By WESLEY DEVOLL
Student contributor
The Paw Print: Why did you choose to come to Poly?
Derek Weisel: My wife and I wanted to live in a place with more opportunities for both of us. Southern California has more than obliged. Poly is a great place to work and my wife is finishing her PhD in materials science at CalTech.
TPP: What did you do before coming to Poly?
DW: I taught math and science at a high school in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
TPP: Hobbies, and favorite movie, musical artist, and book?
DW: I read many more books than I have time for. I also listen to music incessantly. Pop, Rock, Dance, Classical. I am not picky. I basically like movies with happy endings. I really enjoyed “The Parrots of Telegraph Hill.”
I listen to a tremendous amount of music so it’s hard to pick a favorite. I return to “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison often. “Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis” by Ralph Vaughn Williams always affects me deeply when I hear it. This list could go on and on so I’m going to stop here.
I read mostly non-fiction. A recent book I really enjoyed was a book about prehistoric cave paintings by Gregory Curtis. Fiction wise, you also can’t go wrong with any book by William Gaddis, but I would read Carpenter’s Gothic last.
TPP: And last just tell us anything that you think is important for the Poly community to know about you.
DW: I was raised in Philadelphia, and it has been amazing how many East Coast transplants pepper the Poly campus. It is a little spooky to have someone tell you a good place to get scrapple in Southern California. (If you don’t know what scrapple is…you are a better person for it).
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