Maggie Byrne completed Fuego y Agua,a rigorous ultramarathon in a scenic Nicaragua, overlooking tropical birds and howler monkeys.  Byrne finished the race in nine hours and 33 minutes, coming in 10th position among the women. “It felt a level of energy I never imagined possible,” she said. A cross-country runner at Illinois Wesleyan University, Byrne from Chicago, graduated summa cum laude with an educational study major with a double minor in English and Spanish. She is now a Peace Corps volunteer and works as an environmental educator in Nicaragua.

Byrne teaching 6th grade students

 Byrne with an eco-stove she built

Nicholas Goble recently received “The Graduate Dean’s Instructional Excellence Award” for Physics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.  He is working towards a doctorate in Experimental Physics at Case.

I was recently accepted to Gratz College’s Masters of Jewish Education Program and was awarded the Gratz College Legacy Heritage Fellowship Award.

Brooke Trantor recently graduated from Second City Hollywood’s Conservatory, where she studied improvisational and sketch comedy in addition to working as a producer, intern, house manager and box office employee.  Brooke has been recently accepted into the Groundlings School, a Los Angeles improv program whose graduates include Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and Phil Hartman. “I hope to continue to hone my craft,” she says. “You have to have the confidence in yourself. I hope to continue in the comedy world, and obviously I’ll keep doing that, but I also want to dive into TV and writing and submerge myself in everything that’s going on around me.”

Illinois Wesleyan University alumna Anna Groves of Naperville, Ill., class of 2011, has received a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. Groves is currently a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in plant biology at Michigan State University.  An environmental studies major at Illinois Wesleyan, Groves is now a graduate student at Michigan State’s Brudvig lab in plant biology. The lab’s central research uses basic ecological concepts to inform restoration practices, while using restoration as a system to learn more about ecology.

“I’m broadly interested in why restoration projects don’t always turn out the way we want them to,” said Groves. “If we can’t rebuild an ecosystem, then we don’t know enough about its ecology.”

More specifically, Groves’ research questions consider whether the establishment phase of a restoration (clearing existing vegetation and then seeding a prairie, for example) or the later ongoing management (burning or manual brush removal in the prairie) has a greater impact on restoration outcomes.

“Both are known to be important, but sorting out the effects of each and the interaction between the two will have important implications for land managers with limited resources,” said Groves.

As an undergraduate at Illinois Wesleyan, Groves conducted a research project analyzing population levels of red-tailed hawks and American kestrels and their relation to latitude using five years of winter raptor survey data. R. Given Harper, George C. and Ella Beach Lewis Endowed Chair of Biology at IWU, served as her undergraduate research advisor. Groves was named the outstanding student in environmental studies in 2011.

Aluma and Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua, Maggie Byrne (IWU ’11) ran an ultramarathon with some fellow Peace Corps volunteers.

Nicaragua is known as the land of lakes and volcanos. One volcano in particular is an island in Lake Nicaragua and is used for the Fuego y Agua race. The race traces around Ometepe Island, including beaches, trails, and roads for about 20 miles, then finishes with a climb and descent of Maderas Volcano! It was nearly impossible to “run” the volcano due to a mix of intense climbing and sloping, rutted trail. Howler monkeys, birds, and all the beauties of this part of the world encouraged her to make it to the top, stopping only long enough for a drink and a photo by the crater lake at the top of the volcano. It took just over two hours to climb the volcano, and would take even longer to make the descent. There was no steady downward path, and in many places, Maggie found it necessary to crab-walk on all fours and jump down large drop-offs. The slick, muddy conditions tried to pull her shoes off, and the tree-root “jungle-gym” tried to slow her down, but Maggie even resorted to sliding down some of the volcano on her shorts to stay on pace. After running for nine and a half hours, Maggie says, “I felt a level of energy I never imagined possible!” Maggie finished as the tenth female overall, with a time of 9 hours 33 minutes. “This was one of the coolest, most beautiful, and most challenging things I have ever done.”

Syed Mustafa Alavi, an Illinois Wesleyan University alumnus and a second-year student at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, has been named a regional coordinator for the American Academy of Family Physicians National Family Medicine Interest Group Network. As coordinator, Alavi will serve as a consultant and resource for the FMIGs on medical school campuses in the 10 states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and  Wisconsin  – that comprise Region 2 of the network.

The AAFP established the National FMIG Network to strengthen the on-campus organizations that focus on promoting family medicine as a career. Composed of campus faculty and student FMIG leaders, appointed regional coordinators, and an elected national coordinator, the network fosters communication among FMIGs across the country.

“Family Medicine Interest Groups are one of the best ways that medical students learn about the breadth, depth and rewards of family medicine,” said Jeff Cain, MD, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “These regional coordinators are key to introducing students not only to family physicians, but also to the opportunities out there for both service and leadership in their communities and their profession.”

As an FMIG regional coordinator, Alavi provides a role model for fellow students at a time when demand for family physicians is growing. The Affordable Care Act will implement significant changes in the way that health care is delivered. The reformed system will emphasize primary medical care provided in a patient-centered medical home – an approach that incorporates physician-led teams of professionals who work with the patient to prevent health problems, coordinate care and avoid preventable complications of chronic conditions.

Alavi’s interest in medicine grew from his childhood when his grandmother moved into his family’s home. As she developed health conditions due to aging, he helped her cope with illness as she navigated the complex and often frustratingly fragmented health care system.

“I thought, ‘I want to be a better doctor than that,'” he said. “I want to have a relationship with my patients. I want to be the doctor who knows about the whole patient. And with family medicine, the doctor gets to know the whole patient; the doctor gets to know the patient’s family. We get to watch the family grow and provide their care from birth to death.”

That conviction was reaffirmed during an FMIG meeting when the speaker – a family physician – dispelled the myths about family medicine and pointed out “he was never bored,” Alavi said. “The family physician has to know so much and has to know everything well. We should have the smartest people going into family medicine.”

As the current president of the University of Illinois at Chicago Family Medicine Interest Group, Alavi enabled more medical students to participate in the FMIG by establishing committees on social wellness, student outreach and social media. He worked with FMIG members to organize numerous campus and citywide events, including plans to introduce Tar Wars to a local Chicago public school, FMIG participation in an AIDS run fund-raiser, and a panel discussion about health disparities. In addition, he attended the AAFP National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students.

In addition, Alavi served as chair of the South Asian Medical Student Association, organizing their 2012 health fair.

Alavi earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, graduating magna cum laude, from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill., in 2011.

Attached is the photo of IWU Alumni at the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre Chicago Alumni Reunion. From left to right, the names are: