SPRING 2020 Ankur Jain: BYOInnovation Shattering (Conventional) Glass Letter from the President PHOTO: DAVID ETTINGER THIS PAST JANUARY, when the coronavirus were unable to return home this spring. Many began to change our world as we know it, Illinois campus facilities and maintenance staff, public Institute of Technology found ourselves doing safety officers, and food and custodial partners what have done best since 1890—providing our continued to report to work to take care of students with a world-class education—only these students. Their extraordinary care of our this time with the added challenge of ensuring students is deeply appreciated. a heightened level of safety for our community Many alumni, too, have continued to support during a global pandemic. Our successes since Illinois Tech during the pandemic by contributing then have been thanks to the efforts of each to the Hawks 4 Hawks Hardship Fund. This dedicated member of our university community program provides direct financial assistance to working together, whether on campus or Illinois Tech students in crisis situations with remotely. Each of us has shown what it means 100 percent of the funds helping students facing to be an active, conscientious, and contributing unexpected hardships. member of something bigger than ourselves. While we cannot predict the future, at Illinois The graduates as well as the rest of our Tech we are ready for the future, no matter what student body shifted to online learning for the it may bring. Thank you for your support, which duration of the semester after spring break. Our provides us a great deal of confidence in the faculty demonstrated an uncommon commitment months ahead. While we expect and are planning in their coursework delivery; the feedback from to welcome students to campus in-person for the our students was overwhelmingly positive even start of the 2020 fall semester, what we know for though they had to sacrifice their traditional certain is that the Illinois Tech student experience campus experience. On May 16 the Class of will continue to be rigorous and rewarding. After 2020 had a virtual Commencement, yet another all, it is in the collective DNA of the Illinois Tech unprecedented change. community to contribute to something bigger Many of our campus staff regularly train than itself. and plan to respond to a range of crises, and in recent years, one of our training exercises Sincerely, focused on a disease outbreak. This planning and training rendered our leadership team better prepared to respond quickly and appropriately to COVID-19. We were able to safely shelter Alan W. Cramb hundreds of students on Mies Campus who MAGAZINE Vice President for External Affairs Jess Goode Spring 2020 Managing Editor Marcia Faye Director of Content Chelsea Kalberloh Jackson Editorial Contributors Andrew Connor Joseph Giovannetti Steve Hendershot Linsey Maughan Casey Moffitt 12 Art Direction Scott Benbrook Design Scott Benbrook Joseph Goforth Travis Rothe Photography Olivia Dimmer 10 David Ettinger Tim Klein Features Scott Murry Copyeditor/Writer 18 Andrew Wyder 10 18 Web Edition Using local ingredients Juliane Wolf (ARCH ’01), Peter Beltemacchi such as the pomelo, Studio Gang design Abbey Vargas tap-meister Ankur Jain principal and partner, Illinois Tech Magazine, winner of a 2019 Pride of CASE V Award (CS ’03) has elevated his is embodying both Departments (Silver), is published twice a year by the Office of Marketing craft beer to the beauty and sustainability and Communications. © 2020 beverage of choice for in Chicago’s new 2 On Campus Illinois Tech Magazine is printed on FSC-certified recycled paper. many in his native India. Vista Tower. 6 Philanthropy News Read it, share it, recycle it. 7 Athletics Send Letters to Illinois Tech Magazine Office of Marketing and Communications 8 Research Briefs 10 West 35th Street, 13th Floor 24 Alumni News Chicago, IL 60616 12 36 Rewind or email [email protected] Climate-change activist Send alumni news to [email protected] Brian Gómez (CECD ’18) Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, is a private, technology- and the youth-driven focused research university. Based in the global metropolis of Chicago, Illinois Tech is the only university of its kind in the city. It offers undergraduate and graduate nonprofit Sunrise degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law. Movement serve as a collective voice for One of 21 institutions that comprise the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU), Illinois Tech provides an exceptional education centered planet Earth. Read Illinois Tech on active learning, and its graduates lead the state and much of the nation in Magazine economic prosperity. At Illinois Tech