Mudd Magazine, fall winter 2025–2026

mudd T H E M AG A Z I N E O F H A R V E Y M U D D C O L L E G E

FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 – 2 0 2 6

Bold Ideas for a Better World: 70 Years of Innovative Education

Makerspace Open House The makerspace in the Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center hosted its first open house for The Claremont Colleges community this fall. Attendees gathered at the creative hub to enjoy button and jewelry making, machine demonstrations, a photo booth and a sundae bar. The 8,000-square-foot, student-run facility provides access to tools, resources, space and storage for 7C students, faculty and staff to work on personal and academic projects.

Read more about the makerspace and its head steward on page 19.

Photos by Kaitlyn Chen ’26

Makerspace stewards Jasper Cox ’26, Naomi Horiguchi ’25, Alice Tidmarsh ’27, Rai Wandeler ’28, Madeline Seifert ’26, Wil Kirkland ’27 and Marshall Herman PZ ’27. Holding the heart is makerspace Manager Elissa Avelar. Photo by Dominic Indolino.

Steward Nicole Keishner ’27 (left) directs button making.

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CONTENTS

Fall/Winter 2025–2026 Volume 26, No. 1 Mudd Magazine is produced two times per year by the Office of Communications and Marketing.

Senior Director of Communications, Senior Editor Stephanie L. Graham, APR Art Director Robert Vidaure Senior Graphic Designer Joshua Buller

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Made for Mudd The makerspace was a magnet for Naomi Horiguchi ’25. Now she’s in charge of drawing others in.

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How to Build a Community of Learners Chemist, entrepreneur and educator Bernie Santarsiero ’75 has spent his career cultivating talented researchers.

Associate Director Sarah Barnes Contributing Writers Rebecca Bodenheimer, Dominic Indolino, Queen Muse Contributing Photographers Max Buchanan ’27, Kaitlyn Chen ’26, Elisa Ferrari, Jeanine Hill, Dominic Indolino, Brian Morri, Anita Nowacka Vice President for Communications and Marketing/Chief Communications Officer Timothy L. Hussey, APR

Mudd Magazine (SSN 0276-0797) is published by Harvey Mudd College, Office of Communications and Marketing, 301 Platt Boulevard Claremont, CA 91711.

Nonprofit Organization Postage Paid at Claremont, CA 91711

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The Dynamic Sky Astronomer Meredith Rawls ’08 uncovers the hidden wonders of the night sky and works to protect it.

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Gain Clarity and Connection Through the ZigZag Project Through alumni-led sessions, participants ask big questions like, “Why am I doing any of this?”

Departments 4 College News 14 Research 28 Mudderings 30 Class Notes

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Elevation Gain Mountaineering Mudder Mats Cooper ’98 is on a quest to climb Colorado’s highest peaks.

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Annual Report A review of 2024–2025

Postmaster: Send address changes to Harvey Mudd College, Advancement Services, 301 Platt Boulevard, Claremont, CA 91711.

Copyright © 2026—Harvey Mudd College.

All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in the Mudd Magazine are those of the individual authors and subjects and do not necessarily reflect the views of the College administration, faculty or students.

No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without the express written consent of the editor.

Mudd Magazine staff welcomes your input: communications@hmc.edu or Mudd Magazine, Harvey Mudd College, 301 Platt Boulevard, Claremont, CA 91711

magazine.hmc.edu Follow Harvey Mudd College Instagram – @harvey_mudd Facebook – @harveymuddcollege LinkedIn – harvey-mudd-college Bluesky – @hmc.edu

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE Many Lamps, One Light Ancient Agora Museum

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Sorting It Out This spring, I’m co-teaching the new interdisciplinary course, The Game of Democracy: Art, Engineering, Chance, Choice, and Civic Life, with art Professor Ken Fandell. A key component of my presidential civic preparedness initiative, the course uses Taryn Simon’s Kleroterion (2024)—a contemporary sculpture inspired by an ancient Athenian sortition device— as a central learning object. Through interactive discussions and guest speakers from art, engineering, mathematics, and political science, we will explore how randomness, fairness, and design influence democratic structures. In their culminating project, our students will build their own “devices of democracy” for a public exhibition. The initiative is a timely reflection on democratic ideals during the nation’s 250th anniversary year.

Your Ideas for 2030 I enjoyed participating in Claremont Graduate University’s 100th anniversary festivities. In just five years, Harvey Mudd will be celebrating its 75th anniversary.

We’re already beginning to think of ways that we might honor and celebrate those who have helped shape the College into a global leader in liberal arts-focused STEM education. Please scan the QR code to suggest individuals you think should be recognized for their impactful contributions to the College and its students.

as we begin the spring semester, i find myself reflecting on a fall filled with learning, collaboration, celebration, and innovation—both on our campus and across The Claremont Colleges.

Last semester, Claremont Graduate University and The Claremont Colleges marked their 100th anniversaries, celebrating a century of scholarship, leadership, and service. A hundred years ago, the founders of The Claremont Colleges envisioned a consortium of independent yet interdependent institutions, famously summarized

by James Blaisdell: “many lamps, one light.” That vision continues to shine today—in our shared libraries and labs, in our cross-campus learning, in our wide-ranging student activities, and in the collaborative spirit that defines our community.

Here at Harvey Mudd, we’ve been celebrating our own milestone—70 years of educating passionate problem solvers who lead with curiosity, creativity, and compassion. Our 70th Anniversary Symposium last fall showcased what makes Mudd distinctive: faculty and students working side by side on research that changes lives, from quantum entanglement experiments and biophotonics innovations to sustainable water reuse and climate technology studies. Highlights included my conversation with Dr. David Agus, founding CEO of Ellison Medical Institute (see page 4), and the Summer Research and Scholarship Poster Celebration, which attracted hundreds to explore student projects (see a selection on page 14) and honor our shared commitment to learning through discovery.

Following these celebrations, fall was also a season of planning as we transitioned from honoring our past

to shaping our future. The College’s multi-day board of trustees retreat, Saddle Rock, helped set the stage for the College’s next era of impact and innovation. Together, participants began shaping the “ambition architecture” for the College’s upcoming comprehensive campaign—focused on empowering our people, expanding possibilities, and elevating our platform. Sessions throughout the retreat explored student success, college affordability, and campus development, including plans for a new academic building, residence hall, and student union to enhance learning, living, and community. The Innovation Accelerator Labs presentations showcased Mudd’s entrepreneurial spirit, while interactive roundtables invited bold thinking about the College’s role in solving global challenges. The event closed with a call to action—an invitation to imagine how Harvey Mudd will change the world by 2035.

As we move into spring, I am inspired by the light our community continues to share—whether through service, scholarship, or simple acts of kindness. The vision that launched this consortium a century ago continues to guide us today: Collaboration fuels innovation. Together, we carry that light forward into the future of Harvey Mudd and The Claremont Colleges.

Harriet B. Nembhard President Harvey Mudd College

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COLLEGE NEWS

Anika Sharma ’28 and Felix Peng ’28

Steven Santana

70th Anniversary Symposium Bold Ideas harvey mudd college marked its 70th anniversary with a forward-looking symposium, “Bold Ideas for a Better World: 70 Years of Innovative Education,” that celebrated the College’s legacy of uniting technical excellence with humanistic values.

Held Sept. 25, the event brought together faculty, students, alumni, parents and friends of the College to reflect on the College’s pioneering programs—such as the Clinic Program and its entrepreneurial initiatives—and to explore how Harvey Mudd continues to shape STEM education through compassion, curiosity and collaboration. At its heart was a conversation between President Harriet B. Nembhard and Dr. David Agus, renowned physician and innovator, on how values-driven innovation can guide progress toward a more equitable and connected world.

Nembhard said, “Harvey Mudd has always been defined by the people in this community. It’s the people who bring our mission to life.”

Reflecting on the College’s 70 years of leadership in STEM, Nembhard emphasized that the College’s mission has always extended beyond technical mastery to producing leaders who understand the societal and ethical impact of their work. She cited the College’s Innovation Accelerator and rising centers of excellence in climate, health and computing as critical to creating a future that remains accessible, inclusive and transformative for generations to come.

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David Agus and President Nembhard

Agus agreed that the role of higher education is not just to transmit knowledge but to teach students how to think across boundaries. “The real world is not divided into physics, math and engineering,” he said. “Every problem we face on this globe is going to be a hybrid.” Technological progress, Agus said, must be matched by moral clarity and leadership. “The reason we’re here on this earth is to help other people. The reason you start a company is to enrich your community.”

Nembhard echoed Agus’s sentiments, noting that their conversation’s ultimate message was simple but profound—the work that truly matters is work done in the service of one another.

A reception and Summer Research and Scholarship Poster Celebration followed the symposium. See page 14 for a selection of posters.

V iew video recordings of 70th Anniversary Symposium presentations, bit.ly/70thVideos.

V iew photos from the 70th Anniversary Symposium, bit.ly/70thSymposiumPhotos.

View the online history timeline, hmc.edu/about/timeline.

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Creativity, Courage and Possibility Innovation Accelerator Labs the 70th anniversary symposium included updates on bold new initiatives developed through the College’s Innovation Accelerator—a key part of the College’s STEM for a Better World strategic plan.

“These ideas remind us of the extraordinary depth of talent and imagination that make Harvey Mudd such a remarkable place,” said President Harriet Nembhard as she introduced representatives of the three innovation accelerator laboratories.

Susan Martonosi, professor of mathematics and associate chair, Department of Mathematics, represented the Innovation Accelerator Lab for Data Science and Social Impact.

The Data Science and Social Impact (DSSI) initiative aims to establish a national hub at Harvey Mudd College that integrates data science with social good. Through curricular innovation, research, community partnerships, student workshops and a national conference, DSSI prepares the next generation of data scientists to apply human-centered, socially responsible frameworks to complex global issues such as climate change and public health.

Recent activities include a student data visualization workshop using World Bank data and the February 2026 Driving Impact of Data Science conference. Rooted in Harvey Mudd’s mission, DSSI uniquely bridges STEM with the humanities to advance ethical, interdisciplinary problemsolving.

Matina Donaldson-Matasci, associate professor of biology and member of the Faculty Executive Committee, represented the Innovation Accelerator Lab for Emerging Health Technologies.

The IA Lab for Emerging Health Technologies was inspired by students seeking careers that combine technical expertise with meaningful social impact.

The program highlights opportunities

Professors Susan Martonosi, Matina Donaldson-Matasci and Sharon Gerbode

in fields like AI-assisted drug discovery, personalized medicine and medical device innovation, helping students connect their STEM education to real-world health challenges. Through alumni talks, career panels and industry internships, students gain insight into diverse health tech careers and build valuable connections. New efforts include faculty-student summer research fellowships focused on health and social impact, and expanded Clinic Program partnerships that let students apply interdisciplinary problem-solving to issues at the intersection of technology and human health.

Sharon Gerbode, associate professor of physics and associate dean of academic affairs, represented the Innovation Accelerator Lab for Thriving.

