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Emma Hayes MS ’21

Emma Hayes is currently pursuing her masters degree through the University of Notre Dame’s ESTEEM program. Prior to joining the University, she completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Saint Anselm College.

Emma is working with the GEO Group on their Continuum of Care Program aimed at reducing the recidivism rate in the United States. GEO focuses on providing in-custody rehabilitation programs which include prosocial classes, one on one counseling, and General Education Development (GED) classes. Despite these current programs offered by GEO as well as other more traditional programs, research has shown that post incarceration, individuals need 200 hours of prosocial programming, which can include counseling, group meetings, and parole meetings, in order to not reoffend. Offenders of more violent crimes need 300 hours of prosocial engagements. The traditional United States system only provides for approximately 120 hours of prosocial interactions in a six month period, falling far under the recommended 200 hours and even farther under the 300 hours for those higher-risk individuals. As it stands, the system is not providing even close to the recommended hours of prosocial programming let alone the minimum 200 hours.

GEO’s goal is to fill this gap with a prosocial game called “Course Correction” to supplement counseling hours, reinforce positive behaviors, and more properly risk assess individuals. “Course Correction” will be an avatar-based video game in which individuals will be able to practice prosocial behaviors in a low-risk environment. Emma will be assessing the opportunities for this type of game in order to better understand the impact that it will make on the community at large. Emma will also be analyzing existing research on gaming in community corrections. By the end of this academic year, Emma will have a business plan for how best to bring virtual reality and gaming into the U.S. Criminal Justice system so that recidivism can be reduced.

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Gale Bowman ’05

Gale Bowman, the Managing Director of the IrishAngels investors group, shares her expertise with ESTEEM students in a class on early stage financing. Students hear a series of five lectures and also complete final projects based on real-life companies that they select at the beginning of their time in the ESTEEM program.

Bowman earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing at Notre Dame in 2005 and an MBA in entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago in 2012, the year in which IrishAngels was formed and she became the founding director. The Chicago-based group, which has grown to over 150 investors in size, invests in high-potential startups in which a founder, board member, or active investor is a Notre Dame graduate, student, parent, or faculty member. IrishAngels has already invested more than $10 million across 22 portfolio companies. “They learn about different forms of financing for a startup and how to pitch to investors for funding,” she says. “We talk about bootstrapping, crowdfunding, debt, and equity options that startups have when they need to find capital to grow.”

“We make investments in early-stage businesses across a variety of sectors that are raising $1 million to $3 million in seed and Series A capital,” she says. Bowman, who also developed and teaches an Intro to Early State Investing course to MBA students in the Mendoza College of Business, says the ESTEEM students often raise excellent, questions regarding their thesis projects and business plans that they work on throughout the year as part of the ESTEEM curriculum.

“I think the ESTEEM students are a very entrepreneurial group,” she says. “It was a pleasure teaching them this year, and I look forward to the day when IrishAngels will be able to invest in a business founded by an ESTEEM student.”

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Ashley Kalinauskas MS ’13

Ashley Kalinauskas, a 2013 ESTEEM grad, was recently recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 for her work with Torigen Pharmaceuticals. Ashley graduated from the University of Connecticut with an undergraduate degree in Pathobiology. During her time in ESTEEM at the University of Notre Dame, Ashley worked on a Capstone Project with Dr. Suckow, the Director of Freimann Life Science Center and a Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame.

Her project entailed developing a commercialization strategy for his novel cancer vaccine portfolio, VetiVax. Over the course of the year she developed a full-scale business plan and went on to win second place at the McCloskey Business Plan Competition. Post-graduation, Ashley assumed the position of CEO, working to launch Torigen’s first product VetiVax into the market.

Torigen Pharmaceuticals is focused on delivering affordable veterinary cancer treatment to the general public. With over 2 million companion animals diagnosed with cancer each year, and treatment options exceeding $10,000 per animal, the need for a new type of cancer care is real. The VetiVax treatment that Ashley worked to commercialize boasts a cost of just $1,000 and no negative side effects. VetiVax is a personalized immunotherapy where the animal’s tumor cells are combined with an extracellular matrix which allows it to fight off its own cancer using its immune system. So far, almost 700 animals have been treated.

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Isabella “Isa” Di Bono ’21

For Isabella “Isa” Di Bono ’21, the “new normal” of COVID-19 has meant moving home to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and finding ways to make art without a studio.

The ability to explore freely is essential to Di Bono, whose path to an art major wasn’t a straight one, just an obvious one. She enrolled at Notre Dame intending to major in economics but figured out after just a couple of classes that the major just didn’t interest her.

She intended to minor in studio art from the beginning but as she got deeper into her art coursework, it became clear that she needed to switch majors. Until she got to Notre Dame, Di Bono considered art a hobby, a passion she could pursue on the side. She took foundational art courses in her first few semesters. Later on, electives introduced her to different mediums, like photography, ceramics, printmaking, and bookmaking.

