Ain't life sweet?

Katherine Hagemeyer, age 7, checked out sap production at the Morgan Arboretum on Sunday. In case you missed the sweet treats last weekend, there will be more sugaring off on March 16 and 23, including all the traditional foods and visits to the Sugar House. For more information, call the Arboretum at 398-7811

Queen for a day

As the coach of McGill's cheerleading squad, Amanda Hoover does her darndest to get crowds to root for the University's football and basketball teams. Recently named the queen of this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade, Hoover will soon be the focus of plenty of cheers herself.

The French language and literature student from Warwick, New York, was selected by the United Irish Society of Montreal to be this year's queen, besting a field of 34 other contestants. Her decision to compete for the title was sparked by the birth last May of her nephew and godson, Hoover says.

"I had the privilege of helping to deliver him and that whole process had my family talking a lot about our Irish heritage. I thought it would be a neat story to tell my nephew one day that I competed to be a St. Patrick's Day Queen."

Winning the contest earned Hoover two plane tickets to Ireland, jewelry and other prizes. It's also resulted in a full dance card--she has been on the go, attending formal functions connected to the parade. "This week I have four receptions, two term papers and an oral report--I'm totally stressed!"

Currently mulling over possible careers in law or public relations, Hoover says she's happy she chose McGill. "The department is world-renowned. Why study French in New York, when you can do it in Montreal?"

Photonics phenom

When you're a graduate student working on the eighth floor of a building in which the elevator only goes up to the seventh, you might worry about being forgotten by the world outside. But that hasn't been a problem for the top-floor occupants of the McConnell Engineering Building, the Department of Electrical Engineering's photonics group.

Dave Rolston, a photonics PhD candidate, recently won the CATA Award from the Canadian Advanced Technology Association. The award, which carries with it a $5,000 prize, recognizes one outstanding graduate student in either engineering or science each year. Every Quebec university submits a candidate for the award and the competition is stiff. Rolston's win marks the second time in three years that a graduate student from McGill's photonics group has captured the prize--Guillaume Boisset won two years ago.

The photonics group looks at ways to speed up communication between electrical circuits by using pulsing beams of light to deliver digital data. "We might not be incredible geniuses, but we all work really long hours and we're committed to what we do," explains Rolston. "We want to take what's been done in our field and push it for all it's worth."

Professor David Plant (shown above between Boisset on the left and Rolston) supervises both students, and Rolston gives him much of the credit for fostering the group's gung-ho approach to research. "He makes everything fly around here."

"I push them pretty hard," agrees Plant, a recent teaching award winner. "Dave has two full-length journal articles to his credit and he's only been a PhD student for a year. I'm blessed with talented people. I see Dave, Guillaume and the others and I know we've got some of Canada's finest working right here."