The IMSA Board of Trustees established its Alumni Awards program in 2006 to recognize Alumni who deliver outstanding contributions to IMSA, to the citizens of Illinois, our nation, and the world. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for the establishment of the Cathy Veal Endowment for Recognition of Alumni in support of the Alumni Awards Program, ensuring the continued success of this annual celebration, covering the cost of the prestigious awards, the luncheon celebration, and the travel expenses for bringing alumni back to IMSA to be recognized.
The Board is pleased to announce the 2026 Board of Trustees Alumni Awards recipients.
Titan Award
The Alumni Titan Award, an annual award, honors alumni who, through outstanding service to IMSA, advance the institution’s mission and work. The honorees are enthusiastic and energetic IMSA champions who dedicate significant time, talent, and/or treasure to endeavors that help the Academy fulfill its role in developing talent and leadership in mathematics, science, and technology for our state, nation, and world.
Courtney M. Thompson ‘03
Courtney M. Thompson is a visionary analytics leader whose professional excellence is matched by her sustained and meaningful service to IMSA. As Executive Director of Marketing Science at PHD Media, she leads integrated teams across analytics, data science, and technology, guiding strategy for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 organizations and helping global brands translate complex data into clear, actionable insight.
Throughout her career, including leadership roles across top media and analytics organizations, Courtney has built a reputation for aligning data, innovation, and business strategy to drive measurable impact. Her expertise in AI-driven insights and enterprise analytics systems continues to shape how organizations make informed, strategic decisions. Equally impactful is her long-standing commitment to IMSA. Since 2014, Courtney has served on the Admissions Review Committee, helping shape incoming classes through a thoughtful, equity-minded approach. She also invests in student leadership and belonging through her engagement with the CLED Student Retreat and her ongoing involvement with the Black Alumni Association. Her support of the Black Student Graduation further reflects her dedication to uplifting student voices and celebrating community.
Through her leadership, mentorship, and service, Courtney exemplifies the spirit of the Alumni Titan Award, an enthusiastic and dedicated champion whose contributions continue to strengthen IMSA’s mission and expand opportunity for future generations.
Distinguished Leadership Awards
The Alumni Distinguished Leadership Award, an annual award, goes to alumni who have made distinguished achievements or leadership contributions in their professional fields of endeavor consistent with IMSA’s mission. The awardees may also be recognized for significant civic or community contributions or extraordinary courage and selflessness under challenging circumstances.
Dr. Daniel Murariu ‘99
Dr. Daniel Murariu is an internationally recognized leader in reconstructive microsurgery, whose career reflects distinguished achievement, innovation, and service aligned with IMSA’s mission and values. As a surgeon, researcher, and educator at Rice University, he has advanced the field of robotic-assisted reconstructive surgery, publishing extensively, delivering global lectures, and authoring a landmark textbook that has helped define emerging standards of care. His work has improved surgical outcomes, expanded minimally invasive techniques, and increased access to complex, life-restoring procedures for patients worldwide.
Dr. Murariu has established a distinguished record of scholarly publication, academic leadership, and professional recognition. He is the editor of Atlas of Robotic Reconstructive Procedures in Plastic Surgery (Springer, 2025), the first comprehensive textbook dedicated to head-to-toe robotic applications in reconstructive plastic surgery. He has authored almost 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and scientific abstracts, with particular focus on robotic-assisted microsurgery, breast reconstruction, abdominal wall reconstruction, and complex soft tissue reconstruction. His work has been published in the leading plastic surgery journals including Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery, and Aesthetic Surgery Journal. He also serves as a peer reviewer for multiple national and international surgical journals. He has given almost 200 national and international talks, as well as being featured on several dozen TV interviews and featured documentaries of his work on Romanian national television, as well as Bloomberg TV.
Dr. Murariu’s contributions to innovation and surgical advancement have been recognized both nationally and internationally. He is a Diplomate of both the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor, Honolulu Magazine Top Doctor, and Modern Luxury Hawaii Top Doctor, and was recognized by Newsweek/Statista as one of America’s Best Plastic Surgeons.
