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Rich Legacy Leads to Teaching and Learning Building

GROUNDBREAKING MARKS BEGINNING OF CONSTRUCTION

KEVIN MAPP

Pres. Klawe leads faculty, AABoG, student and trustee representatives in the breaking of ground for the new teaching and learning building. Construction progress can be viewed at any time via the web. A camera takes stills every five minutes. This image was taken in mid-December.

Saturday, Oct. 1, was an exciting day as community members celebrated the groundbreaking of the first academic building to be constructed on campus since 1993. But the ceremonial hard hats and shovels were taken up only after many expressions of gratitude to the Garrett Family, who are among the key pioneers whose past efforts made the day’s events possible.

Garrett family members Marvin (son of founding Trustee Leroy Garrett) and Judy (Marvin’s spouse) joined HMC Board of Trustees, alumni, faculty, staff, students, architectural and construction staff, community members and friends, to cele-

brate the historic occasion in a tent adjacent to the construction site, where Thomas-Garrett Hall once stood. Speakers described how the 50-year-old academic building impacted the Mudd community and helped to inform the program of the new teaching and learning building that will be completed in 2013.

Kerry Karukstis, chair of the faculty and Joseph B. Platt Professor of Effective Teaching in Chemistry, said Thomas-Garrett “fostered our vision of this exciting facility, and for that we owe the Garrett family an immense amount of gratitude.”

“Their names are around [campus] because of a financial commitment, but the real commitment was of the heart,” said Marvin Garrett of his father and stepmother. “They were dedicated with the Mudd family to creating and being part of the creation of a science and engineering facility second to none in the world. That emotional dedication was equally as important as the financial commitment. Also, my father had great foresight and always looked ahead, and I think he would be very comfortable that the time had come to move to the next era in the College’s history.”

Assistant Vice President of Planning and Construction David Dower reported that during the fall months, installation of soldier beams, lagging and tie-backs were completed to allow excavation. Excavation operations included removal of approximately 23,000 cubic yards of earth to create the space for the new building’s foundation and basement. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing coordination with the BubbleDeck® structural systems should be completed by the first of the year.

For a birds-eye view of construction 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (fiveminute delay), see hmc.edu/building/construction.shtml.

Groundbreaking: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXhOoXYGC0o&feature=youtu.be Demolition: www.youtube.com/harveymuddcollege#p/u/2/QWV4MFAt6SE

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College News

Space Program a Valuable Scientific Resource

ASTRONAUT BRUCE MCCANDLESS CITES NEED FOR “NEW AND AGGRESSIVE” ENGINEERS

Risk management is key for advancing space exploration, said United States space program veteran and astronaut Bruce McCandless. “The real challenge is to take a task which has a perception of high risk and engineer and analyze it until you overcome and manage those risks and then go forward and conquer it,” he said.

McCandless visited campus Oct. 4 to present the Astronaut Scholarship Award to Paul Riggins ’12 and to provide a historic look at NASA’s space shuttle program, a review of lessons learned and a glance at the potential future of space exploration.

He highlighted pending and future projects including the James Webb Space Telescope, which can image data farther out in the infrared band. Its planned position of a million miles out from Earth, however, may make it difficult to service should a problem arise, McCandless said.

He also touched on the current shift toward commercial lowearth orbit vehicles, China’s development of the space station, “Heavenly Palace-1,” efforts to address near-Earth asteroids, and NASA’s new Space Launch System.

“I do believe we are in a time of great change. We need new and aggressive engineers and scientists to develop new concepts and push them,” McCandless said. “It’s a new day. The opportunities are different, but they are there.”

—Koren Wetmore

Trustee Update

The Harvey Mudd College Board of Trustees recently approved the appointment of Kevin Schofield P13 of Bellevue, Wash. He is general manager for strategy and communications at Microsoft Research, where he develops relationships with customers, press, analysts and Microsoft’s own product groups. Schofield joined Microsoft in 1988, and has worked in Microsoft Research since 1997. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Schofield is deeply involved with the Human-Computer Interaction research field and is the co-author of three issued patents and several pending ones. Schofield’s twin daughters, Elly and Xanda, are both members of the HMC class of 2013.

STEVE SCHENCK

Astronaut Bruce McCandless congratulates Paul Riggins ’12, 2011 Astronaut Scholar.

High Regards

The annual rankings roundup

U.S. News and World Report

No. 1 in undergraduate engineering (tied with Rose-Hulman) No. 1 SAT/ACT percentile range (25th-75th) among incoming students No. 18 among 252 U.S. private and public liberal arts colleges

PayScale, 2011-12 College Salary Report

No. 1 Highest salaries of all U.S. liberal arts college graduates. HMC alumni earn a median starting salary of $64,400 and a median mid-career salary of $121,000.

