Class Notes are generated by personal submissions as well as by news releases, public announcements and LinkedIn postings. If you have news to share, please send your professional and personal updates to casealum@casalum.org.
John Frier ’56
Cleveland, Ohio
John visited campus in late August with his son, Ken, “just to see how it’s changed. It looks like a whole new campus,” he said. An electrical engineer, John spent most of his career with GE, where he became a specialist in lighting design for sports arenas and iconic structures. His engineering lit up Wrigley Field in 1988, a feat that helped put him on the cover of Case Alumnus. He also illuminated the Statue of Liberty and Hoover Dam. John recently moved into Judson Manor, close enough to visit campus more often.
William Hinks, MS '56
Bath, Ohio
Bill continues to do his own patent work while inventing new products as the president of Randolph Research Co., an innovator in bearings for helicopters and wind turbines. At age 95, he is working on a stall detection application for aircraft using a smart phone. A former pilot, Bill continues to pilot gliders near the house he has called home for 62 years.
David Culbertson ’58
Akron, Ohio
Siegfried Hecker ’65, MS ’67, PhD ’68
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sig, director emeritus of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, has co-authored a book about the rise of North Korea as a nuclear power. Written with Elliot Serbin, Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea’s Nuclear Program, lends insight into how the reclusive nation amassed nuclear weapons despite disarmament efforts by several U.S. administrations. Sig, who earned three degrees in metallurgy from Case Institute of Technology, is a world-renowned expert in nuclear weapons and international security.
Joshua Martin III ‘66
Wilmington, Delaware
Joshua has been named one of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals by the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center. He’s one of 51 professionals on the 2023 “Tech List,” people deemed exceptionally qualified to mediate business disputes involving technology. A senior lawyer with Potter, Anderson & Corroon, Joshua has enjoyed a remarkable career as a scientist, patent attorney, judge and telecom CEO. It began with a physics degree from Case Institute of Technology. In 2019, he received a Meritorious Service Award from the Case Alumni Association.
Grant Saviers ’66, MS '68
Seattle, Washington
Michael Harris ’67, MBA ’69
Charlotte, North Carolina
Michael is a member of the intake team of SCORE Charlotte, where he helps to match mentors with businesses that need their skills and insight. He joined SCORE—the Service Corps of Retired Executives—after a 40-year professional career as an electrical engineer, research scientist, management consultant and entrepreneur.
Susan Nagorney ’76
Pepper Pike, Ohio
Susie is retiring after teaching mathematics at the college level for 26 years, most recently as an associate professor at Cuyahoga Community College. Previously she was a statistician for the Illuminating Company and B.F. Goodrich. She was also a stay at home mom for 13 years. She says it is now time for traveling and spending more time with her four granddaughters.
Donald Thomas ’77, PhD
Towson, Maryland
Don was a presenter at July’s Summer Moon Festival in Wapakoneta, Ohio, the birthplace of Neil Armstrong. He talked about his experience as a NASA astronaut and the places one can go with a background in science and engineering. As a researcher on four Space Shuttle missions, the Case-trained physicist travelled more than 17 million miles in space.
William Emling ’79
Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania
Bill was recognized as a Distinguished Member and Fellow of the Association of Iron & Steel Technology at the AISTech 2023 Conference in Detroit in May. He recently retired as a vice president of the SMS Group, where he worked for 23 years. A volunteer for the Case Alumni Association, Bill will receive a Meritorious Service Award at Homecoming 2023.
Anthony Ignagni ’83, MS ’89
Oberlin, Ohio
Tony is the co-founder, president and CEO of Synapse Biomedical, which recently received updated FDA approval for its implantable breathing device. Synapse’s diaphragm device mimics how the body naturally breathes and is aimed at keeping hospital patients off ventilators. It was developed at Case by J. Thomas Mortimer, emeritus professor of biomedical engineering, and first used by University Hospitals. Tony earned his Case degrees in biomedical engineering.
