Class Notes

John T. Thompson '76, CEO/President, First Electric Supply will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in mentoring from Indianapolis-based nonprofit organization, College Mentors for Kids at the 2016 inspire awards.

The Inspire Awards, hosted by the College Mentors for Kids, recognizes top mentors in the workplace and in the community. 

Thompson credits the mentors and advocates in his life who gave him educational guidance and helped him to apply to college for his success. Knowing the value of those mentors made him want to give back to his adopted city of Indianapolis. Thompson shared, "The mentoring that I received from a child to an adult has been tremendously impactful on my life and that of my family so it is imperative that I mentor others. For several years, I'd visit a local tea shop from 10am-2pm and meet with any entrepreneur that walked in."

Dennis Trinkle, College Mentors for Kids, CEO, shared, "John is richly deserving of the Lifetime Achievement Award. He represents what the Inspire Awards and College Mentors are all about, a commitment to community service, to mentoring, and to lifting up those who most need positive role models. Countless youth, civic leaders, and business leaders have benefited from John's commitment to their success and his caring heart."

Hi everyone! I'm Yevgeniy (Jim) Brikman, a Cornell alum from 2005 (BS in CS) and 2006 (MEng in CS). I recently published a book called Hello, Startup, which is a collection of everything I wish I knew back when I was at Cornell. By the time I graduated, I had a BS, a Masters, a bunch of internship experiences —and absolutely no idea what I was doing. What technologies should I learn and use? How do I build a product that doesn't look terrible? How do I negotiate a job offer? Should I negotiate for more salary or more equity? What is equity, anyway? Should I work at a large company or join a startup?

I learned the answers to these questions, and many others, the hard way— through trial and error. To save future engineers from having to go through this painful process, I tried to capture everything I wish I knew back in college in this book: http://www.hello-startup.net/

What do you wish you had learned before graduating?

I was a PhD student working under Professor Francis Moon, in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and later served as a PDF in Mechanical Engineering.

My former name was Mohammad Golnaraghi.

I wish to be included in your Alumni list.

Thank you

The Groner family enjoyed Cornell graduation last year when my son Adam graduated from CALS.  Was great to be back!