Nathaniel Hanson, Ph.D., ’19

Major: Computer Engineering

Creating technologies to improve environmental disaster response and public safety

At the intersection of robotics and public service, Nathaniel Hanson, Ph.D., ’19 is pioneering advanced sensing technologies, empowering first responders and redefining how innovation supports disaster response and humanitarian relief. Through his research and leadership, Hanson is committed to ensuring that breakthroughs in robotics have a meaningful impact on communities worldwide.

Currently, Hanson is a member of the technical staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory in the Human Resilience Technology Group, serving as a researcher and adviser to the U.S. government on applying technology to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. At MIT, his contributions range from decision-support tools for hurricane evacuation planning to Bluetooth-based contact tracing during pandemics. He now leads applied innovation projects, including search-and-rescue robots capable of navigating collapsed buildings and machine-learning-enabled tools for assessing traumatic injuries in the field. He has also worked with the MIT Media Lab to make artificial intelligence education more accessible to non-technical audiences. Hanson holds multiple patent applications, publications in refereed journals, and presentations at leading conferences around the world.

In addition to his research, Hanson organizes academic conferences and workshops through IEEE Robotics and Automation Society to advance robotic technologies in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. He is committed to transitioning technology from the lab into the hands of first responders who will benefit from it, and open-sourcing it whenever possible. A dedicated mentor, he guides undergraduate and graduate students to grow into independent researchers and supports military personnel through the Department of the Air Force-MIT AI Accelerator, helping them ethically employ AI to address pressing national defense challenges.

Hanson earned his B.S. in computer science from the University of Notre Dame, M.S. in computer science from Boston University, and his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Northeastern University. He met his wife, Stephanie ’19, on the first day of class during their first year at Notre Dame. They married in 2020 and have navigated married life as Stephanie serves on active duty in the U.S. Air Force.

Capt. Tyler Belin ’18

Major: Accountancy

Strengthening security through leadership and cultural exchange

At the forefront of military aviation and humanitarian missions, Captain Tyler Belin ’18 leads a career in elite service and impact, with a lifelong commitment to mentoring the next generation of service members. At Notre Dame, Belin was the highest ranking Army ROTC program cadet, graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate and commissioned as an Army Second Lieutenant. 

After completing flight school and becoming a CH-47 (Chinook) helicopter pilot, Belin  reported to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras. After two hurricanes hit Central America in 2021, Belin led humanitarian aid efforts across Guatemala and Honduras, bringing food and water to isolated communities affected by the storms. He was recognized by the Guatemalan Minister of Defense with the Medalla Monja Blanca for transporting aid and medically evacuating civilians. In 2023, Belin attended the captain’s career course at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security, an Army leadership course conducted entirely in Spanish with military officers from thirteen Latin American countries. He used his Spanish to strengthen relationships with partner nation militaries across the hemisphere.

Today, Belin is stationed in Savannah, Georgia, as an active duty Army CH-47 helicopter pilot and serves as a Flight Company Commander, leading 65 soldiers and 14 helicopters. His organization conducts a wide range of missions across the United States, including transporting the Vice President of the United States and supporting Special Operations. Beyond his military duties, Belin mentors with Service to Schools, assisting transitioning service members with undergraduate applications. Recently, he helped a Marine join Notre Dame’s Class of 2028. 

Belin graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2018 with a bachelor of business administration in accountancy and was commissioned as an Army Second Lieutenant. As a Distinguished Military Graduate, he ranked in the top 10 percent of cadets nationwide. Tyler married his college sweetheart, Margaret ’18, in 2023.

Alex Sejdinaj ’15

Co-Founder of South Bend Code School, Code Works, and GiveGrove

Major: English

Dedicated to democratizing access to technology education and empowering individuals and businesses

Early on, Alex Sejdinaj ’15 recognized the limitations in technology access and taught herself how to code. During her senior year at Notre Dame, she co-founded the South Bend Code School with her husband, Alex. The award-winning tech education company aims to overcome the barriers between people, technology, and jobs. Youth, adults, and educators across diverse demographics in Indiana and Michigan are able to take advantage of accessible and engaging computer science programs.

Sejdinaj also co-founded Code Works, a digital product studio that merges technology with social good. The company additionally offers technology-based assistance grants to small businesses.

But her passion does not end with her two companies. Through Code Works, Alex helped launch GiveGrove, a fundraising platform that specializes in auctions and events for nonprofit and fundraising organizations.

She guides her team to prioritize human-centered approaches in all of their projects. In 2017, she was named a Code.org Champion for Computer Science, and was also honored with a Women of Color STEM Award for Corporate Promotion of Education. Passionate about diversity and her community, Sejdinaj continues to give back to Notre Dame by speaking with graduate and undergraduate classes.

