Not much to report from the last PhotoExpo in New York City except for the fact that although several graduates of the program dropped in to the booth I never got a chance to establish much of a converstaion with anyone. Reestablished contact with Lucien Samaha who is a globe-trotting, jet-setting DJ (plays at top of World Trade center if I recall correctly plus has gigs in Paris, etc. on a periodic basis). He is also doing a significant amount of photography again and his work was recently included in a show in NYC. I also did manage to "pose" for a photograph with David Gallagher who is with Calumet Digital I believe. As you can tell he looks quite spiffy!

One night the faculty went out to dinner at the Sevilla Restaurant but there was not enough room at the table so they made me sit at another one where I was joined by several students from the School of Visual Arts. Unfortunately we only shared a great time together fow a few minutes 'cause after dinner, the RIT group went to a night club where there were all kinds of strange things going on. I managed to serve as a model for a digital photography test program organized by Fuji. They did not have a grey card to include in their colorful scene so they compromised and asked a Marilyn Monroe look alike to help out. I think their digital camera system did all right, don't you?

Ken Kostel, who was a long term employee at Minolta Corporation in Japan and who returned to the States about 5 years ago dropped in and reported on his current position and plans for the future. By the way, he mentioned that another tech grad from the past, Will Ashe, who lives in Japan, just recently filled the position at Minolta that Ken used to have and that, I presume, Meredith and Bill Stotzner (who are now at Adobe in San Jose) filled for a few years. Ken, who is now a Senior Development Writer at the Office of Development of Northwestern University, shared that he is now thinking about going on to graduate school. His area of interest is journalism and the environment.

From: Kim Revak revakk@cyberchron.com

Hey Andy - Nice to hear from you. I have been meaning to update things on your website.

Lets see, quick update: As for work ... I'm still with Cyberchron Corporation (www.cyberchron.com), a small company but interesting work. We are a manufacturer of "rugged" computer and electronic equipment, mainly for military and government applications but I'm trying to get us more exposure within industrial and commercial areas like transportation, exploration, and manufacturing. The products are pretty cool ... they are designed to withstand things like: extreme temperatures, high altitudes, rain/humidity, salt fog, sand/dust, vibration, shock, and EMI. The knowledge I've gained about computers in general and newer technologies like flat panel displays has been great.

I started as the Marketing Manager back in early 1998, handling all activities like: website, photography, ads, trade shows, collateral material, sales tools, etc. After a few months of helping out the sales staff, with answering technical questions and generating quotes for customers, I was also giving an official sales role. Now, in addition to Marketing Manager, I am also the Sales Manager responsible for all sales within the US and Canada. The job is fun but the stress of bringing in orders to keep this small company alive gets a little overwhelming at times.

Hopefully this new knowledge and expanded skills will lead to bigger and better opportunities. I'm also looking for something new and exciting. Maybe even a move to the west coast might be in my near future ... you knows.

As for me ... Still with Scott (my boyfriend and housemate), over 5 years now, no marriage or kids in the near future but maybe soon. Had a health scare a few months back ... a combination of diabetes and thyroid failure, but things seem to be improving with medications. I'm a home owner now ... recently bought the condo I have been living in, it was an investment opportunity I couldn't pass up. Also bought some time-share property, so I should be doing even more traveling. My spare time is taken up with a lot of golfing, skiing, camping, and mountain biking. Thus my main reason for a condo versus a house ... I'm also doing something or go somewhere ... no time for cutting that grass. My family is doing fine - nothing to new. My mother retired to Florida, my brother is still living the single life in Rochester, and my sister and family are in Connecticut. I have also been looking into graduate school ... just seeing what type of programs are out there now.

I'm almost in my 30's - yuck. l like my 20's. I'm still trying to hold on to my youth. I'm differently not ready to settled down and even slow down.

Say hello to everyone for me, I have the best memories of RIT, thanks again for all your help.

Kimberly

From: Stephen Wages s_wages@hotmail.com

Andy, I guess I should have figured you had a web page.!

