2015 arrived just days ago and with it a chance to go through last year’s mail and get caught up. A couple of issues of Reed magazine swam to the top, the oldest being March 2014’s “Thinker. Tailor. Soldier. Spy.” The cover story about Emilio Pucci ’37 described a life that was fascinating and incredible. Pucci could look back on coaching Reed’s first ski team in the 30’s, being arrested and beaten by the Gestapo during WWII, and achieving international fame as a fashion designer in the 60’s and 70’s. One admirer described Pucci’s fashion contributions as pushing “the boundaries of textile design through art and science. His contributions to color chemistry, graphic design, and textile engineering laid the groundwork for American designers.” Color chemistry. You had me at “color chemistry.” But I jest. I love spy stories. The cover made this a must-read issue for me.
Eliot Circular reported on Working Weekend ’14 (p. 6), which included a “Women in STEM” panel and several Reed science seniors, among chemist Leya Strode ’14 and biochemist Tally Levitz ’14.
From right, Tally Levitz ’14 and Leya Strode ’14
Empire of the Griffin asked readers to nominate a worthy graduate for the Thomas Lamb Eliot Award (“Know a Firecracker?,” p. 10). Did you know that Barbara Ehrenreich ’63, author of “Living with a Wild God,” and one of the first three Reedies to win the TLE Award was a Reed chemistry student? Empire of the Griffin also highlighted Reedies in Portland’s growing high-tech sector (“Reedies Take Spotlight in Portland’s Tech Scene,” p. 11), among them Reed chemistry graduate, Luke Kanies ’97, founder and CEO of Puppet Labs.
Night Owls: Christina Johnson ’15 (left), G Luhman ’15 (right)
“Revel on the Level” described the “Night Owls”, a group of Reedies with a simple mission: roam campus on weekend nights, engage with other students, and share smiles, snacks, and support. The Night Owls, who include BMB senior Christina Johnson ’15, chemistry-ES senior G Luhman ’15, help out partying classmates in a surprising number of ways, some of them fairly simple: walking an unsteady classmate back to their dorm room at the end of the night, summoning help for others who might need medical attention, and sharing common-sense tips on safe and responsible alcohol use. As dean of students, Mike Brody, puts it, “The Night Owls help us do the critically important work of keeping Reed safe, and in so doing I believe they embody the Reed ideal of honor.”
Alan Tuan ’14 checks on air quality monitoring equipment at 28th Ave warehouse
Another kind of chemical safety awareness project was described in “Rail Yard Blues” (p. 18-19). A casual visit to Reed might not tell you much about the Reed neighborhood, but it is a diverse mix of residential neighborhoods, light industry, an 18-hole public golf course, a one-of-a-kind spring-fed public rhododendron garden, and the Brooklyn Rail Yard, a major site for loading and unloading Portland rail cargo. Under a recent agreement between the Rail Yard and two neighborhood associations, Eastmoreland and Sellwood-Moreland, the Yard was allowed to expand its operations by equipping some of its diesel-powered cranes and packers with pollution filters. The associations, for their part, decided that it would be wise to monitor air quality around the Rail Yard so they helped fund an air quality monitoring lab located in a Reed warehouse on SE 28th. The lab is supervised by Prof. Juliane Fry, while the day-to-day work of installing and maintaining instruments rests on postdoctoral research assistant, Ben Ayres, and Reed chemistry-ES senior Alan Tuan ’14. One of the major research questions that the Fry team hopes to answer is whether they can use ‘black carbon’ measurements to tell whether the Rail Yard’s filters are working as intended. Stay tuned. (And for more on this story, read “Fry team to monitor air quality at Brooklyn yard,” Chemistry News, Nov. 19, 2013.)
Another new campus initiative, the Reed Leadership Academy (RELAY), was profiled in “Saving Starfish” (p. 22-23). RELAY’s goal is to train Reed students in the art of leadership and creative collaboration. The first group of RELAY participants drew students from all corners of campus, including environmental chemist, Kate Jentoft-Herr ’16.
Kate Jentoft-Herr ’16 with RELAY mentor Louis Cohen
After a sparse Class Notes section in Dec. ’13, the Spring edition brought ample news of Reed chemists. John Graef ’60 thanked Ginny Hancock ’62 for letting him sit in on Collegium rehearsals during his recent campus visits … Steven Neshyba ’81 alerted us to his upcoming 2015 sabbatical in Santiago, Chile … Harvard awarded the Frank H. Westheimer medal in chemistry to Kevan Shokat ’86 … and weddings kept an entire flock of Chem griffins busy: Rachael Relph ’03 and Peter Jordan ’03 attended the September wedding of classmate Noah Rindos ’02 and Stephanie Maximous, … Kellie Linn ’06 attended the August wedding of Ben Drury ’04 and Monika Tomsinski ’06 in Troutdale, … and Marty Mulvihill ’02 and Lee Pollack ’02 attended the wedding of Shimon Prohow ’02 and Nova Kennelty-Cohen (Class Notes also informed us that Rogue Dead Guy Ale was also present in abundance, but we’re unsure what connection that has with Reed chemistry), … and finally, Laurel Brehm ’08 and Chris Black ’08 celebrated their wedding at their home in October with Zach Schaefer ’08 and Connie Bailey ’10 in attendance. To the newlyweds, our wishes for your every happiness!
The In Memoriam section of the magazine told us the story of one Reed chemist who had recently passed:
- Robert Madison Maxwell ’50 (deceased June 23, 2013 in Lakewood, Tacome, Washington). The year before Robert earned his BA in chemistry, he married Mar L. Weible ’49, MAT ’67. Mary traveled by ship to Japan to be with him during his service as a flight engineer with the Air Force during the Korean War. Robert went on to earn a BA in education at UPS and an MA in counseling and psychology from South Dakota State University, and he and Mary taught together in the Clover Park School District in Tacoma. Following Mary’s death in 2009, Robert revisited Reed with his daughter and son.