Alumni in the News - Winter 2009
Headliners
Ag Alum and Natural Family Farm in the Rocky Mountains
Filmed for Tom Brokaw Documentary Airing in January
Television anchor Tom Brokaw visted Cal Pol alum Jeff Downs (B.S., Animal Science, 2005) and his wife Jenika at their Kinikin Heights Natural Foods Farm in Colorado in October for his documentary show, "Tom Brokaw Presents American Character Along Highway 50." The episode should air in January. Downs, 27, grew up outside of Montrose, Colorado. After graduating from Cal Poly, he decided to search for more sustainable and humane practices for raising animals. Downs and his wife Jenika raise chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep and cattle for their natural foods company on their ranch outside Telluride. Downs’s animals are raised in fresh pastures, are never given antibiotics or hormones, and are raised with patience and care, according to the farm’s website.
More on Downs in the Telluride Watch
Chuck Liddell Boot-Scooted from Dancing With the Stars -- Now Heading for a Movie
Chuck Liddell's two-step to "Boot Scoot Boogie" on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" Oct. 13 was his last -- the judges voted him off the show in its fourth week. But the crowd loved his two-step, and professional dancer and partner Anna Trebunskaya told Liddell (B.S., Business Administration, 1995) he was her "bear" and she loved dancing with him.
(Check out the performance video on Hulu.com and you'll see that like many Mustangs, Liddell does a decent two-step and looks plenty comfortable in Wranglers).
The day after getting eliminated from DWTS, Liddell told the San Luis Obispo Tribune he wasn’t pleased with the professional dance judges who gave him the boot. They don't two-step in real life, and "They don’t know what they’re talking about half the time, anyway,” he said. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ will stay on screen; he has a role in an upcoming Mickey Rourke film.
Read the SLO Tribune interview with Liddell about his DWTS experience
See his Two-Step on video on Hulu
TIME Magazine Article Details
Biz Alums' Guayaki Company for Saving Rainforest
TIME Magazine's Sept. 14 edition (online and print) featured a story on Guayaki-Yerba Mate - the "Tree-Hugging Tea." Herbal-drink-maker Guayaki Yerba Mate imports directly from a small suppliers across Latin America with the goals of producing natural foods and preventing further rainforest deforestation. Popularity is soaring for its flavored, mate-based herbal drink, with sales over $10 million annually. The company is owned by two Cal Poly alumni: Alex Pryor (B.S., Food Science and Nutrition, 1998) and David Karr (B.S., Business, 1996). In Yerba Mate, "Guayaki found a beverage that restores the rain forest by commercializing it," TIME writes.
Read the Sept. 14 TIME magazine story | Read the Summer 2008 Cal Poly Magazine story on Pryor and Karr
Rutan Getting Ready for Test Flights of Six-Passenger 'Virgin Galactic' Orbit Crafts
Cal Poly alum Burt Rutan (B.S., Aeronautical Engineering, 1965), designer of the record-breaking SpaceShipOne -- the first private aircraft to reach space in 2004 -- is getting ready to break some more records. His Mojave Air and Space Port is getting ready for combined test flights of WhiteKnightTwo and the sleek two-pilot, six-person SpaceShipTwo - the world's first passenger-carrying suborbital spaceliner. The two aircraft are part of a partnership between Rutan and Sir Richard Branson, the entrepreneur owner of Virgin Galactic company. Like SpaceShipOne, the new SpaceShipTwo is designed to be carried to a high altitude by a mothership aircraft where it can launch on suborbital trips.
Read the October FoxNews profile of Rutan
Alumna Will Lead Federal Head Start
Early Education Program
The Office of Head Start will soon have an appointed director: Cal Poly alumna Yvette Sanchez Fuentes (B.S., Liberal Studies, 1992). She is leaving her post as executive director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association to take the job this month. Fuentes was appointed by Carmen Nazario, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families at Health and Human Services. Fuentes, 36, started her career as a kindergarten teacher in the Los Angeles Unified school district. She later worked in San Luis Obispo's Economic Opportunity Commission, creating a family child care initiative for migrant and seasonal workers using federal grant money from Head Start's program.
Read the Early Ed Watch interview with Fuentes | See the full press release on her appointment
Career Moves
Alumni Drone Unmanned Aircraft Startup Bought by Alabama Company
Chandler/May Inc. of Huntsville, Ala. has bought AeroMech Engineering of San Luis Obispo, a producer of small unmanned aircraft known as drones. The San Luis Obispo-based AeroMech was started by two Cal Poly grads on a shoestring budget 10 years ago. Cal Poly graduates Thomas Akers (B.S., Aero Engineering, 2001) and Norm Timbs (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1988, B.S., Engineering Technology, 1992) founded their company in 1999 with less than $1,000 of startup cash.
More on the AeroMech acquisition
Alums Develop Photo iPhone App
Two Cal Poly alumni, Justin Wilcox (B.S., Computer Science, 2003) and Aaron Jensen (B.S., Computer Science, 2003), were part of a team to launch the first free iPhone photo translator application, PicTranslator, which turns the iPhone camera into a point-and-shoot translator of all things visual including foreign road signs, menus and maps, helping travelers overcome language barriers.
Read about the iPhone Photo App Developers
Awards
Journalism Alumna Part of Emmy-Winning News Team
Christina Jamison (B.S., Journalism, 2000) is now an Emmy-award winning producer as part of NBC's team coverage of election night 2008. The award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' 30th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. Jamison's NBC team was nominated and named the winner for its "NBC News - Decision 2008 NBC Election Night" programming.
Go to the News & Documentary Emmy Awards web site
Alumna Is Finalist for National Sammy Medal for her EPA Work
Cara Peck (B.S., Animal Science, 2004) has been featured in the Washington Post as one of 30 finalists for the Service to America Medals (Sammies). The awards program pays tribute to dedicated employees in America's federal workforce, highlighting those who have made significant contributions to our country. Honorees are chosen based on their commitment and innovation, as well as the impact of their work on addressing the needs of the nation. Peck, 28, is a life scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She helped shepherd an EPA pilot project in the San Francisco Bay area to convert 73,000 tons of organic food waste from restaurants into electricity per year, keeping the material out of landfills and limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The project has since been replicated in Sacramento and Santa Monica, and has drawn interest around the country.
Read the Washington Post Story on Peck
Alumna's Ph.D. Dissertation Wins Top Award at New York University
Andrea Jochim (B.S., Biochemistry, Chemistry, 2003), has been awarded the New York University graduate school Dean’s Dissertation Award for 2009. Jochim, a chemistry graduate student originally from San Luis Obispo County, plans to become a physician. She was recognized by NYU for “excellence and promise in the work of advanced graduate students who are writing their Ph. D. dissertations.”
Read the story in the SLO Tribune (8th item)
