University Club programs are open to the public and are held Tuesdays in the Padua Room of the Hughes Community Center, 1700 Danbury Road, Claremont, California. Meetings start at 11:30 AM. The $20 meeting fee includes a buffet lunch. Membership applications are available at each meeting. Map to Hughes Community Center

February Program Chair:  Tom Heliwell

February 5– “Rovers and the Exploration of Mars: Past, Present, and Future”

Speaker – Dr. Ashley W. Stroupe, Mars Science Laboratory Assistant Mission Chief, Jet Propulsion
Laboratory

Jet Propulsion Laboratory began exploring Mars using rovers in 1997, with the “Sojourner” rover on the Pathfinder Mission. The “Spirit” and “Opportunity” rovers were subsequently deployed in 2004. And now, since 2012, the “Curiosity” Rover has been doing advanced biochemistry. Dr. Stroupe will show and discuss all of these rover missions: the technology, the science, and some of the many adventures and misadventures, focusing on the latest developments and plans for the future. She will describe her experiences driving a rover on Mars from a control center several light-minutes away in Pasadena. Dr. Stroupe has a B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College, an MS in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. She has been involved in rover operations since 2004.

Introduction: Tom Helliwell
Fellowship: Don McDonald
Greeters: Lori McGrath, Tom Helliwell

February 12 – “Motoring West:  Pioneering Auto Travelers in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1900-1920”

Speaker – Dr. Peter Blodgett, Curator, Huntington Library

This illustrated lecture will discuss the evolution of automobile-borne tourist travel in the American West during the early years of the twentieth century.  In doing so, it will demonstrate the significant impact of the motor car upon the economic, social, cultural and technological history of the region during the era of America’s widespread adoption of the automobile.  Dr. Blodgett is a New Englander; he received his B.S. in American history from Bowdoin College and M.S. and Ph.D. from Yale University.  Since joining the Huntington’s Manuscripts Department in 1985, he has been responsible for the acquisition, processing, exhibition and reference service of the library’s rare original documents concerning the history of the trans-Mississippi West across the past two centuries.  Active in a variety of professional organizations including the Society of California Archivists, the Society of American Archivists and the Western History Association, he has spoken and written widely on national parks, tourism and recreation as well as the management of manuscripts and archives.  Among his publications are Motoring West:  Volume 1 Automobile Pioneers, 1900-1909 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015), the first in a four-volume set that will follow the development of motor touring in the American West up to America’s entrance into World War II.

Introduction: Donna Bernard
Fellowship: Anne Sonner
Greeters: Pat Kelly, Art Parker

February 19 – “If Darwin Had a Computer”

Speaker – Dr. Ran Libeskind-Hadas, R. Michael Shanahan Professor of Computer Science, Harvey Mudd College

Charles Darwin wrote in his famous “Origins of Species” that he could imagine that pairs of species, such as bees and flowers, might evolve in tandem:  Flowers might evolve features that would make them more attractive to their bee pollinators and bees might evolve features to efficiently extract nectar from the flowers.  Biologists since Darwin have found considerable evidence for this type of “coevolution” in nature.   However, only with the advent of DNA sequencing and powerful computational methods have we begun to better understand the complex relationships between pairs of mutually evolving species.  This talk will describe some surprising discoveries on coevolution that have been made in recent years and the methods that led to those discoveries. Professor Hadas received his A.B. degree from Harvard and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has taught at U. Illinois, Harvard, and MIT as well as Harvey Mudd. He is an extraordinarily popular teacher and sought-after speaker, able to explain complex topics to a lay audience.

Introduction: Bill Waggener
Fellowship: Pat Kelly
Greeter: Peter Boniface and Milt Wilson

February 26 – “Supporting Student Mental Health in the Claremont Unified School District”

Speakers – Nancy Tresser Osgood, member of the Board of Education (and of the University Club!); Jim Elsasser, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools; and Lisa Banks-Toma, Coordinator, Mental Health – Claremont Unified School District

A critical issue in education today is student mental health. Among other important aspects, the mental health of students can affect their own safety and the safety of every student in the school. The three speakers are intimately involved with all aspects of the local school district’s Mental Health Program, which seeks to implement a variety of initiatives, including the promotion, prevention, identification, intervention, and treatment of student mental health problems. These programs together promote wellbeing, resilience, and an availability to learn by providing services within the schools themselves, where children spend most of their day, and thereby keep the child in attendance. The continuum of programs has been built over the course of the past five years and continues to be a highlight of the Claremont Unified School District offerings. Nancy Tresser Osgood received her B.A. from Pomona College and M.A. from Claremont School of Theology. Jim Elsasser received both his B.A. and M.A. from Azusa Pacific University and Ed.D. from the University of Southern California. Lisa Banks-Toma earned her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University.

Introduction: Bob Knell
Fellowship: Art Sutton
Greeters: Bob Knell and Julia Arias
Birthdays: Ivan Light