IMSA Graduates at a Glance

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy®

IMSA Graduates at a Glance

Spring 2003

IMSA has graduated 2,580 students in the Classes of 1989-2002, from every House and Senate district in the State.

More than 99% attend college after graduation.

60% enroll in Illinois colleges and universities, with the top five being the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Bradley University.

40% enroll in out-of-state colleges and universities, with the top five being Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rice University (Texas) and Washington University (Missouri).

Percentage-wise, more than twice as many IMSA graduates--and three times as many IMSA female graduates--earned undergraduate degrees in math, science or technology fields, compared with college graduates nationwide.

65% of undergraduate degrees earned are in math, science or technology.

For example, for the class of 1990, the five most frequently completed undergraduate degrees were in engineering (24%), biological science (21%), social science (14%), physical science (9%) and mathematics (7%).

For the class of 1995, the top five were in social science (21%), engineering (16%), biological science (16%), physical science (12%) and computer science (10%).

43% have completed or are completing a post-baccalaureate degree.

Half of these are doctoral degrees.

Regarding professional employment, for the class of 1990 the top four professions are health care practitioner (16%), computing and mathematics (12%), management (12%) and architecture and engineering (11%).

The top three industries are professional, scientific and technical services (31%), health care and social assistance (17%) and educational services (12%).

50% say they continue to be involved in tutoring, mentoring and social service program volunteering.

IMSA conducts a longitudinal study of graduates to determine the impact of the IMSA experience on students' development, to obtain valuable recommendations for program improvement, and to track some of the ways graduates contribute to bettering Illinois, the nation and the world.

IMSA also is developing a web portal to enable graduates to create and continually update their own records, making it possible to track graduates' academic and professional achievements and contributions quickly and cost-effectively.

As young adults (IMSA graduates are only in their 20s and early 30s), many are already accomplished leaders in their professions and active leaders and volunteers in their communities.


Snapshots of IMSA Graduates

(Hometown as an IMSA Student)

Mark Armantrout '89 (Mattoon) is a manager for Inforte nationwide technology consulting firm in Chicago, IL.

Brad Balster '90 (Marion) is a systems consultant at Hewitt Associates LLC in Lincolnshire, IL.

Portia Blume-Gallegos '89 (Utica) works for the U.S. Forest Service as an ecology monitor at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in IL.

John Bozarth '90 (Decatur) is a gas engineer at AmerenCIPS in Macomb, IL.

Aimee Chong '94 (Carbondale) is a senior analyst (civil engineering and city planning) at Cambridge Systematics in Chicago, IL.

Jill Howk Gengler '89 (Melvin) is coordinator for the LEEP Distance Education Program of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Lynn Roth Ginter '91 (Armington) is a manufacturing engineer with Eaton Corporation's Cutler-Hammer Manufacturing Engineering Division in Lincoln, IL.

Jonathan Hayes '90 (Mt. Zion) designs and manages data communications systems for Integrated Computer Services in Northbrook, IL.

Terez Ivy '92 (East St. Louis) is an engineering technician for Butler Manufacturing Co. in Galesburg, IL.

Robin Kwong '90 (Naperville) is an engineer at Lucent Technologies in Naperville.

Laura Nickerson '92 (Aurora) is a physics teacher at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy®ª in Aurora, IL.

Dorothy Pleas '95 (LaGrange Park) is a validation engineer at Abbott Laboratories in North Chicago, IL.

Jacob Plummer '96 (Shelbyville) teaches at Carl Sandburg Community College in Galesburg, IL, and is managing director and co-founder of MindUniversity, Inc. which strives to improve technological literacy for education, libraries and senior citizens.

Diana Rios-Liz '89 (Aurora) is a pharmacist in Aurora, IL.

Michael Rodriquez '89 (South Holland) is a senior engineer at Motorola, Inc., in Schaumburg, IL.

Dr. Andrea Stonecipher '90 (Rochester) teaches medical terminology at Lincolnland Community College in Springfield, IL.

Brian Sebby '96 (Streator) is a distributed computing administrator at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, IL, and Tony Stuckey 89 (Montrose) is a system administrator for intrusion detection at Argonne.

Charletha Talley '92 (Chicago) is the Information Systems Manager at Foote, Cone & Belding in Chicago, IL.

Jacob Weber '94 (Smithton) is a financial analyst for AON Corporation in Chicago, IL.

Christy Worrell '92 (Somonauk) is a design engineer at Caterpillar, Inc., in Peoria, IL.


IMSA graduates currently based outside of Illinois also contribute to advances in mathematics, science and technology in ways that benefit our state, nation and world.

Some recent examples:

Scott Gaudi '91 (Staunton), an astronomer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, was profiled by Discover magazine in Twenty scientists to watch in the next twenty years for showing "the promise--or the work--that makes senior scientists applaud in awe."

Andrea Holmes '90 (Edgemont) is a researcher for the Human Genome Project in St. Louis.

Jesse Hsu '93 (Olympia Fields) is director of corporate development for Perlegen Sciences, Inc., which conducts genetics research and develops products that improve people's lives.

David Joerg '89 (Batavia) is president and co-founder of Vindigo, which makes personal navigation tools and applications for today's most popular handheld devices.

Dr. Rowan Lockwood '89 (Rockford), an assistant professor at The College of William & Mary, is an accomplished researcher in the roles that extinction and environmental change play in evolution.

LT Elizabeth Malecha '90 (Addison) is a pilot in the U.S. Navy, a graduate of the prestigious TOPGUN school and a tactics instructor for fleet F-14 squadrons.

Robert McCool '91 and Mike McCool '91 (Westchester) were on the team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that created Mosaic, the Internet browser used to start Netscape.

Sam Yagan '95 (Bourbonnais) is co-founder and general manager of SparkNotes.com, which publishes study guides written by Harvard University students and teachers, available online and in Barnes&Noble bookstores.

Terri Willard '89 (Lake Zurich), a Rhodes Scholar, is a project manager at the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Canada.

Kara Yokley '94 (Chicago), a research manager with IDC's Workstations and High-Performance Systems program, tracks the workstation market as well as the emerging grid and cluster markets, focusing on the trends shaping the technical computing landscape.