Alumni Weekend 2023

Save the Date

Revisit | Reconnect | Celebrate  

Alumni Weekend is Friday, September 22 and Saturday, September 23, 2023 

Return to the bubble and rediscover Olin! Spend time with friends, faculty, staff and students. This year, we will celebrate milestone Reunions for 2008 (15th), 2013 (10th), 2018 (5th).

Register HERE.

Please contact Vernell Clouden-Duval, Director of Constituent Relations, with any questions ([email protected]).

To ensure you receive all communications related to Alumni Weekend, please update your contact information HERE.

All Weekend: 

• Lawn games; snacks; fun for family of all ages.
• Quiet rooms for future Oliners’ nap time (BYO pack ’n play).
• Lactation rooms available. 

*Rain plan for Saturday updated as of 9/23 at 10am ET

*Fire Arts performance is still on for 7:30pm ET 9/23

Schedule of Events: Friday, September 22

12:30 – 5:00 p.m. – Check-In (Milas Hall entrance) 

12:30 – 5:00 p.m. – Olin merch sales (Milas Hall lobby) 

12:30 – 7:00 p.m. – Lawn games (Oval) 

1 – 2:40 p.m. – Class Visits #1 (MAC)

Take a seat and re-live your student days as a guest in a selection of Olin fall courses. 

• Engineering for Humanity; Ela Ben-Ur & Caitrin Lynch (MAC 228)
  • This semester-long introductory course at Olin blends Anthropology and Design approaches. Students study topics around aging in society, while also working in design teams with one older adult in their community. We have chosen Aging as a ubiquitous and important focus; any human context can work. Over the semester, we will learn about and with our clients; we will identify specific challenges that our clients face; and together with our clients we will develop concrete solutions to address these challenges. Students will leave Engineering for Humanity with a grounded understanding of the engineering problem solving process, experience in participant-observer fieldwork, and hopefully a feeling of satisfaction at having made a concrete difference in the lives of members of our community. The projects will be specific service projects that students identify and design while working with senior citizens in surrounding communities.

• Neurotechnology, Brains and Machines; Sam Michalka (MAC 304)
  • Neurotechnology falls in the intersection of engineering, data science, and neuroscience. This area involves work in how humans can use machines to understand how we think and how to make machines that can think. Advances in neurotechnology will likely lead to new treatments for brain disorders, repair and augmentation of our sensory and motor systems, and shifts in computation strategies. In this course, students will learn about cutting-edge technologies used to understand and emulate the brain, develop statistical data analysis skills to conduct and understand neurotechnology research, and discuss the cultural and ethical implications of these advances. Course work will involve analysis of data from neuroscience, reading and synthesizing articles from research journals, and project work.

• Digital Photography: Seeing is Believing; Helen Donis-Keller (MAC 313)
  • This course is all about the communication of ideas and developing an independent creative voice in the visual arts using digital photography as the medium of choice. Fine art photography and documentary photography are the twin focus areas with individual expression fostered and doing good in the world using photography will be prioritized. Digital Photography: Seeing is Believing, will be a hands-on course taught in studio mode and will be project-based with weekly homework assignments that also includes several major projects allowing longer-term project engagement. Digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, digital editing tools and printing capabilities are provided and gaining technical facility with these tools is an important goal. We will consider the many interpretations of fine art photography from traditional landscape work to conceptual art. A second equally important focus is how photography can be used to do good in the world, in particular, to call attention to climate change and what to do about it. The work of contemporary fine art photographers and documentary photographers will be studied in depth and trips to museum and gallery exhibits will be scheduled as appropriate as will field trips with the class to capture images in interesting locations. Students with no prior experience with photography are strongly encouraged to enroll in this course and are as welcome as those who have already discovered a passion for creative expression using photography.

• A Computational Introduction to Robotics; Paul Ruvolo (MAC 126 - due to space limits, this class can accommodate up to 8 visitors)
  • This course will provide a computationally-focused introduction to the field of robotics. Students will learn how to both select and design algorithms for solving interesting problems in robotic perception and control. Additionally, students will learn to successfully balance tradeoffs between accuracy of an algorithm and its computational efficiency in both space and time. The course will move from structured labs to more open-ended projects as the semester progresses. Specific content areas that the course may address are: computer vision, machine learning, reinforcement learning, path planning, mapping and localization.

2:50 – 4:30 p.m. – Class Visits #2 (MAC) 

Take a seat and re-live your student days as a guest in a selection of Olin fall courses. 

• Computer Architecture; Avi Uttamchandani '10 (MAC 318)
  • This course introduces a broad range of computation structures used in computation, from logic gates to specialized (e.g. DSP, cellular automata) as well as general purpose architectures. Design techniques for quantitatively optimizing performance are also taught. Students build a computer from the ground up.

