PEACE IN THE NEW YEAR

To see last years’ messages and pictures, go to http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/1999 or http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/2000 or http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/2001 or http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/2002

Top of the news:

  Sherri's father, Tom Carpini, died just a few days ago on Dec. 23.  He had been in a nursing home with Alzheimer's for almost two years.  His death was sudden, probably from a stroke.  There will be a memorial service on January 17 in Hampton, Virginia.

  On a happier note, Alan was promoted to Professor II, which is what Distinguished Professor is called at Rutgers.  For more details on what Professor II is, click here.

Sherri:  The news about  Dad and his wife, Marge, has made this a difficult holiday for me, but as we prepare to leave for Paris tomorrow evening I have decided to look ahead to a healthy and more peaceful 2004. As for my life in 2003, I am completing my tenure as President of the Wall Democratic Club, having failed to help re-elect the lone Democrat in the local government.  He's going to run again next year, so I'll have more opportunities to help him and other Democratic candidates in 2004.  After studying the national candidates, I decided to support Howard Dean and have been going to meet-ups, though I could vote for any of the Democrats currently running.  My inclination is to support Dean because of his executive experience, his opposition to the ruinous foreign policy of the Bush administration, and because of his policies and background on one of the most important domestic problems we face as a nation, healthcare.  The meet-ups have been a good way for me to connect to other politically active folks in my area, and I would recommend them to you, regardless of the candidate you're supporting.  We are about 85% finished with an addition to our house, which includes a roomier, functional kitchen, new dining room and study with built-in bookcases.  It's still a bit of a mess, but we entertained Al's family recently in our almost-finished rooms, and it was a joy to have the space to entertain.  Please come see.  I've taken a break from exercise, but am on the high-protein diet and have managed to shed about 10 pounds anyway.  I look forward to 2004 when I will resume exercise, campaign for Democrats, and travel to Africa, South America, and Canada.  Below Al has included some pictures of our trips this year. 

            My teaching at Brookdale Community College is enjoyable but demanding, particularly this past semester.  It seems we now have a new group of students, the "Millenials," whose consumer expectations extend to their academic work--if they pay for something they should get what they want regardless of effort--Yikes!  I am applying for a sabbatical for the next academic year to recharge my batteries and to develop some "battery-powered" online courses for the college.  Part of the time may be spent in Paris, where I am eager to observe the Muslim experience in France and to study European attitudes towards the U.S. as well as to study the emergence of the European Union.  I know it's gone in fits and starts, but the attempt to forge a united Europe after so many centuries of bloodshed and brutal competition is an amazing development.  Also, Al and I hope to do some traveling in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.  I continue to teach the survey courses in World Civilizations and the Modern Middle East course, always fun and filled with surprises and very interesting, opinionated students.  I also returned to Hawaii with  18 Brookdale students with a colleague from anthropology at the School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies.  Besides visiting Pearl Harbor, as well as the North Shore beaches again, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, toured Doris Duke's mansion filled with Islamic art, and ate some tasty food.  This time Brian and Dan spent the second week with us, and, because of a housing problem at the university, we ended up staying in Waikiki. 

            Travel this past year consisted of many trips to Virginia to see my Dad, the last time about a month before his death.  He was already declining a bit, but he never complained and was basically content, and died much the way he lived, quietly and gently.  I had adjusted to his illness by "living in the now," and now the adjustment will be in honoring his memory.  His wife, Marge is seriously ill and we continue to hope for her recovery and her quick return  home.  I also attended my 40th high school reunion where I saw many friends and my high school boyfriend.

            Dan is in the second year as an apprentice carpet, floor, and tile installer, and may soon be starting a small company to get some jobs that his company can't complete.  He's still  a member of the Carpenters and Joiners Union, and is progressing through the ranks. Though his work day begins really early (like 5:00 a.m. sometimes) he works on big commercial projects throughout the metropolitan area, so his work is constant and he’s paid nicely for overtime and weekend work.  He is now living in a nearby apartment with some friends, and hopes to purchase a new car soon.  He's still big on basketball and other sports, and is looking for a girlfriend.

            Brian, on the other hand, has recently suffered from having too many girlfriends, though things have calmed down now.  He continues to work toward his MFA in Computer Animation at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, with another year to go.  He loves what he’s doing, spends a lot of time working at it, and has a nice apartment and roommate, Eli, in the heart of the city very near his school.   He’s home for the holidays, where he's seen many of his friends.  He hopes to get an internship at a studio this summer, then perhaps get a job and complete the remaining courses towards his MFA in the fall.   He invites anyone who’s in the San Francisco area to give him a call, spend the night, and buy him a free meal!

            Please keep in touch and visit when you’re in our area – we’ll provide the free meal and tours of our addition.  Have a healthy and peaceful 2004.

Alan:   Things continue to go well at Rutgers.  I am still Director of the Center for Environmental Prediction, the group of faculty and students in our Dept. who work on meteorology and climate.  Under the auspices of CEP, I again took a group of 18 undergraduate meteorology majors to the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting, this time in Long Beach in February.  As a result of this and many other activities, the Meteorology Club, with more than 50 members, has just been named AMS Student Chapter of the Year (out of 48 chapters in the country).  I am looking forward to going with them to the AMS meeting in Seattle in January as they receive their award.

