A match between Optics and Physics, the Photon Cup features undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty from each department in a friendly rivalry to name the best department of the year.

And, while Physics might have thought their knowledge of buckminster fullerenes would lead them to the win, the control of this particular soccer “buckyball” proved too much. Perhaps it was one group of atoms they couldn’t control with much “coherence.”

Optics triumphed over the department 4-3, coming back from a 3-0 half-time deficit. After some tactical adjustments at halftime, Optics went into an “excited state” and was able to control the run of play in the second half.

By all accounts Steve Gillmer of Optics was athlete of the match, scoring twice. One goal was a brilliant 30-yard half-volley.

Physics has yet to hoist the Cup with Optics winning the past 2 years and the first contest ending in a draw.

Watch Highlights from the 2012 Photon Cup

Out of the more than 4,500 full-time undergrads at the University of Rochester, exactly three are pursuing a major in geomechanics. Just who are these brave few?

The trio is made up of very different students: a freshman from Kingston, Jamaica who emphasizes her environmentalism; a junior who went to high school in Rochester and would like to work on an oil platform or for an oilfield services company; and a Take 5 scholar from outside of New York City who would like to do fieldwork to study seismology and geothermal energy.

But first, what kind of degree are they pursuing? The bachelor of science degree in geomechanics is a program run jointly between the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department. An interdisciplinary major, completing geomechanics also means taking classes in math, physics, and chemistry.  Lisa Norwood ’86, ’95, assistant dean of the Hajim School of Engineering and a former geomechenics major, describes the program this way, “The curriculum emphasizes the application of the principles of mechanics to problems associated with the atmosphere, the oceans, and the solid earth.”

Kayon Ellis ’16 has not yet declared her geomechanics (geomech) major, but she’s quite set on pursuing it. Ellis comes by way of Jamaica, and this is her first year living in the United States. A commitment to environmentalism and an analysis of basin sediments in streams prior to coming to Rochester propelled her to study geomechanics. “I find the study of the earth fascinating,” says Ellis. “You just can’t study anything in isolation; you have to analyze the whole system.”

Two years ahead, Michael Grotke ’14 has different goals in mind. Grotke grew up in Tucson, Arizona and attended high school in Rochester. On campus, he works part-time for the Earth and Environmental Science Lab, and is a member of the SA Appropriations Committee. What does he see himself doing? “I hope to use this degree towards a career in the oil and natural gas industry, most likely shale-gas and crude oil exploration.” The companies he’d like to apply his geomech training to include Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Shell, and Halliburton.

Skipping two more years ahead, the final geomech major is Brian Castro ’12 (T5). Though he had a hard time deciding between studying physics and mechanical engineering, he has embraced the geomech major with vigor. Castro also has extensive experience in fieldwork. Research on geothermal energy took him to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and, as part of an NSF-sponsored program, to work at a geosciences research company in New Zealand. He also conducted seismic research at the University, in Professor Cynthia Ebinger’s lab. Castro’s interests are more academic, and he’d like to further study seismology, geothermal energy, and planetary science.

The major is robust enough to accommodate all of these interests. Dean Norwood sees no shortage of ways to use the geomech major. “Career opportunities include work with the U.S. Geological Survey and with departments of natural resources or environmental protection at the federal, state, and county levels; with the oil and mineral resources industries; and in multidisciplinary private consulting firms engaged in geological engineering.”

“We try to explain phenomenon qualitatively, so there’s virtually no math,” states club president Alexandra Kuznetsov ’14, astronomy major and founding member of the Astronomy Club. Because of this, club members can thoroughly appreciate the physical beauty of the cosmos.

The club plans trips one or two times a semester to CEK Mees Observatory in the Bristol Hills of Naples, N.Y., where they get hands-on experience observing through a 24-inch Cassegrain telescope. Kuznetsov said that at the last observation, the club members were able to observe Saturn, its rings, and some of Saturn’s moons. She says the club hopes to schedule three visits in the upcoming fall semester.

“There’s always exciting things going on,” said Kuznetsov. When asked about what students look for while observing, she said they “usually have a list of things [they] want to see.”

