2013 Grad Lives UC Life to the Fullest

Carlo Cruz

Enjoyably peculiar.

That’s how recent graduate Carlo Cruz describes his time at UC – an impressive career that saw him not only gain a world-class education, but also a new perspective on himself and the world.

“UC provided a unique opportunity to discover a diverse life, not only in academia, but also socially and culturally as well,” says Carlo.  “For instance, I have spent the past several years traveling to countries like South Korea, India, and Chile through the study abroad program and witnessing a variety of cultures along the way.  UC has allowed me to embrace these differences and truly develop myself as a globally conscious individual.”

Carlo participated in the innovative ACCEND program, which allows students to earn a bachelors degree in their chosen field as well as an MBA in five years. He ended up earning a BS in Chemical Engineering with minors in Chemistry and Materials Science in addition to his Business degree.

“My engineering background serves as a great backbone of technical skills, and my business education has furthered my skills in strategic planning, marketing, and interpersonal development,” Carlo says. “My education has allowed me to become not only an analytical and rational professional, but also a forward-thinking and business oriented individual”

His journey was supported and enhanced by the generosity of others. Carlo received a scholarship through the Darwin T. Turner Scholars program, which was essential to his success in the classroom and allowed him to take part in multiple activities and clubs. The Turner Scholars Program is one of the oldest ethnic scholarship programs in America and is named after Dr. Darwin T. Turner, the youngest person ever to graduate from UC.

Carlo made the most of his opportunity, and ended up being a part of so many groups that one résumé could barely contain them.

“In addition to the Darwin T. Turner scholars program,” Carlo remembers, “I was involved with the International Dance Team (Dhadak), the Midwest Dhamaka, the Asian American Association, the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, Student Government, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the News Record to name a few organizations.”

Not only did Carlo participate, he even took the lead in planning and executing a charity Bollywood Dance Competition (known as the Midwest Dhamaka) with Saloni Hemani. The event featured more than 150 dancers and received tremendous support from the community, who bought every available ticket for the event and enthusiastically applauded their performances.

“The sold out crowd was incredible, as well as the joyous feedback we received after the event, says Carlo. “It was my favorite UC memory and speaks to one of the best qualities of this university: the embrace of diversity.”

Another well-known cornerstone of UC, cooperative education, is what provided Carlo a springboard to employment after graduation. In addition to working as a student researcher and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he co-oped at Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing.

“These cumulative experiences allowed me to integrate my analytical mindset to the business world,” says Carlo. “I was able to witness problems common to the workplace will enhancing my knowledge of corporate culture and business strategy.”

Just this month, Carlo began working as a full-time specialist at Toyota. And while he has completed his time at UC, he doesn’t plan on giving up his pursuit of multiple activities.

“I plan to continue as a freelance photographer and videographer,” he says.

Thanks to the generosity of Bearcats around the world, more than $101 million has been committed to scholarships and financial aid during the Proudly Cincinnati Campaign, the largest and most successful fundraising effort in UC history. In addition, more than 480 new scholarship funds were created, and nearly 11,000 students (including Carlo) who received scholarship support have graduated during the campaign. Learn more here.

Did you receive a scholarship at UC? Tell us about your experience with a comment below.

UC Alum Blake Layda Reminisces About UC/Cincinnati Favorites

First you boil Kraft Mac & Cheese noodles, then heat a can of Skyline Chili, and mix them together.  This is called “Skyline Mac & Cheese,” a recipe UC Alum Blake Layda created to remind himself of Cincinnati.  Using Blake’s recipe to make Skyline Mac & Cheese has us thinking Blake could have a second career in the culinary arts if he ever gets bored as a Managing Director at Jones Lang LaSalle. 

Blake, who graduated from the College of Engineering in 1999, rates his Law for Engineering class as the most interesting and relevant class he attended with respect to his career today. Not all classes were as interesting as Law for Engineering - he recalls his engineering math classes being extremely difficult, and his Differential Equations class being the hardest of them all. 

Blake graduated with a BSCE in Civil Engineering and also swam competitively on the UC Swim & Dive Team, waking up early to swim in Laurence Hall, where the pool was located before the Recreation Center was built. He left his legacy at UC by holding the 50-yard freestyle record for over 10 years after graduation.  Currently, Blake holds records in the top 10 spots of six different swimming events.

