Alumni 1999 Edition
Mark Sydorenko (ec80) writes that he enjoys the ISP newsletter and reading about the ongoing success of the program and its graduates. He says that "sixteen years after graduating from ISP, it is undeniable that ISP instilled core philosophies and scientific values that had a significant and positive effect on my career and life. I feel I have lived the "integrated" notion of the ISP, always borrowing something I learned in one branch of science to assist in solving a problem in another branch of science. Since graduating from ISP in '83, I have worked as a geophysicist for a major oil company, as a psychoacoustics researcher for Bell Labs, as a CTO for a medical diagnostic company, founded a digital audio and video compression technology company, received my Ph.D. in Medicine from Johns Hopkins, and did my thesis in neurophysiology in a biomedical engineering program. The impact of ISP on my career is enormous." He also wishes Dr. Halperin the best of luck as the new ISP Director.
Jim Chisholm (ec94) stopped by over the summer to say hello. He looks great. He got married in May and will start his graduate studies at the University of Chicago in the fall. He recently co-authored a paper,"ROSAT High Resolution Imager Identifications of Suspected Stellar Sources from the Einstein Slew Survey which was published in the April, 1999 issue of Astronomical Journal.
Steve Bass (ec91) recently graduated with his MS from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center after doing research on retroviruses. He's currently working for a computer company that makes dental software but plans on starting either Law School (specializing in Intellectual Property) or Business School (Biotech stock analysis). Steve got married last year to another graduate students and they're expecting a child.
Michael Rosenberg (ec90) "although I didn't technically complete ISP, I did earn an honorary ISP degree by triple majoring in Biology, Geology and Anthropology. I'm currently living on Long Island and am planning on finishing my PhD in Ecology & Evolution by the summer of 2000. The ability to focus on a single topic seems to have still eluded me as I've been working on fiddler crab morphometrics and systematics (my thesis work), human cancer patterns in europe, and the development of computer programs and methodology for spatial statistics and meta-analysis. I can be reached at msr@life.bio.sunysb.edu"
Sangwoo Pak (ec93) plans to graduate this June from MIT with a Master's degree. Sangwoo has been studying spacecraft engineering in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and plans to work for a firm that builds rockets and spacecraft.
Mike Mesleh (ec93) is currently at the University of Pennsylvania studying biophysics in the chemistry department. He's doing nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, still plays guitar and digs Philadelphia. <mesleh@sas.upenn.edu>
Becky Levin (ec93) is currently in an internship program with the Illinois General Assembly. “I am actually the ‘science intern’ with the Legislative Research Unit. The LRU researches issues and writes reports in response to requests from legislators. As a science intern, I have researched and written about issues as different as needle exchange programs and the dangers of laser pointers. With so many diverse scientific issues to address, the ISP background is definitely useful. I am learning to write about technical topics for readers without scientific backgrounds, a skill every good scientist can use. Previous science interns have used their experience to go on to become anything from doctors to lobbyists.” Becky encourages other ISPs to apply for the Science Writing Internship with the LRU. It’s the ideal program for someone with an interest in public policy and science, a scientist who wants to improve his or her writing ability, or graduating students.
John Stracke (ec86) <http://www.thibault.org/mail/> writes that "I've left Netscape for a startup called eCal, a Web-based calendaring company (http://www.ecal.com). I'm the Chief Scientist. My job is to work on the API to enable our customers to develop customized sites based on our technology."
Did you hear the latest?
The ISP Intramural Floor Hockey Team won the championships for the co-rec and men's white league this year. Since none of the players will be graduating this year, they plan to dominate again next year, perhaps trying their skills in the purple league. KaWai Cheung was the goalie for the majority of the season. David Westbrook, Mark Solomon, Jeff Tran and Chris Jensen were the lead scorers for the men's team.
What are some of our current ISP students doing this summer?
Nick Davenport (ec98) will be working at Lois E. Bird School in Rochester, NY as a paraeducator. It's a school for handicapped children so it fits in nicely with his second potential degree of psychology.
