A month after graduating in 1987 from the MSI Program, I drove across country in my VW Bus to take a job at Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona in Tucson where I immediately loved the climate. My work was in ‘site-testing’ of high mountains for suitability as new homes for the next generation of large telescopes in the continental US.

I developed portable instruments and software to detect and record microthermal turbulence over mountains in our airborne campaign, applying them in 35 pre-dawn missions flown over the 10,000 foot-plus sites in a V-tailed Beechcraft Bonanza. We then hoisted that same equipment up a 100-foot backpackable tower that we carted into the woods at the summit in order to sample the first 100 feet above the peak which the pilot sensibly would not dare fly through. We found the best site after two years and the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope and Submillimeter Telescope have been built. Both enjoy good seeing and dry conditions. The Large Binocular Telescope nears completion there using two 8.4 meter mirrors made by the inveterate innovator Roger Angel in a lab under the football stadium in Tucson.

Next I had a career in airborne Infrared astronomy at the Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson. We flew our FTS instrument frequently on the NASA Kuiper Airborne Observatory at 41,000 feet, above most water vapor, applying its high resolving power to issues of planetary atmospheres and to bright comets. It was a noisy, cold beast to work in and, after 25 years, it has been retired to dedicate funds to its successor, SOFIA, a nice, quiet, warm, Boeing 747.

Currently I am with the Spacewatch Project that searches for Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and comets with a dedicated telescope on Kitt Peak. I am responsible for Optics and am one of four observers. So far in five years, I have discovered dozens of new NEAs and have to my name three new comet discoveries. In late 1999 my colleagues names an asteroid after me (7656: Joemontani). On January 12 of this year, I discovered the first new comet of the 2000’s and it is called ‘2000Al (Montani)’. It is unusual in that it is very distant, reaching perihelion on or about July 15, 2000, at about 10.0 AU. Maybe it will get some study because it probably contains primordial material, not much processed by repeated trips into the warmth of the sun: the comet is always further from the sun than Saturn! Thus far in our refinement of our knowledge of its orbit, the orbit appears parabolic in form and so a period in years for the comet is not known. It may be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of years. Spacewatch reaches to the outer solar system and has discovered 8 of the 16 known Centaurs as well as 7 Trans-Neptunian objects. Key to our success in this work are our wide-field coma correctors and CCD cameras, which I boast happy involvement with.

Stony Brook and the MSI program have been ‘instrumental’ to me in my daily (and nightly) work. I thank my lucky stars for that opportunity to get a little intensive study and practice before winging off to the next mountaintop. My sincerest and deepest appreciation to Hal Metcalf for master-minding that Master’s program! Kudos!

Retired after 28 years teaching high school physics but still does home tutoring for the Garden City School District.
Currently active in the Long Island Humanist Society.

After 20 years as a Physics teacher in Smithtown, taught in Kenya, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela and Japan. Retired last year, bought a frivolous car, sold house on L.I., and bought a bit of paradise in the Florida Keys.

Retired from Raytheon Co. (Principal Engineer) after working there for 28 years. Married to Eleanor Downey and have 2 sons, Benjamin (an electrical engineer) and Jonathan (a stockbroker).

Retired from public schools after 33 years (1965). Worked with Six Flags Great Adventure writing educational materials for Physics Day and Science and Math Day. Ran workshops on amusement park physics at SFGA. On Board of Trustees and Secretary for Lower Hudson Interactive Museum. Worked at Mountain Creek Water Park (Vernon, NJ) to set up the Nature Center ? an educational facility to teach guests about the nature and environment of northern NJ as well as offering guests the opportunity to make nature oriented efforts. In between I am enjoying my retirement. An avid skier, over 60 days last year including a trip to Utah and still skiing this year. I am exploring my artistic abilities in acrylics and watercolors. Won 6 ribbons at the County Fair. Traveling. Best trip to SE Asia to see a total solar eclipse.

Alan Roecklein is a Senior Health Physicist at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Retired as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Terex Corporation, a NYSF Corporation in the Heavy Equipment business (sales around 2.5 billion) at the end of 1997. Member of the Terex Board of Directors.

Ph.D. (Physics) Carnegie Melon University, 1968.
Retired from Texas Instruments, 1996.

