Class Notes

50s Walter R. McIndoo (EE, 1956) and Paul H. Lewis (EE, 1957) received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who. McIndoo spent nearly 40 years in the automobile electronics industry with General Motors, retiring in 1992 as director of the semiconductor business unit. Lewis is renowned as an emeriti professor at Michigan Technological University and an electrical engineer with more than 60 years of distinction in his technical field.

60s William (Bill) W. Myers (MA, 1969) is analyzing a variety of interesting math or technical topics for Medium, an internet platform for writers of all interests. He lives in retirement at The Villages in central Florida.

70s Ronald L. Loyd (CHE, 1972) was appointed to the Board of Works for the City of Winchester, Ind., where he has lived in retirement after being president with the Ohio Valley Gas Corporation. Denis J. Radecki (MA, 1973) was recognized for more than 35 years of volunteer service to the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers’ MATHCOUNTS competition. He also has served as treasurer of ISPE’s Francis Vigo chapter.

Charles (Chick) E. Sweeney (CE, 1972)

has retired after a 45-year career with Alden Research Laboratory in Seattle. As the senior technical fellow, he oversaw more than 400 hydraulic design and analysis

SWEENEY

projects, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. Two of his projects were awarded the American Consulting Engineers’ Council Grand Conceptor Award. In 2015, Sweeney received the Northwest Hydroelectric Association’s Pamela E. Klatt Award for outstanding service to the hydropower industry. Art Nelson (ME, 1975) has retired after a lengthy career as director of marketing and sales with Toray Fluorofibers Inc. He has moved to North Myrtle Beach, S.C. Steven Sibrel (EE, 1975) has been named a fellow with the American Society of Quality, based upon career and professional achievements. He is a senior supplier quality engineer with Harman/Becker Automotive Systems. Steven K. Rowe (CE, 1978) has been promoted to vice president of sales with Arcosa Lightweight, the largest North American producer of rotary kiln expanded shale and clay lightweight aggregate. He has worked for the company since late 2018.

Michael H. Peters

(ME, 1979) is board chair and co-owner of Silk Road Gemological Laboratory and Lapidary in Kabul, Afghanistan. This adds to a long list of positions in industry and education. Since 2016, he has been an instructor and senior adviser for Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

PETERS

80s W. Darin Moody (CHE, 1987) is a new member of Conexus Indiana’s board of directors. The non-profit initiative is positioning the state for advanced manufacturing and logistics industries opportunities. Moody is a senior vice president with Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis.

John A. Collett (CE, 1988) was the first recipient of the Greater Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce’s Advocate of the Year Award. He is chief executive officer of Wabash Valley Asphalt in Terre Haute.

Michael E. Leakey (ME,

1988) is vice president of sales and marketing with Link Manufacturing, a leader in specialty engineered suspensions. He brings more than 32 years of sales, engineering and marketing management experience. Mike formerly was managing director of truck and defense sales with IMMI. Matt E. White (ME, 1989) is the senior vice president with Drax Biomass Inc., based in Monroe, La. He had been director of manufacturing and engineering with Rockwater Energy/Select Energy Services.

LEAKEY

90s

Kevin R. Fesler (ME,

1990) has become vice president of business development with Top Aces Corp., a provider of contracted adversary air services. He had a distinguished 24-year Air Force career, including being executive director of the Aerojet Rocketdyne project and assisting with the National Defense Industrial Association’s precision strike weapons group. Todd A. DeVore (ME, 1993) is now the vice president of manufacturing with Ice House America, the world’s largest manufacturer of ice vending machines.

FESLER

Ware Leading Government’s Cybersecurity Strategies

As the Department of Homeland Security’s new senior cybersecurity official, Bryan S. Ware (AO, 1992) is being kept busy as America faces potential cyber attacks that originate from throughout the world. Ware was confirmed as assistant director for cybersecurity for the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency early in 2020, following nomination by President Trump. He had spent the previous year as assistant department secretary for cyber, infrastructure and resilience policy. In the new role, Ware is working to streamline the reams of data collected by government analysts to make it more useful for tracking hackers. Another top priority is modernizing the agency’s data systems, tools, artificial intelligence, and analytics. Ware’s background as an artificial intelligence entrepreneur should be useful to the CISA. His professional career started with leading defense contractors, working on advanced technology programs, including the Star Wars program, early unmanned aerial vehicle payloads and counterterrorism technologies. He has been issued multiple patents in artificial intelligence and mobile technology. In 1998, Ware founded an artificial intelligence company, which was acquired by Haystax in 2013. He continued to serve in leadership roles with the firm, as chief technology officer and chief executive officer until 2018, when he moved into government work.

