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ALMA MATTERS
N E W S L E T T E R F O R G R A D U A T E A L U M N I O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A N D E N G I N E E R I N G
V O L U M E 3 N U M B E R 1 W I N T E R 2 0 0 2
The CEEO: Changing the Face of Education
in Massachusetts
The Center for Engineering Educational
Outreach (CEEO) at Tufts
keeps a low profile. Housed in the
basement of Curtis Hall, there are
no signs on the building announcing the center’s
presence and the office doesn’t appear on
most campus maps. But the CEEO is by no
means invisible. The impact it has had on education
in Massachusetts is nothing short of
extraordinary. And, they are just getting started.
Dean Ioannis Miaoulis with some future engineers
Throughout its history, the CEEO has
worked to expose engineering to students in
grades pre K-12. In 1998, the center began
working to revise the Massachusetts K-12
science and technology curriculum. Led by
Ioannis Miaoulis, dean of the School of Engineering,
the center collaborated with fellow
engineers and educators to this end. This effort
was rewarded in December, 2000, when the
Massachusetts Board of Education decided to
include engineering in elementary, middle, and
high school classrooms across the state.
Since the Board of Education decision, the
CEEO has been sending engineering students
and faculty representatives into local schools to
assist in curriculum development. Brian Vernaglia,
a chemical engineering graduate student,
has seen the benefits of this effort
firsthand. Each week, he visits the Center
School in Stow, MA, and shares different
aspects of engineering with the faculty and students.
“When I assist in the classes at the
Center School, I add engineering concepts
where it’s appropriate,” Vernaglia says. “In one
class we were studying weather and its prediction.
I took the opportunity to have the students
research and build weather instruments.
This helped change the dynamic of the class
from a passive one of sitting and
learning, to an active one, where the
students were designing and building.”
The center also coordinates the
LEGO Summer Camp, runs Girls
Get Set (a five-week program for
middle school girls funded by Lucent
Technology) and is working on, with
NASA funding, an interactive space
unit web site that can be utilized in
the classroom.
The intent of the CEEO is to
bring engineering to students early and often.
Thus far, this strategy has worked, with more
than 100 teachers in schools across the U.S. and
abroad participating with the center to meet
this goal. In the end, the work of the CEEO
can be defined by the effect it has had on
teachers and students, expanding not only their
engineering knowledge but how they relate to
the world around them. “The most enjoyable
thing about my work is seeing the enthusiasm
of the students and the teachers,” says Martha
Cyr, director of the CEEO. “Watching them
work on projects, discovering that they can use
engineering to design or build is very rewarding.”
If you would like to learn more about the
Center for Engineering Educational Outreach
(CEEO), please call 617-627-5888 or e-mail
Martha Cyr at martha.cyr@tufts.edu.
Mark Morelli
in this issue
1 CEEO
2 Concordia Foundation
makes gift
3 Catching up with
Denise Cremin
4 Tufts graduate
returns after 30 years
5 Epidemiology
Certificate
6 Student Profile:
Patricia Desmond
7 Alumni Profiles:
Melinda Linderer and
Noah Osnos
8 Dean Hollister joins
UCCPS

Mark Morelli
ALMA MATTERS
N E W S L E T T E R F O R G R A D U A T E A L U M N I O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A N D E N G I N E E R I N G
President Bacow with faculty members
President has
high hopes for
graduate studies
The Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences and the School of Engineering
welcomed new president, Lawrence
Bacow, to Tufts this past semester.
Before coming to Tufts, Bacow served
as MIT’s Chancellor for three years and
was also the Lee and Geraldine Martin
Professor of Environmental Studies.
Bacow has extensive experience with
graduate education and envisions a
promising future for graduate studies
at the university. “Graduate education
is very important to Tufts,” Bacow says.
“It helps us create new knowledge,
educate the next generation of scholars
and practitioners, and strengthens
our scholarly reputation.”
