I started my higher education after graduating from Hempstead High School, NY in 1959 when a high school education in the college prep track guaranteed good math, writing and general knowledge skills. Always having been interested in science and engineering and not sure that I could afford to go away to college I went to Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute with scholarship money (NYS Regents Scholarship program & W.T.Grant Foundation). I entered into the aeronautical engineering major but switched into physics in my sophmore year. Air frame structures and statics just looked too dull. In the summer of my junior year I had an opportunity to work in solid state physics at BNL and that sealed my future in science.
When I graduated from Poly I went to work at BNL where I encountered SUNY@SB's fledging Physics Department. They were looking for graduate school candidates at BNL and a handful of us took the opportunity to study part-time while we continued to work at BNL. After successfully passing the first portion of my doctoral exams I had to get serious about moving on to a thesis. I did not have a strong interest in the solid state physics area I was working in, but I accidentally met Oliver Schaeffer who was a senior chemist at BNL and also building the ESS Department at SB. Ollie had a long standing interest in meteorite research that was taking him into the blossoming lunar research area. Ollie talked me into joining his efforts which led to the completion of my doctoral studies (eventually) and participation in the Apollo lunar research program.
In 1971 the Apollo program support was winding down and I found it necessary to look for a job locally with more long-term stability since my thesis was not finished. That's how I ended up at SCCC in the Earth and Space Sciences Department. I continued research work at SB during the summers and eventually completed my Ph.D. in physics mostly thanks to the kindness of my advisor Ollie Schaeffer, a truly good person. Although I started teaching astronomy courses at SCCC after a few years I became part of the Physics Department. A few years ago both these departments were merged into the Physical Science Department where I am now the Assistant Department Head in addition to my teaching duties in astronomy and physics. The photo below was taken (~early 1970) at a public display of lunar samples we were studying after the Apollo 11 & 12 sample return missions.
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Last update, 23-April-99.