Fall 2019

Alumni Profile

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Alumni Profile Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Lauren Paduch, ’19

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

It was a glimpse of what was to come the day a young Lauren Paduch saw a black bear during a family camping trip. Instead of retreating like the rest of her family, she ran toward it. “I just wanted to be friends,” Ms. Paduch recalled.

Luckily, her father scooped her up before she got too close to the roving carnivoran. In retrospect, it should have been clear the young Middleborough native was bound to become a veterinarian.

Now 27 and with a ɫ��Ƶ biology degree to her name, Ms. Paduch is pursuing that very goal. After graduating last spring, doctoral programs lined up to admit her, including those at Boston University and Northwestern University. Ultimately, she chose the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University where she plans to earn a PhD, allowing her to work in both clinical and research settings.

Beyond chasing a random bear, there were other early signs of her destiny. For instance, as a child, Ms. Paduch would use her toy stethoscope on the family dog. She also loved visiting petting zoos. “The way my mom describes it, there was always a connection with animals,” she said.

Yet, after graduating in 2010 from Middleborough High School, the dream of becoming a veterinarian didn’t immediately lead her to college. “While I had grown up wanting to be a vet, in high school I started second- guessing myself,” she said. “So I took some time to work and get some experience, and that turned into five years.”

That experience came by way of secretarial jobs, as well as working in a small-animal clinic and volunteering at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at Boston’s Angell Memorial Animal Hospital.

Healing animals as a career soon came back into the picture. Ms. Paduch enrolled part time at ɫ��Ƶ in January 2015, and switched to full-time status the next semester.

While part of her felt ɫ��Ƶ was the right choice, she began to wonder if, given her career aspirations, she’d be better served attending a big-name institution. Then Ms. Paduch had a heart-to-heart conversation with the faculty member who would become her mentor, Professor Jeffery Bowen of the Department of Biological Sciences. “After talking with him, I could see all Bridgewater had to offer,” she said.

Ms. Paduch also visited other schools and found classes jammed with 300 students. That was a turn off. When Dr. Bowen told her about ɫ��Ƶ’s small class sizes, along with opportunities for lab work and undergraduate research, the deal was sealed. She chose to remain a Bear.

How’d that work out?

“The biology program here is awesome,” Ms. Paduch said, as she sat in an office inside Boyden Hall after her first week at Tufts. She also praised the ɫ��Ƶ faculty, particularly Dr. Bowen. “I can’t speak highly enough of him. He’s a wonderful teacher.”

While many students in the Tufts University veterinarian program change career tracks along the way, at the moment, Ms. Paduch hopes to focus on research tied to species survival programs and wildlife medicine. But, she’s confident she’ll be well prepared for whatever area of veterinarian medicine ultimately calls to her.

“The world is my oyster,” she said. “It seems right now I can end up wherever I want to end up.”

The world is my oyster, it seems right now I can end up wherever I want to end up.

Lauren Paduch, '19

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Alumni Profile

Fall 2019

Bears in the Wild

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Bears in the Wild Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

November 18, 2019

Heather Harris Michonski

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

The ɫ��Ƶ campus is home to five bear sculptures, four of which were painted by artists from Boston’s Street Theory gallery, with funding from the president’s office.

The most recent addition to the pack was painted by ɫ��Ƶ student Kayla DaCosta, ’21. Earlier this year, her bear – painted bright orange, yellow and salmon – was placed just off the courtyard behind the Rondileau Campus Center.

Kayla, who is studying fine arts with a concentration in painting, was selected for the project by Jay Block, associate director of collections and exhibitions. She was excited to add to the collection of painted mascots that began appearing last year across campus. “It’s super rewarding to see my work on such a large scale and to see it on my college campus,” she said.

The other sculptures can be seen in University Park near Crimson Hall, at East Campus Commons, outside Kelly Gym and at the Welcome Center.

Yes

It’s super rewarding to see my work on such a large scale and to see it on my college campus.

Kayla DaCosta, ’21

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Fall 2019

Her Too

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Her Too Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Professor Michele Meek’s work seizes the moment

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Several years ago while working on a film with a group of fellow Emerson College students, Michele Meek had an epiphany of sorts.

She wanted to direct.

“I realized I wanted to be involved with the whole process,” the assistant professor of communication studies said.

Since then she has directed five short films and has a feature documentary in the planning stages. And that’s not all. The Providence native, who was raised in New York City, also founded a popular website dedicated to independent filmmakers and edited a recent collection of essays that has struck a chord in the #MeToo era.