The Thriving Lab strengthens student success in the rigorous Core Curriculum by building confidence, community and equity

in STEM education. The program has three main components: a summer bridge program that equips incoming students with key problem-solving and quantitative skills; a mentorship program that fosters close connections between students, faculty and peers; and a one-on-one tutoring program that complements existing academic support. Early results show improved performance and thriving first-years. Looking ahead, the lab aims to expand access by integrating research opportunities and exploring partnerships that create more equitable on-ramps into STEM education.

Learn more: h mc.edu/dssi h mc.edu/eht h mc.edu/thriving

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COLLEGE NEWS

Astronaut and Nobel Laureate Illuminate Space 2025 Nelson Series Photos by Dominic Indolino and Max Buchanan ’27

groups from on- and off-campus gathered for memorable Bruce J. Nelson Distinguished Speaker Series talks this fall.

The excitement in the room was palpable, especially among the many young people in attendance, as former NASA astronaut José Hernández shared his extraordinary journey from migrant farmworker to space traveler. His story of persistence, vision and service was a powerful reminder of what can happen when talent meets opportunity—and when communities come together to support discovery and growth.

One of four children in a migrant farming family, Hernández spent his early childhood moving between Mexico and Southern California, harvesting crops with his family. He didn’t learn English until he was 12. Yet, inspired by hearing that the first Hispanic-American had been chosen

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to fly in space, Hernández set his sights on the stars. He studied engineering, earned his graduate degree then went on to work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. There, he developed imaging techniques that contributed to earlier breast cancer detection and advanced nuclear nonproliferation work. In 2004, he was selected for NASA’s astronaut program, and five years later he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-128.

His moving story of resilience and determination reminded attendees that the most meaningful innovations aren’t just technical—they’re human.

Gravitational Wave Astronomy

During the Nov. 12 talk “My Half Century Quest, with a Thousand Colleagues, to Create Gravitational Wave Astronomy,”

Nobel laureate Kip Thorne presented vignettes that illuminated the birth of gravitational wave astronomy. The effort to detect gravitational ripples in spacetime created by colliding black holes, Thorne revealed, was one of the most technically challenging and high-risk scientific projects ever undertaken. Thorne helped bring this work to life in the movie Interstellar, where the warping of spacetime was a central concept. “Space in my universe is warped,” said Thorne, who spoke about his early fascination with black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves. He delved into the nature of black holes, exploring their strange and complex behaviors and describing how space and time behave differently near black holes, by slowing near the event horizon and twisting space with the black hole’s rotation.

COLLEGE NEWS

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Notes & Quotes Michael E. Moody Lecture “Inequalities for Trees, Graphs and Matroids”

“I’m not the kind of mathematician who says, ‘Let me try to solve a 50-year-old problem that nobody has been able to.’ It’s not how I have carried out my mathematical life. [Collaborator] June [Huh] … called me and said, ‘Hey, Federico, there’s this other conjecture that I think we can do.’ And that’s how I started collaborating with this team of people … [who] said maybe we can solve another version of these conjectures, which is the polynomial Mason conjecture.”

Federico Ardila-Mantilla, professor of mathematics at San Francisco State University, spoke on campus Sept. 16. He founded the SFSU-Colombia Combinatorics Initiative, which hosts combinatorics lectures on YouTube. He also co-directed a summer research program in Berkeley designed to increase the participation of minoritized racial groups in mathematics.

View Mantilla’s talk on HMC’s YouTube channel: bit.ly/moodylectures

College Kudos U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2026

Princeton Review 2025–2026 Rankings

No. 2 — Best Undergraduate Engineering Program

From The Best Value Colleges – 2025 edition and

No. 10 — Best National Liberal Arts Colleges (tied)

The Best 391 Colleges – 2026 edition No. 1 for “Most Accessible Professors”

Wall Street Journal

No. 2 for “Top 20 Best Career Placement (Private Schools)”

No. 4 — Best Salaries

No. 3 for “Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact (Private Schools)”

PayScale

No. 7 for “Best Campus Food”

No. 1 for ROI — PayScale 2024 College ROI Report No. 4 for mid-career salaries — PayScale 2024 College Salary Report

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COLLEGE NEWS

Reshma Saujani

President Harriet Nembhard, Reshma Saujani and Katie Shilton

Saujani, Nembhard and Shilton pose with HMC President’s Scholars

Brock Bownds ’27

ANNENBERG LEADERSHIP FORUM

Connection: The Path Forward building technologies that foster unity rather than division can prevent disconnection from undermining progress.

This fundamental message was a key theme of the Annenberg Leadership Forum, which reflects HMC’s commitment to encouraging students to lead with integrity. On Sept. 24, President Harriet Nembhard moderated “Rewriting the Narrative: Empathy, Connection and Collaboration in STEM,” a conversation with Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code and host of My So-Called Midlife, and Katie Shilton, a professor at the University of Maryland and an expert on technology and data ethics.

The conversation explored how empathy can reshape leadership, innovation and the design of technology.

Saujani and Shilton examined how structural and emotional divides, especially

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across gender, limit collaboration and creativity in STEM. “The powers that be have succeeded in dividing us, making us feel that progress is a zero-sum game,” said Saujani. “The biggest problem we’re facing right now is not AI, climate change or disinformation—it’s disconnection.

And it matters, especially in STEM.” Citing social media’s trajectory from a way to stay connected with friends and loved ones to a hub of discord and influencer-centered profiteering, Shilton said, “A computer science divorced from emotion got us here.

Imagine if empathy and human reactions were central to design?”

Saujani and Shilton called for empathycentered innovation and the need for diversity and emotional intelligence in shaping the future of STEM. “If what you’re building brings us together, keep going. But if what you’re building tears us

apart—stop,” said Saujani. A recording of the panel discussion is available on HMC’s YouTube channel.

Earlier in the day, the HMC President’s Scholars hosted a lunch and learn workshop, “Connection as a Foundation for Inclusive Institutions.” The workshop explored progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

It was an opportunity for networking and discussion about creating space for open dialogue, promoting inclusive decisionmaking and supporting institutional cultures rooted in empathy and equity to strengthen both STEM communities and society.

The forum is endowed through a generous gift from The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Fund for Leadership Development.

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It’s real. It’s us. It’s bad. There’s hope.

SENCER Conference promotes science literacy while cultivating empathy, community and agency when award-winning journalist Katie Worth began reporting on climate change for Frontline PBS, she and her colleagues had an unusual amount of freedom. “We could go anywhere in the world—we just needed to tell a story about climate change,” she said. They chose the Marshall Islands, where rising seas already threaten homes, schools and livelihoods.

The project, The Last Generation, followed young students living at the front lines of a crisis they could see outside their classroom windows.

Those children’s understanding of the climate crisis—remarkably informed for their age—sparked a critical question for Worth: What would they learn about climate change if they moved to the United States?

That question became the foundation of Worth’s investigative work into how climate change is taught—or avoided—in American classrooms. She found that while nearly all climate scientists agree humans are responsible for global warming, two-thirds of U.S. science teachers present the topic as a debate. Some educators even teach that the phenomenon is natural, reflecting the political and ideological pressures shaping curriculum decisions at the local and state levels.

“It’s hard to know what’s happening behind every classroom door,” Worth said, “but surveys show most teachers spend only a few hours a year on climate change, and not all of what they teach is scientifically accurate.”

Worth shared these insights as a keynote speaker at the SENCER West Coast Regional Conference: Broadening Participation in Undergraduate Climate Education, held Sept. 18–19, on campus.

Organized by HMC’s Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment and the Office of Civic and Community Engagement, the conference brought together educators, researchers and community leaders to explore how

Katie Worth

inclusive approaches can strengthen climate teaching and learning.

Worth’s talk, “Censoring the Future: How Climate Change is Taught in America,” encouraged participants to look critically at the systems that shape students’ understanding of climate change.

She traced decades of efforts by fossil fuel companies to influence K–12 education through industry-sponsored materials and classroom resources, from the 1950s “Magic Barrel” presentation to today’s fossil fuel–funded curricula still used in states like Oklahoma and Texas.

She also highlighted teachers who resist misinformation, including those who create safe, evidence-based spaces for students to discuss a crisis that affects their daily lives. “There are incredible educators everywhere who teach this topic carefully, compassionately and with hope,” she said. “They are helping the next generation see that climate change is real, it’s us, it’s bad—but there’s hope,” she said.

That sense of hope and community action echoed throughout the conference.

Alongside Worth’s presentation, UC San Diego Muir College Provost K. Wayne Yang spoke about the launch of a UCSD-wide climate change graduation requirement, while Krista Hiser, professor of composition and rhetoric at Kapi‘olani Community College, led two interactive

workshops focused on climate anxiety and empowerment.

Faculty, staff and students from across the region presented research in three key areas: institutional change; the humanities, social sciences and the arts; and civic and community engagement. Poster sessions and breaks between panels gave attendees opportunities to share strategies for integrating climate learning across disciplines and institutions.

Worth concluded her keynote by returning to the children she met in the Marshall Islands and later, in Paradise, California, where she reported on students rebuilding their education after wildfires destroyed their town. In both places, she said, young people were grappling with climate change not as an abstract issue but as a lived reality.

“What gives me hope,” she said, “is watching students and teachers confront this crisis together with curiosity, with courage and with care. Education has the power to plant seeds that will grow into solutions we can’t yet imagine.”

The SENCER West Coast Regional Conference showcased how educators across disciplines can work together to rewrite the narrative and, in doing so, help students imagine and create a more sustainable future.

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COLLEGE NEWS

Dangerous Questions during fall, a panel of faculty from the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts explored “dangerous questions” from a variety of disciplines to understand and respond to challenges facing American universities.

Topics addressed were “What Would Shakespeare Say?” (Ambereen Dadabhoy, associate professor of literature), “What Can Art Do During a Fascist Takeover?”

(Rachel Mayeri, artist and professor of media studies), “Creative Politics as a Strategic Response to Authoritarianism” (Paul Steinberg, Malcolm Lewis Professor in Sustainability and Society; professor of political science and environmental policy), “Invasive Species: Blaming Dysregulated Plant Neighbors Is a ‘Settler Move’ to Innocence” (Anup Gampa, associate professor of psychology) and “Geography Against Immediacy” (David K. Seitz, associate professor of cultural geography).

During his talk, “Sounding (Anti-) Authoritarian: A Few Vignettes,” David Wilson, assistant professor of music, examined how music reflects and resists power across time and place. Through three case studies—Nazi Germany, Maoist China and post-Fukushima Japan—the talk reveals music’s relationship to politics and propaganda.

In 1934, composer Paul Hindemith attempted to appease the Nazi regime with

David Wilson, assistant professor of music

a patriotic symphony only to be blacklisted after audiences used the performance to protest. Wilson concluded, “Appeasement does not protect.”

When Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, he sought to “protect his position at the apex of Chinese politics. To the greater Chinese public, however, the Cultural Revolution was branded as, ‘a movement to touch people to their very souls,’” said Wilson.

