Posted on Sep 23, 2004

Five Union College students were the only undergraduates invited to present
their scientific research projects at an annual graduate-level conference in San Francisco.

The 2004 Semiconductor Research
Corporation's (SRC) Graduate Fellowship Conference, from Sept.
19 to 21, showcased the research of students from colleges and universities
throughout the country who have received fellowships and scholarships for their
work on semiconductor-related projects.

The participating Union students were senior Mayrita Arrandale
of North Blenheim, N.Y., who is majoring in biology and chemistry; junior
Michael Boyer of Portland, Ore., a computer engineering major; senior Jennifer Eliseo
of Burnt Hills, N.Y., a chemistry major; junior Robert Katuska of Southborough,
Mass., a math and physics major; and senior Evan Leibner of Bellmore, N.Y., who
is majoring in chemistry and physics.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Michael
Hagerman, advisor for two of the research projects, traveled
with the group.

According to Hagerman, the conference and the collaborations made possible by SRC have reinforced the direction the College is taking with Converging Technologies.

“Our involvement with SRC has paved the way for our students to collaborate with researchers and have access to facilities that are simply unavailable to undergraduates at other institutions,” Hagerman said, noting that he and his students have teamed with Michael Carpenter of the College of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering at the University at Albany on a project to research nanomaterials.

And the conference itself gave Union students a glimpse of what lies ahead. “It was a wonderful experience for our students,” said Hagerman. “It gave them the opportunity to meet with Ph.D. students to see what it's like in graduate school.”

“Going to the SRC conference was an amazing opportunity,” said Leibner. “It was a rewarding experience in terms of being the only undergraduates there, and meeting the people in industry and grad school gave us a true idea of what it's like and now lucky we are to be at Union.”

Arrandale and Eliseo worked with Hagerman and Carpenter (at the College of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering at the University at Albany) on a project titled “Optical Nanomaterials
Based on Quantum Dot and Rhodamine Dye Inclusion within Laponite Film Nanoscaffolds.”

Boyer worked with Cherrice Traver, a professor of electrical
and computer engineering, and Chris Myers, an associate professor at the University of Utah. His project is titled “Using ATACS for Verification of
Hazard-Freedom of Phased Logic Wrappers.” Katuska worked with Seyffie Maleki,
an associate professor of physics and astronomy, and professors Ganesh Panaman
and James Castracane of the Nanotech College at the University at Albany on “Optical
Testing of MEMS Compound Gratings (MCG) in the UV and IR.”

Leibner worked with Hagerman and Maleki, and
Carpenter of the Nanotech College in Albany, on a project called “Microscopy
Studies of Polyaniline/Laponite Nanohybrid Materials.”

The graduate fellowships
are offered through a national competition and are awarded based on outstanding
academic achievement in the field of microelectronics, and the relevance of the
proposed research to the SRC goals..

“Union has a long tradition and dedication
to student research,” said Union President Roger H. Hull. “The fact that Union
students are the only undergraduates invited to participate in the SRC
conference speaks to the strength and depth of the research here.”

Much of the
funding for the summer research projects was provided by IBM Corp.

James Libous, senior technical staff member of IBM's
Engineering & Technology Services, and a member of the SRC technical
advisory board, said Union is unique not only among its peer colleges but among
the more technically focused universities in its blend of the liberal arts,
sciences and engineering. “Union's
tradition of innovation combined with its cutting-edge programs and Converging
Technologies initiative sets it apart from other colleges,” Libous said. “This
is a tremendous opportunity for these highly talented students and professors
to showcase their research, and IBM is pleased to assist. Collaborating with
outstanding schools like Union provides IBM with early access to relevant
semiconductor-related research and to future leaders of our industry.”

Union's
Converging Technologies effort brings together engineering and liberal arts
disciplines to give students an understanding that goes beyond that provided by
a traditional major.

Larry Sumney, SRC president and CEO said, “The SRC and MARCO
sponsoring organizations support undergraduate research as the most promising
forum for building the pipeline of US students for graduate study in
disciplines of interest to the semiconductor industry. Building relationships
between outstanding undergraduate institutions like Union College and graduate research programs supported by the SRC and
MARCO is vital to future of the industry. The SRC is pleased to demonstrate
the value of undergraduate research at this national annual technical
conference.”

SRC, based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is a research management
consortium of technology companies including IBM, Intel, National Semiconductor
Corp. and Texas Instruments. SRC plans and manages a program of basic and
applied university research on behalf of its participating members with the
goal of defining common industry needs, investing in and managing research to
expand industry knowledge, and attracting premier students to study
semiconductor technology. Currently, SRC sponsors research at universities
worldwide. Since it was established in 1982, SRC has funded more than $500
million in long-term semiconductor research contracts.

