Alumni Stories

In November, the University of Colorado lost Peter Teets, a distinguished alumnus of the original Applied Mathematics department on the Boulder campus. Teets graduated in 1963 with a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics and two years later, a Master of Science degree, also in applied mathematics, from the Denver campus. In 1978, he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a second master’s degree in management.

Jen Uchida graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2005 with a joint bachelor’s and master’s degree in aerospace engineering. Since graduation, she has become a leader in the test flight engineering field. Jen is now the manager of test and evaluation at AeroTEC where she oversees and directs...

Growing up, John Mollenkopf spent most of his free time tinkering. He’d gather up tools, then get to work converting his bicycle into a chopper in the driveway or the garage. As he got older, he graduated to building things from scratch, including go-karts, a hang glider, model airplanes and model cars.

Heather Doty originally joined SWE as a sophomore at CU Boulder, where she earned her BS and MS in civil engineering, in addition to a BA in music and an MBA.

Department alumnus Professor H. Scott Fogler (PhDChemEngr'65) was recently named a Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year by the Michigan Association of State Universities, a prestigious honor among faculty members working in public university undergraduate education.

When she first arrived in Boulder in the late 1970s, Faran Nouri was a scared girl from post-revolutionary Iran who spoke very little English. Today, she’s a powerhouse venture capital executive who discovers and helps support the best and brightest new tech companies.

Ten years ago, a few professors had a question: what if chemical and biological engineering students and instructors could get free, in-depth, high-quality instruction on hundreds of subjects within the field any time they wanted?

Alumnus Vince Kontny, a longtime friend of CU Engineering and influential member of the engineering and construction industry, passed away Aug. 9 at age 83. Kontny served on the college’s Engineering Development Council for many years and earned the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award in 1989, as well as an honorary doctorate from CU Boulder in 1991.

Shane Fleming (MechEngr’08) is proof that an engineering degree can open doors across a wide variety of professions. His professional story has been eye-opening to CU Engineering students, showing that a degree in engineering doesn’t require specialization in a single field. Shane also graduated at the onset of the 2008...

Kent Burkhardsmeier (ArchEngr’84) did something many intended but few have accomplished during the COVID-19 quarantine: He published a book.