Sejdinaj earned her Notre Dame degree in English and was the recipient of a Notre Dame Young Alumni Award in 2018.

Andrew Petrisin ’16

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multimodal Freight at the U.S. Department of Transportation

Major: Civil Engineering

Striving to make the country’s supply chain more efficient and resilient

Andrew Petrisin ’16, creator of the federal Department of Transportation’s landmark supply chain data-sharing program, was promoted to Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multimodal Freight earlier this summer. He is one of the Biden Administration’s point people addressing the on-going supply chain disruptions, initially caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Petrisin led the development of Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW), a platform to facilitate data exchange between the public and private sectors to avoid freight bottlenecks. He has worked closely with the freight industry to mitigate the supply chain impacts, including following the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse in Baltimore earlier this year. He served on the White House Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force and helped launch the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience.

Returning for a time to Notre Dame and the Keough School of Global Affairs, Petrisin helped launch the Integration Lab, which trains students how to work in diverse teams focused on challenges including sustainability, business & economics, and governance. He also taught undergraduate classes on human-centered design.

In addition to earning his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Notre Dame in 2016, Petrisin was also honored as an Andrews Scholar by the Center for Social Concerns.

Daniel Passon ’16

Staff Attorney, DC Affordable Law Firm

Major: Political Science

Advocating for access to justice for marginalized communities

An accident on the night of his Notre Dame graduation in 2016 almost derailed Daniel Passon’s dream of becoming a legal aid attorney. He sustained a concussion that activated POTS, a chronic fainting disorder, and uncovered an arrythmia. After undergoing several heart surgeries, he went on to enroll at and graduate from Georgetown University Law Center, where he turned his pursuit of a career in public service into reality.

While at Georgetown, Passon served as a Fair and Just Prosecution Fellow in the Office of the Philadelphia District Attorney and externed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He also earned the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award for the best student advocate in the Housing Advocacy and Litigation Clinic, represented disabled veterans before the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and served as Notes Editor for the Georgetown Law Technology Review.

After clerking at both the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court of Maryland, Passon entered into public service as Legislative Counsel, and later Acting Director of the Committee on Human Services, in the office of District of Columbia Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau.

In 2023, Passon joined the D.C. Affordable Law Firm as an heirs’ property-staff attorney. There, he represents clients in probate and estate planning matters and specializes in clearing title to real property to preserve intergenerational wealth. Passon is one of the first legal aid attorneys in the country to practice in this area full-time and is part of a national network of practitioners establishing best practices and policy for the future of the field.

As an estate planning and estate administration attorney, Passon is recognized as a zealous advocate and a uniquely compassionate and committed companion to people experiencing grief and loss. He has testified before the D.C. Council on probate reform and is an active member of the Council for Court Excellence’s Subcommittee on Estate Administration, the DC Access to Justice Commission’s Justice for All Self-help Working Group, and the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1A Special Committee on Public Life in Columbia Heights.

Dash Holland ’17, ’21 M.Ed.

Upper Grade Teacher, Holy Family School

Major: Political Science and Economics

Preparing low-income students and families emotionally, spiritually, and socially for the future

William “Dash” Holland ’17, ’21 M.Ed. began his journey toward teaching in India. While training for his first job in consulting, he wondered if his chosen profession could become a career. Holland became curious about finding a more service-oriented path and started volunteering to teach Sunday school at his parish in Bangalore. Six months later, he moved to New Jersey, where he began his consulting job in earnest and realized he would have to make a change. After a year and a half, Holland returned to Notre Dame to pursue a Master of Education degree with the Alliance for Catholic Education. He now teaches at Holy Family School in Redwood City, California.

Holland teaches a community of first- and second-generation immigrants. Through his daily lessons in language arts, literature, vocabulary, social studies, religion, and technology, he strives to help his students understand the world around them, make a place in it, and imagine how they can be part of making it better.

Through his teaching role at Holy Family, Holland is also an integral part of the St. Francis Center. This community-based organization in the heart of the Fair Oaks Neighborhood partners with clients to provide affordable housing, food, clothing, and after school programming to build strong families and a strong neighborhood community.

Holland is a former Rambler of Siegfried Hall and served as a resident assistant during his time at Notre Dame.