Kerry J. Phillips (CE, 1995) is vice president of private sector services with KSM Consulting, a technology, data and management consultancy based in Indianapolis. He formerly was the company’s business performance practice director. Ashvin P. Lad (CHE, 1996) has started a three-year term as an adviser for the Archbishop of Chicago’s Catholic Charities organization. Tony Ragucci (PH/MA, 1996) is now director of engineering with Leonardo DRS, a defense contractor based in Dallas. He is supervising engineering product development for infrared sensors products. He formerly spent two years in engineering leadership roles with Raytheon.

Kevin M. Unger (EE,

1996) has been promoted to assistant vice president of the electronic warfare and signals intelligence solutions business unit with SRC, Inc. He has been with the Syracuse, N.Y.- based company for 23 years. Barry C. Portman (ME, 1997) is the chief operating officer of Houston-based Blackbuck Resources, a company supporting water infrastructure development for the oil and gas industry. He formerly was a vice president with Pioneer Natural Resources. Bradley Garrett (ME, 1998) has returned to a vice president role with Allegion in Carmel, Ind., this time overseeing business operations. He served as vice president with VMS BioMarketing in 2019, after being with Allegion for nearly 12 years. Ferenc Pankotai (MSME, 1998) is manager of combustion engineering and additive manufacturing with Solar Turbines in San Diego. He has more than 20 years of experience in gas turbine engine operations and engineering management.

UNGER

00s Matthew T. Ervin (ME, 2000) is the director of biologics external manufacturing and advanced surgery strategy with Baxter International, based in Bloomington, Ind. He spent five years as the company’s director of technical services. Elizabeth Hagerman (CHE, 2000) has returned to her biotechnology roots, as the first executive director of University of Wisconsin Health’s innovation initiative, the Isthmus Project. It supports the system’s health care professionals’ ideas and projects.

Jerry G. Kezar (EE,

2000) has been promoted to director of U.S. Army counter-unmanned aircraft systems programs with SRC, Inc. The not-for-profit research and development company specializes in areas of defense, environment and intelligence services. He had been a program manager. Charles Clancy (CPE, 2001) has been added to the board of directors with Virginia Tech’s Hume Center for National Security and Technology, an organization he once led. He is vice president for intelligence programs with MITRE, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to research and development in the public interest. LaSandra D. Edwards (CE, 2002) is now a senior engineer with Bennett Engineering Services, Inc., based in Roseville, Calif. She formerly spent more than four years with Brown and Caldwell, and 13 years with MWH Global. Charles N. Elwood (EE, 2002) has started his own business intelligence consulting firm, SolisMatica. It has expanded to help companies connect information from disconnected data silos/departments and create actionable insights with content-rich visuals.

Gregory Hays (MSEMGT,

2002) has been appointed senior scientific technology manager for rapid prototyping with the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic in Charleston, S.C. He has more than 25 years of experience in federal government and industry technical positions. Melva J. (Lucas) Holt (CHE, 2002) has founded PAISE Leadership, a professional development training and coaching agency in the Atlanta area. She formerly worked in human resources for Kaman Industrial Technologies and General Mills’ plant in Covington, Ga.

Jennifer A. (Anderson)

Mrzlack (ME, 2002) has been promoted to president with Indianapolis-based PSG Energy Group. She also is a vice chair and board member with the Solar Energy Industries Association. PSG Energy Group is owned by Envelop Group, whose managing partners include Travis G. Ihnen (ME, 1999) and A.J. Wilkerson (ME, 1997).