            About the time my mother got sick and died, my uncle Leonard Robock collapsed and had to be put in a nursing home.  He has no kids, and had designated me as his Power of Attorney, so I have been very busy this year taking care of all his affairs.  This included cleaning up and selling his apartment, paying his income taxes, and sorting out his bank and brokerage accounts.  He has not been able to organize his records for several years, so it was a big mess.

            I found out that I was promoted to Professor II in the spring.  This makes me feel really great, as it is based on my reputation both at Rutgers and internationally.  I feel that all my hard work has been recognized.

            Sherri and I are both eligible for sabbatical this coming Fall, so will go to Paris in a couple days to see if we want to spend part of it there.  Another option is Boulder, and I am trying to spend a few weeks in Antarctica in September.

            This year I got serious about losing weight and have stuck, pretty much, to an Atkins-type diet.  I have lost 15 pounds so far, and feel great, especially about having control on my weight.  When we go to Paris, I will enjoy eating, knowing that I can lose any extra I gain.

           The plans for a new 2000' TV tower planned in NJ across from New York City have been canceled, so this is one less project to work on.  The TV stations will broadcast from the new Freedom Tower, which will replace the World Trade Center.

            My student Lifeng Luo, successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, and is now working as a postdoc at Princeton.  I now have four graduate students, Chaochao Gao, Tom Atkins, Haibin Li, and Luke Oman, and am working with one postdoc, Gonzalo Miguez-Macho.  Much of my work is in collaboration with Gera Stenchikov, Research Professor at Rutgers, and with Kostya Vinnikov at Maryland.

            I published my first book this year, Volcanism and Earth's Atmosphere, which I edited with Clive Oppenheimer.  It has nice pictures on the cover, from the Bromo and Semeru volcanoes in Java, and from Kilauea in Hawaii.  It contains 20 chapters, based on work presented a the Chapman Conference I organized in Greece last year.  I also published 14 papers all together in 2003, and have one paper in press and 6 more submitted.  If you are interested in more information or want to read them, visit my home page and click on Publications.

             I taught my graduate course in Climate Modeling in the spring with Gera and my regular atmospheric thermodynamics course to undergraduate meteorology majors in the fall.

            I continue to work as Editor of Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, one of the two most influential journals in my field.  I process about 300 papers per year myself.  My sentence lasts only one more year.  It has been interesting, but I will be happy to give the job up to someone else.

            My father and Hanne are doing well, splitting their time between New York and their “retirement” house in South Carolina.  Sherri and I will visit them there during our spring break.  It should be nice.  My brother and his family are also doing well.  My sister has a new boyfriend, Steve.  Everyone in the family likes him.  He even came with her to the bar mitzvah of Jerry's youngest son, Max.  That's true love.

            I have taken a number of great trips this year again.  Sherri and I had planned to go to Cuba, but we had to cancel at the last minute, since my mother was doing poorly.  She actually died the week we were supposed to be in Cuba.  I went to the University of Copenhagen in January and visited the ice core lab there.  It was cold and snowy, but even colder in the ice freezer.   As a result, I was able to get a grant to produce a better record of past volcanism using their ice core data along with those from many other labs.  At the AMS Meeting in Long Beach, my first Ph.D. student, Dian Seidel, was named a Fellow of the AMS.  It was great, but made me feel old.  I saw my college friend Gene and his family, and got a great look at Madison on the way there.  I returned to Nice for the EGS Meeting in April.  I could see the ocean from my hotel.  The beach is rocks, but it is beautiful.  I particularly like the outdoor market.  In May I went to the University of Victoria, and then on to Whistler, in the Canadian Rockies.  I attended a conference there, but managed to go to the top of the lift during lunch one day.  It was pretty spectacular.  In July, Sherri and I went to Sapporo, Japan, where I attended the IUGG Conference.  First, we visited Madoka and his family in Machida.  His kids, Hibiki and Tatsuki, are very cute.  On the weekend in Hokkaido, we visited Usuzan, an active volcano and Showa Shinzan, a new mountain named after the emperor.  There were fireworks that night.  Our conference was deemed so important to the Japanese, that the Emperor and his wife attended the opening ceremony.  Immediately thereafter, I went to a great Gordon Conference in New Hampshire, but tore my calf muscle playing cricket one afternoon.  It was very painful, and I could not walk for a while.  When I went on the family cruise just after, I was in a wheelchair and on crutches, and used a cane in Hawaii, when I accompanied Sherri there.  We had nice sunsets on the cruise to Halifax and St. Johns.  Here are pictures of me, my father, and brother; me, Sher, and Dan;  me, Jerry, and Lisa; and me, Sherri, and my father.  It is better now, but still hurts.  I then made my annual trip to the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco in December.  It was very nice as usual, and I saw my book on sale for the first time.

            We saw Bob Dylan only once this year, in Atlantic City.  It was great - my 35th Dylan concert.  I also saw his new movie, Masked and Anonymous, twice.  I loved it, as a Dylan artifact, but as a movie it was not great.  In any case, I will buy the DVD when it comes out on February 17. 

            Wisconsin did not go to the Rose Bowl again this year, but will play in the Music City Bowl.  I am just finishing They Marched Into Sunlight, by David Maraniss, about the October 18, 1967, Dow Chemical police riot in Madison.  It is very interesting to relive that time in my life, and I recommend it to anyone interested in Wisconsin.

May your 2004 be a healthy and fulfilling one.  Happy New Year!

Love,

Alan and Sherri