#SoCaltech: Derek Surka
Jon Nalick
“I grew up in Canada, outside Niagara Falls, in a town called Welland. Curling is part of the culture there—my dad curled, and I curled in high school. When I went to Caltech, I thought I would never curl again, but after grad school, I ended up in a small town in New Jersey. By coincidence, a childhood friend of mine was in the same area and was curling. We reconnected, and I took it up again. It’s a great social sport. I got my wife into it after we got married, and she became very, very good—