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Dear Fellow Class of 1980 Alumni,
After Tom’s last plea for news from you, we got more mail than the class notes column
can handle in three issues. Now, many classmates are requesting the news, and they do
not want to wait until “Technology Review” publishes it. So, we have compiled, and
perhaps lightly edited, all the news we have received between January and March 2007.
We are sharing that with you, so you can get the news sooner, with all the news that is fit
to print. We hope you enjoy rediscovering what our classmates are up to, as we did.
Please let it inspire you to send more news as it happens, keeping the 1980 Class Notes
column full. We definitely need more news for the looming publication deadline —9
July 2007. Please drop is a line!
Note: this does not replace our submissions to Tech Review – so that, in time, you'll also
see a version of these correspondences in the usual place.
Best regards,
Tom Griffin & Cindy Bedell
Class 1980 Co-Secretaries
******
As an offshoot to the projects-from-hell my kid get from school, we are in the process of
rolling out a viral video military history series which is a parody of the story and movie
of John F. Kennedy's PT 109. It includes JFK doing the Numa Numa and a Star Trek pan
around the model, running over the model with a Japanese minivan, and exploding in
flames in the propane barbeque.
Here is the url: www.freewebs.com/newpt109/thevideos.htm
My youtube user channel is youarthur
I am attempting to bring over the niece and surviving native who found JFK's crew in
their dugout canoe in the Solomon Islands. If anybody would like to raise support to
bring these people to their town, please contact me, I'd like them to meet President Bush
since they were stopped from meeting JFK. Check out other videos from user
youarthurhu with 1.3 million views including MIT Symphony recordings.
Arthur Hu
******
“Errol Antzis (Course 6) has now fully ensconced himself in the music business. Besides
serving as CFO of Metropolitan Talent, Inc., an independent diversified entertainment
company, Errol owns Baden Guitars, a company that designs, manufactures and
distributes high-end acoustic guitars, and PPV Media, LLC, a publisher of music-related
magazines. PPV’s first publication, Drumhead, is being introduced at the Anaheim, CA,
NAMM show, the largest music manufacturer’s trade show in the world. Drumhead is a
platform consisting of a print magazine, free CD and website targeting drummers and
percussionists, and is edited by Jonathan Mover, a drummer who has played and recorded
with artists ranging from Alice Cooper to Aretha Franklin. Besides these musical
endeavors, Errol continues to build his personal guitar collection, which now numbers
over 100 instruments, both vintage and modern”.
Perhaps this sounds too much like an ad for my companies, but now that I’m an
entrepreneur, I’ve learned that self-promotion is critical.
Thanks and best regards,
Errol
******
Kate Williams finished her PhD at Michigan in 2005 and is now a community
informatics researcher on the faculty of the Dominican University Graduate School of
Library and Information Science in Chicago.
******
Mike Sereda '80 is a consultant in the electronics business in San Jose who just threw up
his shingle-- sputtering is my forte. Send me any and all business! I am married to an
angel from Texas, Eileen, and have 3 kids. Vance plays seven instruments especially the
Bari Sax and Drums. Kyle is a philosopher undergrad at Cal. Valerie is a botanist in
Oakland. We have a rental in the Big Easy and are buying another one-- New Orleans
will come back! I see Joe Hillman '80 occasionally and enjoyed the SF MIT Chi Phi get
together at the yacht club with Jim Hancock, Rick Baer, Alan Rath, and Mark Dewitt
who are all Chi Phis. I also saw Jersey Boys with Theo Jones PhD '63 and his wonderful
wife Jeannie. Theo is a senior runner who just qualified for Boston in 4:12, smokin' fast
for over 60! Theo always beats me at Double Dipsea nowadays (Stinson Beach to Mill
Valley and back through the poison oak, 672 steps each way, and the Marin Headlands).
How's that, TP?
Best Regards,
Mike Sereda doctorsichrome@yahoo.com
******
Esteemed classmates and class officers!
I have been living in Newton since 2001, and have been self employed most of that time.
The focus of my mechanical design consultancy is accessories for use by surgeons and
endoscopists in the gastrointestinal tract. In my spare time, such as it is, I enjoy reading,
hiking, and being with my 14 and 8 year old daughters.
Darrell Hartwick
Principal Engineer
Medical & Endoscope Design
145 Washington Street, Suite 1
Newton, MA 02458
www.g-i-endoscopy.com
Cell 617-501-4095
Fax 347-521-1249
Alternate Fax: 617-795-1877
******
Chris Fodor (Civil Engineering Class of 1980) has launched a management magazine in
Dubai and is planning to launch a sister version in India in April of this year. Chris, his
wife Luciana and 9-year old daughter Antonia, live blissfully in Paris. Chris enjoys his
monthly trips to Dubai and New Delhi, but does not know how he'll handle the
forthcoming Chinese, Turkish and Hungarian editions of GO magazine.
Best from Dubai.
