From WWU to nurse: A life spent giving
Alumni Column
By Laura Adiele (’04)

If you would have told me six years ago on graduation day that I would be traveling to the Dominican Republic on a medical mission in the future, I probably would have said “I know.” The reality is this: I’ve always known that my life would be spent giving time to those truly in need. I come from a long line of nurses and my passion has always been, and will always be, global health.

People awaiting surgery in the government hospital (and in the sweltering heat) in La Vega, Dominican Republic.

I majored in Community Health at Western Washington University and after graduation immediately went off to nursing school at the University of Washington. My first job as a nurse was on a surgical unit at Swedish Medical Center. After two years, I was ready for a change, and the beauty of nursing is that there are literally hundreds of different areas of work that allow for this kind of change. In November of 2008 I made a shift to the post anesthesia care unit or the recovery room and have been working there ever since. We take care of patients immediately out of surgery. I’ve had the opportunity to get experience with many different surgical cases including brain, orthopedic and thoracic, just to name a few.

Perhaps the greatest experience that has come with being a recovery room nurse is the opportunity to work overseas. As soon as I became aware that our recovery room made annual trips to the Dominican Republic and Ecuador I was on board and this past April I embarked on my first medical mission. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was ready to work, and work is exactly what I did.

We came armed with a team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and techs ready to take over the Operating rooms in a government hospital in La Vega, DR that made Harborview Medical Center Emergency Room look like the Waldorf Astoria. I was completely overwhelmed by the poverty that was right in front of my eyes as I walked through the hospital encountering what felt like thousands of people, just waiting and hoping to have access to the free services that were being offered by our team. They would grab and hold on to our arms telling us in Spanish their ailments, pointing to deformities, pointing to their babies and I almost broke down. It was hot and humid, I didn’t speak a lick of Spanish, I felt like a sardine being surrounded by so many people in need and I realized how unprepared for this experience I really was. When you’re a nurse however, you get one moment, one moment to take a deep breath, get over it and get working.

We performed almost 250 surgeries in about three days, from cleft palate repairs and tonsillectomies in kids to facial deformity repairs and burn grafts in adults, I felt like I had never worked harder. The hospital did not have running water, there were no flushing toilets, and electricity was intermittent. There were ants crawling on the walls and fleas were in abundance. We were doing a job with less than one quarter of the resources we would have had in the States. My nursing instinct developed very quickly because I couldn’t rely on electronics to tell me how my patients were doing, I had to use all of my senses in place of Phillips monitors.

Adiele checks on a newborn baby, held by her Aunt. At the hospital, patients’ families provided food and after care.

That being said, I loved every minute of it. Despite the language barrier and the fact that not one moment of the day went by without me drenched in my own sweat from the heat, I was able to connect with human life in a way that I feel I don’t get to experience while working in the US. I was able to hold babies and hug family members. I had the opportunity to work with Dominican nurses and doctors who were allowing us to share space with them. I learned that respect for a different way of life is necessary to accomplish anything. I learned that you can’t just walk in and expect that because you are American you know what’s best. You have to stop, listen and be patient. You have to ask, you can’t assume. I learned that there is a stiff line between the lives of the rich and the lives of the poor in the DR as some of the private hospitals are just as nice as Swedish Medical Center. I learned that I am supposed to be a nurse.

 I still believe that the way health care is disseminated in the United States, a developed nation is completely unacceptable. I look forward to change that is long overdue. The only difference is that now, instead of complaining about how difficult my job is, or how long an ER wait is, or how slow my computer is, or how short staffed we are, I stop and ask myself: “Are you able to sit down on a toilet, then flush it? Are you able to wash your hands when you’re done? Are you able to see what you’re doing because the lights are on?” If the answer is yes, I stop complaining and I remember that I am thankful to have what I have. I am currently taking Spanish classes. I keep in touch with all of the great people I met in the Dominican Republic and I look forward to November as I will embark on another medical mission to Ethiopia.

Special thanks to Laura Adiele for her sharing her experiences in this guest column.

We want to hear from you! To submit your column for the next issue of The Wire email us, alumni@wwu.edu, subject line: Alumni Column

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Personal File Sharing at 35,000 Feet
An interview with WWU Alumnus Chris Hopen (’88)

Name: Chris Hopen
Company: HomePipe Networks, Inc.
Graduation Year: 1988
Degree:  Computer Science
Current residence: Shoreline, Washington

When Chris Hopen’s company HomePipe Networks, Inc. finished developing personal file sharing

capabilities, he knew he no longer had an excuse for keeping his best friend’s wedding photos on his home computer. Thanks to HomePipe and in-flight wi-fi, Chris’s friend was able to view photos from his 2002 nuptials at 35,000 feet.