While Dr. Meek’s work is varied, her feminist cri de coeur resounds throughout. “If we really care about equality in the film industry, then we need to put our money where our mouths are,” she said. “That means sometimes going out of our way to discover past films by women and people of color, and not just making room for us to make films now.”

She entered Emerson College as a poet but emerged with a Master of Fine Arts degree specializing in screenwriting. While earning her MFA, Dr. Meek took courses in fiction and poetry and made student films. Ultimately, she opted for a life in cinema.

It was during her time at Emerson that she thought about starting a film magazine devoted to the careers of independent filmmakers. Lacking the necessary capital for a print publication, Dr. Meek turned to the web, and founded NewEnglandFilm.com, which continues to chart the careers of both the established and the up-and-coming, as well as feature the latest industry news.

Somehow, she also found time in those days to do some teaching. “I was always teaching, including adult classes and workshops,” she said. “It’s just something I love to do.”

This led to her enrolling in a PhD program at the University of Rhode Island. In fall 2017, she joined the faculty of ɫ��Ƶ, teaching primarily film and digital media-related courses. She’s happy to be teaching students about the things she cares about.

“The thing I like about working in academia is that I have a lot of passions, and teaching allows me to pursue them,” she said. “That’s very satisfying.”

Some of those projects have recently come to fruition, including her work with the indie film magazine, The Independent, where Dr. Meek collaborated with others to form a nonprofit organization to save the archives of the storied publication. This led to her interviewing some of the female filmmakers that had been featured in the pages of The Independent and bringing their stories up to date.

From that sprang the book Independent Female Filmmakers: A Chronicle Through Interviews, Profiles, and Manifestos, which was edited by Dr. Meek, who also contributed two of the 15 interviews.

Though the project was begun long before anyone had heard of #MeToo, its publication in January 2019 was fortuitous, to say the least. In some ways, Dr. Meek’s work was nothing less than prescient: Over the past year, women from Hollywood to Main Street have refused to stay silent in the face of harassment and inequality. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Dr. Meek and the book have been featured in the media, including on podcasts and an interview in Ms. Magazine. Feminist Media Studies and MovieMaker Magazine reviewed Independent Female Filmmakers, and Dr. Meek wrote several op-eds concerning the book’s focus.

A trip to Berlin a few years ago resulted in her most recent film, the documentary Imagine Kolle 37, which was screened internationally at museums, festivals and schools. The film is about the idea of play, specifically “adventure playgrounds” in Berlin, where children can access axes and saws and climb three-story structures – and parents are not allowed. Safe to say, it’s not like anything one finds in the United States. “I’m really interested in cultural distinctions,” she said.

The film also had experimental elements, such as an animated sequence that arises out of the blue. It reflects a growing interest of Dr. Meek. “I like non-traditional documentaries,” she said. “I’m interested in pushing the boundaries of form. I’ve become more interested in work that doesn’t follow the same patterns. I’m interested in work that almost seems jarring.”

Dr. Meek is back in Providence now, where she lives with her husband, Geoff, and their two daughters.

Professionally, she not only teaches tomorrow’s filmmakers and communicators at ɫ��Ƶ, but also provides them with a real-life example of what it means to be a working creator. Her message is all about finding and following one’s passion. “For people that are making creative work, you almost have to be compelled to do it,” Dr. Meek said. “It’s certainly not the easiest, most lucrative career path. You have to feel like you have
no other choice.”

Visit michelemeek.com to learn more about Dr. Meek’s work.

I was always teaching, including adult classes and workshops, It’s just something I love to do.

Dr. Michelle Meek

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Fall 2019

Faculty Focus

Talking Therapy

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Talking Therapy Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

New program helps those with Parkinson’s disease regain their voices and confidence

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Daniel Medeiros sometimes has trouble being heard. A year ago, his weak voice was one in a gathering cloud of symptoms that eventually led him to visit his doctor, where, ultimately, the 72-year-old Freetown resident was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

This year, on a late summer morning, he found himself, accompanied by his wife Norma (Class of 1977), sitting in a room inside ɫ��Ƶ’s Speech Language and Literacy Center speaking into a microphone, while in an adjoining room, a clinician observed. Mr. Medeiros is one of the first individuals taking part in SPEAK OUT! and LOUD Crowd training, which together comprise a new therapeutic approach for Parkinson’s disease. This was part of his evaluation.

“It’s nice to have a program like this here,” Mr. Medeiros said. “I don’t have to take the train into Boston or Providence. It’s very convenient.”