Chris Fodor
******
Tom Sparks, 1980
I am busy with three teen children, Sr, Jr, Soph at New Trier HS in Winnetka, ILL, a
Chicago suburb. Also keep busy sailing 3 boats on beautiful Lake Michigan and
advocating a libertarian point of view on local boards and papers. I do a poor job of
staying in touch with other local Alums, but can verify that Clay Struve '80, Steve
Pettinato '80, Nick Schoewe '81 and Marty Reiner '81 are all also leading full active
successful lives. In the early 1980's, we all followed Clay into the options trading biz and
have stayed in that money management/trading sort of work ever since. I often exchange
emails with Jim "And Scuttly" Scutti, '80, and believe he's one of the few Alums I know
who is actually using his MIT degree, in Materials Science. I attended an MIT on the
Road confab and highly recommend it for other alumni/ae. Personally, I can't believe it's
been 30 years since most of us matriculated to the 'Tute. Tempus fugit.....
******
I always scan the bold-faced type of the class notes to look for names of classmates I
remember. I will try to include as much bold face as I can remember. Lambda Phi of
Alpha Delta Phi had our 30th reunion of founding at MIT this last October including
Classes of 1977 through 2010. Several members of the Class of 1980 attended including
Matthew Alves, Bret Hartman, Carl Heinzl, Mark Kane, Donald Schmincke,
Frederick Zelt, and I. Amazingly, everyone hadn't aged a bit. I continue to practice
neuroradiology at Radiology Consultants of Washington in Bellevue, WA.
Andrew Bronstein
******
I've been busy marketing my book "Future Hype: The Myths of Technology
Change." I live in Seattle, married to Sandy for 26 years. Two kids are
off to college. I enjoy third world travel (Peru, Malawi, Mongolia).
Bob (bob@future-hype.com)
[Bob Seidensticker]
******
"Allan Frydenlund ('80, '82) and Liza Bronaugh Frydenlund ('81, '82, '90) adopted three
children from Lithuania in 2004 and are living in Ellicott City (Baltimore), MD."
******
In August, my family and I went to Prague because my husband, Richard A. Shafer, class
of 1975, was John Mather's deputy principal investigator on the FIRAS instrument on the
COBE satellite. John Mather and the COBE science working group, which included my
husband and other MIT alumni, won the Peter Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize. It
was awarded at the IAU General Assembly, which was better known for voting Pluto out
of the planetary system.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2006/gruber_award_prt.htm
'A gold medal and $250,000 prize will be presented to Dr. Mather of NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who will represent the COBE team at the opening
ceremony of the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly in Prague on
August 15."
[etc.] Then, in December, Rick and I went to Stockholm to attend the Nobel Prize awards
and associated events when John Mather and George Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize in
Physics for their work on COBE. (Our son Robert had to stay behind to attend school and
take an entrance exam for the Science and Technology program at the Eleanor Roosevelt
High School in Greenbelt, Maryland.)
All in all, it was a lot of fun and we were quite pleased to see John Mather and the COBE
team recognized for their efforts.
Yours,
Gwen E. Shafer, class of 1980
******
Well, since I've already been bragging to everyone I can find within the family,
neighborhood and office, my classmates at MIT are the logical next victims of a mother's
pride. Joan Solomon Griffin, Course 01 is pleased to announce that her 6th grade
daughter, Linna, placed first in both of her events at the Northern New Jersey Science
Olympiad regional competition on January 11, helping her middle school team capture
second place overall and an invite to the state competition in March. Mom was there and
screaming at the top of her lungs. And to think it may have been our 25th reunion a year
and a half ago that inspired her. She has been telling everyone that she is going to MIT
since then. Guess I better get saving. As for the rest of the gang, I'm now a Managing
Director and team leader in the Credit Department at RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland)
which is the bank behind those strange "Make It Happen" ads, I am specializing in
Media, Telecom and Technology (duh!) My other two kids, Chris (13) and Kaitlin (7)
also favor the sciences and my husband, Jim (Dartmouth '80) is CEO of educational
software company New Century Education. We are still living in New Jersey and cursing
global warning.
******
Charlie Lutz is an Otolaryngologist in Reading, PA.
With 15 other surgeons we will be opening a Surgical Hospital in April after 4 years of
development. I returned last year for the 25th reunion and we had a 100% turnout from
the FIJI class. It was great seeing everyone again.
******
I have been living in Highland Park, Illinois, working at Abbott Labs in business
development and marketing. My daughter is a senior in high school and my son is a
freshman. Still playing recreational ice hockey. That's about it - suburban and not
especially noteworthy!
What have you been up to?
Best regards,
Steve Mickel
******
Paul Hartung(Course 2):
I’m President & CEO of Neuroptix, a startup developing an early diagnostic for
Alzheimer’s disease by measuring protein aggregates in the lens of the eye. We recently
entered into a non-exclusive R&D collaboration with Merck, closed a Series A financing
and opened an office in Acton, MA.
Regards, Paul
******
Alex Lamis is a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Current projects include a
museum of the American Revolution at Valley Forge and a master plan for Graceland in
Memphis, Tennesee. Alex, wife Holly, and 3 kids live on Manhattan's west side. Son
David (9) is in the Metropolitan Opera's Children's Chorus, and has sung this year in
productions of Tosca and La Boheme.
******
I am still a Professor of Biology at Boston College. In the past year, my lab has begun a
new project that has us carrying out high throughput drug screens through the Broad
Institute's Chemical Biology Program. Therefore, I recently had to get a new MIT ID.
Photos were taken where we used to go bowling in the basement of the student center.
This project has considerable commercial potential, so if any VCs or Angels are reading
this, drop me an email.
Best regards,
Charlie Hoffman
Boston College
"I'd rather be fission."
