Alumni Leaders – Part 1

Meet 11 alumni giving of their time and talent at home and abroad.

By Micaela Myers

Connor Kasarda — Computer Scientist and Volunteer

Connor Kasarda didn’t just come to UW to learn — he also came to give back and teach others about computer science. Kasarda was born at the Naval Air Station Keflavik in Iceland while his father served in the Navy, but the family soon relocated to Center Valley, Pa. As an undergraduate, he transferred from Pennsylvania State University to UW, and in 2021 he earned a degree in computer science with a minor in math and a certificate in cybersecurity. While in the midst of his master’s degree in computer science, he was offered a job as a computer scientist and software engineer at the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Okla., which he began last spring.

Throughout his time in Wyoming, Kasarda shared what he was learning with children, fellow students and teachers. When he worked with educators in the Research Experience for Teachers program, he made YouTube learning videos. “I’ve always loved the process of taking complex topics and breaking them down into a teachable concept for others,” he says. It’s something he hopes to do more of in the future. “I would love to take my current coding projects and turn them into video lessons for others to learn a new skill.”

Kasarda also helped resurrect the Laramie Robotics Club. “With the launch of the School of Computing plus our computer science outreach at UW, the timing was perfect,” he says. “At first, a lot of the time had to be spent acquiring funding so that we could get the proper equipment, but eventually we were able to invite elementary through high school students from the Laramie area. What’s nice is that the club allows undergraduate and graduate students, including future teachers, to help out as mentors who teach computer science and STEM concepts to the younger students as they work through the activities, labs, challenges and competitions. It was very inspiring for me to see the learning progress of those attending the robotics club.”

Kasarda believes that everyone contains a spark or talent that makes them special. “When we volunteer or help others, we are helping them to know more about themselves,” he says. “What follows is an individual who finds their passion and goals in life. Volunteering can even give people their hope back or restore confidence in their abilities. We all can help others, and we all need a little nudge here and there to keep going and obtain our goals.”

 

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Shannon Bendtsen — Process Control Engineer at Genesis Alkali

Shannon Bendtsen was recruited by Genesis Alkali in Green River, Wyo., long before she graduated with her degree in chemical engineering (2022), thanks in large part to a gift from the company that set up a process controls lab at UW, which later led to the creation of a minor.

“To actually get hands-on experience with process controls unit operations was a game changer,” says Bendtsen, who came to UW from Riverton as a first-generation student. As an undergraduate, she completed an internship with the City of Laramie, where she focused on recycling and plastic bag use. This helped prepare her for her initial role at Genesis Alkali as an environmental engineer. 

While she enjoyed being outside, it was the data she fell in love with. That led Bendtsen to transition to process controls, including serving as historian administrator overseeing 50,000 data points. Using the software, she can study historical data and trends. Genesis Alkali operates two world-class trona ore mining and soda ash production facilities near Green River. As a process controls engineer, Bendtsen also works on a team that helps to program and automate the plants.  

“Programming is kind of like an art,” she says. “There’s a lot of different ways to do the same thing, and you can get your own style and put your own spin on it.”

She loves her team, her level of autonomy and that the company offers many routes to advancement.

When Bendtsen isn’t at work, you can find her volunteering at The Actors’ Mission nonprofit theater group, which brings free meals and quality performances to the communities of Rock Springs and Green River.

“I spend about 20 hours a week there,” she says. “It’s been a great way to get involved with the community. I’ve always been an actor, but now I’m learning the tech side, like how to do lights, build sets and sew costumes.”

Bendtsen wants aspiring engineers to know that math doesn’t have to come easy for you to succeed. Many hours at the UW Center for Assistance with Statistics and Mathematics and with the tutors from the McNair Scholars Program helped her make it through.

“There are times you might think you don’t need all the information you’re learning in class, but it is seriously all very helpful,” Bendtsen says. “Keep an open mind and take it all in because the more you do that, the better off you’ll be.”

To encourage the next generation, Bendtsen recently volunteered at a Wyoming Youth in STEM conference for middle and high school students in Riverton, where she shared her career path and led a workshop.

  

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Alea Denney and Katie Johnson — Peace Corps Volunteers

By Michaela Jones

This fall, recent graduates Alea Denney of Keene, N.H., and Katie Johnson of Casper, Wyo., began their service in the Peace Corps.

“I was attracted to the Peace Corps initially in high school as a way to explore the world and create meaningful change at local levels,” says Denney, who graduated with a degree in governance and conflict resolution and minors in anthropology and honors. “I am a big believer in citizen-to-citizen diplomacy and have always felt that it is one of the most effective ways to create positive change.”

Denney is now promoting Spanish literacy in the Dominican Republic, helping local teachers develop curriculum and working on student and parent outreach programs to increase community involvement in education.

