Alumni 2000 Newsletter
The 1999-2000 academic year at ISP is off to a good start. 31 students enrolled in Entering Class '99. 25 students plan to graduate in June, 2000 with a total of 59 majors.
For the fourth year we will be sending two lucky ISP students to the American Association for the Advancement of Science Convention. Ken Kumayama (ec97) and Brian White (ec96) will be going to Washington, DC. Old friends Jeff Mitchell (ec95) and Duan Xu (ec95) will be hosts.
We are very proud of our current students' achievements so far this year.
34 ISPs are registered for Independent Research Projects this Winter quarter involving a wide variety of departments including Physics & Astronomy, Mathematics, Neurobiology & Physiology, Computer Science, Chemistry, Geological Sciences, Molecular Biology, Neurology, Economics and Psychology.
Josh Veatch (ec97) was one of two Northwestern undergraduates who have been appointed Barry Goldwater Scholarships for the year 2000. Josh is majoring in ISP and Chemistry and plans to attend an MD/PhD graduate program concentrating in biochemistry. He would like to conduct research using fundamental and chemical principles to attack biomedical problems that have relevance to treating human disease.
The one Goldwater Honorable Mention this year went to Donde Anderson (ec98). Donde is majoring in Integrated Science and Physics. She plans to pursue a PhD in physics and mathematics. She would like to conduct interdisciplinary research in areas such as chaos theory and environmental science. Donde plans to do research with Prof. Robert Austin at the Princeton Materials Institute this summer. She'll be working on a project focused on the "trapping of bacteria in microfabricated arrays with AC fields."
Three of our students were elected to Phi Beta Kappa as juniors - Congrats to Sarah Balck, Josh Veatch and Ananth Ram.
Petra Pancoskova (ec98) has had her independent research project published.
Pancoskova, P., R. Rm Russo, and E. A. Okal, Seismic attenuation of intermediate depth Hindu Kush earthquakes, Eos. Trans. American Geophys. Union, vol 80, p. F722, 1999.
Dan Choate's (ec97) research was also recently published. "The Position of Sagittarius A* at the Galactic Center" F. Yusef-Zadeh and D. Choate, Astrophysical Journal, 518:L33-L35, June 1999.
Steve Gaskill (ec95) has returned to us after spending two years abroad doing missionary work. He is currently involved in research involving long-term potentiation in the mouse hippocampus. Steve will be working with in vivo models of arthritis at the Northwestern Medical School this summer.
Shira Karp (ec97) spent several quarters working with Prof. Heidi Schellman of the Physics and Astronomy Department. Her high energy physics projects have centered around kT jet analysis on the D0 experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Through her work with Prof. Schellman, Shira has learned the complex methodology of statistical analysis and data storage and recovery as applied to the results of the D0 experiment. Shira hopes to be a high school physics teacher some day - in fact she already is. She spent the Spring Quarter, 2000 working at New Trier High School (her alma mater) teaching particle physics to high school students.
Kath Ratcliff (ec98) is working in the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology/Cellular Biology on solving the 3D structure of a transcription repressor complex. Kath was recently awarded a WCAS research grant for her proposed biophysical studies. Kath will be working with Prof. Ishwar Radhakrishnan.
Mike Henninger (ec99) found out that over the summer he earned an AP National Scholar award.
Brandon Toyama (ec99) was an Intel (Westinghouse) National Talent Search Semifinalist while at Evanston Township High School. He worked this summer on molecular chaperons and stress responses in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cellular Biology (BMBCB) in Dr. Morimoto's lab.
Ken Kumayama's (ec97) research project with Geological Sciences Prof. Craig Bina (ec80) truly represents integrative science. Their research on earthquake pressure and temperatures involves computers, math, physics and chemistry.
Amanda Evans (ec99) will be working in a biomechanics lab at the Ohio State University this summer, focusing on the mechanics of the spine during lifting and back injuries.
Noura Dabbouseh (ec98) will remain on campus over the summer working though NASA at the Astrophysics Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Northwestern University.