students are empowered to discover, create, 22 online at and solve, and thus uniquely prepared to succeed in professions that require magazine.iit.edu technological sophistication, an innovative mindset, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Mission Statement To provide distinctive and relevant education in an environment of scientific, 16 22 technological, and professional knowledge creation and innovation Planned Parenthood A success in fields from Armour College of Engineering Institute of Design of Illinois head robots to biomedical Chicago-Kent College of Law Lewis College of Human Sciences Jennifer College of Architecture School of Applied Technology Welch (LAW ’94), “a startups, Christopher College of Science Stuart School of Business systems-level thinker,” Jones (AE ’07, Ph.D. ADA Statement leads the organization BME ’14) gets into “cool” Illinois Institute of Technology provides qualified individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in university activities, with compassion projects—especially ones On The Cover: programs, and services. Such individuals with disabilities requiring an accommodation should call the activity, program, or service director. and empathy. that allow him to be Ankur Jain (CS ’03) is founder of For further information about Illinois Tech’s resources, contact the creative and apply his India’s largest craft brewery, Bira 91. Illinois Tech Center for Disability Resources at [email protected]. tech know-how. Photo: Courtesy of Ankur Jain New College of Computing to Anchor Computation and Data Activities Park before it was sold to IBM. “For years, Illinois Tech has been a key driver of the Chicago economy by empowering its graduates with the skills needed to succeed in tomorrow’s industries,” says Gladwin. “This leading approach to computing education is a key component in Illinois Tech establishing itself as a global top-tier tech university and empowering Chicago to advance to a global top-tier tech city.” PHOTO: DAVID ETTINGER PHOTO: DAVID ACT Center a Computational Campus Hub Chris Gladwin was also instrumental in establishing Illinois Tech’s Active A HUB FOR ADDRESSING A disciplines, something we believe Computational Thinking (ACT) Center, variety of interdisciplinary compu- has never been accomplished in now under the College of Science tational research and educational a comprehensive university with umbrella, through a gift he made needs. Degree programs in artificial law, architecture, and the full two years earlier to the Department intelligence. Collaborations with range of disciplines,” says Illinois of Computer Science. Headed by experts around the United States on Tech President Alan W. Cramb. Research Professor Anita Nikolich, how to develop a faster and more The formation of the college aligns a notable cybersecurity expert, the secure internet. These are just some with the university’s commitment ACT Center will incorporate thematic of the projects that will take place to invest in the area of computation elements into computational under Illinois Institute of Technol- and data, a designated university thinking. For example, the center ogy’s new College of Computing, research initiative. It also supports has made artificial intelligence which opened on June 1. Besides the the priority to “fully realize our its first theme. Therefore, any Department of Computer Science, identity as the premier technology- department across campus looking the College of Computing, headed focused university in Chicago,” as to collaborate on projects incor- by current College of Science Dean stated in Our Students and Their porating computational AI into its Lance Fortnow, will house the depart- Success Comes First: A Strategic research or curriculum can contact ments of information technology and Plan for Illinois Tech, 2020–2025. the ACT Center, and many have. management, and applied mathemat- Illinois Tech Trustee Chris “We envision the ACT Center as a ics, as well as the industrial technol- Gladwin helped to spearhead the new kind of intellectual accelerator ogy and management program. push for a College of Computing here at Illinois Tech,” says Shlomo “Illinois Tech is already providing to meet the needs of the twenty- Argamon, interim chair of the Depart- students with a very strong founda- first century labor force. Gladwin ment of Computer Science. “The tion in computation and data skills, founded big-data storage company center’s mission is to stimulate and but now we are going to do it in Cleversafe, which was housed at support faculty to develop a wide an integrated way across all academic Illinois Tech’s University Technology variety of creative interdisciplinary 2 SPRING 2020 initiatives and bring computational and