Author: vermontnews

We remember and honor all of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, including the following UVM alumni.

Carlton W. Bartels G’85

“was not afraid of life, was passionate about it and lived every minute of it,” a family member told the Staten Island Advance. Bartels, who earned his MBA at the University of Vermont, was a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald and was CEO of his own dot-com company, CO2E.com, which helped other companies and governments reduce emissions worldwide. “Carlton was one of the top five people in the world in his industry,” said his wife, Jane Bartels. He had a strong sense of fun, was an avid outdoorsman and cook, and was devoted to his family life with Jane and their two daughters, Melina and Eva. 

Brandon Buchanan ’99

grew up in the countryside of western New York, but was drawn to the business world and the pace of New York City. He took a job as an equity trader with Cantor Fitzgerald after earning his degree at UVM. Twelve hour days were standard, as was the good life of a young man in New York City. His father notes that Buchanan often had plans to see the Knicks or the Yankees play. Following the September 11 tragedy, several of Buchanan’s friends from his days at UVM headed to Manhattan, where they joined in the search, passing photos around, and scouring hospitals for their friend and fellow alum.

Paul Cascio ’94

was on the 84th floor of Tower 2 when he and a co-worker went to the aid of a man in distress, Cascio’s aunt Diane Regan Stuart reported. “That is something Paul would do. His instinct was always to help others. He is a hero in the truest sense of the word,” Stuart said. She added that Cascio’s years at UVM were “some of the happiest in his brief but full life.” 

Robert Lawrence, Jr. ’82

was remembered as a big-hearted man who had put family at the center of his life. “We have a very large extended family, and Bob was kind of the glue,” cousin David Lawrence told the New Jersey Star-Ledger. “The most important thing to him was his daughter, son, and his wife. And all the rest of his family.” Lawrence was married to fellow UVM alum Suzanne Burns ’82. He had just started a new job with investment banking firm Sandler O’Neill & Partners, with offices in the World Trade Center, on September 10. 

Rajesh Mirpuri

transferred to New York University after beginning his studies at the University of Vermont. Though he was on campus for just one year, Mirpuri made many friends in Burlington and is fondly remembered by those who came to know him. Mirpuri worked in midtown Manhattan, where he was vice president of sales for the financial software firm Data Synapse, but was attending a financial technology conference at the World Trade Center the morning of September 11. Friends described Mirpuri as a man who loved the Manhattan nightlife and fine dining, but who was also devoted to his family, his Hindu faith, and volunteer work to benefit the elderly and homeless.

Cesar Murillo ’91

called his wife, Alyson Becker ’92, as he tried to escape from the 104th floor of the World Trade Center. Fleeing down the stairwell, he told his wife that he loved her. The couple had been married just short of one year, and their October 2000 ceremony had included many of their friends from undergraduate days at UVM. Murillo, who worked as an equity salesman for Cantor Fitzgerald, studied political science at the university and was a member of Sigma Phi fraternity. A native of Colombia, Murillo was also very active in building community for students of color at UVM, and was a founding member of the Alianza Latina student group.

Martin Niederer ’99

came to UVM with a passion for basketball and left focused on a career in the business world. A sophomore-year field trip to the New York City financial markets inspired Niederer to study business, and after graduation he quickly landed a job right where he wanted to be — working on Wall Street. A year ago, Niederer was recruited to work for Cantor Fitzgerald and he was at his desk early, as usual, on September 11 when Tower 1 was hit. Former Catamount coaches and teammates numbered among the many at a memorial service held in Niederer’s hometown of Annandale, N.J.

Joshua Piver ’00

loved to take friends visiting New York City up to the deck atop the World Trade Center, five floors above his office. He was in his office at Cantor Fitzgerald when the first airliner hit the north tower. Attending a candlelight prayer service held at a local church in Piver’s hometown of Stonington, Conn., his friend Leah Dann told a New York Times reporter, “He’s the most easy-going, fun-loving guy. Everyone got along with him. I’ve never known him to argue with anyone, even raise his voice. He’s just the best.” Piver earned his UVM bachelor’s degree in economics and started work at Cantor Fitzgerald shortly after graduation.