*******
My wife, Pat, and I continue to love living in Colorado. We have three daughters. The
older two are twins, both of whom chose to stay in Colorado for college, where one is a
sophomore at Denver U. and the other is a sophomore at Colorado College. The youngest
is a sophomore in high school who vows that she will go to college far from Colorado.
Pat is a successful artist, and you can view her work at www.patriciaaaron.com. I have
been working in the sports and entertainment venue development business for the last 5
years, you can see our portfolio at www.iconvenue.com.
Art Aaron, Course XV, Lambda Chi Alpha, Club Football, Varsity Lacrosse
******
After almost 3 years of break from the technology field to work with his wife to build her
international touring dance troup (Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company) which was recently sent
by the State Department to represent the United States to Mexico’s Taumalipas
International Arts Festival and just received its 13th award from the National Endowment
for the Arts. Andy Chiang (VI-A ’80) is now back at the technical helm of CSI
Technology Group, a document and case management system firm based in Keasbey,
New Jersey. Despite running the non-profit together with his wife, he is still happily
married and their daughter Sylvia is now 11 years old.
Andy
******
I’m currently on my third computer start-up, this time as Director of Sustaining and 3rd
Level Support. All three companies have been right around the corners of Route 9 and
495, just west of Boston. The first company was bought by EMC and the second by Sun
Microsystems. So far things are looking good here as well. Daughter Julia is a sophomore
in high school. Her sister Emily is a sophomore at U Chicago, enjoying physical
chemistry and nuclear physics. My wife Miriam graduates this month from UVM with a
Masters in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Back to work, we’re always looking
for good folks, so if anybody is looking for a fast-paced computer storage start-up, give
me a call.
Steve Glassman
******
Kevin Campbell from Springfield, Virginia writes, "With my oldest going off to college,
I'm getting a refresher on drinking games. While beer pong and Flip Cup are timeless,
with such events as keg stands and "Edward 40 hands" who says that our youth lack
inventiveness and innovation? In any case, my avocation -- administering a DNA project
for Clan Campbell to aid Campbell researchers match DNA of various genealogical lines
is chugging along. In four years the Campbell Project has grown to 200 participants and
is now the 20th largest surname project in the world. After spending years eschewing
history for science, I now find myself researching Picts, Dal Raidian Scots, and Finnian
legends."
******
Todd Hubing (’80) and his wife, Nancy, have moved to South Carolina. Todd is the new
Michelin Professor of Vehicular Electronics at Clemson University. Todd
******
Our two spanish-speaking girls (Rachel 16 and Zoe 13) were our interpreters in recent
trip to Chile and Argentina. Joined board of Nationwide Mutual Insurance, one of the
largest insurance and financial services companies. Now more than ever, he is now on
your side. The company he co-founded, Honest Tea, continues to thrive.
Barry Nalebuff
******
I'm still living in South Florida. After working for Motorola in Strategy, Supply Chain,
Finance and Program management for 18 years, I turned down a transfer to Chicago
started working for CIGNA Health Care in Finance and Six Sigma project management. I
recently accepted a position with Office Depot in Corporate Finance and I'm happy to be
working for a company based in South Florida. I managed to connect with several PiLam
brothers thanks to a 1am cell phone call from the 25th reunion festivities.
David Dubbin '80 (SB-Course 7) and '85 (SM-course 15)
******
Barbara (Hill) Thornton is still having a great time running her architecture firm in
Providence, RI. With a staff of 14, we're doing churches, university work, and a fire
station, lots of coastal homes, and some transitional housing. Peter and I celebrated our
25th wedding anniversary this December. Still at 221 Howell St. in Providence, 02906,
401-374-7035.
******
Since graduating from the MIT in 1980, I didn’t get very far away from Boston, working
in the area for Hewlett Packard and then going back to Sloan and since graduating from
Sloan in 1985 working in the Boston area in the venture capital/private equity industry. I
consider myself very fortunate for having had a fulfilling career as well as a happy home
life highlighted by 23 going on 24 years of marriage and three wonderful children. My
oldest, a boy, is a sophomore at Swarthmore College likely to major in computer science.
My second, a girl, is a junior at high school, and my youngest, a girl, is a freshman at
high school. While I wish I could take more credit, they are terrific kids. We recently
traveled to London between Christmas and New Year’s and had a wonderful holiday.
About five years ago, I finally plunged into something I’ve always wanted to do – flying.
I am a private pilot with an instrument rating and when I am not golfing enjoy indulging
in this hobby. I welcome the opportunity to be a sounding board to any of my classmates
who are thinking about starting or buying a company, as I suspect many have already
done and are likely to do in the years ahead.
Regards,
Charlie Yie
*******
Apologies! Life has been busy. I found myself transmogrified from Chair of the Physics
Department to Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences here at Case Western
Reserve University last July, and was made permanent Dean a few weeks ago. In the
meantime, my son (also named Cyrus) is a Junior at Shaker Heights High, and is
beginning to think of where he wants to go to school. He wants to be an economist, but is
also an avid musician. He got to play with the rock group Styx last May (along with his
sister Catherine, who was in the chorus), and was part of the string section at the Rock
Hall's tribute to Roy Orbison a few months ago (when he got to play with people like
Ricky Skaggs and Glenn Campbell). Not being musical myself, this is all amazing to me.