Jolie Martin (ec97) will be researching marine geophysics at the University of Hawaii School of Ocean Science and Technology (Research Experience for Undergraduate Program)
Jenny Wilson (ec96) will spend the summer working at RMT (Residuals Management Technology) an environmental engineering firm.
Richard Sharp (ec97) will be doing computational chemistry at Argonne National Laboratory this summer.
Stephanie Wang (ec99) will participate in the summer Undergraduate Research Program at New York University School of Medicine. She'll be working on a project involving the mechanism of the regulation of eukaryotic DNA replication.
Matt Becker (ec97) will be working for Microsoft this summer developing the next version of Excel.
Faculty news
The first-year students had a great time in Prof. Don Ellis' "Waves and Wavicles" Physics class this spring quarter. They were involved in one of four lab projects: Extreme Sound, Audio Lab in a Box, MIDI and a Music Workstation, or Photonics.
We're sorry to lose Prof. Ellis who will be working on a cross-school project next year. The Physics Department and the School of Music are initiating a 3-course sequence on electronic music/composition, acoustics, signal analysis and the interface between music and 'hard science.'
We're happy for our beloved first-year math instructor Prof. Eric Zaslow who received one of the three Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grants awarded at NU. The $40,000 fellowship can be applied toward areas he deems most important to his research. The Sloan fellowships go to young college and university faculty members who are engaged in scientific and economic research. Prof. Zaslow is working on deriving mathematical relationships from a fundamental idea of physics called string theory. His research also focuses on "mirror symmetry," a concept in which two seemingly different math descriptions actually have identical structure. Prof. Zaslow earned his doctorate from Harvard University and came to NU in 1998.
The ISP co-rec frisbee and hockey teams remain the champions at Northwestern. This year they hope to win both hockey leagues and frisbee again. Many of our students are champs at chess, bridge, and starcraft. They play amongst each other as well as on-line.
Our remarkable 2000 ISP graduates.....
David Westbrook (ec96), graduating with degrees in ISP, Physics and Mathematics will attend graduate school at the University of Rochester studying high energy physics. We owe David a big thank you for TAing for the past two years in the first-year ISP Computer Applications course. David was the System Administrator for ISP's computers and has kept our complicated system running smoothly. David was involved in a Summer Physics REU at the University of Rochester and spent a summer at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab on the CDF detector project where his computational skills were used extensively in designing new detector protocols. He has performed an independent research project on compact object radiation with Prof. Ronald Taam of NU's Department of Physics & Astronomy, specifically studying a black hole source in the galaxy. David was also a NASA Summer Research Fellow at NU.
Brian White (ec96) will graduate with degrees in ISP, Physics and Geological Sciences. He plans to attend graduate school at Washington University (St. Louis) in the Earth & Planetary Sciences Department. He will be working on the SEPA (Seismic Exploration of Patagonia and Antarctic) project. His Geology Honors Project will focus on "making finite fault models of the New Madrid Seismic zone to see how deep the fault can be and still see no surface movement (as data shows)". Brian spent last summer at the Juneau Icefield Research Program, a 2-month field expedition studying earth systems science. The previous summer he spent in a NSF/REU program at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks working on remote sensing, synthetic aperture radar imaging of earth). His 1997 summer research in an NSF/REU program at Rice Quantum Institute at Rice University involved an electronics project to build atomic oxygen detector for upper-atmosphere constituents cross-section studies.
Despite his challenging schedule, Brian has run in four marathons (Chicago 97, 98, Boston 98, Big Sur 99). He is also President and treasurer of the Lindgren Residential College of Science & Engineering.
Graham Evarts (ec96) will graduate with degrees in Integrated Science and Economics. Graham did an independent research project with Dr. Robert Gordon of the Economics Department looking at the bias in official price indexes, primarily housing. Graham will develop a database on changes in housing prices and quality for selected years since 1920. Graham plans to work for an investment banking firm (S. G. Cowen) in Chicago after graduation.
