1

VU AlumniHow has the study of physics at

VU helped to shape your career?

What is your current Job? By whom are you employed? What are you Doing in this

present position?

What is your educational and employment History since VU?

What Comments can you share with current students?

2

The goal(s)Why is this interesting?

How can this help?

What is your future Job? By whom will you be employed? What might you be Doing in this

employment position?

How might you proceed with education/employment after VU?

What can you learn from those who “have done it already”?

3

The goal(s)Why is this interesting?

How can this help?

Let’s see if we can detect some lessons as we hear from our alumni...

Keep some notes of what you find interesting, helpful, and new?

How might you suggest this information could be used?

Would you be interested in communicating with some of these alumni?

4

The methodHow were these data gathered?

An e-mail went out to some of our alumni whose e-mail addresses were current.

In four days, over 40 alumni replied!

I collated the replies - and Paul Nord helped set up this presentation.

Hang on … let’s have some fun!

5

After Graduation from VU

~50% go to graduate school immediately

-- Then what…?

~50% go to employment immediately

-- Doing what…?

6

Jay Dittmann - 1992

Job - Leon M. Lederman Fellow post-doc

Employer - Fermilab Doing - post-doctoral research

associate, working on upgrade to the CDF instrument, educating the public about the science we do at Fermilab and why it is important

HISTORY– Attended graduate school at Duke

– Ph.D. 1998 in physics

– 1998 appointment to Leon M. Lederman Fellow at Fermilab

7

Steve Eckardt - 1978

Job - optical engineer Employer - 3M corporation Doing - designing overhead

projectors and LCD projectors

HISTORY– MS in optics from University of

Arizona

– Started Ph.D. program but ran out of money

– Worked for 3 years

– Returned to school and finished Ph.D.

– Worked for 3M ever since

8

Dave Baran - 1983

Job - program manager of the Highly Enriched Uranium Transparency project

Employer - DOE Washington DC and Argonne National Lab

Doing - Monitoring the dismantling of the Russian nuclear weapons

HISTORY– Graduate School at Northwestern

– Ph.D. in nuclear physics 1989

– Aerospace Corporation 1989-1991, El Segundo, CA

– DOE New Brunswick Laboratory 1991 to present, Argonne, IL

9

Sandra Kleinschmidt - 1959

Job - Professor of Physics Employer -University of

Wisconsin Oshkosh Doing - teaching physics and

research

HISTORY– Graduate t U of Pittsburgh.

– Ph.D. in solid state EPR and NMR

– 1966 professorship at Oshkosh

10

Norm Kolb - 1983

Job - Professor of Physics Employer - University of

Saskatchewan Doing - teaching physics,

research in proto-nuclear physics, supervise two graduate students

HISTORY– Summer work at Los Alamos

(thanks to Don Koetke)

– Graduate school at U. of IL

– M.Sc. (physics) in 1984, Ph.D. (Experimental Nuclear Physics) in 1989

– Post-doc at University of Alberta.

– 1993 professorship at University of Saskatchewan

11

Dale Koetke - 1986

Job - Software Analyst Employer - Microsoft Corp. Doing - Analysis of software to

improve software efficiency - specifically for the Exchange product.

HISTORY Ph.D. Stanford University ‘92 Center for European Nuclear

Research (postdoc) ‘92-’98 Microsoft Corporation

12

Elwyn Dolecek- 1964

Job - Health Physicist Employer - Argonne National

Laboratory Doing - Managing and

developing personnel radiation monitoring program at DOE laboratories -- Research in radiation detection and monitoring

HISTORY - Ph.D. Rutgers University in Health Physics -

- Health physicist at ANL

13

John Giles - 1966

Job - Physicist Employer - Johns Hopkins

University Applied Physics Laboratory

Doing - have worked with submarine security in the Submarine Technology Department

HISTORY– 1966-1969 Engineer at Boeing,

Wichita, KS

– MS physics 1969, Wichita State

– 1969-1974 Graduate student at Johns Hopkins University

– 1974 Ph.D.