Cyrus Taylor
*******
Lisa Masson
Thomas- I truly appreciate all the hard work that you and Cindy put into the column.
Thank you! Update from Modesto California- My husband and I are in our 17th year in
Modesto. We are both family docs, working for the same group, but different offices. Our
gorgeous and brilliant daughters, Destie, Gina and Noelle are now 17, 15 and 13 years
old. While having three teenage girls under the roof might scare some, I am truly blessed.
Last summer, I underwent a mitral valve repair. My kids rose to the occassion. They fed
me, they took me for walks, I took naps. I lived the life of my dogs and it was great. I am
back at work, more than full time, and the girls continue to treat me well. All three
brought home straight A's this quarter! My oldest, Destie, a senior, has her college
applications submitted, and is fully entrenched in the nail biting mode.Last summer, she
took two classes at Harvard Summer School. I called up David Housman, who was kind
enough to put up with me in his lab way back when. He let Destie come work in his lab
too. She loved it. MRP, aka Scott Wayne '79, picked Destie up from the airport when she
arrived. A true hero, he escorted my daughter from Logan to her dorm and made sure she
was safe. Midway through the summer, he checked in, and took Destie and her cousin out
to dinner. Any parent can appreciate how reassuring it is to have trusted adults around
when your kid is three thousand miles away. When her tenure in Cambridge came to an
end, I was ready to fly out to take her on a college tour. We had a lovely dinner with
MRP. The next night we had dinner with Bengt Muten, '79 in Chinatown. We also
managed to have tea with David Housman. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all my friends
for making it a successful summer. (Don't let me forget to mention my buddy Barbara
Tracy Boyer '79, who took time from her busy life to visit me this summer as well!) I
continue to volunteer as an Educational Counselor- now in my 14th year. Interviewing
the applicants to MIT is amazing. I highly recommend it! Every one of these kids has a
wow factor. I look at my darling Destie. While I am clearly prejudiced, she is an
awesome kid. She has played the bassoon as first chair not only for her school, but the
county honor band, the local junior college and the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra.
She has competed in the tumbling and trampoline branch of gymnastics and is the state
champion for her level and age group. That wasn't enough, she trained to become a judge
for gymnastics as well, and coaches the beginning levels at our gym. She is a full IB
student, volunteers at the hospital, competes on the debate team, competes on the diving
team, writes for the local newspaper, Teens in the Newsroom, and the list goes on and on.
Alas! Where will she be accepted? These kids function under way too much pressure.
The other two darlings are also excelling. Gina is also in the IB program, a Level 10
Trampoline State Champion, and national competitor. She plays the French Horn. She
spends most of her waking hours keeping websites for her favorite gymnasts. Noelle, my
baby, will enter high school next year. She plays the clarinet, does the trampoline thing,
and will sometimes still cuddle with her mommy. My own job has changed some. Our
group has been live on Epic, our electronic health record since 2000. Sutter Health, our
mother ship, has made the decision to implement Epic across all of the systems hospitals
and medical groups. I now spend half my time working as a Clinical Lead for the system
in the "collaborative build". This work is interesting and important... but in no way fits
into the time allotted! I can truthfully say that I am never bored. I do try to keep up with
the girls. I have become a certified gymnastics judge too. Wearing an ugly blue blazer
and judging is in many ways a superior experience to sitting in the bleachers with gym
moms. I have been amusing myself also by writing an occassional column for the
Modesto Bee. My poor husband lives not only with the three teenage girls, but also three
female Italian Greyhounds. At least the dogs show him some respect- they prefer sleeping
on his pillow to any other berth in the house. I'm not convinced that he appreciates the
honor. He was recently appointed by Governor Arnie to the Medical Board of California.
I think that ranks right up there in the list of thankless jobs, but he seems to enjoy it.
Lisa Masson
*******
Debra Utko: I've been with BD now for about 7 years (for those of you who don't know,
BD is the world's largest manufacturer of needles and syringes as well as blood
evacuation devices, so chances are you've experienced BD's products) and recently made
a career move into a learning and organizational development role with the corporate
strategic sourcing group. I am also an active member of the company's management
training and development university, which means I now have several active learning /
teaching obligations as well as the opportunity to develop specific curriculum for
different groups. The most rewarding part of the job is managing the entry-level program
into strategic sourcing - I have really been enjoying on-campus recruiting as well as
coaching the new hires out of college. They definitely provide a fresh perspective and ask
some very challenging questions. What, you may ask, does this have to do with Chemical
Engineering? Well, in this case, it's not so much the subject matter, but the thought
process - being able to clearly articulate build-on learning and other issues. On the
personal front, Jack Pfister (Columbia '77) and I have been married for nearly four years
now. One of our pastimes is fly fishing, which Enrico Fermi once described as "a battle
of the wits" between the you and the fish. Let's just say the fish wins a lot of those battles.
Best wishes to everyone.
*******
I am working three days a week at a small healthcare consulting firm and loving it. I
interview prospective incoming students for MIT. They are an amazing bunch. I am very
glad I am not applying now as I am sure I would not be accepted. My husband, Hugh
(Cornell ‘75), works for Proudfoot Consulting. We will be married for 25 years this June,
which seems hard to believe.
Our older son, Elliot, is a junior at Cornell University majoring in Information Science
and Game Design. He met by chance the older daughter of Kathy Hardis Fraeman MIT
‘78. Dora Fraeman is a senior at Cornell, lives in the same dormitory as Elliot, and also is
involved in Game Design. Kathy and I were good friends at MIT and reconnected
recently once our kids had met.
