Grain & Chaff

Truth in advertising

Efforts by the Mass. Highway officials to mollify commuters affected by the rebuilding of the intersection of routes 47 and 116 in Sunderland went astray last week as an electronic message board turned against its masters. Flashing "Aaaaah, paving," the sign on the westbound side of 116 summed up the feelings of every driver who's been caught in the long lines of traffic since the beginning of the semester.

Globetrotting

Donald Maddox, professor of French and Italian Studies, presented a plenary paper in an international conference held Oct. 4-5 at the Sorbonne in Paris. The topic of the interdisciplinary conference, which brought together medieval scholars from France, Germany and the United States, was "Progrès, Réaction, Décadence dans le Moyen Âge occidental." Maddox lectured on hagiographic traditions at the Abbey of Vézelay in Burgundy, from the ninth through the 13th centuries. ... Stella L. Volpe, associate professor of Nutrition, was an invited speaker at the 8th International Sports Sciences Course held Oct. 19-20 in Caracas, Venezuela. The theme of the conference was "Nutrition and Exercise after 30." Volpe's presentation was entitled "Nutrition, Exercise, and Aging."

Polymer pride

Prfessor emeritus Dick Stein of Polymer Science and Engineering notes that two of the department's alumni are serving in top posts at universities in India and Japan. Ashok Misra, who received his Ph.D under Stein's direction in 1974, last year was named director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, "one of India's most prestigious universities." Misra was previously a professor at IIT, Delhi. Meanwhile, Tisato Kajiyama, the first Ph.D. graduate in Polymer Science, is the new president of Kyushu University. Kajiyama, who studied under professor William J. MacKnight, was awarded his doctorate in 1969.

Good sports

Junior forward Jeff Deren was named Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Player of the Week after tallying two game-winning goals and two assists during weekend victories over Richmond and George Washington. Deren, who leads the A-10 in scoring, is the second consecutive Minuteman to win player of the week honors, following last week's selection of Ptah Myers. ... The Hockey East Conference named junior Samuli Jalkanen its Defensive Player of the Week after he recorded two assists in a 4-3 win over Providence College on Sunday. The Helsinki, Finland native leads the Minutemen in assists and is tied for the team lead in points.

Making a splash

Senior Evan Lutz scored the game-winning goal with eight seconds remaining last Sunday to give the men's water polo team a 9-8 victory over St. Francis in the title game of the ECAC championships at Harvard University. Trailing 8-6 after three quarters, the Minutemen mounted a fourth period comeback with three answered goals. Senior netminder J.R. VanderWall made some big saves down the stretch to keep the Minutemen close. He finished with nine for the game and 22 for the tourney. Ranked No. 13, the Minutemen are 24-3 on the season as they head into this week-end's CWPA Northern Division Playoffs in Providence. The Minutemen play MIT on Friday at 8:15 p.m. and Connecticut College on Saturday at 10:10 a.m. The top four teams in the playoffs advance to the Eastern Championship on Nov. 17-18 in Princeton, N.J. The Minutemen are coached by Russ Yarworth.