Aileen Kao, M.S. ’83Scott Lawing ’85, M.S. ’92Angeline Martyn ’00Chris Lee ’99Juliana Chapman ’90Class Acts Profiles
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Manny Caetano ’48
Hiking the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail across 14 states is an arduous task for even the most avid trekker. When that hiker is an octogenarian, completing the trail becomes a feat for the record books. In 2004, 82-year-old Manny, aka Mike, Caetano made history when he reached Mt. Katahdin, the northern terminus of the trail in Maine, becoming the oldest person who finished the trail in two years.
In 2002, Caetano, a veteran of World War II (which interrupted his undergraduate years at Rhode Island State), and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, was beset by injuries and had to return home three times. For Caetano, the fourth time was the charm. Donning 30 pounds of gear, including a tent and provisions, he accomplished his goal.
Life on the trail can be lonesome, but Caetano, a physical education major in college and a member of the 1941 championship cross country team, maintained daily contact with his family.
“I carried a wireless phone and found high spots to call home so that my family knew where I’d be spending the night. My wife also sent supply packages to the post office boxes along the route, and I picked them up when I reached that destination.”
Meeting new people is an enjoyable part of the Appalachian experience. “People who live nearby come out of nowhere with pizzas, or, they’ll take you to their home for an overnight. Many open their homes as hostels where you can get a bunk and a big breakfast.”
Having enjoyed the experience so much, Caetano was eager to start again last year, but radiation treatments kept him at his Pensacola, Fla., home. Now in remission, he is aiming to set another record—the oldest person to complete the trail in a year. His journey began on March 13, and he expects to average 12 miles a day, celebrate his 85th birthday in August, and end his journey in October.
“I told my wife that this will be my last attempt. I want to do it one more time.”
—Maria V. Caliri ’86, M.B.A. ’92
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Aileen Kao, M.S. ’83
Aileen Kao stands at the forefront of a quiet revolution taking place in Santa Clara County, Calif. As the mayor of Saratoga, an affluent community of almost 30,000 in San Francisco’s Bay Area, the 55-year-old is one of five Asian immigrants elected to mayoral posts in the county late last year.
Kao’s journey from being a pharmacist in her native Taiwan to becoming the mayor of Saratoga included a stop in Rhode Island, where, after immigrating to America in 1976, she earned her M.S. in medicinal chemistry.
As a scientist who has worked as a software engineer and program manager and who is now a business development manager for a Bay Area company, politics wasn’t necessarily high on Kao’s list of areas to tackle. But in 1986, when she and her husband and young son moved to Saratoga, the busy mom became active with her son’s elementary school. Two years later, she ran for—and won a seat on—the city’s school board.
As her son grew, so did her involvement in local politics. He’s now a college student, but his mother hardly has time to notice her empty nest. In the fall of 2004, she ran for a seat on the Saratoga City Council and was the top vote getter and the first Asian-American to serve on the council. In the fall of 2005, her fellow councilors unanimously voted her in as Saratoga’s mayor.
In 2005, Saratoga was named by CNN/Money and Money magazine as the 26th best place to live in the United States; the new mayor intends to safeguard her city’s high quality of life. She confesses that her new role is a daunting one. “When I lifted the gavel for the first time, it seemed quite heavy,” she said in a story in the Los Gatos News last March. “A city of so many high achievers...this really is no small task.”
Given her own achievements, Aileen Kao is perfectly equipped to handle her latest challenge.
—Paula M. Bodah ’78
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Scott Lawing ’85, M.S. ’92
With a grant awarded to him for his work in a highly technical field, Scott Lawing is giving back to the URI chemical engineering program that set him on his career path.
Lawing donated the $5,000 grant that came with the Otto Haas Award for Technical Excellence to the Sensors and Surface Technology Partnership at URI. His employer, specialty chemical manufacturer Rohm and Hass Co. of Phoenix, Ariz., recognized Lawing for helping customers understand the best ways to utilize the company’s electronic materials and for pioneering processes that help fully enable those products.
The products are used in the manufacture of electronic devices that have become faster and more powerful as a result of Lawing’s research. He is considered an expert in the field of chemical mechanical planarization, a polishing process used to create smooth, flawless surfaces on semiconductors.
Lawing was surprised when he was recognized with the award. “I’m glad people were paying attention to the work I was doing,” said Lawing, who holds several patents for his work and has been widely published.
One reason he chose to give the money to the URI partnership is that one of the program’s co-directors, Dr. Otto Gregory, was his advisor while he was getting his master’s degree. “I wanted to see the money go somewhere where I knew how it would be used,” Lawing said. “I wanted to give future students the same exposure I had in an industry setting.”
Although his work is highly technical, Lawing enjoys using both sides of his brain. He first came to this realization when he was pursuing a degree while playing guitar in a band. Music helps him keep a balance so his brain is in shape when he needs to use both sides at once. “My engineering is at its best when it has a creative element,” remarked Lawing, who earned his doctorate at MIT.