At its heart was a new form of cultural production called “the model works”: lavish operas and ballets merging politics and art that became instruments of persuasion and control. “Music can distract from the intrinsic incoherence of political movements,” Wilson observed.

After Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi

Nuclear Power disaster in 2011, indie and amateur musicians filled the silence left by major artists tied to corporate power, galvanizing the nation’s largest protest movement in 50 years. Wilson noted, “Music is a powerful tool in any political debate, and all parties will vie to control it.”

Wilson argued that music is never politically neutral; it “evades the logical” and moves people emotionally, which is precisely why regimes seek to control it.

From the Washington Mall to Tiananmen Square, Wilson said, revolutionary moments have been anchored by and sounded through music. “Sound—even wordless, non-semantic but synchronized sound—is power,” a reminder that music’s emotional resonance can both sustain authority and inspire defiance.

Clinic Program 2025–2026

Feedback from 2024–2025 liaisons • Sponsors reported they would file or were considering filing 12 patents

• Nearly 300 seniors and juniors

based on the outcomes of their student

• 43 projects

projects.

• 41 industry, government and nonprofit sponsors • 7 Climate Clinics

• 85% of sponsors declared their projects

• 4 Global Clinics

a success, with another 15% still

• 4 Social Justice Clinics

evaluating the results.

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COLLEGE NEWS

Annual Report A Review of 2024–2025

By Jim Bean ’77 Chair, HMC Board of Trustees

As Harvey Mudd College celebrates its 70th anniversary and the alumni association marks 60 years of connection and pride, I invite you to reflect with me on some of our accomplishments. The College’s founding mission—to educate engineers, scientists and mathematicians who understand the impact of their work on society—continues to guide every initiative, even as we adapt to meet the ongoing changes facing higher education.

The 2024–2025 academic year was shaped by significant milestones in the College’s ongoing strategic plan, STEM for a Better World. From investments in faculty growth to expanding opportunities for innovation and collaboration, the Harvey Mudd community has continued to push boundaries while staying true to its core values.

The community welcomed two new members of the College’s senior leadership team. Jennifer Eccles joined as vice president for advancement, bringing extensive experience in higher education fundraising and campaign leadership as Harvey Mudd moves into the planning stages of a new comprehensive campaign.

Her work is helping to strengthen the foundation for philanthropy that will advance the College’s strategic goals and expand opportunities for students and faculty. Professor Karl Haushalter, an award-winning educator and longtime member of the chemistry faculty, was appointed vice president for Academic Affairs and R. Michael Shanahan Dean of the Faculty. His leadership continues to strengthen faculty development,

mentoring and interdisciplinary teaching and research, hallmarks of the Harvey Mudd experience.

Our faculty are recognized nationally for their excellence in teaching and scholarship. Several received prestigious teaching awards, reflecting the College’s enduring commitment to exceptional undergraduate education. Harvey Mudd’s faculty hiring has also continued apace: 12 new professors joined the College as of July 1, 2024, with an additional three beginning in July 2025. These talented scholars expand the College’s expertise across disciplines, ensuring that students learn from teachers who are both accomplished scholars and passionate educators.

Task forces created by President Harriet Nembhard to support the College’s strategic plan goals continue their work.

In January 2025, the Task Force on Clinic and Corporate Partnerships assessed the College’s Clinic Program and corporate partnerships and made recommendations for improvements, including support for Clinic directors and career services staff as they help to increase students’ confidence and capabilities with determining which industry/organization matches their interests. The Task Force on College Affordability, which focuses on advancing equitable access and affordability, released its first interim report in May 2025.

Innovation continues to thrive on campus. The Innovation Accelerator, the key engine for driving educational innovation under the College’s strategic plan, made remarkable progress, inspiring community members to explore and present innovative, ambitious and forwardlooking ideas. Three Innovation Accelerator Laboratories were selected during spring 2025: Data Science and Social Impact; Emerging Health Technology; and Thriving.

The project teams will receive $240,000 over the next three years to help further develop their projects. And, during the 2025–2026 academic year, we issued a call for proposals for new projects on artificial intelligence.

The 2024–2025 academic year also brought moments of both loss and resilience. During the fall, the College community grieved the loss of two

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outstanding students: Arjun Vattipalli ’27 and Olivia Guerrero ’25. The community also mourned the passing of aviation pioneer and longtime faculty member Iris Critchell, whose life embodied excellence in teaching, mentorship and service. We celebrated the lives and contributions of board members C. Dean Rasmussen, P’93 (board member from 1991 to 2003) and Michael Blasgen Jr. ’63 (2005–2023), both of whom supported scholarships, shaped key decisions and provided invaluable guidance. We experienced the effects of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires, which disrupted parts of our community, but also prompted acts of compassion and support. In the spirit of generosity, Harvey Mudd contributed a piano to a music teacher impacted by the fires—a small gesture reflecting the College’s values of empathy and service.

As we celebrate seven decades of learning, discovery and collaboration, the Board of Trustees is focused on planning for the College’s upcoming comprehensive fundraising campaign so that our community can continue to build on our past progress, amplifying our ability to expand access to an outstanding and rigorous Harvey Mudd education while preparing our students to address society’s most complex problems.

Seventy years after its founding, Harvey Mudd College remains a place where bold ideas flourish, where learning and discovery go hand in hand, and where the next generation of leaders in the sciences, mathematics and engineering are inspired to change the world for the better.

The milestones of the 2024–2025 academic year remind us not only of how far we’ve come but also of the possibilities ahead.

For more details about the past academic year, including financial and fundraising reports from the Office of Financial Affairs and the Office of Advancement, review the online annual report at hmc.edu/annual-report.

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COLLEGE NEWS

Faculty Updates Research, Awards, Activities Biology, Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment

Mudd curriculum, is “the water we swim in,” serving as a critical tool for faculty development. Many team-taught courses intentionally pair a junior faculty member with a senior professor, effectively turning the classroom into a master class that provides tremendous mentoring for new faculty. This structure not only trains the next generation of great HMC professors, but also ensures fresh perspectives continually update content, keeping the curriculum sharp and relevant.

Jessica Guo, assistant professor of

climate and biology, co-authored a paper published in New Phytologist examining how atmospheric drought influences dryland plant productivity under varied rainfall. Guo, a plant ecophysiologist and data scientist, investigates how plants in dryland systems cope with lethal combinations of heat and drought, driven by the visible impacts of climate change. The research found that in years with drier atmospheric conditions, plant productivity was 39% lower even under identical irrigation treatments. These results emphasize the significant risks posed by climate-driven changes in both atmospheric dryness and rainfall patterns.

Chemistry Maduka Ogba has been

awarded a $223,656 LEAPS-MPS grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in support of his project “Unlocking the Potential of Carbones as Metal-Free Catalysts.” He and his research students are investigating the emerging catalytic reactivity of carbones (unique two-coordinate zerovalent carbon species) to advance the field of carbon-based organocatalysis. The project’s results, including a publicly accessible machine learning program, are expected to inform future catalyst development and foster collaborative research.

The spirit of HMC community collaboration is the focus of an Inside Higher Ed interview with Kathy Van Heuvelen, R. Michael Shanahan Professor of Chemistry, who says team teaching, a distinguishing feature of the Harvey

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Hal Van Ryswyk, John

Stauffer Professor in Chemistry, received the 2025 Henry T. Mudd Prize in recognition of his extraordinary service to the College. The award, announced at Commencement, honors Van Ryswyk’s nearly four decades of service characterized by inspired teaching, impactful research and steadfast dedication in leadership roles that include chemistry department chair and faculty chair. He was also recognized for fostering interdisciplinary environmental education, integrating societal challenges into the curriculum and providing exceptional mentorship. The award citation praised his discernment and grace on consequential committees, underscoring his profound embodiment of the College’s mission.

Computer Science

The NSF has awarded Lucas Bang a three-year, $45,000 grant to enhance student access to programming languages research. The grant will fund travel scholarships for up to 10 students per year to attend the Programming Languages Mentoring Workshop in Singapore, held during the ACM SIGPLAN conference on Systems, Programming, Languages, and Applications. Bang, who has previously served as a conference panelist and mentor, emphasizes that the scholarships offer students a vital opportunity to immerse themselves in cutting-edge research, hear keynote talks from famous researchers and build professional connections with experts from academia, government and industry labs.

Engineering

For nearly two decades, Lori Bassman, Jude and Eileen Laspa Professor of Engineering, has spearheaded cutting-edge metallurgy research, with a recent focus on developing safer metal alloys. Motivated by new global legislation limiting lead in drinking water systems, Bassman and her students are tackling the lack of a viable alternative to toxic leaded brass, a material commonly found in household plumbing fixtures. In 2020, the team filed a provisional patent for a new family of copper-based alloys. These compositionally complex materials are being developed to retain the desirable properties of leaded brass—like machinability—while eliminating the health risk. Collaborating with a major European brass producer, the researchers are evaluating alloys that not only meet stringent mechanical standards but are also economically and environmentally sound, due to their ability to incorporate a wider range of recycled metals. Bassman’s program is unique and includes hosting students for a summer research collaboration in Sydney, Australia, that blends academic rigor with global learning and cultural immersion. Bassman says her team is “getting close” to matching the properties of leaded materials, and for certain applications, may have developed something “possibly even better.”

Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts

Bill Alves, professor of music, composed

the music for Bird Song, a shadow play with words composed by Scripps College writing professor Adam Novy. Performed live in October in Los Angeles by shadow actors, singers and musicians, the play’s story follows four people in the fight for power amidst a mysterious catastrophe.

The Los Angeles event also included additional musical selections for gamelan instruments. View a preview of Bird Song on YouTube: bit.ly/AlvesBirdSong

COLLEGE NEWS

Vivien Hamilton, professor

of the history of science, examines how X-ray equipment was advertised to American dentists in the early 1930s in her chapter, “Dental X-rays and the Imagined Patient,” which appears in the book Technology, Health, and the Patient Consumer in the Twentieth Century, edited by Rachel Elder and Thomas Schlich and published by Manchester University Press.

and arrangement) and algebra to uncover the structure of complex shapes and patterns. Students will collaborate on original problems, particularly from Ehrhart theory, which involves counting lattice points within polytopes (multidimensional polygons).

Talithia Williams gave the fall 2025 Inclusive

Growth Thought Leadership Lecture at Howard University in October. She shared how data and inclusive innovation can help build a more equitable future.

Mathematics

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s virtual Partial Differential Equations Conference in October was dedicated to Alfonso Castro, Robert and Barbara McAlister Professor of Mathematics, in celebration of his 75th birthday and his outstanding contributions to differential equations.

Samford University’s Howard College of Arts and Sciences welcomed Francis Su, Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics, as the featured speaker for the 2025 J. Roderick Davis Lecture, held Oct. 9. Through his lecture “Mathematics for Human Flourishing: Building Virtues, Not Just Skills,” Su invited listeners to see mathematics not simply as a technical discipline, but as a deeply human pursuit that shapes character and nourishes the soul. He challenged the common perception of math as a source of anxiety or a mere steppingstone to career success and explored how mathematical thinking cultivates virtues such as persistence, creativity, curiosity and joy.

