Steve Kecani: More than a job

Steve Kecani isn't the kind of man to count hours. Actually, it isn't rare that the supervisor of the Department of Physics machine shop will stay long after his shift is over, even come in on weekends, if a colleague or student needs his help. "To me this isn't a job," he says matter-of-factly, after settling in his office in the basement of the Rutherford Physics Building next to his workshop. "I like it so much, it's more like a hobby."

It's this kind of devotion to his work that has earned Kecani an Award of Excellence in Service from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. The other staffer to be honoured with the prize this year is Giovanna Locascio, the Department of Psychology's graduate program secretary (more about her in the fall when we resume publishing).

Kecani is rather self-effacing about the honour. "I don't feel I deserve it," he humbly says. "I think it should be given to everyone in this machine shop, since everything we do is a group effort."

He calls the University "a great place to work" that he would not give up -- despite being periodically solicited by the private sector with its promises of higher wages. "This job isn't about money," he says, machinery purring in the background and the faint smell of oil permeating the air. "I'm proud to be a part of McGill. I also enjoy that my job is always different and it allows me contact with students."

The 52-year-old joined the University's Foster Radiation Laboratory as a machinist in 1969. The lab merged with the physics machine shops in 1992. He has been supervisor since 1994 and won an Award of Excellence from the Faculty of Science in 1995.

Kecani helps faculty and students design and build the equipment they need in order to do their experiments. He draws praise, not only for his skills as a machinist, but for his ability to teach others how to build things for themselves.

Kecani encourages students to use his shop. These students aren't just from his department, but also from other faculties like engineering and dentistry. He says they need to acquire hands-on experience before going into the work force. "They'll soon become the scientists, professors and decision-makers of tomorrow," he says. "It's important for them to learn how machines work so they have an idea of what they're talking about."

He is also known to relish a challenge and help students find solutions to their problems. This kind of support, says Philip LeBlanc, president of the McGill Graduate Association of Physics Students, makes Kecani "an invaluable resource for many physics graduate students."

Professor Anthony Williams-Jones, chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, says Kecani far exceeds what is expected of him and has displayed "quality workmanship that I have rarely seen anywhere." Kecani, he adds, "is brimful of ideas and has an infectious enthusiasm which allows one to believe that nothing is impossible."

Professor Jean Barrette, chair of the Department of Physics, credits Kecani with improving facilities at the physics machine shop. "Due to Steve's efforts and vision, the potential for our shop has dramatically increased," he says, noting that this effort is the reason the shop can service other departments, too. He describes Kecani as "an intelligent and accomplished machinist, who has always taken great interest in students and their projects."

Kecani is also known at McGill for organizing social events, including an annual corn roast at his farm in St. Bernard de la Colle, near Hemmingford, where geese frolic on one of three ponds. The event drew about 200 students, friends and colleagues last year.

Dedicating himself to his job, Kecani says, is not about winning praise from staff and students; his work gives him a raison d'être. "I'm not married and I don't have kids," he says. "In a way, this shop is like my family."

Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins






Web site in TIPTOP shape


For those who study or work in the field of physics, "The Internet Pilot to Physics" (TIPTOP) (www.tp.umu.se/TIPTOP) is the web site of web sites. A sprawling site with links to just about anything a physicist could hope for, TIPTOP is the brainchild of Mikko Karttunen, a PhD candidate in the Department of Physics.

When Karttunen (pictured) began work on the project in 1994, "there wasn't anything like this available in physics." He started compiling the sorts of information he wanted to know himself -- like job listings in physics and conferences that were coming up -- and put the material on-line with a note asking people to e-mail him if they wanted to contribute to the site.

He soon touched base with the individuals who have become his closest TIPTOP collaborators, a graduate student in Austria and a postdoc at Sweden's UmeŚ University. The three worked together on the web site for a year before finally meeting each other in the flesh in Paris.

TIPTOP draws about 15,000 visitors a day and it recently earned a flattering report in Science, as well as rave reviews from The New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. "It's all been word of mouth," says Karttunen of TIPTOP's popularity. "We've never advertised it anywhere."

Apart from jobs and conferences, TIPTOP also boasts links to about 2,500 physics departments, on-line forums that deal with everything from book reviews to used equipment for sale and "The Virtual Laboratory," where visitors can get Java applets and other web tools that would enable them to, among other things, pretend to run a nuclear power plant.

The administration of the site will likely be transferred to Britain's Institute of Physics soon. Karttunen expects to graduate later this year and start job-hunting. Running TIPTOP, he says, "is getting out of hand."








They promenade together and do merry-go-rounds and maypoles around the seaweed. It's really quite touching to see. They seem to form permanent, monogamous pairs, and the morning ritual is a sort of daily affirmation of the bond each has for the other.



Biology professor Amanda Vincent talking to The Chicago Tribune about how seahorse couples reaffirm their connection to one another each morning. Vincent is the world's foremost authority on seahorses and leads an effort aimed at protecting them from extinction.





Quality kids' lit


In what is the most important donation to the Division of Rare Books and Special Collections this year, May Cutler, BA'45, has given her alma mater the entire archive of Tundra Books, the children's publishing house she founded 31 years ago.

Irena Murray, the division's director, is thrilled to have this chapter of the history of Canadian publishing in the collection. A few years ago, she'd let Cutler know that she would be interested in having the books, correspondence and any other material relating to the publishing process.

"It was a long time in the making," chuckles Murray. "Then, suddenly she phoned to say I'm downstairs with the station wagon."

The station wagon was full of 10 boxes of correspondence, a complete set of Tundra's 250 titles, plus 52 foreign language editions.

When it began, Tundra was the only Canadian children's publisher in the country, and the emphasis Cutler placed on the quality of the artwork and story-telling made the books stand out in relation to the American and British books on the market. Among Tundra's classics is Roch Carrier and Sheldon Cohen's The Hockey Sweater.

"Kids' books were appalling except for hers," says Murray, adding that Cutler was ready to take risks, engaging artists who rarely had experience in children's books, but whose works she'd seen in galleries. "She has a good eye." Murray, who came to Canada from Czechoslovakia, also credits Tundra for its sensitive portrayal of immigrants and First Nations Canadians.

Since Cutler sold Tundra to McClelland & Stewart three years ago -- where it continues under its own name -- the 75-year-old has been writing plays and musicals, traveling and organizing the giving away of her substantial collection of children's books. This summer, her musical, Aah-pootee! That's Snow! will be staged at McGill's Moyse Hall.








We get some good players, we develop them, and then come these high-priced teams who snatch them away.



Vice-Principal (Research) Pierre Bélanger, speaking to Time about how talented academics at Canadian universities are being lured away to the U.S. by higher salaries and better equipped labs. He likens Canada's universities to the Montreal Expos, who keep losing stars like Pedro Martinez and Larry Walker to richer teams.