Alumni
In Memoriam: Shannon O'Leary and Adam Clausen
Former LU Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics, Shannon O’Leary and former Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, Adam Clausen were killed in a car accident on 26 December 2016 while returning to Portland, Oregon from a family holiday gathering in Bend. Their car was hit from behind and sent into oncoming traffic. Adam and Shannon’s son, Felix (4) survived the crash and has been adopted by Adam’s brother and his family.
The people in the Lawrence community who knew and loved Adam and Shannon since their arrivals in Appleton in 2007 and 2008 respectively continue to grieve this tragic loss and we know that they had a deep impact on the lives and careers of a number of former Lawrence students who might be readers of this newsletter.
Shannon and Adam were married in Appleton in 2009. They moved to Portland in 2010 where Shannon took up a tenure-track faculty position in the physics department at Lewis and Clark College. Adam taught physics and mathematics courses at a number of Portland area institutions before settling into a career with a firm that reviewed patent applications, reminding some of us of Einstein’s early-career employment.
Shannon developed a productive research program at Lewis and Clark in atomic physics and the couple had a tremendously positive influence on students and colleagues at Lewis and Clark as some of us heard at their memorial service in January.
Here are some of the words from LU physics alumni that we received in the days and weeks following news of Shannon and Adam’s deaths:
Daniel Fulton (‘09): Adam and Shannon first came to Lawrence during my junior year in the physics department. For five of the six quarters I had before graduation, I took classes with Adam. He, by far, did the most damage to my GPA of any faculty member at Lawrence. I enjoyed his dry humor in the classroom and the uncompromising way he set a high bar for his students, so despite not getting the best marks, each quarter I would register for his next course. The faculty culture in the LU Physics department is what initially drew me to Lawrence. When I visited as a high school student I was struck by the collegiality of the faculty towards students, and the overwhelming sense that they cared not just about teaching students to be good physicists, but how to be good people and live happy, successful lives. That Adam and Shannon took so immediately to this generous culture, speaks volumes to their high character.
Eric Frater (‘11): Shannon and Adam fostered my love for applied optics and are responsible for the path I've taken for my career. They were incredibly kind, supportive, and firm teachers. I think they represented the best teaching practices that I have ever been subjected to.
Brad Bodee (‘11): Clausen and O'Leary helped me a lot. Clausen's lectures were amazing. I remember sprinting out of the classroom to take down notes before I forgot all the details he taught me. His advanced mechanics course was fun entertaining and helpful. His class got me through my advanced mechanics graduate course.
Two better colleagues and friends, we don’t expect to see in this world.
–M. R. Stoneking
Graduates of the Lawrence Physics Program
2017
Ashmore, Rylo (m)
Jarjour, Sami
Kiehl, Christopher
Lex, Alicia (m)
Liberko, Joseph