Andrés R. Vindas Meléndez (left) has

received a two-year NSF grant to fund student research in the field of geometric combinatorics, which merges geometry, combinatorics (the study of classification

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The STEM Corps Pilot Program— “RAMTD-UP-LA: Regional Alliance for Mathematics Teacher Development, Uplift, and Professionalization in Los Angeles”— has been funded by a $4.7 million NSF grant, which will be led by Darryl Yong ’96, holder of the McGregor-Girand Chair in STEM Equity Innovation and Research.

The program aims to heighten STEM learning experiences for all students (particularly those who have historically been marginalized from STEM fields), to promote the retention of excellent STEM teachers, to elevate the STEM teaching profession and to develop teacher leaders. Two cohorts of 30 teachers will each receive an annual $20,000 stipend, time for teacher collaboration, on-site coaching, funding for supplies and travel to conferences. The program is the result of a collaboration of Math for America Los Angeles, UCLA Mathematics Project and the Cal Poly Pomona Mathematics Project.

Physics

An American Astronomical Society Journals’ Author Series video features Daniel Tamayo discussing his research on mean motion resonances with co-author Samuel Hadden (Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics). The video, released in August 2025, explores their work on planetary system dynamics.

In Memoriam: J. Richard Phillips J. Richard Phillips, professor of engineering emeritus, passed away in July 2025. A beloved Harvey Mudd faculty member from 1966 to 2002, Phillips was a visionary educator whose leadership helped shape the Department of Engineering and the world-renowned Engineering Clinic.

As director of the Clinic for 17 years, he strengthened and expanded the program, establishing it as a national model for experiential learning. The Clinic’s partnership model—pairing students with corporate sponsors to solve real engineering problems—became integral to the HMC curriculum. Phillips also championed curricular innovation, advancing the integration of design into engineering and co-creating an endowed professorship to sustain that emphasis. He played a key role in developing the Experimental Engineering Lab. In 2012, he shared the National Academy of Engineering’s Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education with colleagues Clive Dym and Mack Gilkeson. Beyond Harvey Mudd, Phillips maintained a dynamic career in industry, government and international academia. He held three U.S. patents, published widely and served as an evaluator for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

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RESEARCH

Intellectual Adventures

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This year’s Poster Research and Scholarship Celebration, held in conjunction with the College’s 70th Anniversary Symposium, brought the campus community together for an outdoor showcase of student research. Nearly 200 students collaborated with faculty mentors across all HMC departments and off-campus, exploring new ideas and discoveries throughout the summer. Attendees circulated among the posters, engaging presenters in lively conversation and offering encouragement. Here’s a selection of summer research projects.

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COMPUTER SCIENCE

ENGINEERING

CHEMISTRY, ENGINEERING, PHYSICS

1. CuteSnaps Student: Amy Li ’28 Advisor: Zachary Dodds, LeonhardJohnson-Rae Chair of Computer Science

2. Systems Engineering for UAV Swarm Wildfire Detection and Monitoring Student: Drake Gonzales ’27 Advisor: Adyasha Mohanty, assistant professor of engineering

3. Towards Greener, Scalable Quantum Dot Solar Cells Students: Sara Morishige ’27 (pictured above), Aidan Gallade ’27 Advisor: Hal Van Ryswyk, John Stauffer Chair of Chemistry

CuteSnaps is a web-based photobooth application that makes capturing and sharing memories fun and collaborative.

Users can take photostrips, decorate them with themed stickers and overlays and co-edit photos with friends in real time.

CuteSnaps runs entirely in a browser, making it usable across devices and ideal for social settings like student clubs, events or parties. It has attracted over 120 beta users, showing strong engagement and viral potential.

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Current wildfire monitoring technologies rely heavily on resource-intensive systems, including satellite thermal imagery, ground-based thermal sensors and observation towers, which often fall short for timely detection and are frequently used only after a fire has occurred. Gonzales sought to develop a cost-effective, scalable solution that can evolve into a swarm of autonomous UAVs. He built a DIY quadcopter drone, equipped with a Jetson Orin Nano, to enable real-time AI-driven fire detection and monitoring and tested it over the Harvey Mudd campus.

Quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs) use far less material and energy to manufacture compared to traditional silicon solar cells.

Currently, the standard deposition of the hole transport layer (HTL) is an inefficient, non-scalable, multi-step process that damages the photoactive layer beneath it. Researchers explored two possible improvements for the deposition of the HTL, using 25 solvents and three ligands, and found one pair that formed an ink resulting in a successful inverse cell. They found that γ-valerolactone is an effective solvent for the photoactive layer; it is a greener, non-toxic, non-psychoactive alternative to common solvents. The search continues for a solvent system for an HTL ink that can be deposited on top of the photoactive layer without damaging it.

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COMPUTER SCIENCE

BIOLOGY

CHEMISTRY, HIXON CENTER

4. Action Recognition Robustness Students: Liv Chu ’27, Healani Dowd ’27 (pictured above), Nicolas Riley CMC ’27 Advisor: Calden Wloka, assistant professor of computer science

5. The Effects of CG3107 Overexpression on the Mitochondrial Activity of D. Melanogaster Students: Sophie Saleh ’28, Molly McPhail ’28 (pictured above) Advisor: Jae Hur, associate professor of biology

6. Stranded in the Smellscape Student: Tzaara Jauhar ’27 Advisor: Sarah Kavassalis, assistant professor of climate and chemistry

While the robustness of computer vision models has been studied on still images, much less attention has been given to models that process video, which includes a temporal component. To address this gap in knowledge, researchers applied various degradations to video inputs and evaluated how these affect model performance for action recognition.

One of the key drivers of aging is the decreased ability to degrade damaged proteins. According to the free radical theory of aging, cells accumulate oxidative damage from unstable molecules called reactive oxygen species. To degrade these damaged proteins, the cell employs proteases, a class of enzyme that breaks down and digests proteins. CG3107 is one such protease found in Drosophila that is thought to play a role in aging.

By investigating CG3107’s effects on the mitochondria, researchers gain an understanding of its role in mitigating the decline of function associated with aging at the intracellular level.

Sensation is the translation of physical stimuli into neural signals, and perception is the process by which we interpret these signals. In the case of smell, sensation is the translation of volatile organic compounds we can detect in the air to neural signals, and our perception of them includes the label we assign, such as “rose” or “pungent.”

Building a perceptual space for olfaction is a complex task with significant barriers: Most smells we’re familiar with are actually a mixture of many different compounds, and our own vocabularies restrict our ability to describe odors. For decades, olfactory research studies have rarely built on each other. Jauhar aimed to synthesize olfactory literature across disciplines, with an emphasis on evaluating the data collected over the years.

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COLLEGE NEWS

Hackathon Success

Astronaut Scholars Physics major Kavi Dey ’26 and chemistry major Nora O’Connor ’25 were named 2025–2026 Astronaut Scholars by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, receiving up to $15,000 in funding and mentorship as well as the opportunity to present their research at the Innovators Week Gala. Dey’s work spans machine-learning models in physics and neuroimaging; O’Connor investigates green chemistry and organic synthesis.

A team of four first-year Mudders— Leah Uriarte, Nicole Ge, Wendi Zheng and Zachary Wood—won two top awards at the SoCal AI Responsibility Summit by creating FairUseBot, an AI-powered assistant helping creators identify fair-use and copyright-free materials. The tool offers personalized guidance and generates citations tailored to users ranging from students to social media influencers. The team was supported by HMC’s Code the Change Club, which is focused on using technology for social good, and Mudd ECT (Exploring Careers in Tech).

The Mudd Amateur Rocketry Club (MARC) achieved its highest-flying launch to date at the summer 2025 Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) Rocketry Competition, marking a new milestone in student-led aerospace and systems engineering exploration. Their rocket, Gladius III, soared to over 17,000 feet and returned fully intact, earning MARC third place on the competition leaderboard at the FAR site in California’s Mojave Desert.

“Seeing our rocket ignite, feeling the initial roar and flash of fire, that’s something everyone just needs to experience,” says Drake Gonzales ’27, who helped with avionics and rocket assembly. “FAR was a great opportunity to bond with the team and fall even more in love with rocketry.”

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RAI WANDELER ’28

MARC’s Big Launch

Gladius III is 11-feet (3.35 meters) tall and weighed about 70 pounds (32 kg) at liftoff. It has two parachutes: a smaller drogue chute that deployed at apogee (the peak of the rocket’s flight, about 17,180 feet above the ground) and a larger main chute that deployed 500 feet above the ground.

COLLEGE NEWS

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Solar Safety Innovation Prize A multidisciplinary student team won $20,000 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergyTech UP competition for idealPV, a groundbreaking solar-panel safety technology that detects overheating “hotspots,” especially critical in high wildfire-risk areas like Southern California.

Hotspots—caused by shaded solar cells overheating—pose a serious fire risk in solar installations. The team’s proposed solution is idealPV, solar panel technology patented by Kent Kernahan. IdealPV continuously monitors dynamic conductance and adjusts current flow in milliseconds, preventing reverse bias before it begins. Described by the team as “the airbag of the solar industry,” this technology can keep solar arrays operating safely and efficiently.

Harvey Mudd sophomores Felix Peng (team lead), Amy Li, Anika Sharma and Katie Cheng were inspired to enter the contest after studying past research on idealPV led by physics Professor Peter Saeta.

Professor Richard Haskell, Katie Cheng, Anika Sharma, Amy Li, Felix Peng, Professor Peter Saeta

Mental Health Award A recent award highlights the College’s integrated approach to fostering emotional resilience and support throughout campus life. The 2025 Mental Health & Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia magazine recognizes student-driven programs like peer-mentor groups, required first-aid training for resident mentors and faculty-student meals during spring break.

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COLLEGE NEWS

Student photographers provide a view into fall campus life and some of the many ways HMC students engage with each other.

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Diwali Tea Social

KAITLYN CHEN ’26

Paint Night

KAITLYN CHEN ’26

Jam Society Open Mic

MAX BUCHANAN ’27

Crib Races

KAITLYN CHEN ’26

In Community

COLLEGE NEWS

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MY MUDD LIFE

Made for Mudd Written by Stephanie L. Graham Photo by Dominic Indolino

the makerspace was a magnet for Naomi Horiguchi ’25. During her admission tour, she took in the 8,000-square-foot creative space in the Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center, with its assorted materials and machines—from 3D printers to laser cutters to sewing machines. It looked like somewhere to build community and creativity, precisely what appealed to Horiguchi.

“I just really liked the students I met when I visited Harvey Mudd. Everyone seemed very passionate about their interests and like, enthusiastic generally,” said Horiguchi who grew up in Fullerton, California, and has always considered herself a creative person. “I really felt that sense of community throughout campus and the dorms. It seemed like a friendly place where people care about each other.”

Horiguchi saw the makerspace stewards at work and was determined to be one herself. After arriving on campus, she immediately took all the safety quizzes and learned most of machines. She became a head steward during her sophomore year and now, as the Bill ’62 and Karen ’77 Hartman Makerspace Head Steward, she leads events and the social media team while nurturing a culture of creativity and collaboration.

