pics of the first Chicago snow fall of '09 to remind me what I am missing by living in SC; doing contract computer work and some landscape work to get outside; being a mentor and caregiver to extended family; worked at Vysis/Amoco/BP as a software project leader involved with genetic disease detection; grad North Central in CS and chem '87.  PICS  [12/25/09]

John Svoboda (82) -- owns a trucking firm that connects suppliers with clients; served as Director of Information Services for Compass Consolidators in Lemont '01-'07 - managed all the computers and phones; married: Donna '91; kids: Joe '85, Brittany '96, and JJ '98.   [01/31/10]

Ray Tarkowski (82) -- working for Harris Bank; grad IBC '86.  [03/12/08]

Joe Wang (82) -- gastroenterologist in Jefferson City, MO; part of a thriving 4 doc GI group within a 70 physician multispecialty medical group.  Always looking to add more good doctors.  Keeps busy with various kid activities including Boy Scouts and cub scouts, Awanas (church bible verse group), chess, orchestra, swim team (Joe became a YMCA swim official '09), Chinese and piano lessons when time permits; kids: David '99, Michael '00, and Ella '02 ; grad med school at Washington U-gastroenterology; grad Northwestern   [10/23/11]

Dave Applegate (83) -- trip to Wyoming '08; trip to Nashville '06; had recent trips to Peru, Poland and Japan; started Tai Chi '01 and attended a U2 concert (somehow those seem in conflict); has a new bike and cycles A LOT (biked British Isle '00 and Cabo San Lucas '01); works at an aerospace company managing a group of engineers and technicians who test components for helicopters, airplanes, and rockets; grad Penn State '92 and UIUC '89 in ceramic eng.   PICS   [10/23/11]

Linda (Hu) Chan (83) -- very involved in her church - runs a Bible Club, composes songs, sings in Chinese, sings in a Chinese worship band at her church, and so far in '04, gave 4 concerts while on the road - this, on top of being wife and mother, but she enjoys it, and it's socially and spiritually fulfilling - and teaches church school kids in English; married: Tim a senior minister at a Chinese church in MD; kids: Wesley, Stephanie, Esther; worked for Pepsi for 11 yrs as analytical chemist; grad UIUC '87 chem major.  PICS   [04/29/10]

Brad Smith (83) -- working for UOP in Des Plaines as a process control chemical engineer starting up refineries and chemical plants - traveled to China, Korea, Japan, Texas, Kansas, England, Netherlands, Portugal, Turkey and even Joliet, IL!!!; kids: Lauren '96 and ?? '99; married: Kathy Griesheim (DGS grad); grad UMASS in chem eng '87.  [01/31/10]

Chuck Walle (83) -- second year volunteering at Good Sam in Downers Grove '10; working in the Education Department using his computer and analytical skills; has worked for a number of the big name companies (IBM, Sears, Discover Card, USG, Bank of America, CVS CareMark) as well as a number of local and obscure places and after 19 years of corporate IT, changing careers to nursing - currently enrolled at COD and formerly accepted into the program; living in Woodridge; Rush AND '15; COD Nursing '12; grad NIU in computer science '89.  [06/14/10]

Helena (Kim) Wang (83) -- pathologist with Boyce &Bynum Pathology for the past 13 years, a single specialty group in Jefferson City, MO; busy being a mom with basketball, karate and cub scouts; finds time for herself for fencing, Zumba and travel (CA, Vail, Disney, Italy or Korea '10 and PARIS); kids: David '99 and Michael '00 (both love chess); grad med school at Washington U-Pathology; grad Northwestern.   PICS   [12/25/11]

Sue (Farrands) Weiger (83) -- a part-time faculty for George Williams University (Lake Geneva Campus) teaching technology and is working on her masters in Linguistics - intrigued by the language of technology; works with Elderhostels and says I am just the right age (55+) to join in the fun (just a polite way of calling me OLD); has lived in Baltimore, Washington, New York, Chicago; is married to a Coast Guard husband Andreas; kids - son Chris '90 (attending Marquette) and daughter Hannah '92 (AFS in Paraguay '08-09); grad Syracuse University in Public Relations/Logic '86. [10/23/11]

Robert Zitko (83) -- made partner in ’00 at Kirkland & Ellis, one of Chicago's top law firms, and practices in the employee benefits law area; lives in Lake Forest; kids: daughter '06, Chris ’01 and Bradley ’98 (the boys are playing chess and doing great thanks to dad's coaching); married: Christine; grad UIUC law school; grad UIUC in accounting ’88.  [06/14/10]

Ed Cryer (84) -- working as an Engineering Manager for Electro-Motive Diesels developing locomotives in Homer Glen, IL; kids: kid#1, kid#2 and kid#3; married; grad Northwestern with a MBA '00; grad ??? in ???; grad Kettering '89.   [05/04/10]

Soo See Lee (84) -- living in New York city; has opened her own business providing Medical education services for healthcare providers and organized healthcare conferences; worked in the Pharmaceutical industry at Bayer Pharmaceuticals and then Bristol Myers Squibb as a Medical Director; was a Associate Professor of Pharmacy in St. Louis and taught at a Veterans Administration Hospital and became a Certified Diabetes Educator(CDE); did ambulatory care residency in Madison, Wisconsin; grad or UIUC with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PHarmD).  [10/23/11]

Julie (Snively) Little (84) -- working as a contractor doing HR work for the Department of Homeland Security in Indy; still selling Longaberger baskets; started a year-round 13U youth travel baseball team with her husband John '07; trips: cruise '07 to the Mexican Riviera - Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, China '01 - saw the Great Wall, Tiannnmen Square, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing; worked for Resort Condos International in Indianapolis; kids: Jacie Lin '01, Jeremy '94 (hopes to attend Westpoint or the Air Force Academy and Julie is helping him get in physical shape!); married: John Little '91; MBA from Indiana U '95; grad UIUC '88.   PICS  [06/14/10]

Nancy Person (84) -- has adapted well to independent living in her condo in Silicon Valley, with a little help from her friends and family; recovering from severe brain trauma, paraplegia, stage IV bedsores and surgeries; will have extensive rehab and she has recovered mentally and is making improvements in adapting to life in a wheelchair; she has lost her job and a failed insurance system has her nearly bankrupt '08; injured in a serious car accident July '07; living in Silicon Valley '98 & working for the Palo Alto City Library as a circulation clerk. Fun, but very busy & noisy (jr. high school kids hang out here after school & play games on the pcs; grad UIUC '88.    [01/12/10]

Greg Rasp (84) -- a doctor of Radiation Oncology in Dayton, OH with special training in intraoperative radiation therapy, low-dose and high-dose rate brachytherapy, prostate brachytherapy, 3-D conformal radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery/gamma knife, and intensity-modulated radiation therapy; his hospital is building a proton accelerator/cyclotron for cancer patients;.enjoys spending time at Lake Norman in NC during the summer; kids: Kallie '95, Jordan '96 and Kyle '99; married: Sandy '89; residency in Radiation Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; internship at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Illinois; Med school grad UIUC '92; grad UIUC '88.  [06/14/10]

Linda Winke (84) -- Nurse Practitioner for the Cardiology Department at Evanston Hosp; part of a group of 5 NPs who rotate weekly through several different roles - doing inpatient Cardiology Consults at Evanston and Glenbrook Hospitals with Clinical Cardiologists, collaborating with Interventional Cardiologists by doing outpatient history and physicals and caring for inpatients after Cardiac Cath Lab procedures, and also working with outpatients in the Heart Failure Clinics in Skokie and Glenview; volunteer docent for the Chicago Architecture Foundation; certified to give several walking tours: Historic Skyscrapers, Modern Skyscrapers (both downtown), and neighborhood tours of Uptown, Edgewater, and Lakewood-Balmoral; trips to Seattle. Great Superior Hiking Trail in northern MN, Japan, Chile, London, Paris, Newport, RI, bike trip in SW Utah near Bryce and Zion Canyons, San Francisco/Silicon Valley and SW Arizona and Joshua Tree National Park; married '90 to Ken, a Certified Orthotist, at The Rehab Institute of Chicago; Masters in Nursing at Rush '05; passed the Adult Nurse Practitioner Exam '06; IL certification as an Advanced Practice Nurse '06.  [09/16/11]

Heidi Applegate (85) -- back home in the DC area after a two month assignment in The Hauge and being assigned to Islamabad, Pakistan '09-'11 (trying to viist all the "P" countries); trips: Maldives and Sri Lanka '09, visited Mr. M in July '09, Wyoming '08, Nashville '06, Alaska '06 and met with Mike Dilger('85) to hike and see some grizzly bears, Peru '05 with her brother, stationed at the US Embassy in Warsaw, Poland '02-04-busy with gov't functions and travel-visited Germany and several cities in Poland, took a bike trip with her brother to Ireland, a cross-state bike ride in Wisconsin '01; I met with her and her brother for pierogis at a little polish restaurant in Chicago '04; she has raised thousands of $$$ for Leukemia Society since '01; ; PhD from Penn State '96; spent 87-90 in Europe; Fulbright winner; grad Michigan State U '89.   PICS   [10/23/11]

