Spartans at Work

Roger Thornton [pdf]
Chief Technology Officer, Alienvault
BS and MS SJSU

"It's where I learned a lot about engineering and the 'making of things'. It's where I found a passion."

Ali Guarneros
Luna Systems Engineer, NASA Ames Research Center
BS (2010) and MS (2012), Aerospace Engineering

"At NASA-Ames, I am pursuing my childhood dream."

Marc Gagnon
Mechanical Engineer, Tesla Motors Mechanical
Engineering exchange student, Spring 2011

"It made a lot of sense to come to San Jose State, and it was the right choice and a great experience."

Tom George
SLAC Science Undergraduate Laboratory Intern, SLAC BS (2015), Electrical Engineering

"At SLAC, I am learning to quantify the energy of terahertz fields using electro-optical sampling."

Randy Floresca
Technical Engineer, General Motors Battery Systems
BS (2010), Mechanical Engineering

"I get to work with new tech no one has ever seen."

John Bergman
Mechanical Engineering '08, Engineering Contractor
John is currently contracting with medical device companies to design and develop the Next Gen of capital and disposable equipment. He will be graduating in 2015 from Santa Clara University with his masters in mechanical engineering and mechanical design.

Paul Logue
Aerospace Engineering '92, VP Corporate Strategy, HP
Paul is proudly returning to his SJSU roots this year, having been nominated to the Advisory Board for the Lucus School. "I must say I'm really enjoying all the positive energy and change on campus...such amazing progress from my graduating year."

Zack Pirkl
Aerospace Engineering '11 '14, Space Systems/Loral
Zack successfully launched one of the world's largest communications satellites from South America.

Priyanka Upendra
General Engineering '14, Clinical Technology Analyst-Cyber Security, Stanford Medicine
Priyanka is proud to say she bought her first car and it's a Mercedes Benz! "Thanks to SJSU for providing a strong foundation."

Robin Kansara
Software Engineering-Computer Networks '10, Co-founder and COO at PaniPuri Soft, Jodhpur, India
Robin started an iPhone development studio with brothers Naveen and Praveen shortly after graduation. For the last 2 years they've been working on an Apple interface game, Catch the Aliens, which released in August 2014. See the game trailer at youtube.com or download the free ap at bit.ly/ctaApple

Robert Bigler
Mechanical Engineering '87, CEO, Equalia LLC
Robert is a designer-engineer-entrepreneur that's creating a hoverboard for release in spring 2015. Follow the progress at www.hoverboard.com

Pelagio Payumo
Mechanical Engineering '99 & Human Factors Engineering '10, Apple, Inc.
From working with U.S. Army Vehicles like the Bradley Fighting Vechicle (BFV) at BAE Systems, to working with some of the most recognized electronics in the world at Apple, Inc., Pelagio continues to enjoy engineering.

Vishnu Pendyala
Computer Engineering '00, Cisco Systems
Vishnu presented on Humanitarian, Machine Learning, and mHealth related topics at IEEE GHTC, OCon San Francisco, and ICCCT in October, November and December 2014 respectively.

Kanav Gandhi
Software Engineering '10, Citrix Systems
Kanav is working on Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) software for Android devices.

Dina Verdin
Industrial & Systems Engineering '13, Doctoral Candidate in Engineering Education, Purdue University
Dina says the Midwest is extremely different from California. "I can honestly say I left my heart in San José."

Thomas Hessler
Industrial & Systems Engineering - Construction option, '62, Writer
After working for more than 40 years in the construction/engineering industry, Thomas published a historical novel based on the engineering and building of the Roman aqueduct containing the famous Pont-du-Gard in southern France. "The Aedifex: Building the Pont-du-Gard" is available on Amazon and Kindle.

Nhat Q. Nguyen
Aerospace Engineering '13, Hardware Engineer Assoc., Lockheed Martin, Space Systems Co.
Nhat has this advice to current engineering students: "Don't just sit there while you're in college. Be active and apply for internships because you'll never know where your next destinations will be. (As an airlines intern you're allowed to fly around the world for free.")