Jim Miller, MS ’83, PhD ’85
Roswell, Georgia
Jim is a business development manager for Celanese Engineered Materials, a global technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Dallas. Previously, he was the product manager of Cool Polymers, which he co-founded. Jim earned advanced degrees in macromolecular science and engineering from Case Institute of Technology and soon after was a finalist in the astronaut selection process of NASA.
Annetta Marion ’87, MS ’94
New York, New York
Annetta is the producer of Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, which explores the life and advocacy of the Hollywood star. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023 and received the HOPE Filmmakers Award at SWSX. Annetta is a Primetime Emmy-nominated director and showrunner known for her work on “Oprah’s Master Class” and NBC’s “Making It” with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. She earned her degrees in computer engineering from Case Institute of Technology.
Patricia Hubbard ’89, PhD
Weston, Massachusetts
Zaydoon Munir ’89, MBA ’90
Miami Beach, Florida
Zaydoon shared his insight on how to leverage data science to build a successful startup in a September discussion with students as part of the CWRU Entrepreneurship Speakers Series. A biomedical engineer, Zaydoon is the CEO and co-founder of RainyDayPal and the managing director of Ziggurat Advisors.
Clayton Ferguson ’93, MS ’95
North Chicago, Illinois
Standish Stewart ’96
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Standish is the vice president and chief information officer for Cuyahoga Community College and an influential IT executive in Northeast Ohio. The Greater Cleveland Partnership named her the 2022 CIO of the Year while her team was a finalist for GCP’s Tech Team of the Year. Standish earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Case School of Engineering before going on to the University of Michigan for her master’s in computer science.
Hiroyuki Fujita MS ’98, PhD ’98
Pepper Pike, Ohio
Hiro is the chair of The Ohio State University Board of Trustees and is leading the university’s search for a new president. He is the founder and CEO of Quality Electrodynamics (QED), a Cleveland designer and manufacturer of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. In 2019, QED became a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Canon and Hiro was named chairman of Canon Healthcare USA. He earned his advanced degrees in physics at Case and is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Physics.
Doug Meil, MS ’98
Cleveland, Ohio
Doug, organizer of the Cleveland Big Data Meetup, is a regular contributor to the Association for Computing Machinery blog site and in recent years has posted 25 articles on a variety of software engineering topics. Five of his columns made the print edition of Communications of the ACM magazine. Doug’s posts can be found at www.linkedin.com/pulse/publications-doug-meil/
Amit Jain, MS ’99
Chicago, Illinois
Amit has been named Chief Operating Officer of bswift LLC, an employee benefits technology and administration firm. Previously he was COO at Businessolver and a software engineer for Motorola. Amit earned his master’s degree in computer science from the Case School of Engineering.
Jeni Barovian ’99
Phoenix, Arizona
Jeni has taken on a new role as Vice President and General Manager of Strategy & Product Management in the Data Center AI Solutions Group at Intel Corp. Previously, she was Vice President and General Manager of the Network & Edge Compute Division. She was recently recognized as Intel Executive Inclusion Advocate of the Year, and inducted into the Mentor High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. Jeni earned her bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at the Case School of Engineering.
Andrew Claugus ’05
Denver, Colorado
Andrew joined the board of directors of Saturn Oil & Gas based in Calgary, Canada, where he’ll share his extensive experience in petroleum engineering. He’s the founder of WhiteFin Resources and the former engineering manager for MECO IV, an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Denver. Andrew earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Case and went on to the Colorado School of Mines for his master’s in petroleum engineering.
Alexander Kernbaum, MS ’10, PhD ’12
Belmont, California
Dhruv Seshadri ’14, MS ’18, PhD ’21
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Dhruv has joined Lehigh University as an assistant professor of engineering, specializing in wearable devices and bioelectronics. Previously he was an engineering project manager for Sibel Health and a research engineer at the Cleveland VA Medical Center. Dhruv earned his advanced degrees in biomedical engineering at Case.
