Biostat E-News
Fall 2007
Department of Biostatistics at the University of Washington.
To include your news in future issues, please contact E-News Editor Elaine Riot.
New Center for Biomedical Statistics
Professor and Chair Bruce Weir recently announced that UW Biostat has received
funding for a new Center for Biomedical Statistics (CBS). The CBS will be one of
the projects supported by a major NIH grant received by the University of
Washington Institute of Translational Health Sciences in September 2007. The
Center's primary mission will be to facilitate collaboration with UW colleagues
and partner institutions in various areas of research. Professor Patrick
Heagerty will lead the initial phase of the CBS, which will be located in
Biostat's new space in University Tower (formerly Safeco Tower). The
additional Biostat space will likely be available in spring 2008.
The University of Washington Institute of Translational Health Sciences is a consortium of six health science professional schools and multiple partner institutions covering 12 sites, involving 67 key scientific personnel, and connecting researchers to more than 150 centers. The Institute is among 12 additional academic medical organizations nationwide to receive a National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). The UW Institute will receive approximately $62 million over five years, as part of the national consortium which aims to transform how clinical and translational research is conducted at U.S. academic health centers. The consortium's goal is to enable new treatments to reach patients more efficiently and quickly.
Undergrad Research Program in Biostatistics
UW Biostatistics
hosted six undergrad students this year for our first Summer Undergraduate
Research Program in Biostatistics. The program, sponsored by the department and
the National Science Foundation, was designed to give undergrads throughout the
country (majoring in math, statistics, or other quantitative sciences) the
opportunity to explore career opportunities in biostatistics, as well as acquire
real world research experience.
Undergrad researchers in the inaugural program included: Caitlin Corr (Washington and Lee University - Lexington, VA), Alexandra Goncharova (Muhlenberg College - Allentown, PA), Brian Meckes (Rice University - Houston, TX), Harrison Quick (Minnesota State University-Mankato), Danielle Patterson (Centre College - Danville, KY), and Jennifer M. Zaleski (William Smith College - Geneva, NY). (Pictured are Goncharova, Patterson, Quick and Zaleski.)
Each student was assigned a faculty mentor and a research problem in methodological or applied biostatistics. At weekly meetings, hosted by a faculty mentor or graduate student, the participants gave a progress report on their research topic and received valuable feedback. In each meeting, faculty mentors or current grad students discussed their research and career pathway to give participants a feel for the field. The participants also attended Margaret Pepe's summer course, "Research in Biostatistics."
The program culminated with students presenting a poster to the University community at the UW Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Symposium on August 16, 2007, held in Mary Gates Hall. See the research the students presented, below.
Sophomore Caitlin Corr, Washington and Lee University: ROC research project.
Mentor: Scott Emerson, Department of Biostatistics
Alexandra Goncharova, B.S. in Mathematics/Economics '07, Muhlenberg College: Assessing the Validity of YQOL as a Psychometric Instrument of Injured Teens.
Mentors: Ming-Yu Fan, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Xiao-Hua Andrew Zhou, Biostatistics; Douglas Zatzick, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences/Harborview Medical Center
Brian Meckes, Junior, Rice University, Bioengineering (Amgen Scholar): Summarization and Optimization of the Modified-Hachinski Ischemic Score.
Mentors: Xiao-Hua Andrew Zhou, Biostatistics; Nathaniel Mercaldo, National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center
Danielle Patterson, Centre College: Identifying Remains from Family Member DNA Profiles.
Mentor: Bruce Weir, Chair, Biostatistics (Danielle left the program early, and so did not participate in presentation.)
Harrison Quick, Senior, Minnesota State University-Mankato, Mathematics: Comparing Statistical Models Using Coronary Artery Calcium Scores.
Mentors: David Yanez, Biostatistics; Xiao-Hua Andrew Zhou, Biostatistics; Nan Hu, (Ph.D., student) Biostatistics
Jennifer M. Zaleski, B.S. in Mathematics '07, William Smith College: Using Genetic Markers to Estimate Relatedness.