Since 1986 I’ve been Sr. Staff Associate at the Columbia Chemistry Department. I design data-acquisition and control electronics and write software for the physical chemistry research groups. Before that I was Editor-in-Chief of the journal NASA Tech Briefs for 10 years. My Stony Brook physics background has been the foundation for both jobs.

Regards and many thanks to Professors Muether, Mould, deZafra, Kahn and Metcalf, who I know are still there, and to others who are there or have left but may remember me. I have very warm feelings about my Stony Brook experience.

Retiring March 31, 2000 and relocating to Bradenton, Florida.

We are saddened to report that Fred passed away on September 4, 1996. Fred had relocated to North Carolina where he taught at the University of North Carolina in Ashville. In 1994 he went to Clemson University to get a Ph.D. in Physics.

His mentor Lyndon L. Larcom, Ph.D. reports "He was clearly one of our best graduate students and was working on analysis of fingerprint patterns with me as his research advisor. We all liked Fred very much and greatly valued his contributions to the Lab. We miss him a lot.". An obituary for Fred appeared in the September 6, 1996 issue of the LI newspaper Newsday.

I am married to Barbara Campion, SB Class of ‘63. We have three children: Mike-in medical school, Tracy-a physical therapist and Michele-with an MBA in progress. I have 36 years working with Grumman Aerospace (now Northrop Grumman), 10 years at KSC, Florida on the Apollo Lunar Program as a software engineer, and 26 years at Pt. Mugu, California working on the F14 Tomcat aircraft in software design and engineering management. My M.S. in physics is from Florida Institute of Technology. I enjoy lots of tennis, golf, fishing; love California and am looking forward to retirement in 2-3 years. I have fond memories of Oyster Bay/Stony Brook years and haven’t had to solve a differential equation in 25 years.

Served 3 years in US Army. Thirty (30) years in private practice. Now designs jewelry, rocking horses, children’s toys.

Instructor Marrimack College, North Andover, MA.

Retired from IBM in 1997.

I received my MA in physics from City University of N.Y. and the Ph.D. in physics from Catholic University. My principal research areas are ocean acoustics, signal and array processing, detection and estimation theory, acoustic active noise control. My professional career has been primarily in the analysis of various sonar systems. I also spent two years as an expert witness for an active noise control patent suit. I am married with 4 grown kids and 2 grandkids and a wonderful wife. My hobbies include reading, playing computer games, playing the stock market and my family.

Currently doing Web development for Chase. Wife, Amy, just completed her doctorate in clinical psychology.

Tax Director, Instron Corporation, Wellesley, MA.

is one of the principals of a new start-up company working on molecular electronics which was featured in the New York Times on March 23.

received the Award for Excellence in Pre-College Physics Teaching, which is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to precollege physics teaching that have had a national impact. Arthur is a physics teacher and the science coordinator in the public school system of Bedford, New York.

Presently Director for Research and Education of the Colondra Station American Institute of Queens College, City University of New York. Maintain an honorary directory of Italian American Scholars and Professionals in universities and colleges. Will be pleased to receive resumes from Stony Brook alumni.

Product Manager at Condor Systems Inc., San Jose, California.

Just started second year of Medical School. Attending New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury, NY. After working for many years in research and computing, have decided a change in career. Adjunct professor of Mathematics at Suffolk County Community College.

I am married with two children ages 4 and 6. My wife works part time at NIST and I work full-time at NIST on fundamental research with cold neutrons. My Van de Graaff experiences at Stony Brook were crucial to my success.

After leaving SUSB in 1979, I obtained Ph.D. in Physics at MIT in 1989. Did a post doc at Cal Tech and have been employed at NIST since 1993. Currently pursuing the development of polarized 3He neutron SP filters. I have positive memories of my research opportunity at the Stony Brook Nuclear Structure Lab as an undergraduate.

Assistant Physicist, Adelphi University, NY

Completed Physics BS in 1983 and added 2 years to get a music major. I almost went on to grad school for choral conducting. Meanwhile, got a job as an actuarial trainee and have been at it ever since. I was competent enough with this level of math, but felt I was not cut out for a career in physics because I don’t possess what I consider to be the requisite level of math savant. Still, I never regret the excellent physics instruction I received.
Muether, Metcalf, Grannis were exceptional teachers.