Will Grande (ec96) will graduate cum Laude with degrees in ISP, Mathematics and Chemistry. Will recently received the R. K. Summerbell Memorial Fund Award in Chemistry. He was also named a Krieghbaum Scholar and received a research stipend to support his research project on stabilization of maganese (III) porphyrin epoxidation systems. Will was one of three students to receive the 1998 Oliver Marcy Award for achievement in the natural sciences and mathematics and was one of two WCAS students to win the 1999 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for Excellence in Education. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year.
Jen Marshall (ec96) spent the winter quarter at the South Pole participating in an astrophysics experiment. As part of her work she plans to install and bring into operation the polarization calibrator that she build last summer where she worked as a NASA Fellow at Northwestern University's Department of Physics and Astronomy. As a research aide in the Department of Geological Sciences, Jen co-authored a paper (Marshall, J.L. and Russo, R. M. "Relocated Aftershocks of the March 10, 1988 Earthquake: Normal Faulting, Slab Detachment, and Extension at Upper Mantle Depths." Tectonophysics, submitted 1/99). She also presented her research "Aftershock Relocations of the March 10, 1999 Trinidad Earthquake" at the American Geophysical Union 1998 Spring Meeting in Boston.
Jen is a candidate for graduation with ISP honors and has submitted a thesis entitled
"The Calibration of Polarimeters: An Instrumental and Theoretical Approach"
Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Giles Novak
Jen will move to Columbus, Ohio for the graduate program in Astronomy at Ohio State. In spite of her academic schedule, Jen has been heavily involved with at least one theater production for almost every quarter since she's been at Northwestern.
Ben Isaacson (ec96) will graduate with degrees in Integrated Science and Computing & Information Systems. Ben did and independent research project while working in the autonomous Mobile Robotics Group (AMRG). He wrote a C code which will aid in the analysis of joints of Sony pet robots. Ben plans to work as an Information Services Analyst for SC Johnson, a consumer products company in his home town of Racine, Wisconsin. He will be doing computer programming and testing new applications. He starts work two days after graduation!
Eric Spencer (ec96) will graduate with degrees in Integrated Science and Physics. Eric spent several quarters working as a research assistant for Prof. Bruno Gobbi of the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Their work focused on the cooling system for the silicon detectors that will be used in the CERN particle accelerator. Eric is quite a poet and recently took the English Major in Writing Poetry sequence.
T. J. Bay (ec96) will graduate with degrees in ISP, Physics and Mathematics. He plans to attend Stanford University graduate school to study physics. During the summer of '97 TJ worked on a neutrino experiment at Fermilab with Prof. Heidi Schellman of NU's Physics & Astronomy Department. He was also involved in a "research experience for undergraduates" at the University of Oklahoma during the summer of '98 where he investigated metal/insulator transition in two-dimensional electron gases. For the past year TJ did an independent research project on non-linear dynamics with Prof. Paul Umbanhowar of the Physics & Astronomy Department. They researched properties of granular materials such as force chains and packing. TJ was involved in instrument construction. Working in the machine shop, he fabricated a number of pieces of laboratory equipment out of aluminum. He also tutored and lead discussion sessions for the introductory electricity and magnetism class as part of an innovative peer teaching program.
Brent Fisher (ec96) will attend MIT graduate school to study chemistry. He will graduate with degrees in ISP and Chemistry with honors. Brent received an honorable mention in the NSF Fellowship Competition and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Brent recently did an independent research project with Prof. Wasielewski of the Chemistry Department trying to develop new materials for holographic data manipulation using the "photorefractive effect." He also worked with Prof. Schatz of the NU Chemistry Department developing a molecular dynamics code for simulating the quenching process. Brent received the 1998 Freshman Seminar Writing Award, a 1998 NSF-REU Fellowship at U. Minnesota in theoretical chemistry, and a 1997 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) at Mayo Medical Center. As a result of his work at the Mayo Clinic under the direction of Dr. Mark Ereth, a scientific abstract has been published in Anesthesia and visual stimulus. After graduation Brian plans to work in software development for the Sollen Company in Dallas.
