Spring is generally seen as a season of transition, as well as a season of opportunity. In New Hampshire, the weather gradually transitions from bitterly cold to cool and raw, finally landing on warm and sunny. The grass, trees and flowers come back to life, heralding the warm days to come. The daylight stretches out, opening doors and opportunities that were previously closed -- cooking on the grill, eating dinner on the deck, staying outside until the streetlights come on or mosquitos come out.
Here at the UNH-IOL, it is a season of transition for us as well. As we approach the month of May, life picks up the pace. Our student employees who daily are tasked with balancing their jobs and school work, really start to juggle. They work hard to have a strong finish to the semester but maintain their quality of work here at the IOL. In the meantime, the managers of the lab go into full blown recruitment mode, visiting freshmen and sophomore level classes in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences in an attempt to entice new students to come work for the IOL. Our main recruitment time is in spring because our training courses take place over the summer months. In Spring, we have weeks filled with interview after interview, meeting with a multitude of amazing UNH students.
Running parallel to this flurry of excitement is another equally exciting ritual. Our students that are graduating Seniors are faced with the daunting task of continuing to maintain their roles here at the IOL, wrapping up their college careers and finding a 'real' job. Managers at the lab provide guidance on resume writing, interview skills, interpreting job descriptions but most of all we provide moral support at this critical point in our young engineers lives. It's a tremendous feeling to know that we have helped shape these students. Fostering their thirst for knowledge, teaching them new technologies and now mentoring them as they maneuver through a myriad of choices - Graduate school or career? Which industry? Research career? Development career? Test career?
Each spring for us it is a bittersweet ritual of ongoing renewal. We look forward to the opportunity to meet, train and foster our new employees. Getting to know these new students, acclimating them to the lab and beginning the process of fostering a two, three, sometimes four year friendship of sorts, is the proverbial golden opportunity. Simultaneously, we are excited for our graduates as we watch them, on the cusp of their adult lives, embrace new opportunities and possibilities. We sit on the sidelines full of hope and feeling proud...yet sad as they started here as our 'young' students and have now 'grown up' to be our contemporaries.
Congratulations to our 2012 Graduates!
| Christopher Bridges | BS Electrical Engineering |
| Shaun Cmar | BS Electrical Engineering | Ashlee Cummings | BS Electrical Engineering | Kathryn Dube | BS Chemistry | Matthew Gloekler | BS Electrical Engineering | Ryan Goulding | BS Computer Science | Kaci Greatorex | BA Anthropology and International Studies | Jacob Hall | BS Information Technology | Elizabeth Haven | BS Mathematics | Christopher Hutchins | BS Information Technology | Katelyn Major | BS Microbiology | Patrick Merrill | BS Computer Science | Jonathan Noyes | BS Computer Science | John Romano | BS Electrical Engineering | Adam Rozumek | MS Computer Science | Carleton Simpson | BS Electrical Engineering | Jonathan Wilson | BS Computer Science | Pamela Woodland | BS Health Management & Policy |
Christina Dube, Manager, Bridge Functions Consortium