• The Wired Ensemble; Diana Dabby (MAC 304)
  • Three concurrent streams comprise the Wired Ensemble at Olin College: 1) composition and performance of original works for instruments and voices; 2) development of a “Composer's Toolkit”; and 3) musical analysis and reflection. As composers and performers, students concentrate on instruments, voices, and the symbolic language that brings them to life. They compose music for every family of instruments (woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion), as well as voice and spoken word. The course features biweekly performances of original compositions. Students also have the opportunity to hear their works performed in concert settings by professional and peer musicians with whom they have collaborated. Seminar trips to Boston and New York enable the class to gather musical and inspirational material, in addition to hearing some of the finest orchestral and vocal ensembles in concert. While actively engaged in composition and performance — all geared to an end-of-term production — students examine the worlds of earlier composers in order to provide context for their own lives and work.

• Biomes, Climate Change, and Biodiversity; Helen Donis-Keller (MAC 313)
  • Biology, by definition, is the study of life. In this course we will travel from the biosphere to the molecular level as we learn about how life works and the intersections between global warming and the resultant changes to climate that affect all organisms that inhabit planet Earth. Student experience will preference hands-on project-based learning including an experiential learning opportunity in the biology laboratory, in the kitchen laboratory learning how to prepare nutritious meatless meals, and there may be opportunities for fieldwork. There will be several student designed projects that encourage creativity and depth of understanding of topics of interest. Basic principles of genetics, evolution and molecular biology will form a framework for comprehensive understanding and from which biodiversity will be studied and biomes understood. Appreciation for the diversity and kinship of all living organisms is one important outcome and it also requires that all of us understand the obligation to stewardship of the earth through efforts to mitigate climate change and make room for wildlife. This course is for anyone interested in the sustainability of our planet from the perspective of biology. As such the course content is inextricably linked to topics such as environmental justice, agricultural practices, and human population growth. 

4-5:00 p.m. – Lightning Updates (Library, Milas Hall) 

• Staff and faculty will share what’s new and notable at Olin. Featuring,
  • Kristin Casasanto, Director of Post-Graduate Planning
  • Vernell Clouden-Duval, Director of Constituent Relations
  • Donna Golemme, Vice President of Finance and Administration
  • Chris Lee, Associate Dean and Professor of Mechanical Engineering
  • Claire Rodgers, Associate Director for Sustainability and Campus Engineering

5-7:00 p.m. – Alumni Weekend Cocktail Party (Oval) 

• Drinks, heavy apps and live band!

Schedule of Events: Saturday, September 23

10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Check-In (inside Milas Hall lobby) 

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Merch sales (Milas Hall lobby) 

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Sound Bath Meditation (session 1) with Jean Huang (MAC Memorial Lounge, 4th floor)

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. – Sound Bath Meditation (session 2) with Jean Huang (MAC Memorial Lounge, 4th floor)

10:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Lawn games, kids' activities and bouncy house (Bouncy house is outside the Milas Hall entrance; lawn games are on the Milas Hall mezzanine 2nd floor)

11:00 – 12:00 p.m. – Choose Your Own Adventure #1 

• Olin Shop: Make and Take your own Alumni Weekend memento (MAC, 1st floor) 
• Pathways to Grad School: "Office Hours" with PGP Director Kristin Casasanto (Library main floor)
• Alumni vs. Students: Ultimate Frisbee Game (Soccer fields)

12-1:00 p.m. – BBQ lunch with President Barabino (Dining Hall) 

• Students and community members will join alumni and President Barabino for lunch on the Oval.

1:00 – 2:15 p.m. – Panel: Alumni in Healthcare (Norden Auditorium)

• Kerry McConnaughay ’20

• Michael Sheets ’17

• Carmelle Wallace ’08

• Sarah Bloomer, Visiting Professor of Design & Academic Director of SCOPE (moderator)

2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Student Vehicle Team showcase (Outside, under the MAC overhang)

• Including: Baja, DBF, OEM, Rocketry

2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Acronym (Library, main floor)

• Enjoy freshly-brewed coffee with students and faculty at Olin's student-run coffee shop pop-up.

3:30 – 5:00 p.m. – Choose Your Own Adventure #2

• Olin Shop: Make and Take your own Alumni Weekend memento (MAC, 1st floor) 
• Boba and Board games (Library main floor)
• Parcel Bees tour with Ben Linder (meet at the flagpole at 3:30)
• PInT students & Alumni Conversations (Library lower level)

5:00 – 5:30 p.m. – Reunion Cocktails (Milas Hall Art Gallery, 1st floor)

5:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Dinner (Oval Tent)

5:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Kids’ dinner and a movie (babysitting*)

7:30 – 8:15 p.m. – Olin Fire Arts Club performance (Great Lawn - will happen as scheduled)

*Babysitting

We are pleased to offer free babysitting during Dinner on Saturday night from 5:30-7:30. Hired Olin student sitters will serve pizza for dinner and will put on a G-rated kids' movie in the Crescent Room. There will also be crafts available. If you would like to sign up for babysitting on Saturday night, please email [email protected].

If you are interested in hiring your own babysitters for other times throughout the weekend, please email [email protected] to be connected with the Olin student babysitters listserv.

Visit our Lodging and Transportation page for more information about non-blocked local hotels, transportation and directions.