President Bacow hopes to
increase the visibility of graduate studies
and feels that alumni can be crucial
contributors to this effort. “Each time
a graduate alumnus does well in his
or her chosen field, they help Tufts,”
Bacow says.“Alumni can also help
steer other talented graduate students
to Tufts and we hope that they maintain
contact with the university
throughout their lives.”
2 tufts alma matters winter 2002
Concordia Foundation Makes
Gift to Tufts Classics Department
Classics graduate student Joe
DiLuzio spent his summer in a
ditch. And, he couldn’t have been
happier. Thanks to a generous gift from the
Concordia Foundation, DiLuzio participated
in an archaeological dig in June, serving
as a trench master at the Poggio
Civitate site in Murlo, Italy. “With the
support of the Concordia Foundation, I
was able to fulfill one of my field requirements
while also learning how to excavate,
what to look for on a dig, and how to
record data,” DiLuzio says. “I enjoyed the
experience tremendously.”
Last year, the Concordia Foundation
donated $60,000 to the Classics Department.
The donation helped establish a
permanent endowed fund to aid the work
of graduate students like Joe DiLuzio.
On a break at the Poggio Civitate site in Murlo, Italy
Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the
Concordia Foundation supports a wide
range of charitable, educational, environmental,
literary, and artistic endeavors. The
foundation’s gift helps graduate students
who participate in summer programs or
digs in Europe and those who attend professional
meetings. “This donation serves
many purposes,” says Professor Peter Reid,
chair of the Classics Department. “Currently,
to attend a dig at the Agora in
Athens or a summer session of the
Vergilian Society in Italy, it would cost at
least $3,000, a sum that few graduate
students can afford without assistance. The
Concordia Foundation’s gift will allow
students to take advantage of these tremendous
opportunities.”
“With the support
of the Concordia
Foundation, I was
able to fulfill one
of my field
requirements while
also learning how
to excavate,
what to look for
on a dig, and how
to record data.”
—Joe DiLuzio

Catching Up With Denise Cremin
B.A., 1989; M.A.T., 1990
For Denise Cremin, it’s all about the
moment. She’ll be working with
one of her students and then, unexpectedly,
it will hit. Most teachers can
relate to the moment, the instant when a
student comprehends what’s being taught.
It’s like light illuminating a darkened
room. It is the essence of teaching. “I love
watching when a student finally understands,
really gets what I’m teaching,”
Cremin says. “There’s nothing more satisfying
as a teacher.”
Cremin, a Spanish teacher at Newton
North High School, has experienced this
satisfaction often. Her success can be
attributed to many things. She’s dedicated,
patient, and willing to do almost anything
for her students, even if it means taking on
the United States government.
In 1997, Cremin and a colleague
decided to take a group of students to
Cuba, figuring it would be a valuable educational
experience for all those involved.
The U.S. Treasury Department thought
differently. “In order to go to Cuba you
need to get a license from the Treasury
Department,” she says. “They refused to
give us one because there were no programs
like ours for high schools. We were not satisfied
with this decision.”
Cremin’s dissatisfaction manifested
itself in letters. Lots of them.
Over the ensuing months, Cremin
wrote letters to Cardinal Law, former President
Clinton, and Massachusetts Congressman
Barney Frank, urging them to use
their influence in any way they could.
These efforts proved successful in 1999
when Cremin was issued a license.
But Cremin’s work was far from over.
The Treasury Department was an easy sell
compared to the Cuban government. “In
September of 1999, we met with the
Cuban government and their ministry of
education and told them what we wanted
to do,” Cremin says. “Dealing with a government
and trying to get visas for students
is difficult enough, but when there are tensions
between the two nations it’s even
Denise Cremin is all smiles following another successful trip to Cuba
more so. But then, about two weeks before
we were scheduled to leave, we were given
clearance to come down.”
As expected, the trip to Cuba that April
was an eye-opening experience. The students
came face-to-face with a vastly different
culture and Cremin was well aware
of some obstacles that needed to be overcome.
