Notable Alumni
Since 1930, Indiana Tech has graduated nearly 15,000 students, many of whom have gone on to achieve prominence in their chosen fields. Indiana Tech is proud of our graduates and the many contributions they have made to society.
Aerospace, business, engineering, marketing, and more... our alumni have built upon the strong, career-focused education they received at Indiana Tech and gone on to pursue innovative and illustrious professions.
Below are a few of our featured alumni who have taken their degrees to careers of distinction.
Jesse was drafted by the New York Yankees as a pitcher in the 5th round of the Major League Baseball draft in 2004. Hoover quickly became a top prospect in the Yankees organization. A back injury slowed his progress, but he had some great success in the Minor League system.
Tom Wong is responsible for the creation of Shake N Bake! Mr. Wong came to the United States at the age of 10. He and his wife, Millie, made possible the construction of a chemistry lab at Indiana Tech as well as established the Tom and Millie Wong Scholarship Fund for students.
During Mr. Krandell's career, he designed Indiana's first fiber optics system. He also designed the original fiber optics educational television network, linking all participating colleges and universities in Indiana.
Stan Puskarz invented the pop-top lid and the screw-off bottle cap! He was named Engineer of the Year in Industry in 1995 and retired in 2001 from Fowler Products Company in Athens, GA where he was partner and vice president of engineering.
Mr. Puskarz also established the Puskarz Scholarship Fund in 2002 for Indiana Tech students.
Young Paik came to the United States almost 40 years ago with a small scholarship from Hungsadan in Korea and went on to build one of the largest Korean-American owned steel engineering companies in the U.S. Named Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999 by Ernst & Young, Paik was the Founder and Chairman of Paco Steel and Engineering Corporation, the nation's largest producer of patented light-steel I-beams used in the framing of everything from huge commercial buildings to big-rig tractor-trailers.
Adolf Vartanian is a senior member of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. Incorporated by Congress in 1908, the brotherhood begins mission churches and parishes, and assists in strengthening communities. Vartanian’s particularly impressive role with the Brotherhood is his administrative responsibilities to the children’s orphanage in Uganda, Africa. He has made several trips to Uganda and plans to continue his role.
Joseph Foster is a LT. Col. USAF (Retired) and 2007 Alumni Hall of Fame award recipient. Mr. Foster logged 5,750 hours in 19 different prop, turbo-prop and jet aircrafts and flew 1,165 combat support sorties in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967.
Clarence "Casey" Forrest worked his entire career in aerospace with Bell Aircraft. He worked on the X-1 and completed his career as senior vice president at Textron in charge of flight test for LCAC (Land Craft Air Cushion) vehicles used by United States Marines. He was inducted into the Niagara Frontier Aviation Hall of Fame. Casey resides in Haiku, Hawaii.
Though he never became a WWII pilot like he dreamed, Walter Weller played an important part in aviation history. An electrical engineer, Weller was responsible for calibrating the instruments on the first plane to break the sound barrier. He also worked in “Little Joe” capsules that later became part of the Mercury space program. He donated his brain to the Parkinson’s Disease Research Center of John Hopkins University.
Stanley Clemenz spent 61 years in telecommunications engineering (satellites, manned spacecraft, network sites), aerospace (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo), shipbuilding (cruisers, destroyers, amphibious warfare ships), automobile production (Ford), subway systems (BART, Metrorail), oceanography (sonar, atomic bomb testing). He was also a LT. (JG) in the Navy during WWII. Stan is an advocate of a strong U.S. military and space program, having worked through three wars and the Cold War. On to the moon, Mars and beyond is his desire. Stan also passed along his motivation to his daughter, Candice, who is an associate dean at Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business and consults in space tourism.