In fact, the program at ɫ��Ƶ represents such a cutting-edge development in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, it’s not even fully available in those nearby big cities.

SPEAK OUT! and LOUD Crowd training were developed by Texas-based nonprofit Parkinson Voice Project. And, thanks to grant funding from the organization, it’s provided free at ɫ��Ƶ
to those with Parkinson’s in Southeastern Massachusetts and beyond.

“We hope to become a resource to the community,” said Amy E. Porter Wareham, a clinical educator with the Speech Language and Literacy Center, who was integral to bringing the training to campus. Joanne L. Abdallah, clinical director and instructor, and Victoria Littman, clinical supervisor and instructor, also help administer the program.

The Mayo Clinic defines Parkinson’s disease as a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement, speech and facial expression. It typically begins with tremors, stiffness and the general slowing of movement. There is no cure, but some medications have been shown to reduce symptoms, and some patients undergo surgery. Various forms of therapy have also been found effective.

“It’s a sneaky disease,” Ms. Porter Wareham said, noting how Parkinson’s can rob patients of their personalities, as well as the way they view themselves. “It’s not only
a disease that impacts just how your muscles function, but also how well one is able to monitor how you are performing,” she said.

It can be especially tricky when it comes to symptoms related to speech. The upshot is that many of those with Parkinson’s may think they’re speaking loudly enough when they aren’t. Verbalizing is key to socialization and many of life’s joys. “If it takes away your voice, it makes it hard to fully take part in life,” Ms. Porter Wareham said. She added that SPEAK OUT! and the LOUD Crowd not only help improve the ability to communicate, but also provide a renewed sense of confidence.

According to the Parkinson Voice Project, the first phase of the program, SPEAK OUT!, addresses motor speech deficits associated with the disease through a combination of speech, voice and cognitive exercises. ɫ��Ƶ graduate students and staff members at the center assist with the participants, who are provided with a workbook that helps them continue the exercises at home.

The second part of the program, LOUD Crowd, brings together participants in group therapy sessions in a newly renovated space inside Burnell Hall. Ms. Porter Wareham said this aspect of the program helps the center remain in contact with participants to continue assisting them. The weekly group sessions allow them to perform exercises together and practice what has become a mantra around the center – speaking with intent.

There’s even a music program, known as Sing Out, where participants are encouraged, when they are ready, to sing together.

ɫ��Ƶ students also benefit from the program. A host of graduate students, including Lauren Hayden, G’20, of Seekonk, and Rachel Lyons, ’18, G’20, of Weymouth, will gain hands-on experience working with SPEAK OUT! and LOUD Crowd participants. “I think it’s very exciting to be part of a new program and to be able to deliver services that aren’t available elsewhere,” Rachel said. “It’s such a great experience for us.”

For Lauren, assisting with the program teaches her the skills to service a specialized adult population that she has not worked with before. “It’s really going to push us to be better clinicians,” she said.

As for Daniel and Norma Medeiros, they’re happy to be on the leading edge of Parkinson’s disease treatment, especially at ɫ��Ƶ. “We’re just grateful we can get help for him so close to home and where it’s free,” Ms. Medeiros said. “It really helps us.”

Parkinson’s Disease and Speech Disorders

Ninety percent of people with Parkinson’s disease are at risk of developing a weak voice that can lead to serious speech and swallowing difficulties.

Speaking and swallowing are highly automatic behaviors. When we speak, we don’t think about taking air into our lungs, contracting our diaphragm, or moving our vocal folds, tongue or lips; it all happens automatically. It’s the same for swallowing; it’s an automatic behavior.

Dopamine facilitates automatic movements. However, in Parkinson’s, there is a considerable loss of dopamine. With less dopamine, automatic movements are disrupted, which can contribute to speech and
swallowing difficulties.

Early symptoms of a speech disorder associated with Parkinson’s disease:

Reduced volume
Hoarse-sounding vocal quality
Frequent throat clearing
Trailing off at the end of sentences
Some days the voice sounds normal; other days it doesn’t

Information above from Parkinson Voice Project.

I think it’s very exciting to be part of a new program and to be able to deliver services that aren’t available elsewhere.

Rachel Lyons, ’18, G’20

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Fall 2019

Teaching the World

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Teaching the World Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Certificate in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) opens doors for tomorrow’s educators

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Cyndi Cram, ’19, has been gaining the credentials and experience necessary for her dream career of becoming a certified speech-language pathologist working with students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds.

