Meet the Team
Melissa Belcher develops strategic relationships between The Grainger College of Engineering and corporate partners. A proud UIUC alumna, she also holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Marketing Communications from the University of Greenwich. Melissa worked internationally for 15 years building collaborative partnerships within the financial service sector and feels incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to connect industry with our exceptional faculty and students.
George Chacko is the Executive Director of Research Analytics at The Grainger College of Engineering. He harvests, curates, and analyzes research metadata and administrative records to support research assessment and evaluation activities. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, he worked in industry and in the federal government.
Nick is responsible for building a coalition of industrial, academic, research institutions, government, and other interested stakeholders that work cooperatively to address challenges, barriers, and opportunities thus enabling a prosperous semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing economy in the Midwest. He works closely with microelectronics subject matter experts and university administrators to oversee and shape UIUC's role in a regional strategy anchored in attracting CHIPS and Science Act funding to the State of Illinois. Nick also provides leadership and assists in standing up newly-funded microelectronics efforts such as UIUC's role in the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub. Prior to joining Illinois, Nick managed technology development efforts in Fortune-100 Corporations, venture-funded startups, and academic institutions and has a proven track record in all aspects of developing and commercializing applications that rely on emerging materials to deliver dramatic performance and/or cost improvements.
L’y (pronounced E-lee) Feher has worked at the University of Illinois since 2022. She is the program coordinator within the Office of the Associate Dean for Research (ADR) at The Grainger College of Engineering (GCOE). She assists with research development, faculty development, and corporate relations. As part of the ADR team, L’y works hard to support and manage multiple programs to grow the GCOE research enterprise and maintain a culture of research excellence.
Mallory Gorman is a Project Manager for the Office of the Associate Dean for Research (ADR) at The Grainger College of Engineering (GCOE). She works to support the research enterprise by supporting principal investigators and research teams with the development of research projects, centers and institutes, and research-related events in the college. She is a proud UIUC Engineering Alumna, and her prior work involves project and data management within a scientific and cloud computing team in the information technology space.
Christy Gosser-Stiner provides administrative support to the Associate Dean for Research and several senior executives in the ADR office at The Grainger College of Engineering. With over 35 years of administrative support, Christy has a proven track record of senior-level executive support and management. She has a strong ability to streamline processes, maximize efficiency, and foster professional relationships within the college. Christy’s philosophy centers around what role she can play in helping others find solutions and her commitment to excellence in service.
Kara Haley contributes to the Illinois research enterprise across all departments and institutes in The Grainger College of Engineering and has worked in research administration at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign since 2015. She supports faculty teams in developing compelling large-scale multidisciplinary proposals, strategizes and disseminates funding opportunities, assists with research-related events in the College, and helps manage activities for newly funded centers and institutes, and oversees the ADR Project Management Team.
Chris Lockwood is a Project Manager within the Office of the Associate Dean for Research (ADR) at The Grainger College of Engineering (GCOE). He assists the Illinois research enterprise by implementing center-level policies and processes. As part of the ADR team, he supports multiple projects to maintain a culture of research excellence across GCOE. Prior to joining the university, Chris spent 10+ years working as a quality engineer in the automotive, life science, and aerospace manufacturing industries.
Chandni Mathur is a Data Analyst within the Research Analytics team at The Grainger College of Engineering. She provides analytical support through the use of advanced languages and tools like SQL, Python, and Linux, as well as builds and maintains Tableau dashboards across all the major metrics associated with the proposals, grants, and students’ data. She actively collaborates with different stakeholders to gather requirements and feedback to improve the user experience across multiple dashboards and reports. She is a proud UIUC alumna and holds a master’s degree in Information Management. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, she worked in the telecommunications, financial, and consulting industries in the data science and analytics space.
Laurel Passantino works to grow the research enterprise across all departments and institutes in The Grainger College of Engineering. Specifically, she assists faculty by helping cultivate relationships with Federal and industry sponsors, encouraging cross-campus collaborations, developing compelling narratives for research proposals, and forming new centers and institutes. Since 2013, Laurel has worked in the academic research environment to identify, pursue, and secure large-scale interdisciplinary grants, and she has an additional 10 years of experience as a practicing civil engineer.
Lanata strives to help strengthen the research enterprise by assisting faculty and researchers with the development of high-quality, competitive research proposals, manages faculty nominations for major research prizes and awards, and assists with planning strategic research development activities and initiatives within the Grainger College of Engineering. Lanata has worked at the University of Illinois for 15 years in various capacities, including advancement and research administration.
Elyse Rosenbaum is the Acting Associate Dean for Research, and the Melvin and Anne Louise Hassebrock Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She oversees the research enterprise in The Grainger College of Engineering, including development of research partnerships, programs for faculty research development, and corporate research engagement. Her primary research interests are on-chip protection against electrostatic discharge and machine learning based modeling and optimization of integrated circuits. She is Director of the Center for Advanced Electronics through Machine Learning (CAEML), an NSF industry-university cooperative research center.
Nick Sans is a Project Manager for the Office of the Associate Dean of Research (ADR) at The Grainger College of Engineering (GCOE). He works directly with principal investigators, research teams, and project staff to plan, organize, and implement processes to ensure project milestones are met. Prior to joining the ADR team, Nick spent 15 years in software development managing release and quality assurance teams.
Kent Studer is the Senior Director of Corporate Relations in The Grainger College of Engineering. Kent is responsible for developing and nurturing strategic corporate relationships in the College of Engineering, focusing on increasing the quality, depth, and funding level of corporate research and philanthropic partnerships. Prior to joining Illinois, Kent was the Senior Director of Development for the College of Engineering at the University of Florida, serving as the lead for the development team. Previously, Kent was the Executive Director for Corporate Relations at Iowa State University, Associate Vice President for Corporate Relations at the University of Alabama Huntsville, and spent 8 years in in the Office of Advancement in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois focusing on building comprehensive relationships with both alumni and corporations. Prior to academia Kent worked in the sales and marketing industry. He has served as a board member for the Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers and the Engineering Development Forum.
Don Takehara assists faculty and researchers in obtaining funding for research all the way from ideation to submitted proposal as well as stewarding of funded projects for future funding. As a certified coach, Don also focuses his time on faculty development through assisting faculty in both career and leadership development. Don has a PhD in Chemical Engineering (catalysis and reaction engineering) and his prior work includes 17 years at Dow Chemical doing chemical process and product R&D along with 9 years at Taylor University as the Director of the Center for Research & Innovation. Don also served as a teaching professor and researcher during this time at Taylor University.
Andrea Whitesell is a Project Manager within the Office of the Associate Dean for Research (ADR) at The Grainger College of Engineering (GCOE). She manages multiple research projects in support the of the development of the GCOE research enterprise. Working closely with principal investigators, research teams, and sponsors, she facilitates the operational polices and processes to meet the project objectives and outcomes. Andrea has been with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2001 and has previously managed both federal and industry funded technology focused research centers.