Mentor: Bruce Weir, Chair, Biostatistics
DAVID II Trial: ICD Pacing Location Crucial
Biostatistics Professor Al
Hallstrom (pictured), who heads up the DAVID II Trial, reports that the harmful
effects of heart pacing observed earlier in the trial was because of the location
of the pacing itself. At a spring 2007 meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society,
Hallstrom confirmed the negative effects likely occurred because the pacing was
performed in the right ventricle of the heart.
The DAVID II Trial was a follow-up to the groundbreaking DAVID Trial, which changed ICD implant practice throughout the world. One finding of the DAVID Trial was that pacing at rates of 70 beats per minute or faster from both the right atrium and right ventricle in heart patients resulted in an increased risk hospitalization and/or death from congestive heart failure. DAVID II considered whether the harm resulted from pacing per se, or was specifically due to the location in the heart where pacing was conducted.
Hallstrom and his team delivered the primary results of the DAVID II Trial at the Heart Rhythm Society's National Scientific Sessions in Denver, CO. The trial randomized 600 patients who needed an implantable defibrillator but who did not require pacing. It was determined that patients whose defibrillators were programmed to pace at 70 beats per minute from the atrium only had similar rates of death and heart failure hospitalization as those whose defibrillators were programmed to promote the heart's natural rhythm by rarely if ever pacing from the right ventricle.
Dr. Peter Kudenchuk, UW Professor of Medicine and the trial's medical director, indicated that this finding suggests location rather than rate of pacing is what adversely affects outcome in patients with heart failure. Either alternative; atrial pacing, or rarely pacing the right ventricle, is safe in such patients who have an implantable defibrillator. The trial's project manager, Anna Leonen, M.S., noted that other secondary endpoints for DAVID II, which were collected through June 6, 2007, included quality of life and economic cost issues. With assistance from Center Research Analysts Rich Moore and Yang Wang, Ph.D., results of these additional analyses will be available in late 2007.
The DAVID and DAVID II Trials, run through UW Biostatistics' Cardiovascular Clinical Trial Center, were supported by St. Jude Medical.
Statistical Genetics Alums in San Diego
A group of UW Biostat Statistical Genetics alumni had a great time together
at dinner during the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting in San
Diego in October.
Katrina Goddard (Ph.D. 1999, Wijsman) was kind enough to pass on this photo of the UW Biostatistics and Statistics graduates. Pictured, along with their current affiliation, are: Solly Sieberts (Ph.D. 2003, Stat), Rosetta Inpharmatics; Na Li (Ph.D. 2003, E. Thompson), University of Minnesota; Brian Browning (Ph.D. 1999, Stat), University of Auckland; Goddard, Kaiser Permanente Northwest; Sharon Browning (Ph.D. 1999, Stat), University of Auckland; UW Professor Ellen Wijsman; Mariza de Andrade (Ph.D. 1990, E. Thompson), Mayo Clinic; Yun Ju Sung (Ph.D. 2006, Stat), Washington University; France Gagnon (Ph.D. 2002, Stat), University of Toronto; Weiva Sieh (Ph.D. 2007, Wijsman) Stanford University; Rob Igo (Ph.D. 2005, Wijsman), Case Western Reserve University; and William Stewart (Ph.D. 2005, Stat), University of Michigan.
Flournoy Wins F. N. David Award
Alum Nancy Flournoy (Ph.D. 1982, Fisher) recently won the 2007 F.N. David Award
from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS). Flournoy,
Professor and Chair of Statistics at the University of Missouri-Columbia, was
chosen by the Committee for her "fundamental research contributions in adaptive
designs, sequential analysis, clinical trials, and particularly in bone marrow
transplantation trials; for her devoted teaching; for her passionate mentoring of
young statisticians, new investigators, women and minorities, and researchers in
small universities; and for her leadership in the profession including her role
as the chair of a major statistics department."
The F.N. David Award, sponsored jointly by COPSS and the Caucus for Women in Statistics, is granted bi-annually to a female statistician who serves as a role model to other women by her contributions to the profession through excellence in research, leadership of multidisciplinary collaborative groups, statistics education, or service to the professional societies.
Major Biostat Program Changes at McGill
Alums Robert Platt (Ph.D. 1996, Breslow) and Erica Moodie (Ph.D. 2006, T. Richardson)
and colleagues are pleased to announce major revisions to the M.S. and Ph.D. programs
in Biostatistics in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health
at McGill University in Montreal.