At UW, Denney served as a program assistant with Education Abroad and as assistant outreach coordinator with the Arabic and Middle East North Africa Studies Program. She also studied abroad in Iceland, Vietnam, Cambodia, the United Kingdom and several Nordic countries, which cemented her love of learning about other cultures.

Denney also completed the Peace Corps Prep program at UW, which is administered by the Advising, Career and Exploratory Studies Center. The program enhances students’ undergraduate experiences by preparing them for international development fieldwork and potential Peace Corps service.

“I feel very well prepared to live in a new country with the research and work I have done,” she says.

After serving with the Peace Corps, Denney plans to pursue a career in foreign policy analysis or in the international charity sector with organizations such as Amnesty International, Oxfam or the U.S. Agency for International Development. She also hopes to continue championing citizen diplomacy and children’s right to education.

Johnson majored in international studies and philosophy with minors in Spanish and honors. She is serving as an English teacher in Sri Lanka. “The Peace Corps combines my love of service and interest in different cultures, and it promises a challenge to make me a more resilient, altruistic, well-rounded person,” she says.

“At UW, I studied economics in Iceland; visited New York with the dean of the Honors College; lived and learned in Ecuador; interviewed people in Jordan, Israel and Palestine about the conflict; interned for one of Wyoming’s U.S. senators in Washington, D.C.; earned a U.S. State Department Critical Language Scholarship to study Portuguese in Brazil; and most recently explored the post-Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia for my Honors College capstone project,” Johnson says.

In the future, she hopes to work for the State Department or U.S. Agency for International Development: “My career goal is to contribute to world peace and sustainable development so everyone can access the goods I have enjoyed my entire life.”

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Jason Hatch and Brian Baird —  Serving Others and Celebrating Service

The saying goes that Wyoming is a small town with long streets. Turns out, those streets stretch across the country. Army veteran Jason Hatch is based in Virginia. Former U.S. Rep. Brian Baird lives in Washington state. Hatch and Baird met for the first time when Baird asked Hatch to join the initiative to build a National Museum and Center for Service. They quickly discovered that they were both UW alumni. The friendship that formed went on to help save numerous lives.

Hatch grew up in Riverton and earned his degree in history (1995) before being commissioned as an Army officer. After serving around the world, he retired in 2013 and went to work on international development issues, disaster resilience and counter-human-trafficking endeavors. He then joined AmeriCorps for a year of service and started his own additive manufacturing and design company. Baird, however, took a much different path. He grew up in Fruita, Colo., and attended UW for his master’s degree (1980) and Ph.D. (1984) in clinical psychology. He went on to work as a professor, author, and psychologist and serve six terms in the House of Representatives from 1998–2010.

The two connected in 2017, as Baird began work to create a National Museum and Center for Service (www.nmcfs.org) to celebrate and honor those who serve as volunteers. The museum will have a physical location in D.C., but it also provides resources for local communities to honor volunteers in displays at schools, libraries and other public locations. For example, while only a small selection of kids will make it into school sports display cases, any child can be inspired to volunteer, and their service can be highlighted just as the trophies are.

“As I traveled, I repeatedly saw so many examples of people giving of themselves, whether it was domestically to help homeless people or with international disaster relief or countless other things,” Baird says. While there are museums and monuments for many other types of service, volunteers were left out. 

As Baird and Hatch worked on the project, things fell apart in Afghanistan. In August 2021, the U.S. and coalition partners evacuated tens of thousands of people from Kabul, but many others who had worked with the U.S. couldn’t get out in time and were left in danger from the Taliban. Hatch began working with Operation Snow Leopard, a nonprofit dedicated to the safe evacuation and resettlement of high-risk Afghans, and he recruited Baird to help with his political connections. For example, Baird made important contacts with Argentina to help resettle refugees there.

“To date, we have evacuated over 1,800 Afghans and are working with the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva to facilitate the resettlement of approximately 1,000 more,” Hatch says.

Getting even one person in danger out is tricky. First, they have to be moved out of Afghanistan, and then they have to find a new country to accept them.

“Our problem was that we had nowhere to send them, and that’s the problem that we’re dealing with to this day,” Hatch says.

The hundreds they have helped include a young woman who was hiding in a crypt for two years and now attends college in Canada and a couple who both suffered great injuries under the Taliban — the wife lost her feet in a terror attack, and her husband had been shot in the back.

Hatch also personally sponsors several Afghan families so that they could receive their U.S. visas. He is looking for others to do the same.

Both Hatch and Baird were inspired to serve others by their families and small-town upbringings.

“My parents were Depression-era kids, and my dad was a World War II veteran,” Hatch says. “They impressed upon us this strong sense of giving back. I feel, like, if you have the time and you have some abilities then you should be able to volunteer and give a little back.”