Possibilities Alumni Newsletter

The 10th Honors class will enter the program soon, signing the Honors book as you did with their favorite Ben and Jerry’s flavor. Then we move through the familiar rhythms of the academic year. Among the customary, there is much new: See More

There was laughter and there were tears. Together with many others on campus, we said farewell to Marcia S. Bradley, the beloved Honors Assistant, at a Friday, April 22 reception. There were stories too, like the one about the first Honors Program orientation, when students arrived to signs of wet paint. Marcia had put them up so that arriving students and parents would not leave with an unwelcome reminder of what it meant to visit the Honors office. As she said, "I was probably almost as anxious as they were that day." The featured gift honoring her service will be a plaque and a tree, a red maple, which will be planted not far from the Honors office, near what she calls her "window." The celebration did not end with the reception. The class of 2005 made her an honorary member of their class, making her the second person to be so recognized. Professor Chris Robinson received similar recognition from the class of 2002. Many cards and notes came in for Marcia, and they were compiled into a beautifully arranged scrapbook by Meghann Strain, Bio-molecular Science '07. If you would still like to contribute such a remembrance, please send it to the Honors office. She has formally retired from Clarkson now and will soon begin her new part-time position at St. Lawrence, in which she will work a few days a week and has summers off. As was said over and over again on April 22, we will miss you, Marcia.

Andrew Bingham's Remarkable Year

Last July when Andrew Bingham was home for the weekend on a break from summer research, he got an idea for deep space exploration. He dashed into his sisters' room, grabbed all the markers, crayons, and colored pencils and started sketching out his ideas for an electromagnetic propulsion system. He submitted his idea to the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), for which it was accepted for presentation at its fall conference in Seattle, Washington . Although he was by far the youngest participant, Andrew was the only undergraduate selected for further development of his idea, which he presented at the spring NIAC Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. These accomplishments fueled his successful Goldwater and NASA scholarship applications. By the way, Andrew is the eighth Honors student and ninth Clarkson student to win a Goldwater Scholarship in the last six years, a scholarship designed to recognize the most talented engineering, science, and math students in America who intend to go on to graduate school.

Andrew has a passion for space, and so he chose to forego Christmas at home to spend it on the Mars Society's desert space station in Utah . He was the engineer on the station and quickly experienced an earth version of the kinds of problems that have plagued the space shuttle program lately--frozen pipes. He reworked the system so that future crews would not experience the same inconvenient problems. This summer Andrew's streak of good fortune and high accomplishment has continued; he was recruited for an internship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. To look more deeply into his adventures, check out some of his links.

Professor Hayley Shen Does Research for NASA, But Misses Discovery's Launch

Professor Hayley Shen, the Associate Director of the Honors Program, was recruited by NASA to do work at the Kennedy Space Center this summer on a project to determine if insulation materials should be changed on a hydrogen fuel storage tank. The tank stores fuel for the space shuttle. It was built during the time of the Apollo missions, and over the years, the perlite insulation has compacted as hard as concrete. She is working with Professor Helenbrook of the Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Department, and two Clarkson students, Paul Ashman and Mike Powers. They together with NASA scientists and engineers are working to determine if glass insulation will have a longer life-span and will perform effectively during the filling, evacuation, and thermal cycles the tank undergoes.

On July 15, the day Discovery was to launch, Professor Shen was at the Kennedy Space Center staying in the same facility the astronauts stay at before launch. As she said in her e-mail to us that day, "The astronauts live just one floor below our office here. It is very exciting. Lots of people and security measures. We will go watch the launch from the bathroom window--best view in town. We heard the Men's Room window is even better." To see the mathematical models used to predict the flow pattern and see below, and for more information about this work, contact Professor Shen at hhshen@clarkson.edu

I am working my way slowly but steadily toward a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics at Virginia Tech in the Engineering and Mechanics Department (hopefully finishing sometime in 2007). My research focus is on fatigue prediction and modeling lifetime performance of structural fiber reinforced polymer composites.

This summer however, I am taking a small break from this research and doing an internship in Lausanne, Switzerland at EPFL (the technical university here). My project relates to modeling the moisture ingression and loss in residual strength in a structural composite that they are using as an interface between concrete structures in buildings. The work is interesting and a chance to explore something a bit different but related to my main research subject and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the summer in Switzerland! For some of my pictures, see http://www.homepage.mac.com/postnl/PhotoAlbum4.html

Another good trip I had was last fall when I was sent to present our work at the International Conference on Fatigue of Composites in Kyoto, Japan (neither of my advisors could make it so I went in their place). I was there for 5 days and had one extra day outside of the conference when I was able to tour around and visit the area. Some friends of my grandparents (who are Japanese and live in Osaka ) met me and took me around which was great!