Crafting materials and the associated tools can be expensive, making it prohibitive for students to experiment. The makerspace houses electronics stations, a digital jacquard loom (one of 12 in the U.S.), welding area, spray paint booth and a digital production studio along with specialized equipment, storage and collaboration areas. Having such a vast array of resources available is a big draw for Horiguchi and many other students.

“I think it’s very powerful that I get to personally help shape the direction of

the makerspace substantially,” she says.

“Something that’s extremely unique about the Harvey Mudd makerspace is that it is truly student-run.”

Non-student, professional staff are engineering professor Matthew Spencer (director) and Elissa Avelar (manager), but the head steward team (including Horiguchi, six other head stewards and 49 stewards) handle the day-to-day running of the makerspace. “If I see something that I think could be improved on, I really want to work on it. And I think this role gives me the ability to do that,” says Horiguchi.

She’s proud of launching the makerspace’s first open house in September, a “very big logistical undertaking” that took the entire steward team to pull off (see inside front cover). She also planned Halloweek, filled with cookie decorating, costume-making, ghost plushies, Polaroids, movie night, clay skeleton hands and pumpkin painting. She wants to make it an annual event, just like the open house.

These gatherings and others are part of the stewards’ strategy to raise visibility of the makerspace within the 7C community.

“I want to host more events that are welcoming and open to the other colleges,” she says. Horiguchi is also exploring ways to collaborate with another creative space:

the Hive (The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity on the Pomona College campus), which has its own distinct offerings. One of the Hive’s latest events—the Tiny Patio Concert—is something Horiguchi thinks would be great to collaborate on and bring to HMC. While Horiguchi spends many hours at the makerspace, she’s also an engineering tutor and leads Mudd Escapes (escape room building club) and the Mudd Amateur Rocketry Club. Since her first year, she’s worked in engineering professor Leah Mendelson’s Flow Imaging Lab at Mudd, building a flapping mechanical model of the leaping archer fish to study bioinspired fluid mechanics, resulting forces and fluid structures in water. In November, she attended the Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics and presented “Effects of free surface deformation on thrust production by a partially-submerged fin at the water-air interface.”

Whether it’s practicing MATLAB for her research or crafting intricate costumes for cosplay or spreading the joy of making as a makerspace steward, Horiguchi is up for a challenge. She’s determined to try new things that keep drawing people to the makerspace—and to Mudd.

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HOW TO BUILD A COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS Chemist, entrepreneur and educator Bernie Santarsiero ’75 has spent his career cultivating talented researchers Written by Queen Muse

growing up as an only child in a middle-class family in Claremont, California, Bernie Santarsiero ’75 felt fortunate. At an early age, he discovered his passion for science and math, and his parents provided him with all the resources he needed to explore his interests, from science kits to advanced calculators. During high school, Santarsiero spent his free time tutoring disabled students in elementary school, recording chemistry textbooks for blind students and, for

one summer, tutoring Black and Latino students in advanced science and math through “Project Open Future,” a program designed for high-achieving inner-city students in Los Angeles. It was during these experiences that Santarsiero came to understand that not everyone had access to the same resources.

“It gave me a firsthand view of the differences in access,” Santarsiero says. “The students in Project Open Future were brilliant kids, but because they came from very low-income communities and families, they didn’t have the same advantages I had. That made a real impact on me.”

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As director of Underrepresented Minority (URM) Research Initiatives at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) for 25 years, Santarsiero created pathways for underrepresented students to excel in STEM and biomedical research—a journey that began at Harvey Mudd College.

While a student at Harvey Mudd, Santarsiero connected with professors and mentors who laid a strong foundation for his dual commitment to research and education. “Harvey Mudd instilled in me a passion for rigorous inquiry,” Santarsiero says. “The professors treated every student like a potential scientist, instilling both the technical skills and the mindset needed to question, seek and understand.” That emphasis on nurturing scientific thinking in all students would later influence his approach to cultivating underrepresented minority researchers who may not initially see themselves in scientific careers.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Santarsiero continued his studies in graduate school. Driven by a curiosity about how scientific discovery can translate into real-world solutions, he later co-founded Syrrx, a drug discovery company that focused on advancing diabetes treatments and pioneering techniques in protein expression and structural biology. His work contributed to the development of two FDA-approved diabetes medications: alogliptin and pioglitazone.

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE MAGAZINE

At University of Illinois Chicago, Bernie Santarsiero worked to advance research and support young UIC scientists from diverse backgrounds.

Santarsiero’s career is defined not only by his scientific achievements but also by his dedication to ensuring equal access to educational opportunities. “At UIC, I had the support of colleagues to engage in stellar research and develop URM training programs.”

Santarsiero worked to advance research and support young UIC scientists from diverse backgrounds. His leadership in URM Research Initiatives provided

underrepresented students with targeted research opportunities, internships and workshops that fostered essential skills while building a sense of community among minority students. As a firstgeneration college student who is both Latinx and gay, his approach to DEI is holistic. He sees diversity as essential not only to creating equitable opportunities but also to fueling innovation.

“When we make science accessible and

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“ When we make science accessible and inclusive, we not only help individuals but enrich the entire scientific community. A broader range of perspectives in research unlocks new ways of thinking that ultimately lead to better science.”

–BERNIE SANTARSIERO ’75

inclusive, we not only help individuals but enrich the entire scientific community,” he says. “A broader range of perspectives in research unlocks new ways of thinking that ultimately lead to better science.”

Over the past decade, he’s pioneered a variety of programs aimed at fostering an inclusive academic community, including the DuSable Scholars Program, which supports underrepresented Black students in STEM fields; the Bridge to Faculty (B2F) initiative, designed to attract scholars to UIC and diversify the faculty; the Portal to Biomedical Research Careers Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program, which helps STEM students enhance their research skills and laboratory experience in preparation for graduate studies; and the L@s GANAS program, which seeks to increase the number of Latinx professionals in STEM. Latin@s Gaining Access to Networks for Advancement in Science (L@s GANAS), one of Santarsiero’s most impactful initiatives, provides financial assistance to Latinx students, promotes their retention in STEM majors and cultivates a community where Latinx students can view their cultural heritage as an asset in the lab. For example, Santarsiero lectured in a UIC Honors course on ethnobotany and drug discovery and how natural products are uniquely tied to culture, history and science.

“The URM Research Initiatives are not just about providing access,” he says. “It’s about building a community of learners who challenge each other, learn from each other and push each other to excel.”

Under his direction, these initiatives have created opportunities for hundreds of students to participate in research that they may not otherwise have considered.

His work has not gone unnoticed.

In May 2025, he received the Lifetime Service Award from the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Latinos. In July, at the annual national conference,

he was elected as a Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association, and in November, he received the UIC Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence Award for “exceptional commitment to education equity and outstanding leadership across research and academic initiatives.” In 2026, he is slated to receive another award: the UIC Faculty Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, further recognizing his longstanding impact on science and education.

In 2024, Santarsiero was highlighted by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for being a gay role model involved in DEI. He was invited to the National Institutes of Health to give a talk about training programs at UIC that foster equity and diversity in science and to the U.S. Department of Education headquarters to speak about the critical use of data in promoting student success.

He received the 2024 Diamond Award from the Not Alone Foundation for his over a decade of diversity work at UIC. His initiatives also earned UIC the NIH Institutional Excellence in DEIA Prize for Biomedical and Behavioral Research, celebrating L@s GANAS and other programs he helped establish to bridge gaps in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. His award-winning proposal highlighted UIC’s evolution over the past 15 years in developing a comprehensive DEIA strategy.

Although he retired from UIC in December 2025, Santarsiero remains committed to pushing the boundaries of his field and says he’s proud of his students who’ve already begun making their own contributions to science.

“Seeing students who once doubted their place in science now leading projects, publishing papers and applying to graduate programs—those moments are why I do this work,” he says.

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Astronomer Meredith Rawls ’08 uncovers the hidden wonders of the night sky and works to protect it.

Written by Rebecca Bodenheimer Photos by Anita Nowacka

NSF–DOE VERA C. RUBIN OBSERVATORY

meredith rawls ’08 found her way to astrophysics through a process of elimination—by ruling out chemistry, math, computer science, biology and engineering. Ironically, she says, she nearly failed her freshman physics course at Mudd. Nonetheless, she persisted, knowing she wanted a career in astronomy.

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Rawls is a research scientist at the University of Washington who has, since 2016, been working on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. This new facility, located on a Chilean mountaintop and equipped with the largest digital camera ever built, went live in June 2025. Rubin will repeatedly scan the sky for 10 years and create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of our universe.

The Rubin Observatory aims to better understand dark matter, the solar system and the Milky Way, as well as explore “objects that change position or brightness over time.” Rawls’s work relates to the last goal, which she poetically calls the “dynamic sky.” The uniqueness of the Rubin Observatory, she explains, is that it will “survey the entire southern sky and build up a database of observations that are then available to the astronomical community to enable all kinds of amazing science.”

In June, the Rubin Observatory became fully operational, and released “first look” images on its website, which also includes videos and interactive tools like a Skyviewer and Orbitviewer.

Along with the images, observatory staff released a data preview. Rawls says, “People have been using the data to do all kinds of early science, like finding new supernovae and testing out their own scientific workflows separate from what we produce.” The first official data

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release—which will contain packages of data Rawls and her colleagues prepare for scientists—won’t happen until 2026.

Soon, people worldwide will see the observatory’s “alert streams,” which detail minute changes in the night sky. Astronomers will thus be alerted to a change between images almost immediately. Rawls works to ensure the algorithms detecting these changes are robust, “verifying and validating that the data products all of the different Rubin pipelines make are doing what we expect.”

Rawls predicts there will be around 10 million of these alerts (similar to social media posts) every night. While alerts won’t include as much detailed information as full data releases because they are processed in real time, they will alert astronomers that the sky is changing in a certain area so follow-up observations can be made.

Although Rawls’s work with the Rubin Observatory is central to her role as a research scientist, she also works on other

projects, including the impact of satellite constellations. “There are an increasingly large number of bright satellites being launched into low-Earth orbit—things like SpaceX Starlink,” she says. These satellites threaten to interfere with the work done by the Rubin Observatory because the telescope is so sensitive. “I use the analogy like bugs on a windshield to explain this. You’re trying to take a picture of some of these faint distant galaxies, and there’s this bright reflective satellite that just comes across and leaves a streak in your image.”

Rawls spends a lot of time developing tools and techniques to mitigate this interference, including liaising with companies and other stakeholders who are concerned about this problem. Beyond the effects on astronomers, satellites change the night sky. If we continue to let large numbers of satellites just get launched into orbit with no regulation or limits, Rawls says, it will be harder for people to view the stars. “You’re going to see more

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swarm-y moving things than you’ll be able to see stars in the Milky Way,” she says, noting that some of these objects appear even brighter than stars.