Anu Sawkar (ec96) graduated with degrees in ISP and Chemistry, with honors, and has been working at the NU Med School. Anu was a TA for a year for night school organic chemistry lab. As a first year student she won a Freshman Seminar Writing Award. During her career at NU she was heavily involved with student theater, including choreography, set construction and crew. Anu recently received an honorable mention in the NSF Fellowship competition and plans to attend the Scripps Research Institute for graduate school. Anu's research with Prof. Silverman of the NU Chemistry Department involved synthesis of an enzyme inhibitor and study of inhibition. Her summer research project at the Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland focused on MAPK signal transduction pathways in human astrocytes.
Jeff Tran (ec96) plans to graduate with degrees in ISP, Math and Physics and will attend graduate school at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana to study physics. Jeff was a PEW scholar during his first year at NU and was involved in a project to theoretically model amorphous solids. Last summer he participated in an REU in computational chemistry at the U. Pittsburgh. For the past two years Jeff has worked with Prof. Ratner at NU's Dept. of Chemistry doing electronic structure calculations. He worked as a TA for a chemistry lab and led an extended discussion section for a general physics course for engineering and premedical students. He challenges himself by taking advanced level English and Philosophy courses.
Jonathan Parkhurst (ec96), graduating Summa cum Laude with degrees in ISP and Chemistry, will attend the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for medical school. In '97 Jonathan was awarded the CRC Award and in '98 the Merck Index Award, both from the Chemistry Department. As a junior, Jonathan was elected in to Phi Beta Kappa. Jonathan has received the Henry Crew Scholarship for the past four years. Jonathan's research with Prof. Sheppard of NU's Chemistry Department involved investigating a method for the synthesis and purification of triphosphate derivatives of a potential chemotherapeutic.
Amy Gustafson (ec96), graduating with degrees in ISP, Chemistry and Biology plans to attend the University of California at San Francisco for graduate school. Amy's research with Prof. Raman in Neurobiology involved electrophysiological patch-clamp recordings from cerebellar neurons that are enzymatically isolated each day from young mice and her work has been submitted for puboductory college-level physics to college students. Ethan spent a semester abroad studying ancient Roman history and classical languages in Rome.
Eileen Li (ec96) will be working in the San Francisco area for a biotech/pharmaceutical company. In a year or two she plans to attend graduate school to study either chemistry or biology. Eileen will graduate with degrees in ISP, Chemistry and Biological Sciences. Eileen's research with Prof. Fred Lewis of the Chemistry Department focused on quenching studies of small molecules and the study of the formation of excited state complexes.
Chris Jensen (ec96) will graduate with degrees in ISP and Computer Science. Chris did a research project with Prof. Brian Dennis of the Computer Science Department involving a reliable, portable, distributed computation system with a goal of artificial intelligence system accessible from anywhere. Chris plans to stay in Evanston and work as a software engineer in the Evanston Research Park for a fast-growing technology company.
Mike Campos (ec96) was mentioned in the March 2000 issue of Scientific American. As part of his summer internship program at the Santa Fe Institute, Mike worked with Eric Bonabeau and Guy Theraulaz studying the behaviors of social insects and their application in the design of complex systems. In a sidebar to their article "Swarm Smarts" they mention working with "Michael Campos of Northwestern University to devise a technique for scheduling paint booths in a truck factory."
Michael is a candidate for graduation with ISP honors and has submitted a thesis entitled
“Monkey Superior Colliculus Neurons Show Preferred Locations for Intended Eye Movements in Head Centered Coordinates” Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Mark Segraves of the Department of Neurobiology & Physiology.
Mike plans to go to Caltech's "Computation and Neural Systems" program in September 2001. Next year he'll be working in Paris for a firm called EuroBios which applies complexity to business problems.
Dries Darius (ec96) will attend Princeton University working toward a PhD in Operations Research and Financial Engineering. Dries will graduate with degrees in ISP and Math. For the past two summers Dries has worked at a company that he helped start called Sollen Technologies. It is a company that designs software intended to help mortgage brokers. Last year Dries spent a semester abroad in Dublin, Ireland, where he had the opportunity to work with two members of the Irish Parliament where he researched certain topics and wrote summaries about upcoming bills.
