The Grainger College of Engineering
Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace Engineering Alumni Board and Working Groups

Alumni Board Members

Carlos Almeida
BS '13, United Airlines
Kristen Bengtson
BS '04, The Boeing Company
Laura Bogusch
BS '95 AE, MS '97 TAM - The Boeing Company
Mike Bragg
BS '76, MS '77, PhD '81, University of Washington
Steve Cihlar
BS '89 - Chicago Bridge and Iron
Michael Hopkins
BS '91 - Stratolaunch
Suzy Hyun
BS '00 - Northrop Grumman
Art Ibers
BS, '84 - Leidos
Dan Jensen
BS '88 - Rolls-Royce
Jon Kelly
BS '90, chair - Accenture
Samantha McCue
BS '13 - 5-D Systems, Inc. a KRATOS company
David L. Meyer
BS '90, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Paul Niewald
MS '90 - The Boeing Company
Arun Palusamy
BS '92, Air Dominance Programs
Chris Raymond
BS '86 - The Boeing Company
Jon Riley
BS '87, MS '89 - National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
David Rowatt
BS '91 - WireCo
Derek Smith
BS '91 - Consulting Services at PwC
Jay Thomas
BS '00, MS '02 - LDRA Limited
Andrew Touvannas
BS '97 MechSE, Woodward, Inc.

 

Current Alumni Working Groups

Recent Alumni 

Nicholas Zuiker, BS ‘18, MS ’20 - The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory     Emily Tokarski, BS ‘20, MS ’22 - United Airlines                     
Jamie Minard, BS ‘23 - Rolls Royce  
Bella Watters, BS '23 - SpaceX 
Kameron Jackson, BS '22 - Raytheon

  • Kuldeep Namdeo, BS ’23 - Cummins, Inc     
    Cameron Conner, BS ’21 - 5-D Systems, A Kratos Company   
    Lexi English, BS ’21 - United Airlines   
    Noor Ansari, BS’ 23 - United Launch Alliance
    Stephanie Dutra, BS ’23 - Beta Technologies   
    Vivek Shah, BS '24, MS '25 - Woodward, Inc.                

IDEA Alumni Advisory Group

Dan Jensen,  Chair  
Suzy Hyun

  • Jay Thomas
                     

Masters & Certificates Alumni Advisory Group

Samantha McCue, chair
David Rowatt 
Laura Bogusch 

  • Art Ibers 
    Chris Raymond 
    Carlos Almeida                   

Industry, Research & Collaboration Alumni Advisory Group

Jon Kelly, Chair
Bill Norby  
Jon Riley
Paul Niewald

  • Derek Smith     
    Michael Hopkins 
    Steve Cihlar          

Contacts

Tim Cochrane

Tim Cochrane
Associate Director of Advancement

tcochran@illinois.edu

Debra Levey Larson

Debra Levey Larson
Communications and Alumni Relations

dlarson@illinois.edu

Courtney McLearin

Courtney McLearin
Event and Alumni Relations Coordinator

mailto:cmcleari@illinois.edu