Cal Al-Dhubaib ’16
Cleveland, Ohio
Linda Relson '16
Watertown, Massachusetts
Linda is a Lead Staff Mechanical Design Engineer at Boston Dynamics, helping to create robots with advanced mobility, dexterity and intelligence. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Case, where she was a captain of the Baja team.
Camila Castro Romero ’19, MEM ’23
Raleigh, North Carolina
Camila is a senior project engineer at Project Farma, a consulting firm that works to bring cures for rare diseases to market. She recently returned to Case to earn her master’s degree in engineering management. Camila was a member of the Case chapter of the Society of Hispanic Engineers while earning her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a prototyping technician at Sears think[box].
Deepa Chhetri, MS ’19
Seattle, Washington
Deepa is now a software development engineer II for Amazon, where she began working as a software engineer in 2020. She earned her master’s degree in computer science from the Case School of Engineering.
Aaron George ’19
Cleveland, Ohio
Aaron was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list of young entrepreneurs, leaders and changemakers in Greater Cleveland. He’s the co-founder of SupplyNow, a startup that offers Instacart-like deliveries to restaurants that need a product or an ingredient fast. Aaron came to Case as an international student and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
Nathaniel Braman, PhD ’20
Cleveland, Ohio
Nate is now Director of AI at Picture Health, a Cleveland startup applying advanced medical imaging to cancer. Previously, he was a Computer Vision Scientist for Tempus Labs. Nate earned his doctorate in biomedical engineering at the Case School of Engineering.
Musa Hakim Jr. ’21
Cleveland, Ohio
Musa was a presenter in August at MidwestCon2023, a Cincinnati technology conference exploring the intersections of creativity, innovation, technology and human experience. A materials engineer for Swagelok, he’s the co-founder of Lazy Moose, which helps people create non-fungible tokens, better known as NFTs.
Corey King ’21
Kent, Ohio
Corey is a Global Technology Engineer for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, where he interned while earning his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. At Case, Corey was treasurer of the campus chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers and a wide receiver on the Spartan football team.
Andrew Lonsberry, MS ’21
Columbus, Ohio
Andy was a presenter at the engineering-focused Dave and Margie Williams Distinguished Lecture at Ohio State University in April, where he talked about the future of robotics. He’s a co-founder and CEO of Path Robotics, which creates manufacturing robots that can autonomously weld parts. The company, which he started with his brother in Sears think[box], employs more than 200 people in Columbus.
Kuan Huang, PhD ’22
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Rachel LeBlanc ’22, MS ’23
Barcelona, Spain
Rachel is pursuing her doctorate in biomedical engineering at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in macromolecular science and engineering at Case, where she was a member of the Society of Women Engineers and played for the Spartan soccer team.
Haojia Li, PhD ’22
Cleveland, Ohio
Haojia has joined the team at Picture Health, a Cleveland startup applying advanced medical imaging to cancer, as an artificial intelligence scientist. While earning her doctorate in biomedical engineering at Case, she was identified by Crain’s Cleveland Business as “20 in their Twenties” to watch in Northeast Ohio.
Nicolas “Cole” Frilling ’23
Indianapolis, Indiana
Cole has accepted a position as a test and systems engineer at Rolls-Royce North America. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Case while starring on the CWRU men’s basketball team, which won its first-ever University Athletic Association Championship in the historic 2022-23 season. Cole was also a member of the Case Rocket Team.
Sofie Iwamasa ’23
University Heights, Ohio
Afua Nkansah-Andoh ’23
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Afua will take her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering to the University of Pennsylvania, where she plans to pursue a master’s degree. At Case, she was the vice president of the campus chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers.
Shreya Ramani ’23
Cleveland, Ohio
Shreya has joined the MetroHealth System as a clinical research engineer. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at Case, where she was vice president of the Society of Women Engineers and a member of the Women’s Tennis Team.
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