Mar/Apr 2000

Spring is right around the corner, and the Class of '97 is (pardon the metaphor) blooming with news.

At the U. of California-Berkeley, Andras Ferencz began grad school in computer science after working for a year at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. Seth Guikema planned to finish an MS in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford in June 1999 after returning from a Fulbright scholarship in New Zealand. And Theresa Singleton (tes4@cornell.edu) planned to continue her work as an associate research specialist in the biochemistry department at the U. of Wisconsin-Madison while applying for fall 1999 admission to PhD programs in immunology. Theresa has kept busy teaching tap dancing to students ages 4 to 40 at the Dance Connection, a Madison dance school. She has seen Vanessa R. Greenwood (vrg2@cornell.edu) and Matthew Wagner '98 (mvw1@cornell.edu).

Douglas Herman (douglas.herman@wdr.com) said he "sold out" and left the engineering world to become an investment banker at UBS AG in Stamford, CT (formerly Swiss Bank Corp.). In late 1998, Douglas was living with El-Shaffei Dada and Marc Duquella '98, both of whom also worked at UBS AG. Amanda Panagakos (apanagakos@flyingfood.com) worked at Newark Airport as an account manager for Flying Food Group, a Chicago-based airline catering company, and caught up with Lorna E. Hagen '98 in New York City. Mary Anna Denman (mad66@columbia.edu) is continuing her studies as a medical student at Columbia Medical School. Kristen H. Forkeutis (khf@hotmail.com) traveled to Australia in fall 1997 and winter 1998 and also served with AmeriCorps in Boston. After graduation, Alix Saint-Armand completed the Coro Fellows program, an experience-based graduate fellowship that provided him with one-month stints at a government agency (NYPD), a media agency (the Village Voice), a business (AF&F Community Builders), a non-profit (the Fortune Society), and an individual project (the Antioch Baptist Development Corp.). After the fellowship, Alix worked on Rep. Charles Rangel's fund-raising operation, helping to raise more than $200,000.

In January 1999, Andrej Sierakowski, BS Eng '98, ME EP '99, (ajs16@cornell.edu) planned to apply for fall 1999 admission to graduate school and expected to find funding to conduct research in the interim. In early 1999, Navy Ensign Donovan Rivera received his commission as a naval officer after completing Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Pensacola, FL. Alexander Barbara (ayb1@cornell.edu) finished Navy Nuclear Power School and Nuclear Prototype and Submarine School, and as of March 1999, was serving as an officer aboard the USS Miami, which was involved in Operation Desert Fox in December 1998.

Jason Matyas (matyas@mindspring.com) reported in November that he has completed his training, which included a significant amount of global travel, and is now a mission-ready KC-10 co-pilot, stationed at McGuire AFB. In October, Jason attended a fall Air Force ROTC event and caught up with a number of friends from Campus Crusade for Christ, including classmates Kristina J. Eng, Linda Thomas, Don Wagda, Jen L. Corliss, and Henry Watts. Jason hoped to begin a master's program in political science at Villanova U. this spring. Alison J. Brooks (ajb15@cornell.edu) and Elad Feldman are both in medical school at Stony Brook. Cristian Davis (cid1@cornell.edu) intended to pursue a PhD in organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, beginning September 1999. Melissa D. Altman (mda2@cornell.edu) started a PhD program in clinical psychology at George Mason U. in the fall after traveling on the West Coast last summer. She caught up with Vasantha Badari, who is working for Microsoft in Seattle; Erin L. Davis, a structural engineer living in NYC; Jen Yax, who's pursuing her singing career while working as a paralegal in San Francisco; as well as Steve Reseigh, Craig Nathan and Sheryl Magzamen '96. Elisa M. Kim (emk9@cornell.edu) is at Yale working toward a master's in divinity. School's OK, she said, "but it's no Cornell," and she expected to wear red at Homecoming when Cornell faced off against Yale.

In Manhattan last summer, Rebecca Propis (rtp2@cornell.edu) started the Cornell Young Alumni Book Club. Every other month, participants gather at a restaurant to discuss a book written by a Cornell author; selections have included works by Stewart O'Nan, MFA '92, Thomas Pynchon '59, Helena Maria Viramontes, associate professor of English, and Kurt Vonnegut '44. Rebecca invites interested alumni to contact her for details. Marisa L. Waldman (marisalw@yahoo.com) expected to enroll at Fordham Law School in August 1999. Meanwhile, Frances L. Turner and Chinwe N. Okasi are preparing for a May 2000 graduation from Georgetown U. Law Center. Frances accepted a job at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in NYC, while Chinwe will start with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, also in New York. Both plan on careers in corporate law. Another classmate, Joy M. Hodge, will graduate from Georgetown Law in May and then will litigate in Atlanta at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.

Dominic Elias (minic@ms.com) is living in NYC and writes he's seen Nabil Moubayed, Bruce (Robert B.) Lynn, and Steve Deutsch, among others. Elizabeth Soto-Seelig remains in Washington, DC, where she lives near DuPont Circle with Colin Cushing. Last year, Elizabeth accepted a position with Legal Services Corp., a national non-profit group that provides civil legal aid to low-income individuals. She's enjoying her job and making whirlwind weekend excursions to destinations like Savannah, Seattle, San Francisco, and Toronto. In November, Stephanie A. Gwinner, BS Hotel '98, reported she was working in front office management at the Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf. Jon Dorfman (jdorfman@strategisgroup.com) obtained his master's in international economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS program and accepted a position as a telecom strategy consultant. Brandon Kibbe (b_kibbe@hotmail.com) is an outreach coordinator with the Massachusetts Watershed Coalition. He supervises the Pure Water Stewardship Project, a state, federal, and non-profit collaboration working to improve local stewardship and land-use planning and protect water quality. Meanwhile, die-hard New Englander Pamela A. Whitehead (Pwhiteh@NEUUS.JNJ.com) relocated from Boston to Los Angeles, where she's enjoying her position as a compensation analyst for Neutrogena Corp. ("I get plenty of free products!") Pamela reports fellow ILR alumnus Clifton Chang '96 works in recruiting at Neutrogena.

The Year 2000 will no doubt bring lots of changes to the members of the Class of '97. I encourage readers to take a few moments to send in any updates to me directly or via the Internet at www.classof97.cornell.edu. Best wishes to all!--Erica Broennle, 7681 Provincial Dr. #103, McLean, VA 22102; e-mail, ejb4@cornell.edu.