She happened to be at ɫ��Ƶ at the right time. Last fall saw the roll out of a TESOL certificate program, and Cyndi was a member of one of the first cohorts. “I knew I wanted to continue learning in this field,” the Mansfield resident said.

In May, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications sciences and disorders, and also completed the TESOL certificate program. “I love working with English-language learners and hope this experience will teach me more about the field,” she said.

Cyndi is enrolled in ɫ��Ƶ’s master’s degree program in speech-language pathology and is a graduate assistant for second language services.

TESOL stands for “Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.” The university saw a growing need for a certificate program that provides students with the education and credentials necessary to teach English-language learners in the United States and abroad.

Designed for undergraduate students from any discipline, cultural and/or linguistic background, the four-course certificate program delivers a mix of theory, methodology and classroom strategies. Linguistics and cultural issues are also covered in the program.

The certificate is offered through a partnership between ɫ��Ƶ’s College of Continuing Studies and newly created TESOL Department.

“There is so much to the teaching of English; it’s not just teaching vocabulary. And that’s what we try to introduce to our students,” said Dr. Alexandra Balconi (Dema) (facing page, center), assistant professor in the Department of Special Education and the TESOL certificate coordinator, who developed the certificate program. “Cultural competence is important, as well. These students need to understand intercultural issues and how to address and explore them.”

The program is open to anyone with a high school diploma interested in obtaining TESOL certification to teach English in the United States and/or abroad. It is also available online to international students in their own countries, as well as to other individuals living outside the United States. International exchange students at ɫ��Ƶ from partner universities may also enroll.

It’s a flexible program, with online courses, summer intensive sessions and more. There is a lot of interaction, whether the program is taken online or in person.

Students benefit from online sessions, group meetings and by delivering required presentations, all via video chat software such as Skype. Fieldwork is also required, including teaching a mini lesson before a class at a local school.

Molly McNamara, ’20, from Hull, earned her TESOL certificate in the spring. She believes the skills and strategies she learned will come in handy next semester when she’s a student teacher. “These courses allowed me to see another side of the linguistic world,” said the early childhood education and Spanish major, who is minoring in special education. “They exposed me to seeing both the similarities and differences between
the languages.”

Molly’s TESOL certificate program experience will likewise stay with her throughout her career. “I hope to become a teacher who is able to provide proper support for English-language learners,” she said.

About the TESOL Certificate Program

The program consists of four undergraduate courses offered online, on campus and through an accelerated 10-week summer program.

Who is eligible?

ɫ��Ƶ undergraduates from any academic discipline at any stage in their degree program
Individuals with a high school diploma or any college credits
International students earning a degree at a university in their country or anyone who lives outside the United States and wants to earn the certificate online
International students from partner universities who come to ɫ��Ƶ for one or two semesters as exchange students

Learn more at www.bridgew.edu/ccs/TESOL

I love working with English-language learners and hope this experience will teach me more about the field.

Cyndi Cram, ’19

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Continuing Studies

Fall 2019

Healthy Choices

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Healthy Choices Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

New majors and programs prepare students for health career opportunities

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Opportunities at ɫ��Ƶ have expanded for students interested in the ever-growing fields of health and health care.

The Department of Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies (MAHPLS) offers several degree programs to prepare students to further their postbaccalaureate-level education in health professions, such as pre-athletic training, pre-physical therapy and pre-occupational therapy. Graduate students also have a wider selection of programs.

The increased offerings are part of the reason the name of the College of Education and Allied Studies has been changed to the College of Education and Health Sciences.

Dr. Tong-Ching “Tom” Wu, associate professor and chairperson of MAHPLS, said that despite the changes, the mission remains the same – providing much-needed options for today’s students and critical services to the region. “The goal is to prepare and educate our students in athletic training, health, human performance, physical education, nutrition, recreation and coaching,” he said.

The changes should also benefit residents of Southeastern Massachusetts, Dr. Wu said. “This is all about educating and improving the quality of life of others.”

Graduates of these health programs might further their education in professional or graduate schools, and pursue careers as public health professionals, nutritionists, epidemiologists, scientists/researchers or first responders, as well as dozens more options.

Changes have also been made to ɫ��Ƶ’s popular athletic training program. The master’s degree in the discipline is now the entry-level degree in the field. This is partly due to a decision by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education.

The added health science program disciplines are in step with the growing health field, which is dealing with an aging Baby Boomer population.“I think there will be an increase in demand for health professions,” Dr. Wu said.