Eric Ropiteau ’00

was hired by TradeSpark, a division of Cantor Fitzgerald, as a broker’s assistant in June. The art major had moved to New York two months following graduation with hopes of working as a professional model. When that path didn’t appear to be opening, Ropiteau, who also studied economics at UVM, had begun the transition to the financial industry. His classmate Joshua Piver had helped Ropiteau land the job at Cantor Fitzgerald, and both members of the Class of 2000 were on the 105th floor of Tower 1 on the morning of September 11.

Matthew Sellitto ’00

worked in Cantor Fitzgerald’s offices on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center. Shortly after one of the hijacked planes hit the tower, Sellitto called his father. “Matthew will be remembered as full of faith and full of love with a strength that led him in his final moments to call his father to say, ‘I love you all,’” said the Rev. Anthony Carrozzo at a Mass held for Sellitto in Harding Township, N.J. In a tribute to his older brother, Jonathan Sellitto dedicated the song “Brokedown Palace,” by the Grateful Dead, one of Matthew’s favorite bands. “Fare you well, fare you well/I love you more than words can tell/Listen to the river sing sweet songs/to rock my soul.”

John W. Wright, Jr. ’89

was a managing director for investment banking firm Sandler O’Neill & Partners, where he had worked for five years. He was in his office on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s Tower 2 on the morning of September 11. His wife, Martha Oliverio Wright (also a member of UVM’s Class of 1989), said that her husband called her after the first WTC attack and minutes prior to the plane hitting his building. “His voice was calm and he told me that he was all right. He said that he would call me back later, but I never did get to speak to him again.” Wright lived in Rockville Centre, N.Y. with his wife, and their three children, Emily, Robert, and John W. III, who was three weeks old in September 2001. Martha Wright said that in addition to spending time with his family, her husband enjoyed boating, fishing, and skiing.

 

This story originally appeared in Vermont Quarterly, Winter 2002.

Source: UVM News

Senior Kristina Ushakova knows the value of a bold, well-targeted request. The exercise science major considers it a necessary practice for gaining access to world-class trainers and researchers in her chosen profession of strength and conditioning coaching.

That initiative paid major dividends this summer when she received the opportunity to spend three months as an intern at the U.S. Olympic Training Site at East Tennessee State University. Part of that experience included a trip to the Pan American Weightlifting Championships in Miami with Doctoral Fellow and OTS Weightlifting Coach Aaron Cunanan. Ushakova asked if she could join Cunanan to shoot video as part of the data collection process for his dissertation on the biomechanics of weightlifting.

“I just know what I want and I’m not afraid to ask,” says Ushakova, an accomplished CrossFit athlete and weightlifter. “The worst thing they can say is no. I basically invited myself to the Pan American Weightlifting Championships, which allowed me to meet some of the top weightlifting coaches and athletes in the world. You won’t know unless you ask.”

Using cutting edge technology for evidence-based training 

At the U.S. Olympic Site in Johnson City, Tennessee, Ushakova worked with Olympic-caliber weightlifters and bobsledders, collected and analyzed data using cutting edge technology, and attended clinics and lectures on a variety of topics related to athletic performance. She interned under renowned high performance coach Brad DeWeese, who she emailed after learning about him from David Brock, associate professor in exercise and movement science at UVM.

“Kristina was the first in the door and the last to leave,” says two-time Olympian Meg Stone, a leading strength and conditioning coach and co-founding director of the Center of Excellence for Sports Science and Coach Education at ETSU. “She has been quite an added value in that she learned our data collection methods and the technology that we use, which I think will really stand in good staid for what she wants to do in the future.”

A typical day involved setting up and breaking down twice-a-day workouts for weightlifters and bobsled athletes and helping them with training. Ushakova eventually assisted in the monitoring, testing and collection of performance data. She calibrated force plates for athletes to jump on or perform a squat, for example, so researchers could measure their rate of force development. She also analyzed urine samples and other performance data in a lab setting that was used by coaches to guide training decisions and track progress.

“Using sophisticated technology was really cool, but learning how to analyze and interpret data was especially important because the equipment is useless if a coach can’t properly interpret results,” says Ushakova. “The program is very focused on evidence-based training to help people reach their highest potential.” 

