2023 WHO’S WHO YOUNG ALUMNI RECIPIENTS

The Who’s Who Young Alumni awards honor graduates from the last 10 years who are under the age of 40. These individuals have distinguished themselves through a high level of professional accomplishments early in their career and have demonstrated a commitment to CMU through volunteering, leadership or contributions.

JACK BRYAN, ‘15

After earning a degree in chemistry from CMU, Jack went on to earn a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Sheffield in England. Throughout his education, he knew he wanted to build spaceships and help more people get into space. In his early career he has worked for some of the most notable aerospace companies such as Sent Into Space, Masten Space Systems and is now working for Space X where he is a build engineer on the Starship. •

WHITTNEY SMYTHE-SMITH, ‘10

Whittney Smythe-Smith, DBA, earned her undergraduate degree from Creighton, her MBA from CMU and she just completed a Doctorate of Business Administration from Bellevue University. Whittney is proud to have served on the CMU Alumni Association Board from 20162022. She started her own business and human resources consulting firm called the Gallium Group in 2019 which provides services to a broad range of organizations based in or operating in Colorado. She serves on various boards with the goal of positively impacting communities across the state, but especially in her hometown of Leadville. She is most proud of being named the District Governor Nominee for both Rotary and Lions International. •

DEREK IRICK, ‘19

Derek is a rising-star real estate agent in Grand Junction. He has received the Best of the West Residential Real Estate Agent award three years in a row and is consistently among Bray Real Estate’s top performers. Derek’s path is quite remarkable. He was born in China and was orphaned at a very young age. In the orphanage he set a goal to learn English in hopes of being adopted by an American family. At age 12 his wish came true and his new family eventually settled in Grand Junction. While attending CMU, Derek earned four degrees and was involved with many clubs in the business department. Today he stays just as busy by serving on the Young Professionals Network, the Grand Valley Young Alumni Chapter and many other local organizations. He supports several local non-profits, but he’s most passionate about his work with the Western Slope Center for Children. •

BRYN LOFTNESS, ‘20

As a student, Bryn was recruited to work for the Harvard Sabeti Lab assisting digital epidemiology research on CMU-related datasets where she served as the resident expert on CMU data and policies throughout computational efforts. Now she is a PhD candidate in the Complex Systems and Data Science program at the University of Vermont and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She is collaborating with a research group to develop digital phenotyping algorithms by leveraging wearable sensor signals. Based on this group’s research findings, she has developed an online website for sharing resources, assisted in development of a mobile phone application to collect digital biomarkers and is working on an annual point-of-care mental health assessment for young children. • currently working as a mechanical design engineer at Handix Scientific where he develops new aerosol sampling instrumentation and travels the world. Tiana will graduate with a PhD in counseling psychology in the summer of 2023 and will start working as a psychologist supporting those with substance use concerns at the Cheyenne VA Healthcare System Fall 2023.

She graduated from CMU with a nursing degree and went back to Alaska to start Kenai Peninsula Home Health where staff care for people in the elderly community who have health conditions or have undergone surgery. Her practice is comprised of a group of talented technicians, physicians and physical therapists. Their mission is to provide dynamic and collaborative care that is patient centered with a focus on disease prevention and health restoration.

Kricket Burris, ‘18 from instructing in a volleyball camp when she was a player at CMU. They worked so well together that Ali accepted a position to team teach alongside Kricket to incorporate cross-curricular learning methods. Kricket is excited to complete her Doctorate in Education in Learning Design and Technology this fall through the University of Wyoming. She and her alumnus husband, Andrew, are the proud owners of two retired racing greyhounds, Enzo and Pirelli.

Tiana

Johnson, ‘17, and Dominick (Dom) Heskett, ‘19

Dom and Tiana met at Colorado Mesa University when they both served as resident assistants in Bunting Hall where they built a strong friendship over time. Their residents used to lovingly tease them about being together and in the end, they were right as Dom and Tiana began dating during their junior and senior years. After five years together, Dom proposed on April 29. Dom is