Posted on Sep 20, 2004

A.J. Babnik, an 18-year-old freshman at the University at Albany, just got a 52-cent telephone bill and he's confused. Babnik, see, has never made a long-distance call from the phone in his dorm room and he never plans to. “Too expensive,” he said, before walking off and placing a call on his cellphone.

Oh, A.J., you're just the type of guy who's making college telecom types ponder their new world.

As mobile phones become nearly ubiquitous among college students, most have stopped using the phones in their dorm rooms to make long-distance calls. Millions of long-distance minutes, and untold dollars for colleges, have evaporated over the past five years. The change has left colleges exploring deals with cellphone companies for other money-generating ideas.

“It's costing them more just to upkeep the network than to actually provide the service to the students,” said Su Li Walker, an associate analyst at the Yankee Group, a Boston technology research firm.

UAlbany hasn't seen a commission check from its dormitory long-distance provider in five years. At Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, callers used about 2.1 million long-distance minutes in 1998, with students responsible for 60 percent to 70 percent of those. Last year, the total fell to 810,000 minutes. Almost none belonged to students.

That's typical. “We made a significant amount of revenue over the years,” said Diane McNamara, director of telecommunications at Union College in Schenectady. “We all relied on that long-distance revenue to fund other things,” such as network improvements.

Her department and many others aren't in the red because they make money through a fee for phone service built into dorm charges.

Without the long distance, McNamara is thinking of other ways to generate cash. She's been talking with several cellphone companies to collaborate on a plan in which Union would share some revenue generated by students who subscribe.

At the College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville, administrators already have cut the cord. Last fall, they replaced all the land lines in dorms with Nextel phones. Officials wouldn't discuss the financial details behind the arrangements. Students get local calling included in their room-and-board charge and can sign up for long-distance service through Nextel.

“As best we can tell, our students really love it and they use it,” said Jean Boland, vice president of information technology services at Morrisville.

Other schools are pushing the tech boundaries, too. UAlbany has entered a contract with a cellular company that promises the campus $2.50 per subscriber every month. T-Mobile has set up a network of wireless Internet points at American University in Washington, D.C., where students can go online for free. But if students want to use T-Mobile's off-campus “hot spots,” they have to pay extra.

Ironically, the more connected that students are, the harder it can be to get in touch with them.

Many don't provide their cellphone numbers to schools. “These kids are very mobile and they're very independent,” McNamara said. “If they don't want to be reached, they won't be reached.”

It's not for lack of trying.

“We still provide a phone line in every room,” said Tim Casey, director of network and technical services at Skidmore. “What we don't do is automatically assume they're going to use it.”

Students might never plug a phone into the jack in their room. Voice mail might answer, but there's no guarantee a student will ever check it. Many message boxes simply overflow.

So next year, Skidmore will discontinue its printed directory.

Professors sometimes squawk about having to make a long-distance call to reach a student who may be down the hall. Also, campus officials nationwide are wondering how to handle emergency calls, which don't always get routed to the closest agency with cellphones.

Walker, of the Yankee Group, said tech companies will increasingly look to campuses as test beds for new technology such as voice over Internet protocol, which uses high-speed connections to carry telephone calls.

John Bradley, director of networking and telecommunications at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, said a pilot project is ongoing to roll out such a system there.

“That is really the future of voice communication,” he said.

Posted on Sep 20, 2004

Five Union College students are the only undergraduates invited to present their scientific research projects at an annual graduate-level conference this week in San Francisco. The 2004 Semiconductor Research Corporation's

(SRC) Graduate Fellowship Conference, which runs from Sept. 19-21, showcases the research of students from colleges and universities throughout the country who have received fellowships and research grants scholarships for their work on semiconductor-related projects.

The participating Union students are senior Mayrita Arrandale of North Blenheim, N.Y., who is majoring in biology and chemistry; junior Michael Boyer of Portland, Ore., a computer engineering major; senior Jennifer Eliseo of Burnt Hills, N.Y., a chemistry major; junior Robert Katuska of Southborough, Mass., a math and physics major; and senior Evan Leibner of Bellmore, N.Y., who is majoring in chemistry and physics. Associate Professor of Chemistry Michael Hagerman, who is an advisor for two of the research projects, will be traveling with the students.

“Union has a long tradition and dedication to student research,” said President Roger H. Hull. “The fact that Union students are the only undergraduates invited to participate in the SRC conference speaks to the strength and depth of the research here.” Much of the funding for the summer research projects was provided by IBM Corp.