Beginning with entering students in September 2007, McGill is offering more intensive graduate training in statistics and biostatistics, and a broader range of courses designed specifically for biostatisticians. There is also a strong emphasis on communication and other skills that support collaborative research, including a focus on statistical methods in epidemiology.
"Those familiar with UW Biostat will notice that several aspects of the program have been borrowed!" said Platt, associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, and pediatrics at McGill.
Warnes Launches New Stat Analysis Software
Alum Greg Warnes (Ph.D. 2000, Raftery), founder of
Random Technologies, reports that
the company launched its R statistical analysis software package at the Drug Industry
Association conference in June 2007. The start-up company emerged from the University
of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), where Warnes serves as an associate professor of
biostatistics and computational biology, and co-director of computational software
development at the University of Rochester's Center for Biodefense Immune Modeling.
Random Technologies' RStat Statistical Software is based on the open source software system "R" -- the most widely used statistical computing system in biomedical research. The company will standardize the process of releasing, upgrading, and adding new features to its RStat software system. It will also provide professional technology support, documentation, and validation at a level required by corporate users and regulatory bodies such as the FDA.
"Random Technologies intends to do for R what Red Hat did for Linux," said Warnes. "R is an exceptionally useful system with tremendous capabilities and has been widely adopted by academic and research statisticians. Random Technologies will provide the enterprise level support that will enable corporations to deploy this software as a critical component of their business."
Warnes has been involved in the development of R software since 1997, and is one of a team of individuals who maintains the software code. During his tenure at URMC, Warnes developed much of the material that forms the basis for Random Technologies' RStat software.
Fiction Writer Pete Mesling Gets Published
Pete Mesling, Biostat Information Specialist, is also an accomplished fiction writer. Pete's
big news this year is that he's had three short stories and a poem accepted for publication.
"The Desecration of Wintrose Abbey" is a Gothic horror story that appears, along with his poem
"View from the Cliffs of Abernath," in issue #41 of the small-press magazine Black Petals, just
released Oct. 31, 2007. A psychological thriller titled "Such Bitter Business" will be
published later this year in the second volume of the Potter's Field anthology series. His
third, "The Truth about Irises," is a crime story centered on Van Gogh's famous painting
which comes out next January in another small-press magazine, Champagne Shivers.
Pete was hoping to publish his four additional Wintrose Abbey stories with Black Petals, but unfortunately, issue #41 will be their last print issue. So expect a standalone version of "The Wintrose Chronicles" sometime soon, as soon as he finds a new publisher!
Visit Pete's editing Web site, which lists his publication credits, here.
MacKenzie Pups Bring Joy to Retirees
Curriculum Coordinator, writer and artist Alex MacKenzie has a soft spot for pet lovers.
A few years ago, she met a senior gentleman, Lee Tracy, walking his dachshund Pepper. He
told her he would soon have to give up his beloved canine when he moved into a retirement
home. Having two dachshunds of her own, Georgie and Bodie, Alex adopted Pepper, and started
bringing the dog to visit him every week. She then started to bring her other dogs along to
spread puppy love throughout the little community. Here's Lee, at left, enjoying a visit with Pepper and Bodie.
"I've been taking my three dachshunds to the Ida Culver Retirement Home every weekend for the past year and a half to visit with residents," said Alex. "It really cheers them up, and is especially rewarding for the folks who used to have dogs. The value of pet therapy for older adults seems clear to me, but those of a more scientific bent can pursue the article: 'An exploration of the potential benefits of pet-facilitated therapy,' J Clin Nurs 1999 Jul;8(4):329-37."
Fans of Alex's art can view her latest work here.
Campaign UW: Creating Futures
For UW Biostat and higher education in general, private support has never been more important.
UW Biostat development funds provide funding for collaborative research and other heightened
educational experiences for students, student aid, department, center and program support,
facilities, and equipment, as well as recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty.
We encourage you, if you're so inclined, to support the programs you feel most passionate about.
To check out what funds are established for the department, please click here.
Honors and Awards
Congratulations to...