Our younger son, Donald is a freshman at Vassar College with a potential major of
Economics and/or Political Science.
We had a family trip to Boston this summer to visit Elliot who was working for the
summer at MIT’s Education Arcade. He was busy developing educational computer
games and discovering the wonders of MIT. It was strange to be back on campus as the
“visitor” with Elliot showing us where his office was in Building 10 and the other new
additions to the MIT campus. Some of the campus is exactly the same and some has
changed radically.
Well, edit and paraphrase this news as needed.
Hope all is well with you.
Susan [Pinkus]
*******
After graduating from MIT with VI-3 degrees (BS and MS) I went to Silicon Valley,
where I worked for a couple of companies before joining a startup company Verity in
1987, where early on engineering was almost all MIT. My manager Cliff Reid had lived
in my dorm Baker House, where we overlapped by a couple of years. I left Verity in 1993
to move out to New Mexico and consult for Los Alamos National Laboratory. There I
built some of the first web-based applications that searched collections of text documents.
In New Mexico I met and married Julie Rockwood. We have two daughters, Kayleen 7
and Zoe 5. We all attended our 25th reunion and met a number of my classmates. At the
end of the weekend I asked my daughters if they wanted to go to MIT when they grow
up. Kayleen said yes and Zoe said no, she didn’t want to work hard.
I am fairly active with the MIT Club of New Mexico, running a number of events for
them, including a couple of events where I had MIT alumni and MIT students in New
Mexico for the summer at my house for a barbeque.
I am now kept extremely busy running my own company in Santa Fe called Deep Web
Technologies (http://www.deepwebtech.com). We’ve developed a “federated search”
product that allows users to search multiple information sources all at once. We run the
search software for Science.gov. I just hired a Sloan School graduate Lance Danbe as my
Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Thanks, Abe Lederman
*******
With regard to "interesting", there is a Chinese proverb that runs something like...."when
the gods want to punish you, they make life interesting".
I am half-way through my 20th year at Hebron Academy. I am the chair of the foreign
language department and this year I am teaching French, German, and Latin - luckily, the
latter two languages are taught to the 6th graders so I don't have to strain my brain too
much. I am also teaching 7th and 8th grade science which is a lot of fun. What child
doesn't like volcanoes and astronomy? We do lots of experiments in class (happy
students) and my classes are small (happy parents).
The children are all taller than I am now. Our oldest son, Charlie, is a senior and is filling
out the last few college applications under duress. (Personally, I wish I did not have to go
into mother-from-hell mode to get him to work on them!) Our daughter Claire is 15 and
has her father firmly wrapped around her little finger - "Daddy, please....." She is a topnotch student and a wonderful artist. Our youngest, Tommy, is in my 8th grade science
class. He is an avid hockey player so we spend a lot of our weekend time (October to
March!) driving to games all over the state of Maine.
My husband Brad Cummings and I celebrated 21 years of bliss (and bluster) last October.
I am active in the local theater group here but I am starting to be cast as "the old lady"
rather than "the young ingenue".
Hope this helps a bit - I will prevaricate next time if you need more interesting fodder!
Good luck!
Cynthia Reedy
*******
I am currently President of the Medical Staff and Chair of the Pathology Department at
North Adams Regional Hospital in the beautiful Berkshires. My husband, Aaron Sardell,
is a clinical psychologist in private practice and the director of the Counselling Center of
the Berkshires. Our son, Jesse, is a freshman in high school. I'm an EC for MIT and love
meeting all the applicants--they're such great kids, I wish we could accept them all!
Deborah August
*******
I am still working for the U.S. affiliate of Novo Nordisk (a Danish pharmaceutical
company) in Princeton, NJ. I took a new assignment a few months ago and am now
working in the Information Technology department, leading development of a data
warehouse for sales and marketing analytics and reporting. (I had worked as Director,
Sales Planning & Analysis for ~2 1/2 years before that.) My son, Tim, is now 15 and a
freshman day student at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ. He is enjoying
his classes, and is having a great time on the swim team and in the Math Club. He tried
water polo as a fall sport and really like that. I have been planting the idea of MIT in his
mind since the reunion in '05... He fascinated by stories of all the hacks! My twin
daughters, Alison and Megan, will be 12 by the time these notes are published. They are
in 6th grade, and are kept very busy with basketball, swimming, and piano lessons. My
husband, Geoff Wall (Sloan S.M. 1988), and I keep busy on the weekends by going to
their various athletic events. We've lived in the Newtown, Pennsylvania area for 18 years.
Good luck getting more info from others!
Kate (Mulroney) Wall
*******
I got married to Barbara Kluger, a podiatrist, in 1989. In 1993 I changed my last name
from Grant to Gotlieb (my dad's last name before he changed it in the 1940s). Two kids,
Esther, 15, and Isaac, 11. I work as a senior technical writer for Inter-Tel, a telecom firm,
in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. The last time I was in the Boston area was 1986, so I
guess I'm due for another visit. I do miss those fall colors!
