CAMPUS CURRENT College News





Notes and Quotes

Trustee News
RECENT SPEAKERS ON CAMPUS
New to the board is Debbie Byron,
“Was space the last frontier? No, it wasn’t. It was just the latest
formerly senior vice president at
of the last frontiers…You think Bill Gates didn’t blaze a new
Business Objects. Prior to that she
served as vice president of admin-
frontier? The trick is locating those frontiers and that takes
istration at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich
vision, imagination. It takes individuals willing to search for
& Rosati in Palo Alto, Calif. A gradu-
excellence and the boundaries of our knowledge.”
ate of Stanford University (B.A. and
Walt Cunningham, Astronaut Scholar presentation, October 1 M.B.A.), she and her husband, Jeff
Apollo 7 astronaut, speaking about fear, risk taking and leadership
Byron, are the parents of Chris Byron ’07,
an engineering graduate.
“String theory is, at the moment, a whole new mathematical
undertaking. It has not received experimental support. So we
The board of trustees recently approved the appointment of Neil
don’t know if these ideas—however beautiful they may appear
Chriss, mathematician, hedge fund manager, philanthropist and
to us—we don’t know if they are right or if they are wrong.”
a founding board member of “Math for America.” He is managing
principal and chief investment officer of Hutchin Hill Capital, a multi-
Brian Greene, Nelson Distinguished Speaker, October 2
Professor of Mathematics and Physics, Columbia Univer-
strategy hedge fund. Chriss is the author of several books, including
sity, speaking about “String Theory: Reaching for
the best-selling finance text Black-Scholes and Beyond: Modern Op-
Einstein’s Dream”
tions Pricing. He is a founding board member of Math for America, a



W
IL
L
IA
M
V
A
S
T
A
nonprofit organization that seeks to improve mathematics education
“If I were to tell you that the
in the United States. Chriss has a Ph.D. and a B.S. in mathematics





next generation of girls weren’t
from the University of Chicago, and an M.S. in mathematics from the




going to understand any
California Institute of Technology.







math at all, you’d be horri-


Jennifer M. Lindsay ’02 succeeds Greg



fied. You’d say, ‘Something





Rae ’00 as a young alumni trustee, a po-



must be done about this,


sition that carries a three-year term. She



it’s an outrage.’ Instead,


holds a B.S. in mathematics from HMC




if I were to tell you that

(with honors), an M.S. in operations re-





the next generation of boys

search from Columbia University, and






weren’t going to understand an M.S. in computer science from Johns







any math at all, you might be Hopkins University. In addition to her work








as a cryptologic engineer at Science Appli-

more concerned about the future






D
a
cations International Corporation, Lindsay is a
n
of this country…It’s important to rec-
ic
a
M
cK
ellar

ognize our own biases.”
classically trained singer, violinist and composer.
Danica McKellar, Nelson Distinguished Speaker, October 9
Kenneth Jonsson was named trustee emeritus upon his retirement
Mathematician, actor and author, during her talk “Math Doesn’t Suck”
from the board in September. During his 39-year tenure, Jonsson
served on a number of the standing committees and chaired the
“I found another book that had pictures of a windmill. They
Budget and Financial Planning and Audit Committees. As a member
said that windmills could pump water and generate electricity.
of the Campaign Cabinet in 1993, he helped raise $75.5 million.
Pump water, for me, meant irrigation; a defense
He and his wife, Diana, contributed significantly to the college’s
against hunger. I said, ‘If I could build a windmill endowment and scholarship programs, and were early members
to pump water, then ‘I will be able to start irriga- of the Life Friends. They established The Kenneth A. and Diana G.
tion and then my family will no longer be in the
Jonsson Annual Scholarship, The Kenneth A. and Diana G. Jon-
same situation we are facing now.’”
sson Professorship in Mathematics and The Jonsson Endowed
Fund for Mathematics Department Travel.
WillIam Kamkwamba, October 14
Inventor and author of the book “The Boy Who Harnessed
the Wind: Elegant Design out of Junk and Spare Parts.” To
view his talk, see the HMC Video Archive at www.hmc.edu/
newsandevents/newsnav/video.html
4 Harvey Mudd College FALL/WINTER 2009
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