KEZAR HAYS MRZLACK Kelly (Sullivan) Noel (EE,

2002) is now vice president for corporate construction and real estate with UPMS in Pittsburgh. She formerly was vice president of facilities with Advocate Aurora Health and Aurora Health, both in Milwaukee. Cody R. Kothera (ME, 2004) has been promoted to vice president of sales with Kent Corporation, where he has worked in technical sales since August of 2016. Gerald W. Rea (OE, 2004) is chief executive officer of Toralgen Inc., an Indianapolis based startup that’s received $1.7 million to support commercialization of nanopill technology. The system encapsulates existing drug molecules inside proprietary nanoparticles.

Conrad S. Tucker (ME,

2004) is now a mechanical engineering professor, specializing in machine learning, at Carnegie Mellon University. He was a member of a team that earned the Best Paper Award in the area of virtual environments and systems at the 2019 American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Computers and Information in Engineering Division Conference. Tucker formerly directed the Design Analysis Technology Advancement Laboratory at Penn State University. Amee Wicks (CE, 2004) was honored among the 40 Under 40 for 2019 within the Sarasota, Fla., region by The (Sarasota) Business Observer. She is a project manager with Kimley-Horn and Associates and the community engineer for Babcock Ranch, the nation’s first all solar-powered master-planned community. Huixin Bi (MSEE, 2005) is a research and policy officer in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s economic research department. Her duties include advising on monetary and economic policy issues. Bi joined the bank in 2015 as a senior economist after earning a doctorate in economics from Indiana University.

Lance W. Gassert (CE,

2005) was recognized among Terre Haute’s 12 Under 40 for 2019, by The Terre Haute Tribune-Star, for his career and community achievements. He is vice president with Garmong Construction Services.

NOEL TUCKER GASSERT

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Zaiss Meets Twin Triathlon Challenge

How about spending a day doing a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run, then doing it all over again the next day. That’s what Jennifer M. Zaiss (CHE, 2011) did this past fall in becoming the first American woman to complete two triathlons on the same weekend. First, she finished the Ironman Maryland in 13 hours and five minutes on September 28. That time was important since Zaiss figured she had to complete the event within 13:30 in order to make it to Tennessee in time to compete in the Ironman Chattanooga the next day. “I like to set big, scary goals and then chase them down. If it doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough,” she says. “I think it’s fun to see physically what I’m capable of doing, but realizing that it really all comes down to having the mental strength to just keep putting one foot in front of the other while you’re deep in the hurt locker.” There was never a point where she wanted to quit, stating “I’m too stubborn for that.” Making the challenge even worse was an extremely hot day in Tennessee, with a heat index of above 100

degrees. A personal challenge came between 16 and 20 miles of the final distance run when the physical toll on her body was nearly overwhelming. She eventually crossed the finish line in 15:05:40. “I can’t even begin to describe how immense the feeling of accomplishment is knowing that you mentally and physically persevered through whatever challenge you set for yourself and crossed that finish line. The challenge doesn’t have to be something big like this,” Zaiss says. I’m finding out that we’re capable of so much more than we realize, if we’re just brave enough to believe in ourselves. You can do hard things.” The twin triathlons prepared Zaiss for an Ultraman—a three-day event featuring a 6.2-mile swim, 263-mile bike ride, and a double marathon (52.4-mile run)—which she completed in a little more than 29 hours during Valentine’s Day weekend in Florida. Her next challenge: completing a doctoral degree in oceanography from the University of Southern California.

Laura J. Hemming (CE, 2005) is the chief of master planning and real property in support of the U.S. Army’s European garrisons. She has been based in Germany since September of 2018.

Adam P. Jarboe (BSME, 2005/MSEMGT, 2007)

is a 2020 Young Lion Award recipient as part of Foodservice Equipment Reports’ annual Industry Excellence Awards. The honor recognizes individuals under the age of 40 who have made a meaningful impact on the food service equipment industry. He is senior sourcing lead for equipment at Chick-fil-A, based in Atlanta. Micah L. Houtz (EE, 2006) is now a principal engineer in the New Hampshire office with Wunderlich-Malec Engineering, Inc., his employer for the past five years.