This is a subject Rawls and several colleagues addressed in their 2022 Nature Astronomy article “The case for space environmentalism,” which views the impact of ever-increasing satellite constellations as akin to the pollution of the atmosphere and ocean. “It’s just a fundamental change that no one really consented to,” Rawls says, and this has unknown consequences. When these satellites burn up in the atmosphere, they can leave debris behind, she adds. The companies that make them seem to be assuming, she says, “that the atmosphere can take an infinite amount of surprise metals burning up in it without any repercussions.”

This is a difficult problem to address because it’s global in scope, Rawls says: “No one country can solve this independently.” While she believes satellites can be used constructively, she notes that the lack of regulation, and the slowness of regulatory bodies in acting

to mitigate their impact is a problem for both astronomers and the larger global community.

This past August, Rawls participated in a gathering of experts to discuss the effects of satellite constellations, both on the Rubin Observatory and the wider sky and how to address them. The group’s findings and recommendations were published in a recent report. She also co-leads an organization called SatHub at the IAU Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky, which is open to both astronomers and other citizens who care about this issue.

Rawls has been stargazing since her childhood in eastern Washington. Her Girl Scout Gold Award project was focused on reducing light pollution at a summer camp she regularly attended: She raised money to buy shields to put on the very bright streetlights near the camp in order to point the light toward the ground and make it easier to see the stars. “I feel like it’s a little bit full circle that now I actually work as an astronomer on a different, brand new light pollution,” she says.

If we continue to let large numbers of satellites just get launched into orbit with no regulation or limits, it will be harder for people to view the stars.

–MEREDITH RAWLS ’08

ALYSHA SHUGART

At the Rubin Observatory in Chile, a Feb. 25, 2025 image of the night sky shows a launched Starlink train plus several fainter satellite streaks as well as more traditional terrestrial light pollution in the distance.

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MUDDERINGS Highlights from Alumni Gatherings

Alumni hung out and played board games in Burbank, California, at an event hosted by Rosh Lam ’17.

Ruby Foxall ’23 hosted an outdoor picnic in NYC for GOLD alums.

Nick Shepherd ’21 hosted the first Cheers and Careers in Seattle to mix career talk with good conversation.

Hosted by Emily Chin ’22 and Lucy Q Wong ’22, GOLD alums (2016–2025) spent an afternoon at Topgolf in Burlingame.

Ideas Welcome Alums gathered at the home of Becca Thomas '14 for a summer barbecue in Washington, D.C.

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Got an idea for a local Mudd meetup? We’d love to help you bring it to life. Contact the Office of Alumni and Family Engagement (alumni@hmc.edu) to get started.

MUDDERINGS

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Gain Clarity and Connection Through the ZigZag Project When David Gross ’08 (math) and Kai Mayeda ’08 (engineering) co-facilitated the first Harvey Mudd Alumni Association ZigZag Project cohort in summer 2025, they weren’t sure what to expect. What they discovered was a remarkable space for reflection, community and courage, a place where alumni could pause and ask big questions like, “Why am I doing any of this?”

Adapted from a TED podcast series by journalist Manoush Zomorodi, the ZigZag Project helps participants navigate life’s twists and turns—its “zigs” and “zags”— through guided reflection, journaling and discussion. During the pandemic, Zomorodi used the project to help people redefine purpose amid uncertainty. Kai, who first explored it on his own, realized its impact grew exponentially when shared.

“The ZigZag with others makes it so enlightening,” he says. “It dissipates that feeling of loneliness we all inevitably have.”

Each six-week cohort meets virtually, listening to one podcast episode per week, completing short reflection exercises and joining open, honest conversations. Though David and Kai initially planned to “teach” lessons from the project, they soon found that the most meaningful insights came from peer-to-peer sharing. “The value,” Kai says, “was really at the group chat level— less a one-way dialogue and more like a group therapy session.”

The first cohort originated from Kai’s discontent with his career trajectory. He also had peers that were experiencing layoffs, disenchantment and workplace

harassment. An avid podcast listener, Kai felt that a pair of facilitators could more quickly create a welcoming environment.

So, he asked David to tag team the series.

Together they created synergistic energy that helped to connect Mudders in ways that were reminiscent of the times on campus.

A second ZigZag cohort attracted alumni from across generations and career stages, many of whom arrived in moments of transition—recovering from layoffs, facing burnout or simply seeking renewed direction. Others joined from a place of strength, hoping to keep growing. No matter their starting point, participants found comfort in shared experience.

With the second iteration also came the opportunity to bring new perspectives to ZigZag's facilitation. Katie Shepherd ’14, an eager participant in the first cohort, found that repeating these discussions with a new group of individuals was an opportunity to stay in a reflective, community-oriented mindset and to develop their own skills by completing ZigZag exercises. “It’s so mutually beneficial to be in community while navigating challenges,” Katie says.

“Someone else’s a-ha moment can feel like it gets you closer to your own.”

Facilitators brought personal “zig zag” stories to the project. David shared how shifting between startup roles, parenting and a sabbatical led him to rediscover his values and recommit to his own business. Kai described his unconventional career path—from chemical engineering

MUDD SUMMER SESSION

GET AHEAD. IGNITE YOUR INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY.

PhD to startup to high school tutor to entrepreneur—and how letting go of rigid expectations opened new possibilities, including co-founding a medical practice in Hawaii with his wife, Donna Mayeda ’09.

Katie shared how working in higher education and as a customer experience leader have provided opportunities to coach and hone what it means to effectively lead, and they’re now looking to pivot to more meaningful work that engages this skillset.

For many, ZigZag offers more than reflection—it can create belonging. Alumni bond over vulnerability and encouragement, forming connections that last well beyond the program. “It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from,” Kai says, “you’ll find value in connecting with fellow Mudders across generations and graduating years. It’s really special to do this in our community.”

A new ZigZag Project cohort is planned for summer 2026. The experience is free and open to all alumni seeking clarity, courage and/or community. Kai says, “Having this experience can be part of your life toolkit.”

Contact David, david@1728.solutions, about joining the next ZigZag cohort.

SAVE THE DATE

MAY 25–JULY 17, 2026

Summer Session interest form: bit.ly/SummerSession26

hmc.edu/alumni-weekend

FALL/WINTER 2025–2026

30

CLASS NOTES 1966

The third book by Michael Beug (chemistry), Mushrooms of Cascadia: An Illustrated Key to the Fungi of the Pacific Northwest, second edition, has received wide recognition within the mycology community. He writes that his wife’s lung cancer is now in remission, and her recovery—achieved by using medicinal fungi after conventional treatments failed—inspired his ongoing work helping others address cancer, aging and mental health through mushrooms.

Michael continues to serve on two North American Mycological Association committees: developing a national medicinal and culinary mushroom database (in beta testing) and collaborating on the first federally approved restaurant cooking guidelines for fungi. He also consults with two poison centers, contributing to public education and safety materials. This year, he joined the review coalition for the Claudius Project, a comprehensive guide to Virginia’s fungi, entering its final review phase. Michael recently reconnected with Harvey Mudd alumni from the Class of 1975 and spoke at the Iris Critchell Celebration of Life.

He remains active in mentoring, community food production and public advocacy, while celebrating former students’ achievements—most recently mycology entrepreneur Paul Stamets’ United Nations presentation on the medical promise of fungi.

1967

Gary Smith (math) published his 20th

book, Exercises and Solutions in Probability and Statistics (garysmithn.com/books/ statistics-exercises). Reviewer Andrew Gelman, professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University, said, “The problems in this book are wonderful: They’re clear, they test important concepts in statistics and they require insight without being tricky.”

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE MAGAZINE

1968

Gary Patterson (chemistry) has published

From Heat to Thermal Science: A History of Thermodynamics (Springer 2025). He says, “Serious work on this book started at HMC in 1964! J. Arthur Campbell raised his arm and pontificated: ‘Let entropy increase.’

The Snowman explained what entropy was and taught Statistical Thermodynamics.

The engineers taught that ‘Heat flows from a hot body to a cold body.’ The rest is ‘history.’”

knew that a move from the other coast would happen, but then our kids said ‘Now,’ so we obeyed, and here we are.

1972

Michael Hoberman (math) attended

USC Law School and worked in L.A. as an attorney for many years. In 2012, he and his wife, Betsy, moved to a suburb of Houston, Texas. With partners, he owns and runs full-time a Houston-based real estate investment and management company.

James Michel (chemistry) has

launched a Substack essay (bit.ly/ unicorn-force)—“Why Invent Another Unicorn Force?”—exploring how fourthdimensional physics reframes the so-called fifth force using a theory he developed called Evolving Compressive Gravity.

The piece builds on concepts from his published science series, The Cosmic Chronicles Tetralogy, and represents the public-facing expression of his lifelong work as a physician and science educator.

He writes, “Evolving Compressive Gravity Theory (ECGT) reinterprets gravity not as attraction between masses but as the result of omnidirectional compression from a fourth spatial dimension. This shift offers new explanations for galactic structure, dark matter anomalies and the quantization of gravity—linking astrophysics with quantum biology and consciousness studies. ECGT was introduced in Gravitational Renaissance, the first Cosmic Chronicles monograph, and continues to evolve in conversation with experimental findings.”

Glenn Johnson (physics) is long retired

from being a technical director of the National Systems Operating Unit for Total Administrative Services Corporation.

He has eight grandchildren and occupies himself with the physics research he began at Mudd (relquantphys.org).

1973

The most recent book

by Stephen Hinch ’73/74 (engineering) is Winning through Innovation: Lessons from the Front Lines of Business, published in May 2025. It uses stories from individuals’ careers (his and others) to show readers how to innovate successfully in the business world.

1974

1970

John Lavrakas (math) is mentoring two

Last summer marked a move west for Andy Bernat P’99 (physics). “We are now ensconced in Walnut Creek, California, close to our kids and grandkids. We always

research scientists—Alex Turpin and Chris Rumple—on commercializing their at-sea stabilized radar platform for offshore wind energy monitoring for birds and

CLASS NOTES

1975

A donation from alum Carl Carrera ’75/76 (engineering) and his wife, Cher, has significantly impacted the College’s machine shop. The gift includes an endowed fund for student proctor wages and an unrestricted fund for materials, equipment and training, making the shop more accessible and inviting. Carl also donated his E4 hammer and his original tool kit with some of the tools he used to build it.

Mark Chang (math)

and wife, Pam, became first-time grandparents with granddaughter Sienna, born in September 2025.

Fina Biosolutions, the biotech company founded by Andrew Lees

(chemistry), received the first investment in its 20 year history, which allowed the clinical manufacture of its vaccine protein. “As it is a component we provide to vaccine developers, I am continuing to travel around the world to attend conferences for scientific and business development.

I am not looking at retirement, but after 32 years of bike commuting, I finally went electric. An e-bike makes my 30-mile roundtrip commute a bit easier.”

1976

1980 SEATTLE TIMES

bats under the Department of Energy I-Corps program. They have to conduct 75 interviews with stakeholders over 10 weeks. John says, “It gives me a chance to share my insights and experience as an entrepreneur for two startups. Lots of fun!

