Class Notes

Rancho Palos Verdes, California Sesto is enjoying traveling and spending time with his family in the Los Angeles area. He retired from TRW Systems after 31 years with the company. “In life, when everything is said and done, what remains is your family and the relationship you established with it,” he writes. “I do go to the gym to stay in shape. My wife and I enjoy our travels to Europe. We also enjoy our travels with my four children and my eight grandchildren. I don't do much technical work anymore. I'm enjoying my family and God's creation.”

Carefree, Arizona Tom has been awarded the Vincent J. DeVito Distinguished Service Award by The Institute of Nuclear Materials Management. The award recognizes his many technical contributions and achievements in the development of gamma spectrometry systems for nuclear safeguards.

Cleveland, Ohio Steve was named senior editor of Hydraulics & Pneumatics, a trade publication of Endeavor Business Media. For more than 30 years Steve has been writing on engineering management, fastening and joining, tribology, motion control, materials and mechanical engineering. He earned his biomedical engineering degree from Case Institute of Technology, then entered the Navy, where he flew as a Naval flight officer in an airborne early warning squadron.

Rochester Hills, Michigan Jim has been named president of the Control Devices Division of Stoneridge, Inc., a maker of electrical and electronic components for the automotive industry headquartered in Novi, Michigan. He’s responsible for driving product development, innovation strategy and technical vision. Previously, Jim supported Stoneridge as a consultant, was vice president of engineering at Aptiv, and worked for more than 20 years at Delphi. He earned bachelor’s and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Case.

Mentor, Ohio Greg won a technical Emmy in the 71st Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. His Emmy was to be presented in Las Vegas in April, but the awards ceremony has been postponed because of the pandemic. Greg is the CTO at the Telos Alliance in downtown Cleveland. The award recognizes broadcast technology that he helped develop and that has become an industry standard.

Moscow, Idaho John, an accomplished chemical and biochemical engineer, has been named provost and executive vice president at the University of Akron and is coming home. The Portage Lakes native, provost at the University of Idaho for the past six years, starts his new job May 29. John will serve as second-in-command at the university, reporting directly to the president and overseeing academics and the faculty. A professor of chemical education, he earned master’s and doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from Case Institute of Technology.

Midland, Michigan Ken recently retired from the Dow Chemical Company and is a parttime staff consultant with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Center for Chemical Process Safety and a part-time lecturer at the University of Michigan. In February, he addressed the Mid-Michigan Section of the AIChE and talked about process safety. Ken earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Case Institute of Technology.

Plano, Texas Susan is an Application Development Manager at Micro Systems Technologies, in Plano, TX, and has extensive experience as a process and product engineering consultant focused on electronic applications. She holds five U.S. patents. Susan earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Case.

Burlingame, California Sam, a former Microsoft corporate vice president, recently joined Apple as its new leader of smart home technology. He talked about his journey from Case Institute of Technology to becoming the Head of Home at Apple April 8 as part of the online CWRU Alumni Entrepreneurship Speaker Series. A Palestinian-American from New Jersey, Sam is the co-founder and chairman of the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

Atherton, California Aarti is an executive board member and partner in the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, which strives to make investments that have meaningful social impact. She was an online presenter in the CWRU Entrepreneurship Alumni Speaker Series April 9. Aarti, a member of the CWRU Board of Trustees, earned her master’s degree in computer science from the Case School of Engineering.

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico Vicente leads engineering operations as the Director and Site Leader for Honeywell Aerospace Puerto Rico. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and applied physics from Case Institute of Technology and joined Honeywell in 2007 as one of its first 12 employees on the island. Today, Honeywell’s workforce in the U.S. commonwealth nears 1,000.

Wilmington, Massachusetts Gabe has joined Massachusetts-based Berkshire Grey as a Senior Principal Roboticist. Previously, he was the Senior Robot Scientist at Boston Dynamics, where he worked for 16 years. Gabe earned three mechanical engineering degrees at Case, including his doctorate.

Sunnyvale, California Naci has accepted a position as Director, Engineerings at eHealth, Inc., an online marketplace for private health insurance. Previously, has was Engineering Manager and a staff software engineer at Vida Health, Inc. Naci earned his doctorate in computer engineering from the Case School of Engineering.

Worthington, Ohio Elliot finished a threeyear term as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Students and Programs at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business and returned to the faculty ranks as a Professor of Management Sciences. He earned bachelors’ degrees in materials engineering and economics at Case.

Huntsville, Alabama Jessica is the NASAappointed study scientist for the Lynx X-ray Observatory mission concept. She’s leading a team focused on the next X-ray space telescope mission. Jessica is an astrophysicist in the Science Research Office of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. She earned her master’s degree in astronomy from Case.

