Testing Explosives Combines Combat Training and Chemistry Expertise Every day when Stacy Grant ’03 goes to work at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle, she thinks about how the testing she is conducting will impact soldiers still serving in Iraq and future members of the armed services.
She describes being a Team Leader in the Explosive Properties Laboratory, part of the Air Force Research Laboratory, as “definitely not for everybody.” But after learning about her journey through combat areas in the Middle East followed by intensive doctoral programs and research activities in the United States and Japan, it becomes evident why she sums up her career now this way: “I’m perfectly suited for this.” Before new munitions can be utilized by the men and women in the armed services, they need to be tested in very small amounts for a variety of factors including effectiveness and ability to be transported. Stacy, a chemist, studies formulations, surface chemistry and surface interactions of all the components in army explosives to produce munitions that will eventually be used by soldiers in combat situations. “For any new explosive, we make sure it has the right elements in it, looking at composition and particle size,” she said. “By maximizing the interactions of these components, we can put less of the other elements in and more of the explosives into a material.” She insists that what she does is not dangerous. “We wear conductive shoes and it’s a conductive floor,” she explained. “We are testing these materials in such small quantities.” Stacy was a member of the National Guard for six years before being mobilized for two years. She joined the National Guard in order to earn money for college and during her first semester at SCCC she assisted with 9-11 recovery efforts in New York City. While she was pursuing her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Union College, and after being in the National Guard for six years, she was mobilized for two years to Iraq, Fort Drum and Kuwait. She describes her time in Iraq concisely saying, “Everybody sees combat there. We were mortared all the time.”
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[ Class Notes ]
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Michael Pallozzi ’12, Culinary Arts, was promoted to full-time chef at the historic Carney’s Tavern where he had been working part-time for two years. Michael earned two bronze medals at the 2012 SCCC Spring Classic, an annual culinary competition organized through ACF Capital District-Central New York, the local chapter of the American Culinary Federation (ACF). Brittney Recore ’12, Hotel and Restaurant Management, was accepted into the Disney College Internship Program for 2012–2013.
After her deployment ended and she returned to the United States, Stacy entered SUNY Buffalo, earning her B.S. in Chemistry magna cum laude in 2007 (she earned an A.S. in Science from SCCC in 2003). She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Kent State University (graduating with a 3.95 GPA) in 2011. It was during her post-graduate work that Stacy served as a Research Chemist at the STEM Training Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and then the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan. She began her work as a Research Chemist at Eglin Air Force Base in 2009, while still pursuing her Ph.D. It was there that she felt she had found the right place to share her expertise in physical chemistry and what she had learned during those trying months in Iraq. “I have a Ph.D. I’m a combat veteran. I kind of understand both sides,” she said. Her career could bring opposing viewpoints about her work, war and the use of munitions. Stacy explains her philosophy this way: “What we do helps soldiers,” she said. “We’re always going to have conflicts and we can make them with less collateral damage and that’s a great thing. In all other ways, I’m kind of a hippie. But in this I’m pretty firm. A life without war would require a life without human beings. My life experiences have led me here.”
Katharine Gibson ’12, Business Administration, is attending Emerson College, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Marketing Communications. v
[ Retirees ]
The College wishes a long, happy and healthy retirement to the following members of the SCCC community: Vladia C. Boniewski retired in Sept. 2011 as Executive Director of the SCCC Foundation in the Executive Division. Vladia was a member of the first graduating class from SCCC in 1971 and worked at SCCC for more than 30 years. Mary Dornbush, Financial Aid Advisor in the Student Affairs Division, retired in March 2012 after more than 15 years at SCCC. Dr. Ruth L. McEvoy, Professor in the Division of Math, Science, Technology and Health, retired in May 2012 after 17 years at SCCC. Joanne Romanowski, Information Processing Specialist II in the Admissions Office, part of the Student Affairs Division, retired in March 2012 after 12 years at the College. Anthony M. Sano ’87, Professor in the School of Music, retired in March 2012 after 25 years at SCCC.