My company manufactures focused ion beam systems, mainly for semiconductor industry companies. Doing R & D work with new ion sources for next generation tools.

I have been working for the past 12 years as Professor of Physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. I spend time teaching undergraduates, doing research in complex systems and cosmology, and writing science books for popular audiences. My latest book "The Pursuit of Destiny", a history of scientific prediction, will be published by Perseus Books in Fall 2000. Have a wife and 2 young boys and live near Philadelphia. My advisor at SBU was Max Dresden, a masterful teacher and mentor.

Math/Physics Teacher at Northport High School, NY.

I was a physics grad student at SUNYSB 88-90, where Johanna Stachel and Peter Braun-Munzinger turned me on to experimental heavy ion physics. I got a Masters degree before leaving for Michigan State (to be closer to my girlfriend) where I got my Ph.D. in 93.

Anyhow, after this I did a postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, and in 96 joined the faculty at Ohio State University.

I’m pretty heavy into an AGS experiment (E895) and one at RHIC (STAR).

Got married (not the same girl I left SUNYSB for) to a wonderful woman in 94, and we’ve now got two boys. Very soon they will have a little sister.

Harald is this year’s recipient of the Heinrich Award of the Microanalysis Society of America.  Harald is Associate Professor at North Carolina State University. This award, given to researchers below 40 years of age, recognizes his work in X-ray spectromicroscopy of polymers, work he started while still at Stony Brook.

I am a member of the technical staff at Lucent Technology. I was real lucky to have gone to a school so strong in physics and with such a uniformly wonderful and inspiring teaching faculty!

Just finished my Ph.D. (August 1999) physics at Princeton. Now I’m a post doc at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Lucent Technologies, Kempton, Pa.

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA.

Currently doing design for my own business, which designs and builds custom terrain vehicle accessories, such as oil coolers and gauges. My secondary work consists of engineering consulting for manufactured products to build a database. Also do pure design and CADD work for external machine houses. My hobby is designing and building radio controlled aircraft at ¼ scale.

Junior Systems Engineer, Amron Corp.

After graduating from USB, I attended the University of Arizona where I enrolled in their atmospheric physics program.  While at UA, I worked on several projects including the GPS/Met (Global Positioning Satellite Meteorology) and the Student Satellite Project, which studied lightning and an atmospheric phenomenon known as sprites.

Received Masters Degree on August, 1998. (My thesis paper is currently submitted to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society).  After leaving the University of Arizona, I enrolled at St. John’s University School of Law where I am currently in my first year.

I teach Regents Physics, AP Chemistry, and Honors Chemistry at Hauppauge High School. I received my M.A. in Computers Education from Columbia University in 1998.

I am currently starting my third year of graduate school at the University of Rochester. I have achieved my masters and am currently doing my thesis research. I am working on an experiment to produce a two species Bose-Einstein condensate. I have also done research on quantum non-demolition measurements of spin noise and the production of ultra-cold molecules from a Cs MOT and then exciting wave packets in them with a femtosecond laser.

I am working in the computer software industry, the 13^th largest in US. They treat us well, give good benefits, plus we are expanding very rapidly. I am moving up in the organization rapidly. I plan on buying my own home, so it seems this "Florida-thing" is permanent for me. I wish everyone in the department well and look forward to hearing from you guys again.

I was sad to hear about David Fox. I was in the last class he taught and thought he was great.

I work at the Collider Accelerator Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory as an operator in the Main Control Room of the Accelerator Complex.

I am finishing my second semester as a graduate student at Colorado University, Boulder, where I am pursuing a master’s in aerospace engineering. I am currently doing research in the controls systems laboratory where I am investigating and modeling the tribology of the actuators that will be used on the next generation space telescope.

Having received my B.S. in physics at SUNYSB, opened up this opportunity I never knew was possible. I am grateful for all of the professors who pushed and guided me during my time at Stony Brook. I recently received an NSF Education Fellowship and next year I will be involved in the local high schools assisting students to learn about the relevance of science and its applications.

Graduate student at Michigan State University.

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Last modified 1/28/04