I am still working at Adventure Photo & Film as the Production Manager/Head of IS and wearing many other hats at this little company. Actually, we were recently acquired by a London-based firm, so we're in a period of transition. Workload is very challenging at this point...finding it hard to lead a normal life. We are producing a print catalog, so I'm off next week to Hong Kong again to proof color. Wonderful city.

My daughter Emily is 6 and we keep pretty busy. We head into the Sierra Nevadas fairly often to hike. I've started flyfishing...another excuse to get into the mountains. Emily and I made it to 11,500 feet this spring, which involved a fair bit of hiking across snowfields. Pretty impressive for a kid her age!

Saw Katharine Burrows a few months ago. She was out in LA working for Xerox on some crack customer support team. Good to see her.

Well, I must get to work. I'll try to keep in touch a little more regularly.

Take care, Steve

From: Lisa Vella lvella@earthlink.net

Happy Holidays! Guess what? I finally finished my masters!!!! I will receive my diploma in February. Can you believe it?

Also in the midst of everything, I opened my own business. I also have a business partner. So what is the business you ask? I opened a self-serve dog wash and retail center. (training too)

Go to the website: www.southbark.com

South Bark has been open since October 3. We remodeled a 50's style laundry mat.

I still have my Grossmont College technician job and I teach photography classes at two other community colleges. So anyway!!! Life is busy, but always interesting....

see you later and Happy 2001.
xx, Lisa

From: Jeff Myers jeff.myers@imagex.com

Hey Andy, Just an update for you. I just got back from Ireland last weekend. I completed the Dublin marathon in record time. The record being my own of course as it was my first marathon. I'm heading back to Niagara Falls for Christmas but not sure if I'll be able to stop by. Glad to hear Kevin Burke is doing well, please pass along my regards.

That's about it from Seattle. Oh, by the way, I picked up a David White 3D camera and have been playing around with it. Lots of fun.

Jeff

Adele Sandra Marchiando was born November 14th at 7:10 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and is 19 inches long. She has blue eyes and lots of black hair. She is unbearably cute and nice to cuddle. Robin feels huge compared to Adele! We'll send more pictures soon!

Meg Steve Robin and Adele

From: Lisa deBettencourt LdeBett@Send.com

Finally, I am very relieved and happy to say that at 7:50 this morning, after a 6.5 month gestation period, we have birthed a bouncing baby web site. =)

I started here at Send.com back in April and was soon tasked with the huge project of creating and building the interface to a new more flexible, more dynamic, more user-friendly web site. This included developing workflows and storyboards and prototypes that would become the structure of the site's interactive design. (i.e. all navigation components, functionality requirements, etc.) I then managed a 6 week usability process that weeded out many of the undesirable "features" of the site and enhanced the beneficial ones. After our Graphic Designers got their hands on it and our programmers began writing the code to support it, the "wouldn't it be cool if..." ideas started to become realities. We finally started to see the fruits of our labors.

Today is a very exciting day for me. From this day forward we will be able to see, in sales, the advantages of this site over the old one. (and that's not just me being egotistical! Follow the link: http://digitalmass.boston.com/columns/ecommerce/1102.html and you'll see that the Boston Globe thinks the same.) We've fixed the usability issues we had in the last site - hopefully without introducing too many new ones - and made it easier for our customers to buy gifts from us. My job, however, is still not done. As with any development project, not all of our requests were implemented at launch and we do have upgrades planned to get more of them in. But, we have planted a big ole stake in the ground and this freight train is a chug-chug-chugging on forward!

Thanks to everyone who's been so patient with me and put up with my unavailability - both mentally and physically. I'm really looking forward to returning to a normal life and a normal work week (repeat: normal is NOT 60 hours a week.) where my "down time" is actually longer than the time it takes me to hang up my coat, take off my shoes and crawl into bed. =)

So when you get a chance, surf on over to http://www.send.com and check out what we've been working on over here!

And keep in touch!

Lisa deBettencourt
User Interface Architect
http://www.send.com

From: Jennifer Governali jgovernali@earthlink.net

Hey Andy, I accepted the job with IBM. I began Oct. 16. They have had me on the road since my first day, so I haven't been home to let you know. I leave for Miami tonight.
So far so good. I like the people I work with. I am also glad that I don't have to always wear blue.