David M. Knapp (CHEM,

JARBOE KNAPP

2006) has joined the Freeborn & Peters law firm’s litigation practice group. He is focused on intellectual property enforcement and defense casework in the Chicago office. Knapp earned his law degree from George Washington University and has a doctorate from the University of Illinois. Derek Trobaugh (AB, 2006) has become a senior research scientist in the area of virology/biopharma discovery with Elanco. He spent nearly eight years as a research assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Clint Hammes (ME, 2007) and Kara (Horn) Hammes (BIO, 2009) are turning their love of travel and sense of adventure into creating the Brown County Barn Burner, a family getaway experience in Nashville, Ind. Clint is a facilities engineer with Big Woods/Quaff ON!/Hard Truth Distilleries, while Kara is Brown County’s health/human sciences/natural resources educator for the Purdue Extension Service.

Erin K. O’Connor (BE,

2007) received the Office of Student Affairs’ Jess Lucas Alumni Leadership Award as a former residence assistant who is having a distinguished professional career. She is a major in the U.S. Air Force, serving as a physical therapist who leads clinic operations for the special tactics squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Base (Wash.). O’Connor is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists and a board certified orthopedic specialist.

Joseph Rottman (BSCPE, 2007/MSEMGT, 2008)

is now a product performance manager at Caterpillar Inc.’s regional office in Tucson, Ariz. He has worked for the company since graduation.

Aaron Szczesny (BSME, 2007/MSEMGT, 2011)

has been promoted to project manager with EN Engineering, an oil and energy company based in Warrenville, Ill. He has worked for the firm since being an intern. Wöli (Bob) I. Urbe (CS, 2007) is a new intellectual property litigation associate with Emerson Thomson Bennett, an Akron, Ohio-based law firm. He has extensive experience representing cases before U.S. district courts

O’CONNOR

and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Urbe earned a law degree in 2013 from Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law (N.Y.) Chastity Williams (ME, 2008) is now a staff engineer with GE Aviation, where she has worked since graduation.

Mark Intihar (BSEE, 2009/MSEMGT, 2011)

is a sales account manager with Aptiv in Cupertino, Calif. He has been with the company since 2017 after more than six years with Delphi. Nicholas Corkill (CE, 2009) is a senior civil engineer with Burns & McDonnell in the Chicago area. He spent seven years with Jacobs Corporation.

Matthew R. Melton (BSME, 2009/MSEMGT,

2011) is now an energy efficiency analyst with TRC Companies Inc. in northwest Indiana. He also is a minority owner and chief information officer of Region Ale Tap House and Eatery in Schererville, Ind. Bryan Wong (ME, 2009) is in his sixth year as a CrossFit athlete, ranking within the top 100 male competitors internationally and top 50 in the U.S. When not competing or training, Wong is a senior manufacturing engineer with Medtronic in Warsaw, Ind.

10s Cody Fogwell (ME, 2010) is now supply chain manager with Acutronic USA Inc. in Austin, Texas. He previous spent nearly eight years as a project engineering manager with Parametric Solutions Inc. Samuel M. Howell (EP, 2010) lectured throughout Japan in March and was the featured speaker at John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory’s Europa Clipper Lecture

Series. He is an ocean world research scientist within NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s planetary interiors and geophysics group.

Nicholas B. Addante (CE, 2013) has been promoted to project manager with Manhard Consulting in Lincolnshire, Ill. He has worked for the firm since graduation.

Katelyn Stenger (ME, 2015) is a graduate research fellow with the University of Virginia’s Environmental Resilience Institute.

