Wooster Chemistry Annual Report 2001-2002

We have received letters from the following students from the Class of 1992.

Cheryl Buchwalter earned a M.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1996 and completed residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at SUMMA Health System in Akron, in 2000. Since then, she has been in private practice with Atrium OB/GYN, Inc., in Canton, OH. They are affiliated with Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and involved in medical student and resident physician teaching. Cheryl has privileges at Aultman Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, and Doctors Hospital. She has a special interest in hormone replacement therapy and has given presentations on the topic to both patient and physician audiences. She received the 2001 Attending Physician of the Year Award from the residents at Aultman Hospital, and the Medical Student Teaching Award when she was a senior resident. She has published two case reports, and was chosen to participate in a course on reproductive epidemiology and clinical trial design for young faculty

Cheryl married Gary Snodgrass in Maui on February 9, 2000. Gary is self-employed. He is part owner of AAA Pest Control in Barberton. Cheryl's hobbies include gardening, running, bicycling, scuba diving, wine-tasting, and cooking. She spends a lot of time cheering for her husband at his mountain bike races. He races the Expert class, and has been to Vulture's Knob in Wooster many times.

After graduation, Kathleen Heppner headed to graduate school at Vanderbilt University and earned a Ph.D. in Cell Biology in 1997, working on matrix metalloproteinases in colon cancer, with Dr. Lynn Matrisian. Jim Goss (class of '93) followed Kathleen to Nashville, and they were married in 1996. Even though they loved the South, they headed to Cincinnati for Kathleen's postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Joanna Groden in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. There, she studied the APC tumor suppressor protein in colon and breast cancer. In the summer of 2002, Kathleen started her own laboratory, continuing to work on APC, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Epithelial Pathobiology.

Kathleen and Jim have two children: Hannah Elizabeth was born in September 1998 and Casey Joseph was born December 2001. Outside of work, Kathleen is very involved in the child care facility at the University of Cincinnati, for which she is a member of the Board of Trustees.

H. Jerrold Miller headed to sunny University of Florida for graduate school. It was there that he met his wife, Heather, and adopted his first dog, Sheeba. His research involved design and synthesis of single-site olefin polymerization catalysts. He worked for Professors Dave Richardson and Jim Boncella. Jerrold and Heather were married in April 1997. A month later, Jerrold received his Ph.D.

On moving back to Ohio, Jerrold began a position with Bridgestone/ Firestone, at the Central Research Center, in Akron. He continued his studies in homogeneous catalysis, and slowly became a polymer chemist. After three years at Central Research, he moved down the road (literally) to the Synthetic Polymers division of Firestone, and did research at both the bench and pilot-plant levels. Jerrold was subsequently offered a position with the Specialty Products Group of Arizona Chemical, in the Panama City Technology Center. He works in R&D and tech service for polyamides, developing new polymers for cosmetic applications.

He and Heather bought a boat and they enjoy fishing. Heather is an elementary school teacher in the Bay County school system, teaching second grade.

After graduating from Wooster, Michael Rachita moved almost immediately to Atlanta, GA to pursue a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Emory University. While in Atlanta, he married Carolyn Kiss ('93, Chemistry), who was also a graduate student.

After completing his Ph.D. dissertation in early 1997, Mike moved with Carolyn to North Carolina, where he secured a post doctoral research position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Son Eric was born in October 1998, in Durham, NC.

With the desire to relocate nearer to their families, the Rachitas moved back to northeast Ohio, where Mike accepted a position as a Senior Research Chemist at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Daughter Sarah was born in March of 2001. Mike and Carolyn love running, hiking, and camping.

Upon leaving Wooster, Eric Roberts started graduate school at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 1997. From Baton Rouge, he migrated back north to Pennsylvania, where he started work as a Senior Scientist with Arco Chemcial Company. In March 2000, Eric became a Research Chemist with Johnson & Johnson in Fort Washington, PA. He was later promoted to Group Leader of Quality Assurance within PSGA, which is a division of Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc. Eric has recently enrolled in a specialized pharmaceutical program at Temple University. He will earn a Master's degree in Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs.

Eric married Nina Butler ('94, Chemistry) in 1996. They have two sons. Eric Alexander Butler-Roberts (Alec) was born June 23, 1999, and Evan Butler-Roberts was born February 15, 2002. Nina has also gone back to school. She is in pursuit of her Masters degree in Chemistry and Chemical Education.

Andrew Robertson continued his education after graduating from Wooster and received a M.D. in pediatrics. He is the only pediatrician in Rice Lake, a small town of 8,000 that serves northwest Wisconsin. He works in a multi-specialty clinic, a satellite of the Marshfield Clinic, with 16 family doctors and a number of specialists. His work is challenging and rewarding. He is two hours from the nearest pediatric hospital, which adds some intensity when babies are really sick.

Andrew and Cari welcomed Drew (Andrew David) to their family on June 6, 2002. Drew "smiles a lot, laughs a lot, dances a bit to music, and hardly ever puts up a fuss." Cari has taken a leave from the classroom for a while, but stays involved at Birchwood by coaching the drama and forensics teams.

Both Andrew and Cari are involved at their church. Cari with the nursery and youth group; Andrew also with the youth group and he plays both guitar and drums with the worship team. They have made two mission trips in the past ten years. Their first trip was to Lesotho, Africa for two months at a mission hospital as part of Andrew's medical school training. The second trip was for two weeks to Liuzhr, China as part of a conversational English language seminar.

ALUMNI NEWS

Beginning with this the 40th Annual Report, we will be happy to take news items from any of our graduates, from any graduating class. This is possible because of our switch to web publishing. So, alumni, please let us know about personal or professional news, and we will edit it and add it to our web page as soon as we get it.