Miami Magazine | Fall 2016

Rx for Climate Health | 6 Sustainable Solutions | Eco Art & Action

MIAMI THE UNIVE RSIT Y OF MIAMI MAGAZIN E | FALL 2016

A look at some of the bright ideas, bold innovations, and scientific inquiries that could flip the switch for a planet in peril

Climate Change

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Contents miami.edu/magazine

Volume 23 Number 1 | Fall 2016

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D E P A R T M E N T S

F E A T U R E S

University Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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R+D Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Learn the latest from noted scientist Ben Kirtman and other researchers whose

Inbox

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Eye on Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Faculty Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 On Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Student Spotlight

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Alumni Digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Class Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 In Memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Alumni Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Big Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Solving the Climate Puzzle work was featured in UM’s Climate Change Special Report.

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A Resilient and Innovative Future From bridges that won’t crumble to sustainable fuel sources and “flash” batteries, new technology offers hope for the environment.

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Global Health in the Age of Global Warming Scientists from a variety of disciplines pool resources, technology, and smarts to outwit the biggest public health crises facing our planet now and on the horizon.

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The Art of Climate Change Artists, architects, journalists, and others find creative ways to tell the dramatic tale of our consequential choices.

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COVER ILLUSTRATION BY SCOTT FRICKER

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Inbox

COMMENTS AND OPINIONS FROM UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

I want to congratulate the whole team and the editor for the excellent magazine. I have been receiving it since my two “kids” were undergraduates at UM, and my wife and I enjoy it thoroughly.

The article “Weathering the Cyber Storm” (Spring 2016) is really insightful and most current. Looking forward to future magazines.

Felix Feddersen Redmond, Washington

‘Positive and Powerful’ Thanks to you, Robert Jones, and the entire communications and marketing staff for the story on the First Black Graduates Project (“Bringing Black History to the Forefront at UM,” Spring 2016). The response has been positive and powerful. We are really grateful for the exposure and support. It was well written and well received by the community.

We are excited to have at our FBG weekend celebration, February 24 and 25, 2017, Harold Long, A.B. ’68, J.D. ’71, as our opening ceremony

I have also never seen any mention of the straw vote taken on campus by administration in, I believe, 1959, asking whether or not the University should accept black students. We were told the vote was overwhelmingly positive and within a year or two black students were admitted.

Love your magazine and always look forward to its arrival.

Denise Mincey-Mills, B.B.A. ’79 First Black Graduates chair Miami, Florida

Napoleon Santos, B.S. ’05 West Palm Beach, Florida

Kerry Luckner, A.B. ’62 Weston, Florida

Pat on the Back I eagerly read every edition of the magazine and enjoy learning what my fellow alums have been up to.

Pet on the Back

Recollections about Race

I received the latest Miami magazine and was pleased to learn about the U PUP program (“Ruff Life: Canine Companion Comes to College,” Fall 2015). Although

Reading your article about black history at UM (“Bringing Black History to the Forefront at UM”) brought back memories of things I encountered that I found very strange at the time. Upon arriving at the Coral Gables bus terminal from the airport at the start of my freshman year, it was the first time I had ever seen a sign in a bus asking “Negroes” to sit in the back. Also, the water fountains and bathrooms in the terminal were still marked as to race.

Coming from New York it Trenton, U PUP’s founding father, gets his was an instant reminder send-off to canine companion training. that I was in the South.

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COURTESY UPUP/KIRA TELFORD

Proud Parent

speaker; George Knox, J.D. ’73, as our featured speaker at the UTrailblazers Gala; and the unveiling of an endowed First Black Graduates Scholarship Fund and our UTrailblazers Legacy Wall. The First Black Graduates Project is resulting in the re-engagement of black graduates from the ’60s and ’70s and a rekindling of our love for the University of Miami.

We will also be recognizing at the gala our “Top of the Class” graduates, including Long, Knox, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, M.Ed. ’73; Ray Bellamy, B.S.Ed. ’72, M.S.Ed. ’97; C.J. Latimore, B.F.A. ’76; Kim Sands, B.Ed. ’78; Finesse Mitchell, B.S.C. ’95; and others.

my undergraduate and graduate degrees gave me a good education, fate led me into pet food marketing for the bulk of my career. In addition, I bred and showed Scottish Terriers and had some outstanding champions.

Good luck to U PUP!

Glenda Kaplan, B.Ed. ’71 Rockville Centre, New York

Automotive Ingenuity A little more about the South Campus (Inbox, Spring 2016). Between 1955 and 1959, those of us who were engineering students and members of the UM Society of Automotive Engineers chapter conducted an economy run each year on the big onemile diameter circular blimp runway. Our faculty advisor, mechanical engineering professor John Gill, devised a one-gallon gas can we would mount on each car—from my 1950 Hillman Minx, his 1949 MG TC, to many newer cars—and drive until the car stopped. Professor Gill was an absolutely superb teacher and mentor who had worked for Bell Aircraft on the design of the P-59, the first U.S. jet fighter. And he drove that MG TC, a right-hand drive car with a shift lever on the left, with no left arm. We never knew how he changed gears. I also never saw the top up on the car in the four years I was getting my degree. He sure made my four years on the old campus a lot more pleasant and productive.

Charlie Simpson, B.S.M.E. ’59, Colonel, USAF (Ret.) Breckenridge, Colorado

Surprised Subject Wow! I was so happily surprised to see I got chosen as a ’Cane in the Act in the Fall 2015 edition! I just wanted to take a moment to send my thanks and again mention how much I enjoy the magazine!

Priya Idiculla, A.B. ’03 New York, New York CORRECTIONS In the Spring 2016 issue: Owing to an editing error, “Remotely in Control” implied there were no laws against nonconsensual

pornography when the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative was started in 2012. At the time, there were three. Currently 34 states and the District of Columbia have criminal laws against nonconsensual porn.

“Harnessing Emoji Mania” incorrectly reported that Travis Montaque, B.B.A. ’14, was born in Jamaica. His family is from Jamaica.

Finally, “’Canes Connect with New President” stated that there were 30 alumni grand marshals selected for Inauguration 2016. There were 51. We regret the errors.

MIAMI

The University of Miami Magazine

­ Assistant Vice President for Communications and Marketing

WRITE TO US Letters should be fewer than 300 words and may be edited for style, length, and clarity. Please include contact information.

Todd Ellenberg

Executive Director for Communications and Marketing

Meredith Camel, M.F.A. ’12 Editor

Robin Shear Creative Director and Art Director

Scott Fricker

Associate Editor

Robert C. Jones Jr.

ADDRESS LETTERS TO: Inbox, Miami P.O. Box 248105 Coral Gables, FL 33124

Assistant Art Director

Kristian Rodriguez, B.S.C. ’04 Graphic Designer

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EMAIL: miami.editor@miami.edu.

Editorial Contributors

Maya Bell Kate Baumwell Michael Clark Jessica M. Castillo Deserae del Campo Barbara Gutierrez Megan Ondrizek, B.S.C. ’08 Dina Weinstein Richard Westlund, M.B.A. ’83

From the Editor

Fishing for Answers to Climate Change

­

A jellyfish pulsing in a parking lot. A school of baby mullet swimming in a No Parking zone. Not your typical neighborhood sights. But South Beach, regularly touted by the media as the next Atlantis, is not your typical neighborhood. When I moved there 18 years ago, rising tides were the last thing on my mind. After years of navigating flooded streets and dodging construction blockades from a multimillion-dollar effort to elevate streets and install pump stations, my perspective has changed.

Still, here on this “Billion Dollar Sandbar,” we’ve been relatively lucky. Elsewhere, as in the South Pacific, the sea has swallowed entire islands. Whole communities of people, now known as “climate refugees,” have had to abandon their homes forever.

Peter W. Harlem, M.S. ’79, was an early voice of warning about sea-level rise. As a University of Miami grad student, Harlem made waves in the scientific community with his paper on changes in Biscayne Bay. A leading geoscientist at Florida International University, he created sea-level rise maps using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) imagery that drew international attention. Though Harlem died this year (see page 38), his work—and his chilling calculation that South Florida will be almost completely underwater by 2159—lives on.

The goal of this issue isn’t to scare you or convince you that climate change is the biggest issue of our time—though a surprising 38 percent of respondents to our admittedly unscientific poll at miami.edu/magazine said just that. Rather it is to introduce you to the award-winning UM Climate Change Special Report, which launched on Earth Day 2016. The climate.miami.edu website recently earned a platinum MarComm Award from the international Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals for its multimedia coverage of the breadth and depth of UM’s efforts to address complex concerns about our changing planet.

The work UM faculty, students, and alumni are doing—on everything from weather patterns to public health to adaptable architecture—has earned prestigious grants, drawn the interest of eco-activists like actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and inspired UM President Julio Frenk to announce a University-wide commitment to addressing the “urgent call” of climate change. “No longer can we, as a society, disregard its impact on the world around us,” said Frenk. Especially when that world is lapping at our own back yard.

—Robin Shear, editor

President

Julio Frenk Vice President for University Communications

Jacqueline R. Menendez, A.B. ’83 Senior Vice President for University Advancement and External Affairs

Sergio M. Gonzalez

Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations and Individual Giving

Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A. ’95

­ Miami is published by the University of Miami Division of University Communications.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

Distributed free of charge to alumni and friends of the University.

Postmaster and others, please send change of address notification to Miami, Office of Alumni Relations, P.O. Box 248053, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3410; telephone 305-284-2872.

Contributions of articles, photographs, and artwork are welcome; however, Miami accepts no responsibility for unsolicited items.

The comments and opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Miami or the staff of Miami.

Copyright ©2016, University of Miami.

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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NEWS, PEOPLE, CULTURE, AND RESEARCH FROM CAMPUS AND BEYOND

Zeroing in on Zika More than a year before the first cases of locally transmitted Zika virus were detected in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, forward-thinking experts from the University of Miami were anticipating its arrival in South Florida by tracking the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries it and researching how to better understand, test for, and treat the virus.

With Zika cases rising in the state, the University’s new Zika Global Network held its first panel discussion in September to address the virus and its local impacts. Hosted by the Miller School of Medicine and UHealth – the University of Miami Health System, the forum was moderated by UM President Julio Frenk, who called on Congress to approve emergency funding for Zika research, treatment, and monitoring.

JORGE R. PEREZ

Global network of experts gives update on the vector-borne virus

President Frenk, center, moderates the Zika experts panel.

some infants may look normal at birth but fail to meet developmental milestones in their first year.”

“ Investing in our capacity for fundamental scientific research lets us retool our capabilities to meet new threats.”

“The cost of caring for children born with serious health challenges, as well as the failure to develop new treatments and the loss of our collective sense of security from government inaction, is many times higher than the dollars being discussed in Congress,” he said.

Christine L. Curry, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology who consults with the state Department of Health, noted how difficult it is to quantify the risks of microcephaly, a birth defect in which the infant’s head is smaller than normal, and other risks of Zika for prospective parents and pregnant women “because new data keeps emerging. As we learn more about Zika, we are finding that 4 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

Several scientists discussed potential Zika vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tools—some possibly available by the end of this year. Awaiting FDA approval, for example, is a diagnostic blood test that can detect the Zika virus at its earliest stages for a fraction of the time— within an hour—and cost of current tests. The work comes from the lab of Mario Stevenson, professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and director of the Institute of AIDS and Emerging Infectious Diseases, who noted that the Miller School’s longstanding collaboration with infectious disease researchers in Brazil “helped us respond more quickly to this threat and

leverage the research infrastructure in place here.”

Another Miller School research team is developing an even simpler, less expensive “paper strip” test that ultimately could serve as a customizable platform for testing other viruses.

And given globalization, public health experts are certain others will follow. As Frenk said, “From AIDS to Zika, we face an entire alphabet of viruses. Investing in our capacity for fundamental scientific research lets us retool our capabilities to meet new threats.”

Other panelists included David I. Watkins, professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Pathology; Ivan A. Gonzalez, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics and specialist in pediatric infectious diseases; Paola N. Lichtenberger, assistant professor of clinical medicine and director of the Tropical Disease Program; and John C. Beier, professor of public health sciences and director of the Division of Environment and Public Health.

Visit uhealthsystem.com/zika-virus for more information.

R+ D Update

Organ Cloner

Rocketman

Using traditional engineering materials, stem cells harvested from rodents and humans, and 3-D printing, Ashutosh Agarwal, assistant professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Pathology, creates artificial human organs—on “chips” about the size of a USB stick or credit card—that “will enable cheaper and faster drug development, discovery of therapies for some of the most intractable human diseases (such as type 1 diabetes, heart failure, lung cancer, and pulmonary fibrosis), and help make stem cell therapy a reality,” says Agarwal. “We think we can make animal testing irrelevant.” The research is supported by the UM College of Engineering, The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute at UM (BioNIUM), National Institutes of Health, BioNIUM Research Award, and UM-FIU Nanotechnology Award.

Scientists built it with a mission to explore the nature of black holes, mysterious dark matter, and even the origins of the universe. But when Japan’s Hitomi satellite spiraled out of control only a month after it achieved orbit earlier this year, astronomers thought all was lost. Then came news that made scientists like the University of Miami’s Massimiliano Galeazzi breathe a sigh of relief. In its short life the doomed satellite had collected valuable X-ray data from a distant galaxy cluster.

“Clusters are the building blocks of the universe,” explains Galeazzi, associate chair and professor of physics at the College of Arts and Sciences, who collaborated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA to develop the systematic goals and strategies for the mission. “Hitomi could measure much better than anything before it the energy or wavelength of the X-ray radiation coming from an astronomical object.”

Developed and built at NASA’s

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Goddard Space Flight Center, Hitomi, which means “pupil of the eye,” captured X-ray gasses emanating from the Perseus cluster, a collection of galaxies joined by gravity and located 240 million light years from Earth. The cluster radiates hot gasses, averaging 90 million degrees, previously unmeasurable by astrophysicists.

Studying the data Hitomi captured, scientists found that the hot gases between galaxies within the cluster are moving more slowly and in a less turbulent manner than expected. Examining the movement and turbulence of gas is vital to understanding the growth and parameters of the universe and how galaxies form and evolve.

“The instrument,” says Galeazzi, “has revolutionized the field of X-ray astrophysics and paved the way for the next generation of X-ray telescopes.” The findings were published in the journal Nature on July 7.

Galeazzi also received NASA’s Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement for Science Award as part of a team that developed an instrument called the sheath transport observer for redistribution mass, or STORM.

Designed to study the X-ray glow and capture images from our solar system and its surroundings, STORM is the first X-ray imager using micro-porous (or lobster-eye) optics successfully launched into space. Galeazzi led the mission in which STORM, also developed at Goddard Space Flight Center, flew attached to the UM Diffuse X-ray from the Local Galaxy rocket. miami.edu/sounding-rocket

Critical Care Registered nurse Valerie Halstead, B.S.N. ’12, a School of Nursing and Health Studies Ph.D. candidate researching how campus health centers can implement best practices in caring for victims of sexual violence, was among 10 student leaders honored at the “It’s On Us White House Champions of Change” event in April.

She was nominated by the UM President’s Campus Coalition on Sexual Violence and Prevention.

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New Rankings Reflect Greater Diversity, Less Debt U.S. News: UM is one of the top-tier research universities graduating students with the least debt The University of Miami is emerging as one of the top research universities in the nation whose students have some of the lowest debt when they collect their diplomas. At UM, students are graduating with an average debt of $19,000, the fifth lowest among top private research universities, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 “Best Colleges” rankings, released September 13.

“We are working hard to reduce the debt of our neediest students, and will continue to do so as our resources permit,” says Thomas J. LeBlanc, the University’s executive vice president and provost.

UM’s goal is to provide financial aid to meet 100 percent of undergraduate student need, an objective President Julio Frenk announced during his January inauguration. “If education is to fulfill its crucial function of expanding opportunities,” he stated, “we must build a bridge between excellence and access.”

In the U.S. News rankings, the University of Miami came in 44th in the “Best National Universities” category, jumping from No. 51 last year. UM is the top-ranked school in Florida.

In addition, the publication ranked UM 27th in the nation in the “2017 Best Colleges for Veterans” category for offering benefits and assistance to help veterans and active-duty service members pursue their education.

UM is also listed among the top universities in the country, at 24th, for having the largest proportion of undergraduate international students, an important category in our global society, notes U.S. News, because “befriending and learning to collaborate with students from other countries can be rewarding personally and professionally.”

