Posted on Oct 30, 2007

The Union College Music Department presents the first of five fall concerts Thursday, Nov. 1 at 4:30 p.m. in the Fred L. Emerson Auditorium in the Taylor Music Center.

The performance wraps the “Drop by Emerson” series for this term and features former Union piano instructor Young Kim along with sisters Madalyn Parnas, violin, and Cicely Parnas, cello. Selections will include Franck’s violin Sonata in A, Schumann’s Fantasiestucke for cello and piano and Beethoven’s “Ghost” Piano Trio in Eb Op. 70 No. 2.

The Union College Choir, with Professor Victor Klimash, conductor, performs Sunday, Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. in Memorial Chapel featuring works by Monteverdi and Dvorak.

Professor Tim Olsen directs the Union College Jazz Ensemble Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. in the Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium. The ensemble will feature songs made famous by Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra.

The Union College Community Orchestra performs Sunday, Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. in Memorial Chapel with Professor Victor Klimash conducting. Selections will include Sullivan’s Overture to “The Pirates of Penzance,” Professor Hillary Tann’s “Sarsen” and Vaughan Williams’ “English Folk Song Suite.”

The final concert features a student recital in the Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium on Monday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m.

All performances are free and open to the public.

For additional information, contact the Music Department at (518) 388-6785 or visit http://www.union.edu/music.

Posted on Oct 30, 2007

Three physics majors presented posters at the fall meeting of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society (DNPAPS) in Newport News, Va., recently. 

Richie Bonventre ’08 presented his work on the “Extraction of Yields for Neutral Meson Photoproduction from the Proton and Helium-3 with the CLAS Detector at Jefferson Lab.”

“Fiducial Volumes for Photons Detected in the Forward Calorimeters of the CLAS Detector at JLab” was the title of the poster presented by Christian Shultz ’08.

Crystal Smith ’08 reported on her work on the “Analysis of Proton-Rich Elemental Abundances Created in Outflows from Gamma-Ray Burst Accretion Disks.”

Bonventre and Shultz work with Prof. Michael Vineyard, while Smith works with Prof. Rebecca Surman. The three students received competitive lodging and travel grants from the Conference Experience for Undergraduates program of the DNPAPS. The meeting showcased 97 undergraduate posters.

Posted on Oct 30, 2007

Martin Benjamin, professor of Visual Arts, has 10 works included in "Farsighted: An Exhibition of Photographs that Resonate with the Lure of Distant Lands, People and Cultures,” on exhibit through March 30 at the Albany International Airport Gallery. Included is new work Benjamin made in Vietnam.

Megan Ferry, director of East Asian Studies and associate professor of Chinese and East Asian Studies, recently participated in the Henry Luce Fund for Asian Studies Capstone Conference in Princeton, N.J. Having been one of 38 named Luce assistant professors at liberal arts colleges, she participated in a discussion of the impact of Asian Studies on the liberal arts curriculum in the context of Asia’s continuing economic and political importance in the world. She also discussed how the foundation’s awards have impacted teaching and research on Asia. 

Tom Perry '08 and Reed Olsen '08 recently presented at Schenectady's "Going Green" Fair in City Hall. They demonstrated that strings of traditional colored holiday lights use 4,500 percent more energy than diode holiday lights. The students were among 18 exhibitors, most from government agencies and private firms.

Posted on Oct 30, 2007

“Pressure’s On,” an article by Mechanical Engineering Professor Frank Wicks, appeared in the October issue of “Mechanical Engineering,” the monthly membership publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering. The article celebrates the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton’s commercially successful steamboat, America’s first great invention. Fulton, who had studied to be an artist, became the country's first famous engineer.

“The steamboat allowed the young country to expand through the wilderness via the Hudson and the Mississippi rivers. It led to canals and steam powered railroads. The related technologies would make the United States an industrial super power,” Wicks said.

A challenge to state-issued monopolies was successfully argued by Daniel Webster before the Supreme Court, which was headed by Chief Justice John Marshall. The ruling continues to protect interstate commerce.

“The article describes how the wood burning stoves and steam engines were rapidly depleting the forests, and how Union College president Eliphalet Nott came to the rescue by inventing a coal burning stove and a safer and more efficient coal fueled boiler for steamboats,” Wicks said.

Wicks, a member of the Steamship Historical Society of America who has also served as a steamship engineering officer, will make a related presentation, titled “Full Steam Ahead,” to the Union College Club of Schenectady, Nov. 13, 6-8:30 p.m., at the Rice House at the Albany Institute of History and Art. Those interested should RSVP by Nov. 7 by calling the Office of Alumni Relations at ext. 6157.

Wicks’ talk is being held in conjunction with the exhibition, “Full Steam Ahead: Robert Fulton and the Age of Steamboats,” commemorating the anniversary of Fulton’s first steamboat voyage of the Clermont in 1807 from New York City to Albany. The exhibition, which runs through December, features images, artifacts and the bellowing of steamboats from a bygone era.  

Posted on Oct 29, 2007