Class Notes

As a past graduate student studying German at CU Boulder and craft beer lover, it is no surprise that Jason Wiedmaier (MGer) was hired as Broken Compass Brewing’s newest brewer. Jason will be an essential part of the Breckenridge, Colo., brewery’s expansion, which he hopes will be complete by the end of 2017. Jason was previously head brewer at Lone Tree Brewing in Lone Tree, Colo.

The NCAA and the U.S. Department of Defense Mind Matters Research Challenge recognized eight winners in February, including Christopher D’Lauro (MPsych; PhD’10) and his team, who were awarded $400,000 to do concussion research. Chris is an assistant professor in the Air Force’s department of behavioral sciences and leadership.

Walter E. Smithe, a Chicago furniture company that makes, sells and repairs furniture, named Colleen Smithe Parker (Psych) director of advertising. Colleen oversees the production of creative materials, promotional planning and the management of media agency partnerships. The Chicago native lives in Riverside, Ill., with her husband and two children.

Coffee and kindness aficionado Rachel Stumpf Taber (IntlAf) hopes to change the world one barista at a time. The nonprofit Rachel cofounded, 1951 Coffee Company, which opens this fall in Berkeley, Calif., will provide job training to refugees and educate customers in the Bay Area about the challenges facing refugees around the world.

After receiving her master’s degree from CU Boulder, Jie Wu (MAsian) earned a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle. Jie has been teaching at Murray State University in Kentucky since 2011, and in March 2016 received tenure and a promotion to the rank of associate professor. In 2015, Jie helped create a Chinese Studies minor for the university.

Jennifer Moore (MCreatWrit) published a book of poetry with the University of Akron Press, a collection titled The Veronica Maneuver. It was selected as the Editor’s Choice in the 2014 Akron Series in Poetry. A Seattle-area native, Jennifer is an assistant professor of poetry at Ohio Northern University, where she teaches courses in creative writing, literature and composition. She lives in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Shaun Reed (AeroEngr) and fiancé Cassandra Illich, a graduate of Santa Clara University, have announced their engagement and look forward to their wedding this September. Shaun works as a licensed mechanical engineer in Denver. Lady Cassandra, daughter of the Baron and Baroness of Offaly, Ireland, works as a banker in Denver. Shaun and Cassandra reside together at their home, Sierra Dorado Ranch, in Golden, Colo.

After living throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia for the past 10 years, Tyler Cicirello (Fin) lives in Dubai where he has founded a private investment platform that provides access to institutional quality deal flow in emerging markets. Tyler’s company also produces information on business trends, public markets and political risk.

Bill Mark (MBA) helped launch Boulder-based food supplier LoveTheWild, which aims to help consumers get more fish into their diets by taking some of the guesswork out of sourcing and cooking different varieties of fish. Bill, who does data and analytics for LoveTheWild, writes that their products are available in Alfalfas, Sprouts and Wegmans and will be in about 200 more stores this year. Bill lives in Lafayette and “has been lucky enough to live and work in Boulder County since graduating from the Leeds MBA program in 2007.”

Colorado native and soccer star Fran Munnelly (IntPhys) will be inducted into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame on Nov. 17. Fran started all 87 games as midfielder in her Colorado soccer career and was the first player in CU’s history to earn any kind of All-America distinction. Fran lives in Denver.

Nikita Duncan Coulombe (Art, Psych) co-authored Man, Interrupted, a book that explores why young men are struggling academically and socially, which was published in April. Nikita is passionate about understanding human nature and co-founded the sex education blog BetterSexEd.org.

Ashley Leonard Osak (Comm) was selected by Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP to receive the Indiana Lawyers’ 2016 Leadership in Law Up and Coming Lawyer Award. Ashley is an attorney in the Indianapolis office of PSRB, where her practice focuses on transactional and regulatory healthcare matters.

High Altitude Observatory scientist Nicholas Pedatella (PhDAeroEngr) is this year’s recipient of the SCOSTEP Distinguished Young Scientist Award for his groundbreaking contributions to understanding the influence of atmospheric waves. The award ceremony was held June 6-10 in Bulgaria. Nicholas lately has focused on the development of data techniques for an atmospheric climate model. He lives in Boulder.

Boulder native Kirsten Suddath (Math, Phil; MBA’16) joined millennial ad-buying platform flytedesk as director of finance and operations. In her role, she manages finance, human resources, corporate development and marketing. Throughout her career Kirsten has worked for start-ups in the clean technology and local-foods space.

Former Buffaloes starting fullback Evan Harrington (Soc) became the youngest head coach of American football in Europe at age 27 and this year will lead Switzerland’s Winterthur Warriors. Evan also works in player development and scouts both American and European football players. He plans to host football camps throughout Europe. “There is rarely a European city I visit where I do not run into a CU Boulder alum,” he writes.

Jack Vertovec (Anth) moved to Miami in August 2015 to pursue a PhD in the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies at Florida International University. He is examining the growth of self-employment in Cuba and is particularly interested in the informal economy existing alongside this emergent economic sector. Jack’s investigation uses sociological and anthropological methods to understand how post-Soviet market reformations, specifically the cuentapropia (private enterprise) system, are impacting contemporary Cuban society. Jack hopes to find a tenure-track position at a tier-1 research university once he finishes his PhD.

Rachel Romero (MCivEngr), a building systems engineer at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., was chosen as the recipient of the 2016 New Faces of Engineering award by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers. Rachel is only the second person in NREL’s history to receive this honor.

Earlier this year, Michael Belazis (EPOBio) and college roommate Sam Ecenia (Geol) rode their bikes more than 1,500 miles around the state of California, teaching students about water sustainability along the way. They spent 47 days trying to make a difference in a state with dwindling water resources. Michael and Sam recently released a short film, A 1,500 Mile Journey for Water, about their trip. It can be found online.

This September, Jessica Hatz (EnvSt) and Jessa Ellenburg (CivEngr’01) are scheduled to host the 8th Best of Both Worlds Conference on Environmental Education for Sustainable Development in Estes Park, Colo. Jessica and Jessa both work for the GO3 Project, an environmental education nonprofit in Boulder that focuses on monitoring air pollution.

Pana, a new Denverbased app that acts as a virtual travel agent, was launched in April by Lianne Haug (CompSci), Sam Felsenthal (Fin) and Devon Tivona (CompSci). The app appeals to the frequent traveler and can check you in for your flights. Lianne, Sam and Devon have received more than $1.35 million in seed funding.