Union awarded annual Engineering Alumni Awards this spring to nine distinguished alumni. Faculty from the engineering and computer science departments choose alumni who are seen as dynamic leaders, display success in their field and show a commitment to their profession and community.
Steinmetz Symposium
The 2006 award recipients are: Dean's Award: Robert G. Huntington '56 of Cooperstown, N.Y.; Gold Award: Thomas Goemaat '76 of Wellesley, Mass. – Civil Engineering; Charles Persico '85 of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. – Electrical Engineering; James Libous '81 of Endwell, N.Y. – Electrical Engineering; John Ciovacco '87 of Schenectady, N.Y. – Mechanical Engineering; Silver Award: Matthew Parlakian '97 of Towson, Md. – Civil Engineering; Thomas Proctor '98 of Ledyard, Conn. – Electrical Engineering; Kurt Kimball ‘02 of Albany, N.Y. – Mechanical Engineering; Computer Science Award: Kathleen Perras '75 of New Hampshire.
The Dean's Award, first given in 2002, goes to an outstanding engineering graduate who has advanced the college by providing recognition to Union in a national context.
These recipients are outstanding examples of Union alumni with eminent careers that provide resources through personal or corporate support and provide service to academic or administrative needs of the college.
Two awards are given in each program every year, the Gold Award to an alumnus who graduated more than 10 years ago, and a Silver Award to an alumnus who graduated less than 10 years ago.
After three weeks of fierce heat and competition, Rachel Bennett '08 outlasted nine other local college students to win $10,000 in the “Last Student Standing Competition” sponsored by radio station WFLY (Fly 92).
“The last 36 hours were definitely the toughest. The hosts had us stand, blindfolded, and we couldn't talk,” Bennett said. “I really haven't had a chance to sleep in the last five days.”
“Rachel really deserved to win,” said fellow contestant Dan “The Man,” who bowed out of the competition just before 6 p.m. Thursday, leaving Bennett alone on the bus parked outside Crossgates Mall in Guilderland.
The 20-year-old Bennett, who lives in Schenectady, followed last summer's contest and applied to be a contestant this year. When she learned she had been selected, she was both determined to win the grand prize and excited to have a chance to be on a regional reality show.
“I always wanted to be on the ‘Real World,'” Bennett said before she boarded the bus July 21. “This is probably as close as I'll ever get.”
Rachel Bennett '08
Contestants were stuck on the bus without air-conditioning for 24 hours a day, eating the same foods at every meal. If they lost challenges, the game's hosts could blindfold contestants, handcuff them together or take away basic privileges like talking. Winning a challenge meant better food or a pass to take a shower.
Rachel Bennett 08 – last student standing
A psychology major and member of Union's cross country and track teams, Bennett got by with just a few basic items, including a blanket, a pillow, a toothbrush and toothpaste.
Bennett served as a tour guide in the Admissions office at Union earlier this summer, but had to leave her job to compete in the contest. She will use her winnings to help pay for her fall term, which she will spend abroad in Japan.
“It was nice that I got off the bus a winner in time to go to Japan as I'll be leaving Aug. 27,” said Bennett. “I was cutting it close.”
Approximately 60 high school upperclassmen are learning the ins and outs of college living. Lesson number one is to get used to cafeteria food.
But, they're getting a taste of much more than that.
“We're basically learning about the college process and what it takes to get into college,” said Bronx high schooler Dana Hopkins.
“We learned how to write a college essay and how to fill out transcripts, so that'll probably help me in the long run,” added East Greenbush high schooler Paige Tutt.
The goal of “Camp College,” organizers said, is to guide first-generation and under-represented students down the path to college.
They're spending the weekend in dorms and classes, all to prevent getting tied up in the admission process.
“I hope that they take away the realization that college is attainable for them. And our goal is to provide them with the tools to understand that and also to pursue it,” said Union College Assistant Dean of Admissions Ellen Casper.
Even though they're still in high school, the camp has already shown them one important thing about making the grade in college.
