Spring 2021 Alumnotes

1970s

Mark Sivik ’71 A.S., retired biologist and Palm Beach County Schools science and Spanish teacher, is now working in and developing the town of Ccotccoy, Peru.

Russ Lawton ’74 A.S., ’76, was promoted to vice president of operations with Air Charter Safety Foundation. 

Dan Lette ’76 A.S. recently retired as a captain after a 32-year career with United Airlines. Dan flew B757/767s and was based at Washington Dulles International Airport.

W. Michael McDavit ’77 A.S. retired after 38 years of federal service at the headquarters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He teaches environmental science at Montgomery College and at George Mason University’s annual Washington Youth Summit on the Environment.

Michael Mengel ’78 retired as a principal environmental specialist for the California’s Orange County Sanitation District. 

Steve Luzkow ’79 M.S. joined Partner Engineering & Science as technical director.  

1980s

Edward Donovan ’82 Ph.D. entered his 51st year in teaching as an adjunct professor of science in the natural sciences and engineering department with University of South Carolina Upstate.

John Hull ’82 MBA, deputy director of the Tennessee department of general services and head of the state of Tennessee real estate asset management division, was honored with the Distinguished Deputy Award from the National Association of State Chief Administrators. 

Mark Wise ’84 recently retired after 36 years in the aerospace and defense industry and works as a technical advisor on a U.S. government defense program in Huntsville, Alabama.

Carolyn Fitzpatrick ’86 returned to the classroom as a first-grade teacher after working in the education department at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Allen Murphy ’86 MBA, after retiring from corporate positions, began working as a part-time professor for Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, teaching business administration and management.

Choudhary Yarlagadda ’86 M.S. was appointed president of Chimera Investment Corporation and will continue as the company’s chief operating officer, a position he had held since 2015. 

Anas Alkassem ’87 was recently hired by Stantec, a leading global design firm, to serve as its regional managing director for the Middle East region. 

Mary Malnar Barry ’87, a senior research technician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is involved in vaccine technology with the Mayo Clinic’s Vector and Vaccine Engineering Laboratory. 

1990s

Lemuel Aguayo ’83, ’92 M.S., was recognized with Lockheed Martin’s Luminary Award, which recognizes an individual with a long history of community service and a passion for mentoring students and professionals in STEM. 

Debora Johnson-Ross ’90 M.S., Ph.D., is vice president of academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Wartburg College. She was previously director of the Mayor’s Scholars Program at Baltimore City Community College and senior vice president of academic innovation at BridgeEdU.

Eddie Enders ’93 has relocated from Melbourne, Florida, to Brisbane, Australia, taking on a new assignment for L3Harris Technologies’ Space and Airborne Systems Segment. 

Maj. Gen. Timothy McKeithen ’94 M.S., USARPAC deputy commanding general, recently retired from more than 34 years of service to the U.S. Army at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

Matthew Fillingim ’95, ’97 M.S., Ph.D., a planetary scientist at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, and his wife, Michelle Fillingim ’97, a GIS/CAD specialist with Alan Kropp & Associates, will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. 

Thomas Stiehle ’96 M.S. was promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer with Huntington Ingalls Industries. 

Sahm Jamjoom ’97 M.S. began a new role working for the Economic Cities and Special Zones Authority as director of general special economic zones in Saudi Arabia.

Capt. Donald Simmons III ’97 M.S. recently retired after 2,500 flight hours and 30 years of service with the U.S. Navy, most recently as principal military director of logistics for the Naval Air Systems Command. 

2000s

Mya Breitbart ’00, a USF professor, was featured in National Geographic’s February 2021 cover story on how viruses look up close. She holds a Ph.D. from Scripps Institute of Oceanography (UCSD).

Christin L. Perkinson ’00, ’02 M.S., Ph.D., joined Atkins, a global design, engineering and project management consultancy, as the coastal practice lead.  

Col. Gavin Gardner ’02 M.S. recently assumed the duties of commander of the Joint Munitions Command and Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command, headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois.

Johnny M. Moore ’02 Ph.D. has been selected as chancellor for Arkansas State University-Newport, overseeing three campus locations with over 2,000 students enrolled each year. 

Marcia Alvarado ’04 was recently hired as Tampa structural market leader with WGI Inc. She is a licensed professional engineer.

Agnieszka Marshall ’04 M.S., ’06 Psy.D., was appointed chief clinical officer by Tykes & Teens, a leading provider of evidence-based mental health services and programs for children and adolescents. 

David Mezenen ’04 joined Airbus Corporate Jets, a business unit of Airbus Group, as sales director for Asia. He will oversee new aircraft sales for the region out of Singapore. 

Cheryl (Fossani) Zulick ’04, ’06 M.S., recently welcomed twins and is proud to introduce Coraline (l) and Cole (r).

Shanita Allen ’05 M.S., a board-certified behavior analyst, released her new children’s book, What is a Dream? This is the second book in her “Let’s Go Dreaming” series.

