For her Senior Individualized Project, Eve Halderson studied the photometric and spectroscopic properties of flares on a M dwarf star, which certainly must be one of the coolest hot topics in the K-Plan’s history of SIPs. (If star study is considered a “visit” of sorts, then Eve also holds the K-Plan record for greatest distance to her “study abroad” site.)
And Eve’s collegiate tennis accomplishments—another key K-Plan component of this physics/mathematics double major (and summa cum laude graduate)—are as…well…celestial as her SIP subject.

In Eve’s first-year season she was named to the All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association second team. After that she was first-team all-MIAA every season. Her singles record (third best by winning percentage in program history) was 72-27. Her doubles record (62-32) is the sixth best winning percentage in program history.

Eve’s Hornet teams won three MIAA championships, and Eve was the number one singles flight champion in 1995 and the number one doubles flight champion in 1996. She was number one singles flight runner-up in 1996 and 1997, and number one doubles flight runner-up in 1995.
After K Eve earned a master’s degree in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California-Berkeley but then decided to pivot successfully (another capability the K-Plan helps develop) to a different path—in Eve’s case, into the world of business.

“I accepted a job at the Helsing Group, a then-small consulting firm, thinking the job would most likely be temporary,” says Eve. “Now, 20 years on, I serve as director of the firm’s new development services, working with major homebuilders in California to establish and support new communities.” During Eve’s tenure the company has grown by a factor of 10 and converted to an employee-owned enterprise.

Eve has been involved in animal rescue causes for more than 20 years, and she and her husband are avid hikers of Western national parks and wilderness trails. Among all the positive effects of her K-Plan perhaps the one Eve values most is the wherewithal to manage an extraordinary workload. She says: “When I recall balancing tennis practice and matches with academic course work it’s easy to draw parallels to present day life: ‘I can handle all these things at once—remember, I did this before.’”