Between studying and swimming, Blake managed to form a group of close friends who stay connected by attending the same Bearcat football game every fall. Before the game, they walk the campus and admire the transformations since they attended UC in the late ‘90s. 

Blake and his former roommate, John Wagner, recently made a joint endowment gift that is unique in that it benefits both CEAS and the UC Swim Team. Blake says he donates from a sense of loyalty to UC. His advice to current students is to enjoy college, balance a “social and scholastic life” and build networks.  Blake believes college is a place where a person grows the most.

Blake’s Cincinnati Picks

Gold Star or Skyline Chili
Graeter’s or United Dairy Farmers ice cream
Taco Bell or White Castle
Frisch’s or Pomodori’s
Adriatico’s Pizza or LaRosa’s Pizzeria
Cactus Pear or Uno
Inn the Wood or Uncle Woody’s

UC alumnus makes lemonade out of lemons

Clark Beck "turns lemons into lemonade."

"There are so many things you can't control in life, so you just have to play the hand you're dealt and trust that being positive and persistent will pay off in the end."

Now an accomplished engineer living in Kettering, OH and proud UC alum, it's evident Clark's positive and strong-willed approach to life did, in fact, pay off. But the road to success certainly wasn't an easy one for Clark, who graduated in UC's first class of African American Engineering students in 1969. More than 40 years later, he looks back at UC as the "something better" that came along after so many other doors were closed on him.

After earning a math degree from the Virginia Union University, Clark's repeated rejection from engineering programs near his home in Indiana only intensified his ambition to pursue his dream.  He eventually found himself in the office of UC's Dean of the College of Engineering, where he was admitted into the mechanical engineering program, despite being told he'd likely "catch hell" as one of the first African American students in the program.

At times, Clark wonders how he made it through those days. He struggled through an intense engineering program with few friends, a weak support system and undesirable, yet more affordable, living conditions off- campus. Finding a co-op job was a difficult trek too, but he eventually landed a position with the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base two weeks prior to the deadline – an opportunity that paved the way for the rest of his career.

Today, Mr. Beck’s grandson Emory is following in Clark's footsteps, pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering , but at a completely different UC than Clark experienced forty-plus years ago. Emory lives on campus. He has friends, roommates, and a huge support system through the Darwin T. Turner Scholars Program and Emerging Ethnic Engineers (E3) Program - both of which were not available to Clark.

“UC has grown leaps and bounds since I was in school,” Clark says, “Not just academically and physically, but intellectually. UC has made tremendous changes – all for the better – and I’m proud of that.”

“I’ve always looked up to my grandfather as an engineer, as a person, especially intellectually, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps,” Emory says. “I’m even working at Wright Patterson and plan on working there as an engineer for my career.”

Tell us what you know about turning lemons into lemonade! What was your biggest educational challenge and how did you overcome it?

DC alum helps Biomedical student swap UC labs for DC labs

DC co-op student Jacob Turner
prepares DNA in one of the
National Institutes of Health's labs.

Meet third-year UC student and future Biomedical Engineer Jacob Turner. A first generation college student and a small town Northern Kentucky native, Jacob is letting nothing get in his way of a well-rounded Bearcat experience – and a bright future in the biomedical research field. His latest venture: A dream co-op job with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington D.C., thanks in part to DC alum John O’Shea.  We asked Jacob a few questions to uncover some of the challenges and highlights of both his co-op search and on-the-job experience so far.

How did you become interested in as complex an industry as biomedical engineering and research?

At the beginning of my freshman year, I jumped right into undergraduate research in the Functional Tissue Engineering Lab at UC, under Dr. David Butler. It was in that lab that I gained my most valuable experience and really found my passion for biomedical research. I really just liked the idea of doing work that might eventually benefit a human life.

How did you navigate the co-op job search process?

When my first co-op rotation rolled around, I began reaching out to labs all across the country without much luck. Given the state of the economy, finding a co-op position (especially in a research lab) is not so easy. But through networking at UC, I was fortunate enough to meet with and get some solid advice from UC’s Provost, Dr. Santa Ono. He was incredibly helpful and connected me with a UC alum, Dr. John O’Shea, at one of the NIH’s 27 institutes – the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease – and the rest is history. I made plans to relocate to Bethesda, MD!

