Pavan Challa. - web.mst.eduweb.mst.edu/~fblum/fdbinfo/fdbgroupnews108.pdf · Sunil Pillalamarri. We...
Transcript of Pavan Challa. - web.mst.eduweb.mst.edu/~fblum/fdbinfo/fdbgroupnews108.pdf · Sunil Pillalamarri. We...
Blum Groupmate News January 2008
Brij Sinha. This year has gone by very quickly for us.
We are still stationed in Houston and I still work for The
Dow Chemical Company. I am responsible for the
Specialty Films business at Dow and was supposed to
move to Midland, MI (Dow headquarters) last year but so
far have been able to convince them otherwise. We really
did not want to go back to the cold country. Judith
continues to be a domestic engineer (stay at home mom)
but keeps herself busy with home projects and taking care
of us. Sheilo and Nidhi (our daughters) are now a Junior
and a Senior in high school, respectively and are busy with their studies. Nidhi says that she is
interested in majoring in Finance and wants to go to UT Austin. Sheilo has her own car and
drives Nidhi & her to school every day. We spent about 2.5 weeks this past summer in Europe
and got a chance to see Paris, Strasbourg, Vienna and Warsaw. We really enjoyed it a lot. My
brother lives in Warsaw so we got a chance to spend several days with him as well. I am
attaching a picture of the two girls enjoying the ambience in Europe.
We still reminisce about Rolla days and the time spent there. I am in regular touch with
Subra and we met his family in Bombay last December when his family and ours were visiting
India at the same time. Rest is fine. Thanks for taking the time to keep in contact with all your
former students. Look forward to the Holiday letter. (Nidhi and Shilo)
Bing Zhang. I got two news for 07. My daughter,
Zhiyi Zhang, is almost 1 year old now. And I
moved to a new position inside the group as a lab
manager. (Zhizu and Zhiyi)
Ravi Vohra. As for 2007, completed my first year
with Capgemini and moved to Chicago. I Love
everything about Chicago but the traffic and the
winters (I sure miss Rolla winters now !!).. It was
very challenging and rewarding year; beginning to
understand supply chain technologies and
management. Wish all the best to the FDBGroup and your family.
Gu Xu. We had a wonderful 2007. Rui has finished
the first half of freshman in USC. He like the School
because of the good sports and parties. Jin has traveled
very hard for interviews in 7 medical schools and
accepted by Mizzou and SLU. Xie is panning to build
a new house in 2008. I tried to finish the kinetic paper
and do good research. We have a lot to do in the New
Year. (Rui, Xia, Gu, Jin)
Blum Holiday Letter January 2008 2/6
Pavan Challa. Excited to see your mail after a long
time. This year I was busy with business trips and I
dealt two more clients this year apart from Nestle
Purina petcare. Presently I am in working at Harley-
Davidson, Milwaukee WI. I am proud to say that I am
given crucial projects to complete this year. Time is
going so fast that we had our first Wedding
anniversary on Dec 15th 2007. Thanks and have an
ecstatic New year 2008. (Pavan and Yashodha)
Sunil Pillalamarri. We have celebrated this
new year in a special way as it is also our son's
(saketh rana) first birthday. He is growing really
fast, started walking and keeping both of us
extremely busy. I will be leaving Freescale at
the end of this month to join 3M electronic
materials in Minneapolis. I guess I can't stay
away from snow for too long. This has been a
challenging year for me to stay away from lab
and work on project management. (Saketh
Rana, Sunil, Sumalatha)
R. Allen Waggoner. Merry Christmas from the Waggoners
Dear Dr. Blum, We are still teaching in the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University. Everything goes well. Now Max is 11 years old and Mink is 9 years old. They are growing up very fast. For the photo, we had a little time to go to Dream World in April. We were very happy in that day. May God bless you, your family and everyone in Blum’s group have a happiest year. Best regards,
Win, Suntree, Max, Mink Kulkeratiyut
Blum Holiday Letter January 2008 4/6
Kaz Nagashima. After my contract with
AIST national research institute expired the
end of March 2007, I started working at
Japanese subsidiary of MKS Instruments, Inc.
(www.mksinst.com). Although their major
customers are semiconductor manufacturing
equipment makers, you might know the
company’s name with the capacitance
manometer and some other vacuum
peripherals in your lab. Anyhow, two months
of long scrutiny were needed for lawyers and
bureaucrats to issue a J1 visa for my on-the-
job training in the US. From June 18, I spent
eight weeks in Boston suburb, four weeks in Rochester NY, and seven weeks in San Jose. Of
course, I had to study semiconductor, vacuum, and plasma physics from scratch. I could recover
my speaking and listening English during that time, but I am losing it again after returning to
Japan. My job at MKS Tokyo office is pre-sales activities for vacuum chamber cleaning
products that utilize remote plasma of reactive gas. Reading semiconductor-related articles, I
often encounter the name of Brewer Science: Rolla’s photo resist seems to be known worldwide.
