What do some our alumni say about their education at HMC?

Image of Scott N. Pace (’80)

Scott Pace (’80)

George Washington University

Physics majors can certainly go on to do all kinds of strange things, even public policy and international affairs:

https://elliott.gwu.edu/pace

Physics training has been an invaluable aid throughout my career despite my grade in quantum mechanics. : >

Sept. 1, 2012

CJ Baumgart (’79)

Starstuff
I have had a great life since HMC, I have worked on everything from military to law enforcement to environmental analysis in the Amazon to farming software. I am most proud of my work in remote sensing combined with knowledge-based earth / terrain modeling. This work has led me all over the US, Europe, and South America. The thread of satellite imagery combined with GIS data and then pumped through human rules of expertise has spanned almost all of my projects. I couldn't have done this at all without a strong background in physics.
Jan. 1, 1997

Fred Streitz (’83)

Auburn University
I love teaching (but then, I learned from the best), and love my research - it's trying to do both all the time that I am finding taxing.
Jan. 1, 1997

George Conner (’74)

Teradyne
It turns out that Physics was a great intro for my particular job. I started as a digital electronics design engineer and the electronics part could be handled with the few courses HMC offered. The tough part was understanding the complex interrelationships of the functional blocks of the system. My physics background helped in this area although I did spend some intensive time reading electronics books. As time progressed, my job became more of an architectural endeavour and that was where physics really started to help: architecture involves understanding the big picture, not just the details of electronics but mechanical, thermal, software etc. At one time or another I have used almost every branch of technology. Only physics gives you enough understanding of theory to let you jump in and start swinging no matter where you land.
Jan. 1, 1997