SUMMER 2014 UMass Lowell MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

STRAIGHTSTREEP MERYL ON CAMPUS: THE ZEN OF CRAFT, THE MYSTERY OF ACTING SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 The UMass Lowell Alumni A Message from Magazine is published by: Chancellor Martin T. Meehan ’78 Office of University Relations University of Massachusetts Lowell One University Avenue Lowell, MA 01854 978-934-3224 This magazine was born in 1986, launched by one person, then a part-time [email protected] VOLUME 17 NUMBER 2 employee of what was then the University of Lowell. No one had asked her UMass Lowell Chancellor to create a magazine, but she felt strongly that the university should strive MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS Martin T. Meehan ’78 to forge better connections with its alumni. Executive Vice Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney ’75, ’92 In those early days, she—along with a rotating staff of one or two other part-timers in “News and Publications”—did everything: They were reporters, writers, editors, designers, photographers, Vice Chancellor of Cover Story 26 University Relations advertising reps, postal workers—even typesetters. Patricia McCafferty When Meryl Streep agreed to speak at That person was Mary Lou Hubbell, who retired at the end of June as director of publications Vice Chancellor for UMass Lowell as part of our Chancellor’s and publisher of the UMass Lowell Magazine for Alumni and Friends. University Advancement Speaker Series (for free!), some of us on Edward Chiu On her watch, the magazine evolved from a homegrown publication pro- campus expected her visit to come with STRAIGHT Executive Director of Marketing Bryce Hoffman duced on a shoe-string budget to a glossy winner of more than a dozen indus- an enormous dose of fanfare. Surely, we try awards. Mary Lou’s spunk and endless quest to produce “good stuff—no, reasoned, the woman who is arguably Publisher great stuff” will be missed, and we thank her for more than three decades of Mary Lou Hubbell ’85 the greatest living actress must be accom- STREEP service to the university whose reputation she helped build. panied by people wherever she goes. We were ready for publicists, bodyguards, stylists, make-up artists, a Director of Alumni Relations Heather Makrez ’06, ’08 Mary Lou should have a lot more time for reading now—and I hope the driver—perhaps even a personal umbrella holder. What we got was Meryl. She drove herself (by herself) from Connecticut and from the second she arrived, was down-to-earth and kind. She met with students, Communications Manager same can be said for you this summer. Please turn the page and read on Nichole Carter to learn about all the “great stuff” happening at UMass Lowell. and then spoke to a sold-out crowd at the Tsongas Center—both times telling wickedly funny stories, offering thoughtful life advice, and posing for many, many photos. And along the way, she quietly raised Editor Sarah McAdams Corbett $230,000 for student scholarships. Read all about her visit on Page 26.

Designer Paul Shilale

Staff Writers Martin T. Meehan CONTENTS Edwin Aguirre Chancellor Karen Angelo Geoffrey Douglas Sheila Eppolito THE HAITI CAPSTONE 32 Jill Gambon CALENDAR OF EVENTS Julia K. Gavin Jack McDonough University Crossing Grand Opening Celebration, Sept. 16, University Crossing, 220 Pawtucket St., 2 p.m. Ribbon-cutting and Dave Perry festivities. Public welcome. Visit uml.edu/universitycrossing. THE DRONES ARE COMING 38 Contributing Photographers: River Hawk Homecoming (formerly known as Fall Festival), Oct. 24 – 26. Rediscover UMass Lowell and reconnect with family, Edwin Aguirre, Ed Collier, Tory Germann, Jim Higgins, friends and fellow alumni, Events include reunions, River Hawk hockey games, golden alumni brunch, campus tours and live enter- tainment. Visit uml.edu/riverhawkhomecoming to learn more about events like: 14 Marty Meehan ’78 32 Brendan Sprague ’14 42 Roseann Sdoia ’91 Joson Images, Meghan Moore, LOVE FROM THE RUINS and Bill Nye Emily Antonelli Ray 42 Chancellor’s Leadership Society Dinner, Oct. 23, UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, 5:30 p.m. Join us in celebrating donors uml.edu/alumni who support the university with annual gifts of $1,000 or more, as well as lifetime honorees who have given over $100,000. For facebook.com/umasslowell more information, call 978-934-4449 or email [email protected]. twitter.com/umasslowell FACE OF PHILANTHROPY 50 Celebration of Scholarship Luncheon, Oct. 24, UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, noon–2 p.m. Join scholarship recipients Please send address changes to: and the generous benefactors who made their scholarships possible. For more information, call 978-934-4449 or email Gerty_ University of Massachusetts Lowell [email protected]. Office of University Advancement Charles J. Hoff Alumni Scholarship ALUMNI LIFE 40th and 50th Reunion Celebration, Oct. 24, registration, campus tours, deans discussions, River Hawks hockey game; Oct. 25, 52 Center, 1 Perkins St. Lowell, MA 01854-2882 reunion class photos, cocktail receptions, dinners, River Hawks hockey game; Oct. 26, Golden Alumni Brunch. [email protected] 978-934-2223 For more information about events, visit www.uml.edu/alumni or call 978-934-3140. EDITOR’S NOTE: Please send comments to Editor 50 Jeffrey Cosiol ’67 55 Christine Cournoyer ’73 56 Brian Rist ’77 UMass Lowell is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action, Sarah McAdams Corbett at [email protected]. Title IX, H/V, ADA 1990 Employer. Submit class notes at www.uml.edu/advancement/classnotes. The UMass Lowell Magazine for Alumni and Friends is a 2013 winner of platinum and gold Hermes Creative Awards, a Silver Bell Ringer, a CASE District I Silver Excellence Award, an APEX Award of Excellence and honorable mentions in the PR Daily Awards and the PR Daily Nonprofit PR Awards.

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SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 1 Firstlook

John Pulichino ’67, ’14 (H) and his wife, Joy Tong ’14 (H), along with their son, Michael Pulichino, helped celebrate the groundbreaking of the home for the Manning School of Business on North Campus. The building is scheduled to be completed in 2017.

$40 Million Business Building Breaks Ground Business students at UMass Lowell will study in a brand new facility with a four-story atrium, a big-screen LED, streaming stock ticker and technology-enhanced classrooms in a building for which a groundbreaking was held in May. The Pulichino Tong Business Building, which will be home to the university’s Manning School of Business when it is completed in 2017, will become a key component in the continuing transformation of the North Campus. The $40 million building will be named for UMass Lowell grad- uate John Pulichino ’67, ’14 (H) and his wife, Joy Tong ’14 (H), successful entrepreneurs in the travel-goods industry who have donated $4 million to student scholarships. UMass Lowell leaders envision that the new building will complete an innovation district dedicated to business education and scientific research and development in support of the region’s economy. The building will serve UMass Lowell’s growing population of undergraduate and graduate students studying accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, international business, management and operations and information systems. The centerpiece of the 52,000-square-foot Pulichino Tong Business Building will be the atrium, which will overlook an outdoor plaza formed by the new and existing buildings, creating more green space on North Campus. The new building’s other features will include a finance labora- tory designed to simulate on-the-job experiences in the business world, such as a trading room and high-tech classrooms and seminar rooms that can accommodate more than 400 students. n

2 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 3 Ourworld Campus Life

Inside... 5 OUR WORLD 11 COMMENCEMENT 16 STUDENT SCENE 18 SPORTS UPDATE 22 LAB NOTES

On Our Honor: New Opportunities for Students Chemical engineering student Steven Jacek ’16 says that thanks to the honors program at UMass Lowell, he’s been able to expand his brain power—and his social life. “Meeting best friends who are just as likely to take a pingpong match way too seriously as Following a yearlong, student-driven argue about the atomic weight of nickel is a wonderful thing,” he says. campaign to clear the air on campus, Starting this fall, Steven and his peers will have many more opportunities for late-night UMass Lowell will become smoke- and debates about chemical elements over the ping pong table. The brand new UMass Lowell Honors tobacco-free effective this fall. College will welcome its first class in September. The new policy, initiated by the Student Government Association (SGA) Approved for the campus by the UMass Board of Trustees in February, the college already has and endorsed by the Faculty Senate FLYING HIGH 800 students enrolled for its launch. and the administration, will designate In April, students celebrated the warm The campus has offered an honors program to students for nearly two decades, but the all campus property as tobacco-free. Implementation will include signs across weather (and the end of the semester) elevation to an honors college will mean expanded resources, new courses and more opportuni- ties for valuable real-world experience through co-ops in business and industry and service- campus and smoking-cessation pro- over Spring Carnival Weekend, which learning projects around the world. gramming provided by Lowell General featured a Mardi Gras party, live Hospital. The university’s existing policy Since 2008, enrollment of honors students at UMass Lowell has increased to 733 from 298. music, inflatable rides, a BBQ—and prohibits smoking inside or within 25 feet This year, the university saw a record number of first-year students—more than 270, with an of campus buildings. kite-flying. average SAT score of 1285—join the honors program. “It has been inspiring to watch Already in place for Honors College students are specialized living-learning communities; countless clubs, organizations and indi- small, seminar-style classes; and expanded academic requirements and offerings. viduals come together for the purpose of creating a healthier living and learning Added this fall for the Honors College will be dedicated space in the new $95 million student environment on our campus,” says SGA center at University Crossing and a “Personal Librarian Project” that will assign a librarian to President Amanda Robinson. every junior and senior in the college to enhance attention students receive as they research and write their honors theses.

4 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 5 Ourworld CAMPUS NEWS

National Student Affairs Group The cast of “Fiddler on the Roof” (including Eddie Mekka of “Laverne & Shirley” fame, center) played honors Meehan and Evans to a nearly full house at Durgin Hall June 27-29. RAISE THE Presented by the Greater Lowell Music Theatre— One of the nation’s largest organizations of collegiate student affairs professionals in partnership with the university’s Office of recently presented its President of the Community Relations—the musical was directed Year Award to Chancellor Marty by Jack Neary ‘73 (see class note on Page 53). Meehan, calling him “a leader with ROOF! vision, ability and boundless energy who gets results.” The Association of College Unions International (ACUI) honored Meehan during its annual conference this spring. Meehan was recognized for his “com- mitment to the student experience on campus,” including holding monthly open forums with students and reinforc- ing the importance of student involve- ment. ACUI also cited Meehan for his pledge to provide students the space they need for their programs, activities, services and more at University Cross- ing, a new, $95 million student center to open this fall. Also honored by ACUI was Brenda Evans, UMass Lowell’s dean of student affairs and event services. Evans received the organization’s Presidential Award for Distinguished Service. The award is given at the discretion of ACUI’s president and has not been presented in several years, according to South African Peace Crusader the group. Inspires Campus as Greeley Scholar REPORT: UMASS LOWELL DELIVERED In 1988, Albie Sachs, a well-known South African peace activist, unlocked his car in $812M IN POSITIVE ECONOMIC IMPACT Mozambique and a car bomb took his right arm and his sight. Undeterred, Sachs contin- ued his fight for human rights. UMass Lowell’s positive economic impact on the region added up to more than $812 million last year, support- New Degree Programs Address Sachs, who has lived a remarkable and inspiring life, was named UMass Lowell’s 2014 ing thousands of jobs and businesses, according to a Happy Looming Public Health Crisis Greeley Scholar for Peace. He was on campus in April, giving talks and meeting with report by the UMass Donahue Institute. members of the campus community. Experts say it’s nothing short of a public health-care crisis. The Centers for UMass Lowell increased its impact by $322 million, Birthday Disease Control predicts a shortage of 250,000 health-care workers in the Sachs was instrumental in negotiations that led to South Africa becoming a consti- or 66 percent, in just three years, up from $490 million United States by the year 2020. In Massachusetts alone, employment in tutional democracy, taking on challenges—including arms surrender and writing the in fiscal year 2010, according to the report. The com- to Us! public health occupations is expected to grow by 25 percent by 2050. constitution—that had been considered insurmountable by most in that nation. He monwealth provided UMass Lowell with $79 million last Responding to this growing crisis, the College of Health Sciences is served as National Executive of the African National Congress and as judge on the year, which the campus in turn used to create a tenfold introducing new bachelor’s and master’s public health degree programs for Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2009, appointed to the position by The Sound Recording return on investment. Technology Department the fall semester. Nelson Mandela. “UMass Lowell is a key economic driver in the graduated its 30th “Our goal is to produce graduates who can have a positive impact on health During his years as a judge, the court abolished the death penalty and overturned commonwealth, directly or indirectly affecting every class in May, bringing by decreasing the incidence of preventable diseases while reducing health-care its alumni base to laws criminalizing homosexuality. Justice Sachs also wrote the opinion in the landmark person in the state,” the report states, adding that costs,” says Dean Shortie McKinney of the College of Health Sciences. about 1,000. decision legalizing same-sex marriage in South Africa. For all his efforts, Sachs received UMass Lowell’s contributions to the economy from Trends fueling the workforce shortage include a greater public interest in the Tang Prize in June, considered Asia’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize. major construction projects and spending by faculty, health promotion and disease prevention, an aging population and an increase in the number of people retiring from jobs in the public health field. Speaking about the negotiations that led to democracy in South Africa, Sachs told staff and students “generates significant benefits for The Civil and an enthralled audience of students, faculty and staff in April, “The process had ups and the Massachusetts economy.” Environmental “We have faculty experts in place who are world-renowned in their fields to downs, breakdowns and massacres—this was not just a bunch of nice people coming to The city’s second-largest employer, after Lowell Engineering Depart- deliver high-caliber programs that will motivate and educate the next genera- { ment—which tion of public health professionals,” says McKinney. a table, but we worked together and eventually succeeded.” General Hospital, UMass Lowell employs approximate- turns the big 4-5 ly 1,400 full-time faculty and staff, more than 560 of Students enrolled in the bachelor of science in public health degree At one event on campus, Sachs was joined by Leymah Gbowee, the 2011 Greeley this year—has Scholar for Peace Studies and the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Linda Biehl, the whom live in Lowell. program will choose between three options—community health and health awarded more than promotion, environmental and occupational health, and health sciences. One 2008 Greeley Peace Scholar. The Greeley program was created in honor of the late Rev. 2,500 undergrad Eighty-nine percent of UMass Lowell undergraduates of the options in the master of public health degree (M.P.H.) program is global Dana McLean Greeley, longtime Concord resident and leader of the First Parish there. and 61 percent of graduate students are Massachusetts and grad degrees. With nearly 5,000 alumni in its ranks, } environmental sustainability and health. Additional options for the M.P.H. residents. Of UMass Lowell’s 80,283 living alumni, 49,733 the Computer and Electrical Engineering program are in the planning stages. live in the commonwealth. Department celebrates six decades this year.

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FORMER MILL Greher Named COUNTING HOUSE Helping Student Vets BECOMES ALUMNI Put Military Experience Donahue Professor Alumni Saluted for SCHOLARSHIP to Work Music Prof. Gena Commitment to CENTER Greher is the Twenty-five veterans earning degrees at UMass Lowell are newest Nancy The new UMass Lowell Community, Campus participating in a program designed to help them translate Donahue Endowed alumni scholarship center their military strengths into success in one of Massachu- Professor of the has been named in tribute UMass Lowell presented its annual University setts’ fastest-growing industries. Arts, a position Alumni Awards recently to seven graduates to distinguished alumnus funded through a Charles J. Hoff ’66, ’04 (H). who have distinguished themselves professionally UMass Lowell is the first university in Massachusetts to $500,000 gift from The center is located in and have also supported the university with work with Edge4Vets to provide specialized training as well patrons Richard the newly renovated ad- exceptional leadership and service to the campus as connections with prominent companies in life sciences and Nancy Donahue to support ministration building of arts education. and community: the former Lawrence as a way to offer the student-veterans entry into the field. Manufacturing Co. at Among the benefits of the program are guaranteed inter- Greher will use the award to James J. Barry, Ph.D. ’88 of Marlborough 1 Perkins St., Lowell. views for internships with major employers. support the Lowell Youth Orchestra (College of Sciences) is principal at the Conver- and the Lowell String Project, which gent Biomedical Group and holds a Ph.D. in The naming recognizes Executives from sponsoring companies participate as provide high-quality stringed- biochemistry from the University of Lowell and a Downtown Innovation Hoff’s leadership as the mentors during workshops where student-veterans are in- instrument instruction and creative B.S. in chemistry from Saint Anselm College. Hub to Offer Startups chair of UMass Lowell’s structed in how to find their strengths, develop confidence music classes to Lowell Public School first-ever major comprehen- expressing them and make connections to build a network students. The String Project offers Mark Cocozza ’71 of Boston (Manning School Room to Grow sive fundraising campaign, of contacts that can land them a job and career. university students hands-on experi- of Business) is chairman of the board of Grand- as well as his generous ence teaching children. view International, a global distributor of Thanks to funding from the state, UMass legacy of giving to the More than 1,400 student-veterans attend UMass Lowell, footwear and accessories. Lowell is better able to help medical-device and Greher’s work has been largely university. This includes a which is ranked among the most military-friendly schools bio-tech startup companies supported by the collaborative. Sound Thinking, a recent major commitment, in the nation by G.I. Jobs magazine. Home to award- Louis B. Coiro ’82 of Andover (College of university’s Massachusetts Medical Device De- class co-taught with Jesse Heines of in addition to his steadfast winning ROTC units and an active student-veterans Health Sciences) is the owner and founder of velopment Center (M2D2) and will also expand the Computer Science Department, support of the Charles J. organization, the university in 2011 established an Office Tewksbury Physical Therapy and Drum Hill its startup space for a wide range of other types of brings the seemingly opposite worlds Hoff Scholarship program, of Veterans Services and dedicated space on campus to Physical and Sports Therapy in Chelmsford. ventures. of music and computers together. which provides financial serve this population’s specific needs. Greher and Heines recently published The funding will be used to help build the Patricia Dyer McPhail ’54 of Hattiesburg, Miss. assistance to students across a book called “Computational Think- university’s Downtown Innovation Hub, located (Graduate School of Education), a prominent the entire University of ing in Sound: Teaching the Art and in a renovated mill in Lowell’s emergent Hamil- member of the real estate community in Mississippi Massachusetts system. The Science of Music and Technology.” ton Canal District. for nearly 40 years, is a former president of program is the largest pri- Pat McPhail Inc. and McPhail Enterprises Inc. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center vately initiated scholarship granted $4 million to create the Big Company/ program in UMass history. SHINA NAMED CHAMP Jacqueline Moloney, Ed.D. ’75, ’92 of Chelms- Little Company Innovation Hub to support The new Charles J. Hoff ford (College of Fine Arts, Humanities and M2D2, a joint initiative of UMass Lowell OF REDUCING TOXICS Alumni Scholarship Center Social Sciences) is executive vice chancellor of and UMass Worcester that provides medical- Getting the lead out of electronics offers meeting and recep- UMass Lowell. She founded UMass Lowell’s highly device entrepreneurs with access to world-class isn’t easy. But Prof. Sammy Shina tion space for alumni and successful online education program, which has researchers and resources. The grant will allow has stayed the course since 1999. campus events and houses earned several prestigious international awards. M2D2 to dedicate 11,000 square feet of incuba- He founded the New England Office of University Ad- tor space for startup companies at the Hamilton Lead-Free Electronics Consortium, Richard A. Pierro Jr. ’83 of Hampton Falls, N.H. vancement operations. Canal facility. M2D2 will continue to operate an a group of about 30 electronics (Francis College of Engineering), is president additional 11,000 square feet of incubator space The $2 million renova- companies, that has worked and co-owner of Superior Controls in Seabrook, it has managed at Wannalancit Building for tion is a showpiece for the together to find safer alternatives N.H. several years. dramatic expansion of the to lead used on circuit boards. Adam M. Hogue ’03 of Lincoln (Recent Alumnus “We are grateful to Gov. Patrick and the UMass Lowell campus and is For his leadership, inspiration Award) is an adviser at Coastal Capital Group LLC, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center for rec- located in what was known and determination, the Toxics Use a financial-planning firm in Danvers, as well as the ognizing how M2D2 helps entrepreneurs turn as the counting house at Reduction Institute, state Sen. author of the book, “Shaping the Battlefield,” innovative ideas into real products,” says the Lawrence Manufactur- Marc Pacheco, Commissioner of about his experiences during an 11-month military UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan. ing Co. Built in 1877, it is the Massachusetts Department deployment in Afghanistan. In April, Gov. Deval Patrick announced a historic landmark built of Environmental Protection in High Victorian Gothic David Cash and state legislators $1 million in other state funding, which will be The Office of Veterans Services serves 1,400 student-veterans style. used to build research and development labs on with programs like Edge4Vets, which trains them for careers in the recently recognized Shina as another floor of the Hamilton Canal facility. life-sciences industry. the “Academic Champion of Toxics Use Reduction” at a Massa- chusetts State House ceremony.

