Notes from the Class of 2011

Brett Forrest (Anth, Film) spent his summer climbing mountains, capping it off with a combination hike of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre, two Colorado 14ers. It took him 10 hours to complete the 17-mile loop. Brett managed to climb five peaks in three days.He will be at Columbia School of Journalism this fall.

Christa Hasenkopf (PhDAtmos) is cofounder of OpenAQ, a tech nonprofit that makes real-time and historical air quality data available in any location. During her time at CU, Christa learned about the poor air quality in Mongolia, and it inspired her to use her degree for environmental justice. She went to Ulaanbaatar, the country’s capital, and began working to provide open data to its citizens, which led to the creation of OpenAQ

This year, Roshan Roghani (IntlAf) of Boise, Idaho, launched Cosmic Body, a health and beauty company featuring products made from fully renewable resources. After leaving CU, Roshan served as vice president at Camilie Beckman, a beauty care company based in Idaho.

Project manager Crystal Boyd (MMuSt) spent five years spearheading efforts to build the Golden Valley History Museum in Minnesota. In 2019, the exhibit received a Minnesota History Award from the Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums. In 2020, it received a national Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History. Crystal grew up in Golden Valley and now lives in Burnsville, Minnesota.

In 2011 Hayden Dansky (EBio, Phil), along with Caleb Phillips (PhDCompSci’12) and Helen Katich (Geog’13) founded Boulder Food Rescue after studying food waste in Boulder County. Using bicycles the team gathers soon-to-expire foods from over 40 locations and delivers them to communities in need. Hayden continues to work there as executive director, helping ensure operations throughout the pandemic. Caleb is a research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and an assistant professor at CU. Helen is interim CEO of Fresh Food Connect, which helps prevent food waste through technology. 

Twins Cara (MCDBio) and Amy Faliano (MCDBio) working in the laboratories of the UC Health System. Cara is the coordinator of laboratory safety for UCHealth in the Denver Metro area, and Amy is a lead medical laboratory scientist at UCHealth's Highlands Ranch community hospital. Go to the Coloradan Website for an extended interview with the twins about their time on the frontlines of the pandemic.

Ben Miller (EnvEngr; MCivEngr’13) and Lynn Pruisner Miller (BioChem, ChemEngr) are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Regan, in April 2020. They write, “Regan is an extreme CU legacy baby as many of her relatives are CU grads and will be fourth generation to attend.” Her uncle and both aunts attended CU, Annie Miller (IntPhys; MS’15), Nick Miller (Mktg’12; MBA’16) and Paige Pruisner (EnvEngr’14; MCivEngr’16); both grandmothers, CoLeen Pruisner (Pysch '08) and Kristi Prager Miller (Mus'81; Edu'82); paternal great-uncles Nelson Prager (Chem, ChemEngr'80; MD'84) and Frank P. Prager (ChemEngr, Engl'84) and their five children; paternal great-grandfather Frank C. Prager (ChemEngr'49) and paternal great-great aunt Betty Wise (PE'42). Ben, Lynn and Regan live in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

In his graphic novella Emotional Robots: A Question of Existence, Gregory Fass (Econ) explores what the world would look like if robots competed with humans in sports, music, art and emotional intelligence.

Filmmaker, photocopier and pilot Dirk Braun (Film) made his film debut in July with his documentary, Flying Boat. Dirk’s 77-minute documentary blurs the lines between fiction and nonfiction, exploring the stories of pilots and mechanics who restore, fly and maintain the last of the Grumman Albatross, an amphibious search-and-rescue aircraft created in 1947.

Andrew Sorensen (Jour’11) joined Kaiser Permanente as its senior media relations manager in May. He previously worked at CU Boulder for more than five years, most recently as assistant director of communications and spokesperson, and worked for 9NEWS as a multimedia journalist. He lives in Broomfield, Colorado.

An associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Daniel Costinett (ElCompEngr’11; MElEngr’11; PhD’13) received the 2022 Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power Electronics Society. Awards from the IEEE are among the highest honors bestowed on technical engineers worldwide, recognizing early career engineers who have made outstanding contributions to the field of power electronics. Daniels's research focuses on the detailed modeling, control and optimization of power electronics. He pushes the limits of charging efficiency to improve electric cars, medical devices and airplanes and to lower renewable energy costs. 

Anne Trujillo Kalush (Jour’11) is the longest-running evening news anchor in the Denver television market. She will retire in November after nearly four decades at KMGH/Denver7. “I decided it is time to move into a new phase of my life, enjoying time with my family, pursuing personal interests and exploring even more opportunities to engage with my Colorado community in new and deeper ways,” she said. In 2019, Trujillo was inducted into the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame; she’s received multiple Emmy Awards and is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circles. 

Hannah Goodman (Psych’11) graduated with a PhD in chemistry from the University of Arizona in December 2023. Her thesis, completed in the lab of Professor Robin Polt, described the synthesis and evaluation of glycosylated oxytocin analogs for treating pain and substance use disorders. She is currently defining the pharmacological signature of iboga alkaloids for treating substance use disorders and other psychopathology as a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University in Professor Dalibor Sames’ lab.