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Dr. Murariu demonstrates exceptional leadership through sustained civic and philanthropic engagement. He has led international medical missions, founded a scholarship program supporting underserved students in Romania, and built long-term, collaborative surgical training partnerships that emphasize sustainable impact. His leadership within Rotary International and other service organizations has supported millions in grant funding for community and global health initiatives.
Dr. Murariu’s career embodies not only excellence in his field but also a deep commitment to service, mentorship, and expanding opportunity. His contributions, spanning innovation, education, and global health equity, reflect the highest ideals of the Distinguished Leadership Award and demonstrate meaningful impact on communities both locally and around the world.
Ms. Lavina Jadhwani ‘01 (Posthumous)
Ms. Lavina Jadhwani is recognized as a visionary theater artist and leader whose career reflected distinguished achievement, courageous advocacy, and a deep commitment to inclusion. As a playwright, director, and dramaturg, she reimagined classical works through diverse and contemporary lenses, breaking barriers as the first woman of color to direct Shakespeare at the Guthrie Theater and bringing inclusive storytelling to national stages. Her widely produced adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” and other works reached hundreds of thousands of audience members, expanding access to theater that reflects broader human experiences.
She served on the boards of the National New Play Network, an alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, and the Chicago Inclusion Project, which exists to facilitate inclusive experiences and hiring practices throughout Chicago theatre.
Beyond her artistic accomplishments, Lavina demonstrated meaningful leadership through her advocacy for equity in the arts. She championed underrepresented voices, created tools to address bias in theatrical practice, and served in leadership roles with organizations advancing inclusive hiring and storytelling. Known for elevating others and building community, she consistently used her platform to create opportunities and challenge inequities within her field.
Lavina died on September 10, 2025, of ovarian cancer after battling breast cancer in 2016 and 2017. Her legacy is defined not only by artistic excellence, but by courage, service, and a commitment to expanding access and representation. Lavina’s enduring impact on the arts and her leadership in advancing inclusion exemplify the values of the Distinguished Leadership Award and reflect IMSA’s mission to develop leaders who make meaningful contributions to society.
Alumni Trailblazer Award
The Alumni Trailblazer Award, bestowed when merited, honors alumni who personify IMSA’s philosophy statement that there will be alumni who “create new intellectual worlds, cure a dreaded human ailment or in some other way significantly influence life on our planet.” The outstanding achievements of these honorees will have earned national or international prominence for a groundbreaking or sweeping initiative that has redefined and improved the way significant numbers of citizens live, learn, or work.
Jared Kaplan ’01
Jared Kaplan serves as the Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder of Anthropic, an AI lab whose research and products put safety at the frontier. As a public benefit corporation, Anthropic is dedicated to building AI systems that benefit humanity.
Jared’s research on scaling laws revolutionized the AI industry by providing a framework for understanding and predicting the behavior of advanced AI systems, guiding resource allocation, and shaping the development of transformative technologies. Jared also helped pioneer Constitutional AI, an approach to AI development that aims to create AI systems that are constrained by, and aligned with a set of predetermined principles and values. He spent the first 15 years of his career as a theoretical physicist in academia, and prior to co-founding Anthropic, Jared was instrumental in building GPT-3 and Codex at OpenAI.
In addition to his work at Anthropic, Jared is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught courses on the foundations of deep learning. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Stanford University.
Jared was named one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 AI people of the year in 2025 for his profound and far reaching contributions to the field. By shaping both the capabilities and the conscience of modern AI, Jared exemplifies IMSA’s vision of alumni who create new intellectual worlds and meaningfully influence life on our planet. Through his combination of groundbreaking scientific contributions, global influence, and commitment to shaping a technology that will define the future, Jared exemplifies IMSA’s vision of alumni who create new intellectual worlds and significantly influence life on our planet, making him an exceptional and deserving recipient of the Trailblazer Award.