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UMASS LOWELL CELEBRATES Symposium cements university’s “We did a show that wasn’t only educational,” CAMBODIAN CULTURE role as innovation thought leader says Nye. “Anything that’s on television has to be entertaining first. So if you want things to be The university celebrated Cambodian history and culture this If it were a business, the third little about UMass Lowell’s ascen- annual Deshpande Symposium for dance over the past seven years. entertaining, you can’t beat music and you can’t spring, starting with an April 3 festival at Durgin Hall, featuring beat comedy.” dance and music, a sculpture display and a panel discussion on Innovation & Entrepreneurship You can’t imagine the change in Higher Education would be a Nye’s show aired on TV and in classrooms post-traumatic stress in refugee communities. More than 500 this university has gone through,” mighty hot commodity. The three- said Moloney. across the country for years. He and McGurk see people attended the performance by the Angkor Dance Troupe day conference is about making its effects daily in people like Blais. McGurk’s (below), Flying Orb Productions and UMass Lowell’s World business from concepts, and it Chen pointed to alumnus Mark younger colleagues are mildly impressed by his Music Ensemble. happened at UMass Lowell from Saab’s route back here. He is, Chen work on big movies and with famous musicians, told an opening night welcome On April 13, the exhibit “Lowell: A City of Refugees, a Com- June 10-12. but his connection to Nye always gets the best gathering, “an engineering graduate reaction, 20 years later. munity of Citizens” opened at Western Avenue Studios, part of a The symposium drew 250 who dreamed up a new, ultra-thin collaboration between UMass Lowell’s Cambodia Project and the participants (that’s 100 more than kind of medical tubing.” “We didn’t know it at the time, but we had Lowell Public Schools. The Cambodia Project, funded by a UMass last year) from 80 colleges and a huge effect. Now, we’re looking around and Now, the building in which Creative Economy grant, is the brainchild of Assoc. Prof. Pat universities across the U.S. as well saying, ‘God, look what we were a part of!’” says the reception was held is called Fontaine of the Graduate School of Education, who was inspired as from Canada and India. Under McGurk, who now co-owns Bad Animals Studio the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerg- with Nye co-worker Mike McCaulliffe. “Honest by her experiences working with Cambodian children at an after such headers as “Ecosystems,” “Curriculum,” “Commercializa- ing Technologies and Innovation to God, my education at the university is abso- school program in Lowell. The opening of the multimedia exhib- tion” and “Trends,” the assembled Center because the world embraced lutely the reason I got that far.” it—which showcased the stories of four Cambodians who were his discovery and he embraced the gathered in workshops and heard Consider the Following: Nye is equally proud of the show and the forced to leave their homeland during the genocidal reign place that helped lead him there. such superstar guests as Mary Sue team behind it. Meeting young people who en- of Pol Pot from 1975 to 1979—was attended by former Gov. Coleman, outgoing president of the In a breakfast keynote, Coleman The Progeny of Bill Nye tered his lab every Saturday “is the greatest thing Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty. Kitty Dukakis traveled to the University of Michigan, dubbed by looked around the room and re- and so gratifying.” refugee camps in 1985 and personally helped many Cambodians Time magazine as one of the top 10 marked that “the re-imagined future The Science Guy knows graduation day is a immigrate here. college presidents in the nation. is happening now.” BY JULIA GAVIN Researchers have found that singing helps people whirlwind, and speeches don’t always stick the On June 8, the Cambodia Project led the dedication of It also gave a couple of home- That’s what it felt like to sympo- remember things by using different parts of the same way a rock song about air pressure does, but a healing garden at Clemente Park in Lowell to Cambodians grown stars—Executive Vice sium organizer Steven Tello, associ- Ben Blais ’14 watched Bill Nye’s TV show as a brain. It’s science! Setting lessons to pop music hopes the newest batch of UMass Lowell alumni kid, along with many of his fellow 2014 gradu- who died or fled their homeland in the 1970s. Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney ate vice chancellor of entrepreneur- and adding fun sounds helps kids get past anxiet- will retain their excitement about education: and Vice Provost for Research ship and economic development. ates, making the Science Guy’s commencement ies about learning science. It obviously worked; Julie Chen—a chance to boast a “I can’t stop myself from grinning as speech a fitting sendoff as Blais enters the work- “I just want people to remember how they many fans are still able to quote “Science Guy” felt. I hope they felt empowered and excited I look around the room,” he said. n ing world. The same show that sparked the new facts in melody years later. grad’s interest in science and technology gave his about their future.” n uncle Tom, a fellow alum, his first big break as a young sound engineer. MORE THAN A TON OF GOOD A few years after graduation, Tom McGurk During Earth Week and move-out, the university collected more than ’91 was working in a Seattle music studio. He 3,400 pounds of goods—and 2,200 were delivered to the Lowell heard about a new kids show starring a scientist/ The OTHER SIDE of our Humane Society, the Wish Project and the House of Hope. Another 1,000 stand-up comedian that needed some talented Commencement Ringmaster pounds of large electronics collected were recycled through Northeast ears and jumped on the (late-night, low-paying Material Handling of Lowell. Bottles and cans collected were redeemed for and, eventually, career-launching) opportunity. Hey, that’s Rick! Director of Special Events Rick Sherburne’s friends funds that will benefit the new UMass Lowell Community Garden. McGurk was a founding member of the Audio and family have been saying that a lot recently. They’ll be watch- Sweetening Team of Science that gave Bill ing television and up he’ll pop in commercial-land, his mild-man- Nye the Science Guy’s show its unique and nered, reassuring voice hawking Safe-Step Walk-in tubs, a bath award-winning sound. modification aimed at seniors nationwide. “There was no money to hire a producer to Sherburne, who oversees such campus productions as Commencement and the recent oversee us, so we did lots of crazy creative things, Meryl Streep visit (Page 26), did some acting in school and attended Emerson not for the and the show took off from there,” says McGurk, stage but for business communications. Once his children were born (Jake, now 25, and who made Nye sound good in the lab, upside Abigail, 22), he let it go: “From ages 30 to 48, I didn’t do much. I worked and parented. down in an F18, underwater and in many other Life happens. But I’ve done more in the past five years than the preceding 20.” technically trying situations. “Next thing we He performs mostly in regional theater and summer productions of the likes of “Les knew, we were down in L.A. for the Emmys.” Mis´erables,” “My Fair Lady” and “Chicago.” In June, he played butcher Lazar Wolf in the They won. And won again the next year. In Greater Lowell Music Theatre’s Durgin Hall production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” directed all, McGurk won seven Emmys for his sound by playwright Jack Neary ’73. And now, thanks to the commercial, this part-time actor is work on Nye’s team. getting more widespread exposure than ever. What was a comedy-sketch-turned-science- show doing winning awards for sound?

10 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 11 Commencement 2014

HOW DID UMASS LOWELL TRANSFORM

I DIDN’T KNOW PAINTING BEING PART OF THE CONCRETE I’VE CREATED STORIES WAS A CAREER OPTION before I got to CANOE TEAM was a memorable experience. I’LL TELL FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. UMass Lowell. I’ve had a lot of different opportuni- Working with teammates on a yearlong project was From overnight broadcasts for spring carnival and ties in my time here with materials, collaborations intense but a lot of fun. It felt great applying what holiday cover shows at WUML, to spur-of-the-moment across departments and overseas connections that we learned in classes to our project.” road trips with friends, my time here will be YOU? have shown me the possibilities.” — Patrick Raistrick, civil engineering something I always remember.” New Grads Reflect on “ — Jessica Tawczynski, fine arts “ “ — Ryan Liebel, English, journalism and professional writing UMass Lowell Experience

record number of students— 3,478—graduated during two commencement ceremonies held May 17 at at the Tsongas Center “As we strive for ex- cellence in every aspect of the Auniversity, we are also transforming campus life at UMass Lowell, Chancellor Marty Meehan told graduates. “The Class of 2014, more than any in my seven years as chancellor, has experienced this metamorphosis.” We asked a handful of new grads how the university helped inspire their own personal transformations: THE PROFESSORS AND THE I’VE MADE SOME OF MY I FEEL LIKE I’M READY FOR STAFF AT UMASS LOWELL have such a BEST FRIENDS HERE. It’s helpful to have THE NEXT STEP OF MY LIFE. UMass Lowell strong commitment to the students. The support roommates and teammates I can really talk to. has helped fuel my passion and given me a clearer I’ve gotten has been incredible … the guidance They’re always there for me on the overwhelming view of what I would like to do with my life—not has made such a difference.” days and always encourage me to keep going.” just for a career but also the way I want to live.” “ — Kimberly Chao, accounting and finance “ — Keith Lewis, psychology “ — Tiffany Blake, environmental health 12 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 13 Commencement2014 CAMPUS NEWS Year of the ‘Selfie’ Forget Barack Obama’s selfie at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, or Ellen DeGeneres’ group shot at the Oscars. Forget even the hordes of fans at this summer’s Tour de France risking life and limb (their own and those of the cyclists) to get the most perfect, most dramatic self-portrait on the sidelines of the course. We’d take the UMass Lowell Class of 2014 over all of those people in a Selfie Olympics—as long as they weren’t up against our 2014 morn- ing Commencement speaker, Bill Nye. “The Science Guy” even got Chancellor Marty Meehan in on the act—along with deans, faculty, staffers and one oversized avian mascot. Nye is renowned for taking selfies wherever he goes. In fact, the Monday after Commencement he posted a photo of himself biking in New York City—still wearing his UMass Lowell bow tie (below). Thumbs up!

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Art Students’ Work Picked for 80-foot Display in Boston For two years, Massachusetts in meetings and hotels in art students have had the the vicinity of the bustling opportunity to share their Summer Street marquee work with hundreds of thou- location. All selected works sands of people—audiences are featured every Sunday only dreamed of by most at 8 p.m. aspiring artists. Joseph Amico’s work, Art on the Marquee called “Community,” is a showcases works on its 30-second video with an 80-foot-tall, seven-screen inside look at the mechanics LED marquee outside the of a clock. Hannah McGrath STUDENTS TAKE Boston Convention & created a work called “Sunk- CONTROL OF MEDIA Exhibition Center in South en Cities”—a mixed-media, Boston. Entries are judged stop-motion animation IN NEW MINOR by a group of artists, curators and video inspired by the and Boston Convention Quabbin Reservoir, which Sean McCarthy directs camera opera- Center staff. was created by flooding tors, asks on-air talent to speak up and This year, three of the four western Massachusetts edits on the fly behind the controls of seven artists selected were towns. Jia Yi Lin’s work, Mahoney Hall’s new TV studio. He’s from Assoc. Prof. Ellen “Disappearing Horse,” worked in media for several years but Wetmore’s Studio Workshop is inspired by “Alice in saw the new TV production class as an Wonderland” and Alice’s ex- in Video Installation class, opportunity to improve his knowledge periences traveling through Young Entrepreneurs Win $25K Design Competition and their work will be seen of the shifting field. Helping to build $35K IDEA different worlds after falling throughout the summer the studio was a bonus. CHALLENGE Nonspec—a startup company University, the University of by people in cars, on foot, into the rabbit hole. Jia Yi Lin, Hannah McGrath and Joseph Amico, from left established by UMass Lowell Hawaii, the University of “We started with an empty room, WINNER: HUNGRY FOR SOLUTION engineering-students-turned- Michigan and Western New blue walls and a desk,” says McCarthy, entrepreneurs to design and England University. Support Our Students, a philosophy major with a concen- mass-produce affordable prosthet- “The prize money will sustain a proposal for a campus tration in communications. “But we ic limbs for children in developing us over the summer as we embark Hit the Road community shop aimed worked hard setting up equipment countries—won the top prize on human U.S. trials. The future at eliminating student and getting the studio ready. It’s cool of $25,000 during the eighth of Nonspec is looking bright,” hunger, was the top to start at nothing and have a profes- annual American Society of says Erin Keaney, one of the money-winner in this year’s sional studio in just a few months.” Mechanical Engineers Innovation company’s founders who graduat- DifferenceMaker Idea Showcase, held April 28 in ed in May with a master’s degree While the studio has only been up Challenge. The $7,000 Washington, D.C. in plastics engineering. and running for a semester, the ground- prize will allow its six- The university beat eight work for the new digital media minor member team to move Nonspec received its initial other entries from seven schools, start-up funding through the and its classes have been in the works forward in turning its namely Johns Hopkins University, university’s DifferenceMaker for some time. Director and Lecturer idea into reality. the University of Virginia, Rice program. Wael Kamal came to campus a few Thirteen teams com- University, George Washington years ago focused on bringing media peted in the second year studies opportunities to students. finals of DifferenceMakers, whittled down from 70 “With shows and advertising moving applicants (nearly double online, TV may seem like old media, but the amount that entered Students are studying all over the world this summer, it’s still alive and it’s changing,” he says. first year) and 42 semifi- on faculty-led trips in places like Athens (nursing and The minor covers the changing nalists. The $35,000 purse money—spread between psychology, above); Cadiz, Spain (cultural studies); media field including online multimedia Students Bring TEDx to Lowell several winning teams— Costa Rica (comparative management); London production, TV and filmmaking. will help students file Members of the university’s Honors Ambassadors Program organized the first TEDx Lowell (English) and Paris (cultural studies). Students will also learn about the event, bringing together 100 attendees and speakers from several fields. Community patents, purchase supplies history, laws and artistic aspects of members, students and industry professionals spoke about topics including street design, Are you traveling this summer, too? Snap a and develop business media by taking classes in several community journalism, prosthetics and environmental innovation. photo in your UMass Lowell apparel and share strategies to flesh out it on social media for a chance to win a gift card departments, capitalizing on the their ideas. From left, Nonspec members Katherine Cain, Erin Keaney, Jonathan de Alderete and Brendan Donoghue pose with the ASME check for to the university bookstore. Use the hashtag minor’s interdisciplinary nature. $25,000 in Washington, D.C. #uml travels.

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With Athletic Director Dana Skinner Q&A On the River Hawks’ First Year in Division I Can you give us some idea of what’s been involved And if that’s not enough? in making this move possible? Sometimes it isn’t. And we don’t stop with that. For one Probably more than you’d think. Because we’re so early thing, unlike a lot of schools just coming into Division I, in the transition, there’s still a lot of learning to do. We’re we scheduled a full Division I slate of games in all sports. continuing to do a good amount of research. We also had Our schedules included Notre Dame, Michigan, Boston to submit a five-year strategic plan when we applied to College, Northwestern, Nebraska and Oklahoma—so our elevate to Division I. The plan included a detailed bud- athletes benefitted from some great trips and received get projection; they want to know our plans, our goals national exposure. Also, we signed a radio agreement This spring, the university and how we’re going to support Division I. Finally, we with ESPN New Hampshire [to cover men’s basketball and are talking with other schools that have made the same hockey], which gives us an affiliation with the top media passed another landmark in transition, to try to get an idea of what to expect in the name in sports. And we partnered with Under Armour, its path to growth. Having years ahead. That information has been very helpful. But one of the three top brands in sports apparel. So we’ve already managed a near it’s quite a process. done all we could to make the university attractive to 50 percent increase in high-quality student-athletes. endowment, a 45 percent What about new hiring? rise in enrollment and a Plenty of that, too. We’ve been involved in 30 different Let’s talk about the big picture. From the perspective of the university at large, what’s the advantage of campus-wide infrastructure job searches since last July, most of them for new posi- being in Division I? explosion—all in the seven tions, but also head-coach positions in volleyball, women’s years since the arrival of soccer and women’s basketball. Certainly there’s been a Actually, the decision to make the move wasn’t as much lot of growing involved. about athletics as it was about institutional affiliation. Marty Meehan as chancel- When we looked around at our peer institutions, the lor—UMass Lowell has now All that must cost a lot of money. How are you schools we most resembled—like UNH, URI, Georgia moved its athletic program handling it budget-wise? State—they’re all Division I. So it just made sense from into the nation’s top tier: The costs are certainly much higher in Division I, but that perspective; it seemed like a natural evolution. Its athletic teams, all 16 of there are also many new revenue sources that come them (there will be 18 a year with the increase in visibility. Ticket revenues for sports But how do you put a value on the visibility we’re from now when lacrosse is beyond hockey, sponsorship opportunities, NCAA getting—for instance, playing a game in Michigan in added for men and women) revenues and game guarantees are key to meeting front a full house, then getting a highlight on ESPN? have just completed their first our budget goals. Plus, the university has committed I don’t think you can put a dollar value on that. Athletics additional revenue. full year as members of isn’t the most important thing a university does, but done well, it is the most visible. the NCAA’s Division I. Outside of costs, what are the challenges?