“You're basically on your own in college. You have to manage your time, it's all you. Your mother and your father are not there to wake you up in the morning to tell you to get up, so basically it's all you,” Hopkins said.
If college is anything like camp, she said, they'll be ready to cross the stage in no time.
Historically, women and engineering have mixed as well as, well, oil and water. It's a trend Union College is committed to reversing.
For the fourth straight year, a group of academically talented high school girls will spend two weeks at the College learning about careers in engineering. Juniors and seniors from the local region and beyond, they are participating in EDGE – Educating Girls as Engineers – from July 17-28.
They bring with them a passion for math, an affinity for science and a desire to solve problems or make a difference in people's lives, all reasons girls decide to become engineers. At EDGE, they'll get a taste of real-world engineering through lectures, lab work and field trips.
“This is an exciting program that encourages young women to pursue engineering here at Union or elsewhere,” says Union Dean of Engineering and Computer Science Cherrice Traver. “It also addresses the national need to increase the number of women in the engineering workplace.”
Fewer than 10 percent of practicing engineers in the United States today are women, Traver said.
“The fields of engineering offer so many opportunities for women, and the EDGE program enables the girls to see the practical aspects of engineering that you cannot achieve in the classroom,” said Jenny Moon '03, program coordinator. “By showing these bright young girls that you can use an engineering degree to drastically improve people's lives, especially children's, it proves to them that engineering isn't just technical; it creates a better world for us all.”
Moon, who majored in civil engineering and Japanese, said 11 girls were chosen for EDGE through a rigorous application process, including an essay, transcript and letters of recommendation. They come from the Capital Region, New York City, New Jersey, Boston and Seattle.
They will have an opportunity to explore and apply engineering principles, such as bioengineering, robotics, computer systems, microprocessors and circuits, to solve specific challenges.
As in past years, they will design and build adaptive toys for children with disabilities at Northwoods at Hilltop, a brain injury rehabilitation center in Schenectady. A robotics project will challenge them to devise a “speech box,” or computer-aided device, to serve as a voice for a disabled person who has lost the ability to speak.
“These themes have worked very well for us,” said Linda Almstead, Computer Science lecturer. “Girls of this age tend to relate to children and to helping others. And it's important for them to recognize the role of engineers in the world. It's not all about machines and war and cars and guns. There is a very human aspect to some engineering-related careers.
“I really love it,” said Almstead, who has been teaching in the program since it started. “The girls are great, and it's a worthwhile endeavor to let them know that being an engineer is a good career for a woman. I probably would have been one myself had times been different when I graduated.”
Other EDGE faculty are James Hedrick, lecturer, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Patricia Culbert, artist-in-residence in Theatre, who will conduct a creative theater workshop on Tuesday, July 18.
Also participating is high school teacher Michele Cannistraci of the South Colonie School District.
Program participants will tour Extreme Molding in Watervliet, a company that serves the life sciences industry through product design, rapid prototyping and full-scale manufacturing; X-ray Optical Systems of East Greenbush, a developer and manufacturer of measurement components using optical lenses; and Plug Power of Latham, a leader in fuel cell technology.
While on campus, the students are living in Orange House. A number of recreational activities are planned, including a movie night and trips to Albany and Saratoga.
There will be a farewell dinner on Thursday, July 27, at Turf Tavern in Scotia. The students will demonstrate their re-engineered toys and devices during a poster session on Friday, July 28, 3-4:30 p.m. in the F.W. Olin Center Atrium.
The EDGE workshop is supported through a grant from Northrop Grumman Corp.
“Alchemy,” the three-person show now at the Arts Building Atrium Galley, is a stunning exploration of form in all its natural shapes and guises by a trio of accomplished area artists.
The show, which runs through Sunday, Aug. 27 – with a reception from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24 – features painting, sculpture and photography by Laura Von Rosk, Luis Castro and Melinda McDaniel.
