Class Note 1984
Issue
March - April 2026
Class Note 1984. Get ready to celebrate the 84th day of the year: March 25. Check our class website or Facebook group and your email inbox for a possible mini-reunion near you (as I write this, the search for hosts is ongoing) or reach out to an old friend to renew your connection.
Ted von Hippel can confirm that old friends and roommates make excellent partners and collaborators. Ted hails from Daytona Beach, Florida, is a regular participant in the quarterly class Zoom calls (coming next on April 13) and is enjoying working with Frohman Anderson on a project in direct air capture of CO2, still mostly in the applied-research stage.
Thankfully, Ted, a professor of physics and astronomy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, was able to give me a crash course in some of the science involved. Direct air capture removes CO2 from the atmosphere (as opposed to capturing it at the source of the pollution, say a power plant). While the latter should be done, it generally is not, and it will not be sufficient to help us reach the 2.0 warming limit of the Paris climate accords. Ted’s group is studying a range of processes that include adsorption (a surface physics process) and cryogenics (essentially freezing CO2 from the atmosphere). Because it takes thousands of years for natural processes to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, researchers worldwide are trying to figure out how to remove atmospheric CO2 at a reasonable energy and dollar cost, allowing the earth to return to plus-1.5 or 2.0 degree Celsius in several decades. Talk about vital work!
Like many classmates, Matt Keener has found himself growing more reflective in these challenging times and focusing on philanthropic work. Matt is semiretired from a long and fulfilling career on the story creative side of the Hollywood motion picture trade, where his introversion kept him behind the scenes, ghostwriting, script-doctoring, and consulting with many of the top writers, directors, and star actors. His main volunteer mission now is building a best-in-class training and career-launch fellowship program with colleagues at the Motion Picture Industry Institute, the leading nonprofit industry think tank researching and improving industry best practices. Its belief: Passing down better wisdom to the next generation of filmmakers will be a significant contribution toward strengthening the evolving global culture, ultimately helping shape our civilization and collective future.
Matt’s recent work has led him to revisit his studies with Dartmouth mentors and professors and visiting artists—including Maurice Rapf ’35, Stephen Geller, and Kirk Vonnegut—with fondness, gratitude, and even new insights, as well as the friendships and late-night sharing of perspectives “central to what makes the Dartmouth experience so special.” Matt has also been helping his architect wife, volunteering with the American Institute of Architects “Ask an Architect” program to provide pro bono support to the thousands who lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires. In his spare time, Matt’s been basking in the parental glow of watching his children grow into amazingly interesting adults!
—Deana Washburn, 209 Casino Ave., Cranford, NJ 07016; deanadw@aol.com
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Ted von Hippel can confirm that old friends and roommates make excellent partners and collaborators. Ted hails from Daytona Beach, Florida, is a regular participant in the quarterly class Zoom calls (coming next on April 13) and is enjoying working with Frohman Anderson on a project in direct air capture of CO2, still mostly in the applied-research stage.
Thankfully, Ted, a professor of physics and astronomy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, was able to give me a crash course in some of the science involved. Direct air capture removes CO2 from the atmosphere (as opposed to capturing it at the source of the pollution, say a power plant). While the latter should be done, it generally is not, and it will not be sufficient to help us reach the 2.0 warming limit of the Paris climate accords. Ted’s group is studying a range of processes that include adsorption (a surface physics process) and cryogenics (essentially freezing CO2 from the atmosphere). Because it takes thousands of years for natural processes to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, researchers worldwide are trying to figure out how to remove atmospheric CO2 at a reasonable energy and dollar cost, allowing the earth to return to plus-1.5 or 2.0 degree Celsius in several decades. Talk about vital work!
Like many classmates, Matt Keener has found himself growing more reflective in these challenging times and focusing on philanthropic work. Matt is semiretired from a long and fulfilling career on the story creative side of the Hollywood motion picture trade, where his introversion kept him behind the scenes, ghostwriting, script-doctoring, and consulting with many of the top writers, directors, and star actors. His main volunteer mission now is building a best-in-class training and career-launch fellowship program with colleagues at the Motion Picture Industry Institute, the leading nonprofit industry think tank researching and improving industry best practices. Its belief: Passing down better wisdom to the next generation of filmmakers will be a significant contribution toward strengthening the evolving global culture, ultimately helping shape our civilization and collective future.
Matt’s recent work has led him to revisit his studies with Dartmouth mentors and professors and visiting artists—including Maurice Rapf ’35, Stephen Geller, and Kirk Vonnegut—with fondness, gratitude, and even new insights, as well as the friendships and late-night sharing of perspectives “central to what makes the Dartmouth experience so special.” Matt has also been helping his architect wife, volunteering with the American Institute of Architects “Ask an Architect” program to provide pro bono support to the thousands who lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires. In his spare time, Matt’s been basking in the parental glow of watching his children grow into amazingly interesting adults!
—Deana Washburn, 209 Casino Ave., Cranford, NJ 07016; deanadw@aol.com