Graduation at Reed and other news

This past weekend we went to Portland, Oregon to attend graduation at Reed College. Rae, Jesse's girlfriend, was graduating.

Rae graduated with a dual degree in chemistry and biology. All seniors at Reed write a thesis which is published and a copy is put in the thesis room in the library. Rae's thesis title is, "A study on the Effects of Small Conductance Ca2+ -activated K+ Channel Type 2 on Dendritic and Spinal Morphology". I am afraid you will have to ask her what this means.

I also got a chance to meet more of Rae's family. I have met her mother, Louise and her husband, Michael as well as Rae's twin sister Jenny. This time I also met Louise's mother, Ruth, Rae's brother, Gregory as well as Rae's father Peter. You can see us all in the picture below (from left to right: Gregory, Ruth, Jesse, Rae, Sarah, myself, Peter, Rich, Michael and Louise.

Here is the happy graduate with her brother and sister. Notice the resemblance.

We also cheered on other graduates including Jess Dennis, a good friend of Sarah's. Jess received a degree in psychology. Her thesis was "Metacognition in Rats". She invited us to attend a gathering that the Psychology department had for the graduating seniors. The thesis advisors wrote a limerick for each senior's thesis. The limerick for Jess' thesis was:

Jess made it her thesis ambition

To instill in rats, metacognition.

The rats, now self-aware,

Ask, "how do you dare

Study us without our permission!"

Jess and Sarah will be sharing an apartment in the fall when Sarah returned to Reed to do her senior year.

We had a great time and the weather cooperated.

And, by the way, the other news, Jesse and Rae are now engaged....