Cheers for now.
Jennifer

From: Terry A. Senovich terry@obvert.com

Hey Andy - I thought I'd give you an update. I'm still part owner of Blacksmith in Virginia, but have moved on to "smaller" and better things. I worked for Apple Computer for a while, then went to a small start-up company in Virginia as the Chief Software Architect for an Enterprise Java Beans development toolset. This didn't last long, and I started another company to do software consulting, which is what I am still doing now. I specialize in building Object Oriented application software on top of complex relational databases, and deploying the applications on the Web. I'm just finishing an application that tracks the recreational use (visitation, permits, and fees) on all public lands in the US for the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.

I'm based in Golden Colorado, and I love it here. The rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, white water kayaking, skiing, hiking and fly fishing fill all my free moments. Living so close to the ski resorts I get 50-60 days in a year !

--
Terry Senovich - President/CEO
Obvert Inc.
Object Oriented Software, Design,
Relational Database Management, and the Web
Golden, CO

From: Brady Hackleman 957416N@knotes.kodak.com

Well, it's been 3/4 of a year since I finished up my degree at RIT and now I've landed my first post-graduation job. I'm going to be an Image Quality Engineer for the Consumer Imaging Digital division of Eastman Kodak. It's a great opportunity to apply many of the skills I picked up in the IPT program.

I want to make sure that you post my info to the graduates list that you maintain on your website. I was able to use your website to leverage a higher salary. I would recommend to anyone in the program to use those numbers to their advantage in an interview. Having a reference in your hand helps remove the uncertainty from salary negotiatioins. I used the salaries from the past 3 graduating classes to come up with a number that I thought was reasonable for my education and my experience. Fortunately, my work here as a contractor caused them to raise the bar even higher. Thank you for providing such a wonderful resource.

Company: Eastman Kodak Company
Title: Image Quality Engineer

I've handed out your e-mail address to a couple of potential employers. I was a consultant for Dartnell Enterprises for over a year. They are a terrific organization and have many opportunities for computer savy persons to work for Xerox and Kodak as well as smaller companies. They provide full health benefits, sick days, vacation time, and a retirement plan. The salaries are comparable to those posted on your website.

I also gave your name to David Oles who is the CEO/CTO for Pixel Magic Imaging in San Marcos, Texas. He is looking for a talented, experienced individual to lead his color management efforts. I already hit up James O'hara to see if he's interested. He always wanted to work for a pre-IPO company and this is a great opportunity.

Just wanted to keep you up to date. Thanks again,
Brady Hackleman

From: Michael Klayman Michael@schneideroptics.com

I figured it was time to send you an update. No big changes in my life, really. I just celebrated my 1 year anniversary here at Schneider on Friday, which happened to be the last day for my mentor here at work. He went off to work with the VP of digital sales for Olympus, which bumps me up the food chain here. I am now the official large format expert at a leading large format lens company, and I haven't touched a LF camera in almost 2 years! Shhh, don't tell anyone... :)

I might end up getting back into shooting LF if all goes well. This spring, we sent a person out to co-instruct a photography workshop conducted by Jack Dykinga, a pretty famous nature photographer. As the only LF shooter now, I will hopefully be called upon to go one the next trip in Spring- two weeks photographing Yosemite, and it's classified as a business trip! I always hated nature photography before, but this would be pretty fun.

I still enjoy what I do, it's a good feeling knowing that I'm helping people buy the right lens or filter for their application. I'm starting to hate traveling so much, though. At first it was fun going on business trips, but now it's just getting to be a hassle. I've been all over the country and to Germany, but I have about an hour or two of free time per city, so I don't get to see anything. Luckily I don't go out on the road again until October.

I am learning as much as I can about HTML and digital photography. Since large format and enlarging lenses are a dying industry, a tech degree and digital experience should open up many doors for me pretty soon. As an integral member of the website management team, I have helped develop our site from being viewed by 400 people a day to over 1000. I am also the imaging specialist of the office, doing all the little scanning and digital output stuff that isn't handled by the ad agency.

Hope your sailing goes well, and if you hit NYC during a weekend, I'll meet you for a drink.

