In Memoriam

Professor of Physics at Coe College for 39 years, Steve mentored me through my NSF-funded REU summer of 2023 in glass physics — the work that became my first two co-authored papers on lead borate XAS and sodium borate dielectric barrier discharge plasmas. Over his career he authored 150+ papers, secured $8M+ in research grants, and gave more than 200 conference presentations.

He was the kind of mentor who made you believe you belonged in the room — who put students at the heart of his lab and trusted them with real research. That's the standard I try to hold for anyone I get to mentor in turn.

Asher was my best friend and my classmate twice over — first in STEM Core, then again at the Deep Dive IoT bootcamp. A widowed mother raising a four-year-old, working full time, and putting herself through software engineering at Arizona State as an honors student — somehow she did all of that, and still had the energy to be the warmest, most supportive person in any room.

Watching her balance everything reset what I thought "hard work" meant. She made the journey lighter, the wins louder, and the hard parts more survivable. Some people don't just witness your story — they help write it. Asher was one of them.