For those especially enthusiastic about observing, the University offers sanctuary to budding astronomers near Mees Observatory at Gannett House. Gannett has several bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, and more, making it a comfortable location for students and amateur astronomers to set a spell.

Recently, the club has been trying to implement “Quad Astronomy” into their activities by setting up a telescope on UR’s Academic Quad. Marissa Adams ’14, a physics major who is the secretary and a founding member of the Astronomy Club, believes bringing a telescope or solar scope to the Quad would be a fun activity.

“On a hot day, why not bring this aspect to the Quad when everybody is out lounging? I’m sure anyone on campus would love that,” she said.

If this becomes implemented into the club’s activities, observing could happen more frequently and be overall easier to plan and more accessible for students.

A known fact about observing is how incredibly cold astronomers can get while sitting in frigid observatories on top of mountains. Because the members want to survive an observation session, they take a break during the winter season.

During the cold months, the club plans bi-weekly events called “Astro Major Presents,” where they bring in astronomers and professors to talk about a characteristic of astronomy they know particularly well. Often after the talk, the floor opens for discussion while participants enjoy the occasional tea and cookies. Last semester, the club held a special event where several professors spoke about astronomy and then screened Steven Hawkins’s Into the Universe.

While founded only two years ago, the Astronomy Club offers as a great outlet for any night gazing enthusiast.

Furthermore, Mees Observatory holds weekly tours over the summer. For students who are on campus during the summer, the Astronomy Club is interested in going! Contact them as soon as possible to capitalize on this fun opportunity to get out of Rochester and experience the depths of the universe.

Learn more about the club and how to become a member by visiting https://sa.rochester.edu/clubs/AstroClub/about.

Article written by Cody McConnell, an English and philosophy dual major and member of UR Men’s Rugby, The Uglies. In McConnell’s free time, he plays bass and is the lead vocalist in a signed, touring death metal band.

In the Photo: Jeffrey Vankerkhove ’13, a physics and astronomy major, views the sky from the Mees Observatory. Photos are courtesy of Marissa Adams ’14.

What do you do now, and why did you choose this career?

I’m an observational astrophysicist and Fellow in the Directorate for Science at the European Southern Observatory headquarters near Munich (ESO – www.eso.org). Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, I study links between star formation and supermassive black hole growth in the giant galaxies found in the center of the largest galaxy clusters in the Universe. I am also a member of the Paranal Observatory Science Operations Team, providing observing support for ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT – http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/vlt.html) in the Chilean Atacama Desert.

What resources did you use on campus that you recommend current students use?

UR offers some of the best undergraduate research opportunities in the country. Take advantage of them!

Who were your mentors while you were on campus? Have you continued those relationships?

My closest mentor was my undergraduate advisor, Prof. Alice Quillen (Associate Professor in the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy). I still actively collaborate with her today – in fact, we just published two papers together this month!

What did you do immediately after graduation? How did you decide to take that path?

Immediately after graduation, I started a graduate research post at the Space Telescope Science Institute (the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope – www.stsci.edu). This opportunity was fostered entirely by my undergraduate advisor who had connected me with a large network of collaborators.

Where would you like to be in five years?

I love working in Astronomy and plan to stay in the field. In five years, I’ll hopefully be finishing my second postdoc and applying for longer term research positions.

How are you still connected with the University?

I still collaborate actively with my former undergraduate advisor and have returned to the campus many times since graduation. Of course, I also stay in touch with my many friends from UR. It’s a cliché, but it’s true: the friends made in college are friends for the rest of your life.

What advice do you have for current students?

If you’re interested in a Physics or Physics & Astronomy major, get involved in undergraduate research. Its importance cannot be overstated. It is essential preparation for a future career in science, in both academia and industry.

Name:

What do you do now, and why did you choose this career?

I recently founded Artillery Games, and through the company, we are trying to build the next generation of browser based games.  There are three of us that founded the company, and all of us met by working at Google together.  We’ve raised an investment round already and are really excited about what we’re doing!