Michael Klayman
Technical Specialist
Schneider Optics, Inc.
michael@schneideroptics.com

From: Steve Tharnstrom, STEVEN.THARNSTROM@AO.DTRA.mil

How is Springtime in Rochester? ...always a good time of year, eh?

I surfed across the RIT IPT graduate WebPage with a one-liner about my employer. Although it's the same job, same place we've changed our name repeatedly over the past few years. Currently, the organization is the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and we conduct tests at a variety of locations, one of which is White Sands Missile Range, so maybe you might cut/paste the following: works at Kirtland AFB, NM for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency as Photographic Technologist in a high-explosives testing program

5 years ago all our work was on film. Now film is used only in certain circumstances e.g. not enough digital or video cameras or when we need something faster than 1000 frames/sec.

An advantage to Federal employment is being loaned, on occasion, to other government agencies, the USGS, for example. Find a copy of A Century of Change by Robert H. Webb (USGS Desert Lab, Tucson, AZ). The book is a popular account of a decades research in Grand Canyon. We matched ~1000 photographs, 700+ by Robert Stanton ca 1889-1890. The negatives are on nitrate roll film, frames were 6"x8". They were uncovered at the National Archives.

Other work is on the following:
http://wwwpaztcn.wr.usgs.gov/wyoming
http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/chap9.html

I feel a meeting coming on. More later.
Best, Steve Tharnstrom

From: Eric Newman, ericnewman@home.com

Doing Great! I'm living in Greenville, South Carolina. If this area continues to grow the way it is, they'll have to be some serious attitude adjustments. Seriously, I love it down here. The weather is perfect compared to Rochester. Rarely does it get below 30 during the winter, and on many days it hits the 50s. Even with the warm weather I can still enjoy the mountains. Unlike Forida or easterm SC, it's not flat with palm trees. It's like New England in the warm south. Greenville is booming and is really a great place to live. Big enough to be fun, but still small enough to spare us of the problems of big cities.

As for work, I can't remember where I left off with you. Last fall I earned my MCSE and obtained a job at a tele-communications company called New South Communications. If anyone is interested in a job (many flavors), they can go to newsouth.com. We presently have about 300 people and plan to have 800 by years end, so we are in need of good people fast! Have them contact me if they reaalt think they have a lot to offer. I can likely get them quicker access to the people that can hire them. Plus I get $400.00 if they are hired!

I am working as a Tier 1 NOC technician, troubleshooting voice problems. As soon as they hire someone to replace me, I'll be moving on to another position. In that position, I'll be administering the systems we use in the NOC, as well as helping to implement new ones and train the NOC technicians on to use them at start up. This position was much more what I had in mind. I'll get my paws into everything, from Cisco routers to software apps like HP Openview, to UNIX boxes. The Tier 1 NOC Tech was just a "foot in the door" kind of job. the old job was 24/7 so it made for weird hours too. My new one is M-F 8:00- 5:00. No weekends. Yes!!

Finally, yesterday I just passed a test which earned me my CCNA (Cisco Certified Systems Engineer). Thank god! The test sucked and had me thinking I was failing all the way through, but it turns out I not only passed, but did quite well.

How are things at RIT? Snow melted yet?
Eric

This last month or so was a veritable global conference in terms of the graduates of the program that dropped in to revisit the old classrooms to rekindle fond memories and visit with old (and getting older!) faculty. Jennifer Governali after many failed attempts finally made contact as she was intown for a meeting. She was with Josten's when she graduated and then with Agfa for a few years and shared how new opportunities may be looming in her future. Ben and Nikki Pryhoda stopped in from Denver and brought along Nikki's mother. Nikki was adamant that her employer info on "The Wall" be changed to reflect her new responsibilities with Sienna Imaging. Danielle Dittrich and husband Wayne, who are progressing just fine with IBM in Boulder where they moved into a new house, dropped in to reassure us of the fact that Danielle, who was involved in a scary motorcycle accident, is pretty much back to normal although is now a "bionic woman". Carrie Johnson, with Fuji Hunt Chemicals in New Jersey sent a brief note to let us know that she, Sara Johnson (with Dimensional Media or DMA) regularly get together for events such as this outing to a nearby stream where they enjoy nature and stuff. As usual, Sara takes a most relaxed attitude!

The following note arrived from the Photo Lab at NASA Langley Research Center where Paul Reichert is completing his second coop stint as a photographer. "Hi Andy, Just thought you might like to see how Paul has been spending his summer. He made lots of new friends that really look up to him. The little blonde really likes him but we think she is a little too young for him. Maybe next year.

Hope things are going well at RIT. Keep an eye on Paul for us.
Don't let that Mr. Nice Guy thing fool you! ha ha.
Your friends at NASA.
Sandie and Peggy

I just wanted to let you know that I'll be moving soon! I'm going to work for Delphi in Juarez Mexico. I will be starting up a color measurement lab and working with the mechanical and electrical engineers on color matches and specifications and such. My apartment will be in El Paso, TX. I'll have to cross the border every day. I don't assume that will be much fun. I love the atmosphere down there though - a lot of young people and good food and dance halls. The mountains are not very far off either!

I am engaged to be married - this October. The lucky guy is Miguel Angel Pacheco Arzate- it will be a multi-cultural event with my French-Canadian relatives and Miguel's Mexican relatives in attendance. We're planning on having the ceremony as a mixture of the 3 languages. Anyways, please wish me luck and say hello to everyone from El Paso for me!

Anne
Anne-Marie Begin
Delphi Delco Electronics Systems
Color Scientist, Integrated Body Systems
765-451-1809, fax 765-451-1787

Terry Sheridan and wife Allison and year old daughter dropped in on their way to a Canadian vacation in Ontario. All fine and dandy! He told me what he was doing but honestly I forgot the details. He is supervising five employees and his general area of activity is systems administration and troubleshooting and all the other headaches asssociated with making the communications systems at a company work.

Mike Lange and long time friend Pam dropped in sometime in late July just to check the place out. He met with colorful Professor Glenn Miller and they shared common color concerns. Mike still is with Okidata and he still does some building work on weekends. That seems to keep him in excellent shape! Apparently he be getting an upgrade in his position (along with an adjustment in salary!) and he is looking forward to this. Mike, thoughtful as he is, brought a gift made by the beer gods although it appears that one of the gods got thirsty en route!.

Caren Firsty	Shelly Bergeron	Shelly at wedding	James O'Hara	Robert Nuuja

Finally, I also ran across Robert Nuuja who is working at Xerox Corporation right here in Rochester. We both happened to be at the same Chinese restaurant on Monroe avenue and chatted for a while. It seems he is a frequent visitor to Japan representing his company's interests in various projects Xerox has established there. Interesting, he did not seem to have acquired an accent but his eyes ... .

Words are not enough to describe the events of May 20, 2000 as a gaggle of Imaging and Photographic Technology students participated in graduation ceremonies in the Institute's three ring circus tent so here is a dozen and a half photographs to try to convey in OUR universal langauge the emotions and events of this unique day. These photos are in B&W to try to keep file size down. If you would like the original files sent to you by email just let "you know who" know and it will be done. By the way, do remember to drop a line now and then, eh?

A couple of weeks ago a bunch of Imaging and Photographic Technology students gathered for the 35th Annual IPT Spring Picnic/Barbecue and barefoot soccer game. Great fun was had by all. MVP Awards for excellence in soccer were awarded to Paul and Logan, Best Female Rookie Soccer player went to Meredith. After the game, witnessed by hundreds, the rest of the afternoon was dispatched in quiet contemplation, conversation and self study as attested to by the photographs below.

The week before finals Karen Dirkse decided to do some homework. Little did we realize what kind of homework she was talking about! A simple barbecue/picnic combo turned into a marathon social event featuring card games with dubious, yet interesting and provocative (or maybe that might be suggestive?) names and all kinds of liquid refreshments including a lot of Hot Sex provided by who else? Words fail to do justice to the day long festivities attended by such luminaries as Nitin, Rus, Andy, Bret, Kerry, Michelle, (both Kerry and Michelle took an exam break during the goings on!) and Garrett, Meredith, Peter, Paul as well as, of course, the hostess herself, Karen. In addition, if memory serves this reporter right, Candy, Trixie, Dolly and several other partiers from the neighborhood attended. The highlight of the afternoon was a pugilistic encounter between Karen and Meredith. The match was called a draw when neither combattant could throw a punch like the boys do.