– 1974-present physicist at Johns Hopkins

14

David Kohlstedt - 1965

Job - Professor of Geology and Geophysics & Institute of Technology Distinguished Professor

Employer - Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota

Doing - teaching and research in geophysics

HISTORY

15

Tom Horst - 1965

Job - Head, Surface Sensing Group

Employer - Atmospheric Technology Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Doing - Research in atmospheric turbulence and atmosphere-surface turbulent exchange fluxes.

HISTORY– MS in physics U. of Illinois 1967

– Ph.D. in atmospheric science at U. of Washington, 1977

– Atmospheric Science Department, Pacific Northwest Lab 1976-1989

– Atmospheric Technology Division National Center for Atmospheric Research 1989 -

16

David Christiansen - 1983

Job - Asst. Professor, basic and applied biophysics

Employer -University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Doing - Research on collagen self-assembly, tissue structure and function, and extracellular matrix mineralization

HISTORY– Rutgers Materials Science

Graduate program 1.5 years then transferred to Biomedical Engineering

– Ph.D. 1992

– NIH postdoctoral fellowship Univ. of Penn. Department of Orthopedic Surgery

17

Paul Sieving - 1970

Job - Professor of Ophthalmology

Employer - University of Michigan medical school

Doing - see patients with eye diseases one-day each week, conduct research in electrical phenomenon of retinal cells.

HISTORY– Graduate school at Yale 1970-

1974 in nuclear physics

– Switched to biology to study molecular genetics

– Became interested in medical career and left Yale to attend U. of Illinois medical school.

– Completed a joint MD-Ph.D. in bio-engineering

18

Cindy Thompson - 1996

Third year law Student Northwestern University,

Evanston, IL Doing - Studying for the

Law Degree -- Intellectual Property Law (patents, trademarks, ...)

19

Paul Kolb - 1986

Job - Ph.D. Candidate and Research Assistant, Physics

Employer - University of Maryland

Doing - Research for Ph.D.

HISTORY– Summer t Los Alamos (thanks to

Prof. Koetke)

– Travel foreign countries, learning Spanish

– 3 years teaching Valpo HS

– 4 years teaching Colegio Internacional de Caracas

– Returned to graduate school at U. of MD

20

Bob Scherpelz - 1970

Job - Staff Scientist, health physicist in a research group

Employer - Dosimetry Research & Technology, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Doing - radiation dose modeling, radiation transport modeling, neutron detectors for damaged Chernobyl reactor

HISTORY– H.S. teacher, math & science

– 2 years working grocery stores, Ft. Collins, CO

– 2 years Peace Corps teaching math and physics in British West Indies

– Grad school Oregon State

– MS in Nuclear Engineering 1978

– PNNL to present

21

Bob Witte - 1982

Job - Engineering Manager Employer - CTS Corporation Doing - Leading teams of

engineers in development of new products

HISTORY– Started with Motorola as

component design engineer

– Now work for CTS

– MS in Engineering Management

22

Ron Kneusel - 1983

Job - data analysis Employer - Medical College of

Wisconsin Doing - data management and

statistical analysis, functional MRI (a blend of physics, computer programming, biology physiology and chemistry)

HISTORY– Michigan State 1989 to 1991

– Completed theses 1993

23

Alan Buswell - 1984

Job - Senior Scientist Employer - Spectral Technology

Group with Ball Aerospace Doing - Developing algorithms,

techniques and tools for extracting information from remote sensing data, primarily hyperspectral data.

HISTORY– MS degree from University of

Dayton, in electro-optics

24

Lisa Foye - 1983

Job - Medical Physicist Employer - Owner of a consulting

firm in medical physics, Phoenix, AZ

Doing - accepting and commissioning linear accelerators and other radiation emitting devices, responsible for the correct dose distribution and delivery of radiation treatments to patients and patient and personal safety.