At the Pan American Weightlifting Championships, Ushakova was able to interact and ask questions of Kyle Pierce, who coached Kendrick Farris to three Olympic Games, and U.S. Olympian and Weightlifting Coach Cara Heads-Slaughter. On her return to Vermont, Ushakova visited Heads-Slaughter at her training facility in Virginia. “It was an incredible experience to play a small part in the dissertation process and talk with coaches and athletes who are at the top of the sport. My internship supervisor, Doctoral Fellow John Wagle, constantly emphasized the importance of networking and that really resonated with me.”

Bringing knowledge back to UVM athletics 

Ushakova plans to apply what she learned over the summer here at UVM where she works with varsity athletes in multiple sports under the guidance of Mark Hickok, UVM’s co-director of athletic performance. She developed a resistance training program for a track & field athlete based on the principles of block periodization that she learned about at the Olympic training site. The program aims to sequentially increase the strength and power of the athlete, explains Ushakova, which would ideally translate to faster speeds on the track when paired with a logical speed development curriculum.

“I’m building it around the UVM track and field schedule so that I can better understand the realities and challenges strength coaches face like competition schedules, collaborating with a sport coach, and attempting to have the athlete peak at the right times,” says Ushakova. “My summer mentors really enhanced my understanding of training theory and proper planning. One of the biggest takeaways was the emphasis on the little things like proper running technique that can mean the difference between .01 of a second, which at this level could be the difference between winning an Olympic medal or not.”

Source: UVM News

Global warming could reduce coffee growing areas in Latin America — the world’s largest coffee-producing region — by as much as 88 percent by 2050.

That’s a key takeaway of the first major study of climate change’s projected impacts on coffee, and the bees that help coffee to grow. The findings appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities on earth, and needs a suitable climate and pollinating bees to produce well,” says Taylor Ricketts, director of the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Gund Institute for Environment and study co-author. “This is the first study to show how both will likely change under global warming – in ways that will hit coffee producers hard.”

While other research has explored climate-coffee scenarios, no other study has explored the coupled effects of climate change on coffee and bees at the national or continental scale. The study forecasts much greater losses of coffee regions than previous global assessments, with the largest declines projected in Nicaragua, Honduras and Venezuela.

“Coffee provides the main income for millions of the rural poor, so yield declines would affect the livelihoods of those already vulnerable people,” says Ricketts, who is also a professor in UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. 

While the research suggests coffee suitability and bee populations will decline in Latin America, it does offer some good news. The scientists projected a slight increase in coffee suitability in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Costa Rica, mainly in mountainous areas where temperatures are expected to support coffee growing and more robust bee populations.

The study also identified future coffee regions where the number and diversity of bees are likely to increase. This could boost coffee productivity regionally, offsetting some negative climate impacts, the researchers say.

“If there are bees in the coffee plots, they are very efficient and very good at pollinating, so productivity increases and also berry weight,” says lead author Pablo Imbach of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). “In the areas projected to lose coffee suitability, we wanted to know whether that loss could be offset by bees.”

The study highlights the importance of tropical forests, which are key habitats for wild bees and other pollinators. While 91 percent of the most suitable area for coffee in Latin America is currently within a mile of tropical forests, that is projected to increase to 97 percent by 2050, meaning conservation of those habitats will be crucial.

“We hope the models we have created to make these projections can help to target appropriate management practices such as forest conservation, shade adjustment and crop rotation,” says Lee Hannah, senior scientist at Conservation International and a co-author of the study.

The study was conducted with advanced modelling, spatial analysis and field data. It   provides strategies to improve coffee growth and bee pollination for Latin American coffee farmers:

1. Increase bee habitats near coffee farms where bee diversity is expected to decrease.
2. Prioritize farming practices that reduce climate impacts on coffee production where bees are thriving, but where coffee suitability will decline.
3. Protect forests and maintain shade trees, windbreaks, live fences, weed strips, and native plants that provide food, nesting and other materials to support pollinators.  

The research was supported by the International Climate Initiative, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.

Source: UVM News

The debate over gun control is one of the most polarizing in America.

Proponents of stricter gun laws point to the fact that Americans are 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than people in other developed countries.