On the home front, Melody and I moved into a new home in Newport, Oregon, that has its own solar panel and high-speed charger for our Audi eTron. And a great ocean view!”

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Jeff Silverman (physics)

Courtright, both more or less retired, celebrated the traditional Kikuyu wedding ceremony of their younger son near Nairobi in June. That’s Nancy Smith (physics) behind Susan.

is an emergency hub captain. He is preparing for a major disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, flood, civil insurrection or other disruption. “I encourage all of you to prepare for a disaster. That does not mean arming yourself to the teeth, but it does mean being prepared by having some cash stashed away in a safe place, extra prescription medicines, understanding how to get and conserve water, prepare food, communicate using radio and dispose of waste.”

1977

1981

Susan Lewallen (physics) and Paul

After having been retired for seven years and partially accomplishing his goal of understanding the mystery of music, Charles Dermer (physics) turned his attention to statistics and mortality studies. “Death turns out to be highly quantitative. I used population data to test a model for cell and human death.

It turned into a >200-page meditation on birth, death and immortality. I believe it is in the best tradition of HMC, combining science, history and philosophy.” See CharlesDermer.com.

1978 Kat Reader

(math) writes, “I am excited to have two art quilts accepted into travelling exhibitions.

The first (“oops!”) is a Pop Art-inspired piece that will travel in Northern California and Nevada for the next two years after premiering in Folsom at the end of January. The second, “Alaska Midwinter II” will premiere in Alsace, France, in September before traveling the world for two years; it was one of only 33 pieces accepted from 572 entries!”

Shun Cheung (engineering) writes, “Both my wife, Louisa Mak ’82 (math),

and I are retired, and we are enjoying possibly the best time of our lives, perhaps second to our years at Mudd. I do a lot of photography and volunteer at youth orchestra events.”

1987

A new coffee-table book, The Radiant Sea by Steven Haddock (IPS) and Sönke Johnsen, presents the ways that animals use, produce and interact with light in the ocean. In five sections, they explore transparency, pigmentation, iridescence, bioluminescence and fluorescence. The book draws on 30 years of research by Haddock, Sönke and others, presents images of many recent discoveries for the first time, and—for the bioluminescence in particular—in colorful detail that has only recently been possible. Steven says, “We took about 170 of the 200 images in the book (most of deep-sea organisms, some at the kitchen table). Rather than being mangled or previously preserved specimens, all the animals are depicted in life and span the rainbow of colors.” bit.ly/radiant-sea.

Philip Calhoun (engineering), now retired,

says he is pondering the meaning of life.

FALL/WINTER 2025–2026

32

CLASS NOTES

ALUM PROFILE

Elevation Gain Written by Sarah Barnes Photos courtesy of Mats Cooper ’98

Mats Cooper ’98 (engineering) has been a hiker his whole

life. From climbing Pikes Peak in Colorado with his family as a child to exploring the San Gabriel Mountains with the Delta H club as a student at Harvey Mudd College, Mats’ love of the outdoors and his commitment to clean energy have been foundational to his experience.

Currently, Mats is enjoying the outdoors via multiple arduous challenges—53 challenges to be exact. As of October 2025, Mats was 42 peaks into his goal of summiting 53 of Colorado’s 14ers, named mountain peaks that reach over 14,000 feet.

“This project has been a great way to get offline for extended periods of time and really think in ways the day-to-day routine does not allow,” says Mats, who is COO of A-la-Car, a food delivery service in Colorado.

Over the last two summers, Mats has summited 41 peaks, and his goal is to get to 50 by July 1, 2026, his 50th birthday. He’s also considering celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday on July 4 by climbing 14,256 feet to the top of Longs Peak in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness.

Mats’ “lifestyle job” at A-la-Car is the perfect fit for an avid mountain climber, allowing him and the company owner to “ski all day and have a nice life in the mountains without too much job stress,” he says. “I’m usually in the role of dispatcher every night, so it’s a kind of video game to make sure that food gets made at a certain time and picked up and delivered as fast as possible. It’s a dynamic team environment, communicating with the drivers and the restaurants.” In contrast to his job, hiking is more solitary, though Mats finds a robust community on 14ers.com, a web forum for people interested in Colorado climbing.

Mats endeavors to make each hiking trip as environmentally sustainable as possible. By driving an electric vehicle and camping instead of staying in hotels, he can have zero-emission adventures. He even summited Antero Peak (14,269 feet) by e-bike, conserving his own energy as well as avoiding the use of fossil fuel.

In October, Mats summited Mount Massive (14,429), his final peak in the central range of the Rocky Mountains 14ers. “I really hope everyone gives the outdoors a try with the 14ers challenge or something similar,” he says. With plans to climb Mount Rainier in Washington State next summer, he invites fellow Mudd alumni to join him.

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE MAGAZINE

CLASS NOTES

1989

1993

Steven Chung (chemistry) has been a

teaching professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio since 2007, teaching primarily organic chemistry courses. Over the past five years, he’s also served as the tournament director for the Northwest Ohio Regional Science Olympiad, “a fantastic and rewarding experience for everyone involved.”

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Hive) hosted curious students who heard from Miles T. Bird CMC ’13, managing partner of StoryHouse Ventures, and Randy Saaf (engineering), co-founder and CEO at Play Cubed, for a behind-the-scenes conversation about startups. Miles and Randy discussed their journeys entering early stage startups after college, the value of AI, leveraging the internet and algorithms to one’s advantage and the necessity of taking risks.

Tim Wendler (engineering) says he enjoyed

Nick Rossi (engineering) writes, “At Dusty

seeing many Class of ’89 classmates at his reunion. “We also had a large gathering of Mudders to visit with Suzanne ’88 and Keith ’87 Blackburn during their visit to Southern California, including Kate and Ted Kubasak, John McDonough, George Stevens and Keith Saints.”

Robotics we just released FieldPrinter 2, the second generation of our construction layout robot, with significant contributions from Rin Ha ’24, Zeneve Jacotin ’24, Chris Herrera ’24 and Bennet Matazzoni ’25.”

Donna Sy (biology/classics) recently joined

1996

2000

the HQ staff of the Society of Women Engineers. She says she hopes to cross paths with SWE-affiliated folks online or in-person.

1990

In March, Brian Evans (math) directed and starred in the United States premiere of John Godber’s Teechers. Last August, Brian was nominated for Best Direction of a Comedy, Best Production of a Comedy, and won the award for Best Cast Ensemble at the 2025 Association of Community Theatres Aubrey Awards. Pictured are Dawn Marie Zuniga-Williams as Hobby, Julia Smith as Gail and Brian as Salty at Patio Playhouse.

1991

Erich Hilkemeyer P’27 (engineering)

works as CIO for Ohmium, making green hydrogen a reality. Ohmium was founded five years ago by Arne Ballantine ’90. “I have the fantastic opportunity to be a liaison for a Clinic project. It is interesting to see it from the other side; They have better ‘toys’ now than 30 years ago. It also gives me an extra reason to travel to campus and say ‘hi’ to my daughter, Liesel, a junior.”

The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation presents Solomonica: A Series of Cabinets

by San Diego-based wood artist Beston Barnett (engineering), who has a major in sculpture from Scripps. Through intricate cabinets and smaller functional objects, Beston explores the ways in which furniture can tell stories. He describes his work as “very intricate, relying heavily on ornate geometries, both hand-carved and machined using CNC and lasercutting technologies, and designed with CAD programs using new parametric and generative design tools … it’s both traditional and enthusiastically nerdy.”

His show opens at the Maloof Foundation campus in Alta Loma, California, Jan. 24 and runs through May 23, 2026.

Steve Bordelon (chemistry/film studies)

announces the birth of Penelope Joyce Bordelon in September.

1998

During its first Startup Salon of the semester, The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (the

Michael Cope (engineering) has completed

20 years in technology at Deutsche Bank in various roles in London and New York, most recently as Americas Head of Fixed Income and Currencies Technology. He’s pictured on the ninth floor of Deutsche Bank Center in New York.

2001

Zeke Burgess (CS/math)

was honored by the Television Academy with an Engineering, Science and Technology Emmy for his work on the Concept Overdrive Motion System.

After 15 years of running his own patent law firm, Tom Galvani (engineering) has opened a second boutique firm together with DC-based venture capital firm Anzu Partners. The new firm will primarily focus on industrial, life science and deep tech companies with the potential to transform their industry.

FALL/WINTER 2025–2026

34

CLASS NOTES

2004

A pioneer in genetic engineering, Kevin Esvelt (chemistry and biology) is leading a project in Nantucket that is investigating the use of genetic engineering to reduce the transmission of Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness found primarily in the Northeast and upper Midwest. The researchers’ approach is to focus on the wild white-footed mouse, the main host of Lyme bacteria. Researchers want to use genetic engineering to interrupt the cycle of infection necessary for Lyme disease to flourish. This first-of-its-kind approach is featured on an episode of 60 Minutes, bit.ly/60min-esvelt.

Kristina Orosz (chemistry) is a pole

dance world champion. She traveled to Italy in November 2024 with Team USA and won the Women’s 40+ Competitive Pole Sport category at the POSA World Championships. She defended her title in December in Budapest. Kristina works at Roche Tissue Diagnostics doing R&D. Mark J. Nelson (CS) was granted tenure

and promoted to associate professor of computer science at American University, in Washington, D.C.

2005

Jeffrey Hellrung (math) and his wife, Sirian,

welcomed Sunny in April 2023, one day before Mommy’s birthday. They’re still in West Los Angeles where Jeff is a software engineer at Google.

2007

Nate Chenette (math and CS) is in his

11th year teaching at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, along with spouse Heather (Schalliol) Chenette (engineering).

Last spring, he was awarded one of the

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE MAGAZINE

institute’s highest honors for faculty: the Board of Trustees’ Outstanding Scholar Award.

2009

2013

Diana Chen (engineering) and Nick Hill ’12 (engineering) welcomed their first

child Peregrine (Perry) Jonah Hill in early 2025. Diana is an associate professor at University of San Diego, and Nick continues to work at ATA Engineering.

Paige Garratt ’16 (CS) and Julius Elinson

Eric Peterson, Lauryn Baranowski, Andy Wong, Rebecca Burns, Claire O’Hanlon, Harry Pickering, and Harry’s best men and groomswomen.

Claire O’Hanlon (engineering) married

Harry Pickering on April 12 at Franklin Canyon Park in Beverly Hills. Lauryn Baranowski and Rebecca Burns served as matrons of honor and Eric Peterson and Andrew Wong served as bridesmen.

Many other 5Cers were also in attendance, including Phil Armour POM ’07, Catherine Bradshaw, Tony Evans, Yael Friedman SCR ’09, Julia Fornaca ’07, Sam Gordon, Nicole Greene SCR ’09, Ginna Kim, Jessica Harwood SCR ’07, Herbie Huff ’07, Stephen Jones ’07, Kat Perry SCR ’07, Sarah Moore Rogstad ’08, Zach Rogstad ’08, Taiki Sakai ’10, Adrian Sampson, David Schimon ’08, Scott Smith and Craig Weidert ’07. Claire and Harry live in Venice Beach.

