A Passion for Science - Columbia College - Columbia University

Columbia CollEgE Today CLASS NOTES
ing the Martin Luther King Jr. Day
weekend, nick dicarlo, christopher
simi, Marty Moore, christian
capasso and I were part of a team
that won the Second Annual Blue
Chip Farms Snow Bowl. The squad
defeated a team composed partially
of Jonathan chanin, noam
Zerubavel, craig rodwogin, Joshua
Kace ’07E and david Koretz ’07E.
“Dominated and demoralized
are probably more apt terms to
describe the circumstances of the
victory. Moore scored the game’s
first offensive touchdown by dusting
the opposing team’s secondary
on an early go route. After a back
and forth first half, it became apparent
early in the third quarter
that all signs of hope had been
extinguished from the losing team
(‘the losers’). Simi’s relentless pass
rush, coupled with Koretz’s inability
to throw in the direction of
‘Capasso Island’ limited the losers’
offensive options.
“Mr. DiCarlo was awarded the
game ball as the team’s M.V.P. ‘It
was a great win,’ said Nick. ‘I’d say
we triumphed because of superior
athleticism, better teamwork and
a distinct lack of SEAS graduates
on our squad. Those guys are
spastic.’ ”
seth flaxman and Jim Mccormick
are looking for a good broker
to help them find an apartment in
Brooklyn (somewhere around Fort
Greene). Seth asks, “Any recommendations?
(Please send referrals
to P.O. Box We Are On Facebook.)”
08
neda navab
53 Saratoga Dr.
Jericho, NY 11753
nn2126@columbia.edu
While studying at SUNY Downstate
Medical School, the always impressive
calvin sun also has helped to
build a medical clinic in Mexico. “I
don’t believe any of us fully grasped
the impact of what we were doing
until we had left. And even now,
in the nascent days of our Tijuanawithdrawal,
I still haven’t fully comprehended
the obvious, the notion
that we were in Mexico for only four
days, transcending a community
service cliché by creating something
more than just a building.
“We returned feeling like we lived
up, somehow, to the overarching mission
of helping serve a community of
1,500 in need, but we also came back
having taken with us something we
never really read in the pamphlets
or heard about in our information
sessions. Beneath the very obvious
act of building a clinic, we also unconsciously
had nurtured a remarkable
environment of affiliation and acceptance
among one another. Novices
and experts, young and elder, artists
and builders, brains and brawn;
strangers from all over the country
boasting vastly diverse and seemingly
incompatible interests, skills,
expectations and levels of determination
somehow were able to quickly
reconcile incongruities and establish
something organic in doing one thing
and that one thing well: to build.
“There never was a pre-screening,
and there was not an application
process. The only red tape we saw
was used as nametags. All 40 of us
were instead judged and accepted
onto the team based solely on our
willingness to create. Armed with
the curiosity of what a bunch of
strangers can do when they share
the same goal, we came back having
learned that sometimes wonderful
things can happen.”
Being in a snow-covered New
York is great for a few days, but
when the opportunity arises to head
to the Rocky Mountains, where you
can really make use of the white
stuff, this crowd couldn’t resist. So
in January, christopher tortoriello,
caitlin hodge, carmen ballard,
Vladimir gorbaty ’08E, sumana
rao and Jason gordon ’08E, all of
whom live in New York, reunited
with their friends rob wu and liz
gill, who live on the West Coast,
for a week of skiing/snowboarding
in Vail, Colo. “It was the best time of
our lives. Two cracked ribs and one
missing tooth later, we are all still
wondering why we got back on the
plane to JFK,” said Carmen.
rachel weidenbaum (now
rachel claire) had the lead role in
Ansky’s The Dybbuk and various
ensemble roles in Federico García
Lorca’s Blood Wedding. Both shows
were performed with Marvell Repertory
in its inaugural season at the
Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
on West 36th Street from March
through April. She was thrilled to
be working alongside Broadway
veterans and received her Actors’
Equity card! In February, Rachel
made her TV debut as Sadie in
Fire at the Triangle on the PBS series
American Experience.
09
alidad damooei
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
damooei@gmail.com
stephanie chou recently released
her debut recording, which explores
a new approach to combining jazz,
traditional Chinese music and
math. Prime Knot contains a varied
set of original compositions including
jazz arrangements of the ancient
Chinese classic, “Jasmine Flower,”
tunes inspired by knot theory,
classical piano and pop. It features
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s
Marcus Printup on trumpet and
MAY/JUNE 2011
77
Graduating from college, check. Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, check.
What’s next? Friends Samuel Harris, Tomoko Masaki, Stephanie Shieh ’08,
Amelia Breyre ’08 and Daniel Breyre have plenty of time to figure it out on
the decent from the Tanzanian mountain, which they climbed in January.
flugelhorn, fellow Columbians
Jeremy Siskind ’10 GSAS on piano
and Joel Gombiner ’11 on tenor
saxophone, and Israeli musicians
Daniel Ori on bass and Ronen Itzik
on drums. Steph plays alto saxophone
and piano and sings. Audio
samples can be found at stephchou.
com. Prime Knot now is available
in hard copy and digital download
from CDBaby (cdbaby.com/cd/
stephchou), iTunes and Amazon.
The NYC release concert was on
April 29 at Drom on Avenue A and
featured the full band.
After graduation, Joanna Zuckerman
bernstein spent a year in
Mexico City on a Princeton in Latin
America fellowship. In addition to
working at a public health organization,
she spent a month roadtripping
around the south of Mexico.
Upon returning to the United States,
Joanna moved to Chicago, home to
the second largest Mexican immigrant
population in the country. She
is the development coordinator for
Universidad Popular, a community
organization that offers ESL classes,
computer literacy and repair courses,
Spanish literacy classes, youth afterschool
programs, dance and exercise,
and citizenship classes.
Almost immediately following
graduation, brett robbins hopped
on a plane for the first leg of a
seven-month, round-the-world trip
that would take him through 21
countries on six continents (Antarctica
is next). A few weeks in Europe
were followed by months in South
America, Asia and Oceania before
concluding in Africa. Though he
did some solo exploring, Brett often
was accompanied by friends. He
met up with seth Melnick in Delhi,
and together they tackled India,
Nepal, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Brett returned to the States in
January 2010 and started working
for McKinsey. Currently on his sixth
project, Brett has explored multiple
business topics in industries that include
finance and pharmaceuticals.
He joined the Learning Committee,
which designs learning programs
for first- and second-year business
analysts, and the Columbia recruiting
team.
Brett recently was staffed on a
growth strategy project in China,
flying to and from Hong Kong and
Shanghai. Though life on the road
can be lonely, he has had the opportunity
to see China through the
“local” eyes of fellow Columbians
Tom Hou ’11, allan lau and colin
felsman, who are involved with
various projects in China. Brett was
scheduled to return home for good
at the end of January.
colin felsman is halfway through
his year as a Luce Scholar working
for a nonprofit incubator in Shanghai.
This year has given him a
chance to fully immerse himself in
the Chinese social enterprise and
nonprofit space, begin the arduous
task of learning Mandarin and travel
like he never has. Colin’s journeys
so far (both for work and pleasure)
have included Vietnam, Thailand,
Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia
and numerous locations throughout
China. In addition to more domestic
excursions, during the coming six
months Colin will head to Taiwan,
Mongolia, South Korea, Laos and
even New Zealand. When not on
the road, he has grown quite fond
of Shanghai, which he says is a dynamic
city of sharp juxtapositions,
rapid modernization and fascinating
history. He relates that the city