What is it like working at NIH?

The NIH is an inspiring place to be because everyone is there for a common cause: to help others through science and medicine. There’s always something new and exciting being discovered. There’s also a great sense of family and belonging despite the fact that most of my co-workers are from a different parts of the world.  UC prides itself in the level of diversity its student body and staff display, and the NIH is much the same. In front of my desk sits an Italian; to the right, an Englishman; and directly behind me is a Chinese man. It’s wonderful hearing each of their unique stories and what brought them to NIH, and I have learned more from my conversations with them than any book could ever teach me.

What kind of work are you doing at NIH?

The work I’ve been assigned here is far different from what I used to do in the FTE lab at UC, which consisted primarily of cell culture and experiments. I work in the Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch of NIAMS, and we are focused on understanding how T-cells fight disease in the immune system. The work is very intricate, utilizing a very novel technology called next-generation sequencing, which creates an incredible amount of data to be analyzed.

My job has been to write programs that analyze the millions of lines of data and extract the important things.  Besides one introductory course, I was absolutely new to programming and had to spend the first month teaching myself how to program by reading through a couple bioinformatics programming books. I had also just made the switch from tissue engineering to immunology, so I spent a lot of time studying immunology and molecular biology journals. I’ve since written many different programs for the lab and successfully found a number of novel regions in the genome that could control the way T cells mature or fight disease. I’m starting to get more involved in experiments, and if time allows I’ll get to study one of the regions my programs found in mice.

What have you enjoyed most about your experience so far?

One thing I love about NIH is that they always have lectures by famous scientists. I have been privileged to sit in on lectures and learn from scientists like Jane Goodall and at least three Nobel laureates. Today I went to four lectures - it was a lot like class, but I loved it.

Being an undergraduate researcher at the NIH has been extraordinary on many levels, but most notably, it has been extraordinarily humbling. All of my co-workers have an MD or PhD degree, or both, and at least 15 years of experience in medicine and research. They are the best in the world at what they do, and I get to sit in between them at a desk just like theirs, and work on solving complex problems in immunology with them. It’s a humbling, intimidating, and incredibly enjoyable place to sit.

What has it been like adjusting to life in a new city?

Expensive. Living in one of the richest areas of the country isn’t easy on a student paycheck. Rent is double here compared to Cincinnati, but other than that and the incessant traffic, I really like the DC area. It was lonely for the first few months because NIH was devoid of anyone close to my age, but a flood of summer students arrived a couple weeks ago and I’m collaborating with one now. I’m away from my girlfriend and family, so I’m definitely anxious to get back home.

What’s your next venture?

I’m not too sure. I may stay home in Cincinnati and try to get an industry co-op, but if I decide to do research again I have a potential opportunity in Australia. My most immediate adventure will definitely be getting back to campus for fall quarter classes!

Richard Foley Recognized with Distinguished Service Award

“When I arrived at UC as dean of the College of Engineering (as it was known at the time), I made it my business to learn about the people who were so important to the college’s success. Rich Foley’s name was mentioned by many people, and as soon as I began to work with him as a dedicated alumnus, I understood why.”

So begins Carlo Montemagno’s letter nominating alumnus Richard Foley (Eng. ’61) for the Distinguished Service Award from the UC Alumni Association. Dean Montemagno, Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS), felt Foley was the perfect fit for the award, which recognizes alumni who have rendered outstanding, faithful and selfless service to their alma mater

“UC Day is a longstanding tradition at UC, allowing us to celebrate and recognize our most remarkable alumni and the positive marks they’ve made in their professions and in their communities,” said UC Alumni Association Executive Director, Myron Hughes. “Richard Foley is a truly outstanding example of alumni leadership in action.”

The award recipients were selected for their unique professional accomplishments and contributions to UC and the community at large. Foley turned his UC co-op assignment at Dayton's Harris-Seybold Printing Co. into a 37-year career there. He and his wife, Marlene, established and continue to fund the Richard G. and Marlene D. Foley Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for first-year students in CEAS.

