December, 2006

Greetings Alums,

Welcome to our annual holiday newsletter. We sincerely appreciate all of your responses and it gives us great pleasure and joy to follow the many paths you have taken. We again had an excellent response rate and w hope you enjoy hearing about everyone as much as we have.

I’d like to give you a brief update on the department. I have returned from sabbatical leave in Pisa, Italy where I did research on gravitational radiation detection. Upon my return Bill Titus passed the torch of department chair to me – thanks a lot Bill! But seriously, a big thanks goes to Bill for his hard work as chair over the last two years. Bjorn Graneli, a condensed matter physicist from Sweden, who was visiting the department last year (trying to understand what liberal arts colleges are all about) is now teaching in Switzerland. Kris Wedding is on leave this year, and is in the Bay Area, in California.

We have a strong senior class of twenty-four majors and a junior class of seventeen. About half of the seniors are planning to go to graduate school in physics or astronomy, a few to other graduate or professional schools, and the rest out into the real world. We are, of course very concerned about the employment opportunities for physics majors, and we encourage our students to get a broad base of experiences here at Carleton and during the summers that will help them in latter years. We appreciate all the help you alums have given our majors over the years in terms of advice and even leads toward jobs. You are a wonderful resource to have!

Again, thank you for your responses and have a fantastic and wonderful year ahead. And do stop by the department if you are in the area. It’s always great seeing you and catching up on what you have been doing.

Nelson Christensen
Chair