Undergraduate Health Programs

Bachelor of Science in Health Science
Concentrations:  
- Pre-Athletic Training
- Pre-Physical Therapy
- Pre-Occupational Therapy
Bachelor of Science in Health Studies
Bachelor of Science in Public Health
Minors
- Health Promotion
- Health Resources Management
- Nutrition

Graduate/Postbaccalaureate Health Programs

Master of Science in Athletic Training
Master of Education in Health Promotion
Postbaccalaureate Licensure in Health, Health/Family and Consumer Sciences PreK-12 (Initial Licensure)

Learn more at the Heath Sciences Website

Our students value the importance of health; whether they become physical education teachers, physical activity leaders, athletic trainers, personal coaches or strength and conditioning coaches, they want to improve the health, fitness, performance and quality of life of others.

Dr. Tom Wu

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Health Sciences

Fall 2019

Powering the Future

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Powering the Future Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

More than $2 million in grant money helps place ɫ��Ƶ at the forefront of burgeoning photonics field

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Aligning a laser can be tricky. Just ask the handful of physics majors who spend large chunks of time in a second-floor laboratory inside the Dana Mohler-Faria Science and Mathematics Center.

Actually, for them, working with lasers, as well as atoms, electrons and photons, is – if not child’s play – pretty much routine.

All the same, gaining experience in these rarified matters will likely lead these students to top graduate schools or careers with well-known engineering firms.

“It’s an insane opportunity,” said Jonathan Trzcinski, ’21, of Randolph. The physics and mathematics major feels he’s getting a jump-start on his career. “At any other school, we wouldn’t be able to do this kind of work until we were graduate students.”

The laser the students were working on involves a series of small mirrors, a couple of monitors and a gas-filled chamber, spread out on a long, rectangular lab table. As the excited students make adjustments and watch the monitors, bandied about are phrases such as “quantum computing” and “laser coding.” Any visitor to the lab would be impressed by the authority with which these young scientists speak. It’s clear they’ve done their homework and logged lots of hours in the lab. “I feel it makes us very promising candidates for graduate school or a top job in the industry,” said John Gilmore, ’20, a physics and computer science major from Franklin.

ɫ��Ƶ has recently received more than $2 million in grant money to help foster the creation of a photonics-based industry in the commonwealth. The university is one of a handful of schools in the state selected to lead this expected revolution. The others are Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Stonehill College.

Such a distinction brings a smile to Dr. Kristen Porter-Utley, dean of the Bartlett College of Science & Mathematics. “It shows we’re responding to workforce needs in the area, as well as those of our students,” she said. “Meanwhile, we’re building on the strength that has existed at Bridgewater for a long time now. We’re ahead of the curve, and we’re excited about that.”

Optics is a branch of physics relating to the study, creation, detection and manipulation of light in order to reveal nature from the quantum level to the structure and makeup of the cosmos. Optical engineers use light for applied applications stretching across entire industries, including information technology, metrology, medicine and telecommunication.

In the growing field of photonics, the electrons at the heart of today’s electronics are replaced by quanta of light called photons, promising increased bandwidth and lower power consumption. This has led to the field being hailed as a critical economic and industrial growth area at both the state and federal levels.

The workhorse of optics is the laser. Today, lasers are ubiquitous, found in everything from supermarket scanners to the most precise surgical tools. But at ɫ��Ƶ, principle investigator of the recent grants, Dr.
Ed Deveney, professor of physics, and his students have been developing and using lasers to cool and trap atoms for quantum studies.

The program’s growth over the past two decades attracted Dr. Thaya Paramanathan, who, along with his students, uses lasers to trap and hold onto DNA for cancer and cellular research. More recently, the Department of Physics has brought onboard two of the brightest new faculty members in the field of photonics, Dr. Samuel Serna and Dr. Elif Demirbas.

All this has paved the way for the recent influx of grant money, as well as the first of its kind (once approved) engineering programs at ɫ��Ƶ suggested by Dr. Deveney with Dr. Thomas Kling, who is a co-primary investigator on the grants.

Long Time Coming

Dr. Deveney was keeping an eye on the clock. It was a warm morning in late August, and he was expecting a representative from a local company eager to learn about what’s going on in his laboratory – specifically, the work in photonics and optics.

These visits are something that’s happening more and more these days. Earlier in the year, Draper Laboratory spent a day on campus talking to upperclassmen about job opportunities at the blue-chip engineering firm located in Cambridge. Already, a ɫ��Ƶ graduate is working at Draper and another is an intern.

