PHOENIX CHAPTER NEWSLETTER
                February 2025

2024-2025 Officers

President: Sydney Fox. Vice Presidents: Fund Development - Anna Maria Matteucci; Membership - Kate Thompson. University Relations: ASU - Kimberly Olney; NAU - Laura Martin; UofA - Janet Castner. Recording Secretary: Kay Berry. Treasurer: Marilyn Hayes. Corresponding Secretary: Sophann Schleifer

Above: current Scholars from NAU, U of A, and ASU, respectively, in April 2024.
President's Message

Happy New Year!

After a busy two months of ARCS activities—see below for reports on our December luncheon and our January field trip to see a surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute’s  Eller Telepresence Room--Sandra Matteucci is graciously hosting the Annual ARCS Tea on February 3rd. Please remember to wear your favorite hat for the lovely event.

University Relations teams gathered in December to read nomination applications, and I wish to thank all who participated in this important work for our organization. In January, our UR Directors, Janet Castner, Laura Martin, and Kimberly Olney, and team members met to match scholars to donors’ preferences. Anna Maria Matteucci created order of all that information.

Please mark your calendar for the ARCS ASU Site Visit on Friday, February 21st. Our members will enjoy scholar presentations from 12:00-1:30 pm and then have the option to participate in Dreamscape Lab, a virtual reality experience. Please look for emails to sign up for the fabulous site visit thoughtfully coordinated by Kimberly Olney.

Paulette Dalke and Dawn Senger are working hard to create a memorable evening for the 2025 ARCS Awards Dinner on Friday, April 25th,. Please mark your calendar and consider bringing a friend to this inspirational event. It’s the best way to introduce our mission to potential members.

Warmest regards,

Sydney
 

Upcoming events: 

Friday, February 21st, ASU site visit, Tempe Campus, 12:00-4:30

Monday, March 3rd, Evening Board meeting  at the home of Paulette Dalke

Monday, April 7th,  Board meeting at the home of Penny Papadopoulos

Friday, April 25, Awards Dinner, The Camby
Chapter News
A Brain Tumor Surgery in Real Time
 

On January 16, members of the Phoenix chapter watched neurosurgeon Nader Sanai remove a tumor from a 71-year-old woman’s brain (with her prior permission, of course) ever so delicately over the course of an hour. We could see what the surgeon saw--we were able to look through the operating microscope and see the brain pulse with every heartbeat—and we asked questions as he explained his actions. When the tumor he had carefully loosened finally came out, we heaved a sigh of relief. And we applauded.

Dr. Sanai, above right, is one of the leaders at the Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) in Phoenix, which does the highest volume of brain tumor surgeries in the United States, third highest in the world. Barrow doctors developed innovative procedures that have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the procedure. (Three of those surgeons’ wives are members of the Phoenix Chapter: Penny Papadopoulos, Lynn Sonntag, and Nancy Spetzler. Another member, Sharon Ponce, is the mother of a BNI surgeon.) 

We watched the operation on a giant screen that filled one wall of the Eller Telepresence Room downstairs from the operating theater. The Telepresence Room, an innovation in operating room communications as well as medical education, was developed with support from Karl and Stevie Eller. Stevie, a member of the Phoenix Chapter, told us how her late husband became determined to use cutting-edge technology to enable visiting doctors and medical students, among others, to see and learn better. Since the Telepresence Room’s first installation decades ago, the system has been modernized four times, and it will be renovated again as technology continues to change.

A longer version of this story will appear in ARCS National communications.

 

Members attended a performance of the Chandler Symphony Pops to hear a concert in which member Hansa McGee (center) played. She started studying the violin at 12 and now performs, for fun, in several orchestra in the Valley.  The concert featured the singer, Cesar, who performed songs by Nat King Cole with impressive vocal range and style.
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

January:

Sydney Fox:  1/12

Ceda Austerman 1/18

Jennifer Sands:  1/28


February:

Mary Ann Cavness:  2/3

Christine Hawes:  2/3


March:

Vianne Kucera: 3/8

Laura Martin:  3/10

Marcia Jobe:  3/10

Sandy Kennedy:  3/16

Joan Jugloff:  3/23


April:

Judy Flowers: 4/2

Janet Castner:  4/3

Andrea Moseley:  4/5

Kathey Plenge:  4/7

Carolyn Evani:  4/17
ARCS Light
Sharon Ponce

Sharon Ponce has been a member of our Chapter since 2017. She joined after attending a few events at the invitation of Adele Ponce, her daughter-in-law. She has served as the Website Administrator for most of her time with the Chapter and has been instrumental in managing the site's development. She also served on the National Information Strategies Committee for five years and currently serves Phoenix as Director of Scholar Alumni Relations.