“I had lots of experience taking
students abroad before this trip,” she says,
“but traveling to a communist country
where there is very little American travel
was different. We really had to train the
kids to think before they spoke. We
impressed upon them the importance of
being diplomatic when interacting with
the Cuban people and our students performed
admirably.”
The Cuba program, now in its second
year, involved spending time at a high
school in Santiago, which is on the Eastern
tip of Cuba. While there, Cremin’s group
interviewed Cuban students about their
lives and experiences. “We wanted our students
to learn certain things about Cuba,”
Cremin says. “We did a lot of exchange
with these students in terms of language,
music, and history. Our students went to
classes at the school and they really bonded
with their Cuban counterparts.”
While organizing the trip was an
impressive feat, Cremin has a loftier goal.
She would like to create a literacy program
for Hispanic women in Boston. “I’d like to
create a program where these women could
learn skills that they could put on their
résumés. And hopefully an employer would
see that having a bilingual employee is a
valuable asset. This program is my eventual
goal,” she says.
Until this aspiration becomes a reality,
Cremin will continue to teach. It is, in her
words, a calling. She will follow this calling
as she engages her students in lively classroom
discussions. She will follow it as she
plans future trips with them. But most of
all, she will follow it as she works with her
students, waiting for the moment to hit.
When it does, she’ll sit back and enjoy
the light.
winter 2002 tufts alma matters 3

ALMA MATTERS
N E W S L E T T E R F O R G R A D U A T E A L U M N I O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A N D E N G I N E E R I N G
Tufts Graduate Returns After 30 Years
Family Matters: Michael Samet with son, Nati
The year is 1971 and Michael Samet
is ready to graduate from Tufts with
a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology.
Samet is at the end of a long educational
journey, one that will give birth to
many future professional achievements, the
most profound being the creation of the
word-processing program, Einstein (a system
that will revolutionize personal computer
usage in Israel during the late ’80s).
But Einstein is in the future. It is the present
that beckons. All that remains is commencement,
a final step that will close one
chapter of Samet’s life while opening up an
entirely new one. But Samet missed his
graduation. Instead of being handed his
diploma in the summer of ’71, he was in a
Washington, D.C., hospital awaiting a
delivery of another kind: his daughter, Efrat.
The years following his daughter’s birth
pass quickly. Samet invents Einstein. He
teaches at the Technion in Israel. His time
at Tufts becomes the stuff of memories.
His children, seven in all, grow up to be
4 tufts alma matters winter 2002
like their mother and father: intelligent,
industrious, kind. And before long, they
begin their own advanced studies, continuing
the family tradition of scholarship.
Three decades have passed. It’s 2001
now and the Samet children are preparing
to graduate themselves, Ron from Yale
Medical School, Shai from the Cardozo
Law School at Yeshiva University. Samet
sees an opportunity. He decides that the
time is right to be recognized for what he
has achieved. So, he sends the graduate
school an e-mail. “I graduated in 1971 with
a Ph.D.,” the message says. “And I want to
participate in this year’s commencement.”
Plans are made and Samet finds himself
back at Tufts, waiting for the commencement
ceremonies to begin. He is wearing a
cap and gown and standing with his son,
Nati, an M.B.A. candidate at John Hopkins.
Samet and his son are surrounded by
members of the graduating class. Their
conversations focus on that next phase of
life, one that Samet knows very well. After
We’d like to hear
from you
If there are comments you would like
to make, issues you would like to see
covered, an article you would like to
contribute, or if there is a fellow
alumnus whom you would like to see
interviewed for future “Catching Up
With” profiles, please send your
comments and suggestions to:
ALMA MATTERS
Robert Bochnak, editor
Tufts University
Graduate and Professional Studies
Ballou Hall
Medford, MA 02155
phone: 617-627-5826
web site:
http://ase.tufts.edu/gradstudy
e-mail: robert.bochnak@tufts.edu
all, he’s been there and he’s going strong.
The question begs to be asked, of
course. Why? Why would someone walk
through graduation thirty years after the
fact? For Samet, it’s a family thing. “I participated
in commencement to identify
with my children, a few of whom were
graduating themselves around this time,”
Samet says. “I wanted to show them that, a
generation before them, I too merited the
kind of academic accomplishments that
they were achieving.”