HISTORY– MS in Medical Physics from The

University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School, 1985

– Worked for a hospital radiation therapy center for 3.5 years

25

Danielle Boyd - 1996

Job - Peace Corps East Africa Doing - teaching physics

HISTORY– Graduate school, Stanford

University, CA

– MS in geophysics

– Teaching assistant University of Arizona, Physics Department

26

Carl Keller - 1963

Job - Principal Scientist Employer - Owner of Flexible

Underground Liner Technologies Doing - Applied science ranging

from heat transfer to hydraulics, porous flow processes in the earth, pneumatics, mechanics, etc.

HISTORY– 1965 MS degree at RPI in

Engineering Science/ Nuclear Science

– 1966-1974 Los Alamos National Lab containment systems for underground nuclear testing

– 1974-1985 Head of containment research and design for all DOD underground nuclear tests.

– 1985-present Work in private sector

– 1996 Started my own company

27

Michael Goerhing - 1964

Job - Technology transfer specialist

Employer - Aerospace Research Applications Center, Indianapolis

Doing - conducting searches of databases to find new technologies for transfer to individuals and companies

HISTORY– MS in physics, Purdue

28

Bill Baumgartner - 1984

Job - Operations Engineer, Special Project Group

Employer - Next Linear Collider Department, Stanford University

Doing - manage small X-band electron accelerator, design and test X-band (11.4GHz) klystrons, accelerating structures, RF transport, beam dynamics, and support functions. Collaborator on an experiment testing a plasma lens.

HISTORY– 1984-1989 Fermilab Accelerator

Operations (got job from Elvin Harms, a VU grad)

– 1989-1995 SLAC Accelerator Operations

– 1995-present NLC Test Accelerator

29

Jim Kolterman - 1991

Job - Instrument Scientist Employer - Abbott Labs

(Pharmaceutical) Doing - Instrument design,

installation, training for pharmaceutical research and development. Travel around the world as well as at Abbot Labs.

HISTORY– Continued education at Northern

Illinois University

– Worked bar tender

– “temp” work at Abbott Labs

30

Jim LeMunyon - 1981

Job - President, CEO, and owner Employer - Novecon, Inc Doing - technology transfer from

foreign countries through the US patent process - especially Russia

HISTORY– University of Wisconsin,

Madison studying meteorology

– Science advisor to U.S. Senator John Anderson

– Started my own business

31

Jonathan DeVilbis - 1996

Job - Peace Corps Ghana West Africa Doing - teaching high school

mathematics

HISTORY– Plan to pursue at least a master’s

degree in physics

32

Lisa Peters - 1985

Job - Chief Scientist and Head of Raytheon’s Commercial Electronics Group’s Research

Employer - Raytheon Corporation

Doing -

HISTORY

33

Jason Hayward - 1999

Job - Student, US Navy Nuclear Power School

Employer - USA Doing - going to school. Will be

teaching physics to enlisted students.

HISTORY– Enlisted in US Navy

34

Sheila MacKay - 1959

Job - Director, Manufacturing Services and Business Operations

Employer - Journals for Academic Press

Doing - Manage all business and quality control operations

HISTORY– American Institute of Physics,

NYC for 2 years

– Academic Press, 38 years

35

Greg Grossart - 1996

Job - Actuarial Analyst Employer - William M. Mercer,

Inc., Chicago, IL Doing - Work in benefits

consulting

HISTORY– Worked 1 year in Healthcare and

Group Benefits

– Last 2.5 years for Retirement Practice (Indianapolis office)

36

Ali Mojahar - 1995

Job - Sr. Program Manager Employer - Microsoft

Corporation, IGT Global Networks and Systems

Doing - part of group responsible for Microsoft’s global IT infrastructure

HISTORY– First job as technical support for

VU, in Kretzmann Hall

– Taking some graduate classes

37

Donald Baeder - 1976

Job - Architect for licensing and installation

Employer - Cadence Design Systems

Doing - review all of the packaging and licensing for the entire company (over 700 individual software products)

