There was a Union College flavor to the Summit in Tech Valley on Tuesday.
When trustee Steve Ritterbush '68 wanted to make a point about the importance of assessing the market, he used the words of fellow alumnus and trustee Mark Walsh '76: “When you see a big parade, try to get in front of it.”
When Walsh emceed the booster event, he drew on his experience as a student and trustee at the College to describe the region's rich opportunities for education and technology.
And Cyclics, the plastics firm co-founded by John Ciovacco '87 and Ted Eveleth '87, was universally praised as one of the region's most exciting ventures. (Ciovacco also spoke on a panel, moderated by Walsh, a featured speaker at the 2003 Summit.)
More than a dozen Union faculty, staff and alumni attended the Summit.
“Union's presence at the Summit was strong and clear,” said Bill Schwarz, director of communications and public affairs. “There is widespread and growing recognition both inside and outside the region that the College brings a great deal to the region's technology initiatives. We are proving that we have the faculty, programs, facilities, students and alumni to be a leading player in the development of Tech Valley.”
Research by a team including Donald T. Rodbell, professor of geology, suggests that diverse regions of the globe have not warmed and cooled in lockstep, as previously thought. Rather, the Southern Hemisphere may have led the higher latitudes in both cooling and warming.
Rodbell is co-author of a paper published in the April 29 issue of Science, “Early Local Last Glacial Maximum in the Tropical Andes.” It chronicles research by Rodbell and colleagues that determined that the local last glacial maximum in the tropical Andes was earlier and less extensive than earlier studies showed.
“We are starting to see, based on this work and other data, that in fact the globe's response to climatic change is more complicated than we thought,” Rodbell said. More will be known as research continues around the globe, he said.
The team used cosmogenic radio nuclide (CRN) dating to show that glaciers in the Southern Hemisphere reached their greatest extent in the last glacial cycle about 34,000 years ago and were retreating about 21,000 years ago.
They gathered samples from glacially deposited boulders on moraines in Peru and Bolivia. The boulders, once exposed to the atmosphere, begin to gather isotopes produced by cosmic rays. By measuring the accumulation of the isotopes – in this case, beryllium-10 – the scientists could determine when the glacier retreated and exposed the boulders.
The analysis was done at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The field work took place between 1999 and 2003.
Lead author of the Science paper (No. 15) is Jacqueline Smith, a Ph.D. student at Syracuse University who is married to John Garver, Union professor of geology. Others, besides Rodbell, are the late Geoffrey Seltzer of Syracuse; and Daniel Farber and Robert Finkel of Lawrence Livermore.
Rodbell, whose research focuses on the climate record for the Southern Hemisphere, has been published five times in Science and once in Nature. He recently received the latest in a series of research grants from the National Science Foundation. A number of Union undergraduates have assisted in his fieldwork and laboratory analysis. Three were involved in the project detailed in the current Science paper.
Members of the Union College community – including a number of Capital Region alumni and friends – kicked off the “You Are Union” capital campaign on Wednesday, April 27, in a celebration at College Park Hall.
The $200 million campaign will advance the College by supporting a number of initiatives including Converging Technologies, residential life, international programs, scholarships and faculty excellence.
The kickoff featured the premiere of a campaign video and a group portrait of the Union College Capital District Family.
Three alumni trustees are co-chairing the campaign – Mark Walsh '76, entrepreneur and venture capitalist; Frank Messa '73, senior vice president of Ayco Co.; and John Wold '38, scientist, businessman and former Congressman (honorary co-chair).
80-voice male chorus is longest continuously performing group in region
The Mendelssohn Club of Albany will perform its annual Spring Concert on Sunday, May 15 at 3 p.m. in the Union College Memorial Chapel. The theme of the concert is “Wine, Women, Song ….and Women,” and Union College's own Dutch Pipers and Garnet Minstrels will join the Club as guest artists.
Founded in 1909, and now in its 95th season of providing quality choral music, The Mendelssohn Club is an 80-voice male chorus and is the longest continuously performing arts group in the Capital Region. The Club is conducted by Union College faculty member Dr. Victor Klimash. Pianist Michael Clement serves as the Club's accompanist.
The concert is free for Union College students and faculty. Tickets for the general public will be available at the door on the day of the concert for $16. For more information, visit The Mendelssohn Club on line at www.mendelssohn.org or e-mail the club at info@mendelssohn.org.
