I can’t tell our board members enough how much I appreciate them. They really care about our students and it shows. The conversations last night were empowering. That Zoom meeting was definitely the best of the semester for me. Despite everyone having had a long day, I felt the meeting was very productive!

I am thankful for our board members:

• David Biersach – Brookhaven National Lab
• William Donovan – Thorlabs
• Joyce “Chip” Kilmer – Photonics Industries
• Paul Melone – Thorlabs
• Dean Modroukas – Innoveering
• Jason Sanabia – Raith America of the Raith Group
• Nancy Schreck – Central Semiconductor Corp.
• Alexandra “Alix” Vance – American Institute of Physics Publishing

* Special thanks to Jamie LaCouture from Thorlabs for stopping by as well.

When my colleague Sean Bentley recommended we start the industry board, I was skeptical. Folks are busy! Do they really have time to chat with college students? Do they really have the resources to provide advice, internships, and opportunities for our students? I didn’t want to be too pushy with our board members, because I know how busy they all are. Well our board members have blown my expectations out of the water. They are some of the kindest and friendliest people around. I am so thankful! Our students were reassured about all of the opportunities available to them after our discussion last night. Reassurance in 2020 is possible.

And to our students, thank you for being so engaging and asking great questions.

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But like every good party there was also an after party. Two of our alumni Martin Disla (’13) and Egla Ochoa-Madrid (’17) hung around and gave some more career advice to our students. Maybe we also retold some funny stories of the old days as well.