Donde Anderson (ec98) will be participating in an NSF-REU at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln for ten weeks this summer. She'll be working in the Department of Chemistry on a project entitled "Photo-Activation of Phytochrome as a Light-Switch in Plants."
Shira Karp (ec97) will be running computer simulations of particle collisions for the D0 experiment at FermiLab.
Evan Crutcher (ec96) writes that he has three jobs this summer! "I'll be an instructor in the MEOP/EXCEL program, 'teaching' leadership, group decision-making, and conflict management to a group of 6-7 incoming minority engineering freshmen while they also study linear algebra, matlab, and other engineering-type stuff. I have an unpaid internship with Shedd Aquarium's School Program, and I'll be doing some sort of instruction or curriculum development for freshwater and marine biology education with kids up to high-school age, but only for day a week. Finally, I'm doing research part-time with Dr. Spillane in the School of Education and Social Policy and the Institute for Policy Research. He's working on the BGuILE computer-based learning environment, which helps high school students learn biology by letting them form and test their own hypotheses about real examples with real data (e.g. finches in the Galapagos, hunting packs of lions in the Serengeti). I'll be using this research in fall/winter 1999-2000 as the basis for my senior paper for the environmental science major.
Alan Kendall (ec98) will be participating in his third year in Prof. Ulmer's undergraduate astrophysics summer research program. Under the supervision of Prof. Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, Alan will be working on a project (yet to be specified) with Adler Planetarium.
Mike Campos (ec96) plans to continue working on his Independent Research Program with Prof. Seagraves in Neurobiology & Physiology studying cortical neurons that are important in generating purposeful eye movements. In March Mike won a Travel Grant to the annual meeting of the American Physical Society (APS).
Will Grande (ec96) won several awards this year. He was given a Marcy award, which goes to the three seniors in sciences who had the highest gpa in their junior year. He also received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. This summer he will be in Boston to do research in theoretical chemistry at MIT.
Will Grande and Ethan Siegel were the two lucky third-year students to attend the AAAS Annual Meeting and Science Innovation Exposition in Anaheim, CA this January. They were graciously hosted by ISP alum Suzi Casement (ec85)
Ethan Siegel (ec96) will be working for Mark Robinson on planetary geology and intra-solar-system astronomy. "I won first place award at the Illinois Aerospace and Aeronautics convention in November for best talk about my research, competing against graduate students and collaborative teams of graduate and undergraduate students. I will be awarded a $250 prize for my talk."
Ethan plans to spend the fall quarter in Rome studying classics with a special emphasis on Roman history.
David Smith (ec97) will be interning at MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center. "I will study divertor physics of the Alcator C-MOD thermonuclear reactor. Divertor research focuses on removing the cool, outer plasma from the hot (100 million K), inner plasma where fusion takes place."
David Westbrook (ec96) be participating in the University of Rochester's REU program at Fermilab next summer.
Ka Wai Cheung (ec97) was elected to the Golden Key National Honor Society. This summer Ka Wai will be working with an internet solutions and business strategy firm. It is called NextLogic and they just opened to the public this past January. He'll be working with front-end design and learning about promoting businesses in the small and middle markets.
Jessica Edmonds (ec98) plans to work at Northwestern, helping a professor with his work on the NEAR satellite, which will rendezvous with the near earth asteroid Eros in February.
Matt James (ec97) This summer Matt will be in Japan participating in the Hokkaido International Foundation Summer Japanese Language & Culture Program. Currently he plans to pursue degrees in ISP, Math, and Economics, and a Japanese & Language Culture Minor.
Jeff Tran (ec96) will be doing an REU in Computational Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh.
Jenny Wilson (ec96) is working on dual degrees in environmental engineering and ISP. This summer she will be working in Chicago at RMT. Inc. as an intern. RMT is an environmental engineering firm that is part of Alliant Energy. Jenny is very excited to have her brother on campus this fall as an incoming freshman.
Noura Dabbouseh (ec98) will be working on campus this summer in an REU for the Materials Research Center.
