As 2010 rolled to a close, the December ’10 issue of the Reed Magazine brought us some more news about the activities of Reed chemists …
- p. 10-11. The Reed Canyon continues to inspire and prosper. Canyon Day 2010 saw the community celebrate work on the lower canyon, including the removal of a culvert that was treacherous to fish, and the opening of a “meander” that connects the Reed Lake with the Pacific Ocean (with a few waterways in between). The restoration/improvement effort “has been made possible with the help of donors like Laurel Wilkening ’66, Michael Herz ’58, and emeritus trustee John Gray.”
- p. 13. Invasion of the Clickers reported on the first large-scale rollout of classroom response (or polling) systems, aka “clickers”, on campus. Clickers had been used in smaller classes prior to Fall 2010, but they zoomed above the radar in September when over 200 students in Chem 101 (introductory chemistry) and 201 (organic chemistry) were required to bring them to class each day. Profs. Geselbracht, Fry, and Shusterman can now report that “clicking” was a resounding success.
- p. 26-31. The magazine’s cover story, Growing the Curriculum, reported on Reed’s newest academic program: the Environmental Studies major. The development of this major has been a multi-year effort with the Chemistry department involved at every step. Profs. Glasfeld and Shusterman both served on planning committees that led to the faculty’s endorsement of the program, and Prof. Fry has been serving on the actual Environmental Studies committee that oversees the new program. The story also mentions two chemistry students: Claire Remington ’11 (thesis: “Some Concrete Chemistry: The Effect of Sound Walls on Benzene Concentration”) and Josh Katz ’12. Claire and Josh have collaborated on research projects with Julie Fry (the photo shows Josh and Julie standing on a glacier in Alaska in summer 2010) and have also been regular participants in another Reed environmental group, the Green Science Project.
- p. 34. A bit of Reed history – once upon a item, Reed College was poised to become Reed University. The article identifies the late Prof. Marsh Cronyn ’40 (chemistry professor 1952-89) as one of 32 faculty who were in favor of taking this step. He is also quoted as saying a graduate program would cost “really, hundreds of millions just to get started, minimal.”
- p. 53. A book review in the Reediana section by Henry Holt ’09 of Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America by Barbara Ehrenreich ’63
- p. 64. A report on Reed’s winter tradition of singing the Boar’s Head Carol. The version that is currently sung at Reed was reconstructed from memory by Prof. Virginia Oglesby Hancock ’62 (music 1991-present) and recalls an arrangement of the bass line that had been sung by Prof. John Hancock (chemistry professor 1955-89). Learn more about the carol and see a video of the procession here.
The Class Notes section reported that Chris Mathews ’58 is enjoying “semi-retirement” from his position as distinguished professor and chairman of biochemistry and biophysics at Oregon State University. He is working on a fourth edition of his book Biochemistry, among other scholarly endeavors. Also, a book sculpture, Chemical Azalea, of Pamela Matsuda-Dunn ’78, appeared in the exhibition Chemical Reactions at Central Booking in DUMBO (Brooklyn), New York. The work was inspired by Pamela’s daughter, Reiko Matsuda-Dunn ’08, whose first email and screenname was chemicalazalea. Reiko’s high school chemistry book forms part of the sculpture. 
We learned that Frank C. Pennington ’48 and Marcia Grein Pennington ’49 are the proud parents of Adriane Pennington Borgias ’79. She was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship for Environmental Leadership that will enable her to spend four months at the Bangalore Institute of Technology in India establishing an online compendium of Indian environmental knowledge. Two aspiring chemistry professors were awarded tenure: Seth Bush ’94 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Jeremy Kua ’96 at University of San Diego. And the Oregonian newspaper talked to Luke Kanies ’96 about the $5 million that his software firm, Puppet Labs, has received from Silicon Valley venture capitalists. According to Luke, “The main goal of this funding round is to begin offering commercial software to complement our open-source products.” Brief notes also alerted readers to the fact that Jordan Katz ’99 has joined the chemistry faculty at Denison University, Hassan Ghani ’08 is now studying medicine at USC, and Todd Dembo ’09 is engaged in graduate work in neuroscience at US San Francisco.
In Memoriam called our attention to the passing of two Reed chemists, David McDonald Dibrell ’41 (July 13, 2010 at home in Punahou, Hawaii) and Carl A. Johnson ’50 (June 20, 2004 in Port Ludlow, Washington). Details about Carl Johnson were sparse, but we learned that he was married to Bette Jo Raudebaugh ’50 and had been a manager at the Owens Illinois Glass Company. A lengthier entry on David Dibrell revealed that he grew up in Ketchikan, Alaska, and attended high school in Seattle. Following his Reed graduation he worked for Longview Fibre Company in Washington. In 1943, he joined the navy, serving aboard the troop carrier USS General T.H. Bliss during WWII. Sticking with the navy, he earned an MS in meteorology, became an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy, and served as an officer on several ships including a stint as commanding officer of the destroyer Twining. In 1964, he assumed the rather
vague title of “Director of Pacific Oceanography”; in fact, this was military cover for his real job of hunting Russian submarines. he receive the Navy Commendation Medal for his “resourcefulness and organizational ability.” When he left the navy, he taught math and science at Punahou School. He was married to the late Helene White and they had one son. David had been a longtime generous (and anonymous) supporter of the college. He established the Walter Crockett Dibrell Scholarship in honor of his father.