- Professors Scott Emerson (Ph.D. 1988, Fleming), Ziding Feng, Patrick Heagerty
and Jon Wakefield, who were named Fellows of the American Statistical Association.
- Professor Andrew Zhou, who won a Veteran's Administration "Research Career Scientist" award. This prestigious award is limited to about 30 researchers in the entire VA system. Andrew is the first statistician to receive the award, which comes with 5 years of salary support.
- Kathleen Kerr, who was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure over the summer.
- Professor Jim Hughes (Ph.D. 1980, Chapman), who won the School-wide 2007 Outstanding Teaching Award.
- Grad student Mark Giganti, who won the School-wide 2007 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.
- Senior Fellow and new graduate Rebecca Hubbard (Ph.D. 2007, Inoue), who won the WNAR student paper competition for both best paper and best presentation. Rebecca also won the UW Biostat 2007 Outstanding Student Award this year, and represented Biostat in the student issue of the School's Spotlight on Research publication.
- Danping Liu, the winner of the 2007 Donovan J. Thompson Award for outstanding student performance (in statistical theory and applications).
- UW Biostat's 2007 Outstanding Staff Award winner, Alison Shaw, Program Manager at CHSCC. Alison, who received a certificate and a cash prize, was also nominated for the Kenneth J. Anderson Staff Award.
- Alum David Glidden(Ph.D. 1993, Self), who was promoted to Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.
- Ryan Kyle, who has succeeded recent retiree Mike Dermond as the top computing guru at CHSCC.
- Student-Faculty Retreat poster winners: Julian Wolfson(chosen by 1st years); Abby Shoben (chosen by all other students); and Nan Hu (chosen by faculty). All winners won a cash prize.
- the winner of the best faculty presentation at the Student-Faculty Retreat, Professor Ken Rice.
- Grad student Heidi Chen Lin Tan on receiving an ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Fellowship. As Heidi pursues her doctorate she hopes to research the design and analysis of DNA microarray experiments.
- Secretary Jennifer Hopkins, whose screenplay was chosen by Stone Soup Theater for a staged reading. Jennifer also placed in the top ten in the Speculative Fiction contest sponsored by Richard Hugo House Literary Arts Center.
Recent Graduates
++James Dai (Ph.D. 2007, Charles Kooperberg and Michael LeBlanc advisee) is
currently a Research Associate at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC).
++Ying Huang (Ph.D. 2007, Margaret Pepe advisee) has taken a position as a
postdoctoral researcher at FHCRC under Drs. Ross Prentice and Ziding Feng.
++Rebecca Hubbard (Ph.D. 2007, Lurdes Inoue advisee) serves as a UW Biostat
Senior Fellow, working with Dr. Andrew Zhou at the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center.
++Joshua Sampson (Ph.D. 2007, Steven Self advisee) is now a postdoctoral fellow at Yale.
++Mark Giganti (M.S. 2007, Sebastian Haneuse advisee) has taken a position with CIDR,
Lusaka Zambia.
++Chengshi Jin (M.S. 2007, Ziding Feng advisee) is an Analyst at the Department of
Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF.
++Nathaniel Mercaldo (M.S. 2006, Judy Zeh advisee) is a Biostatistician in the National
Alzheimer's Coordinating Center at UW.
++Theresa Kim (M.S. 2006, Kathleen Kerr advisee) is
currently working as a Research Analyst in Genome Sciences at the UW.
++Other 2007 masters degree graduates include Christopher Forsberg (Andrew Zhou advisee),
Elizabeth Koehler (M.S. 2007, Elizabeth Brown advisee), and Kim Young
(M.S. 2007, Andrew Zhou advisee).
News Bits
- Professor Andrew Zhou received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health to start a new Ph.D. biostatistics training program in mental health. The five year training grant started in August and supports 4 trainees. Andrew will serve as director; Dr. Wayne Katon, Vice Chair and professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, will serve as co-director.
- Professor Thomas Fleming's "Clinical Research on AIDS Training Grant" was renewed through 8/31/12. In its 16th year, this grant supports 4 trainees annually.
- Chair Bruce Weir is offering his popular course in statistical forensics online this fall, for the first time at UW.