Around noon, the Ph.D. candidates
names are called. Upon hearing his,
Michael Samet receives his long-delayed
moment of academic pride and joy. The
audience doesn’t know much about Samet.
He appears to be just another doctoral student.
If they knew him, they might understand
what he’s doing or they might not.
Either way it doesn’t really matter because
on May 20, 2001, Dr. Michael G. Samet
came back to Tufts. After 30 years, a chapter
closed.

Epidemiology Certificate Promises Something
for Everyone
What do a lawyer and a pharmacist
have in common? At Tufts,
more than you might think.
As part of its continuing effort to appeal
to professionals from a variety of fields, the
university has created a graduate certificate
in Epidemiology. Offered by the School of
Engineering in collaboration with the
School of Medicine and the Gerald J. and
Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition
Science and Policy, the epidemiology certificate’s
appeal lies in its expansive reach.
“One of the strong points of this program
is that I could probably name 30-40 disciplines
where people would benefit from
this certificate,” says Mark Woodin,
epidemiology certificate adviser and civil
“Many people have an interest in epidemiology but
don’t feel that they have the background to study it.
The certificate provides an opportunity for people
from all backgrounds to get formal graduate level
training in epidemiology.”—Mark Woodin
and environmental engineering lecturer. “If
you’re a lawyer interested in health law or a
pharmacist who would like to keep up with
the current literature, this certificate could
help you understand and translate epidemiological
information easily.”
Open to individuals with a bachelor’s
degree, the program is also appropriate for
clinicians (physicians, veterinarians, social
workers, and psychologists), environmental
engineers and scientists, human service
professionals, biotechnology professionals,
and anyone who provides and interprets
epidemiological findings to the public. “I
designed this certificate so a large number
of people would be eligible to take it,” says
Woodin. “Many people have an interest in
epidemiology but don’t feel that they have
the background to study it. The certificate
provides an opportunity for people from all
backgrounds to get formal graduate level
training in epidemiology.”
By offering a part-time course of study
aimed at working professionals, Tufts is a
Alma Matters seeks Editorial Board
Mark Woodin, lecturer,
civil and environmental
engineering
trendsetter in the field of epidemiology.
“When we decided to create a graduate epidemiology
certificate, there wasn’t
anything like it out there for working
professionals in need of some basic understanding
of this science,” Woodin says.
“What we have created is a logical sequence
of courses which will provide enough
knowledge of epidemiology that at the conclusion
of the program professionals will be
able to apply it to their own work.”
If you would like to learn more about
the epidemiology certificate please contact
the Graduate and Professional Studies
office at 617-627-3395, pcs@ase.tufts.edu
or Mark Woodin at 617-627-3640,
mark.woodin@tufts.edu.
Over the past few months, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of
Engineering have been meeting to discuss Alma Matters and how it can best serve the
interests of our alumni. Out of these discussions came the unanimous decision to create
an Editorial Board composed of our distinguished graduates. Board members will take
an active role in everything from story ideas to the “look” of the publication. If you are
interested in this opportunity, please call Robert Bochnak at 617-627-5826 or e-mail
him at robert.bochnak@tufts.edu.
winter 2002 tufts alma matters 5
Mark Morelli

student profile
ALMA MATTERS
N E W S L E T T E R F O R G R A D U A T E A L U M N I O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A N D E N G I N E E R I N G
Patricia Desmond: Unlocking Potential
B.S. 1987, Boston University
Desmond, a computer science graduate student, using a data glove in the Human-
Computer Interaction Lab at Halligan Hall
When Patricia Desmond,
a computer science graduate
student, looks at a
computer she doesn’t see a keyboard, a
monitor, and a collection of tangled
wires. She sees a tool that can help
people achieve something greater.
