Featured Speakers:
Peter Beckmann: “Physics, Biology, Your Brain, and Everything Else.” One interesting way to think about reality is that it is the result ofa series of creative acts in the human brain. Through our five senses wereceive data from our surroundings and we then formulate models, or stories,to make sense of the external world. These models are continuously checkedagainst new data and revised accordingly. Interestingly enough, our modelsusually bear little relationship to an absolute external reality, to theextent that an absolute external reality is a meaningful concept. Aftera brief discussion of data input via the five senses, we demonstrate theseideas by using sound and sight as examples. We discuss the mental constructsof “clarinetness” (using a clarinet, a synthesizer, air, your ear, andyour brain) and “yellowness” (using lamps, filters, your eye, and, alas,your brain again). We will show how Escher messes with your brain. Timepermitting, we will look at the time and distance scales (both of whichhave upper and lower limits) scientists use to build stories about theworld. We can ask how physicists model systems whose time and distancescales are outside the realm of everyday experience. This leads to theinterpretation of recent quantum physics experiments that suggest thatwe should rethink our model for the concept of space itself.
David Fogelson: “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Paradigm for the Scienceof the Brain and Behavior”. Dr. Fogelson will using the film “AsGood as it Gets” to illustrate his talk.
Space for this event is limited. Please reserve a space with KristineWestover MacRae. Driving directions are available on the Club websiteand will be provided with your reservation confirmation.
The Afternoon Tea and Fall Fundraiser is part of the Continuing Educationseries at Bryn Mawr. If you would like to see other specific topics,departments, or professors visit in the future, please let us know.
We are also pleased to unveil our new Club website: http://www.hanguk.com/bmcsc
We join only one other Club, Northern California, in having a web site. Look for a newsletter archive, an activities calendar, and photos of recentevents. Also, you can sign up to receive the newsletter via e-mail. The site is continually growing, and we welcome your suggestions.
| Did you know... If every alum receiving this newsletter contributed only $5 peryear, we could raise in excess of $3000 per year, allowing us toadd almost $2000 per year to the scholarship funds! |
Alas, times have changed! The sum allotted for each scholarshipno longer serves as an effective inducement to accepted students. Yet this money remains available and the Alumnae Association has ingeniouslyinvented a new way to implement the Alumnae Regional Scholarship Fund.
Beginning with the class of 201, the Alumnae Regional Scholarships wereawarded as a $2000 stipend to students in their sophomore year for independentstudy projects. Stipends are awarded based on applications whichinclude the student’s written proposal and a letter from a faculty memberor other sponsor agreeing to oversee the project. Scholar selectioncommittees, comprised solely of alumnae from the student’s district, reviewapplications and select scholarship recipients. Alumnae mentors willalso work with the students as they pursue their projects, and each studentwill be invited to present her work at a gathering of alumnae in her homedistrict.
The current scholars from District IX are Melanie Cree, formerly ofLancaster, California and Emily Hughes of Berkeley, California. Melanieis a double major in Biology and Chemistry who plans to pursue biomedicalresearch. She used her stipend to do research at the University ofTexas last summer. Emily is a Peace & Conflict Studies major,an independent major of her own design. Emily used her stipend totravel to the Taize religious community in eastern France during springbreak.
Applications for the 1999 scholarships are due February 1; recipientswill be selected by March 15 and the new scholars will be announced atMay Day, 1999. Please take part in this important enterprise! In addition to donations to supply the money for the scholarships, we needalumnae volunteers to serve as mentors and to be on the scholar selectioncommittee. Do contact me if you are interested in helping with theAlumnae Regional Scholars Program.
Maria Davila Rudolph, ‘81
District IX, ARS Chair
| Did you know... District IX includes all of California, Hawaii, and Western Nevada? |
The theme of the evening will be “Insights into Satisfying Careers inBusiness” and it will feature talks by Raulee Marcus ’69 and Kristine WestoverMacRae ’94. The talks will be followed by refreshments and a chanceto talk and network with other alums. Please bring your businesscards!
Raulee Marcus is president and CEO of Obagi Medical Products, an emergingcompany in the skin care and cosmetic industry. She has an AB fromBryn Mawr in art history and a Master’s degree in international managementfrom Thunderbird. Having Bryn Mawr, a well respected eastern school,already on her resume enabled her to pursue a business degree at a costeffective, non-establishment graduate school. She has worked fora number of multinational companies including Neutrogena, Gillette, andColgate-Palmolive, both internationally and domestically. Her specialtyis building brands that are profitable.
Kristine Westover MacRae is a management consultant with The WarnerGroup, a consulting firm that specializes in information technology consultingfor government agencies. She has an AB from Bryn Mawr in anthropology. She has worked for Apple Computer, in Ukraine and at Bryn Mawr,and was formerly a business systems analyst at American Management Systems. Her areas of expertise include project management, information technologystrategic planning, business process reengineering, system selection studies,contract negotiations and system implementations.
The different perspectives that Raulee and Kristine have (years of experiencevs. just starting out, hands-on-management vs. consulting) should makefor an exciting, interesting evening. Please come with questions.
As a spring career development event, I would like to have a panel oncareers in the arts. Please let me know if you might be interestedin participating in such a panel. Any other suggestions for programswould also be appreciated.
Just as a reminder, I can provide the following resources: a listof local career web sites and resource centers in southern California,and a list of alumnae, in a variety of fields, who are willing to set upinformational interviews with other alums. Please contact me if Ican be of any assistance to you.
Anne Gershenson ‘87
| Did you know... Bryn Mawr has no alumnae volunteers to conduct admissions interviewsin Santa Barbara? If you would like to help, contact Marnie Christianat mchristi@brynmawr.edu or (800) BMC-1885. |
Dear All,
I hope that everyone enjoyed a lovely, relaxing summer. The arrivalof fall always reminds me of Bryn Mawr: the start of classes, IndianSummer, the brilliant foliage, the occasional hurricane, Lantern Night....
Thank you to everyone who sent us donations! Since our last newsletterwe have received 32 donations, for a grand total of $660. We very muchappreciate your generosity. I was particularly touched by the warmletters of enthusiasm and support for the club I received with many ofthe donations.
We are all excited about our upcoming Fall Tea with Peter Beckmann ofthe Physics Department as our speaker. Some of you may have fondmemories of Professor Beckmann from your time at Bryn Mawr, as I do. Therest of you can look forward to meeting him and to hearing an excitingtalk. The college has been generous enough to pay Professor Beckmann’sway to Southern California so that we can use as much of your donationsas possible for the two regional scholarships we support, the Hope WearnTroxell Fund and the Alumnae Regional Scholarships. I hope you willuse this opportunity to continue your support of the club and of the scholarshipsby giving generously at the Fall Tea. If you are unable to attend,please use the form below to send in your donation.
Most sincerely,
Maria Davila Rudolph ‘81