The move, which ele- Initially it’s recruiting. Asking student-athletes to come Overall, how would you sum up year one in DI? vates the university from the to an institution that can’t offer post-season competition Northeast-10 Conference of during the four-year transition is not an easy sell for the I’d call it a success. We took full advantage of the many Division II to Division I’s coaches. [NCAA rules stipulate that for the first four years opportunities. Our mission word for the year is “resolute.” As for teams, we’re very proud of their accomplishments America East Conference, of Division I membership a team may not compete in NCAA tournaments]. For top athletes that’s a tough in year one. Men’s basketball finished the year with a took effect last fall. one to swallow. .500 conference record; the baseball team was third in its The transition has made conference, also at .500; track and field captured eight for a busy first year, says So how do you draw them? How do you conference individual championships. Most important, our longtime Athletic Director compensate for that? student-athletes’ overall GPA was over a 3.0. Dana Skinner, who has been To start with, we emphasize that they’ll be part of a It was the right move at the right time. The whole campus at the forefront of the move. transformational moment in the school’s history—that has embraced it—Admissions, Advancement, Financial they will forever be the student-athletes that took the —we asked him to reflect Aid, the Registrar. Everybody’s on board, everybody feels university to Division I. It’s a proud role they are playing the same: that we’re competing at a different level. I think on the challenges of the to advance the institution. it’s made the university, for our students, a better place to The ice hockey team celebrated its second consecutive Hockey East championship before heading to the Northeast finals of past 12 months, as well be. And for our alums, a better place to be from. n CHAMPS!the NCAA tournament, where it came within one game of repeating its 2013 Frozen Four appearance. A couple of months as those that lie ahead. later, goalie Connor Hellebuyck (front, left of trophy) signed a three-year contract with the National Hockey League’s Winnipeg Jets worth $925,000 annually.

18 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 To support our Division I efforts, visit uml.edu/athleticgiving. SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 19 Sportsupdate CAMPUS NEWS

A New Run on the Record Book Records are made to be broken, by grad student Drew Butler but that does not begin to ex- (The Woodlands, Texas), junior plain the beat down the UMass Cameron Kelley (Methuen) Lowell track and field teams and senior David Brown gave to the River Hawk Record (Chelmsford). Book during the 2013-14 season. Two records were also set Eleven school records were in field events. Senior thrower broken, some of them several Devin O’Neill (Braintree) put times. Seven came during the his name in the record book in indoor season, four outdoors. the javelin in the final competi- The women’s team needed the tion of his collegiate career with FERRARO eraser six times. The men’s team a throw of 209-feet 9-inches. wrote five new standards into Junior Garrett King (Ames- FINISHES the book. bury) set a new school record in Junior Taelour Murphy the pole vault clearing the bar IN STYLE (Salisbury) kept the stat people at 15-feet 5-inches indoors. The recently graduated Ali Ferraro, busy; she was responsible for four A new school year is only facing front, finished her career as individual records and was part a couple of months away; the A record crowd of 7,649 fans packed of a fifth as a member of a relay record book is not safe. the Tsongas Center for the first-ever a two-sport athlete in softball and team. All of that came during BLUE: field hockey as most could only Blue Out Night as the No. 7 River a four-month assault on school hope. The four-year starter at third sprint history. Hawks faced the No. 1 Boston College for the softball team concluded Murphy now holds the 200 Eagles in the final 2013-14 regular her career in that sport with a and 400 meter dash records ALL season home game on Feb. 22. The indoors and the 100 and 200 game ended in a 2-2 tie. Fans who two-run home run to right field, meter outdoor records. Murphy were in their seats by the 7 p.m. delighting her teammates and along with teammates sophomore puck drop received a free blue River those in attendance for the River Andrea Fanciullo (Townsend), Hawks’ 7-0 drubbing of Hartford junior Alexis Kitsakos (Merri- Hawk T-shirt. mac) and senior Elisabeth Monty on Senior Day, May 3. A couple (Charlton) set a new school IN years earlier, Ferraro played her record in the 4x400 meter relay. final game as a member of the Monty also wrote her name field hockey team in the Division II into the record book in the 500 NCAA Championship game against meter dash indoors. West Chester. Despite a 2-1 loss to Four different men set individ- the Golden Rams, Ferraro went out ual school records; one was also part of a relay record. by scoring the team’s lone goal. Junior Robert Allen (Crans- ton, R. I.) nearly became the first River Hawk athlete to run a sub four-minute mile indoors. He just missed, but his time of four minutes and 35 hundredths of a second was the fastest in school history. Senior Omar Abdi (Boston) Taelour Murphy launched earned a spot in the record book a relentless assault on the in the 1,000 meters. Abdi UMass Lowell track and also competed in the World field record book setting Championships representing four individual sprint his homeland of Somalia. records and was part of a fifth as a member Abdi was also part of the of a relay team. 4x800 meter relay team that set a new outdoor school record. He was joined in the event

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GET WIND OF THIS ‘Storm Surge’ Predicts the New funding from the National Science “Between contributions from NSF, the Effects of Climate Change Foundation (NSF) will put UMass Lowell in university and industry members, the in- on Boston the forefront of wind energy research in vestment into this one-of-a-kind national Massachusetts. center will be more than $620,000 in the An interactive city-wide science education out of first year,” says WindSTAR researcher and The university recently received funding exhibit called “Storm the classroom and into ev- mechanical engineering Prof. Christopher from the NSF to lead a consortium of indus- Surge in Boston” kicked eryday life. A joint project Niezrecki. try, academia and government groups that off in May, giving the of UMass Lowell, UMass will make wind energy more cost effective The United States now obtains more public a glimpse of what Boston, Hofstra Univer- and help develop an innovative and com- than 4 percent of its electricity from wind the landscape could look sity and the Museum of petitive workforce. energy, notes Niezrecki. The Department like if global warming Science, the program is of Energy has shown that it is possible to The project—called WindSTAR for Wind goes unchecked. The supported by a National double that amount by 2020 and hopes Energy, Science, Technology and Research— month-long exhibit was Science Foundation grant. to evenually achieve 20 percent of the na- will provide a forum in which wind turbine the latest undertaking Last year, ScienceToGo. tion’s electricity from wind. The WindSTAR manufacturers, component and equipment by the Graduate School org introduced posters Center hopes to be an important asset in suppliers, service companies and project of Education-led Scienc- aboard the MBTA’s achieving these goals. developers can work together to solve eToGo.org, a campaign Prof. Scott Latham Red and Orange line problems. Undergraduate and graduate to engage the public in trains and in stations to students will also be taught the design, learning about climate encourage the 500,000 manufacture, operation and maintenance No Strategy, No Success: change. commuters who ride the of wind-energy systems. “Storm Surge in public-transit routes daily Other collaborators include the Universi- Professor Decodes Boston” shows eight key to learn more about cli- ty of Texas at Dallas, Iowa State University, Business Strategy points in the city to which mate science. Each month, Southern Maine Community College, the sea level would rise—at riders are introduced Maine Wind Industry Initiative and the Kid- With the failure rate for startups as high minimum—if climate to new messages from Wind Project. as 80 percent, businesses can’t afford to change continues “Ozzie the Ostrich” and give short shrift to a well-planned strategy. unabated. his flock, who share in- Successful entrepreneurs share a number Launched in October sights about how climate of common traits, says Manning School of 2013, ScienceToGo.org change affects the Boston Business Prof. Scott Latham, who teaches is engaging the public area and how the public strategic management and strategy forma- on the issue of climate can get involved with change by bringing efforts to avert it. tion and implementation. One key factor, Asst. Prof. Kate Swanger’s team collects samples from a he says, is having the discipline to say sandstone boulder in the Olympus Range in Antarctica. “no” to ideas or proposals that can drain resources and divert focus. Latham recently co-authored “Mas- tering Strategy” with Michael Braun, a professor at the University of Montana. Swanger Travels to Antarctica to The book explores the development of Study Glaciers and Climate Change successful business strategies and examines some of the common mistakes that derail Glaciers occupy only about 10 percent of Earth’s land surface but they hold roughly entrepreneurs and experienced business three-quarters of the planet’s fresh water. people alike. A UMass Lowell professor led an expedition to Antarctica to better understand The authors offer guidelines for assess- how that continent’s glaciers have responded to climate fluctuations. ing the business environment, charting Kate Swanger, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental, Earth growth, planning diversification and and Atmospheric Sciences, and her team were in Antarctica from November 2013 suggestions for measuring success. They to January 2014. A three-year $124,070 grant from the National Science Foundation use examples of actual strategy decisions supported their analysis and dating of past advances of alpine glaciers. by companies including Apple, Southwest “Given Earth’s changing climate and its potential future impact on ice volume and Airlines and Netflix along with stories sea level, it is crucial to gain a better understanding of past advances and retreats of about every-day products like Crocs Antarctic ice, especially under higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and/or and Neutrogena soap. warmer-than-present conditions,” says Swanger.

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26 COVER STORY 33 HAITI CAPSTONE PROJECT Features 38 THE DRONES ARE COMING 42 LOVE FROM THE RUINS 48 COMPANY WE KEEP Baseball Lab in the (Club)House! 50 FACE OF PHILANTHROPY

A team from NESN came to campus this spring to film the UMass Lowell Baseball Research Center for the network’s new kid-focused show, “NESN Clubhouse.” Patrick Drane ’00,’03, the center’s assistant director, was inter- viewed about how baseballs are made, what’s inside them and what gives them extra bounce off a bat. Check out the segment on nesn.com. The Baseball Research Center, led by Jim Sherwood, has since 1999 performed independent research and testing for leagues such as Major League Baseball, the NCAA, USA Baseball, Little League Baseball and the National Federation of State High School Associations.

POLL: MAJORITY OF Republicans surveyed also Center for Terrorism and ALIVE AND KICKING said they support such a AMERICANS FAVOR Roseann Sdoia ’91 lost most of her right GUN CONTROL move. Tea Party supporters Security Studies Receives $2M were nearly split on expand- leg during the 2013 Boston Marathon A majority of Americans ing background checks, with in Minerva Awards bombing, but she never lost her spirit. support major policy changes 51 percent opposed and 49 Researchers from UMass Lowell’s Center for Terrorism Read about her journey in “Love from when it comes to gun control, percent in favor. the Ruins” on Page 42. Here, Sdoia is according to a recent national and Security Studies (CTSS) will launch two studies poll from the UMass Lowell Similar bipartisan support on terrorist behavior after being selected to receive shown at the Boston Marathon finish Center for Public Opinion. was found for closing the $2 million in grants from the Minerva Initiative. line, where she participated in the Dear “gun show loophole” and Mia Bloom World portrait project, in which people The survey of 1,000 adults a greater number of Tea The Minerva Initiative, a Department of found that 78 percent favor Party members (65 percent) Defense-sponsored, social science research group, from all walks of life share messages about more thorough background said they are in favor of the announced 12 awards for 2014. UMass Lowell themselves (in this case by writing them checks for those buying guns, reform. was the only university selected to receive two. on their skin). including in-depth psycho- logical evaluations, and 80 In addition, 60 percent of Professor and CTSS Director John Horgan, with his percent support closing what those polled said they support colleague Prof. Scott Flower, will use $1.3 million to is known as the “gun show banning the sale of assault examine the role of Muslim converts from the U.S. and loophole,” which allows weapons. Those who identify explore why they are statistically overrepresented in individuals to purchase guns as strongly Democratic (70 Islamic extremist activity. percent) stated the strongest John Horgan without the same background Prof. Mia Bloom’s project mapping the pathways of checks used in other types support for the measure, children’s mobilization into terrorism will receive $941,169 from Minerva. of sales, says Assoc. Prof. while only 18 percent of Tea Joshua Dyck, co-director of Party members were in favor The project will examine how and why children are increasingly involved in the center. and 45 percent were strongly terrorist operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, Iraq, Syria opposed. About a third of and Somalia. While a large percent- all Republicans (32 percent Both projects represent unprecedented international efforts for the CTSS, age of those who said they strongly identifying as Re- support more thorough publican and 36 percent of which launched in September 2013 when Horgan and Bloom joined the background checks identified others) said they favor a ban. faculty. Horgan, whose research focuses on terrorist behavior, is a member of themselves as Democrats and the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime’s research working independents, 70 percent of group. Bloom, a former member of the Council on Foreign Relations, focuses on understanding suicide terrorism and the victimization of women and chil- dren in political violence. Photo credit: Dear World Photo credit:

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MERYL STREEP was due on campus any minute. The celebrated actress was en route to the university to speak, raise money for scholarships and meet with students. But just before she reached the Tsongas Center, Streep missed a turn in downtown Lowell.

— BY JILL GAMBON —

As Streep, who made the three-hour trip alone from her “Having Meryl Streep speak on our campus was undoubt- home in northwest Connecticut, drove the narrow street, edly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our students, fac- past the Worthen House, Lowell’s oldest tavern, past ulty, staff and the community,” Meehan says. “We greatly acclaimed painter James McNeill Whistler’s birthplace, appreciate her generosity, both for sharing her time and she realized she had lost her way. Unfazed by the unfamil- experiences with us and for establishing the two new iar, she grabbed her cell phone and called the University’s scholarship funds.” event staff for directions. Her course corrected, she was Launched in December 2012 with an appearance by soon pulling up to the Tsongas Center, right on cue. best-selling author Stephen King, the speaker series “THE WHOLE That self-possession and let’s-do-this spirit marked brings renowned individuals who represent excellence in Streep’s April 1 appearance on campus, which was the their respective fields to campus. King raised more than THING HAPPENS latest installment in the Chancellor’s Speaker Series. In $100,000 for a scholarship fund that he and his wife es- IN THE MOMENT. her whirlwind six-hour visit, Streep answered questions tablished for UMass Lowell students. about her storied career, offered advice on breaking into YOU DON’T KNOW the entertainment business, posed for countless photos ACTING IS A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT WHAT THE OTHER and raised more than $230,000 for scholarships. As they settled into armchairs on the Tsongas PERSON IS GOING “It’s safe to say, we are in the presence of the greatest Center stage, Dubus had one question in particular that TO DO. THAT’S actress of our time,” Chancellor Marty Meehan said as he’d been waiting to ask the three-time Academy Award he introduced Streep to a sold-out crowd at the Tsongas winner: How do you do what you do? While Streep THE REALLY Center. Billed as “A Conversation with Meryl Streep” may make it look effortless when she inhabits a role on EXCITING PART.” and moderated by Assoc. Prof. Andre Dubus III, the stage or screen, she said there were no simple answers to event evoked the feel of a casual living room chat be- describe how she goes about her work. —Meryl Streep tween two accomplished professionals who just happen “Acting is a very mysterious craft,” she said. “The to be at the top of their games. (actors) I admire, I have no idea how they achieve what Streep’s visit was the result of a chance meeting with they do. When you are working with them there’s a seam- Dubus at a 2012 event in New York in which Dubus less exchange of thought, emotion and physicality. You was picking up an award for “Townie,” his best-selling can’t parse it when you are in the moment.” memoir. He approached Streep and struck up a con- Getting it right, nailing a scene, creating that smooth versation. He was impressed with Streep’s warmth and exchange—all of that is possible when you stop thinking unpretentiousness and especially with her attentiveness about what you are doing and let the interaction with the to his sister, a young writer, who had accompanied him other actors naturally unfold, she said. to the event. “The whole thing happens in the moment. You don’t “She was so sweet and genuine. I knew right then I know what the other person is going to do…That’s the wanted to invite her to UMass Lowell,” Dubus recalls. really exciting part,” she said. “When you are doing it He got in touch with her through mutual friends, actors right, it feels like the first time you are out riding a bike Chris and Marianne Leone Cooper, and asked her about and not wobbling and you’re just looking around. You’re participating in the Chancellor’s Speaker Series. Streep riding and you’re not thinking about the bike.” agreed and offered to donate all proceeds from her visit to establish two UMass Lowell scholarships, one for math Streep, who has been in more than 50 movies spanning STRAIGHTSTREEP majors in memory of the late Joan Hertzberg, a college numerous genres and been nominated for more awards MERYL ON CAMPUS: THE ZEN OF CRAFT, THE MYSTERY OF ACTING friend, and the other in Streep’s name for English majors. than any other of her peers, described acting as a form of catharsis, an unleashing of stored up emotions.

Continued

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“You can pull up all the murderous thoughts you’ve Eschewing the trappings of fame—she had no as- ever had … and put them in a place that won’t get sistant or stylist or security detail—Streep interacted you arrested,” she explained. “I’ve always thought, be- easily with students, faculty and other guests. “You can pull up all the murderous cause of that everyone should take acting classes. Why “She is the epitome of class and professionalism. She else would these dramas be written if we didn’t have all has maintained a sense of grace that is so rare,” says these things buried inside that needed expression and Megan Posco, a senior English major who attended thoughts you’ve ever had and put them release?” both Streep events. CAREER ADVICE FROM THE MASTER “I’m so pleased to be able to take advantage of this. in a place that won’t get you arrested.” The number of well-known intellectual people who are Before her appearance at the Tsongas Center, Streep coming to campus is impressive,” Posco says. “It makes participated in a question-and-answer session with 100 me very proud.” English and theater arts students at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center. By turns thoughtful, quick SALVATION IN HUMOR and funny, Streep fielded questions from students at both events, many of them seeking acting tips or advice Streep, who has a track record of selecting meaty on breaking into the entertainment business. roles, said her agent reads scripts and winnows them down for her. She is drawn to good writing, which is Recalling her own student days, Streep said she why she has done a number of films that originated as didn’t take an acting class until she started working on plays, like last year’s “August: Osage County,” which her master’s at Yale University School of Drama. earned her record-setting 18th Academy Award nomi- “I took a wide range of courses. I actually think that nation. Humor, she said, is also hugely appealing. was my best preparation for being an actor: studying “I’m a real writing snob,” she said, citing Chekov as history, religion music, art, psychology,” said Streep, one of her favorite playwrights. “He understood that who earned her bachelor’s degree from Vassar College even in some of the saddest, most horrific circumstan- before attending Yale. ces, there’s something funny. That is the way it is in my Even as she was starring in college plays, Streep life. There is something at the funeral that everyone thought she’d eventually pursue a career with more sta- is going to laugh about later, over dinner. I respond to bility and gravitas. She considered taking the entrance writing that has an understanding not just of the absur- exams for law school while she was at Yale. dity of things but also of the salvation in humor.” “I didn’t know for a long time what it was I wanted Known for immersing herself in roles like British to do,” she said. “I felt it wasn’t a serious enough thing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher or chef Julia Child to do with my life, to be an actor.” and for her mastery of accents and dialects, Streep said But stage roles led to television parts and then films. she doesn’t dwell on how she will bring a character She made her movie debut in 1977’s “Julia.” Two years to life. and four movies later, she notched her first Academy “I’ve always felt the characteristics of people sort of Award for her role in “Kramer vs. Kramer.” She still appear without my working too much on them. They seems incredulous at how quickly her career accelerat- occur to me, like ideas,” she said. To prepare for roles, ed. she has learned to speak Polish, how to play the violin “I just wanted to pay off my student loans. I wanted and how to handle whitewater rapids. For an upcom- that monkey off my back,” she said, words that earned ing film, “Ricki and the Flash,” in which she portrays a thunderous applause from students. guitar-playing rock’ n’ roller, Streep is taking bass les- sons from none other than Neil Young. His first bit of Acting, being engaged in the creative process, sus- advice: Don’t trip on the electric cords running from tains her, she said. guitar to amp, she recounted. “What I get from performing is like food to me,” she While she inhabits the characters she is portraying, said. And if she wasn’t an actress, she’d still want to be Streep is happy to leave everything behind when she’s a performer. off the set. “I like to forget about it at home,” she said. “In my next life I want to be a musician. That’s the What does she do with down time? “I watch political highest art. Everybody gets it,” she said. shows.” Continued

28 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 29 COVER STORY “Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Don’t give up, don’t give up, don’t give up.”