Adam Sefkow (ec98) will also be in an REU for the Dartmouth Molecular Materials Group this summer.
Scott Styles, who will be part of ec99, writes that he'll be working at the Argonne National Laboratory Physics Division working on a project of theoretical understanding of the quark substructure of matter.
Stephanie Wang (ec98) will be doing research in the Neuroscience Undergraduate Summer Research Program with Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers University this summer.
Zain Dossani (ec98) will be working at the American Red Cross, Holland Laboratories in Rockville, MD, researching the extracellular protein secretion pathway of Vibrio Cholerae and other related pathogens.
Myra Sutanto (ec98) will be spending the summer at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, in the REU Program in Biological Sciences, studying mitotic divisions in fruit flies.
Dries Darius (ec96) will be working for Sollen Technologies, a company that he helped start last summer. It's a software company which designs softward intended to help mortgage brokers.
Brian White (ec96) received a full tuition scholarship to attend the Glaciological & Arctic Sciences Institute, which is an 8-week expedition to the Juneau Icefield near Juneau, AK and Atlin Lake, British Columbia and Yukon. "We will be in the field the entire time backpacking and skiing our way hundred of miles across the ice. I will be carrying out an independent project of my own and earning credit in earth systems science, too." Cool.
Josh Buermann (ec95) will be published in Northwestern's poerty magazine, Helicon, this spring. He'll be entering the English Department's writing program for poerty next year. He is currently working full time programming and systems administration for the Union Bank of Switzerland.
Dan Padgett (ec96) has a lot of news. Dan has some remarkable achievements in NU baseball. He is currently 4th in the Big Ten in opponents’ batting average and hits allowed per game, 8th in strikeouts per game and currently leads NU in strikeouts. Dan will be going to Europe this summer to play for the Slovenian national baseball team in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Italy, where a finish in the top four will give the team a berth in Sydney in the year 2000. Everyone is keeping fingers crossed.
Dan is also excited to have his little brother attend NU next year on a baseball scholarship. That will make the third brother-brother combination on the team next year.
Christopher Gaudet (ec98) will be working at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute working with an astronomer and a nuclear physicist. “The research will involve Origins of Life Nuclear Astrophysics, looking for the reasons that life began in the universe. Most work will be analyzing other researchers’ projects in the field in order to come up with an original idea. Currently, I have a lab project with Prof. David Meyer of the Physics & Astronomy Department. Spectral emissions from the star cluster, M35, are analyzed using IRAF (Image Reduction and Analysis Facility).”
1999 Graduates
Three graduates will graduate with ISP Honors based on their independent research projects and their theses.
Amy Langenhorst: "Make GMT: A front end for the generic mapping tools."
Research advisor: Prof. Christopher Riesbeck.
Brian Patt: "A search for pulse to pulse variability of the crab pulsar."
Research advisor: Prof. Mel Ulmer.
Melissa Pulfer: "Analysis of choroidal blood flow using the fluorescent microsphere technique."
Research advisor: Prof. Robert Linsenmeier.
Sam Pan (ec95) will graduate with degrees in ISP and Biological Sciences. Sam is applying to MD/PhD programs so he’s hopeful to begin graduate school in July, 2000. Next academic year, Sam will be working for Dr. Terry Barrett at the NU Medical School, studying the role of T cells in inflammatory bowel diseases.
Eric Abando (ec95) will graduate with and ISP degree and a minor in Computing & Information Systems.
Christopher Wassman (ec95) will graduate with degrees in ISP and Chemistry.
Jeff Mitchell (ec95) will graduate with degrees in ISP, Chemistry and Math. Jeff was awarded the Hypercube Award from the Chemistry Department. Jeff will be working at the Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, DC. <m1jhm01@frb.gov>
Jeremy Schmit (ec95) will attend UC Santa Barbara next year in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program studying biophysics.
Jessica Jenkins (ec95) will attend Stanford's Master's Program in Aero/Astro (aerospace engineering). Jessica will receive her BS in Mechanical Engineering from NU. She also have a summer internship in Boston working for the Dept. Transportation on one of their projects for the FAA.