Earlier this year, U.S. News awarded

the Miller School of Medicine’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute the No. 1 ranking in its “Best Hospitals 2017 Edition” for the 15th time in 27 years. The Miller School has climbed 12 spots in 10 years, ranking among the top 50 in U.S. News’ 2017 edition of “Best Graduate Schools.” Graduate programs in the top tier included the Department of Physical Therapy (No. 10), the Tax Law program (No. 12), the Clinical Psychology program (No. 25), the Health Care Management program (No. 33), the Doctor of Nursing Practice (No. 38) and Master of Science in Nursing (No. 40) programs, and the Marine Geosciences program (No. 42).

In another national survey, the inaugural Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings, UM ranked No. 37—again Florida’s top-ranked school—out of more than 1,000 public and private institutions. Only two other top-50 institutions in the survey ranked higher than UM on student engagement.

Only five in the top 50 ranked higher on the diversity of the learning environment. Other ranking factors included graduation rate, academic reputation, and resources, such as the capacity to effectively deliver teaching.

“I was especially pleased to see the University of Miami do so well in the WSJ/THE ranking because the methodology gives weight to student diversity and engagement, two areas of pride and strength for our University,” says LeBlanc.

JENNY ABREU

Top Trustee Elected Royal Caribbean CEO is UM’s new board chair Richard D. Fain, the chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises since 1988, was elected to a two-year term as the chair of the University of Miami’s Board of Trustees during May’s board meeting. He succeeds Stuart A. Miller, J.D. ’82. A UM trustee since 1997, Fain served as vice chair since 2014 and chaired the presidential search committee that named Julio Frenk UM’s sixth president last year. He is on the board’s executive committee and 6 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

chairs the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science’s Visiting Committee.

Also at the meeting, trustee Hilarie Bass, J.D. ’81, president-elect of the American Bar Association, was reinstalled as vice chair, prominent Miami lawyer H.T. Smith, J.D. ’73, was newly appointed as a vice chair, and Noor Joudi, B.S. ’15, the Miller School of Medicine Student Government president, was named student trustee.

Stuart A. Miller, J.D. ’82, left, passes the gavel of leadership to Richard D. Fain.

Eye on Athletics The son of Jamaican immigrants, Jackson grew up in Kendall, played football for Felix Varela Senior High School, and wears UM orange and green boxing trunks in the ring.

Demos recalls he was a natural from the moment he took up the sport. “He was strong and fast, and very athletic, and had

as Jackson is. But then, it’s also rare for boxers to have and to make so many good choices in life.

“I’ve trained a couple of boxers with CJ’s talent level, but never anyone like CJ, and who he is outside the ring. He doesn’t smoke; he doesn’t do drugs, and he rarely drinks. He works ridiculously hard—never

One of the nearly 50 club sports available at the University of Miami is boxing. One young man who joined that club just a few years ago has already rocketed to an undefeated professional career.

When Courtney “CJ” Jackson enrolled at UM in 2012 on the post-September 11 G.I. Bill, the former Navy medic joined UM’s boxing club team at the Herbert Wellness Center, where he met the club team’s trainer Mickey Demos Jr., J.D. ’93.

Jackson, who went on to earn intercollegiate championships in 2013 and 2014 before turning pro in 2015, is poised for stellar success in the ring, says Demos.

Weighing in at around 140 pounds, Coached as an amateur by alumnus Mickey Demos Jr., J.D. ’93, at right, Courtney Jackson, whose “CJ” Jackson, above and far right, won United States Intercollegiate Boxing record is currently Association Championships.

14-0 with eight knockouts, is a senior great instincts. And he missed a workout since biology major in the learned and picked it up I met him. Even being in College of Arts and quickly,’’ says Demos, also school is odd in boxing.’’

Sciences with plans to a titled boxer who, at age He’s also unflappable, attend medical school.

8, followed his father, the says Demos. Nothing rattles “I have extremely high late UM boxing legend Jackson or makes him standards for myself,” says Mickey Demos Sr., M.D. nervous. When a trainer Jackson, 29, who runs six ’57, A.B./B.S. ’82, J.D. ’86, collapsed ringside and quit miles and spars three times into the ring. breathing while Jackson daily.

“I learn something every was sparring at a Liberty He recently decided to time I step in that ring,” City gym, it was Jackson devote the fall semester says Jackson. who jumped out of the ring to competing but plans Still, Demos says, it’s to perform CPR and revive to return to class this almost unheard of for him, climbing back in the spring to complete his final professional boxers to start ring before the ambulance semesters at UM. as late and become as good even arrived, recalls Demos.

KATE BAUMWELL

Premed Pro Has a Fighting Chance

Jackson credits his military service for his discipline and ability to deal with high-pressure situations. He spent five years as a medic, including 10 months in Afghanistan, where level heads and rapid responses were essential to saving lives. The Marines called him “Doc,” turning his boyhood dream of being a doctor into a calling—but perhaps after he attempts to win a world boxing title.

“I am very competitive, so just to know I was the best at something, that’s priceless,” Jackson says.

“But I know not to put all your eggs in one basket, not to draw yourself too thin. You may have A, B, and C on your plan, but life may give you D and E.” If anyone can succeed at

boxing and medicine, Demos believes it’s CJ. If so, he’ll be following the footwork of Demos’s late father, whose boxing prowess brought national attention to the U in the late 1940s and early ’50s. After twice making it to the NCAA boxing championships, Demos Sr. joined UM’s inaugural medical school class, later serving as the physician for the 1980 U.S. Olympics boxing team.

—Maya Bell

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LGBTQ Center Opens on Campus Director committed to fostering inclusivity for all students Van Bailey is not shy about telling people he was once homeless. His gender identity and sexual orientation were at odds with his family’s conservative religious and cultural background, so at age 14, he transferred from his North Carolina high school to a performing arts school with a dormitory he could call home. Then he lived year-round on campus through college and grad school.

transgender, queer, and questioning students, and allies. Previously Bailey served as Harvard College’s inaugural director of BGLTQ Student Life.

Creation of the University’s LGBTQ Student Center brings to fruition a key priority of the LGBTQ Task Force and Implementation Committee, which have been working since 2013 to make significant changes, including designation of

DONNA VICTOR

“I do this work because it’s life or death.”

—Van Bailey, director of UM’s newly created LGBTQ Student Center.

Today Bailey feels right at home at the University of Miami, where he is the inaugural director of the LGBTQ Student Center, which opened this fall in the Whitten University Center on the Coral Gables campus. Housed in the Division of Student Affairs, the center supports the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual,

gender-neutral restrooms and a genderinclusive housing option.

“People ask why I do this work,” Bailey says, “and I say it’s because it’s life or death. Literally. There are students out there who are contemplating their worth every day. I’ve seen students pull themselves out of some really dark places.”

National studies confirm that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more than twice as likely to commit suicide, and transgender people are more than nine times as likely.

Bailey’s early obstacles with his family, which have been healing in recent years, didn’t dissuade him from being an outspoken advocate for identitybased dialogue as a way to foster inclusivity. Now, on the national stage, Bailey serves on the boards of the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals. He also works with organizations to reduce violence against women and girls—including the California-based Brown Boi Project, which he credits for broadening his perspective on patriarchy as a transgender man and a feminist.

“LGBTQ people aren’t a monolith,” Bailey says. “We are diverse and international and have differing abilities. We as a University community are going to work hard for students to feel like they can see themselves in the center, regardless of whether they identify as a Muslim lesbian from Kansas or a Latino gay man from Miami. It’s very important for them to feel they have a safe space where they don’t have to check other identities at the door.”

Bailey discusses the LGBTQ center and a “culture of belonging” at tinyurl.com/zpd62wr.

Frenk Joins United Nations Foundation Board UM president: ‘We have reached a new global crossroad’ University of Miami President Julio Frenk was named in May to the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation.

“We have reached a new global crossroad where, from public health to social and economic inequity to climate change, we are faced with both extraordinary opportunities and real and far-reaching risks,” Frenk said. “Our greater aspirations for human advancement depend on our ability to unite in purpose and in practice at the United

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Nations. I am honored to join the board of the UN Foundation and to champion collaboration and sustainable development with my fellow members.”

Founded as a public charity in 1998 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner, the UN Foundation has evolved into a problemsolver that builds public-private partnerships and implements issuebased campaigns to connect people, ideas,

and resources. Frenk and fellow appointee Baroness Valerie Amos, director of SOAS University of London, join a distinguished list of leaders on the board, including Nobel laureate and former UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan. The announcement came during the foundation’s board meeting, and coincided with the Women Deliver Conference on the health, rights, and well-being of girls and women.

DONNA VICTOR

Faculty Files

NASA Mission Boosts Professor’s ‘Cool’ Quotient Seeing astronauts walk on the moon inspired Walter G. Secada as a teen. Now NASA is looking to Secada for insight. The professor and senior associate dean of the School of Education and Human Development has embarked on a two-year term as the first holder of a seat on NASA’s 15-member National Advisory Council Science Committee.

Secada looks forward to helping translate new knowledge from space into an educational mission.

“This is the first time an advisory committee at this level has an educator on it,” he says. “I hope to give substantive advice on how space science might interface with education.

Meanwhile, my efforts will help to shape and define the future function of this seat.”

Secada’s research interests include equity in education, mathematics and bilingual education, school restructuring, professional development of teachers, student engagement, and reform. On faculty at UM since 2003, he was associate director and co-principal investigator (PI) of the original Promoting Science among English Language Learners (P-SELL) study, which resulted in dramatic test score improvements in math, writing, and science among Englishlanguage learners in Miami elementary schools and a set of curriculum materials for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He served as director and PI of Language in Mathematics, an Institute of Education Sciences (IES)funded project designed

to help teachers better facilitate mathematics for English-language learners, and as associate director and co-PI of Science Made Sensible, a National Science Foundation-funded fellowship training program.

He is currently associate director and co-PI of a largescale randomized control trial replication of an IESfunded professional development program to improve mathematics instruction by giving primary grade teachers research-based knowledge of how children reason when they do mathematics.

Born in Peru and raised in Miami, Secada studied philosophy at the University of Notre Dame before earning his master’s degree in mathematics and Ph.D. in education at Northwestern.

For more than 20 years he

has continued to serve his birth country, conducting collaborative research on student achievement and advising Peru’s Ministry of Education on its mathematics curriculum. In recognition of these efforts, he has been awarded an honorary professorship from Universidad La Salle in Arequipa, Peru.

His recent NASA appointment has only boosted his enthusiasm.

“As a childhood immigrant, I see it as an honor to be asked to serve my country in any capacity,” says Secada. “However, this particular appointment has that overlay of cool that is beyond the wildest dreams of that high school geek who watched the moon landing on black-and-white TV.” —Barbara Gutierrez

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 9

UniversityJournal

On Course Shortly after arriving in the Galápagos Islands to lead his summer study-abroad course, School of Communication professor Joseph B. Treaster, A.B. ’65, dropped by the office of the Galápagos National Park and Galápagos Marine Reserve, hoping to catch the interim director at his desk. Instead, the former New York Times reporter and foreign correspondent caught a whiff of a breaking news story and, with old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, nailed it down: Africa Berdonces, an energetic young woman who rides a beat-up bicycle and often wears flip-flops, was about to take charge of managing the Galápagos Islands, one of the world’s environmental treasures.

Within 48 hours, Treaster’s story about Berdonces, complete with photographs of her, a blue-footed booby, and other iconic Galápagos animals taken

by UM technical specialist Thomas Rodriguez, appeared in The Times, providing a real-life learning experience for

10 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

the eight UM students who had come to the Galápagos to sharpen their critical thinking and writing skills by communing with nature.

During the threeweek, six-credit course, “The Galápagos Islands: Environment and Culture, Writing, Research, Critical Thinking,” the students swim with sea lions and Africa Berdonces keeps watch over the Galápagos Islands. penguins, hike volcanoes, get within inches of giant Galápagos and turn their reporting into articles,’’ tortoises, and study Charles Darwin and says Treaster. climate change—all as a precursor to That’s something Treaster, himself writing articles on Galápagos issues that a product of UM’s journalism program, will be published in the Miami Planet, knows inside out. He often draws on the University’s online environmental his 30-plus years of experience at The magazine.

New York Times to inform his UM “We’re using the Times article as classes on the fundamentals—including a model for the work the students are keen observations and an inquisitive doing and to show them how reporters nature—of reporting and writing for conduct interviews, seize opportunities, mass audiences.

—Maya Bell

THOMAS RODRIGUEZ

The Galápagos Islands

Student Spotlight During the summer of 2015, University of Miami junior Rachel Medaugh began working in the Juneau Icefield Research Program as a student researcher. Her duties involved compiling information on the mass balance—or health—of two glaciers: the Taku and the Lemon Creek, situated along the 100-mile ice field in southeast Alaska.

Calculated mass balance—the collection of accumulation and ablation (melting) data of the glacier—reveals whether a glacier is gaining or losing mass, an essential data point in determining the health of a glacier.

“It shook me how much the glaciers in the area were melting,” recalls Medaugh. “In places where we dug snow pits that were 15 meters deep in previous years, we were digging four- to five-meter pits.

There was no snow, nothing to help preserve the glacier’s mass through the long melt season.”

This summer, Medaugh returned to Juneau as the program’s logistics lead, scheduling helicopter deliveries to the ice field and providing other support services for the crew out on the glaciers.

“Glaciers are massive indicators of what’s occurring to the climate worldwide, and they reflect that in their health—or lack thereof,” she explains.

“Glaciers occur only in certain climates and as those climates shift, so too will the appearance of glaciers.”

Glacial Ace Rachel Medaugh examines Alaskan ice fields.

Medaugh, a major in international studies and ecosystem science and policy, sees a clear link between her fieldwork and her interest in environmental policy.

“I was able to see firsthand how climate change is slowly destroying the glacial system in Juneau,” she says. “It’s a very stark and shocking thought for me. These beautiful natural occurrences may not be around in 200 years, and the ecosystem that has developed around them will be completely gone, so essentially the glacial ecosystem is endangered.”

After spending her second summer in Juneau, Medaugh headed off to her next eco-adventure—a fall semester abroad in the Galápagos Islands.

Through UM’s Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, Medaugh is able to pursue her academic goals while learning from the diverse range of faculty members and subject matter affiliated with the center. She is also assistant director of UM’s Student Government Green Committee, and serves on the board of the Student Government ECO Agency.

“I want to be able to show the undeniable link between science and policy, and encourage and facilitate politicians and scientists to work together to take on the ever-growing environmental challenges our world is facing,” she says.

—Megan Ondrizek, B.S.C. ’08

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 11

Solving the

CLIMATE PUZZLE 12 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

With climate modeling and fieldwork, UM researchers unravel the complex processes that determine global climate and the local threat of rising seas.

BY MAYA BELL

JUST BEFORE SUNSET ON A PICTURE-PERFECT SOUTH FLORIDA EVENING, members of a Miami real estate organization greenhouse gases and rising global air and meet at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and sea temperatures, and how it will affect Atmospheric Science to learn about the bigsea levels in a particular place, like South gest threat to their livelihoods and the most Florida, is even more difficult. tangible consequence of the warming planet As Kirtman, head of UM’s Cooperative in South Florida: rising seas.

Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Since the 1950s, sea levels have risen by Science, says, “It is harder than rocket about 9 inches right outside the school’s science.” dock and are expected to outpace the projected global average of up to 3 feet by 2100.

Pieces of the Puzzle Among the world’s most populous cities But, with more than $40 million in federal most vulnerable to rising seas, Miami also annual grants—over half from the National has the most to lose—more than an estiOceanic and Atmospheric Administration— mated $3.66 trillion in assets sitting on an UM faculty are busy tracking and analyzing indefensible, porous base. global changes in water vapor, clouds, rainLeading the group up the catwalks of the fall, hurricanes, melting ice sheets, and the Rosenstiel School’s $15 million SUSTAIN heat content, circulation, and biogeochemis(SUrge-STructure-Atmosphere INteraction) try of the ocean to bring the science home. laboratory, Ben Kirtman, professor of at“We need to make that translation— mospheric sciences, says the 38,000-gallon understanding what the global sea rise wind-and-wave tank that can simulate a means for Miami and surrounding areas,” Category 5 hurricane will one day help foresays Rosenstiel School Dean Roni Avissar. casters predict which hurricanes will sud“That’s the next big challenge, and where denly and rapidly strengthen.