There’s good reason that an increasing number of area employers are hot to hire future ɫ��Ƶ alumni. Specifically appealing are physics majors who’ve spent time working in one of the university’s five labs where in recent years an increasing focus has been on cutting-edge technologies.

“Massachusetts is rife with jobs in these fields,” said Dr. Deveney. “Our students have started getting jobs. Not just jobs, but exciting jobs.”

These jobs are part of what Dr. Deveney likes to call the Massachusetts light-based economy. Still a nascent industry, optics has attracted the attention and funding of both federal and state governments. The grants earned through ɫ��Ƶ’s efforts include one for $770,000 to train technical workers in the field of photonics, and another for $1.4 million, that will fund capital purchases, ensuring ɫ��Ƶ’s physics labs have the most up-to-date equipment.

To help meet the needs of growing fields such as optics, biophysics and various types of engineering, the Bartlett College of Science & Mathematics has introduced a minor and a concentration in optics. Next year, an undergraduate degree program in optical engineering is expected to begin, pending approval by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. It will include a 15-month, 30-credit certification program with apprenticeships at area tech companies.

Once approved, ɫ��Ƶ’s optics offerings will be the first engineering program available in the state university system – other than Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s energy systems and marine engineering programs.

The move toward engineering-type programs did not happen overnight. The seeds can be found in a copy of the faculty publication, Bridgewater Review, penned by Dr. Deveney in 2000, when he was a bushy-haired, relative newcomer to what was then Bridgewater State College. In those pages, he advocated for an approach he saw work at Amherst College, where he’d previously taught.

“The idea was it’s not just about the classroom experience,” he said, “but what students are doing and how they define themselves outside the class.”

Laboratory experiments, fieldwork and hands-on experience were the watchwords of this new approach. The philosophy aligned well with developments happening across campus at the time, with the increased focus on undergraduate research and other initiatives. “There was a critical mass happening back then throughout the college,” Dr. Deveney said.

The approach, as well as the increased use of lasers and other high-tech instruments, necessitated additional lab space. Eventually, this helped lead to the building of the Dana Mohler-Faria Science and Mathematics Center. This provided five new labs for physics alone. Two new labs dedicated to photonics and optics will soon be available.

Dr. Deveney is especially proud to recount that the cutting-edge devices that propelled ɫ��Ƶ to its place as a burgeoning leader in optics and photonics were all built by students. Among those devices are an external cavity tunable diode laser, optical tweezers (which can isolate DNA molecules) and the most recent laser used in photonics-related experiments.

President Frederick W. Clark Jr. recently cited the work of the Department of Physics in making ɫ��Ƶ “a state and national leader in the exciting field of photonics and optical engineering.”

He went on to say, “The new program will prepare students to contribute to significant advances in areas like telecommunications, data communications,
laser-based radar and sensing.”

Taking a break from aligning the lasers in Dr. Deveney’s lab, Jonathan Trzcinski tried to put into words the feeling he gets from working with atomic particles and pondering the deeper mysteries of quantum physics. “It’s incredibly interesting,” he said. “What we’re doing is studying the very foundations of the universe.”u

It’s exciting to be part of this revolution and exciting Massachusetts can be a leader in this industry [of photonics]. We need a workforce, and our students will be this workforce.

Dr. Ed Deveney

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Fall 2019

Photonics

Making it at Draper

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Making it at Draper Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Amanda Morrison, G’19, is ‘building’ a dream career

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Sometimes it’s true: Life comes down to being at the right place at the right time.

A corollary to this is the idea of putting oneself out there to take chances and try things that may or may not pay off in the long run.

Amanda Morrison came to ɫ��Ƶ from Westfield State University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology. At ɫ��Ƶ, she took a job as student supervisor of the Makerspace. She didn’t get to use the lab for her studies, but found her own way of, shall we say, “making it.”

“The Makerspace allowed me to make new contacts. One of those contacts was Dean Kristen Porter-Utley, (of the Bartlett College of Science & Mathematics),” Ms. Morrison said. “We discussed what I wanted to do after I graduated, and I explained that I was interested in cybersecurity. The dean then put me in touch with some of her contacts from that field, which ultimately landed me this internship at Draper Laboratories.”

As for Dr. Porter-Utley, she called Ms. Morrison “a real star,” and predicted great things for her.

The Halifax resident will be an intern through December with the Cambridge technology company’s InfoSec team. She helps with real-life cybersecurity issues like threat hunting, vulnerability/risk management, remediation efforts, investigating phishing campaigns and various other threats that can wreak havoc on computer systems.