Jim Libous, senior technical staff member of IBM's Engineering & Technology Services, Technology Group and a member of the SRC technical advisory board, said Union is unique not only among its peer colleges but among the more technically focused universities in its blend of the liberal arts, sciences and engineering. “Union's tradition of innovation combined with its cutting-edge programs and Converging Technologies initiative sets it apart from other colleges,” Libous said. “This is a unique tremendous opportunity for these highly talented students and professors to showcase their work research, and IBM is pleased to assist. Collaborating with outstanding schools like Union provides IBM with early access to relevant semiconductor-related research and to the future leaders of our industry.”

Union's Converging Technologies effort brings together engineering and liberal arts disciplines to give students an understanding that goes beyond that provided by a traditional major.

Larry Sumney, SRC President and CEO said, “The SRC and MARCO sponsoring organizations support undergraduate research as the most promising forum for building the pipeline of US students for graduate study in disciplines of interest to the semiconductor industry. Building relationships between outstanding undergraduate institutions like Union College and graduate research programs supported by the SRC and MARCO is vital to future of the industry. The SRC is pleased to demonstrate the value of undergraduate research at this national annual technical conference.”

SRC, based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is a research management consortium of technology companies including IBM, Intel, National Semiconductor Corp. and Texas Instruments. SRC plans and manages a program of basic and applied university research on behalf of its participating members with the goal of defining common industry needs, investing in and managing research to expand industry knowledge, and attracting premier students to study semiconductor technology. Currently, SRC sponsors research at universities worldwide. Since it was established in 1982, SRC has funded more than $500 million in long-term semiconductor research contracts.

Posted on Sep 17, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

On October 1st, I will assume a new role as Executive Director of U.S. Figure Skating.

One of the great attractions of my new position is that it will allow me to be involved with a world class sport organization that deals with participants from the basic learn-to- skate through to the Olympic level; an opportunity to make a profound impact in an amateur sport on a national and international level; and a chance to serve the many wonderful volunteers involved with this great sport.

On this occasion, it seems appropriate to reflect on the collective achievements of Union College Athletics during these past four years. Union's student-athletes and coaches have achieved great success on the playing field: a winning percentage over .526; six regular season conference championships; four conference tournament championships; 20 NCAA appearances; eight coaches selected as coach-of-the year; more than 12 national All-Americans; and a Director Cup national ranking of 171, 52, 57, and 63 respectively among more than 300 institutions.

Academically, Union College student-athletes have achieved remarkable heights: more than 200 conference all-academic selections; more than 30 all-academic ECAC selections; and six academic All-Americans.

Our athletic/recreational/intramural physical plant has grown and improved over the last four years: a new stadium at Frank Bailey Field; the resurfacing of the track around Frank Bailey Field; the renovations of Messa Rink at Achilles Center; the construction of the Viniar Athletic Center; and the addition of the new lighted turf field at College Park.

Athletics has also broadened its mission statement, committees have engaged in active discussions and initiatives on how collaboration can best support academics, athletics/recreation/intramurals, faculty relations, and alumni affairs. This has been accomplished through great support from the President's Office; tremendous trust from Academic Affairs; a Facilities Department that is second to none; an Admissions staff with the foresight to attract outstanding students to the campus; a College Relations Office that has a passion to make Union College a better institution; a group of alumni that hold Union close to their heart and a dedicated, loyal athletic department staff focused on achieving excellence.

It has been my privilege to work for Union College, an institution of people willing to look hard at the important issues and demand the best of themselves and of their entire campus community. I wish the very best to all of you.

Sincerely,
Val Belmonte
Union College Director of Athletics, 2000-2004

Posted on Sep 17, 2004

Through Oct. 10
Mandeville Gallery in Nott Memorial
Drawings and prints by the late Arnold Bittleman, Union
professor of art.
A reception on Sunday, Oct. 3, from 1 to 3 p.m. will
feature remarks by Stephen Pentak '73, professor of art at Ohio
State University;
and Joseph G. Perrella '78, an artist, archivist and educator in Niskayuna.
For more information, visit  http://www.union.edu/Gallery/
or call (518) 388-6004.

Through Oct. 21
Arts Atrium Gallery
“The Figure Drawn:
Work on Paper by Sigmund Abeles and Philip Grausman,” a show that brings
together two acclaimed artists of the same generation who share an approach to
the human figure. Gallery talk with the artists on Tuesday, Oct. 5, from 2 to 3 p.m.
Abeles will give a slide talk from 3:30
to 4 p.m. in Room 215 of the Arts
Building. A reception will follow. For
more information, call 518-388-6131.