The ARCS Light is an honor awarded yearly to a member who has given the highest quality of long-term service to her Chapter. Always willing to answer questions and to help out fellow members, Sharon has earned the Chapter's gratitude as well as respect.

Member Spotlight

Elizabeth Nofen is a member of our Chapter serving on the University Relations Committee. She is also an alumna, having been a Lawson Scholar from 2013-2016. Liz currently works as an Engineering Technology Manager in Materials Technology Development at Intel Corporation in Chandler. Her main focus at work recently has been supporting the development of Foveros Direct, which is Intel’s leading next generation packaging architecture to dramatically improve interconnection density and overall product performance across all sectors. Liz already has 20 peer-reviewed publications, 10 patents (8 pending), and 20+ conference presentations. In her free time she enjoys hiking, knitting, playing the baritone saxophone with the Arizona Wind Symphony, and spending time with her husband and two bull terriers.
Feature: Why They Support ARCS

Christopher Gisriel, PhD, was a Johnston Endowment Scholar in 2017 and has since launched a highly successful career in biochemistry. After ASU, he moved to Yale for five years and now runs his own 12-person laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a leader in biochemical research. Chris recently reached out to President Sydney Fox to ask if he could help our Chapter in any way.

Already internationally recognized, Chris credits his ARCS award, the first significant scholarship he received, with helping to shape his professional trajectory. He often tells his students and colleagues how shocked he was at the awards ceremony to have to talk about his work to non-scientists who were nonetheless interested. "It was eye-opening and shaped my view" going forward. His Award certificate hangs on the wall of his office, where he can point to it when training the next generation of biochemists. Chris supports ARCS because he knows, first-hand, how important early encouragement can be to launching a scientist into the world.
Scholar Spotlight

At the December luncheon, Kimberly Olney, University Relations chair for ASU (right), introduced two Scholars who gave spirited, illustrated talks about their work and its real-world applications.  Brooke Sykes (left) studies plant biology at the U of A.  Maya Suzuki (center) studies environmental engineering at ASU. Their  presentations inspired many questions about how they will continue to develop their contributions to science and the broader implications of their work.

Brooke, a Horjesi Charitable Foundation Scholar, studies fungi that live inside the healthy leaves of trees. By comparing her data on "endophytes" to historical specimens found at the U of A herbarium--and some genetic analysis--she is able to trace responses to the changing climate.

Maya, a Theresa F. Jennings Memorial Scholar, studies mineral concentrations in surface water. She discussed her participation in an outside study of abandoned mine sites that do not rise to Superfund levels but nonetheless may require chemical remediation. There are more than 10,000 abandoned mine sites in Arizona.  

Where are they now?
Alumni update

Ben Berman is a Papadopoulos ARCS Scholar alumnus now working for MITRE in the Washington, DC area. MITRE runs federally funded research and development centers. He leads a group of scientists that solve some of the government’s most urgent challenges in imaging and sensing (including some medical applications, leveraging his ARCS research in MRI). His area is in computational imaging and astronomy and space imaging and sometimes uses spectral cameras to determine food safety. Ben says he is glad to hear that ARCS is going strong since its support helped him finish his degree and start his career in science and engineering.

OUR MISSION

ARCS Foundation advances science and technology in the United States by providing financial awards to academically outstanding United States citizens studying to complete degrees in science, engineering and medical research.
 

OUR IMPACT

Since 1978, the Phoenix Chapter has committed more than $9.9 million to fund 1,317 Scholar Awards at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and The University of Arizona.

ARCS Foundation Phoenix (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists)
3104 East Camelback Road, PMB 975
Phoenix, AZ 85016
phoenix@arcsfoundation.org

a 501(c)(3) Non-profit Corporation
Tax ID: 86-0319947

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