Brandeis Magazine

Dean O’Donnell, MFA’90, a novelist, playwright, screenwriter and game writer, is a teaching professor in Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Interactive Media and Game Development program, which he helped create. Gregory Bruce Sephton, PhD’90, joined Haug Partners as a partner in the law firm’s New York City office. He has won billion-dollar pharmaceutical and biotechnology patent cases in federal district courts and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Gregory Hickok, PhD’92, was named to the advisory board of Aural Analytics, a digital health company developing advanced speech analytics. Gregory is a professor of cognitive sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Michele Jenkins Guyton, MA’93, PhD’97, is on the board of directors of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, which provides medical care, community services and programs for children and adolescents with learning disabilities and disorders of the brain, spinal cord and musculoskeletal system. She is also a delegate from Baltimore County in the Maryland House of Delegates. Philip Cohen, PhD’94, is the author of “Nick Bones Underground,” which was a finalist in the Debut Novel category of the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards. Luisa Stormer Deprez, Heller PhD’95, is professor emerita of sociology, and women and gender studies at the University of Southern Maine after a 40-year tenure. She is an opinion columnist at the Kennebec Journal and co-leader of the Maine chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network. She recently co-authored two articles published in the Washington Monthly on what she sees as the Trump administration’s shredding of the social safety net. Peter Muise, MA’96, has spent the past 20 years researching New England legends, folklore and other traditions. He blogs at newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com. Barry Werger-Gottesman, MA’97, won a Grammy for his work as a recording engineer on “The Poetry of Places.” The recording, featuring performances by pianist Nadia Shpachenko, was recognized in the Best Classical Compendium category. Hongkui Zeng, PhD’97, is now executive vice president and director at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, where she has worked since 2006. Her current research seeks to understand neuronal diversity and connectivity in the mouse visual cortical circuit, and the ways different neuronal types work together to process and transform visual information. Mary Blanusa, Heller MA’98, is the executive director of the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation. Elizabeth Cody, IBS MA’98, has written “Iowa Gardens of the Past: Lost and Historic Gardens of Iowa: 1850-1980” (Iowa Garden Press, 2020). In addition to her writing career, Beth owns A-1 Uniforms, in Coralville, Iowa; home-schools her two children; and is an avid amateur gardener on her five-acre rural property. Erin Yale Horwitz, Heller MM’98, has been named vice president of surgical services and diagnostics at Children’s Wisconsin, in Milwaukee. She joined Children’s in 2010 as director for imaging and professional services, and later became director of emergency service, and imaging and professional services, and then executive director of neurosciences services and imaging. A barre fitness enthusiast, Erin lives in Mequon, Wisconsin, with her two daughters and their rescue dog, Ruby. Matt Curcio, MA’99, vice president of data at Ripple Labs, serves as an adviser to the startup Pledgecamp, a blockchain-based crowdfunding platform that uses financial incentives to create a more secure, innovative crowdfunding culture.