If your travels during spring break bring you near the North or South poles, keep an eye out for Ken Golden, who has now completed 15 scientific trips to the polar regions. Ken, a professor of mathematics at the University of Utah, has studied sea ice for most of his life and wrestles with one of the most compelling issues of our time: climate change and the fate of the polar ice caps. Ken is known for applying the ideas and methods of composite materials and statistical physics to sea ice and the climate system. He recently returned from a major two-month Antarctic expedition and the icebreaker Aurora Australis, which served as a floating home for Ken and his four shipping crates of experimental equipment. Ken began his studies of sea ice at NASA while in high school. At Dartmouth he continued his studies at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab on Lyme Road. Competing interests drew Ken briefly away from sea ice—he earned a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and worked postdoctoral and faculty positions at Princeton and Rutgers—before he relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah, and returned to the ice, first by helping friends with their Antarctic experiments and then by running his own. In 2011 Ken was selected as a fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics for “extraordinary interdisciplinary work on the mathematics of sea ice.” In 2012 Ken received the University of Utah’s highest research award after receiving the school’s highest teaching award in 2007. He has presented his findings on polar climate change to Congress three separate times. Ken shows his large freshman calculus classes videos of fun-loving penguins to drive home the notion of how unexpectedly useful math can be and how it can take you to places never imagined.


Many of the outstanding students you knew are outstanding teachers today. Bert Boles recently forwarded an article about revival of teaching excellence at medical schools that mentioned the recognition of professor of medicine Jonathan Barasch,“an enormously talented teacher,” as the first Glenda Garvey Scholar at the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University. Bert recalled the inspiration gained from the outstanding teaching of Dartmouth chemistry professor Robert Ditchfield and the nights Bert and Jon prepared for his exams by taking turns “teaching” each other. Now we see that for Jon it was only the beginning.


In other education-related news, Franklin Pierce University has elected Steve Camerino to serve on its board of trustees. As director and chair of the energy, utilities and telecommunications group for New Hampshire-based law firm McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, Steve has distinguished himself as one of the state’s leading lawyers. It is said that fellow Franklin Pierce trustee Marlin Fitzwater warmly welcomed Steve to the board immediately after confirming that Steve was not a character played by Sasha Baron Cohen.


For a postscript to the last column’s praise for Dartmouth’s championship rugby team and the indirect contributions made by Bart Littlefield and Pete Scannell, let’s turn to Scott Slater. In the spring and the fall Scott felt conflicted while watching his son Tim, a rugby player for the Big Ten champion University of Wisconsin, go head-to-head with the Big Green in national tournaments. Alma mater or almus filius? The stronger play and bigger fan turnout on the Dartmouth side helped Scott justify his decision to sport Dartmouth gear—but not during Wisconsin games. Scott continues to work for Charles Schwab in Minneapolis, where he occasionally sees Buddy Ide, Tom Marek, Jon Bye and Page Lipe.


—Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com