Demetrius Murphy ’15

Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at the University of Southern California

Major: Management Consulting and Africana Studies

Committed to advancing dignity and human flourishing

An ongoing devotion to examining race, ethnicity, culture, mental health, and cities consumes the days of Demetrius Murphy ’15. as a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Southern California, Murphy is working on his dissertation, Flourishing in LA: Making Place in an Anti-Black Metropolis. The research focuses on where Black people feel good and how they do well in Los Angeles County. As part of the research, he is conducting a multi-year ethnography of Destination Crenshaw, a $100 million reparative development project, open-air museum, and nonprofit in the epicenter of Black culture in Los Angeles.

Murphy also researches Blackness and the responses to anti-Blackness in Brazil as racial demographics shift over the 21st century. His line of research explores placemaking, entrepreneurship, police killings, and racial ideologies in this country.

Murphy’s commitment to Notre Dame continues beyond his academic pursuits and graduation. He is involved with the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles and previously served on the Black Alumni Board and the Undergraduate Experience Advisory Council. In 2019, he received a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from Vanderbilt University.

Erich Kerekes ’15

Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Hallow

Major: Computer Science

Providing spiritual support to millions

Erich Kerekes ’15 is the CTO and co-founder of Hallow, a Catholic app offering resources on prayer, meditation, music, the Bible, and sleep. He coded the application and currently leads all of the product, tech, design, and analytics for the company. The app crossed 20 million downloads in 2024 and is the No. 1 Catholic app in the world.

Kerekes admits that his Catholic devotion was lacking before enrolling at Notre Dame, and it was not until his co-founder, 2019 Domer Dozen honoree Alex Jones ’15, approached him about Hallow that his faith journey was transformed as he embraced the contemplative and meditative aspects of Catholicism.

In five years, the Hallow team has raised more than $105 million in venture funding and the company has swelled to 80 employees.

Kerekes graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame with a degree in computer science in 2015. In 2022, he and his co-founders, Jones and Alessandro DiSanto ’15, were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, recognizing their impact and innovation in the tech and faith space.

Maj. Jordan Hoover ’14

T-38 Instructor Pilot, 469th Flying Training Squadron, United States Air Force

Major: Aerospace Engineering

Serving the nation in the air and his community on the ground

Major Jordan “BIFF” Hoover ’14 has been serving God, Country, and Notre Dame since he set foot on campus in 2010. He enrolled as an Air Force ROTC cadet, commissioned, and was selected to train at the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) program.

After completing ENJJPT, Maj. Hoover became an F-15E Strike Eagle pilot and flew 120 combat missions over Iraq and Syria. He also led flights in numerous exercises including the first-ever F-15E deployment to the island on Tinian. He is now back at ENJJPT as an instructor pilot. In his role, he instructs students of 14 NATO countries as they work to become fighter pilots for the alliance.

Maj. Hoover serves his fellow Airmen as a volunteer Sexual Assault Prevention and Response cadre. In this work, he provides advocacy services to sexual assault victims and leads violence prevention training. Away from work, Jordan is active in the local amateur radio community where he uses his engineering skills to communicate with like-minded enthusiasts for learning, fun, and community service. This hobby led him to volunteer with Wichita County (Texas) SKYWARN, supporting the National Weather Service in identifying and reporting hazardous weather. He has also served as a cantor during his time in Alumni Hall and in numerous military chapels.

Maj. Hoover met his wife, Claire ’15, while in ROTC. They married in 2017 in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and navigated years of long-distance marriage while she was also serving active duty for the Air Force. With the birth of his daughter, Maria (1), and another child expected in early 2025, he and Claire have begun a new chapter in their marriage vocation.

Lauren Joseph ’23 EMNA

Junior Program Officer, The Leon Levine Foundation

Advancing programs and organizations that improve the human condition

Lauren Joseph ’23 is a philanthropic nonprofit professional who has dedicated her work and life to the service of others. At The Leon Levine Foundation, a Charlotte-based organization that invests in nonprofits across North Carolina and South Carolina, Joseph stewards a grant portfolio of more than 70 nonprofits. In her role, she conducts extensive due diligence in helping execute the Foundation’s annual disbursement of more than $30 million in awards.

As a student in Notre Dame’s Executive Masters in Nonprofit Administration (EMNA), Joseph partnered with a Notre Dame family to create a foundation in memory of their son and brother. Today, she continues to advise on strategy and serve on the board of the Zac Plantz Foundation. She injects confidence, energy, positivity, and a “can-do” spirit amongst her board colleagues. In three years, the foundation has amassed an endowment of more than $500,000 and funded local scholarships and grants in the Chicagoland area.

Joseph also serves as the vice president of the Notre Dame Club of Charlotte and volunteers with Pat’s Place Child Advocacy Center and the Humane Society. She received her bachelor’s degree in finance and economics in 2017 from Southern Illinois University, where she was captain of the women’s swim team.