Washington Monthly

No. 1 among liberal arts colleges whose undergraduates go on to get their Ph.D.s. No. 2 “Best Engineering Colleges by Salary Potential” No. 9 among liberal arts colleges that give back to their communities

Princeton Review Guidebook

One of “The Best 376 Colleges”; among “Best in the West” No. 1 “Students Study the Most” No. 2 “Professors Get High Marks”

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College News

Pre-Sputnik Mentality Urged

MADELEINE JACOBS SAYS RAISING AWARENESS OF CHEMISTRY IS KEY

Noted chemist Madeleine Jacobs shares her insight with Nelson Series co-organizer Prof. Jerry Van Hecke ’61 and a student participant.

In preparation for the International Year of Chemistry, numerous countries issued postage stamps celebrating the long-venerated “science of matter.” Notably missing is the United States’ version, demonstrating that chemistry does not always receive the appreciation it deserves, a noted chemist observed this fall while speaking on campus.

“People don’t fully appreciate what chemistry does for daily life,” Madeleine Jacobs, executive director and CEO of the American Chemical Society, told a near-capacity audience Oct. 6 during the 2011 Dr. Bruce J. Nelson ’74 Speaker Series.

Clearly, much is needed to raise the level of consciousness about chemistry.

“If there’s a single challenge in the world that does not involve chemistry, I cannot tell you what it is,” said Jacobs. “Chemists and chemical engineers will be part of solving [those] challenges—it’s important that people understand this.”

Jacobs is an honored science journalist and an internationally acclaimed public speaker with an extensive understanding of the chemistry field.

According to Jacobs, more chemists, chemical engineers and other scientists are needed to solve the world’s most pressing problems. She said students like those at HMC—“the elite”— are embarking on a noble calling.

“Although some of you may not become scientists and engineers, the studying you are doing at Harvey Mudd will serve you well,” she said. “There is nothing that goes on in the world that does not involve understanding.”

Still, Jacobs said she is concerned about what she perceives is a lack of interest in science, a shortcoming she believes begins at a young age. The passion and rigor that have long characterized science and technology in the U.S. are fading, she said.

In part because of that, the U.S. faces a strong challenge to its longstanding pre-eminence in science and technology.

“We can still claim superiority—we have the best colleges and universities in the world,” Jacobs said. “The standard of living that we enjoy and hope to extend around the world is due to advances in science and technology.”

Despite the challenges, Jacobs said hope lies in the exciting opportunities available to the country’s best and brightest.

“There must be a return to the feeling of the pre-Sputnik era,” Jacobs said. “We need to get back to the sense that science and engineering are noble callings that will do good things for humanity. Being a scientist is about helping people, and that’s really the end goal of everything you do.”

Talks by each of this year’s Nelson Series speakers—Jacobs, Peter Atkins, Peter Dervan and Judith Giordan—can be found on the HMC YouTube channel.

—Steven K. Wagner

VIDEO Nelson Talks: youtube.com/watch?v=iGyV_51mm3I&feature=youtu.be.

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College News

Grants Benefit Wide Range of Students, Programs

SUMMER RESEARCH IN CHEMISTRY RECEIVES BOOST

CHEMISTRY

Undergraduate research in chemistry received a welcome boost from the John Stauffer Charitable Trust, which donated $150,000 toward Chemistry’s summer research program.

Stauffer trustees John F. Bradley, Sr., H. Jess Senecal and Michael R. Whalen presented Dean of Faculty Robert Cave and Chemistry Department Chair Hal Van Ryswyk with a check Sept. 20 during an inaugural meeting with HMC students and faculty. Trustees also visited Professor Karl Haushalter’s chemistry class.

The funds match gifts and pledges raised by HMC faculty, alumni, parents and friends.

“We are pleased for the continued support of the John Stauffer Charitable Trust,” said Van Ryswyk. “They understand the critical importance of a summer research experience in the training of our students, and we gladly accept their challenge to make such opportunities available to all of our students.”

In 2008, the Stauffer Trust awarded a matching challenge grant to HMC to establish an endowed fund for student research in chemistry. The goal is to raise $500,000 so that, when fully funded, the Stauffer Challenge will provide a total of $1 million to provide access to summer research opportunities for all chemistry students.

Since 1960, when a National Science Foundation grant allowed six HMC chemistry students to undertake research during the summer, the Summer Research Program has grown beyond chemistry to include a second NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and more than 100 research projects annually.

Established by prominent Los Angeles industrialist John Stauffer, founder of the Stauffer Chemical Company, the Pasadena, Calif.-based Stauffer Trust has been a longtime supporter of science education at Southern California colleges and universities.

COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, PHYSICS

The Henry Luce Foundation has granted Harvey Mudd College $200,000 to provide scholarships to female students majoring in computer science, engineering or physics. The grant is an affirmation of the College’s priority to increase the representation of women at HMC.

The Clare Boothe Luce scholarships will be awarded during the 2012–2013 and 2013–2014 academic years.

“We are deeply grateful for this vote of confidence in our work by the Luce Foundation, which increases the resources at hand for outstanding women students,” said President Maria Klawe.

The Clare Boothe Luce Program is the single-largest private source of funding for women in science and engineering.

KEVIN MAPP

Chemistry Professor Karl Haushalter (left) and fellow faculty members helped raise funds that were matched by the John Stauffer Charitable Trust.

Haushalter’s HIV research: www.youtube.com/harveymuddcollege#p/