Union men's lacrosse senior Pete Gross (Larchmont/Salisbury Prep) had seven goals and three assists to help Union split a pair of Liberty League games last week to earn the Liberty League Co-Offensive Performer of the Week award. He scored three goals with three assists in a 17-4 road win over Vassar. In that contest, Gross gobbled up seven ground balls and won six of his eight faceoffs. In an 11-8 loss at Clarkson, the senior scored four goals. For the season, entering Wednesday's home game against Hamilton, Gross is tied for the team lead in goals (19), and leads the Dutchmen in assists (27), points (46), shots (69) and ground balls (93). He also has two game-winning tallies and 35 shots on goal.
Pete Gross
Gross has had an impressive career for the men's lacrosse squad. He is only three points shy of eclipsing his career best points season, when he finished with 48 in 2003. He has 121 career points, including 59 goals, entering this week's games, and is the 14th player in Union men's lacrosse annals to record 100 career points. Gross needs just two more points to tie Dave Parrott (123) for 10th all-time in Dutchmen career points, and could do it at home Wednesday against Hamilton (4 p.m. at Bailey Field).
“Pete is a consummate team player,” commented his coach, Erv Chambliss. “If there is something that needs to be done, he will attempt to do it. And, we've learned that you can't be surprised with the result that you get from his actions. In fact, he leads by his actions.”
Gross will be one of the seniors recognized prior to Saturday's home finale against Renselaer at 7 p.m. His career has been a high yield for Chambliss and the Dutchmen, and this week is a great chance for you to gain more interest in a player who will rate as one of Union's best men's lacrosse players in history.
Molly Flanagan
The women's lacrosse team clinched the Liberty League title with a 7-5 home win over Hamilton, and has 10 straight wins and an 11-3 record. They are ranked 17th in the IWLCA poll and 13th by LaxPower.com. Molly Flanagan (Simsbury, CT/Loomis Chaffee) was named the Liberty League Co-Offensive Performer of the Week, while Rachel Beckman (Needham, MA/Needham) received the Liberty League's Co-Defensive Performer of the Week and Erin Lawson (Flourtown, PA/Springside) won the league's Co-Rookie of the Week.
Flanagan had seven goals and two assists in a three-victory week for the Dutchwomen. She had 10 ground balls and caused nine turnovers on the week. In a 13-9 win vs. Vassar, Flanagan scored four goals, had two ground balls and caused four turnovers. In the league clinching win over Hamilton, the senior scored twice, including the game-winner, and added two points and five ground balls against St. John Fisher. She has 50 points, including 37 assists, and this was her second weekly award of the season.
Rachel Beckman
Beckman has been solid in the Union nets. She combined for 26 saves and allowed just 18 goals on 52 shots in the three victories. She stopped 11 in each of the wins vs. Vassar and Hamilton. In that contest, she stopped a free position shot with 3:41 left with a one-goal lead. Beckman stopped four in the win vs. Fisher. On the season, the junior has a 7.97 GAA in 10 starts.
Erin Lawson
Lawson copped her second rookie award with seven goals in two of the victories last week. She scored five in the triumph over Vassar and added two more against St. John Fisher. The freshman leads the team with eight free position goals and is third on the team with 32 points.
Men's and women's crew was not able to compete in the Liberty League Championships at St. Lawrence, as the event was canceled. But the teams did host four schools last weekend to make up for the meet in Canton. Next up is the New York State Championships at Binghamton this week. Union is racing in Whitney Point, competing in a Men's Varsity 4, a Women's Varsity 4, a Men's Novice 4 and a Women's Novice 4. Baseball is at Rochester for a Liberty League twinbill on Saturday, then plays at Skidmore Sunday. Softball, which snapped the school record for wins in a season and is now 28-4, has a make-up doubleheader vs. Skidmore on Fri., May 6. Union, which was not ranked in last week's NFCA Division III national poll, went all the way up to #9 in the poll announced April 27. The Dutchwomen are ranked #2 in the NCAA Div. III Northeast Region poll. Men's and women's track and field will head to the Rensselaer Invitational on Saturday, while the men's tennis team season concluded last week with a fourth place finish at the Liberty League Championships at St. Lawrence.