2010

Rachel ArceJaeger (CS) and her husband,

David Evans, recently celebrated their retirement as a military family. Now the two are working together on David’s campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in Maine.

2011

Over the summer, Sarah Loeb (math) received tenure and was promoted to associate professor of mathematics at Hampden-Sydney College.

The company co-founded by Matt Streshinsky (engineering), Enosemi, was acquired by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Matt was CEO at Enosemi and is now continuing on as a senior director at AMD. Matt and Emma Streshinsky (CS) are enjoying life in Taos, New Mexico, along with their dog, Juniper.

(CS/math) got married in Boulder, Colorado, this past June on their 10-year dating anniversary, and the celebration included a dozen Mudders. While the two overlapped at Mudd for a year, they didn’t actually meet until their time both working at Google, when Paige was looking for a rock climbing partner. Upon meeting, Julius asked Paige what school she went to. When Paige said Harvey Mudd and started into the spiel of “It’s a small, liberal arts school …”, Julius quietly let her finish, having never been on the receiving end of those familiar explanations. When she was done, he smugly explained, “I know, I went there.”

Taylor McAdam (math) joined the

Mathematics and Statistics Department at Pomona College in 2023 as a visiting assistant professor. “I am very happy to be back at The Claremont Colleges and teaching at a liberal arts college!”

2014

Katherine (Muller) Stephens (chemistry,

environmental analysis emphasis) was recently promoted at the Tennessee Department of the Environment and Conservation. She now manages a team of engineers working to evaluate and permit air pollution sources in the state.

She also was selected for the state’s Green Leadership Academy program, which supports early career managers in environmental fields. She loves mentoring and training new scientists and engineers to grow the next generation of leaders in sustainability.

2015

Cleo Stannard (engineering)

recently went on her 100th backpacking trip. She’s shown on Skyline Trail in Yakima, Washington.

CLASS NOTES

2016

2018

Wildmage Press, a versatile publishing company delivering top-tier content for tabletop roleplaying games, and launched Horizons, a quarterly magazine for tabletop RPG enthusiasts. After graduating from Mudd, Hannah built a name for herself as a celebrated TTRPG game designer, editor and all-around nerdy creative. Her credits include ARCADIA and Flee, Mortals!

(MCDM Productions), Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn (Critical Role/Darrington Press), The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel and other official D&D titles with Wizards of the Coast. Hannah is supported in this endeavor by fellow Claremont Colleges grad Sneha Deo SCR ’17. They hope any tabletop RPG enthusiasts reading this have fun with Horizons!

math), shown with husband, Mike, is a mental health counselor for New York State, licensed on July 25, 2025 while working at Pinewoods Dance Camp in Massachusetts and continuing to see patients via telehealth. This fall, in collaboration with HMC’s Office of Alumni and Family Engagement, she piloted the Mudd Pen Pals program to create meaningful connections through letter writing.

Complete this form if interested in being matched with Mudders: bit.ly/muddpenpals.

Hannah Rose (math/CS) recently founded

Brenda Castro (CS/

Lee Norgaard (CS) and Doren Lan (CS) have

moved to Las Vegas, eloped and become proud parents to their favorite child, Naomi.

Gabe Phun (chemistry and physics) is

In May 2024, Heather Young (CS/math) accepted a new job as a senior staff software engineer at CareRev, a company creating adaptive workforce solutions for healthcare. “I’m excited to keep honing my skills in platform engineering and work alongside a very talented team.

On the more personal side, our family now includes two kiddos: Kellen and Charlotte! They are super adorable, but also exhausting.

2017

Alex Ozdemir (IPS) and Veronica Rivera

(CS/math) got married in Claremont this October. They met on the first day of orientation at Harvey Mudd in 2013, started dating three weeks later and have been together ever since.

developing a new dating app, Qtπ (Cutie Pie) in the spirit of Harvey Mudd’s mission of thoughtful and ethical engineering that positively impacts society. He designed Qtπ around three guiding principles: aligned incentives, where revenue comes from successful matches, not subscriptions; user agency, ensuring all compatibility features and likes are free and visible; and transparency, giving users clear insight into why potential matches are suggested. The project applies data-driven analysis and ethical design to reimagine how technology can genuinely foster human connection through the full journey of discovery, dating and deepening the relationship. To learn more about the mission and join the founding community, visit qtpi.app.

2019

Fanrui Sha (chemistry) defended her

PhD thesis in chemistry at Northwestern University and joined AbbVie’s R&D division in December. She would love to connect with fellow alumni in Chicagoland!

2021

Katie Partington (engineering) was featured

by the Brotman Baty Institute, University of Washington, in May 2025. Katie traces

35

her passion for science to childhood experiences—from her father’s battle with glioblastoma to hands-on discovery at Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and a fourth-grade light bulb experiment.

She worked at Berkeley Lights, improving B-cell recovery efficiency by 80 percent before pursuing a PhD in bioengineering at the University of Washington. Now in Doug Fowler’s lab, Katie studies genomic technologies to understand disease mechanisms and develop therapeutics.

2022

Skylar Gering ’22 (CS/math) is among

the 30 students on the path to achieving doctorates in fields that emphasize the use of computing and mathematics selected for the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship program.

Fellows receive support that includes a stipend, tuition and fees and an annual academic allowance. Renewable for up to four years, the fellowship is guided by a comprehensive program of study that requires focused coursework in science and engineering, computer science, applied mathematics and high-performance computing. It also includes a three-month practicum at one of 22 DOE-approved sites across the country and an annual meeting where fellows present their research.

2023

Ruby Foxall (physics) spent a year living

in Shanghai and is pursuing a master’s in urban planning at NYU Wagner! “Please come say hello in NYC and/or chat with me about the state of public transportation in the U.S.” For National Engineers Week, an article on Medium features how aerospace engineers are designing the future. Lillian Johnson (engineering) describes her work as a member of the technical staff in the Parts, Materials and Processes Department at The Aerospace Corporation: “Just as your phone relies on lots of small electronic parts to do its job, so do satellites— although they have the added complexity of needing to function in space. My job is to test and analyze those electronic parts to ensure that they’re strong enough to withstand leaving our atmosphere and

FALL/WINTER 2025–2026

36

CLASS NOTES

their time in space. Not only do I test these parts prior to their use in satellites, but I also have to review ones that have unexpectedly failed. This allows for a better understanding of why some parts can’t survive in space and contributes to ways we can improve them for the future.

My favorite part of my job is that each failure is a new puzzle for me to solve.”

Alicia Lu (physics and CS/math) was

awarded an MIT Presidential Graduate Fellowship to fund the first year of her PhD in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

2025

Ethan Goroza (biology) attended a

parasitology conference this fall at Woods Hole with HMC Professor Danae Schulz to present the thesis work he did in her lab. His abstract was chosen among many competitors for a 12-minute talk at the conference, and he won one

of five Best Talk awards, which covered all expenses to the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in Toronto in November to present the winning talk, “Utilizing a CRISPR-based dCas9 tethering system to demonstrate that the chromatin interacting protein Bdf3 is sufficient to activate transcription at the EP1 locus in African trypanosomes.”

Schulz said, “I don’t think I have ever seen an undergraduate win this award in the 15 years that I have been attending this conference series.”

Hanyi Luo (CS/math), Xingyao Chen ’20 (CS/math), and Mukta Ubale ’24

(mathematical and computational biology) are co-authors on a paper from the Ellison Medical Institute published in Scientific Reports (bit.ly/47uTGJQ). The study presents a blood-based, long-read sequencing workflow that can detect and follow genetic changes in real time, an advance

that lets researchers observe somatic variation as it emerges and evolves rather than relying on single time-point snapshots. Using long-read sequencing (which produces sequence reads long enough to span structural variants and complex genomic regions), the team shows how serial blood sampling paired with this technology can reveal low-frequency variants and structural changes that short-read approaches often miss. That capability is especially relevant for monitoring disease dynamics—for example, tracking clonal evolution in cancer, following response to therapy, or studying how somatic mutations accumulate over time in different physiological contexts— though the paper focuses on method development and proof-of-principle rather than immediate clinical deployment.

In Memoriam Michael “Mike” Harvey ’61 (chemistry) died

Nov. 1. He was one of the first HMC Stag athletes, joining the 1958 water polo roster and 1959 swimming and diving roster. He went on to earn an M.A. in theater from UCLA. At the University of Minnesota in 1969, he completed a PhD in theater history. Mike and his wife, Anne-Charlotte Hanes SCR ’63, taught theater courses at Scripps, and Mike was the first alumnus to return to teach classes at Mudd. They became tenure-track faculty members at San Diego State University, where Mike’s specialties were theater history, period acting styles and period stage movement. He acted in San Diego theater productions and directed productions in California and in Minnesota, including the opening production for the Minnesota Showboat in St. Paul. He retired in 2001 as professor emeritus. Mike is survived by his wife, Anne-Charlotte Hanes, and a daughter, Ellen Harvey.

as the “galloping granny,” Patricia is remembered as inspiring, gracious, meticulous and unpretentious—a true original in the racing world.

Nicholas E. Taylor ’04 (CS) died Feb. 27 after a long battle

with illness. Natalie Schommer-Pries (physics) writes, “I know that he will be remembered for many great accomplishments during his time at Google. To those of us lucky enough to be his friends and classmates, I am sure we will always remember his sense of humor, joy at laughing at himself and others during our frequent shenanigans while at Mudd, and never-ending curiosity to learn more about the world. He was a great travel buddy that brought a wonderful wealth of knowledge and was a true joy to have on any adventure. He is survived by his spouse, Dan Langley, and two adorable cats.”

Ramon Francisco Valencia ’83 (engineering) died

Patricia E. Meadow ’72 (physics), 74, a beloved figure in

Thoroughbred racing circles, died Dec. 29, 2024 in Aiken, South Carolina. Over a 45-year career as a jockey, trainer, owner and breeder, she earned admiration for her deep care for horses and quiet humility. Few knew that Patricia held degrees in astrophysics and medicine (Harvard), as she preferred to be known simply for her horsemanship. Operating under her Sky Band Farm stable, she bred and trained Massachusetts-breds, renowned for their soundness and care. Known affectionately

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE MAGAZINE

unexpectedly in his home on Aug. 13. Ramon worked for Hughes Aircraft and, later, Raytheon Technologies, for over 30 years. He was active through his parish, Our Lady of Fatima, serving many roles in the Knights of Columbus, and was a member of the Fourth Degree of that council. He was an avid and skilled artist who enjoyed cartooning and costume making. He was very popular on Halloween when he would greet hundreds of children as a full-body bear or other animal.

3

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On campus in November, Nobel laureate and theoretical physicist Kip Thorne spoke about his early fascination with neutron stars, gravitational waves and black holes. An enthusiastic audience filled Galileo Hall to hear Thorne describe the nature of black holes, explore their strange and complex behaviors and describe how space and time behave differently near them. Read more on page 6.

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE MAGAZINE