Ahsan Basha (85) -- living in Mesa, AZ; grad Northwestern Med school and UIC.   [01/01/09]

Mike Dilger (85) -- left Juneau on 11/11/08 on a 1984 BMW R80ST motorcycle and will be back in Juneau early to mid-January will head through WA, OR, CA, AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, TN, KY and into IL by the 2nd or 3rd week in December; took time in '07 to send me pics of his house and the 4 feet of snow around it - had over 14 feet during the winter; living in Alaska working for the gov't at the Pacific NW Research Station near Juneau - does hydrology work to monitor stream conditions; spends a lot of time in the wilderness and enjoys his woodworking hobby; grad UIUC.  PICS   [11/29/08]

Chuck Durnberger (85) -- working for semiconductor company in the Bay area in CA '09; was on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" on 7/16/00 and won $32,000--way to go!!!; traveled to Japan, Tawain, and Korea (during the recent historic summit '00); had Lasik eye surgery--loves being able to see w/o glasses; married: Shelley '99; works for Sun Microsystems in CA '99; Stanford MBA '92; grad UIUC Ceramic Eng '89.   [01/01/09]

Frank Karbarz (85) -- working with start-up companies in Houston '09 using a novel method to sequester carbon dioxide using a reagent to quickly mineralize CO2 with certain industrial wastes that are high in calcium and ultimately precipitate calcium carbonate; started own company (TruGrid) in ’02 (a utility computing company to deliver on-demand supercomputing; uses the principles of grid computing to sell supercomputing capacity like it is electricity); worked for Enron till the meltdown; went to France 7/00; kids: kid#1; married: '99; MBA from U of C '98; rode his bike in the Race Across America over 2850 miles from San Diego to Savannah in 15 days during the summer of '98; grad UIUC '89 in Ceramic Eng./Materials Science.  [01/31/10]

Anita Khanna (85) -- has a Child/Adolescent and Adult psychiatry practice in Denver; worked at the Children's Hospital in Denver; married: Chuck '09; trip to India in '02; grad Northwestern-med school '89.   PICS   [01/01/09]

Tony Kim (85) -- working for Credit Suisse, in Asset Management, VP of US Equities; moved to San Francisco '03; kids: kid#1 and kid#2; married Rita '00; worked 7 yr in NYC and San Fran in investment banking; MBA from Columbia '94; worked 2 yr at Rockwell; grad UIUC '89 in eng.   [01/01/09]

Claus Raddatz (85) -- working for Chamberlain (garage door opener manufacture) managing the Mech Eng Dept for all residential GDO products; living in Bolingbrook; active in local church; worked for Eaton, Delphi and Hendrickson; lived in France, Germany, Michigan and IL; kids: Katja '97, Alex '99, Ryan '01 and Deidre '03; married: Jennifer '91(works for the Adventist Health System (inlcudes Hinsdale Hospital and the new hospital in Bolingbrook); Grad UIUC in mechanical eng '89.   PICS   [12/25/11]

Krista Schwartz (85) -- living in Willowbrook '09 after years in Chicago; loves the larger lot and got a dog to celebrate; a partner at a big law firm (Jones Day) specializes in patent and copyright litigation related to software and electrical engineering; trial work (which she loves) means lots of travel -- Sweden, Boston and Tyler, Texas; kids: Kaia '92, Andrew '94, Jack '03 and Laim '05; all the kids are involved heavily in sports of all kinds - keeps the family busy; married: John Stancik.   [01/01/09]

Karen (Hospodar) Scott (85) -- a staff neonatologist working St. Paul Children's Hospital in St. Paul, MN; kids: William '05 and Erin '02; married in October '00 to Colin Scott; passed pediatric boards in '99; Grad MD/PhD '96; Northwestern BA Micro-Bio '88. [02/08/08]

Paul Sternenberg (85) -- living in Oregon and is an orthopedic surgeon-specializes in hand and upper extremity problems and passed his CAQ tests '05; helping coach chess at an elementary school and has taught both his kids to play; married to Darcie ('92); she is a nephrologist he met in med school who now stays home with the kids and studies digital photography (went to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico for a class); kids: daughter Leah '01 (loves reading and not science or math) and son Nathan '03 (loves "hoops" and football; took a trip to Sweden in '03; MD '93 from Washington U in St. Louis; BS from Wheaton Coll. '89 in Biochem.  PICS   [10/26/08]

Ajay Wasan (85) -- a psychiatrist in Boston doing a fellowship in chronic pain at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital ’01; kids: kid#1 and kid#2; married: Simone '99, a medical anthropologist; masters in medical anthropology from Univ. of Arizona; psychiatry residency at Johns Hopkins; two years of an orthopedic surgery residency in CA; medical school at UIC; grad UIUC with a BS and a BA in anatomy and cultural anthropology.  [01/01/09]

Jeff Bulmahn (86) -- living in Salt Lake City and working for Goldman Sachs; worked for the Bank of America as a webmaster/developer in Austin; grad Penn State '97; grad UIUC '91 physics major.  [10/23/11]

Kevin Kremeyer (86) -- spent some time in DG in '08 celebrating his 40th birthday, the 50th birthday of Maple Hill pool and the 10th birthday of his company; works for Physics, Materials, and Applied Mathematics Research and hoping to change the aviation industry; PhD in Physics from Arizona; grad UIUC with B.S. in Ceramic Engineering and an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering.  (www.physics-math.com). [07/07/08]

Jim Park (86) -- living in CA and working as a corporate trainer, Project Management Consultant and PMP; also teaches at Stanford Univ and cPrime, Inc; kids: Ariana '01 and Annika '03; married: Mimi '96; grad U of CA, Berkeley.  [12/25/10]

Jim Tung (86) --  a full-time chemistry instructor at South Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC '10; worked on a research project '09; taught high school chemistry in a private military school in VA '06-08; kids: two daughters '99 and '97; married: Cynthia '96; Ph.D - Dartmouth College (physical chemistry); BS - Truman State, MO.  [12/25/09]

Sean Fowler (87) -- works for the Q-Lab Corporation in Westlake, Ohio and makes laboratory test chambers that simulate the effects of weather (sunlight, temperature, moisture) on materials; travel: extensive international/domestic travel due to work; married: Yvonne '03; working on MBA from Kent State University (2010 grad??); grad Malone College in Canton, Ohio with a management degree; attended UIUC.  [03/26/09]

Colleen (Milovic) Jaltuch (87) -- lives in North Aurora and works for Coombe-Bloxdorf via tele-commuting; has her LEED AP and wants to get more involved with sustainable design; she just finished her company web site (the first I have ever designed); spends time with family and friends, likes to play pool, swim, watch movies, walk, bicycle, read, and do Sudoku puzzles; kids: Jaelyn '02; married: Jim Jaltuch (DGS '87) (he graduated from Knox College '91 with a double-major in Math and Computer Science and works as a computer programmer for Markettools, a market research company; grad B.S. in Civil Engineer UIUC '93.   [01/02/09]

Kannan Manickam (87) -- had a one year fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Female Urology; married: Amita; kids: Neha '07 and twin boys Neil and Nikhil '05; living in Valparaiso, IN; grad UIC med school in Urology; grad UIUC in Electrical Engineering '91. [05/04/10]

Mary (Kriz) O'Daniel (87) -- keeping very busy with the three young boys - so many activities and toys; an Architecture Strategy Engineer for GM in Detroit area; bought a hard-side camper for camping trips - Utah '05; kids: Mark '07, Timothy '02; Patrick Joesph '00 has hydronephrosis (a kidney condition); married: Greg '96, he also works for GM doing engine calibration work for our future truck products; MS in Stats from Iowa State '98; MS from MIT '92; IIT grad in engineering '90.  PICS   [12/26/08]

Barb Pickett (87) -- working as a CAD Technician at CBI (Chicago Bridge & Iron though they prefer to go by the initials since they don't build bridges any more) in Plainfield; participates in Bridge Builders Toastmasters; active in the Chicago Regional Chapter of ASM, the Materials Information Society; also active in the Stephen Ministry program at her church; walks and does Pilates for fitness. Computer-Aided Design Certificate '02; B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering '94 from Purdue University.  [01/31/10]

