Alumni News: Spotlights on Drilling into Dentistry

Drilling into Dentistry

The September issue of Business NH Magazine profiled the "freakin' cool tech" chief technology officer Alicia C. Everitt Th'21 and CEO and Dartmouth Engineering Professor Ryan Halter Th'06 are exploring as partners at RyTek Medical. The Lebanon, NH-based company "continues to find new ways to improve biomedical devices," according to the magazine, "having already found success in the areas of traumatic brain injury monitoring, early stroke detection, cancer sensing and imaging, and now dental surgery guidance through the use of bioimpedance-based medical technologies." At Thayer, recent PhD graduate Everitt specialized in medical device development, with a focus on applications of bioimpedance—or how electrical current passes through the body—in Halter's lab. That research informed development of RyTek's latest device, the OsteoSmartSense drill system, designed to provide real-time feedback to dental surgeons. The drill was among the winning entries last spring at the FreshTracks Capital in Vermont and featured in the Northern New England MedTech Pitch Competition hosted by the Upper Valley MedTech Collaborative. "I am drawn toward this field because of the direct feedback cycle you get to have with the potential impact of your work," she says. "I love working with patients and clinicians. I love getting to bring an engineering mindset to a clinical problem and envision a solution that will directly help people." Everitt is currently focused on pursuing FDA regulatory approval on the path to market.

At the Crossroads

"I'm interested in learning not just about Western philosophy but also about the history of intellectual thought and culture and how that was shaped in China."

New alumnus Kimberly Tan '22 has begun a one-year interdisciplinary China studies master's program in Beijing as a Yencheng Academy Scholar at Peking University. "I'm interested in learning not just about Western philosophy but also about the history of intellectual thought and culture and how that was shaped in China," she says. Tan, who is from Singapore, earned a degree in engineering sciences and philosophy major modified with Asian studies at Dartmouth. "I've grown up at the crossroads of East Asia and the West; Singapore has Confucian values and a really big Chinese influence," she says. "But I also lived in Australia for a number of years, and my family moved to the DC area when I was in high school, so I've always been fascinated by different cultures and different values."

Hot Tech

Chip thermal tester TU3 from Mikros Technologies—a Claremont, NH-based firm led by VP Drew Matter Th'15—has been named 2022 NH Tech Alliance Product of the Year. "In our data-driven world, we increasingly rely on more and more powerful computing systems to power our daily lives," says Matter. "And the chips that empower those systems are made with smaller and smaller transistors packed into tighter and tighter spaces that emit more and more heat as they do their digital work." As every chip is tested at extremes to make sure it will work in its predetermined environment, those hotter and hotter chips were pushing current chip testers to the breaking point—and threatening to cripple a range of industries. Enter the TU3. The new design, which taps into Mikros' microchannel liquid cooling technology, has been deployed on semiconductor giant AMD's production lines. "The TU3 is helping to unlock the global supply chain," says Matter.

Up in the Air

When the US Parachute Association needed a new skydivers instructional manual, Tim Miller '03 Th'06 jumped at the chance. The Manchester, Conn., resident spent much of 2022 writing and illustrating the guide, which will be available in early 2023 at uspa.org. "I've been jumping since before I started at Dartmouth, but it has mostly been a hobby while I pursued a career in scientific and engineering communications through digital media," he says. "I think for many of us, engaging in this activity—which literally requires us to take our own lives in our hands, to cradle our own mortality—has a tremendously powerful palliative effect our mental health." A former education associate at the Boston Museum of Science and research associate at Harvard, Miller founded science communications consultancy Spoken Science, now The Miller Lab. Writing the handbook, to replace the previous patchwork of regulations and guidelines, helped him realize how his experience as a skydiving instructor has influenced his approach to education. "The principles of informal science education largely parallel the challenges of teaching adventure recreation: The content is technical, the learners are all adults, and the consequences of failure are very real."

Creating Spaces

As the Thayer representative on the Alumni Council, Austin Boesch Th'16 says he'll "encourage current students and recent alumni to 'learn how to ask' so they can more effectively leverage the powerful network Thayer and the broad Dartmouth community has created." He is drawing on his experience in Hanover to help young alumni navigate their lives and careers after Dartmouth. "Having attended Thayer later in life than a typical PhD student seemed daunting at first," he says, "but I found a lot of the volunteer, social, and entrepreneurial activities at Dartmouth helped me transition back to academia from industry and created spaces for me to build lasting relationships." Those connections with students, professors, and alumni enabled him to cofound biotech firm Zepteon Inc. while on campus and then fueled his service on the Dean's Council from 2016 to 2019. "I felt motivated to help enable recent grads' access to resources that can be valuable at the early stages of their career," he says. Boesch continues to serve as CEO of the Boston-based company, has worked with biotech firms Tidal Therapeutics and Sanofi, and is currently "pressure testing some new technology ideas with aims to launch more companies in the biotech space."