James Latmier ’05 joined the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center as director of systems integration. 

Michael Cooper ’06 rejoined Neel-Schaffer as a hydraulics engineer. Cooper is a registered professional engineer in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

Karita Negandhi ’06, Ph.D., is a water planner in the water science team for the New South Wales government, working on ways to measure environmental outcomes for flood plain harvesting. 

Chris Brennan ’07 MBA was recently promoted to vice president of sales at Labcorp. He held prior roles in sales with Johnson & Johnson and Quest Diagnostics.

Jeff Megivern ’07, a mechanical systems engineer with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, along with his team, celebrated his first public Mars project milestone, landing the Perseverance Rover (Percy) on the red planet.

Sean Barnes ’08 M.S. joined MAWD Pathology as a senior IT analyst and IT manager to tackle the growing demand for lab testing. His firm performs over 20K tests and reports results weekly in addition to other laboratory services.

Randi C. Mackintosh ’08 M.S., ’11 Psy.D., was appointed to the Florida Board of Psychology by Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Tina McCarthy ’09 began a new role as regional sales manager for CAE, supporting business aviation and helicopter training. 

Wendy Williamson ’11 M.S. was promoted to senior director of engagement with Pharicode. She is certified by the Project Management Institute and as ITIL Foundation Level v4.

2010s

Hussam Alghamdi ’11 joined the First National Operation & Maintenance Company (NOMAC) as a regional health, safety, security and environment manager.

Faris Almukati ’11, a certified energy manager, began a new role as an operation and maintenance oversight specialist with the National Water Company in Saudi Arabia. 

Julia Crouse Regan ’11 MBA is co-founder and CEO of RxLightning, which recently announced a partnership with IllumiCare to puts its automated prescribing process technology in the hands of 150 hospitals across the country. 

Kimberly Townsend ’11 and her husband, Phillip, welcomed their son Hatton Tulloch Martinez in November. Kimberly works for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a water resources planner. 

Justin Lobb ’12 was named deputy director of aviation for the Naples Airport Authority, overseeing the fixed base operation, airport operations, security, maintenance, planning and development activities at Naples Airport. 

Lynn Scheinman ’12 M.S. was recently promoted to a project expert intelligent enterprise role with SAP. His work with SAP follows a 10-year career with the U.S. Army culminating in Special Operations Command Europe.

Loris Cagnacci ’13 became technical supervisor with the Institute of Research for Development in France, overseeing a biological and chemical analytical platform for the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology. 

Hilary Lassoff ’13 is a senior account executive for media and entertainment at VIZIO in Los Angeles, California. 

Kristen Leanne Mahadeo ’13 M.S. was recently promoted to IT manager of productivity, collaboration and client services with Hamilton Beach Brands in Glen Allen, Virginia.

John T. Robertson ’13, Ph.D., and James Havu ’13 recently launched a new podcast together called “Interviews with Technical People,” a platform for discussions around STEM topics and career paths. Check out their podcast library on Buzzsprout. 

Hussain Alsalem ’14 took on a new role as cost control manager with ROSHN I, a leading real estate development firm in Saudi Arabia. 

Yanglong Lu ’14 was promoted to project manager with Carl Zeiss Shanghai in China. 

Rachel Miller ’14 M.S., Ph.D., is senior project officer for the wetlands team of the Queensland Department of Environment and Science and recently assisted with aerial survey work of dugong and marine turtle populations in the northern Great Barrier Reef. 

Marco Sabia ’14 assumed a new role as senior spacecraft subsystem engineer with OneWeb Spacecraft Operations, leading the team that ensures every satellite in the OneWeb constellation is healthy and safe throughout its lifecycle.

Katherine Schea ’14, J.D., joined the Ward Law Group. She interned at the Florida Partners in Crisis Mental Health Advocacy Group and earned her Juris Doctor in 2017.

Mark Tanner ’14, ’17 M.S., was recently promoted to global environmental leader at Amazon Air with Amazon.

Rashad Al-Busaidi ’15 began a new position as aerodrome flight information service specialist (AFISO) at Oman Airports Management Company, serving as a form of air traffic service available to any aircraft within the flight information region.

Ahmed Alsaeed ’15 currently serves as the water quality and public health engineer for the National Water Company in Saudi Arabia, establishing international standards for water provision and wastewater treatment. 

Armando Alvarez Rolins ’15, ’17 M.S., changed industries and landed a new role as a data scientist at Capgemini in Brazil. Previously, he worked as a manufacturing engineer with Embraer in Melbourne, Florida.

Abdualziz BinJabaan ’15 had his sophomore year interrupted by cancer, but with a clean bill of health, he was able to return to Florida Tech and complete his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. He is currently an asset integrity management engineer with Aramco in Saudi Arabia.

Brittany Sjaastad ’15 recently joined Rutgers University Behavioral Health Center as a mental health clinician. Her new role involves providing therapy in an outpatient setting, specializing in gender-based violence, trauma, LGBTQA+, depression, anger and anxiety.

