To those who are interested, sorry it is has been so long since the last update. It has been a busy time here at UMass lately, with a lot of good things happening in spite of a tense world situation and hard (though slowly improving) economic times in our area.

PML stepped down as department head in October 2002, after three years of service that saw the departmental budget decreased by about 20%, the departmental faculty decreased by about 30%. He served three chancellors, two provosts, and three deans during that time. He did the best he could with the help of very supportive (remaining) faculty and staff. Many thanks to them!

Paul Serwinski successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation about photochemically generated nitrenes and polynitrenes, got married, went on honeymoon, and got a job with Sensor Research & Development Corp in his home state of Connecticut -- all in the space of about a month near the end of spring 2003!

Lora (Michalak) Field successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, which broke new ground for the group by teaching us how to make coordination complexes of stable radicals with paramagnetic transition metal ions. She and husband Jason Field returned to Toronto in late spring 2003 during the SARS scare, but all went well. She is now doing a postdoc with Prof. Eugenia Kumacheva doing polymer and inorganic synthesis at University of Toronto.

During fall of 2003, PML visited with Ron Gurge at Gillette Advanced Technology Center on the outskirts of Boston as part of research consultations. Ron reports that he and his wife are doing very well. More to come later.

Ahmet Inceli has a close call during the recent terrorist attacks upon Istanbul, Turkey. However, he reports that he, his wife, and son Can are all doing well. He continues to act as a resource and a scientific connection for people in Turkey who are interested in pursuing academic chemistry. Can also likes to be a scientific resources, by "helping" Ahmet with his e-mail

Chris Ling reports that life is exciting at Abbott Pharmaceutical. More to come later.

Yi Liao is well, and pursuing postdoctoral work in the area of nonlinear optical materials at University of Washington.

Susan (Pasco) Gardner continues her research work at PSI Corp, which was so successful that products based on her work were part of a big advertising promotion by the company that came to many scientists, including PML. She manages to accomplish this and take care of a fast growing young one!

Rajdeep Kalgutkar continues to prosper at 3M Corp in the frozen hinterland of Minnesota (PML characterization, not his). When he is not breaking bones when catapulting off his bike, visiting India and his new nephew, or attending photochemistry conferences, he works in a new position in the Unitek division of 3M, to which he was promoted as Research Speciality working on orthodonic materials.

Masaki Minato will be visiting Japan this year, and sent best wishes to all. He continues with his successful work at IPS Corp in sunny Los Angeles, CA.

Mark Kearley moved from his faculty position at Creighton University to become Chair at the chemistry department of Sonoma State University in California. He reports that he, Shel, and the kids are doing well, and that his locale is warmer than it was before.

Congratulations to Dave Modarelli, not only on his ongoing excellent work at University of Akron, but on his marriage to Jody Simone in the first half of 2003! Several of his students met with PML at the 2003 Gordon Conference on Photochemistry at Mt. Holyoke College.

Ananda Sarker is well in Bangladesh, and continues to publish his superb work in collaboration with others, including PML.

Frank Rossitto's work at Bostik-Findley in Middleton, MA is going well, though he says he feels at times that he is doing the work of four chemists. He says that he and his wife find life and work quite challenging while looking after their two growing young sons.

Ken Marby reports that things are going well at Optimer Pharmaceuticals in California.

Yanbing Liu and family sent season's greetings from the Big Apple.

Chunping Xie reports that things have gone very well and productively on the chemistry front at Milliken Chemical, and that he enjoys his work in the company. He reports the birth of Alan Xie on May 11, 2004, 8 lb. 6 oz. He says that baby Alan and mother are fine. Hopefully he is, too. Congratulations!

Richard and Holly Walton report from South Carolina that the boys are on the verge of college entrance. University of Alaska is on the list of considered places! All is OK otherwise at work and home. How time flies!

Prasanna Ghalsasi sends word that he is doing postdoctoral work at University of Wyoming.

Pamela Shields has been at Astra-Zeneca in Worcester MA, doing pharmaceutical work and recruiting on behalf of the company.

Jacqui Ruiz reports that all is well in California, where she is doing postdoctoral work at UC-San Diego.

Burak Esat and his wife have returned to Istanbul, where Burak is working for Gemsan A.S. Company. Good luck, Burak!