News releases
May 7, 2009
TO: Reporters, news directors
FROM: University Communications, 608-262-2650
RE: TIP/STORY IDEAS ON SPRING 2009 GRADUATES
Reporters covering spring commencement May 15-17 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Kohl Center may be interested in stories of individual students who have done remarkable work while on campus.
This tip sheet profiles a number of graduates who will participate in this spring's ceremonies.
----------------
Tom Curry: Double major toots his own horn with the tuba in the Wisconsin Brass Quintet
Though he can't tell you exactly why he began playing the tuba, other than it was a challenge, Tom Curry can assure you of his passion for music and incorporating it into today's culture.
"The reason I like music is because it's a challenge. It's always something that will push you forward," Curry says. "You're really preserving and cultivating something that I think is culturally, historically and socially important, even if people don't essentially regard it as that today."
For the past semester, Curry has been performing tuba as part of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet (WBQ) while his teacher, John Stevens, took sabbatical leave. The quintet performs for the Faculty Concert Series and Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen and has numerous other performances.
In addition to his involvement with the WBQ, Curry is involved with the symphony, the Wind Ensemble and numerous other student quintets. When asked where he performs with the quintets, Curry says, "Wherever anyone will let you play."
Not only is Curry an esteemed musician on campus, but he also is a writer and communication arts major. He finds a way to combine his passion for music and writing by working for Emmie, a UW-Madison music magazine put out by the Wisconsin Union Directorate's publications committee.
Although he doesn't plan to go into a career in communication, it's something he would like to keep part of his life. "With music, it's something that's good to be well-rounded because you never know what you're going to do," Curry says. "And I guess it's always good to be good at writing."
Curry says he was glad to attend UW-Madison because the tuba professor is someone he really wanted to work with. Additionally, he says the School of Music is surrounded by an aura of support and cooperation, rather than competition that he has seen in other music programs. In the end, he adds, he enjoyed the university simply because, "it's Madison."
In the future, Curry sees himself in Chicago, pursuing his musical career. He says it's a metropolitan area with a lot of playing opportunities.
"It has a very vivid, vibrant music scene," says Curry about Chicago. "That's what you have to do as a musician: have a lot of opportunities, and hopefully some of them pan out if you're lucky."
Curry will walk the stage at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 17. He can be reached at thomas.w.curry@gmail.com
----------------
Prince Moody: Football player starts fitness program for low-income kids
UW-Madison student-athlete Prince Moody will graduate this spring with a bachelor's in history and a plan to give back to the community.
Along with four other student athletes, Moody is finalizing the details of Athletes Emphasizing Athletics (AEA), a fitness program for low-income high-school and middle-school students.
Moody hopes to gain access to used equipment from the university, as well as Madison-area gyms and schools, to kick off the program.
"We want to be able to go out into the community as university athletes and play the role of mentor to high-school and middle-school children by teaching them about athletics," he says.
Although the program will be centered on athletics, Moody intends to "help build their character as well," by teaching students about the academic aspects of being an athlete.
Moody was inspired to start this program by the encouragement he received as a child.
"I know I wouldn't have got to be where I am today if it had not been for people outside my family coming in and taking an interest in me," he says. "There are a lot of bright inner-city youth, but sometimes they just don't have the encouragement to go out and pursue their goals."
During his undergraduate studies, Moody conducted independent research on Devic's disease, a form of multiple sclerosis that his mother has.
Moody and his siblings have served as primary caregivers to his mother, a quadriplegic, most of their lives.
He researched the hereditary components of the disease, as well as ways to improve the quality of life for Devic's patients, including information on a computer that allows disabled people to perform daily tasks such as answering the phone and opening doors.
Moody also met with people in the community who provided him with information on health advocacy for people with disabilities. He is now in the process of finalizing transportation details for his mother to travel from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
Moody, the first person in his family to graduate from college, has been accepted to graduate school at UW-Madison, where he will study educational leadership and administration. He will also play Badger football for one more year.
Moody can be reached at pmoody@wisc.edu
----------------
Ben Nyquist: Triple major brings eco-friendly electric bikes to campus
The road to college graduation was a bit greener for Ben Nyquist, co-founder of EnergE-Bikes.
