Posted on Oct 20, 1995

Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties has received
$10,333 in funding to pair 20 older “at-risk” children with Union College
students.

The funds are from the state Department of Youth and the Schenectady County Youth
Bureau.

“These are kids who might be in some trouble,” said Jay Eckenberger,
executive director of the local two-county Big Brothers-Big Sisters chapter. “They
might be in danger of dropping out of school. We're hoping that Union students can show
them a different value system and help them latch onto some goals so they can finish
school and maybe go on to college.”

The children, ages 12 to 15, will come to campus for about three hours each Sunday with
their “Bigs” for activities ranging from sports to tutoring. The program, which
will start in January, will run every week while Union is in session.

There are 216 Union students involved in Big Brothers-Big Sisters activities on campus,
making it the largest chapter locally, and one of the most popular student activities on
campus. There are about 70 Union students paired with “littles.”

The activities on Sunday afternoons will be available to all who participate in Union's
program, not just to those 20 in the new program, explained Stephanie Wolos, Big
Brothers-Big Sisters coordinator at the College. Finding activities and transportation
often has posed a problem for the Union volunteers, she noted. A new caseworker will be
added to help with the large numbers of Union students who are involved, Wolos said.

Posted on Oct 20, 1995

Faculty and staff are welcome at Tuesday's Faculty Colloquium, of course.

But save the seats down front for the kids.

Chemistry's Charlie Scaife, whose “science roadshows” last year made him
something of a celebrity with the elementary school set, is doing his “hands-on
science” for Union faculty and staff and their elementary-age children. The talk is
Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 4:30 p.m. in the Reamer Campus Center auditorium.

“I try to use surprise to the hilt,” Scaife told a Wall Street Journal reporter
who covered his trek. “That's what hooks kids on science.”

For years, Scaife said, he had been seeing signs that youngsters weren't being exposed
to the wonders of science. So he used his sabbatical to address the problem, traveling to
dozens of elementary schools throughout the Northeast to promote science with hundreds of
students and their parents.

At Tuesday's colloquium, Scaife will be doing some of the experiments that proved to be
big hits during his tour. Among them, removing iron bits from fortified cereal using a
magnet, skewering balloons without popping them, and boiling water in a paper cup. Scaife
invites youngsters to participate in the experiments and then explore the science behind
them.

Posted on Oct 20, 1995

A committee has been formed to review the tenurability of Prof. Frank Wicks,
visiting associate professor of mechanical engineering. Members of the College community
may submit written testimony relating to Wicks' teaching, scholarly activity or college
service to any member of the committee. Members are Bonnie MacDonald, English; Rudy
Nydegger, committee chair, GMI; and Richard Wilk, mechanical engineering.

Posted on Oct 20, 1995

Nearly 30 students and alumni are signed up to celebrate “Make a Difference
Day” on Oct. 28 by sprucing up Schenectady's City Mission.

The volunteers will spend the day helping mission staff to prepare for the busy winter
season at the 425 Hamilton St. building, which includes a homeless shelter. Projects will
include painting, general cleaning, furniture moving, even some yard work.

“I was looking for a community service project that could bring students and
alumni together,” said Michael Lynch, assistant director of Alumni Affairs.
“'Make a Difference Day' looked like a perfect day to do this.”

City Mission is a non-denominational organization that serves the Schenectady homeless,
needy and poor at six locations in the city. Services include meals, shelter, tutoring and
mentoring, clubs and summer camps. Last year, City Mission served almost 100,000 meals.

“Make a Difference Day” is promoted nationally by USA Weekend and the Points
of Light Foundation.

Students and alumni who would like to contribute but cannot make the day, may send
non-perishable food items or children's toys to the Mission in care of Lynch at Alumni
Affairs in Fero House. For more information or to sign up, call Alumni Affairs at ext.
6157.

Posted on Oct 20, 1995

Union may have given Martin Perl, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics announced
recently, the nudge he needed to pursue a career in physics.

Perl was a young chemical engineer working at General Electric, when he took two
courses — advanced calculus and nuclear physics with Prof. Vladimir Rojansky.

“…Rojansky's lectures were so compelling he was left with no choice but to
resign from G.E. and pursue an advanced degree in physics,” wrote former professor
David Peak in a history of physics at Union (in Early Science and the First Century of
Physics at Union College by Ennis Pilcher).

In 1955, Perl received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and just a few weeks ago he
won the Nobel Prize for his 1975 discovery of a new elementary particle known as the tau
lepton.

Perl, who has been a professor at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) at
Stanford University since 1963, shares the prize with Frederick Reines of the University
of California at Irvine. The prize will be presented in Stockholm, Sweden, in December.

The tau lepton is a superheavy “cousin” of the electron, the carrier of
electric current in household appliances. The tau lepton and the electron are nearly
identical, except the tau is more than 3,500 times heavier than the electron and it
survives less than a trillionth of a second, while the electron is stable.

Perl was working at the Stanford Positron-Electron Asymmetric Ring (SPEAR) with 30
other physicists in the mid-1970s, when he began to find events that could not be
explained by any other sub-atomic particle. After over a year of work, Perl was able to
convince his colleagues that they were observing a new elementary particle, which he named
the “tau.”

In 1982, Perl was awarded the Wolf Prize for his discovery. He is a member of the
National Academy of Sciences and is a fellow with the American Physical Society. He is
currently group leader and chairman of the faculty at SLAC.

Rojansky was professor of physics at Union College from 1930 until 1955, and is
well-known for his work in quantum theory. Out of the Union Physics department have come
several recognized names; Lee Davenport '37, President of GTE and long-time Union trustee;
Gordon Gould '41 inventor of the laser, and Baruch Blumberg '45, Nobel prize winner in
medicine.