Qianyo (Emily) Zhang ’15 joined Amazon as a software engineer. She previously worked as a software engineer for Goldman Sacs following a software engineering internship with Google. 

Linda Maiorana ’16 A.A., ’18, was promoted to director of the project management office and continuous improvement with Aspire Technology Partners. 

Rachel Moore ’16, ’18 MBA, assumed a new role as a program manager at L3Harris Technologies. She previously worked at NASA and served with the United States Marine Corps.

Michael Rohde ’16 recently accepted a position as propulsion test engineer with Axiom Space in Houston, Texas. The knowledge he gained as a flight test engineer on F-35s will now be utilized to build the first commercial space station.

Anthony Vollmer ’16 began working as a senior site reliability engineer with OfficeSpace Software. He also consults as a certified enterprise Splunk architect.

Francis Darius ’17 was recently promoted to a principal associate software engineer with Capital One.

Casey Keeler ’17 and Muhammad Burhan Ali Shah ’17 married in December 2020 and have relocated to Portland, Maine. Keeler works for Abbott Laboratories as a technical manufacturing chemist, and Shah works as a testing and commissioning engineer with K&A Engineering Consulting.

Madeleine Keevy ’17 M.S., Ph.D. started a new role as assistant professor of psychology at the University of Manitoba in Winnepeg, Canada. 

Andre Leone ’17 was recently promoted to associate software engineer of portfolio optimization with AQR Capital Management. 

Raven Lowery ’17 works as an IT systems analyst and has self-published two children’s books available on Amazon. The Girl and the Dragonfly was released in summer 2020, and Leo the Dragonfly released in January.  

Jonathan Powell ’17 M.S. started a new role with Pactive Evergreen in supply chain operations after serving in the U.S. Army for over seven years and teaching as an assistant professor of military science with East Carolina University.

Alyssa Tolly ’17 M.A. was recently promoted to team supervisor at Behavior Analysis Center for Autism in Fishers, Indiana. 

Jonathan Ardila ’18 was recently promoted to a technology support technician role with Lowe’s Companies.  

Osama Alhumaid ’18 M.S. recently began working as document controller with Jacobs in Saudi Arabia. 

Hadeel Binomar ’18 M.S. became a research technician at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Tricia Gosney ’18 pursued her passion for higher education after a career in technical writing and raising a family. She is now working as a software engineer with Ultimate Medical Academy.

W. Jack S. Hayden ’18 began work as a computer-based control systems engineer on the Habitation and Logistics Outpost module for the Lunar Gateway with Space Systems Integration. 

Rajalakshmi Krishnamurthy ’18 M.S. recently assumed a new role as verification and validation designer with Alstom. 

Damien Mercer ’18 M.S. was promoted to director of data analytics with UnitedHealth Group. His efforts involve driving internal costs down that will lead to savings for healthcare members. 

Kevin Scrima ’18 M.S. began as an IT support technician with Eat’n Park Hospitality. 

Christopher Sloyan ’18 was recently promoted to director of customer success for business applications at Microsoft Corp., where he has worked for 21 years.

Capt. Rusty Vickers ’18 M.S. was recently featured in five separate military professional journals and magazines that focus on innovative ideas and best practices for logistics professionals. Vickers is scheduled to be promoted to major in June 2021.

Ali Alfageeh ’19 M.S. became an instructor with Umm Al-Aura University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 

Matt Bomberger ’19 joined Klinge Corporation as an electrical technician. His work involves the construction of control units for commercial refrigeration.

Demario Caldwell ’19 MBA was recently promoted to sales engineer with Columbus McKinnon. 

Becca Candelaria ’19 is working as a GAP licensing specialist with Brevard Family Partnership. Her case management work involves child welfare.

Krissan Cedeno ’19 MBA was recently promoted to purchasing systems specialist with Huntsville Hospital Health System.  

Capt. Michael Merring ’19 M.S., with 13 years of service, is scheduled for promotion to major in the U.S. Army. He currently serves as the 1st Sustainment Brigade DSCA/H&DR manager, involved in logistics responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Ashley Moss ’19 M.S. recently joined The Mentor Network as a board-certified behavior analyst.

Robert Rew ’19 was recently promoted and accepted into the Lockheed Martin Space Engineering Leadership Development Program, working with the structure engineering team on the design equipment for the crew module of the Orion Spacecraft.

Alex Ruhlman ’19 was promoted to data operations specialist with Amazon Web Services. 

J.D. Smith ’19 MSA accepted a position as a product manager with ATP Flightdocs, based out of Bonita Springs, Florida. 

2020s

Craig McCall ’20, who played for the Panthers during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, has inked his first professional contract with the South Georgia Tormenta FC soccer club. 

Sabrina Perez ’20 is a research technician with The Scripps Research Institute, Florida campus. Her work involves diabetes research using C. elegans. 

Kilee Thomas ’20 MBA landed a position with Northrop Grumman as a cost schedule analyst.

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This piece was featured in the spring 2021 edition of Florida Tech Magazine.