I'm wrapping up two years with Cooper here just outside of Pittsburgh and leaving the company at the end of this month. I'm moving down to DC in a week and a half, and in August I will be starting at George Washington Law School, to be inundated with work for the next three years in pursuit of my Juris Doctorate. I'll probably be specializing in intellectual property law, and I am actually taking the patent bar exam (to become a registered patent agent) at the beginning of August.

I’m also getting married on October 8th of this year, to Nicole Smith, who was my girlfriend back at Clarkson.

When I left Clarkson in 2003, I didn't know where I was headed yet...now as I look back, I don't think I let anyone know where I was going, even after I decided! So here's a quick catch up blurb. I'm in Seneca Falls, NY finishing up my second year at New York Chiropractic College . In 6 months, I'm moving to Depew, NY to do my clinical internship, and I'll be graduating in December 2006. After that, I plan to practice in Connecticut, so anyone out in that area who needs a good chiropractor, feel free to stop by!

I'm still with my boyfriend (Matt Griffin, class of 2002), I just got a new car (2005 Kia Spectra), and I'm currently interning with the radiology department of the local hospital (very exciting stuff!). I'm having a blast in Seneca Falls . The area is just gorgeous, and there are so many wineries! I wish I had pictures to send! Kevin and Karen (Nagy) Roberg : Kevin and Karen are the proud parents of twins, Patrick and Martin! Kevin has just begun working for BNL Industries and Karen is completing her second year of law school and is on the law review. For pictures of the twins and a fuller update on the Roberg's doings, go to their web page at: http://www.therobergs.us

Angela just returned from a trip through Eastern Europe , exploring the territory covered in her Honors senior seminar, "Abroad: The Literature of Journeys." She has promised us more details for the next newsletter. She was also the photographer at Jennifer (Gardner) Dresser's wedding.

I've been living and working in Rome, NY since leaving Clarkson. I'm a contractor at the Air Force Research Labs. I've been lucky to have the opportunity to travel quite a bit for work (Toronto, Las Vegas, San Jose, NYC, D.C., Barcelona, Leipzig (Germany) and Magdeburg). I visited Gita in Indonesia last February for a couple of weeks. We are set to get married in late June, but I don't know when she is going to be able to get here. So, while I've been waiting for her to get here and finish school in Indonesia, I have been playing with tropical fish. In my small apartment, I have 8 fish tanks. Two of these tanks are larger than average size (125 gallon - 6 feet long, 55 gallon - 4 feet long). I probably have close to 400 fish now (these are freshwater tropical fish), and I have this many because I've been breeding some of them. I've bred 6 different species so far, and I collected eggs from one of my tanks of a potential 7th species yesterday to try to hatch and raise. If I can keep the babies alive for a week or two after they hatch in a few days, I will be happy. So I've kept myself quite busy taking care of my pets.

Since sending this update, Jeremy and Gita have married and we include wedding pictures, one of which also features Steve Biggs '02.

In January 2005, I started a PhD program at Clarkson University in Engineering Science, an Interdisciplinary program where I am specializing in Computer Engineering and Computer Science. (Expected graduation date: May 2007). On April 10, 2005, I received the Commendable Service Award at Clarkson's University Recognition Day, in part for my service to the Clarkson Internet Teaching Laboratory (ITL).

For the summer, I am spending time at Clarkson and am working on a large number of projects. I've been continuing to play songs at the Clarkson radio station and my boyfriend Todd Deshane and I have recently gone canoeing with the Graduate Student Association (GSA). It was really fun!

After working at Kodak, Jeff has started his Ph.D. in computer science at RPI. He and his advisor visited Clarkson in the fall, and Jeff talked to Honors students about what graduate school and a Ph.D. program entail.

Michelle is working on her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina. She recently had an article published in Cancer Research, "Cryptochrome, Circadian Cycle, Cell Cycle Checkpoints, and Cancer."

My work at P&G is very enjoyable. I have been working on a lot of projects under the Olay brand that have allowed me to travel to Ireland, Japan, and Puerto Rico. The work is very challenging and rewarding and it's nice to feel a sense of ownership when walking though the aisles at Wal Mart. Matt shared his pictures from his days in the Peace Corps in Burkino Faso Check them out, they are exotic and beautiful: http://www.burkinabymatt.com

Matthew has received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado and is now working for CEV Systems Engineering Stellar Solutions, Inc.

Katie also received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado last year. She recently published an article based upon her thesis in the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, "Methods for Increasing Region 2 Power Capture on a Variable-Speed Wind Turbine."