HomePipe, which Hopen jokes he co-founded so his mother-in-law would stop calling to ask him for photos, is a free service that allows users to access files, photos, music and videos stored on a home computer from any web browser or mobile device. “HomePipe helps you share your life,” the website (www.homepipe.net) boasts. “All your files. All the time.”

In an interview via Skype, Hopen talked about the inspiration for his latest venture—his second startup company in the last decade and fifth since graduation—shared his secrets for maintaining sanity while running a successful start-up and reflected on the time he spent in the Computer Science Program at Western.

Q: How did the idea for HomePipe come about?

A: It seemed there was a lot of content that was trapped inside home computers. We wanted to build a solution that people could use to access their files and stream content at work from home. We also wanted to change the cloud/internet-based storage experience. Storage solutions want your data and they can be expensive and most people don’t want to upload their stuff. There is a disparity of what people keep at home and what they are willing to store.

Q: How do you see people using HomePipe in their day-to-day lives?

A: Small businesses use it to share business documents. People listen to their music collection on their home computer while they are at work. HomePipe also allows people to send files via email or publish files on photo sharing sites, YouTube or Facebook. And it turns an iPhone, iPod touch or Android into a virtual photo wallet. It’s really great for photo sharing, not everyone wants to show every photo they take with their 300 Facebook friends. With HomePipe you can pick the 8-10 people you are really close with and share photos from your last vacation with that select few.

Q: Is this new way of sharing files indicative of a larger trend?

A: People are sharing information differently. We get so much more functionality from phones now, we don’t really need laptops. It all started with the iPhone which undoubtedly left a big footprint on the IT world. HomePipe is an application that removes the roadblocks for sharing information.

Q: While we’re on the subject of applications—or “apps”—what is the one app you can’t live without?

A: I can’t think of any. I’m a heavy email user and not ever far from several devices. I stay connected with 2 desktops and a laptop and share between the three. I definitely spend most of my time on email.

Q: How do you balance work and personal life?

A: I built a cabin on Lake Whatcom. It took 10 years to build and I spend as much time as possible there with my family (we live in Seattle).  I built it so I could get away; it’s a place where I can create and think in a different way.

Q: You’ve now built two businesses (HomePipe and Aventail) and one home. You must like to build things, do you ever sit still?

A: When I’m not building something I’m not happy, whether it’s a home or a business. Trying to create something from nothing is a challenge but the challenge drives me to do it. It’s hard work, it can be lonely, but it’s also exciting. To see someone get excited about an idea or something I’ve thought about for a long time is amazing.

Q: What is the most valuable thing you learned while you were at Western?

Chris Hopen with his family at their Lake Whatcom cabin.

A: Listening. People take it for granted and think it’s an easy thing to look over and to take for

granted. True listening is one of the most important things in my daily life and it fuels my innovative thoughts. I remember when we’d be in class and Professor Jim Hearne used to tell us “You guys need to shut your mouths and listen.” I would sometimes stop by his office after class ask him what he really meant in a comment like that, and I always took something away from those discussions; I learned to listen and I learned how to analyze things and in the end teach myself.

Q: What inspires you? What are you passionate about?

A:  Doing something people think can’t be done. Sharing those wedding photos with my friend while he was on an airplane was an amazing feat, when you step back and look at the big picture. Those are the kind of situations and experiences, both creating and seeing things happen, that I live for.

Interview conducted and condensed by Jen Rittenhouse.
For more on HomePipe Networks, Inc. visit: https://www.homepipe.net/

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Everyday robotics
Computer science grad, not your average software developer

Ryan Nash (’03) develops software for automated milling machines at Janicki Industries.

Hollywood has its share of robots that have risen to stardom and most households know them by name: C-3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars; Rosie the Maid from The Jetsons; The Fembots from Austin Powers; and WALL-E from, well, WALL-E. And that’s only a few. Hollywood aside, in everyday life robots are put to use in thousands of different ways: from major industry and research use to military (think: The Hurt Locker) and the underwater cleanup for the BP oil spill, robots serve a wide spread of purposes. While most robots may not have names like their celebrity counterparts, their developers do. 

One such developer is Computer Science graduate Ryan Nash (’03). His journey to robotics was not a deliberate one, and the overlap of computer science and robotics is one most people don’t see at first. Actually, Nash didn’t see it either until he started developing software for automating the large scale 5-axis milling machines that make everything from molds for yachts and airplanes to space capsules at Janicki Industries in Sedro-Woolley.