"A Smart Look"

A slice-of-life film co-written and produced by Rachel Decker-Sadowski '14 Th'15 has premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was bought by Showtime in October. In Juniper a young woman's plan to grieve alone at a remote cabin is disrupted by the arrival of her childhood friend, played by Decker-Sandowski. "What ensues is a smart look at the grieving process," according to The Movie Waffler. It's the latest effort by Decker-Sadowski, who studied mechanical engineering before going on to study theater at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She also wrote, produced, and appeared in the 2017 short, Sister Shit, and can be seen on NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

3 New Books

Recalling the arc of his 50-year career—from ENGS 21: "Introduction to Engineering" to developing sustainable PET packaging to founding manufacturer Plastic Technologies Inc.—was an enjoyable pandemic publishing project for Tom Brady '66 Th'68. He wrote three books, History of the PET Bottle, Impact of Owens-Illinois on the World, and Plastic Technologies Inc.: Our Story, available at bookbay.com. Among the many anecdotes in the books include working with Salah Jabarin '66 at Owens-Illinois Inc. to develop the now-famous PET soft drink bottle and how classmates Dean Spatz '66 Th'67 Th'68 and Chris Miller '66 Th'67 Th'68 founded Osmonics based on their ENGS 21 project. He credits Thayer with his entrepreneurial mindset. "ENGS 21 was probably one of the first courses in the world to formally teach 'entrepreneurship,'" he says. "I estimate that by the time we returned to Dartmouth for our 15th reunion, more than half my Thayer '66 classmates had started their own companies."

Research Recognized

Eric Stolt '20 Th'20 has earned a 2022 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. The PhD candidate is studying electrical and electronic engineering at Stanford, and the fellowship will provide an annual $46,000 to support his research into piezoelectric power conversion. "Piezoelectric power conversion could enable a new generation of small, lightweight converters for power-dense applications, including electric vehicles, aerospace, and computing," says Stolt. "Fighting climate change will require electrification of nearly everything we do, and power electronics innovation can be an enabler in this transition. I hope to contribute to this great challenge of our generation." His interest in the field was sparked by the Thayer course, "Power Electronics and Electromechanical Energy Conversion." "Professor Jason Stauth excellently conveyed how power electronics are critical to so many exciting technologies yet are often an afterthought during design," says Stolt. "Fast-forward to starting my PhD at Stanford, where I got involved with this piezoelectric power conversion project, which drew its initial inspiration from a paper by Thayer Professor Charles Sullivan." Stolt traveled to Israel in June to present his work at the Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL) conference.

New Advisors

On July 1, two alumni joined the Dartmouth Engineering Board of Advisors for three-year terms. Monica Martin de Bustamante '08 Th'09 is a senior partner at Waltham, Mass.-based Trinity Life Sciences, advising life sciences companies. Previously, she was CEO and managing director of CBPartners, a consulting company she cofounded in 2012 and sold to Trinity. She also serves on the board of Angeli Parvi, a nonprofit providing early-stage seed investments and mentorship to Dartmouth entrepreneurs. James TenBroek '83 has led the investment of more than $1 billion of equity capital in more than 30 companies, most recently as cofounder of Growth Catalyst Partners in Chicago, Ill. He earned his AB in engineering sciences—and the Colligan Prize for materials science—and initially worked as an electrical engineer at Hewlett Packard's medical products group. At the same time, Chris McConnell '75 and Mike Ross '71 completed their board terms and were named emeriti members.

In Recognition

The Dartmouth Engineering Board of Advisors has named E. Kristina "Stina" Brock ’01 Th'02 and Richard Tabors '65 2022 Sylvanus Thayer Fellows in recognition of their service to and support of Thayer. Tabors is an economist and scientist with 40 years of domestic and international experience in energy planning and pricing, international development, and water and wastewater systems planning. He is president of Boston, Mass-based energy consulting firm Tabors Caramanis Rudkevich and provides technical assistance on electricity markets to policymakers, utilities, and transmission companies around the world. He also serves on National Research Council committees, most recently evaluating the impact of electric vehicles on the US power grid. Tabors has served on Thayer's MEM Corporate Collaboration Council since 2009 and has been an active career network volunteer, reviewing resumes and sponsoring or hosting a student intern. Brock is the vice president of the board of automotive and energy-storage company Proterra. Previously, the Jackson Hole, Wyo., resident served as senior VP of North America, responsible for all aspects of market development for Electron, a blockchain technologies company in the energy sector. Her contributions to Dartmouth include service on the Women of Dartmouth steering committee, Thayer Mentor Network, Dartmouth Society of Engineers executive committee, Alumni Council, and Thayer Deans Council. She participated in the 2021 Think Thayer's webinar series "The Future of the Grid: Trends, Strategies, and Evolution" and the Investing in our Energy Futures Conference, hosted by the Irving Institute last year.