You will be able to find my most recent paper at Articles in Press on the web of the “Journal
of Magnetic Resonance” or it may appear at the first page of the February 2008 issue. I made the
manuscript of simple theory alone with no spectrometer in hand. My research does not need a
big budget, as was also evident in MUSIC theory’s case.
I also got cards From:
Gambogi's. Still in NJ. Bob works for Johnson and Johnson, Joan for Colgate-Palmolive.
Maver's. Still in NJ. Tammy works for Rohm and Haas.
Erin Bharadwaj (Young). Well, I've had some big changes over the last year, and am looking
forward to more in 2008. I got married on March 24, 2007 to another UMR Alumni, Bharadwaj
Krishnamurthy. We had a small but very fun wedding in Kansas City. His parents came from
India. Several of his aunts and uncles live in the US and were able to attend, as well as most of
my extended family and some close friends. This made the event really special. We then
honeymooned in Hawaii, which I think is the most beautiful place I have ever been. I would
really liked to have stayed, but the cost of living is outrageous there.
My husband works for J P Morgan, in downtown Houston, so we moved to a house in
Humble, which is a suburb on the NorthEast corner of Houston. I have still been working for
ExxonMobil in Beaumont, so I commute 140 miles a day (3 hours). So, I've been looking for a
position nearer to home. I have just accepted a position with the Houston Valero refinery, and
will start March 1st. I will be starting in a similar position to what I do now, but have the
potential to move up pretty quickly since I have some experience. I'm sad to leave what I know,
but excited about the change too. The new job seems to be a really good fit for me. I start with a
Blum Holiday Letter January 2008 5/6
higher salary, more vacation, much shorter commute and I think the work environment will be
better.
As you could probably guess from my husband's name, he is from India. I will be taking my
first trip to India next month to meet the rest of my new in-laws! We plan to spend a few days in
Paris on the way back. So we are buried in plans for that...I need an Indian visa...he needs a
French visa... So, in next year's news letter, I can tell you about India and Paris!
Hyoryoon Jo. My family in New York really enjoys here. We recently bought a small house.
In winter, here has a lot of snow, which requires remove snow everyday. Surrounding many
lakes make snows called as ‘snow effect’
Gregory is 9th grader this academic year and Mihee keep working at Library. Her major was
library science in Korea and she is doing
interlibrary loan work at public library.
Pictures: (i) I was cleaning snow in one of the
snow storms. (ii) Finally, snow stopped and
accumulation reached to half of first floor of
my house. (iii) Gregory enjoys playing violin in
local art center. (iv) Mihee stood next of her
favorite.
Gregory recently earned his black belt on Tae
Kwon Do. He still remembers you and we
often chat about your lab and your mustache.
I am doing fine with Indium. I am still
formulating flux for solder paste. This is
interesting work. Flux should not corrosive at
room temperature but it should provide good
chemical reaction at elevated temperature.
Recently, EU started their lead free regulation
for environmental safe electronics. So, we are
Blum Holiday Letter January 2008 6/6
developing Lead-Free Solder Paste. Mainly Tin Silver Copper (SAC) alloy is major but there are
other options available.
I can not forget Life in Rolla and I always appreciate for your warm support and strong guide
on my life and science. I hope you and your family stays warm. I miss Rolla and you.
Burak Metin. It's been more than a year in solar
industry working for SoloPower Inc. in California.
It is really expensive living here but very nice
weather throughout the year. I was in Turkey for
more than a month (end of the summer). Spent a lot
of time in the village after 7 years. Collected lots of
walnuts, would not do it again though, as I hope I
will not do the thing I was doing in the picture.
Hope 2008 will be a good year for everybody.
Lea Dankers. This year was eventful for me. The
spring was busy with teaching and classes and
working on my thesis. During the early part of the
summer I moved west to Milpitas, California and I
eventually found a job at Honeywell working on
packaging for their electronic materials area. Over
the course of the summer, I enjoyed sight seeing
throughout northern California such as Napa, San
Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Monterey. I returned to
Rolla at the end of August to defend my thesis
before starting my new job. Since then, I have really enjoyed working for Honeywell. The
people I work with are really nice and laidback and the project is exciting, however, there is a lot
of big corporation politics which took me by surprise. California is crowded and busy, but I still
like the new adventures and the various things there are to do during the weekend, and the
weather is great! I have attached a picture of me in Monterey if you want to see.
All t h e b e s t f o r 2 0 08!
Frank