—James Acone, ’08
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Angeline Martyn ’00
Angeline Martyn is passionate about women’s issues. As the communications manager to Americans for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, she promotes the health and dignity of women throughout the world.
“Human rights, in particular the rights of women, have always been important to me” explains Martyn. “In my undergraduate days my research was focused on leadership development and empowerment of women, and I am still incredibly passionate about this angle. However, sexual violence and women’s reproductive health are topics that most people resist talking about, which to me makes it all the more important to stay at the forefront of this work.”
UNFPA provides women’s health care and promotes women’s rights. Americans for UNFPA is specifically dedicated to building American support for the work of UNFPA and restoring the United States’ moral, political, and financial contribution to the organization.
Martyn’s interest in intercultural communication and women’s issues was kindled when she learned that the world’s first female prime minister, Sirimavo Bandarnaike, was from Sri Lanka, the birthplace of Martyn’s parents. As part of her senior honors project she set out for Sri Lanka in 1998, a country that had been embroiled in a civil war for more than two decades.
Although Martyn’s URI professors’ worried about her decision to travel to Sri Lanka, they ultimately supported her. “I remember Agnes Doody writing in my letter of support that ‘as terrified as we all are, we know we have to let her go because there is no stopping her,‘” laughed Martyn.
Martyn credits her research with giving her a whole new outlook about women in leadership positions. “I believe my most powerful writing piece is my undergraduate thesis, Seeing Through the Glass Ceiling: Empowerment & Leadership Development of Women in Sri Lanka, said Martyn. “It helped to shape who I am.”
And so today, she is giving voice to those who cannot easily be heard.
—Jennifer Sherwood ’89
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Chris Lee ’99
With the support of a school district committed to music education, Chris Lee uses technology to teach students traditional lessons about music theory and composition.
Lee has just completed his third year using a 15-station computer lab to teach five elective courses at Newtown High School in Connecticut. His position in the school is unique because as one of four music teachers, he is free to dedicate himself solely to theory and composition.
When Lee, fresh out of Yale with a master’s degree in music, applied for this position, he knew he wanted to teach in a public school but didn’t want to run a band. “Often, music teachers spread themselves thin by doing both band and theory,” Lee said.
Lee’s courses attract both traditional music students and those he refers to as “garage-banders.”
“These students may not have a traditional musical background playing in the school band, but they play guitar or drums in a band outside of school and wish to pursue a better understanding of music theory,” Lee explained.
The diverse musical background of non-performers and traditional students in the same classroom creates a unique and valuable learning environment for students, Lee said. A student who has played piano for ten years, for example, may be able to help another student in the class who can’t read music. The student who can’t read music may be able to offer the piano player a different perspective on a concept.
Not only does Lee teach the next generation of composers, he is himself a composer who recently created a hymn for the anniversary of a Lutheran Church in New Haven to which he belongs.
“When you’re a composer, composing is something that you always have to do,” said Lee, who is the son of URI Music Department Chair Ron Lee. “I always love to do it, but the interaction teaching provides is special, too. I love doing both.”
—James Acone ’08
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Juliana Chapman ’90
Juliana Chapman has used the world’s growing environmental issues as fuel for a series of up-beat eco-conscious novels for ’tweens (8-12 year olds).
In Mercury Mountain Chapman, writing under the pen name India Evans, tells the story of a 13-year-old techno-nerd named Julie and her futuristic talking sports car, Jett. Together, Julie and Jett venture out to tackle polluters of electronic waste and the every-day struggles of turning 13.
Chapman said she has been concerned about the environment since she was a kid herself, but not because of what she was taught in school. “I learned a lot from my parents.” Chapman said. “They have always recycled, been against pesticides, and use natural products.”
She feels that schools are doing better now about teaching about environmental issues, but they could still improve. “I felt that with my book, I could build that foundation with kids,” she said. “That’s why I chose to write for this age group specifically.”
With over 200 copies sold, Chapman has received positive feedback in emails and letters. She has received praise not only from kids, but from adult readers as well. She hopes to further promote her book and the environmental awareness at its core at a book signing and book expo in New York City this summer.
Mercury Mountain is just the first of a series of books Chapman plans to write. She already has ideas for eight more books in the series; the next story, Reef Rescue, will take Julie and Jett to coral reefs off the coast of Key West.
Chapman’s concern for the environment extends beyond her writing. Her Web site, www.indiaevansbooks.com, provides changing featured links to informational sites about environmental issues.
The book, which is available exclusively online (AuthorHouse.com; Amazon.com, and BarnesandNoble.com), is printed-to-order on acid-free paper. “We all affect the natural world with our actions,” Chapman said. “We all have to do our part to help and educate our youth.”
—James Acone ‘08