Marshall, Albert
Poole, Cody
Ranumas, J.P. (Jatuporn)
Ristow, Clayton
Roedl, Erika
Roque, Benjamin
Shahbazi, Alexander
Yu, Peiying
2016
Clark, Benjamin
Cook, Owen
Edwards, Kirstin
Elizondro Rueda, Eduardo (m)
Grudichak, Scott
Hosmer-Quint, John
Lapp, William
Le, Phong (m)
Lindley, Rachel
Micinski, Emma
Sussman, Leo
Tse, Jeffrey (m)
Tse, Timothy (m)
Wang, Kangkang
Weikel, Stephen
2015
2015Betzold, Amber
Coenen, Ashley
D'Souza, Sanfer
Doares, Andrew (Drew)
Kozloff, David
Liang, Tianchu (Alex)
Martinez Zambrano, Daniel
Rasmussen, Tanner
2014
Cullen, Joseph
Friend, Michael (m)
Gabriel, Hannah
Herman, Alyssa (m)
Hoang, The Gia (m)
Jakes, Will
Lohrmann, Erich
Patterson, Alex
Sinai-Yunker, Cooper
Van de Graaff, Michael
Wennerstrom, Michael
2013
Black, Gus (m)
Dempsey, Jack (m)
Mayer, Karl
Price, Micah
Thayer, Travis
Williamson, Ellie
Wright, Aaron
2012
Darrell, James
Exarhos, Stephen
Klocke, Melissa
Miller, Joia
Qiu, Fangzhou (Frederick)
Readinger, Adam
Strehlow, Henry
Van Hoozen, Brian
Zhang, Zhe
2011
Corsbie, Chris (m)
Bodee, Brad
Bodnar, Carol
Choudhury, Faraz
Frater, Eric
Glenn, Lawrence
Gray, Kelsey
Knoedler, Andrew
Lerch, Amelia
Stephenson, Alyssa
2010
Meichle, David
Niederriter, Rob
O'Halloran, Joe
Treiman, Michael
Ziege, Julia
2009
Anderson, Matt
Fulton, Daniel
Harbage, David
Huck, Peter
Malyshev, Gennady
Marheine, Sarah
Peck, Emily
Phillippi, Andrew
Robert, Domi
Rude, Sara
Smoniewski, Jason
Solberg, Jeffery
Toussaint, Ted
Van Camp, Mackie
Zehfus, Corey
2008
Bajracharya, Anmol
Curry, Sarah
Dowd, Will
Garbacik, Erik
Geisthardt, Russell
Gerrity, Randy
Halverson, Max
Hector, Julian
Kane, Andrew
Maas, Robert
Megow, Erik
Pierquet, Michael
Rubin, Jacob
Sit, Stefany
VanArsdale, Michael
Weber, Karl
2007
Exarhos, Annemarie
Ha, Bao
Hawley, Chris
Lasowski, Matt
Rice, Brandon
Schneck, Maureen
Schwert, Brent
Weiss, Claire
2006
Borej, Bart
Burton, Amanda
Casner, Dan
Dolan, Kyle
Douglas, Nat
Goil, Aditya
Griffith, Jon
McNeil, Henry
Rodenbeck, Joe
Ryan, Duncan
Silwal, Rupesh
Stackpole, Matt
Teodoro-Dier, Adriana
Tipping, Bradley
2005
Bhinge, Rahul
Brown, Edward
Dogaru, Alex
Evans, April
Hahn, Steven
Kost, Lauren
Kunwar, Samridha
Mauro, Nick
Schonfeld, Paul
Warmington, Leighton
2004
Dietrich, Matt
Gooden, Dmitri
Kaminski, Scott
Kruesi, Liz
Levin-Koopman, Jason
Mills, Dwight
Milne, Michelle
Schendel, Megan
2003
Curtis, Val
Growdon, Mark
Heitman, Kristen
Kohlmann, Steve
Krupka, Nick
Peterson, Ace
Phelps, Chris
Robinson, Kim
Sonderegger, Evan
Wells, Joe
Witt, Suzanne
2002
Dralus, Danica
Jung, Ryan
Marksteiner, Quinn
Phillips, Wellington
Thuecks, Derek
Tice, Dane
Sampson, Robin
2001
Bluett, Jaques
Cross, Josh
Gauthier, Rudy
Johnson, Leif
Kopp, Angela
Pelzer, Adam
Regal, Cindy
Schmitt, Stuart
Theiss, Adam
Vande Hey, Josh
Warrick, Jay
Yakes, Michael
2000
Dunleavy, Teresa
Kondratko, Paul
Reeves, Jessica
1999
Beck, Tim
Brubaker, Erik
Fernandez, Luz
Holst, William
Moore, Eric
Nongkynrih, Neville
Sezer, Ben
Steffen, Leta
Tamamoto, Brent
Taylor, Kurt
Trigg, Scott
Walby, Chad
1998
Donnelly, Michael
Dostal, David
Lewandowski, Amie
Nishimura, Michael
Nornberg, Mark
Shaw, Scot
Truitt, Jim
1997
Bassett, Alfred
Delaney, Scott
Feist, Jeffrey
Fiora, Renate
Harrington, David
Kimball, Paul
Miller, Tim
Murschel, Scott
Schmidt, Chris
Smith, Wade
Stenner, Michael
Syed, Sheyum
Thompson, Todd
Thorne, Adam
Tong, Anthony
Tourdot, William