Throughout her career, balancing her home life— because that is life. You don’t know what is going to Streep and husband Don Gummer, a sculptor, have four happen, what’s going to be thrown at you. You can get grown children—has been a priority. She said she pursued ready—and you should get really ready—but you have to film roles over theater because movie schedules are more live in the encounter, today, in this minute, right where accommodating to family life. you find yourself as an actor and as a person. That is a “Film work is a very kind profession for a mother,” she good lesson.” said. “I did movies because of my kids.” Prior to coming to Lowell, Streep had just returned At 64, Streep has borne witness to dramatic changes in from England where she shot scenes for her role as British the film industry, including the emerging clout of women women’s rights activist Emmeline Pankhurst in the movie writers, directors and actors. The economics of the busi- “Suffragette,” starring Carrie Mulligan and due out next ness have shifted, too. year. Embodying a character like Pankhurst, who dedicat- ed her life to gaining voting rights for women, is an honor, “What’s changed in my business is that the business she said. people run it now. Many studios and even production companies are run by people who don’t really even watch “Sometimes I feel as an actor you are not just standing movies. They make them and they don’t watch them,” up there and showing off, you are giving a voice to some- she said. one who died for what they believed in,” she said. “That’s a privilege.” She bristles at what she describes as the “reductive” way women are portrayed in the entertainment business, The final question of the evening came from a young with an emphasis on looks. woman who said she’s trying to break into acting and wanted to know how Streep deals with failure and re- “The biggest waste of time in my entire life is thinking jection. Streep recalled reviews from early in her career about how much I weigh,” she said. “You have to think when critics rapped her appearance, saying her nose was about health and you have to think about exercising so too long and mocked her odd-sounding last name: you don’t stagnate, but I feel like women obsess on this “Everyone thinks subject in a completely ridiculous way. Not just actresses, “Everyone thinks there’s a perfect way to be … but your everybody.” difference, your thing that is unique to you, is the most valuable thing you have. The weird thing about you is the there’s a perfect Given those pressures, Streep was blunt in her advice thing that makes people remember you. … Whatever is to young women who want to break into acting business: weird about you maybe is your strength.” way to be...but your “Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Don’t give up, After wrapping up a reception with donors and spon- don’t give up, don’t give up.” sors, Streep’s night in Lowell was winding down by 10 She advised students who want to be actors to expect p.m. Her role fulfilled, she left behind the crowds, the difference, your thing long stretches of unemployment and uncertainty in be- well wishers and the curious fans, climbed back into her tween roles. car, took the wheel and headed home. n “That is the Zen of living,” she said. “Actors are giv- that is unique to you, en a gift by being uncertain and insecure all the time, is the most valuable

Left: Since the 1970s Meryl Streep Right: Clockwise from top left, Meryl Streep speaks to a sold-out thing you have.” has starred in more than 50 films, crowd at the Tsongas Center; poses with students Janice Lane including the diverse group depicted and Maddie Koufogazos; high-fives theatre arts Asst. Prof. Dale here. Young; and hugs Julie D’Agostino, whose family was the event’s presenting sponsor.

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BY BRIAN MOONEY This spring, five graduating seniors traveled to Haiti with Craig Miller ’89 to plan a medical supply warehouse—and designed their own senior capstone project in the process. ‘These Students Want to Change the World’

IN HIS JUNIOR YEAR, civil engineer- “I started thinking about doing something ing student Per Onsager was restless to put his different with the capstone as soon as I found out UMass Lowell education to work, helping others. what the capstone really was—the bridge,” says Onsager, a Lunenburg High School graduate who Committed to service learning, Prof. Edward is from Shirley. “I was underwhelmed. There are L. Hajduk ’95, ’99, ’06 was eager to help. 50 engineers with all this knowledge and we are After months of searching for a vehicle to going to spend four months designing something channel Onsager’s ideals into an academic that has already been built? It seemed like a waste project, they were introduced, serendipitously, of potential.” to civil engineer Craig Miller, another UMass And so he and his classmates decided to spend Lowell alumnus, who has a 17-year record of spring break 2014 in Haiti, which was already humanitarian and infrastructure work in Haiti the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and other developing countries. when a catastrophic earthquake in 2010 killed an Together they created a senior design capstone estimated 300,000 and decimated the country’s project for Onsager and four equally committed feeble infrastructure. senior peers: They would help Miller’s engineer- The students did site work for the warehouse ing firm draw plans for and mark the site of a project and volunteered their engineering 25,000-square-foot medical supply warehouse services in the poor village of Fond des Blancs outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. at a hospital operated by the St. Boniface Haiti Miller’s client was Partners in Health, the Foundation, which originated in Quincy. Boston-based provider of health-care services to impoverished communities on five continents. Combined with classroom work in a special- ly designed two-semester capstone, the Haiti The project was groundbreaking in all senses experience became the first-ever offshore senior of the word. design project in the university’s civil engineer- Onsager, a transfer from Fitchburg State, had ing department. wanted more than the traditional capstone—a “All of these students want to change the design project that incorporates all of an engi- world, which is a fantastic thing, but it was neering student’s undergraduate studies in his Per who had the idea of making the capstone major. For civil engineering, that means applying a project that would help people,” says Prof. knowledge of environmental, structural, geotech- Hajduk, a geotechnical professional engineer, nical and transportation engineering concepts, who received bachelor’s and master’s degrees typically into recreating the design of a bridge in civil engineering and a doctorate in that had already been built. engineering from UMass Lowell. Continued

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Hajduk, Miller and Francis College Haiti school and orphanage in Port- of Engineering Dean Joe Hartman hope au-Prince. it is the prototype for a new capstone “The meeting with Craig was like a alternative, which will allow UMass godsend,” Onsager says. “At an industrial Lowell students to experience service board meeting in my junior year, Craig learning abroad while fulfilling a major was making small talk with some of the academic requirement. If they’re lucky, other guys at the table, and he said he they can follow Onsager’s lead and do so was leaving to go to Haiti. Dr. Hajduk in collaboration with faculty and alumni. said: ‘You need to go talk to him.’” “We already have a committee “Until that point, Per had no idea I looking into ways to continue this going even existed,” Miller recalls. forward,” says Hartman. The outlines of a project began to take shape as Onsager and Hajduk drew other I have seen efore he met Miller, Onsag- students to the plan. er began recruiting students “I’m the youngest of the group, and who were also interested in it’s probably not a coincidence that the firsthand how a different kind of capstone. people I wanted in the group are the “ They had a grand concept oldest in the class. They all have a level but, after a plan to work of maturity and the work ethic,” says civil engineers Bwith Clemson University fell through, Onsager, 24, who is already working full they were left with no specific project to time for a large engineering firm and work on. planning to seek a master’s degree toward help save lives “We didn’t have money, a project, or his goal of working in the field of coastal anything,” Hajduk recalls. geotechnical engineering, the science of in developing Then Miller, a 1989 civil engineering soil mechanics. graduate, entered the picture, almost by The other students, all of whom have accident. extensive community service experience, From his position on the civil engi- are: Jonathan Ernst of Billerica, Mark nations. Georgian of Amesbury, Brendan Sprague neering department’s advisory board, Miller had been pushing for the uni- of Methuen and Karen Yaipen-DeFinis versity to establish a full-time, overseas of Boston. program for civil engineering students for Onsager, Ernst, and Sprague became a number of years. “I thought it would be acquainted with the idea of helping oth- ” a good way to draw students to the uni- ers at a young age; all are Eagle scouts. versity and a way of creating exceptional Also critical to the project’s success value that very few other colleges in the was Linda Barrington ’04, who since country had been doing that I know of,” 2005 has coordinated and expanded the he says. university’s SLICE program—service “I have seen firsthand how civil learning in the college of engineering. engineers help save lives in developing In her career, she has managed a number nations,” says Miller, who has been a of nonprofit programs, been a registered volunteer member of the professional nurse, and holds degrees from three advisory board to the civil engineering universities, including UMass Lowell In Haiti, from top: Karen Yaipen-DeFinis and Per Onsager dig at the site of the medical supply warehouse; the crew gathers at department for more than 10 years. “This (mechanical engineering). Boston’s Logan Airport, from left: Mark Georgian, Craig Miller ’89, is an important place for UMass Lowell She and Hajduk volunteered to teach Linda Barrington ’04, Karen Yaipen-DeFinis, Per Onsager, Jonathan to be strategically—sending its students a preparatory course that was added to Ernst and Brendan Sprague; Mark Georgian and Brendan Sprague out to change the world as part of their the capstone for the fall semester. Her take notes on site at St. Boniface Hospital in Fond des Blancs. curriculum.” emphasis was on teaching students about Miller owns Waterfield Design Group poverty and international development in his hometown of Winchester and has work, as well as assisting with research an office in Haiti, where he has worked on Haitian culture and some rudimentary continuously for 17 years, including help- Haitian Creole. Barrington, who accom- ing to establish the Hope for Children of panied the team to Haiti, also managed

Continued

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logistics and finances for the project, itation systems in the developing world which required students to raise $9,500 and the employment opportunities it from various sources. Dean Hartman will create for civil engineers as residents approved $4,000 in additional funds for of poorer countries rise from poverty in the capstone pilot. large numbers over the coming decades. Hajduk oversaw the academic ele- The lesson was learned, dramatically ments to ensure they met university, pro- and enthusiastically. fessional, and accreditors’ standards. He “You jump out of the bubble of also introduced graduate-level instruction America, and you see things that we in watershed analysis and seismic design, can do to change their way of life,” says an essential component of construction Ernst, who said it was his first trip to any in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. country outside the United States other “This is what the students want,” says than Canada. “We plan things years in Hajduk. “They’re interested, and they advance. They live day by day and plan want to learn more about it. As a for the next week.” teacher, you’ve got to feed that.” “In the States, we take for granted things like clean water,” adds Yaip- verything the students en-DeFinis. “We experienced how most learned in class could not of the world really lives. I saw how things totally prepare them for really work … had a real sense of what their experience in the I’ll be facing after graduation.” brutally poor island nation. “We had our heads down and were That’s where Miller’s working hard,” Georgian says. “You can Eexperience and a network of connections see what happens in the absence of good developed over the years became indis- engineering … You see the challenges pensable. Like Hajduk and Barrington, first hand. It exceeded my expectations.” Miller received no compensation for the “It emphasized to me the value of the many hours he worked on the project. education we receive in this country,” “I really didn’t have time for any of Sprague says. “It seems almost like a priv- this, but it’s so consistent with the way I ilege at this point … It’s easy to see the hoped the university would move foward, importance of infrastructure in develop- I knew I had to find a way to make it ing countries.” As Americans, work,” Miller says. “I loved the on-the-fly nature of it,” There have been many obstacles. Ini- Onsager remarks. “When you encoun- you’ve been given tial plans to design earthquake-resistant tered a problem, you had to figure out modular housing were scrubbed because the best way to tackle it, and we had to “ of problems gaining clear title to the land figure it out on our own. It was a great all the face cards in and removing squatters. team-building exercise … It went better Engineers adapt and solve problems, than I ever dreamed of.” the game. You’ve including those that cannot be foreseen. Beyond the practical application of In Haiti, the students and their precon- their education, Miller said the trip to In Haiti, from top: Karen Yaipen-DeFinis and Craig Miller ’89 ceptions were tested often. Haiti was designed to instill in the stu- been given all the pay for rides from the boat to the shore on the return trip from A backhoe operator at the warehouse dents a larger purpose for the knowledge Ile a Vache to Les Cayes; and work progresses on site at site knew how to drive the vehicle but they have gained at UMass Lowell. St. Boniface Hospital in Fond des Blancs. not operate the digging bucket, requiring “It pushes people beyond their limits advantages. What impromptu training while the team wait- and teaches them something about their ed to get their work done. The long trip place in the world,” he said. “As Ameri- are you going to back from the Fond des Blancs hospital cans, you’ve been given all the face cards was delayed several hours by an angry in the game. You’ve been given all the crowd blocking the only road home with advantages. What are you going to do do with that? a political “manifestation,” or protest with that? What is your responsibility to against the government. that gift and that advantage in life?” n Miller has been preaching the need for basic infrastructure such as roads and san- ” 36 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 37 Featurestory FEATURE STORY THE DRONES ARE COMING:

To Farms, to Forests, to Cities—and Maybe to Your Neighborhood

— BY GEOFFREY DOUGLAS —

video camera flies around the corner of a building, catching the pedophile in the act of downloading his porn. An accident victim in the Saskatchewan forest, lost, disoriented and in danger of freezing to death, is saved when a tiny flying sensor detects his body heat. A herd of rhinos in sub-Saharan Africa, inA danger of slaughter by poachers looking to sell their horns, are spared by overhead surveillance videos. Nitrogen loss in a Missouri crop field, unknown to its farmer, is detected through an aerial GPS system, then amended through an aircraft driven by an iPad. If it’s not already happening—and much of it already is—it will be very soon. It is changing our world and most of what we do. You could call it The Invasion of the Drones.

But maybe you shouldn’t. Continued

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“That word—‘drone’—it has a militaristic connota- And then there are the commercial prospects of drones. Beyond the moral dilemmas, though, there is the very tion, the connotation of killing people, which is really Package delivery, real-estate photography, wedding and basic issue of safety—an area that has barely been broached. misleading, only one part of what they do,” says Computer event photography, sports action videos—using everything If a delivery UAV, for instance, somehow causes an Science Prof. Holly Yanco, director of the New England from five-pound, battery-powered “quadcopters” with a injury, who is to be held liable—the delivery company, the Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) few-hundred-yard range to 12-foot-wide “octocopters,” operator, the manufacturer? If a UAV is involved in a hit- Center at UMass Lowell, who would prefer to call it by its less- equipped with tens of thousands of dollars of video equip- and-run accident, how can responsibility be determined? loaded, more-descriptive name: UAV, for Unmanned ment, sensors and a parachute. What is to keep UAVs from colliding with other aircraft? Aerial Vehicle. Of all the industries and professions that will see With other UAVs? The questions at this point remain By whatever name, she’s right. When we think of a benefit from this, none may profit more than the hypothetical, though if UAVs are to become as ubiquitous drones, we think of “surgical elimination,” of al Qaeda commercial farmer. Although still in the experimental as predicted, they probably won’t be for long. leaders being hunted down by swift, nearly silent preda- stage, U.S. farms are well along the road to what has come And they will have to be addressed. Yet the only agency tors that kill quickly and precisely from the air. And that’s to be known as “precision agriculture”: the use of sensors, that would seem to have the authority to address them— certainly one application. But it’s getting to be a tired one GPS systems and other technology, mounted on UAVs, to the FAA—has so far proven toothless. In March of this at this point, and the new ones are burgeoning almost too monitor crop health and spray nutrients and pesticides. year, in the first-ever test of its authority over UAV traffic, fast to track. “An unmanned drone can survey your farm so a fine it had sought to levy against an aerial photographer Many of us remember the reaction last December, when much more cheaply, and easily, than a [commercial] in Virginia was dismissed by a federal court on the grounds Amazon’s Jeff Bezos promised that, within five years, we’d photographer, says Prof Xinwen Fu, UMass Lowell that—according to the Associated Press—“the small be seeing half-hour, warehouse-to-doorstep drone delivery associate professor of computer science, who has conduct- drone was no different than a model aircraft, a decision of small packages. The claim may have been more public ed research on drones. “I think this is going to be one of that appears to undermine the agency’s power to keep a relations than anything else (as Prof. Yanco puts it, “Who the main uses [of drones] in the coming years.” burgeoning civilian drone industry out of the skies.” really needs their T-shirt in half an hour?”), but the capac- “There’s no question that the professional uses for The ruling is under appeal on public-safety grounds ity is already there. And it’s being used—if not for T-shirt these aircraft—especially the copters, which are far more (“The agency is concerned that this decision could im- deliveries, for a whole host of other things. Within the maneuverable than the fixed-wing drones—are going to pact the operation of the national airspace system, and the same five-year time frame Jeff Bezos cited, the FAA has outweigh their military uses,” says mechanical engineer- safety of people and property on the ground,” its lawyers predicted, there will be 7,500-10,000 UAVs flying around ing’s Prof. Raptis. “They’re going to be in the mainstream argue)—and the FAA, meanwhile, has set up six test sites our skies. for sure, more and more a part of our lives.” where UAVs will share airspace with piloted aircraft. But however all this plays out, it seems clear that the status of So what will they be doing? That depends on whom you Probably the biggest reason for this, he says, is their the UAV in our skies is going to be an evolving one, at ask. Law enforcement is certainly one answer—this would ease of use. “You can control one with a smartphone or least for a while. include surveillance, forensics, border patrol, no doubt tablet. The sensors and microprocessors you need run on other things. There is also wildlife protection, traffic algorithms, they’re already built in. You just provide the “These sorts of things are going to have to be worked control, weather monitoring—especially hurricane sur- trajectory. It takes maybe five minutes to learn.” out on a case-by-case basis, over time,” says Prof. Yanco. veillance, whereby a swarm of laptop-powered six-inch “And it’s not just UAVs. The same type of questions— They’re not only easy. They’re cheap. You can buy a drones can ride wind currents and report back data— about safety, about liability—apply to any robot-assisted Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Quadcopter, controllable by iPod mapping, search and rescue, and military operations. vehicle. And so far, it seems like policy hasn’t kept up with touch, iPhone, iPad or Android devices, on Amazon for reality. But it’ll probably get there in time.” “Mini drones can produce incredible aerial photos $299.95. It’s orange and black, runs on a lithium battery, and videos with onboard cameras for crime-scene and and can record and share video for as long as the battery Meanwhile, though, there’s another, even trickier issue. accident reconstruction, search-and-rescue operations, lasts (about eight minutes). Toward the other end of the As long as a UAV can zip around corners to view criminals tracking wildlife, tracing wildfires, inspecting power lines, cost range, you can get a MicroPilot MP-Vision UAV Glid- at work, what’s to stop it from homing in on your bedroom even monitoring storm systems,” writes UMass Lowell er—with an eight-foot wing span, GPS mapping capacity, or living-room window? With 10,000 or so drones cruising Yanco feels much the same. “People put all sorts of stuff “THE INSIDE OF mechanical engineering professor Ioannis Raptis in a 37 MPH average speed and a flying time of 55 minutes—at the skies at any given moment, isn’t our privacy at risk? out there on Facebook,” she says, “and don’t seem to have A cross section of UMass YOUR HOME IS research paper co-written with three members of the RobotShop.com for around $9,500. There’s no clear answer to this one, either. And at least any privacy issues about it. And Google knows most every- Lowell faculty are con- university’s Computer Science Department. “A drone in the classrooms and offices of UMass Lowell, the ques- thing I buy. So why is that a problem?” PRIVATE, AND ducting research on drones, So they’re affordable, accessible, easy to master and can also fly around buildings and locate criminals abusing tion seems to elicit a mostly philosophical response. including, from top, John WiFi, such as downloading child pornography.” have a million uses. What’s to stop them from taking over Besides, she says, it’s not always clear when some- PROTECTED [BY Kaag, associate professor the skies? Are we headed for a world where, as Prof. Yanco “I think we’re moving more all the time toward what one’s privacy has been violated and when it hasn’t: “The THE FOURTH of philosophy; Xinwen This prospect is troubling for John Kaag, an associate describes it, “at least in the big cities, you’ve got a landing they call a Big Brother society,” says Raptis. “You have inside of your home is private, and protected [by the Fourth Fu, associate professor professor of philosophy at UMass Lowell, who has writ- pad on every roof”? the Google phone, the camera phone, Facebook—all that Amendment]. But where is it written how much air space AMENDMENT]. of computer science; ten a book on drones, “Drone Warfare” (Wiley), due “We have to be careful not to let our fascination with stuff has its effect on privacy. And now this question of you own over your home? That’s another one they’ll prob- Iaonnis Raptis, professor out this July. Though the book focuses largely on their BUT WHERE IS IT technological sophistication outpace our moral senses,” drones. There are always going to be sketchy people out ably have to work out in the courts.” of mechanical engineering; military uses, he is growing more and more concerned, he there, people who’ll misuse the technology, or just use it WRITTEN HOW and Holly Yanco, professor says Philosophy’s Prof. Kaag. “At the end of the day, some Eric McCann, a graduate student in computer science, says, about their widening civilian presence—especially in in weird ways. So that will lead to regulations, a set of and director of the New human being must be responsible for the activity of these is more succinct: “Personally,” he says, “if I were to see a MUCH AIR SPACE the area of surveillance: do’s and don’t’s that will govern [behavior]. I’m really not England Robotics Valida- devices and we must have an open and sophisticated dis- drone flying over my neighborhood, I’d probably make a “I worry that the actions that become increasingly easy YOU OWN OVER tion and Experimentation cussion about the extent of this responsibility. No amount too worried.” remark more along the lines of ‘That’s pretty neat’ than for our law enforcement agencies and military—the vari- Center. of engineering can get us out of this.” along the lines of ‘I need to phone my senator.’” n YOUR HOME?” ous means of drone surveillance—will not get the appro- priate moral and legal oversight.”