Rosenstiel is particularly well equipped “The reason we’re so bad at understanding to provide leadership at the University of and predicting intensity,” Kirtman explains, Miami and in the community.” “is we don’t have a really good idea of how For decades, the primary cause of rising the ocean and the atmosphere transfer enseas was thermal expansion. As ocean waters ergy at the air-sea interface.” warmed, they expanded, taking up more Understanding how the oceans and space. Then in the 1990s, when Greenland atmosphere drive the world’s climate is imand Antarctic ice began visibly melting, mensely complicated. The sea and air are in sea levels rose more. Now, research shows, perpetual motion. Like giant moving puzzles, changes in large-scale ocean circulation may each has innumerable interlocking parts. be playing an increasing role, which given its Understanding what proximity to the mighty each piece does, what it Gulf Stream, is critical Explore the UM News did in the past, how it for a state like Florida to Climate Change Special Report varies naturally, how it’s understand—and very at climate.miami.edu changing with increasing worrisome to Kirtman. miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 13

KAYLEEN MCMONIGAL

Agulhas’ warmer and saltier waters into the Atlantic at that hairpin turn may be altering the heat balance of the Atlantic, with repercussions for climate and sea level around the U.S. and Europe.

“Evidence from the models and observations show that western boundary currents are at the heart of climate change,” Beal says, “because they are the fastest warming areas of the ocean. The question is why and what does that mean for us?”

Rosenstiel oceanographer Lisa Beal, left, studies how changes in one of Earth’s most dynamic currents, the Indian Ocean’s Agulhas, may be altering the heat balance of the Atlantic, with repercussions for the climate and sea levels around the U.S. and Europe.

“The Gulf Stream really affects sea level here,” says Kirtman, a climate modeler who has worked with the Center for Computational Science as head of its Cimate and Environmental Hazards Program to develop the highest-resolution global ocean-and-atmosphere simulation of the Gulf Stream. “If the Gulf Stream is really strong, it suppresses sea level. If the Gulf Stream weakens, sea levels rise. A lot of models seem to show, when you look 30 years out, that the Gulf Stream is going to weaken because of climate change.”

But the Gulf Stream is just one piece of the puzzle, a single strand in a web of oceanic conveyer belts that moves enormous quantities of fresh water and heat from the tropics to northern latitudes.

There, the heat is released into the atmosphere and the saltier waters sink, overturning in the depths and flowing back south under the Gulf Stream.

Known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, it is one of the primary determinants of our climate (see sidebar).

Oceanographer Lisa Beal, Rosentiel’s associate dean of research and professor of ocean sciences, is studying how changes in one of Earth’s most dynamic currents, the Indian Ocean’s Agulhas, may be influencing the AMOC. Flowing south along Africa’s east coast to the tip of the continent, the Agulhas abruptly reverses direction south of the Cape of Good Hope. Though half a world away, increased leakage of the 14 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

The Good and the Bad Those questions consume Amy Clement, associate dean and professor of atmospheric science. As a member of the Rosenstiel School’s elite climate modeling group, she attempts to predict the future of a warming planet by studying the range of climate variability that naturally occurred in the past.

“If you’re a water manager in Florida, you needed to know this past January would be the wettest January on record because of El Niño,” Clement says, referring to the warming of the natural ocean cycle that periodically disrupts “normal” weather patterns around the world.

“Ultimately that’s our goal—to give people information that is regionally appropriate, on a scale that actually matters to them.”

Research conducted by Clement’s fellow climate modeler and atmospheric scientist Brian Soden on how warming trends will affect extreme weather events like hurricanes has brought a sliver of good news to Florida. From his modeling, he doesn’t expect warming trends to intensify hurricanes in the Atlantic. But with rising seas, he sees unprecedented storm-surge flooding in southeast Florida.

“In 1992, Hurricane Andrew was just a wind event because the ridge along the east coast limited the inundation from storm surge,” says Soden. “But, add three feet of sea level to that same storm, and our topography can’t help.

Two-thirds of Dade County will be inundated.”

For now, the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, which is developing strategies for nuisance flooding, saltwater intrusion into

freshwater supplies, and land subsidence that is already affecting cities like Miami Beach, relies on global projections to predict local sea-level rise in Monroe, MiamiDade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

The picture those projections paint for a region that sits on porous limestone are as uncertain as they are unsettling.

Over the next 15 years—half the average mortgage cycle—South Florida waters are projected to rise 3 to 5 inches above the 3 inches they’ve already risen during the past 15 years. Mid- and long-term projections are even starker: between 11 and 22 inches of additional sea-level rise by 2060, and between 28 and 57 inches— about the height of a car—by 2100.

The widening ranges in the longerterm estimates are due, in part, to uncertainties about how much and fast ice sheets will continue to melt and whether humans dramatically reduce their output of greenhouse gases.

In 1995, when Harold Wanless, professor and chair of the Department of Geological Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, began sharing the mounting scientific evidence that human activity was responsible for the warming trends, he was ridiculed. “Business people yelled at me,” recalls Wanless.

“Some scientists thought I was wacko.”

Today, there is no credible scientific debate.

Unequivocal Evidence The latest report of the United Nationssupported Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for which

Rosenstiel School scientists are working to nurture corals that can survive the ocean’s increasing heat and acidification.

Current Events

NASA

Kirtman and Soden served as authors, unequivocally concludes that increased greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2) from the fossil fuels we burn to power our lives, are warming the planet.

The evidence is overwhelming: in addition to melting ice sheets, land, air, and sea surface temperatures are increasing. Mountain glaciers are retreating. Permafrost is thawing. Droughts, torrential rainfalls, and heat waves are intensifying.

And the oceans are absorbing huge amounts of CO2—more than 40 percent of the amount released into the atmosphere since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. As a result, the ocean is growing more acidic, at great cost to sea life, particularly to the coral reefs that are vital to Florida’s tourism economy, fisheries, and coastal protection. With rising CO2 concentrations, the pH of the ocean is falling, stressing, bleaching, and killing coral in record numbers.

Chris Langdon, chair of the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology and director of the Corals and Climate Change Lab, who published the first paper showing the importance of pH levels to the health of coral skeletons, is working with associate professor Andrew Baker, Ph.D. ’99, an expert in coral bleaching, to nurture more heat- and acid-resistant corals.

Their goal is to restore the health of stressed reefs by replanting them with hardier stalks that will continue providing essential fish habitats and coastal fortification—and buy time for a global solution to rising CO2 levels.

“I am relatively confident that, with all our ingenuity, we will one day find a way to remove carbon from our atmosphere,” Baker says. “But until then, we have to protect our reefs. They will help protect us from storm surge that will get worse with sea-level rise.”

As Kirtman leads the real estate professionals down the SUSTAIN catwalk, he expresses similar optimism that humans will curb their greenhouse gas emissions. “But how we get there is open for discussion. Our job at the University is to provide the very best information possible to the people who are making those decisions.”

For more visit climate.miami.edu.

An illustration of the overturning circulation of the global ocean Long an interest of oceanographers and atmospheric scientists, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) was thrust into the public eye in 2004 by a disaster movie depicting the sudden onset of another ice age when the ocean’s great heat-moving conveyer belt ground to a halt.

The timing was coincidental, but shortly after The Day After Tomorrow debuted in theaters, the University of Miami’s William Johns and scientists from the United Kingdom kicked off the first continuous study of the AMOC’s strength and structure. Known as RAPID-MOCHA, the U.K.’s Rapid Climate Change and the U.S.-funded Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heatflux Array programs have since confirmed that the large-scale overturning circulation is indeed weakening and may continue to do so—with potentially grave consequences for the global climate.

After all, the AMOC gets its name because its surface waters transport enormous amounts of nutrients, fresh water, and heat—enough to provide the United Kingdom 20,000 times the power it consumes in peak wintertime—from the tropics to northern latitudes. There, the heat is released into the atmosphere and carried easterly by westerly winds, and the surface waters cool, growing denser and sinking to the ocean depths, where they turn over and return south.

“If it weren’t for that,” says Johns, professor of ocean sciences at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, “our climate in the north and in Europe would be much colder.”

Yet, until 2004, when Johns and his U.K. collaborators at the National Oceanography Centre deployed and began monitoring a series of moored current meters and temperature sensors on the Atlantic’s 26.5°N parallel, from the Bahamas to Morocco, the understanding of the AMOC was based on sparse ship-based observations. Known as the RAPID-MOCHA array, many of the moorings were designed by members of the Rosenstiel School’s ocean technology group, who anchored the high-tech buoys with old railroad wheels.

With more than a dozen years worth of observations from those moorings, Johns and his collaborators have confirmed a statistically significant decline in the AMOC’s heat transport— much more than predicted by computer models—but they haven’t answered the question posed

by The Day After Tomorrow: What does it mean?

“It could be part of natural oscillation, or it could be a longer-term general decline associated with man-induced climate change,” Johns says. “For now, 12 years is just too short a time to say.”

It was enough time, though, to provide some surprising insights into the AMOC’s year-toyear variability, which Johns notes, is much greater than previously expected from the shipbased observations. As it turns out, the AMOC has a marked seasonal cycle, with big differences between the minimum heat transport in the spring and the minimum transport in the fall.

“We are trying to understand the physics of the variability. Is it changing because of wind forcing?’’ says Johns. “Is there a man-made element? Like everybody trying to understand how the ocean and atmosphere interact, we are faced with the problem of trying to understand both natural variability and human-induced climate change.”

—Maya Bell

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 15

Six

UM

s for tion a v o inn

climate change an taking on d other ury. environ mental challenges of the cent

U M N E WS STA F F

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY RECENTLY APPROACHED COLLEGE OF Engineering Dean Jean-Pierre Bardet and School of Architecture Dean Rodolphe el-Khoury to spearhead a University of Miami-county partnership that would explore “what we can do to create a community that will not be as vulnerable to the effect of sea-level rise,” says Bardet.

As director of UM’s Center for Urban and Community Design, Sonia Chao, B.Arch. ’83, is also working with county officials as well as faculty from throughout the University and at other local instituions to create a template for resilient development. The Resilient Miami Initiative factors in everything from architecure and geology to storm surge and coastal ecology to help the region remain viable for as long as possible.

Meanwhile UM engineering students and faculty are partnering with FPL to design ways to enhance grid stability. “A city is a very complex entity with many different systems in place—transportation, health care, water distribution, power distribution, communications systems,” says Bardet. “You have to look at the interdependency of the systems, and that requires quite a multidisciplinary approach.”

Turn the page for six more innovative efforts underway for addressing urgent concerns about sustainability, pollution, and sea-level rise.

16 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

A Resilient and

Michael Swain, right, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, works with his student, Ricardo Palacios, on converting an engine to run on methane gas.

Innovative Future

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 17

Naresh Kumar, center, installed his air pollution monitoring device at the Rosenstiel School.

SEA-LEVEL

INNOVATION BRIDGE

SOLUTION Led by Professor Antonio

Nanni, UM College of Engineering researchers unveiled a new corrosionresistant bridge on the Coral Gables campus this year. Made without a drop of steel, its lightweight, durable composite materials combat the corrosive effects of salt and water—particularly important to coastal areas impacted by rising seas due to climate change. New bridge projects are already being discussed with the Florida Department of Transportation and other municipalities. miami.edu/magazine POLLUTION

UM PRECISE

SOLUTION Naresh Kumar, an associ-

ate professor of environmental health in the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences, has devised a way to monitor air pollution around the globe in real time.

Working with Sung Jin Kim, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, and other colleagues, he created UM PRECISE (Personal Realtime Environmental Exposure using Cellphone Integrated Sensors).

The multiple optical sensors measure particulate matter, record meteorological conditions, and upload data to the internet. After three testing rounds, the tool was deployed recently on UM’s Coral Gables and Virginia Key campuses. A newer version of the sensor capable of detecting fungal and bacterial bioaerosols is being tested as well.

Kumar also tracks air pollution rates in Delhi, India, using satellite data and with assistance from UM’s Center for Computational Science, then posts the 18 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

data on a website, which allows the public and policymakers to access daily air pollution estimates. He plans to launch similar websites in Cleveland, Ohio, where smog has become a major public health issue, and Texas, where fracking—a technique in which chemicals are injected deep underground to break up rocks surrounding oil and gas deposits—has led to serious environmental and health concerns.

ENERGY SOLUTION

FLASH CHARGE BATTERIES

The rechargeable lithiumion battery, found in everything from mobile phones to electric cars, is the workhorse of the portable power world.

It stores lots of energy but is bulky and slow to charge.

Xiangyang Zhou, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is developing a new type of energy storage device that can help harness the potential of green power sources. Zhou is working to turn the battery workhorse into a new breed of racehorse with his patented “solidstate energy storage device.” Marketed under the name Flash Charge Batteries, it’s really a paper-thin supercapacitor that works on the principles of static electricity.

“Wind and solar can completely power the United States, and we can use the existing electricity infrastructure,” Zhou says. “The supercapacitor will have a very important role. It’s the key player in our whole energy future.”

For the past five years, Zhou has been building a supercapacitor that stores energy like a battery but is not powered by liquid chemical reactions, which can leak and catch fire. The Flash Charge Zhou and his team are creating

stores and transfers much more electricity than the average supercapacitor, thanks to a configuration of electrolytes “sandwiched” around a middle membrane that moves electrons quickly, combined with materials that densely pack electrons.

His design has the potential to revolutionize transportation, including flight. “Electric airplanes today can go only about 200 miles because of the storage [and weight] limitations of lithium-ion batteries,” he says. “The idea with this supercapacitor is that you can make it into a panel that’s also the body of the plane. So the airplane itself is the battery.”

Zhou’s supercapacitor could even be embedded into a solar panel or wind turbine, he notes, to absorb whatever the environment dishes out and release a steady flow of electrons into a grid or battery. Production costs and the hefty weight of batteries are why today’s electric cars are expensive and have a limited range. The life of a battery is also much shorter than that of a supercapacitor, which can be charged and discharged repeatedly without breaking down. A lightweight supercapacitor design like Zhou’s could help make fast, affordable, long-range electric cars a reality.

His work has received funding from the Office of Naval Research, as well as private investors. With building and testing of prototypes underway in his lab, he says the supercapacitor is almost ready for commercial use.

FUEL

METHANE AS FUEL

SOLUTION Michael Swain, B.S.

’71, M.S. ’73, Ph.D. ’79, spent years researching hydrogen as an alternative to gasoline for internal combustion engines. It burns clean, but it’s

The UM Center for Southeastern Tropical Remote Sensing (CSTARS) is located on the University’s Richmond Facility campus in south Miami-Dade County.

costly to produce. “As I looked around for another fuel source, I found one that’s free—methane from landfills.

Right now landfills have to pay to get rid of methane by flaring it. So for them, this is a profitable enterprise,” says Swain, associate professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

The decomposition of organic materials in landfills produces greenhouse gases—methane and carbon dioxide. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the global warming impact of methane is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. Through its Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), the EPA has partnered with legislators, landfill operators, and other industry personnel to convert methane into energy at some 600 sites nationwide—and potentially hundreds more.

The EPA estimates that if all qualifying sites participated in LMOP, they could power more than half a million U.S. homes, in addition to generating energy to run landfill operations. Swain, an internal combustion engine specialist, thinks he and his collaborators can crank the power and number of sites even higher with a more efficient engine approach.

Most LMOP sites run their methane through large diesel engines, commonly produced by Caterpillar. Swain’s team purchases used automobile engines to produce Redesigned during Remanufacture (RDR) internal combustion engines modified for this purpose.

He says a bank of four RDR engines can yield more energy output than one larger, more expensive diesel generator. Plus, Swain’s strategy recycles junkyard waste and creates job opportunities for auto mechanics who can service the engines.

Swain’s team is testing an RDR engine at a landfill in West Palm Beach, Florida.

FORECAST

ICE MELT ALGORITHM

SOLUTION UM Rosenstiel gradu-

ate student Macarena Ortiz is working with the high-resolution satellite imagery streaming into the UM Center for Southeastern Tropical Remote Sensing (CSTARS) to help improve the current projections of seasonal sea ice melt in the Arctic. Ortiz has developed a new technique to quickly analyze the imagery to estimate the size of sea ice melt ponds in the Arctic Ocean. Melt ponds are brilliant blue pools of water that form on top of Arctic sea ice during winter. By measuring the ponds in the springtime, researchers can predict the extent of the summer melt season.

“Once you have a section analyzed, you can very quickly and accurately calculate the overall melting season across the Arctic using this new technique,” says CSTARS director and ocean sciences professor Hans Graber.

