The Grainger College of Engineering
Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace Engineering Alumni Board and Recent Alumni Advisory Group

The mission of the University of Illinois Aerospace Engineering Alumni Board is to advance the standing, reputation, effectiveness, accomplishments, and leadership of the department as well as The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. 

Roles of the AE Alumni Board members:

  • To offer and maintain communication between the Department of Aerospace Engineering and its alumni.
  • Assist the department in reaching out to high school students to foster their interest in the aerospace engineering department.
  • Participate in mentorship opportunities for current students.
  • Provide assistance to aerospace student organizations (assist in projects, student visits/tours, and webinars).
  • Support student groups and courses in the curriculum by presenting “state of industry” or technical lectures.

Members:

  • President: Craig Barton, BS '88. chair (Masters & Certificates Alumni Advisory Group), - American Airlines - Retired
    Carlos Almeida, ’13 - United Airlines
  • Howard Berry, BS '83 - Asia Pacific
  • Laura Bogusch, BS '95 AE, MS '97 TAM - The Boeing Company
  • Cindy Gruensfelder,  BS '87 - Leidos
  • Mike Hopkins, BS '91 - Stratolaunch
  • Suzy Hyun, 'BS '97 - Northrop Grumman
    Art Ibers, BS '84 - Leidos
  • Dan Jensen, BS '88 chair (IDEAA Alumni Advisory Group), - Rolls-Royce
  • Jon Kelly, BS '90, chair (Sustainability Alumni Advisory Group)  - Accenture
  • Samantha McCue, BS ’13 - 5-D Systems, Inc. a KRATOS company
    Paul Niewald,     MS ’90 - The Boeing Company
  • Bill Norby, BS '85, MS '89 - The Boeing Company
  • Tom Penn,  BS '85 - Cardiac Science - Retired
  • 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 - PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Jay Thomas, BS ' -LDRA Limited




Recent Alumni Advisory Group

Chair: Courtney Leverenz, BS '21 - Virgin Galactic
Noor Ansari, BS 2023, United Launch Alliance
Katie Carroll, BS '19 - SpaceX
Cameron Connor, BS 2023, 5-D Systems
Stephanie Dutra, BS 2023, Beta Technologies
Steven Macenski, BS ’17 - Samsung Research
Jamie Minard, BS 2023, Rolls-Royce
Kuldeep Namdeo,  MS 2023, Cummins, Inc.
Samantha Paige, BS ’19 - Boeing
Ashley Stahulak, BS ’19 - Boeing
Emily Tokarski, BS '20, MEng '21 - United Airlines
Moiz Vahora, BS ’17, MS ’19 - Boeing
Nick Zuiker, BS '18, MS '20 - The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory