Why did you choose to attend the University of Rochester?

I chose the University of Rochester in large part because it offered the opportunity to take classes outside of my major (like psychology and history) with people who were actually in that major, unlike at some of the engineering schools I had applied to. Also, the cluster curriculum let me study a particular subject in more depth than if I were taking just a few core classes elsewhere.

When and how did you choose your major?

I was in the Mechanical Engineering department from the beginning of my freshman year. As a young girl, I always wanted to be an astronaut.  The engineers had the job at Space Camp of “fixing the satellite in orbit.”  I felt that Mechanical Engineering was the broadest of the engineering disciplines and would let me pursue a variety of careers should the astronaut pool be competitive (or non-existent like it is now).

What activities were you involved in as a student and what did you gain from them?

I was very involved in the Ballet Performance Group, including serving as the Vice President my junior year and President the first semester of my senior year.  We put on one large show each semester, performed in several small performances throughout the year, and participated in other campus events.  It took a lot of work to organize all of those events and people, and it taught me valuable leadership skills.  Also, it was a creative release from engineering, and my college experience wouldn’t have been the same without that group. I also did work study at the Laser Lab during my last two years as an undergraduate.  My tasks included creating a 3-D CAD representation of the architectural drawings for the new facility for the Omega EP laser. The CAD was intended to help figure out how key components of the facility would fit through the I-beams once they were in place. I’ll never forget going onto the construction site and seeing how large these I-beams looked compared with the tiny drawings on my screen. The importance of going onto the assembly floor and seeing first-hand what you’re modeling on a computer screen is something that is very fundamental to my job today.

What did you do immediately after graduation? How did you decide to take that path?

During the summers following my sophomore and junior years of college, I interned at a company outside of Pittsburgh that makes large industrial power cabinets. I worked with the only mechanical engineer there who was primarily a thermal engineer but also did all of the structural and vibration analysis at the company. Thermal engineering made a lot of sense to me, and I decided I would be happy pursuing it as a career. I couldn’t wait to get into the working world after graduating. Before my second semester of senior year began, I accepted a position as a Thermal Engineer at ITT Industries in Rochester, NY. Formerly a division of Kodak, they build electro-optical satellites that orbit the earth. I finally fulfilled my ambition of working in the space industry.

What do you do now, and why did you choose this career?

After about 5 1/2 years at ITT, I applied to Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, CA, which makes commercial communications satellites.  I have been at my new company for over a year now continuing to work as a Thermal Engineer. My group is responsible for designing and building hardware that will help to reject the heat dissipated in the satellite to space, testing the satellite user vacuum conditions at various temperatures, and predicting on-orbit temperatures through analysis, among other tasks. I learned many of the fundamentals of analyzing satellites at my first job and have been able to apply that knowledge to my new company, while still coming up to speed on a new technology, orbit, analysis program, and approach to satellite building.

What advice do you have for current students?

Enjoy the experience of being an undergraduate, and take advantage of all of the extracurricular activities while you can.  If you can find an internship or academic summer program in your field, I think you can gain insight and perspective into how the fundamentals that you learn in class are applied outside of the classroom.

Why did you choose to attend the University of Rochester?

Scholarships

When and how did you choose your major?

In high school, I studied overseas and majored in sciences. It seemed like a good idea.

What activities were you involved in as a student and what did you gain from them?

Crew. I gained discipline and also leadership, organizational, and teamwork skills.

SACC. I got my first taste of management and business.

What resources did you use on campus that you recommend current students use?

Student activities

What did you do immediately after graduation? How did you decide to take that path?

I moved to Seattle to look for work and to be an athlete. You only live once.

What do you do now and why did you choose this career?

I am a market research analyst. I fell into this after graduate school – it is not where I see myself in 5 years. Also, I do small business consulting with my wife.

What skills, tools, or knowledge from your major have been most useful to you since graduation?

Basic engineering skills. I designed consumer products for a few years.

How do you balance your work and personal life?

Aggressively.

Where would you like to be in five years?

Managing a division of my company.

How are you still connected with the University?

Newsletters

What advice do you have for current students?

Do those things today that in 20 years you will be happy that you did. Your career will change several times before you are 30. Start your job search early. Go to graduate school.

Why did you choose to attend the University of Rochester?

The moment I arrived on campus to visit, it just felt right, I loved the campus and the people I met; I knew that I belonged there.

When and how did you choose your major?

I chose mechanical engineering during orientation week freshman year.  I described my love for math to one of the engineering professors, and he said; “Why don’t you try mechanical engineering?”  So I did, and it was a perfect fit!

What activities were you involved in as a student, and what did you gain from them?

I played varsity softball for four years, and it was a wonderful experience.  I made some incredibly strong friendships and learned a lot about hard work, determination, and leadership.

What did you do immediately after graduation? How did you decide to take that path?

I went to graduate school for a master’s degree.  I decided on that path because unlike a lot of my classmates, I was not “burnt-out;” I was upset to be leaving the schooling environment, so I didn’t!

How are you still connected with the University?

I get newsletters and mailings from the engineering school, athletic department, and the university itself. I attend alumni events in the Boston area where I currently live.  I attend Meliora Week every few years, and I give back to the University every year.

What advice do you have for current students?

Give it your all, no doubt it will be hard in the moment, and at times, you won’t want to, but in the end, it will be worth it. That goes for work and play!!

Why did you choose to attend the University of Rochester?

I chose to attend the University of Rochester because of the unique curriculum structure and excellent engineering programs. I wanted to have the freedom to explore other fields of study while also focusing on engineering. I was looking for a school that could offer me a lot of course options and still have small class sizes.

What did you do immediately after graduation? How did you decide to take that path?

Immediately after graduation, I enrolled in graduate school at Georgia Tech. I’ve always had a passion for propulsion technologies, especially internal combustion engines.  I wanted to learn more about them, so I chose to go straight to graduate school. I completed my Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in fluid and thermal sciences in 2010.

What do you do now and why did you choose this career?

I am currently part of the Robert Bosch Corporation’s Management Development Program for Engineers. This program is two years long and allows me to work in four separate locations around the world while I try out different roles within the company. At the moment, I work on combustion development for high performance BMW diesel engines at our Automotive Division in Stuttgart, Germany.

What skills, tools, or knowledge from your major have been most useful to you since graduation?

The courses I took in heat transfer and thermodynamics at the U of R have been most useful to me in my career. They provide me with an excellent theoretical foundation that helps me understand the fundamentals of advanced engine designs.

How do you balance your work and personal life?

I balance my work and personal life by staying very organized and strictly separating work from my personal life. I’ve found it very helpful to work out after a long day and take that time to decompress before spending time with friends.  It’s important to clear your mind, so the next time you return to work, you feel refreshed and alert.

What advice do you have for current students?

My advice is to follow your passions, and never stop learning new things. People discover new passions every day, and it’s important to explore courses at the U of R that are out of your general field of study. You all have a unique opportunity at this University which allows you that freedom. Many schools do not provide such flexibility.

Name

Why did you choose to attend the University of Rochester?

I originally became interested in the University of Rochester when I received the Bausch and Lomb Math and Science Award while in high school. I chose the UofR because it is a great school with an excellent reputation.

When and how did you choose your major?

I chose my major after I was already at the University of Rochester. I originally thought I wanted to be an architect. UofR doesn’t have an architecture program, so I was advised to take some engineering and art history classes and see how I liked them. After taking a few mechanical engineering classes and having the opportunity to work for an architect (with the Art New York program) I realized that engineering was the best fit for me.

What activities were you involved in as a student and what did you gain from them?

I was a member of Phi Sigma Sigma and ASME. I was also a part of Tau Beta Pi and Order of the Omega honor societies. I learned a lot from all of the groups I was a part of, but being the president of my sorority taught me the most. I learned crucial skills such as organization, delegation, how to work with large groups, multitasking and communication. I use these skills every day as a project manager.

What do you do now and why did you choose this career?

I manage the creation of advanced web solutions (websites, online catalogs, e-commerce tools, CAD, etc.) for industrial and manufacturing companies. I chose this career because I am able to utilize both my engineering knowledge and the skills I learned from my extracurricular activities. I get to work directly with clients and I have complete ownership of the projects I work on. No two accounts are the same and every day is a new challenge.

How do you balance your work and personal life?

I try to stay very active. I go to the gym most days of the week – it helps to relieve stress and get me moving after sitting at my desk all day. I also enjoy meeting my friends and family out in the city to explore all of the restaurants and sights the city has to offer.

What advice do you have for current students?

Two important things I have learned since graduation:

• Networking is key! Social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are used regularly by people in my industry. They are not only tools for your personal social network.

• Jump on opportunities as they present themselves. You control your own career path so you should go after what you want.

“Midshipman Krestos goes above and beyond whatever is asked of him,” said Capt. Jeff Bartkoski, the unit’s Commanding Officer. “He exemplifies the values that Navy officers strive to uphold: honor, courage, and commitment.”

