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UMD Update

Notes from the Alumni Association | By the Numbers | Three Continents, Bulldog Success | Freshwater Robots: Year-round Analysis | At the Corner of Maroon and Gold | Kennedy: Protecting the Future

Notes from the Alumni Association

Warm greetings! Thank you for reading this issue of the Bridge. Over 1,000 of you completed a recent survey about our magazine, and we appreciate the wonderful feedback you provided which will help guide future editions. The results revealed that over 60% of the respondents felt the Bridge strengthened their personal connection with UMD and the most enjoyed sections were Alumni profiles (77%) and Campus News and Updates (77%).  

In addition to keeping you informed about how UMD is making an impact around the globe with research, faculty accomplishments, and student achievements, we want this magazine to be a true reflection of our alumni and friends. We'd love to hear about your volunteer efforts, career promotions, or exciting family events, such as weddings, births, and adoptions. We are looking for more notes to publish and would like to share yours. It's easy to contribute a note at umdalumni.com – just click on the Contact Us tab, then Update Your Contact Info.

In our increasing efforts to communicate the UMD story, we offer a variety of social media options on our website at umdalumni.com. Please check them out and feel free to add your comments. We also welcome pictures and UMD memorabilia that could be posted on our website or Facebook page. If you do not currently receive our monthly e-newsletter, the UMD View, email us at alumni@d.umn.edu to be added to the distribution list.

The new UMD branding rejuvenates our sense of pride. Since graduating from UMD, thousands of you have made a positive impact on our world. We are inspired by you. We look forward to sharing your "those who can" stories!

Photo: Alumni Director Lisa Pratt is a Duluth native and an alumna.

By the Numbers

Photo: Map prepared by Stacey Stark, Geographic Information Sciences Lab, UMD.
Data sources: 2010 ESRI Streetmap and UMD Fall 2012 Public Relations Database

Three Continents, Bulldog Success

For years, the Bulldog women's hockey team has had a simple formula for success: find the best hockey players in the world and bring them to UMD. This year, six international students have joined the team. They are: Tea Villila from Finland, Sofia Carstrom and Pernilla Winberg from Sweden, Marie Dalarbre from Germany, Aleksandra Vafina from Russia, and Alivia Del Basso from Australia, who is the first player from the southern hemisphere to play at UMD. Along with these new additions, the Bulldogs bring back 14 players, and four seniors who own NCAA championship rings earned in the '09-10 season. Head Coach Shannon Miller has led the Bulldogs to five NCAA championships and four WCHA regular season titles. Miller blazed a trail by recruiting international players to UMD as early as 1999 when the league started.

Photo: Alivia Del Basso, from Perth, Australia, is majoring in exercise science.

... more on this topic

Freshwater Robots: Year-round Analysis

Large Lakes Observatory (LLO) has launched equipment that will offer scientists a view of Lake Superior never seen before. In August, UMD began testing two Autonomous Moored Platforms (AMPs), which allow data to be collected continuously from near surface waters under winter ice. The seven-foot cylindrical AMPs contain instruments that measure temperature, depth, currents, dissolved oxygen, nitrate concentration, light intensity, fluorescence, and many other data points. No one can predict what the AMPs will find, but it is certain that these underwater robots will give a much better picture of what's happening in Lake Superior year-round. "Ph.D. students will be writing dissertations about the data we gather for a long, long time," said Jay Austin, lead investigator on the project. LLO offers research opportunities for many students working on master's and doctoral degrees.

Photo: Physics Professor Jay Austin (left) and Matt James, LLO marine technician and assistant scientist, along with Bruce Rhoades, WETLabs engineer, inspect one of UMD's Autonomous Moored Platforms.

... more on this topic

At the Corner of Maroon and Gold

Five years of hard work by the UMD Student Association (SA) has come to fruition with the purchase and installation of 14 Bulldog street signs across campus. SA raised $6,000 for the signs, and they have high expectations that the signs will make UMD a more welcoming place to students. "It creates a soft edge for incoming students to the Bulldog Nation," said SA President Hannah Mumm. A special fund was established in order to replace stolen or damaged signs, and UMD Stores also sells plastic replicas of the signs. "We're all so proud to have accomplished this. We really wanted to make UMD's presence in the city known, and this provides a way for people to see our proud Bulldog community," said T. J. Kiewatt, SA member and champion of the sign project.


Photo: New street signs announce: "You're in Bulldog Country."

... more on this topic

Kennedy: Protecting the Future

Named one of Time magazine's "Heroes for the Planet" for his success helping Riverkeeper, a watchdog organization, lead the fight to restore the Hudson River, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke at UMD in November about fresh water and the environment. Kennedy has been fighting for water and fisheries and working for fishermen for over two decades and is a clinical professor and
supervising attorney at Pace University School of Law's Environmental Litigation Clinic. "We have very good environmental laws in this country. If we enforced them, we probably wouldn't have environmental problems," Kennedy said. His visit was part of UMD's commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Land-Grant Act. Other events included "UMD and Mineral Resources: Challenges, Opportunities, and a Land-Grant Perspective" and "Land, Law, and Education: An American Indian Perspective on Land-Grant Universities."

Photo: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke at UMD about fresh water and the environment.