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LOVEfrom theRuins Boston Marathon Bombing Survivor Roseann Sdoia ’91 Finds Gratitude at the Finish Line

— BY SHEILA EPPOLITO —

atriot’s Day had always been Roseann Sdoia’s favorite day, full of friends, traditions and all things Boston.

On the second Monday of every April, Sdoia ’91 and her girlfriends would cheer on the Red Sox, then hoof it over to the Back Bay to watch the runners complete the Boston Marathon.

An inning or two before the Sox beat Tampa Bay with a Mike PNapoli walk-off RBI double last year, the friends ordered a round at the Forum Restaurant, their go-to spot for years. But within 10 minutes, a text from their running friend, Jen, popped up on Sdoia’s iPhone, letting her know she was approaching the finish line. They left their drinks, and told the waitress they’d be right back.

That’s when everything changed. Continued

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Jockeying for position on the busy n many ways, I feel blessed,” says Sdoia today, Boylston Street sidewalk, Sdoia’s friends during an interview at Spaulding Rehabilita- squeezed in to the left of a mailbox; Rose- tion Hospital, where she, like many other vic- ann stood on the right. tims, has spent the last year learning new life Then, a boom—the first bomb detonat- skills. “Three strangers saved my life.” ed—and a man started yelling to get in the They didn’t stay strangers for long. street. “I She spent a week at MGH, which was plenty of time for “I knew it wasn’t normal—it wasn’t firefighter Materia to find her again, based on her first name celebratory at all,” says Sdoia today. “We and her injuries. couldn’t get into the street, because it was Materia visited her the day after the bombings. And ev- barricaded, so I just ran.” ery day after that. The relationship grew and, eventually, She ran right into the second bomb, they became a couple. dropped near that mailbox by the bombers. “Sometimes, if I’m having a bad hair day, or I’m not “I saw two flashes of white light, and hit sure about an outfit, I’ll ask Mike how I look,” she says. the ground,” she says. “I was screaming for “He’ll just look at me and laugh, saying ‘I’ve seen you look help—at least I think I was—but everyone worse’.” was running around. It was mayhem. “ An Army veteran (he served three tours in Iraq), Ma- Finally, help came, in the form of Shores teria has been a rock, helping Sdoia navigate her altered Salter, a Northeastern University student body, her new world. who used his belt as a tourniquet on her right leg. Then, Shana Cottone, a Boston Shana Cottone, the Boston police officer, also rallied cop, and several Boston firefighters arrived, hard for Sdoia, checking in, visiting, vowing that police and put her on a back board. Since ambu- would get the bombers. lances were full, a police transport vehicle But the last of Sdoia’s saviors was, for several days, Roseann Sdoia ’91 tests out her first prosthetic at Spaulding was used for Sdoia and another victim—Boston firefighter anonymous. After helping Sdoia, Salter—the Northeast- Rehabilitation Hospital. Michael Materia jumped in first, and held her hand and ern student—returned to his apartment, bloodstained and tourniquet en route to the hospital. shell shocked. He didn’t talk about what happened, but While most people would have passed out, Sdoia wondered about the woman, and whether she lived. wouldn’t let herself. Then the power of social media worked its magic. Some- “I SAW TWO “I kept my eyes closed so I wouldn’t see anything else, one posted a photo on Facebook depicting Shores helping but kept doing deep breathing to keep myself calm and Roseann on the sidewalk, and someone else Tweeted it, FLASHES OF alert—I felt like if I lost consciousness, I’d never wake up,” and within minutes, Boston.com reached out, and Sdoia WHITE LIGHT, she says. finally got in touch with her “mystery angel.” AND HIT THE “I kept telling them I wanted to go to Mass General,” Like war veterans, the four have become a tight group— the Dracut native says. Her primary care doctor worked texting, going to hockey games, checking out Salters’ ten- GROUND, I WAS there, along with several nurse friends. nis matches, having dinner once in a while. SCREAMING FOR Once inside MGH, Sdoia was met by trauma surgeon “I don’t like to go too far from my ‘first responders’,” says HELP—AT LEAST Dr. David King, who’d just completed the marathon him- Sdoia. self, and, after the bombs detonated, continued running to I THINK I WAS— the hospital to help. doia’s resignation and strength of character should not be misinterpreted: she gets angry, BUT EVERYONE King assessed Sdoia’s injuries, which included damage frustrated and irritated daily. WAS RUNNING to her left leg from a tree branch turned projectile from the bomb’s force, embedded shrapnel, a ruptured eardrum, “Everything I did without a thought is now AROUND. IT burns on her body and, most concerning, a very badly dam- a whole process—driving, going up and down WAS MAYHEM. ” aged right leg. stairs, all of it is new, and all of it is difficult,” she says. “It’s still hard to believe that this is After the first surgery during which her leg was ampu- it—this is my life from now on. It’s like a bad movie, and tated below the knee, Dr. King had to go back in to clean S I’m starring in it.” the wound out. But Sdoia is not going to waste time wallowing. “He told me he’d try not to remove any more of the leg,” Sdoia says. After several bouts of “phantom pain” in what used to be her leg, she took a hard look in the mirror, and gave When she woke up, she learned that despite his best herself a talking to. “I stood tapping at the stump on my efforts, her right leg ended above where her knee used right leg, saying ‘It’s gone—there’s nothing there, stop it’,” to be. she says. Clockwise from top left: Roseann Sdoia ’91 undergoes rehab at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital; Chancellor Marty Meehan, right, and Executive Vice Chancellor Her response? “Okay. It is what it is.” Continued Jacqueline Moloney, left, present Sdoia with her own River Hawks hockey jersey at River Hawks Strong Night; Sdoia, far right, with, from left, Boston Police Officer Shana Cottone, Christine Rousseau Hart ’90, Northeastern student Shores Salter and Boston Firefighter Mike Materia; Sdoia, second from left, after finishing the BAA 5K the day before the 2013 Boston Marathon; Sdoia and boyfriend Materia.

44 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 45 Featurestory FEATURE STORY

After surgery to graft a new eardrum, “Close to 50 people have already come to visit her,” Gia she had trouble getting to the bathroom told ABC’s Deborah Roberts. “I don’t think the ICU has ‘We Are Stronger than We Think’ BY JULIA GAVIN on crutches in the middle of the night, ever seen so many people come through. She had friends so she bought a cheap desk chair to use fly in from Florida, Arizona and even Ireland. We’ve had Crowds cheered as Krista Perry Patronick Steve O’Brien ’10 ran for his family members JP and Paul Norden who were instead, rolling herself across the floor. to hold people off and create a schedule because we don’t ‘95,‘07 crossed the Boston Marathon finish both critically injured in the blasts. After just a few weeks of training, he com- She became determined to ditch the want it to be overwhelming, but everyone has understood.” line last year for the first time, exactly what pleted the course with the Nordens in mind. wheelchair almost immediately, getting a runner needs to hear after 26.2 miles. “While running Boston this year was no doubt special, this run felt espe- fitted for a prosthesis as soon as possible. doia is vice president of National Develop- But the finish was bittersweet, a delayed cially important since I was representing JP and Paul,” says O’Brien, who is accomplishment after the bombings But getting the right prosthesis is ex- ment, a Boston-based professional property helping to raise funds for the brothers’ medical bills. stopped her official race several days tremely difficult—especially with an management company, overseeing the Arbor- earlier. But on that “re-do” day, a “small O’Brien and Radloff’s former teammate Ruben Sança ’10 also ran the mar- amputation above the knee. Sdoia has point Apartment Communities. army” of supporters cheered her on, many athon for the first time. He’s trying to qualify for the 2016 Olympics and his already gone through several—and with “My colleagues have been tremendous,” supporting a fellow River Hawk. 21st place finish at 2:19:05 gives him a good shot of succeeding. every model, there are many, many hours she says. She returned to work part-time in “It takes a tremendous amount of time to train for a marathon, especially if spent adjusting the fit, tightening and October, but is back out on leave as her physical therapy, “I ran with two other alums and when I S got to Boylston Street, there were so many you work full time and are trying for an Olympic-qualifying time,” says Sança recalibrating. The legs are expensive, occupational therapy, pool therapy and other medical ap- who represented Cape Verde in the 2012 games. “It’s like having a part-time too, ranging in price from $20,000 to pointments don’t leave room for the demanding full-time people who were there for us, people I didn’t even know. I saw a lot of people job, but I love the process and enjoyed every moment of it.” $100,000 each. position. Kerry Donohoe ’95, ’07 and who’d heard about me finishing thanks to Registrar Kerry Donohoe ‘95,‘07 ran her third Boston Marathon in support Part of the difficulty with a good fit has running partner Steve Poirier In addition to juggling medical appointments, Sdoia’s the university spreading the word,” says of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Donohoe has raised nearly $45,000 for to do with the changing size of the leg— calendar is filled with interviews. Patronick. “I met a man and his son in River Hawks jerseys and thanked the organization in memory of the nephew of her friend Matt Drouin ’95. muscles atrophy and shrink, although The last year has made her something of a media dar- them for coming. That meant a lot.” She also runs for Matty Dubuc, son of Sandy Dubuc, a longtime university Sdoia’s leg took longer to do that. ling—in addition to “20/20,” she’s been featured in People, Patronick was one of the 26,839 runners on the course that day, and she employee. “I guess I had a lot to work with,” she Runner’s World, Shape Magazine, on The Katie Couric returned in 2014, along with several others from the university community. Last year, Donohoe’s running partner wasn’t feeling well. What at the says. Show and been interviewed by Brian Williams and count- time seemed unfortunate may have kept them out of harm’s way. They were less local television, print and radio outlets. Former track athlete Rex Radloff ’10 represented the university on a UMass Roseann Sdoia ’91 puts her system-wide team running in support of the Krystle Campbell Scholarship stopped a few miles from the finish, much farther from the attacks than they new prosthetic to the test on a hen tragedy strikes, you learn who In every interview, Sdoia is a combination of poise, Fund, which benefits students attending any of the five campuses. The UMass would have been if running in top form. treadmill at Spaulding. your friends are. For Sdoia, Christine strength and gratitude. Lowell Boston Marathon Scholarship, established soon after the attacks, also “I needed to finish the 26.2 miles not because I want a medal, but because Rousseau Hart ’90 sits squarely in that “Talking about it has helped me—it’s been its own form benefits those affected. A Boston Strong T-shirt designed by Kevin Zwirble ’04 I believe that goodness always wins over evil and this is how we do it,” says category. of therapy,” she says. has raised more than $4,000 for The One Fund, benefiting survivors. Donohoe. “Running always reminds me and that we are stronger than we Rousseau Hart and Sdoia have 30 In an interview with Matt Siegel from KISS 108 radio, think we are.” n years of history—they went to Notre Sdoia joked that she should get a half-price deal on pedi- “I DON’T THINK DameW Academy together, and then to the University of cures. Lowell, where they both studied business. Following the “UMass Lowell has had an important impact on my life. It is directly responsible for setting I’M WIRED TO The list of celebrities who’ve reached out to Roseann me on a successful career path. The value of my degree far exceeds what I paid for it. lead of Sdoia’s older sister, Gia, they joined the Alpha includes New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, HATE—AND I Omega sorority, and dove into life on campus. a slew of Red Sox players, Robert Kraft, Joe Kennedy III, I want to give back.” DON’T HAVE “We had a ball,” says Hart. “We were orientation guides Ted Kennedy Jr., Bruins forward Shawn Thornton, Ken Joe Lacoste ’83 remembers being a student and having to work to pay for college tuition. together, we studied for finals on Cumnock Beach and Casey of the Dropkick Murphys, Academy Award Winner “It wasn’t easy,” he says.“I am glad that I can help students who are in the same position TIME TO WASTE worked as cocktail waitresses at Chestnuts in Nashua.” Kevin Spacey (who was so moved he named his dog Bos- today so that they can work less and/or graduate with less debt.” ON HATE AS I Then life got more complicated, with jobs and reloca- ton), and even President Barack Obama. WORK ON tions and Hart’s marriage and kids. But when the bombings As for the other famous people associated with the happened, Hart dove right back into best friend mode. tragedy—accused bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsar- MY RECOVERY.” Within 24 hours, she had created a Go Fund Me page naev—Sdoia doesn’t have a lot to say. GIVE. on Facebook to tell help raise money for the high cost of “People ask me if I am angry, if I hate them,” she says. her friend’s recovery. At print time, almost 5,000 family, “I don’t think I’m wired to hate—and I don’t have time to friends, members, strangers and companies have pledged waste on hate as I work on my recovery.” nearly $400,000 to help. INSPIRE. As the trial nears for the surviving Tsarnaev brother, Contributions range from $270 from a 10-year old Sdoia says she may go to the courtroom once. “He is not named Sarah who asked for donations instead of birthday real to me now, he’s just someone on the news—but I want gifts, to $1,355 from the Barrington Grip ‘n Rip Softball to look in his eyes one time and see if it helps me under- LEAD. tournament. stand why he did this.” Chancellor’s Leadership Society members are a distinguished group of donors who, year after year, Hart is joined by a seemingly endless league of other After that, don’t count on Sdoia to stay stuck on provide vital support to the University. Annual contributors of $1,000 or more are acknowledged passionate Sdoia fans. In fact, her sister, Gia, told “20/20” this case. for their generosity and encouraged to take advantage of unique opportunities to engage with the that after the bombings, so many friends were flying in to University and celebrate the impact of their support. She’s got better things to do. n visit, she needed to make a schedule. Joseph V. Lacoste ’83 B.S., Electrical Engineering Learn more at alumni.uml.edu/CLS Senior Field Applications Engineer 978-934-4482 UMass Lowell’s Boston Marathon Scholarship Fund benefits anyone in the university community (including friends and family) Analog Devices Inc. www.uml.edu/givenow affected by the 2013 bombing, including first responders. To donate to the fund, visit uml.edu/givenow. Leadership donor since 2003

46 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 47 Featurestory THE COMPANY WE KEEP

aybe you know it from the ads it runs The company more than survived the downturn. With on NESN to accompany this season’s its credit-union formula of returning profits to members Red Sox games. Or because you’ve in the form of lower loan rates and higher rates on their been to a game or a concert at the deposits, as well as allowing them a share in governance, 14,000-seat arena in Worcester that DCU has achieved a level of member loyalty you rarely carries its name. Or maybe a child you see with a traditional financial institution. Today, with ur know has found hope in one of the 400,000 members spread across all 50 states, and $5 bil- O anti-bullying campaigns it sponsors. lion in assets—nearly 50 times the total of 30 years ago— MOr maybe you’re just one of the 400,000 people who do it is the largest credit union (by assets) in New England, your banking there. and among the 25 largest in the U.S. Objective The company’s ties with UMass Lowell go nearly as far However you’ve run across it, if you live in New England you probably know it by now—the DCU name is back as those of its CEO. A source of scholarships, a regu- everywhere these days. lar presence at campus job fairs and a consistent source of summer jobs—as well as permanent ones—DCU has also is to The company behind it, the Digital Federal Credit been a leader in promoting creativity among students. Union—or simply DCU to virtually all who know it—has Last year, the company cosponsored a DifferenceMaker Jim Regan ’88 traveled an extraordinary path. Conceived and launched contest with the Manning School of Business through ‘ 35 years ago as an in-house credit union for employees the University’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneur- of the then-tech titan Digital Equipment Corp., it en- ship, awarding a first prize of $1,200 to a pair of business Help dured through DEC’s buy-out by Compaq in 1998, then majors who had come up with the idea of a bank card that through Compaq’s absorption by Hewlett-Packard several could build a customer’s credit history. “We really enjoyed years after that. It survived largely on the simple loyalty of our involvement with that,” says Regan, who adds that those early DEC employees, who prevailed on their new he hopes to see these sorts of enterprises at the university People employers to become sponsoring companies, and thereby expanded beyond the business school. keep the credit union alive. “DCU has been a huge ally for us, across the broad- James F. Regan ’88, today president and CEO, arrived est possible spectrum,” says UMass Lowell Senior Major — BY GEOFFREY DOUGLAS — at the company in 1992 as an internal auditor, expecting Gifts Officer Steven Rogers. to stay a few years, build some credits and move on. DCU: AT-A-GLANCE But the longer you talk with him, the more you get the “I never envisioned any real growth opportunities with sense that none of this is the source of greater pride than In business since: 1979 the company because of its size,” he says today. “Then the involvement the company has had in addressing the HQ: Marlborough three years after I got there, probably around the time I needs of the communities it serves—many of them well Companies served: 800+ ’ was thinking about leaving, the head finance person left, outside the realm of banking. DCU For Kids, a nonprofit Members: 400,000+ and they asked me to take over most of her duties, which charitable foundation launched in 2005 to benefit chil- Branches: 19 grew into managing all the back-office operations—and a dren’s causes—autism research, anti-bullying campaigns, States: 50 year or two later I was promoted to CFO. I did that until Boys and Girls Clubs, the Jimmy Fund—has so far raised Assets: $5 billon+ 2008, when the CEO retired. I applied for his job and I or donated well over $5 million. And it’s been only one Website: dcu.org got it.” (What he doesn’t mention is that his hiring re- of many of the company’s causes. portedly followed a national search that considered more than 700 applicants.) “When you count everything we’re involved in— scholarships, charitable efforts, DCU For Kids, cystic He took over at the depths of the worst recession in fibrosis research—I think we’re talking about roughly decades. Real estate values had plummeted, unemploy- $3.5 million a year in total support to our communities,” ment was at a 16-year high, household debt had reached he says. “That’s something I’m really proud of.” unsustainable levels. But Jim Regan’s focus, and the com- pany’s, was never in doubt: He may be proud of it, but he won’t take much of the credit. When asked about the recent award he accepted “The most important thing is working with people, on behalf of the company from the Boomer Esiason as opposed to running a business,” he announced at his Foundation, one of the many children-based nonprofits 2008 hiring. “In this economy, with increases in unem- DCU supports, he finessed the question once or twice be- ployment and people having financial difficulty ... our fore reluctantly responding: UMass Lowell students prepare to pitch their objective is to help people ... Maybe they’re not buying business ideas at the 2013 DifferenceMaker Idea a new car [this year], but instead a used car. And we can “My own contribution to that was insignificant, really, Challenge, sponsored by DCU. help them stay in their house.” compared to what DCU as a company has done.” n