Take care,
Carl Gotlieb, '80
*******
Stacey Nakamura writes “I am enjoying my career at NASA (went to work for them right
after graduation) and am currently working at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX,
in the risk management area. I am an active volunteer with the local MIT Club of South
Texas and am currently managing the South Texas newsletters and website. As you have
probably already heard, I recently volunteered to serve as our Class Agent and am
looking forward to working with all of you as we approach our next reunion.”
Take care,
Stacey
*******
Okay, living in Nebraska with 4 children and four dogs, happily married, happy in my
very busy private family practice. oldest son, Noah, studying math and physics at
University of Nebraska, twin daughters searching for colleges as they are high school
seniors.
Marlon Weiss '80
*******
I left geotechnical engineering in 1999 to help an old friend start a medical device
company. GlySens, Inc. is developing an implantable, continuous-reading glucose
monitor. In order to further that endeavor, I got my Masters of Engineering in
Bioengineering from UCSD in 2001, just before my wife, Rona, gave birth to twins,
Blake and Laura. In June 2005, I had emergency surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.
My recovery is going great. I reentered geotechnical engineering in August of 2006 with
the TerraCosta Consulting Group in San Diego, focusing on coastal bluff stability,
marinas, soil nail walls, and mechanically stabilized earth segmental-block walls. I
haven’t decided whether having 5-year-old twins is keeping me young or aging me
prematurely; though, it seems that the best life has to offer is just now coming into view.
Mark Catlin
Class of 1980, CE
*******
Serving as Gensler's Aviation & Transportation practice area leader and will be directing
the $250M terminal expansion of John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA.
Keith Thompson
Principal, Gensler
2500 Broadway Santa Monica, CA 90404
p:310-449-5600 f:310-449-5850 c:949-466-9466
Course IV 1980
*******
I am professor of anesthesiology at Keck/USC school of medicine. We have four children
aged 9, 9, 9, and 11 at Yeshivat Yavneh, also in Los Angeles. Anyone who would like to
talk about old times, please email me at Selspas@aol.com.
Sherman Shlomo Elspas '80
*******
Greetings from Icy Fort Worth.
Tomas Gonzalez has relocated to Texas and is now working with a former supplier,
Brand FX Body Company, designing and building composite truck bodies. My
experience and designs created in Caremco Inc, the comapny he founded in Puerto Rico
after completing his M.S. in '83 will now get a chance to be tested in the "big leagues".
While in Puerto Rico I married my "gringa latina" Cynthia Cunningham and has three
kids, Tomas Enrique 16, Daniel 8 and Priscilla 6. We now live in Keller, Texas and are
taking part in some of the MIT club of DFW activities.
My work in Remanufacturing Technology continues and along the way became
intertwined with the development and operation of mobile Non-Intrusive Inspection
equipment for trucks and cargo. These are the same systems used for inspecting trucks
and trailers at the borders and maritime ports. Plans are to transfer the work done at
Caremco on NII and homeland security and develop newer, larger units with the resouces
and infrastructure of my new employer. It has been a challenge adapting from 23 years of
self employment to working for a boss (fortunately one which I have known about a
long).
We would love to hear from some from my old MIT and Bexley buddies , my email is
taglaugier@verizon.net or tgonzalez@brandfxbody.com
Hasta la vista amigos.
TAG
*******
As part of my attempt to plant the seeds of evil genius in my two young boys, Kosta and
Simon, I have taken them on numerous midnight trips through MIT's subterranean
corridors.
It seems to be working.
The hissing nitrogen tanks, bubbling Erlenmeyer flasks and that unique oozing
phosphorescence that masquerades as lighting, have piqued their fancy.
With donated handbooks ("Science Projects for the Evil Genius") from Dave Gailus '80,
and moral support from Jim Wilber '81, Steve Morris '82 and others, we are now happily
building fabulous green lasers, magnetic can crushers and that old favorite: Jacob's
Ladder, (once described as an electric chair without the chair).
Just to round things out we're learning arithmetic and spelling as well. One never knows
when they'll come in handy...
Regards,
Basil Safos '80
*******
Allen Burns
Happily married to a self-described "Minnesota girl" and living in St. Paul, MN, just
southeast of Lake Wobegon. We are busy doing room-by-room remodeling of the front
rooms in advance of a more professional and extensive remodel/addition on the back.
With exception of a couple of stints in Washington, DC, I've lived in the Twin Cities for
the past 20 years.
Recently worked on a project with another MIT alum, Ed Moscovitch -- an economic
valuation of open space in the Twin Cities area. Also met several MIT alums at the Twin
Cities alumni chapter outings and gatherings. It's a very good, active group here.
*******
“Ron Lenk (’80, SB, Physics) and his wife Carol (born Kai Chen) (’91, SB, EE) are
starting a company that is making LED light bulbs that are form and fit exact
replacements for incandescent bulbs (www.SuperBulbs.com). When they’re not doing
electronics or materials science, they’re busy talking to people about early-stage
funding.”
*******
Todd and I (both '80) spent this last weekend at the Institute participating with our kids
Lanthe and Griffin (both '08) in the MIT Mystery Hunt, an IAP multi-puzzle
extravaganza which has run every year since 1980! (At the time, most of us were too
busy trying to graduate to notice its beginning.) Anyway, our team at Random Hall,
"Team Lactose", was the fourth of only four teams to finish the event (out of 20-odd),
completing the last puzzle about two hours after the final deadline, with time extensions
granted by Hunt HQ. Enormous fun!!
