 Alumni Profiles & Interesting Stories
Here is a sampling of alumni achievement in a wide variety of disciplines. And if anyone wants to add to our list of notable alumni, feel free to share their stories with us.
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Aug 2008
Sara Bongiorni, Warren ’88,
One Christmas day, Bongiorni realized her life was dependent of products made in China, and challenged herself to live one year without purchasing anything manufactured there. After struggling to find and afford such products with a middle-class budget, Bongiorni details her quest in a bestselling novel. MORE
Jan 2008
Khaled Hosseini, M.D. ’93,
Hosseini, ’93 M.D., was 7 years of age when his family left Kabul for France, in 1976, and 11 when they moved to the United States after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. But 30 years later, the UCSD trained doctor found himself on a movie set of Kabul, during Paramount Vantage’s filming of his best-seller, The Kite Runner. MORE
Daoud Heidami, M.F.A. ’02,
Heidami was attending Sam Houston State University in Texas, when Judy Dolan, a UC San Diego theater design professor, gave a lecture. This inspired him. Daoud now stars in
Masked, by Israeli playwright Ilan Hatsor, which tells the tortuous tale of three Palestinian brothers split apart by the Israeli/Palestinian political conflict
. MORE
Patrick Shami, M.S. ’04,
Mission Playground, founded in 2003
by UCSD alumnus Patrick Shami, M.S. ’04 , is a conscious lifestyle clothing line for men, women and children whose designs and messages are inspired by nature. MORE
Joe Baroldi, M.B.A. ’07,
Three Friars Brewing is a Carlsbad-based startup founded by three Rady FlexMBA alumni, as an extension of their Lab to Market project. MORE
Richard Antonorsi, Muir ’84 and Michael Antonorsi, Muir ’85,
Chuao Chocolatier
was founded by Richard, Muir ’84, and Michael Antonorsi, Muir ’85. Michael Antonorsi is a Certified French Chef from the École Supéríeure de Cuísíne Francaíse Ferrandi in Paris, where he also completed specialized training in pastry and chocolate making at the École Lenotre. His brother, entrepreneur Richard Antonorsi, manages the business affairs of Chuao Chocolatier. MORE
Sept 2007
Rachel Axler, M.F.A. ’04 ,
Rachel Axler is the lone female writer on The Daily Show.
She barely has time to make it to her desk before she is called to the morning meeting. OK, grab a coffee, sit down and be funny—for a living. MORE
Paula Jorge Guglielmino, ERC ’96,
Intrigued by the thought of learning Spanish with Desi the Dinosaur and Chico the Chicken? Paula Jorge Guglielmino, ERC ’96, has created a hip and exciting way for parents to learn the language with their children. MORE
Marilyn Schwartz O’Neill, Muir ’90,
Marilyn Schwartz O’Neill knows her water. As the founder and CEO of Nautilus Environmental, an environmental consulting and testing firm, she works with commercial, federal and municipal clients designing and implementing water column and sediment ecological and toxicological evaluations, and making sure they are compliant with state environmental regulations. MORE
Andy Powers, Muir ’04,
At Andy Powers Instrument Co., Powers personally spends approximately 300 hours making a custom guitar from scratch so that his customers get exactly what they dream of. “It’s like having a suit made for you,” he says. MORE
May 2007
J. Stephen “Steve” Peace, ’76 and John DeBello,’75 ,
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, the 1978 sci-fi spoof that former Bonita Vista High School buddies John DeBello, Muir ’75, J. Stephen “Steve” Peace, Muir ’76, and Costa Dillon, unleashed on an unsuspecting world. MORE
Josh Billauer, ’98
Upon graduation, Josh Billauer was not sure what he wanted to do with his future. He just dreamed of making an impact on the world. Little did Josh know that he was already on his way.
MORE
Carrie Rickey, '74, M.F.A. '76
Carrie Rickey lives in the historical part of Philadelphia, where horse carriages filled with eager tourists bump along over cobbled streets, and quaint row houses sit next to some of America’s oldest buildings. But it is the movie theaters, including the Ritz East and Ritz at the Bourse—both within walking distance of her home—that also endear Rickey to the area. MORE
Beth Accomando, ’82
Beth Accomando is the voice of film in San Diego—literally. Since 1987, Accomando, has reviewed movies for the city’s National Public Radio affiliate, KPBS, a job that taps skills and insight cultivated as one of UCSD’s first film graduates. MORE
January 2007
Priti Gandhi, '94
Gandhi’s parents must have had a “moment” when they realized just how apt a name they had chosen for their oldest child.
MORE
Monica Bill Barnes, '95
Village Voice says she creates “zippy and understated magic.” For the New Yorker she evokes “silent film comedians with coy primping.” She has also been called one of the wittiest young chore-ographers around, as well as zany and too much fun to miss.
MORE
September 2006
Hung Liu, M.F.A. '86
From China's Cultural Revolution” to installing a giant mural at Oakland Airport, Hun Liu, M.F.A. ’86, takes joy in her art.