Nick Tilbrook (87) -- serving in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii; promoted to Submarine Commanding Officer '08 (CO is the peak of a submariner's career -- it means that Nick is in charge of a submarine - the USS Chicago.); he is the recipient of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal (4 awards) and Navy Achievement Medal (2 awards) in addition to several unit and campaign awards; kids: Reilly and Aleck; married: Erin; Master’s Degree in Engineering Administration from Virginia Tech in '00; grad UIUC '92 with BS in Electrical Engineering and physics.  PICS  [09/01/10]

Eric Weeks (87) -- won a teaching award May '06; spent summer '05 at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland doing physics research; kid: Marion '07; married: Christina '04-chem alum Linas Buntinas '89 (his best man) and Jenny (Gaspar) Lew '89 attended the wedding; tenured Associate Professor of Physics at Emory Univ in Atlanta; teaching physics to pre-med students and continuing his research in Confocal Microscopy of Colloidal Glass Transition along with squishy stuff like shaving cream and mayonnaise; did a post doc at U of Penn in Philly; grad U of Texas (Austin) with PhD in physics '97; grad UIUC Eng Physics '92.  PICS  [06/14/10]

Scott Bulmahn (88) -- running a software business writing applications for credit card terminals; kid: Rebekah '11; married: Melissa (doctor of pharmacy for Bristol Myers Squibb) '07; reports that business is great and that he was in Chicago and met with Andy Szymulanski '89 who is also doing well; started a company to develop embedded software running on point of sale terminals '04; resigned as Chief Technology Officer for a payment processing company (E-Chex) in Dallas '04; lived in Dallas since '94; worked in NYC for JP Morgan; grad SMU with masters in applied economics '08; grad UIUC '93. [12/25/11]

Szu (Wang) Feng (88) -- Assistant Professor at UC Irvine in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science department and forever doing research; active with church and kids; 23 trips in '09 (mostly business); kids: Matthew '08 and Daniel '03; living in CA '04; married: Jon Feng '98 (he is tenured Physics facultly at UC Irvine '04); PhD from Stanford '98 in 2D protein crystallization; MS grad Stanford '93; BS grad UIUC in chem '92.   PICS   [12/25/09]

Jason Hulst (88) -- provides financial planning services as well as tax planning and preparation from his at home business - loves the commute from downstairs to upstairs; plans to sit for the CPA exam '09; still keeping the rental properties going as a landlord; married Diana Wuchich '94 (Association for Individual Development - works with disabled individuals); served in Army '91; awarded the MAFM (Masters Accounting & Financial Management) '08; grad from the Keller Graduate School of Management '08; grad NIU '94 in Pol Sci/Philos.   PICS   [12/25/11]

Tracy Sides (88) -- starting a new job at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota '06; worked as an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health mainly focusing on HIV/AIDS ('01-06); had abstract accepted at and attended the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand '04; still quite active - XC skiing in the winter and triathlons in the summer with hiking and canoeing too; working on PhD at the U of MN; MPH (epidemiology) from U of MN '95; BS (biology) from U of Miami '93. Some fun stuff about Tracy: the same summer Frank Karbarz (85) was racing his bicycle across America ('98) I rode mine at a more leisurely pace from Seattle to Washington, DC for the American Lung Association. I celebrated the millennium as a 'stowaway' aboard a ship at the international dateline - then we crossed the dateline and had another party the next night! It was quite the adventure.[10/12/07]

Jill (Fitzgerald) Stowers (88) -- stay at home mom and really enjoys the time with her kids; does online tutoring to keep her teaching skills sharp; went to Japan for 3 weeks with her husband Phil on a self-organized mission trip - part of Grace Mission International Partnership - summer '03; taught AP chem at Fenton HS over 10 yrs; married; Phil (also a teacher); kids: Isaac '07, Rachel '05; worked with disabled people summer '92, spent summer '93 in Japan teaching English; grad from Bradley with chem/sec ed major '93.   PICS   [01/01/09]

Mike Swartout (88) -- teaching aerospace engineering at St. Louis University; got 2nd place (for the 3rd time) in the satellite-building competition, and now entering the fourth competition; kids: A.J. '05 and Noah '01; married: Leah '99; PhD Stanford '00; MSAE UIUC '92; BSAE UIUC '91.  [01/04/10]

Melanie (Coppage) Young (88) -- living in Livermore, CA and very instrumental in starting one of the largest charter schools, Livermore Valley Charter School; an activist for better education and actually doing something about it; works with the Girl Scouts as a leader and coordinator; helps with ICAN-a reading program for disadvantaged kids; plays tennis; married to Alastair '93; kids: Max '04, Duncan '99, Kristen '95, Emmy '94; grad U of C '98 in anthropology.   PICS  [12/14/07]

Erik Brandenburg (89) -- Erik passed away 8/9/2009 from a long and courageous fight with myelodisplastic syndrome (MDS) - a bone marrow malfunction; Click here to read his story   (08/09/09]

Sara (Bergman) Forster (89) -- has been working on a contract basis in environmental litigation and antitrust cases since '05; kid: Esther '09; married: Eric '06 at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle; passed the IL bar exam 04; worked for Pharmacia in Skokie as a Radiation Safety person and Research Biochemist; JD from University of Minnesota '04; MS from UIUC '96 in chem; grad St. Olaf '94.  PICS   [01/31/10]

Julie (Munday) Killacky (89) -- working as a nurse in a family practice office and loves it; spends her time with her kids (trying to get them through the teens and drivers ed), helping at school, President of the PTA, an advisor for her sorority in Champaign, helps at church, playing chess and doing chem experiments with her kids who say "hey, what will happen if I just throw this in too?" or "why do we have to measure, let's just throw it all in!!!" (GO JULIE!!); living in Naperville '08; kids: Joshua '03-has decided that he is going to play professional baseball until he is REALLY old (you know, 35) and then retire to build roller coasters, Jake '01-plays any sport he can, Justin '95-will be driving soon (stay off the sidewalks--roads are ok, sidewalks not so much) and his favorite subject in school is CHEMISTRY!; married: John Killacky an attorney for an insurance company '94; grad COD nursing '10; grad UIUC '93.  PICS  [10/23/11]

Greg Klabish (89) -- living in Shanghi and working for Morgan Stanley; worked for Groove Networks as a software engineer; grad UIUC '93.  [10/23/11]

Jennifer (Sebestl) Laaksonen (89) -- working for Pfizer Animal Health (drugs for animals instead of humans) in Kalamazoo, MI - involves travel to England '06, India, and...Nebraska; kids: Lucas '01 and August Michael '08; married: Wally Laaksonen (attorney and professional fisherman); served as assoc. director of pharmaceutical science/analytical chem for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals till '06; active in leadership of youth groups in her church; PhD from Wayne State in organometallics; Hope College grad '93.   PICS    [12/25/11]

Don Lamb (89) -- living in Bolingbrook; working for an Environmental Consulting firm in Westmont; kid: kid#1; grad Vanderbilt; grad Northwestern in civil eng.   [01/01/09]

Jenny (Gaspar) Lew (89) -- ran her first and probably last half-marathon '08; living in Geneva, IL; kids: Zachary '02, William '01; an Ob/Gyn in private practice with DuKane and working at Delnor Hospital; inducted into Fellows of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in '04; married: George Lew - Assist. Prof. at Loyala Univ in Chicago and works in ER; med school grad '97; grad UIUC biochem '93.   PICS   [10/23/11]

Evan Rynes (89) -- opened a private music academy in southwest Berlin in '08 with his wife; playing with the "Komische Oper Berlin", one of the finest opera orchestras in Berlin - performed at the Hong Kong Arts Festival '04 and the Athens Festival '06; married: Kyeong, who is a learned composer; had a one year appointment in the Orchester der Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany; violin student in Lubeck, Germany '97; Fulbright in Germany for 1994-95; grad Indiana U-music.  [12/29/08]

Olivia (Lee) Schaubach (89) -- an Optometrist for National Optometric Center in Roanoke, VA; kids: kid#1 and kid#2; married: ; grad Northwestern '94.   [01/16/09]

Sameer Talsania (89) -- accepted a position (3/07) with the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company as a Sr. Materials Scientist in their Packaging Technology group; will be working in Chicago at the Wrigley Global Innovation Center on Goose Island (near North Ave and Halsted); kid: Avi '11; married: Bea; his sister Seema was married in Nov '02; recent travels: Spain, Puerto Rico; visited INDIA '98; PhD from U of Houston '97; grad UIUC '93 in chem eng.  [08/12/11]

The '90s

Jeanny (Hwang) Chai (90) -- living in Woodlands, TX '07 but moving back to CA in the fall '07; visited prisons in Mexico City as part of a church mission trip '04; visited Paris in '00; is a stay-at-home mom; kids: Elijah '08, Caden '05, Caleb '00 and Michaela '97; married: Andrew Chai '96; grad from Stanford '95.  [10/24/08]