Jane (Hillhouse) Chronis
*******
Greetings to class of ‘80! I am living Korea. There are three other class mates living here
in Korea: two are professors and one is a lawyer. I am keeping busy managing an
aluminum paste (used for metallic paints) manufacturing company and also helping to set
up international operation for an adult stem cell company that has the technology to
extract adult stem cells from peripheral blood and cryogenically store them for future use.
Both are quite removed from Architecture but I still enjoy “building” companies.
Suk Whan Chang
’80 Course 4
’87 Sloan
*******
Pam (Wolf) Thiemann ’80 and Jeff Thiemann ’80 now live in Walnut Creek, CA where
Jeff is a pastor and Pam teaches 3rd grade. We have four children – two in college and
two at home. After 22 years in high tech (18 with HP in the U.S., Europe and Asia, then 4
in startups), Jeff went back to school to get his Master of Divinity degree and graduated
in 2005 and then became the Executive Pastor at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in
Walnut Creek, CA. It has been a wonderful move and a great time of learning and
growing.
Pam worked as a research biologist at UCSF and then became a world traveler and active
volunteer in the communities in which we lived. She has been substitute teaching until
this year and got her own class at the beginning of the school year.
Peace,
Pam & Jeff
*******
(From Martin Patin): I am living in Walnut Creek, California, and I work as a computer
engineer for the U.S. Navy (civilian employee).
*******
Served in the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program (both active duty and as a civilian) in
Washington DC area. Later, joined Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Washington, DC office) as an
environmental attorney, promoted to partner. Nominated in 2005 to be Assistant
Administrator of the EPA (Enforcement and Compliance Assurance) and confirmed by
the Senate the evening before the summer recess. Just in time for Hurricane Katrina –
which consumed my first months as we worked on the environmental challenges.
Directing EPA's enforcement program has been fascinating - it covers all media: air,
water, land (examples: coal-fired power plants, gasoline and diesel fuels, automobiles,
sewer systems, Superfund, asbestos, genetically-modified plants, air toxics, . . .).
Grant Nakayama
*******
John Muggeridge is still working for Fidelity in Rhode Island as their regional General
Manager. He, his wife Karen and their children are living in Southborough, MA. Some of
the class of '80, including Jeff Tyrrell, Jim Campbell, John Love and Dr. Gustavo de los
Reyes have been getting together periodically to re-tell old stories.
*******
I'm a Senior Hurricane Specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, where I've
been safely on the ground forecasting storms since 1999, after flying research missions
into hurricanes for 17 years. It's been a busy past few seasons, but I'm hoping that 2007
will be as quiet as 2006 was. My daughter, Rachel, just turned 11. I was thinking of MIT
the other day when we went into Legal Sea Foods in Ft. Lauderdale for some fried
clams!
James L. Franklin
Senior Hurricane Specialist, National Hurricane Center
NOAA/NWS/Tropical Prediction Center
11691 SW 17th Street, Miami FL 33165
*******
“Jon Glaudemans sends greetings to all of his Sigma Chi, Course 17 and Course 21
friends from his home in Bethesda, MD. At present, I’m at Avalere Health, a strategic
advisory form in the health care policy/business space. Our kids are all-but-grown-andlaunched – David graduated from Maryland, and started on the 2005 national
championship soccer team; my daughter Katharine is getting her paramedic license in
D.C.; my wife Jennifer was recently in the news in the context of her former life at the
CIA under Bob Gates. Check out her 11/21/06 LA Times op-ed. Would love to reconnect with anyone passing through DC!”
*******
I went into the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa after graduation, then went for a
master's and PhD in epidemiology (public health research) from the University of North
Carolina - Chapel Hill by the end of the 1980s (so long ago!); since then have lived in
Haiti, Baltimore, Minnesota and now in Lincoln, Nebraska for the past 9 years. I do
maternal & child health research through the University of Nebraska Medical Center and
the state health department. My husband Scott is the Nebraska State Forester (yes, there
are trees in the midwest); we have two children ages 8-going-on-16 and 11. I also have 2
1/2 grandchildren (one in the oven) through Scott's first marriage. It's a bit chilly here
right now (-10 walking the dog this morning) but warmer than Minnesota was. I enjoyed
seeing old classmates at the alumni rowing event two years ago (2005). Although I had to
say I was quite negatively impressed at the state of my old dorm, Burton House (not to
mention the 2nd floor). Was recently surprised to learn that my son's soccer coach,
George Gogos, was a '80 classmate. We had never heard of each other; you can imagine
the convoluted discussions that lead to that discovery...Good enough?
