Mr. Kasik received his bachelor’s degree in General Engineering (now ISE) in 1968. His area of specialization was business administration. Anticipating a career in construction management, he worked summers at the engineering firm of Sargent and Lundy, Chicago and the construction firm Chicago Bridge and Iron, Oakbrook. One of those summers, Mr. Kasik got his first taste of hands-on project management overseeing the construction of his parents’ home in the far suburbs. In between engineering classes, he earned his private pilot’s license from the Institute of Aviation. As graduation from Illinois became closer, he considered alternate post-graduate options and decided to move in a more technically-focused direction. That led him to the University of California at Berkeley. There he earned a Master of Science degree with specialization in structural mechanics. And while there he observed first-hand how student political action could advocate for change. It was the sixties.
Upon graduation, Mr. Kasik served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, working as a nuclear engineer in the Division of Naval Reactors, under Admiral H. G. Rickover, which proved to be a life altering experience. Upon completing his naval service, he joined MPR Associates, Engineers, a consulting engineering firm with principal headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia where he became a managing partner.
A registered professional engineer, Mr. Kasik is a member of the American Nuclear Society and the American Society for Metals. In his earliest days as a design engineer at MPR Mr. Kasik designed, procured and tested specialized remote underwater inspection devices for nuclear fuel assemblies. As he become more focused on project engineering, he directed a variety of major engineering projects in both the private and government sectors. He is particularly proud of the engineering training programs he developed for systems and maintenance engineers at nuclear power stations.
Born in Chicago, Mr. Kasik grew up in the near-west suburb of Berwyn, a community with a strong Czech tradition. At a University of Illinois Alumni Association event in Washington, he met another alum with Czech roots, with whom he later founded American Friends of the Czech Republic (AFoCR), an advocacy and service organization based in Washington, D.C. Mr. Kasik served as President, and continues to serve as Executive Vice-president. He was instrumental in completing the construction of a memorial in Washington, D.C. honoring the first president of Czechoslovakia. Never forgetting his interest in aviation, he served as a docent at the National Air and Space Museum, where he enjoyed telling visitors about the significance of various historic aircraft, and the challenges of restoring them.
Over the years his interest in major engineering projects and foreign cultures found him traveling to unique destinations around the world, like the massive Three Gorges Dam project in China while it was still under construction. There is no doubt that the education and experiences from his U of I General Engineering course of study prepared him for a lifetime of engineering he could not even imagine then.
Mr. Kasik recently retired from MPR and lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Mary where they reside when not “on the road”. They have 2 sons and enjoy visits from 5 grandchildren.