Christopher M. Wlezien

(ME, 2010) received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Dedicated Service Award for his many years as global chief judge of the organization’s human powered vehicle competitions. Emily N. Meyer (CHE, 2011) has been promoted to project manager with Burns & McDonnell, her employer since graduation. Marc A. Pardee (EE, 2011) is a senior security engineer with Lucid, based in Salt Lake City. He has nine years of web application and cloud security experience. Keegan Superville (BE, 2011) is now a commercialization director with TriMed in Santa Clarita, Calif. He has worked for the medical device company since 2015. Shaun R. Wendel (ME, 2011) has been promoted to assistant vice president and treasury officer with STAR Bank in Indiana. Bobby L. Withrow (EE, 2011) is an engineer with Aurubis Buffalo Inc. in Buffalo, N.Y. He had spent eight years in technical leadership roles with ArcelorMittal in northeast Ohio. Lynn Connors-Smith (MSEMGT, 2012) is now leading the development, testing and data collection of metrics operations within the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane, Ind. She has worked at the center since 2003. Durushka I. Ahmed (CHE, 2013) is now manager of technology consulting operations with Accenture’s New York City office. She has worked for the company since 2017 after being with Tate & Lyle and Schlumberger. Spencer Bohlander (ME, 2013) has returned to Apache Corporation as a drilling engineer and product manager in Houston. He was a drilling supervisor with the company from 2013-18 before becoming a drilling advisor with Moblize in 2019. Joseph Byrd (ME, 2013) is a plant maintenance and capital projects manager with Austin White Lime Company in Austin, Texas. Matthew Kane (ME, 2013) has been promoted to advance materials engineer with Fitbit. He has been working for the San Francisco company since August of 2015. Richard P. Thai (CS/SE/MA, 2013) is an Android engineer with Stripe in the San Francisco area. He spent more than three years as a data and Android engineer with Reddit. Zachary T. Troope (ME, 2014) has become global bonus and liquidated damages monitoring leader with General Electric’s heavy-duty gas turbine fleet, based out of Atlanta. He is a former member of GE’s Edison Engineering Development Program. Thomas Foulkes (EE, 2015) was named one of nine 2019 Siebel Scholars, a program recognizing exceptional students from the world’s nine leading energy science universities. He has earned a doctorate in electrical engineering/power electronics at the University of Illinois. Qiaoyou “David” Dou (EE, 2017) has realized a personal goal of opening a Chinese restaurant, Yellow Ducky Express, in Rantoul, Ill. He formerly was a software developer in nearby Champaign, Ill. Zachary C. Glick (ME, 2017) has become a student in the Mundelein (Ill.) Seminary, based at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. He previously served in the U.S. Air Force. Ellie K. Hong (ME, 2017) is a front-end software developer with DeveloperTown in Indianapolis, after spending two years as an engineer with Allison Transmission. Sydney K. (Short) Paul (EE, 2017) is a data scientist with Neal Analytics in Bellevue, Wash. She is completing a master’s degree in data science at University of Notre Dame. Wade Stallings II (ME, 2017) has been promoted to senior engineer in the injection molding division with Eli Lilly and Company, where he has worked since graduation. He also owns D3D Technologies, an Indianapolis-based firm that encourages inventors and their inventions.

Lujia (Luke) Zhang (CS/

SE/MA, 2017) was a finalist for the United Way of Central Indiana’s 2020 ELEVATE Awards, among more than 100 applicants who have a passion for community service and volunteerism. He is a data scientist with DemandJump in Indianapolis.

MAJORS KEY

BCMC: Biochemistry/Molecular Biology | BE: Biomedical Engineering | BIO: Biology | BIOE: Biological Engineering | CE: Civil Engineering | CHE: Chemical Engineering | CHEM: Chemistry | CPE: Computer Engineering | CS: Computer Science ECON: Economics | EE: Electrical Engineering | EMGT: Engineering Management | EP: Engineering Physics | MATH: Mathematics | ME: Mechanical Engineering | OE: Optical Engineering | PH: Physics | SE: Software Engineering

Adams Continues Moench Professorship's Alumni Heritage

Thom M. Adams (ME, 1990) is continuing the legacy of outstanding alumni educators serving as Rose-Hulman’s esteemed Herman A. Moench Distinguished Professor. The honor recognizes Adams’ outstanding work as a mechanical engineering educator and academic scholar. Faculty chairs honor members of the Rose-Hulman faculty for their exemplary accomplishments in teaching and academic scholarship. Adams follows alumni Moench Distinguished Professorship honorees Robert Steinhauser, Keith Hoover and Richard Ditteon, who retired late in 2019.

“Herman Moench’s name is still revered on campus and I’m humbled to be carrying on his name as I walk through Moench Hall each day,” says Adams. Like Moench, Adams has inspired students while facilitating their education. He is one of the few faculty members to have received the institute’s Dean’s Outstanding Teaching Award (2005) and Trustees’ Outstanding Scholar Award (2019). Adams is cited as a pioneer in the field of micro-electro-mechanical systems. Moench was a distinguished alumnus, professor and administrator who twice served as the institute’s interim president. He died in 1990.