When Nash graduated from Western, he thought the fruits of his future career would be confined to a computer screen or the World Wide Web. He had no idea that rather than making web pages and developing software for office computing, he’d be developing software that makes things move in the physical world: robots.

“The day I graduated I didn’t know the fields of Robotics/Automation and Mechatronics even existed,” Nash says. “But they do; Computer Science has a huge impact on manufacturing and heavy industry.  Software is the glue that binds the hardware together and allows the pieces to function as a whole.”

For Nash—self-proclaimed “tinkerer”—his job at Janicki is fun. After all, Janicki boasts some of the

Computer Science grad Ryan Nash (’03) at his job at Janicki Industries in Sedro-Woolley.

fastest and most accurate milling machines in the world. What does that mean? Janicki’s mills literally cut the parts and molds for race cars, airplanes, boats and more. Recent projects of note include the molds for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft, a composite crew module for NASA, massive blades for wind energy turbines, as well as molds for the 223-foot "wing sail" that propelled the BMW Oracle Racing team's yacht to its recent America's Cup victory.

It’s not all airplanes and space modules at Janicki, Nash emphasizes, the company rarely makes the same thing twice (or, depending on how you look at it, the machines rarely make the same thing twice). This keeps Nash on his software engineering toes. Working as a part of the R&D focused Automation Group Nash is constantly adding features and improving algorithms to keep up with the demand for increased accuracy and speed.

“It’s challenging to adapt to new things,” Nash says. “But this is a natural fit for me. I like to build stuff. Here I write the code and get to watch giant machines do what I tell them to do.”

Most computer science types appreciate standard office living: the quietude, the temperature-controlled environment and the predictability that all challenges will occur on a computer screen or circuit board. Not Nash. The machine shops where the mills reside are dusty, noisy and often require safety goggles, hearing protection, and respirators.

“If something breaks, we walk out and fix it,” Nash says, "Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's dirty and noisy, but it just comes with the territory."

As Janicki’s newest machine, Mill 6, ramps into a large aerospace project the company will be producing parts more accurately and more quickly than its predecessors.  Those advances are due primarily to the efforts and innovation of Janicki's Automation Group.  Composed primarily of Mechanical Engineers, Nash is the sole Computer Scientist of the group (though, labels mean little to these curious engineers).  Most of the group's 8 members are jacks-of-all-trades, dabbling in software and electronics to varying degrees.

"Cross-training is important within our group because so much of what we do in robotics pulls from multiple disciplines,” Nash says. “You need mechanical theory to design and build the structure, electrical and control theory to select and wire up the actuators and sensors, then computer science to give it a 'brain' and an interface so it can ultimately do something useful."

Innovation is one of the key goals of Janicki Industries founder and CEO, Peter Janicki, who also directs its research and development.  Over time, the company developed processes and capabilities that allow them to take on projects they never thought possible.  Production has quadrupled in recent years, and R&D has played a large role in making that possible. Teams within the company continue to push the envelope in everything from composites and material science to process engineering and workflow management. Janicki sees composite materials as a burgeoning field, and is developing technology that advances the state of the art globally.

Listening to Nash chat it up with fellow engineers in the control room at Mill 6, one could easily forget where they are. The conversation turns to coding and the group laughs at each other’s jokes (most of which hold punch lines hidden in techno-speak) until the screeching sound of a milling machine cutting through composite material to make a test piece for a client brings a reality check. Surrounded by cutters and large drilling bits, heavy machinery and control panels it’s clear: this is not your average software developer.

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Change a life, change a country, change the world
Project Education in Kenya

Not many people will say they want to work themselves out of a job. It’s a good thing Debra Akre and Jeana King aren’t most people.

Project Education, Inc. (PEI) began as an initiative to teach children in a small village in Ngomano, Kenya, in 2004 and has grown to a successful effort creating a viable economic infrastructure. It won’t be long before the village will be able to stand on its own, supporting its people and its schools, and PEI,  will no longer need Akre and King.

No longer being needed in Ngomano is a thought that makes both women smile. In fact, it’s been their goal from the start.

“Nothing has changed in the 45 years the U.S. has given aid to other countries,” Akre (‘86) says. “We

Graduates from Project Education, Inc.’s first graduating class line up for their graduation ceremony.

both have business backgrounds and wanted to do things differently. We wanted to give people a reason to help themselves. When we started this we knew the return on investment for this project needed to be higher than anyone else’s.”

They’ve worked long and hard over the past six years, working in full partnership with the people of Ngomano to not only establish a school for the children, but also to take on all of the issues the village faced. While both women believe education is the way to improve the lives of Ngomano village people, PEI can’t be successful with larger, sometimes life threatening, issues in the community.