It’s work that Ms. Morrison enjoys, and it may even become a career path for her. “We will have to wait and see what happens,” she said. “The folks at Draper know that I want to be there long-term, and if it’s meant to be…”

The folks at Draper know that I want to be there long-term, and if it’s meant to be…

Amanda Morrison

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Fall 2019

Internships

Helping Hands

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Helping Hands Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Prostheses made at ɫ��Ƶ for those in need

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

A young girl in New York named Brielle (pictured above) has a prosthetic hand that allows her to climb up and down the stairs of her family’s deck, grip the handlebars of her bicycle and do many of the typical things youngsters love doing.

Brielle’s prosthetic hand, instead of costing tens of thousands of dollars, was produced for next to nothing. It was made with a 3-D printer. And it was made at ɫ��Ƶ’s Think Tank, the hub
of the institution’s new Makerspace network of labs and workshops.

“Words can’t express how much this means to us,” said Brielle’s mother, who asked that only her daughter’s first name be used. “Your team did an amazing job, and, without you guys, she wouldn’t be able to do what she is able to do.”

Of all the many amazing things created in ɫ��Ƶ’s Makerspace labs, most impressive – and impactful – might be the prosthetic hands and arms for children and adults in need.

Thanks to 3-D printers and open source designs (software whose original source code is freely available to anyone for use or modification), a prosthetic limb that typically costs thousands of dollars can be created for as little as $50.

“People can’t afford them, especially for kids who outgrow them so quickly,” said senior Kevin Monteith, a computer science major who works at the Think Tank.

He and his brother, Robert, an analytical instrumentation engineer at the Dana Mohler-Faria Science and Mathematics Center who manages the various Makerspace labs, were working with the Bizarbots robotics club at Holbrook High School when they learned of a nonprofit organization called e-NABLE. Now, thanks to the brothers’ efforts, ɫ��Ƶ is part of a large international network of volunteers who use 3-D printers to make free and low-cost prosthetic upper-limb devices.

Amanda Morrison, G’19, also assists the Monteiths with the project.

In addition to Brielle, one other person has been fitted with a 3-D printed prosthesis from ɫ��Ƶ’s Makerspace, and as of mid-October, a third one was being prepared for another recipient.

The prostheses are sized by using a photograph of the intended recipient posing next to a ruler. Then, using the open source software, the prosthetic is designed and readied for one of the Think Tank’s 3-D printers.

Kevin said plans call for the incorporation of sensors and motors to make tomorrow’s prostheses even more responsive and lifelike.

He added that projects of this kind are their own reward. “It makes you feel great about the work you do,” he said.

One thing’s for sure, there’s a young girl in New York now able to tool around on her little bicycle and do so much more who is very appreciative for that work.

Thanks to 3-D printers and open source designs, a prosthetic limb that typically costs thousands of dollars can be created for as little as $50.

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Fall 2019

Making It

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Making It Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Labs and workshops allow students to dream it, then create it

November 18, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

The rotating head on the monitor looked like it was slowly melting while simultaneously being swallowed by a plasmatic substance of green and gray.

There’s no denying – it looked freaky.

This image wasn’t from a student-made film, but a 3-D scanner in the process of capturing the likeness of a ɫ��Ƶ student.

Being made virtual on this afternoon were the members of Art Professor Magaly Ponce’s Three Dimensional Design course.

“It felt goofy, but it was really cool and interesting to watch the process,” Amanda Hebert, ’21, a psychology major from Falmouth, said of being scanned. Once the job was done, Amanda, who is minoring in art, could see a close-to-exact replica of her head and shoulders on the monitor mounted on a nearby wall. “It doesn’t get more interactive than that,” she said.

The students in the class were taking turns being scanned inside room 151 of the Dana Mohler-Faria Science and Mathematics Center, also known as the ɫ��Ƶ Think Tank. It’s one of a conjoined group of labs that comprise ɫ��Ƶ’s new Makerspace network.

Creating the 3-D scan involved a roving scanner held a foot or two away by a classmate, while Amanda sat stone-still in a chair, eyes closed. It takes about five minutes to complete the process. Then the information can be edited using specialized software before being transferred to a 3-D printer, and an hour or so later, voila: a mini Amanda that fits in the palm of one’s hand.

