Valerie Barr, professor of Computer Science and department chair, recently gave two presentations at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference and also served on the academic advisory committee. The annual gathering, the largest technical conference of its kind for women, recognizes the significant role women play in defining technology used to solve social issues. A member of the Association of Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing, Barr also runs a scholarship program for women interested in attending research conferences.
An essay by Judith Gardner Ainlay on the role of presidential spouses was featured in a recent edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Ainlay, the wife of Union President Stephen C. Ainlay, is the College’s director of Special Institutional Relations and plays a major role in fundraising and other key College initiatives. Previously, she coordinated an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in gerontology studies for a consortium of five colleges in Worcester, Mass.
Eric McDowell, sports information director, was one of five professionals inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame at the 2009 San Antonio Convention in June. The award recognizes service and professionalism in the business.
Frank Wicks, professor of mechanical engineering, was featured in a July 10 story by Associated Press writer William Kates about the 50th anniversary of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Wicks shared his recollections about working on the construction project as a teenager after graduating from Massena High School in 1957. Stretching 265 miles along the U.S. border with Canada from Montreal to Lake Ontario, the seaway has been hailed as one of North America’s top engineering feats. The AP story appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times.
Thomas Perry ’09, the 2009 Daggett Prize winner, is this year’s winner of the Astronomical Society of New York Undergraduate Research Prize. Currently a Minerva Fellow in Uganda, he will receive his prize and give an invited talk at an Astronomical Society of New York conference when he returns.
Mark Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History and department chair, will present “Nazi Science? Racial Hygiene, Autarky and Weapons of Mass Destruction” as part of a “Town & Gown” lecture Tuesday, Sept. 15, 7-8 p.m. in the McChesney Room at the Schenectady County Public Library on Clinton Street.