Dries graduated with ISP honors based on his thesis entitled “A Numerical Analysis of Volatility Models and Their Effect on Option Pricing” Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Donald Saari
Nancy Marmon (ec96) will graduate with degrees in Integrated Science and Mathematics. Nancy did several quarters of research with Prof. Donald Saari of the Math department where she explored a wide variety of voting and decision models to understand the mathematical source of their difficulties. Nancy will attend graduate school at Purdue University where she received a Fellowship from the Economics Department.
Matthew Smith (ec96) plans to graduate with degrees in Integrated Science and Mathematics. Matthew was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. His remarkable GPA will entitle him to graduate Summa cum Laude. His future plans are not finalized yet but he has been accepted to the University of Massachusetts graduate school. He has also been offered a place at Cambridge University in their one-year Master’s program (The Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics). Matthew spent his junior year studying at St. Edmund’s College in Oxford, England.
Matthew will graduate with honors in ISP. The thesis he submitted based on his research is entitled "Galaxy Clusters with Inferred z > 1" Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Mel Ulmer. Matthew submitted a second thesis to the Mathematics Department and will graduate with honors from that department as well.
Spiro Pantazatos (ec96) will graduate with a Bachelor of Science of Speech degree and a certificate/degree in Integrated Science. Spiro has always tried to integrate his film interests with science. In his ISP freshman Physics class, his group opted to make a science video for their special topic presentation. His independent research is an excellent example of combining science with media production. His research primarily consists of video taping interactions of charged phospholipid membranes, lipoplexes and DNA. He is using a novel method to record never before seen images of important biophysical reactions. He then captures these images onto computer and processes still photos for publication and exhibition. His research is contributing toward the characterization of vesicle fusion and processes of DNA transfection. He has already co-authored two publications, will appear as a second author on a third publication, and is currently writing another publication as primary author. Spiro tentatively plans to work at a TV station in Bombay.
Spiro is a candidate for graduation with ISP Honors and has submitted a thesis entitled
“Real-time Observation of DNA-Cationic Vesicle and DNA Complex-Anionic Phospholipid Vesicle Interactions” Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Robert MacDonald
Jason Drury (ec96) will graduate with degrees in Integrated Science and Biological Sciences. Jason plans to spend two years at NIH in Bethesda, MD working in a basic immunology laboratory. Jason will be supported by an IRTA Fellowship. He plans to attend graduate school after leaving NIH.
Jason will graduate with ISP Honors based on his thesis entitled "Ion Selectivity, Permeation and Activation of the M2 Ion Channel” Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Larry Pinto
Dan Padgett (ec96) will graduate with degrees in ISP and Biology. Dan did several quarters of research in Prof. Raman's Neurobiology & Physiology lab using electrophysiological and pharmacological methods to characterize the patterns of electrical signals generated by neurons in the mouse cerebellum.
Dan is also a Division I pitcher and a southpaw to boot. Just heard that Dan's been drafted by the San Francisco Giants and will play minor league baseball in Salem, Oregon. Last year Dan was 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 went to Europe last summer to play for the Slovenian national baseball team in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Italy.
Michael Yu-Ting Huang (ec97) plans to graduate in three years with degrees in Integrated Science and Chemistry with a Biochemistry concentration. Ting's research with Prof. Robert Linsenmeier (Biomedical Engineering) focused on developing a microdialysis probe to use to measure retinal glucose. Next year Ting plans to begin his medical school application process.
Evan Crutcher (ec96), who left ISP to pursue a degree in Environmental Sciences, was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in a Master's program in environmental education. He'll be at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from February through November, 2001. Until then, he'll be working for the Education Department of the Shedd Aquarium. This July he'll be teaching in both the National High School Institute Leadership Division and the Minority Engineering Opportunity Program's leadership and group process course. He's planning for a career in community environmental education.
