Corin E. Rombach
There are so many different aspects of my life, one end of the spectrum to another. I thought I would address some of the most important separately on this page.
Academic Life
I am a senior physics major and astrophysics minor at Clarion University. I plan on attending graduate school next year to pursue a doctoral degree in astronomy and astrophysics. I have had some amazing opportunities with independent research in this field, including two American Astronomical Society Conference trips to Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington (presented research at the Seattle conference, poster pictured above). My favorite though would have to have been this past semester. My advisor, a fellow undergrad, and I were able to travel to McDonald Observatory in the Ft. Davis Mountains in Texas for a 7-day observing run in order to continue our research (Distances to Four High-Galactic Molecular Clouds). We learned how to operate the 82-inch telescope there and had the real astronomer experience. Which is a whole different story in itself.
Athletic Life
I have been playing tennis since I could walk and have loved it more everyday since. It is such a tremendous part of my life that it seems wrong to leave it out of any description of myself. I played high school tennis and also United States Tennis Association (USTA) sanctioned tournaments until I was 18. I was ranked 32 in the Eastern Section of the United States at the high point of my USTA career. I am now captain and #1 singles/doubles player at Clarion University, and the collegiate level of athletics has been an amazing experience throughout all three years here.
"Personal Life"
I grew up in a ridiculously small town in upstate New York. I have the most amazing family anyone could ever ask for, and I owe everything I have accomplished to them. Our home life is a little bit different though. My family has an exotic animal breeding business, so we raise wallabies, monkeys, snakes, iguanas, desert tortoises, exotic parrots, dogs (a little less exotic, but a handful all the same), etc. So how I spent my summer was learning how to handfeed and care for a wallaby joey, which I thought was just fantastic :) A couple pics, because I love them.
I feel as if I'm getting off topic. But there's an intro to me.
"Environmental Interests"
And finally to tackle the real purpose of this whole thing, environmental interests/concerns. I recycle. I am a strict vegetarian. I am secretary of the campus environmental group. I vote democratic. But there's so much more to do and know. There isn't enough emphasis on environmental awareness...anywhere, really. We say start small, but we need to start thinking big before all this scary stuff gets out of hand. We all know the biggie: global warming. But there's SO much more out there. And I guess all I'm trying to say is that my environmental interest mostly lies with getting others interested. Increasing awareness and spreading knowledge. But first I need to know as much as possible about the current issues, which is why I decided to take this class :)
--Cr romb 12:46, 7 September 2007 (PDT)