Hello everyone. Now that some time has gone by, I have a better perspective on things-so here is my update email. For those of you who don't know me, I graduated last May and am currently working on my Masters in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona.

First, here is a small comparison of the two programs. Class tends to be less applied than in the IPT program and some of the professors are less than exciting. Their presentation methods are less effective than that of the tech teachers. The classes I have taken so far include Optical Design (too easy thanks to Scott and Terry), Image Processing for Remote Sensing, Fourier Optics, Radiometry, and Optical Detectors. The detectors class has been the best so far due to professor Eustace Dereniak - he has more of a photo tech teaching style.

Opt-sci is a great place if you are interested in optical data storage, lasers, diffraction theory, or optical design and aberrations. Since my area of interest is remote sensing, opt-sci classes aren't the best. So why did I come to Arizona-weather, mountains, personal growth, and the Remote Sensing Group. I have already upset many people with talk of the weather, so I won't elaborate here. Tucson is surrounded by mountains on practically all sides providing a beautiful backdrop for our campus. Other than construction, the UofA has a large mall (grass fields where students hang out) surrounded by the academic buildings.

Like I said, the main reason why I like UofA is the Remote Sensing Group. Kurt Thome (my advisor and group head) is a great guy to work for. We are one of the best research groups in the country in the area of vicarious calibration of imaging satellites. Basically, our goal is to take a digital count from a satellite image and help scientists relate the count to radiance or even surface reflectance. What we do is somewhat simple, we travel out to a test site (usually a dry lake bed in the desert), we measure surface reflectance, weather data, and solar irradiance. From the weather and solar irradiance data we can figure out what particles are in the atmosphere. This along with the surface reflectance gets put into a computer code which uses radiative transfer equations to predict the radiance from the surface out in space at the satellite. This is compared to the digital count for the site and calibration coefficients of the optics and electronics from before launch. The goal is to assign a physical quantity to the digital count and also monitor systems changes and degradation over time.

I've had the chance to work out in Ivanpah near Las Vegas, Railroad Valley near Area 51, and Lake Tahoe. The Lake Tahoe trip involved only solar irradiance data collection, cross country skiing, and snowmobiling.

As for this summer and last summer, I am now affiliated with Orbital Sciences Corp. I am working on Orb-View 4 which has a 1 meter resolution panchromatic band, 4 4 meter resolution multispectal bands in the vis and near-ir, and an 8 meter hyperspectral spectrometer with 200 bands covering the visible to short wave ir. I spend most of my time creating imaging system models to predict signal levels during calibration after launch. Since the camera is contracted out, I have not had much of a chance to play with characterization data such as dark current tests and linearity tests. Most of the models I create are radiometry based taking into account the sun, the solar diffuser used for on orbit calibration, and system specs.

Well I guess that's about all from my end. Hope everyone is doing well and congratulations to the soon to be graduates!

Keith

Sara Johnson, who is now working in New York city, dropped in to visit her alma mater (RIT and especially Tech Alley in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences) and also her good friend Meredith Whitaker who is a graduating senior in the program. The pace of life in New York City is much different from quiet old Rochester and she misses the peace and serenity of life as a student.

A few months ago the IPT faculty were hard at work getting the new academic year started. Now, in April of 2000, they are quickly bringing the year to a close. In between a lot of snow has fallen in Rochester! Here are some candid shots taken early on in the year. Left to right you can see them in action starting with Dr. Rus Kraus, Profs. Steve Diehl, Glenn Miller, Andrew Davidhazy and Dr. Bruce Kahn.

John Grim has this update to share:

Maybe you've already heard from Nitin (maybe you haven't) - I've changed employers once again. I landed a great position within Kodak's research and development facility. My official job title is research scientist. After being involved with color science and digital printing the last several years, its a nice change of pace to be working with photographic systems once again. One of the people I work with you may know (he knows you) - Tim Mathers. Tim reminds me a lot of you, he likes to build photographic devices out all sorts of things (mostly from items people are throwing away).