Melinda Koelling (90) -- living in Kalamazoo, MI and a tenure track Math prof at Michigan; kids: Beatrice '09 and Penelope '07 (who arrived 9 or 10 weeks early, and they know a lot about preemies and the NICU); married: David Richter '03; postdoc at NYU till 8/04 in Computational Neuroscience; postdoc ('02) at Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute in math in Troy, NY; PhD from U of Mich (Ann Arbor) in '01; plays in several bands and like to knit; grad U of C in math '95.   [12/25/09]

Frank Kofron (90) -- working for Kao Brands in Ohio; 1994-2001 worked for Air Products in St. Louis, Penn, England; kids: Anthony and Clare (twins) '06; married: Kathy '05; grad UIUC '94 in engineering.  [06/29/10]

Iris (Huang) McCormick (90) -- been travelling in the new pop-up camper (CO, WA, MT, IL, NY); has been involved in leading the Children's Church program for preschoolers at her church. She's also been working on some writing projects; living in Ft. Collins, CO; kids: Elliot '01 and Grace '03; married: Jim '94 - he works for INTEL designing processors; currently a stay at home mom and volunteers at schools; worked for Warren Analytical Laboratory (ConAgra) for 3 years, doing Sales and Marketing; worked at Keebler in R&D; grad UIUC with BS '94 and MS '97 in Food Science.  PICS    [12/23/09]

David Wu (90) -- living in Seattle and an assistant junior faculty at Univ. of Washington in the Dept. of Laboratory Medicine, with subspecialty focus in diagnosis of leukemias and lymphomas (sub-branch of pathology, doesn't see patients, just their biopsy specimens); kids: ?? '08 and ?? '05; married: Grace '00; grad Harvard med school '08; PhD ("Effects of Cellular and Tissue Pharmacokinetics on Control-Released Growth Factors') at MIT '00; grad UIUC '94. [01/01/09]

Anuja Dharkar (91) -- managing the worldwide individual business for education for Adobe; was running Macromedia's worldwide curriculum, professional development, and certification programs for Education; living and working in San Francisco, CA; kid: Shaila '10; married: Landon '06 in Portland, ME; Landon launched a new company '08 Vanno; published her first book "Digital Design: Foundations of Web Design" '03; took a summer ’01 trip to Spain; grad ’01 from Stanford with Masters in Learning, Design, and Technology; BS from NWU ’96.   PICS   [12/23/10]

Jenny Fick (91) -- working at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital, near Denver, CO, as a small animal surgeon; finished residency at the U of MN; spent '01 doing an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Michigan State University; grad from Veterinary School at the University of Minnesota ’01; Carleton grad in biology ’95.  [06/02/08]

Arthur Huen (91) -- finishing up residency program in Dermatology at Univ of Pittsburgh and has begun a short stint of research in wound healing of the skin; married: Luisa Hiller in Ohio in '04 (she is working on the mutation/evolution of bacteria involved in ear infections): kid: Natasha '08: grad Northwestern '04 with PhD in cancer biology.  Here is Arthur's response to my missing mole day '10: "I wouldn't get to irrational 'trying to make amends' on Pi day. You could end up driving yourself around in circles in a Sisyphian manner. I recognize this is not a great metaphor as Sisyphus rolled an immense boulder up a hill rather than in circles. On the other hand, it was probably a hill with a 100% grade, where the rise and run are both equal to 1 making the slope the square root of 2, which is also irrational. At this point, the gears "upstairs" are grinding a bit. I should really keep a mechanic on retainer as well as a constant Euler."  Nice to know that a guy with a PhD and an MD still has time to be clever!!!  [03/15/11]

Kristin Huizinga (91) -- finished her PhD in biology and is working for Monsanto in St. Louis; married to Matt '07; maid of honor in a friend's wedding in a beautiful Polish Chicago Church 7/04; PhD from Michigan State '06; grad of Purdue-Biology '94.   PICS   [01/18/08]

Mike Mendoza (91) -- turning a new page in his career as he takes on more administrative, teaching, and research responsibilities as Medical Director of Highland Family Medicine, the main faculty practice and residency teaching site for the University of Rochester Department of Family Medicine; moved to upstate New York and lives in the town of Brighton, a suburb of Rochester; had a faculty position at U of Chicago in the Department of Family Medicine and worked at Brandon Family Health Center-a clinic on the south side (2005-09); helped organize a successful 17th yr class reunion for class of 1992 in '09; sailed the Chicago-Mackinac race (4th time) aboard Elusive (a J-120) '05; kids: Julian '07 and Elena '05; married Lisa Vargish '03 (new job at the Jewish Home of Rochester - in addition to seeing patients, Lisa will continue doing home visits and teaching medical students and residents from family medicine and internal medicine) - chem alum, David Lim and Joyce (Berroya) Dieter were members of the bridal party; grad U of C med school ’01 and from UIC Public Health School ’01 with MPH; grad U of C '96.   PICS   [04/07/10]

Gary Tsai (91) -- living in Boston (been shoveling a lot of snow here in the northeast) since '03; works as a firmware engineer for a company that makes blood glucose meters; Travels: China '08 for work and also been to Taiwan, India, England, and Holland for leisure.  [01/01/09]

Priya (Mehta) Bansal (92) -- lives in Naperville and works in Bloomingdale, as an Allergist and Immunologist; kids: Chandani '01and Akash '05; married: Amar '99 (works for Dreyer Medical Group in Aurora as a gastroenterologist); summer '95 research with AIDS patients and skin cancer; grad from U of I med school in '98; grad Penn State in '94.   [01/01/09]

Joyce (Berroya) Dieter (92) -- working for American Family Insurance as a Project Management Specialist in Madison, WI; married: Steve; kids: sons Aaron '06, Joshua '04 and Brenden '02; worked for Dean Health Plan, Berbee, Pricewaterhouse Coopers previously; MBA UGA '01; BSIE UIUC '96.  PICS   [06/14/10]

Sina (Soneji) Fong (92) -- being a stay at home soccer mom and LOVING IT; graduated from Law school '05 and doing some contract work from home; moved to a house in Naperville; had a surprise shower/b-day party where Mr. Mayfield was the first guest to arrive and let the "mole" out of the bag; kids: Salila (Sa-lee-la), her first girl, which means "flowing river" '08, Sohail '06, Sachin '04, Vasant '02 ; worked for the Office of Legal Counsel at Univ of Illinois '03; married: Vlad Fong (he works at Edward Hospital in the Heart Unit); on wheel of fortune and won $$ in '97; MBA and MPH from UIUC '98; grad U of C '96 in bio/s.asian studies.   PICS     [12/26/08]

Keith Johnson (92) -- living in Seattle, WA and working for the Boeing Company since '01 developing graphics software for flight simulators and having a lot of fun with that; worked as a Consultant for Software Architects, Inc. in Chicago; masters '00; grad of Carlton College in Physics '96.   [01/27/09]

Roman Litwinski (92) -- living in the LA area; a vascular surgeon with the Association of South Bay Surgeons (large group of 17 surgeons in the LA area) - he says "It's interesting and challenging work: mostly a combination of stroke prevention, limb preservation, varicose vein removal, dialysis access, and aneurysm repair surgery. There's plenty of excitement too, since patients frequently present on call nights with limb- and life-threatening problems -- like a cold leg, acute stroke, or ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). So there's an opportunity to save life and limb on a regular basis; it's a pretty nice high when they go home alive"; passed his Boards '07; finished his fellowship at Harbor-UCLA '06; was chief resident in general surgery at SUNY-Buffalo ’03; met Judith Lin ’88 during an interview and discovered that they both had AP chem at DGS; kids: Carter '09, Lauren '07; married: Sheryl Chow ’01 (a PharmD who works as a clinical pharmacist with internal medicine) (Mike Jorda '91 was a groomsman); grad Johns Hopkins and Northwestern.  PICS  [08/20/09]

Janice Moy (92) -- living in Vancouver, WA; stay at home mom and very busy with her two daughters; kids: Lillian '09 and Evelynn '04; married: Wayne Chen '01- he received his MBA '08; worked for KPMG in Chicago; MA from UIUC in taxation '99; BA from UIUC '96 in accounting.  PICS   [12/25/09]

Ellen Omi (92) -- living in Chicago; works at Loyola Medical Center as a Trauma, General and Critical Care Surgeon (ie. takes care of people who do stupid stuff or hurt themselves (or both) and get really sick from it...and people who have appendicitis; engaged to a environmental biochemist (DGS alum) who rides old bmw motorcycles; travels: Berlin, India and China in '09; grad med school UIC '00.    [01/01/09]

Devayani Pandav (92) -- Registered Nutritional Consultant and Business Owner - she owns and operates a health and wellness business and teaches others to do the same; living in Chicago; in a movie with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt - "What Women Want" '00; spent 18 mos in India after HS; grad UIC '96 with Bio major and chem minor.  [07/24/10]