A Spanish, political science and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) major from Grand Rapids, Minn., Nyquist was inspired to start EnergE-Bikes while studying abroad in Tianjin, China, in 2007.
Nyquist noticed electric bikes were in abundance around the city. The bikes, often called e-bikes, run emissions-free on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which users can recharge in a matter of hours.
Riders can turn off the motor and use e-bikes like regular mountain bikes, like mopeds, or put it in pedal-assist, where the rider pedals but is assisted with an extra push from the motor.
Nyquist and a friend from the study-abroad program began to look into importation procedures to purchase bikes for themselves and bring them back to Madison. That's when the idea for a business struck.
"We kind of figured if we want them, I bet other students would as well," he says.
Currently, EnergE-Bikes has 39 bikes in Madison and 21 in California.
One of the biggest draws of the e-bikes for Nyquist was their green quality.
"We thought this would be great because we see mopeds all over campus," he says. "An average moped pollutes more than even a car. It would be great for people to have an option that's environmentally friendly."
Nyquist says deciding to attend UW-Madison was "definitely one of the best decisions I made." When deciding on colleges as a high-schooler, Nyquist spoke to alumni from other schools he was considering, but he says they just didn't share the passion that UW-Madison alumni had.
"When I talked to alumni from Madison, I could not get them to stop talking," he says. "I wanted to go to a school that when I leave, I can say, 'Those are the best four years of my life.'" Now a UW-Madison senior, Nyquist can say he got his wish.
Nyquist plans to spend the summer, and possibly longer, in Madison. Although he's not sure what he'll be doing in fall, he plans on continuing the EnergE-Bikes business.
He can be reached at bnyquist@wisc.edu
----------------
Merikay Payne: Division of Continuing Studies graduate with a passion for the arts
Becoming a college graduate is no foreign concept to 56-year-old Merikay Payne, who will graduate this spring with her second bachelor's degree from UW-Madison.
Payne, who will graduate from the Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) with a bachelor's degree in studio art with an emphasis on printmaking, earned her first bachelor's from UW-Madison in broadcast journalism in 1975.
Since then, Payne has worked for Wisconsin Public Radio, raised a family and earned an associate's degree in graphic and Web design from Madison Area Technical College. She began her studies in DCS in 2002.
"To have gained the confidence to show people your work, have them enjoy it and buy it, is satisfying," Payne says.
Payne says she was inspired to earn her second bachelor's after participating in the Extension Leadership Development Program in 2001-02. She also took part in DCS's Wisconsin Regional Artist Program, where her work was chosen to be exhibited in the Statewide Regional Art Exhibit held on campus each August and September.
Although she is graduating, Payne will continue to be involved in the DCS program. She is currently planning curriculum with Professor Leslee Nelson, who coordinates the Statewide Regional Art Exhibit, for the DCS course "The Business of Art," which will begin in the fall.
Payne has also been an active member of the Madison-area art community, serving on the board of directors for 14 South Artists and Madison Art Guild. She also annually exhibits her art from her home print studio.
Payne can be reached at 608-261-1416 or mpayne@dcs.wisc.edu
----------------
Krista Stewart: Collaborating her passion for music with a fervor for research
Krista Stewart, a UW-Madison senior majoring in molecular biology, has not only managed to graduate in two-and-a-half years with a bachelor degree, but also has managed to juggle her intensive undergraduate research with her love for music.
Stewart will be attending medical school at UW-Madison in the fall. Additionally, she entered the university a semester early, at the age of 17, and has been playing with the UW Symphony Orchestra and taking college classes since high school.
"I have been able to connect my passion for science and music," Stewart says, "something that I had been struggling with before I came to the university."
Although she only plays music as a pasttime, she has used her talents to connect science and music on campus. For example, she has performed in a concert, "Concert at Chemistry," in collaboration with the Wisconsin Initiative to promote the creative side of science.
Meanwhile, Stewart has received two Hilldale grants to fund research on spinal cord injury. She will continue her current research in a central nervous system regeneration lab while in medical school.
"My main focus is to learn to be the best doctor I can be," Stewart says. "I've been doing research in the Department of Neurosurgery, so I'm really interested in neurosurgery."
