About Us
How we met
We originally met when Scott was a first-year graduate student at Minnesota and Christine was visiting as a prospective student. He was a very capable recruiter and convinced all four prospective students from Delaware, including Christine, to come to Minnesota for school.
One year later, Christine and Scott were both recruiting a new batch of graduate students when Scott decided to turn some of his wooing abilities back towards Christine. Scott spent much more of his time that night talking to Christine than he did with any of the prospective students. Much to Christine’s chagrin, they began dating immediately thereafter, skipping the uncomfortable flirty “does she like me?” phase.
This April marks three years of a fun and broadening relationship for both of us. In three years time we have helped each other through oral exams, research sticking points and troubles with friends. We have explored the Twin Cities together, finding time for the Minnesota Orchestra, long bicycle rides, ice cream tours, piano bars, and geocaching. We’ve also had some great adventures to Chicago, Delaware, the North Shore, and Kansas. Recently this summer we managed to not kill each other on a three day canoe tour through the Boundary Waters.
The proposal
January 24, 2009
After a month of secretly scheming and planning, Scott took Christine for a ski weekend in Wausau, WI. After getting tired on the green hills all morning and Scott nearly collapsing from exhaustion on the blue hills after lunch, we headed back towards the easier green slopes. Christine’s interested was piqued by the Enchanted Forest, an easy tree-skiing glade. Finally having Christine alone for the first time all day, Scott turned around in the middle of the forest and asked for Christine’s hand in marriage. She said yes, and the ring fit perfectly.
Christine Marie Cardinal
Christine hails from Wilmington, Delaware, the oldest of three children of John and Kathy Cardinal. She graduated as a chemical engineer from the University of Delaware in 2005 and moved to the University of Minnesota for her Ph.D. afterwards. She is currently doing research on the drying of coatings using cryogenic microscopy. Christine holds numerous awards, including 4th place Latin student (1989, 1990, 1991), 3rd place AI DuPont Children’s Hospital photography contest (2000), Girl Scout Silver Award, Woman of Promise of 2003, Dean’s list (1996-2006), “special thanks” from DuPont Global Business Services (2005), and was nominated as the person most likely to remain friends with Colleen Rodgers (2005). She has also held many leadership positions, most notably Color Guard captain (2000), president of Omega Chi Epsilon (2004), and, currently, Lab Safety Officer of Amundson Hall rooms 422, 420 and 418. Christine has stenciled many coloring books for her cousins, has written many unpublished poems, has mastered the art of writing application essays, and is currently waiting for the proof of her first published paper in a literary journal. In her spare time, Christine knits tiny projects.
Scott Alan Roberts
Scott grew up in Arma, Kansas as the only child of Alan and Linda Roberts. He attended the University of Kansas and graduated with his B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2004. He is currently working towards his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota researching the patterning of thin polymer films. Scott is awaiting acceptance of his second journal article and is desperately looking for something to do after he graduates from the U. While Scott was voted “most likely to become a professor” by his undergraduate classmates, his motivation to pursue that track is dwindling. Scott has been over-involved with many organizations over the years (i.e. stayed in Boy Scouts after earning the rank of Eagle), and thinks that his inability to say “no” might be a problem. Other than that, he really enjoys playing around with computers, yet doesn’t like writing about himself on the computer, so “the end”.