- Affiliate Professor Diana Miglioretti taught a course in Turkey in August, on latent class analysis at the Middle East Technical University's Graduate Summer School on Recent Advances in Statistics in Ankara. Diana is visiting the UCSF Division of Biostatistics from November 2007 - April 2008, finishing work on a latent class survival approach for modeling screening patterns and developing a method for taking into account measurement error and radiologist variability in the BI-RADS measure of mammographic breast density.
Comings and Goings
- Welcome back to Professor Jon Wakefield, SCHARP Researcher Zoe Moodie (Ph.D. 2001,
Prentice), and their daughter Ellie, who recently returned from a sabbatical year in Lyon, France.
- Welcome Senior Fellows Rebecca Hubbard (Ph.D. 2007, Inoue), Hua Chen, from Peking University, and Fred Boehm, M.D., from the University of Wisconsin.
- Welcome to our newest affiliate faculty from FHCRC: Georg Luebeck, Affiliate Associate Professor, Pei Wang, Affiliate Assistant Professor, and Andrea Cook, Affiliate Assistant Professor.
- Welcome to Visiting Scholar Richard Arnold, Senior Lecturer from the Department of Statistics at Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, who is in Seattle through February 2008.
- Welcome to Cathy Greenbaum, formerly of the Department of Medicine, who has been Assistant to the Chair since November 2006, and Carolyn Lock, our Office Student Assistant.
- Welcome to Carl Riches, Biostat Software Engineer (formerly of Mathematics); Robert Moulton, formerly of Computing and Communications, now our Senior Computer Specialist; and Evan Sebenius, Computing Student Assistant.
- Farewell to Mike Dermond, longtime computing expert at CHS. Mike retired after 30 years at the UW.
- The ROC Clinical Trial Center welcomes new staff members Chi Shen (from Rhode Island), Research Consultant, and Susan Fisher, who serves as Office Assistant 3.
- Welcome to new staff at Bruce Weir's GENEVA Center at CHSCC: Jenna Udren, Program Coordinator, and Siiri Bennett, Medical Consultant.
Milestones
Congratulations to...
- Professor Peter Gilbert (Ph.D. 1996, Self) and his wife Kristie on the arrival of their new son, Blaise
Richard Gilbert, born April 15.
- Professor Elizabeth Brown, her husband Eric, and her daughter Maddie, who welcomed Milo Jones into the world May 13.
- Professor Kathleen Kerr, husband Ami, and big brother Alex, who added baby Eve to the family in July.
- new grandfather Professor Tom Fleming, pictured with grandson Peter Fleming. Peter lives with parents Caroline and Ryan Fleming in Kirkland.
- Professor Elizabeth Brown, her husband Eric, and her daughter Maddie, who welcomed Milo Jones into the world May 13.
- grad student Katie Davis who welcomed baby CJ in May.
Alumni Profiles
Name: THOMAS BRAUN (pictured with daughter Olivia)
Biostat Degree/Year: Ph.D. 1999 - Ziding Feng, advisor
Current Job/Employer: Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Department of Biostatistics
Research interests: Phase I clinical trial design; statistical modeling of periodontal data
Current research: I have only recently begun collaborations with the University of Michigan School
of Dentistry on the analysis of two longitudinal studies related to progression of and treatment of periodontal
disease. The data are extremely challenging to model, as some measurements are collected at the subject level,
others are collected for each tooth of each subject, and others are collected at multiple locations on each tooth
of each subject. Combined with the longitudinal structure of the study, the data contain multiple levels of correlation and allow for numerous methodological and applied areas of statistical research.
Interesting publication: Braun, Yuan, and Thall (2005). Determining a Maximum-Tolerated Schedule
of a Cytotoxic Agent. Biometrics (61): 335-343.
Favorite book: Right now, it's a toss-up between "The Ruins" by Scott Smith and "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.
Personal milestones: I met my wife, Naomi, shortly after leaving Seattle in 1999.
We have been married for five years and have a 2.5 year-old daughter, Olivia Grace.
We currently live in a modest, three-bedroom home, but hope to "upgrade" if and when I get tenure.
Favorite Web site: oliviabraun.blogspot.com and www.kexp.org
Hobby: My current hobbies include swimming, reading, and gardening. My 5th anniversary present
is a guitar, with hopes of playing it becoming my newest hobby.