The NROTC is a rigorous program where students take naval classes and physical training in addition to a full academic course load. Upon graduation, students are commissioned as officers in Navy or Marine Corps and serve a five to nine year commitment, depending on whether they serve on a plane, ship, or submarine.

Krestos, who is a resident of Buffalo, N.Y., has the highest aptitude score of any midshipmen in the NROTC unit. Naval aptitude is calculated based on a midshipman’s grades, physical performance, and a ranking of leadership abilities by the unit’s officers.  A mechanical engineering major, he also has one of the highest grade point averages in the unit in both his NROTC and academic classes. He has excelled physically, scoring in the top 20 percent of his peers this past spring and in the top ten percent in the previous semester.

Among his achievements, his superiors said that Krestos’ main contributions to the unit are the endless hours he has devoted to serving the unit in various capacities. In his freshman year, he was named Charlie Company guide on, essentially the highest ranked fourth-class Midshipman. Throughout his college years, he also worked as the unit’s Assistant Public Affairs Officer (APAO), Platoon Commander, Adjutant and currently serves as Charlie Company’s Commanding Officer.

The Navy has accepted Krestos into its exclusive submarine community, an honor that only ten percent of midshipmen pursue each year. Next summer, Krestos will head to Charleston, South Carolina for nuclear power training, and later to a submarine in Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia, California, Hawaii, Washington, or Guam. Eventually, Krestos will be in charge of running a nuclear reactor and piloting a $3 billion machine.

“It’s a tall order, but he is up to the challenge,” said Capt. Bartkoski. “If Midshipman Krestos continues to work hard, we are confident that his talents will be a huge benefit to the Navy and his country.”

The Rush Rhees Library’s Undergraduate Student Art Prize was awarded to Ryane Logsdon ’12, an ecology and evolutionary biology major. Logsdon’s work of inkjet prints, titled “It would have gone unnoticed,” is on permanent exhibition in the Rush Rhees Library (see prints below).

Both the Carlson Library and Rush Rhees Library Art Prizes, which have been given annually since 2004, are selected by River Campus Library staff members during the Undergraduate Juried Art Exhibition at Hartnett Gallery.

Academically, Labanowski has done an admirable job of “filling it up” as well and he has been rewarded appropriately.  The senior guard has been named to the Capital One Academic All-America Men’s Basketball Team in voting done by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Labanowski is the sixth Rochester men’s basketball player to earn Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA. He is the first player to accomplish the feat since Seth Hauben in 2004-05. Labanowski is a resident of Rochester, NY and an alumnus of McQuaid Jesuit High School.

He is a Second Team Capital One Academic All-American in the College Division. CoSIDA selects 15 players in both the College and University Divisions for men and women. The top five vote-getters earn First Team accolades, the next five Second Team, and the last five Third Team. Due to a tie in the voting this year, there were six named to the First Team, four to the Second Team, five to the Third Team.

Rochester is enjoying one of its finest seasons. The Yellowjackets are 20-4 overall, 12-1 in the University Athletic Association. They have clinched the UAA championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.  Rochester plays its regular season finale this Saturday at Emory University in Atlanta.

Labanowski is averaging 10.8 ppg., gets 2.6 rpg., has 30 assists, and 24 steals. He is fourth in scoring average. He is shooting 47.2% from the field, 45.6 % from three-point range (68-149). Individually, he is ranked 14th in Division III in three-point field goal percentage. As a team, Rochester is ranked third in overall field goal percentage (51.3%) and first in three-point field goal percentage (45.1%).

In the season opener this year, Labanowski tied the Rochester single-game record by sinking eight three-pointers in an 81-52 victory over St. Lawrence. The 24 points were a career high. He played in two record-breaking team performances. Rochester hit 33 of 45 from the floor for a school-record 73.3% on November 27 in an 83-67 victory over Pitt-Bradford. Labanowski hit four of five field goal attempts, three of four outside the arc (all five starters hit double figures). On January 4, the Yellowjackets hit a single-game record 17 three-pointers in an 88-52 win over RIT. Labanowski hit five of six outside the arc.

Labanowski is majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering. He carries a cumulative 3.86 grade point average. Over the summer, he interned at the Ginna Nuclear Power Plant as part of a nuclear engineering mechanical design team. He designed a piping system and drainage system for the plant. In the fall, he was named as a Lysle “Spike” Garnish Scholar as one of the top 10 senior scholar-athletes.

(Story courtesy of Dennis O’Donnell, Sports Information Director, University of Rochester Athletics)