Estimating the seasonal sea ice melt is of interest environmentally and economically as climate change accelerates the opening of new shipping routes in the region. The mathematical method developed by Ortiz uses an algorithm that offers the best method available to estimate three important components of the Arctic ice—the amount of ice, the amount of open water, and how many melting ponds are visible. “We use machine-learning algorithms and ‘teach’ the mathematical models to identify what is a melt pond, based on known data,” says Ortiz. “This technique, which uses pattern recognition, can then classify new unseen data.”

The Arctic, an ocean of frozen sea ice that grows and melts on a seasonal basis, is one of the most sensitive regions

on Earth to climate change. The sea ice reflects back into space nearly all of the sunlight that hits its surface. As temperatures rise, the sea ice melt absorbs more sunlight, causing further heating and melting of the ice and snow. Sea ice in the Arctic has been losing ground over the last 30 years. Although melting sea ice doesn’t directly contribute to sea-level rise (think of a melting ice cube in a glass of water), it does have a direct influence on the global circulation in the atmosphere and on the rate of global climate change.

“Most of the knowledge we have about melt ponds comes from land-fast ice, because of the relative ease of revisiting the same site,” says Ortiz. “Now that we have access to these high-resolution images, we can explore further out onto the moving ice pack.”

ZERO-ENERGY HOUSING MICROUNITS

SOLUTION Currently 400 square feet

is the minimum dwelling size in Miami, but smaller, customized homes mean less energy and more affordability. John Onyango, a School of Architecture assistant professor, is working with students to build 250-square-foot, zero-energy microunits that a Miami developer plans to use in zoning conversations with city officials. Onyango and his students also launched a project to analyze residential energy use in four zones in South Miami, in some cases setting set up sensors to identify energy leaks. They are doing an analysis of several UM buildings as well. Ideally that data would inform a retrofit of the buildings with energy-saving methods and technology.

Explore the UM News Climate Change Special Report at climate.miami.edu.

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 19

Global Health in the Age of Global Warming

From floods to droughts to heat­—the impact of climate change on public health is inspiring a new era of research and resources.

BY ROBERT C. JONES JR.

A WINGED MIGRATION HAS researchers and health officials alarmed.

In the highland regions of Africa and the Americas, disease-carrying mosquitoes have been making their way upslope, putting people at risk for viruses that previously affected only populations in lower-lying areas.

Agencies and institutes like the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Global Change Research Program have all warned that vector-borne diseases will spread more widely as the planet’s climate continues to change.

“There’s been a big debate in the literature about malaria being found at higher and higher elevations as a result of climate change,” explains Douglas O. Fuller, professor of geography and regional studies in the University of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences, who studies the distribution patterns of mosquitoes around the world. “Well, the same thing is happening in the Americas, but there hasn’t been a lot of attention in the literature.”

Fuller studies mosquito populations using environmental remote sensing and other geospatial technologies, including spatial modeling to map urban sites throughout the Americas and in Haiti.

His digital precision mapping technique uses environmental data such as climate layers to reveal the probability of a mosquito species occurring within a specific pixel on a map.

“We’ve been pretty successful,” he says. “The idea is that some of these maps will feed into mosquito control efforts and help local authorities do a much better job at targeting whatever elimination or control activities they’re engaged in—whether it’s spraying, the distribution of bed nets, or more public awareness about areas that are likely to be at higher risks.” miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 21

Health officials in Guayaquil, Ecuador, are partnering with researchers from the Miller School’s Department of Public Health Sciences to implement a new mosquito control strategy.

He has collaborated with John Beier, professor of public health sciences at the Miller School of Medicine, on a project in Honduras focusing on the distribution of breeding sites for Aedes aegypti—the original yellow fever mosquito.

“We’ve been wrestling with that critter for a long time,” Fuller says, noting that the Aedes aegypti mosquito has garnered more and more attention in the research community because of its ability to transmit multiple viruses, such as chikungunya, dengue, and Zika.

M

iller School public health sciences student Diana Naranjo also conducts field research on Aedes aegypti, the main source of Zika, in her native Ecuador, arguably ground zero for the study of vector-borne diseases.

Whitney Qualls, a UM research scientist with the Miller School of Medicine, sprays insecticide on plants in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

22 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

The last time she visited, heavy rains indicative of a strong El Niño had already started to fall, flooding many of the streets and neighborhoods of Guayaquil, city of her birth.

But rain has never really bothered Naranjo. She is more concerned with what the rain leaves behind—standing water that serves as an ideal breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

“Controlling mosquito populations is a big problem in Latin American cities where trash collection systems are not optimal and residents store their water in containers,” she explains.

Now, with Ecuador moving beyond another El Niño year, and new research suggesting climate change could double the frequency of super El Niño events, government officials there have braced for the worst, investing millions of dollars in water-management projects aimed at improving irrigation and flood prevention.

In Guayaquil, its largest and most populous city with about 2.7 million people, ministry of health officials have partnered with researchers from the Miller School’s Department of Public Health Sciences to implement a new mosquito control strategy that targets the sugar-feeding behavior of male and female Aedes aegypti.

“Most insecticides target host feeding,” says Miller School research scientist Whitney Qualls. “But with this method, we’re drawing the mosquitoes into a highly attractive source that contains a toxin, which they ingest as opposed to coming into contact with it.”

Qualls and Beier recently returned from testing the strategy in Guayaquil.

Should it prove effective, they will urge

the ministry of health to combine it with other mosquito-control measures already in place.

Beier knows better than anyone the importance of wiping out vector-borne diseases. He admits it will take more than their “attractive toxic sugar bait” method or other tactics. It will also require better drainage, more reliable water hookups to houses, and improved sanitation.

A member of the World Health Organization Vector Control Advisory Group, Beier hopes he’ll never have to live through what he experienced more than a decade ago, when, as a professor from Johns Hopkins University conducting research in Kenya, he attended a funeral where hundreds of people mourned the death of a young child who had died from malaria.

“It was painful to see,” recalls Beier, “because it’s such a preventable disease.”

At the Miller School, researchers are also fighting Zika. The first there to raise the alarm, David I. Watkins, professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Pathology, has been working with Esper G. Kallas, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, to develop a monoclonal antibody against the virus, which is primarily transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, although cases of infection through sexual intercourse have also been reported.

“We have already assessed the first 18 monoclonal antibodies at the Miller School and have found one that will neutralize the Zika virus,” says Watkins.

“The next step is seeing if we can prevent a Zika infection in rhesus monkeys. If successful, we would then produce the

antibodies in large amounts and test them for safety and efficacy in humans.”

colleagues (see page 18). He is also testing a new version of the sensor to detect fungal and bacterial bioaerosols.

T

he World Health Organization forecasts that climate change will lead to an additional 250,000 deaths per year between 2030 and 2050 caused by malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.

Bioclimatologist Larry Kalkstein, a professor in the Miller School’s Department of Public Health Sciences, studies the impact of weather—from searing heat and humidity to numbing cold—on all things living. In a previous study using long-term mortality figures, he found that deaths from heart attacks, strokes, and respiratory ailments rose sharply during intense heat waves.

He and his team at the Synoptic Climatology Laboratory collaborate with the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Global Cool Cities Alliance to help alleviate some of the stress caused by rising global temperatures. They work with cities, regions, and governments to speed the installation of white roofs and other cool surfaces, lay reflective asphalt on roads, and plant more trees.

Heat, says Kalkstein, remains one of the leading weather-related killers in the United States.

But it is not the intensity of heat that kills as much as its variability and unexpectedness. Partnering with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service and other agencies, Kalkstein has developed heat-health warning systems for more than two dozen U.S. cities, as well as in Italy, South Korea, Canada, and China, that can alert the public via radio, television, and online broadcasts whenever a potential lethal heat wave is approaching. Utility companies in some cities are using the system to decide when it’s necessary from a public health standpoint to refrain from power disconnection policies.

Another effect of the weather, Kalkstein notes, is sea-level rise, which is already causing saltwater intrusion in low-lying parts of Asia. “There are areas today where the soil is unusable for agriculture, and people are being forced to abandon these areas and move inland to areas that are better agriculturally,”

W Bioclimatologist Larry Kalkstein presents data on how heat impacts public health at a climate change symposium at the Miller School.

he says. The loss of fertile lands from flooding and, in other cases, drought is creating a new class of people forced to move due to climate-related alterations in the natural environment.

“The issue of environmental refugees should not be understated, and it’s one of the major issues in policy that climate change scientists are going to have to face,” says Kalkstein. “People are going to be displaced and will move to areas where people are already settled.

Not only will they bring with them diseases, but also population densities in certain areas of the world will increase.”

Diseases come increasingly from the air we inhale, notes Naresh Kumar, an associate professor of environmental health in the Department of Public Health Sciences. “Greater emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels in the presence of high temperatures and sunlight increase concentrations of ozone, an inflammatory gas,” he explains. “And that’s been linked with asthma, stroke, and cardiopulmonary disease.”

Although stringent legislation has helped to reduce air pollution in the U.S., he adds, respiratory disorders caused by poor air quality have increased. The in-home use of aerosol cans and certain cleaning products is to blame, he says.

After two decades studying air quality in some of China’s and India’s densest urban cores, Kumar devised UM PRECISE (Personal Realtime Environmental Exposure using Cellphone Integrated Sensors) with Sung Jin Kim, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, and other

hen considering the implications of climate change, mental health and well-being shouldn’t be ignored, warns Annette M. La Greca, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics in UM’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Known for conducting extensive research on posttraumatic stress in children after hurricanes, La Greca contributed to the recently released Obama administration report The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. In the “Mental Health and Well-Being” section, she and other experts reveal that the consquences of climate change can range from minimal stress and distress symptoms to clinical disorders such as anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, and suicide risk.

Climate change, says José Szapocznik, professor of public health sciences, is no longer only a problem for future generations. “Its effects are being felt today all over the world,” he says, “and it threatens our economic and national security and our health.”

The Miller School continues to train this next generation of medical professionals to address such global issues at the population-health management level through its M.D./Master of Public Health integrated program, launched in 2011.

Last year the Department of Public Health Sciences signed on to the Health Educators Climate Commitment, joining more than 100 other schools from across the world to ensure that their students are prepared, through education and training, to effectively address the health impacts of climate change and to ensure the world has a cadre of climate change and health experts.

As part of the commitment, the department is partnering with Kalkstein to develop a research and education program in bioclimatology and climate and human health issues.

“We’re not there yet,” says Szapocznik, “but we’re making progress.”

Explore the UM News Climate Change Special Report at climate.miami.edu.

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 23

The Art of

Climate Change

Faculty and alumni harness the power of visualization against the invisible menace of climate change.

BY JESSICA M. CASTILLO

D

ried up rivers. Lone polar bears on drifting ice sheets.

Coastal cities ravaged by super-charged hurricanes. In the face of environmental fallout, artists, communicators, and designers are making climate change visible and visceral as a way to compel action. Their creative methods can distill complicated science into visual storylines that evoke emotion while expressing the hope of human ingenuity.

Prolific artist Xavier Cortada, A.B. ’86, M.P.A. ’91, J.D. ’91, uses a variety of media to convey the gravity of social and environmental issues such as climate change. His initiatives with school-age children encourage them to engage in science and eco art, and most of his own artwork portrays a sense of the whole world being interconnected as well as a strong hope for the future.

An artist-in-residence at the FIU College of Architecture + The Arts and the FIU College of Arts & Sciences School of Environment, Arts and Society, Cortada has created several participatory eco art installations in Florida, including a mangrove Xavier Cortada’s artwork Cucuyos is a series of porcelain flowers that, upon closer look, are composed of Florida click beetles, ecologically important pollinators.

24 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

reforestation project, a wildflower garden planting initiative, and an urban habitat reforestation effort. He also has produced art on every continent, including a 2007-08 piece in the North and South Poles titled Longitudinal Installation.

“We are one ecosystem, one biology, one DNA,” says Cortada, who credits his unique artistic perspective to his interdisciplinary studies at UM, which ranged from biology to law.

That interdisciplinary focus on studying and solving environmental problems continues to thrive at the U through the Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, founded in 2006. Professor Kenny Broad, director of the Abess Center, points out that the social sciences and humanities are crucial in bridging the gap between environmental concerns and political action, human perception and human behavior.

“Providing rational information alone won’t do it. We need advances in the cognitive sciences and communication fields,” advises Broad, M.A. ’92, a noted explorer and environmental anthropologist who also chairs the Marine Ecosystems and Society Department at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. “It’s not going to be another study that coral reefs are in danger or that greenhouse gases are bad that will motivate people. We need to relate the impacts of these changes to the economic, cultural, and moral issues that they care about.”

How multimedia communication can spur people to advocate for a cause is a subject that fascinates Michelle Seelig,

an associate professor in the School of Communication.

Her latest book, Communicating the Environment Beyond Photography (Peter Lang Publishing, 2016) examines the ways in which visualization techniques, particularly photography, are employed not only to document nature as it is, but motivate the public to protect it.

Seelig, B.S.C. ’92, M.A. ’95, has found that environmental concerns such as climate change can often seem too daunting to audiences.

“It’s not that people don’t believe the science,” she says. “It’s that they’re so overwhelmed by it and they disengage.”

The key is communicating problems and their solutions locally so people feel vested, she adds. This helps empower people to solve a seemingly insurmountable problem such as climate change by taking concrete steps in their everyday lives.

For her recent book, Seelig surveyed media and communication tactics used by over 30 organizations that work to spur action in combating climate change. One organization, 350 Earth, uses public art for social movements, such as a 2010 event that drew more than 1,000 people to stand in the dry bed of the Santa Fe River.

Moving from dusty river beds to flooding streets, Yiran Zhu, M.A. ’15, used graphics, video, and animation to depict

For his senior capstone project at UM, architect Isaac Stein, B.Arch. ’14, also focused on sea-level rise issues in Miami Beach. Studying the city’s history and natural sciences, he reimagined its future through colorfully rendered plans

MICHAEL CLARK

Isaac Stein’s redesign of Miami Beach and Biscayne Bay made headlines.

Michelle Seelig surveys efforts like 350 Earth’s Santa Fe River art event.

Miami Beach’s efforts to stem a rising tide in a project called City Up High. Now a Sun-Sentinel multimedia graphic designer, Zhu created the capstone project site, yiranzhu.me/ capstone, in collaboration with School of Communication faculty, a local television network, and city officials.

that included restored and replanted native storm surgereduction flora, such as mangroves, large sand dunes between ocean and waterfront properties, trolleys, widened bike paths, and raised walkways through natural ecosystems. His vision for change caught the attention of Vanity Fair, among other news sources, and in February, Stein gave a presentation on his sea-level rise mitigation and adaptation strategies at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands.

For Nate Dappen, Ph.D. ’12, visualization functions as a form of activism. What struck the biologist most during a 2013 journey through equatorial Africa was the disappearance of a vertical mile of ice off the glacial Rwenzori mountain range. Along with creative partner Neil Losin, Dappen sharpened his skills as a photographer and filmmaker to convey those observations in the award-winning documentary Snows of the Nile. Another of the duo’s films, Islands of Creation, which features the speciation research of UM evolutionary biologist Albert Uy, aired on the Smithsonian Channel in 2015.

Dappen’s aim is to produce films that help amplify the voices of people, animals, and ecosystems that otherwise would never rise above the din. He hopes his scientifically informed brand of storytelling will accumulate enough drops in the ocean to reach a kind of critical mass to impact climate change. Throughout history, says Dappen, those who are part of civil rights, social, and environmental movements “fight up against the tide of opposition, and it doesn’t seem like change is ever going to happen—until all of a sudden it does.”

Watch Kenny Broad’s ’Cane Talk, “Exploring the Invisible: Climate, Caves, and Culture,” at canetalks.miami.edu/cane-talkers/kenny-broad/ index.html.

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 25

Alumni Digest

Transforming the U through Planned Giving “ There are so many great things being accomplished at UM— everyone can find something they feel passionate about supporting.”

—Ann House, M.B.A. ’84, retired associate vice president for Advancement Services

A proud alumna, parent of a former UM student, staff member, and donor, Ann House, M.B.A. ’84, has played an integral role in the University’s fundraising efforts and in demonstrating why giving to the institution is ingrained in the culture at the U. Earlier this year, Ann was among the new donors inducted by President Julio Frenk into the Heritage Society, which recognizes individuals who have included the U in their estate plans.

Her bequest to UM will support the Elysa K. Mestril Endowed Scholarship at the College of Arts and Sciences, which was created in memory of the daughter of a co-worker and friend.

