Class of 1960

Ben Brabson
Email: brabson@indiana.edu
Phone: 812-332-6507
Address: 2000 Crandall Court
Bloomington IN, 47401
URL: http://physics.indiana.edu/~brabson/

As you are aware, environmental physics has become an increasingly important research area, one you might consider seriously either as a student or as a practicing physicist. I switched from high-energy physics (after 33 years) to climate physics 10 years ago and have greatly enjoyed this exciting new direction. Physicists have much to offer to climate science, for example, analysis of large data sets, use of statistics, and familiarity with mathematical algorithms help, of course. I continue to teach my favorite course (Environmental Physics) here at Indiana University.

June Matthews
Email: matthews@mit.edu
Phone: 781-259-0379
Address: 35 Greenridge Lane
Lincoln, MA 01773

It's been a busy year for me, but what else is new? It's also been a year of transition: in July I stepped down from my position as Director of MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science and now am "just" a Professor of Physics. I don't seem to have any more free time -- I am fully occupied with catching up with various research activities and paper writing, as well as thinking about future projects. I am supervising a new graduate student whose name will be familiar to some of you: Brian Daub, Carleton '06. He and I and fellow Carleton alum Bill Franklin (Research Scientist at the MIT-Bates Laboratory) are exploring possibilities for measuring reaction cross-sections relevant to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Bill and I are also working on intermediate-energy neutron-deuteron scattering at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center.
In addition to trips to Los Alamos (during which I managed to attend performances at the Santa Fe Opera), I did find time for some recreational travel: a short trip to Florence and the Tuscan seacoast, a hiking trip in Wales, and a week at a Renaissance music summer school in Cambridge, England.
I try to maintain my sanity by keeping up with music. Norumbega Harmony, the group I sing with (early American hymnody) released a CD last fall, called "Sweet Seraphic Fire" (you can buy it from Amazon.com). We had a grant which allowed us to hire an audio engineer who made us sound better than we really are, so I highly recommend this recording. Also, I continue to study and play the viola da gamba -- mostly Baroque solo and chamber music. We (our flute/recorder/oboe, gamba, and harpsichord trio) are gradually working our way through everything written by Francois Couperin.

Class of 1961

Sig Jaastad
Email: sjaastad@buenavistaco.com
Phone: 719-395-4849
Address: 19605 CR 343
Buena Vista, CO 81211

We continued to focus on Sandee’s recovery from a tragic car accident in April 2005 in which she suffered multiple fractures of both legs but, thankfully, no head or internal injuries. Her 13th round of surgery is coming up this month. She continues to enjoy her textile arts – spinning, weaving, and knitting. Much of my time has been absorbed by politics as I assumed the chair of a county political party when the chair resigned in January. As a member of the County Planning Commission, I continue to push for land use reform that will preserve our ranches in the upper Arkansas River Valley. We enjoyed visits from children and grandchildren this summer and spent a month traveling in Canada in September. My brutal attacks on the piano continue but the instrument appears to be holding up well. We wish peace and prosperity for all.

Class of 1962

Stephen Johnson
Email: prairie@ev1.net
Phone: 281-395-5068
Address: 1802 Blue Sage Drive
Katy, Texas 77494

I am still working 4 years after I took early retirement. There is great demand for depth imaging skills in the oil and gas industry and I really enjoy working in geophysics. I could never generate sufficient interest in my hobbies to do them full time and the challenge of solving imaging problems keeps me mentally stimulated. Joan and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in Maui, leaving 8 days before a 6.7 magnitude earthquake occurred just north of the island of Hawaii. I was professionally disappointed that I could not experience the event, but Maui was without power for a day and I am sure Joan was glad not to be there. With computers becoming cheap and powerful, I hope to set up my own seismic data processing center at home so I can avoid commuting.

Bruce Murdoch
Email: btmurdoch@anl.gov
Phone: 630-252-4905
Address: Environment, Quality Assurance, and Oversight
Industrial Hygiene Group / Bldg 200
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439

This year took Carol and I to Washington, D.C., to attend the Toastmasters International Convention. It was exciting to be with 2000 other people from 70 countries around the world, all dedicated to the spirit of leadership and communication. I originally joined Toastmasters six years ago to improve my speaking skills, but since then I have discovered what a unique and wonderful organization it is, cutting across cultures and nationalities to bring people together in a totally positive context. I highly recommend college age students to check out your local Toastmasters clubs and consider joining one. I wish I had joined at that age. You can find information about Toastmasters, including contacts for local clubs, at www.toastmasters.org.