3-D scanners and printers? Lifelike renderings of real students created in the time it takes to watch a CSI episode? Lab space after lab space featuring tools both old fashioned and cutting edge? Indeed. It’s all part of Makerspace, and it’s enough to make some older alumni jealous, especially when recalling days spent inside the old Conant Science Building where Bunsen burners and Petri dishes were the order of the day.

“It’s engineering, science and art, all intertwined in this idea of hands-on learning,” said Susan Savill, a part-time faculty member in the Department of Physics, who worked with Robert Monteith, the director of the network, and others to develop ɫ��Ƶ’s Makerspace.

The Think Tank opened its doors in November 2018, funded by a ɫ��Ƶ grant for academic innovation secured by Dr. Michael Black and Robert Monteith. Other components of the network were already in place.

After the Think Tank began operating, it became the hub, and its development inspired the idea that ɫ��Ƶ’s pre-existing labs and workshops could all work together in support of student makers.

The other spaces are the university’s wind tunnel, electronics and robotics lab, academic machine shop and art lab, each overseen by the relevant department.

The creation of Makerspace comes as professors seek to challenge students to solve problems and learn by doing. Meanwhile, interactive labs and workshops are becoming more common in higher education, according to Professor Savill.

Evan Hultstrom, ’19, an aviation science major from York, Maine, spent time in the lab creating a container used in flight team competitions. “I thought it was so much fun, just going in there. I was like a kid in a candy shop,” he said.

Students have used the Makerspace facilities to create artwork, electronics, models for lab experiments and much more.

Robert Monteith, whose full title is analytical instrumentation engineer, likes watching the reactions of students once they realize all the tools now at their disposal. “I find that for some students it just clicks; you can see their minds start to race as they realize all the possibilities that the space opens up,” he said. “Other students have to be guided, because they don’t understand what the capabilities are and how they relate to the things they want to accomplish.

“Most people aren’t exposed to this kind of equipment, and there’s a learning curve,” he continued. “But once you open their eyes to what’s possible, that’s when the magic happens, and their creativity comes out.”

A number of faculty members are closely involved with Makerspace, including Professor Savill, Dr. Michael Black and Dr. Martin Grossman, as well as Dr. Jennie Aizenman, director of the Center for the Advancement of STEM Education. There is also a Makerspace board of faculty and administrators who oversee the operations of the labs.

Makerspace holds an appeal for learners of just about any discipline or skill level, said Dr. Cindy Kane, special assistant to the provost for strategic initiatives, who was integral in making it a reality.

“It’s already shown to be perfect for the novice maker who wants to learn about new technology, a budding entrepreneur who is looking to design a product, or a seasoned, technically minded person working through research or projects for a course,” she said. “The fact that it can all happen in a collaborative space is so exciting.”

When Professor Ponce held her class inside the Think Tank, she was hoping to expose her students to one of the more cutting-edge ways of making art, using 3-D scanners and printers.

“They have the best toys,” she said of the Think Tank. Then she added that it’s not just playing around that’s done in these spaces. “It allows my students to experience a form of 3-D creating and then go back
to traditional sculpting.”

In other words, ɫ��Ƶ students now have the best of both worlds – the virtual and the hands-on.

Lab Workings

Makerspace has tools and technology galore. Here’s a sampling…

The Think Tank is home to four 3-D printers, a vacuum former, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, embroidery machine, vacuum chamber, circuit board printer, two soldering stations, a 3-D scanner and lots more.

The key value of this space is in its ability to integrate specific resources that enable programmed, curriculum-based learning, as well as facilitate access to more users, particularly early/
novice users in the community.

The Machine Shop features a CNC plasma cutter, a laser cutter, two milling machines, a lathe, a vertical band saw and other saws.

Students can use the shop for their own projects, and it is also where parts and support items needed for labs located throughout the Science and Mathematics Center can be made.

The Electronics and Robotics Lab features the tools and parts necessary to build working electronics, including robotics kits by Lego.

It’s a classroom and research space where students learn to design and build electronic circuits, microcontrollers, robots, drones and related technology.

The Wind Tunnel allows students to conduct experiments in meteorology, aviation, physics and engineering when the simulation of wind conditions is necessary.

The Art Space is home to tools and space for welding, sculpting and more.

New Dimensions

Making a model student step-by-step with 3-D printing

Rebecca Calixte, ’21, captures an image of Sarah Lavoie, ’22, with a roving scanner as Kevin Monteith, ’20, lab supervisor, looks on.
Kevin Monteith shows the students how to edit the scanned image.
The 3-D printer begins to create a replica of the scan.
A student holds an example of a final 3-D printed creation.

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Fall 2019