Greg Rose (92) -- living in LA area and working for an iPhone app writing company; went to Brazil and the "Carnaval" -- had a great time and met his wife; married: Gisele; grad of Northwestern, Major-mech eng.  [12/05/09]

Christina Salerno (92) -- director of development and communications for the Salt Creek Ballet in Hinsdale '09; retired in January 2008 from a 15 year professional ballet career - danced as a soloist with Boston Ballet, Zurich Ballet (Switzerland) and Royal Ballet (London) she says "I feel very lucky to have been able to earn a living doing something I truly love."; kid: Vivian '05; married: to a social worker who followed her around the world, finding work at every stop, as she fulfilled her dancing career; grad with a BA in nonprofit administration from Skidmore College '04.   PICS   [01/30/09]

Tasha (Popp) Wilkins (92) -- works as a Technical Director for the Fry, Inc. Chicago office (Fry develops eCommerce web sites for retailers like Eddie Bauer, Ann Taylor and Godiva); living in Chicago after 8 years in Ann Arbor; kids: 3 cats; married: John (works for SKF which is an automotive supplier and he gets to travel all over the world); grad Illinois Wesleyan with a major in math/computer '98.  [01/01/09]

Monica Borkar (93) -- a doctor working at NorthShore University Health System in Glenview, IL and living in Chicago; MD from Northwestern '00; grad Northwestern in Psych/Bio '96.  [01/01/09]

Than Boves (93) -- finishing his PhD in natural resources from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville - studying the effects of natural resource extraction (coal and timber esp) on birds in the Appalachian Mts.   [01/01/09]

Dar-Lon Chang (93) -- took a vacation to Hawaii '08; kids: Ayla '08 (she already loves moles); married: Michelle '06; living in Houston and working for Exxon-Mobile in liquefied natural gas research; grad UIUC with PhD '03; big fan of swing dancing; grad UIUC '98 in Mech Eng.   PICS   [01/27/09]

Andrew Hwang (93) -- living in Palo Alto, CA and working for Kaiser; married to Marie (from Hawaii) '07; started a faith-based medical clinic for uninsured and homeless individuals '04; finished residency in Internal Medicine in San Jose, CA '04; grad NWU med school '01; went to Asia in summer of '97; grad Northwestern '97.  PICS   [02/18/08]

Rachel Kaiser (93) -- joined the UCSF Rheumatology faculty in '08; enjoying living in warmer San Francisco (compared to previous homes in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Manhattan); travel: Austria '08; kids: Alexander '09; married: Yves '07; was enthusiastically studying German until son was born; finished a rheumatology fellowship at UCSF '08; completed a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at UC Berkeley '07; chief residency '05 and internal medicine residency '04 at Columbia University, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York; grad with MD University of Pittsburgh '01; undergraduate degree in English at the University of Chicago '97.   PICS   [10/23/11]

Glenn Merkel (93) -- moved to Fort Worth, TX; worked at Silgan White Cap in Athens, GA as a maintenance manager '06; married to Hope '06; headed to Kenya July '05 on a 10 day mission trip with a safari excursion as well; attended Sunday school at his church in GA and ex-President Jimmy Carter was his teacher!!! - WOW; took a 10 day mission trip to Brazil '02; worked in Ireland for 2.5 years; took a Mediterranean cruise summer '00; grad of U of Minn in chem eng '98.   PICS   [09/13/11]

Christina (Wu) Nguyen (93) -- currently being a stay-at-home mom and working at son's co-op preschool; kids: Brayden '08; married: Tran Nguyen (CFO of biotech) - engaged in Monet's Garden (France); worked at a handful of start-ups, eBay and Accenture; studied in Birmingham, UK '96; worked at Byron Nuclear Plant summer '95; grad UICU in mech eng '98.   [01/01/10]

Frank Owen (93) -- sent me a periodic table joke and still remembers his mnemonic for memorizing the periodic table; he moved back to Chicago in July 2000 and is working as a Database and Systems consultant for a large real-estate firm. He spends his free time scuba diving, recently returning from trips to Mexico and Belize and will be diving Bonaire fall '03. [02/23/08]

Steve Rose (93) -- working for Orange Labs R&D on next-gen web technologies -- "my job is best described: making web 3.0 less meaningless"; living in the SF bay area; interested in photography -- going semi-pro in his spare time; travel: Europe and Beijing fall '00; worked for Portal Telcomm in CA '00; worked for Ernst&Young in Chicago '99; worked in WI for GE programming MRI machines '98; grad NWU in CS '98.   [02/02/09]

Anthony Chan (94) -- teaching math at an interior design school in Chicago '07; attended Dar-Lon Chang's wedding '06; MS in education and MS in computer science from DePaul; grad from DePaul in Accounting '98 and Mathematics '96.   PICS   [01/01/09]

Mark Karbarz (94) -- works for Portola Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco (works with Steve Rose's('93) wife); sold his car and bikes to work; just got engaged (5/21/10); Had his "first" mid-life crisis; started running and training more - ran 3 half-marathons in 2009; worked for Johnson and Johnson as a scientist in their Pain and Related Disorders group for Drug Discovery; lives in San Francisco, CA; taught Organic chemistry/biology at Mirarmar Community College and remembers my helpful hints in Lewis Structure and VESPR theory (that is scary!!!); traveled to Europe/Cent. America/CA/Mexico/East Coast; started playing guitar in his spare time; PhD from Duke '04 in biochem cloning Lipid A phosphatase (IpxE); grad UIUC in BioChem '97.  [06/14/10]

Glenn Kuhaneck (94) -- currently teaching advanced mathematics at Fisher Jr/Sr H.S. - a small school (the size of the graduating class is 38), 20 miles north of Champaign/Urbana; enjoys rock climbing, skiing/snowboarding, scuba, sailing, camping, mountain biking, kayaking; grad Illinois State University '03 B.S. mathematics w/ education endorsement; University Colorado Boulder '99-01; College of DuPage '95-98 A.S.  [12/25/09]

Derreck Long (94) -- working for a start up "ridecharge.com" '09; moved to Alexandria Virginia and bought a house '07; tried to become the "best ever poker player" '03-'06; worked for Ticketmaster programming their website '02-'07; moved to LA '01 playing drums for bands; a web programmer for Revoe Group '00; married: Anhdao Pham in Sacramento CA - went to Maui and Kauai for honeymoon - Steve Rose and his wife attended the wedding; grad UIUC '98 in chemistry.    [01/05/09]

Greg Partenach (94) -- does management consulting, focusing on Business Process, I.T. Strategy, Change Management, and Business Intelligence working with Fortune 500 companies; married: Marla (honeymoon throughout Italy and Sicily and loved every single day of it - amazing).  [12/25/10]

Shilad Sen (94) -- living in Minneapolis '08 and started a tenure-track job teaching (has a different appreciation for teaching now that he is on the other side of the desk) Computer Science at Macalester College in St. Pau; still playing the saxophone, most actively with a group called Snowblind and have released a few CDs; married: Katy; finished Ph.D. at the University of MN '08.   PICS   [01/01/09]

Umar Shakur (94) -- working as chief resident of internal medicine at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island - part of Brown University; moving to Worchester, MA '11; currently applying for a fellowship in cardiology with the hope of one day implanting ICDs and pacemakers into people (Mr. M note: about the time he is ready - I might be too!!!); married: Nida '09 - she is an internal medicine resident at Rhode Island Hospital (had a ceremony in Syracuse and one in Chicago - DGS Chemistry alum, Ejaaz Kalimullah attended - honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico and toured the Mayan pyramids, snorkeled in Cozumel and ziplined in the jungle); grad U of C '99 bio major.  [12/25/10]

Kirsten Chan (95) -- performing in a comedy troupe called "stir friday night" starting a not-for-profit company called Project: VISION, Inc.; working for an engineering firm in Chicago; worked for a diamond dealer; worked at a child care facility for Motorola in Deerfield '03; certified teacher for infants to age 2; living in Chicago '03; finished a year of training at Second City; an extra in Spiderman 2 and Mean Girls; had a huge part in a play in Chicago '03; got to go backstage at three Incubus concerts as well as Oasis and Jane's Addition; grad UIUC '00. [06/14/08]

Vivien Ho (95) -- working at Dreyer Medical Clinic, a multi-specialty group in Aurora, IL '08; completed family medicine residency at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn in July '07; finished internship in Family Practice at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn in '05; kids: Benji '09 & Nathan '07; married: Adam '04; still playing a bit of chess; grad U of Chicago med school '04; grad UIUC with double-majors in Chemistry and Biochem '99.  PICS   [01/31/10]