“I became a member of the Heritage Society because people give to people, so when my colleagues asked, I gave,” says Ann, winner of the Association of Advancement Services Professionals’ Jonathan Lindsey Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ann, who retired in May after a nearly 40-year career at UM, led a team of professionals in the Division of University Advancement who perform functions, from gift processing to talent management, that are critical to the institution’s fundraising, alumni relations, and donor communications efforts. She is known nationally for her leadership in improving the advancement services profession and spearheaded initiatives that have made a positive impact throughout the University.

“Giving is easy to do, and I encourage others to join me,” says Ann. “If we all do our part, we can make a big difference in people’s lives.”

26 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

Any gift, no matter the size, can make a lasting impact for generations to come.

For more information about the various ways you can leave your legacy at the University of Miami, contact Cynthia L. Beamish, executive director of the Office of Estate and Gift Planning, at 305-284-2914 or cbeamish@miami.edu, or visit miami.edu/plannedgiving.

Alumni Digest

NEWS AND EVENTS OF INTEREST TO UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ALUMNI

Roadmap Warrior President Julio Frenk opens the We Are One U tour in the Big Apple One of the first alumni to arrive at the majestic, neoclassical Capitale on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Brian Scandariato, B.Arch. ’03, was eager to hear University of Miami President Julio Frenk’s impressions of his beloved alma mater. He did not leave the reception hall disappointed.

“It was really exciting,” the 2003 graduate of the School of Architecture said after Frenk launched the University’s We Are One U tour, which featured the first on-the-road ’Cane Talk. “He talked about how amazing the energy of the University is, which is exactly why I wanted to go there. I felt it the moment I stepped on campus.”

That special U spirit was palpable when, amid the colossal Corinthian columns, mosaic marble floors, and soaring ceilings of the old Bowery Savings Bank, Frenk discussed the “disruptive challenges” and “unprecedented opportunities” the University faces as it strives to become a hemispheric, excellent, relevant, and exemplary university by its centennial in 2025.

As he told the 350 alumni, parents, and supporters in attendance, the Roadmap to Our New Century was drafted, debated, and refined by the University community over the past eight months to guide UM through a future that many universities won’t survive. Not with vanishing federal funds for research, rising tuitions, a rapidly changing job market, and a business-as-usual attitude.

“The idea of the Roadmap is to make sure that we do not just wait for change to happen and see how we adapt,” Frenk said. “What we need to do is lead the change, embrace the change, and then be the leaders of that change. Define our future. This is what we are trying to do.”

As Ben Kirtman, professor of atmospheric science at the Rosenstiel

School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, demonstrated during one of the evening’s highlights, bold ideas don’t mean much without bold actions that benefit the greater good. He kicked off the evening by delivering the University’s 12th ’Cane Talk, a short presentation by leading UM thinkers that illuminate big questions of the day.

The director of UM’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Science and the Center for Computational Science’s Climate and Environmental Hazards Program, Kirtman is at the forefront of one of the world’s most pressing problems, and one of particular significance to coastal cities like Miami and New York: rising seas brought on by climate change.

In his talk, Kirtman discussed the computer models he and his team developed to help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict extreme rainfall events and hurricane seasonal forecasts—exactly the kind of relevant contributions that, Frenk said, will give UM its staying power well into its second and third centuries.

President Julio Frenk shares the Roadmap to Our New Century at a New York City event.

“Look at yourselves. We are the producers of human talent,” Frenk told audience members, who ranged from Brianna Hathaway, A.B. ’16, president of Student Government when Frenk took office a year ago, to 89-year-old Alfred Carapella, B.Ed. ’51, UM’s first All-American football player. “If you look at the U and turn it sideways, it is like a magnet, so it’s there to attract all that energy.”

—Maya Bell The tour continues in Los Angeles on December 8 and in Palm Beach on January 26, 2017. For more information, visit miami.edu/OneU and follow the conversation on Twitter and Instagram at #WeAreOneU.

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 27

Alumni Digest

Football, Food, and More Upcoming Fun Hurricane tips and updates from your University of Miami Alumni Association

And the Winner Could Be...

The University of Miami Alumni Association Awards Committee is seeking your nominations for the 2017 Regional Alumni Awards, to be held April 27 in New York City. Candidates must live or work in the New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut area to be considered. Do you know alumni who are community leaders, successes in their career or industry, or known for giving their time and talents selflessly to the U or to their local alumni community? What about recent grads who demonstrate the excellence a UM education inspires? Self-nominations are welcome. Nominees must not have previously been awarded in the same category and cannot be an elected member of the UMAA Executive Committee.

Nominations are being accepted online

during Miami’s 70-3 win against the Florida A&M Rattlers. Updates include the addition of a partial roof, new and more comfortable seats, and new video boards. Can’t make it to the stadium? Join one of the many UM Alumni Association Game Watch Parties across the country, hosted by ’Canes Communities in your area.

at miami.edu/alumni/umaa/ awards through December 1.

Behold the Hard Rock When fans came to Miami Gardens to kick off Hurricanes football season under new head coach Mark Richt, B.B.A. ’82, on September 3, they were greeted by a new look and a new name.

The Hard Rock Stadium, and its $450 million renovation, made its UM debut

Tailgating Tips To celebrate tailgating season, UM has launched a cooking demo on YouTube called “yUMmies.” You can watch the orange-and-green-themed takes on sports-fare classics like the Category Five Burger, miami.edu/category-fiveburger, and send your own tailgating recipes to miami.editor@miami.edu.

Thirty-five years after it opened for classes in 1926, the University of Miami admitted its first black students.

Please join us this February to honor those who blazed a trail of courage, diversity, and inclusion.

Presented by the University of Miami Alumni Association and Black Alumni Society, the UTrailblazers celebration includes a library exhibition, an alumni-student forum, campus tours, and a grand gala. UTrailblazers is part of the UM First Black Graduates Project, an initiative to document the stories of black graduates from 1961 to 1979 and raise funds for life-changing student scholarships.

Blazing the trail, building the dream SAVE THE DATE FEBRUARY 24–25, 2017 UNIVERSIT Y OF MIAMI | CORAL GABLES CAMPUS

28 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

miami.edu/firstblackgraduates 1-866-UMALUMS | UMBAS@miami.edu

Dorman Shines in Rio for Mauritius, sprinter Murielle Ahouré, A.B. ’11, for Côte d’Ivoire, and pole vaulter Alysha Newman, B.S.Ed. ’16, for Canada.

At age 39, Aisha Chow, B.S. ’99, vied in the women’s single sculls, making history as Trinidad and Tobago’s first Olympic rower.

Avid Hurricanes fan, Omar Holder, B.B.A. ’99, was among a group of alumni in Trinidad who gathered to watch Chow compete. “It was amazing to see Sam Dorman, B.S.M.E. ’15, dove his way to an Olympic medal in Rio. her perform,” he writes. “We are so proud of her!”

Miami head swimming coach Andy UM student-athlete Marcela Maric Kershaw served as the head manmade it to Rio as Croatia’s first-ever ager for USA Swimming, and Miami Olympic diver, and Catalina Perez track and field assistant coach Keith played goalie for Colombia’s Olympic Herston was a personal coach for one soccer team. of Team USA’s pole vaulters.

Coach Ableman had company too.

As for Dorman, foul weather wasn’t the only condition he took in stride on the way to his silver medal-winning performance. The water in the diving pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center had turned a murky green, setting off a social media frenzy and causing some to wonder if the well had been sabotaged. But FINA, the international governing body of aquatics, issued a statement that the discoloration was caused by a shortage of water treatment chemicals that changed the pool’s pH level and posed no health or safety risk to the athletes.

Dorman seemed unfazed by the discoloration, joking on NBC’s Today: “Kermit the Frog had a bath the other day. What can you say? It didn’t [bother me at all].”

Colombia’s 2016 soccer goalie, Catalina Perez —Robert C. Jones Jr. COURTESY UM ATHLETICS

As the rain began to fall outside the partially covered Maria Lenk Aquatic Center in Barra da Tijuca, a neighborhood in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Sam Dorman, B.S.M.E. ’15, beamed with joy. The former University of Miami diver and 2015 NCAA national champion, and his diving partner, Michael Hixon, had prayed for bad weather. Now their prayers were being answered.

“I train in Miami, so I’m used to diving in bad weather,” says Dorman.

“This was definitely a benefit for us.”

Or more appropriately, a silver lining in the clouds.

Dorman and Hixon vaulted into second place in the men’s synchronized 3-meter springboard on August 10 at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, executing a near-flawless forward 4 ½ somersault with a 3.8 degree of difficulty on their last dive of the competition.

Dorman knew almost immediately he and Hixon had nailed their final dive. A quick glance at the reaction of his coach, UM’s Randy Ableman, told him so.

“He threw up the U, so of course I had to throw it back,” says Dorman.

“I was very excited to look at him and see him so happy. He didn’t get to compete in his Olympics in 1980, so to have him here and to experience this with him was a very touching moment for me. He was a heck of a diver.”

Ableman, who has coached in seven Olympics, was a member of the 1980 U.S. team that boycotted the Summer Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

Also in Rio to see Dorman’s achievement was alumnus and multiple gold medalist Greg Louganis, ’80, who was there as an official athlete mentor for the 2016 U.S. Diving team.

UM’s diversity was on display throughout the global games, with six other Hurricanes competing for as many nations, including swimmer Heather Arseth, B.S. ’16,

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 29

HARRY HOW / GETTY IMAGES

U.S. diver medals as fellow ’Canes represent teams from around the world

Alumni Digest

#CaneBiz in the Spotlight: Walters Coach’s words help four-generation family business thrive On October 7, shortly before this article went to press, Ken Schindler, A.B. ’82, died after a sudden illness. He was 56.

When University of Miami alumnus Ken Schindler wanted to inspire the employees of his New Jersey-based furniture company, he didn’t turn to famous motivational speakers. He relied on the philosophy of an iconic college football coach with whom he once worked and continued to revere.

“Howard Schnellenberger would always say, ‘It takes everyone to be No. 1,’” Schindler recalled of the former UM head coach who led the Hurricanes to their first national football championship in 1984. “I try to instill that ideology into all my team members.”

The strategy, which he nurtured as company president, seems to be working. The reupholstery and antiques store Schindler’s grandparents opened in New York in 1934 continues to thrive, now as a high-end resource primarily selling outdoor furniture to the hotel and

Ken Schindler, A.B. ’82, left, with his father, Walter, and son Adam, B.B.A. ’10.

restaurant industry and design trade at a time when corporate America is swallowing up many companies.

“We always strive to be better each day and exceed our customers’ expectations,” said Schindler. His father, Walter, expanded the company into a national brand in the 1970s, and instilled

in him the value of hard work, he said.

Now Schindler has passed on life lessons to his own son, Adam Schindler, B.B.A. ’10, the product manager for Walters, which has donated furniture to UM’s Newman Alumni Center and Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence.

“Never remain stagnant in what you do,” Ken Schindler said. And give back. His fondest memories of the U included frequently interviewing Coach Schnellenberger as the creator and host of “Hurricane Huddle” radio show on WVUM. “I still have a letter from him thanking me for a pep rally we organized,” said Schindler. “He basically said, ‘You might not be on the field, but by helping us out through the student body, you’re helping to get us to the point where we want to be.’ Two years later they were national champions.”

—Robert C. Jones Jr. To learn more about #CaneBiz in the Spotlight, visit miami.edu/alumnibusinesses.

Help Us Take Flight The ibis represents the University of Miami’s invincible spirit.

It’s this very resilience and renewal that define us as a university.

When illness and injury strike, patients require courage and resilience to cope with their diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

Help us capture that same inspiring symbol of resilience – the ibis – in a one-of-a-kind glass sculpture, that will welcome patients, family, and friends who enter The Lennar Foundation Medical Center, UHealth’s stunning, state-of-the-art flagship facility. The Center will bring world-renowned medical expertise to the Coral Gables campus in December 2016.

Similar to a conventional “brick campaign,” each hand-blown ibis, hung in a U-shape

and spanning four stories, presents a unique recognition opportunity. Donors who choose to support The Lennar Foundation Medical Center Fund with a $5,000 or $10,000 gift will symbolically name an ibis that, as part of a 244-piece installation, will create this distinctive iconic art. Proud alumni, grateful patients, and supportive ‘Canes can honor a family member, friend, or influential person, or create their own legacy by being recognized prominently in the Center’s main lobby.

“Take flight” with us by naming an ibis that will uplift the spirits of all who visit The Lennar Foundation Medical Center.

To donate or for more information, call 305-243-9760 or visit miami.edu/upliftingu.

30 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

Class Notes 1950s

Howard Rose, B.S. ’51, M.S. ’52, received HandsOn Jacksonville’s 2016 Young at Heart Award signed by President Barack Obama for donating more than 2,300 hours of free vision care over 15 years at a Jacksonville clinic for low-income individuals without health insurance.

N. Richard Boutin, B.B.A. ’53, is a former chief appraiser for the State of Florida Department of Transportation. His sons now run the appraisal practice he founded in Tallahassee, Florida.

Sherwood Ross, A.B. ’55, reads poetry regularly at the College of Arts and Sciences’ USpeak series. He was a first prize winner in the 2013, 2014, and 2015 Florida State Poets Association competition. A civil rights activist and one-time National Urban League news director, he went on to work as a reporter, publicist, media consultant, and columnist.

Lionel Specter, B.B.A. ’57, and his wife, Bobbie, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They met at the University of Miami and after graduation moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they still live.

1960s

Ruth Mazeau Ludwig, A.B. ’62, was nominated by Second Chance Society at the Volunteer of the Year awards, sponsored by HandsOn Broward. She devoted 10 years and 22,000 hours of service to Second Chance, which serves Broward County’s homeless population. She also volunteers with the University of Miami, arts groups, her church, and Honor Flight, a nonprofit devoted to U.S. veterans.

Christopher P. Puto, M.B.A.

’66, was installed as the 37th president of Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics. He previously served as the dean and the Opus Distinguished Chair at the business school at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he introduced the university’s first full-time M.B.A. and M.S. in Accountancy programs and redesigned its evening M.B.A. program.

Glenn Ogden, B.Ed. ’69, selfpublished online his second and third Civil War-era novels— Cahaba Sundown and Point Sunrise—and the novella The Story of Maggie.

1970s

Warren Allard, B.B.A. ’70, is a Vietnam veteran. He earned his graduate business degree from Pepperdine. He has a real estate broker license in California and is a proud great-grandfather.

Bari (Deutscher) Amadio, A.B. ’70, former executive director of the Rochester Arts Council in Minnesota, was named CEO of the Greater Rochester Arts and Cultural Trust.

Barry T. Katzen, M.D. ’70, founder of Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, was named chief medical executive of the institute, which is part of Baptist Health South Florida. He provides clinical leadership and expertise to physicians for the institute, which has more than 25 locations in South Florida.

He continues to practice vascular and interventional radiology.

Stanley Braverman, B.S. ’72, M.D. ’76, a board-certified ophthalmologist and director of the Braverman Eye Center, received the Florida Optometric Association President’s Award

Citizen ’Cane The World of the News As a University of Miami student, Bob Reid, A.B. ’69, studied political science. But as a full-time reporter for Miami’s WTVJ TV, he also documented the political turmoil of the day—from Miami’s interest in the Poor People’s March On Washington to demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach to race riots in Liberty City in 1968.

Reid, the station’s first black journalist, says he’s most proud of how he handled an on-camera Q&A about those riots. Asked: “What do they tell you about why they are rioting?” he replied, “Nobody can say why it is happening. It’s just a pent-up anger, frustration, and the idea of being trapped in society. It’s a bursting out. It’s a breaking free. It’s a way of saying, ‘I will accept the abuse no longer.’”

A couple of years earlier, Reid had made history as the fledgling Miami-Dade Junior College’s first black student body president then served as news editor of its student paper. That led him to become the Miami Herald’s first black cub reporter, covering the city desk, cops, and sports. After transferring to the U, he took over as managing editor of the student magazine Tempo, writing stories critiquing Playboy, stopand-frisk police policies, and the political leadership of the era.

The Georgia-born son of a sharecropper who grew up in a segregated society, Reid went on to bureau chief posts at NBC News in Atlanta, CBS News in New York, and Fox News in Los Angeles. From 1979 to 1981 he presided over the National Association of Black Journalists. He later helmed primetime production for Discovery Channel, winning three Emmy Awards; ran the Discovery Health Channel; and helped launch the Africa Channel. “I love a challenge,” says Reid, 69. “From my early days in media in Miami, I have always sought out opportunities to stay firmly on a growth and learning curve.”

