{"id":4545,"date":"2015-01-06T18:29:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T02:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/chemistry_news\/?p=4545"},"modified":"2015-01-06T18:29:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T02:29:02","slug":"alumni-news-from-reed-magazine-march-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/chemistry_news\/2015\/01\/alumni-news-from-reed-magazine-march-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni News from Reed Magazine, March ’14"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover\u00a02015 arrived just days ago and with it a chance to go through last year\u2019s mail and get caught up. A couple of issues of Reed magazine swam to the top, the oldest being March 2014\u2019s \u201cThinker. Tailor. Soldier. Spy.\u201d<\/strong><\/a> The cover story about Emilio Pucci \u201937 described a life that was fascinating and incredible. Pucci could look back on coaching Reed\u2019s first ski team in the 30\u2019s, being arrested and beaten by the Gestapo during WWII, and achieving international fame as a fashion designer in the 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s. One admirer described Pucci\u2019s fashion contributions as pushing \u201cthe boundaries of textile design through art and science. His contributions to color chemistry<\/strong>, graphic design, and textile engineering laid the groundwork for American designers.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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Eliot Circular reported on Working Weekend \u201914<\/strong><\/a> (p. 6), which included a \u201cWomen in STEM\u201d panel and several Reed science seniors, among chemist Leya Strode \u201914<\/strong> and biochemist Tally Levitz \u201914<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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From right, Tally Levitz ’14 and Leya Strode ’14<\/p><\/div>\n

Empire of the Griffin asked readers to nominate a worthy graduate for the Thomas Lamb Eliot Award (“Know a Firecracker?<\/a>,” p. 10). Did you know that Barbara Ehrenreich \u201963<\/strong>, author of \u201cLiving with a Wild God,\u201d 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\u2019s growing high-tech sector (“Reedies Take Spotlight in Portland’s Tech Scene<\/a>,” p. 11), among them Reed chemistry graduate, Luke Kanies \u201997<\/strong>, founder and CEO of Puppet Labs.<\/p>\n

\"Night

Night Owls: Christina Johnson ’15 (left), G Luhman ’15 (right)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cRevel on the Level\u201d<\/a> described the \u201cNight Owls\u201d, 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 \u201915<\/strong>, chemistry-ES senior G Luhman \u201915<\/strong>, 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, \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alan

Alan Tuan ’14 checks on air quality monitoring equipment at 28th Ave warehouse<\/p><\/div>\n

Another kind of chemical safety awareness project was described in \u201cRail Yard Blues\u201d<\/a> (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<\/sup>. The lab is supervised by Prof. Juliane Fry<\/strong>, while the day-to-day work of installing and maintaining instruments rests on postdoctoral research assistant, Ben Ayres<\/strong>, and Reed chemistry-ES senior Alan Tuan \u201914<\/strong>. One of the major research questions that the Fry team hopes to answer is whether they can use \u2018black carbon\u2019 measurements to tell whether the Rail Yard\u2019s filters are working as intended. Stay tuned. (And for more on this story, read “Fry team to monitor air quality at Brooklyn yard,”<\/a> Chemistry News, Nov. 19, 2013.)<\/p>\n

Another new campus initiative, the Reed Leadership Academy (RELAY), was profiled in \u201cSaving Starfish<\/a>\u201d (p. 22-23). RELAY\u2019s 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 \u201916<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Kate

Kate Jentoft-Herr ’16 with RELAY mentor Louis Cohen<\/p><\/div>\n

After a sparse Class Notes section in Dec. \u201913, the Spring edition brought ample news of Reed chemists. John Graef \u201960 thanked Ginny Hancock \u201962<\/strong> for letting him sit in on Collegium rehearsals during his recent campus visits \u2026 Steven Neshyba \u201981<\/strong> alerted us to his upcoming 2015 sabbatical in Santiago, Chile \u2026 Harvard awarded the Frank H. Westheimer medal in chemistry to Kevan Shokat \u201986<\/strong> \u2026 and weddings kept an entire flock of Chem griffins busy: Rachael Relph \u201903<\/strong> and Peter Jordan \u201903<\/strong> attended the September wedding of classmate Noah Rindos \u201902 and Stephanie Maximous, \u2026 Kellie Linn \u201906<\/strong> attended the August wedding of Ben Drury \u201904 and Monika Tomsinski \u201906 in Troutdale, \u2026 and Marty Mulvihill \u201902<\/strong> and Lee Pollack \u201902<\/strong> attended the wedding of Shimon Prohow \u201902 and Nova Kennelty-Cohen (Class Notes also informed us that Rogue Dead Guy Ale was also present in abundance, but we\u2019re unsure what connection that has with Reed chemistry), \u2026 and finally, Laurel Brehm \u201908 and Chris Black \u201908 celebrated their wedding at their home in October with Zach Schaefer \u201908<\/strong> and Connie Bailey \u201910<\/strong> in attendance. To the newlyweds, our wishes for your every happiness!<\/p>\n

The In Memoriam<\/strong> section of the magazine told us the story of one Reed chemist who had recently passed:<\/p>\n