Class Notes Archives
July/August 2009 |
March/April 1998 Hi everyone! Once again, the class notes column has resurfaced! I apologize for the delay in getting these notes out. Life has been hectic....Just so you know, this column will be appearing in the Mar/Apr issue of The Technology Review. Ain't it grand that you're getting it right away on e-mail?! ;) Some news on my end...I'm applying to grad schools right now for a Masters.....Wish me luck! For those of you in Boston, the MIT Club of Boston Young Alumni Committee is having a couple of events right after Thanksgiving. If you haven't received information about it, please let me know and I'll forward you the e-mail. I recently received a list of people whose addresses are missing in the alumni database. I am planning to post this list on our class web page, and I would really appreciate your help in finding these people. The sooner we find them, the sooner they can be reconnected to all of us, and the better our 5th year reunion will be! Wow...I can't believe I just said that, but I guess it will be 5 years before we know it! (Just so you all know, MIT does respect your privacy; you can request that the Alumni Office keep your address private and you can be taken off the phone lists for alumni telethons, etc.) To start off, I'll just list the first 10 people on my list..... Theodore Achtem, Frank Ahimaz, Ackbaree Aumeerally, Tine Bak, Edward Baltz, Andrew Beharrie, Christopher Berg, Joseph Boerjes, Jeremy Brown, Manuel Cadena. Okay, now the moment you've all been waiting for....the notes: Starting from the wrong coast (just kidding!): Babak Azad has moved from Manhattan to Palo Alto to help open a technology office for Credit Suisse First Boston Investment Banking. Bonnie Kim is working at Applied Materials in California and is busy planning for her June 6, 1998 wedding to Carlos Neiderstrasser (Princeton '94). Heather Campbell finished her MEng in Austin in Feb 1996. After a brief stint with management consulting (and the 100th Boston Marathon), and a summer in Europe, she joined Ascend Communications in Berkeley. She spent the first six months implementing a digital mobile datacomm standard for the Japanese market, and is now developing modem code. Jocelyn Nee is enjoying the sun at UC Berkeley, while working towards both her MS and PhD in Optical MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems). Her current project is making miniaturized, movable optical gratings on a Silicon substrate. Dave Spetman received his MS in ME at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and has started a PhD program in ME at Stanford University. As a research assistant in the Thermosciences Division, he will be working on plasma thrusters for the next 3-4 years. Kyle Shinseki completed a masters in Urban Planning at UCLA in June, and just moved to Phoenix, AZ to work for a year as a community development fellow at the National Council of La Raza office. Paulus Wanandi graduated with an MS in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in December 1996, and is currently living in the Austrian Alps and working at a pharmaceutical company. In July, Veena Sankappanavar, who was doing an internship with the World Health Organization in Switzerland at the time, visited him and enjoyed the spectacular Alpine scenery. If you're planning a visit to central Europe, let Paulus know! After sending me a humorous message detailing everything he's not doing, John Jacobs confessed that he is a Visual Basic programmer for Financial Data Planning Corp in Coconut Grove, near Miami. Rahul Garg is in his third year at Duke Medical School doing research on gene therapy for glaucoma. Aaron Ashford and Heidi Shih wed right after graduation and both changed their last name to "Ashih". They both completed MS degrees in Math at Duke, and are now pursuing PhDs there, Aaron in Mathematics and Heidi in Statistics. Michael Capalbo has adjusted to life as a PhD student in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Phillip Phuc Le finished his MEng, worked for a year for Avicenna Systems Corp, a medical internet company, and has started an MD/PhD program at UPenn. After finishing a second summer at the Central Transportation Planning Staff in Boston, Scott Smith has returned to UPenn to finish his MCP. In NYC, Uday Jhunjhunwala is working for the Morgan Stanley Global Emerging Markets Private Investment Fund. Wynne Kwan worked for the campaign of democratic mayoral candidate Ruth Messinger. Messinger was running against incumbent Rudy Giuliani. After a year of Investment Banking and Venture Capital including work on a biotech startup called Microban and structuring/financing the Times Square Tower, J. Morgan Slade has transitioned into a more exciting role trading derivatives. He's also leading a research team in the development of short-term derivative trading systems based on various and sundry DSP techniques. Minh Le has moved out to Colorado Springs, CO, and is a Member of Technical Staff at Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation. He is "in Dilbertland with cubicles galore!" Anna Tomassini finished her MS in Aero/Astro in December and moved to Chicago. She is currently working at Packard Instrument Company as a mechanical engineer. She is helping to design instruments that will be used by pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery. Rohit Gupta and Shalini Verma got married on June 22. He is in his third year of medical school (OSU), doing clinical rotations at the Cleveland Clinic. Shalini just graduated from the Ford Powertrain Engine Manufacturing program, and is now designing, building, debugging and installing the test equipment for the 99 model year Jaguar engine (X200). Tracy Back just received a promotion to production area leader at Colgate-Palmolive, and has transferred from NJ to Ohio. Astrid Richter is still working for Timken Company in Ohio, shaping new product development and business in a department that was just formed in June. She reports that Carol Martinez is now a medical student at UMass-Worcester, and that Jen Mahalingappa is pursuing a degree in environmental law. Around here, Beth Siers is back in Boston, pursuing an MS in Library Science at Simmons College. Jeff Haring is a Client Consultant at Pegasystems in Kendall Square. Pegasystems provides workflow automation solutions, primarily for financial call centers. Anna Fortunato is now a graduate student in the joint program between WHOI and MIT. She is studying for a PhD in biological oceanography. Chalee Asavathiratham is at doing a PhD in Course 6 at MIT, focusing on communications. Last summer she worked at Qualcomm in San Diego on wireless communications. After 2 years of being a lab rat at Brigham and Women's hospital, Doanh Lu is now a first year student at UMass medical school. Bridget Banas-Schechter got married this past summer to Chris Schechter '94. The wedding party included Agnieszka Reiss, Natalie Banas '98, Rebecca Schechter Sloan '96, Mike Phillips '94, Raj Suryadevara '94 and Guillermo Peschard '94. Bridget and Chris honeymooned in Ireland, then returned to Boston where Bridget is still at Monitor and Chris is back at MIT in the LFM program. Jenn Steele (Long) got married on August 9th in Boston. In the virtual world, Brian Robertson left a consulting job at Mitchell Madison Group to co-found Planet-All. Currently he is raising a third round of venture financing for the rapidly growing company. Steve Silberberg has an Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum up and running. Marisa A. Culmone is engaged to Brian K. Zuzga '94. The wedding is planned for August 1998. Fouad Saad was recently promoted to work in Cabot Corporation's newly formed Technology Centers. This group is dedicated to truly globalizing the company's manufacturing operations. Besides trekking all over North America and spending some time in Paris, his plans should have him in the Czech Republic and India before the end of the year, and if he's really lucky, in Brazil right around Christmas. Congratulations to all of you newlyweds! As always, send me news! Happy Thanksgiving.... |