2009 Holiday Letter

Hi everyone, and happy belated holidays! Apologies for the delay, but here is my 2009 holiday update. In lieu of cards this year, I’ve made a donation to Partners in Health to support Haiti relief efforts.

As usual, 2009 was a busy year! After six long years of work on my doctoral degree, I graduated from George Washington University in May on my birthday. I celebrated both events with family and friends at a party at my parents’ house. Recently, the article I wrote about my dissertation research was published in Energy Policy Journal – my first published article.

One of my big endeavors this year was to train for a triathlon with Team in Training and raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In January I held an Inaugural Ball at my house which raised over $1000, and with the help of family and friends, I eventually met and exceeded my fundraising goal of $4200. Thank you again to everyone who supported me in this effort! In April, I traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida to compete in the St. Anthony’s Olympic distance triathlon. Although the swim portion of the race ended up being cancelled due to the weather, it was still a great race and a fun weekend with my teammates. Team is Training is a terrific organization, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to train for an athletic event and have a great time doing it. After St. A’s, I continued training and finally achieved my goal of finishing a triathlon in June at the Philadelphia Tri.

As usual, I also did a bit of traveling this year. I skied in Whistler and Utah during the winter. In February, I attended a meeting for work in Oslo, Norway, and was able to visit a number of my Norwegian relatives while there. At the beginning of the summer, I joined my good friend Tricia and her parents on a sailing trip to St. Maarten, Anguilla, and St. Barths. It was an amazing trip, and I am very grateful to the Kanes for inviting me along. When I got back, I got back into sailing a bit in the summer by doing some racing on the Potomac with a local club.

I traveled to Australia for work in June and was able to visit Ayers Rock, a very interesting (yet remote!) location. In September I attended my friends Zhenia and Hagen’s beautiful wedding set in the Amalfi Coast in Italy, and from there traveled to Iceland to teach a one-week class on hydrogen and fuel cell policy for the School of Renewable Energy Policy to master’s students. Teaching was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it and hope to do more in the future.

I celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas here in Virginia with my family, and then survived the onslaught of snow along with the rest of DC! I should have lots of excitement coming up in 2010 – I have recently accepted a one-year position with NOW (the National Organization for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells) in Berlin, Germany, where I will be managing international collaborations. Please feel free to come visit while I am there!

Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2010. Take care, and keep in touch.