Debbi
Debora Barnes-Josiah, PhD
Office of Family Health, Nebraska Health and Human Services System
phone: 402 / 471-9048
fax: 402 / 471-7049
*******
In 1999 I was approached by an entrepreneur that wanted me to design a portable low
level laser system for treating physio and sports injuries. Since that time I sold my
engineering for hire business to him and became the CTO for MedX Health Corp. to
design and manufacture these therapeutic laser and light systems. We went from a startup
to an FDA and Health Canada cleared medical device manufacturer with ISO 9001 and
ISO 13485 registrations. An IPO in 2002 did not succeed but we are about to try again
with a New York based broker next month. It is an exciting and scary ride to make
medical devices but the intangible rewards are unique when you relieve pain and
suffering for patients in many walks of life. Our products are now deployed in some
major Long term health care chains and they are thrilled with the results for treating bed
sores and other conditions painful to seniors. On the other side major league players and
pros like Fred Couples use our equipment to facilitate their recovery from injury. On the
family side, my wife Carol Ann and I celebrated 25 years last June 6 '06 and had our first
daughter Tamsyn graduated from Queens University in Kingston Ontario. She is
continuing her chosen career path to Journalism with several internships to her credit
already. Our younger daughter Jocelyn has decided to pursue electrical engineering at
Ryerson University. I have also been an EC for over 20 years now and still find the
students exciting to talk with and learn about their aspirations and hopes for attending
MIT. I can never tell them enough about the challenges and great times that I experienced
at the 'tute back when there were no PC's and the AI Robotics lab was a PDP-1145 only
available to undergrads from 8pm till 8am. Cheers, Tom Burgmann, ee'80
Tom Burgmann, P.Eng
Chief Technology Officer
MedX Health Corp.
3350 Ridgeway Dr., Unit#3
Mississauga, ON.
L5L 5Z9 Canada
Tel.: (905) 826-0766 Ext. 222; Toll Free: (800) 717-4901
burgmann@medxhealth.com
www.medxhealth.com
*******
2006 was a big year for me personally, completed (finally!) PhD. In Resource Economics
and was promoted to Associate Professor in the Building Materials and Wood
Technology program at UMASS-Amherst. Conducting research in forest products
marketing, specifically looking at markets for low-value wood (including the feasibility
for woody biomass energy production in Massachusetts) and marketing of locally
produced and certified sustainable wood products. Oldest son Ben is working his way
through the college application process and off to College next year (hopefully!). Good
luck with the news column!
Dave Damery, 80’
*******
I've been working for the State of Minnesota for the past five years as one of the people
running their data/video/voice(over IP) network. As with many such organizations, we're
ahead of state-of-the-art in some places and a little behind in others... My wife and I have
two children: a daughter who is a high school junior and a son who is a high school
freshman. When not doing other things (:-), I do consulting on the side and have
volunteer a lot of time to keep the computers at my son's school running.
Craig A. Finseth, 1343 Lafond, St Paul MN 55104-2437 USA; Phone:+1 651 644 4027
Email: craigafinseth@alum.mit.edu; craig@finseth.com; http://www.finseth.com
A ship is safe in a harbor, but that's not what a ship is for--Adm Grace Hopper
*******
I'm in Asia but I'd love to send something in. You can check out the textron.com website
on my announcement as the new SVP, International....talk soon....best
Siisi [Siisi Adu-Gyamfi]
*******
We are currently living in Round Rock, TX (a suburb of Austin). We moved here in 1995
from Los Angeles. After temporarily leaving to live in Aizu Wakamatsu, Japan from
1998-2000, we returned to our house here. I work for Spansion (a recent spin off of
AMD) and Sandra (Zack) '81 retired from engineering after our 3rd daughter was born in
1994 so she could devote full time to the three kids. She is keeping busy these days as
president of our congregation, volunteering with Girl Scouts, and volunteering during tax
season with AARP to help people who need tax preparation assistance and cannot afford
it. Our oldest Melissa will be graduating from UT-Dallas this May in Government and
Political Science. She is now looking at law school or graduate school in international
policy. Our middle daughter Tamara is now a sophomore at MIT majoring in Course V
(same as her mother). When MIT has asked for donations these last 2 years, we tell them
we are already giving over $40k/year, and that is enough for now. We were at the recent
25 year re-union for the class of 81, where we reconnected with many of my wife's
classmates. And we used it as a good excuse to visit our daughter. Our youngest Hana,
just turned 13 and celebrated becoming Bat Mitzvah in front of 80 of our closest relatives
and a total of about 180 people. If any of you are in the Austin area, please look me up.
Thanks, -Stuart Litwin
*******
Guilty, guilty, guilty.
Perhaps 10th hour would have been better.
[Bill Hofmann] is currently living in Shanghai, China, on assignment for Sonic Solutions,
the leading provider of DVD authoring, playback, and management software. I am
working with the ever-growing China software development teams to improve their
processes and practices. My family (wife: Robbie, daughter: Julia) is enjoying living in a
city of 20 million (a little bigger than Berkeley, CA), and with an unlimited supply of
amazing Chinese food, I no longer miss Mary Chung’s. The MIT alum community here
is small but very welcoming! You can follow our latest observations on our blogs,
expatsh.blogspot.com and eloiseinshanghai.blogspot.com.
How’s that? A 13 hour plane flight gives you time to run through email.
Bill Hofmann
*******
I am now working for HP and recently moved from the Boston area to Palo Alto, CA.
Can't say I miss the snow or the cold weather!
Steve Pinkoski
'80 EECS
******
"After stints as a software executive, a VC, and starting an investment bank, I currently
run my own business (Scale Advisors) helping companies grow more quickly. I still am
deeply involved in the technology world and have started to spend more time helping
companies in the consumer ecosystem. I live in Palo Alto with my wife Teri and 2 kids
(Rachel & Leo). I keep in touch with several of our classmates, getting together with
Ricardo Sitchin and Dean Phillips in SF last year." Cheers,
Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark Vershel
Managing Director
Scale Advisors, LLC
650-331-0126 office
650-400-9590 cell
www.scaleadvisors.com
******