Alumni News
It was good to see several ISP alums at our June, 2000 graduation party. Duan Xu (ec95) left the Federal Reserve Board this September and will be joining the UC-Berkeley and UCSF Bioengineering group for his PhD. Sami Chaouki (ec95) is continuing his studies in the MD/PhD program at Case Western. Andrea Wells (ec95) also stopped by. Andrea says that she'll be teaching AP Physics at Elmwood High School next year.
We've heard that the lead article in the August/September issue of the American Mathematical Monthly, entitled "The Hopping Hoop Revisited", was written by Timothy Pritchett (ec76) who is now on the Physics faculty at West Point.
Briana Burton (ec95) is at MIT and writes that she's kept busy but enjoys grad school. She loves new England and spends a lot of her free time hiking or skiing in the White Mountains.
Lynne Woodroofe (ec94) is doing well at MIT and sends her email address to friends:
linnet@MIT.EDU
Jake Lai (ec95) is settled in at Stanford. He can be reached at jakelai@stanford.edu
I'm sure he's hanging around with Samir Patel (ec96) who graduated from ISP in three years and is also at Stanford in Molecular Biology.
Mike Knapp (ec90) stopped by to say hi. He's at UMichigan/Ann Arbor and plans to get his PhD in mathematics in June, 2000.
Melissa Pulfer (ec95) send her regards from the Medical Scientists Training Program at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. melissa.pulfer@uchsc.edu
Michael Rosenberg (ec90) writes that he's currently at SUNY Stony Brook. His "integrative scientific research" has led him to research on fiddler crab morphometrics and systematics (his thesis work), human cancer patterns in Europe, and the development of computer programs and methodology for spatial statistics and meta-analysis. Mike can be reached at msr@life.bio.synysb.edu
More on Michael... May 1, 2000 "Dr. Michael S. Rosenberg is proud to announce the birth of a bouncing baby thesis on the 1st of May, in the 2000th year of their lord. At birth, the thesis weighed 2 pounds, contained 192 pages, and was 3/4 of an inch thick. Although labor lasted for almost six years, the final hours were much smoother, and both father and infant are doing well. The family has plans to shortly move to either Tallahassee, FL, or Tempe, AZ, where they will begin a post doc in computational biology."
We heard from Libby Gilmore who used to be the ISP secretary in the early 80's. Libby said "I consider those two years two of the best of my life." She's still in contact with some of the ISPs and they really spurred her on to great things. Last summer she received her PhD in "education technology". Yeah, Libby!! <libbyg@swbell.net>
John Stracke (ec86) <francis@ecal.com> has left Netscape for a startup called eCal, <www.ecal.com> a web-based calendaring company. He's the chief Scientist - "my job is to work on the API to enable our customers to develop customized sites based on our technology." francis@ecal.com
Ashvin Sangoram (ec89) graduated with a PhD from Northwestern University (Neuroscience Institute Graduate Program) this June, 2000. Molecular Foundations of Biological Clocks: Mammalian Circadian Autoregulatory Feedback Network and Analysis of the Timeless Gene. Adivser: Joseph S. Takahashi. Ash is also a member of the Medical Scientist Training Program, a joint MD/PhD program. In 1998, Ash received an NRSA to study the role of genes in the generation of circadian rhythms in mice. He recently published a part of his research in the journal Neuron (21:1101-1113, 1998).
Steve Rose (ec94) is in the San Francisco Bay area working for a start up voice over internet firm. Chris Wassman (ec95) is also in the San Francisco area working as a networking manager. Gennady Ioffe (ec95) also doing e-business in the SF area, stops by occasionally to do some recruiting.
Thanks So Much!
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.
Kevin Curran (ec90), Bradford Friedman (ec82), Renee Locey-Scherrer, Marcus Rafiee (ec80), David Darwin (ec79), Beth Rees (ec83), Howard Schwartz (ec82), David Matheson (ec81), Tim Krauskopf (ec81), David Aaronson (ec89), Suzi Casement (ec85), Kimberly Callery-Shumate (ec85), Joseph Hora (ec81), Sara Walters (ec78), Rebecca Levin-Goodman (ec93), Bradford Sandor (ec79).
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.
