TrumBulletin 1-23-18

January 23, 2018

Welcome back and to the new semester.  I hope you had wonderful breaks with time to reconnect with family members and friends with whom you grew up, time to sleep late and read some things you did not have to read, time get outside (especially for those who come from warmer places but also for those who love winter).  Most of you (not all!) missed some prolonged, bitterly cold weather here along with a “cyclone-bomb” (which was both a new term to me and a new experience as well on Jan. 4th).  It was, in other words, a good time to be away. That said, I hope all are happy to be back here, to have a new set of courses on which to focus and new Trumbull events. 

Did I succeed in my no passport left behind over break quest?  No! (but I’ll never reveal the details and it wasn’t a hassle at all to deal with it – the person simply came back and retrieved it and we laughed about it.)    But this means my challenge for a no-passport-left-behind-year remains for next year.  I’ll be sending out that memo again.  Meanwhile my new challenge for this year is going to be:  No doors left unlocked during graduation (and hence, no thefts).  Watch for my memos.

Our first 2018 Trumbull event occurred last night with a Mellon Forum dinner and two of our seniors doing a terrific job presenting their own in the Mellon Forum – with Dylan Hosmer-Quint showing us how one can bring together (seemingly) very different interests (and majors in) to, in this case, not only produce an analysis of and advice regarding foreign aid but also bring together and jointly engage two faculty advisors from different departments.  Next Connor McCann described his work on developing a new robotic hand, showed us the hand he built (pretty impressive), and described a simulation done over break which provides the basis for the development of new, better device which will be built this semester. (See too an article and picture in the new Jan.-Feb. issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine – copies available just outside our offices – which features not just Connor McCann but also Trumbull’s senior and first-year-counselor-and-device-builder  Naoka Gunawardena in a picture and story – see page 38.  They were part of a team in a CEID class called Medical Device Design who developed a medical device that, ultimately, may prove useful in open-heart surgery.)  

I love Mellon Forum for, all too often, we and don’t know about just what many of the things our students are accomplishing.   We’ve also started a new tradition in Mellon Forum of having fellow students and friends introduce our seniors.  They provide added humor and warmth to the presentations.

Welcomes

Trumbull has some new members to welcome.  I’ll start by congratulating Luke Sanford and his wife Ashley on the birth of their daughter (and our newest, smallest and most adorable Trumbullian), Natalie Brooke Sanford.  She was born on Dec. 21, 2017, kindly waiting to arrive until after her father’s finals ended (though rumor had it that his professors would have granted her Dad a delay in scheduled exams had she arrived a bit earlier.) 

Also, please join me in welcoming four new VISP students to Yale and to Trumbull.  All have arrived from Yale NUS and are spending the semester with us.  They are:  Gabriel Lek, Swarnima Sircar, Jiayun Wang and Fangchen Zhu.  Like the rest of you, they bring a wide variety of interests to Trumbull – in literary fiction and non-fiction (Gabriel), math, statistics and public policy (Swarnima), and neurobiology, consciousness and memory (Fangchen). 

Coming up

Tuesday, tonight, Jan. 23:  Juniors, interested in being a FroCo next year.  Stop by the FroCo information session tonight at 6 pm. in the Fellows Lounge (entryway K)

Tomorrow evening, Wednesday, Jan 24:  It’s too early for a study break but it’s never too early for a puppy break.   Willa, a labrador retriever puppy is here in Trumbull this week with the Wargos.  (She’s very cute.)  She’ll visit the house tomorrow evening from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. or so and is available for cuddling (if she’s sleepy) or playing (otherwise.)  If you just feel like hanging out with a puppy, having some hot chocolate and enjoying some pup-cakes, stop by the house at 9 and join her.

Wednesday, Jan. 24.  The Class of 1955 Fellowship applications are due at 5 p.m. in our main office. 

Saturday, Jan. 27.  Trumbull is sponsoring a trip to see “The Post” at the Criterion Theatres on this Saturday (the 27th) in the afternoon.  We’ll cover the cost of the tickets, you just sign up in the Trumbull Office. 

Going to see the movie (which is excellent) is in preparation for an upcoming Trumbull Tea on Feb. 15 featuring James Goodale the lawyer who successfully defended the New York Times in legal proceedings – that went all the way to the Supreme Court – supporting a free press and their right to publish the Pentagon Papers.  “The Post” is all about the events surrounding this.  I’ve seen the movie, I recommend both it and coming to hear James Goodale on Feb. 15 highly.  I’ll send more details about his talk soon (and his own comments about the movie as well but it’s best to see it first and then to hear his comments.  

Open hours in the dark room.  If you are interested in photography there is an open house in our dark room TONIGHT from 6 to 8 p.m.

Coming up very soon – Free Mindful mediation classes in the Trumbull Dance studio on Monday evenings:   Trumbull and Silliman are sponsoring joint mindful meditation classes led by Professor Molly Crockett of Yale’s psychology department.  They are free and will be held in Trumbull’s dance studio throughout the semester, always on Monday evening.  More details will be send out soon but you may sign up in Trumbull’s main office now.  Beginners are most welcome.

Coming up in February.   Trumbull will be sponsoring a ski trip to Mt. Snow in Vermont.  Details will be announced soon.

Lost and found.  Many items were found over break. Some were just left in a common area and some in unused rooms in Trumbull (which were all checked and locked over break.) They can be retrieved by coming to the main office.  (We didn’t put all these items on the lost and found list just because there are so many of them but they are available in the main office.)