Name
Fort Collins, CO
Valley Cener, Kansas; edad: 22 años; Título euniversitario de McPherson College. Espeicialización: Fisica.
Mientras obtuvo su título en física, Michael partició activamente en organizaciones políticas voluntarias; por ejemplo, gobierno estudantil (interescolar) , Programa de Hermanos Mayores, en el que trabajó con jóvenes gue tenían problemas con la ley. Piensa continuar sus estudios postgraduados y obtener su doctorado. "Tengo interés,"--dice Michael, "en estar donde haya acción en gobierno estudiantil. Me Preocupa la gente y las actividaded gubernamentales en la situación mundial actual."
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(1) 
(2)(1) Recent photo of Mike
(2) Mike with a best friend "at home on the range."
and Work
I worked as a teaching assistant in physics at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres for a year and a half until the university closed down in January 1970. I also played trombone in the Bolivian National Symphony and taught trombone in the conservatory. I played the piano for Dobbs Hartshorne who played the bass violin and we gave black-tie concerts in La Paz.
Service
After I returned from Peace Corps, I began graduate studies in physics at Kansas State University and got my PhD in 1976. I did a postdoc at Colorado State University in Radiation Biology, which turned into a faculty position and I am now a full professor going into a transitional retirement. I started a graduate program at CSU in Cell and Molecular Biology and was the chairman for 15 years, leading it to become one of the premiere graduate programs at CSU. I have published numerous scientific papers and book chapters. I have been fortunate to travel to a number of international conferences and lived in Germany for a year with my family while on sabbatical doing research at the Max Planck Institute.
I have been married for 32 years to Mary Ann (a former PC Volunteer in Panama and Colombia) and we have 2 children and 1 grandchild.
My hobbies include woodworking, music, fishing, hiking, skiing, traveling, reading and painting. We have mountain property and I built a cabin there which we go to as often as we can.
Mary Ann and I took our kids to our old PC sites in 2001. We had a wonderful time in Panama and in Bolivia. I still had my main Bolivia friends there and we had wonderful memories. La Paz had changed a lot from the PC days. There are many more big buildings, but it still has the same feel. And wouldn’t you know, we couldn’t go to Cochabamba because of huelgas!PC In Your Life
Peace Corps changed my outlook from that of a provincial farm kid in Kansas to a world view that has made me much more of a world citizen. My wife and I have hosted numerous international students and I have had a number of international graduate students. We have friends in many places around the world. It has helped me to think about the world's problems in a different way and to perceive the actions of the US in a more critical way. I believe it has helped me in my role as an educator of future scientists and citizens also.
One of the best outcomes from my PC experience was that I was able to help get 4 Bolivians into graduate school at Kansas State University while I was there. They got their PhD degrees and were excellent students, as well as very good friends. They later went back to Bolivia and worked at the University there
The best things about my PC experience were
making lifelong Bolivian friends, helping students learn physics, and
giving concerts with the Bolivian National Symphony and with Dobbs. Perhaps
the most memorable of all were the trips into the mountains and the Yungas
with Quico, my best Bolivian friend (who was later best man at my wedding!). My
two years in Bolivia were just about the two best years of my life.
RPCV Groups
Books: Einstein by Walter Isaacson
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