Elisa is married to a brilliant and charming EE/Economics Professor, Scott.
Elisa is originally from the North Eastern part of the US, particularly the "Capital District" of NY. (For those who don't know, the capital of NY is Albany [ 1, 2 ] not NY City.) I most recently lived for six years just outside the historical city of Troy, NY [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ] while pursuing my PhD at RPI.
My favorite hobby is dancing. My specialty is folk dancing, with German folk dancing being the specialty within that area. When I lived in Troy, I taught German Folk Dancing in a monthly social dance series, and occasionally traveled to give workshops. I'm still interested in German folkdance and attended the Bundesvolkstanztreffen in Braunschweig Germany during the summer 2000 with the North American delegation. During the summer 2003 I had the marvelous opportunity to spend 10 weeks inGermany and as many of my friends said, I danced my way through Germany visiting 4 different folkdance groups and lots of friends (A couple of examples are on the web 1, 2 ). I currently serve as the membership secretary for the North American Federation of German Folk Dance Groups. I have recently found other people interested in German folkdancing living in Boise, mostly from the Boise Edelweiss Club. Each spring and fall I teach a 6 week 'course' (I hesitate to call it a course, when it is really just an open dance with instruction for those who need it so it will be appropriate for all ability levels) on German folkdance for the Boise Community Education program. I have been doing this since spring 2000. This has had great attendance which grows each time and everyone says they have lots of fun. I am still involved with a perfomance group of Schuhplattler Dancers, and the Troy Germania Hall which is home to these dancers even though the distance is great now and I can't make it to their practices or performances regularly. From May 2000 to May 2002 I was on the board of directors for the Gauverband Nordamerika which is the umbrella organization to many Schuhplattler clubs in the US and Canada including the one I belong to in NY.
I really enjoy working with children. I enjoy running folkdance workshops for them. I find that they really like folkdance (or anything actually) if the teacher is enthusiastic. I volunteer my time to occasionally work with teenage children of my friends on math, foreign language studies and sewing of traditional dresses, which are my favorite subjects and hobbies.
Elisa is a member of the Epsilon Iota Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity and was president of the Psi Upsilon Alumni Association of Troy for 4 years ending in April 1998.
Other interests include: playing the diatonic accordion, gardening, hiking, skiing
(both downhill and cross country),
sailing, canoeing, swimming,
recreational hiking, recreational bicycling, sewing, crafts and travel. I just wish I had more time for all of these.
While I've lived in Idaho since August 1999, and I'm mostly settled in my new life here, I still think of upstate NY as my home. Although Idaho is very different from NY in many ways, it doesn't seem as foreign as people back east expect, and I do think it is beautiful even though I really miss the green we have in NY. I have taken some pictures of Boise & BSU which are posted here.