48 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 49 Faceof Philanthropy FEATURE STORY

aime Cosiol, a Polish Jew, arrived in at least 12 states and five countries—Jeffrey schools in the world, you know, that also have a in Costa Rica in 1931, at the age Cosiol stayed on, rising over the years from his medical school. Anyway, I just got more and more of 16, part of a wave of Polish early engineering post to his eventual duties as interested, more and more involved, both finan- immigrants that had begun two principal director and senior partner, with a spe- cially and otherwise.” He has been a member, for years before. “He had nothing,” cialty in the government and security sectors. nearly six years, of Technion’s national board, and his son Jeffrey says of his father. “I was [in charge of projects for] the FAA, the is a former president of its Philadelphia chapter. “Nothing but the clothes on his FDA, the Navy. We took on some really interest- His involvement with UMass Lowell, at least back.” ing jobs,” he says. “One project I remember, for as a benefactor, has been more recent but no less He began as a door-to-door the Navy, was to help design a submarine-escape whole-hearted. Named last fall to the University’s salesmanJ of dry goods. In time he was selling cash training school in New London, Connecticut. Circle of Distinction, with more than $1.5 million registers, then washing machines, TVs, finally real Another was to design the prototype for an air- in giving, his chief legacy is the Jeffrey Cosiol estate. He was married by then, with a family: a craft carrier’s catapult-release system.” International Merit Scholarship. This fund, One Man’s Story of Success:

Start with a Pontiac Grand Prix BY GEOFFREY DOUGLAS

wife, two sons and a daughter. And over time, re- “I always felt like, if there was something weird established just three years ago, supports incoming members Jeffrey—the oldest of the siblings –“We to be done, you’d find me working on it. I never freshmen in the Francis College of Engineering, began to be more comfortable.” knew from day to day what the next job was going with preference given to international students. Neither Jaime nor his wife Tobel had been to be. But that was the fun of it.” (He is in the process, he says, of restricting eligi- to college. “But it was always understood,” says He retired three years ago. But there’s been bility still further, to benefit only students from his Jeffrey, “it was always just a given, that the three no slowdown since then. When he isn’t traveling home country of Costa Rica—a move he hopes of us would go.” between one of his three homes—in Costa Rica, will serve to stimulate applications from there.) And so it was that Jeffrey, the first-born, Florida and on the New Jersey coast—and one What’s happening at the university today, he You can feel the headed north in the winter of 1963 to a boarding or more of an almost breathtaking succession of says, is in such stark contrast to what he remem- school in Lee, Mass.: “Because my mother said exotic destinations—India, Denmark, Prague, bers from his students days, it would be next to pulse today—all the that the first thing I had to do, before we could Southeast Asia, Australia, the Arctic Circle, to impossible not to want to take part: think about anything else, was to learn to speak name only the most recent—he’s probably busy “There wasn’t much going on here then, English.” making things happen for one of the several neither with the city nor with the campus. Just construction, the new causes he backs. He was there six months. By the time he left to go downtown, you had to walk through what he had a passing grasp of his new language. More Perhaps the dearest to his heart is the Tech- almost amounted to a slum—bar after bar on programs, the activity importantly—thanks mostly, he says, to a wise nion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Merrimack Street, most of them catering to the Israel. A research university funded in the U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Devens. And as far as the “ and kindly school adviser—he had a place to go going on. And the from there: the Lowell Technological Institute, through the American Technion Society—which campus—well, there really wasn’t much to 130 miles east, where he would study to be an has raised nearly $2 billion in support—it was it at all. success of the hockey electrical engineer. He was 17 years old. founded in 1912, and now has 13,000 students, “The difference is night and day. You can feel 18 academic departments, more than 50 research the pulse today—all the construction, the new He arrived in the fall of 1963, moving into centers and a faculty that currently includes program, what a source Smith Hall with nothing but a suitcase. His father, programs, the activity going on. And the success three Nobel laureates in chemistry. Its recent of the hockey program, what a source of energy back in Costa Rica, had made him a promise: “If I partnership with Cornell, to build a new science of energy that’s been. could make it through my freshman year, he’d buy that’s been. You put all of it together—it’s just and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island in putting this place on the map.” me a car.” By the following summer, he was the New York City—scheduled to open in 2017—is You put all of it owner of a Pontiac Grand Prix. Three summers “one of the most ambitious and forward-looking There’s not much question in his mind where later, he had his engineering degree. economic development projects any city has ever the energy originates: The first year out of school he spent at a job in undertaken,” according to former mayor Michael “Marty Meehan is the spark. He’s created a ter- together—it’s just Hingham, then moved to Philadelphia to pursue Bloomberg. rific deal here for the students—a great education his master’s at Drexel University. He stayed on in Cosiol’s involvement with it began, he says, on a great campus, at a low price. He really gets putting this place the city after that, working for a while as a consul- over lunch with a friend in the early 1990s: what the movie says: ‘You build it, and they will tant to an engineering firm, before accepting the “There was this presenter at the lunch that day, come.’ on the map. post that would carry him through a 40-year ca- this doctor [from Technion], and he was talking “It’s an exciting place he’s creating here. It reer: at the firm of Vincent G. Kling, an architec- about the new treatments they were developing makes you want to be a part.” n tural engineer who was already putting his mark for shock. I was fascinated, and began going to —Jeffrey Cosiol ’66 on the Philadelphia skyline. When the company other talks they were giving, other presenta- merged with a second firm in the 1980s to become tions—about medical treatments, biochemical Kling Stubbins—among the pre-eminent design devices. They’re one of the only engineering firms in the U.S., with office towers and high-rises 50 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 ” SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 51 Inside... Classnotes ALUMNI LIFE

53 CLASS NOTES 60 EVENTS JACK NEARY ’73 HAS A ROLE IN THE JOHNNY DEPP- Alumni Life 65 IN MEMORIAM LED FILM based on the book “Black Mass: The True Story of an 67 THEN & NOW Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob.” Jack plays a bartender at Triple Os, the unofficial headquarters of Whitey Bulger. The film is slated to open in 2015. A playwright and co-founder of the Greater Lowell Music Theatre, Jack is also helping stage two

musicals on campus this summer—“Fiddler on the Roof,” which Bonnie Comley ’81 and hus- band Stewart Lane, Broadway ran in June and starred “Laverne and Shirley” actor Eddie Mekka, producers, won a 2014 Tony Award for “Best New Musical” and “Chicago” which will run Aug. 1-2. Visit glmt.org for information. for their show “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder.”

toward radiation protection 1982 1950 issues at the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors’ annual meeting, the National Conference on Radiation Control.

1975 William Smith, semi-retired after 24 years as EHS manager with The Gillette Company, is a professional science master’s adviser and instructor at was recently John Mcsheehy UMass Lowell. Allen Merrill held a Merrill family reunion in Asheville, N.C., named team leader/sales in August 2013. The participants included spouses, children, manager at Weichert, Realtors 1980 grandchildren and great granddaughters. In the photo, Allen Artist and poet Chath PierSath ’00 creates portraits of - Metropolitan Boston Real Thomas C. O’Connor ’80, is near the middle wearing the blue shirt and tan slacks. Lauren (Chin) Johnson has people—in particular missing family members he never met— Estate in Boston. ’97 has been appointed to the written a novel, “Tri-Hard,” board of directors of Keyera, often representing the social and economic disparity among 1972 which revolves around a group 1958 a company that provides photographed recently of triathletes and college Cambodians. He has exhibited all over the world, most recent- Joanne Achille key products and services Robert (Bob) in newspapers moved to Florida. students. It contains informa- ly with his “Four Countries” show at H Gallery in Bangkok to oil and gas producers in Munroe and trade tion about training and is “a western Canada. Tom earned (shown here). Currently spending the summer living and traveled to publications 1973 love story of sorts,” she says. a bachelor’s degree in biology Mexico, Nor- 137 times, Anthony Caputo has been Her husband, Rubin, also has working at the Nicewicz Family Farm in Bolton, PierSath— and a master’s degree in envi- way, Canada, including in a professional fire protection written a novel, “Well Oiled.” who recived a master’s degree in community social psychology ronmental studies at UMass Ireland and The New York engineer of the Massachusetts Both books are available on Lowell. here—plans to head back to his native Cambodia for the winter. throughout Times. Phil Board of Fire Prevention Amazon. He and his family fled his homeland in 1979 to escape the the United has been a guest lecturer at Regulations since 2000. 1981 States within the past 24 numerous universities includ- Eric D. Forman ’82, ’88, brutal Khmer Rouge regime. “I am between countries,” he says Suzanne (Lane) Conrad, who months. ing New York University and 1974 ’12 is currently director of earned a bachelor’s degree in today. “I feel so rich this way. Cambodia gave birth to me, but the Pratt School of Design. bands for the North Reading nursing, is CEO of the Iowa 1960 Most recently, his company Public Schools. He graduated the United States of America gave an education, a new life, Donor Network, which facili- Jose Manuel Irurita passed was featured in a seven-page from the Graduate School of a rebirth of mental ability to be reborn, to be reshaped and tates organ and tissue recovery away in February 2010 due to article with a house that they Education with an education and transplantation for the molded into a productive human being. I am very grateful.” lung cancer. Jose graduated built on stilts just 20 miles specialist degree in adminis- state. Suzanne herself became from Lowell Technological outside of Midtown Manhat- tration, planning and policy a kidney donor in 2004 after Institute with a B.S. in tan. Phil mentions Lowell in May 2012. Previously he finding she was a match for leather engineering. Tech as his alma mater in received a master of education an Iowa Donor Network board the article. degree in curriculum and member who needed 1970 instruction from the College a transplant. Phil Shroff reports that he 1971 of Education of the University has been published in 85 pub- Ken Classon retired in May. of Lowell in 1988. lications (both domestic and Mike Ryan ’74, ’76 won the Continued foreign) a total of 558 times 2014 John C. Villforth Award since graduation. He has been to honor his contribution

52 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 53 Classnotes ALUMNI LIFE

1985 experience involved manag- u CLOSE-UP CLASS OF 1969 BY DAVID PERRY u CLOSE-UP CLASS OF 1973 Kathleen Carroll is a business ing, designing and permitting and accounting manager for highway, roadway, and utility Covanta, an organization that design projects, from complex er grandfather ran a shop on the Lowell Tech campus in position in the health-care world: as chief oper- Who Can Write a Sweet Summer Read? provides sustainable waste and multi-level flyover interchang- the 1940s, which was as close as anyone in the family ating officer of Picis, a Massachusetts-based IT energy solutions by converting es for the Federal Highway The Candi Man Can had ever gotten to college. company that offers software solutions to the non-recyclable waste into Administration, to municipal As a student and later a teacher, Jim McGuirk clean, renewable energy. improvement projects for Fifty years later, 25 years after her own graduation, acute-care sections of hospitals. Named as pres- spent decades at Lowell High School. cities and towns throughout Christine Cournoyer stood in front of the 1998 senior ident two years later, she oversaw a doubling of He graduated in the usual time, in 1964, with Kyle McInnis, health sciences New England. John received class at UMass Lowell, as commencement speaker and the company’s revenues and profits, resulting in good grades, lots of friends and the seed of a chair at Merrimack College, a B.S. in civil engineering at chief information officer of a billion-dollar company, and spoke to its sale to United Healthcare in 2010. Lowell sports legacy. He took in some pretty good has been awarded a $500,000 UMass Lowell and an MBA H them of life’s lessons. Her mother and father were in the audience. But the real index of her success at Picis, she stories, too. He even played a role in some of grant by the Robert Wood from Babson College. them. It was, she says today, “the proudest day of their lives.” says today, as well as at the job that would follow, Johnson Foundation in part- was not something that could be pulled off a McGuirk, 67, lays out a bunch of those mo- nership with the Merrimack “My father wanted me ments in “Candi Girl,” a breezy tale of romance Valley YMCA to support his to go to college more than spreadsheet or quarterly report: and friendship played out in the Mill City, among Lowell High classmates and laced with familiar work in addressing the reduc- When a Career anything else in the world,” “It was almost as if, for the first time in my career, there was a landmarks and references. HoJo’s, Skip’s Restau- tion of child obesity. Kyle cre- says Cournoyer, who double bottom-line: You’re not only running a company to earn a rant, St. Margaret parish, the Dutch Tea House. ated Active Science through Becomes a Calling: worked in a grocery store profit—you’re actually helping people. I can’t tell you what a differ- Seminal rock lyrics are reference points. which children wear “activity throughout her undergrad ence that made,” she says. trackers” that send exercise “I sort of had ‘American Graffiti’ in my mind,” In Pursuit of the years at Lowell Tech to Then, two years ago, at a time in her life when, she says, she had says McGuirk, who earned an education degree at data to mobile devices. The make it happen—and was begun to think about retirement, she made the move to the position Lowell State College in 1969 and matured into a UMass Lowell Athletic Hall of Fame (1980) data, displayed on handheld the first in her family ever basketball player. “Just similar in tone. But that’s on another level.” ‘Double Bottom-Line’ she holds today: as CEO for N-of-One, a provider of diagnostic and tablets, also encourage the to do so. How true is its fiction? children to develop an interest William L. Stefanov has treatment strategies for personalized cancer care, based in Waltham. in academics. joined NASA as the associate (Her father died in May of last year. To honor him—and “to give a Working from genetic information as well as a particular tumor’s “There were things that really happened in college, things that happened to friends, and hand to other kids like me, so they’ll maybe have a little easier time profile, she explains, the company devises therapeutic options for some that didn’t happen,” says McGuirk. “And some things I observed in teaching and International Space Station coaching, too.” Albert Larose (ISS) program scientist for of it”—she recently endowed a scholarship in his name.) the oncologist. On top of that, he adds, “I embellished a bit.” was promoted Earth Science in the ISS pro- The path she pursued, almost from the day of her 1973 LTI grad- “For the first time in history, we have the knowledge and capabil- to executive gram science office and leads uation, has been an uninterrupted upward progression. After earning ities to transform cancer outcomes,” she says. “We’ve reached the He taught in Lowell middle schools for more than two decades before returning to Lowell vice president the Earth Science and Remote High School to teach English from 1991 through his retirement in 2004. At Lowell State, her master’s in economics at Northeastern, she worked briefly as an point today where doctors can realistically aspire to make cancer a McGuirk ranked fifth among all-time career scorers with 1,128 points. He scored 43 points of Secure Care Sensing Unit in the Astroma- economist for the Labor Department, then for Wang Labs in Lowell, chronic disease—not necessarily curable, but definitely manageable, during a game against Keene State as a senior, one shy of the school record. Products, terials Research and Explo- followed by ever-more-ascendant positions at Bolt, Harte-Hankes, through treatment with the right mix of drugs. Not so different from LLC. in Con- ration Science Directorate at At Lowell High, he was an assistant boys basketball coach (1971-1979) then coached girl’s Lightbridge Inc.—as COO—then as a senior VP at Lotus and chief what we’ve managed already with AIDS. cord, N.H. Al the Johnson Space Center in track from 1979 to 2000, earning a long list of wins and kudos. information officer of IBM’s software group. She sat on the boards of has spent the last 26 years of Houston. He holds a doctorate “It’s an incredible goal to work for. It’s what drives me. three public companies, including BJ’s Wholesale Club and Stride- He never forgot his Lowell High pals, one of whom still lives around the corner. his career building value in in geology from Arizona State It’s what drives all of us here. “Candi Girl,” set in motion at the urging of his wife of 18 years, Pat, took three years to and growing startup compa- University. Rite (where, she notes, she was the first-ever female member). “It’s what I come to work for every day.” n write. The work was sparked by his 45th high school reunion in October 2009, when the nies like VST Technologies She was named by Businessweek as one of its “10 Most Influential stories popped up again. and Quantum Leap Packaging. 1989 Women in Technology” and by Boston Magazine as one of the “Top He settled on the title after seeing the play “Jersey Boys,” based on the Four Seasons. (The He joined VST in Massa- 100 Women Who Run This Town.” group had a hit in 1963 called “Candy Girl.”) chusetts as employee number It wasn’t until 2006, though, that her career took the turn that As he wrote, McGuirk sent out little snippets of the book to various friends for reaction. three and was instrumental would be decisive. It was in that year that she accepted her first When the buddy who shows up as Brian Cray read it, his lips curled up into a smile, recalls in building a sizable and McGuirk. “And he said to me, ‘This is it?’ I want more.’” successful company, which Self-published in a run of 500, “Candi Girl” has sold around 400 copies since it left the he ultimately helped sell to a press in September, says the author. It’s alongside Elinor Lipman and Jack Kerouac among division of SanDisk Corp. He local authors at Pollard Memorial Library in Lowell, and McGuirk has done a couple of book was the general manager of signings, including one between River Hawks men’s and women’s basketball games in Janu- Quantum Leap Technologies. Ron Chapdelaine has closed ary. He recently developed an the business he has run for He came to Lowell State following a poor start at Northeastern. “I was only 17, young, IP and patented Real Time 22 years, a popular snack and had no idea what I wanted to do,” he says. “So I left, came home and tried to figure out Locating System (RTLS) for shack inside the Post Office what I was going to do.” Secure Care Products. He in Haverhill’s Washington He worked in McQuade’s Department store. One of his Northeastern teachers came in. The lives in Dracut with his wife, Square. Ron, who has limited professor suggested English. “You were a good student,” he told McGuirk. Kimberly, their daughter, vision due to a degenerative He entered Lowell, where his passion for English morphed into a career. “I went to take the Sydney, and son, Ben. disease, majored in music Lowell teacher’s test, which allowed you to teach here. It was a couple months after gradua- business but had difficulty tion, I walked in, nervous, and I looked at the test. And I thought, wow, I know all of this. So I 1988 finding work in the industry. was prepared well.” John Schoenfeld was named So, in 1992 took over the And finally, he wrote the book on it. a project manager in the stand sponsored by the state “I gave it three years of my life. Only one day was it painful. My daughter, Jen, said, ‘You transportation engineer- Commission for the Blind. He know, dad, you can never be sure it will be published, but you have so much love and enthu- ing department at Nitsch says now he’ll have more time siasm for doing it, I’m not sure that part matters.’” n Engineering. His previous to play his guitar and take care of other things. Continued 54 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 55 Classnotes ALUMNI LIFE

