1983

What would it be like to return to Hanover and reside there with your family? As an ophthalmologist at DMS my old roommate Sandy Johnson lived that special experience for the past three years. Skating parties at Occom Pond, soccer games at Sachem Village, picking blueberries from her own bushes for coffeecake, canoe rides on crisp fall days, the deja vu illusion that 20plus years have not really passed—she will miss everything but the harsh January months when she leaves in October to start as director of glaucoma care at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. In November she will travel to Tanzania, as part of a DMS/ORBIS partnership with the medical school in Dares Salaam. Daughter Katherine refuses to move to Georgia unless she is guaranteed a house with a pool. Does anyone live in Augusta area and know of one, or have any other advice for Sandy on the Georgian lifestyle? E-mail me and I will forward to her.

Bill Robbins says that if his new book is made into a movie it could be aptly titled Mission Impossible (perhaps Tom Cruise will be available at a discount). Seed Stage Venture Investing: The Ins andOuts for Entrepreneurs, Start-ups and Investors on Successfully Starting a New Business comes out this fall and will be available through the publisher (Aspatore Inc., Boston) and through Amazon.This comprehensive tome is peppered with Bill's personal anecdotes and "irrepressible wit" as it guides the investor through scouting for the right deal, funding, staffing, forming an advisory board, finding the scientists and engineers with the "right stuff" and corporate partnering. Chock-full of examples of documents that Bill and his partners have found useful in their own deals, it's ideal for the business school student and provides fresh insights for the seasoned investor. Bill, a graduate of Columbia Business School, and his wife, Hila, live in Los Angeles, where he runs Convergent Ventures, a seed-stage life science venture capital fund. He reports seeing his old Topliff buddy and earthquake expert Ken Hudnut at a Dartmouth event in Los Angeles in August.

Congratulations to John McNeill, whose paper on the analog-to-digital converter integrated circuit chip, used in medical imaging applications, won first place at the 2005 International SolidState Circuits Conference in San Francisco, attended by more than 3,000 engineers and technical leaders. This paper represents the culmination of John's research sabbatical from Analog Devices. Since 1994 John has been a member of the electrical and computer engineering department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He credits Dartmouth and especially Thayer's Professor Stratton for inspiring him in the field of analog electronics. John and wife Kris Wile live in Stow, Massachusetts, with "three great kids": Nathan (to), Jordan (8) and Stephanie (5).

Juan Carlos Navarro, mayor of Panama City, Panama, writes that President Wright invited him to speak to incoming students at Convocation this September. He adds that he is, "of course, happy to return to Dartmouth—having visited two years ago with my wife, Cuqui, and our sons Juan Andres (16), Felipe (14) and Gabriel (13)." He founded ANCON, Panamas leading nonprofit environmental NGO, in 1985 and served as the first environmental ambassador of his country. He is the first Panamanian and the youngest member ever elected to the World Conservation Union (lUCN). He authored the book PanamaNational Parks, the country's first comprehensive text on national parks and nature reserves. The youngest citizen elected to mayors office, he is now serving his second five-year term.

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