Favorite reminiscence about UW days: Living near both mountains and water
(Ann Arbor has neither); Halloween parties at Todd Alonzo's (Ph.D. 2000, Pepe) house;
the Biostat Department's Fall student/faculty retreats
Fellow alumni are welcome to contact me at: tombraun@umich.edu .
Name: MARIE REILLY (pictured with husband Yudi Pawitan in Hong Kong)
Biostat Degree/Year: Ph.D. 1991 - Margaret Pepe, advisor
Current Job/Employer: Professor of Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
Research interests: Infectious disease epidemiology, including HIV and TB, with particular interest
in high dimensional laboratory data such as Elispot assays, flow cytometry data, and peptide microarrays;
Blood transfusion safety; Analysis of family data; Missing data and optimal designs in epidemiology.
Current research: Biostatistics has opened up so many interesting activities for me, led me to new and
interesting places, and introduced me to many new colleagues and friends.
My RA in the UW Epidemiology Department (with the International AIDS Research and Training Program) was the
beginning of a continuing collaboration with HIV researchers in Kenya. I have had numerous work visits to Nairobi
and Mombasa, and I continue to be involved in training and research work.
On returning to Ireland as a new Ph.D., I was approached by the National Blood Transfusion Service to help in
an investigation of possible contamination of anti-D immunoglobulin with Hepatitis-C virus. It was unnerving
but rewarding to work on data from a sensitive national investigation. This led me into the field of blood
safety, with subsequent work on estimating the timing and source of HIV-infections in haemophiliacs.
On moving to Sweden, I became aware of the incredible data resources that are available. Citizens and
residents each have a unique ID number, with which almost all major life events are captured in
national registers (census, birth, death, inpatient, cancer, school grades, crime...) that have been
maintained for several decades. My favorite, the "MultiGeneration Register" contains information on biological
and adopting parents for all individuals born since 1932, enabling many genetic epidemiology studies. I am a
member of a Swedish-Danish collaborative group that has assembled a register of all blood donations and
transfusions in the two countries dating back as far as the 1960s, which we subsequently connected to
national health registers. These data were prepared for a NIH-funded project to assess the risk of
blood-borne cancer, but numerous other hypotheses are now being addressed.
Interesting publication: An interesting publication related to the work just described is the recent paper
in Lancet for which I was a joint first-author (Risk of cancer after transfusion of blood from donors with
subclinical cancer; Lancet 2007, 369, 1724-30. Also editorial Lancet 369, pp1670-71).
Favorite book: Impossible to have a favorite book, there are so many wonderful books. I love to read
travel writing, and in the last few weeks I have enjoyed "Almost Heaven, a journey on the back roads of
America" by Martin Fletcher and "Maximum City" by Suketu Mehta.
Personal milestones: On moving from Seattle to Ireland, my husband (Yudi Pawitan-former UW faculty member)
and I built a house in the Wicklow hills south of Dublin, where we have had wonderful visits with family and friends
(including some from Seattle!).
Since 2001, we have lived in Stockholm, where we found our "second Seattle," a beautiful city with numerous
parks, forests, lakes, bike trails, and sheep in the fields surrounding our apartment! We divide most of our
holiday time between Ireland and our family in Indonesia, we both love to travel and enjoy exploring new places.
Last summer the biostatistics conference at UW in honor of Norm Breslow gave us the opportunity to meet many friends
from our Seattle days and revisit our favorite haunts. We even did the trip we had always promised ourselves when
we lived in Seattle but never managed to do: we took a cruise on the Inside Passage, a wonderful experience.
Favorite reminiscence about UW days: It was one night before the 583 homework was due and our little
group had been working as usual for several hours in a study room in the Health Science library. One of the
problems from Lehman defied all our efforts to solve it, although it seemed some appropriate quadratic model (or was it cubic?) was all that was needed.
The unyielding problem led to a scathing and colorful attack on quadratics, difficult homework,
Lehman's lack of flavor, and the tough 580's! The drama inspired one of our group (Sue Rosenkranz) to
design a T-shirt (see photo, below), which still makes me smile.
Fellow alumni are welcome to contact me at: marie.reilly@ki.se .
