December 2008

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 we hope you enjoy hearing about everyone as much as we have.

I would like to give you a brief update on the department. We have hired Mark Zack as out new Instrument Project Manager. Mark replaces Warren Ringlien, who passed away last year. Mark brings a wealth of experience to the position; he has a degree in mechanical engineering, and many years of experience in industry. While we are still very sad about Warren’s passing, we are happy with the experience that Mark is bringing to the position. Mark has hit the ground running, and he is a wonderful colleague in the department.

Kris Wedding has resigned her position as an assistant professor. Kris, her husband Jeff, and their daughter Haley now are settled in the Bar Area, in California. We will miss Kris, but plan to see her often when she visits Northfield. We are now in the middle of a search to find an experimental physicist to replace Kris.

The department has been pleased to have Hector Calderon with us for the year. Hector finished up his PhD in physics this last summer from Montana State. His research specialty is quantum gravity.

We have a strong senior class of twenty-six majors and a junior class of fourteen. 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