They Fit Everything in Richardson

When St. Lawrence University began in 1856, the whole school—classrooms and dorms and dining hall and offices—were all crammed into this one building: Richardson Hall. Since that time, a lot has changed about the school. Yesterday marked commencement for the Class of 2020 (virtually), left me thinking about the the history and future of the university.

They Fit Everything in Richardson

Fields of St. Lawrence

Battling the breezes of late summer above the fallow fields of the North Country, this image might appear to be capturing the edge of a farm. In fact, this is the southeastern reach of St. Lawrence University’s rural campus. The stables, home of our IHSA riding team, are off in the distance.

Fields of St. Lawrence

Lasers

The hours I spend in the physics and chemistry labs of St. Lawrence University make me a bit inured to the optical shenanigans occurring when we take Raman spectra of the materials my students synthesize. Still, the effect is pretty fantastic. The grainy pattern of the laser on surfaces around lab is fantastic, but the fluorescence ink on the post-it note in the foreground fluorescing aggressively is pretty cool, too.

Homebuilt Raman Apparatus

That violet-blue light in the background of the shot above is the 405 nm laser we use to initiate photochemical processes. The beam is poorly detected by the camera’s sensor, but the slightest hint of it is visible in the upper third of the image below.

405 nm

Appleton Under Construction

St. Lawrence University is renovating its historic Apple Arena, home of the Skating Saints, and the project is entering its final phases. Back in May, however, the foundations were just being poured and the skeleton of the structure was laid bare. Can you spot the steeple of Gunnison Memorial Chapel on the horizon?

Appleton Under Construction