Fayetteville, Arkansas Paul, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, was named a Minority Access National Role Model by Minority Access, Inc. The group recognizes students and educators who inspire others to find cures or solve technological problems or address social disparities. Paul earned his doctorate in chemistry at Case.

Chagrin Falls, Ohio Carmen leads the Modern Software Delivery Practice at Centric Consulting, where she focuses on the Cloud and artificial intelligence offerings. She’s also a busy writer, speaker and an advisor to the Women in Tech Initiative at CWRU. Carmen earned her bachelor’s degree in systems and control and her master’s in computer engineering at the Case School of Engineering.

Evanston, Illinois Eric was a featured speaker at the BME Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of California, Irvine, in February. He talked about neural and musculoskeletal systems and how they are linked in the control of movement and posture. Eric, who earned his doctorate in biomedical engineering from the Case School of Engineering, is a professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University.

San Francisco, California Carl, a software engineer, writer and entrepreneur, is offering his services as an executive coach in the San Francisco Bay area via nerdcoach.io. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Case and has worked in the startup world for more than 20 years. Carl was the Head of Engineering and Co-founder at Yerdle.

Chesterland, Ohio Bill is Engineering Project Manager at Nottingham Spirk Design Associates in Cleveland. Recently, he worked with staff at Sears think[box], the campus innovation center, to help design personal protective equipment for hospital workers caring for pandemic patients. Bill teamed up with a former classmate on the project, Ian Charnis ’05, the innovation lead at think[box]. Bill earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.

Medina, Ohio Liz recently became Global Director of Marketing-Lower Extremity, for Integra LifeSciences, a global medical technology firm headquartered in New Jersey. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Case School of Engineering. Liz, who played soccer for the Lady Spartans, shares her love for the game as a youth coach.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Katelyn is a Senior Engineer for Bechtel Plant Machinery. For nearly a decade, she has served as a presentation judge for the Pittsburgh Regional Future City Competition, which seeks to increase public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession during national Engineers Week. Katelyn earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case and her master’s at the University of Pittsburgh.

New Albany, Ohio Colleen has joined Zane State College in Zanesville, Ohio, as an assistant professor of electrical engineering technology. Previously, she was an engineer for American Electric Power, where she supported power generation at transmission stations in its Indiana-Michigan region. Colleen earned her bachelor’s degree in Systems & Control at Case, where she was a member of Engineers Without Borders.

Shaker Heights, Ohio Maryam has moved into the position of Senior Systems Security Engineer at Rockwell Automation, which she joined in 2013. She earned her master’s degree in computer engineering from Case and is working toward her doctorate degree.

Seattle, Washington Steph was named a Women of Wisdom by the Women in Tech Initiative at CWRU for helping young women follow her path to success as a mentor and role model. She joined Google four years ago through its engineering residency program and today is a Site Reliability Engineer managing her own team. Steph earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science from Case, where she was a member of the Hacker Society and the Fencing Club. In 2016, she received the Young Alumni Leadership Award from the Case Alumni Association.

St. Louis, Missouri Abby was the featured speaker at the Soar into STEM program of the St. Louis Science Center in April 2019. An aerospace engineer for Boeing Research and Technology, she talked about her experience with Boeing and the NASA Glenn Research Center to illustrate the teambased process of developing aerospace vehicles. She also staged a live demonstration of vertical lift aerodynamics using a small UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), or drone. Abby earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and her master’s in aerospace engineering at Case.

Send your updates, including photos, about job promotions, professional development and personal milestones to casealum@casealum.org.

Crown Point, Indiana Austin recently became engaged to Caelainn Crnjak and the couple plans a June wedding. He’s a software developer for Applied Systems, where he is a member of the “tiger team” formed to expedite work on a feature in jeopardy of missing its target date. Austin earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Case, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Theta and sang with the a cappella choir Case in Point.

San Francisco, California Judy is the co-founder of AntX Technologies, which she and a friend launched in 2019. The company has developed a “smart scale” that not only weighs food but provides calorie counts and nutritional information. She exhibited the technology at CES 2020 as part of the CWRU presentation team. An international student from China, Judy earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case and her master’s in systems engineering at Penn.

Cleveland, Ohio Daoning is a business analyst at Cohen & Company in Cleveland. He’s also an organizer of Cleveland’s popular annual GiveBackHack, where cash prizes are awarded for the best ideas for improving the community. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and his master’s in engineering management from Case.

San Francisco, California Nick is pursuing his doctorate at Stanford University, where he is working towards developing wearable integrated neural microsystems for applications in nonhuman primates. He earned two degrees in electrical engineering at Case.