It was snowing hard in Lowell the day through college. It was most of what paid strengthen it, you could save yourself a for the shopper in search of a weath- 1991 2001 u CLOSE-UP CLASS OF 1977 Brian Rist got his diploma in December of my way.” lot a damage.” er-protected, energy-efficient home—and Shikha Barman ’91, ’95, Kevin Blakeman has been 1976. The drifts were so high, he remem- The graduation-day Florida decision, So he designed a bracing system today, according to its founder, the larg- CEO and CTO at startup a U.S. Naval Officer and a bers, he could barely see over the top of as it turned out, was eventful. The first that could fortify the door against heavy est manufacturer of hurricane-protection Integral BioSystems LLC, Foreign Affairs officer for the his VW Bug. job he landed was as night manager for winds. It sold to area stores, then to products in the world. was named “One of the 20 U.S. Department of State “So I just dug out and drove south, for a business in Hollywood. From there he Home Depot. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. When Women to Watch in 2014” since graduation. He currently Florida,” he says. “I wasn’t sure what I’d moved on to a job in real estate, then one the Florida economy went south in the by Mass High Tech. Shikha works for the U.S. govern- Time passed. He moved with his wife earned a master’s degree in do down there, but I figured there’d be with a garage-door manufacturer. As for 2007-09 recession, Smart Companies ment. from the east coast to the west (“It’s polymer chemistry and poly- opportunities. I’d been promised a job at the girl, it wasn’t long before she would found itself short on customers for a much more tranquil here, a whole differ- mer science, and a doctorate 2002 Wang Labs”—where he’d interned during be his wife. He hasn’t left the state since. while. But only for a while. “When you’re ent way of life”), founded one company, in plastics engineering and Ian his college summers—“but in the end that not catching fish in one pond, sometimes There were a couple of turning points went to work for another—where he polymer science. Underwood hadn’t come through, so I didn’t have you’ve got to change ponds,” is how Rist STORM along the way, though, that helped to took annual sales from $2 million to $20 ’02, ’05, ’07 anywhere else to go. And it had been a keep him there. The first was in 1992, million in three years—and at some point explains the reasoning that took his busi- Christopher M. Owens ’91, is happy to hard winter—I wanted to be somewhere when Hurricane Andrew, among the along the way had another one of those ness to Mexico, where a hurricane-pro- ’92 has been named president announce the warm. The other thing was, I’d met a girl.” deadliest storms ever to hit the U.S., moments. tection system in the Hotel Presidente in and chief executive officer of birth of his He doesn’t say so, but he was prob- came ashore in south Florida. In the Cancun led to another hotel, then anoth- Gynesonics Inc., a women’s second child, He was just sitting around one day, ably also ready for a change. Growing up weeks that followed, most of the work er. “We were the only ones down there,” healthcare company with Oliver Andrew Underwood. he says, watching a child bouncing on a SMART in Stoughton 20 miles south of Boston, at the garage-door company where Rist he says. headquarters in Redwood Oliver was born on May 25th trampoline, when the thought occurred to he’d begun in 7th grade working with was still employed revolved around storm City, Calif. Chris earned both at 12:02 a.m. weighing in at him: If the trampoline material—polypro- Smart Companies today is a $22 mil- his brother in the self-service laundromat recovery. It was during this time that he bachelor and master’s degrees 7 pounds, 11 ounces. His pylene—was durable enough to with- lion-a-year business with 140 employees their father, who owned the dry-cleaning had his first eureka moment: and 50,000 satisfied customers, across at UMass Lowell. mother, Sara, has recovered stand all that up-and-down pounding, very well. His older sibling, business next door, had set up for his several states and Mexico. “The company “It came to me that that the garage maybe it could handle the pummeling Dr. Demetrius Rizos has been Owen, is very happy to be boys. “We’d take care of the machines, these days pretty much runs itself,” says door of a house was nearly always its of a hurricane. He tested it, and found named director of Nephrol- a big brother. wait on the customers, roll the coins Rist. “The key is to find great people, largest opening—but also its weakest— that it could. And that was the beginning ogy Research at ActivMed every Sunday,” Rist says. “I did that right then empower them to do their jobs.” and that if you could do something to of another company: Storm Smart, a Practices and Research in Erin Caples ’02, ’04 took on manufacturer of hurricane shutters, which Which isn’t to say that he’s slowed Methuen. the role of stewardship manag- he launched with a partner in 1997—and down much. Today on the board of six er in the UMass Lowell Office Going Where the which since then has been a perennial non-profits—“The more I give there, the 1992 of Advancement in January presence on Inc. Magazine’s list of the more I seem to get”—he is also currently Curtis E. Dalton has been 2012. This follows six years in Weather Leads You: country’s fastest-growing, privately held pursuing a graduate degree online at named chief information risk health care administration, fo- companies. UMass Lowell’s Center for Innovation and & security officer and senior cusing on community benefit A Primer for Success Entrepreneurship. vice president of Pactera management, patient advoca- After that, one thing led to anoth- Technology International Ltd. cy/corporate culture, strategic er. From Storm Smart it was a natural “It’s a great, great university,” he says. Headquartered in China, Pac- planning and social media BY GEOFFREY DOUGLAS step to Smart Energy, a maker of solar I wouldn’t be where I am today without tera is a global consulting and community management. Erin screens—because, as it turned out, the what I learned at ULowell. The most valu- technology services provider. team-teaches the new Social same material was effective not only able thing of all, I think, was the lesson of Media Marketing for Business against wind but also against solar heat, perseverance. 1998 Certificate program at Mid- another liability of Florida living. Some- “Someday maybe I might like to be a The Honor- dlesex Community College, where along the line the two companies teacher myself—try to pass on some of able Ray- and serves on the Board of came together under a single umbrella: mond M.P. the Greater Lowell Chamber those same lessons.” n Smart Companies, a one-stop destination Drewnowski of Commerce. In addition, was elected Erin partnered with fellow to serve in community social psycholo- the 2012 gy alumnus Amy (Stanley) Massachusetts College of Tobin ’10 in 2011 to form Presidential Electors. LEAP Consulting—provid- ing personal coaching, job 1998 search assistance, social media Braulio Polanco recently marketing, grant writing and accepted a job with Nypro. more. Erin lives in Dracut with her husband, Keith, Ludwig Marek and daughter, Melanie. is a senior lead product 2004 strategist at David Sachs is a senior Win- Multi-Sector dows server administrator at Fixed Income Charles Stark Draper Labora- Strategies. tory. He is focusing on storage He is a former journalist and and messaging (Exchange, published author. Lync, faxing) and recently Continued

56 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 57 Classnotes

u CLOSE-UP CLASS OF 1991 initiated the first Voip circuit populated by corruptible gov- when he virtualized a fax ernment agents and angling server during an upgrade politicians. “Othello struck project. “I love working at me as a uniquely American Draper Lab,” he says. “I have story,” says John, who been given many challenging majored in English. assignments and work with some really great people.” 2008 David has been at Draper Susan Hamilton ’08, ’12 grad- Laboratory since shortly uated from UMass Amherst after graduation. in 1971 with a B.S. in nursing and went on to receive her graduate certificate in nursing education in 2008 and her Szava-Kovats Captures the Ph.D. in nursing in 2012, both from UMass Lowell. She is an assistant professor of nursing 2011 BY DAVID PERRY at the Massachusetts General Andy Chau returned to his hometown this spring to serve as guest conductor of Hospital Institute of Health the Fall River Symphony Orchestra’s spring concert. Andy majored in music edu- Professions in Boston. cation and clarinet at UMass Lowell and later received a master’s degree in music RAT education at the Boston Conservatory. Amanda Jarski got married As he watched television one evening four years 1980s Underground Music Network,” which looked on Sept. 22, 2012 and recently ago, Andrew Szava-Kovats came upon a docu- inside the underground music scene to which he 2005 started a new job as a credit Laurette Patten, a nurse prac- Holly Anne Robdau, a Higher Education at the State mentary about CBGB, the notoriously skanky yet belonged. House on May 8. Kimber- influential New York punk club. Army Sgt. Kenneth Tucceri analyst at a community bank. titioner, has joined Hampshire registered nurse at Emerson “Let’s Go to The Rat” shows not only the ly—who was president of the is deployed to Naval Station County Internal Medicine in Hospital, has become engaged Hmmm, he wondered to himself. Why hasn’t history of the long-dead Boston club, but captures 2009 Accounting Society while Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in South Hadley. Laurette, who to Joshua West, a collections anyone done one of these on the Rat? the essence of the DIY style that ruled the scene. Danielle Forest received her here—was also vice president accordance with Operation earned her master’s degree in representative with DCU. Szava-Kovats’ production firm, True Age Media, Ph.D. from Old Dominion family health, says her goal of the Finance Society and Not the rodent, of course, but the notorious- Enduring Freedom to provide is a one-man venture, where he produces, writes, University in May 2014. She is “to provide care to adults 2014 the Student Managed Fund ly skanky yet influential Boston punk club, The public affairs support for Joint directs and edits his work. It is DIY personified. and was head of committees Rathskellar. REM, The Police, Ramones and Joan Task Force Guantanamo. JTF is an assistant professor of with a mix of diagnosing and Kimberly for Omicron Delta Kappa, Jett played the place on the way up, or on the way “The format of the work afforded a way to re- GTMO’s mission is to provide elementary education and treating health conditions.” Chao, who the national college leader- safe, legal, humane and trans- literacy at the University of graduated from through, dropping the club’s name as street cred- live and re-think a lot of this,” he says. “It’s a case “Boston wasn’t as into electronic music then,” ship honor society, and the parent care and custody of Southern Mississippi. the Manning ibility. The Cars played there, The Neighborhoods of the old days coming back.” says Szava-Kovats, adding that Data-Bank-A finally campus chapter of Tau Sigma, its detainees. School of and LaPeste showed their chops often and Willie His path through UMass Lowell (then University launched a brief tour of Europe in 1993, meeting James H. Richard has joined Business with a national honor society for Alexander practically lived there. of Lowell) was not a direct one. He began in the diehard fans face to face. 2006 Fish & Richardson as part of dual concen- transfer students. The summer Szava-Kovats, now 56, spent a lot of time there fall of 1975, following graduation from Chelmsford The road to finishing his Rat project was dis- before her senior year, she Justin E. Angert was married the firm’s Patent Group, focus- trations in accounting and worked as an audit intern at in the 70s, 80s and 90s—and decided to memorial- High School, then left in his junior year, 1978. jointed. At some point, he just hit a wall. He’d been last August in Gibsonia, ing on patent prosecution and finance, was chosen as one of Feeley & Driscoll, a public ac- ize the Kenmore Square club himself. Not that “It was a mistake made due to financial con- through Willie Alexander’s vast cache of scrap- Penn., to Piper Treece, a strategic advice in the areas the “29 Who Shine,” a group counting firm in Boston. She it was easy. booked memorabilia, and had a few interviews, but benefits consultant for Seubert of electrical engineering and of outstanding Massachusetts cerns, and would have remained a mistake had I began a full-time job with the a valve had shut. The film had stopped coming in, and Associates in Pittsburgh. computer science. Jim majored public college and univer- “It was going to be my first project,” he says, not gone back in 1990,” he says. “I’m not sure I firm after graduation and plans and the big names ignored his requests for inter- Justin is a senior plastics engi- in electrical engineering and Ryan McGovern, a senior sity graduates honored by sitting in the basement of his Lowell home, amid could do the same thing now, but enrollment was to prepare for the certified views. neer at Philips Respironics in later earned his J.D degree engineer with Aerodyne Gov. Deval Patrick and the artfully stacked keyboards, electronic equipment down when I wanted to come back and standards public accounting exam. n Murrysville, Penn. from the Boston University Research Inc. in Billerica, is Massachusetts Department of and a long row of vinyl LPs. “But it turned out to be aren’t what they are now.” He stopped chasing the Rat, busying himself School of Law. engaged to Samantha Elsy, a my fourth.” While he painted and drew early on, Szava- with other projects. 2007 speech therapist for Genesis 2014 He says the philosophy degree he earned at Kovats didn’t begin making music until his college Eventually, he ran into Terry Kitchen, a musician, 2010 Rehab Services in Reading. Colleen Ranshaw-Fiorellow, Akeem Williams, a former David Gutierrez, who worked UMass Lowell has been instrumental in the way he years. songwriter and Rat regular. Kitchen offered to help. director of the Council on River Hawk basketball at the Avedis Zildjian Co. for 2012 has approached projects and his time in music. “My girlfriend’s brother and I were just noodling He organized a benefit show for the movie, “and Aging in Georgetown, has standout, was invited to three years, recently joined Clara Berry is a coordinator “It runs all through my work, quite clearly,” he around with sounds,” he says. “This was back that turned everything around,” says Szava-Kovats. received a Mental Health in the Boston Celtics pre-draft Nuance Communications. in marketing and develop- says. “I’m so glad I got a degree in philosophy. It in the ‘70s, when you could get all of that cool “People came out of the woodwork to talk and I Aging Certificate from Boston workout on June 4, “It’s a ment at the Portsmouth could afford to continue the project.” University’s Center for Aging little bit of a dream come runs through every part of my life, especially the electronic stuff. It was just out there, and you could 2011 (N.H.) Music and Arts Cen- and Disability Education true,” says Akeem, who’s part that is an artist.” He said what he learned pick any of it up cheap. And next thing you know, The famous never responded from behind layers Richard LaFlamme III moved ter. Clara, who lives in Exeter, and Research. from Brockton. “I got the call a couple of days ago. … I about the study of beliefs, critical thinking and we’d formed Data-Bank-A. And a few years later, in of managers and lawyers, but Szava-Kovats says his from Massa- N.H., earned her bachelor’s was lying in bed, and as soon as I got off the phone, I went rational thought has helped him find ways into 1983, we put out our first record.” finished product reflects the truth of the Rat. chusetts to degree in music education. John Kneeland adapted to the gym.” Akeem—who broke UMass Lowell’s fresh- approaching subjects. Denver, Colo., They got some college radio play, and entered “This is a metaphor for punk in America, and I’d Shakespeare’s “Othello” for man points record and led the nation in scoring during in March 2013 While he toiled on the Rat project, others were into the world of DIY promotion. say the rat was neck-and-neck with CBGB in terms the Gaslight Theater Co. of both his sophomore and junior years—went on to excel in 2013. Chris Federico has been ac- conceived and born: He produced and directed of being home to a legitimate culture moment,” New England, making the Division I as well. “I thought I’d be playing Division II for “It’s not like there was Facebook back then,” cepted into the fall term of the “The Last Pow-Wow Oak,” which chronicled a his- he says. story into a drug war on the four years,” he says. “Then we get an unsuspected bump to Szava-Kovats says with a smile. New England School of Law toric tree and landmark in his Lowell neighborhood; streets of urban America Division I, and next thing I know, I’m working out with By the late ‘80s, the band cultivated loyal follow- For more information, or to order the film, visit with a $10,000 scholarship. a film called “The Last Farm in Lowell,” and he pro- the Celtics. I couldn’t ask for a better career.” www.trueagemedia.com. n duced, wrote and directed “Grindstone Redux: the ings in Germany, France and Belgium, though there wasn’t much demand for local shows. 58 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 59 Alumnievents ALUMNI EVENTS

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4 5 [1] From left, Head Coach Gary Gardner; George Davis and Athletic Director Dana Skinner gather for the Cross Country and Track & Field Alumni Reunion at a River Hawks hockey game in January. [2] Alumni gather for the annual Student Leader Alumni Reunion before a hockey game. From left: residence life alumni Rich Connelly ’87, Stephen Dagle, Associate [1] UMass Lowell River Hawks face the Northeastern University Huskies at Frozen Fenway in Boston. Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and University Events Larry Siegel, Mike Erickson ’84 and Andrew Scribner MacLean ’87. [2] Hundreds of alumni watch as hockey alumni, Ryan Sandholm ’97 and Christian Sbrocca ’00 perform at the Frozen Fenway pregame reception. [3] Emeriti faculty Donn Clark, left, and Alan Rux, right, with Department Chair Martin Margala, are recognized at the 60th Anniversary Celebration for Electrical [3] The Graduate School of Education celebrates its alumni with a special reception before a River Hawks hockey game. From left: Ted Rurak, Dean Anita Greenwood ’84,’92, and Computer Engineering. Bob Gower and George Tsapatsaris ’77. [4] Civil Engineering Department Chair Clifford Bruell ’74, ’76 presents a plaque to Vice Provost for Enrollments John Ting recognizing the creation of the Ting Civil [4] College of Health Sciences alumni gather for a reception at the Tsongas Center prior to the hockey game. From left: Ed and Diane Mahoney ’80 Engineering Discretionary Endowment Fund during the Civil Engineering 45th Anniversary Celebration. with Dean Shortie McKinney. [5] Civil Engineering Department Chair Clifford Bruell ’74, ’76 presents a plaque to Prof. Donald Leitch during the Civil Engineering 45th Anniversary Celebration. Friends Manning School of Business alumni and friends gather before the River Hawks men’s ice hockey game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. From left: Wayne Aruda ’71,’83, [5] of Leitch helped to create the Professor Leitch, Civil Engineering Concrete Canoe and Student Activities Discretionary Endowment Fund. Dave Cate ’74, Steve Cate and Mikey Kilbride. [6] UMass Lowell football alumni gather at the River Hawks men’s ice hockey game against Clarkson University’s Golden Knights to reconnect and celebrate the proud legacy of UMass Lowell football. 60 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 61 Alumnievents ALUMNI EVENTS

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[1] Sigma Phi Omicron members cheer on the basketball team as it takes on the University of New Hampshire at the Tsongas Center. 5 6 [2] Alumni award recipients gather with the chancellor, executive vice chancellor and deans during the awards ceremony. Back row, from left: Dean of the Francis College of Engineering Joseph Hartman, Dean of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Luis Falcón, Dean of the College of Health Sciences Shortie McKinney, Acting Dean of College [1] Alumni spend the afternoon and evening together at the exquisite home of Gail and Bob Ward ’71 in Orinda, Calif. From left: Bob ’71, ’12 (H) and Gail Ward ’12 (H), of Health Sciences Mark Hines, Dean of Graduate School of Education Anita Greenwood and Dean of the Manning School of Business Kathryn Carter. Front row, from left: Kunal Sampat ’05, computer science Assoc. Prof, Haim Levkowitz, Ethel Schuster, Dean of the Francis College of Engineering Joseph Hartman, Associate Vice Chancellor for Mark Cocozza ’71, James Barry ’88, Adam Hogue ’03, Patricia Dyer McPhail ’54, Richard Pierro Jr. ’83, Louis Coiro ’82, Jacqueline Moloney ’75, ’92 and Chancellor Entrepreneurship & Economic Development Steven Tello ’80, ’02, Associate Vice Chancellor for Principal Gifts John Davis, Debra and Brian ’79 Scappaticci and Major Gift Officer Sally Washburn. Marty Meehan ’78. [2] From left: Tom McAvinew ’63, Karen McAvinew and Kathy Lemire show their UMass Lowell pride at a Boston Red Sox vs. Philadelphia Phillies spring training game. [3] Dean Hartman awards the College of Engineering’s Dean Cup to the 2014 winning team from the Plastics Engineering Department. The challenge takes place annually during UMass Lowell celebrates the achievements of the Class of 2014 and recognizes Honorary Degree Recipients and Distinguished Alumni. From left: Chancellor Marty Meehan National Engineers Week. [3] ’78, Distinguished Alumni Recipients Jerry ’78 and Joyce ’77 Colella, Honorary Degree Recipient Brian MacCraith ’14 (H), Assoc. Prof. Andre Dubus III, Honorary Degree [4] Alumni gather on Valentine’s Day to show their love for the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at its Alumni Appreciation Night. From left: John ’80 Recipients Joy Tong ’14 (H) and John Pulichino ’67, ’14 (H) and Executive Vice Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney ’75, ’92. and Anne ’83 O’Connell, Michelle Bazin ’93 and Walter Toomey ’03. [4] Alumni and friends gather in Tampa to meet one another and enjoy watching a Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees spring training game. [5] Alumni from the San Francisco Bay join university leaders and faculty to watch a live showing of the River Hawks men’s ice hockey team against Notre Dame University’s [5] New York City regional alumni gather with University staff at the Tiffany Salon. From left: Stewart Lane, Bonnie Comley ’81, Bill Ghitis ’69, Anda Andrei, Fighting Irish during the Hockey East Championship Game. Executive Vice Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney ’75, ’92, Ed Moloney and Director of Development Ted Priestly. [6] Paul Johnson, Lowell Textile Institute Class of 1951, left, and his wife, Margot, visit with UMass President Robert Caret at a system-wide reception at The Villages in Florida. [6] Alumni and friends enjoy our first sunset cruise in Fort Lauderdale. From left: Ed and Justine ’69, ’74 Quimby, Christina McGuirk ’67, Ann Marie Clark ’74, Janet Lambert-Moore, Athena Letsou ’58 and Tom McGuirk.