I'm really excited about this new position with Kodak; the work is very interesting, it has cut my commute in half (I was driving an hour each way for my last job), they gave me a nice salary increase, plus I get back the 4 years I worked at Kodak in manufacturing before I attended RIT (which means next year I get a third week of vacation). For your records, my work email is john.grim@kodak.com and my home email is johngrimjr@msn.com

Hope all is well at RIT,
John Grim

Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 23:04:50 -0700
From: Eric Withee withee@imageworks.com

It's been a while! I keep getting your job opening e-mails, which is cool, but sorry that I haven't been in touch. It was a tough past year work-wise in that I went for some time without it. The visual effects industry was a dry lake bed for the better part of the last year. My last job was at a company called The Post Group at which I worked on Wing Commander, Pushing Tin, and Inspector Gadget. I was looking for work in several different industries for a while with no luck. I didn't want to leave LA, but things were looking bleak. Then, a couple weeks ago, after long last, I landed a job at Sony Pictures Imageworks as a Senior Technical Assistant on "Hollow Man", a new twist on the invisible man theme starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Shue. It should be interesting. The job basically entails supporting the digital artists, but its a big job. The show is taking up about 6 terrabytes worth of computer space and our job is to push that data around on the network, convert, archive, anything else we're asked to do to it. Wacky. I'm hoping this eventually turns into a step towards what I want to do, which is producing. We'll see!

Other than that whole drama, life has been a beach out here. I'm still living the life of a bachelor and being in Hermosa Beach, I might as well still be in college for all the partying that goes on here.

Hope things are good with you. Been on any adventures lately?

-- 
Eric Withee                     Sr. Technical Assistant
Sony Pictures Imageworks        "Hollow Man"
9050 W. Washington Bl.          310-840-8529 wk; x8465 voicemail
Culver City, CA  90232          310-368-9590 pgr.

Tracy Kreckman, who started out as a helicopter pilot and eventually returned to civilian life, dropped in the other day on his way to checking up on progress that a local company is making on some heads-up displays being made for the company he works for in San Diego. He stated that his photographic background had come in handy as he was the most proficient in this area at his work and thus gets involved with a diverse set of assignments. He is pictured here with Rus Kraus.

Kevin Lesnewski, kevin.lesnewski@kodak.com, has this to say:

I has been some time we talked to each other. There are a couple of updates to share with you: my E-mail has changed again, it is now kevin.lesnewski@kodak.com

My office number is still the same for now but will be changing in the near future, I am moving from Elmgrove to Kodak Office, downtown to a new job I have accepted. I am the new Market Manager for Kodak Professional US&Canada region Medical Segment. As you may tell, this is really going to keep me busy now, and I have to pack my office ( thats no small undertaking),

I hope to stop out some time soon and talk, but if there is anything you need give me a call, Thanks, Kevin

and Brad Ashbrook bashbrook@earthlink.net provides this update:

I am on my bosses computer in downtown Savannah and I was looking for John Hills webpage because I saw one of his photographs in one of my customers store. I am currently working for EDA Marketing, a manufactures rep firm for professional audio-visual products in central Florida - www.edamarketing.com. My current email address is bashbrook@earthlink.net. I am still keeping busy with stereo photography and stereo imagery on the computer. I am also the proud of papa of 2 beautiful kids. Hopefully some day we will cross paths again, please take care.

Brad Ashbrook
4646 Rose of Tara Way
Orlando, FL 32808
407-291-9454

Several members of the Imaging and Photographic Technology department participated in this year's School of Photographic Arts and Sciences Faculty Show. The exhibit ran over the month of December 1999 and included among the photographs and other artwork by over 30 school faculty members, were several photographs by Steve Diehl, Glenn Miller and Andrew Davidhazy.

