Mid-Hudson Valley people on the move
Cindy Schwarz, of Staatburg, N.Y. and a professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vassar College, has been named recipient of the 2017 David Halliday and Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching by the American Association of Physics Teachers.
The award recognizes contributions to undergraduate physics teaching and awardees are chosen for communicating the excitement of physics to their students.
Schwarz earned her bachelor of science in mathematical physics at S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton, a master of philosophy degree in physics at Yale University and a doctorate in experimental particle physics at Yale University.
Schwarz was cited as an early adopter of interactive teaching methods and brought many techniques, such as peer instruction, use of smartboards in the classroom, use of electronic clickers, and in-class problem solving to Vassar College and shared those methods with her colleagues. She instituted Vassar College’s Physics Teacher Certification program by working closely with the Education Department in crafting a New York state-approved curriculum.
For nearly 30 years, Schwarz has innovated interactive pedagogies and is author of multiple books on physics for the undergraduate, elementary and high school levels.
Schwarz has created multiple new physics courses at Vassar, including “The Subatomic Zoo,” a course for non-physics majors that uses her book, “A Tour of the Subatomic Zoo.” The first edition of the book won the American Library Association Outstanding Academic Book Award in 1992. A third edition was recently published as part of the IOP Concise Physics series.
“The Limits of the Universe, The Limits of Understanding” was a crosslisted physics and philosophy course that Schwarz co-taught with a colleague from the Philosophy Department.
Schwarz has been an advocate for science literacy and co-authored a book for 7 –11 year olds, “Adventures in Atomville: The Macroscope,” which is available in English and Spanish. ••• Joseph Saltarelli, of Pleasant Valley and senior director of manufacturing operations at Global Foundries. of East Fishkill, has been named to the board of directors of the Council of Industry, a manufacturers association of the Hudson Valley.
He has worked at the East Fishkill site since 1989. when it was a part of IBM.
He received a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering and material science from Rutgers University in 1989, then joined IBM as a manufacturing engineer.
••• Brandee Nelson, of Great Barrington, Mass., has been hired as project manager in the
Red Hook office of Tighe & Bond, which provides civil and environmental engineering and consulting services.
She has 19 years of experience in environmental engineering. For the past 12 years, Nelson has been a vice president of civil and environmental engineering with a Hudson Valley consulting engineering firm where she was responsible for projects that included site investigation and remediation, permitting, municipal infrastructure, as well as private residential and commercial land development. She also has been the designated engineer for several municipalities for the past 10 years.
A licensed professional engineer in New York, she is a LEED accredited professional for new construction. She graduated from Montana Tech in Butte, Mont., with a bachelor of science degree in environmental engineering.
••• Marybeth De Filippis, currently of Manhattan, has been hired as executive director of Historic Huguenot Street, of New Paltz.
De Filippis is a museum professional and scholar specializing in the material culture and history of early New York. She served for eight years at the New York Historical Society, where she was most recently associate curator of American art and former manager of the Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture.
While at the New York Historical Society, De Filippis conceived “Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick,” for which she was co-curator of the exhibition and co-editor and a major author of the catalogue, which was published by Yale University Press and project co-organizers, the Bard Graduate Center and the New-York Historical Society.
Other exhibitions and permanent installations to which she contributed have included the subjects of slavery and art, slavery in New York, and the Hudson River School of art.
She has held board positions at the New Amsterdam History Center, Huguenot Heritage, and Henry Hudson 400 and was adviser for Peabody Essex Museum’s recent exhibition “Asia in Amsterdam: The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age.”
Her early career included positions in banking and securities, as well as residential design, space planning, and renovation experience.
De Filippis has a master of arts degree in American material culture from the Bard Graduate Center in New York City and master of business administration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Of Huguenot descent, De Filippis is a member of The Huguenot Society of South Carolina, New Netherland Institute, Association of Historians of American Art, and the Association of Art Museum Curators, among other industry organizations.
She plans to relocate to the Hudson Valley.
••• The Olana Partnership has announced creation of three new senior staff positions as part of a major restructuring plan undertaken over the past year.
Mark Prezorski, of Livingston, who has served as landscape curator since 2011, has been named senior vice president and creative director. He will continue to lead restoration and interpretation of Olana’s historic landscape, but will also lead strategic planning, development, and communications.
Diane Forsberg, of Hudson, has joined Olana Partnership as director of collections and exhibitions. She will oversee collections management, the planning and implementation of exhibitions and other interpretive projects, as well as engagement with diverse audiences. She most recently was director of The Arkell Museum in Canajoharie, since 2012, having begun her time at the Arkell as chief curator in 2005. Prior to that she was chief curator at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Conn. She began her career as a museum educator after receiving her bachelor of arts degree from Franklin & Marshall College and her master of arts degree in American art history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Julia Rosenbaum, of Rhinebeck and chairwoman of the History of Art Program at Bard College, joins Olana Partnership in a consulting capacity as director of research and publications. Rosenbaum will have primary responsibility for developing a program of research and publication around Olana and its collections, archival, fine and decorative arts, architecture, and landscape. Rosenbaum received a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from Yale University and a doctorate in the history of art from the University of Pennsylvania. She has published widely on American art and Frederic Church. She was a Senior Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2015-2016.
••• Dutchess Tourism Inc. has hired Kacie Ging, of Hopewell Junction, as communications specialist, and Susanne O’Neil, of the city of Poughkeepsie, at tourism sales coordinator.
Ging previously worked for Audio Network in New York City, where she was a marketing executive. She will be responsible for the organization’s social media presence, copywriting and editing, market research, analytics and special event support.
O’Neil’s focus will be on marketing and promoting Dutchess County as a destination to the group travel market. She will be responsible for maintaining the group tour page on Dutchess Tourism’s web site, developing getaway packages, and overseeing presence at consumer trade shows. O’Neil was formerly the programs and events manager at the Walkway Over the Hudson.
••• Laura Nordstrom, of Kingston, has joined the staff of the YMCA as youth development director.
She was previously the family self-sufficiency coordinator at RUPCO and, before that, worked as a program director at the Boys & Girls Club of Kingston.
She came to Ulster County as a student at SUNY New Paltz, from which she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in anthropolog y.
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