On behalf of Argonne and the Department of Energy, this year I went to the “sister” DOE laboratories Brookhaven National Laboratory and SLAC (the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) to help review worker health and safety programs. My specialties have become ionizing and non-ionizing radiation safety programs, including the use of nuclear, laser, radio-frequency, and ultraviolet radiation sources. One of my jobs here at Argonne is serving as the Laser Safety Officer. We have around 80 high-powered laser installations, which require frequent review of engineering controls, safety procedures, and user training.

Class of 1963

Bud Euster
Email: budeug@aol.com

It has been several years since I have written so I thought that I might send along a bit of news (or not news as the case may be). I have been retired from the practice of cardiology for the past six years. We have enjoyed some traveling and spending time with children and grandchildren. I continue to love bird hunting, fly fishing, and skiing. Over the past five years I have become very involved in Habitat-For-Humanity. I have become a capable house builder and enjoy supervising young volunteers. I know more about building codes, framing dimensions, and building tricks than I remember about cardiology. Life is good.

Class of 1964

Craig Anderson
Email: marca@visi.com
Address: 21 Battle Creek Place
St. Paul, MN 55119

Despite my contrary musings in last year's newsletter, there have been no major life changes for us during the ensuing twelve months. I remain a government lawyer, and Marj and I still spend a lot of time at home and our lake cabin with our hyperactive, lovable dog. My perceived desires for both more professional satisfaction and overall peace of mind regularly trigger thoughts of the "r" word, but that idea continues slightly to unnerve me. We'll see what another year brings. Happy holidays and good luck to everyone.

Bill Gage
Email: billgage@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 510-339-8718
Address: 2303 Manzanita Drive
Oakland, CA 94611

It’s been a few years since my last contribution. I spent two years developing an integrated winery management computer system at Rosenblum Cellars. Unfortunately, the new winery management decided to discard 2/3 of the system in July 2005 and we never got a chance to market it to any other wineries. It is very high on functionality but has a very pedestrian user interface, which makes it hard to sell. The winery is doing very well, with much improved distribution in all states. Our sales will exceed 200,000 cases this next year, spread out over more than 50 different wines. Rosenblum is concentrating on Zinfandel and Rhone wines and consistently wins awards at wine tasting competitions around the country.
Nancy and I completed our master bathroom remodeling, a 2 year effort, and resumed our trips to the South Sea in January with a trip to Matangi Island in Fiji. We snorkeled at a different site each day, got in lots of reading and relaxation and enjoyed superbly prepared meals. The wine selection from New Zealand and Australia is the best we’ve found so far in our travels.
Each year the class of ’64 has a reunion, every 5 years at Carleton, of course, but in the interim years, a mini-reunion near where a classmate lives. This year we gathered in Kennebunkport, ME, for fall colors, lobster, seascapes, historical art and buildings and, best of all, camaraderie. Last year it was Zion National Park and next year it’s Elko, NV. I highly recommend these mini-reunions to other Carleton classes.

Diane McCarthy
Email: Dennis_mccart57@hotmail.com
Phone: 703-938-4096
Address: 2432 Riviera Drive
Vienna, VA 22181

We observed the March 29 total solar eclipse at Sallum, in the northwest corner of Egypt near Libya. President Mubarak and an entourage were about 50 yards from us. The 4-minue totality was bracketed by diamond rings. Several prominences were visible and the corona was fairly symmetrical. After the eclipse we toured Egypt and Jordan for two weeks. We also attended the International Astronomical Union meeting in Prague in August, but left before the vote on Pluto was taken.
Since June 2001, when Dennis fell from our ladder and broke his right heel on our cement patio, he has improved steadily by doing special exercises daily. He retired from the U. S. Naval Observatory in January 2005 after almost 40 years. Under a new program he has been rehired on a part time basis and works 2 or 3 days a week.
Duncan (38) is in his thirteenth year with NGA (National Geospatial-intelligence Agency). He continues to date, but remains unmarried.
Deidre (34) will soon complete ten years at the National Park Service. Her multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in May 2000, has been difficult this year. She has had four attacks. She has been on Avonex and Rebif and her neurologist thinks maybe another drug would help. The attacks may be due to overwork. She has been sent to New Orleans several times to help FEMA with the situation there. The hours are long and progress is slow. She is still enjoying her Friesian horse and is improving as a dressage rider. She and Martin Mikhail, her boyfriend of 14 years, as well as Duncan, live nearby.
I continue to maintain the home front and teach ballroom dancing for the county park authority. I also do church and volunteer work. After taking ballet-modern jazz classes for exercise for 30 years, I stopped this year. My 63-year old body doesn’t want to improve. Our travels kept us from doing much sailing this summer on our 31Cal boat. In August we embarked on a major home improvement project. That is, new roof, siding, windows, kitchen and an addition of a master bedroom and bath plus powder room. The end is in sight, but it has been disruptive and messy.