“It's called ‘Alchemy' because these artists are performing artistic magic, taking the natural world and making something new and unique,” said Rachel Seligman, the show's curator. “It began with Laura's work, which I've admired for many years, and grew from there.”
Von Rosk, of Paradox, N.Y., depicts “an experience of a landscape,” with impressions of everything from gravel pits to fields to a peculiar bend in the road.
Her oil paintings have been exhibited nationally, and she has received grants and fellowships from the Pollack-Krasner Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center, the Millay Colony and other noted arts organizations.
“There is a tension between form and what's going on in the real world,” Von Rosk writes about her oeuvre. “And the form (dips, ditches, open fields) isn't just a product of what I see, but combines what I know about constructing paintings with some deep and as yet unconscious memory system with what I see in the landscape. There may be a story hidden in the painting, which I myself am still only vaguely aware of.”
Von Rosk received a bachelor's of fine art from the State University of New York at Purchase and a master's of fine art from the University of Pennsylvania.
Castro creates abstract contemporary sculpture that “references human forms and forms found in nature,” says Seligman.
With studios in Chatham, N.Y., and New York City, Castro uses found objects such as limestone from abandoned buildings and pieces of wood from his travels, which he shapes into spheres, cones, rings and other simple shapes that reflect his early interest in preservation and architecture.
“The work is a wonderful blend of simplicity and elegance,” says Seligman.
Castro holds a bachelor's in architecture and a master's in Restoration and Conservation of Monuments from the Central University of Venezuela. His numerous honors include residencies at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony.
Photographer McDaniel of Schenectady (the partner of Union artist-in-residence Fernando Orellana), explores issues of personal identity and her own identity to photographic materials as a way to transcend what she feels are the limitations of the traditional photographic process.
“When I walk out of the darkroom with a print I feel obligated to relate the image back to the reality of what was photographed,” McDaniel writes. “I feel separated from my images by the tools needed to make them. I prefer to be involved with the image by remaining tactile with the photograph.”
McDaniel deconstructs her images by slicing them into strips and squares with a manual paper cutter and then reconstructs them “in an effort to capture the information from the original image in a new way.” Her images derive from a variety of sources, including landscapes and photograms of her body.
“Her reconfigured landscapes and human forms are beautiful,” says Seligman. “They allow the viewer to see a new presence arise from the treatment of image.”
McDaniel holds a bachelor's of fine art from Florida State University and a master's in photography from the Ohio State University. She has worked as a graphic designer, lecturer, curator and studio assistant and has had group and solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio and New York City.
Dozens of ninth and 10th graders will visit Union this weekend for the annual “Camp College,'' a three-day summer session designed to give first-generation college-bound high school students a taste of the collegiate experience.
Union College Camp college Program, 2003
During their stay, the 60 or so students from across New York State will live and eat in the College's residence and dining halls, attend classes taught by Union professors and participate in workshops on topics such as admissions and financial aid. Students will also learn college interview and essay writing techniques.
There will also be several social activities, including a barbeque, a dance and a scavenger hunt. The closing session will include a presentation of the class project in which the students design the college of their dreams.
“Camp College is a program that allows underserved students to gain a better understanding about college, both the application process and the benefits of higher education,” said Ellen Casper, assistant dean of admissions at Union. “Most importantly, they are given the tools and the encouragement to realize that they have the ability and talent to attain a college education.”
The program is funded in part through a grant awarded to the New York State Association of College Admission Counseling. Besides Union College, other sponsors include Price Chopper/The Golub Corp.; Wachovia Bank; Sallie Mae; and Kodak.
Now in its sixth year, the camp was started by Kelly Herrington, Class of 1996, and the former associate dean of admissions at Union. Herrington, currently the director of college counseling at University Prep in Seattle, will return to Union for the camp, which opens Friday.
Students selected to participate were nominated through their high school; Liberty Partnership and Upward Bound programs; GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs); Boys and Girls Clubs; churches and community-based organizations.
Another Camp College will be held from August 4-6 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