Posing for a class picture, among these graduates are future teachers, pediatricians, neurosurgeons and possibly the future president of Kenya.

“Our model takes on all issues. A child can’t learn if they are hungry or sick,” King says. “We started with basic needs to ensure they can care for themselves. We wanted to involve the entire community in a process of healing to develop lifelong skills so they can care for themselves.”

Akre says Western played a huge role in laying the foundation for the path that would lead her to Kenya, and later to PEI.

“I went to Western and I knew what I wanted to do. The degree wasn’t available,” Akre says. “I shared my dream with Professor Owens, the chair of the Business Department at the time, and he urged me to design my own degree. It granted me the freedom to think and taught me to go after what I want and fight for what I believe is right.”

A parent committee works on the back side of campus in Ngomano, where the entire community is involved in Project Education, Inc.’s efforts.

PEI teaches its students that same freedom to think. Akre remembers her first teaching experience at a college in Kenya. Her students wouldn’t respond to her in class. She wanted the same interaction she experienced at Western. After her students shared stories of being beaten in classrooms for sharing their ideas, she recalled exercises she learned from Professors Joe Garcia and Ken Kellerman at WWU about fostering creativity implementation in the classroom and set to work creating exercises for her students. From marshmallow fights to activities walking to the end of a driveway in a unique way, Akre’s students blossomed. And 6 years later in Ngomano, though the students are different, the results are the same as those from her first teaching experience in Kenya.

“We are creating kids that shine,” Akre says. “They can think! We are helping them develop confidence and teaching them to grow as leaders.”

“It’s beyond anything we could have ever imagined,” King says.

It also gives them new goals. Their next step: change the educational system in Kenya. It’s a lot of work, both admit, but it’s worth it; they’re having fun.

“If you can change the life of a child you have the potential of changing the world,” King says. “We’ve changed the world in people’s lives in the village. To see lack of hope and despair changed to a sense of community and livelihood is amazing.”

The school sits at the end of a road against a dry and desolate backdrop. PEI created a green oasis that is now filled with song and laughter.

“We’re growing tilapia in the middle of nowhere!” Akre says.

Akres and King established a for-profit social entrepreneurial business called Tembo Trading Company to support their non-profit’s efforts. The village is now bustling: men in the village are making sandals, 110 women are making handbags and the Tembo Trading Company is now 1 of 20 organizations in the world permitted to buy coffee directly from Kenyan farmers. One day, the students will take over and manage the businesses Tembo Trading Company is building, and at that point, the non-profit will fund itself.

Most recently, Tembo Trading Company was given something they never dreamed would be possible: a college. Effective not long before this newsletter “went to print,” the students, instructors and brick and mortar campus became the responsibility of Tembo Trading company—for $2 per year. Akres and King hope to make the college a center of excellence in education. In the future, they hope they can partner with universities, like Western.

While partnerships with universities around the nation are in the works, a few partners local to Whatcom County make large contributions to PEI. They attribute much of their success to Jim and Andi Clay, for whom the school in Ngomano is named. The Clay family, Kenya and PEI were connected through a series of serendipitous events and the family has remained involved in the PEI efforts in Kenya since its inception.

“None of this would be possible without the clay family,” Akres says. “They have been supportive from the beginning.”

Another local partner is Wes Herman, owner of The Woods Coffee (9 shops in Bellingham, Lynden and Ferndale). Herman met Akres and King when they asked him to sell coffee that supported PEI. The Woods Coffee has sold coffee in its stores off and on over the last year to raise money for the school and is currently working on a coffee shop in Nairobi, Kenya that will not only provide an income for the school, but also allow people who are in school to work and learn skills that will help them in life.

“We connect with what they’re doing and see the value,” Herman says. “Our staff drives our involvement in causes like this; we love educational causes and it connects Whatcom country to a foreign country.”

Akres and King recently traveled to Kenya for their first graduation ceremony. Among those students, 25 were recruited by principals to teach. The top two graduates were both girls and are going to university, one to become a pediatrician and the other a neurosurgeon.

“That’s how you break the cycle of poverty!” King says.

Thumbing through the photo album, Akre pauses and points to Kiema. She chokes up as she starts to tell his story.

“He’s the future president of Kenya,” she says.

King takes over, explaining that Kiema’s mother begged Akres to let him attend her school. She has AIDS and, as a result, is considered an outcast. Kiema would have never had a chance.

“These are throw away kids that would have ended up in the slums, starving or in slavery,” King says. “It’s a forgotten community of abject poverty and no future. Through our program we have seen orphans become pediatricians with full government scholarships.”

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