In the future, Stewart plans to pursue a residency program in neurosurgery, followed by clinical practice while doing research on the side.
"I'm always excited in my research when I get a good result or when I find something new," she says. "That's always super gratifying for me because I know that it's meaningful to so many people."
For Stewart, UW-Madison was the ideal university for her studies, especially based on its strong reputation for research. Recently, Stewart presented her research at a National American Association of Neurological Surgeons pediatric section meeting where she was the only undergraduate in attendance.
"I think this campus is really strong on research, and that's why I was able to go there," she adds. "I think the knowledge I gained here is unparallel from anywhere else I would have gone."
Stewart can be reached at 608-335-8675 or kstewart2@wisc.edu
----------------
Kavi Turnbull: MBA entrepreneur, winner of UW Green Venture Award
With an unshakeable passion for entrepreneurship, master of business administration student and CEO Kavi Turnbull will graduate this spring.
A veteran entrepreneur of three startup companies and a Weinert intern at the UW-Madison Office of Corporate Relations, Turnbull is currently the founder and CEO of DriveAlternatives.com, an online guide to alternative fuel stations where drivers can search by location to find the nearest e85, biodiesel, compressed natural gas stations and more.
Turnbull, who started the company in March 2008, had worked on political campaigns in which he noticed there were state government mandates to fill up on alternative fuel, but the lists of stations and locations were nearly always wrong or incomplete.
The solution, he thought, was to make "a system where we could turn it over to the people who use the stations," he says.
DriveAlternatives.com allows users to update information themselves. The site currently archives about 7,500 alternative-fuel stations. Now, in addition to creating a DriveAlternatives iPhone application, Turnbull is looking to add lists and user reviews of car shares to the site.
"We're building a system to connect consumers who are looking to go green and find them options," he says. "The No. 1 thing you can do as a consumer for the environment is drive less, and that's what we're teaching people to do - keep the environment in mind when they're driving."
DriveAlternatives.com was named the 2008 winner of the UW Green Venture Award. He also earned a spot in In Business magazine's "40 under 40" last August.
"The feeling of seeing your idea that's solving a problem being validated is a really good feeling," Turnbull says.
Although Turnbull will return to his hometown of Minneapolis after graduation, where he will continue to run the business, he is grateful for his experiences in Madison, where he was met with ample community and faculty support.
"They help you flush (your idea) out, make it into a business plan that's fundable," he says.
He can be reached at kavi.turnbull@drivealternatives.com
----------------
Marci Ybarra: First-generation doctoral student with research to lead to welfare program reform
Marci Ybarra is a first-generation college student, and is the first of her family to earn a Ph.D. She entered doctoral education at UW-Madison's School of Social Work to further develop her interests and skills in examining the role of public program designs and practices and related outcomes with recipients, particularly as it relates to poverty.
"I discovered I had an aptitude for research," Ybarra says. "That's the whole reason I went into a doctoral program."
In the year prior to enrolling in the social work doctoral program, she interned and then worked as a legislative assistant to Detroit City Council President Maryanne Mahaffey. During her time as a legislative assistant, she worked on policy issues related to voter rights and citizen advocacy.
But when asked if she was interested in going into politics, Ybarra says she plans to stick to research and education instead. "What I like about academia is it gives you a little more freedom to pursue your own interests," she says, "without having that political pressure to fall on one side or the other on certain issues."
According to Ybarra, one of the most important aspects of research is the ability to link findings to programs that effect people's lives on a daily basis.
"All of my work is applied research; it's more about looking at problems in the everyday world," she says. "My work and my dissertation is tied to the state of Wisconsin, and I hope that it's affecting those in the state that are making decisions"
Ybarra thanks the Wisconsin Idea for bridging applied research to policy-making. "Participating in projects that I really felt made a difference and a contribution in some way," says Ybarra. "Not only in academia, but also in the state of Wisconsin has been rewarding.
"I can't say enough good things about the type of training and relationships that has hopefully informed the state of Wisconsin," she adds.
Ybarra has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, where she will be studying in the fall.
She can be reached at 608-213-2103, ybarra@wisc.edu
###
- Kiera Wiatrak, wiatrak@wisc.edu; Heather Gjerde, UWhometownnews@gmail.com