Paul Zitzewitz
Email: pwz@umich.edu

My teaching is in two rather different areas. I continue to teach pre-service (and in-service) elementary teachers using the "Physics for Elementary Teachers" curriculum. I like it very much and am looking forward to their new physical science program next year. I'm also teaching the junior/senior electronics course and advanced laboratory. This is the second time I've taught electronics by concentrating on sensors and the electronics needed to condition their signals for computer analysis and doing the teaching in an integrated lecture/lab environment. It works well and students like it. This year I added textbook material to the lab manual because I've been unable to find a suitable modern textbook. In the advanced lab I'm looking forward to using the new TeachSpin modern interferometry kit next term. I've continued to be active in AAPT at the local, state, and national levels. My two-year term as chair of the area committee on physics in pre-high school education comes to an end after the Seattle meeting next January.
Barbara has been working at home material for a web-based high school chemistry course and making trips to help her parents and be with our grandchildren. Eric and Christine now have a third, Alex, to go along with the twins Zach and Zoe, who will be three next March. Eric is still at Stanford. Karin and her husband Sean have post-doctoral appointments at Chicago. Hers is teaching the core social science course, his is research on Urdu education and literature. This past summer we took a delightful cruise from Copenhagen to St. Petersburg with stops at ports in all the Scandinavian countries, Estonia, and Germany.
We hope that all of you are well and enjoy the holiday season.

Class of 1965

Bob Henry
Email: Rmh.dcb@verizon.net

I continue to enjoy retirement by maintaining the world travel schedule that my wife and I find both exciting and stimulating. After three great Carleton lead trips (China in 2000, Greece in 2001, and South Africa in 2005), we are striking out on our own in 2007; we will spend 5 weeks in New Zealand and Australia visiting my daughter who is studying at Canterbury University in Christchurch and in 2008 will go to Peru and the Galapagos Islands to visit my son who is in the Peace Corps. Other major trips were made to Italy in 2003 and to Spain in 2004 plus our usual August on Martha’s Vineyard and three weeks in Virgin Gorda each January.

Richard Karon
Email: Karon2@cox.net
Address: 140 America Way
Jamestown, RI 02835

2006 brought changes to my responsibilities as Manager of Technology Investments for Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business. Our VP of Advanced Technology who is very hands on as a team leader retired. My new boss is much younger (aren’t they all for us “greybeards”?), and has a more limited technology range than his predecessor. He operates more as an executive: “go do it and bring me the results.” I am now operating more independently: make the decisions and then go on to the next issue, project or plan. We continue to mature our technology planning and oversight process, now using Technical Directors for each Business Area to set the technical strategy to support our business plans. My technology team then decides how best to satisfy those needs. In addition, I am spearheading our greater emphasis on Intellectual Property Strategy and developing the training materials and awareness campaign for our 6500+ engineers.
My Toastmasters activities continue. This year I competed in a speech contest for the first time. I learned the value of watching a tape of my performance to improve for the next time. Raytheon continues to strongly support the Toastmasters program, including offering credit in our in-house Program Management College for completion of a Toastmaster certificate level as a communications skill accomplishment.
We had a busy year: several trips to Portland to see our kids and the birth of our 3rd granddaughter; another family reunion: this time in Minneapolis; and a 4th place finish in our local “Fools Rules Regatta.” For this competition, 2 old grad school friends joined me to design and then in 2 hours build a sailing craft entirely out of non-marine materials, and have it survive a 500 yd down wind race. We designed a platform floated on 12 Exercise balls and wind powered by a sport parachute. Anyone who checks the NPR web site and enjoys “Only a Game” produced from WBUR would have seen a photo of us building the “Silver Ball Express.” We are working on our revisions for next year’s race.
Happy New Year to one and all.