YuShan Chuang (ec95) is going to graduate school at Carnegie Mellon in Computer school. Graduating Comp. Info C. Bina, S. Stein, 1998.
Survival of Metastable Olivine in Detached Slabs: Difficult but not Impossible. EOS, 79, S164.
Hansen, R., D. McNamara, E. Van Ark, D. Christensen, 1998. Lg Propagation Characteristics in Continental Alaska. EOS 79, F555.
Melissa Pulfer (ec95) is going to the MD/PhD Program at the Health Science Center at the University of Colorado. This summer, Melissa was awarded an Erwin Macey summer research award. Melissa will also receive a Biological Sciences degree.
Gennady Ioffe (ec95) has been hired as a computer consultant in San Francisco. Gennady will graduate with degrees in ISP, Math and Computing Information Systems. We are very grateful to Gennady for his patience for the past two years as Teaching Assistant for the ISP Computer Applications course.
David Cohen (ec95) will be work as a computer consultant next year. Dave spent several quarters in Prof. Turek's lab doing independent study in sleep research in rodents.
Kathy Pierce (ec95) will be working for Ernst and Young in Boston as a consultant starting in August. She will continue supporting the National High School Institutes Leadership Division as an instructor this summer.
Amy Langenhorst (ec95) won a DAAD Scholarship and will study geophysics at the University of Potsdam in Germany for a year. Amy has a published paper in the April 2, 1999 issue of Science magazine. "Lateral Variations in Compressional/Shear Velocities at the Base of the Mantle." Amy will graduate with degrees in ISP, Geological Sciences and Computing and Information Systems (CIS).
Duan Xu (ec95) will graduate with degrees in ISP as well as a Biomedical Engineering degree from the McCormick School of Engineering. Duan was recently chosen as a Katherine L. Krieghbaum Scholar. This distinction carriers with it a research stipend to support his very promising project on acupuncture and functinal MRI. Duan also was awarded a Summer Research Grant for Undergraduates.
Brian Patt (ec95) will attend graduate school at MIT. Brian will receive degrees in ISP, Math and Physics. In 1997-98 Brian was awarded the Marcy Scholar Award which is given to the top three science and math students in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
James Wilson (ec96) will graduate in three years and will work as a Research Assistant at Northwestern's Biology Department.
Douwe Bruinsma (ec96) will be graduating in three years also. Douwe plans to study chemistry in graduate school in Eindhover, The Netherlands.
Samir Patel (ec96) will graduate in three years with degrees in ISP and Biological Sciences. He will attend graduate school at Stanford University.
Kathleen Carrigan (ec95) will graduate with degrees in ISP and Geological Sciences.
Fil Tsai (ec95) will be graduating with a Molecular & Cell Biology degree in addition to ISP and plans to work as a consultant for Ernst & Young in Chicago. Fil was treasurer and founding father of the Delta Chi Fraternity which just received its charter ("a once in a lifetime experience")
Rishi Kapila (ec95) will graduate with degrees in ISP, Mathematics and Biological Sciences.
Thanks
We wish to thank the following ISP alumni who have contributed to ISP in the last year. These funds provide an important source for imporving opportunities for ISP students.
Marcus Rafiee (ec80), Jeffrey Goldman (ec81), Jessica Jenkins (ec95), David Darwin (ec79), Jonathan Gelman (ec82), Philip Kaldon (ec76), Cheryl and Mark Pauli (ec88), Beth Rees (ec83), Paul Seo (ec79), Sara Walters (ec78), Mark Bollman (ec82), Kristina Haman (ec93), Rebecca Levin (ec93), Nancy Pergament (ec84), Bradford Sandor (ec79), Christopher Vargas (ec79), Tim Krauskopf (ec81).
Special thanks are also due to Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences Dean Eric Sundquist who provides a special yearly discretionary fund to ISP in addition to our regular budget.
When WCAS asks for your support, please remember the needs and accomplishments of our faculty and students and designate your gift to ISP. Just write "Integrated Science Program" in the memo area on your check.