62 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 63 Thank You Inmemoriam ALUMNI LIFE to Our Commencement Eve Celebration Sponsors Mary E. McGauvran ’39: a ‘Beacon Over the next three and a half decades, she not only taught but also served as an administrator in a number of posts, in- cluding director of admissions, assistant dean and later dean of of Success’ and a ‘Great Role Model’ women, director of student affairs and, finally, vice president of student affairs when the school became the University of Low- It was a sports banquet held somewhere off campus. ell in 1975. Jim McGuirk thinks it could have been at the Coq D’Or in She retired in 1987. Dracut but he’s not sure. It was a long time ago in the spring of 1966. Along the way, McGauvran also enrolled at Boston Uni- versity where she earned a master’s degree in education and, Being the annual awards dinner, the place was filled with in 1955, where she became Doctor McGauvran when she was athletes, coaches, athletic department personnel and parents of awarded a doctorate in education. She taught in BU’s Graduate the students. School of Education from 1957 to 1964. And one other woman. As a specialist in educational measurement, she co-authored What, the young athletes wondered, was Mary McGauvran, the Metropolitan Reading Readiness Test and published sev- the dean of women, doing there? She was the only non-athletic eral books and articles in her field. She received many awards administrator at the event. and citations during her career, including the Commonwealth’s McGuirk, then a Lowell State freshman basketball player Citation for Outstanding Performance in 1986 and the Distin- who went on to be elected to the university’s Athletic Hall of guished Alumni Award from UMass Lowell in 1997. Fame (read his full profile on Page 54), remembered recently, She also served on the Statewide Assessment and Institu- Since its inception in 2008, the annual Commencement Eve Celebration has raised more than $3.1 million for student scholarships. These scholarships BY JACK MCDONOUGH “We weren’t sure why she would be interested in athletics. So tion Review committees of St. John’s Hospital, was vice chair allow students to take full advantage of educational opportunities without financial restrictions. Gifts to the university represent an investment in tomorrow’s someone asked the athletic director, Jim Ciszek.” of the Northeast Regional Education Council and chair of the experts, leaders and difference makers. “She’s interested in you guys as young men,” Ciszek said. board of directors of Notre Dame Academy. “She takes an interest and she came to support you.” Jacqueline Moloney, UMass Lowell’s executive vice chan- FELLOWS CIRCLE ($25,000) President Emeritus Jack Wilson and Judi Wilson Marilyn Real ’75 If you want to help build Taking an interest and providing support were two of the cellor, remembers McGauvran as “a great role model for me as Larry Acquarulo Jr. ’81 David Wunsch Sheila Riley-Callahan ’80, ’88 a student and later as an administrator. She set a high bar for on Dr. McGauvran’s legacy, many contributions that Mary E. McGauvran made to the in- Aramark Brian Rist ’77 those around her and set in motion the foundation for the kind Gerald ’78 and Joyce ’77 Colella PRINCIPALS CIRCLE ($5,000) Sage Bank please consider contributing stitution and its students from the time she joined Lowell State College in 1951 until she retired as a vice president of the Uni- of compassionate, student-focused culture that is a hallmark of Jeff Cosiol ’67 Ahmed Abdelal John Silveria ’67, ’71 to the scholarship being the student experience at UMass Lowell.” Robert Delhome Accellent Andrew Sutherland ’94 versity of Lowell in 1987. established in her honor. Gururaj ’08 (H) and Jaishree Deshpande David Ameen ’84 Amad and Alexa ’94 Tayebi Dr. McGauvran died in Chelmsford on May 12 at the age of Larry Siegel, as associate vice chancellor for student affairs Digital Federal Credit Union Ardito, Toscano & McCollum, PC John Ting Visit www.uml.edu/givenow 96. and events, today serves in a capacity similar to that held years Nancy L. and Richard K. Donahue Foundation Linda Barrington ’04, ’06 Charles ’76 and Joanne ’76 Yestramski and specify the Mary earlier by McGauvran. Charles ’66, ’04 (H) and Josephine Hoff Carol Barry ’96 Describing her as “a beacon of success to aspiring teachers, McGauvran Scholarship Fund. women and men, especially in Lowell,” Chancellor Marty Mee- “She personified the profession of student affairs,” Siegel John F. Kennedy ’70 Johanna Bohan-Riley PATRONS CIRCLE ($2,500) says, “always reminding us that our students are the university’s L. Donald ’59, ’07 (H) and Gloria LaTorre Pauline ’70 and Charles Carroll Joseph Albanese ’84 han said, “Countless teachers who graduated during the Mary purpose for existing. She always prioritized the students’ voice, Chian-Hsiang Lawrence Lin ’90 and Jang-Li Chang ’80 John and Linda Chemaly - Trinity EMS, Inc. Peter and Kathleen ’77 Allen McGauvran years considered her a mentor and role model. She needs and concerns and set the tone, expectation and example Robert ’84, ’11 (H) and Donna ’85, ’91, ’11 (H) Manning Julie Chen Frank Andrews ’07 carried a deep affection for our university and exemplified our Francis ’56, ’00 (H) and Tonita McKone Edward Chiu Lawrence Ardito ’69 and Linda Carpenter ’89 constant drive for excellence in all we do.” of our university as a caring and student-centered institution.” Leo Montagna ’70, ’77 Scott Christensen Thomas Baillie ’89 and Ann Domigan ’85 Growing up in the Acre section of Lowell, McGauvran grad- Of all the awards and titles bestowed on McGauvran, per- John Pulichino ’67, ’14 (H) and Joy Tong ’14 (H) Michael Cipriano Bob ’71 and Sandy ’72 Barnett uated from the Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsborough and haps the most fitting and the one she would most cherish came Mark ’81, ’13 (H) and Elisia ’13 (H) Saab Mark ’71 & Susan ’69 Cocozza Battles Foundation went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Lowell State Teacher’s at the time of her retirement when the Student Government Thomas Costello and Kary Robertson ’76 Ron Boudreau ’75 and Susan Pasquale ’75 College in 1939. She taught in Chelmsford and Newton public Association recommended, and the Board of Trustees agreed, INNOVATORS CIRCLE ($10,000) Alan Desrochers ’72 Robert Davis ’60 that the students’ building on South Campus be named the Stephen Driscoll ’66, ’72 schools for a dozen years before returning to her alma mater as a Anonymous Joseph P. Donahue Charitable Foundation Trust Mary E. McGauvran Student Union Center. n Cabrera Services Jacqueline Dowling Mark Dyment ’86 member of the faculty. Kathy Carter ’78 Ellen and Neil Duggan Deborah Finch ’03, ’06, ’12 George ’61 and Cynthia Chamberas Eastern Salt Company, Inc. Roseanne ’85 and Peter ’84 Howe The Family of Nina Coppens Enterprise Bank Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union In Memoriam 1938 Mary E. (Pollard) Mogan 1951 Irwin R. Needle 1961 Russell J. Gould 1986 James A. Vachon 2005 Sarah Matthews Jones Richard Denning ’66 Richard Ferrante ’83 Edward ’67 and Roberta Kittredge 1938 Leo D. Rosenstein 1952 Vito J. Selvaggio 1968 Paula F. (Casey) Beaulieu 1986 John P. Pinette 2005 Andrea Sullivan Mark Forziati ’78 Robert Findlen ’81 Michael and Cindy ’91 Kuenzler YEAR NAME 1938 Evelyn H. Banne 1953 Harold M. Stein 1969 Wayne E. Bantle 1988 David J. Flanagan 2005 William Muller May Futrell Edward Gallagher ’84 David Laurello ’81, ’88 1926 Gertrude R. (Martin) McCann 1939 Helen F. (Nichols) Donahue 1954 Joanne S. (Curran) Morse 1970 Joan Whittenberger 1989 Joanna M. Iwanow 2005 Paul Garrity Richard Grande ’72, ’80 Steven Grossman The Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank 1929 Catherine E. (Deasy) Wadden 1939 Josephine H. (Rhones) Gleason 1954 Marcia A. Scully 1970 Charles R. Johnson 1989 Terry R. Peterson 2005 Dan Golomb International Wire and Cable Symposium Mitchell Kertzman ’96 (H) Prof. Emeritus Stuart L. Mandell ’11 (H) 1929 Evelyn B. (Fuller) Ferrin 1939 Mary E. McGauvran 1954 Athanasios P. Anninos 1974 David P. Lizotte 1991 Sharon L. Fair 2005 Louis Tarantino Arnold and Maureen Lerner Sangphill Kim Matthew ’79, ’84 and Patricia McCafferty 1933 Elizabeth E. (Nesmith) Outhuse 1940 Camille T. (Marquis) Lacey 1955 Carol G. (Lacasse) Veilleux 1975 James G. Serven 1992 Vera M. McAnespie 2005 Margaret A. Sproul Circle Health Jayant Kumar MEC Electrical and MEC Technologies 1934 Mary C. (Hickson) Walker 1941 David Pernick 1955 John W. Chapin 1975 Richard K. Johnson 1994 Mary Lou Sullivan 2005 Anna B. Smith McCallum Family Foundation Francis Lai Yash Puri 1934 Ruth M. (Rothwell) Brodeur 1942 Gertrude L. (LeQuin) Hirsch 1958 Patricia (Hogan) Farrell 1977 Floyd O. Earl 1994 Dennis P. Doughty 2005 Mary B. Smith Chancellor Martin T. Meehan ’78 Richard ’96 and Janice ’00 Lemoine Robert and Jean Sheridan 1936 Rita J. (McCarthy) O’Neill 1942 May V. (Lundgren) Latinen 1958 (McGuire) Lambert 1978 Daniel M. Cunningham 1998 Stephen W. Lake 2005 Edward B. Stevens Marty Meehan Educational Foundation Joey Mead Dana Skinner 1936 Florence E. Sullivan 1942 Douglas H. McElhinney 1958 Paul J. Sheehy 1978 Kevin W. Kleynen 2002 Mary Ann Gormley 2005 Patricia G. McMahon Ashwin Mehta Jack and Therese O’Connor - Commencement Photos, Inc. Steven Starkey ’79 1936 Evangeline I. Nicolaides 1947 Shirley A. (Sevrens) Smith 1958 Edward R. Sheldon 1979 John J. Condon 2005 Jeffrey Brian Arruda 2005 Joyce G. Denning Jacqueline ’75, ’92 and Edward Moloney Thomas ’77, ’80 and Diane ’84 O’Connor George Toscano Jr. 1936 Mildred N. Scanlon 1947 John J. Bernard 1959 Paul D. Finnegan 1980 John J. Sweeney 2005 Kirk Patrick Walsh 2005 Harland I. Main William ’69 and Elizabeth O’Shea Peg Palmer ’73, ’77 Noel Vander ’72, ’79 1937 Virginia B. (Hunt) Newman 1950 Frank B. Struzik 1959 George F. Dillon 1980 Noel R. Metcalf 2005 R.N. Mattingly 2005 Maurice L. Albertson Amy ’89, ’90 and Jim ’88 Regan John Pearson Jr. and Barbara Pearson Gerard Vitti ’69 1937 Ruth T. (McGarry) Clare 1950 Kenneth M. Adler 1959 Harry K. Thomas 1982 Lois A. (Bratt) Genis 2005 Jon Clauson 2005 Dorothy M. Dash William Rhodes III ’82 Richard Pierro Jr. ’83 and Eileen Pierro 1937 Irene M. (Profio) L’Herault 1951 Eugene C. Winter 1960 John P. DeSilva 1984 Stephen A. Goulet 2005 John Antonitis 2005 Ruth M. Hard Professor Emeritus Bernard ’56 and Yana Shapiro Donald and Patrese ’05 Pierson 1938 Carolyn M. (Allen) Fowler 1951 Ira H. Pantell 1961 Richard B. Hayes 1984 Joyce K. Brown 2005 Arthur Cherkerzian 2005 Bette R. Hook Ashwani Singhal ’84, ’87 Red Mill Graphics 1938 Mary E. (Carboine) Doyle 1951 Peter M. Rowe 1961 Judith C. Dwyer 1985 Frederick S. Lospennato 2005 Marion Mitchell

64 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 65 Inmemoriam ALUMNI LIFE In Memory of Mack Then...

He was Mack. And folks who never before considered bird watching were riveted to his life, which became something of a reality show atop Fox Hall. Eighteen stories up, for at least seven years, Mack and his mate, Merri, made a life. It was peregrine falcon TV, always on. Off in the distance, far below, viewers could see the rocky flow of the Merrimack River, for which they were named during a campus-wide contest. On April 22, the University adopted the couple as official “River Hawks,” in a full-fledged ceremony, as students, staff, wildlife officials and animal lovers looked on. John Pinette ’86, a ‘Funny and Sweet’ This spring, Merri and Mack took turns sitting on their gravel nest and hunting. The cameras installed in the box- Comedian, Dies at Age 50 like home flashed every detail from two angles. The inside John Pinette ’86 graduated with an accounting degree and worked in that field for camera showed the arrival of food, usually other birds. As half a year. a peregrine, Mack was capable of attack dives of up to 200 miles per hour making him not only the fastest animal on Then a funny thing happened. Him. earth, but a pretty sure bet to spear a pigeon mid-flight He always had the ability to make people laugh and that’s what he really wanted before it ever saw him coming. to do for a living. Not accounting. “I didn’t have the heart for it,” he would say Teachers across the area found ways to use the birds and later. “After six months, I said, ‘Something’s got to give.’ ” their lives in the classroom. So the young man from Malden went on stage and stayed there for nearly three For fifth-grade teacher Christine Panagiotakos of Chelms- decades, regaling audiences with his stand-up routines that poked fun at his own ford’s McCarthy Middle School, the lesson was about portly frame and the nirvana of all-you-can-eat buffets. endangered species, which included peregrines until recently. “I talk about food not so much because I’m a big guy,” he explained. “I think it’s “But you know what?” she says. “I became addicted. the perfect common ground. Everybody eats.” We all did. None of it ended with the school day. First thing I John Pinette died unexpectedly in April while in Pittsburgh to attend a family do every day is get a cup of coffee and check in on the birds.” function. He was 50. As May rolled to a close, four chicks hatched into gawky Nick’s Comedy Stop in Boston was one of the first rungs in John’s climb to come- balls of white fluff. Merri fussed over them, as she does to dic success. He went on to national prominence, opening for Frank Sinatra in Las this day. Vegas, Shirley MacLaine on tour and other luminaries such as Ray Charles and Julio On the afternoon of June 7, a Saturday, university workers Iglesias. In 1999 he was named one of the funniest stand-up comics of the year at found the body of a peregrine falcon on the ground near Fox the American Comedy Awards. Hall. A numbered tag on the dead bird’s leg confirmed it was But stand-up wasn’t all he did. John also appeared in movies, made several DVDs Mack. As of this writing, nothing untoward is suspected in and played a prominent role in the famous final episode of the Jerry Seinfeld televi- the death. In 1979, Commencement took place sion series. He also appeared in a Broadway production of the musical “Hairspray.” Hearts broke with the news. Messages of mourning began outside (in the pouring rain) at Cawley A number of fellow comedians and actors mourned John’s passing. Here is what to pour in over the university’s web and social media sites. Stadium. About 1,750 students graduated, three of them said: It was clear people connected with the day-to-day lives of divided into sections marked by home-made “I was so lucky to work so many gigs with John Pinette who was as kind as he was the family and that we had lost one of our own. funny.” – Caroline Rhea signs on sticks. The commencement address RIP, Mack. — DP “A headliner both on and off stage. Such a great man. Truly inspirational.” was given by Everett V. Olsen, then an – Bill Burr Editor’s note: Watch Merri and her chicks live at uml.edu/hawk- watch. executive vice president at the university. “John Pinette you were a funny and sweet man and you left us too soon.” – Lizz Winstead — JMcD

66 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE 67 Although this was the third year in a row that UMass Lowell has held two Commence- ment ceremonies to accommodate a record Now... number of graduates, this is the first time undergrad degree recipients were split up. The 3,478 members of the Class of 2014 represent a 10 percent increase over last year and 77 percent since 2008—evidence of the university’s 45 percent increase in enrollment since 2007 and climbing student success rates. As morning commencement speaker Bill Nye told graduates, “You are really among the best in the world at think- ing about new arrangements, new tools and new elegantly engineered designs to reach for what I like to call ‘the high-hanging fruit’— the big prizes and great big prizes. That’s what we want you to do for us. I’m not kidding; change the world in new, exciting and big ways.” U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh spoke at the afternoon ceremony.

68 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 69 LOWELL, MA 01854 Office of Alumni Relations Charles J. Hoff Alumni Scholarship Center 1 Perkins St. Lowell, MA 01854-2882

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