Alexia Koelling (95) -- engaged to Nick Ramsey (a professor at DePaul) with a wedding in March '10; a VP with Lipman Hearn, an advertising and consulting firm for non-profit clients in Chicago; living in her condo in Chicago and learning TOO MUCH about home ownership and repair; worked for Starcom for 9 1/2 years; running 1+ marathons a year, and toying with the idea of trying to run one in each of the 50 states; ran her first 50K race '05; working for a media company and is assist. Media Director; had internship with Newberry Library '98; spent spring of '98 in France; grad U of C '99.   [12/25/09]

Brian Partenach (95) -- at Northwestern Kellogg school of management in the MBA program '10 (is a chemist at heart though, and still works for a chemical consulting company called Bureau Veritas - ideally would like to get a job after his MBA and stay in the chemical/pharma/energy field.  [12/25/10]

Alicia (Giet) Singer (95) -- in Chicago working at Kraft foods with Jell-O, probably the 2nd most mysterious Kraft product after Velveeta.; kid: Madeline Rose '09; married Matt Singer '07; received an MBA from Duke '04; grad U of Chicago '99.  PICS   [11/09/09]

Robert Szczesniak (95) -- took a field position with UOP -- travels to refineries and supervises construction or upgrading of process units; currently working in paraxylene production; during '08 he spent the summer in China, couple of months in Kuwait, and currently in South Korea (sent me an email from Korea on Christmas morning - I thought it was SANTA); midst all the travel he took a month vacation with Beth in New Zealand; working for UOP as a Process Design Engineer and actually using his degree to help make gasoline '06; worked for Huff & Huff doing remediation projects using reduction reactions on chlorinated solvents; enjoys whitewater rafting for fun; married: Beth ‘03 in MN; grad IIT '00 with double major - Chemical and Environmental Eng.   PICS   [12/25/08]

Imran Akbar (96) -- doing anesthesia in Chicago; married.  [12/25/09]

Jessica (Franciose) King (96) -- did a rotation in Mayan villages in Belize '08 and loved it; living in Milwaukee in last year of PA school at Marquette (will graduate in May '09) and Jon is living in Madison where he matched for residency; she says my bio of her is boring and told me to "spice it up to include all of the elements of my exciting life, like sitting in a classroom with 20 year olds bound for PA stardom, living on the border of a downtown Milwaukee ghetto, and putting on my Kevlar vest to ride my bike around my neighborhood!"; ran half marathon '07; works with inner city Milwaukee girls through her church; worked in Zion, IL for Cancer Treatment Centers of America as a nutritionist with cancer patients; married: Jon (a soon to be doctor) '05; MS in dietetics at Univ of Utah '02; grad BYU '00 with BS in biochemistry.   PICS   [01/02/09]

Sonia Liu (96) -- chief resident at University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento in family medicine '09; grad UCSF in family planning research '06; grad U of Mich med school '05; was a research assistant at UCSF and U of Mich; worked in Australia '01; grad U of Michigan in Anthropology-Zoology, Psychology '01; did a Semester at Sea via U of Pittsburgh '01; studied Italian at SUNY '99.   [01/27/09]

Puja (Sahni) Sethi (96) -- had a baby girl Saanvi which means Goddess Lakshmi '05; married to Aman Sethi; spent a great 5 years at Indira Gandhi Medical College in a city called Shimla, in the state of Himachal Pradesh in the Himalaya mountains in India; finished her medical degree; may return to India to practice.  PICS   [05/20/08]

Nirali Shah (96) -- living in Kensington, MD '11 and doing research for NIH; hem/onc fellowship in Baltimore '09; lived in Arlington, VA '08; did an elective rotation in Honduras '07; lived in Boston '07; kids: sons - Ishan '11 and Om '08 (Om" is a sacred syllable from Vedic scriptures that stands for the all-encompassing, often uttered as a mantra at the beginning and end of prayer); married: Pratik '06; grad Harvard combined medicine-pediatrics residency program at MGH-Children΄s Hospital Boston '08; grad from UIC medical school '04; grad UIC with BS in Chem and HS education '00.  PICS    [12/25/11]

Alan Bailey (97) -- currently playing piano on a cruise ship around the Bahamas and Florida '09; worked in the Computer Science Division at Argonne '02; MS in computer science from UW-Madison '04; grad UIUC '01 in Computer Science.   PICS   [02/03/09]

Sandy Gasior (97) -- attended the 10 yr reunion and it brought back lots of great memories; first-year resident in General Surgery at Northwestern University, interested in Pediatric Surgery '09; Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences Med School Grad '08; spent 3rd year of medical school in Bronx, NY in underserved hospital (and survived!) '06; Northern Illinois University Grad MS in Biology '04; UIUC Double-degree Biochem and French '02; studied abroad Aix-en-Provence, France '00.   [01/16/09]

Jigna Joshi (97) -- a glaucoma fellow/ instructor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Yale University in New Haven, CT; had some awesome trips to India to do medical work over the last several years and hope to continue going; completed ophthalmology residency from Northwestern '09; grad UIUC '00 in bio/chem.  [12/27/09]

Linda (Prendergast) McCleish (97) -- living in Chicago (condo in Wrigleyville) and finishing anesthesia residency (named chief resident '08) at Northwestern '09; accepted a fellowship position at Duke University in Durham, NC (fall '09) specializing in cardiothoracic anesthesia for open heart surgeries, as well as heart transplants and liver transplants; married to Ian '03 (also a grad from UIUC in finance and economics-is an investment analyst) ; grad from Georgetown med school '05; grad UIUC '01 bio major, chem minor, pre-med. [07/07/08]

Vicerut Nonzee (97) -- works at Kimberly-Clark in Wisconsin and travels to Texas, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Mexico, and Korea; grad UIUC '01 electrical engineering.  [12/26/08]

Akila Ramaswamy (97) -- a school social worker for Chicago Public Schools and lives in Wicker Park - trying to make a difference one child at a time!; spent the summer ‘01 working on the energy crisis campaign with the New Mexico PIRG (Public Interest Research Group); grad U of Michigan in social work ’03; grad from Pitzer College with a Psychobiology degree ’01.  [04/28/08]

Martin Alcorta (98) -- working on his PhD (dissertation) in experimental nuclear physics in Madrid, Spain at the Spanish National Research Council - should finish '09 and is looking for post-doc positions in the US; been to CERN (Geneva, Switzerland) for many experiments and for some conferences, France, Italy, Michigan, Netherlands, stayed in Tokyo for a month, been to Vancouver for 2 months for experimental work, and Aarhus, Denmark; grad with BS in physics from the University of Chicago in '02.  [01/23/09]

Joe Chen (98) -- grad UIUC in electric engineering '02.   [01/19/09]

Leslie (Oca) Esguerra (98) -- working at UOP, A Honeywell Company as an R&D Engineer - works in the structural/inorganic lab running analysis for R&D and Manufacturing; worked at a palm oil company, Loders Croklaan, in Channahon, IL as a QC technician; worked as a camp leader for a week of Forensics Science Camp at North Central; worked as a Research Assistant/Student Intern at the Morton Arboretum in the Soil Science Laboratory; for mole day in her Analytical Chem lab, she made mole day shirts; kids: pregnant with second child and Cammie ’01; married: Arnold Esquerra ’01; grad North Central in Chem '09; grad UIC Pre-Pharm '00.   PICS   [10/23/11]

Tess (Kochan) Hindman (98) -- remodeled her house and still found time for trips and fun "GO CUBS"; working for General Mills in IA as a System Engineer for the Fruit Shapes platform-product with the fruit pieces in pouch - Scooby Doo, Spiderman, Sharks, Care Bears, My Little Pony, etc. and also produces Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-ups, and Fruit by the Foot; active in service organizations (Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, Tanager Place); travels include Las Vegas, Ozarks, Cozumel & Europe; chem eng. grad of Iowa State '02.   PICS   [12/22/09]

Balaji (Viswanathan) Iyer (98) -- engaged '08 to Gayathri on a trip to his hometown of Thrissur, India -- she is from Chennai and studied BSc in Dietics and Nutrition and MSc in Bio chemistry -- wedding planned for July 12th 2009 in Chennai, India; working on his PhD in computer engineering at NC State University and currently doing his research at Georgia Institute of Technology - successfully defended his dissertation for a PhD in Computer Engineering '09; visited India '04; became a US citizen in '02; changed his name to maintain his native culture; MS in EE in NC A&T State University (branch of UNC) '03; grad Purdue '02 in computer engineering.  PICS   [05/29/09]

Jason Lawton (98) -- taking a one year leave from work to travel around the world '09-'10; worked for Genentech in San Francisco '07-'09; worked at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis and Lafayette, IN for 4 years; grad Purdue with a double major in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering '02.  PICS  [01/07/10]