Class of 1967

Jim Beckett
Email: Jbeckett14@sbcglobal.net
Address: 6535 Fair Valley Trail
Austin, Texas 78749

In 2006 my wife, Barbara, retired from her work and joined me in retirement. We have moved to Austin, Texas to be near her family. We are enjoying the more active environment of Austin compared to Arlington, Texas. (If we did it over, we would have lived in Fort Worth instead of Arlington. Fort Worth has an incredible Art's district and a great symphony and symphony Director.) Austin is the self named "live music capital", an active downtown, a very active arts community and quite a bit of things happening because of the University of Texas and because of being the capital city.
Since my retirement in 2001 I have finally settled on serious pursuit of a new career as a photographer. Mostly nature, landscape, patterns found as one looks around. That has made a good excuse to get out into the hills west of Austin, to make trips to Big Bend and to spend time in Oregon visiting our daughter. Also to just be wandering around the city where one lives.

Bob Hanson
Email: hanson@ucolick.org
URL www.ucolick.org/~npm

It's been three years since my last report. Life has changed considerably in that time.
I'm phasing into retirement from my career as a Research Astronomer at Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, where I have worked since 1980. I now work half time, and plan to retire a year and a half from now. My wife Nancy is Department Manager in UCSC's Theater Arts Department. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation may have rid Nancy of cancer, but the ordeal has taken a lot out of her. She may retire before I do. Greetings to any of you old alums who might remember me.

Duncan McBride
Email: dmcbride@nsf.gov
Phone: 703 978-4974
Address: 4608 Tara Dr.
Fairfax, VA 22032

I continue as Program Officer at the National Science Foundation, handling physics and astronomy proposals in undergraduate education as well as working in other programs that let me learn about things such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, manufacturing, and student financial aid. The big family event this year was the birth in October of a daughter to Alicia McBride (Carleton 2000) and her husband Sam Garman (Kalamazoo 2001). They live about a half-hour away, and we see them frequently. Christmas greetings to all!

Class of 1968

Jeff Hoel
Email: Jeff_Hoel@yahoo.com
Phone: 650-323-1223
Address: 731 Colorado Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94303

I've been retired for a while. For years, others and I been trying to get Palo Alto to build a citywide municipal fiber-to-the-home network. Recently, the city issued an RFP for such a system, but asked bidders to share in the financing. I don't know if that approach will work. UTOPIA (www.utopianet.org) and Provo (www.iprovo.net) are my heroes.
I've been singing with the Stanford Early Music Singers for 20+ years. ("Early" means 16th-century or so.)
Thanks to Rep. Rush Holt '69 for his efforts to insist on trustworthy voting systems.

Christine Riddiough
Email: criddiough@ijc.org
Phone: 202-829-6155
Address: 5123 5th St NW
Washington, DC 20011

I continue to work as a technical trainer for SAS -- statistical analysis software, the largest privately held software company in the world. I primarily teach courses in programming, but over the last couple of years have started teaching some statistics as well. This has given me an opportunity to reconnect with my background in astronomy and physics (I was an astronomy major at Carleton.) I find that my statistics students respond well to the examples I use from astronomy -- such as the astronomical background of the method of the least squares (and using it with pencil and paper as an undergraduate rather than a computer) or the more or less linear relationship represented by the Hubble Constant of recessional velocity and distance of galaxies. I don't have many astronomers in my classes, but the astronomical examples are always a hit. It's also given me a chance to attend a conference last January on Astronomy and Statistics at SAMSI, Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute in North Carolina.

Barbara Whitten
Email: BWhitten@ColoradoCollege.edu

Hope all is well with all of you. I look forward every year to receiving the department newsletter to learn what folks are doing. This has been a stay-at-home-and-work kind of year for me. Boring, but necessary after all my international trips last year. The advantage, of course, is that I got a lot of stuff done. I was pleased to see Bruce, Melissa, and Arjendu at various meetings last year. And my aunt ran into Rich Noer and his wife in China. Amazing. All is well in Colorado Springs. I am continuing to work on a number of projects involving women in physics. I enjoy this work and believe it is important, but I am starting to miss “real” physics. I’ve been looking around for more technical projects.
In addition to physics, I team-teach an environmental science course on energy with a chemist. We’ve developed a service-learning project that I am really excited about. Students analyze a home in Colorado Springs and determine the most cost effective way to make it more energy efficient—usually it is to increase the ceiling insulation. Then we take the class to Home Depot, purchase the necessary supplies, and make the change they recommended. Students learn lots about heat transfer and energy efficiency as well as practical skills. They really love it, and we find it very exciting.
Penelope and Jake are both in college. Penelope is back in school after a couple of years’ hiatus. It’s good to see her on track again. Jake is a junior neuroscience major at CC. Both are doing well. Happy Solstice to all at Carleton!