MORE
May 2006
Garrett Gruener, '76 and David Warthen, '81
Alumni Garrett Gruener and David Warthen created the search engine Ask Jeeves. Last year, it was sold for $1.85 billion.
MORE
January 2006
Carrie Gugger, '96
What could be worse than being fired on television? For Carrie Gugger, ’96, it was having it happen on the day she’d originally planned her wedding. MORE
September 2005
Chad Butler, '97
As the distortion from the opening number fades into the warm New Jersey afternoon, the lead singer of Switchfoot addresses the crowd packed into the Northern Star Arena at Six Flags Great Adventure. MORE September 2005
Ricardo Chavira, M.F.A. '00
As a desperate husband of a Desperate Housewife, Ricardo Chavira finds himself enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous plotlines on Sunday nights... MORE
June 2005
Maurizio Seracini, '73
"It could be a scene from the “Da Vinci Code:” A high-tech art sleuth finds a hollow space behind an Italian palazzo’s murals, and believes he may have discovered a Da Vinci masterpiece not seen since 1563." MORE
@UCSD FEATURE JANUARY 2006
May 2005
Colonel Kurt Ubbelohde, '87
Colonol Kurt Ubbelohde, M.S. '87 oversees the reconstruction of the northern third of Iraq. MORE
May 2005
Robert Koenigsberger, '87
Advocating for holders of Russian bonds and analyzing Argentinean trade balances are the stuff of Robert Koenigsberger’s workdays. MORE
January 2005
Rex Pickett, '76
If you've been lucky enough to savor the movie Sideways you know the finer points of a good glass of pinot and when to avoid merlot.
MORE
January 2005
Diana Wolfe, '93
In just eleven years since her graduation, Diana Wolfe has educated women on health issues in Mali, delivered a baby in a boat on the Amazon River in Peru and completed medical school in Israel. MORE
January 2005
Janet McCulley, '90 & Maritsa Chew, '86
If you think pet supplies are a bare-bones business you haven’t been introduced to “Yappy Hours,” Chihuahua trunk shows and custom-made designer dog tags. Last year, consumers spent more than $34 billion on pet-related merchandise, double what they spent a decade ago and UCSD alums Janet McCulley and Maritsa Chew are riding high on this wave of puppy love. MORE
January 2005
Tim Roemer, '79
Tim Roemer, '79, was a member of the 9/11 Commission for 18 months. He recalls the emotions generated by controversial hearings. MORE
January 2005
Janice Chaffin, '78
Janice Durbin Chaffin, ’78, didn’t have dreams of computers or information systems dancing in her head when she first came to UCSD. But throughout her college years, she learned to embrace the unexpected, a mindset that has since helped her excel in the high-tech arena. MORE
September
2004
Ancel Keys, '30
Dr.
Ancel Keys is a 1930 Ph.D. graduate of Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
UCSD. In 1961 he appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine and was
dubbed Mr. Cholesterol by the popular press for discovering a link
between cholesterol and heart disease.
MORE
September 2004
Leo Spiegel, '83
Inspired by his classes and San Diego's enterprising spirit, Leo Spiegel established his own company, LAN Systems, while still a student at UCSD. MORE
September 2004
David Fisher, '97
From 9/11 to a daily diet of rapes and murders, criminalist and DNA expert, David Fisher, '97, coolly and scientifically solves crimes. MORE
May
2004
Shonte Wright, '97
As one of the chief designers of the thermal systems on the 2004
Mars Exploration Rover mission, Wright helped create and test the
heating systems that protect the hundreds of solar powered motors
on the rovers.
MORE
February
2004
Dr. Craig Randall Smith, Ph.D. '83
Oceanographer Craig Smith is the recipient of a prestigious
Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship for his plan to design marine
protected areas in the Pacific Ocean and thereby help conserve the
delicate and diverse ecosystems of seamounts and deep-sea plains
in the face of fishing and future mining.
MORE
January
2004
Troy Sears '88 and Ed Novak '84
Imagine a cast of attractive
twenty-somethings and a hard working camera crew sailing across
San Diego Bay. An updated version of Mutiny on the Bounty? Not quite.
It's MTV's The Real World being filmed aboard two of San Diego's
most famous yachts, the Stars and Stripes/USA 34 and the Abracadabra/USA
54.
MORE
ALUMNI PROFILES FROM UCSD'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
February 2004
Kathy
Lee, '98
Alumna returns to give back the mentoring she received.
While many UCSD students spend their college careers studying and pouring over
readings and notes, Kathy Lee, the assistant director of the University Events
Office and advisor to the A.S. Programming office, did not find her education
in a textbook when she attended UCSD in 1994. MORE
January
2004
Dave Kellett, '97
From humble beginnings as a cartoonist for the Guardian to rubbing elbows with
the great comic strips. Ever wonder what it's like to make people laugh for
a living? For cartoonist and UCSD alumnus Dave Kellett, this question is no
longer a wonder but a daily reality. Seven years ago, Kellett was a struggling,
albeit happy, student pursuing his masters degree at UCSD. MORE |
