Class Note 1994
Issue
Jul - Aug 2017
Greetings, fellow classmates and welcomed summer air! This winter our classmates have been busy with research, innovation and adventure.
Sarah Wagner is an associate professor of anthropology at George Washington University. As a social anthropologist who has brought together ethnographic studies, military research and forensic science, she is quick to offer kudos for her early inspiration. Sarah writes, “I credit Dartmouth’s classics professor James Tatum with opening my eyes to the possibilities of interdisciplinarity and to the themes of war and memory in his beautiful book, The Mourner’s Song.”
Sarah’s interesting and worthy work was awarded an acclaimed Guggenheim Fellowship this year. Sarah writes, “With the generous support from the Guggenheim Foundation and my university (George Washington University), I’ll be on leave next year, writing the book, tentatively titled Bringing Them Home: The Identification and Commemoration of Vietnam War MIAs. In 2012 I was fortunate enough to participate in a U.S. military recovery mission in Vietnam; the excavation resulted in the identification of two service members. The story of that recovery and what it has meant to surviving relatives and their larger community is central to the book, which seeks to explore how advances in forensic science affect modes of national remembrance.” Congratulations, Sarah!
Dan Popa has used his interdisciplinary Dartmouth studies during the past couple of decades to push innovation. As a professor at the University of Kentucky at Louisville and the head of Next Gen Systems, a robotics research group, Dan is developing an inspiring application of robotic technologies to improve quality of life for the world’s aging population. Dan describes these robots as “nursing assistants, helpers for nurses and patient sitters.” While not designed to replace nurses, the care-bots can literally sit with a patient, speak with the patient and complete simple tasks—such as taking blood pressure or grabbing a remote for the patient. Believe it or not, they can also snitch on a patient who is doing things he or she shouldn’t, such as getting out of bed. It is incredible that Dan’s care-bots could be available within the next decade in hospital settings. Then, who knows the implications and applications for home care? You may be ordering one for your mother or father from Lowe’s or Amazon as a birthday gift before our 35th reunion.
The last bit of news is one of the most harrowing winter stories I’ve heard. Tim Wetherill, who came to Dartmouth from Philadelphia, now lives in the Helena, Montana, area. That in and of itself is a harrowing winter story, but it doesn’t stop there. He and his 15-year-old son were enjoying a day of cross-country skiing when they were caught in an avalanche. The two were thrown, and luckily Tim’s son was “only” buried up to his chest and able to access his cell phone. As Tim explained in his email, “I suffered six broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a lacerated liver.” Leave it to a surgeon to be technical. In layman’s terms, they were just plain lucky to be alive! Tim leaves the story with a bit of a cliffhanger, writing, “still deciding if I’ll ever backcountry ski again.”
As you bask in the June sunshine, linger in the longer days and read these interesting bimonthly morsels of news from friends, I hope you’re motivated to share your own tidbits with our class. Drop me an email and I’ll include your update in the next issue.
—Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com
Sarah Wagner is an associate professor of anthropology at George Washington University. As a social anthropologist who has brought together ethnographic studies, military research and forensic science, she is quick to offer kudos for her early inspiration. Sarah writes, “I credit Dartmouth’s classics professor James Tatum with opening my eyes to the possibilities of interdisciplinarity and to the themes of war and memory in his beautiful book, The Mourner’s Song.”
Sarah’s interesting and worthy work was awarded an acclaimed Guggenheim Fellowship this year. Sarah writes, “With the generous support from the Guggenheim Foundation and my university (George Washington University), I’ll be on leave next year, writing the book, tentatively titled Bringing Them Home: The Identification and Commemoration of Vietnam War MIAs. In 2012 I was fortunate enough to participate in a U.S. military recovery mission in Vietnam; the excavation resulted in the identification of two service members. The story of that recovery and what it has meant to surviving relatives and their larger community is central to the book, which seeks to explore how advances in forensic science affect modes of national remembrance.” Congratulations, Sarah!
Dan Popa has used his interdisciplinary Dartmouth studies during the past couple of decades to push innovation. As a professor at the University of Kentucky at Louisville and the head of Next Gen Systems, a robotics research group, Dan is developing an inspiring application of robotic technologies to improve quality of life for the world’s aging population. Dan describes these robots as “nursing assistants, helpers for nurses and patient sitters.” While not designed to replace nurses, the care-bots can literally sit with a patient, speak with the patient and complete simple tasks—such as taking blood pressure or grabbing a remote for the patient. Believe it or not, they can also snitch on a patient who is doing things he or she shouldn’t, such as getting out of bed. It is incredible that Dan’s care-bots could be available within the next decade in hospital settings. Then, who knows the implications and applications for home care? You may be ordering one for your mother or father from Lowe’s or Amazon as a birthday gift before our 35th reunion.
The last bit of news is one of the most harrowing winter stories I’ve heard. Tim Wetherill, who came to Dartmouth from Philadelphia, now lives in the Helena, Montana, area. That in and of itself is a harrowing winter story, but it doesn’t stop there. He and his 15-year-old son were enjoying a day of cross-country skiing when they were caught in an avalanche. The two were thrown, and luckily Tim’s son was “only” buried up to his chest and able to access his cell phone. As Tim explained in his email, “I suffered six broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a lacerated liver.” Leave it to a surgeon to be technical. In layman’s terms, they were just plain lucky to be alive! Tim leaves the story with a bit of a cliffhanger, writing, “still deciding if I’ll ever backcountry ski again.”
As you bask in the June sunshine, linger in the longer days and read these interesting bimonthly morsels of news from friends, I hope you’re motivated to share your own tidbits with our class. Drop me an email and I’ll include your update in the next issue.
—Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com