| 1983Craig Shimasaki wrote the book The Business of Bioscience: What Goes into Making a Biotechnology Product (Springer Science+Business), based on his experience starting and developing life science companies and products. He is the owner of the BioSource Consulting Group, a strategy consulting firm for people interested in starting a biotechnology company. He and his wife of 31 years, Verna, have two daughters, Alyssa and Lori, and one son-in-law, Adam. |
| 1984Ten chemical engineering classmates celebrated their 25-year reunion with their families in July at Rancho Palos Verdes, and honored the memory of fellow classmate Patrick Murphy, who died last spring after a battle with leukemia (see In Memoriam, page 38). Five of the graduates—Julie (Clifton) Smalling, Carolyn Macola, Dawn Marie (Wilson) Cook, Louie Arias and Bob Kiss—and their families continued the celebration on a cruise to Ensenada. • Patrick Murphy died of leukemia in April at age 54. He spent much of his life serving others—as an infantryman and paratrooper in the Army, as a volunteer firefighter and as a humanitarian with Doctors Without Borders. He enjoyed traveling, sailing and scuba diving. He is survived by his son, Paul; mother, Patricia; and siblings William, Ann, John, Maureen Jenkins, Kathleen Weaver, Mary Waldorf and Jean Atkins. |
| 1985Michael Matteucci is an emergency physician and commander in the U.S. Navy. He is stationed at the emergency department at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, where he is the research director and assistant residency director. He is also a medical toxicologist on staff at the UC San Diego Medical Center and the California Poison Control System. Through December, he was the officer in charge of Shock Trauma Platoon 2—which was the farthest forward emergency medical facility in Afghanistan. • Kim Taylor-Campisano completed three triathlons in 2009. In the most recent race, she finished in the top 10 of her division in the Olympic distance in Bridgeport, Conn. She and her husband have three boys and live in Pelham, N.Y. • Catherine Conklin-Zanzi and JOHN ZANZI celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in September. The couple met at the dormitory Malcolm Hall in 1981. |
| 1986Lauren Bjorkman wrote her first young adult novel, My Invented Life (Henry Holt and Co.), released in October. She lives with her husband and two sons in Taos, N.M. • Marc Greendorfer recently founded Tri Valley Law, a transactional corporate law firm in San Ramon. He had previously been special counsel at Thelen LLP. • Gay Powers, Cred. ’02, a Davis artist, recently sent a limited-edition print of The Island Girl, which she drew as an art student in 1983, to the White House as a gift. It was accepted for consideration to hang on a White House wall. |
| 1987Anne McMillin was promoted to public relations manager for the University of Nevada School of Medicine and its clinical practice, University Health System. She serves as writer and editor of Synapse, the alumni magazine, and heads up statewide media relations efforts and marketing initiatives in northern Nevada. • Natalie Nielsen had her doctoral dissertation, “My Mom Said She Wanted Me to Grow Up Better than Her”: A Multi-Sited Exploration of the Social Capital and Support of Three Pre-Adolescent, African American Girls Striving for Success, published by Verlag. She has been the director of research at the Business-Higher Education Forum in Washington, D.C., since October 2008. She lives with her husband, Tom O’Brien ’84, in Alexandria, Va. |
| 1988Gregg Foster is the executive director of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, a position that he previously held from 1999 to 2007. From 2007 to 2009, he was a manager for Lost Coast Communications, which owns three radio stations in Humboldt County. He lives in Ferndale with Beth (Holcomb) Foster ’87, a third-grade teacher in Eureka, and they have two children, ages 14 and 10. • Diane McClure, Ph.D., D.V.M. ’90, is an associate professor at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine in Pomona. She teaches physiology, laboratory animal medicine and veterinary biosciences. • Mary Ellen O’Brien is married to Bill Herenda, a sidelines reporter for UC Davis football, color analyst for men’s basketball on Aggie radio network and Sacramento region executive director for Positive Coaching Alliance. They live in Sacramento with their three daughters—Bridget, 16, Clare, 15, and Devin, 12. |
| 1989Sara Backer’s novel American Fuji (Putnam), written in 2001, was reissued in paperback last September. The novel, set in modern Japan, was inspired by her three years as a visiting professor at Shizuoka National University. Backer is now an adjunct professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. |
| 1990Paul Berkowitz is board certified in psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine, and was recently appointed as the director of inpatient services at Maricopa Integrated Health Systems and Desert Vista Behavioral Health Center in Mesa, Ariz. He has a small outpatient psychiatric practice in Scottsdale, Ariz., and he previously worked as the director of consultation-liaison psychiatry at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Ariz. |
| 1991Vim Mahadevan was named vice president of technology and product management at Outlook Amusements. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Belinda, and their three children. • Eric Paul Shaffer, Ph.D., wrote his first novel, Burn & Learn, or Memoirs of the Cenozoic Era (Leaping Dog Press), released this fall. Lahaina Noon, his fifth book of poetry, received the Award of Excellence in the Ka Palapala Po‘okela Book Awards, presented by the Hawaii Book Publishers Association. Shaffer teaches literature and composition at Honolulu Community College. • Brian Victor received his Juris Doctor degree from the Concord Law School of Kaplan University in August |
| 1994Blake Sasaki married Staci Kawakami in June. They honeymooned in South Africa. Sasaki recently accepted a job for the athletics department at UC Berkeley, where he is handling corporate sponsorships for the university. He previously worked for UC Irvine athletics and the San Francisco 49ers. He lives in San Francisco. |