“I believe that human beings are extraordinary
and I think computers can
help them go further intellectually,”
she says. “I look at a computer like I do
a screwdriver. A screwdriver by itself
isn’t that interesting. But if you look at
how someone can use it to build a
house, then your perspective begins to
change. You begin to see it as a tool
that can help you accomplish something
and I find that very interesting.”
Desmond hopes user interface
technology can help unlock the
potential of each individual. Aiming
to simplify computer usage, user
interface technology could be anything
from monitors that function
6 tufts alma matters winter 2002
based on eye movement to voice
recognition software. The intent of
this technology is to liberate individuals
from the mundane and timeconsuming
tasks associated with computers.
Activities like typing and
manipulating a mouse might appear
effortless, but they are functions that
take the user away from more
substantive work, thus decreasing
his or her productivity.
While these innovations may
seem like years in the future, they are
closer than we think. “What we see in
a computer won’t be there ten years
from now,” Desmond says. “The
industry is moving so fast and there
have been many breakthroughs of
late. For example, it was with the aid
of computers, and their ability to
rapidly sequence and analyze DNA,
that we were able to map the human
genome two years ahead of schedule.”
Desmond earned a B.S. in 1987
“What we see in a
computer won’t
be there ten years
from now. The
industry is moving
so fast and there
have been many
breakthroughs of late.”
—Patricia Desmond
from Boston University. She came to
Tufts as a graduate special student in
1998 and entered the master’s
program in computer science that
spring. It was during this time that
Desmond came into contact with several
faculty members she describes as
“scary smart.”
Intellectual role models like
Stephen Morrison, Robert Jacob, and
Anselm Blumer, faculty members in
the Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science (EECS) Department,
have not only supported Desmond’s
academic growth, but they have also
encouraged her to make a lasting contribution
to society. “The faculty of
EECS truly care about their
students and they want you to grow,”
Desmond says. “They have inspired
me to make a theoretical or practical
contribution back to society. I believe
I can do this by making computers
easier to use.”

Dan Smith
Melinda Linderer M.A., Art History, 1995
Each weekend, Melinda Linderer
leaves her Washington, D.C.,
home and hits the road. Every
trip is different. Sometimes she goes
only a few blocks. Other times, her travels
can be measured in miles. But regardless
of the distance covered, what
Linderer discovers on these trips speaks
volumes about who we were hundreds of
years ago. “When I’m not working, I
enjoy viewing historic exhibitions and
driving out into the countryside to look
at old homes and objects,” Linderer says.
“A silver teapot made by Paul Revere is a
beautiful object that you might admire at
the Museum of Fine Arts. But to know
what it took to serve a cup of tea in the
eighteenth century, who got up in the
morning to stoke the fire, how the tea
was imported, interests me.”
As Curator of Collections at Tudor
Place Historic House and Garden in
Washington, D.C., Linderer is responsible
for the home’s 8,000 objects and
Noah Osnos always finds time to
play. Whenever he has the
chance, he goes into his living
room, takes a seat, and lets loose. He’s
been this way since he was a kid. “I play
music everyday, mostly jazz with some
classical,” Osnos says. “My grandmother
150,000 archival documents. Like
Revere’s teapot, each piece is unique and
serves as a reminder of times past. “My
main role at Tudor Place is to oversee the
organization, storage, documentation,
and management of these items,” she
says. “But it wasn’t just the study of art
history that drew me to museum work.
I’m involved in this kind of work because
I get to interact so closely with historic
objects. It’s amazing to see the paint
strokes and the unbelievable craftsmanship
that went into something like a
dovetail or a carved ornament of a 200
year-old piece of furniture.”
Managing a collection like Tudor
Place is a daunting task, made more so
by elements which are often beyond the
control of the curator. Everything from
water infiltration to structural problems
that come with a 200 year-old house can
cause damage to the pieces. Pests like
rats, bats, and birds can also wreak havoc
and, because of this, proper monitoring
Noah Osnos B.A., Music, 1980; M.A., Economics, 1984
was an accomplished classical pianist
and I have her Steinway B from 1923 in
my home. She taught me to play the
piano when I was in second grade and
I’ve been interested in music ever since.”