Now a senior, Di Bono has a BFA thesis to plan. She is working on a concept around the work she gravitates toward naturally—large-scale abstract paintings. She starts with oils or acrylics and sometimes weaves in spray paint or drawing. Di Bono’s abstracts usually measure five-by-five feet, nearly as tall as she is.

For her thesis, Di Bono will work closely with her mentor, painting professor Maria Tomasula, Michael P. Grace Professor of Art and director of graduate studies. Each BFA student forms a relationship with a professor who mentors them through the thesis process. Tomasula will guide Di Bono through her work, the refinement of her artist statement, and preparation to exhibit on campus next year. On campus, BFA students also make use of studio space for their thesis and receive a stipend for materials when their project is approved.

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Maria Tomasula

Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Maria Tomasula is an active part of the Chicago art scene. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and then continued her education at Northwestern University, where she earned a Masters degree in Fine Arts. She is currently Professor of Art at the University of Notre Dame.

Her recent solo exhibitions include shows at Forum Gallery in New York and in Los Angeles, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis and at the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago. Her work was also included in Larger than Life: Women Artists Making it Big at Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg PA (2003); Nuestras Historias, Stories of Mexican Identity at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago (2014); The Female Gaze at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia;Obsessive Drawing at Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts (2001); Timely and Timeless at the Aldrich Museum in Connecticut (1994) and Transitional Objects: Contemporary Still Life at the Neuburger Museum of Art, Purchase College, New York (2006–07).

With striking color and theatrical compositions, Tomasula’s artwork is influenced by an aesthetic of the Mexican diaspora, especially of altar painting, as well as by ‘new materialist’ writers. As an artist she seeks to create images that give visual form to the elusive sensation of being, of embodiment, and of relation with the world. She brings simple objects such as fruit and flowers together to create metaphorical, poetic works. The seemingly inanimate objects take on the vibrancy of evocative, sensual characteristics.

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Kathryn Mapes Turner ’95

Turner began studying art in her teens from noted local painters. She then left Wyoming to attend the University of Notre Dame, majoring in Studio Arts. She spent an influential semester in Rome, Italy and then studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C. Turner now has a Master’s degree from the University of Virginia.

Having been passionate about painting since childhood, Turner is now nationally recognized with top honors from the American Impressionist Society and the National Academy of Equine Art and the Southeast Wildlife Exposition as the 2017 Featured Artist. Her work has been showcased in the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Charlie Russell Museum, the Buffalo Bill Cody Center of the West, The Phippen Museum, the Brinton Museum and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. Turner has been recognized as Wyoming Best Watercolor Artist in 2001 by the Wyoming Watercolor Society and was included in SouthwestArt Magazine’s “Annual Profile of Young Artists with Promising Careers.”

Turner believes that growing up in Grand Teton National Park, a place with such dramatic light and natural composition, gave her an intimate appreciation for art. “I believe the valley of Jackson Hole evokes expression,” says Turner. She now travels all over the world to paint. With watercolors and oil paints, Turner responds with visual contemplations of beauty in hopes of sharing this love of the sublime with others through her work.

Turner also owns and features her work at Turner Fine Art Gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming – a simple and uplifting space where she shares her own work as well as hosting that of other top artists from around the world.

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Megan Leis ’11

Before her appointment in the OMVA, Megan Leis served in the United States Navy. She earned her commission through Notre Dame’s Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps in 2011. During her Naval Service, she served as a Nuclear Surface Warfare Officer, completing tours of duty aboard USS Port Royal and USS Gerald R. Ford, including a deployment to the Arabian Gulf. Most recently, Megan served as an executive officer at the Navy’s largest enlisted engineering training facility in Great Lakes, IL. She continues to serve as a Navy Reservist.

Megan was named Notre Dame’s assistant director for military and veterans affairs in 2019. In this capacity, she formulates, organizes, and monitors inter-connected projects that advance the mission of the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs (OMVA). She is also responsible for planning and managing Storm the Stadium, a premier outreach event; the Notre Dame Warrior-Scholar Project, an academic program designed to prepare service members for the pivot from the battlefield to the classroom; and enhances the operations of the OMVA in a way that is strategic and adheres to the University’s priorities and values.

Megan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Information Technology Management with a Mediterranean and Middle East Studies minor from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University.

She lives in South Bend with her husband, Eric, and their son.

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Danielle Green ’99

Danielle Green was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side. She earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Notre Dame where she graduated in 1999 with a degree in psychology. After graduation, she spent two years as a teacher at the Chicago International Charter School. Danielle left her teaching job to follow the call of a childhood dream – to serve her country in the Army.

In 2002, at the age of 25, Danielle enlisted into the United States Army as an E4. Her military occupation was a military police officer. Her unit deployed to Iraq in January of 2004. On May 25, 2004, Danielle was pulling security on a rooftop when a couple of rockets whizzed past her. Immediately, Danielle reached down to grab her weapon when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her as she began to return fire. Danielle’s comrades came to her aid, carrying her to safety. When she awoke in the hospital, her master sergeant gently told her that her dominate left arm was gone and the Brigade Commander pinned on the Purple Heart.