HISTORY– Taught high school in Monon, IN

– MS EE/Computer Engineering from U of TX

38

Donald Becker - 1959

Job - Senior Research Nuclear Chemist

Employer - National Institutes of Standards and Technology

Doing - nuclear analytical chemistry by nuclear activation analysis

HISTORY– MS in Physical Chemistry at

Florida State 1961

39

Paul Nord - 1991

Job - Technical Specialist Employer - Valparaiso

University, Department of physics and astronomy

Doing - Lots of different stuff. Mostly with computers. But I often drill holes in walls. Work with department research projects and occasionally travel to research labs around the country.

HISTORY– Hired directly out of college by

VU physics department to work on research at Los Alamos.

– Position became more of a general technical support staff the following year.

40

John Kohlmeyer - 1983

Job - Director of Solutions Engineering

Employer - SAP America, Inc. a subsidiary of a German software company

Doing - Manage regional department of application consultants and a team of consultants who manage the internal demonstration systems

HISTORY

41

Bernard Dehlin - 1962

Job - Principal Engineer Employer - Raytheon Systems

Company, RF Systems Engineering Center

Doing - System engineering for airborne radar set special test equipment.

HISTORY– High school and junior college

physics teaching (16 years)

– MA 1970, California State

– 22 Years System software engineering (so far)

42

Walter Crosmer - 1956

Job - Manager of Systems Engineering Department of Inertial Systems Engineering

Employer - Space Systems Division of Honeywell Inc.

Doing - development and production of inertial reference systems for satellites, space probes, interceptor missiles. Mars Surveyor, European Mars Express, Titan Centaur, Atlas Centaur, THAAD, Patriot Advanced Capability.

HISTORY– Oklahoma A&M graduate school

in physics for one year

– Boeing Airplane company 1957, Seattle, WA

– 1960 Bendix Systems Division (working on Apollo, Viking), Ann Arbor, MI

– 1977 Honeywell Corporation, Clearwater, FL

43

Donald Thurnau - 1945

Job - Retired Employer - Doing - some consulting with oil

production software

HISTORY– Army service

– Some work with Manhattan Project

– MS in physics, U of Kansas, vacuum tube amplifiers

– 1949 Mobil Oil on Dallas, TX

– Ph.D. U of Colorado, ultraviolet spectroscopy.

– Dupont designing instrumentation

– Marathon Oil research center

– Formed a consulting company in 1968 to produce oil field software

44

Andrew Makowski - 1999

Job - Medical School Student Stritch School Of Medicine of

Loyola University of Chicago Doing - I’m the only physics

major in my class

HISTORY

45

Richard Maupin - 1999

Job - Graduate Student Employer - Ball State Doing - Grad student with

research fellowship, assist in planetarium presentations, process and analyze data collected on red stars, work at National Undergraduate Research Observatory near Flagstaff, AZ

HISTORY

46

Lindsey Hillesheim - 1999

Job - Graduate student in biophysics

Employer - University of Minnesota

Doing - Studying! And teaching lab sections.

HISTORY

47

Current Graduate Students

Grant Kiehne (1992) - physics Jason Webb (1995) - physics Eric Vaandering (1993) - physics Andrew Makowski (1999) - medicine Andrew Richter (1990) - physics Paul Kolb (1986) - physics Lindsey Hillesheim (1999) - biophysics Cindy (Thompson) Barnett (1996) - law Richard Maupin (1999) - astronomy/teaching

48

Closing thoughts...

Don’t be anxious about your future; you have many options! Think broadly about your future plans; they will likely change! Be confident about your preparation for you future; you’re in

good hands! Follow a broadly-based education; it will be the foundation for

change! Consider counsel from alumni - and even possible jobs through

them; they are a valuable resource One day you will appear on this list!