CLASS OF 2010 | 2014 | ISSUE 3

Newsmaker: Chia Wei (Wade) Hsu ’10

Chia Wei (Wade) Hsu ’10, a doctoral student working with MIT Professor of Physics Marin Soljacic, has found a new way to confine light. “Typically, in free space, light will go everywhere,” he explained in an article for AZoNano.com. “If you want to confine light, you usually need some special mechanism.” Last summer he demonstrated the confinement of light on the surface of a photonic crystal: held at a certain angle, the crystal would keep light bound to the surface and oscillating continually. At Wesleyan, Hsu was a Freeman Scholar and winner of the Bertman Prize. A math and physics major, he was also the first Wesleyan winner of the American Physical Society’s LeRoy Apker Award. He is using his current research to explore potential applications in crystal lasers. His doctoral thesis will be split between research on nano­particle displays and his work on the confinement of light.

“Ben Seretan has just released a new album. It’s self-titled, self-released, and is the most thrilling and wonderful music you’ll hear all year.” Find his music at benseretan.bandcamp.com.

Dylan Marron writes: “The web series I was in, Whatever this is., was hosted on panel at the Paley Center for Media last year and just a few weeks ago my work on the show was highlighted in a Boston Globe feature on Web series that deserve to win Emmys. Kinda nuts! Also I was cast as a major role on the popular podcast, Welcome to Night Vale, a cult-hit fictional sci-fi podcast that I’ve been touring around with since January.

“What’s kind of singular about these projects is that they are very much indie creations that have made it in the mainstream. I’ve been lucky to find a place for myself in this movement of de-commercializing art and finding new ways to sustain it. Feel very proud of this work.

“Not to pile it all on at once but I’m also in the current TD Bank ad campaign and a play I performed in and helped develop back in the spring was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Production. Forgive the long list I’m just excited to share it with my alma mater where I got to hone these skills! And it’s all part of the same theme; independent art and entertainment can be accessed more readily because of the amazing platforms we have at our disposal. I only got the opportunity to film that TD bank campaign—the literal definition of commercial and corporate entertainment —because I was scouted out from my work with the New York Neo Futurists, a downtown theater company.

“And finally, I’m writing a full-length play for my theater company, the New York Neo Futurists. It’s called The Human Symphony and it’s entirely performed by randomly selected audience members. The quick and dirty tagline is ‘stories of strangers meeting each other online, performed by strangers meeting each other in a theater.’ It’s currently in development and will open on Jan. 22, 2015, in New York.”

Elizabeth Larner writes: “I am in my second year at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Va. In addition to taking classes, I’m serving as a Writing Fellow for the 1L class, as a member of the William & Mary Law Review, as secretary of the Children’s Advocacy Law Society, and as a general board member for the Public Service Fund. Needless to say, I’m super busy, but I’m really enjoying myself. Following graduation in less than two short years, I will be making the move to Charlotte, N.C., to start my career.

Kristen May: “I am currently living in Denver and just started a master’s program at the University of Colorado, Denver. I am working towards a master’s in public administration with a focus on education and nonprofit management. I spent the summer working for Big City Mountaineers leading backcountry trips with urban high school girls in Minnesota and the Rocky Mountains.”

Adrienne Russman: “I’m still a policy adviser in Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s ’74 office, and am also serving as the policy and research director on his reelection campaign through November.”

Matthew Lamothe, production executive at Jeff Rice Films (Academy Award-Winning Lone Survivor, 2 Guns), based in Beverly Hills, Calif., is executive producing the thriller Shut In with Steven Schneider, the creator of the Paranormal Activity and Insidious franchise. Hollywood Reporter article link: hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/beth-riesgraf-starring-indie-horror-729021.

Sandie Weisberger: “I just graduated from Boston College Law School in May and started a job at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in September as an assistant district attorney in the Framingham District Court.”

Hallie Coffin-Gould: “I’m living in Boston and working at a private wealth management firm. I just adopted a dog, Paxton (see photo on the web class notes classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu) and am excited for Reunion this spring!”

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu