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Two alumns pose under giant polar bear ice sculpture

The 1950s and ’60s featured a Winter Weekend hosted by the junior class, which included all sorts of winter fun.

1999

Doug Rozsa, Greg Mucci, Lucius DiPhillips, Anthony Pergolotti, and Craig Osika
Over Memorial Day weekend, classmates from RPI Class of 1999 gathered together in Truckee, California. They enjoyed a weekend of boating, hiking, pickleball, and reminiscing about the adventures they shared living together in downtown Troy in 1998-99.Pictured left to right: Doug Rozsa, Greg Mucci, Lucius DiPhillips, Anthony Pergolotti, and Craig Osika. Posted 2024-01-17
Sarah Boswell, Ph.D. ’03, has joined Ginkgo Bioworks: The Organism Company, whose mission is to “make biology easier to engineer.” Sarah spent 10 years as a staff scientist at Harvard Medical School. Posted 2023-03-24
Emily Grandstaff-Rice
Architecture The American Institute of Architects (AIA) elected Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, as the 2022 first vice president and 2023 president-elect. Emily has held a variety of leadership positions at AIA National. In 2017, she was elected to serve as the 2018-2020 at-large director. She also chaired the Equity and Future of Architecture Committee from 2017-2022 and the Equity in Architecture Commission from 2015-2016. In 2014, she was president of the Boston Society of Architects. Emily is a senior associate at Arrowstreet in Boston. Her design work has spanned academic, hospitality, institutional, and commercial projects. She has a Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer and a Master of Liberal Arts in Educational Technology from Harvard University. She serves on the School of Architecture’s Dean’s Leadership Council. Emily will be the second Rensselaer graduate to serve as AIA president; Russell Davidson ’86 served in that role in 2016. Posted 2021-09-30
Abhinav A. Shukla, Ph.D., has been appointed chief technical officer of Shattuck Labs Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of bifunctional fusion proteins as a new class of biologic medicine for the treatment of patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. Posted 2021-09-30
Troy Damboise is first vice president and general auditor of Liberty Bank. He joins Liberty after 14 years at ING, where he was vice president and division auditor director. Posted 2021-09-30
Business Scott Maybee was named president of NextGear Capital. He was most recently general manager for Manheim Northstar Minnesota, and before that, spent 10 years with Nissan North America and Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. Posted 2020-05-21
Engineering Kevin O’Shea joined Amastan Technologies as chief commercial officer. The company develops plasma technology for materials production used in additive manufacturing, battery, and other industrial markets. Posted 2020-05-21
Engineering Rebecca (Webber) Gaudiosi, an engineer-turned-diplomat, just published a book, Negotiating at the United Nations (Routledge, 2019), based on her experience negotiating in multilateral organizations. More information on the book is available via the Negotiation Resolution website. Posted 2019-10-01
Sekou Bermiss, associate professor of management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, was named to the list of Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors by Poets & Quants for Undergrads. He has been at Texas McCombs since 2009, where he was elected to the Faculty Honor Roll. His research centers on how value is socially constructed in organizational settings. Posted 2019-03-10
Nava Cretu-Kessel and her husband, Barnet, welcomed their third child, Joel “Joey” Reuven, on December 24. Their other kids are 6 years and 4 years old, and they live in Newton, Mass. Nava recently celebrated her five-year anniversary with TripAdvisor, where she oversees business intelligence for TripAdvisor Flights and SeatGuru. She was really looking forward to being on the RPI campus in early May for an advisory board meeting of RPI’s M.S. in Business Analytics program.  Posted 2018-10-10
Lt. Col. Mike Loftus took command of the 2nd Engineer Battalion, Fort Bliss, last June, and serves as commander of 580 employees providing engineering, network and communications, intelligence, and logistical support for an Armored Brigade Combat Team. Mike most recently served as professor of military science and led the ROTC program at the University of Rhode Island. Posted 2018-03-15
Daniel Schultz and his wife, Natasha Lisitsa, are the creative force behind Waterlily Pond, a floral art and event design studio based in San Francisco, California, that has been recognized internationally for larger-than-life floral installations, original style, and innovative use of materials.

They recently won first prize (60,000 Euro) in the international flower festival, FLORA, held in Cordoba, Spain. Their creation, Duende, was inspired by the whirl of a flamenco dancer’s skirt, and crafted on-site over four days from 500 spirals of perforated aluminum, hand-tied together to create a self-supporting structure for flowers.

In 2016, they took Gold and Best in Show awards at the Singapore Garden Festival, for Stretching Time, a massive cantilevered structure of wooden dowels spanning 16 feet between walls and supporting a lush display of fresh flowers.

“We design modern sculptures which juxtapose industrial materials and vibrant fresh florals,” says Schultz. “My passion is for conceptual design and engineering of beautiful, dynamic structures. Natasha’s excellence in floral design and exciting color combinations make us a great team.”

Schultz is the son of the late William Weightman Walker Professor of Chemistry Arthur G. Schultz, and he grew up within the Rensselaer community. During his studies at the School of Architecture, he cultivated a love for fabrication in Sid Fleisher’s woodshop, which later developed into a career in furniture design. He attributes his design skills to a rigorous, critical program, his many inspiring professors, and opportunities to study abroad.

“During the recent competition in Spain, while I was constructing our piece in an ancient space in an ancient city, I was reminded not only of my semester in Rome, Italy, but also of my senior thesis, in which I used perforated metal as the primary material,” says Schultz.

Waterlily Pond has designed flowers and décor for over 1,000 weddings and events, performed numerous live demonstrations, and created large-scale works of floral art for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the de Young Museum, and other cultural institutions worldwide.
Posted 2018-03-15
Daniel Schultz 99 Earns Fame in Floral Installation Design
Daniel Schultz ’99 Earns Fame in Floral Installation Design

Daniel Schultz ’99 and his wife, Natasha Lisitsa, are the creative force behind Waterlily Pond, a floral art and event design studio based in San Francisco, California, that has been recognized internationally for larger-than-life floral installations, original style, and innovative use of materials.

They recently won first prize (60,000 Euro) in the international flower festival, FLORA, held in Cordoba, Spain. Their creation, Duende, was inspired by the whirl of a flamenco dancer’s skirt, and crafted on-site over four days from 500 spirals of perforated aluminum, hand-tied together to create a self-supporting structure for flowers.

In 2016, they took Gold and Best in Show awards at the Singapore Garden Festival, for Stretching Time, a massive cantilevered structure of wooden dowels spanning 16 feet between walls and supporting a lush display of fresh flowers.

“We design modern sculptures which juxtapose industrial materials and vibrant fresh florals,” says Schultz. “My passion is for conceptual design and engineering of beautiful, dynamic structures. Natasha’s excellence in floral design and exciting color combinations make us a great team.”

Schultz is the son of the late William Weightman Walker Professor of Chemistry Arthur G. Schultz, and he grew up within the Rensselaer community. During his studies at the School of Architecture, he cultivated a love for fabrication in Sid Fleisher’s woodshop, which later developed into a career in furniture design. He attributes his design skills to a rigorous, critical program, his many inspiring professors, and opportunities to study abroad.

“During the recent competition in Spain, while I was constructing our piece in an ancient space in an ancient city, I was reminded not only of my semester in Rome, Italy, but also of my senior thesis, in which I used perforated metal as the primary material,” says Schultz.

Waterlily Pond has designed flowers and décor for over 1,000 weddings and events, performed numerous live demonstrations, and created large-scale works of floral art for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the de Young Museum, and other cultural institutions worldwide.  
Posted 2018-03-15