SO MUCH TO CELEBRATE: On Sept. 30, the Whittemore Center was transformed for “Hear Us Roar,” UNH’s sesquicentennial celebration and launch event for its comprehensive campaign. Article
THEY BELIEVE IN UNH: Gray skies and chilly temps couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the UNH students who marched in the annual Homecoming parade — or the many community members who lined Main Street to watch. Joined by Gnarlz and Wild E. Cat, President Huddleston, the Wildcat Marching Band and several Oyster River music groups, students covered the distance from downtown Durham to the Whittemore Center by foot and on floats.
ON TOP OF THE WORLD: UNH researchers Kevin Jerram ‘14G and Evgenia Bazhenova were among a crew of 67 who paid a quick visit to the North Pole during a summer data-gathering trip to the Arctic Ocean. Jerram and Bazhenova, both researchers with UNH’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, spent six weeks on the Swedish ice breaker Oden, Jerram as a senior researcher and mentor in geophysical sciences and multibeam sonar, and Bazhenova as one of nine early career scientists invited to join the Arctic mission. The stop at latitude 90°N was brief; Jerram, Bazhenova and others paused just long enough to take photos before getting back to work.
(LIFE)JACKET REQUIRED: UNH has a new classroom and research lab — one that requires sea legs and a lifejacket. In May, the university’s School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering welcomed the R/V Gulf Surveyor, a state-of-the-art research vessel that will help researchers map the coastal seafloor and better understand the ocean environment while providing training in the latest oceanographic practices. The 48-foot aluminum vessel, docked at the New Castle, N.H., pier adjacent to the university’s Judd Gregg Marine Research Complex, has the capability to deploy sophisticated multi-beam echosounders to create much-needed maps of the sea floor and water column and is certified for 18 passengers. Article
SCIENCE FACT: Space Science Center research scientist Dacheng Lin headlined a recent article in The Astrophysical Journal describing a finding that sounds like the stuff of science fiction: a massive black hole wandering the edge of the galaxy about 4.5 billion light years away. Lin used data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s XXM-Newton X-ray observatory to find evidence for the heretofore undocumented black hole, which has a mass some 100,000 times that of the sun. Lin says the black hole revealed itself as it consumed a nearby star — a process that created extremely luminous X-ray flares, which were captured by the agencies’ telescopes. Article
PLAY BY PLAY: Jack Edwards ’79 was on campus Sept. 21 to speak with students at the MUB about the future of media. Edwards began his sportscasting career calling games for hockey on WUNH as an undergrad and went on to work for both Boston’s WCVB Channel 5 and ESPN. He has announced Boston Bruins games for New England Sports Network for 11 seasons alongside color commentator and fellow alumnus Andy Brickley ’82.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: A record-setting crowd of more than 13,000 UNH football fans were on hand for the Wildcats’ home opener on Sept. 10, the team’s first game in the new Wildcat Stadium. Players entered the stadium for the 7 p.m. game just as the sun was setting, greeted by the roar of the capacity crowd and the outstretched arms of several dozen Oyster River Youth Association athletes. The fans’ good luck wishes couldn’t have hurt; though they trailed 13-21 at halftime, the Wildcats prevailed over the Holy Cross Crusaders to christen the stadium with a 39-28 victory.
PROPS FOR THE PD: During the summer, UNH’s police department was reaccredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), reaffirming its position among a select group of law enforcement agencies across the country. Police Chief Paul Dean says the CALEA reaccreditation means his department meets the highest industry standards in the United States for public safety. “Roughly only 5 percent of law enforcement agencies are accredited, so we’re very proud to be part of an elite group of agencies,” Paul says. Article
Originally published in UNH Magazine Winter 2017 Issue