Danielle returned to the States to begin her recovery at Walter Reed. Four months after the injury, Danielle was running a five-mile race in Central Park in New York. Sports continue to play an integral role in Danielle life. Since the injury, she has learned how to play racquetball, golf, fish, and ski with the hopes of expecting her horizons.

Danielle graduated May 17, 2008 with a master’s degree in School/Community Counseling from Saint Xavier University. She also earned a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from DePaul University in 2009. Danielle received the Pat Tillman Award for Service in 2015. She currently serves as a supervisory re-adjustment counseling therapist at the veterans’ center in South Bend, Indiana.

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Carissa Baldwin ’20

Although she grew up in a military family, Carissa never thought she would end up joining the service herself. But as the years passed, she realized that she felt called to join the military and to serve her country. As the daughter of a United States Marine, Carissa felt at home in the military way of life. Eventually, the countless moves, school changes, and years of new houses and new friends became the norm, and she began to find joy in the challenge of change. When the time came to look to the future, she saw that military lifestyle was an honorable one, and the pathway that provided her with the sense of duty and dedication that she desired.

Being raised in the Marine Corps taught her about the importance of servant leadership and sacrifice, and those lessons were always central to Carissa’s life. Her family always stayed together, and leaned on one another in times of deployment, trial, and hardship. She was inspired by her father’s leadership and dedication to serving his country and her mother’s commitment to family and support for her father and the dreams of her and her younger brother. In her last two years of high school (luckily spent at the same school), she watched an older friend receive a Marine Corps ROTC scholarship to his dream school. Carissa realized that she could do the same and earn the commission she desired to serve her country.

Carissa applied for the Navy ROTC scholarship, which elicited plenty of teasing from the Marines in her life, following in her grandfather’s footsteps, who served as a Navy Chief and was a big Notre Dame fan. In her application process, Carissa stumbled across the University of Notre Dame in a list of impressive Navy ROTC units. The school seemed to call to her, it had everything she wanted and more in a college, and the academic challenge, dedication to service, and uniqueness led her to fall in love with Notre Dame. She then received the ROTC scholarship to Notre Dame, followed by acceptance to the University, which she immediately accepted.

She finally stepped foot on campus for the first time in April of her senior year and found herself truly at home. Since coming to the University of Notre Dame, Carissa has found not only the home where she has lived the longest, but also a place that she feels has helped her become the person and future military officer she dreamed she’d be. She is currently studying as a Biological Sciences major with a minor in Italian Studies. The Navy ROTC unit has become a second family in her time at Notre Dame, filled with like-minded individuals working to earn the title of Ensign in the U.S. Navy and Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps that support each other like a family. On campus, Carissa is a Resident Assistant in Pangborn Hall, a member of the Biology and Italian Clubs, has worked in numerous mentorship programs on campus, and has studied echolocation as a research assistant in a bioacoustics laboratory.

Carissa is service assigned Student Naval Aviator in the US Navy, and will be attending flight school after graduation. She hopes to fly V-22 Ospreys or CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters.

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Sr. Katherine Seibert, M.D., ’67 M.S., ’73 PhD

Despite her 85 years, Sr. Katherine Seibert, M.D., ’67 M.S., ’73 PhD continues to practice medicine. An oncologist and internal medicine practitioner, Dr. Seibert — until recently — spent two days a week at Hudson River HealthCare in New York’s Hudson River Valley, an area now regarded as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

After taking her vows in 1954, Seibert taught as a young nun. In the 1960s, Notre Dame offered a teacher training program, which she attended in the summers and, after five years, earned her master’s in biology in 1967. After graduation, Rev. James Doll, C.S.C. ’42, who Seibert had met through their work at Notre Dame’s LOBUND Laboratories, had asked her to stay, but it wasn’t until the fall of 1968 when she returned to pursue a doctorate in microbiology.

During her nights in Lewis Hall, Seibert struggled to sleep as her thoughts were occupied by people struggling with cancer. She knew she could serve those people more effectively in the medical field, so just before completing her PhD, she approached her superior about attending medical school. Three years later, she graduated from Creighton with intentions to pursue oncology.

Following medical school, she trained at the National Cancer Institute and St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis. After serving as chief of medical oncology at several hospitals in New York City, she was recruited to develop an oncology program in Sullivan County, New York, where there had been no cancer services previously. She also spent time in Billings County, North Dakota, setting up an oncology program there.

Ultimately, she moved to internal medicine when her sister became ill and has served as an internist at Hudson River HealthCare since 2007. Founded in the early 1970s by four women in the basement of a church to address the lack of accessible and affordable health care services in Peekskill, New York, HRHCare now serves 10 counties in the Hudson Valley and Long Island and treats not only the insured, but the uninsured and undocumented, regardless of their ability to pay.