From: Jes Staley To: .jeevacationelgmail.corre <[email protected]> Sent: 12/11/2010 4:37:26 PM Subject: Fw: Re: Below is the recommendation from the other physics professor at Bowdoin on behalf of Alexa. From: Alexa N. Staley To: Jes Staley Sent: Sat Dec 11 11:13:46 2010 Subject RE: Re: strange. I will copy and page: I am very pleased to have this opportunity to recommend Alexa Staley to you. I first met her as one of the outstanding students in my class, Physics 104: Introductory Physics II, in her first year at Bowdoin. Since that time I have had the pleasure of watching her develop into a dedicated researcher and leader of our senior class physics students. Her strength of purpose and active intelligence are notable among our majors. Alexa is quite serious about physics and began taking courses at the 300 level (namely, Methods of Theoretical Physics, the watershed courses in our sequence for students that intend graduate study in physics) in the fall of her sophomore year. Doing so opened doors to upper level theoretical courses that otherwise might have been blocked by her study away semester because of course sequencing issues. Her strong performance in both 200 and 300 level course work led to the award of the Hall Prize, our fiEotmost promising sophomoreiE prize, named for Bowdoin graduate and discoverer of the eponymous effect, Edwin Herbert Hall. In the spring of her sophomore year Alexa was a student in my Statistical Mechanics course, Physics 229. This course has the reputation of being one of the more challenging in our major sequence and is often put off until junior or senior years. For many students, the concepts of statistical mechanics are elusively abstract and the mathematical reasoning strangely different from other physics applications. Alexaa€Tms previous exposure to advanced mathematical methods was a clear asset. Her weakness, which is common to sophomores in the class, was a lack of experience with the appli