Prior to Artillery, I spent four years at Facebook working on partnerships and implementing them technically where I was a partnership engineer.  Likewise, I did something similar at Google for two years prior to that.  After college, I worked as a sales engineer at an optical engineering company for a year before ending up at Google in Silicon Valley.

I do what I do because I love it — I’m the luckiest guy on earth.  Technology is something that I do for fun.  In high school, when cool kids were probably going to parties, I was disassembling my computer or installing Linux.  To me, my job isn’t a job, but something I would do even if I didn’t get paid to do it.  I’m so thankful that the whole Internet thing became popular because I’m not exactly sure what I would have done with my life otherwise.

What activities were you involved in as a student, and what did you gain from them?

I founded a software development firm called Treosoft in college.  We built the now infamous Campus Club Connection.  It was a great learning experience of how to build a startup, even if we weren’t ultimately able to make it successful. Also, I founded the Business and Investment Club and played squash.  All of these were really fun and kept me busy.

What did you do immediately after graduation? How did you decide to take that path?

After Treosoft failed, I had a bit of a difficult couple months.  Ultimately, I took a sales-engineering job at an optics company in Pittsburgh, PA while trying to build another software startup in my free time.  After about a year, my brother referred me to Google and found that there were sales-engineers, so I applied and ended up with an offer a couple weeks later and moved out to the Valley!

What skills, tools, or knowledge from your major have been most useful to you since graduation?

Day to day, I don’t use the specific skills from my degrees, but most important are the tools that we learned of “how to learn.”  Meaning, the incredibly challenging problems we faced in college aren’t any different from trying to build a company.  It just takes patience, resolve, time, and tons of hard work.  My freshman year, I was pretty lazy and unmotivated, but once optics started to get really challenging my sophomore year, it taught me how to step up, learn how to work hard, and love it.

How do you balance your work and personal life?

It’s always a challenge, but I tend to burn-out easily, so I try to give my job 40-50 hours a week of focused time, meaning, completely focused with no distractions, and when I come home, I’m completely separated from the office.  In this way, I’m able to recharge.  I’m probably still “thinking” about things, but that time is for me to decompress and do other things.

Going to the gym and spending time with family have been important things that help keep my life in balance also.  I’d encourage students to develop hobbies in college that they can continue the rest of their lives.  Balance is important.

How are you still connected with the University?

I have hosted alumni get-togethers in the Bay Area in the past, and I have helped interview students.  Now days, I try to attend all of the alumni get togethers.  It’s great to meet all of the bright young students graduating from the alma matar.

What advice do you have for current students?

Tough question … I’d say, “explore everything that you can, and see if you can find something that you love.  Don’t chase money, but chase your passion.  If you can work on something that you love every day, it doesn’t feel like work anymore.  If you happen to become successful at it, that is great, but even if you don’t, you just spent your life working on something that you love!”

Name:

When and how did you choose your major?

I started out college intent on majoring in engineering. Coming out of high school, my favorite subjects were math and physics. Engineering seemed like a natural extension of these interests. However, freshman year, I found my math and physics courses a great deal more engaging. In a physics course, taught by Dr. Eberly, we were assigned the book In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat, by John Gribbin. This book, and Dr. Eberly’s class, left me with many more questions than answers. From then on, I have been hooked on physics and it’s natural language, mathematics.

What did you do immediately after graduation? How did you decide to take that path?

After graduation, I started a job with Epic Systems, which is an electronic medical records software company. I knew I wanted to try working at a “real” job before I committed to a PhD. I was unsure of what I wanted to do outside of science, and Epic kind of fell into my lap. My best friend, also a senior at UR at the time, was hired by Epic, and he recommended me for the job as well.

What do you do now and why did you choose this career?

Currently, I am a graduate student at Yale University studying theoretical particle physics. Before starting on this path, I worked for a year at a software company. The company went above and beyond to keep their employees happy. However, I did not find my work very captivating. I applied to PhD programs in physics with the knowledge that it really was the correct path for me. Graduate school is hard (you work twice as much for half as much pay), so I was glad to have the experience of working for a private company before embarking on this path.

What skills, tools, or knowledge from your major have been most useful to you since graduation?