Lawton Moy (98) --married to Abby '08; third year student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria '04; studied abroad in Guangzhou, China in Traditional Chinese Medicine '02; grad UIC in Biochemistry '02. [03/31/2008]

Mark Muellner (98) -- working for Nalco in Naperville as a Senior Toxicologist with the Corporate Quality and Product Registration Group -- works with the group to ensure that Nalco's products are safe for employees, customers, consumers, and the environment; the lab has gotten a lot of attention and has generated the world's largest toxicity database of these important chemicals; has a couple papers published in Environmental Science & Technology; Kids: ??? '08, Natalie '07, Nolan '04; married: Kara '03; attended conference in Miami for Environmental Mutagen Society in '03; received the Bentley Undergraduate Research award for top undergraduate research; PhD '08 in Genetic Toxicology (dissertation topic: the toxicity of by-products that are generated when you disinfect drinking water); MS '04 in Environmental Toxicology; BS in Animal Sciences '02 (all degrees from UIUC).  [02/29/08]

Chris Salaveria (98) -- an HVAC engineer living in St. Louis, MO.  [01/27/09]

Jeff Wagner (98) -- living in Houston and working in Pharmacy Administration; worked for 3 years as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Pediatric Critical Care; kid: Nash '08; married: a nurse he met in Baltimore; spent two years in Baltimore doing a pharmacy residency (general and pediatric) - lived on a J40 sailboat one of those years; grad U of Mich '04 with Doctorate in Pharmacy and B.S. in Biology.  [10/23/09]

Mark Wu (98) -- still with GE and is located in Louisville. He's now a team leader in IT, and manages a global 50 person team that implements Oracle ERP solutions for different business units. He enjoys travelling to visit family in Chicago, Hawaii and Seattle, and playing with his nephews. Mark also likes working on his golf game and enjoys photography; grad UIUC in Electrical Eng. '02. [10/23/09]

Meghan Goldenstein (99) -- made a ginormous 'periodic table of books' out of about 110 cake-mix boxes for the junior room at the DG public library '10; worked as a field organizer on Barack Obama's campaign '08; grad student (Masters) at U of Wisc in Madison studying educational policy and also a French 101 TA '06; worked full time at the DG library summer '04; spent fall '04 teaching English in France; spent '03 in Chambana subbing, being a waitress, and teaching world studies to a seventh grader; grad UIUC in history/secondary ed '03.  PICS   [07/24/10]

Genica (Zdenek) Miller (99) -- working at Good Samaritan Hospital as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist; kid: Mason Cole '10 (born on 10/24 - just missed mole day and being named Avogadro!!!); married: Devin Miller '08; worked at Packer Engineering '03; received summer research grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute '02 and '03; grad from Nuclear Medicine Technology Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital '05; grad with a BS in chemistry from Benedictine University '04. [10/29/11]

Jessica Taibl (99) -- living in Champaign, working on a PhD in reproductive biology in dept of animal science - using a breed of pig called the Ossabaw to study polycystic ovarian disease (These pigs are proving to be the best model yet to study human PCOS because they get cystic ovaries, metabolic disease, insulin resistance and other symptoms that women get); she has decided that she wants to be a professor. "I really do love research and I love working with large animals."; spent her birthday '07 bleeding pigs and ultrasounding pigs and staying up for 23 hours - "I actually really like working with pigs."; wants to have a small farm and has started by buying an Appaloosa horse named Chief (a rescue animal); grad UIUC in biology '04.  [01/01/09]

Lionel Tan (99) -- finished his residency in internal medicine and passed the internal medicine board exam (no more tests for 10 years!); working at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in CA as a nocturnist...basically, works nights 9PM-9AM in 7 day on/7 day off shifts, and admits patients/answers nursing calls; says that the HS classes that helped the most "Spanish - since 25% of his patients only speak Spanish" and CHEMISTRY; was a resident (internal medicine) at Loma Linda University '08; says his poker "career" is going well too--finished in 6th place in a $1000 buy-in tournament in Las Vegas during spring vacation '08; did rotations at Christ Hospital in Chicago '05; passed his boards in '05; attended med school at UIC; worked at Hinsdale Hospital summer '00; grad UIC '03 in psychology and minor in economics. [12/03/10]

The '00s

Carolyn Apanavicius (00) -- working at the Memphis Zoo as a research nutritionist focusing on giant panda nutrition and had the chance to feed/pet: Pandas, red pandas, giraffes, elephants, a rhino, various primates, and I had a Bengal tiger sniff the top of my head!!!!; will be Melissa Auriene's maid of honor in her wedding '09; had an internship with Purina in St. Joseph, MO and tells this story "I did a research project to see if age had an affect on flatulence in dogs. Yep..that's right...I studied dog farts. I thought they were just messing with the new intern when they told me what my project would be (until then I had just known it would involve studying GIT parameters in the dog) As a result, I am the proud owner of 2 out of 3 from the children's book series of "Walter the Farting Dog". It also led to my first opportunity to present at a scientific meeting and I'm pretty sure that most of the people that showed up were there to find out how the heck do you do that?"; MS in non-ruminant/companion animal nutrition from UIUC '06; grad UIUC in animal sciences '04.   [01/20/09]

Melissa Auriene (00) -- getting married summer '09; teaching Chem & physical science at York HS '06 and VERY excited about having 30% hydrogen peroxide and her own personal vacuum system; student taught in Rantoul and Champaign in Chem, Physics and Earth Science; ;MS UIUC Chem and Education '06; grad UIUC '04 with BS in chemistry.   [01/20/09]

Parimal Panchal (00) -- full-time third year student at Temple Unversity School of Dentistry and part-time at Temple's Fox School of Business in Philadelphia '08 -- scheduled to graduate with both degrees (DMD/MBA) in May 2010, with hopes to build a dental empire in the chicagoland area; worked for 2 years as a dental assistant/treatment coordinator at Sears Dental and a math/science tutor at Oakton Community College '04-06; grad Illinois Institute of Technology with a BS in Computer Science '04.  [12/25/08]

Dan Perlin (00) -- works for Sargent & Lundy in downtown Chicago in the Fossil Power Technologies division, mainly working on scrubber retrofits and new power plant designs. he finds the work very interesting, mainly because he still gets to be a true engineer; lives in Wicker Park with two friends from DGS and am loving the city; studied in Singapore spring '06 - traveled to Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Australia - absolutely spectacular, unforgettable experience; grad from UIUC in Mech. Eng '06. [12/25/08]

Chris Simokat (00) -- bought a house in Rochelle, IL; taking classes at NIU - Math and Statistics and Biology - has an interest in mathematical modeling particular for the biosciences; develops software and websites through his company Xenopod Inc; grad COD '08.  [08/02/08]

Elaine Abasolo (01) -- graduating with a PharmD from Midwestern University in March 2010 and currently working as a student intern for Walgreens; welcomed a beautiful golden retriever, Lovie (named after Lovie Smith), into her family; grad UIUC '06 with BS in chem and a minor in Food Science.  [12/31/09]

Peter Abasolo (01) -- applying for residencies '09 and hoping to get back to Chicago; used to think that AP CHEM was so hard.... and now thinks AP CHEM wasn't that bad... compared to pharmacology, pathophysiology, etc, etc; grad med school at Loma Linda University Medical School (in California) '10; grad UIUC '05.  [11/16/09]

Nileena Job (01) -- engaged to be married (5/5/2012); working in Maryland since '08 for a scientific instruments company called Shimadzu Scientific Instruments Inc.and specifically works in the marketing department, dealing with their spectroscopy product line (UV, RF, FTIR); wasn't too thrilled about moving out east, but being close to two major cities (DC & Baltimore) has its perks; grad MSU '07 - M.S. in analytical chemistry; grad Grinnell College '05 - chem major.  [11/28/11]

Faiyaaz Kalimullah (01) -- a resident in Dermatology at the University of Arizona Medical Center; grad Rush Med School '10; grad University of Chicago '06 with a BA in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.  [10/23/11]

Narissa Nonzee (01) -- doing cancer/health policy research at NU/Chicago VA and working towards a Masters in Public Policy and Administration at Northwestern University '08; interned at Hospital Clinic (Barcelona's central hospital) in cardiovascular surgery and echocardiography ’04-liability was slim to none, so they let her do whatever she wanted -- was elbow-to-elbow with the surgeons and learned so much; worked for Latino migrant farm worker rights and at the United Farm Workers Union for two years; trip to Spain summer '04, '03 & '01 with Kristen Scoville '01; grad UIUC with honors - dual majors in Molecular/Cellular Bio and Spanish ‘05.  [12/26/08]

Bryan Prendergast (01) -- finished year one of med school at Rush '08; grad UIUC chem major '05.  [07/07/08]