A photograph made by our very own Bianca Koscielski, while a first year student last year and working on an assignment given by Prof. Stephen Diehl as part of the work associated with Photo 1, will be gracing the cover of the new, revised, edition of the technical "bible" of RIT photo students near and far. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger version.
The Materials and Processes course is taken by all photography students in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences and it is now primarily taught by Dr. Rus Kraus. Several photographs by other students and faculty appear inside the book to illustrate particular points related to the theory and practice of photography.

Keith Krause, Sam Hill, Crystal Embrey (here shown flying upside down!) and Jason Babcock proposed an experiment to the 1997 NASA Microgravity Research Flight Opportunity for college students and in a competition involving 60 universities nationwide they were selected to be among the 23 student teams to be invited to fly on NASA's famed Vomit Comet at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The Imaging and Photographic Technology team was selected along with student teams from Texas A&M, Purdue, Georgia Tech, University of Washington, University of Utah, and others.

Select Imaging and Photographic Technology Zero-Gravity project to obtain a complete report on their activites and several illustrated articles describing their experiences and findings.

Relatively recently almost 30 members of the Imaging and Photographic Technology department had the privilege of visiting the NASA Lewis Research Center and take a look at various facilities normally off limits to touring groups. The visit was made possible by Tech grad, Jim Sims, who works with Cortez III, the contractors providing photographic services to the Center. Among the special labs the group visited was one where research into the fabrication of ultra fine and ultra strong fibers is being conducted. It was at this research lab that Michael Klayman completed a coop last summer.

Among the students and faculty that participated in this unique field-trip were Ryan + Jennifer Carson, Katie Nifong, Karen Dirkse, Michael Klayman, Gretchen Gast, Jared Fine, David Zwarg, Jo + Andy Cappella, Amy Brown, Kerry Robarge, Andrew Oransky, Salim Al-Habsi, Carrie Johnson, Joe Maccanelli, John Cullen, Liana Schuetz, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Leanne Peters, Garrett Vanderover, Paul Reichert, Deron Berkhof, Mark Bixler, Keith Hinzman, Andy Davidhazy, Pilar Martinez and Micah Walter. Here you can see them grouped in front of the giant impeller turbine that drives the air inside one of the largest wind tunnels in the world at close to supersonic speeds. This tunnel is also equipped with air chillers since the major function of the facility is the study of the cause and remedy of icing on aircraft and their lift and propulsion systems.

On Friday evening there was a humongous pizza party held at Jim Sim's apartment and Jim provided the entertainment relating with usual enthusiasm and detail the trial and tribulations he went through on his recent trip to Turkey and Egypt. Later, some of the travelers stayed overnight at Jim's apartment and the rest split up and took up overnight residence with the Klayman and Bixler families who generously opend up their homes to the wanderers.

While we don't have a photograph to share, the group also made a stop at American Greetings Corporation also located in Cleveland. They visited the photography studios and the conventional and digital photography areas. It was at this facility that Mark Bixler completed a coop working in the digital area of the operation.

A most unusual thing happened at the XX International Congress on High Speed Photography and Photonics that was held in Santa Fe. FIVE Imaging and Photographic Technology students were present at this prestigious meeting of the foremost practitioners of this discipline. In this photograph are Jim Sims from NASA Lewis in Cleveland, Howard Broughton (a CIS grad), Ian Grob, who works for Failure Analysis in Phoenix, Asher Gelbart, current student who received a travel scholarship from SPIE to attend the conference, Dave Mersfelder, who works for Harley Davidson in Milwaukee doing high speed photography and Steve Tharnstrom, who is a Photo Technologist at the Defense Special Weapons Agency Field Command, Kirtland AFB, NM. Jim Sims presented a paper with his colleague Howard, entitled "High speed gear failure video imaging system".

They were joined at the meeting by Prof. Andrew Davidhazy who was on the conference organizing committee and who also gave a plenary talk on the subject of "High Speed Photography 101", an illustrated description of the course he teaches for the program.

To see other, older news from the department's files just click on Archived Tech News

To add news to this Departmental News Bulletin Board send text and attached images to: Andrew Davidhazy who will gladly add the item to this bulletin board dedicated to the students and faculty of the Imaging and Photgraphic Technology program at RIT's School of Photographic Arts and Sciences.