Reid’s latest venture took him to Africa, which he says felt to him like a chance to go home. A few years ago, he used DNA to trace his ancestry. He learned that his mother descended from Nigeria’s Yoruba and Fulani ethnic groups, which intermingled 500 to 2,000 years ago in a state less than 400 miles from where he’s now based, in Kano, Nigeria. There Reid oversees a Hausa-language lifestyle and entertainment channel, a first for the region.

Looking back, he credits his pioneering journalism career and success in executive leadership roles to his start in college.

“My world developed,” says Reid. “I became a citizen of the world. I call it a magical time because I knew no limitations.”

—Dina Weinstein miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 31

Class Notes for clinical excellence.

Eric R. Jensen, B.B.A. ’77, was

Robert J. “Bob” Munch,

selected as Illinois Wesleyan University’s 19th president. He was Hamline University’s provost from 2012 to 2015.

Joseph “Joe” Matthews, J.D. ’77, of Colson Hicks Eidson, served as the 2015-16 president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Jerry Dworkin, J.D. ’78, of Irvine, California, has been collecting baseball cards and memorabilia of long-time catcher Mike Piazza for more than 17 years with a focus on the eight days in 1998 he spent as a Florida Marlin. In November the Baseball Hall of Fame displayed 24 items from Dworkin’s 111-card collection in its “Whole New Ballgame” exhibit.

A.B. ’73, UM President’s Council member, was elected to the board of directors for NuStar Energy L.P. After 40 years in senior executive positions in the financial services industry, he retired in 2013 as general manager and head of corporate and investment banking for a subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group.

Charles F. Carlson, B.Ed. ’74, formerly a division superintendent for Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation, is retired and living in Sebring, Florida.

David Goodelman, B.B.A. ’74, a 30-year casino industry veteran, is an orientation instructor at Atlantic Cape Community College, where he helps unemployed casino personnel get training for new careers.

Miguel G. “Mike” Farra, A.B. ’75, J.D. ’79, UM President’s Council member, was named board chair for the United Way of MiamiDade. He also chairs the tax and accounting department at Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLC. Nancy Targett, M.S.C.E. ’75, was named provost for the University of New Hampshire. She was acting president of the University of Delaware before stepping into her new position on September 1. She has a Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Maine and is nationally recognized for her expertise in ocean issues.

Damian A. Braga, A.B. ’77, retired as president of Sanofi Pasteur U.S. and senior vice president of commercial operations after 27 years with the vaccine company, which played a significant role in responding to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

Ana Mari Cauce, A.B. ’77, Hon. ’15, was named the University of Washington’s 33rd president after serving in an interim capacity. She is the first woman to be named to the position and the first Latina.

1980s

Steven Barker, M.D. ’81, received the J.S. Gravenstein Award for lifetime achievement from the Society for Technology in Anesthesia. He also received the 2015 Innovations and Applications of Monitoring Perfusion, Oxygenation, and Ventilation Harvey W. Weiley Lifetime Achievement Award.

Richard Berkowitz, J.D. ’81, received the University of Miami Citizens Board Joyce A. Galya Excellence Award for his work chairing Dolphins Cycling Challenge V, which raised $4.65 million for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the CEO of Berkowitz Pollack Brant Advisors and Accountants.

Jesse Tannenbaum, M.D. ’81, is a board certified pediatrician who has been in practice as a pediatric cardiologist and pediatric hospitalist at Kaiser Santa Clara, California, for 28 years.

He has coauthored an article on the treatment of cardiac complications in children with Pompe disease and received the “Outstanding Clinic Preceptor: Clinical Instructor Award” from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

32 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

Mixed Media A Quien Quiera Escuchar Two UM alumni played big roles behind the scenes of Ricky Martin’s A Quien Quiera Escuchar (Deluxe Edition), which won a 2016 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. Its producer was Julio Reyes Copello, M.M. ’00, an award-winning producer, composer, and pianist, and the founder of Art House Records. Carlos Fernando Lopez, B.M. ’12, worked as an arranger, engineer, and performer on the album, whose title in English means To Whoever Wants to Listen.

Alaska’s Greatest Outdoor Legends Doug Kelly, A.B. ’77, recounts the adventures of the 49th state’s leading bush pilots and journalists, biologists and wildlife guides of the 20th century in Alaska’s Greatest Outdoor Legends: Colorful Characters Who Built the Fishing and Hunting Industries (University of Alaska Press, 2016), named the “Best Outdoor Book” of 2016 by the Southeast Florida Press Association.

Lights Out Ben Everard, A.B. ’06, cofounder of Grey Matter Productions, is one of the executive producers behind the summer horror flick Lights Out (Warner Bros.

Pictures, 2016). Directed by Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg, based on his short film of the same name, the action revolves around a pair of siblings who try to solve the mystery of terrifying events taking place in the dark and a frightening entity with an unhealthy attachment to their mother (Maria Bello).

A Pioneer Son at Sea In A Pioneer Son at Sea: Fishing Tales of Old Florida (University Press of Florida, 2016), noted marine biologist and conservationist Gilbert L. Voss, B.S. ’51, M.S. ’52, captures the excitement of his early days spent fishing on both coasts of the peninsula during the Great Depression and World War II, during the era of rum runners, murderers, Conchs, and wealthy industrialists.

Robert S. Voss edited the manuscript for his father, a long-time UM faculty member who died in 1989.

Donna A. Bucella, J.D. ’83, a for-

Edward J. Hudak Jr., B.S.C. ’87,

James G. Vickaryous, A.B. ’90, is

mer U.S. attorney who served in several top government posts, is president of compliance business in the Washington, D.C., office of the investigations, compliance, and security company Guidepost Solutions LLC. John Easterlin, B.M. ’84, a multi Grammy and Emmy Award-winning performer, was named the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music Distinguished Alumnus during his Festival Miami concert, “What a Character! The Many Faces of John Easterlin.” A Miami native, Easterlin travels the world to perform in major venues and opera productions.

Michael J. Higer, J.D. ’85, is president-elect of The Florida Bar. He will be sworn in as president in June 2017. He is a litigation partner at Berger Singerman in Miami. He is a member of The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors, serves on its executive committee, and is a former chair of the Bar’s Business Law Section.

Fernando L. Roig, B.B.A. ’85, founding partner of Roig Lawyers, has a chapter on diversity in the multicultural marketplace in the book Building and Encouraging Law Firm Diversity (Thomson Reuters, 2015).

Kim Kolback, J.D. ’86, of the Law Offices of Kimberly Kolback in Miami, lectures widely on sports, intellectual property, and entertainment law.

Thane Rosenbaum, J.D. ’86, is the author of the novel How Sweet It Is! (Mandel Vilar Press, 2015), a comic tale of two Holocaust survivors and their son, set in Miami Beach circa 1972, when both the Republican and Democratic national conventions were hosted by the city, the counterculture and Cold War were on the rise, and the old South was being desegregated. Rosenbaum is a senior fellow and director of the Forum on Law, Culture & Society at New York University School of Law.

M.A.L.S. ’10, was named the Coral Gables police chief after serving as interim chief since September 2011. He has been with the department since 1988.

president-elect of the Central Florida Trial Lawyers Association and was recognized for his successful presidency of the Seminole County Bar Association.

He is celebrating 15 years of marriage to Jennifer Ferguson.

Edmund Loos III, J.D. ’91, of Greenspoon Marder Law’s Orlando office, hosted the Sunny Shores Sea Camp 25th Annual Golf Tournament in support of cystic fibrosis. Loos and his wife, Gina, have volunteered at the camp since 1991.

Christian Davis Furman, A.B. ’92, is a professor for geriatric and palliative medicine at University of Louisville, where she was selected as medical director for the Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging. She was also appointed the Smock Endowed Chair in Geriatric Medicine and chosen as the 2016 recipient of ElderServe’s Champion for the Aging Award.

Jorge M. Saade-Scaff, B.M. ’93, was named president of the board of the Guayaquil Symphony Orchestra in Guayaquil, Ecuador. An internationally recognized solo violinist, he is recording a CD of works by Ecuadorian composers with the Belarus National Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra.

Jeff Benck, M.S. ’94, is president and CEO of the Californiabased “Internet of Things” and machine-to-machine networking company Lantronix, Inc. Adam Chasse, B.M. ’94, was named president of OnPoint CRO, an organization that provides clinical study management services to pharma, biotech, and medical device companies.

Bjorn Green, B.Arch. ’94, was named president and CEO of Michigan-based TowerPinkster architecture and engineering design firm. He was previously the firm’s senior principal and planner.

Danielle B. McDonald, B.S.C. ’94, was named dean of students/as-

1990s

Yara Bashoor, B.Arch. ’90, is a South Florida-based luxury handbag designer and an attorney.

C. Dean Furman, A.B. ’90, was elected vice president of the Louisville Bar Association in Louisville, Kentucky. He also began a two-year term on the board for Louisville Literary Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to enriching the city’s literary arts.

Steven L. Henning, M.B.A. ’90, is partner-in-charge of advisory services at the accounting firm Marks Paneth LLP and serves on the firm’s executive committee at its New York City headquarters.

Gladis Kersaint, B.S. ’90, M.S.Ed. ’93, is dean of the Neag School of Education and a professor of mathematics education at the University of Connecticut. She was previously associate dean of academic affairs and research at the University of South Florida College of Education.

Russell Maryland, A.B. ’90, the legendary Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman, was recognized with the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award for his collegiate and professional achievements on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of his college athletics careers.

He led the Hurricanes to a 44-4 record during his career and helped the team set the NCAA record for consecutive home football victories at 58. The two-time national champion played 10 seasons in the NFL, including five with the Dallas Cowboys, who won three Super Bowls during that time.

Recently he worked with the Dallas Cowboys again at their 2015 training camp.

sistant vice president of student affairs at the University of South Florida. Her previous institution, Georgia Tech, created an award in her name to recognize an individual or student group each year that has done something that exemplifies McDonald’s innovative spirit in contributing to the vibrancy of the campus environment and cultivating leaders. She is also earning her Ph.D., is married, and has an 11-year-old son.

Leann Scibelli Welch, B.S. ’94, environmental manager for the Department of Environmental Resources Management in West Palm Beach, Florida, was elected 2016 chair of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association.

Scott Applegate, A.B. ’95, is a lieutenant colonel and cyber operations officer in the U.S. Army. He is also an adjunct professor at The George Washington University, teaching graduate level courses in cyber conflict and information security. He is currently a cyberspace strategic planner for the J5, Cyber Policy Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.

Elizabeth DeRose, M.B.A./M.S. ’94, is a real estate agent working for Chamberlain Realty. She has two daughters, Kaya Soleil, 18, and Alessandra Skye, 15.

Jeffrey DeRose, M.B.A./M.S. ’95, was promoted to director in Deloitte & Touche, LLP’s Advisory function, helping to lead the National Cyber Risk Services practice. He recently moved back to Florida, where he lives in Orlando with his wife.

Ovidio M. Gonzalez, B.S.I.E. ’95, incorporated The Miami Engineering Corp. He is the CEO. David M. Rudy, B.B.A. ’95, created and produced the “Swipe for Doritos” commercial for the Doritos Crash The Super Bowl Competition, which made it to the final three out of nearly 5,000 entries. Based in Los Angeles, California, he is the founder of Armada Partners

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 33

Class Notes management and media company.

Andrew Unterlack, A.B. ’95, was named an associate at Eisenberg, Gold, Cettei & Agrawal in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Frank Auer, B.S.C. ’96, was promoted to director of digital marketing services for Boston’s WGBH, the largest producer of content for primetime PBS, including Frontline, NOVA, and Antiques Roadshow.

Pablo Proenza, B.F.A. ’96, was a film editor on Michael Moore’s 2015 documentary Where to Invade Next and a writer on the 2016 Spanish-language drama Fragmentos de amor.

Jorge Ramos, M.A. ’96, an anchor for the Univision and Fusion networks, received the Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Journalists.

Tricia Russell, B.Arch. ’96, married Ceddie Vohden on September 12, 2015, at their home in Oceanport, New Jersey. She is the executive vice president of Vericon

Construction Company.

Katherine Amador, J.D. ’97, was named Director of the Year by the Latin Builders Association in Miami for her continued contributions and dedication to the South Florida construction community, and for founding the Women of the Latin Builders Association Committee. She is a partner at Berger Singerman.

Terrence Cheng, M.F.A. ’97, was appointed director of the University of Connecticut’s Stamford Regional campus. The author of Sons of Heaven and Deep in the Mountains, he lives with his wife and two daughters in Westchester, New York.

Gisela M. Munoz, A.B. ’97, was elected a Fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, based on her commercial real estate law practice. She recently closed a mortgage loan of more than $250 million.

Danielle (Gautier) Tehrani, B.S.N. ’97, completed an adult nurse practitioner M.S.N. degree, magna cum laude, at South University, Savannah, Georgia.

Jarett Berman, B.S. ’98, and

Kimberly Kanoff Berman, J.D. ’05, welcomed their first child, Leonard Reese Berman, in September 2015.

Horacio E. Gutierrez, J.D. ’98, changed jobs in April, moving from general counsel of Microsoft Corporation to general counsel of Spotify. He made Billboard’s 2016 list of the music industry’s top lawyers.

Jason P. Kairalla, B.B.A. ’98, J.D./M.B.A. ’02, a shareholder in the Miami office of Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, received the Lawyers for Children America, Inc. John Edward Smith Child Advocacy Award for his pro bono work representing youth in the foster care system.

Brian O’Malley, M.F.A. ’99, received the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts’ 2016 Artist Fellowship Award in Film and Video for artistic excellence, which came with a $5,000 prize and inclusion in the 2016 fellowship exhibition.

2000s

Jane Lanahan Decker, B.Arch. ’00, was promoted to the position of assistant director for the City of Doral building department. She was previously the city’s chief building inspector since 2012. Her certificates and licenses include ICC Standard Building Inspector, ICC Standard Plans Examiner, Interior Design, ICC Building Code Administrator, and State of Florida Architect.

Steven D. Gonzalez, A.B. ’00, joined Atlanta-based law firm Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial as a partner.

Erica James, B.S. ’00, M.D. ’04, an attorney with Tucker Ellis LLP, was chosen by Super Lawyers as an Ohio Rising Star for 2016.

Martha R. Mora, A.B. ’00, a partner in the litigation department of Avila Rodriguez Hernandez Mena & Ferri LLP in Miami, was recognized with the Hispanic National Bar Association 2015

34 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

HNBA Region VIII Distinguished Services Award. She was appointed this year by The Florida Bar to serve a three-year term on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee “D.” Alan Chan, B.M. ’01, of Los Angeles, received The ASCAP Foundation’s $10,000 George Duke Commissioning Prize. His work has been recognized by the American Composers Forum, New Music USA, and The Ucross Foundation. He is composing a new piece for the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra ensemble.

Jeffrey O’Neale, B.B.A. ’01, was elected partner at Alston & Bird, LLP. He is in the finance group in the Charlotte, North Carolina, office.

Lisa Brunette, M.F.A. ’02, released Framed and Burning, book two in her Dreamslippers Series. It was named an indieBRAG honoree as well as a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s 2016 Nancy Pearl Book Award.

Ed Reed, B.L.A. ’02, and Ted Hendricks, ’72, were selected to the Football Writers Association of America’s 75th Anniversary All-America Team.

Andrew Synowiec, B.M. ’02, M.M. ’04, is a session guitarist based in Los Angeles. He has played for a number of movies, including The Secret Life of Pets, Zootopia, and Frozen, as well as for artists ranging from Michael Bublé to Rob Zombie.

Jennifer Diaz, B.S.C. ’03, a shareholder at the Miami office of Becker & Poliakoff, was named as one of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s “40 Under 40 Outstanding Lawyers of South Florida.”

James Jones, B.B.A. ’03, is a guard/forward for the 2016 NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

John J. LeTellier Jr., M.M. ’03, is an assistant professor of music education at Valley City State University in North Dakota and a collaborative pianist.

Thomas P. Berryman, B.S.C. ’04,

fellowship at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Stephanie L. Varela, B.S.C. ’05, an associate with Greenberg Traurig, P.A., is a member of the 2015-16 class of Leadership Miami to cultivate young community leaders.

Amit Jain “AJ” Chauradia, B.B.A. ’06, completed her Ph.D. in Strategy in the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

R. Nicholas Nanovic, J.D. ’07, LL.M.T. ’08, an associate of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A., was recognized in Philadelphia Magazine as a Pennsylvania Rising Star.

