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THE TUFTS DAILY
VOLUME LX, NUMBER 32
Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2010
Engineering consultant calls team management essential BY
BRIONNA JIMERSON Senior Staff Writer
Engineering consultant Pamela McNamara (E ’81) returned to the Hill Wednesday night to speak with students in the Alumnae Lounge about the significance of critical thinking and problem solving in the workplace, skills that she called essential to engineers and liberal arts students alike. McNamara is the president of U.S. operations at Cambridge Consultants, a technology consulting firm that specializes in product development and marketing for engineering companies. Her talk was part of the Lyon & Bendheim Alumni Lecture Series, co-sponsored by the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program and the Office of Alumni Relations. In her lecture, McNamara emphasized the significance of teamwork, recalling group projects in her first engineering science course at Tufts. She said these projects played a significant role in teaching her how to organize teams and be an effective team member. “Find teams that you want to work with,” she said. Expanding on the role of teamwork in the workplace, McNamara supported the idea of having a “characteristically diverse” team, which she said offers a wider range of abilities and talents. “People are more important than product,” McNamara said. “You may have a great idea that may look like a great product, but to make it successful, you have to launch it with a great team.”
McNamara’s endeavors in the field have spanned over 20 years and have included several leadership positions. Prior to joining Cambridge Consultants, McNamara was the chief operating officer of CRF Inc., a company that provides electronic devices to monitor hospital patients. She joined Cambridge Consultants in February 2009 and leads the company’s work in technology and product development in medical and wireless technology, among other sectors, she said. McNamara graduated from Tufts’ School of Engineering in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering complemented, with coursework in International Relations, political science and philosophy. She credited her business success to the breadth of courses she took at Tufts. In an interview with the Daily before the lecture, she remarked on the “international flavor” that Tufts afforded her during her undergraduate career. “[My coursework] had a large impact on my time at Tufts, my career endeavors and the nature of my role at an international company,” she said. She credited Tufts professors with inspiring and encouraging her to pursue a career in civil engineering. In her talk, McNamara discussed her division’s focus on developing ways to track patients using a Cambridge Consultants-developed software technology that utilizes Bluetooth-equipped microprocessors. see MCNAMARA, page 2
MEAGAN MAHER/TUFTS DAILY
Astronaut Rick Hauck (A ‘62, H ‘07) on Friday spoke about his career and the future of the space program.
Astronaut: As space program transforms, research still vital BY
MARTHA SHANAHAN Daily Editorial Board
Astronaut Rick Hauck (A ’62, H ’07) is a former NASA space shuttle commander whose many accomplishments include leading the first crew into space after the Challenger space shuttle tragedy in 1986. He returned to Tufts on Friday to deliver a talk
Tufts participates in Medford emergency drill
for Parents Weekend and to present senior Lauren Wielgus with the Astronaut Scholarship, an award given by the nonprofit Astronaut Scholarship Foundation to exceptional science and engineering undergraduates. Hauck, a retired Navy captain, sat down with the Daily on Friday aftersee ASTRONAUT, page 2
Community joins Greeks for annual block party BY
BETH MEBRATU
Daily Staff Writer
OLIVER PORTER/TUFTS DAILY
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Medford Fire Department yesterday morning conducted an emergency response drill at Canal Street in Medford. Members of Tufts Emergency Medical Services participated as simulated victims in the exercise, while Tufts Department of Public and Environmental Safety officials attended to observe the drill.
Inside this issue
Tufts students and local residents on Friday afternoon gathered on Professors Row for the annual Greek block party. The Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) closed off the portion of Professors Row between Packard and Curtis Avenues to car traffic, allowing fraternities and sororities to set up tables featuring free activities like tie-dying, barbecuing and pumpkin carving. The tradition of holding a block party began three years ago, according to Inter-Greek Council President Andrew McGowan. “The idea was to have a social event that didn’t involve alcohol and to incorporate all students and other members of the larger community,” McGowan, a senior, said. “It’s also [a] way to foster better relations with the houses and to unite the Greek community.”
The Inter-Greek Council distributed funds to each house to finance the event’s activities, according to McGowan. Senior Maya Hauer-Laurencin, a sister in the Chi Omega sorority, praised the block party for its communal spirit and for showing a different aspect of the Greek community. “This is a really fun event, but it’s also nice to show the Greek system in another light, other than throwing parties,” she said. An AMP Energy representative distributed free energy drinks at the Sigma Nu fraternity’s tie-dye table. Sigma Nu President Ryan Flood, a senior, said he is a Tufts representative for the brand and that Sigma Nu has run a tie-dye table in previous block parties. “We decided to go with tiedye because we’ve done it in years past and we always run out of t-shirts,” Flood said. “We thought we’d do it again this year since it is always so popular.” see BLOCK PARTY, page 2
Today’s Sections
Young people are not likely to turn out with the same force this year as they did in the elections of 2008.
Adobe challenges convention and forgoes an actual physical entity for its digital art museum.
see FEATURES, page 3
see ARTS, page 5
News Features Arts | Living Editorial | Letters
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Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports
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