Opponents counter that shooters will always be able to procure guns and that the right to bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

Three experts – a legal scholar, a social scientist and a philosopher – aim to bring nuance and new dimension to this issue in a Janus Forum panel discussion scheduled for 3 p.m. on September 14 at Davis Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Sanford Levinson, a faculty member in the University of Texas/Austin’s law school and a professor of government at the university, is a renowned constitutional law expert. He will address the extent to which the U.S. Constitution protects an individual’s gun ownership rights. 

Cassandra Crifasi is a highly regarded social scientist in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a core faculty member in the university’s Center for Gun Policy and Research. She will discuss evidence showing that additional gun controls decrease rates of violent crime. 
Michael Huemer, an expert in ethics and political philosophy, is a faculty member in the Philosophy Department at the University of Colorado/Boulder. He argues that the freedom to own a gun supersedes the harms guns cause.

The discussion will be moderated by UVM philosophy professor Don Loeb.

“The goal of the Janus Debate series is to bring attention to important and controversial policy issues and to challenge people to reflect on their views in the light of well argued contrary positions,” said Richard Vanden Bergh, a professor in UVM’s Grossman School of Business and a founder of the debate series.

“Everyone stands to benefit from that kind of self-examination,” he said.

This year for the first time, the Janus Debate series has engaged the university’s student debating organization, the Lawrence Debate Union, to both promote its debates and widen their impact.

Two student debaters in the LDU, Kaya Sittinger and Alex von Stange, will interview the panelists and post the transcripts of the conversations on the Janus Forum website.         

Another student debater, Charlotte Gliserman, will promote the events through the LDU’s social media channels. 

Members of the debate organization, one of the mostly highly ranked in the world, will also meet with the panelists over lunch. The experience, said Sittinger, will be valuable for students since it’s likely they’ll debate the gun control issue during debate contests with other schools over the year.

For the spring semester, the Janus Debate series will address the question: “Yes or No: Should Speech Be Restricted on Campus?”

For more information on the Janus Forum and the gun control panel, visit the program’s website.

The Janus Forum is sponsored by the families of James Pizzagalli and John Hilton.

Source: UVM News

The University of Vermont is hosting the Catalysts of the Climate Economy (cc:econ) September 6-8, a national innovation summit that will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders to gear up for the next stage of economic development and prosperity in a low-carbon future. The event’s goal is to accelerate progress toward the significant economic opportunities associated with solving the unprecedented challenges presented by climate change.

The summit will feature speeches, roundtables and discussion groups with industry leaders from around the country in clean energy, green building, agriculture, transportation, tech innovation, efficiency improvement, smart growth, and more.

The keynote speech for the event will be delivered by environmentalist, entrepreneur, activist, and bestselling author Paul Hawken, who will speak on Wednesday from 6:10 to 7:30 p.m. at the Ira Allen Chapel. The speech is free and open to the public.

Other speakers include Jigar Shah, co-founder of Generate Capital; Danny Kennedy, managing director of the California Clean Energy Fund; Mary Powell, CEO of Green Mountain Power; Gary Hirshberg, chairman and former CEO of Stonyfield Farm; Helen Mountford, program director of the New Climate Economy Initiative; Stephen Lacey, editor-in-chief of Greentech Media; Alex Keros, manager of vehicle & advanced technology policy at General Motors; Lila Preston, aartner at Generation Investment Management; John Replogle, president and CEO of Seventh Generation; Dan Reicher, executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University; and many others. 

In addiiton, the summit is hosting an innovation and pitch contest for entrepreneurs from around the country to exhibit their ideas for a better future. Winners will receive a cash prize and the opportunity to present their work to an audience of investors and other interested parties.  

The final day of the event will consist of a series of “innovation tours” around Vermont, guided by summit speakers and other changemakers. The tours will let participants see the climate economy in action, showcasing businesses, farms, utilities, policy, initiatives, and communities as models of energy production, efficiency, and economic development. Each tour will specialize in a particular area of interest, including Green Building and Design, Distributed Generation and the Rural Grid, and other themes central to the summit agenda.

Registration details and other information including the full schedule and speaker lineup can be found at https://www.ccecon17.com.

The summit is produced by the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD). From local, citizen-led efforts to policy councils that build collaboration between state, federal, nonprofit, and private sector leaders, VCRD brings Vermonters together across political lines and organizational boundaries to create a better future.

Source: UVM News