Datebook
July 30, 2002
Summer in Baltimore was brutal this year, with temperatures
surpassing 90 day after day. Nevertheless, the 10 to 15
Hopkins students who work as summer tour guides soldiered
on, leading prospective applicants and parents on
thrice-daily, one-hour surveys of a Homewood campus turned
hard-hat zone because of new building construction. On the
penultimate day of July we tagged along.
9:55 a.m. In Garland Hall lobby, about 30 parents and
offspring wait patiently, many hydrating with bottled water
-- good plan.
10:14 a.m. Young man in T-shirt, shorts, with
shoulder-length hair announces, "It's supposed to be the
hottest day of the summer." His tour-guide name tag says
he's Eric '04, majoring in biomedical engineering and
mathematics, from Larchmont, New York.
10:15 a.m. Young woman asks one-third of group to
follow her. She's named Vicki. Or Nikki. Hard to tell,
because construction generator overwhelms whatever she's
trying to say. She begins the tour on the Lower Quad,
explaining academic majors: "You can even double-major, if
you kind of get organized."
10:21 a.m. Eric's group catches up to ours. His
stronger voice can be heard above screaming circular saws.
We slide over.
10:25 a.m. Nice breeze on Upper Quad. Eric points to
Eisenhower Library, remarks on how it extends four stories
beneath the ground. Says it had to because Daniel Coit
Gilman's will stipulated no building to exceed Gilman Hall
in height. It's a good story, flawed only by being
apocryphal.
10:32 a.m. Group passes through library, gazes at the
Beach, which is very green despite Baltimore drought. Eric
points out Wolman and McCoy halls, notes problem with
dormitory suites: "You have to clean your own bathrooms."
10:35 a.m. Freshman quad. Eric squeezes group into
unoccupied dorm room. Gives tips on how to arrange furniture
for more open space. Somebody's little brother not paying
attention to tour, instead reading Harry Potter and walking
at same time; prospective English major, assuming Charles
Street "death lane" doesn't claim him first.
10:46 a.m. Eric points out Remsen Hall, notes
presence of Remsen's ashes in wall. One dad, who's obviously
been studying the admissions brochures, asks about Mattin
Center. Eric replies, "We've cut that out of the tour
because of the heat."
10:50 a.m. Inside Gilman Hall foyer, Eric warns
everyone that if they step on the seal, they won't graduate.
Boasts that 80 percent of Hopkins undergraduates are
afforded opportunity to do real research. Points out that
two local pizzerias will deliver to Hutzler Reading Room.
11:03 a.m. Tour concludes back at Garland. A mother
asks if Hopkins students are competitive or collaborative.
Eric says collaborative. In front of Garland, Eric tries to
make concluding remarks. Nearby jackhammer drowns him out.
-- DK
Forever
Altered
"I remember walking into Mudd Auditorium my freshman year as
Dr. Nick Jones of the
Civil Engineering Department greeted the class by
saying, "Hello, my name is Nick Jones, and you can call me
Nick." At first, I thought he was the TA or the lab
technician, but as it turned out, he was the professor! I
was immediately struck by his unassuming personality, but
through the years of working with Nick, I discovered that he
is anything but casual.
"Although I had developed my interest in wind effects
on civil engineering structures before attending JHU, Nick
helped me to determine my eventual career path. More
importantly, he influenced the attitude that I bring to the
office every day. Nick explained to me that Johns Hopkins
graduates are seen as technical experts and industry
leaders, and he continuously demonstrates these traits in
his own research projects and in professional practice. In
my brief engineering career I have received compliments for
the technical and leadership skills that I have developed,
and a large part of the credit has to be given to the
example that Nick set before me.
"Nick is also an ingenious motivator. I will always
remember one research field visit to Southern Shores, North
Carolina, in January 1997. We were behind schedule, and the
weather was not cooperating. Nick could sense our
frustration as we broke for dinner, and before long he came
up with an alternate course of action. By the time we got
the check at the restaurant, I was anxious to finish the
job!"
Steve Kelly '98 (MS '99) works as a bridge design engineer
for the URS Corporation in Florida. He is currently
responsible for the in-house wind engineering of the new
Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in Connecticut, an extradosed
cable-stayed structure that is the first of its kind in the
United States. He still works with Nick Jones, who is one of
the dynamics consultants for the project.