As a graduate student in theoretical physics, I use concrete skills acquired in both my math and physics majors on a daily basis. If anything, a third major in computer science would have been immensely useful as well. The courses in both of my majors, beyond transferring specific knowledge and skills, trained me to hone my intuition and think rigorously about problems. This training would have been helpful in any field I could have gone into. I would wholeheartedly recommend either of my two majors to anyone wanting to improve their critical thinking skills.

How do you balance your work and personal life?

The simple answer is that I don’t really balance my work and personal life. I have honestly found this aspect of life a great deal more challenging than anything else post-college.

Where would you like to be in five years?

Currently, I am in my third year of graduate school and engaged to my best friend. So, extrapolating, I would like to go by Dr. Voronov and be happily married. Hopefully, I will also be in a post-doc position in a new fun and exciting place.

What advice do you have for current students?

Challenge yourself to the fullest extent possible, be it academically, socially or in any other innumerable possibilities. I found, due in large part to the faculty and my peers, that UR was a deeply supportive place. After college, life will be challenging, so learn how to be challenged while in a supportive environment.

The following graduating seniors received fellowships:

• Emilia Sola-Gracia ’12, bachelor of science in ecology and evolutionary biology
• David Kaphan ’12, bachelor of science in chemistry
• Sharese King ’12, bachelor of arts in linguistics, minor in American Sign Language
• Mark D. Levin ’12, bachelor of science in chemistry, minor in mathematics
• Susan Pratt ’12, bachelor of arts in mathematics and bachelor of science in physics

The following graduating seniors received honorable mentions:

• Chad Hunter ’12, bachelor of science in chemical engineering, minor in mathematics
• Matej Penciak ’12, bachelor of science in physics and bachelor of arts in mathematics
• Benjamin E.R. Snyder ’12, bachelor of science in chemistry and bachelor of arts in mathematics

The following graduate students received fellowships:

• Michael Baranello, doctoral degree candidate in chemical engineering
• Ellie Carrell, doctoral degree candidate in pharmacology and physiology
• Jason Inzana, doctoral degree candidate in biomedical engineering
• Vijay Jain, doctoral degree candidate in physics

The following graduate students received honorable mentions:

• Esteban Buz, doctoral degree candidate in brain and cognitive sciences
• Dev Crasta, doctoral degree candidate in clinical and social sciences in psychology
• Adam B. Johnson, doctoral degree candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology
• Patrick S. Murphy, doctoral degree candidate in microbiology & immunology
• Ian Perera, doctoral degree candidate in computer science

The following recent alumni, who are currently pursing advanced degrees elsewhere, received fellowships:

• Molly Boutin ’11, bachelor of science in biomedical engineering
• Caitlin Hilliard ’10, bachelor of arts in brain and cognitive sciences and American Sign Language
• Patrick Sheehan ’11, bachelor of science in physics & astronomy and bachelor of arts in mathematics
• Raisa Trubko ’10, bachelor of arts in physics and bachelor of science in optics
• David J. Weinberg ’11, bachelor of science in chemistry
• Hannah (Geswein) Williamson ’08, bachelor of arts in psychology

The following recent alumni, many of whom are currently pursing advanced degrees elsewhere, received honorable mentions:

• Samuel Anderson ’11, bachelor of science in chemistry
• Isthier Chaudhury ’11, bachelor of science in chemical engineering and bachelor of arts in interdepartmental programs
• Emily (Grzybowski) Dennis ’11, bachelor of science in molecular genetics and bachelor of arts in studio arts
• Aaron Gorenstein ’11, bachelor of science in computer science
• Seth Kallman ’09, bachelor of science in brain & cognitive sciences
• Kathleen Mulvaney ’10, bachelor of science in molecular genetics
• Alison Ossip-Klein ’10, bachelor of science in ecology and evolutionary biology
• Camillia Redding ’10, bachelor of arts in political science
• Maria Strangas ’10, bachelor of science in ecology & evolutionary biology
• Adam Williamson’08, bachelor of science in electrical & computer engineering and bachelor of arts in physics

Article written by Melissa Greco Lopes, editor of The Buzz and student life publicist in University Communications. Photo courtesy of  the NSF website.