More on the photoluminescence of Germanium

I admire that this student is extremely persistant in trying to find the precise information that he needs. I explained to him that I don't have any further ideas, but I could query my colleagues through CHMINF-L, the chemical information listserv. I asked him to explain exactly what he was looking for and what he already searched. He sent me this information. I will edit it and post to the listserv. Perhaps someone else may have some other ideas that would lead him to his elusive answer. Chemistry librarians at other universities may have more specialized resources not at NJIT.

Gathering in Memory of Dana Knox

Many colleagues of Dana met in the Campus Ballroom to reminisce about Dana. I was impressed when Lisa Kardos, a student of his, spoke on his impact on her. She emulates his teaching style. I now recall a little experience I had with him a few years ago. As I lectured to the chemical engineering students, I told a joke that didn't go over. Dana laughed anyway to make me feel good. He will certainly be missed by the university community.

Sad News at NJIT

We just received an announcement that Dana Knox, Assistant Provost and Professor of Chemical Engineering, suddenly passed away this morning. This is quite shocking since Dana was only in his early 50s, and I just saw him yesterday at Toni Penna's retirement luncheon. I knew Dana since I first started at NJIT in 1992. I fondly remember the lunches we had at the NJIT Pub with other faculty when he kidded about how long it would take the food to arrive after it was ordered. My condolences to his family.

Retirement Luncheon for Toni Penna

I worked with Toni Penna when I taught Freshman Seminar for 12 consecutive years. She was the administrative assistant to the Dean of Freshman Studies. About 50 people from the NJIT community came to the luncheon. It was especially nice to see some people that retired or moved on.

A Handshake is a Quiet Applause

This semester we have had students working at the reference desk to answer the routine questions. So far this has worked out well, since the students call out the librarians when there is a research question. Today I was consulted by a question for African American mathematicians. I checked the catalog under the keywords above. I found there was a subject heading women and minorities in mathematics. There was one book that really had the information this student needed. We also searched under Afro American Scientists and Mathematicians Biography. I showed him how to search MatchSciNet and Academic Search Premier under those subjects. Once he identified specific mathematicians, he could do a search under those names. This student was very appreciative of the help I gave him and shook my hand as we finished the reference transaction. A handshake is a quiet applause.

Followup Orientation for International Students

Today, I was asked to speak at a Followup Orientation for international students. We are now three weeks into the Fall semester, so I think the Director of International Students wants to make sure the students are getting acclimated the American culture in general and to life at NJIT in particular. I gave a short 5 minute talk on the library services. It was a little difficult to do since they was not a computer with internet access set up in the lecture hall. I discussed the library liaison program and that students should get to know their respective liaison.

The program started with a professor in the School of Architecture lecturing on the history of Newark. He then showed a DVD of a Rutgers professor showing students many of the points of interest in the city. It was obvious that the students were not paying attention to this. The Director even cut off the DVD.

I must ask, How much orientation is enough? This has to be evaluated as to how much staff time and effort goes into this and what is the benefit to students. If they are being bored, then this entire endeavor may just be wasted.

Photoluminescence spectra of Germanium

I have been helping a graduate student research this topic for over a week now. I must admire his persistency in trying to find a very specific aspect of this topic. I showed him how to develop search strategies in Scifinder Scholar, Scopus, and INSPEC. He is very thorough in looking at abstracts and obtaining the papers that he believes have relevant information. A little while ago he showed me a paper that discussed the spectra of p-type germanium. He explained to me that he needed the same information for the p-type.