Joy A. Franco
Mechanical Engineering '14, Graduate Student and NSF Fellow, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford U
As a full-time grad student and research fellow, Joy studies traditional mechanical engineering topics such as mechanics of materials, but pairs this with research in mechanobiology to elucidate how mechanical cues influence cell behavior.

Caroline Pineda
Civil Engineering '91 & '95 Caltrans Office of Design
Caroline is the South Oversight Project Engineer for Highway 85, 101, and 237 Express Lane Projects, East Campbell Avenue Portals, Highway 880 HOV lanes and Highway 101 auxiliary lanes.

Kelly Blythe
Civil Engineering '93, CS Marine Constructors, Inc.
Kelly has 19 years in the construction industry and is working for a heavy marine contractor in the San Francisco Bay area.

Felix A. Schupp
Computer Engineering '00, Partner and Managing Director at Reply, Munich, Germany
Felix lives in Munich with wife Rebeca ad 2-year-old son Emiliano, and is finishing his MBA with concentration on Strategy and Enterpreneurship at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

Michael Grace
Mechanical Engineering '13, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.
Michael is in his first year of the Engineering Leadership Development Program at Lockheed Martin working as a mechanical systems engineer and pursuing a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering with an emohasis in Controls and Dynamics at Santa Clara University.

Aashna Sinha
Electrical Engineering '12, Texas Instruments
Aashna took a different approach to her career goals. She wanted to be a sales engineer in the tech field.To be successful, she got her degree in electrical engineering so she can better relate with engineers in developing new products.

Anna Montenegro Dal Pino
Civil Engineering '87, Artist
Anna let go of engineering a couple of decade back and has been playing with gravity in dance and paint ever since. She is shown here in her San Francisco Mission District studio.

Jorge Edison Lascano
Software Engineering '09, Assistant Prof. at Universidad de Las Fuerzas Armadas-ESPE, Quito, Ecuador
Jorge currently lives in Logan, UT where he is pursuing a doctoral degree in computer science (2016) at Utah State University. "Wherever I go, I'm proud to say I'm a Spartan from San José University in the heart of Silicon Valley, where I had the best of my college life experiences."

Mohinish Basha Shaikh
Computer Engineering '08, Lead Software Engineer, SAP
"SJSU gave me a VIP pass to Silicon Valley and I have worked at various companies from startup to corporations in the Valley since graduation," says Mohinish.

Yoon Soo HA
Material Engineering '73, Korea Power Engineering Co., Inc. (1984-1996)
Yoon Soo has two daughters. His first daughter is a statistician at Samsung Data Systems and was married on Nov. 9, 2014. The youngest daughter is a senior majoring in Western History at Seoul National University.

Sahil Gulati
Civil & Environmental Engineering ‘09 Consultant, Water Sector, The World Bank
Sahil is a consultant for The World Bank, and manages agriculture and water research projects in India for George Washington University’s Economics Dept.

Kyle Schmidt
Mechanical Engineering ‘14, Manufacturing Engineer, Loring Smart Roast
After graduating, Kyle worked for Play-Well TEKnology teaching children engineering by using LEGOs. He recently started working for Loring Smart Roast where he designs and build industrial coffee roasters.

Courtney Vella
Chemical Engineering ‘14
Associate Engineer, (PTAA-Q) PRO Unlimited, Genentech, Inc.
Courtney is striving for excellence in providing business and tech support in R&D engineering capital projects. “I am so proud to be a Spartan. Thank you San Jose State University for a fabulous foundation that will help me leap to new heights in my career as an chemical, quality engineer.”

Rebecca Mantecon
Engineering ’13, BS Industrial & Systems, SJSU ISE Dept.
Rebecca is working as a Teaching Associate in Davidson College lecturing, mentoring and advising students for their Senior Projects and concurrently getting her Master's degree in ISE.

George A. Metcalf
Aerospace Engineering ‘96, Boeing
George is selling airplanes for the world's leading aerospace company.