Lori Todd, B.S.C. ’07, is the social media editor at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. Jonathan Costello, B.S.Cp.E. ’08, and Ilene Magrogan, B.S.Ed. ’08, were married in Sarasota, Florida, August 1, 2015. Residents of Hartford, Connecticut, the couple met at the University of Miami in 2006. He is a software engineer at ESPN, and she is an elementary teacher at Montessori Magnet School.

Mike Guzman, B.M. ’08, is associate director of bands at Tuscaloosa County High School and cofounder and artistic director of the Black Warrior Winds adult community band in West Alabama, where he is a freelance musician. He also teaches low brass players, grades 6-12, in his studio.

He lives is Vance, Alabama, with his wife, Ada, daughter, Abby Grace, and their dogs.

Reed Kellough, B.B.A. ’08, lives in Pompano Beach, Florida, where he works as a realtor with Campbell & Rosemurgy.

Michael A. Simmons, B.B.A. ’08, and Claire Hosmann, B.S.C. ’08, were married in October 2015 and live in North Carolina. He is the founder and CEO of WIMS Consulting, and she is a reporter and producer with WECT-TV Channel 6 in Wilmington.

David Bitton, B.B.A. ’09, is the CEO of a Miami-based law

Citizen ’Cane Combat Play Fuels Creative Engineering Folklore tells us that most witch doctors believe in healing. But the Witch Doctor Andrea Suarez, B.S./M.S. ’11, built with three friends is bent on annihilating anything in its path. She and fellow ’Cane Michael Gellatly, B.S. ’06, were part of the team that created the combat robot Witch Doctor and its sidekick, Shaman, to compete on ABC’s BattleBots.

“Our strategy is a little unusual because we decided to meet the 250-pound weight limit with two robots instead of one,” says Suarez. “Witch Doctor weighs 220 pounds and has a weapon that spins vertically, while Shaman only weighs 30 pounds and uses a large flamethrower to attack its opponents.”

Although they lost the quarterfinals match in the first season, they managed to inflict the greatest damage on the contest’s most feared robot: Tombstone. In season two, Witch Doctor delivered the tournament’s fastest knockout and received the number 3 seed before being vanquished by Red Devil.

Suarez was building and competing 120-pound “middleweight” robots in high school when she met Gellatly. He was about to become president of the UM Robotics Team.

Reconnecting at UM’s College of Engineering, they fine-tuned their skills. Using steel, titanium, and aluminum, they began building electric robots “at a different level,” says Suarez, who completed the five-year biomedical engineering program. “UM gave us the classes and the ability to refine what we knew and then apply it.”

“Some people were critical of dueling robots,” admits Gellatly. “But we knew that, although we weren’t saving lives, we were learning valuable engineering lessons.”

The two continued to compete locally and nationally, launching team Busted Nuts Robotics with friends Paul Grata and Jennifer Villa in 2010. Five years later, they were invited onto BattleBots and given just six weeks to create a 250-pound robotic system. They chose the name Witch Doctor and wore colorful top hats and outfits decked out with skulls and bones to appeal to kids.

“We wanted children to be attracted to engineering without knowing that they were learning about engineering,” explains Suarez. The strategy seems to be working. Later this year, the company Hexbug will debut a Witch Doctor toy. And in their day jobs, Suarez and Gellatly are enhancing, if not saving, lives. They both work in research and development at Zimmer Biomet in Miami, creating implants for traumatic injuries.

—Barbara Gutierrez miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 35

DANIEL LONGMIRE

served in the 101st infantry in Afghanistan.

Melanie Garner, J.D. ’04, an associate at Locks Law Firm in Philadelphia, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Association for Justice Board of Governors.

Wilbert Bryan Lewis, M.B.A. ’04, is the executive director of the State Universities Retirement System of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois.

Dana Litt, A.B. ’04, has a Ph.D. in psychology from The George Washington University and is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington. She studies the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders in adolescents and young adults.

Vance A. Aloupis, B.B.A. ’05, J.D. ’08, was named CEO of The Children’s Movement of Florida, which he helped found. He is also a member of the UMAA’s Young Alumni Leadership Council.

Marko F. Cerenko, J.D. ’05, of Kluger, Kaplan, Katzen & Levine, P.L., was named to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.

Angela Daun (Hoenig), B.S.C. ’05, is a model and actress who appeared in the 2016 film Everlasting and has launched a web docu-series on animals that are endangered.

D. Brad Hughes, J.D. ’05, joined Jimerson & Cobb, P.A. in Jacksonville, Florida, as a partner.

His practice focuses on business litigation, construction litigation, and community association law.

Eldonie S. Mason, J.D. ’05, founding member of the New Jersey-based Mason Firm, LLC, was appointed to the American Arbitration Association Roster of Neutrals.

Napoleon Santos, B.S. ’05, is a physician associate at the Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute branch in West Palm Beach. He received his D.O. degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Florida, and completed his hematology and medical oncology

Class Notes practice management software called PracticePanther.com, which has raised $3.5 million in funding. His Bitton Events entertainment company was recently acquired.

Jane W. Muir, J.D. ’09, of Gersten & Muir in Miami, received the Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division’s 2015 Lynn Futch Most Productive Young Lawyer Award.

James V. Regalbuto, B.B.A. ’09, was appointed deputy superintendent of the Life Bureau at the New York State Department of Financial Services by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.

He was previously a supervisor at The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

Jonathan D. Rosen, B.B.A. ’09, Ph.D. ’12, co-edited Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime, and Violence in the Americas Today (University Press of Florida, 2015) with University of Miami faculty member Bruce M. Bagley. Rosen is the author of

The Losing War: Plan Colombia and Beyond (SUNY Press, 2014).

2010s

John “Jack” Gravina, B.M. ’10, lives in Los Angeles, where he writes musical scores for film, television, and other media. He wrote the music for the animated short film Soar, which won a gold medal at the 42nd Annual Student Academy Awards. He is also working on two new TV series for the Discovery Network.

Nina R. Markowitz, B.S.C. ’10, relocated from Washington, D.C., to join Carnival Corporation & PLC as a global intelligence and threat analyst, the first and only such analyst in the corporation’s Miami headquarters.

Lionel Moise, B.S.C. ’10, is a weekday morning news anchor for CBS 2 Chicago.

Erica K. Towle, B.S.M.A.S. ’10, Ph.D. ’15, received a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric

Administration John A. Knauss Fellowship. She advises on marine policy on the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard in Washington, D.C. Karine Gialella, J.D. ’11, is a paralegal at Jordan Ramis PC in Portland, Oregon.

Ben Goldsmith, B.M. ’12, former creative manager at BMG Chrysalis, signed a publishing deal with BMG and Big Deal Music. He is a co-writer on country artist Jerrod Niemann’s current single, “Blue Bandana.”

Brian E. Moschetti, B.B.A. ’12, M.Acc. ’12, became engaged to Julia E. Tomaro, B.S.H.S. ’12, last November 27 in New Jersey.

Michael Dellentash, B.S.C. ’13, is earning a master’s in marketing in London and raising funds to help the Solar Village Project bring solar power light to homes in India’s Nalanda district.

Andrew Webster, B.S. ’13, works in a laboratory at the University of Southern California. He is also pursuing film and creating a comedy web series called The Real Steal, for which he has launched a kickstarter campaign.

Gregory Fontela J.D. ’15, joined the Miami firm Bercow Radell & Fernandez as an associate.

Lex-Jordan Ibegbu, J.D. ’15, was featured in an article in The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina, about his legal career and his performances as a rapper known as Lexicon.

Arianna Neikrug, B.M. ’15, won the grand prize in the fourth annual Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Her win came with a recording contract from Concord Records, a $5,000 cash prize, and a slot at the 2016 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

Email Class Notes to alumni@ miami.edu.

Get ready for Alumni Weekend on November 3-6, 2016 Register today for Alumni Weekend! It’s the one time each year that all ’Canes gather on the Coral Gables campus to celebrate Homecoming traditions—presented by the student Homecoming Executive Committee and Hurricane Productions— as well as treasured friendships, school and college connections, meaningful history, and a future full of possibilities.

For information, visit miami.edu/alumniweekend or contact the UM Alumni Association at 866-UMALUMS (862-5867), 305-284-2872, or alumni@miami.edu.

Follow us on social media with #AWH16.

36 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

In Memoriam* Helen L. Athens, A.B. ’31 Cynthia D. Levin, A.B. ’39 Julian M. Quarles, B.S. ’39, J.D. ’51 Charlotte F. Duvall, A.B. ’42 Ennis J. Woodley, B.S. ’42, M.Ed. ’49 Irwin Raskin, B.S. ’44, M.A. ’51 Barbara M. Vonnegut, B.Ed. ’44 Eloise H. Corwin, A.B. ’45 Marguerite A. Arlt, B.B.A. ’46 Robert H. Tucker, B.B.A. ’46 Philip Kaplan, B.Ed. ’47 Pauline K. Borodkin, B.Ed. ’48 Scott L. Davidson, A.B. ’48 William P. Kapp, B.B.A. ’48 Leon Lonstein, B.B.A. ’48 Aline D. Manzi, B.S. ’48, M.S. ’50 Donald M. Post, B.B.A. ’48 Harold S. Tager, J.D. ’48 Martha R. Willis, B.B.A. ’48 Leslie J. August, B.B.A. ’49 Irving Baum, B.Ed. ’49 Emil T. Hofman, A.B. ’49 Clarence E. Holland, B.S. ’49 Charles B. Holzer, B.B.A. ’49 E. D. Rosen, J.D. ’49 Carl J. Sigel, B.B.A. ’49 David Varner, B.B.A. ’49 William A. Lane, J.D. ’49 Julio M. Clarke, A.B. ’50 John J. Daly, B.S.E.E. ’50 Pedro J. Greer, B.S. ’50 Edmond X. Impaglia, A.B. ’50 Constance V. Morningstar, A.B. ’50 Peter R. Palermo, J.D. ’50 Lewis Sachs, B.B.A. ’50 Thaddus Szymanski, B.Ed. ’50 Herbert S. Wheeler, B.S. ’50 Robert Whitehead, B.B.A. ’50 Edward Bader, B.B.A. ’51 Luis M. Benavides, B.S. ’51 Bert Bernstein, B.S. ’51 Harvey L. Cutler, B.B.A. ’51 Raymond W. Eckerson, B.Ed. ’51 Harry C ­ . Kessel, B.B.A. ’51 David M. Knowles, B.S.E.E. ’51 Gilbert G. Miller, B.S.I.E. ’51, B.S.M.E. ’52 Donald W. Nelson, B.B.A. ’51 Harold M. Nordenberg, B.S.E.E. ’51 Carmen B. Saenz, A.B. ’51

Budding Broadcast Journalist Jordan Schuman, B.S.C. ’14, was working as a multimedia journalist for WPDE in South Carolina when she died in a car accident on December 23, 2015, at the age of 22. The broadcast journalism major had joined the ABC affiliate in Florence, South Carolina, in March 2015. “It wasn’t about being on TV for Jordan,” wrote the station. “It was about telling people’s stories. She considered it a privilege.” The Long Island native had previously interned with CBS Entertainment, CBS News, and NBC News. At UM, she hosted UMTV’s NewsBreak, co-anchored and wrote for UMTV’s NewsVision, and was a senior staff writer for The Miami Hurricane.

Richard A. Wertheim, B.B.A. ’51 Clare B. Baker, B.Ed. ’52 Lynn H. Berman, B.M. ’52 Robert R. Cahall, B.S.I.E. ’52 Billy L. Cameron, B.B.A. ’52 Joseph E. Felber, B.B.A. ’52 Joseph Frankel, B.B.A. ’52 Harry D. Garber, B.B.A. ’52 Paul H. Heise, B.B.A. ’52 Norman J. Lebedin, B.B.A. ’52 Sheldon J. Schlesinger, A.B. ’52, J.D. ’54 Robert L. Sheehan, B.B.A. ’52 Eugene Tannenbaum, J.D. ’52 Gordon L. Carlson, B.B.A. ’53 Nathan J. Esformes, B.B.A. ’53 Richard L. Green, A.B. ’53 Charles B. Huffman, B.B.A. ’53 Daniel J. Malango, B.Ed. ’53 Joseph W. Plappert, B.Ed. ’53 Leona M. Reeder, A.B. ’53 Arthur E. Rodriguez, B.B.A. ’53 Ben Sauls, B.Ed. ’53 Theodore L. Schempp, J.D. ’53 I. Thomas Buckley, B.B.A. ’54 William Charlton, B.B.A. ’54 Daniel J. Featherman, B.S.I.E. ’54 Donna J. Feldman, B.M. ’54 Joseph A. Ferrara, J.D. ’54 Sydney Gangel, B.B.A. ’54 Jordan M. Glassner, B.B.A. ’54 Jules Goldberg, B.Ed. ’54 James W. Green, B.B.A. ’54 Howard Lefkowitz, B.S.E.E. ’54 Ralph L. Levine, B.B.A. ’54 Raymond A. Mastellone, B.Ed. ’54 Myron J. Nathan, B.S.C.E. ’54 Aladar E. Paczier, J.D. ’54 Lee G. Richmond, B.B.A. ’54

Donald S. Rose, B.B.A. ’54, J.D. ’57 Edwin S. Warrell, B.Ed. ’54 Lorette Burke, B.Ed. ’55 David MacDonna, A.B. ’55 Edwin Rudell, J.D. ’55 Carlton R. Smith, B.M. ’55 Edwin F. DeMeo, B.B.A. ’56 Paul M. Low, J.D. ’56 Morris J. Watsky, J.D. ’56 Gloria M. Woods, A.B. ’56 Robert C. Belcher, B.B.A. ’57 Harold H. Booth, B.S.E.E. ’57 Ephraim Collins, J.D. ’57 Jo Dolan, J.D. ’57, LL.M.G. ’65 Dorothea L. Dubler, B.Ed. ’57 James H. Geers, B.S.I.E. ’57 Antonio G. Huerta, B.B.A. ’57 Darwin G. Payne, B.B.A. ’57 Jay M. Rand, B.B.A. ’57 Irving J. Whitman, J.D. ’57 Alan C. Alford, B.B.A. ’58 Allan H. Altman, B.B.A. ’58, M.B.A. ’60 Peter C. Calo, B.B.A. ’58 Carem Gager, B.B.A. ’58 Ronald N. Johnson, J.D. ’58 Richard D. Lotharius, B.B.A. ’58, M.B.A. ’61 Carolyn E. Picot, A.B. ’58 Stanley R. Rosenberg, B.B.A. ’58 George W. Roy, B.B.A. ’58 Lloyd M. Siegmeister, B.B.A. ’58 Holmes R. Troutman, J.D. ’58 Oliver L. Jones, M.D. ’59 Edward N. Orange, B.S.C.E. ’59 Stephen E. Pearson, B.B.A. ’59 Gerald Piken, A.B. ’59, J.D. ’62 Carole A. Rabinowitz, B.Ed. ’59 Linda S. Singerman, B.Ed. ’59

Robert I. Bobrow, J.D. ’60 Francis P. Burke, B.S. ’60 Robert I. Mandel, M.B.A. ’60 Arlene C. McKay, A.B. ’60 Mary D. Morris, A.B. ’60 Charles G. Rogers, B.S.M.E. ’60 Linda H. Rubenstein, B.Ed. ’60 David A. Russell, J.D. ’60 Theodore D. Wallman, A.B. ’60 Edmund R. Amideo, B.B.A. ’61 Mary E. Caracaus, B.S. ’61 Roberta M. Geer, B.Ed. ’61 Joel P. Gilbert, B.B.A. ’61 Kenneth L. Gray, B.B.A. ’61 Robert N. Isquith, A.B. ’61 Angelo Massaro, M.D. ’61 Nancy E. Proulx, B.Ed. ’61 Lance C. Ringhaver, B.B.A. ’61 Carl W. Stern, B.Ed. ’61 H. V. Terry, M.Ed. ’61 Richard N. Blank, B.B.A. ’62, J.D. ’71 Richard K. Goethel, B.B.A. ’62, J.D. ’65 Lawrence R. Kurland, B.Ed. ’62 James A. Lanier, J.D. ’62 Patricia A. Relish, A.B. ’62 Bruce M. Brown, B.B.A. ’63 Audrey R. Hosmer, B.Ed. ’63 Alyce F. King, B.Ed. ’63 Edward A. Burr, B.S.E.E. ’64 Gerald D. Clement, A.B. ’64, M.Ed. ’73 Constance C. Dortch, A.B. ’64 Lynne B. Gable, B.Ed. ’64 David A. Kish, B.B.A. ’64 Myron H. Pollack, M.Ed. ’64 Robert T. Ramsay, M.S. ’64, Ph.D. ’67 Bradford R. Huther, B.B.A. ’65

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 37

Class Notes

Scientist Showed Threat of Rising Oceans Peter W. Harlem, M.S. ’79, a leading geoscientist at Florida International University who served on South Florida’s Climate Change Advisory Task Force, died March 15 of melanoma. He was 67. Harlem brought global attention to sea-level rise in South Florida. Using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing imagery, he created maps that clearly demonstrated that the region would be almost completely submerged by the year 2159. His findings were cited in features in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and the Miami Herald, among other sources, and continue to influence municipalities in adaptation planning. Harlem was also a Vietnam veteran and history expert whose collection of war photos is now housed in FIU’s Peter Harlem Vietnam Photograph Collection.