Allison Quatrini (01) -- attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison's La Follette School of Public Affairs pursuing a Master's in International Public Policy; applying to Political Science Ph.D. programs to continue studies in contemporary Chinese politics; will complete Master's in May 2009; studied in China on a Fulbright Scholarship '07 - an extraordinary experience; elected President of the Student Government Association '03; grad Seton Hall '05. [09/15/08]

Pushpa Samuel (01) -- moved to Minneapolis for a job at ev3, a startup biomedical device company; working as an R&D Engineer designing balloon angioplasty catheters for treatment of peripheral artery disease; celebrated her birthday and Easter in Chicago '08; worked in St. Louis at a biotech company called Stereotaxis-small start-up company that focuses on R&D with magnets that are placed into heart catheters--next step is to work on using the magnets in catheters going to the heart and kidneys '05; summer trip to India '01; grad with B.S. in biomedical engineering at Wash U '06.   [04/07/08]

Mike Scalfani (01) -- at Kansas City University of Medicine; has decided to get an MA in bioethics; Mike says "with a multitude of new issues facing physicians in the past 5-10yrs (cloning, genetic therapy/engineering, abortion, end of life issues, health care disparity...etc.), I realized that I am not as well prepared to face these ethical issues as I once thought."; spent 4 weeks in the summer '08 in the mountains of rural Montana working in a Community Health Clinic; did research at Loyola University: Stritch School of Medicine '07; grad Andrews '06 majors in behavioral neuroscience and history and with a minor in chemistry.   [03/15/08]

Kristen Scoville (01) -- graduated Law School '11; trip to Spain summer '04, '03 & '01 with Narissa Nonzee '01; grad Law School U of Penn '11; grad UIUC '05.  PICS  [05/17/11]

Jameel Shihadeh (01) -- working application R&D at Novozymes, largest industrial enzyme producer, focusing on enzymes in first generation biofuels (ethanol): grad UIUC Masters, Agricultural Engineering '08; grad UIUC in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry '06.   [12/25/10]

Jeff Asavalertpanich (02) -- living in San Mateo, CA - just south of San Francisco; works as a 'project engineer' (it's really more like construction project management) for DPR Construction - focus mainly on high tech construction...labs, semiconductors, data centers, etc; while at Brown spent a lot of time working for WBRU, the college radio station, and now has a part time/weekend DJ for Live 105, (105.3 FM San Francisco) an alternative rock station in the Bay Area; grad from Brown University '06 with an Sc.B in mechanical engineering.   [01/05/09]

Kate Jakubas (02) -- volunteering at the Museum of Science and Industry -- "it has been a lot of fun and very rewarding to talk to kids and grownup kids about science"; working for Elkay, a company that makes stainless steel kitchen sinks, faucets, and water fountains in Broadview, IL (close to Brookfield Zoo)-mostly works with corrosion/quality issues and investigating different alloys and materials; business trip to China '07; grad UIUC with a degree in Materials Science Engineering '06.   [01/07/10]

Dana (Junk) Jacobson (02) -- married: Charlie Jacobson; grad in Business Admin and French from Illinois Wesleyan University '06.  [07/09/10]

Clayton Luedtke (02) -- works in R&D for PPD, Inc (Pharmaceutical Product Development); living in Madison WI; married: Tiffany (also works for PPD in small molecule analysis); grad in chemistry from Carroll College '06.   [01/30/09]

Katie Malter (02) -- lives outside of Dallas, TX with her dog and about 45 minutes from her twin sister Melissa; works as a technical project manager for a software/design company; pursuing an MS in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and will finish in '10; plans to continue to pursue a Ph.D so she can consult and work as a professor; MBA from UT Arlington '09 ; grad UT Dallas with a BA in psychology '05.   [01/01/09]

Stephanie Ott-Monsivais (02) -- teaching at UICU '10; masters/PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from UIUC '08.  [07/09/10]

Abhi Solanki (02) -- living in Chicago '10; internship in NYC; grad U of Chicago; grad GPPA @ UIC.  [06/29/10]

Asad Ahmed (03) -- med school at Midwestern in DG; grad Benedictine U in Lisle in pre-med.  [01/31/10]

Kira (Johns) Browder (03) -- living in Columbus, OH; working at Accenture, an IT consulting firm; married: ?? '11 (went to Costa Rica for honeymoon); grad MSU '07 with BS in Computer Science.  [08/03/11]

Hemali Desai (03) -- working for Citigroup in Chicago as a Global Transactions Services Analyst; grad UIUC '07 in business admin, finance and English.  [06/29/10]

Zak Gates (03) -- pursuing graduate studies in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology '08; did a one-year paid research fellowship (PCBio) with Kent Labs at U of C--research focus: protein bonding; Katarina Rucsic ('02) also received same fellowship (2 DGS alum out of 10 fellowships); grad U of Chicago '07.   [05/27/08]

Jon Haughton (03) -- working as an associate product specialist with Corn Products International in Westchester, IL; interned with ADM in sustainable bioenergy modeling '08; tried the Chicago Marathon '07 and succumbed to the heat and humidity (Diverted at mile 20), planning revenge in '08; was a co-op with Kimberly-Clark, working in Philadelphia, doing process engineering, making toilet paper '07; summer internship at Nalco Chemical (automation and boiler research group) in Naperville '06; grad UIUC with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Math minor '08.  [12/25/10]

Jeremy Humbert (03) -- working for Anardarko Petroleum Corporation out in the Wattenberg Oil/Gas field near Denver, CO; grad Marietta College '09 with a BS in Petroleum Engineering.  [03/26/09]

Michelle Li (03) -- in the first year MBA program at Harvard Business School and having the time of her life - traveling for fun, laughing, and generally enjoying life :); worked for Blackstone (private equity firm) in NYC for three years; involved in community service work (tutoring SAT) and finds time to skate and play the piano; travel: Dominican Republic, China, Mexico; interned with an investment bank (UBS) summer '05 and Lehman Bros '07 & '08; grad Harvard '08 majoring in Economics and wrote a thesis on public health.  [10/23/11]

Mike Montani (03) -- said in his update "I am GREAT"; going UIUC in chem engineering.  [01/05/09]

Brian Oca (03) -- working as a Staff Pharmacist for CVS Pharmacy; engaged to be married in Sept 2012; grad from UIC College of Pharmacy '10.  [10/23/11]

Derek Rockwell (03) -- working for village of Roselle as a Village Planner; married: Elizabeth; grad UIUC '07 in Urban and Regional Planning.  [06/29/10]

Mike Rylander (03) -- attending DePaul '10 in computer science; grad COD.  [06/29/10]

Lenore Salazar (03) -- grad UIUC '07 in accounting and spanish.  [06/29/10]

Karmen Wong (03) -- currently a 1L at DePaul Law '10; volunteered to be a special awards judge for the Chicago Intellectual Property Alliance at the CPS Science Fair '10; did a summer stint as a tour guide at the US Capitol (I was really an intern); learned how to surf in Hawaii; visited a pop star's house in Tokyo; learned to play the ukulele :); spent the summer '05 in Beijing, China studying Mandarin, China's public health policy and traditional Chinese medicine; grad Northwestern '07 as an English major.  [03/24/10]

Bryce Harrop (04) -- grad student at the University of Washington working toward getting a PhD in atmospheric sciences; living in Seattle; grad UIUC in applied math '08.    [01/01/09]

Kristina Henry (04) -- analyst at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory which is relocating to Dover, DE; Grad Johns Hopkins with Masters of Science in Biotechnology/Biodefense '09; grad Ohio Northern University '08 with a BS in Biology and a 2nd major in Criminal Justice.  [12/25/11]

Eileen Lapeta (04) -- majoring in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University; moved into a nice new apartment and agrees with me - Sailing is FUN. [10/10/08]

Courtney Rowe (04) -- will receive her Doctorate for Physical Therapy '10; married: ?? '0?; grad from Marquette University with BS in Kinesiology '08.   [01/05/09]

Laura (Ryan) Sandford (04) -- teaching bio and chem at DGS and loving the kids; married '07; active in campus ministry; transferred from IL Wesleyan; grad North Central College (Naperville) majoring in chem with secondary education as a minor '04.      [10/23/08]

Fadi Shihadeh (04) -- first year medical student at Ohio State University and having a blast '10; grad Benedictine University as a biochem major '09.   [01/10/10]

Mink Wungwattana (04) -- second year of med school at Indiana Univ '09; a teaching assistant in Organic Chemistry '07; still keeps her card pocket periodic table with her always!!!!; grad Purdue '08.  [10/23/09]

Sybil Zachariah (04) -- living in LA and in third year of medical school '11; spent a year working in Madrid & traveling after graduation; grad UIUC biochem degree and a minor in Spanish '08.  [10/23/11]