Since that childhood experience,
Osnos has gone on a musical voyage few
can rival. Along with playing a wide range
of instruments, from the piano to the
flute, he was general manager of the Tufts
WMFO station, spent time at CBS
records, and currently works as director of
royalties at Tommy Boy Music.
Rebuilding the royalty system database
at Tommy Boy is one of his latest
projects. “When I first arrived here six
years ago we were using an antiquated
DOS-based system,” Osnos says. “Since
The Music Man: Osnos at Tommy Boy Music
procedures are of the utmost importance.
But even in the face of these
obstacles, Linderer remains undeterred.
“My goal at Tudor Place is to preserve
and interpret the collection for present
and future generations,” she says. “There
is no use in preserving our wonderful
national treasures and stories unless we
have someone to share them with.”
Linderer in front of Tudor Place
then, I have rewritten and upgraded the
system to make it more flexible when
dealing with the intricacies of royalties in
the record business.”
For Osnos, who received a master’s
degree in Economics in 1984, his position
at Tommy Boy lets him use several
skills that he’s accumulated over the
years. “The best part of my job is that
I get to combine my programming
skills and financial background with a
long-term love and knowledge of
music,” he says.
A lot has changed since Osnos was a
young boy learning the piano. He has
earned an advanced degree, gotten married,
and been a vital contributor to several
companies. But his love for music
remains constant and he’ll always find
time to play.
Some things, after all, never change.
winter 2002 tufts alma matters 7
alumni profiles
Judith Pratt

ALMA MATTERS
N E W S L E T T E R F O R G R A D U A T E A L U M N I O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A N D E N G I N E E R I N G
Dean Hollister joins UCCPS
ROB HOLLISTER STEPPED DOWN AS
dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
in June 2001. Hollister became dean in
1996 and during his tenure made some vital,
long lasting contributions to graduate education
at Tufts. Along with bolstering the reputation
of A&S and advocating for the Graduate
Student Council (GSC), he also spearheaded an
effort to review graduate school programs on a
regular basis and created several student recognition
events. “I enjoyed my time at the graduate
school tremendously,” says Hollister.“I think
we helped develop a stronger shared vision for
A&S and I’m proud of the events we initiated for
graduate students, particularly the annual graduate
student awards program and the Ph.D.
Hooding Ceremony.” The graduate school
would like to thank Dean Hollister for his work
and wish him all the best in his new role as dean
of the Tufts University College of Citizenship
and Public Service (UCCPS).
Susan Ernst has taken over as dean of the
School of Arts and Sciences. Dean Ernst, who
holds bachelor’s and doctorate degrees in zoology,
joined Tufts in 1979 as an assistant profes-
ALMA MATTERS
Graduate and Professional Studies
Ballou Hall
Medford, Massachusetts 02155
Produced by the Tufts University Office of Publications
sor in the Biology Department. She was the
chair of that department for seven years and
has most recently served as dean of natural and
social sciences. As dean of the School of Arts
and Sciences, she will be responsible for both
graduate and undergraduate education and will
serve on the President’s Council with Ioannis
Miaoulis, dean of the School of Engineering, and
the deans of the other schools.
A professor of Biology, Dean Ernst has been
involved with graduate education at Tufts for
several years, describing the experience as “an
important and rewarding part of my career at
the university.” She has served as a thesis
adviser for several Ph.D. and M.S. students and
has recently named Robin Kanarek, professor of
Psychology and the John Wade Professor, dean
of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The next issue of Alma Matters will include an
article on her legacy of achievement at Tufts
and the goals she has for the graduate school.
Please join us in welcoming Dean Ernst and
Dean Kanarek to the graduate school. For more
information call 617-627-3395.
EDITOR
ROBERT BOCHNAK
ACTING EDITORIAL
DIRECTOR
STEPHEN MORRISON,
B.S.‘88, M.S. ‘96, PH.D. ‘98
GRAPHIC DESIGN
& PRODUCTION
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