Edward W. McSwiggan, B.B.A. ’65 Sarah F. Miller, B.Ed. ’65 Steven D. Miller, B.B.A. ’65 Peggy J. O’Hara, A.B. ’65, M.A. ’71 Anthony Vitti, B.B.A. ’65 Marwin Kwint, B.S. ’66 Melvyn E. Meisler, A.B. ’66 Richard R. Webster, B.B.A. ’66 Gerald J. Weiner, B.B.A. ’66 Carolyn W. Achata, B.S.N. ’67 James R. Beasley, A.B. ’67 William J. Beintema, B.B.A. ’67, J.D. ’70 Mario C. Diaz-Cruz, B.B.A. ’67 Eugene E. Nolting, M.S. ’67, Ph.D. ’71 Robert A. Silver, B.Ed. ’67 John L. Barber, B.Ed. ’68 David R. Broderick, B.B.A. ’68 William M. Clark, J.D. ’68 Harriet L. Kleinberg, B.Ed. ’68, M.Ed. ’73 Betty Lou L. Loyer, B.Ed. ’68, M.Ed. ’75 Daniel A. McGaffigan, A.B. ’68 Sylvia C. Williams, B.Ed. ’68 Earl E. Allen, M.Ed. ’69, M.D. ’76 Nancy R. Eyre, B.Ed. ’69 Phillip M. Kane, B.B.A. ’69, M.B.A. ’83 Daniel J. Appelrouth, M.D. ’70 Ivan L. Brownstein, J.D. ’70 John A. Hilderbrand, M.Ed. ’70 Edith P. Irwin, A.B. ’70 Clark D. Burris, M.M. ’71 Phillip M. Manning, A.B. ’71 Carl L. Mattioli, A.B. ’71 Michael J. Paulic, B.B.A. ’71 Gordon D. Wood, B.S. ’71

Margret A. Barnes, B.S.N. ’72 William J. Brewster, B.B.A. ’72 Gregory B. Crosbie, A.B. ’72 Javier F. Cruz, B.Arch. ’72 C. R. Drake, B.B.A. ’72 Jacqueline F. Evans, A.B. ’72 Guillermo L. Mallo, B.S. ’72 Paul M. Sanderson, B.B.A. ’72 Jose M. Wasmer, B.S. ’72, M.D. ’76 William H. Yeck, B.B.A. ’72 Rafael P. Fuentes F.M.D. ’73 Arthur M. Garel, J.D. ’73 Millard C. Glancy, J.D. ’73 James D. Huie, B.B.A. ’73, M.P.R.A. ’74, J.D. ’82, LL.M.E. ’83 James E. Lefkowitz, J.D. ’73 Vaughncille Molden, B.G.S. ’73 Nancy S. White, A.B. ’73 Richard S. Burow, J.D. ’74 David M. Waksman, J.D. ’74 Minette V. Benson, M.A. ’75

38 MIAMI Fall 2016 miami.edu/magazine

Joan S. Dunphy D.A. ’75 Gilberto V. Fort C.L.P. ’75 Luis F. Brande, B.Ed. ’76 Matthew Capers, A.B. ’76, M.S.Ed. ’97 Anne Dunston, Ed.S. ’76 Terry E. Fixel, A.B. ’76, J.D. ’79 Stephen Primoff, B.S. ’76 Susan Sherry, A.B. ’76 Ramon C. Calafell, J.D. ’77 Olga M. De Zayas, M.Ed. ’77 Eric L. Hildebrand, M.S. ’77 Richard H. Sterzinger, M.C.L. ’77 Richard E. Schwartz, J.D. ’78 Thomas H. Simmons, M.D. ’78 Timothy S. Haley, J.D. ’79 Maxine B. Wishart, B.S.Ed. ’79 John D. McNeish, B.S. ’80 Jack C. Sales, J.D. ’80 Terry L. Caballero, M.S.Ed. ’81 Bruce T. Carolan, J.D. ’81 Michael F. Gabriel, B.B.A. ’81 Ralph Barreira, J.D. ’83

Judith L. Linick, M.B.A. ’83 Thomas J. Thomas, LL.M.T. ’83 Carlos M. Saillant B.S.S.A. ’84 James C. Best, J.D. ’85 John P. Crout, B.S.E.E. ’85, M.P.H. ’94 Robert D. Hirsch, A.B. ’86 Clive H. Afflick, D.A. ’89 Alexander Moir, M.D. ’89 Oswin Sewer, M.S.Ed. ’89 Donald C. Shipman, Ed.S. ’89 Milton J. Torres D.A. ’89 Michael W. Attaway, B.B.A. ’90 Laura L. Elliott, M.P.H. ’91 Craig Kolthoff, B.S.E.E. ’91 Margaret R. McLoughlin, J.D. ’93 William C. Sheldon, A.B. ’93 Matthew N. McManus, A.B. ’95, J.D. ’98 Augustine C. Paldano, M.S.B.E. ’95 Jonas F. Cash, B.B.A. ’96 Luis G. Arizmendi, B.S. ’97 Beverley A. Hilton, M.B.A. ’97 Leslie M. Frost Sable, M.D. ’97 Peter A. Savarese, J.D. ’98 Timothy E. Johnson, B.S.M.E. ’01 Christopher R. Clark, A.B. ’05 Craig S. Kirsch, J.D. ’06 Ashley E. DeAngelo, A.B. ’08 Caitlin I. McPhaden, B.S.M.A.S. ’10 Katherine L. Corlett, J.D. ’15 Cody R. Helman, B.S.H.S. ’15 Alexander L. Katona, B.S.M.A.S. ’15 *Names recorded as of April 30, 2016.

We diligently research each name in the “In Memoriam” section. If you see an error, please contact alumni@miami.edu or call 305-284-2872.

First Faculty Recruited to Bascom Palmer Victor T. Curtin, professor emeritus of ophthalmology, died March 9 in Miami. He was 90. Curtin, the first faculty member recruited by Edward W.D. Norton, chief of the UM medical school’s Division of Ophthalmology, worked with Norton to help transform the new division into the world-renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, where he remained a transformational faculty member for 57 years. Curtin created the Florida Lions Eye Bank and Ocular Pathology Laboratory at Bascom Palmer with the Lions Clubs of South Florida in 1962. He was the inaugural holder of the Victor T. Curtin Chair in Ophthalmology, created in 1986 to support research in experimental ocular pathology. Donations may be made to the Dr. Victor T. Curtin Endowed Speakers Series or the Florida Lions Eye Bank, care of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, 900 NW 17th Street, Miami, FL 33136.

ALUMNI LEADERSHIP

305-284-2872 or 1-800-UMALUMS n miami.edu/alumni

Board of Directors Executive Committee

Brenda Yester Baty, B.B.A. ’90, President

John Calles, A.B. ’89, J.D. ’92, Immediate Past President

Alumni Trustees

Doyle Beneby, M.B.A. ’97 Susan Lytle Lipton, A.B. ’67, J.D. ’70 Michael “Pete” Piechoski, B.B.A. ’76

Directors

Taghreed Al-Saraj, B.F.A. ’99, M.S.Ed. ’01 Suzanne M. Block, A.B. ’81 Cristie A. Carter, B.S.C. ’95 Daniel Carvajal, B.B.A. ’08 Victoria A. Colon, M.B.A. ’98 Santiago Corrada, A.B. 86, M.S.Ed. ’91 Jose “Pepi” Felix Diaz, A.B. ’02 Darren Dupriest, B.B.A. ’91 Jorge Duyos, B.S.I.E. ’85, M.S.I.E. ’88 Carlota Espinosa, B.S.C. ’90 Bill J. Fisse, B.B.A. ’75, M.B.A. ’77 Lissette Gonzalez, B.A.M. ’01 Shannon K. High-Bassalik, B.S.C. ’88 Cynthia Hudson, A.B. ’84, M.A. ’97 Robert J. Munch, A.B. ’73 Katie Phang, J.D. ’00 Marc Risser, B.B.A. ’93 Johnny Taylor, B.S.C. ’89 Gulnar Vaswani, B.B.A. ’91, M.B.A. ’93 Spencer B. Weinkle, B.S.C. ’07 Doug Weiser, A.B. ’78, J.D. ’82

Young Alumni Leadership Council Representative Danielle Ferretti, B.B.A. ’07

Frank Jimenez, B.S. ’87, President-Elect

Guillermo de Aranzabal Agudo, M.B.A. ’84, Vice President

Faculty Representatives

Manuel A. Huerta, M.S. ’67, Ph.D. ’70 Christian Diez, B.S. ’00, M.D. ’04, M.B.A. ’12, Delegate, Faculty Senate

Student Representatives

Vikesh Patel, President, UM Student Government Jesi Price, President, UM Student Alumni Ambassadors

’Canes Communities

Atlanta John Fenton, B.B.A. ’80, M.B.A. ’81, jjfenton1@gmail.com Austin Jay Schutawie, B.S. ’83, jays@ austin.rr.com Boston Michaela Hennessy, B.A.M.A. ’14, mjhenny77@gmail.com Broward County Jon Malone, B.S.C. ’07, jmalone61@gmail.com Charlotte Jason Wilson, B.S.C.E. ’98, jwilson@umiami.edu Chicago Brian Kidder, B.S.E.E. ’03, b.kidder@umiami.edu Cincinnati Marc Bouche, B.Arch. ’84, marc.bouche@hotmail.com Colombia Gloria Duque, B.B.A. ’99, M.B.A. ’04, gpduque2001@yahoo. com Dallas Carolina Selvidge, B.S.C. ’98, selvidgefamily@gmail.com Denver Josh Josephson, B.B.A. ’07, j.josephson21@gmail.com Detroit Joshua Lopez, A.B. ’10, joshua.lopez@uprepschools.com

Kourtney Ratliff Gibson, B.B.A. ’03, Vice President

Brian L. Itzkowitz, B.B.A. ’90, Vice President

Houston Edward Perry, B.M. ’07, espmobile@gmail.com Indianapolis Danielle Bruno, B.S.B.A. ’09, danielleevabruno@ gmail.com Jacksonville Andrew Gall, B.B.A. ’10, gallfera531@charter.net Las Vegas Natasha Williams, B.B.A. ’05, mrsnatashadw@yahoo.com London Maria Newstrom, B.Arch. ’09, mnewstrom@gmail.com Los Angeles Chad Fisher, A.B. ’00, chad.fisher19@gmail.com Louisville Clifford “Dean” Furman, A.B. ’90, um@lawdean.com Middle East Reyadh Al-Rabeah, B.S.I.E. ’87, alrabeahr@gmail.com Nashville Ben Bruno, B.M. ’07, benbruno305@gmail.com New Jersey Jennifer Smith, B.B.A. ’94, miamicanes321@gmail.com New York Michael Gohari, B.B.A. ’11, michaelgohari@yahoo.com Orlando Adrian Burrowes, M.D. ’00, adrianmd2000@hotmail.com Palm Beach County Jordan White, A.B. ’05, jfwhite99@gmail.com Philadelphia Sean Pezzulo, B.S.C. ’14, seanpezzulo@gmail.com Phoenix Michelle Loposky, A.B. ’04, mloposky@gmail.com Portland Connor Adams, B.S.Ed. ’14, connorjadams2@gmail.com Richmond Karen Rosenthal, B.B.A. ’88, kaleyr@gmail.com San Francisco Fawn Perazzo, B.S. ’98, f_perazzo@yahoo.com

Andrew Potter, M.B.A. ’04, Vice President

Sarasota Chris Clayton, B.S.C. ’94, starsmiley@hotmail.com Seattle Jordan Louie, ’07, jordanklouie@gmail.com Southwest Florida Barbara Woodcock, A.B. ’08, canesgrl13@ gmail.com Spain Jaime Escalante, B.B.A. ’93, M.B.A. ’11, Escalantej@iata.org St. Louis Ethan Silverman, B.B.A. ’01, esilver47@gmail.com Tampa Stuart Bromfield, A.B. ’09, stuart.bromfield@gmail.com Washington, D.C. Rachel Highland, B.S.B.E. ’05, J.D. ’08, M.S. ’09, rachel.papeika@gmail.com

Special Interest Groups

Black Alumni Society Cynthia Cochran, B.B.A. ’01, M.P.A. ’06, cie1@umail.miami.edu Band of the Hour Debbie Baker Robinson, B.B.A. ’84, dbrstitch@ gmail.com LGBTQ Judson Dry, B.B.A. ’07, judsondry@yahoo.com Public Health Sciences Daniella Orihuela, B.S.B.E. ’11, M.P.H. ’14, dorihuela@frostscience.org UM Sports Hall of Fame Gerard Loisel, B.S. ’76, goldensounds@ hotmail.com

School and College Groups

College of Engineering Andrew Doyle, B.S.I.E. ’08, Adoyle052@ gmail.com

Winston Warrior, B.B.A. ’93, M.B.A. ’96 Vice President

Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A. ’95, Executive Director

School of Law Joshua Spector, J.D. ’02, joshua@spectorlegal.com Miller School of Medicine Vicky Egusquiza, B.S. ’83, M.D. ’87, mve510@aol.com School of Nursing and Health Studies Debbie Anglade, Ph.D. ’14, d.anglade@miami.edu Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science Peter Chaibongsai, A.B. ’00, M.A. ’07, peterchaibongsai@gmail.com

Alumni records of the University of Miami are kept strictly confidential. Directory information is released only to other members of the alumni community unless an alumnus or alumna has requested complete privacy. On a very limited occasion and only at the approval of the UM Alumni Association Board of Directors, directory information is shared with outside vendors who are in a joint relationship with the University. Should you not wish to release your name to any outside vendor and/or other members of the UM alumni community, please notify the Office of Alumni Relations in writing at P.O. Box 248053, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-1514.

Whether you’re in Shanghai or St. Louis, London or L.A., ’Canes Communities offer programming open to all UM alumni, parents, students, and friends. To connect with your local Miami Hurricanes family for networking, events, and fun, visit miami.edu/canescommunities. The University of Miami Alumni Association proudly supports ’Canes Communities around the globe.

To get involved with the ’Canes Community in your area, submit a UConnect form at www.miami.edu/uconnect.

miami.edu/magazine Fall 2016 MIAMI 39

Big Picture A SNAPSHOT OF THE U TODAY

A goal post gets some TLC on one of the University’s Greentree Practice Fields. UM plans to build the 81,800-square-foot Carol Soffer Football Indoor Practice Facility on the adjacent turf field, thanks to a $14 million pledge from the Soffer Family, $1 million from Coach Mark Richt, B.B.A. ’82, and his wife, another $9 million raised in pledges, and $10 million still to be raised. The target for opening is summer 2018.

SCOTT FRICKER

Setting Goals

ONE WORD: Instrumental One word can change a life.

One gift can make a difference.

One “U” can shape the world.

“While at the U, I was constantly challenged in both academics and student organizations.

My ability to embrace change and remain intellectually strong laid the foundation for life after college. As a member of an expanding group of diverse and highly talented ’Canes, I was able to cultivate friendships and gain invaluable soft skills. My post-graduation success has been driven, in large part, by the

instrumental experiences and skills I acquired at the U.” Emilio Garcia, A.B. ’10 Corporate Development Manager Lennar Ventures

Your annual support will make experiences like Emilio’s possible. Please make your gift to the University of Miami today.

One word – One gift – One

miami.edu/annualgiving

Office of Annual Giving annualgiving@miami.edu 1-866-UMALUMS (862-5867)

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UMPL8 As you celebrate another year of style, don’t forget to renew the swag on your tag.

Not only is your UM license plate super cool, it helps to fund scholarships for UM students.

For assistance in purchasing or renewing the U license plate, go to miami.edu/licenseplate or call us at 866-862-5867.