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What began as a suggestion in September 1999 by Pauline Shen, Director of Development for the College of Science, to join her in meeting with some Physics alums in Boston, soon snowballed into a full-fledged production. Through her many contacts with College of Science alumni, Pauline knew that there was a group of Physics alums in the Boston area who were eager to hear what was happening in the department.

By early October, Pauline had received verbal commitments from 10 alums to attend a dinner. Perusing the guest list, it was clear that a broad range of interests would be represented. For this reason, I decided to invite Professors David Elmore, David Nolte, and Anant Ramdas to join me. Dean Harry Morrison had business in Boston on that same day (by no accident), so all of us except Anant departed on the morning of November 4 on the university jet.

Upon arrival, David Nolte, David Elmore, and I picked up a car and went off to visit with Lee Grodzins, our Honorary Degree recipient in 1998. We found Lee at American Science and Engineering (AS&E) located in Billerica. Lee played a significant role in turning science into product for the company but now serves only as a consultant. The company, founded in 1958, uses X-rays to search for contraband. Their latest advancement involves the use of "back-scattered" X-rays. In addition to using the normal transmission geometry in which X-rays are absorbed by dense materials, AS&E detects those which are back-scattered off of low-Z materials. According to Lee, business is booming. Last year (1999), sales were $57m. By coincidence, they were featured in Forbes magazine of November 29, page 144.

Following a tour of the entire facility, Lee invited us to join a "working" lunch group which he holds every Thursday. The group was only too thrilled to discuss their product and problems (to a point) with us. When I asked whether or not they would welcome undergraduates as summer interns, I received a most enthusiastic, "Yes!" AS&E has such a program, and I am eager to have one of our students participate.

After lunch, Lee took us over to his other company, Niton. Niton started under Lee’s direction at MIT as an undergraduate research project in his lab. The company initially sold easy-to-use radon detection kits. Niton still does this, but it is no longer a large percentage of their business. Rather, hand-held X-ray resonance fluorescence units which can be used to detect concentrations of heavy elements is the current hot product. These are to be used, for example, to detect environmental hazards such as lead. Units start at $30,000. Lee no longer runs the company, leaving that up to his younger son.

Meanwhile, Anant was spending the day at Raytheon with Randy Tustison, trading stories about diamonds they have known and loved. Raytheon has an impressive program on diamonds grown by chemical vapor deposition. Anant had a stimulating time hearing about their accomplishments. Randy obtained his B.S. degree from the department in 1970, followed by a Ph.D. and has been at the Raytheon Company in Lexington, Massachusetts since 1976 where he is now Manager of the Advanced Materials division. His research focus has been the optical and electrical properties of semicon ductors and insulators, with an emphasis on the synthesis of the same.

People began arriving for dinner at the Westin Hotel around 5:30. Among those present were Roshan Aggarwal (Anant’s first Ph.D. student, ‘65), Bartley Cardon (R. Stanley, ‘66), C. J. Chirravuri (Program Manager, Operations Systems Laboratory, GTE, Ramdas, ‘80), Claudia Evans (M.S. ‘69), Lee Grodzins (Chang, ‘54), David Spears (Bray, ‘69, Lincoln Lab, Assistant Leader of the Microelectronics Group), David St. Onge (M.S. ‘64), Piran Sioshansi (President and CEO, RadioMed Corporation, Scharenberg, ‘72), Randy Tustison (Manager, Advanced Materials Division at Raytheon Company, ‘70), and Jim Vickers (Principal Scientist, Optonics, B.S. ‘86). Sioshansi recently has developed a treatment for prostate cancer using a radioactive wire instead of the common radioactive beads!

Dinner was sandwiched between presentations, first from me, "What Happened to the Physics Department While You Weren’t Looking," followed by Anant who dazzled the audience with pictures and the physics of diamonds. After dinner, David Nolte spoke about dynamic holography and its exciting applications, followed by David Elmore and research opportunities in accelerator mass spectrometry. David left the audience with a real teaser, telling them about transplanting tissue from pigs into dogs, a work in progress.