“The scholarship fund and Rich’s dedication to it is so reflective of Rich’s early educational experiences. He struggled to make it to college, but found someone to give him the guidance and assistance to make it possible. He sees this as ‘paying it forward’ to help others realize the same college opportunity he had,” said Montemagno.

On the other end of the spectrum, Foley also works frequently with his fellow Bearcat alumni. He is a volunteer leader of the UC Alumni Association’s regional alumni network in Dayton. He led the efforts to attract classmates from the Class of 1961 to their Golden Reunion this past May. And he’s committed to the efforts of the UC Foundation and the Proudly Cincinnati campaign.

“It’s all about keeping that UC connection alive,” Montemagno noted. “Rich knows that when more alumni are actively engaged and supporting the life of the university, the greater UC will become, and the more the lives of these alums will be enriched.”

Congratulations to Richard Foley – a “grassroots guy who shows up and does all he can” – and all of the alumni being recognized during this year’s annual UC Day Celebration!

UC Love Stories: Sharon and Bill Drewry

Sharon and Bill Drewry (Class of '92) at the 2010 Sugar Bowl.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner… and what could be a better way for us to celebrate than by sharing some of our favorite UC love stories! Today, we’re bringing you the story of Sharon and Bill Drewry.

To get to the beginning of Sharon (Thieken) and Bill Drewry’s relationship, one must first hear the story of Sharon’s… we’ll call it an “unpredictable” sleep schedule.

Sharon explains, “I'm a pretty laid back person, but I show stress when I sleep, generally by sleep walking or talking.  The night before a big physics test, my roommates and I were up late studying, and I was having a hard time with the material.  Later in the middle of the night, I had a dream that velocity was an object that I had misplaced in our dorm room. 

“I woke up standing in the middle of the room, frantically lifting and looking under everything in sight.  I had completely trashed our room.  All of my roommates were now awake, trying to figure out what I was looking for in such a frenzy.  I woke myself up screaming, ‘I TOLD YOU, I'M LOOKING FOR VELOCITY!!!’ The next morning,  my roommates told half of our freshman engineering class about it. I took a lot of friendly jabs for that one!”

This was in 1987, when Sharon was an engineering major. Cut to 1989… although Sharon had changed her major to personnel and industrial relations, she would soon learn that the “Velocity” incident would follow her throughout her career at UC.

Sharon and some friends were at the Yacht Club – a favorite hangout – when they ran into Bill, whom Sharon only knew as a casual acquaintance with poor penmanship. “We didn’t know each other well, and I could never remember his name. But I knew his handwriting was absolutely horrible, so he was always the ‘guy with the bad handwriting,’ to me,” explains Sharon.

Although Sharon and Bill didn’t know each other well prior to that evening at the Yacht Club, they spent a lot of time plotting exactly how she would set Bill up with one of her roommates, whom Bill was interested in. But fate had other plans: that fall, Sharon and Bill seemed to run into each other everywhere on and off campus. In November, Bill asked Sharon for a date to the Cincinnati Museum Center, followed by views of the city from the observation deck on top of Carew Tower. 

After a few dates, Sharon decided to share her sleep issues with Bill.  “I started to tell him the ‘velocity’ story.  He stopped me mid-way through and said, ‘Oh my God, I'm dating Velocity!’”  Bill, it turned out, had heard the tale of Sharon’s midnight rampage from mutual friends in the same freshman engineering class Sharon and her roommates were in.

“Apparently my notoriety had spread much farther than I thought… it was SO embarrassing,” Sharon says with a smile. 

Despite her status as a bit of an urban legend, Sharon and Bill’s relationship continued its forward-moving “velocity”. Nearly two years after their 1992 graduation, Bill asked Sharon to meet him for dinner in Downtown Cincinnati.

“We met and had dinner at The Palms restaurant,” recalls Sharon. “It was a beautiful evening, so after dinner, Bill suggested that we head up to the Carew Tower observation deck of old times sake. He proposed to me that night above the downtown lights, at the site of our first date. It was very romantic!”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Do you have a great UC love story to share? Comment below and tell us how you met your spouse or significant other at UC! And check back for more in this special series of "UC Love Stories."